The Verge

Twitter NFT profile pictures | Image: Twitter.com Twitter said in September that it would add a way for users to authenticate non-fungible tokens (NFT), and now the feature is live — if you pay for a $2.99 Twitter Blue subscription and are using an iOS device. Image: Twitter Image: Twitter NFT fans say Twitter hasn’t solved the “right click save” problem”On one hand, NFT profile pictures could be viewed as an incredible technology integration adding real utility for verified digital items. Alternately, it’s an unmissable signal pointing out the people that you should block or mute before they try to sell you some of their blockchain receipts.No matter what your opinion of easily reproduced digital trinkets is, Twitter is integrating them in... Continue reading…

Microsoft was working on a secret “pocketable” Surface device powered by a custom Windows OS before the company turned to Android for its Surface Duo. Codenamed Andromeda, the device appeared in leaked emails, patents, reports, and throughout various references to it in Microsoft’s Windows operating system.Now, Windows Central has obtained an early test version of Andromeda OS running on a Lumia 950 to show just how close Microsoft got to launching a more modern successor to Windows Phone.While Andromeda OS was never designed to ship on a Lumia 950, some Microsoft engineers used these devices to test parts of the operating system. As is typical for secret device development at many tech companies, not all engineers got access to... Continue reading…

Image: Twitter Today, just four months after announcing it was exploring the idea, Twitter began letting some people use non-fungible tokens as their profile pictures. Subscribers to the $2.99-a-month Twitter Blue service can now connect a crypto wallet, and display any NFTs they own in their profile. These users are easily distinguished from those yet to be crypto-pilled by the shape of their avatars: a hexagon, rather than the traditional circle.In September, when Twitter first broached the idea, I suggested that the company’s adoption of NFTs could take the technology mainstream. Twitter users already invented the hashtag, the @ mention, and the retweet; by using profile pictures to display their (unauthenticated) NFTs already, I argued, owners of... Continue reading…

The Creator Z16 is slim, powerful, and starved for battery Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Update 8:23AM ET, January 21st: Target has sold out of consoles for now. We hope you had some luck on your side today.Target restocked the $499.99 standard PS5 console, and the $399.99 Digital Edition but both are sold out, and now the $499.99 Xbox Series X is available (depending on location, and possible only via the $34.99 per month All Access subscription package). Unlike other retailers, Target doesn’t require an account or special subscription to access these restocks, so they’ll be dished out on a first-come, first-serve basis. Additionally, there is no queue system in place on the Target store, so your best best is to continually attempt to add the console to your cart and head to checkout as quickly as you can.Another... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Apple has introduced a new verification process in the US to ensure that customers who want to benefit from its discounted education pricing are actually involved in education. It’s not clear exactly when its policy changed, but at some point this month, some Reddit users noticed that Apple’s education pricing page was updated to note that customers will now be checked by Unidays, a third-party verification service.As well as requiring Unidays, Apple is also placing new limits on how many items you can buy with an educational discount. Apple Track reports that users are limited to one desktop computer, one Mac mini, one laptop, two iPads, and two accessories per year. Given that’s more than any student, teacher, or educational staff... Continue reading…

A good solution for mobile Game Pass games... or at least some of them Continue reading…

A render of the planned site. | Image: Intel Chip manufacturer Intel will spend at least $20 billion on a new chip manufacturing site in New Albany, near Columbus, Ohio, the company announced today. The 1,000-acre location will initially play host to two chip factories, and is set to directly employ at least 3,000 people and “tens of thousands” more across suppliers and partners. Construction is reportedly due to kick off this year, with the site becoming operational in 2025.In an interview with Time, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said the company expects the site to become “the largest silicon manufacturing location on the planet,” adding that it could eventually expand to 2,000 acres with eight fabs. After helping to establish Silicon Valley, Gelsinger said the new site could become... Continue reading…

Blizzard chief Mike Ybarra posted a blog about the changes on Thursday. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Blizzard Entertainment, the developer of huge franchises like Diablo and Overwatch, has been under intense scrutiny since California sued parent company Activision Blizzard last summer over allegedly fostering a culture of harassment and discrimination. In an attempt to assure employees and fans that the company is making positive changes, Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra published a blog post detailing what it is doing to “rebuild your trust.”At the top of the list is that executive and management teams will be measured “directly against culture improvement,” which means that their compensation will “depend on our overall success in creating a safe, inclusive, and creative work environment at Blizzard,” Ybarra says.He also outlined new... Continue reading…

TikTok is testing paid subscriptions | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok confirmed Thursday that it is testing support for paid subscriptions, paving the way for creators on the short form video platform to charge for their content. First reported by The Information, the company didn’t share details about when it might roll out to creators, how many creators are currently testing it, or what the pay structure might look like. Company spokesman Zachary Kizer said in an email to The Verge that the subscriptions were a “concept that’s been in testing,” and that it was “always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience,” (whatever that means).If adopted, it would be the latest move by TikTok to help its creators monetize their content; it introduced its C... Continue reading…

Image: Netflix Hold on to your jumpsuits — Netflix’s wildly popular Squid Game series has been confirmed by the company for a second season.During its fourth-quarter earnings call Thursday, Netflix’s co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos confirmed that the Korean miniseries is returning. Asked by Nidhi Gupta of Fidelity Management and Research whether the viewers would get a second season of Netflix’s most popular series ever, Sarados said there’s more grisly action to come.“Absolutely,” he responded. “The Squid Game universe has just begun.”Previously, Hwang Dong-hyuk confirmed that the series would return, adding that he was in the “planning process.” Sarandos didn’t elaborate on when the series will return, or what an expanded Squid Game... Continue reading…

Legendary Pictures Though Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong made waves last summer by debuting on HBO Max and quickly becoming one of the platform’s top performing features, the next time we see the titanic monster and his fellow kaiju, they’ll be calling new streamer home: Apple Plus.On Thursday, Apple Plus announced that it has greenlit a new live-action series set in Legendary’s Monsterverse from co-creators Chris Black (Star Trek: Enterprise) and Matt Fraction, writer of Marvel’s Hawkeye run that the recent Disney Plus series heavily draws from. Along with Black and Fraction, Toho’s Hiro Matsuoka and Takemasa Arita and Safe House Pictures’ Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell are set to executive produce. Legendary Legendary’s... Continue reading…

The “Sandow Switch” that once was used by the Alcoa coal power plant now provides electricity for the Whinstone US Bitcoin mining facility in Rockdale, Texas, on October 9, 2021. | Photo by MARK FELIX/AFP /AFP via Getty Images On Thursday, members of Congress debated how to make cryptocurrencies greener, as energy-intensive bitcoin mining booms in the US. One of the biggest questions was whether to use renewables to power the energy-hungry mining at the heart of bitcoin’s blockchain, or turn to other blockchains that don’t need as much energy in the first place.The debate took place during an oversight hearing on the “energy impacts of cryptocurrency” held by the House Energy & Commerce Committee. The US became the de facto epicenter for bitcoin mining last year, after China clamped down on mining within its borders — in part because of how much energy bitcoin uses. That transition could have big implications for the already strained power grid in the US, as... Continue reading…

The IRS will use a third party facial recognition company to verify online taxpayers | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Internal Revenue Service will require people who access and pay their taxes online to enroll in a third-party facial recognition company starting this summer (h/t Krebs on Security). Even those who have already registered on IRS.gov with a username and password will have to provide a government ID, a copy of a utility bill, and a selfie to ID.me, the Virginia-based identity verification company. You’ll take a video selfie with whatever webcam or mobile device you’re using to sign up, which seems likely to cause problems for people with older hardware or who don’t have access to one.According to the IRS, ID.me is a “trusted technology provider” of identity verification services. Anyone who already has an ID.me account from another... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix investors have been worried that the company isn’t adding subscribers fast enough — and today, they started to panic. After Netflix reported lower than projected subscriber additions for the final quarter of 2021, its stock plummeted nearly 20 percent.The plunge was the lowest the stock had dropped since June of 2020, CNBC noted. Last quarter, Netflix had forecasted that it would report 222.06 million paid subscriptions by the end of last year. Instead, the company reported Thursday that it ended the fourth quarter with 221.84 paid memberships.“Acquisition growth has not yet re-accelerated to pre-Covid levels”It’s a small difference, but investors have been worried about Netflix — already one of the biggest streaming companies... Continue reading…

The Note 20 will likely be the last of its kind. | Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge Samsung will host an Unpacked event next month, the company has confirmed in a press release authored by president TM Roh, and the writing is on the wall for the Galaxy Note series. The release hints that more Note features will be coming to the Galaxy S series — specifically the next Ultra phone in the lineup, which looks poised to take on the Note’s built-in stylus and related productivity features. This all but seals the Note series’ fate, which Samsung left in ambiguous territory last year.Things looked doubtful for a renewal of the Note series when 2021 came and went without a new Note device. Roh’s post acknowledges the disappointment from Note fans and that this feedback has been taken into account in designing “the most... Continue reading…

Like with Minecraft, Microsoft might keep Call of Duty multiplatform. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The gaming industry is reeling from the potential ramifications of Microsoft’s massive deal to acquire Activision, and some of the biggest questions have been about the future of the Call of Duty franchise, which is a big hit on both PlayStation and Xbox consoles. While we still don’t know for sure where you’ll be able to play the newest Call of Duty games if the acquisition goes through, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer suggests the series does have a future on Sony platforms.“Had good calls this week with leaders at Sony,” Spencer said Thursday evening. “I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony is an important part of our... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’re one of the many still on the hunt for a PlayStation 5, you’re about to have another shot at GameStop, as the retailer will have the coveted next-gen console online starting tomorrow, January 21st, at 11AM ET / 8AM PT. The retailer will offer the standard, disc-based PS5 as part of a bundle that includes a copy of Call of Duty: Vanguard, an extra DualSense controller in red, a $50 Gamestop gift card, and a 12-month subscription to PlayStation Plus.GameStop did not supply specifics on exactly how much the bundle will cost — nor did it mention whether the restock will take place online or in-person — but the total of everything being offered is roughly $750. Another small catch is that the restock will only be available to... Continue reading…

Mimas and Enceladus moons | Image: Southwest Research Institute During a mission to discover whether or not Saturn’s moon Mimas was geologically dead, researchers discovered something far more surprising: “compelling evidence” of an underground ocean buried beneath the surface of the Death Star-like moon. Mimas, the researchers say, might be a “‘stealth’ ocean world,” a finding that, if verified, would further expand the number of potentially habitable places in our solar system.Icy moons with evidence of subsurface oceans have garnered a lot of attention from scientists lately. The two best known examples in our solar system, Saturn’s Enceladus and Jupiter’s Europa, are considered prime places to search for alien life. Enceladus, in particular, appears to have most of the ingredients needed to... Continue reading…

The Verge / Getty Images Though the original Fatal Attraction is a seminal classic that’s always worth revisiting, Paramount’s confident that it’s high time the film was remade as a series for the generation who grew up watching Dawson’s Creek and Mean Girls on repeat.In the new Paramount Plus Fatal Attraction, a series written by Alexandra Cunningham (Desperate Housewives, Dirty John), Joshua Jackson stars as Dan Gallagher, a man whose chance sexual encounter with a woman named Alex Forrest (Lizzy Caplan) leads to a torrid affair that quickly turns dark. Like the original, this Alex’s feelings for her beau sour once he begins to rebuff her, and her obsessive feelings for him begin to grow increasingly intense and dangerous. But according to Deadline, the new F... Continue reading…

There were concerns some altimeters might not properly filter 5G signals. | Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images The FAA has announced that an “estimated 78 percent of the U.S. commercial fleet” have been cleared to land at airports with 5G C-band, even under low-visibility conditions. The agency’s statement comes after a week of controversy surrounding the rollout of AT&T and Verizon’s upgraded cellular tech, which saw US airlines warning of “catastrophic disruption” to travel and shipping and some international airlines announcing they’d halt flights to some US airports.At issue are concerns that some radio altimeters won’t properly ignore signals from the new 5G transmitters. While there are precautions that should keep this from happening, including creating buffer zones around airports, an incorrect altimeter reading could cause real problems... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Update January 20th, 3:29PM ET: Best Buy has sold out of its stock of PlayStation 5 consoles for the day. We hope that you scored one. But if not, we’ll try to help you get one next time.While there have been many restocks of Sony’s PlayStation 5 console as it slowly gets a little easier to obtain one, we’re sadly not out of the woods just yet. The PS5 is still hard to come by for a product that is over one year old. Thankfully, there’s another chance to pick one up today, care of Best Buy.Best Buy is opening up orders for the standard disc drive-equipped PlayStation 5 console, costing $499.99 and disc-less Digital Edition for $399.99. Orders from Best Buy are usually based around store pickup orders, so it is very likely that you may... Continue reading…

Wordle is the free word game everyone on Twitter seems to be playing. | Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images By this point in the pandemic, we’re all looking for something pleasant to distract us — even momentarily — from all the chaos, which may explain why the simple, no-frills game Wordle has become so popular. It’s a web-based puzzle that requires players to guess a new five-letter word every day, in six tries or less, and everyone gets the same word. You may have seen people sharing the gray, green, and yellow square patterns on Twitter, which show how they performed on that day’s Wordle without giving away the solution (more on that in a sec).According to a lovely New York Times profile of Wordle creator and software engineer Josh Wardle (get it?), he devised the game as a gift for his partner Palak Shah, who loves word games and... Continue reading…

AirBuddy 2.5 has a new “Proximity Engine” v2 that should detect and hand off peripherals faster. | Image: Buddy Software A new version of AirBuddy for macOS Monterey is available starting today, adding the option to quickly shift some non-Apple Bluetooth headphones and other devices between Macs and iPhones. The original AirBuddy app for macOS that launched in 2019 was a simple solution to let AirPods interface with your Mac just as seamlessly as they already did on iOS devices — complete with the animated pop-up many iPhone users are accustomed to seeing.AirBuddy 2.5 takes advantage of new under-the-hood macOS Monterey changes to enable things like low battery notifications, switching from transparency mode to noise-canceling on AirPods that are not even currently outputting sound from the Mac, and easy control over automatic switching between devices.... Continue reading…

Apple is renowned for a culture of secrecy, one that’s managed in no small part by the company’s head of communications. But it’s had a hard time filling that role, with the most recent entrant — Stella Low, formerly Cisco’s PR chief — now leaving after less than a year on the job.Fifteen-year Apple vet Kristin Huguet Quayle is taking over, according to journalist Kara Swisher and BuzzFeed’s John Paczkowski. Apple confirmed to BuzzFeed that she’s been promoted effective immediately, as Low leaves to spend more time with her family. The previous comms boss, Steve Dowling, left in September 2019, and Apple left the role open for nearly two years before hiring Low last May. (During that time, long-time Apple marketing and App Store boss... Continue reading…

Peloton is pausing production of its connected bikes and treadmills. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Peloton’s pandemic fortunes began waning in 2021, and it appears that trend is continuing into the new year. According to a new CNBC report, Peloton has decided to temporarily halt production of its connected exercise bikes and treadmills amid weak consumer demand.Citing a confidential internal company presentation, CNBC reports that Peloton will stop producing its original Bike from February to March. The company halted production on its more premium Bike Plus in December and apparently has no plans to restart until at least June. The newer Peloton Tread, which launched last year, will also cease production for six weeks starting next month. Unsurprisingly, Peloton also reportedly has no plans to produce any Tread Plus machines in... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Epic Games has filed its opening brief to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to overturn the previous ruling that Apple’s control over the iOS App Store does not qualify as a monopoly. The company first gave notice of it appeal in September, but Thursday’s filing is the first time it has laid out its argument at length.“Epic proved at trial that Apple retrains trade...by contractually requiring developers to exclusively use Apple’s App Store to distribute apps and Apple’s IAP for payments for digital content within apps,” the filing reads. “If not overturned, [the district court] decision would upend established principles of antitrust law and...undermine sound antitrust policy.”Epic’s first legal challenge to Apple’s App... Continue reading…

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images Congress is one step closer to actualizing transformative antitrust reform for the tech industry after sending their most viable bill to the Senate floor.The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the American Innovation and Choice Online Act by a 16-6 vote on Thursday after hours of lengthy debate. The bill – sponsored by a bipartisan group of tech hawks like Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) – would ban dominant tech platforms from favoring their own services and products over those of their competitors.The successful committee vote comes after a week of antitrust action from the federal government that’s spooked the tech industry and put lobbyists in a frenzy. While prohibiting self-preferencing, like Amazon placing its... Continue reading…

TikTok has had some... interesting marketing campaigns recently. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Nick Tran is no longer TikTok’s global head of marketing, reportedly because the company was unimpressed with his “side-show” marketing campaigns, according to the New York Post. Some of the most notable “stunt-marketing” schemes he came up with included opening TikTok Kitchens, letting people apply to jobs at places like Chipotle or Target via TikToks, and an NFT collaboration with celebrities like Lil’ Nas X and Bella Poarch.The Post reports that the restaurant campaign, where ghost kitchens would cook and deliver recipes that went viral on TikTok, was the one of the last straws for Tran. “We’re not in the restaurant business and we shouldn’t pretend to be,” one executive reportedly said. Looking at some of the campaigns, it is a... Continue reading…

Musk says trials should start this year. | Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images Elon Musk’s brain-machine interface company Neuralink has a new job posting for a clinical trial director, a position that could help the company move towards its stated goal of testing its brain implant in actual people.Since launching publicly in 2017, Neuralink has demoed its brain implant in pigs and monkeys but has yet to announce a start to the long-promised trials in humans. The company’s implant is a coin-like device with electrodes studded on thin, flexible wires. The wires are its main innovation over older brain-machine interfaces, which use stiffer needles that can damage cells in the brain.The company needs to do trials in humans before it can get Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for general medical use — key... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Every year, the cost of streaming gets more and more expensive — and just last week, prices started going up again. Netflix announced that all of its tiers would get an immediate price hike for new subscribers, boosting its most expensive plan to $20 per month. It’s the third price increase since 2019.At $15.50 per month, Netflix’s standard tier now slightly out-prices HBO Max ($15 per month) and the Disney Bundle (which includes ESPN Plus and Hulu for $14 per month), making it one of the most expensive on-demand streaming options among leading services. If you want 4K, it gets even pricier. That’s not an insignificant amount of money, considering people tend to have around four paid streaming subscriptions, according to recent data... Continue reading…

NYC Mayor Eric Adams will convert his paycheck into cryptocurrency | Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Brooklyn Academy of Music Following through on a plan he announced before he took office, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday that his first paycheck, which arrives on Friday, will be converted from US dollars into cryptocurrency. The transaction will take place on Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, and will convert Adams’ pay into Bitcoin and Ethereum.“New York is the center of the world, and we want it to be the center of cryptocurrency and other financial innovations,” Adams said in a statement. “Being on the forefront of such innovation will help us create jobs, improve our economy, and continue to be a magnet for talent from all over the globe.”Adams tweeted on November 4th that he would take his first three paychecks in... Continue reading…

Ubisoft’s NFTs, pictured here, received a critical reception when they were announced. | Image: Ubisoft NFTs have been a contentious topic in the video game industry as of late. Fans did not respond well to Ubisoft’s NFT plans, and the outcry to NFTs in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl was so vehement that the game’s developers decided to cancel them entirely. But it’s not just video game fans that are skeptical of the new technology; many game developers have similarly strong feelings, according to the Game Developers Conference annual survey, which was released Thursday.“When asked how they felt about the possibility of cryptocurrency or NFTs in games, a few called it ‘the future of gaming,’” the survey said. “However, a vast majority of respondents spoke out against both practices — noting their potential for scams, overall... Continue reading…

Google VP Clay Bavor. | Photo By Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images Project Iris could see Google go up against Meta and Apple in the coming headset wars Continue reading…

Meta Messenger for Kids is adding new games to teach online safety | Photo Illustration by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Facebook parent company Meta has launched new activities on its Messenger Kids platform aimed at teaching internet etiquette to children. According to a blog post by Erik Michael Weitzman, director of product management at Messenger Kids, the new gamified activities will “help kids learn how to use the internet safely and practice making healthy decisions online.”Pledge Planets is based on what Weitzman says are the tenets of the Messenger Kids Pledge: be kind, be respectful, be safe and have fun. The first episode titled “Be Kind” includes two games that will help kids “learn and practice how to act with kindness,” the company says:

An animation of the SEE-1 module attached to Axiom’s space station on the ISS. | Image: Axiom/S.E.E. On Thursday, a UK-based company that claims to be producing Tom Cruise’s upcoming film in space said it plans to attach the first-ever space movie studio and sports arena to the International Space Station as early as 2024.Called Space Entertainment Enterprise, or S.E.E., the company also announced it is working with commercial space station builder Axiom Space, which has its own partnership with NASA to build and attach an experimental space station to the ISS. That station is called Axiom Station, and Axiom hopes to launch its first module, called Axiom Hub 1, to the ISS by 2024. The company will then build out the space station before eventually separating it from the ISS in 2028 and making it a free-flying vehicle.S.E.E. plans to... Continue reading…

Aardman / NETFLIX After years of Chicken Run fans wondering whether the stop-motion classic would ever be back for a sequel, Netflix finally answered last summer with a resounding “yes,” but was tight-lipped about key details like who all might be coming back to reprise their roles and who might not.Though we’re still a ways out from director Sam Fell’s Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget’ premiere, Netflix has just shared a cache of new information about the sequel along with our first look (sort of) at the movie’s central hero. Set some time after the first film, Dawn of the Nugget finds Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (Zachary Levi) settling into new lives on an idyllic island completely devoid of humans where they feel safe enough to finally start a... Continue reading…

iRobot’s Roomba j7 Plus and its auto-empty base. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Let’s get down to the dirty business of things and keep it professional. Here’s a deal on a robot vacuum that detects doo-doo.The iRobot Roomba j7 Plus is one of the newest models from the most recognizable brand in the robot vacuum world. It’s currently on sale for $599 ($250 off) at Best Buy, Amazon, and Wellbots. This one has the kinds of fancy features you may come to expect from a fairly expensive robo-vac, like room mapping with keep-out zones, spot cleaning, and automatic bin-emptying. It also has an ace up its sleeve: the ability to detect pet waste and (ideally) not run over it.Our resident smart home expert and reviewer, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, recently tested the Roomba J7 Plus against the Samsung Jet Bot AI Plus, and the... Continue reading…

Boost’s first 5G phone is cheap but unremarkable Continue reading…

Image: USPS While it’s nice that the government will be sending us four free at-home rapid COVID test kits a month, that’s not going to be enough for many households. However, if you’ve got private insurance through an employer or a group, you do have an alternative: you can get a reimbursement for — or pick up free at approved retailers — up to eight FDA-authorized at-home COVID tests per person per month.Announced back in January, the new rules state that private health insurers are required to cover these tests without needing approval from a doctor or other medical provider. (If you need more kits, you can also get them covered if it is ordered by a medical provider.) This requirement went into effect on January 15th.How do you take... Continue reading…

Cartoon Network Though the newest season of Cartoon Network’s Craig of the Creek only just picked back up earlier this week, the network’s already decided that it wants to see much, much more of Craig, the rest of the Johnson family, and the other Creek Kids.In a move that’s sure to calm fans who can never be certain if and when these shows are coming back, Cartoon Network has just announced that Craig of the Creek has been renewed for a fifth season that will continue to follow the adventures of Craig (Philip Solomon), Kelsey (Noël Wells), and J.P. (H. Michael Croner) as they discover new depths of the creek they call a second home.With a whole new half of the Creek suddenly becoming accessible to Craig and the gang in the show’s last season, Craig... Continue reading…

EMBARGO: June 15, 2021, 10:30am ET | Photo by Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge Mercedes-Benz announced it will integrate Luminar’s lidar sensors into future production vehicles to enable autonomous driving capabilities.The German automaker is also taking an equity stake in the Orlando, Florida-based company, acquiring a total of 1.5 million shares. Based on Luminar’s share price of $13.45 at market close January 19th, Mercedes-Benz is purchasing approximately $20.2 million worth of shares, or less than 1 percent of the company.Lidar, a key ingredient in autonomous driving, is a laser sensor that uses near-infrared light to detect the shapes of objects. This helps autonomous vehicles “see” other objects on the road, like cars, pedestrians, and cyclists, all without the help of GPS or a network connection.M... Continue reading…

Market share for the world’s largest music streaming services. | Image: Midia Research Spotify was the largest music streaming service in the world as of the second quarter of 2021 with a market share of 31 percent, with Apple Music in second place at 15 percent, and Amazon Music and Tencent Music each tied at third with 13 percent apiece. That’s according to a report from Midia Research, a media and entertainment-focused research and analysis agency.Although exact subscriber numbers and market shares may have changed in the months since Q2 2021 (the use of older data is because of how long the market analysis process takes, Midia tells me), the report sheds light on how the world’s biggest music streaming services are stacking up against one another. While Spotify releases official subscriber numbers at the end of each... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In a blog post published in the early hours of Thursday morning, cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com acknowledged that the company had lost well over $30 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum after a hack that took place on January 17th.The company has been criticized for vague communication around the hack, which was only officially confirmed yesterday by CEO Kris Marszalek.The new blog post said that the total value of the unauthorized withdrawals was 4,836.26 ETH and 443.93 BTC — equivalent to roughly $15.2 million and $18.6 million respectively, at current exchange rates — as well as $66,200 worth of other currencies. According to the post, 483 Crypto.com users had their accounts compromised.Crypto.com has said that all affected... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Social media conglomerate Meta is exploring plans to let users create, showcase, and sell NFTs on Facebook and Instagram, according to a report from The Financial Times.If the company launches such tools, it would be the biggest show of mainstream support for NFTs to date, and help solidify the controversial assets’ place in the digital world.As per the FT, the plans are “at an early stage and could yet change.” The publication says teams at Facebook and Instagram are “readying” a feature that will let users display NFTs as their profile pictures, as well as working on a prototype to let users mint new NFTs. Others at Meta are reportedly discussing “launching a marketplace for users to buy and sell NFTs.”Exactly how far along these... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is rolling out its Communities feature, a rival to Facebook Groups and Reddit, to Android users worldwide. Since its launch in September, Twitter Communities has been limited to iOS or the web, meaning Android users could only join and participate in communities through a browser and not the native Twitter app.Android users can now easily join, request to join, or participate in Twitter Communities, opening up the feature to a lot more of Twitter’s userbase. Twitter Communities work like a private group, or like a subreddit. Twitter users can choose to tweet directly to a Twitter community, and that tweet won’t show up on their own feed or to their followers.Twitters Communities is still in betaTwitter Communities is still an... Continue reading…

Image: Amazon Amazon Style is a new kind of physical store from the online shopping giant that will focus on clothing, footwear, and other fashion accessories, the company announced today. It’s due to open at The Americana at Brand shopping mall in Los Angeles later this year, where it will be Amazon’s “first-ever physical apparel store.”In line with Amazon’s existing retail locations, the new Amazon Style store is packed to the gills with shopping tech. Amazon says clothes racks will feature QR codes, which customers can scan to see available sizes, colors, customer ratings, and product details. Then, with a tap of a button, selected items will be sent to a fitting room to try on without having to first rummage through racks. Amazon will also send... Continue reading…

Microsoft is getting ready to overhaul the Task Manager in Windows 11. Like the rest of the operating system, the Task Manager is getting a new design that matches Microsoft’s new Fluent Design language. It seems Microsoft hid the new design in the bowels of recent Windows 11 builds, but engineering student Gustave Monce, who previously got Windows 11 running on a phone, uncovered the work-in-progress and shared it on Discord this week.It’s possible to enable the new Task Manager inside the latest preview builds of Windows 11, but Microsoft hasn’t officially announced the redesign. “This is a hidden feature in the new build,” says Monce. “Everything is broken though.” It’s clearly early days for this new design, but it already includes... Continue reading…

Photo credit should read NOAH BERGER/AFP via Getty Images The United States’ biggest tech companies are seriously worried about new antitrust legislation. So much so that Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai have been personally “calling and meeting with senators,” urging them to oppose the mooted legislation, according to a report from Punchbowl News that cites “​​multiple Senate aides.”The legislation in question is The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, a bipartisan bill spearheaded by Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA). The legislation is currently in its early stages, and is set to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee today. The bill would need to pass votes from both the House and Senate to become law, but it’s still easy to see why it’s... Continue reading…