The Verge

Photo illustration by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images Alexandre Dreyfus, the CEO and founder of fan token site Socios, has been accused of withholding payments in order to maintain the price of Chiliz (CHZ), the cryptocurrency used by the Socios community, according to a report from Off the Pitch.Fan tokens are tied to real-life sports teams, creators, or artists, and give token holders access to exclusive fan clubs where they can vote on decisions within their community. In Socios’ case, the platform centers around sports, with users buying Chiliz to purchase the fan tokens representing various teams in soccer, football, motorsports, and more.Staff members, who were also supposed to receive a portion of their salary in Chiliz, weren’t so luckyAs reported by Off the Pitch, Dreyfus... Continue reading…

The first change is always free | Photography: Vjeran Pavic It wasn’t always easy to change your PlayStation Network (PSN) account name. Actually, it wasn’t until April 2019 that Sony allowed account holders to do it at all. Now, each account is allowed to change its username once for free. Any changes after that come at a cost: $4.99 if you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber, or $9.99 for everyone else.Whether you’ve outgrown your username or you simply want to change it, we’re going to walk you through the process. However, there are a couple of warnings to run through first.If you mostly play newer games (specifically, games released after April 1st, 2018), Sony says that you shouldn’t encounter many, if any, issues with the username change since those games were developed to support this... Continue reading…

A24 Martial arts meets surreal sci-fi Continue reading…

Jabra’s Elite 85t offer solid noise cancellation, excellent controls, and multipoint functionality for just $149.99. If you’re on the market for a great pair of noise-canceling earbuds, it’s hard to go wrong with Jabra’s comfortable Elite 85t, which are on sale at Amazon right now with a pair of Qi-certified wireless charging pads for just $149.99 ($80 off). Although the Elite 85t are not Jabra’s newest model, they still offer good noise cancellation, solid on-earbud controls, and the ability to pair with two devices simultaneously, a feature many true wireless earbuds still lack. They also come with a case that charges wirelessly or via USB-C, and they carry an IPX4 rating for water and sweat resistance. Read our review.The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is a capable device, but it can’t do it all. Luckily, there are accessories like Apple’s well-made Magic... Continue reading…

Crunchyroll’s Russian website has been temporarily shut down. | Screenshot: Crunchyroll Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has suspended all operations in Russia, halting home entertainment releases, such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, and temporarily blocking access to its anime streaming service, Crunchyroll, according to a report from Variety. The move will also pause any TV distribution deals in the country.“We stand with many businesses around the world who have now paused their business operations in Russia, and in support of the humanitarian efforts currently underway in Ukraine and the surrounding region,” SPE CEO Tony Vinciquerra said in an email to employees seen by Variety. “We have also halted our planned home entertainment releases, including ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home,’ and any future television distribution deals.... Continue reading…

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge The Nintendo Switch outsold the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 in both unit and dollar sales in February after bouncing back from a weaker January, according to NPD’s Mat Piscatella. Last month, the PS5 took the top spot as the US’s best-selling gaming hardware, while the Switch came in behind the Xbox Series X.The Switch’s on-and-off-again reign has a lot to do with availabilityThe Switch and PS5 have been swapping spots as the number one console ever since the PS5 broke the Switch’s almost three-year streak last October. Its time on top was short-lived, however, as the new Switch OLED boosted the console’s sales, bringing it back to the number one position through November and December 2021. So far in 2022, the Switch has sold the... Continue reading…

Apple’s dramatic introduction to the M1 Ultra. | Image: Apple The shape of Apple’s silicon strategy is clear Continue reading…

EA announced an early 2023 “arrival window” for the next-gen remake of its survival horror hit Dead Space on Friday. The announcement was made as part of a developer livestream focused largely on the game’s audio.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Ubisoft experienced a “cyber security incident” last week that temporarily disrupted some games, systems, and services, the company reported Thursday. Ubisoft hasn’t said who might be responsible, but on Friday evening, the group who purportedly hacked Nvidia took credit.Ubisoft said it believes that “at this time there is no evidence any player personal information was accessed or exposed as a by-product of this incident” and says that games and services are now “functioning normally.” Out of caution, the company also “initiated a company-wide password reset.” When asked for comment, Ubisoft spokesperson Jessica Roache said the company had no additional details to share.News of the incident arrives amid a recent wave of high-profile... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge One week after placing a ban on Facebook in Russia, the country’s communications agency Roskomnadzor announced it will ban Instagram, too. While the Facebook ban cited “discrimination against Russian media,” this time, the government claims it’s happening because of a decision by parent company Meta directing moderators to allow posts calling for violence against Russian soldiers if they originate from certain countries, including Ukraine.The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said in a tweet that “This decision will cut 80 million in Russia off from one another, and from the rest of the world as ~80% of people in Russia follow an Instagram account outside their country. This is wrong.”

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber is adding a “temporary fuel surcharge” to fares to help drivers pay for record-high gas prices around the country, the company announced Friday. “Rides customers will pay a surcharge of either $0.45 or $0.55 on each Uber trip, and Eats customers will pay either $0.35 or $0.45 on each Uber Eats order, depending on their location,” Uber’s head of driver operations in US and Canada, Liza Winship, said in a blog post.The entirety of the surcharge will be passed on to drivers, and the plan is for the surcharge to be in place for the next 60 days. However, Winship cautions that “we will continue to monitor gas prices and may make additional changes.” And this temporary fuel surcharge will even be in place for rides or deliveries done in... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A new trademark application by Samsung in the UK suggests the company may be working on fashionable skins for its phones, as reported by Android Headlines and Let’s Go Digital. The UK Intellectual Property Office application describes “protective and decorative films adapted for smartphones,” using the name “Fashion Film.”This doesn’t confirm that an actual product will follow (you can see other trademarks Samsung’s registered to find out how many are never used). Still, any sign the company is taking a step to enter the skin accessory market is notable. Currently, the space is mainly taken over by smaller companies like Dbrand, which has even had its product featured in Samsung’s stores. And while the trademark application doesn’t... Continue reading…

Google won its court fight with Genius | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has once again prevailed in an ongoing legal battle with song lyrics website Genius, which claimed that Google was using its transcribed lyrics without permission in search results.Genius sued Google in 2019, arguing that Google was scraping lyrics from its website in violation of Genius’ copyright. Genius has a large database of song lyrics, and bills itself as “the world’s biggest music encyclopedia.” It tried to demonstrate that Google was scraping info from its website by putting watermarks on its lyrics, which it said then appeared in Google searches but without any link back or attribution to Genius.Google said in a blog post at the time that it did not “crawl or scrape websites to source” song lyrics. Canadian lyrics... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Yuga Labs, the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, announced today that it had acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs. CryptoPunks is one of the oldest and most valuable brands in the NFT world, and Meebits quickly joined the list of most valuable NFT collections after launching last May.Yuga Labs hopes to foster a “community of builders” creating derivative works around the two projects. To do that, it plans to grant intellectual property and commercialization rights to CryptoPunks and Meebits owners, allowing them to create works and products based off their NFTs the same way that Bored Ape owners have.“Everybody knows CryptoPunks, everybody loves CryptoPunks,” Greg Solano, a Bored Ape Yacht Club co-founder who goes by the... Continue reading…

Image: Wikipedia The Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of Belarus (GUBOPiK) has detained prominent Wikipedia editor Mark Bernstein, according to the Belarusian publication Zerkalo. The arrest comes after Bernstein’s personal information was shared on GOBUPiK’s public Telegram channel. Bernstein is one of the top 50 editors of Russian Wikipedia.The Verge was able to confirm that Bernstein’s information — including his social media, Wikipedia handle, and place of work — had been shared in GUBOPik’s channel on the messaging app. A video of Bernstein’s arrest was also posted alongside his photo and personal details. In the photo itself, Bernstein is accused of “distributing fake anti-Russian information.” The channel has since... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facing a tidal wave of backlash following Disney’s failure to speak out against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Disney CEO Bob Chapek formally apologized to employees today for the company’s failure to support its queer community.In an internal memo, Chapek addressed widespread criticism of Disney’s witting silence in response to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill passed recently by Florida’s Senate. The message was addressed to all Disney employees, “but especially our LGBTQ+ community.”“Thank you to all who have reached out to me sharing your pain, frustration and sadness over the company’s response to the Florida ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill,” Chapek wrote. “Speaking to you, reading your messages, and meeting with you have helped me better... Continue reading…

Photo by David Crane / MediaNews Group / Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images With gas prices soaring above $4 a gallon, electric vehicles are starting to look a lot more attractive to car buyers. But a combination of supply chain constraints, the global chip shortage, higher-than-average prices, and low inventory at dealerships will conspire to keep EVs out of reach for most people.Interest in switching from gas to electric is at an all-time high. Car shopping site Edmunds reports the number of people searching for hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or electric vehicles jumped 39 percent from February to March and 18 percent over the last week.Following through on that purchase is going to be tough for most people, given the scarcity of new EVs on the market. The EVs that are available are more expensive than their gas... Continue reading…

Microsoft Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service that offers on-demand access to dozens of games. It’s a great value if you like to play and discover new games, and now that it’s on PC instead of solely being a console experience, your subscription can follow you from your Xbox console to your Windows desktop.However, the expansion to Windows PCs hasn’t been seamless. While an Xbox lets you easily access your Game Pass right on the home dashboard, finding Game Pass games on a PC is a whole other story.There are two ways to find Game Pass games on PC. The first and easiest requires you to download a free app, though I think it will be worth the effort. The second method doesn’t require any additional installations, but finding... Continue reading…

In Elden Ring, it’s killed or be killed — brutally. The game is designed to put you ever on the defensive, ready to lash out before you yourself can be lashed. But that shoot first, ask questions later mindset led to an event I truly and deeply regret. I killed a dragon, and I feel really awful about it.In Elden Ring, even the damn flowers are dangerous, but contrary to the game’s reputation, not everything in the Lands Between wants to kill you. There are those cute rodents that scurry about and delightful little donut-rolling sheep that exist only to bleat at you as you zip by them on Torrent. I’ve had so many peaceful moments sitting on the edge of a cliff, gazing in wondrous awe at the golden Erdtree with a convocation of eagles for... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Hulu with Live TV is giving its users unlimited DVR starting next month at no additional cost — a feature that’ll allow it to compete more directly with cord-cutting rival YouTube TV.The feature will apply to all Hulu with Live TV subscriptions beginning April 13th and will support ​​playback and fast-forwarding on recordings for up to nine months (the same storage period supported by YouTube TV). Previously, Hulu with Live TV supported up to 50 hours of DVR storage but could upgrade to up to 200 hours of storage through add-ons that ranged in price from $10 per month to $15 per month.Those customers who opted into add-on packages that supported additional DVR space will no longer be charged for the added storage beginning April 13th.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In 2018, Google, Facebook / Meta, Microsoft, and Twitter teamed up to announce the Data Transfer Project, which worked on tools to help users “transfer data directly from one service to another, without needing to download and re-upload it.” Since then, Apple has signed on, while other integrated services include Google Photos, Mastodon, and SmugMug, in addition to the various data export and transfer tools available from the original four companies.This week, Google provided an update on its participation, pledging $3 million in funding and “hundreds” of hours of work from engineers over the next five years to work on the open-source libraries that keep the project going.The Data Transfer Project plays a part in tools that you can use... Continue reading…

Google Pay is a digital wallet and online payment system that’s developed by Google to make it easy for you to make purchases. It automatically syncs your saved credit cards wherever your Google account is logged in for quick payments, and it will import loyalty cards, tickets, and offers from your Gmail account. Google Pay is supported at most major markets, gas stations, and department stores.How to set up Google Pay Setting up Google Pay is straightforward.You need a debit / credit card or PayPal account, a Google account, and a supported Google Pay device (an Android phone, a Wear OS watch, or a desktop / laptop computer). You can even use it with an iOS device. In this article, we’ll concentrate on how to use Google Pay with... Continue reading…

YouTube says it could take time for the change to roll out. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube says that it will start completely blocking YouTube channels funded by the Russian government, after it blocked channels like RT and Sputnik in Europe earlier this month. The company also announced that it would be removing content about the Russian invasion of Ukraine that denies, minimizes, or trivializes “well-documented violent events.”At time of writing, two American Verge staffers were still able to access livestreams from RT, a channel that YouTube’s interface notes is “funded in whole or in part by the Russian government.” According to a tweet from the YouTube Insider account, the change is supposed to be effective immediately, but the company says it expects its systems to take some time to roll it out.

Photo by: IMAGE POINT FR/NIH/NIAID/BSIP //Universal Images Group via Getty Images Image databases of skin conditions are notoriously biased towards lighter skin. Rather than wait for the slow process of collecting more images of conditions like cancer or inflammation on darker skin, one group wants to fill in the gaps using artificial intelligence. It’s working on an AI program to generate synthetic images of diseases on darker skin — and using those images for a tool that could help diagnose skin cancer.“Having real images of darker skin is the ultimate solution,” says Eman Rezk, a machine learning expert at McMaster University in Canada working on the project. “Until we have that data, we need to find a way to close the gap.”But other experts working in the field worry that using synthetic images could introduce... Continue reading…

Tiktok | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok is reportedly close to finalizing a deal with Oracle that would see the short-form video platform storing its US users’ data without providing access to Chinese parent company ByteDance. As first reported by Reuters, a dedicated team of engineers and cyber security workers would act as gatekeepers for US users’ data and would likely not be under TikTok’s supervision.According to a report by BuzzFeed News, the agreement is known internally at TikTok as “Project Texas,” a reference to Oracle’s Austin, Texas headquarters. The company will put in place new controls that restrict access to US user data, which it will later recreate in Europe, BuzzFeed reported. But BuzzFeed says it’s still undecided how much access Chinese managers... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Is it working? Continue reading…

Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel discusses the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.This week on The Vergecast, Nilay, along with Verge managing editor Alex Cranz and deputy editor Dan Seifert, discusses all the announcements from Apple’s Peek Performance event this week — including an updated iPhone SE with 5G, the new Mac Studio desktop computer, an iPad Air with an M1 processor, and the 27-inch 5K Studio Display monitor.Keep listening for an explainer on the state of 5G in phones like the iPhone SE, a rundown of specs (and ports) in the Mac Studio, and of course, some wild theories about the future of computers.... Continue reading…

Image: Apple The new iPad Air with the M1 processor was just announced three days ago at Apple’s Peek Performance event (preorders went live this morning), but Walmart already has a stellar deal. The retailer has the 64GB Wi-Fi model of the new iPad Air in select colors for $559, a savings of $40 compared to Apple’s price.If you need more storage, the 256GB Wi-Fi model has an even bigger discount of $70, dropping the price to $679 from its normal price of $749. This is not the first time we have seen Walmart come in hot with discounts on a new iPad preorder, but if past occasions are anything to go by, it may not last long.The scheduled shipping date of the new iPad directly from Apple is March 18th, but these discounted preorders have a slightly... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If you own Microsoft’s dual-screen Surface Duo device and you’re feeling a little experimental this weekend, you can now install Windows 11 on it. Engineering student Gustave Monce has been working on getting Windows 11 on the Surface Duo for months, and he’s now posted a guide to dual-boot Windows and Android on the original Surface Duo.Neowin notes that you’ll need a 128GB variant of the Surface Duo, and you’ll be effectively installing Windows 11 on ARM alongside the original install of Android. If you’re hoping to use Windows 11 as your daily driver, be prepared for almost nothing to work, though. While Windows 11 boots on the Surface Duo, touch controls, networking, cellular data, and the cameras are all non-functional. This... Continue reading…

The Echo Show 5 is ideal for a bedside nightstand. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge It’s Friday, so it’s nearly time to put this busy week in the books. We hope you have a chance for some rest and relaxation this upcoming weekend, and we’ve got a couple deals for you that may help.First off, you can give your bedside nightstand an upgrade with a second-gen Amazon Echo Show 5 for $54.99 at Amazon or Best Buy. It’s just $10 away from its all-time low price, but it’s $30 cheaper than the regular price of $84.99. This little smart display with a 5.5-inch screen can go anywhere around the house (so long as there’s a power plug nearby), but the ideal spot is near your bed where it can show and tell you the weather or news right as you wake up. It’s also a key part of any Alexa-infused smart home setup, because what’s better... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge Brandon Silverman knows more about how stories spread on Facebook than almost anyone. As co-founder and CEO of CrowdTangle, he helped to build systems that instantly understood which stories were going viral: valuable knowledge for publishers at a time when Facebook and other social networks accounted for a huge portion of their traffic. It was so valuable, in fact, that in 2016 Facebook bought the company, saying it would help the institutions of journalism identify stories of interest to help their own coverage plans.But a funny thing happened along the way to CrowdTangle becoming just another tool in a publisher’s analytics toolkit. Facebook’s value to publishers declined after the company decided to de-emphasize news posts in 2018,... Continue reading…

CNN Plus will debut March 29th | CNN/Warner Media CNN Plus, the streaming platform from the cable news giant, will debut in the US on March 29th, the company said Friday in a news release. For early subscribers — those who sign up in the first four weeks of its launch— the service will cost $2.99 per month, and they’ll lock in that price for as long as they subscribe. The standard price will be $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year.CNN unveiled plans for its streaming service last July and has announced programming that includes daily versions of weekly CNN shows, all-new shows, and original series and movies. Subscribers will also have access to CNN’s library of content. The company has said it will continue to have a single CNN app, with a section for CNN Plus subscribers to access the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Lyssa Park / The Verge Mel Martinez’s dad had an unusual (and very much unofficial) title in the Air Force: stitch bitch. Decades later, that title — given to the many men whose duties included sewing — has now become something of a rallying cry for queer sewists like Martinez, who put gender affirmation at the center of their creations. Martinez and many others are updating their craft to subvert status quo designs that don’t quite fit, building, instead, a world of underwear, lingerie, and intimates in which everybody (and body) is welcome.“I have always been really particular about the way clothes fit; I have very sensitive skin and some skin allergies and some sensory stuff,” says Martinez, who uses both they and she pronouns. In the realm of underwear,... Continue reading…

Green phones are having a moment. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge “So, is there some kind of promotional tie-in?” My husband was searching for answers. “No. They’re just green phones.” This was not a satisfying answer, so he continued.“Is it an environmental thing? Like are they made out of recycled plastic or something?”Also no, I informed him. They’re just regular phones, but green.“Oh, I bet it’s for St. Patty’s Day!” It also seemed unlikely that Apple would time the release of a new phone color for what is more or less an unofficial binge drinking holiday in this country, but I conceded that it was possible, given the mid-March timing.Earlier this week, Apple announced some really interesting new hardware, including a new desktop for creatives and a display that doesn’t cost a fortune. It also... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Creators are making their own IRL cards based on Inscryption’s deck-building video game Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Russian officials have called on Instagram to be banned and for parent company Meta to be designated an “extremist organization,” according to Russian news agency Interfax and state-owned news agency TASS.As reported by Interfax, Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office says it has filed a petition “to recognize Meta Platforms Inc. as an extremist organization and ban its activities on the territory of the Russian Federation.”Separately, TASS reports that the head of the Duma’s Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein, has called on Instagram to be banned if reports that Meta adjusted its moderation policies to allow users to call for violence against Russian soldiers are true. State communications agency Roskomnadzor also i... Continue reading…

The new iPad Air comes in five colorways, including a new shade of blue. | Image: Apple As expected, preorders have officially opened up for the newest iPad to hit Apple’s lineup: the 2022 iPad Air. Announced alongside the new iPhone SE and Mac Studio during the company’s “Peek Performance” event on March 8th, the new base model starts at $599 and will be available beginning March 18th. You can, however, preorder the iPad Air starting today, March 11th, from Apple, Best Buy, B&H Photo, and a handful of other retailers.The iPad Air boasts the same M1 chip found in the latest iPad Pro, as well as 5G connectivity and a USB-C port that allows for faster data transfer speeds. Apple says its eight-core CPU is up to 60 percent faster than the A14 Bionic processor in the 2020 iPad Air, too, and its eight-core GPU should provide... Continue reading…

Ezra Miller as The Flash. | Image: Warner Bros. Warner Bros. has done a big reshuffle of its upcoming film slate in a move that sees both The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom delayed to 2023. The Flash is now due to release on June 23, 2022 (over seven months later than its original November 4th opening date) marking the first time Ezra Miller will play the character in a title role, while the Aquaman sequel will open on March 17th, 2023, three months later than its previously planned December 16th release date, Variety reports.Variety notes that pandemic-related production delays are to blame for both films being pushed back. But the delay is just the latest of many to have hit The Flash, which at one time Warner Bros. had hoped to release way back in 2018. The overlapping... Continue reading…

At its “Peek Performance” hardware event, Apple announced the third-generation iPhone SE. It’s similar in many ways to the 2020 version, with a 4.7-inch screen that’s surrounded on top and bottom by thick bezels. Notably, it’s still the only iPhone that Apple sells with Touch ID biometrics. But it has received three big enhancements since the last-gen phone, and you can probably guess one of them from the name: 5G, claims of better battery life than the previous SE, and Apple’s modern A15 Bionic processor that’s in the iPhone 13.We’ll have a full review of the phone on the site soon. But if you’ve arrived at this page, it’s because you want to know how much the iPhone SE with 5G is going to cost, when you can get it, and whether... Continue reading…

The 4-channel Razer Audio Mixer. | Image: Razer Razer’s trio of new products are aimed at making you sound and look your streaming best. While you’re at a desk, Razer’s $249.99 Audio Mixer offers four channels of audio control along with a variety of audio processing options, and the new $299 Key Light Chroma will keep you lit during streams. But if you’re looking for something more mobile and portable, then Razer is also launching a $99 Seiren Bluetooth lapel mic for on-the-go vlogging.The Audio Mixer offers an all-in-one interface for controlling audio during broadcasts, and competes with the likes of TC Helicon’s GoXLR. The bulk of its interface is taken up with four sliders, each controlling one audio channel, which allow you to set the relative volumes of your microphone with... Continue reading…

The top line of the advert placed in the Friday edition of the Dallas Morning News. Google, Apple, and Meta are among more than 60 companies asking Texas governor Greg Abbott to abandon recent legislation that defines gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender minors as “child abuse.”In a full-page advertisement published in the Friday edition of the Dallas Morning News, the companies call on leaders in Texas to “abandon efforts to write discrimination into law.”“This policy creates fear for employees and their families, especially those with transgender children, who might now be faced with choosing to provide the best possible medical care for their children but risk having those children removed by child protective services for doing so,” states the ad. “It’s not just wrong, it has an impact on our... Continue reading…

WhatsApp says its web interface is growing increasingly popular. | Image: Meta Code Verify is a new browser extension from WhatsApp parent company Meta that aims to improve the security of WhatsApp’s web version, the company has announced. The extension works by verifying that the contents of WhatsApp’s web version haven’t been tampered with. The aim is to make it a lot more difficult for a would-be attacker to compromise data or the privacy of WhatsApp’s end-to-end encrypted messages when using the browser-based version of the service.The extension follows the launch of WhatsApp’s multi-device beta last year. This aims to make using the messaging service from devices other than your primary phone easier and more seamless. Since the feature’s launch, WhatsApp says it’s seen an increase in people accessing its... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google and Meta are being investigated by antitrust regulators in the EU and UK over “Jedi Blue” — a deal between the two firms that critics say allowed them to block smaller tech companies from gaining a foothold in the online ad market.In a press statement, the European Commission said it was concerned that the September 2018 agreement “may form part of efforts to exclude ad tech services competing with Google’s Open Bidding programme, and therefore restrict or distort competition in markets for online display advertising.” It’s therefore opening a formal antitrust investigation.The UK’s Competition Market Authority said it was also investigating the deal, with CMA chief Andrea Coscelli stating: “We’re concerned that Google may... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook and Instagram have instituted a temporary change in policy that allows users in some countries to post content that’s usually forbidden, including calls for harm or even the death of Russian soldiers or politicians. The change first surfaced in a report by Reuters, citing internal emails to moderators. In them, the outlet reports mods are told that calls for the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will be allowed, as long as they don’t contain threats toward others or “indicators of credibility” like saying where or how the act will take place.In a statement sent to The Verge, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said, “As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily... Continue reading…

Image: Google, The Android Show After seemingly forgetting that Android tablets existed for a while, Google is suddenly very invested in the market. Android 12L is in development to support larger-screened devices, and one of the platform’s co-founders, Rich Miner, has rejoined the team with the title “CTO of Android tablets.” Now, speaking to developers during an episode of Google’s The Android Show, Miner explained the opportunity the company is seeing (via 9to5Google).Miner references the introduction of Android tablets in 2011 and how apps like media players scaled to fit them easily without much investment, but then growth “kind of stagnated.” Now, he cites data showing growth took off pre-COVID in late 2019 and has continued to rise, with more keyboard... Continue reading…

The FLEX rover prototype | Image: Venturi Astrolab Today, aerospace startup Venturi Astrolab revealed its new interplanetary rover designed to transport cargo and people across the surface of the Moon — and eventually Mars. The company says it plans to build a fleet of these rovers over the coming decade to help NASA and commercial companies establish a long-term presence on the Moon.Called FLEX, for Flexible Logistics and Exploration, the rover can crouch down and lift payloads up from the surface of the Moon, carrying them under its belly before depositing them at their intended location. With its “modular payload concept,” it can carry many different types of objects, so long as they are built to an agreed-upon standard of size and shape. In keeping with its name FLEX, the rover can... Continue reading…

Prepaid customers will have to shell out $100 for the 5G gateway. | Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge T-Mobile has announced a new plan for its 5G home internet service, which won’t require applicants to undergo a credit check. The prepaid service will carry T-Mobile’s Metro branding, and customers will be able to sign up for it at Metro retail locations. This brings a prepaid option to T-Mobile’s $50 a month service, which doesn’t have any data caps or contracts, which could be appealing to users who don’t have great internet options available from traditional ISPs.It’s good to see that T-Mobile is offering an option that doesn’t require credit approval (especially given the state of credit reporting in the US). However, there are a few significant gotchas worth noting if you’re looking into the service. With the postpaid non-Metro... Continue reading…

Warzone is coming to mobile phones. | Image: Activision Activision is bringing its hit battle royale shooter Call of Duty: Warzone to mobile phones, the company announced Thursday. “We are creating an all-new, AAA mobile experience that will bring the thrilling, fluid and large-scale action of Call of Duty: Warzone to players on the go,” Activision said in a post on its website.According to the post, this mobile Warzone will be a “large-scale, battle royale experience” that’s built “natively for mobile with cutting-edge technology designed to entertain gamers around the world for many years to come.” However, it seems as if the game is still early in development, as the post advertises several job openings and doesn’t include screenshots, video, or even an estimated release timeframe.... Continue reading…

Grimes and Elon in 2018 | Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Huffington Post Sometimes journalists get lucky and discover information while reporting a story that they did not expect to find — a document or report, maybe even evidence of prior misdeeds. But I can’t recall ever reading a feature where the reporter discovers a previously undisclosed baby, as Devin Gordon did in his Vanity Fair profile of the singer Grimes, the former partner (she says they have split again but remain friends) of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. The two welcomed their first child — a son who they gave an unusual name — in May 2020.But as far as the general public was aware, the couple only had the one child. Gordon soon discovers otherwise. As he’s interviewing Grimes in her new home, he thinks he hears crying but brushes it off.... Continue reading…

The sun sets over the horizon highlighting the electricity pylons of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia Region, southeastern Ukraine, July 9, 2019. | Photo credit should read Dmytro Smolyenko/Future Publishing via Getty Images Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is increasingly threatening the vital connections between Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and the electric grid. The nuclear sites rely on outside electricity to keep critical safety systems running — but those links are fraying as reports come in about power lines damaged during the conflict.Fuel at nuclear sites generates tremendous heat. Without cooling systems, which typically rely on an external power source to run, that fuel could melt down and catastrophically release radioactive materials. There are several layers of backup systems that would need to fail for such a worst-case scenario to go down. But fighting and power losses in Ukraine have experts increasingly worried about the country’s nuclear... Continue reading…