The Verge

Image: Audi Automakers love concept cars that tease a future in which very rich people ride around in autonomous vehicles that look like luxurious living spaces. The latest is Audi’s Grandsphere, a spacious electric sedan with an interior that looks like it was designed by a Kardashian.The car is designed to be adjustable based on the preferred driving style. If you want the car to drive itself, the steering wheel and pedals retract, leaving you sitting in a minimally designed living room setting with wood trim and wool textures. Instead of a screen, the car’s operating system is projected on the surface of the wood dashboard under the windshield. And when you’re ready to drive yourself, the manual controls simply appear.Grandsphere is Audi’s... Continue reading…

Jan Thijs The first trailer for The Wheel of Time TV series has arrived, giving an early look at Amazon’s upcoming adaptation of Robert Jordan’s epic 14-book fantasy series ahead of its November 19th release date on Amazon Prime Video.The trailer sets the stage for the series, establishing some of the basic tenets of Jordan’s world, with a specific focus on Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike), a member of a group of female magic wielders known as the Aes Sedai, who are capable of wielding the One Power to accomplish feats like controlling the elements and healing others.The trailer also shows off a first look at The Wheel of Time’s younger cast: Madeleine Madden as Egwene al’Vere, Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara, Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon,... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Twitter is planning new features to give people more privacy options, according to Bloomberg. The social network’s plans reportedly include the option to archive old tweets so they’re not visible to other users after a given period of time (like 30, 60, or 90 days or a full year). They also include possible options to limit who can see which tweets you’ve liked, to let people remove themselves from a conversation on Twitter, and to let people remove followers without outright blocking them.Bloomberg describes the new features as a suite of “social privacy” changes that are aimed at making people more comfortable engaging on Twitter. Internal research at Twitter apparently found that many users don’t even understand whether their... Continue reading…

You want me to believe this is flesh and blood? Absolutely not, but they did a great job with the fabric effects. | Image: Apple Update, September 2nd, 12:03PM ET: The “actor” Brett Goldstein has addressed the conspiracy theory that Ted Lasso’s Roy Kent is a CGI creation head-on by publishing a statement on Instagram. In it, Goldstein notes (quite accurately) that “there’s a fucking load of mad shit happening on the internet today, as usual” before reassuring viewers that he is “a completely real normal human man” who does “normal human basic things like rendering and buffering and transferring data.” Glad to have that sorted out. (The original story follows below.)

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Samsung has announced new sizes for some of its best TVs, giving more choices to consumers who want the option of either a small or massive flagship TV. Samsung has added 43-inch and 98-inch sizes to its QN90A lineup of “Neo QLED” 4K TVs and an 85-inch option for its The Frame TV. The Neo QLED TVs have Samsung’s flagship panels, which use Mini LED backlights to improve contrast and picture quality. These kinds of flagship-class panels used to be limited mostly to the 55- to 77-inch range, but they seem to be making their way to size classes that used to be reserved for budget TVs.Samsung hasn’t yet announced pricing for these TVs. At the moment, the 50-inch QN90A sells for $1,400 (with an MSRP of $1,500), and the 85-inch model can be... Continue reading…

Locast has announced that it is suspending its TV streaming service starting today, following a court ruling earlier this week in a lawsuit from ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, which jointly sued the nonprofit service shortly after it launched.“As a non-profit, Locast was designed from the very beginning to operate in accordance with the strict letter of the law, but in response to the court’s recent rulings, with which we respectfully disagree, we are hereby suspending operations, effective immediately,” an email to Locast users sent out this morning reads. Locast was launched in 2019 as an internet-based alternative to over-the-air television, rebroadcasting local, free over-the-air signals over the internet to users in those... Continue reading…

You pretty much always know what to expect from a Roland Emmerich movie: namely, that a good chunk of the planet is going to be destroyed. The director of films like 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow is now taking that to its logical extreme with Moonfall, a movie about the Moon... falling.According to the synopsis, the movie is set when “a mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it.” It stars Halle Berry as a NASA exec who seems to know how to stop it, but the only people who believe her are a former astronaut (Patrick Wilson) and a conspiracy theorist (John Bradley). “These unlikely heroes will mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving... Continue reading…

The FTC has voted to ban SpyFone | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced it had banned spyware maker SpyFone and its CEO Scott Zuckerman from the surveillance business. The commission called SpyFone a “stalkerware app company” that allegedly harvested and shared data about people’s movements, phone use, and online activity via a hidden device hack.“The company’s apps sold real-time access to their secret surveillance, allowing stalkers and domestic abusers to stealthily track the potential targets of their violence,” the FTC said in a statement. “SpyFone’s lack of basic security also exposed device owners to hackers, identity thieves, and other cyber threats.”In addition to the ban, the FTC ordered SpyFone to delete illegally harvested data and notify... Continue reading…

Frank Masi/NETFLIX Red Notice, Netflix’s next big action movie swing, has gotten its first trailer, showing off the fast (and dare I say, furious) antics of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He plays the FBI’s top profiler as he hunts down the world’s two most wanted criminals — played by Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot.Based on the trailer, it seems Johnson’s Agent John Hartley actually catches Reynolds’ character, Nolan Booth — dubbed “the world’s greatest art thief” — fairly early on, forcing the two to partner up in order to catch Gadot’s character, “The Bishop.” She’s described as “the world’s most wanted art thief,” which is apparently a different thing than being the world’s greatest art thief. This is also, broadly, the plot of Hobbs & Shaw, a movie that... Continue reading…

Nintendo Nintendo sneakily announced Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain, a new educational puzzle game for the Switch that sees the revival of a franchise that previously appeared on the DS handheld (and later ported to Wii U’s Virtual Console). It’ll release on December 3rd, 2021 for $29.99, and in it you’ll race through puzzle mini games and challenges to flex your smarts.In addition to single player modes, the game will support couch multiplayer and online play. Nintendo is even implementing a ghost data system, so you can test your skills against people who have gotten higher scores.

Image: Fujifilm Today is Fujifilm’s September X Summit event, and the company has announced a slew of new hardware including several cameras and lenses for both the GFX and X systems. Leading the way is the new GFX 50S II, the company’s latest medium format camera. More importantly, at $3,999 body-only, it’s Fujifilm’s cheapest way into the GFX system yet. For comparison, the GFX 100S costs $5,999 and the GFX 50S still goes for $5,499. So dropping under $4,000 could mean big things for the lineup.The GFX 50S II has a 51.4-megapixel sensor that’s 1.7x larger than what you’d get in a full-frame camera, 5-axis in-body image stabilization good for 6.5 stops, improved autofocus (compared to the 50S), and a body that’s the same size as the GFX 100S. At 1.98... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook-owned WhatsApp has been fined €225 million ($267 million) for breaking the European Union’s data privacy rules. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced the decision in an 89-page summary (PDF), noting that WhatsApp did not properly inform EU citizens how it handles their personal data, including how it shares that information with its parent company.WhatsApp has been ordered to make updates to its already lengthy privacy policy and change how it notifies users about sharing their data. This will bring it into compliance with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which governs how tech companies gather and use data in the EU. GDPR came into effect in May of 2018, and WhatsApp was one of the first... Continue reading…

Though expensive, the AirPods Max feature fantastic sound and noise cancellation. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Apple’s notoriously expensive AirPods Max headphones are, in some ways, more of a luxury purchase — but today you can live it up for just a little less thanks to the Woot’s ongoing “Sounds of Summer” sale. Well, if you’re an Amazon Prime member that is.Now through the end of the month (or while supplies last), Prime members can save $80 on a pair of the AirPods Max, regardless of color. Woot’s current deal includes a one-year limited warranty from Apple and brings the price down to a cool $470, one of the lowest prices we’ve seen on Apple’s excellent noise-canceling headphones in recent months.Despite their price, the AirPods Max are some of the best noise-canceling headphones you can buy right now. The Max can easily block out... Continue reading…

An aerial view of homes destroyed by the Camp Fire in Paradise, California on February 11, 2019, three months after the deadly wildfire. | Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Thousands of Californians have fled their homes this week, as the Caldor, Dixie and other fires continue to blaze across the state. Despite the best efforts of firefighting teams, the Dixie Fire already torched the small mountain town of Greenville in early August, robbing many residents of a home to which to return.The exodus sparked by each blaze has become an eerily familiar scene as fire seasons in the Western US grow more intense with climate change. Each community that loses part, or all of itself brings to mind the carnage left behind by the Camp Fire in 2018. That’s when Paradise, California was nearly wiped off the map, and surrounding communities suffered similar losses.“Paradise is worth being remembered”Journalist Lizzie... Continue reading…

Roli’s Lumi keyboard and app is like Guitar Hero for learning the piano. | Image: Roli UK music startup Roli, best known for its squishy keyboards like the Seaboard Rise, has filed for administration and is reforming as Luminary. The new company will focus on the Lumi keyboard and app, which are designed to teach beginners to play the piano.The news was reported by Insider, which notes that Roli has struggled with generating revenue and growth. The company reported pre-tax losses of £34.1 million ($47 million) from income of £11.4 million ($16 million) in the 18 months leading up to the end of June 2019. The company’s CEO and founder Roland Lamb told Insider that a limited market for its products had combined with pandemic difficulties to force the closure of Roli.“Ultimately what happened was the pro-focused products... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Podcasts continue to be very popular, and more and more people are getting involved in them. Even if you’re not a podcast creator, at some point, you may find yourself being interviewed on or contributing to someone else’s podcast. In that case, it’s not enough to be ready to talk about your topic — you also want to make sure your voice comes through loud and clear.We asked The Verge’s senior audio engineer Andrew Marino if he had any audio tips for people who are about to participate in a podcast. Here are his answers to our questions.Is it better to use my phone’s mic or use my Bluetooth headset?If this is a live show, the quality of the call is important, as there can be no editing later on, so you want to get good sound. (We’ll... Continue reading…

Image: Marvel Studios Ryan Meinerding has spent much of the last 15 years bringing some of the world’s most iconic superheroes to life. After starting as an illustrator on the original Iron Man, he worked his way up to head of visual development at Marvel Studios and has spent more than a decade figuring out how to bring comic book characters into live-action films. So it was a nice change of pace when he learned about What If...?, an animated anthology that takes those very same characters but remixes them in new, and often strange, situations.“I don’t think anyone could have come up with an animated project that I would’ve been more interested in working on,” he tells The Verge. “The endless possibilities that are created by having the multiverse, by being... Continue reading…

The Galaxy Z Flip 3 in Samsung’s stylish new case. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is a totally normal phone with One Weird Trick: it folds. As Dan Seifert explained in our full review, it’s the beginning of a new phase for foldables, one where buying a folding phone is something that could appeal to anybody, not just techies.Samsung is promoting the phone in the ways Samsung usually does, touting features and spec improvements. But it’s also doing another thing: promoting the phone as something stylish. A full-on music video ad with BTS joins online vertical video ads that are as focused on the clothing and pockets the phone fits in as the phone itself. In essence, it’s the latest in a long time of tech companies trying to make the case that their phones are fashion.That’s nothing new, but it’s... Continue reading…

Schaeffler’s Free Drive system converts pedal power into electrical power. | Image: Schaeffler We don’t often write about bicycle components, but it’s not everyday that an innovation like the Schaeffler Free Drive is announced for pedal-assisted e-bikes. The so-called “bike-by-wire” system, first spotted by Electrek, dispenses with the need to string a chain or belt between the pedals and motor. It’s an all-electric drive system that allows for entirely new bicycle designs with fewer moving parts.The Free Drive system works by converting the rider’s pedaling power into electrical energy via a small generator housed between the pedals. It then delivers this energy to the rear wheel (or wheels) via cables strung inside or outside the frame of the bike, rather than sending it mechanically through a chain or belt. Excess energy... Continue reading…

Image: Yahoo Yahoo and AOL, formerly known as Verizon Media, have officially been acquired by their new owners and renamed as simply “Yahoo.” Verizon announced it was selling the properties to Apollo Global Management in May in a deal said to be worth $5 billion, around half of the nearly $9 billion the telecom giant originally paid for them, and a fraction of the hundreds of billions the two companies were worth at their peaks.Verizon originally purchased AOL in 2015 for $4.4 billion, and acquired Yahoo in 2017 for $4.5 billion. After completing its Yahoo acquisition, Verizon placed both brands under the woefully bland “Oath” brand. “#TakeTheOath” proclaimed AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. The media divisions, which include properties like Yahoo Sports, T... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge “Quick phrases” is a new feature currently under development for Google Assistant that could one day let you skip having to say “Hey, Google” for common phrases like “What time is it?” or “Turn the lights on,” 9to5Google reports. The feature is yet to be officially announced, and it’s unclear when it might launch or exactly which devices might support it.The feature emerged back in April under the codename “Guacamole.” At the time it was called “Voice shortcuts,” and its capabilities seemed limited to silencing alarms and timers, or responding to incoming phone calls. But the new menu discovered by 9to5Google shows a much broader range of tasks, or “salsas” as Google is nicknaming them. These salsas include the ability to ask about the... Continue reading…

Samsung Samsung has announced a 200-megapixel image sensor intended for smartphone cameras, by some distance the highest resolution phone camera sensor ever made. The ISOCELL HP1 has 0.64μm pixels and can bin 16 of them at once for the equivalent of a 12.5-megapixel sensor with 2.56μm pixels.Samsung calls the HP1’s pixel-binning technology “ChameleonCell.” The four-by-four 12.5-megapixel setting is intended for low-light usage, but it can also capture full 200-megapixel resolution photos, or use a two-by-two binning technique for 50-megapixel images.The two-by-two binning mode also lets the HP1 capture 8K video. Samsung says it’s capable of shooting 8K without cropping, although standard 8K (7,680 x 4,320) is less than 50 megapixels.Samsung... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge While vocal app developers accused Apple last week of spinning a lawsuit settlement into an App Store change that was barely a change at all, the company appears to be making a true, if small concession today: Apple says it will let developers of “reader” apps (think Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon’s Kindle app) directly link their customers to their own sign-up website, where they could potentially skirt Apple’s in-app payment system (and its 30 percent cut) entirely, in those cases where they haven’t already.In a press release, Apple claims that the move will close an investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), and that it’ll only apply to those sorts of “reader” apps right now — a category that was originally designed by... Continue reading…

The Tesla Roadster. | Image: Tesla Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the upcoming Tesla Roadster “should ship in 2023” in a tweet on Wednesday. He blamed the ongoing supply chain shortages for the long timeline. “2021 has been the year of super crazy supply chain shortages, so it wouldn’t matter if we had 17 new products, as none would ship,” Musk said.

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images Richard Branson’s July flight to the edge of space is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration for veering out of its designated airspace mid-flight, the FAA said on Wednesday after a report from The New Yorker. The mission’s two pilots were alerted to yellow and red light warnings mid-flight that, according to sources in The New Yorker, should’ve prompted them to abort the mission. The flight continued and ultimately landed safely.Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo spaceplane air-launched from its carrier aircraft on July 11th carrying founder Branson and three company employees over the firm’s New Mexico spaceport, Spaceport America. The rocket plane soared 53.5 miles high, skimming the edge of space for a few minutes of... Continue reading…

Image: Starship Technologies Crossing city streets filled with SUV drivers in a hurry is tricky for any pedestrian, but what about a robot that’s less than two feet tall? Starship Technologies is flooding college towns with autonomous electric delivery bots that trundle goods to your location in their locked storage compartment. While the safety of human pedestrians around large vehicles with autonomous capabilities is still being debated, this time, the roles were reversed. As shown in a video posted to TikTok by rach,ipsa, even a couple of lights plus cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors, and neural networks weren’t enough for this robot to avoid getting clipped by a Ford Escape.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge 2021 has been a big year for lossless music now that Apple has gone in on the higher-quality streaming and Amazon is no longer charging an added premium for it. But one of the main challenges confronting lossless audio is how to play it wirelessly (at full fidelity) on wireless headphones and earbuds. Qualcomm thinks it has found a solution with the new aptX Lossless, which is part of the company’s Snapdragon Sound program announced earlier this year.With aptX Lossless (which is technically an extension of aptX Adaptive), Qualcomm says it’ll be able to stream CD-quality, 16-bit / 44.1kHz lossless audio over Bluetooth. The first devices to feature the new technology are expected to be available in early 2022. Snapdragon Sound leans on... Continue reading…

ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox have secured a victory in their legal fight against Locast, a nonprofit that re-streams their local broadcast stations at little to no cost, much to the consternation of those networks.Locast is a service that makes local broadcasts free — kind of, we’ll get to that — to those who may be unwilling to pony up for cable or live TV streaming services, or just don’t want to hook up an antenna in their living room. Those four networks are already broadcast over-the-air for free; Locast then uses a legal exemption in copyright law to re-transmit their broadcasts and put them online for people to more easily access. Locast doesn’t technically charge for its service, but it does ask for donations that start around $5 per... Continue reading…

Screenshots of Facebook’s fantasy sports. | Image: Facebook Facebook is adding fantasy sports-like prediction games that will let users guess what’s going to happen in sports, TV shows, and pop culture. The new games, called Facebook Fantasy Games, are rolling out first on the iOS and Android apps for users in the US and Canada.The first game available is Pick & Play Sports, a daily sports prediction game it made in partnership with Whistle Sports. (It was already available in the iOS app for me, so it might be for you, too.) In the “upcoming months,” Facebook plans to release additional games for TV shows like The Bachelorette and Survivor, sports leagues like Major League Baseball, and one made with BuzzFeed. Games will have public leaderboards, but you can also make your own public or private... Continue reading…

Photo by Oliver Contreras/For The Washington Post via Getty Images As Congress pushes for more details of the January 6th attack on the Capitol, tech companies have found themselves caught between a new request from the select committee investigating the attack and ominous threats from Republicans hoping to stall the committee’s investigation.Pushing for new details about communications between Republican members of Congress and President Trump during the attack, the House select committee sent data requests on Monday ordering the preservation of phone records and other communications related to the January 6th attack. Requests went out to 35 companies, including Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Microsoft. Wireless providers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless also received the request.“A... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Reddit has banned anti-vaccine and anti-mask subreddit r/NoNewNormal and has quarantined 54 other subreddits associated with COVID denial. A week ago, the company’s CEO said in a post that Reddit was meant to be a place of “open and authentic discussion and debate,” even for ideas that “question or disagree with popular consensus.” In today’s post, the company has clarified its rules with regard to health misinformation.The subreddit NoNewNormal has been cited by many in the Reddit community as a source of vaccine misinformation, and it was known for “brigading” other subreddit’s discussions by butting in on conversations about COVID or related policies in other communities. NoNewNormal was the source of 80 such brigades in the past... Continue reading…

The Bose Noise Cancelling 700 are one of the many deals available ahead of Labor Day. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The fast-approaching Labor Day holiday promises to bring plenty of great tech deals on notable favorites, including smart speakers, headphones, TVs, and tablets. While we regret to inform you that it is, sadly, not yet the weekend, there is a wide selection deals already available at retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and B&H Photo, many of which are likely to run through the rest of the week and into the long weekend.Right now, there are savings to be had on devices like the Bose Noise Cancelling 700 and second-gen Apple Pencil, and we’ll be sure to bring you more as the week unfolds, both on-site and in your inbox via our Verge Deals newsletter. In the meantime, check out these early Labor Day deals on a wide swath of tech goodies.H... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Texas is one step closer to enacting a law that would make it more difficult for social media companies to moderate political content. Both Texas’ House and Senate approved the bill earlier this week, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.The bill would make it unlawful for social media companies with more than 50 million users, like Facebook and Twitter, to censor users and content based on political views or geographic location. This includes moderation actions like banning, deplatforming, or demonetizing users and removing posts.The bill initially failed in a special session earlier this yearThe bill initially failed in a special session earlier this year when Democrats fled the state to stall the passage of controversial partisan... Continue reading…

Paramount is delaying the rest of its 2021 film slate, moving Top Gun: Maverick from its Thanksgiving weekend release date to May 27th, 2022, close to three years after it was first announced. It’s also moving Jackass Forever to release on February 4th, 2022, instead of the originally planned October 22nd, 2021, via Deadline.Additionally, due to Top Gun: Maverick taking its former May 2022 slot, Mission: Impossible 7 is getting another delay: it’ll now be out on September 30th, 2022.The delays are due to concerns over the spike in COVID-19 cases caused by the delta variant of the virus. Deadline notes that Paramount, rather than risk releasing potential billion-dollar franchise starters like the Top Gun sequel seeing comparatively... Continue reading…

Apple Watch Series 6 | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple apparently has a growing wishlist of health features for future versions of the Apple Watch, some feasible and some far-fetched. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Apple’s plans include various types of monitoring, including blood pressure, temperature, sleep, and blood sugar. The details come just after reports that the release of the next Apple Watch is likely to be delayed because of manufacturing issues.Some of the planned features outlined by the WSJ involve adding new sensors to the Watch. Apple wants to develop a sensor that can act as a proxy for a blood pressure cuff without squeezing the wrist. Blood pressure measurement has been in Apple’s plans for years; the company filed a patent application in 2016 for a... Continue reading…

Here’s what Safety Mode settings look like. | Image: Twitter Twitter is launching a new feature called Safety Mode that will temporarily autoblock accounts sending harmful or abusive tweets to you. Safety Mode is launching in beta with a “small feedback group” of accounts on iOS, Android, and Twitter.com with English-language settings enabled and plans of expanding the group of testers “in the coming months.”“When the feature is turned on in your Settings, our systems will assess the likelihood of a negative engagement by considering both the Tweet’s content and the relationship between the Tweet author and replier,” senior product manager Jarrod Doherty said in a blog post. “Our technology takes existing relationships into account, so accounts you follow or frequently interact with will not be... Continue reading…

Image: Netflix Netflix has announced that the entirety of Seinfeld is coming to the streaming service starting on October 1st. The show hasn’t been available on a streaming service since it went of Hulu on June 23rd, according to Vulture, so there’s probably some pent-up demand.Not only will Seinfeld be available to view again, but it may end up looking better than viewers remember. When Netflix first announced that it was buying the show’s streaming rights, it said it would stream it in 4K for the first time.

EV startup Workhorse has been accused of touting fake preorders, accounting fraud, and hiding a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation from its investors in a new report published by short-selling research firm Fuzzy Panda. The report also contains allegations that Workhorse’s new electric vans are already breaking down for customers like Ikea.Workhorse announced just last month that it already needs to redesign the new C-1000 van based on early feedback, though the company said it was because customers wanted more payload capacity. The company also named a new CEO at the time, Rick Dauch, who came from automotive supplier Delphi, while its general counsel and vice president of finance announced they were leaving.The report... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is starting to roll out Super Follows, its new feature that lets users charge for subscriber-only content. Creators can set their tweets to go out to Super Followers only, and the tweets will appear in the timelines of just those subscribers. The feature, announced in February, is currently only available on Twitter’s iOS app and is limited to a test group of people in the US who applied to try it out. Image: Twitter An example of a creator making a tweet for Super Followers. iOS users in the US and Canada can Super Follow accounts that are in the initial test group. Super Followers are identified to creators by a badge that appears under their name when they reply to tweets. Twitter plans to roll out... Continue reading…

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Great gifts for high schoolers and the college bound Continue reading…

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Last month Niantic sparked a backlash in the Pokémon Go community when it announced plans to reverse some of the changes it made last year to make the game more playable while staying at home. The company said it would set up a “task force” to figure out the best way to move forward and would announce its findings by today, September 1st.As announced last week, the first main point of action is that Niantic will keep the 80-meter interaction distance for pokéstops and gyms everywhere around the world, after first saying it’d revert to the pre-pandemic 40-meter distance first in the US and New Zealand. Niantic now says it realizes that altering mechanics like this in a real-time, region-specific manner is impractical, and will apply... Continue reading…

Photo by Michael Bezjian/Getty Images for Gamers’ Choice Awards Tim “TimTheTatMan” Betar, one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, is leaving to stream exclusively on YouTube Gaming. His move comes just days after another big streamer, Ben “DrLupo” Lupo, announced that he’d be switching from Twitch to YouTube as well. Betar’s first stream will take place on September 2nd.In moving from Twitch, Betar is leaving behind the 7 million followers he’s accrued on the Amazon-owned platform. But he won’t be starting from scratch on YouTube, where he already has 3.8 million subscribers. YouTube declined to comment on the terms of its deal with Betar.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - AUGUST 30: The downtown skyline is shown after Hurricane Ida passed through on August 30, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana. | Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images A new gas plant still isn’t enough to solve the city’s power problems Continue reading…

Yet another big game is jumping into the world of virtual concerts. League of Legends creator Riot is partnering with “virtual entertainment” company Wave for an upcoming event centered on the game’s in-universe heavy metal band Pentakill. The concert is set to take place on September 8th at 1:30PM PT / 4:30PM ET, and it’s tied to the band’s upcoming album release. You can watch it right here.From the sound of it, the Pentakill show will be a bit more involved than other virtual concerts. It’s described as “an interactive journey through the full concept album,” which will release after the show. (Riot has been teasing Pentakill’s third album over the past little while.) Wave says that viewers will be able to “influence the performance... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge HBO Max is now available on Vizio SmartCast TVs, meaning users will no longer have to use casting workarounds to access the streaming service.Prior to today’s announcement, Vizio TVs lacked a native app within SmartCast, Vizio’s smart TV interface. Instead, they’d have to cast its content to their televisions using Apple AirPlay or by casting with Google. The addition of the app directly from the apps menu should make accessing HBO Max far more intuitive for SmartCast users.To mark the launch of the app on its sets, Vizio will also introduce a custom homescreen carousel to showcase HBO Max’s new teaser freebies. HBO Max no longer offers free trials, though it recently announced a limited sampling of the pilot episodes of more than a... Continue reading…

Image: CD Projekt Red CD Projekt Red announced that the free next-gen upgrades for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, meant for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, have target release dates for late 2021 (PDF). The company has been promising that the updates were on their way, but now we have a somewhat more specific window for when they might arrive — and it’s still within this calendar year.For Cyberpunk 2077, the upgrade is a big opportunity to bring players back after its December 2020 launch, which was something of a fiasco. Releasing a free update to the game that takes advantage of the next-gen consoles’ power could be a way to get players to jump back into it. From Cyberpunk 2077’s launch, PS5 and Xbox Series players have been able to play the game... Continue reading…

Photography by Monica Chin / The Verge Google’s custom chips could expand past the Pixel 6 to Chromebook laptops and tablets as early as 2023, according to a new report from Nikkei Asia on the company’s expanding emphasis on designing its own processors.The company is already preparing to release its first major custom chip this fall, with the Pixel 6’s upcoming Tensor SoC. The report also lines up with rumors from 2020 that Google was planning in-house Chromebook chips after it debuted the concept on Pixel phones — something we now know is happening in a few weeks.But the Nikkei Asia report does note a few additional details, including the aforementioned 2023 timing; a confirmation that, like the Tensor chip, the Chromebook CPUs will be based on Arm; and that Google is... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft is holding a special Surface hardware event on September 22nd. The software maker has started sending media invites for this fall hardware event, although it will be online-only and not in person. Microsoft’s invite says “the company will talk about devices and Windows 11,” and we’re expecting to see a successor to the Surface Duo and a new Surface laptop.Leaked images of Microsoft’s upcoming Surface Duo 2 device appeared online in July, and we’re expecting to see the official announcement of this Android-powered dual-screen hardware on September 22nd. The leaked images suggest the biggest change will be a triple camera system, complete with telephoto, ultrawide angle, and standard lenses. The Surface Duo 2 is also rumored to... Continue reading…