The Verge

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the Capitol Hill Club on Wednesday, December 1, 2021. | Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images A filing just revealed an SEC investigation into the plans for a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) named Digital World Acquisition Corp. to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) and start trading on the Nasdaq, so what’s next for the would-be social media/regular media giant?Naturally, TMTG has just announced a splashy new hire as its CEO, recruiting Congressman Devin G. Nunes. A supporter, and defender of Trump, Nunes served on the House Intelligence Committee as it investigated allegations Russia helped the Trump campaign during the 2016 election. Yes, that’s also “I sued Twitter for letting Devin Nunes’ Mom and Devin Nunes’ Cow insult me” Devin G. Nunes.The congressman plans to leave the US House of... Continue reading…

Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images Elon Musk said Monday at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO summit that he doesn’t think the United States needs the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill — or any government subsidies, for that matter. “Just delete them all,” he said.The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said during the interview that he’s concerned about the federal deficit. “We’ve spent so much money.. the federal budget deficit is insane,” he said.“I would say... can the whole bill. Don’t pass it, that’s my recommendation,” Musk said.Musk pointed out that Tesla has been selling its electric cars for more than a year in the US without the $7,500 federal tax credit, without taking a demand hit. Most other automakers, save for General Motors, are still eligible for the credit.... Continue reading…

Science fiction movies have prepared us for the distinct possibility that artificial intelligence will walk among us someday. How soon? No one can say — but that isn’t stopping a raft of companies by trying to sell “digital humans” before that whole intelligence thing gets figured out. Ah, but what if you don’t want to buy a digital human because that sounds icky? Rent one, of course! That’s why we now have the regrettable acronym Digital Human as a Service (DHaaS).The actual news here is that Japanese telecom giant KDDI has partnered with a firm named Mawari (which means something along the lines of “surroundings” in Japanese) to create a virtual assistant you can “see” through the window of your smartphone in augmented reality, one... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Google is releasing an update for its Pixel Buds A-Series wireless headphones, which will add a bass slider, a loudness compensation setting for better bass and treble response at low volumes, and a nice connectivity improvement (via Droid-Life). Given that the buds are only $99 (or free, if you got them with a Pixel 6 or 6 Pro preorder), it’s nice to see Google adding new features through software updates.As we learned earlier today, the Pixel Buds will be getting more control over the bass response. The buds had a “bass boost” option before, but now you’ll be able to turn up the bass using a four-step slider — and you can even turn it down a notch if that’s what you prefer.The Pixel Buds A-Series can fall back if they can’t connect... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Japan is proposing new restrictions that would only allow banks and wire transfer services to issue stablecoins, first reported by Nikkei Asia.Stablecoins are a type of digital currency that’s pegged to an external asset, like a fiat currency, gold, or other investments, in an attempt to keep the coin at a stable price. Tether is one example of a stablecoin, and it’s no stranger to controversy. In October, it was fined $41 million for old claims that each token was backed 1-to-1 by its cash reserves — according to the CFTC, “Tether reserves were not ‘fully backed’ the majority of the time.”This follows similar plans to regulate stablecoins in the USThe country’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) plans to introduce the legislation in... Continue reading…

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 20: Jeff Bezos speaks during the Climate Week NYC Leaders’ Reception | Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Bezos Earth Fund On Monday, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced his Earth Fund’s latest round of grants: $443 million to be spent primarily on land conservation and restoration and efforts to reduce environmental burdens on marginalized communities.This year, the fund has pledged more than $3 billion for similar initiatives. In 2020, Bezos promised to funnel $10 billion — about 5 percent of his current net worth — toward tackling climate change this decade.From the beginning, the Bezos Earth Fund has faced criticismFrom the beginning, the Bezos Earth Fund has faced criticism, particularly from some grassroots environmental groups. At first, Bezos primarily funded big-name environmental groups with historically white leadership and comparatively... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Ve The global chip shortage has claimed yet another camera from Sony’s lineup. This time, Sony is suspending orders for the ZV-E10, a mirrorless vlogging camera that the company released in August, as reported by Digital Photography Review.Sony announced the camera’s suspension in a post on its website, noting that it will no longer sell the ZV-E10 on its store or through any of its distributors for the time being. “With regard to digital imaging products, parts procurement is delayed due to the effects of global semiconductor shortages,” a translation of Sony’s notice reads.This is far from the only device that Sony has temporarily discontinued this yearUnfortunately, this is far from the only device that Sony has temporarily... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Gizmodo released a deep-dive look into the data collection process behind its co-reported investigation with The Markup into PredPol, a software company specializing in predictive policing (hence the name, which it has since changed to Geolitica) through machine learning.PredPol’s algorithm is supposed to make predictions based on existing crime reports. However, since crimes aren’t equally reported everywhere, the readings it provides to law enforcement could simply copy the biases in reporting over each area. If police use this to decide where to patrol, they could end up over-policing areas that don’t need a larger presence.When Gizmodo and The Markup evaluated the areas, they found that the places PredPol’s software targeted for... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg published Monday, a group of academics called for Meta to be more transparent about its research into how Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp affect the mental health of children and adolescents. The letter calls for the company to allow independent reviews of its internal work, contribute data to external research projects, and set up an independent scientific oversight group.“You and your organizations have an ethical and moral obligation to align your internal research on children and adolescents with established standards for evidence in mental health science,” the letter, signed by researchers from universities around the world, reads.The open letter comes after leaks from Facebook revealed some... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok’s much-vaunted video algorithm is designed around two things: getting users to stick around and getting users to come back. That’s according to a report in The New York Times, which reviewed a leaked copy of an internal TikTok document summarizing how the system works. The report offers a rare look into one of the most discussed algorithms in tech right now, and it reveals some considerations — like retaining creators and ensuring they make money — that may not be obvious choices when building a video feed meant to keep viewers tuned in.To keep users watching and coming back, TikTok considers four main objectives, according to the Times: user value, long-term user value, creator value, and platform value. One way that plays out... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Toyota will build a $1.29 billion battery factory in North Carolina in an effort to bring some of its electric vehicle supply chain to the US. The news comes on the heels of Toyota’s announcement that it will invest around $13.6 billion in battery tech over the next decade, including a $9 billion investment in production, as it attempts to electrify its vehicle lineup.Toyota plans on spreading the $1.29 billion for the new factory over the next decade, but production at the facility is scheduled to begin in 2025, said Chris Reynolds, chief administrative officer for Toyota Motor North America. In the first year, Toyota plans on producing 1.2 million battery packs for its upcoming lineup of electric vehicles, Reynolds said.Toyota has... Continue reading…

(L to R): Nichole Ayers, Christopher Williams, Luke Delaney, Jessica Wittner, Anil Menon, Marcos Berríos, Jack Hathaway, Christina Birch, Deniz Burnham, and Andre Douglas. | Image: NASA Today, NASA announced the selection of its newest class of astronauts: six men and four women chosen from more than 12,000 people who applied to the space agency in March of 2020. Once they train and become full astronauts, these selectees have some exciting spaceflight opportunities ahead of them, potentially including flights to the Moon someday.The astronauts announced today are part of the so-called Artemis Generation. The name is a reference to NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to send the first woman and the first person of color to the lunar surface as early as 2025 (a landing date that is considered incredibly ambitious). The program calls for launching astronauts on a series of flights into deep space on NASA’s new massive... Continue reading…

A great laptop at the right size Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro/The Verge Language learning app Duolingo said its phrase of the year is “I am mentally exhausted,” which appears as part of its Japanese course and does seem to nicely sum up 2021.Like Spotify and Apple, Duolingo is giving users a look back at the year that was. Starting today, anyone who completed at least 10 Duolingo lessons in 2021 can get a personalized look at what kind of language learner they are, based on when they practice their lessons, how many courses they’ve taken, and how many hours they spent learning on the app. Duolingo Duolingo’s Year in Review will tell you want kind of language learner you were in 2021. In its 2021 language report and survey, Duolingo said the top five languages learned on the app... Continue reading…

Image by Engineered Arts via YouTube Engineered Arts, a UK-based designer and manufacturer of humanoid robots, recently showed off one of its most lifelike creations in a video posted on YouTube. The robot, called Ameca, is shown making a series of incredibly human-like facial expressions.Ameca opens its mouth and raises its brows in what it looks like is amazementAt the start of the video, Ameca appears to “wake up,” as its face conveys a mix of confusion and frustration when it opens its eyes. But when Ameca starts looking at its hands and arms, the robot opens its mouth and raises its brows in what it looks like is amazement. The end of the video shows Ameca smiling and holding a welcoming hand out towards the viewer — if that’s how you want to interpret that gesture.S... Continue reading…

Clearview AI is on track to receive a US patent for its facial recognition technology, according to a report from Politico. The company was reportedly sent a “notice of allowance” by the US Patent and Trademark Office, which means that once it pays the required administration fees, its patent will be officially approved.Clearview AI builds its facial recognition database using images of people that it scrapes across social media (and the internet in general), a practice that has the company steeped in controversy. The company’s patent application details its use of a “web crawler” to acquire images, even noting that “online photos associated with a person’s account may help to create additional records of facial recognition data... Continue reading…

Walmart’s Gamer Drop prominently features the big three new consoles that are difficult to get. | Image: Walmart Update December 5th, 4:30PM ET: Per IGN’s Taylor Lyles and an updated message on the Walmart Gamer Drop splash page, the event won’t have the new consoles you’re probably looking for, despite featuring them prominently in the artwork. The post below has been updated to reflect this.Walmart has announced a new Gamer Drop event coming to select stores on December 11th, where the retailer is promising to have the “latest gaming titles and consoles.” It’s billing it as a holiday shopping event, complete with discounts and exclusive gear.The posted circular on Walmart’s website prominently features the major consoles, including the Nintendo Switch OLED Model, Xbox Series X / S, and both models of the PlayStation 5 with the note of... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The My Verizon app might be collecting information about your browsing history, location, apps, and your contacts, all in the name of helping the company “understand your interests,” first spotted by Input. The program, which Verizon appears to automatically opt customers into, is called Verizon Custom Experience and lays buried in the privacy settings on the app.The program introduces two different options that appear in the app, Custom Experience and Custom Experience Plus, each of which varies in terms of invasiveness. Verizon provides additional information about both settings within the app, as well as on a FAQ page on its website. It appears that the Custom Experience option is a stripped-down version of Custom Experience Plus,... Continue reading…

Mackenzie Davis stars in Station Eleven | HBO Max I finally finished The Beatles: Get Back, and even though it meandered a lot, I found myself wanting more. The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay nicely captures what it felt like to watch this 50-year old footage as a fan, like we were all kinda just hanging out with John, Paul, George, and Ringo as they worked on new material. Highly recommend watching, it will make you question some of the prevailing narratives about the Fab Four (like the widely held belief that they were at each other’s throats constantly as the band neared its breakup).Also! We got some late-breaking news Saturday about the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s going to be titled Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and will actually be a two-parter,... Continue reading…

The Doja Cat codable music video. | Photo by Girls Who Code Girls Who Code, the nonprofit organization that aims to get more women and girls interested in the field of computer science, has debuted what it calls the “first ever” codable music video. The organization partnered with Doja Cat, transforming her new music video for Woman into an interactive experience.

And then there were three. After a dramatic live event on Saturday, Fortnite is moving on to Chapter 3, which introduces some big changes for the battle royale.This morning developer Epic launched season 1 of the new chapter, called “Flipped,” and the most dramatic change is the shift to a fresh, snow-covered island, one that features weather conditions, along with new locations like Sanctuary — which appears to play a large part in Fortnite lore — and the Daily Bugle. Those who pick up the new battle pass will also be able to get their hands on characters like Spider-Man and (eventually) The Foundation, voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. You can get the full run-down of the battle pass right here:(It’s been a busy weekend for... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro Twitter has reportedly suspended a number of accounts by mistake after far-right extremists began exploiting the platform’s new private media policy, according to a report by The Washington Post.The platform has since launched an internal review of the matter and has made the necessary corrections, The Post notes. Twitter’s new policy, which allows individuals to request takedowns of photos or videos that contain them, has become the target of far-right activists who seek to remove pictures of them taken at hate rallies. The platform originally said that the rule was put in place to “curb the misuse of media to harass, intimate, and reveal the identities of private individuals,” which Twitter says disproportionately affects “women,... Continue reading…

Image: Ludwig via YouTube Just three days after Ludwig Ahgren left his massive Twitch following for YouTube, he was hit with what he thought was a suspension from the platform. According to a report from Kotaku, Ahgren was playing other YouTube videos during his stream, when he landed on the infamously catchy Baby Shark song. His stream was shut down shortly thereafter, giving his viewers — and himself — the impression that he was banned for violating YouTube’s copyright policies.

Buy two, get one free Best Buy is still hosting its mix-and-match sale featuring some excellent titles from the Nintendo Switch game library. Right now you can get a third game of equal or lesser value for free if you buy two other select titles. This offer includes first-party titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Mario Tennis: Aces that rarely see discounts. While this offer is limited to 11 titles, this is one of the best ways to stock up on games that are exclusive to the Nintendo Switch.While not quite as enticing as Black Friday prices, Best Buy has discounted all models of the 11-inch iPad Pro that launched in 2020, with some versions receiving discounts of up to $200. This tablet is available with up to 1TB of built-in storage and... Continue reading…

Image: Activision Blizzard One of the studios responsible for Call of Duty’s success is laying off QA testers that are reportedly earning $17 an hour for their work on the franchise Activision Blizzard said brought in $3 billion dollars in 2020. Raven Software, known for its work on Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and CoD: Warzone has now laid off a third of its contract QA testers, according to reports by Kotaku and The Washington Post.Raven’s Associate Community Manager Austin O’Brien said that team members were being called into individual meetings to be told whether or not they would still have a job come January 28th. So far, the company has reportedly laid off about a third of its QA testers, or around a dozen people, but it’s possible more could follow.... Continue reading…

Photo by Guillaume Payen/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images In March 2020, Bandcamp started a promotion where it would forego taking a revenue share from sales artists made on its platform, providing some additional support to performers with suddenly limited opportunities due to the coronavirus pandemic. The arrangement turned into a monthly event, as Bandcamp Fridays encouraged fans to keep the support coming by purchasing audio tracks and merchandise over the last two years.Bandcamp pledged to keep things going throughout 2021 and has dutifully turned off its cut on the first Friday of each month. The only question left is, what happens next? The note about Bandcamp Friday sticking around for 2021 is no longer included on the blog post announcing the promotion, and no one has updated... Continue reading…

The individual user profiles that were expected to arrive on Google TV last month have been delayed, meaning those personalized content recommendations are unfortunately on hold.The company had initially said the new user profiles would arrive on Google TV last month, but Google spokesperson Ivy Hunt tells The Verge today that the profiles will now begin rolling out “in the coming months.” News of the delay was earlier reported by 9to5Google.That’s a bit of a bummer for multi-user households who were looking forward to profile features like customized watchlists, personalized help from Google Assistant, and weeding out the content interests of others using the same device (e.g., roommates, kids, etc. — although Google previously... Continue reading…

Google Photos’ Locked Folder feature, which promises to keep sensitive photos out of your main photo roll, is starting to roll out to non-Pixel phones, according to Android Police. Google said in September that the feature would be rolling out to more Android phones “soon,” and it’s reportedly started to show up on some Samsung and OnePlus devices, according to Android Central. Older Pixel devices that didn’t originally get access to it are also getting it now, based on our tests.The feature lets you choose specific photos or videos and put them in a passcode or biometrics-locked folder, taking them out of your main photo feed and keeping them off the cloud. It was introduced on Google’s own phones (Pixel 3 and up) in June, after being... Continue reading…

A screenshot from Halo Infinite’s multiplayer beta. | Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge Halo Infinite’s multiplayer beta has been a blast so far, but one common criticism is that you can’t pick a dedicated playlist for Slayer, the game’s deathmatch mode. Fortunately, that will be changing soon, but not until next year.343 Industries community manager John Junyszek tweeted Friday that a Social Slayer playlist is in the works, but it won’t be ready until after the holidays. Junyszek also said 343 is aiming to add Fiesta, Tactical Slayer (SWAT), and Free-For-All playlists “before the end of the year.”

Snowflakes and doorbells, the perfect duo | Image: Google Google announced this Wednesday on its Nest community blog the return of holiday-themed ringtones for Nest Doorbells (via 9to5Google). Visitors arriving for family holiday gatherings can now press the Nest Doorbell and be greeted with sounds of the holidays, including “Winter,” Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and New Year’s jingles.

Did you know the YouTube app on your older Chromecast has a hidden remote control that lets you surface an entire YouTube app that you can scroll?You just need to start casting something to your TV in the YouTube app with the Cast button up top — then hit the Cast button a second time to access a menu where you’ll find a button labeled Remote. Then, you get a full D-pad to move around, a voice search button, and the all-important Back button you’ll need to back out of that video and access a full YouTube interface.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter’s new CEO is reorganizing the company, with two top executives being removed as part of the shakeup. A regulatory document explains that Twitter is restructuring its Consumer, Revenue, and Core Tech divisions under individual leaders in an attempt to “drive increased accountability, speed, and operational efficiency.” Kayvon Beykpour, Bruce Falck, and Nick Caldwell will lead those three teams.As part of the change, Twitter’s engineering lead, Michael Montano, and its design and research lead, Dantley Davis, will be leaving their positions at the end of the year.A Fast Company profile of Davis, published in September, describes him as “the first Black executive to report to the CEO since Twitter went public.” According to The... Continue reading…

Courtney Love, ladies and gentlemen | Photo by Francesco Prandoni/Redferns Courtney Love Cobain, Elon Musk, Bernie Sanders, and Kendall Roy are all in the running to be Friday’s Main Character on Twitter after a single tweet where the queen of ’90s grunge music Twitter-scolded the Tesla CEO for his mean reply to the Vermont senator (we’ll get to Kendall in a sec).According to Love, she was bcc’d on Musk’s “str8, male, PayPal mafia email group” for months. “With that information in mind, don’t you think in a ‘civilized society’ one should embrace paying our fair share of tax?” she tweeted on Thursday. She attached a screengrab of Musk’s November 14th reply to Sanders’ tweet that asserted, “We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period.” Being one of those extremely wealthies, Musk... Continue reading…

Image: Valve Valve’s Steam Deck handheld won’t have any exclusive games, but it is slowly filling in some holes in its Windows game library — Valve says Arma 3, DayZ, Unturned, and Planetside 2 now have functioning BattlEye anti-cheat when you’re using the Proton compatibility layer to play Windows games in Linux. That brings the total to six games, including Ark: Survival Evolved and Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. (Those two already had support as of November 8th.)That compatibility is important for Linux in general (and the Steam Deck handheld specifically) because they don’t play Windows games out of the box unless they work with Proton, and third-party anti-cheat software is known to interfere.But for two of the most popular flavors of... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge At least nine employees of the US State Department working in or with Uganda had their iPhones hacked with spyware made by NSO Group, according to a report from Reuters. While it’s unclear who carried out the attacks, NSO Group says it only sells its software to government organizations that have gotten approval from the Israeli government.NSO has claimed that its spyware isn’t able to target US phone numbers (that is, numbers with a country code of +1). This case doesn’t seem to disprove that claim — Reuters reports that, while the people targeted were employees of the State Department, they were using foreign telephone numbers. Still, the devices were used for official State Department business, suggesting NSO may now be implicated... Continue reading…

Warehouses in Redlands, California, U.S., on Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021. | Roger Kisby/Bloomberg via Getty Images Warehouses are increasingly dominating the commercial building landscape in the US, which could have ramifications for efforts to tackle climate change. According to data recently released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), warehouses and storage units have become the most common commercial buildings in the country — outpacing offices. That has the potential to cause greenhouse gas emissions to climb or tumble, and it largely hinges on whether warehouses can ditch natural gas.Compared to office buildings, warehouses that store everything from food to clothes tend to rely more heavily on gas heating systems because upfront costs of those systems are cheap, and they’re easy to install, an expert tells The Verge. Even... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook parent company Meta is introducing a built-in bill splitting feature in Facebook Messenger that it will test with users in the US beginning next week. The feature could be useful for situations like divvying up a restaurant bill with your friends or splitting a bill with roommates.With the feature, you can ask for money from people right in a group chat and see who has paid their portion of the request. You can see how it all works in a series of screenshots below from Meta. The feature arrives shortly after David Marcus, Meta’s cryptocurrency chief and former Messenger lead, announced he would be leaving the company. Image: Meta Facebook Messenger’s upcoming bill splitting feature. Meta has also... Continue reading…

Northrop Grumman space station | Image: Northrop Grumman NASA announced the selection of three US companies that will receive government funding to further develop private space stations on Thursday. From a set of 11 proposals, NASA selected Blue Origin, Nanoracks LLC, and Northrop Grumman to receive over $400 million in federal funds through three separate Space Act Agreements.NASA began seeking proposals in July for its Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development (CLD) program, which aims to support the development of commercial space stations. It is a part of a bigger plan to eventually replace the International Space Station (ISS) with commercial space stations. Through this model, NASA would be a customer of the commercial space industry, allowing it to save on costs and focus on basic... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Buried deep within Facebook’s November report on Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior is a tale of international intrigue that seems more like a Netflix drama than an attempted disinformation campaign (although the way Netflix mines social media for ideas these days, maybe stay tuned). On July 24th, a Swiss biologist named Wilson Edwards claimed on Facebook and Twitter that the US was pressuring World Health Organization (WHO) scientists studying the origins of COVID-19.His claims spread quickly on social media, as such claims are wont to do, and within a week’s time, the Global Times and People’s Daily, two state-run Chinese media outlets, were denouncing Wilson Edwards’ claims as “intimidation” by the US. Wilson Edwards created his... Continue reading…

24 face with tears of joy emoji, each more terrifying than the last. Until recently, I was a firm believer in the traditional smiley emoji. “It’s cute!” I used to think, as I happily used it to indicate my gentle amusement at everything from puns to fun weekend plans. But apparently, this was a mistake, and when I thought I was expressing sincere happiness, I was actually sending an emoji that’s “colossally insulting in every conceivable way,” according to The Guardian.It seems the rest of the world agrees, and the “slightly smiling face,” to use its full name, doesn’t feature in the top 10 of the most used emoji in 2021. In fact, according to data from the Unicode Consortium, the slightly smiling face isn’t even in the top 20. It’s down at number 28, sandwiched between “clapping hands” and “flushed... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony is planning to create an Xbox Game Pass-like subscription service, according to Bloomberg. The company already offers two subscription services, PlayStation Plus (which is required for the majority of online multiplayer games) and PlayStation Now (which offers a catalog of games to download or stream), and they will reportedly be merged in this new offering. Sony will likely keep the PlayStation Plus brand, reporter Jason Schreier said on Twitter, but “phase out” PlayStation Now.This new service, which is codenamed Spartacus, would have three tiers. One would offer current PlayStation Plus perks, another would include a catalog of PS4 and “eventually” PS5 games, and a third would have “extended demos, game streaming and a library... Continue reading…

Arcane isn’t just one of the best new animated shows on Netflix — it’s also a great introduction to the vast and often inscrutable world of League of Legends. If you’ve finished the show and have found yourself intrigued by the fantasy realm of Runeterra, you might be wondering where to go next. There are a few options, but thankfully developer Riot has just released a new role-playing game that’s a perfect next step for budding fans.Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is available now on the Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and it’s a bite-sized RPG that lets you explore a different part of League mythology. It stars a handful of iconic characters — including the hulking Braum and the kraken-wielding priestess Illaoi — and lets you... Continue reading…

A new report says Amazon charges small businesses fees that eat into profits | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The massive reach of Amazon’s e-commerce platform is appealing for any small business that wants to sell its products online. But a new report suggests that the cost of doing business can become a Faustian bargain for a third-party seller, as the fees that Amazon charges them can quickly eat into profits.Amazon Toll Road, a report from the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), found that Amazon charged third-party sellers a total of $121 billion in fees this year alone. According to the report, written by ILSR co-director Stacy Mitchell, those fees — for things like advertising, referrals, and shipping — usually mean that small businesses lose money to Amazon; Mitchell said that in 2014, sellers paid Amazon $19 of every... Continue reading…

Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack is compatible with all iPhone 12 and 13 models. | Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge Today marks one week since Black Friday (good riddance). The shopping weekend and Thanksgiving holiday may already feel as though they happened ages ago, but some deals have stuck around while new ones continue to crop up. We can’t stop time from flying by, but we can keep serving you the best tech deals possible.Kicking things off, the Apple MagSafe Battery Pack has reached a new all-time low price. The portable battery was released in the summer, and it didn’t take long to see some decent discounts. Now, just in time for holiday gifting, you can pick up the MagSafe Battery Pack for $75 at Amazon or Best Buy — a whole $25 off. This battery pack may not be able to fill an iPhone 12 or 13 from empty, but it’s one of the handiest ways to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has removed a total of 2,160 accounts linked to Chinese regional and state propaganda campaigns, the social network has announced as part of its latest data release on misinformation campaigns. The accounts were attempting to push back against allegations of human rights abuses by the Chinese government against the Uyghur population in Xinjiang.Alongside it, Twitter has also detailed a campaign it discovered in Tanzania, which used copyright complaints to harass members and supporters of the FichuaTanzania human rights group.Twitter says 2,048 of the accounts “amplified Chinese Communist Party narratives related to the treatment of the Uyghur population,” while a further 112 were connected to a private company backed by the... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Falcodrin tells us the average gamer has barely any chance Continue reading…

Jimmy Wales / Christie’s Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales is selling a non-fungible token (or NFT) based on his first edit of the free encyclopedia. Auction house Christie’s will hold a sale of the token from December 3rd to 15th, auctioning it alongside the Strawberry iMac Wales was using around Wikipedia’s launch. The funds will go toward charitable causes and WT.Social, a donation-backed social network that Wales launched in 2019.Wales’ NFT is effectively the keys to a very early version of Wikipedia, which debuted in January of 2001. “What you see displayed is what Wikipedia looked like at the moment that I set up the software,” he tells The Verge. The single page will be launched publicly on the web, and much like Wikipedia itself, anyone will be able to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is backtracking on changes it made to Windows 11 that made it more difficult to switch default browsers. A new test build of Windows 11 now allows users of Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers to set a default browser with a single button, which is a far simpler process.Rafael Rivera, developer of the excellent EarTrumpet Windows app, discovered the new Windows 11 changes earlier this week. Instead of having to change individual file extensions or protocol handlers for HTTP, HTTPS, .HTML, and .HTM, Windows 11 now offers a simple button that lets people switch default browsers in a similar way to Windows 10.Microsoft has confirmed the changes are intentional and are currently being tested. “In the Windows 11 Insider Preview... Continue reading…

Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench. | Image: Jamal Hinton Five years after Jamal Hinton secured himself a seat at Wanda Dench’s thanksgiving dinner thanks to a wrong number, their story is being turned into a Netflix feature film, the streaming giant has announced. The Thanksgiving Text will be written by Abdul Williams (The New Edition Story and The Bobby Brown Story), but Variety notes that a cast or director are yet to be announced.The Thanksgiving Text is the latest example of a film drawing inspiration from viral online content. Perhaps most notably, Zola turned viral Twitter thread #TheStory into a surprisingly good feature-length movie. This 2015 article from Gizmodo has plenty of other examples, including Bad Ass, a film loosely based on the viral video “AC Transit Bus Fight,” and the... Continue reading…

James Bareham / The Verge A new update to Pokémon Go for iOS lets you run the game at higher frame rates. With version 1.191.0, the “advanced settings” section of the app now includes an option that reads “Unlock your device’s native refresh rate for higher FPS.”I tried it out on my iPhone 13 Pro and it makes a huge difference. Pokémon Go isn’t the most visually complicated game, of course, but there’s a lot of scrolling and camera movement, and the smoother touch response feels a lot better when you’re lining up a pokéball throw with your finger.Here’s how the feature appears in the game’s menu: Pokémon Go was previously locked to 30fps on iOS devices. Many Android phones are already capable of running the game at a higher frame rate, though in... Continue reading…