The Verge

Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge It’s for the developers, but we all know it’s really for Pixel fans Continue reading…

Airbnb’s design category. | Image: Airbnb Airbnb is rolling out a huge app redesign this summer that its CEO Brian Chesky calls “the biggest change in a decade.” The new changes are rolling out to users in the US today and will let users search for stays based on categories and plan trips that include more than one home.The presentation, and especially an intro video for the Sumer 2022 launch included in Chesky’s tweet, feels like it draws directly from Apple’s product launches over the last 20 years, which we’d expect from a company collaborating with famed former Apple designer Jony Ive and his firm LoveFrom. When asked if Ive was involved with this redesign, Airbnb spokesperson Liz DeBold Fusco initially said, “yes,” but did not provide further details.After this post was... Continue reading…

Ooblets. For its first Indie World Showcase of 2022, Nintendo revealed a colorful and occasionally violent slate of independent games coming to the Switch. The bigger-name titles coming to the console include the farming / Pokémon-style adventure Ooblets and the goofy strategy game TABS (or Totally Accurate Battle Simulator), both of which are slated to hit the Switch sometime this summer. (The Switch release for Ooblets will coincide with the game’s 1.0 launch on PC and Xbox.)There are also multiple titles launching later today, including the city sim Mini Motorways, rhythm-based dungeon crawler Soundfall, visual novel Opus: Echo of Starsong, and the nature adventure game Gibbon: Beyond the Trees.Other highlights include: Nama Takahashi’s... Continue reading…

Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West and Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange. | Marvel Studios First comes the multiverse, then come the incursions Continue reading…

Today’s deal is on the standard Switch with neon blue and red Joy-Cons. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge We may be in a bit of a lull for major new game releases, but there’s been no shortage of great sales. Right now, you can get a Nintendo Switch console with neon blue and red Joy-Cons for just $259.99 at Walmart, Amazon, and GameStop. That’s $40 off Nintendo’s standard Switch console. Sure, it’s not the fancier OLED model that came out last year, but this discounted price is $90 less than that model, and it, of course, plays all the same games.The Nintendo Switch may feel like an aging console these days, as it’s five years old, but it’s still bolstered by excellent first-party Nintendo titles and a wealth of indie games — all of which you can take on the go or play docked on a TV. While many fans are thirsty for some kind of... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The European Commission has proposed controversial new regulation that would require chat apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to selectively scan users’ private messages for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and “grooming” behavior. The proposal is similar to plans mooted by Apple last year but, say critics, much more invasive.After a draft of the regulation leaked earlier this week, privacy experts condemned it in the strongest terms. “This document is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen,” tweeted cryptography professor Matthew Green. “It describes the most sophisticated mass surveillance machinery ever deployed outside of China and the USSR. Not an exaggeration.”Jan Penfrat of digital advocacy group European Digital... Continue reading…

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge One of the most powerful portable battery packs is cheaper than ever. You can get $70 off Zendure’s SuperTank Pro at Wellbots, which has a 26,800mAh capacity, up to 100W charging, and four USB-C ports. Normally $229.99, it costs just $159.99 with the offer code ZENVERGE used at checkout.This battery pack may be overkill to some in terms of heft and price, but it could be the ideal travel charger for people who like to bring multiple devices on trips. Compared to its predecessor, which I put to the test here, the latest version brings several improvements. Notably, it can deliver its maximum 100W throughput while getting the maximum charging speeds with the other three ports. Also, its OLED display provides more info about how quickly... Continue reading…

When announcing the iPhone, Steve Jobs joked about it looking like an iPod with a rotary dial. | Image: Apple, via John Schroter on YouTube This week, Apple announced that it’s discontinuing the iPod Touch, its last product with the “iPod” name. More than 20 years after the original iPod was announced, and after over a decade in the shadow of the iPhone, it can be hard to remember just how important the device was to Apple. But the music player helped define the company we know today — and was a big factor in bringing it back from the brink of ruin.The story of Apple’s comeback has been told over and over to the point of becoming mythologized, so I’ll try to keep it brief. The 1990s were not kind to the company, almost leaving it bankrupt. By the turn of the century, though, things were starting to turn around: the iMac G3 was selling well, and Apple’s revenue was starting... Continue reading…

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O 2022, is virtually set to kick off today. The conference is a hub for developers looking to network, but the rest of us are watching to see if Google will unveil new product announcements and major updates.We don’t know exactly what’s going to be announced this year, but we have some good guesses. Some of those guesses include a new Pixel Watch and a midrange Pixel 6A, which could include a new processor and camera sensor and major updates for Android 13, whose beta became available to Pixel owners in April.What time does Google I/O start? Google I/O’s main keynote will be streamed today, Wednesday, May 11th, at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. If you think you’re going to miss it, don’t worry —... Continue reading…

Samsung’s anticipated 2022 flagship foldable — the Galaxy Z Fold 4 — may have just leaked in unofficial renders published by SmartPrix, based on information from the often reliable Onleaks. The renders of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 show a similar overall design to its predecessor, the Z Fold 3, with a 6.2-inch cover display and a 7.6-inch folding inner display, but with a redesigned rear camera configuration inspired by this year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra.This inner display will reportedly once again have an under-display selfie camera, a feature that disappointed us on last year’s device. This year’s version has reportedly seen performance improvements, which are sorely needed. Around back there are three rear cameras, same as last year, but S... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple is preparing to swap the proprietary Lightning port on its iPhones next year for the nearly universally-embraced USB-C, claims company analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.In a pair of tweets, Kuo said Apple was going to make the change in 2023, basing this claim on an unspecified “survey” (presumably of component manufacturers, from whom Kuo seems to get a lot of his information for predictions about future Apple products).Kuo said that adopting USB-C “could improve iPhone’s transfer and charging speed in hardware designs, but the final spec details still depend on iOS support.”

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge Ford’s first electric truck is fun, familiar, and checks all the boxes for a great entry-level EV Continue reading…

LG Display’s 360-degree Foldable OLED. | Image: LG Future foldables could move on from existing single-fold designs to fold twice, use displays that are capable of folding both inwards and outwards, or even use rolling screens to expand outwards. That’s if manufacturers embrace new folding screen technologies being shown off by Samsung Display and LG Display this week in San Jose, California, during the annual Display Week conference.LG Display is showing off an 8-inch foldable touchscreen which it says can fold both inward and outward, similar to what we saw from TCL’s Ultra Flex concept earlier this year. The design allows a single folding display to serve as both an inner screen (like with the Galaxy Z Fold 3) and an outer screen (like with Huawei’s Mate XS). Devices equipped with... Continue reading…

The Xperia 1 IV brings a true optical zoom lens to a smartphone for the first time. Real zoom for a steep price Continue reading…

Dish is teasing a new wireless plan called Boost Infinite to launch this fall. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Dish Network seems to be taking its unconventional approach to building a wireless network all the way to the blockchain. Executives hosting an analyst event in Las Vegas today gave a few hints at their vision of this country’s fourth wireless carrier, and it might involve a future where you can pay for a new iPhone in Bitcoin.Stephen Stokols, CEO of Dish-owned Boost Mobile, showed off branding for a new postpaid wireless plan coming this fall called “Boost Infinite,” and, well, here’s what he said:

A major feature on Twitch is finally coming to YouTube. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is launching gifted memberships in beta, and they’ll be available for select channels beginning Wednesday. Memberships are YouTube’s take on Twitch’s subscriptions, which viewers can use to show financial support for creators and get access to certain perks like custom emoji. Twitch users have been able to buy gift subscriptions for some time, but if you’ve wanted to buy gift memberships to other fans of a YouTube channel, you haven’t been able to.The memberships gifting beta will be available to a “small group of creators” to start and will be expanded to more “over the next several months,” YouTube says on a page about the feature. Channels interested in trying the feature can fill out this Google Form, though you’ll need to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla is recalling 130,000 cars due to an issue causing the CPU in vehicles’ infotainment systems to overheat during fast charging, potentially making the car’s touchscreen malfunction or go completely blank (via The Associated Press). The electric car maker started rolling out an over-the-air update (OTA) on May 3rd to fix the issue on affected vehicles, which include the 2022 Model 3 and Y, as well as the 2021 and 2022 Model X and S.“During fast-charging or preparation for fast-charging, the infotainment central processing unit (“CPU”) may not cool sufficiently to prevent higher than expected temperatures, which may cause the CPU to slow processing or restart,” the recall notice from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration... Continue reading…

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images I have been told to blog about Senator Josh Hawley’s new copyright bill, and I do this with nothing but the greatest reluctance. Normally, I love talking about copyright! I’ll talk about copyright all day long! [Ed note: And she does.] But writing this post is agony, because the thought of giving this absolutely asinine piece of legislation any attention is killing me on the inside.This is a deeply unserious bill. There is not a line in it that is meant to pass muster. It is knowingly in violation of the Constitution, and an insult to the democratic process.In brief, the bill is targeted at the Walt Disney Company, also known as,

Image: Google TV Last fall, Google announced a key improvement to devices running its Google TV front end with personalized access so that each user in a home could have individual profiles with their own recommendations and Assistant responses. In December, that feature was delayed until “the coming months,” and it’s still nowhere to be found; however, 9to5Google reports glanceable cards for Google TV’s ambient mode screen saver that were also announced at the same time are starting to roll out.When they were announced in October, Google showed a version of the UI (the picture above) with large personalized cards scrolling across the middle of the screen. They could display information like weather, sports scores, and news or toss in shortcuts to... Continue reading…

Image: Canoo Canoo, the struggling electric vehicle startup, thinks it’s about to run out of money. In stark terms, the company reports that it only has enough cash to last another quarter and is unsure whether it will be able to stay afloat beyond that.“As of the date of this announcement, we are reporting that there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the company states in its first-quarter earnings report.“there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern”Canoo was founded in late 2017 when former BMW executive Stefan Krause left then-struggling EV startup Faraday Future. Krause and some of the other executives who co-founded Canoo — which was then called... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge AT&T says it’s the first carrier to deploy location-based routing for 911 calls across the country, a feature that allows the company to transmit wireless emergency calls to the correct call center based on a device’s GPS location. As announced in a press release, AT&T says the feature should enable the carrier to accurately locate and route 911 calls within 50 meters of where the call was placed.AT&T previously routed calls based on the location of the cell tower that picked up the call signal, an area that could cover up to a 10-mile radius. This means a call center miles away — or even a whole town over — could receive your call, potentially delaying the time it takes for emergency services to reach your precise location. In theory,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google’s Michele Turner discusses how Matter started and where it will take Google Nest. Continue reading…

They’re featured in a new limited time mode that kicks off on May 11th. | Image: Activision Activision is adding a wild crossover to Call of Duty: Warzone — the giant monsters Godzilla and Kong will appear in a new limited-time mode that kicks off tomorrow, May 11th.In the new mode, called Operation Monarch, players will compete to be the last team standing as Godzilla and Kong roam the island. While the monsters “usually don’t get too aggressive,” at certain points during a match, they might “become enraged and recklessly attack” in a “Titan Frenzy,” according to a blog post by Activision’s James Mattone.“After receiving a Titan Frenzy alert, an Operator has two options: tactically withdraw (run away) from these dangerous creatures or attempt to suppress them by dealing direct damage,” Mattone says. If you do enough damage... Continue reading…

Westworld season four teaser image | Image: HBO HBO’s puzzle-filled robot show that always packed extra sides of hedonism and murder is close to making its return, as fans apparently dug up a teaser trailer for season four of Westworld before its scheduled debut.HBO media relations director Chris Godefroy confirmed it was an Easter Egg set up for dedicated fans, and as we’ve seen ahead of previous seasons, there will be more to come. You can watch it right here on HBO’s YouTube channel (via Reddit), to see that many of our android friends, foes, and friends who didn’t know they were androids will continue to have roles to play. This link showed up on Thrillist’s Instagram story over a picture of NYC, teasing a setting in the upcoming season.On Tuesday HBO made the news official,... Continue reading…

It seemed like AMD and Nvidia were living in a fantasy world. They’d throw out prices like $329 or $479 for a midrange graphics card, knowing you’d actually pay hundreds more by the time pandemic middlemen had their cut. But today, AMD seems to be waking up.With the recently announced $1,099 AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT, $549 Radeon 6750 XT, and $399 Radeon 6650 XT, the company is finally pricing its graphics cards based on the market instead of creating a fake MSRP. When you combine that with the fact AMD graphics cards have nearly come back down to sane prices in general, it means there’s a chance in hell you might actually be able to buy these new ones for the price that AMD is quoting. Image: AMD That’s good —... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge One of the questions about Elon Musk’s pending purchase of Twitter is what will happen to Donald Trump. The former president’s account was banned on January 8th, 2021, “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” while Jack Dorsey was still the company’s CEO. During an interview conducted remotely during the Financial Times’ Future of the Car conference and livestreamed on YouTube, the current Tesla and SpaceX CEO responded to a direct question about the ban and what will happen when he owns Twitter.With the caveat that “I don't own Twitter yet, so this is not, like, a thing that will definitely happen,” Musk said, “I guess the answer is that I, I would reverse the permaban,” citing a shared opinion with his text messaging... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, is considering restructuring Apple’s services business to redirect more attention to streaming and advertising, according to a report from Insider. In its most recent earnings report, Apple said its services, which include the App Store, Apple Pay, Apple News, Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, and iCloud, added 825 million subscribers and earned $19.8 billion in revenue.As part of the shake-up, Cue has reportedly pulled Peter Stern, Apple’s current vice president of services, off of advertising to focus solely on its services division. Sources close to the situation told Insider that Todd Teresi, Apple’s vice president of advertising platforms, has absorbed Stern’s previous advertising... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Tesla billionaire and future Twitter owner Elon Musk says he’s “very much on the same page” as the European Union about the Digital Services Act, a package of web platform regulations. Musk appeared in a short video alongside EU Commissioner Thierry Breton to confirm his support for the DSA, which — among other things — requires large platforms to police illegal content and assess the risk of harm their services pose, including from disinformation.“I think it’s exactly aligned” with the future goals for the Twitter platform, Musk said in a short video posted by Breton. “It’s been a great discussion, and I really think I agree with everything you said, really. I think we’re very much of the same mind, and I think anything that my... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The worst thing about my beloved Logitech trackball is the software. Every time my computer restarts the annoying Logitech software pops up and asks me to fiddle with my system preferences. I never do. My trackball works exactly as I need it to, and the software seems to do nothing but vex me.A small company called Ploopy, started by brothers Colin and Phil Lam, has created a trackball — also called Ploopy — that has no annoying software. Instead it relies on QMK, open-source firmware originally created for keyboards that stores all the crucial settings on the hardware instead of the computer.That wasn’t the reason I purchased a Ploopy. It was all the other elements of the open-source trackball that appealed to me: Ploopy’s... Continue reading…

EA is moving on from one of the most recognizable brands in gaming. | Image: EA EA is officially dropping the FIFA branding for its hit soccer video games starting with next year’s release, the company announced Tuesday. The new title for the games will be EA Sports FC.Despite the name change, it sounds as if much of the DNA of the FIFA games will remain the same. “Everything you love about our games will be part of EA Sports FC — the same great experiences, modes, leagues, tournaments, clubs and athletes will be there,” EA’s Cam Weber said in a blog post. “Ultimate Team, Career Mode, Pro Clubs and Volta Football will all be there. Our unique licensing portfolio of more than 19,000+ players, 700+ teams, 100+ stadiums and 30 leagues that we’ve continued to invest in for decades will still be there, uniquely in EA... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge When Barry McCarthy stepped up as Peloton’s new CEO last quarter amid news the company had laid off 2,800 employees, it was clear he had his work cut out for him. Since then, McCarthy has been vocal about shifting the company’s focus from hardware to software. That new direction can be explained by looking at today’s Q3 earnings release, which paints a tough financial picture for Peloton. The company continued to post larger than expected losses, and stock prices subsequently plunged more than 20 percent.Peloton said today that its Q3 losses were $757.1 million, compared to an $8.6 million in losses at this time last year. Meanwhile, revenue slid to $964.3 million from $1.26 billion a year ago. As with last quarter, Peloton attributed... Continue reading…

The LG Gram 17 is a lightweight powerhouse. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Our deals post today has a little something for everyone, from laptops and peripherals to a soundbar that doubles as a 4K streaming device. Kicking things off, we have the 2021 LG Gram 17, a lightweight laptop with heavyweight power. Normally this configuration of the 17-inch laptop runs $1,849.99, but it’s currently on sale for just $1,398.94 at Amazon, nearly matching its best price to date.The LG Gram 17 uses a slim, elegant design but contains some serious power under the hood. The 17-inch display has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 and is powered by an Intel Core i7-1195G7 and 16GB of RAM. The included 1TB SSD offers plenty of space for all of your files and applications as well, but the Gram 17 also has a microSD card reader if you... Continue reading…

Specialized launched a new sub-brand called Globe dedicated to building high-quality electric utility bikes that are designed specifically to replace car trips. Globe will be “an extension of the Specialized brand that will focus on bringing more fun to local living while reducing the number of car, truck, and SUV trips needed for everyday transportation,” the company says.E-bikes are unique among two-wheeled vehicles thanks to their very real ability to replace car trips for the vast majority of owners, especially those trips that are under five miles. Cargo and utility e-bikes in particular excel at reducing car usage thanks to their rugged design and payload capacity. Specialized, the third-largest bicycle manufacturer in the US... Continue reading…

Remember when podcasting becoming a $1 billion industry was a big deal? So quaint. Let’s get into it.Podcasting will be a $4 billion industry in two yearsIt’s the boom times for audio. Ahead of the Podcast Upfronts, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers released their annual joint report on the podcasting business, projecting that the industry will generate $2 billion in revenue this year and $4 billion by 2024.That growth is not just because the number of podcasts and time people spend listening to podcasts are increasing (though that doesn’t hurt). A lot of it, according to executives at IAB, also comes from advances in ad tech that allow advertisers to better target audiences and encourage them to spend... Continue reading…

NASA’s beleaguered InSight lander on Mars has detected a magnitude 5 “marsquake” — the largest one the spacecraft has felt yet since landing on the planet in November of 2018. It’s a major moment that comes during a fraught time for InSight, as the spacecraft’s solar panels continue to gather dust that will eventually bring an end to the vehicle’s life on Mars.InSight’s mission on the Red Planet has been to probe the interior of Mars, primarily by sensing for tremors from the surface. Unlike quakes here on Earth, which are typically caused by shifting tectonic plates, “marsquakes” are thought to be caused by the cooling of Mars over time, which causes the planet’s crust to become more brittle and crack. Equipped with an extremely... Continue reading…

The Slim 7 and 7i can impressively be configured with a 99.99Wh battery. | Image: Lenovo Lenovo’s highest-end gaming laptops for 2022 have been unveiled. The 16-inch Legion 7 and 7i (the “i” denotes Intel CPUs) can be configured with the current best of the best in terms of processors and graphics. The Legion 7 is one of a few gaming laptops that can be configured with AMD’s Ryzen 9 6900HX processor along with Radeon RX6850M XT graphics. On the Intel side, it can be configured with up to Intel’s 12th Gen Core i9-12900HX and with Nvidia’s RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, which has an impressive 175W of total graphics power.In addition to being more powerful, the Legion 7-series machines present a couple of additional upgrades over the 2022 Legion 5 Pro. It has a 1080p webcam instead of a 720p one, and it has a bigger 99.99Wh... Continue reading…

Microsoft will make an adaptive mouse and buttons. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft has announced a lineup of adaptive accessories which are meant to augment or replace the regular keyboards and mice that people with disabilities could struggle to use. The lineup consists of three different devices: the Adaptive Mouse, Adaptive Buttons, and the Adaptive Hub. The mouse and buttons are made to support 3D-printed accessories so you can customize them to work the way you want them to.The mouse core that houses the buttons and sensor is a small, square-shaped puck that’s designed to clip into a palm rest. The “tail” Microsoft makes for the mouse can act as a palm rest. There’s also a thumb rest that you can flip around, letting you use the mouse with your right or left hand. You can also easily attach 3D-printed... Continue reading…

Are you ready to carry 150 pounds of solar-powered battery in your backpack? | Image: Jackery Jackery’s Solar Generator 2000 Pro kit is here to bend nature’s will to your desire to take your modern tech lifestyle off the grid. Jackery provides the Explorer 2000 Pro Portable Power Station and six SolarSaga 200W solar panels — you provide the transportation and an employer that lets your work from anywhere.The Explorer 2000 Pro Power Station features 2160 watt-hours of lithium-ion storage capacity and up to 2200W AC output (4400W peak surge) suitable for powering small household appliances. Fully charged, it has enough juice to charge a laptop about 16 times, run a projector for 24 hours, or power an electric BBQ for about 100 minutes. It has eight outlets: three AC, two 18W QuickCharge 3.0 USB-A, two 100W USB-C PD, and one 12V /... Continue reading…

The Viper V2 Pro looks very similar to previous versions, but it’s made just for right-handed gamers. | Razer Razer has delivered a follow-up to its original Viper gaming mouse from 2019. The new wireless Viper V2 Pro is all about shedding off what little excess weight it had before. Like almost every peripheral company, Razer is gunning for the top place with the lightest wireless mouse, and, currently, it holds the crown with its latest mouse. It weighs 58 grams, which is a few grams below the runner-up, Logitech’s G Pro X Superlight. Similarly, the Viper V2 Pro manages this feat without being drilled full of holes to lop off weight. The V2 Pro is launching today for $149.99.Even with a weight reduction, the Viper V2 Pro doesn’t feel compromised in terms of hand feel, performance, or battery life — all of the things that matter most with a... Continue reading…

Tesla produced just 10,757 vehicles at its Shanghai plant in April. | Xinhua/Ding Ting via Getty Images Tesla has suspended most production at its Shanghai factory once again, this time due to issues preventing the company from getting the components it needs to build vehicles, according to a report from Reuters. Sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that the company halted work on Monday because of supply shortages as well.Production at Tesla’s Shanghai plant faltered after city officials reintroduced strict COVID-19 lockdown measures in March, forcing Tesla to close its plant to comply with government orders. Tesla’s Shanghai factory reopened in April, with workers sleeping and eating inside the factory in a “closed-loop system” recommended by Shanghai authorities to stop the spread of COVID-19.Tesla’s sales in China have... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge It has been less than a month since Netflix announced slowing revenue growth and its first subscriber drop in over a decade, and now The New York Times reports that it’s accelerating the schedule on initiatives to turn those things around.Netflix was already openly talking about pushing people who share their account logins to pay more, and once the report came out, co-CEO Reed Hastings changed his tune on ad-supported streaming, saying he would try to figure it out over the “next year or two.” According to the Times, a recent note to employees said executives are now aiming to introduce the ad tier at some point in the last three months of 2022, with a crackdown on password sharing starting in the same window.Disney Plus announced... Continue reading…

The AirPods’ charging case equipped with a USB-C port. | Image: Ken Pillonel Robotics engineering student Ken Pillonel has followed up his USB-C iPhone mod with a modified pair of AirPods with a USB-C port for charging — replacing Apple’s proprietary Lightning port. Although the result is simple (USB-C cable goes in, power goes up), it was an engineering challenge that Pillonel says consumed “pretty much all my weekends for a few months.” It comes around a month after he completed a project that brought a Lightning port to an Android phone.Pillonel plans to release a full-length video explaining the project in the coming weeks, but for now, he’s put out a short clip showing his modded AirPods being charged with the same USB-C cable as a MacBook and his previously modded iPhone. He plans to open source the... Continue reading…

The fourth edition of Fornite’s “Short Nite” film festival is kicking off later this week. Epic Games announced that the event, which features a variety of short animated movies screened in-game, will take place on May 12th. A total of 10 movies are being featured, three of which are world premieres, and Epic will also be selling a popcorn-eating emote for an authentic virtual viewing experience.The original incarnation of Short Nite took place on Fortnite’s party royale island, though it has steadily become more elaborate, particularly with last year’s Halloween-themed edition. This year, there will be nine different custom-built virtual theaters, created in the game’s Creative mode, which players can move between via the discover... Continue reading…

One of Google’s biggest hurdles is providing meaningful, long-term support for its products Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google will allow ads for stem cell treatments that are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration — a change from its previous policy, which banned all ads for this experimental category of medical care. The policy update was first reported by Gizmodo and will go into effect in July.The company said in the policy update that it will also allow cell or gene therapy ads that are “exclusively educational or informational in nature,” even if they reference products or applications that are not approved by the FDA. It’s not clear how Google would define “educational” or “informational” or what type of advertisements would be allowed under that umbrella.Stem cell therapy is a broad term for medical treatments that use stem cells,... Continue reading…

It’s been a long wait, but Warner Bros. Games Montreal has just released the most in-depth look yet at its upcoming open-world game Gotham Knights. At the same time, the developer revealed some bad news for PS4 and Xbox One owners.First, the new trailer. The clip, which is just a shade over 13 minutes long, is essentially a guided look at the gameplay, focusing on the characters Nightwing and Red Hood. There’s lots of beating up bad guys on rooftops and zipping between buildings as well as a look at how the investigative elements work. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the video is how distinct the two characters appear to be; having multiple playable heroes is a big hook for Gotham Knights, which also stars Robin and Batgirl.G... Continue reading…

DJI’s smallest and lightest drone is getting a significant upgrade — both in features and price. The newly announced Mini 3 Pro comes with a new design, 4K60 video, a larger image sensor, a larger aperture, obstacle avoidance sensors, and even an option for a bigger battery. But don’t expect it to be as affordable as its predecessor. The Mini 3 Pro costs $669 to start, and that’s the price without a controller. With a controller, you’ll be paying $759 or more, a $300 premium over last year’s Mini 2.What hasn’t changed is that the Mini 3 Pro still weighs less than 250 grams, which means you won’t need to register it with the FAA (with one important exception depending on what battery you choose). There’s also a welcome throwback from the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Match Group, the company behind popular dating apps such as Tinder, Match, and OkCupid, is suing Google over its restrictive billing policies on the Play Store. In its complaint, Match Group claims Google “illegally monopolized the market for distributing apps” on Android by forcing apps to use Google’s own billing system and then taking a cut of the payments.Match Group’s complaint plays off an earlier lawsuit Epic Games filed against Apple in 2020, alleging that Apple engaged in “anti-competitive” behavior by demanding a 30 percent commission on in-app purchases in the iOS app store, among other charges. Although the final ruling was mixed, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rodgers was particularly skeptical of the payment monopoly claims, saying... Continue reading…

The Nacon Rig 800 wireless gaming headset. In 2018, in a bout of curiosity, I decided to review every single wireless gaming headset on the market: 32 pairs to be exact. None of them were anywhere near as comfortable as the Plantronics Rig 800. “The only one so lightweight, so comfortable, I sometimes forgot I was wearing it,” I wrote for CNET.Four years later, I’m happy to say that feeling hasn’t changed.Plantronics no longer exists, after merging with Polycom to become “Poly” and then selling itself to HP. But the Rig 800 is alive and well at French gaming company Nacon. I’ve been trying the 2022 “Pro” model for the past couple of weeks, and it’s hard for me to imagine a more comfortable headset.It still uses the same exact design with a spring-loaded inner headstrap that... Continue reading…

An Arc graphics card. | Image: Intel Intel has provided more details on the release roadmap for its long-awaited discrete Arc GPUs in a new blog post. The company plans to use a staggered approach, which will prioritize system builders and OEMs in China when it comes to its desktop graphics cards. Meanwhile its laptop chips are currently exclusive to Samsung laptops in South Korea, but the hope is to expand to other manufacturers and markets soon.Intel says it’s working with other laptop manufacturers like Lenovo, Acer, HP, and Asus to get their laptops released with its entry-level Arc 3 GPUs “ASAP.” Laptops with the more powerful Arc 5 and Arc 7 GPUs are planned for “early summer.” The company says it had hoped availability would be “broader” at this point, but blamed... Continue reading…