The Verge

Apple has announced an event for October 18th, with a video containing the title “Unleashed.” If you’ve been watching the rumor mill, it won’t come as a surprise — the company still has a lot of products that are expected to come out this year but haven’t shown up in an Apple keynote.Chief among those are new, more powerful MacBook Pros, which will follow the incredible Apple Silicon-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro that launched last November. The company is also expected to release new AirPods, and it’s got an entire OS that was announced but hasn’t shipped. Read on for a deep dive into the rumors surrounding these products and more.Redesigned MacBook ProsMost of the rumors about the event concern redesigned MacBook Pros, which are e... Continue reading…

Actress Yulia Peresild was part of a film crew that went to the International Space Station to film scenes for a movie. She returned to Earth Sunday along with Klim Shipenko and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky. | Photo by Sergei Savostyanov\TASS via Getty Images A Russian actress and director-producer who spent 12 days aboard the International Space Station returned to Earth early Sunday along with cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy who had been in space for 191 days. Actress Yulia Peresild and director-producer Klim Shipenko went up to the ISS on October 5th, to film scenes for the upcoming movie The Challenge, about a Russian doctor, played by Peresild, who travels to the space station to treat a sick cosmonaut.The three were aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, which landed at 12:35AM ET in rural Kazakhstan, and will return to Russia later Sunday. Novitskiy arrived at the ISS on April 9th for his third mission, and has now spent a total of 531 days in space.The Soyuz craft the three were on had a... Continue reading…

Black Adam was one of the trailers on display at DC FanDome Saturday | DC/WarnerBros DC Comics and Warner Bros. held their second annual Fandome on Saturday, revealing new trailers for movies and shows coming up, including The Batman, The Flash, and Black Adam. We also got a look at the story trailer for the Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League game. Here’s a look at some of the biggest news that dropped.The Batman shows off Robert Pattinson’s gritty heroWe got a second trailer for The Batman, at last (and FanDome saved the reveal for the very end of the day). We’re not even sure if he thinks he is a hero, but Pattison’s Batman is definitely Going Through Some Stuff. We didn’t learn a heck of a lot more about the characters in Matt Reeves’ interpretation of the Dark Knight’s saga. But the trailer showed off a... Continue reading…

WarnerBros The Batman debuted a brand new trailer at DC FanDome on Saturday, showing off the best look yet at Robert Pattinson’s take on the Dark Knight and promising an even darker, grittier version of Gotham’s Caped Crusader than any that have hit film before.Set just a few years in Batman’s career as a superhero, The Batman promises to show not just a look at the early days of Batman but numerous other proto-villains and allies, including Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred, and Colin Farrell as The Penguin.The new trailer also gives the first real look at Paul Dano’s take on the iconic Batman villain the Riddler, who appears to be going for a far creepier, serial killer-esque style version of the... Continue reading…

An Instacart shopper chooses items for a grocery order. Some workers plan to strike Saturday in protest of pay and work conditions | Image: Instacart Some Instacart shoppers are striking on Saturday, to protest the company’s pay structure and failure to communicate directly with workers. The Gig Workers Collective (GWC), which represent some of the company’s shoppers, want the Instacart to address five of its policies. The group is calling for Instacart to pay shoppers by order instead of by batch, reintroduce its item commissions, fix fraud issues with its rating system, provide occupational death benefits, and raise the default tip for shoppers on the platform from 5 percent to 10 percent.The group said the company ignored its demands, which led to the decision to walk off the job on Saturday. “Instacart has refused to finally address these fixes that workers have been begging... Continue reading…

There’s still no firm release date for the delayed Analogue Pocket (outside of the broader “December 2021” window that the company last provided in September), but Analogue is looking to whet players’ appetites with the next best thing: a deep look at AnalogueOS, the new custom software that will power the Pocket whenever it does actually arrive.As one might expect for a retro gaming device, AnalogueOS features a minimal, pixel-art style design that’s meant to get you into games as easily as possible. But Analogue is taking its goal of making the ultimate retro gaming device seriously. There’s a new “Library” feature, with a massive database that the company has built from the ground up with the goal of serving as a... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On October 14th, Apple fired a leader of the #AppleToo movement for allegedly failing to comply with an internal investigation. The employee, Janneke Parrish, has been working behind the scenes for months to organize fellow employees who’ve faced harassment and discrimination.Now, Apple appears to be cracking down on those efforts — under the guise of trying to stop internal information from leaking to the press. In September, Apple fired Ashley Gjøvik for allegedly violating her confidentiality agreement. Then, it placed software engineer Cher Scarlett on medical leave.Both Gjøvik and Scarlett have filed claims with the NLRB. Parrish’s lawyer, Vincent P. White of White, Hilferty and Albanese, tells The Verge that Parrish plans to... Continue reading…

The US-Canada border reopened to vaccinated visitors | Photo by Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images The White House announced Friday that the US is reopening its land and air borders to vaccinated foreign nationals on November 8th. State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a press briefing that details will be available ahead of November 8th for airline passengers and people arriving at US land borders for what they’ll need to show full proof of vaccination against COVID-19As part of pandemic restrictions, non-essential travelers from more than 30 countries had been barred from entering the US since March 2020. This latest news comes as the White House announced Tuesday that the US was ending restrictions at the borders and ferry crossings with Mexico and Canada for foreign nationals vaccinated against COVID-19.Canada began... Continue reading…

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Lucy spacecraft launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on October 16th | (NASA/Bill Ingalls) NASA’s Lucy space probe launched successfully from Cape Canaveral in Florida early Saturday, the beginning of a 12-year mission to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids.The uncrewed spacecraft lifted off at 5:34AM ET aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Lucy sent its first signal to Earth from its own antenna to NASA’s Deep Space Network at 6:40AM ET. Scientists believe the Trojan asteroids, which orbit the Sun along the same path as Jupiter, may hold clues about the formation of our solar system. It’s NASA’s first-ever single-spacecraft mission to explore so many different asteroids, the agency said.Lucy is named for the fossilized human skeleton discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, which provided key insights into human evolution.... Continue reading…

This slim soundbar from Samsung is currently available for its lowest price ever at Newegg, down to just $298. This 38-inch soundbar comes packed with 9 forward-firing speakers and a wireless subwoofer for a soundbar that punches well above its weight. There are a couple of things to keep in mind, however. This soundbar only comes equipped with a single HDMI input and output port, so you’ll need to rely on a switcher, or utilize the built-in Bluetooth connectivity if you’re using this soundbar for multiple devices. Another small drawback is the lack of additional rear-channel speakers, which shouldn’t be an issue for smaller rooms, but if you have a particularly large living room, you may want to invest in a pair of tertiary speakers.A... Continue reading…

Earlier this year, Dbrand started selling matte black PS5 side plates that it called Darkplates, and when it did, it baited Sony right on the product’s info page to “Go ahead, sue us.” We got our hands on some, and they look exactly like you expect, making the sides of your PS5 black instead of white. They even have their own tongue-in-cheek take on the PlayStation icon microtexture.As of Saturday, though, you can’t buy Darkplates anymore, as Dbrand has removed them from sale after (perhaps unsurprisingly) receiving a cease and desist letter from Sony. (If you visit the Darkplates site right now, it just shows a list of news articles, including ones from The Verge).Dbrand shared the letter with The Verge, which we’ve included at the... Continue reading…

The Pixel 6’s distinctive look is easy to spot at a distance. | Image: Evan Blass on Twitter We’re just a few days away from Google’s October 19th launch event for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, but if you want an early look at what to expect, you might want to check out this big thread of leaked images from prolific leaker Evan Blass. The thread includes what appear to be official renders of both phones, images of cases, and some photos of people using the phones — and it’s that last category of images that were the most interesting to me.Ever since early rumored renders of the Pixel 6 lineup hit the web, I wondered exactly why Google decided to make the massive camera bar across the back of both phones. It never really appealed to me, and since the bar isn’t flush with the back of the phones, I’ve been worried it’s going to... Continue reading…

Democratic lawmakers want social networks to face legal liability if they recommend harmful content to users. Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), Mike Doyle (D-PA), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the “Justice Against Malicious Algorithms Act,” which would amend Section 230’s protections to exclude “personalized recommendations” for content that contributes to physical or severe emotional injury.The bill follows a recommendation Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen made before Congress last week. Haugen, a former employee who leaked extensive internal Facebook research, encouraged lawmakers to crack down on algorithms that promote, rank, or otherwise order content based on user engagement. It applies to web services... Continue reading…

The popular Bose QC35 II headphones are just one of many great deals today. | Photo: Chris Welch / The Verge There are many great deals to be had today, especially if you enjoy a variety of options to browse and online window-shop. Amazon’s highlighted daily sale, currently coined as Epic Daily Deals, has several Bose headphones and earbuds discounted. There is a little bit for everyone here, ranging from the popular mainstay QuietComfort 35 II Bluetooth headphones and its gaming-accessorized counterpart to noise-canceling and sport-focused earbuds.First, let’s dive into the QC35 II. These noise-canceling headphones became the industry standard for folks wanting comfortable and lightweight everyday headphones, especially for commuting and traveling on planes where the ANC can be most effective. There is a new model that just came out, the Bose... Continue reading…

HTC wants to find a new VR market — but what is it? Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Sony has launched a landing page where you can register for the opportunity to buy a PS5 later this year, in time for the holidays. The company says it will have “a limited amount of PS5 consoles” for US customers through its PlayStation store. It’s probably a good idea to fill out the registration sooner than later, and you’ll need a PlayStation Network ID to do so. Though, unlike its queueing system for distributing consoles, the selection process here doesn’t seem entirely like a first-come, first-served situation.Sony will begin to send out invitations with instructions to purchase a PS5, along with a slate of accessories if you’d like, in November. And it says that recipients of invites will be “based on previous interests and... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft announced this morning that it’s shutting down the localized version of LinkedIn for China that has been available there since 2014. The move comes after increasing claims from academics and reporters that they’ve received notifications stating their profiles on the service are blocked in China, as reported recently by The Wall Street Journal.In its blog post announcing the move and a plan to launch a new China-only standalone product called InJobs, Microsoft did not directly reference those reports. Instead, it says:

Photo by Walid Berrazeg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images TSMC has announced plans to expand its chipmaking efforts with a new factory in Japan during its Q3 2021 earnings call, marking the latest expansion for what’s already the world’s largest chipmaker, via Reuters. But the news comes as the company also cautions that supply will be “tight” for chips throughout 2022 as a result on the ongoing shortage.The new plant is planned to focus on producing chips with older technologies, instead of the bleeding-edge processors that TSMC is best known for providing to companies like Apple, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm. That’s particularly important, given that it’s those older chips — like those found in cars for controlling the airbags and seatbelts or the power management chip in an iPhone — that are... Continue reading…

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge We couldn’t get enough Continue reading…

The AirPods Pro, first released in 2019. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Apple has quietly extended a repair program for the AirPods Pro that offers free repairs or replacements for earbuds that have issues with noise cancellation or static. Reddit users (via MacRumors) were first to spot the change to Apple’s support page for the repair program, which now notes that the program covers affected AirPods Pro for three years after their first retail sale, rather than two. The page appears to have been updated at the beginning of October.The support program was originally introduced in October 2020, one year after the original release of the AirPods Pro in 2019. It meant that Apple’s repair program was introduced at the exact point that the warranty on launch units was set to expire. With the extension of the... Continue reading…

The final product wound up being remarkably faithful to this early render. | Image: Ncase In 2012, fed up with the sorry state of small-form-factor (SFF) computer cases, two users on the HardOCP community forum decided to create their own. Wahaha360 and Necere came up with the $200+ Ncase M1, a 12.7-liter marvel designed to put every cubic centimeter of that space to good use. Amazingly, they managed to attract the attention of renowned PC manufacturer Lian-Li to manufacture small batches of their crowdfunded case out of high-quality aluminum, and the result was greeted with rave reviews.Nine years later, though, Ncase has announced that it’s discontinuing the M1 for good. It’s a weird situation. Yesterday, the company posted that it had discontinued the M1 entirely — but overnight, the post was updated to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Months after HBO Max original docuseries Generation Hustle debuted on the service, a team representing WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann says the streamer has changed some language in an episode that mapped the startup’s rise and spectacular demise.In a press release sent to a staffer at The Verge earlier this week, defamation attorney Thomas A. Clare — who now represents the known tequila enthusiast and reported aspiring immortal — announced that HBO Max had altered parts of a Generation Hustle episode, titled “Cult of WeWork,” as well as its description on the HBO Max site.Previously, the show’s description said it combined “true-crime capers with fresh, glossy stories of charismatic fakes” and “colorful imposters,” according to a... Continue reading…

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images Electronic Arts is removing former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden from Madden NFL 22 following reports that he had used racist, homophobic, and misogynistic language in emails. Gruden resigned as the Raiders’ coach soon after the emails came to light.“EA Sports is committed to taking action in maintaining a culture of inclusion and equity,” EA said on in a statement posted to the Madden NFL Twitter account. “Due to the circumstances of Jon Gruden’s resignation, we are taking steps to remove him from Madden NFL 22. We will replace him with a generic likeness via a title update in the coming weeks.”This isn’t the first time EA has made changes to its hit football series in response to real-world events. In 2020, the company changed... Continue reading…

The GE-Alstom Block Island Wind Farm stands in the water off Block Island, Rhode Island, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016. | Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images Offshore wind farms could be coming to nearly every coastline along the continental US. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland today announced plans to auction off leases to developers for up to seven new areas by 2025. That includes waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Maine, Central Atlantic, New York Bight (between Long Island and New Jersey), and off the coasts of Oregon, California, and the Carolinas.It’s a big scaling up of offshore wind in the US, which lags far behind Europe when it comes to deployment. The US’ first commercial-scale offshore wind farm just got federal approval in May. Two existing, smaller operations in US waters have a combined capacity of just 42 megawatts. The Biden administration set a goal of pushing capacity up... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge I don’t know about you, but I sometimes feel like Twitter is overloaded with ads in my feed. Unfortunately, those ads don’t seem to be enough for the company, though, because it’s testing a new place to show them: right in the middle of conversations.The new ad format is in testing on iOS and Android, and you’ll see ads after the first, third, or eighth reply to a tweet if you’re in the test, according to Bruce Falck, Twitter’s revenue product lead. He shared a GIF of what the new in-conversation ads look like:

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Privacy is on everyone’s mind these days. Last spring, iOS 14.5 introduced a new privacy feature called App Tracking Transparency that may have made its users happier but did not endear Apple to some other companies — specifically Facebook. The feature is still available in iOS 15, along with some new privacy features.Many apps don’t just track your movements inside the app, but they track your movements outside of the app — in other words, where you go after you’ve left the app. This is why you see ads in Facebook and other apps for products you were just looking at on Amazon or other sites.Before 14.5, you could turn tracking off for all of your apps by going to Settings > Privacy > Tracking and turning off “Allow Apps to Request to... Continue reading…

The adoption of augmented reality is happening slowly but surely, and it’s easy to see one possible future for the technology: hardware that lets you edit what you see in real time, replacing objects around you with virtual overlays. Call it mixed reality, to be more precise.Recent research from the AI team at Porsche (yes, the carmakers — we’ll get to that in a bit) shows how this might work. The team has built an AI system dubbed TransforMR that detects objects like cars and people, removes them, then replaces them with CGI alternatives in real-time. The end results are hardly flawless (edits are haphazard and the CGI models look like they were borrowed from 3D Movie Maker) but the concept is striking. It’s not hard to imagine... Continue reading…

Charging Ford’s electric Mach-E. | Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge Ford has an interesting idea for how it can improve the reliability of electric car chargers in the US: charge angels. In an interview with Automotive News, Ford’s general manager of electric vehicles Darren Palmer, announced plans to deploy employees in specially equipped electric Ford Mach-Es to visit and test chargers when connected vehicle data or social media complaints suggest there might be a problem.“All they’ll do all day long is go and check them to see where they fail and why,” Palmer said. Although details of the initiative are yet to be finalized, the company expects it to launch before the end of the year, ready for the release of the all-electric F-150 Lightning in 2022.“Some of them are old and they don’t have the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge OpenSea has fixed vulnerabilities in its platform that could’ve let hackers steal someone’s crypto after sending them a maliciously crafted NFT. The issue was found by security firm Check Point Research, which noticed tweets from people claiming they were hacked after being gifted NFTs, according to a blog post. The researchers talked to one of the people saying they were attacked, and found vulnerabilities proving an attack could happen this way and reported the problems to OpenSea. The security firm says the NFT trading platform fixed the issue within an hour and worked with researchers to make sure the fix worked.While the attackers potentially being able to drain entire wallets is certainly not a good look for OpenSea, it wasn’t a... Continue reading…

Photo by Gerard Bottino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Riding an electric scooter on the sidewalk is dangerous, but scooter-sharing companies have struggled to prevent their customers from engaging in risky behavior. Bird thinks it has found a solution: annoying beeps.Using technology provided by a company called u-blox, Bird is rolling out an end-to-end GPS system “designed to deliver centimeter-level accuracy specifically for the micromobility industry.” Riders who stray onto the sidewalk will be bombarded with audio alerts from the scooter, as well as notifications on their smartphones, warning them to get back on the street. Failure to follow directions results in a de-powered scooter: the vehicle will slow down and eventually come to a stop.The problem Bird is trying to solve is a... Continue reading…

Realme has launched its latest flagship phone for India, the GT Neo 2. It’s similar to the impressive Realme GT that came to Europe a few months ago — this one is better in some ways but worse in others. Depending on your taste, you’ll probably feel quite strongly about which bucket the neon green version pictured above falls into. (It also comes in black and blue.)While the GT has a Snapdragon 888 processor, the GT Neo 2 is built around an 870. This is basically Qualcomm’s speed-bumped version of the 865 Plus, which was itself a faster version of last year’s flagship chip — the main core now runs at 3.2GHz. Realme says the GT Neo 2’s new vapor cooling system is 30 percent larger and 20 percent more efficient, making use of stainless... Continue reading…

Image: Bethesda The “next-gen upgrade” for this year’s Quake remaster, which adds support for up to 4K / 120fps gameplay, is now available for the PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. The upgrade is available for free, according to Bethesda, and there’s no time limit to redeem it. The PC version of the game isn’t getting the upgrade, since it already supports 4K / 120fps.As well as the framerate improvements, the upgrade also adds support for the PS5 Dualsense controller’s adaptive triggers and integrated speaker. Meanwhile, Xbox players get Play Anywhere support, a Microsoft technology that means ownership of the game and progress automatically carries over to its PC version.The upgrade process is a little different for the PlayStation and Xbox.... Continue reading…

New streaming tech, old Zeppelin shape. | Image: Bowers & Wilkins Bowers & Wilkins has announced a new Zeppelin speaker that updates the eye-catching design with modern connectivity and smarts. The new speaker supports wireless standards like Qualcomm’s AptX Adaptive and Apple’s AirPlay 2 and also has Alexa built-in for voice control of your music. The new Zeppelin is available to order in light or dark grey starting today and is priced at $799 / £699 / €799.The original Zeppelin was one of the most iconic iPod docks available when it launched in 2007, and it’s been updated several times over the years as the way we listen to music has changed. 2011’s Zeppelin Air added support for Apple’s AirPlay standard alongside its existing 30-pin dock, while the 2015 Zeppelin Wireless dropped the dock entirely... Continue reading…

Image: Visible Some customers of Verizon’s Visible service are using social media to say that hackers have accessed their accounts, changed their information to lock them out, and in some cases even ordered phones using their payment info (via XDA). If you’re not familiar, Visible is a cell service owned and operated by Verizon that pitches itself as a less expensive, “all-digital” network, meaning there aren’t any physical stores like you’d get with a traditional carrier. Starting on Monday, customers on both Twitter and Reddit reported en masse that they’d been getting emails from the company about changed passwords and addresses, and that they’ve had difficulties contacting the company’s chat support.Visible’s customer service account on Twitter... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The trans employee resource group at Netflix is planning a company-wide walkout on October 20th to protest statements made by co-CEO Ted Sarandos regarding Dave Chappelle’s latest comedy special The Closer.“Trans Lives Matter. Trans Rights Matter. And as an organization, Netflix has continually failed to show deep care in our mission to Entertain the World by repeatedly releasing content that harms the Trans community and continually failing to create content that represents and uplifts Trans content. We can and must do better!” wrote a leader of the trans ERG in an internal organizing message.The event comes even as Netflix has reinstated Terra Field and two other employees who were suspended after attending a director-level meeting... Continue reading…

Samsung has just sent out invitations for an event it is holding online on Wednesday, October 20th at 7AM PT / 10AM ET. It’s called “Galaxy Unpacked Part 2,” which is possibly an indication that rather than all new Galaxy phones, we may be seeing iterations on existing ones.With Samsung’s announcement, we’ll now have an Apple event on Monday (where we are expecting new MacBook Pros), Google’s Pixel 6 launch on Tuesday, and now Samsung’s apparently smaller event on Wednesday.In addition to the invite’s image, Samsung’s newsroom post announcing the event hints at some kind of personalization for Galaxy devices: “Our users are multifaceted and live life in so many colorful, interesting, and unique ways. As such, the technology they use... Continue reading…

Image: G4 TV After more than a year of teasing and occasional streams, G4 will make its return as a linear TV channel on November 16th. So far, the channel is confirmed to appear on Comcast/Xfinity, Verizon Fios, Cox, and Philo. Since announcing its return last year, G4 has put out some reunion content plus occasional streams on Twitch, where the network will maintain a “multi-year promotional and commercial partnership.”Though the original G4 faded out when it got rebranded as the Esquire Channel about eight years ago, the network’s new mantra is that “we never stopped playing.” Network president Russell Arons writes in a statement that G4 “can’t wait to have our fans join us in our hilarious and fairly preposterous sandbox.”When G4 comes back... Continue reading…

An image from Cowboy Bebop. | Image: Netflix Netflix is adding the original Cowboy Bebop anime series to its catalog on October 21st, giving you about a month to watch it all ahead of the live-action series’ debut on November 19th.This is great news for me personally. I’ve been extremely intrigued by what Netflix has shown from the live-action series — which so far has included a series of images and the opening title sequence, which is inspired heavily by the one from the anime — but I haven’t seen the original show for myself. Now that the whole show will be on Netflix, I can see it all with a subscription to just one streaming service.

Image: Netflix Netflix’s hugely popular series Squid Game has become its biggest title ever at launch, the company said Monday.The company’s Netflix Geeked account tweeted Monday that Hwang Dong-Hyuk’s survival thriller reached 111 million global accounts in its first 17 days on the service. Additionally, Squid Game is the first Netflix series to surpass 100 million in its first 28 days on the service, a spokesperson told The Verge. Netflix typically uses 28-day windows to measure the performance of a title on its platform.The spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that the figures it shared are based on the number of accounts that watched the series for at least two minutes, its standard metric for ranking titles (though it has used additional... Continue reading…