The Verge

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge There are a smattering of deals happening across the web. Some products we’ve covered are seeing some of the lowest prices yet. Like an 11.5-inch tablet with an OLED screen. For a limited time, Lenovo is discounting its Tab P11 Pro tablet that has a vivid OLED screen from its usual $500 price down to just $310 through Lenovo’s official eBay page. This is the base model that has 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.My colleague Dan Seifert mentioned in the review of this product that this tablet is great for watching movies on, with its display and quad speakers packing a punch. This model is set to receive Android 11 in October 2021, and it will receive security updates through late 2023, according to Lenovo. Read our review.It’s also a... Continue reading…

Citizen The crime-tracking app Citizen is now launching its own emergency response service, promising access to agents who can call 911 or keep tabs on a potentially dangerous situation. Protect, which costs $19.99 per month, builds on a beta program that launched earlier this year. It’s part of a larger — and sometimes controversial — expansion effort at the startup, which has built a crime-mapping system into a live broadcasting platform while experimenting with private security services.Citizen Protect is essentially a private safety help line that draws on smartphone features like location tracking. When subscribers open the Citizen app, they can hit a button to call a “Protect Agent” via video, audio, or text. Agents are supposed to talk... Continue reading…

Illustration by Ari Liloan for The Verge Facebook groups have become a gray market for the country’s weed dealers Continue reading…

Boeing’s Starliner capsule sits atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket | NASA/Kim Shiflett Boeing is set to launch its Starliner astronaut capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) as soon as Wednesday, more than a year and a half after its first orbital Starliner test failed to reach the station and returned home earlier than planned. The mission is a test, and there won’t be any humans on board. Originally slated to launch on July 30th, Boeing and NASA have delayed the launch date twice so far, the first delay due to a mishap at the International Space Station and the second due to an issue that Boeing has yet to clarify.If all goes well, it’ll mark a crucial step toward Boeing and NASA’s goal to use Starliner for routine astronaut missions, and a key chance to salvage the aerospace giant’s reputation after years of... Continue reading…

Image: Amazon Amazon and Best Buy are continuing on with their TV partnership that started three years ago. Today, the companies announced new Insignia and Toshiba TVs that run Amazon’s Fire TV software. The latest F50 series improves on previous “Fire TV Edition” sets — Amazon is just calling them “Fire TVs” now — with expanded quantum dot HDR color for a more vivid picture. The new models also feature slimmer bezels, DTS Virtual-X audio from the built-in speakers, and continue to support Dolby Vision HDR.Pricing will start at $599.99 for a 50-inch model, and the F50 series tops out at 70 inches.Between different models and screen sizes (ranging from 24 inches to 75 inches) sold in the US and Canada, there are now over 80 Insignia and Toshiba Fire... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In the last week or so, we’ve learned about the state of California filing a lawsuit against Blizzard citing numerous stories of sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination at the company. The revelations have been followed by even more stories of unacceptable behavior by leaders of the company, and now the president of Blizzard (who was named in the lawsuit) is leaving the company “to pursue new opportunities.”Employees were informed of J. Allen Brack’s departure this morning, and an announcement from Activision Blizzard says that former Vicarious Visions leader Jen Oneal and former Xbox executive Mike Ybarra are now co-leaders of the developer. A note on Blizzard.com says the two “are deeply committed to all of our employees; to... Continue reading…

As The Verge reported last week, Realme is working on a magnetic wireless charging system for its Android phones, and today it’s revealed a full range of products that’ll use the new technology. Realme is calling the system MagDart, and it’s basically a high-powered take on Apple’s MagSafe system for the iPhone 12 range of phones.The key product in the lineup is the 50W MagDart charger, which Realme says is the world’s fastest magnetic wireless charger. It has an inescapably bulky cuboid design that makes room for a cooling fan, but Realme is banking that users will make the tradeoff for faster charging speeds.When plugged into the company’s 65W SuperDart wired charger, Realme claims that the MagDart charger will fill a 4,500mAh phone... Continue reading…

Twitter’s added context for content on its platform. | Image: Twitter Twitter is working with news agencies the Associated Press and Reuters to more proactively combat misinformation on its platform, the company has announced. The platform’s internal teams already work to explain and add context to Twitter content, but it says the two news agencies will help provide more authoritative information, especially when facts are in dispute.In particular, Twitter says it wants to be more proactive about providing accurate information on topics as they develop, before misinformation emerges. “Rather than waiting until something goes viral, Twitter will contextualize developing discourse at pace with or in anticipation of the public conversation,” the platform says. Reuters and the Associated Press will also... Continue reading…

The X34 1440p monitor sits in the middle of the fleet of new models. | HP HP has gone on a tear and announced seven new gaming monitors in its X lineup, featuring a range of sizes, panel types, and resolutions, as well as some that are curved or flat-screened. It seems like HP is aiming to deliver a flurry of options that have a high refresh rate, low response time, competent design, and crucially, competitive prices. HP is staggering this launch over the next few months, with availability starting now for some of its monitors and continuing through October.To being with, there’s HP’s X27, which is available now and comes in a 1080p version for $259.99 or a 1440p variant called the X27q that costs $339.99. Both are IPS panels with a 165Hz refresh rate and a 1ms response time.Resolution differences aside,... Continue reading…

Amazon’s delivery drones have gone through many iterations, including the design above. | Image: Amazon A new report from Wired into Amazon’s drone delivery program in the UK says the operation has lost over 100 employees, with insiders saying the project is “collapsing inwards.”Citing testimony from former employees, Wired describes a culture of managerial dysfunction and overwork. In February 2020, for example, Amazon reportedly shut down a team of dozens in the UK dedicated to analyzing drone footage to identify humans and animals, only to re-open the unit months later. Other stories cited in the report include the fast turnover of senior staff, an employee drinking beer at their desk in the morning, and another “pinning down the ‘approve’ button on their computer so that all the frames of footage were being approved irrelevant of... Continue reading…

The Xiaomi Mi 11 offers similar features to Samsung’s S21 ultra for much less money. | Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is continuing to post solid growth. After overtaking Apple as the number two smartphone vendor in the world in the second quarter of 2021, it’s now become the top seller in Europe for the first time, according to new figures from Strategy Analytics.Xiaomi overtook Samsung to take the top spot in Europe, with 12.7 million phones shipped in Q2, up 67.1 percent year-on-year. Samsung’s shipments fell 7 percent in that same period to 12 million units, though the Korean company remains the world’s biggest phone vendor.Overall smartphone shipments in Europe increased in 2021 thanks to post-COVID recovery, say Strategy Analytics’ researchers, with Apple also showing decent growth. The iPhone maker was up 15.7... Continue reading…

Amazon One identifies unique patterns in your palm to confirm payments in Amazon stores. | Image: Amazon Amazon is offering $10 in credit if you enroll your biometric data in the company’s palm print recognition system, Amazon One. The promotion, spotted by TechCrunch, says people must connect their palm print to their Amazon account to claim the reward, though it’s not clear exactly where it’s available.Amazon launched Amazon One in September last year, presenting it as an easy way to pay in the company’s stores, as well as a future identity service to be used by other venues and businesses. Users simply position their hand over the company’s scanners, which recognize their unique palm print based on its patterns of lines, ridges, and veins. This information can be used to verify payments in stores, but also in lieu of entrance tickets... Continue reading…

Not everything needs Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Case in point is Amazon’s new Smart Soap Dispenser, the latest let’s-stick-a-chip-in-it replacement for ordinary objects. And because it’s made by Amazon, it’s design to be paired with an Echo speaker to run Alexa routines.Why? Well, according to Amazon, it’s to “automatically play songs, jokes, and more when you wash.”The 12oz liquid soap dispenser is fitted with 2.4GHz (only) 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and features an LED timer around the top that reminds you to keep scrubbing until the CDC-recommended minimum wash time of 20 seconds has elapsed. The rechargeable battery is said to last three months on a single charge.A feature available on touchless soap dispensers that cost a lot lessOne useful... Continue reading…

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates in 2019. | Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates filed for divorce on May 3rd after 27 years of marriage. Now, three months later, the separation of one of the world’s richest, most powerful couples has been finalized by a judge in King County, Washington.Court records show that neither party will change their name or receive “spousal support,” report CNN and Bloomberg, but exactly how the Gates’ immense fortune will be divided is unclear. Washington is a community property state, which means all assets accumulated during a marriage must be divided equally in the event of a divorce. But the Gates’ split is being carried out under the aegis of a separation contract, details of which are unknown.Bill Gates is currently the fourth richest man in the... Continue reading…

‘Unlimited skips and on-demand listening’ for $0.99 a month. | Screenshot: Spotify Spotify Plus is a new low-cost subscription tier being piloted by the streaming service which combines elements of its existing free and premium tiers. The plan still features ads like Spotify’s free tier, but it doesn’t impose any limits on the number of tracks you can skip per hour. Users are also free to pick which specific songs they want to listen to, rather than mostly being limited to shuffling within albums and playlists.At least one user has seen Spotify Plus being advertised at $0.99 a month (a tenth of the cost of its standard $9.99 premium tier), but it’s understood that Spotify’s test involves offering the new plan randomly at a variety of price points to gauge user interest.Spotify’s free tier has existed in its current... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge An initial assessment from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has recommended workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama hold a new election to determine whether to unionize with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). The recommendation comes from the hearing officer assigned to the case and is only a preliminary ruling, but still hands the union a surprising win in a fight that many in the labor movement had considered lost.In April, workers at Amazon’s fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama voted not to unionize by a margin of more than 2-to-1. But in the aftermath of the result, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) alleged that Amazon had illegally influenced the drive and... Continue reading…

Pearson Pearson, the largest publisher of college textbooks in the US, has announced Pearson Plus, a new subscription service for digital textbooks. The Pearson Plus app, available in both mobile and desktop form, will be available on US college campuses this fall and is expected to roll out globally in the future.There are two subscription tiers. Enrolled students can pay $9.99 per month to access one textbook at a time or $14.99 per month for access to the company’s full library (a selection of over 1,500 e-books). The app provides various other study aids as well, including flashcards, annotations, and customizable fonts.The Pearson Plus app will be available on US college campuses this fallCollege textbooks are a big expense, and can... Continue reading…

Vizio’s free streaming service WatchFree Plus. | Image: Vizio Vizio has revamped its WatchFree streaming experience, given it a brand new look, and tacked a “plus” on the end of its service’s title. (Because if a streaming service doesn’t include the symbol, does it even really count?)With the update announced today, the service formerly known as WatchFree is getting new navigation features to improve search and discovery of free content with recommendations that cater to a viewer’s individual interest. Plus, its live programming guide now offers hundreds of free channels across a surprisingly comprehensive number of genres — everything from comedy and sports to a lengthy list of entertainment channels. Image: Vizio Vizio’s revamped WatchFree Plus service. In addition,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook announced on Monday that all employees will be required to wear masks when offices reopen. The policy goes into effect on August 3rd and will remain in place until further notice. The company confirmed last week that it’s requiring COVID-19 vaccination for all employees returning to work at its US campuses, which it plans to fully reopen by October.“Given the rising numbers of COVID cases, the newest data on COVID variants, and an increasing number of local requirements, we are reinstating our mask requirement in all of Facebook’s US offices, regardless of an employee’s vaccination status,” said a Facebook spokesperson.Facebook’s update happened the same day health officials in the Bay Area announced the reinstatement of i... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Today Microsoft opened availability for Windows 365, the cloud PC setup that lets businesses stream Windows 10 or Windows 11 via a web browser. As described earlier this spring, it’s one way for businesses to support hybrid and remote work, with an instant-on PC experience that can work across different devices.After it was announced, Microsoft revealed one pricing option of $31 per month, per user to access a cloud PC instance with the equivalent of two CPUs, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. Now that it’s available, the complete Windows 365 pricing page reveals more packages, ready for business (300 seats or less), or enterprise-level subscriptions. Image: Microsoft.com Windows 365 pricing options The... Continue reading…

Govee’s Immersion TV LED backlights can elevate your TV watching experience by syncing its lights to what’s on your 55-inch or 65-inch screen. The effect makes it look like the colors bleed through the bezels of your TV, out onto your walls. It’s not the only product that can do this, but it’s far less expensive than most at $80. For a limited time, Govee is knocking $5 off that price to sweeten the deal a little more. You can get this product for $75 if you check the $5 “extra savings coupon” listed underneath the price on the product page. Read our review.Best Buy has been a reliable source for deals on Apple’s iPhone cases that rarely see much in the way of discounts. It launched another batch of price cuts today, focusing on cases... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Libertarians built a Bitcoin economy in a small New Hampshire town — then feds tore it down Continue reading…

Photo: For Colored Nerds hosts Eric Eddings and Brittany Luse | SiriusXM/Stitcher The co-hosts of The Nod are back, and this time, they’ve separated from Gimlet Media and Spotify and are instead taking their work to SiriusXM’s Stitcher. Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings tell The Verge today that they’re relaunching their Black culture show For Colored Nerds this fall, which they created, hosted, and produced prior to working at Gimlet. The podcast will be available widely and isn’t exclusive to one platform.Stitcher will produce the show along with them, and SXM Media will exclusively sell ads for it. The co-hosts last published a For Colored Nerds episode in 2017, but the same feed will be revived for the comeback.Notably, Eddings and Luse retain total control over their show — they own the audio masters, the feed,... Continue reading…

Premium Lite offers ad-free viewing at a lower price. | Screenshot: YouTube Google is piloting a more affordable premium subscription tier for YouTube that offers ad-free viewing without YouTube Premium’s other features like offline downloads or background playback. The new “Premium Lite” plan was spotted by a user on ResetEra, and YouTube subsequently confirmed the test offering in a statement given to The Verge. Premium Lite is currently being tested in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.“In Nordics and Benelux (except for Iceland), we’re testing a new offering to give users even more choice: Premium Lite costs €6.99/month (or local equivalent per month) and it includes ad-free videos on YouTube,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. In comparison, YouTube’s... Continue reading…

The door that may lead to Super Nintendo World’s Donkey Kong-themed area. | Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Super Nintendo World, the Super Mario-themed area of Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, finally opened back in March after multiple delays, and Nintendo may already be working on expanding the park. As noted by VGC, social media posts from recent visitors to USJ have shown cranes, scaffolding, and a jungle-themed backdrop around Super Nintendo World, suggesting work is underway on the rumored Donkey Kong area.Neither Nintendo nor Universal have ever announced the Donkey Kong plans, but they’ve been rumored for many years. Leaked early concept imagery for Super Nintendo World included plans for a separate Donkey Kong-themed zone, including a mine cart-style roller coaster. Upon opening, Super Nintendo World was solely Mario-themed, but... Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge If you still have a device running Android 2.3.7 (the final version of Gingerbread) or older, Google won’t let you sign in to your Google account on that device starting September 27th, according to a support document (via Liliputing).“As part of our ongoing efforts to keep our users safe, Google will no longer allow sign-in on Android devices that run Android 2.3.7 or lower starting September 27, 2021,” the company says. “If you sign into your device after September 27, you may get username or password errors when you try to use Google products and services like Gmail, YouTube, and Maps.”Android 2.3.7 was released nearly 10 years agoTo give you an idea of just how old a device will be affected by this change, Android 2.3.7 was... Continue reading…

Somebody using a Square product on their phone. | Image: Square Square plans to acquire Australian company Afterpay, which offers a “buy now, pay later” service that lets you pay for purchases in installments interest-free, for $29 billion in stock, the two companies announced Sunday. It’s the latest big move for Square, which has also announced a Bitcoin business unit and that it bought a majority stake in the Tidal streaming service this year.“Buy now, pay later” services like those offered by Afterpay, Affirm, and Klarna have become increasingly prevalent across the web. And Square may not be the only payments giant jumping into the ring, as Apple is reportedly working on a similar service of its own that’s internally called “Apple Pay Later.”The transaction is expected to close in the first... Continue reading…

Photos of the rumored Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. | Image: 91mobiles We’re a little over a week away from Samsung’s next Unpacked event, but new photos from 91mobiles may have revealed our first in-person look at two things we could see at the show: the rumored Galaxy Watch 4 Classic and the new smartwatch OS from Samsung and Google.The two photos from 91moblies show off black and silver watches with rounded bezels, matching a design seen in leaked renders from Android Headlines and detailed GIFs posted by noted leaker Evan Blass in July. Perhaps more significantly, the photos show the new smartwatch OS (currently referred to as Wear) on actual devices for the first time. But disappointingly, there isn’t much to see — just an initial setup screen and a screen asking the user to set the time.Google and... Continue reading…

Image: Epic Games Last week, Epic Games teased that a “record-breaking superstar” would be performing in Fortnite’s upcoming Rift Tour concert series, and now we know that the mystery performer is none other than Ariana Grande.The five-show concert series kicks off August 6th at 6PM ET, and shows will run through August 8th. (You can find the full schedule here.) Epic recommends being ready in-game 60 minutes before any of the performances so that you can jump into the Rift Tour playlist when it goes live 30 minutes ahead of showtime. Fortnite events have filled up in the past — I personally missed Fortnite’s “The Device” event in-game because I signed on too late — so I’d recommend showing up early to the Rift Tour shows just in case.

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in Disney’s Jungle Cruise. | Image: Disney Disney’s Jungle Cruise debuted in theaters and as a Disney Plus Premier Access title this weekend, and early revenue totals from the entertainment giant show that streaming accounted for a third of the film’s revenues, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Sunday’s Jungle Cruise numbers mark the second time Disney has released figures for a movie offered as part of the Premier Access program, which lets Disney Plus subscribers pay $30 to stream certain films the same day they hit theaters.Jungle Cruise’s $30 million is half of the $60 million Black Widow earned on Disney Plus over the same period following its early July debut, but Jungle Cruise’s Disney Plus revenue represented a bigger slice of the total revenue pie than streaming did... Continue reading…

Illustration by Ari Liloan for The Verge To combat online polarization, Polemix aims to make young people ‘listen to the outside’ Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Earlier this week during Apple’s earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said that the iPad had experienced its most successful June quarter in nearly a decade. And now IDC is out with its latest worldwide shipment figures that underline Apple’s commanding lead over the tablet competition. After refreshing the iPad Air in 2020 and launching an upgraded iPad Pro earlier this year, Apple is next expected to update the iPad Mini.IDC estimates that Apple shipped 12.9 million iPads in the second quarter. Its nearest competition is Samsung, which hit 8 million shipments. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7 tablets offer fantastic hardware and punchy OLED screens, but they remain hamstrung by Android’s less-than-stellar selection of tablet apps. Lenovo, which... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google has recently been selling a combo-package of the Stadia Controller and 2020 Chromecast as a limited-time promotion. But as spotted by 9to5Google, the company has now made the pair a permanent bundle that it’s calling the “play and watch” package.For $99.99, you get both the controller and streaming dongle. That’s a savings of $19 compared to buying both products separately. Google is also promoting the Chromecast ethernet adapter as a recommended accessory; if you want the absolute best Stadia experience, it’s probably a smart buy — and it’s a mere $9.99 ($10 off) when purchased alongside the bundle.In an effort to clear out inventory of the old, puck-shaped Chromecast Ultra, Google is discounting its Stadia Premiere Edition... Continue reading…

Photo by Bernd Muller/Redferns The official video for Rick Astley’s 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up” has surpassed 1 billion plays on YouTube. The song became a lasting part of internet culture thanks to the Rickroll meme and reached the impressive milestone a couple days ago. Astley took to the video’s comments to share his gratitude, saying “amazing, crazy, wonderful!” In a video posted to Instagram, he added “the world is a wonderful and beautiful place, and I am very lucky.”With some songs having crossed as many as 7 billion views in recent years, the 1 billion club isn’t quite as prestigious as it once was. But the achievement goes to show the staying power of the Rickroll prank. The video hit daily views of 2.3 million on April Fools Day, according to B... Continue reading…

Nanoleaf’s canvas light panels are easy to set up and can display more than 16 million colors. | Image: Nanoleaf If you like your lighting to be on the adventurous side, rest assured that Nanoleaf’s canvas light panels aren’t made to be subtle. The touch-sensitive squares are flashy and versatile, with the ability to display more than 16 million colors and a modular design that lets you place them in a variety of patterns. The bright LED panels also work with all the major smart home platforms, and can cycle through a number of preset colors or respond to sound when in “Rhythm Mode,” a feature that’s just as suited for the ambient noise outside your bedroom as your favorite record. Right now, Costco members can purchase Nanoleaf’s Canvas Light Panel smarter pack with nine panels and everything needed to get started for $150, one of the better... Continue reading…

Image: Telegram Telegram has announced the latest new features and improvements making their way to the popular messaging app. Video is the focus this time around. After launching group video calls last month, those sessions are now able to tally up to 1,000 viewers. The maximum number of people able to participate and broadcast to the video call remains at 30, but you can have quite the audience now for “anything from online lectures to live rap battles,” according to the company.Video messages will also now come through at a higher resolution, and you can tap them for a larger view of the clip. When recording your own video messages, Telegram says that audio from your device will now keep playing as you do so, “so you can now sing along to your... Continue reading…

Illustration by Ari Liloan for The Verge Digital fan clubs are turning into single-purpose social networks Continue reading…

If you’re invested in the story of Master Chief, Cortana, and the fate of the Halo universe, you might want to keep your head down and start muting some keywords on social media until Halo Infinite arrives later this year — because vast spoilers for the game’s entire story are now floating around on the internet.Note: we’ll be keeping this post spoiler-free, though.Halo Infinite creative director Joseph Staten confirmed on Twitter that Microsoft accidentally leaked “a small number of Halo Infinite campaign files” when it launched the game’s first multiplayer beta yesterday on July 29th, saying they “can ruin the campaign experience for everyone.”

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge More disturbing allegations of Activision Blizzard’s reported culture of sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination have been reported in recent days, following a huge lawsuit filed against the company by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) last week.Details in these stories may be challenging to read, so we are prefacing them with a content warning for descriptions of sexual harassment.On Thursday, The New York Times posted a story of extremely distressing accounts of Activision Blizzard’s culture. Here is one from Shay Stein, a former customer service employee:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is holding a competition in hopes that hackers and researchers will be able to identify biases in its image cropping algorithm — and it’s going to be handing out cash prizes to winning teams (via Engadget). Twitter is hoping that giving teams access to its code and image cropping model will let them find ways that the algorithm could be harmful (such as it cropping in a way that stereotypes or erases the image’s subject).Those competing will have to submit a description of their findings, and a dataset that can be run through the algorithm to demonstrate the issue. Twitter will then assign points based on what kind of harms are found, how much it could potentially affect people, and more.The winning team will be awarded... Continue reading…

Decentralized social network Mastodon now has an official iPhone app. The nonprofit behind Mastodon launched the app on iOS today, supplementing an existing web version and several third-party apps for iOS, Android, and other platforms. The app is free and offers a similar feature set to Mastodon’s core service, although it doesn’t include Mastodon’s broad local and federated timelines.Mastodon describes the app as particularly geared toward getting new users on board the nontraditional social platform. As we’ve outlined before, Mastodon looks similar to Twitter but is built around independently run communities (and the ActivityPub protocol) rather than a single central network. You can create your account on a community of your choice... Continue reading…

A rendering of what the “Victorian Big Battery” will look like when completed. | Image: Neoen A Tesla Megapack caught fire today during initial testing of a highly anticipated new utility-scale battery in Victoria, Australia. Luckily, there were no injuries or disruptions to the local electricity supply, CNBC reports. The blaze posed no risk of spreading to the nearby community, according to Bloomberg, but it did trigger a toxic smoke warning for residents who were told to stay indoors, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The cause of the fire is still unclear.

Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.This week on The Vergecast, Nilay and Dieter bring back Verge managing editor Alex Cranz and Verge news editor Chaim Gartenberg to chat about the headlines.It’s earnings week once again. Unsurprisingly, all of the big tech companies made a lot of money this past quarter. Our podcast crew dives into the numbers behind the profits of Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Amazon, and Apple and what it means for each business’s future goals.The show also dedicates some time to discuss Intel’s business. Chaim leads the discussion after writing a... Continue reading…

Smoke rises over the mountains in Lytton, as firefighters battle the fires in British Columbia, July 6, 2021. | Photo by Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images The devastating heatwave that struck the Northwest US and southwest Canada in June was “the most extreme summer heatwave” ever recorded in North America, according to a new analysis from nonprofit research group Berkeley Earth. That’s based on the magnitude of the heatwave, or how much warmer it was than normal. Record temperatures in the region reached roughly 20 degrees Celsius (or 36 °F) hotter than average in June.Canada recorded its hottest temperature ever on June 29th when the village of Lytton in British Columbia reached an astonishing 49.6 degrees Celsius (121 degrees Fahrenheit). Typical temperatures there in June are closer to 20 to 30 degrees Celsius (68 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit).The consequences of that heat are... Continue reading…

The ridiculous sounds of social sites Continue reading…

Photo By: Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images Elon Musk has had a busy Friday on Twitter. After flatly denying that he has ever spoken to Apple CEO Tim Cook in response to a wild story alleging he demanded to take over as the company’s CEO as part of an acquisition offer, Musk has now tweeted his support of Epic Games’ fight against Apple over App Store policies.“Apple app store fees are a de facto global tax on the Internet,” he said. “Epic is right.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly demanded to become Apple’s CEO in a 2016 phone call with current Apple CEO Tim Cook, according to an upcoming book about Tesla. The story, shared by the Los Angeles Times, comes from Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century by The Wall Street Journal reporter Tim Higgins.As the book tells it, Cook suggested to Musk that Apple acquire Tesla, and Musk said he wanted to be CEO. Cook reportedly agreed, but Musk clarified that he wanted to be the CEO of Apple. “According to a former aide who heard (Musk’s) retelling of the exchange,” Cook said “Fuck you” before hanging up the phone.But Musk and Apple have both suggested that the conversation couldn’t have happened because Musk and Cook have... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The sweeping federal antitrust case against Google has given rise to a significant fight over data held by Microsoft, and the company is now facing a subpoena for millions of documents that could shed light on its attempts to compete with Google’s search engine. Having initially cooperated with prosecutors in building an antitrust case against Google, Microsoft could be obligated to produce millions more documents at the request of Google’s defense team.At a status hearing on Friday morning, Judge Amit Mehta heard arguments from both Google and Microsoft on the issue, but ultimately found more information was required before the court could give guidance as to how much internal data Microsoft would be required to produce.“No third... Continue reading…

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images The Government Accountability Office squashed Blue Origin’s protest over NASA’s decision to pick a single lunar lander contractor, the agency said Friday, also denying a similar protest from Dynetics. The GAO’s decision keeps Blue Origin’s rival, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the sole winner of NASA’s lucrative Moon lander program and hands a loss to Jeff Bezos, whose space company waged a months-long fight to win the same funding.In formal protests filed in April, Bezos’ Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics accused NASA of running afoul of contracting law when the agency shelved their proposals and gave Musk’s SpaceX a lone $2.9 billion contract to build the country’s first human lunar lander in decades and land a crew on the Moon by... Continue reading…

Photo: Marvel Studios How the team at Digital Domain destroyed a world Continue reading…