The Verge

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge iOS 15 is finally here, and while it can’t be called a revolutionary update, there are enough cool new features that you may not want to wait until Apple notifies you that the update is ready. It’s easy enough to get the update without waiting, though. Here’s what you do.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitch is attempting to mend fences with a big pillar of the music industry by announcing an agreement to “work together” with the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA). Details are vague right now, but the agreement says they plan to “build productive partnerships between the service and music publishers” after a year of conflict over music rights.Twitch has long had a contentious relationship with the music industry, which has accused the company of allowing streamers to play copyrighted music without the appropriate licenses. Streamers have come under the eye of music publishers as well, with some being subject to waves of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices that resulted in Twitch deleting content from... Continue reading…

Image: Microsoft Today, Microsoft officially reinstated its PC Health Check app for anyone to download, letting you easily see whether your computer is ready for Windows 11 ahead of its October 5th debut. (The company had previously removed the app because it was somewhat misleading, and when a more robust version returned in late August, it was only available to Windows Insiders.) You can find the app at the very bottom of this page if you scroll down, or click here if you don’t mind direct downloads.But in some ways, the new PC Health Check app is still misleading because it suggests my perfectly good 7th-gen Core i7 desktop gaming PC isn’t ready for Windows 11, despite the fact that I’ve already installed Windows 11 and am running it with no major... Continue reading…

Apple has released a redesigned version of Safari for macOS Big Sur and Catalina. The update, announced as part of the upcoming macOS Monterey, was released the same day as iOS and iPadOS 15, bringing the web browser’s new look and features across Apple’s platforms.To update to the new Safari 15, you can go to System Preferences > Software Update, where it should automatically refresh and show up. Unlike updates to macOS, you shouldn’t have to reboot your computer after updating Safari.The development behind this version of Safari has been interesting. The full OS update that it was originally a part of, which also brings features like Universal Control and Quick Notes, isn’t here yet, but Apple decided to ship the new Safari anyway.... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge I’m generally a big fan of the Sonos Roam, but in the months since the portable speaker was released, I’ve definitely come across one downside: subpar power management. When the device is sitting around idle, its battery drains much faster than I’d like — and more rapidly than most Bluetooth speakers. Sometimes that means a dead Roam at the very moment you want to use it most. This has led me to completely power off the speaker when it’s not being used, which is less than ideal for something that’s meant to slot into a multi-room sound system.Thankfully, today, Sonos has made some improvements to address battery drain.After installing the latest software update (with the Sonos app on Android or iOS), the Roam should last longer on a... Continue reading…

Mercedes-Benz just announced the pricing of its all-electric luxury sedan, the EQS, and not surprisingly, it starts north of $100,000. What is surprising, though, is that the starting price is cheaper than a gas-powered S-Class.When it arrives at dealerships this fall, the EQS will start at $102,310. By comparison, the 2022 Mercedes-Benz S-Class starts at $111,350. This is a rare case of an electric vehicle selling cheaper than its gas equivalent.This is a rare case of an electric vehicle selling cheaper than its gas equivalent.Mercedes is offering three trim levels: Premium, Exclusive, and Pinnacle. Each trim comes in two versions, depending on the size of the infotainment screen: the 450+ sedan with a 12.8-inch portrait... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Another high-level Activision Blizzard employee has left the company. Claire Hart, Blizzard’s chief legal officer, announced in a LinkedIn post that her last day was Friday, September 17th.“The past three years have been full of unexpected twists and turns, but I feel honored to have worked with and met so many great people at Blizzard and across the Activision Blizzard businesses,” Hunt said.Those “unexpected twists and turns” might be an allusion to the series of legal troubles Activision Blizzard faces due to allegations of harassment, abuse, and discrimination. To date, Activision Blizzard is facing suits from:

Roblox’s age verification process involves scanning government-issued ID. | Image: Roblox Roblox is rolling out an age verification feature that will allow players to confirm their age and gain access to features reserved for older players. Age verification will be optional, and Roblox tells The Verge it will “not retain any data” from the verification process, which requires showing a form of ID.For now, only one feature requires age verification: Roblox’s new voice chat feature, Spacial Voice. During its initial beta test, it will only be available to players who verify they are at least 13 years old. (Roblox didn’t say whether it would later be available to users regardless of verification status.)But the implication seems to be that other features — perhaps specific Roblox games or community tools — could be age-gated... Continue reading…

Facebook’s Portal Go and Portal Plus | Image: Facebook Facebook on Tuesday announced two new Portal video calling devices, the first major refresh of the hardware lineup since 2019.The new devices, the Portal Go and updated Portal Plus, retail for $199 and $349, respectively. The 10-inch Portal Go is an all-new, portable form factor wrapped in fabric with a standalone battery, while the latest Portal Plus introduces a sleeker design of the most expensive, 14-inch Portal that first debuted three years ago. Both devices are available now for preorder and start shipping on October 19th.Like the rest of the lineup, the Portal Go features a wide-angle camera that automatically follows whoever is in focus, zooming and panning as they move in and out of the center of the frame. It’s the first... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If your PS5 is already running out of speedy solid state storage, there’s a fix. Sony’s new update for the PS5, released in full on September 14th, allows you to expand your paltry 667GB of usable space by popping in the same sort of M.2 SSD stick you might slip into your laptop or desktop PC. My colleague Mitchell has a PS5 SSD buying guide right here that meets all of Sony’s recommendations, such as speeds of at least 5,500MB/s. That might leave you wondering, though: what about slower SSDs?That’s why we tracked down an ADATA XPG Gammix S50 Lite, one of the slowest compatible PCIe Gen4 drives we could find at 3,900MB/s reads and 3,200MB/s writes, and stuck it into a PS5 in August. And this week, Digital Foundry corroborated our... Continue reading…

The new e-reader is still waterproof and adds new features for an increased price. | Image: Amazon Amazon has officially taken the wraps off of the 11th-gen Kindle Paperwhite ahead of the company’s fall event on September 28th, and preorders are now open directly from the retail giant. The new Kindle comes in three flavors: a standard model (with or without ads), a Signature Edition, and one designed for kids. All versions of the 2021 Kindle Paperwhite will launch on October 27th. Preorders are only open at Amazon as of right now, but we’ll update this post with more retailers as they become available.The new baseline Kindle Paperwhite is the 11th-gen ad-supported model, which starts at $140. The price represents a $10 increase over its predecessor, though, the last-gen model has seen some larger discounts in recent months. We will... Continue reading…

Image: Demi Adejuyigbe/YouTube The 21st of September? Buddy, that’s today.Lest you forget, comedian Demi Adejuyigbe has returned to memorialize Earth, Wind & Fire Day — more specifically September 21st, subject of the band’s evocative summer anthem “September.” For years, Adejuyigbe has jumped on the opportunity to mark the occasion with elaborate, often outrageous videos that have included everything from aerial banners to a mariachi band.The videos have become such a reliable marker of the end of summer that Adejuyigbe was able to hit a goal of $50,000 for charity in just three hours last year, with the campaign ultimately generating more than $330,000 over the period of several days (more than $50,000 per charity listed).Adejuyigbe’s video for 2021 hit the... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Matt Harbicht / Getty Images for Tandem Diabetes Care It’s been around 10 years since security researcher Jay Radcliffe got up onstage at a conference and demonstrated that he was able to hack into his own insulin pump. If he’d wanted, he could have used the pump to deliver a lethal dose of the drug into his system. Instead, he demanded that medical companies take the security threat seriously.That presentation and others like it were wake-up calls about the potential danger of connecting vulnerable medical devices to the internet, says Mike Johnson, a securities technologies expert at the University of Minnesota’s Technological Leadership Institute.In the decade since, there’s been an explosion in the number of connected medical devices — drug infusion pumps, pacemakers, monitors — that... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Facebook says it’s spent over $13 billion on “safety and security” since 2016 and has 40,000 people dedicated to the area, offering a glimpse at its operations after a week of leaks published by The Wall Street Journal. The company used the numbers as an example of how it’s addressed problems on Facebook and Instagram, saying the Journal’s stories lacked “important context” about complex issues.“In the past, we didn’t address safety and security challenges early enough in the product development process,” Facebook said in a blog post today. “But we have fundamentally changed that approach. Today, we embed teams focusing specifically on safety and security issues directly into product development teams, allowing us to address these... Continue reading…

Andrew J. Hawkins Specialized is launching next-generation versions of two of its most popular electric bikes, the Turbo Vado and Turbo Como, as well as a brand new model, the Turbo Tero. And while the bikes themselves look fantastic, the big story is the upgraded technology operating within. That’s because Specialized has improved these e-bikes to the point where they are basically computers on wheels.Specialized is making its e-bikes much smarter with a host of new features on the software side. That includes over-the-air software updates, meaning customers can enjoy new features as Specialized develops them over time. The company’s Mission Control app is designed to digitize the experience, providing a place where customers can receive OTA software... Continue reading…

“The Ninth Jedi” | Image: Lucasfilm Producers at Lucasfilm explain how the anime anthology came about Continue reading…

Apple’s new iPad launches on September 24th at the same starting price as the last-gen model: $329. | Image: Apple The iPhone 13 isn’t the only Apple device launching on September 24th — and we’re not just talking about the 2021 iPad Mini. The company also announced a new entry-level iPad during its recent “California Streaming” event, which comes outfitted with a new front-facing camera, a faster processor, and double the base storage. But are the improvements enough to justify an upgrade from last year’s iPad, or even picking it over its predecessor should you find the 2020 model on sale?To answer those questions, we’ve put together a comparison outlining the similarities and differences between the 2020 iPad and the forthcoming model, ahead of our official review. Image: Apple The new iPad features a 12MP front camera,... Continue reading…

The Treasury Department issued its first sanctions against a cryptocurrency exchange on Tuesday as part of a series of actions targeting the use of digital currencies in ransomware attacks.Tuesday’s sanctions will block all trades involving the cryptocurrency exchange Suex and US entities. According to the Treasury Department, around 40 percent of all Suex transactions involve illegal activities. The department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is also issuing a new advisory warning that it may issue new sanctions against cryptocurrency exchanges, cyber insurance companies, and other financial institutions that facilitate ransomware payments.“We will continue to crack down on malicious actors”“Ransomware and cyber-attacks are... Continue reading…

SiriusXM SiriusXM is using Apple Podcasts to sell more subscriptions, specifically subscriptions for Marvel content. The company launched a new Apple Podcast channel today for its Marvel content, along with a $3.99-per-month subscription offering called Marvel Podcasts Unlimited. Paying subscribers will receive early access to shows — they’ll be a week ahead of the wide release — along with exclusive titles, including Declassified, a narrative documentary about the history of Marvel Comics. (These benefits are also available to SiriusXM subscribers within the SXM app.)Apple is the exclusive third-party partner for Sirius’ Marvel subscription product, meaning, at least for now, it won’t be available through any other membership product. This news... Continue reading…

Eero Pro 6 now offers a two-pack for purchase, for when you need a little more, but not that much more. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge As of this week, you can finally pick up a two-pack of Eero Pro 6 mesh Wi-Fi 6 routers for under $400. The move by the Amazon-owned company gives you more price-palatable choices for upgrading your existing Wi-Fi router to a faster, more powerful option.First announced when the Eero Pro 6 launched last year, the two-pack is now available through Amazon and Best Buy (although weirdly not on Eero’s own site). And currently, both sites are offering an extra 20 percent off for Prime and Best Buy members through September 28th. That means for around $320 you can blanket up to a 3,500-square-foot home in speedy Wi-Fi goodness using this tri-band, Wi-Fi 6 mesh router. (The single unit and three-pack also are currently discounted.)Previously,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Vergge The Verge guide to the iPhone is a comprehensive list of how-tos that will help you be the best iPhone user you can be. Buying a new iPhone 13? Updating to iOS 15? Or carefully sticking with iOS 14? We’ve got helpful hints for you.If you to upgrade to the latest iPhone, we explain the difference between the various models, tell you how to sell or trade in your old phone, and teach you how to wipe all of your personal information when you do hand it over.We offer you tips and tricks on how to make the most of your phone and the apps that populate it. Want to move all of your data to your brand-new phone? Need to replace a failing battery? Nervous about installing the latest version of iOS before it’s completely safe? Here is... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Information is power Continue reading…

Post Plus for gamer content. | Image: Tumblr Tumblr is expanding the beta for its Post Plus subscription feature to all users in the US today. Post Plus, similar to Twitter’s Super Follows, allows creators to designate some of their posts as only for paying subscribers. Tumblr is planning a full launch of the feature later in the fall.Tumblr has made some changes since the limited beta that started in July. Post Plus creators can now directly block people who subscribe to them. Creators previously had to contact Tumblr support if they wanted to block a subscriber, which raised concerns among users.There’s now an option to set a subscription price to $1.99 a month, in addition to the existing $3.99, $5.99, or $9.99 options. Creators can go back and paywall existing content,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Collectors have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of NFTs; sometimes, the community helps claw them back Continue reading…

Artist: William Joel The next few Tuesdays, The Verge’s flagship podcast The Vergecast is showcasing a miniseries dedicated to the use of artificial intelligence in industries that are often overlooked, hosted by Verge senior reporter Ashley Carman. This week, the series focuses on AI for the video world.More specifically, we’re looking at how AI is being used as a tool to help people streamline the process of creating video content. Yes, this might mean software taking on a bigger role in the very human act of creativity, but what if instead of replacing us, machine learning tools could be used to assist our work?That’s what Scott Prevost, VP of Adobe Sensei — Adobe’s machine learning platform — envisions for Adobe’s AI products. “Sensei was founded on... Continue reading…

Normally $1,230, Dell is offering the G5 15 SE right now for 27 percent off. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Our review of the Dell G5 15 SE cemented it as one of our favorite gaming laptops of last year. More than a year later, however, this laptop still packs plenty of power and its most powerful configuration is available at Dell for just $900. While Dell’s gaming laptops typically use Intel-based architecture, the G15 SE instead relies entirely on AMD hardware. A Ryzen 7 4800H CPU capable of delivering speeds up to 4.2 GHz and a 6GB RX 5600M GPU deliver excellent performance for 1080p gaming. While we weren’t thrilled with the aesthetics of this laptop, we couldn’t argue with the overall performance.A favorite among Verge staffers, our review of the Xbox Elite Series 2 should give you some idea about how much we love this controller.... Continue reading…

The hardware is nice, but no physical button is a big step back Continue reading…

Firefly’s Reaver engine being test-fired. | Image: Firefly Aerospace A roughly $30 million handshake between two rivals is the latest display of consolidation in the small launch industry Continue reading…

Image: PayPal PayPal is updating its mobile app with a new visual design, support for a high-yield savings account, and a way to find coupons in-app. In the past, the company prioritized sending and receiving money and cryptocurrencies, but its new app is trying to be a little bit of everything to everyone, and it’s available today.The immediately noticeable change is a visual one. The old payment-focused PayPal app put sending and receiving money at the forefront, with your account balance the first thing you see when you open the app. The PayPal app’s new “homepage” is a dashboard of sorts with quick access to your balance, the amount of crypto you own, and your frequent contacts. It sorts other options under dedicated tabs and hubs.Direct... Continue reading…

This is the HP Spectre x360 16. | HP HP makes some of the most gorgeous laptops you can buy, and its Spectre line is the most beautiful of them all. But the new Spectre x360 16, a 16-inch 2-in-1 touchscreen laptop, will flip that dynamic around. Not only is this laptop beautiful — this laptop wants to make you beautiful.That’s the idea, at least. The Spectre x360 16, starting at $1,639, is the first 16-inch laptop to include an “integrated, intelligent” 5MP webcam, HP claims. But that’s not all. It also comes with a program called — and I love this name — HP GlamCam. It’s not entirely clear what GlamCam will do, but HP claims that one of its main features, Beauty Mode, will “touch up skin, teeth, and eyes” during video calls. The goal, HP says, is to “keep your focus on... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Slack is launching its new clips feature today, allowing coworkers to record video messages that exist in Slack channels. Clips supports audio from a microphone, alongside video and screen recordings. They’re designed to help teams communicate across various time zones, and cut down on the amount of meetings that are now taking place in a hybrid work era.In addition to clips, Slack is also expanding Slack Connect to allow paid organization to partner with companies on free plans. It’s also announcing GovSlack that will run in a government-certified cloud environment when it launches in 2022.Clips can be shared in channels or through DMs on Slack, and they even include live captions and a transcript that’s searchable in the Slack... Continue reading…

The ultrawide all-in-one with its magnetically attached webcam. | Image: HP HP’s new Envy 34-inch All-In-One Desktop PC is a self-contained Windows 11 machine that’s available with comparable specs to a standalone gaming PC. It has a large 34-inch ultrawide IPS display (5120 x 2160), which can be powered by Nvidia’s RTX 3080 GPU and Intel’s 11th Gen Core i9 processor.Externally, the all-in-one is also equipped with a number of neat quality-of-life features. It’s got a magnetically-attached 16-megapixel webcam which can be reoriented to sit on any of the monitor’s four sides, and a 15W Qi wireless charger built into the stand to charge your phone or other compatible accessories. Image: HP The PC’s stand has a Qi wireless charger built in. Image: HP The webcam... Continue reading…

The Surface Pro design has remained mostly the same since 2014. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Microsoft is planning to launch its latest Surface Pro 8 tablet tomorrow. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the new Surface Pro 8 will ship with the biggest hardware design and specification changes since the Surface Pro 3 launch more than seven years ago. The Surface Pro 8 looks like the Surface Pro redesign I’ve long waited for.Microsoft is planning to bring most of the sleek design elements of the Surface Pro X to the Surface Pro 8. The tablet itself will be more rounded at the edges, and a new Surface keyboard will house a new slim Surface Pen inside just like the Pro X does. While the display bezels at the top and bottom of the Surface Pro 8 won’t be fully eliminated, they will be a lot smaller and nearly... Continue reading…

Snap To mark the International Week of the Deaf, Snapchat has created custom stickers and three AR Lenses to encourage users to fingerspell, the company said Tuesday.The new features were designed by incorporating feedback and guidance from deaf and hard-of-hearing employees at the company, and using AI and computer vision technology developed by Hungarian startup SignAll, which focuses on technology for deaf people. SignAll has developed technology that can be used to track hand movements to translate sign language into spoken language. The company launched fingerspelling mobile app Ace ASL for iOS in April, and for Android earlier this month.The new Snap features were also driven internally by Snap Lab software engineer Jennica Pounds,... Continue reading…

Comcast appears to be planning to offer TVs running its own software across at least two territories, according to recent reports from Protocol and The Financial Times.In the US, the TVs will reportedly be branded as XClass TVs. Originally manufactured by Hisense, the 43 and 50-inch sets will run Comcast’s X1 operating system, which is already found on its set-top boxes and Xfinity Flex streaming box. An Xfinity landing site confirms the “XClass TV” branding, while an FAQ spotted by Protocol says they’ll aggregate “your favorite apps, live channels, and On Demand movies and shows together in one place.”“Apps, live channels, and On Demand movies and shows together in one place”Meanwhile in the UK, Comcast subsidiary Sky is reportedly... Continue reading…

Image: Netflix Netflix is launching a new free Android mobile plan in Kenya that will allow users to watch a limited selection of its catalog, including full seasons of select shows.Netflix announced that beginning this week, the new ad-free Netflix mobile plan for Android gives users the option to sign up without having to enter any payment information (though they’ll need to verify that they’re 18 or older and will still need to submit an email address to create a login).Netflix hopes users will upgrade to a paid subscriptionA Netflix spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that it’s the first time the streamer has offered a free tier. Roughly a quarter of its library will be included in the free plan, and users on this tier will be able to watch... Continue reading…

Snoop Dogg, the famous rapper, tweeted on Monday that he’s the one behind a Twitter account that discusses NFTs. Yes, this really is a thing that’s happened. While Snoop Dogg has released NFTs before, that’s not really anything new for celebrities — running a Twitter account that constantly tweets about crypto, and owning around a hundred of the crypto tokens, however, would be another level. Is this reveal real? A prank? It’s unclear, but it sure is interesting.@CozomoMedici (seemingly named after a prominent Renaissance-era Italian banker) is a Twitter account that’s amassed quite a few followers in the month or two it’s been active and talking about crypto. Part of what’s made the account splashy is that it’s seemingly spent... Continue reading…

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge Apple’s iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 are finally here, but not all of the features announced at WWDC have made it alongside them. We looked through Apple’s product pages for each OS to find the features that have yet to show up on iPhones and iPads, such as SharePlay, improved AirPod Find My support, Universal Control, and more. Except for Universal Control, which isn’t for iPhones (yet), every feature listed is missing from both platforms.Perhaps the most prominent missing feature is SharePlay, which lets users watch videos or listen to music with friends on a FaceTime call. Apple warned us (and developers) about the delay after removing SharePlay from beta tests, but it’s still a bit awkward given how significant the feature looked at first.... Continue reading…

Image: Blizzard The list of government agencies investigating Activision Blizzard has grown to now include the SEC. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed the video game publishing giant, including CEO Bobby Kotick, for records pertaining to employment, separation agreements, and communications between senior executives. The Wall Street Journal report says that the SEC is investigating whether Activision Blizzard disclosed information about harassment and discrimination claims to investors in a timely fashion.Two months ago, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing sued Activision Blizzard for facilitating a culture of abuse, harassment, and discrimination. The suit alleges that... Continue reading…

Image: OpenSea OpenSea, one of the most popular NFT marketplaces, has launched its first app for iOS and Android. The app allows OpenSea users to view the platform’s collection of digital items, but notably doesn’t allow for any kind of money to change hands, digital or otherwise (via TechCrunch).The OpenSea app basically works as a kind of gallery. You can browse artwork, share listings you find, and lovingly ogle and manage your own NFTs. The app shares a lot of the same blue and white stylings of the OpenSea site, just missing the button that says “Buy Now.”There are a couple possible reasons why actual NFT purchases are missing. At the most obvious, highest level, OpenSea probably doesn’t want to share a 30 percent cut of NFT transactions with... Continue reading…

A variety of new hardware updates are expected from Microsoft. | Image: Microsoft The event kicks off at 11AM ET / 8AM PT on September 22nd Continue reading…

Image: Apple TV Plus Tom Hanks is set to return to Apple TV Plus in Finch, a soon-to-debut feature film about a robotics engineer surviving a new post-apocalyptic world with his four-legged companion Goodyear (and a robot).The heart of Finch’s storyline centers on Hanks’ determination to find a caretaker for Goodyear after his death. The science-fiction drama takes place after a solar flare that devastated life on earth. Finch, the engineer, has been surviving a post-apocalyptic wasteland for a decade in an underground bunker, where he lives with his dog Goodyear — a very good boy and Finch’s only companion after the catastrophic event.In this underground workspace, Finch develops a robot, Jeff, with whom they’ll embark on a treacherous journey to beat a... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Senate Democrats are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to write new rules to protect consumer data privacy in a new letter to the agency authored on Monday.The letter, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and signed by eight other Democratic senators, was sent to FTC Chair Lina Khan Monday, calling on the agency to “begin a rulemaking process” on privacy. Specifically, the senators are requesting that the FTC pen new rules addressing privacy, civil rights, and the collection of consumer data.“Consumer privacy has become a consumer crisis”“Consumer privacy has become a consumer crisis,” the lawmakers wrote. “Tech companies have routinely broken their promises to consumers and neglected their legal obligations, only to receive... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Crypto exchange Coinbase has discontinued its plans to launch a Lend feature designed to let customers earn interest on certain coins as reported by Bloomberg. The company announced the change by updating a blog post from late June, saying that it would also be discontinuing the waitlist that it had set up for the feature.The cancellation comes after Coinbase received legal warnings about the feature from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Earlier this month, Coinbase said that it would be delaying the now-canceled feature “until at least October.”Coinbase promised that the Lend feature would offer users a 4 percent APY return if they let the company make loans to “verified borrowers” with it. The company planned to the... Continue reading…

Image: Chevy General Motors said Monday that it will start swapping new batteries into Chevy Bolt EVs in October in response to at least a dozen fires that triggered a massive recall. GM did not say when it will restart production of brand new versions of the electric car.The news comes as LG is once again making batteries for the Bolt after stopping in August. GM says it worked closely with the South Korean conglomerate to make sure the new cells are free of defects that have led to at lest a dozen fires in the automaker’s electric vehicle and a massive recall.Owners of older Bolts (model years 2017 to 2019) will have all the modules in their battery packs swapped for new ones. Owners of newer models may only get individual modules changed out,... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Amazon has officially announced the date for its big fall hardware event: it’ll take place on Tuesday, September 28th at 12PM ET / 9AM PT. As always, Amazon isn’t giving any details on what to expect — the invite sent to The Verge only says that they’ll be “news about our latest Amazon devices, features, and services.”In previous years, though, Amazon has announced new Echo speakers, updates to Alexa’s software, new Eero routers, updated Ring cameras, and more. Amazon also tends to announce its more unique and experimental products at its fall event: previous years have send the announcement of the Echo Loop ring, the Echo Frames glasses, and the Ring drone (which has yet to make a re-appearance since its initial debut last year.) We... Continue reading…

This laptop is flying business class. Continue reading…

Image: Apple The iPhone 13 isn’t even here yet, but speculation about Apple’s future phones never slows down. While some rumors about Apple’s event last week didn’t pan out, certain leaks were right on, including analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s information about a smaller notch and high refresh rate screens.Now Kuo reports (via 9to5Mac and MacRumors) that plans for next year’s iPhones point to high-end Pro and Pro Max models that ditch the notch entirely in favor of hole-punch front cameras, with 48MP wide cameras on the back. However, Kuo expects that in-screen fingerprint scanning for Touch ID is off until 2023, despite his earlier reporting that it could happen as soon as this year.A possible foldable iPhone is even further off, slipping from its p... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Justice Department has charged over a dozen people with running a scam on ride hailing and delivery apps. Prosecutors say the alleged scam ring created fake accounts using stolen personal information, then sold those accounts to otherwise unqualified drivers — while also collecting referral bonuses and building software to trick the apps.The indictment was revealed on Friday and adds to wire fraud claims first revealed in May. It accuses 14 people — all Brazilian nationals and most living in Massachusetts — with identity theft against five unnamed companies. (Prosecutors filed the wire fraud charges against 19 people in total, and 16 have been arrested.) The wire fraud charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Federal agencies like the Pentagon and Commerce Departments can’t decide whether to place Huawei’s former smartphone company, Honor, on the US’s export blacklist, according to a Washington Post report on Sunday.According to The Post, top officials at the Commerce, State, and Energy departments, along with the Pentagon, met last week to decide whether to place the smartphone manufacturer on the US’s entity list. Pentagon and Energy staffers supported placing the company on the list while Commerce and State Department officials opposed the idea. If blacklisted, Honor would be unable to receive US tech exports without a license.Huawei launched Honor in China in 2013 to compete against other popular smartphone companies like Xiaomi. Nearly... Continue reading…