The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is bringing Topics to Spaces so that hosts can tag their Spaces with up to three relevant Topics, according to the Spaces Twitter account. It’s a small addition to start: there are only 10 Topics to choose from, limited to English, for some people on the Android app. Twitter says it will expand to iOS and add more Topics and languages soon.The initial 10 Topics — Business & Finance, Music, Sports, Technology, Gaming, World News, Entertainment, Arts & Culture, Home & Family, and Careers — align with the ones that currently exist across Twitter, which people can choose to follow to get related content on their timelines. Adding Topics to Spaces brings it even closer to how Clubhouse works, with different topics to explore and... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The European Commission shook the iPhone world to its roots this week, announcing a new policy that would require all smartphones to adopt USB-C ports for physical charging in an effort to reduce e-waste.Apple, of course, doesn’t offer a USB-C iPhone, having argued to the European Commission in the past that “Legislation would have a direct negative impact by disrupting the hundreds of millions of active devices and accessories used by our European customers and even more Apple customers worldwide, creating an unprecedented volume of electronic waste and greatly inconveniencing users.”Apple obviously prefers Lightning to USB-CSwitching to USB-C, Apple says, would actually be more wasteful than sticking with Lightning, since... Continue reading…

Prices for iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone Pro Max, as announced at the 2021 Apple Event. | Sean Hollister With all the carriers dangling sweet, sweet trade-in and upgrade offers to essentially give you a “free” iPhone 13 (or two) this year, one can’t help but wonder: which one is the best deal? In this case, that would be the offer that costs you the least money but gets you the iPhone you want. Between all the convoluted conditions and confusing industry jargon, the carriers certainly don’t make it easy to compare different offers or make clear what you’re signing up for.Carriers might be eager to sign up new customers for their bottom lines, but you need to look out for yours too. After all, is it better to opt for a cheaper unlimited plan that requires a 36-month commitment or get instant trade-in credits to pay a little less sales tax... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Following the release of Apple’s iOS 15 update, some users have reported strange behavior on Instagram — when an iPhone’s ringer switch is set to silent mode, stories play without audio. A new update released on Friday appears to fix the problem.Silent videos might sound like a blessing for friends who love to put every new song Spotify suggests to them in their Instagram Story, but that’s not exactly how the switch is supposed to work. Silent mode is primarily meant to control system sounds like ringtones and text tones, not the audio you hear inside apps.Facebook is working on a fixBefore the update, I was able to recreate the behavior on my own iPhone running iOS 15. For some users, the issue popped up even earlier during the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, said Friday that cryptocurrency transactions are illegal, saying such currencies “do not have legal tender status” and therefore “cannot be circulated as currency in the market.”In a statement, the bank said that bitcoin and other virtual currency transactions have disrupted economic and financial order, contributing to a rise in “money laundering, illegal fund-raising, fraud, pyramid schemes, and other illegal and criminal activities.”Crypto transactions are now considered criminal financial activity in China, the bank said, and the country will “resolutely curb the hype of virtual currency transactions, severely crack down on illegal financial activities and illegal criminal... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The iPhone 13 Mini is out Friday, and while it has a number of welcome improvements over the 12 Mini, it shares one limitation with its predecessor: the 13 Mini is still limited to peak power delivery of up 12 watts over MagSafe wireless charging, according to an Apple support document (via MacRumors). That means it, like the 12 Mini, has a lower maximum MagSafe charging speed than the rest of the iPhone 13 lineup, which can all charge at up to 15 watts over MagSafe.While it might be disappointing to hear that the smallest iPhone can charge slower over MagSafe, it does have improved battery life. Apple says you should get up to 1.5 hours more battery life than you would with the iPhone 12 Mini, so you may not need to charge the 13 Mini... Continue reading…

Photo by Ashish Vaishnav/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The lives of delivery workers in major US cities are dangerous, surprisingly expensive, and largely only possible because of the support app-based laborers offer each other. But a new editorial series from Rest of World shows that the experiences of US-based gig workers aren’t unique — trying to make a living while at the whims of indifferent platforms is difficult no matter what country you’re in.Rest of World’s overview is based on a survey of over 4,000 gig workers across the world. The publication’s findings are extensive — there’s plenty to examine from just about every angle you can imagine — but the similarities drawn between workers in different countries is striking:

Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images Elon Musk and Claire “Grimes” Boucher have “semi-separated,” according to the SpaceX founder. Musk told Page Six that the two would continue to co-parent their one-year-old son, X Æ A-Xii, but that working in different parts of the country had led to them taking more separate paths.“We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently, and are on great terms,” Musk told Page Six. “It’s mostly that my work at SpaceX and Tesla requires me to be primarily in Texas or traveling overseas, and her work is primarily in LA. She’s staying with me now, and Baby X is in the adjacent room.”The two started dating in 2018 after an exchange about a thought experiment popular in the tech world known as Roko’s Basilisk, and... Continue reading…

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The Elizabeth Holmes trial has made me more determined than ever to avoid doing crimes. I’ll be sticking to the law from here on out, thank you very much. It’s not for any noble reason — I don’t have any new sense of morality or sudden desire to be a very good person. No, I am zealously sticking to the law because doing crimes could, theoretically, put me in the same position disgraced Theranos founder Holmes is in right now: having my text message history revealed in court.Dozens of text messages between Holmes and her ex-boyfriend (and ex-business partner) Sunny Balwani were read aloud during Holmes’ trial for fraud this week. Thousands were released by the prosecution and more were obtained by CNBC. Some of the messages talked about... Continue reading…

Background: Brown Bear mother with cub, Ursos arctos, Katmai Alaska. | Photo by: David Tipling/Universal Images Group via Getty Images I don’t know about you, but pumpkin spice lattes just aren’t cutting it for me as motivation to get excited about the fall. One thing I can rally around: fat baby bears.There’s an adorable twist this year to Katmai National Park’s annual Fat Bear Week. Today is the final day to cast your vote for its “junior” competition. Four cubs faced off yesterday for a chance to compete against the grown-ups when Fat Bear Week officially starts on September 29th. Now, only two cubs remain in the final round of junior voting; the cub who garners the most votes today will move on to the Fat Bear Week bracket.The park identifies the cubs by their mothers. You can cast your vote for Bear 128’s yearling, who already has the distinction of catching... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge California will require all light-duty autonomous vehicles (AV) to emit zero emissions starting in 2030. On Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill sponsored by environmental groups that would eventually prohibit gas- and hybrid-powered autonomous vehicles from operating in the state.It was the latest move by Newsom to restrict the sale and use of internal combustion engine vehicles amid a broader effort to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. Last year, the governor signed two executive orders: one requiring all commercial trucks and vans sold in the state to be zero-emission starting in 2045 and another requiring only the sale of zero-emission passenger vehicles by 2035.California was the first state in the US to... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.Last week on the show, The Vergecast went through all of the announcements at Apple’s fall hardware event. This week on the show, it’s review time! Nilay and Dieter are joined by Verge managing editor Alex Cranz and senior editor Tom Warren to discuss what they learned from spending time with the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 Pro. A bigger battery and a smaller notch: is it worth the upgrade?The second half of the show is dedicated to another fall hardware event — this time from Microsoft. On Wednesday, we saw a few new devices under... Continue reading…

Valve promised it would work with anti-cheat software makers EAC and BattlEye to ensure some of the most popular games will run on its upcoming Steam Deck Linux-based gaming handheld, and one of those companies is now officially on board — Epic Games announced today that its Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) now supports Linux and Mac. Not only that, it’s specifically set up to work with the Proton and Wine compatibility layers that Valve’s relying on to bring Windows games to the Deck.While developers would still need to patch their games, this immediately means some of the most popular games on Steam are now theoretically within reach, including Apex Legends, Dead by Daylight, and War Thunder, which are all among the top 25 games on Steam. Other... Continue reading…

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge The new and very good iPhone 13 Pro lineup has a thicker camera bump than previous generations (7.65mm vs. 7.4mm in the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max). It sounds negligible, but it’s enough to cause a few small issues with accessory compatibility. For instance, the iPhone 13 Pro apparently doesn’t fit perfectly onto the MagSafe Duo dual charger because of its size. And based on my colleague Sam Byford’s first-hand experience, it also doesn’t fit all that well when placed inside of the Backbone One, the best iOS controller you can currently buy.The Backbone One has a, for lack of a better word, backbone that connects each side of the controller. The iPhone 13 Pro’s camera bump causes the phone to rest unevenly while nested in the Backbone... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Researchers were caught by surprise after a short video sent a flood of new users to a survey platform Continue reading…

What’s next for Amazon’s family of Alexa-powered devices? A little bit of everything, according to a new report from Bloomberg News, which has a great overview of products the company is reportedly working on.The e-commerce giant has never been afraid of throwing products at the wall to see what sticks, and its plans certainly seem to follow this ideology. Indeed, they even include a new big-screen Echo device that can be mounted on walls. Very appropriate.Here’s what Amazon has in the hopper, according to Bloomberg:

The M1 MacBook Air, our current pick for the best laptop, is on sale for its best price to date. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge There’s no shortage of accolades for the latest MacBook Air with its vaunted M1 CPU. Our review last November simply stated that “the new MacBook Air with Apple’s M1 chip is a triumph.” And right now, both the 256GB and 512GB configurations are available at Amazon and Best Buy for $150 off, their largest discount to date. This version of the MacBook Air marks some of the most profound improvements to Apple’s hardware architecture and specs. Whisper-quiet operation, a faster processor, and extensive battery life make the 2020 Air the perfect travel companion, even for Windows die-hards.This deal must be popular, as most configurations are backordered until mid-October currently. Some are available sooner; make sure to check both... Continue reading…

All of the colors of the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini. | Apple Apple announced a fleet of new products at its “California Streaming” event. Chief among them — you guessed it — was the iPhone 13. This one is coming in various sizes and colors, but with smaller notches, the new A15 Bionic chipset, and with redesigned and improved cameras located around the back. Going from smallest to largest, Apple will soon release the iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, and finally the iPhone 13 Pro Max. With the Pro and Pro Max, you’ll be able to get the first iPhone to ship with 1TB of storage, along with 120Hz refresh rate displays.If you’re looking forward to ordering any of the four iPhone 13 models, the good news is you no longer need to preorder and wait around. If you haven’t already ordered one,... Continue reading…

Jawbone is best known for its fitness trackers, but the recent lawsuits focus on noise-isolation tech used in its earphones. Wearables company Jawbone is long-dead — it went out of business in 2017 — but its patents live on, and someone is using them to sue Apple and Google.As first reported by Bloomberg News, an entity named Jawbone Innovations LLC filed lawsuits against the two tech giants this week in federal court in Waco, Texas. The suits allege that Apple and Google infringed eight patents previously belonging to Jawbone and focused around noise-isolation algorithms originally developed for DARPA.The suit against Apple names the infringing devices as “all versions and variants of Apple iPhone, iPad, AirPods Pro, and HomePod products,” while the suit against Google is similarly broad, naming “all versions and variants of Google smartphones [...] tablets... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’re an Apple Music user and recently bought a new iPhone 13 model, new ninth-generation iPad, or a sixth-generation iPad Mini, there’s an important update to download to avoid an annoying bug. A new Apple support document says a bug affecting those devices restored from a backup can prevent users from accessing the Apple Music catalog, Apple Music settings, or using the services’s Sync Library feature. My colleague Chris Welch reports that he ran into this bug on iOS 15.Thankfully, the fix is very simple, according to Apple. Just head into the “General” section of the “Settings” app, select the “Software Update” option and hit “Install Now,” to get the update. MacRumors notes that its release notes don’t explicitly mention the... Continue reading…

After months of testing, Microsoft is releasing the final version of Windows 11 to its Release Preview channel today. It’s the final step before it’s released more broadly to existing devices on October 5th. If you don’t want to wait until October 5th, you can switch to the Release Preview in Windows 10 today and get the free Windows 11 upgrade early.Here’s how to upgrade to Windows 11 early:

Tab groups can be given a name and an identifying color. | Screenshot: The Verge Microsoft Edge’s new tab grouping feature arrived this month with version 93 of the browser. It was officially detailed alongside a grab bag of new tools for September, which include new shopping and vacation planning options. Tab groups have existed in Edge for a few months as an optional feature you could manually enable in the browser’s settings, but now they’re rolling out to all users.To use the tab grouping feature, hold down Ctrl and left click all the tabs you want to group together, then right click and select “Add tabs to new group.” Tab groups can be given names and distinct colors for easy identification, and minimized to reduce clutter. Image: Microsoft Grouped tabs can be minimized to reduce... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is rolling out a new Xbox dashboard that includes an updated version of the Edge browser. After six months of testing, the Chromium version of Edge is now available to all existing Xbox One and Xbox Series S / X consoles, and the new capabilities allow Xbox owners to stream Google Stadia games, access Discord on the web, and lots more.The Xbox version of Edge looks almost identical to the version available on PC or Mac. It even includes features like vertical tabs and Collections. Like Edge on PC and mobile, the Xbox version also syncs all your settings, favorites, tabs, and web history. The only feature it’s really missing is extensions, and the ability to switch into developer mode to alter User Agent strings or access a... Continue reading…

Apple’s 2021 MacBook Pro with an M1 chip. | Photo by Alexander Kramer for The Verge The latest macOS Monterey beta contains clues about the resolution of Apple’s rumored 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, MacRumors reports. The seventh beta of the upcoming operating system contains references to “3456 x 2234 Retina” and “3024 x 1964 Retina,” which are two resolutions not supported in any of Apple’s current Macs.MacRumors theorizes that the two new resolutions correspond to Apple’s much rumored 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, which are widely expected to launch this year with new designs and a new Arm-based Apple processor called the M1X. For reference, the current 16-inch MacBook Pro has a resolution of 3072 x 1920, while the current 13-inch MacBook Pro’s display sits at 2560 x 1600. If the new resolutions are accurate, both... Continue reading…

Image via Jasper Ellens DJI may be about to upend the world of aerial photography yet again — by introducing a drone with drastically improved battery life and two cameras instead of one. DroneDJ and leaker Jasper Ellens are both independently reporting that the Mavic 3 Pro is real, coming this November, and it sounds like it’ll have some significant improvements over the three-year-old Mavic 2 Pro and even the Mavic Air 2S introduced earlier this year.While DJI’s standard-sized drones have typically topped out at just half an hour in the air before requiring a battery swap or recharge, DroneDJ’s source says we’re now looking at up to 46 minutes of flight time. And that’s despite the additional hardware on board: an entire second camera (with its own sensor... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Update 8:55PM ET, September 23rd: Walmart is going to try again at 9PM ET, good luck! If you don’t get through at first, then try again. Walmart usually restocks in waves every ten minutes or so until systems are sold out.Update 12:25PM ET, September 23rd: Walmart’s console restock didn’t get off to a good start. Pages weren’t loading for most people, it seems, and the retailer updated its site with a header saying “Console event to be rescheduled”. We’ll update this post again once we know when the event will happen.Walmart is hosting a big console restock event today, September 23rd, at 12PM ET / 9AM PT. It’s going to have the PS5 consoles, along with the standard Xbox Series X and the limited edition Halo Infinite-themed Series X.... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Verge editors discuss the debut episodes of Apple TV Plus’ new series Continue reading…

In preparation for the busy holiday season, the latest Nintendo Direct was filled with what fans can expect on the Switch in the near future. We already knew about some of the big titles — including new Metroid and Mario Party games — but there were a handful of surprises, including a new Kirby game, an expansion of Switch Online, and a star-studded cast for the Super Mario animated movie. If you missed the event, here’s all the big news.The Super Mario movie has a date — and a castIt’s been a long time since we’ve heard about the Super Mario movie, which is being made in collaboration with Minions studio Illumination, but Nintendo had a lot to say about it. The film will be out on December 21st, 2022, and will feature quite the cast,... Continue reading…

Nintendo Let’s go boys! At long last, there is finally a new Bayonetta 3 trailer. Revealed during a primetime Nintendo Direct showcase, the new Bayonetta 3 trailer puts an end to four years of near radio silence on Platinum Games’ leggy, fashionable, witch.Bayonetta first debuted back in 2009 as a sexy, raunchy beat ‘em up to rival Capcom’s Devil May Cry. In 2012, Platinum Games announced the sequel, Bayonetta 2, would release exclusively on Nintendo’s Wii U.We got an initial glimpse of Bayonetta 3 way back during 2017’s Game Awards. The clip was little more than a 50-second teaser featuring a wounded Bayonetta and a fractured logo. In the years since a dearth of updates sparked rampant speculation about the game’s status. On several... Continue reading…

Chris Pratt is Mario. | Image: Nintendo Nintendo and Illumination’s upcoming Mario movie just got a big update during today’s Nintendo Direct presentation: it’ll hit theaters on December 21st, 2022, with Chris Pratt set to voice Mario.The upcoming film will also feature a ridiculously star-studded cast of voice actors, including Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong. Charles Martinet, who’s voiced Mario in Nintendo’s games for over three decades, will also appear in the film for “surprise cameos.” Also set to appear in the film are Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike. ... Continue reading…

The upcoming Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis controllers for Switch. | Image: Nintendo Nintendo is adding a new membership tier to Nintendo Switch Online that lets you play Nintendo 64 games and Sega Genesis games. The new tier, called Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, will be officially released in late October.Nintendo didn’t share pricing, and promised it will share more news ahead of the official launch date. But the company did share the games you’ll be able to play when it launches, which include some of the biggest hits across both of the classic consoles.Here’s the launch lineup of N64 games:

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic may be getting an exciting new remake for the PlayStation 5 and PC sometime in the future, but for fans looking to revisit the original, the classic RPG is making its way to the Nintendo Switch on November 11th, Nintendo announced today.The original Knights of the Old Republic was first released for the Xbox in 2003, but it’s since been ported to a variety of other platforms, including PC, macOS, and even iOS and Android phones. It’s also the latest in a series of classic Star Wars games that have made their way to the Switch in recent years, including Star Wars Episode 1: Racer, Star Wars: Republic Commando, and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic... Continue reading…

One of the bigger surprises of Nintendo’s latest Direct was a brand-new Kirby game — one that throws the cute pink ball into a post-apocalyptic world.It’s called Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and it looks to be a 3D exploration title about a world that’s been largely abandoned. Nintendo describes is as “a mysterious world full of abandoned structures from a past civilization.” It certainly looks less bright and cheerful compared to his previous adventures, though Kirby still has the ability to absorb other’s powers and wear cute outfits, and is fighting some familiar foes along the way.News of the game actually leaked out a bit earlier in the day. When it debuts, the game will join a growing list of Kirby titles on the Switch including... Continue reading…

Image: Apple The Apple Watch Series 7 has a new 60.5GHz module that works with a secret, corresponding dock, according to FCC filings (via MacRumors). The new wireless data transfer feature is designed to pair with a corresponding dock that Apple will use for currently unknown internal purposes. When the Series 7 watch is placed on that pad, it’ll activate the module — customers won’t actually be able to use it.Now, this is technically nothing new for the Apple Watch, which has included a hidden physical diagnostic port since its inception. Without actually seeing an Apple Watch Series 7 in person (and checking to see if Apple is removing the physical port), it’s hard to say whether this is some new, nascent Apple technology or just a more... Continue reading…

Photograph by Philip Montgomery On Thursday, New York’s city council passed a package of six bills establishing new rights and protections for delivery workers, making it the first major city to address the intense working conditions associated with food delivery. Mayor DeBlasio has previously expressed support for the provisions and is expected to sign them into law without delay.Passage of the bills was first reported by The City, a local non-profit newsroom.A Verge feature earlier this month detailed the intense conditions faced by delivery drivers who serve apps like Grubhub and Uber Eats. Wage theft is common, as is physical assault, and pay can fluctuate wildly. Because of the gig work model, there is little security against on-the-job injuries or earnings... Continue reading…

Image: Clubhouse After the feature was leaked last week, Clubhouse is officially launching a new way to invite people to audio chats called “Wave.” The company announced the news at a surprise town hall on Thursday and is enabling the feature today for all users on iOS and Android.With Wave, you can invite friends to a live audio room just by tapping a waving hand emoji. Once they receive their invitation, they can choose to join your call and immediately get added to an audio room. The company’s blog explains in a bit more detail:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill Wednesday that would block Amazon and other companies from punishing warehouse workers who fail to meet certain performance metrics for taking rest or meal breaks. The California Senate approved the measure earlier this month.The law allows warehouse workers to challenge performance goals that many say discourage them from taking bathroom breaks or other rest breaks throughout the work day. The bill was written in response to high rates of reported injuries at Amazon warehouses where performance quotas are algorithmically enforced.“The bill is the first attempt to create transparency and protections”The law does not explicitly name Amazon in its text, but both Republican and Democratic... Continue reading…

A Google Duo call with the UI in Spanish. | Image: Google Google is expanding Spanish language support for its Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max devices in the US. Perhaps the biggest change is that the entire UI for the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max has been translated into Spanish. That means things like visual answers to your queries and control panels now appear in Spanish, Google tells The Verge. Image: Google The Nest Hub’s UI in Spanish. Google has added a handful of new commands that might be useful around the house. One lets you add items to a shopping list — Google gives the example command, “Hey Google, agrega huevos a mi lista de compras” (which translates to “Hey Google, add eggs to my shopping list”). Another lets you call friends and family on Google Duo by saying... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Okay, I know this might be partially my fault. When I reviewed Microsoft’s 13.5-inch Surface Book 3 last year, I complained that the design was dated. I complained that my biggest nitpicks about the Surface Book 2 (which I’ve owned for years, by the way) hadn’t been fixed. Microsoft still hadn’t figured out how to do anything new or fun with the detachable, I lamented. “This form factor might be a dead end.”I love the Surface Book and am a staunch defender of the line. I couldn’t see myself using anything else as my primary driver. I hoped — prayed — that my words would result in Microsoft releasing a slimmer, sleeker, better Surface Book 4. I hoped they’d spur Microsoft into pushing the full-sized detachable workstation, a form factor... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Microsoft announced a new Surface Duo 2 this week that’s shipping with Android 11, and now the company is committing to release the OS update for original devices this year. “We remain committed to providing updates to Surface Duo, and we’re working to bring Android 11 to existing customers before the end of this year,” says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.That’s not a firm release date, but then we’ve never had one for Android 11 on the Surface Duo. Previous reports suggested it would land in the summer, but as we move closer to fall and there was no mention at Microsoft’s Surface event, it’s clearly taking longer than expected. Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge The Surface Duo 2 has larger... Continue reading…

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Google is adding a new button to Google Calendar events on mobile and the web that will immediately open a chat with meeting attendees. Google launched its rebranded version of Hangouts Chat to customers earlier this year and has slowly added more features to the main Gmail landing page, including its Zoom-like Google Meet video chat.The new Chat button appears next to the attendee list in a Calendar event. Previously, Google only offered the ability to email attendees about a meeting, but since the company has closely integrated Chats and Gmail — seemingly to popularize Chats — this new addition makes sense. You can start a chat before, during, or after the meeting with attendees, and the feature will be toggled on by default. ... Continue reading…

People will be able to mark their NFTs as legitimate on Twitter. | Twitter Twitter is turning on the ability to ask for tips in Bitcoin through its app, making it the first major social network to encourage use of the cryptocurrency as a method of payment. The company also plans to let users connect their crypto wallets and authenticate the ownership of NFTs they tweet with a special badge.Twitter has been testing tipping for a few months now, but the company hasn’t made tips widely available until Thursday, when the feature is rolling out globally on iOS with Android to follow. Besides Bitcoin, Twitter will let users connect nine traditional payment providers, including Venmo and Cash App, to their profiles to accept tips. Twitter isn’t processing the payments itself.The Bitcoin tips are facilitated by... Continue reading…

Photo: Glen Wilson / Netflix The Guilty was always going to be a challenging project. The movie, which is a remake of a Danish film from 2018, follows a 911 dispatcher in Los Angeles, who receives a troubling call that appears to be from a woman who has been abducted. The result is a tense thriller, but one you see almost none of — the entire movie is centered on LAPD officer Joe Baylor, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, as he fields phone calls in an office over the course of a single evening. Because of this, the movie hinges on Gyllenhaal’s performance, as he slowly unravels while the story twists and turns in disturbing ways.But it became even more challenging thanks to pandemic-related restrictions on filming. While the actors were on set, director Antoine Fuqua, who... Continue reading…

I’ve been waiting years for Microsoft to make a gaming laptop, and the new Surface Laptop Studio still misses the mark. Whether it would be an Xbox laptop or a Surface one, Microsoft has never really come close to building something truly designed for gaming on the go. The Surface Book, Surface Pro, and Surface Laptop all serve different creator types, but none really cater to gamers.It feels like a missed opportunity, particularly when Microsoft calls Windows 11 “the best Windows ever for gaming,” and the market for gaming laptops has become increasingly lucrative in recent years. Barely a month goes by without a thin and cool gaming laptop being announced, and the line separating laptops from gaming laptops is increasingly blurring... Continue reading…

Image: Netflix Streaming’s reigning king announced one of its biggest IP acquisitions to date this week with its purchase of the rights to Roald Dahl’s catalog of work. The deal, following regulatory approval, will give Netflix access to a universe of beloved children’s stories to mine and position the company to better compete with kid-friendly competitors like Disney Plus.The acquisition of the trove of intellectual property follows a previous partnership between Netflix and the Roald Dahl Story Company announced in 2018 to adapt some of the late author’s iconic titles. With access to the full library of Dahl stories — which include children’s classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, and Matilda, among... Continue reading…

When you first install Windows 11, you will probably see a new icon on your Taskbar — or, at least, it will be new if you haven’t been using Microsoft’s Teams collaboration app lately. If you float your cursor across the icon, which looks like a camera inside of a cartoon speech balloon, it will say “Chat.” Click on it, and you’ll be invited to “Meet and chat with friends and family” using Microsoft Teams.If you’re already using Teams, or you’re okay with switching to it, you’re fine. After that, when you click on the Chat icon, you’ll be able to chat with friends, family, and colleagues using a pop-up box.So what if you’re not interested in using Microsoft Teams?There are several things you can do if you find the push to Teams... Continue reading…

Motional, the autonomous vehicle company that is a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, is growing its presence in Las Vegas as it gears up to launch a commercial robotaxi service in 2023.The company is tripling the size of its closed-course testing facility, doubling its operations center, and hiring over 100 new employees. The larger testing facility will allow for “four times” the volume of testing, including new “high-stress situations,” such as high speeds, complex urban maneuvers, different lighting conditions, and light to heavy rain — all of which have been known to flummox autonomous vehicles.The vehicle that will be put through this new, rigorous battery of tests will be the Hyundai Ioniq 5The vehicle that will be put... Continue reading…

Photo by Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images This week marks the release of Sable, a beautiful indie title that looks like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild mixed with a comic from Jean “Moebius” Giraud. It’s not just the game’s art that’s striking, though; the whole experience is accompanied by an excellent original soundtrack composed by Michelle Zauner, the frontwoman for the indie rock band Japanese Breakfast.Ahead of Sable’s launch on Thursday and the release of the official soundtrack on Friday, I got the opportunity to talk to Zauner about composing the music for the game. It has a completely different sound than what you might be used to from her other work, so I wanted to know what it was like to make the music and where she got her inspiration. There was a lot to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge How the company found itself in its biggest crisis since Cambridge Analytica Continue reading…