The Verge

The algorithms were used to design an upcoming version of Google’s TPU chips. Pictured above is TPUv2, announced in 2017. | Image: Google Google is using machine learning to help design its next generation of machine learning chips. The algorithm’s designs are “comparable or superior” to those created by humans, say Google’s engineers, but can be generated much, much faster. According to the tech giant, work that takes months for humans can be accomplished by AI in under six hours.Google has been working on how to use machine learning to create chips for years, but this recent effort — described this week in a paper in the journal Nature — seems to be the first time its research has been applied to a commercial product: an upcoming version of Google’s own TPU (tensor processing unit) chips, which are optimized for AI computation.“Our method has been used in production... Continue reading…

Illustration by Maria Chimishkyan Virtual private networks (VPNs) can offer an additional layer of security and privacy for your online activity. Whether you’re working on a public Wi-Fi network and want to escape prying eyes, or you’re worried about privacy in general, a VPN can offer a lot of benefits.In a nutshell, a VPN establishes a secure, encrypted connection between your device and a private server, hiding your traffic from being seen by others. Of course, the VPN itself can still see your traffic, which is why you should choose a VPN from a company you trust. (A good rule of thumb is to avoid free VPNs, because if they’re not charging you a fee, they may be monetizing in some less desirable way.) In addition, law enforcement can get its hands on your... Continue reading…

He didn’t tell you everything. Apple had its WWDC keynote on Monday, where it showed off the big new features coming to its platforms, but it didn’t have time to show off everything coming to the new versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. So we’ve combed through the preview pages, Twitter, and a good chunk of the internet to see what interesting features got left out of the presentation.iOS and iPadOS 15The big features in iOS and iPadOS were the updates to notifications, FaceTime, and multitasking, but it appears Apple may have been really focusing on the platforms themselves, too. There are a ton of quality-of-life improvements including:

You can lean on its kickstand, but not its CPU Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is planning to let Xbox console owners try games before they download them later this year. The new Xbox dashboard feature will allow console players to stream games through Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) service instantly. It’s part of a push to integrate xCloud more into Xbox consoles and into the Xbox app on Windows PCs.“Later this year, we’ll add cloud gaming directly to the Xbox app on PCs, and integrated into our console experience, to light up all kinds of scenarios, like ‘try before you download,’” says Kareem Choudhry, head of cloud gaming at Microsoft.Microsoft isn’t detailing all of the ways that xCloud will appear on Xbox consoles, but trying games before you download them certainly opens up possibilities... Continue reading…

Microsoft is making some significant upgrades to its Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) service in the next few weeks. The Xbox cloud streaming service will be moving to Xbox Series X hardware on the server side, bringing dramatic improvements to load times and frame rates. Microsoft is also moving xCloud on the web out of beta, which is good news for owners of Apple devices.“We’re now in the final stages of internal testing, and we’ll be upgrading the experience for Ultimate members in the next few weeks,” says Kareem Choudhry, head of cloud gaming at Microsoft. “The world’s most powerful console is coming to Azure.”The upgrade will include major improvements to xCloud, with players able to benefit from the same faster load times and... Continue reading…

Photo: Marvel Studios Before she got her start working on TV shows like Sex Education, Kate Herron’s career involved temping at a lot of offices. So when she was given the chance to direct Loki, a new Disney Plus series that follows a bureaucratic organization called the TVA that controls time, she knew exactly the vibe she was going for. She describes the style as Mad Men meets brutalist architecture — with plenty of sci-fi influences. And it was her previous career that helped inspire some of those aesthetics.“I took a lot of experience as well from my own life as an office temp, I worked in a lot of offices before I got my first film job,” she tells The Verge. “It actually inspired the style of tech. I remember the computers I used to work on were really... Continue reading…

Amelia Krales / The Verge Just about any account you own on the internet is prone to being hacked. After numerous widespread breaches through the past few years, tech companies have been working together to develop a standard that would make passwords a thing of the past, replacing them with more secure methods like biometric or PIN-based logins that do not require transferring data over the internet.But while those standards are still being adopted, the next best way to secure your accounts is two-factor authentication, or 2FA. This a process that gives web services secondary access to the account owner (you) in order to verify a login attempt. Typically, this involves a phone number and / or email address. This is how it works: when you log in to a service,... Continue reading…

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge Some privacy may be paywalled Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is updating its search algorithms to prevent sites from filling search results with unproven slanderous claims about individuals, The New York Times reports. The changes follow a recent series of reports from the Times, which found a vast web of sites hosting unverified and potentially life-ruining claims about individuals, alongside an industry of other services promising to remove the offending content from search results for substantial fees.The search giant is making a series of changes to its rankings to combat the sites, which Google’s vice president for global policy and standards and trust and safety David Graff said should eventually have a “significant and positive impact” for those affected. Now, when users report... Continue reading…

Boston Dynamics isn’t the only company that makes futuristic quadrupedal robots. Chinese firm Unitree Robotics has also been at it for years, and this week revealed its latest creation: the Unitree Go1, a robust-looking four-legged bot that’s remarkably cheap, with prices starting at just $2,700. (For comparison, Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot costs $74,500.)What is the Go1 for, though? Well, a demo video shows it being put to such useful tasks as “following someone on a run” and “carrying a single bottle of water.” Sure it’s not practical to have a robot butler for your phone and wallet, but it makes a statement on a night out.More realistically, the robotics industry is still exploring the best applications for these sorts of machines.... Continue reading…

OldOS app on an iPhone. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge. iOS 4 originally appeared nearly 10 years ago as Apple’s first mobile operating system to drop the iPhone OS naming convention. An 18-year-old developer has now lovingly recreated iOS 4 as an iPhone app, and it’s a beautiful blast from the past. If you never got the chance to use iOS 4, or you’re a fan of the iPhone 3G, OldOS almost flawlessly pulls off the experience of using an iPhone from a decade ago.OldOS is “designed to be as close to pixel-perfect as possible,” says Zane, the developer behind the app. It’s all built using Apple’s SwiftUI, so it includes buttery smooth animations and even the old iPhone home button that vibrates with haptic feedback to make it feel like a real button.Apple’s built-in iOS 4 apps have also been... Continue reading…

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Samsung has announced a new image sensor for smartphone cameras that it says has the smallest pixels in the industry. The ISOCELL JN1 is a 50-megapixel sensor with a relatively tiny 1/2.76-inch format, meaning its pixels are just 0.64μm in size. For comparison, Samsung already broke records in 2019 with the slightly larger ISOCELL Slim GH1, another 50-megapixel sensor with 0.7μm pixels.Conventional camera wisdom says that smaller pixels usually result in worse image quality with higher noise, so why is Samsung doing this? According to the company, it’s about form factor versatility. The sensor’s smaller size means it can be used in ultrawide or telephoto camera modules — which are challenging to design when size is at a premium — or as... Continue reading…

Sony is now fully revealing its Airpeak S1 drone, which it teased at CES 2021 in January. The announcement contains a lot more detail on the drone’s capabilities, features, and reveals a $9,000 pricetag for the drone sans gimbal or camera, all of which cements the idea that this drone will be aimed squarely at the professional video market. Image: Sony The Airpeak with an A7S and 24mm lens attached to the sold-separately gimbal. The Airpeak S1 is built to work with Sony’s mirrorless cameras, including the A7S Mark III, FX3, or even the 8K-capable Alpha 1. They’ll be attached to a special version of the Gremsy T3 gimbal that’s been designed specifically for the Airpeak and that you’ll have to buy separately.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge El Salvador has passed a resolution to make Bitcoin a legal currency, which makes it the first country to do so (via The Guardian). According to the law, citizens will be able to use Bitcoin to do everything from paying taxes and paying off debts to buying goods and services. The move was championed by President Nayib Bukele, who says it’s a way to help those who don’t have access to banks, and those who want to send money back to the country from abroad, but critics worry that it’ll be more show than substantive change.The proposal was passed by El Salvador’s congress on Tuesday night, after Bukele announced it at a Bitcoin conference in Miami last week. It wasn’t a close call, with 62 out of 84 legislators voting for it, but it’s... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The team behind SpaceX’s growing satellite internet network Starlink is in talks with “several” airlines to beam internet to their airplanes, the project’s vice president said during a conference panel on Wednesday. Expanding Starlink from rural homes and onto airlines is an expected move for Elon Musk’s space company as it races to open the broadband network commercially later this year.“We’re in talks with several of the airlines,” Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX’s VP of Starlink and commercial sales, told a panel at the Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit on Wednesday. “We have our own aviation product in development… we’ve already done some demonstrations to date, and looking to get that product finalized to be put on aircraft in the... Continue reading…

Crews work on a right of way for the Keystone XL pipeline near Oyen, Alberta, Canada, on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. U.S. President Joe Biden revoked the permit for TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL energy pipeline via executive order hours after his inauguration, the clearest sign yet that constructing a major new pipeline in the U.S. has become an impossible task. | Jason Franson/Bloomberg via Getty Images It’s official: the Keystone XL is going away for good. The pipeline’s developer announced Wednesday that it’s terminating the project.For years, the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations have gone back and forth on allowing the massive transcontinental project to move forward. On his first day in office, Joe Biden canceled the Presidential Permit that his predecessor had granted. Apparently, that was the nail in Keystone XL’s coffin. Soon after, TC Energy suspended work on the project to “consider its options,” but hadn’t fully given up on the pipeline until now.“We took on a multi-billion dollar corporation and we won!” Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer for the nonprofit Indigenous Environmental Network tweeted. “The People made this... Continue reading…

Image: Netflix Netflix has released the first five minutes of its upcoming anime series Trese, which is based on the Philippine horror comic of the same name. In the clip (which I’ve embedded at the top of this post), you’ll get a brief look at some of the show’s terrifying-looking monsters and be introduced to detective Alexandra Trese, the show’s protagonist.Here’s the official synopsis of Trese, from Netflix:

Not the new MacBook Pro, but it does have ports that are tipped to return! Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote came and went this year without a new MacBook Pro — but it looks like that wasn’t the original intent! Intriguingly, Apple quietly included the phrases “M1X MacBook Pro” and “M1X” as tags on its YouTube video of the live keynote, as spotted by Max Balzer (via 9to5Mac).Not only does that sound like tacit confirmation of at least one new Arm-powered MacBook Pro, it also corroborates the rumors that it’ll include a new M1 chip, and that Apple will likely market it as an enhanced “X” variant, like it used to do with its high-end iPads, rather than going straight to M2. (Or, as some are pointing out, it could mean that someone on the social media team decided to try for an SEO boost and made... Continue reading…

The logo for Fanhouse, a platform that lets creators charge for access to a private social feed. | Image: Fanhouse Apple is clashing with the platform Fanhouse over whether it gets to take a cut of in-app payments to creators. The incident underscores just how little Apple understands about the creator economy, with the likely outcome being less money in creators’ pockets — and more money for one of the world’s most profitable corporations.Founders of Fanhouse — which is basically OnlyFans without the nudity — say the platform will be kicked out of the App Store in August if it doesn’t start forking over 30 percent of the fees people pay creators when purchases are made through the iPhone app. One of Fanhouse’s creators, the streamer Breadwitchery, says that cut would mean losing two months of rent from her earnings to date. The company doesn’t have... Continue reading…

Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday revoking the Trump-era bans on TikTok and WeChat. In place of the Trump order, Biden will direct the commerce secretary to investigate apps with ties to foreign adversaries that may pose a risk to American data privacy or national security.The order takes the place of a series of executive orders instituted by President Trump last year, which blocked apps like TikTok, WeChat, and Alipay from US app stores and took further measures to prevent them from operating in the US. The most extreme effects of those orders were forestalled by ongoing court challenges, but Wednesday’s order will revoke the orders outright. Instead, Biden’s order will institute a new framework for determining... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The latest Apple Watch model is $70 off at Best Buy, Walmart, and Amazon. You can buy the Apple Watch Series 6 in the color of your choice starting at $329 for the 40mm GPS model or $359 for the 44mm version. As usual, Best Buy has the biggest selection of colors in both sizes as well as the advantage of being able to pick up your order in-store at your convenience.Depending on the color you’re after, this is likely the cheapest that the one you want has been. The red Series 6 has been the lone colorway to have seen even better discounts before, including one in late April that saw it selling for just $249.LG’s 32-inch 1440p gaming monitor with a 165Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and AMD FreeSync Premium costs $297 at Amazon.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Maria Chimishkyan Two-factor authentication is a good way to add an extra layer of security to online accounts. It requires the use of your smartphone, however, which is not only inconvenient, but can be a problem if your phone is lost or breached. Hardware security keys can offer an additional layer of security to password-protected online accounts and, in turn, your identity. They’re also not hard to install. Here’s how to set them up for your Google account, Facebook, and Twitter.Security keys can connect to your system using USB-A, USB-C, Lightning, or NFC, and they’re small enough to be carried on a keychain (with the exception of Yubico’s 5C Nano key, which is so small that it’s safest when kept in your computer’s USB port). They use a variety of... Continue reading…

Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images The Fastly content delivery network (CDN) — a major middleman in internet traffic — took a nap for around an hour early Tuesday morning, and effectively knocked a huge number of major websites offline in the process. The company is now claiming the issue stemmed from a bug and one customer’s configuration change.“We experienced a global outage due to an undiscovered software bug that surfaced on June 8 when it was triggered by a valid customer configuration change,” Nick Rockwell, the company’s SVP of engineering and infrastructure wrote in a blog post last night. “This outage was broad and severe, and we’re truly sorry for the impact to our customers and everyone who relies on them.”Apparently, whatever the request was, it triggered... Continue reading…

A solid 1440p card, but only entry-level 4K Continue reading…

The Moto G Stylus 5G features a 6.8-inch screen and a large 5,000mAh battery. | Image: Motorola Motorola has announced the Moto G Stylus 5G, a new version of its very good, non-5G budget-friendly stylus phone. It offers broadly similar hardware to the 4G version, with notable exceptions in the new Snapdragon 480 5G chipset with sub-6GHz 5G connectivity and a bigger 5,000mAh battery. Priced at $399, it’s at the higher end of the budget range and will go on sale June 14th.Like its 4G peer, the G Stylus 5G features a large 6.8-inch 1080p screen, ready for your notes and doodles courtesy of a built-in stylus. It includes 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and ships with Android 11. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a charging brick is included in the box. The Stylus 5G is a little bigger and heavier than the 4G version, but not by much —... Continue reading…

Arcade1Up’s The Simpsons arcade machine. | Image: Arcade1Up The Simpsons arcade game, a classic four-player brawler that I personally spent an untold amount of quarters on growing up, is getting a rerelease in celebration of the game’s 30th anniversary thanks to Arcade1Up.In the game, which was first released by Konami in 1991, you and up to three of your friends fight waves of oncoming baddies as Homer, Marge, Bart, or Lisa Simpson in a quest to save Maggie. I always liked playing as Bart because you traveled around on your skateboard and used it as a weapon, which I thought was the coolest thing ever when I was a kid. Image: Arcade1Up I’m not sure I’d put this right next to a couch, personally. If you decide to get the machine, you should know that it actually... Continue reading…

In its much-anticipated WWDC session on Monday, June 7th, Apple introduced a load of new features for its upcoming update of its iOS mobile operating system: iOS 15. The developer’s beta is now available for anyone who’d like to download it — and who is a registered developer.First, the obligatory warning: this version of iOS 15 is going to be very new and very beta. If you’re a developer, you know all this, but it’s worth repeating: it’s best to install this on a phone that isn’t the one that you rely on. In addition, remember that Backups Are Your Friend.

Photo: Marvel Studios A brief chat with the star of Marvel’s latest streaming series Continue reading…

Scrap dealers retrieve copper from discarded electric and computer cables to sell at a roadside stall in Mumbai on March 21, 2021. | Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images We now have evidence that staying home to game or stream and chill during the pandemic was pretty much a first-world problem (or privilege, depending on how you look at it). The proof is in a new report published today by the United Nations University and UN Institute for Training and Research that looks at where drops in electronics sales and associated e-waste took place.4.9 million fewer metric tons of e-wasteThe report looked at electronics consumption in the first few quarters of 2020, and then used that to estimate future e-waste. It projects that worldwide, we’ll have discovered that 4.9 million fewer metric tons of e-waste were generated compared to a “business as usual” scenario without the pandemic. But that drop was uneven... Continue reading…

Moments from three of the animators’ videos. From left to right: Kelly Emmrich, AmyRightMeow, Rosie.gif. | Images: TikTok Starting today, you might see some beautiful new animations posted to TikTok’s accounts. The company has partnered with six of its platform’s popular animators — several of whom were featured in The Verge last year — to make videos for a campaign against bullying. The videos were all written and created by the animators and are meant to offer their perspective on the pressures faced by creators on the platform, even ones who are blowing up.The spots also highlight TikTok’s vibrant animation community. The platform has been a boon for animators, who have found that its short format makes it possible for them to create good and consistent output that stands apart from the pack and that hooks viewers. One of the creators, King Science, has... Continue reading…

The Kabuto Trunk and optional Pocket in action. | Video: Kabuto Smart luggage maker Kabuto is now selling a 95L Trunk with magnetically attachable Backpack that itself can double in capacity from 9L to 18L. The hard shell trunk includes a TSA-approved fingerprint lock, removable battery to charge your gadgets, and magnetic Fidlock fasteners, just like those found on the Kabuto Smart Carry-On bags launched on Kickstarter in 2019. Both bags should begin shipping by the end of summer as vaccine-fueled travel begins again.The $629 (early bird pricing) Kabuto Trunk measures 72 x 36 x 37cm (28 x 14 x 14.5 inches) and weighs 4.7kg / 10.4lb. It can be configured with a $29 30W 10,000mAh battery for smartphones or a beefier $79, 60W, 20,000mAh battery that can also charge most USB-C laptops. The batteries... Continue reading…

The screen will now show up to 12 providers. | Image: Google Google is changing how its Android search engine choice screen works in Europe, following complaints from rivals about its pay-to-play model, the company has announced in a blog post. The selection screen appears for users when they first set up an Android device, and is designed to offer a choice of search engines after Google was hit by a record $5 billion antitrust fine in 2018. From September, the search giant is making it free for search engines to be included, and is increasing the number of services that’ll be shown on the selection screen.Currently, the selection screen includes a choice of just four search providers. One is Google, and the other three are chosen through a sealed-bid auction process. Search providers each “state... Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge HBO Max has updated its Apple TV app as it attempts to fix the myriad issues that have been plaguing the software since last week. The update fixes significant problems with basic features like fast-forwarding and rewinding, which had been introduced after the software switched away from using the native tvOS video player. The software update brings the native player back.“We just released an update to our Apple TV app, restoring the native tvOS video playback experience you know and love, with more improvements to come,” HBO Max said in a tweet. “Ensuring HBO Max viewers have a quality experience is our top priority and we missed the mark here.”

Image: Vivaldi Vivaldi users will now be able to check their email, calendar, and RSS feeds all through the browser’s built-in tools: the 4.0 release is launching today, and includes the Vivaldi Mail beta, which promises a more private alternative to web apps made by “Big Tech” companies. Even putting any potential privacy gains aside, Vivaldi is offering something that power users may want: an all-in-one app for browsing, emailing, and planning.The email client supports IMAP and POP accounts, so you can connect the vast majority of email services to it, and you can easily have messages open up in tabs rather than taking over the current window — handy if you’re the type who often needs to bounce between emails. The search is also, in my experience,... Continue reading…

The OnePlus Nord CE 5G. | OnePlus via TechRadar OnePlus is planning to announce a new budget smartphone called the Nord CE 5G this week. TechRadar has a render of the device straight from OnePlus itself, showing that, well, it looks quite a lot like the original OnePlus Nord.The CE 5G, however, will be a little cut back in terms of specs. OnePlus’ product head Oliver Zhang tells TechRadar that CE stands for “Core Edition” and refers to a design philosophy where the company had a goal of “distilling the product down to the most important things.”“You see mid-range phones on the market with very exaggerated specifications,” Zhang says. “We actively avoided some of those features and kept the things we felt would really make a difference to the daily smartphone experience, like fast... Continue reading…

Samsung’s Z Fold 2. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Google may have shied away from a Pixel Watch, but a Pixel Fold still very much seems to be on the way — following a leak last August that revealed the company was planning to release its first folding Pixel phone in late 2021, Korean industry site TheElec is now reporting that Samsung will begin production of folding OLED panels this October for Google, Vivo and Xiaomi’s upcoming folding phones, all of which will reportedly be revealed late this year.Google hasn’t exactly kept its folding phone ambitions a secret; in 2019, it published patent applications for its own folding screens and admitted it had been prototyping them for quite some time, telling CNET that it didn’t have “a clear use case yet.” But now, it appears Google has a... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’ve attempted to stream something on HBO Max from an Apple TV sometime during the last several days, you may have noticed that its player controls are unusable. It’s not just you.Ongoing issues seem to be related to an app update that supposedly addressed “a few bugs lurking around” on June 5th. Since that update released, users have reported that basic playback functionality — such as fast-forwarding, rewinding, and pausing — is borked completely when you try to use the service on an Apple TV box.How an update this riddled with bugs rolled out to consumers remains unclear. Unfortunately, it’s also unclear when exactly they’re going to be fixed.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Today, let’s talk about one of Apple’s many announcements this week at its Worldwide Developer Conference, which some see as a possible threat to the rise of journalism distributed by email. If that sounds self-indulgent, given that it’s coming from a journalist who distributes his work via email, I apologize. But it touches on so many of the subjects of interest to us here — a tech giant’s ability to reshape markets to its liking; how journalism will navigate the platform era; what we mean when we talk about privacy — that I hope I can pique your interest at least a little.I.Start with the announcement. On Monday at WWDC, Apple announced Mail Privacy Protection, which will limit the amount of data that people who send you emails can... Continue reading…

After months of political jockeying and procedural hurdles, the Senate approved a massive science and technology bill Tuesday to boost US competitiveness with China. The bill invests billions into emerging technology industries like artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and quantum computing in the US.The bill — titled the US Innovation and Competition Act or USICA — builds off a previous proposal from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called the Endless Frontier Act. Endless Frontier was lauded as one of the first big bipartisan bills to come from the Biden administration. But over the last few months, the bill, which was seen as a must-pass piece of legislation for both parties, was bloated with political mush and much... Continue reading…

Apple’s text selection magnifying glass has reappeared in the iOS 15 beta, and Apple’s own site confirms its return by listing it as a feature. Bringing the feature back is a reversal from when Apple made the decision to dump it in iOS 13, which is a bit of a rare occurrence: Apple doesn’t usually go back after it’s done away with something (bringing back scissor switches in its keyboards after years of butterfly switches is a notable exception). The return of the little pop-up is welcome, though: I can only speak for myself, but since iOS 13’s release, I’ve constantly been struggling without the helpful little magnifier.The new version of the text magnifier seems to be a bit smaller than the old one (in case you’ve forgotten what it... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Internal Revenue Service asked Congress for more authority to request reporting on the transactions of cryptocurrency exchanges and brokers on Tuesday, Bloomberg reports. The IRS hopes to use the data it collects to develop regulations for the fast-growing crypto industry — if it’s able to get the space’s biggest players to comply.The organization made the request during the Senate Finance Committee’s hearing on the IRS’s proposed Fiscal Year 2022 budget. IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said that the group is challenged frequently in its requests for reporting and “to have a clear dictate from Congress on the authority of [it] to collect that information is critical.”A request from the IRS for actual power to do something about... Continue reading…

This photo taken on March 12, 2021 shows workers at a factory for Xinwangda Electric Vehicle Battery Co. Ltd, which makes lithium batteries for electric cars and other uses, in Nanjing in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. | Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images The US announced plans to build out a domestic supply chain for lithium batteries, which are critical for electric vehicles and renewable energy. Its new goal is to be able to do nearly everything — from mining to manufacturing and recycling batteries — within its borders by the end of the decade. If it fails, the US could struggle to meet its own climate goals and compete in the growing electric vehicle industry.The Department of Energy (DOE) released a “national blueprint” today outlining how it plans to boost America’s ability to make lithium batteries. Demand for these batteries has already skyrocketed for electronics and electric vehicles. Spruced-up electricity grids will also need large batteries to accommodate increasing amounts... Continue reading…

An image of the Google Chromecast, the best streaming stick of 2021 for most people, resting on a soundbar. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Google TV, which offers one of the cleanest streaming experiences to cord-cutters, just vastly improved its live TV options — which is to say, users actually have options now. While the “Live” tab was previously limited to Google’s own pricey live TV streaming service, YouTube TV, the company has introduced a cheaper alternative with a Sling TV integration.The companies confirmed to The Verge that the added support for Sling TV marks the first non-Google live TV integration for the platform, and that’s significant. While quite good, YouTube TV costs $65 per month before any additional add-ons or entertainment subscriptions like Starz or HBO Max offered through the service. Sling TV, meanwhile, starts at $35 per month for either of its... Continue reading…

Put in the Locked Folder for puppy crimes (being too cute). | Image: Google Google’s Locked Folder feature, which allows you to password-protect specific images or videos to keep them from showing up in your main photo library, is available in the latest Pixel update, according to 9to5Google. Google’s page explaining Locked Folder says the feature is only currently available on Pixel devices, starting with the 3. When it announced the feature at its I/O conference, Google said that it would be coming to other Android phones “throughout the year.”If you’ve got an updated Pixel, you can set up the Locked Folder by going to Photos, then to Library > Utilities > Locked Folder. Once it is set up, this is where you’ll be able to see your secret stuff.There is some amount of trade-off between privacy and convenience... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge We all spend a lot of time on our phones, and it’s possible — just possible — that some of us spend too much time. In 2018, we ran an article explaining how to use what was then Apple’s brand-new Screen Time feature, which was built in order to help people keep their on-screen time in some sort of sane proportion.At the time (which was when iOS 12 came out), you could use Screen Time to check how much time you spent on your phone, use an App Limits feature to limit your (or your kids’) daily time spent on various apps or types of apps, or use its Downtime feature to cut off access to all (except a few) apps.Since then, and especially since iOS 13 came out, Screen Time has been expanded, making it easier to lock down apps and / or... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Microsoft is returning to selling products at brick-and-mortar stores, kind of. The software giant will start selling products at its “Experience Centers” in London, New York City, and Sydney next month. Select Microsoft products will be available on July 1st, but the global chip shortage will impact what’s available to buy.Xbox Series X / S consoles won’t be available initially, until stocks of these devices improve to meet demand. Other Xbox-related products will be available, alongside Surface devices and Microsoft 365 subscriptions.“Our Microsoft Experience Centers were created to provide customers a way to experience our products in person,” said Travis Walter, Microsoft’s head of retail stores, in a statement to The Verge. “We... Continue reading…

Photo by JERRY LAMPEN/ANP/AFP via Getty Images An encrypted phone service called Anom was secretly run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a yearslong international sting operation. Law enforcement agencies across Europe, the US, and Oceania revealed Anom’s origins earlier today, saying they had arrested 800 criminal suspects based on intercepted communications.According to public statements, the FBI and other agencies seeded secure Anom phones with suspected crime syndicates, gradually building a network of around 12,000 total (and 9,000 active) devices. The phones secretly siphoned 27 million messages between 2019 and 2021, resulting in Operation Greenlight / Trojan Shield — a large-scale bust that included seizing around eight tons of cocaine, 22 tons of cannabis and... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Clubhouse took off last year and spurred competitors to add their own voice chat rooms that can host hundreds if not thousands of people. But the hit app has had a serious problem from the beginning, consistently pointed out by accessibility advocates: it excludes disabled people, with the most obvious issue being that the audio-based app doesn’t have built-in captions. This makes it unusable for deaf people and difficult to use for people who are hard of hearing or struggle with audio processing.Companies will often mention that their products are still in development or beta testing when discussing accessibility options, but the ideal development process involves working with disabled people from the earliest design stages. Tech... Continue reading…

Netflix has announced that the long-awaited live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop will premiere this fall. The science fiction, noir, and Western-infused bounty hunting series will also feature new music from the anime’s original composer, Yoko Kanno.There was, unfortunately, no trailer alongside Netflix’s announcement, but it did reintroduce a few of the cast members, who already seem to be fitting into their roles quite well — specifically John Cho as Spike Spiegel, Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black, and Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine.