The Verge

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is the kind of engrossing murder mystery that’s perfect for a long vacation — it just happens to be a video game. As a prequel of sorts, Chronicles takes place long before the original Ace Attorney trilogy, with new characters and a much more grounded tone, but with the same absorbing investigative gameplay and shock story twists that make it hard to put down. It’s the best of the franchise in one lengthy package.The game — which is actually a collection of two titles that previously launched in Japan — follows a budding defense attorney named Ryunosuke Naruhodo during the late 19th century in Japan. Things immediately get off to a rough start. In the first case, Naruhodo is forced to defend himself in... Continue reading…

The section gives a summary of data collected, and security practices. | Image: Google Google has revealed an in-progress design for the Play Store’s upcoming safety section, which will provide information about an app’s data collection, privacy, and security practices. Announced in May, developers will be able to start declaring their safety info in October until a deadline of April next year. The safety section is currently due to start appearing in app descriptions in the first quarter of 2022.Although Google says the design is subject to change, screenshots released today show the safety section sitting above a listing’s existing Ratings & reviews section. It offers a summary of an app’s data privacy features, including the types of data collected and whether data is encrypted. There’s also a “See details” option to... Continue reading…

GameStop and Arden Cove are two of the brands piloting the feature. | Image: Twitter Twitter is piloting a new feature that allows businesses to add a shopping section to the top of their profiles, the company has announced. The Shop Module launches in the US today and offers a carousel of products for visitors to browse. Tapping a product will link to a listing with the option of making a purchase without ever leaving Twitter. The pilot is currently limited to iOS devices for people who use the service in English, Twitter says.“People talk about products on Twitter everyday, so we’re excited about how this early exploration of the Shop Module can build a bridge between people talking about and discovering products on Twitter to actually purchasing them,” Twitter says. The pilot is only available with a small number of... Continue reading…

People wait to buy ice cream from a vender on the National Mall as the DC area experiences a heatwave on June 30, 2021, in Washington, DC. - Climate change is causing record-setting temperatures to become more frequent. Globally, the decade to 2019 was the hottest recorded, and the five hottest years have all occurred within the last five years. | Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images During a summer of deadly heatwaves, Democratic senators are pressing for a bigger federal response to the danger posed by extreme heat. Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) reintroduced the Preventing Heat Illness and Deaths Act today. Representative Charlie Crist (D-FL) will introduce similar legislation in the US House of Representatives. They are pushing for its measures to be included in either the bipartisan infrastructure or budget reconciliation package that Democrats are scrambling to advance.“We’ve heard that extreme heat is among the White House priorities in the climate space, and I am fighting to include provisions of my bill,” Markey said in an email to The Verge.“We’ve heard that... Continue reading…

Snap More than 250 million people use Snapchat’s built-in map to see where their friends are in the world. The map interface was recently upgraded to a main tab inside the app, and today, Snap is adding a new feature that’ll surface popular places it thinks you may want to visit. Snap Map users will also start seeing lists of places, such as bars or restaurants, they’ve either tagged in past posts or favorited to check out.The “Popular” tab at the bottom center of the Snap Map will show recommendations for places to go based on factors like your current location, friend activity on the map, and the kind of places you’ve saved as favorites. “This new algorithm in our Popular Tab sets Snap Map apart as a highly personalized discovery platform,... Continue reading…

The first Halo Infinite multiplayer technical preview will start tomorrow, July 29th. The beta will run until Sunday August 1st, offering a short chance for those invited to test Halo Infinite’s multiplayer aspects. It’s the first of many technical previews for Halo Infinite, as Microsoft prepares to launch the free multiplayer game mode later this year.The first preview will include testing gameplay against AI bots, with a bot arena to “gather feedback on Bot behavior and online performance,” according to 343 Industries. This arena will include the slayer mode across three maps, and a variety of challenges throughout the weekend. “The Bots still have their quirks, which is why we’re flighting them, but they certainly aren’t pushovers.... Continue reading…

Nintendo has announced that Dr. Mario World, a mobile take on the puzzle game series, will go out of service on November 1st, with sales of its in-app “diamond” currency ending today. The game was launched a little over two years ago, and is the first of Nintendo’s mobile games to be shut down, unless you count the Mii-themed social network Miitomo.According to data from SensorTower collected around six months after its launch, Dr. Mario World was by far the worst performing Nintendo smartphone game in terms of revenue performance. That includes Super Mario Run, whose disappointing sales prompted Nintendo to pursue freemium models in the first place. Fire Emblem Heroes remains the company’s biggest mobile hit by a huge distance,... Continue reading…

Photo by J. Emilio Flores/Corbis via Getty Images The evening before a proposed employee walkout at Activision Blizzard, one that at least part of the company is now actively encouraging by providing paid time off, company CEO Bobby Kotick has issued a letter to all employees — and investors, and the public — who are watching the company struggle with allegations of sexual harassment and workplace discrimination.At last count, nearly one-third of the company’s employees signed an open letter condemning Activision Blizzard’s initial response to those allegations, and Kotick’s letter addresses that head-on: “Our initial responses to the issues we face together, and to your concerns, were, quite frankly, tone deaf,” he writes.Kotick says a law firm, WilmerHale, will immediately review... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Apple is expanding which devices can use one of its previously M1-chip exclusive features in the fourth macOS Monterey beta. Live Text, the company’s new image scanning and text identifying feature, now runs on “all Mac computers that support macOS Monterey,” according to new documentation Apple released. As tech video creator Rene Ritchie notes, that should mean Intel-based Macs. One user claims to have gotten it to work on a Mac Pro from 2008.Live Text digitizes the text found in photos, allowing for smart features like making information like phone numbers and addresses searchable and interactive in Apple Photos and the Camera app. The new feature was one of several macOS Monterey highlights that Apple limited to its newer MacBook... Continue reading…

A screenshot from World of Warcraft. | Image: Activision Blizzard The World of Warcraft team has vowed to remove “references that are not appropriate for our world” in “the coming days” following California’s major sexual harassment and workplace discrimination lawsuit filed against World of Warcraft developer Activision Blizzard last week.The World of Warcraft team’s statement Tuesday didn’t specify what “references” they would remove. But it seems possible that NPCs and items named for former World of Warcraft senior creative director Alex Afrasiabi may be taken out of the game — although Afrasiabi seemingly left Blizzard in June 2020, his stamp on the game remains, as Kotaku reported Thursday.Afrasiabi was singled out in the lawsuit for his horrible behavior, which the Department of Fair... Continue reading…

Photo: Blizzard On Wednesday, Activision Blizzard employees will walk out of work to protest the company’s response to a giant sexual harassment and workplace discrimination lawsuit filed by the state of California. Now Blizzard, the studio at the center of many of those specific allegations, is giving the protest its blessing. Blizzard leadership emailed studio employees today to let them know they won’t face repercussions for attending — and in fact, that they can have paid time off for the duration.The Verge obtained a copy of the email, which we aren’t sharing here to avoid potentially identifying sources. After over 20 percent of Google employees walked out of work in 2018 to protest that company’s mishandling of sexual harassment revelations... Continue reading…

TikTok has announced a slew of new live video features coming to the popular video app platform for both creators and viewers, including scheduled “events,” picture-in-picture support for iOS and Android, and group livestreams with two users. It’s part of the company’s increased efforts to push users to create and watch live videos.A lot of the new features bring TikTok’s live platform up to par with other live video services, adding the ability for creators to schedule a stream in advance (which TikTok calls a “Live Event”) that viewers can register and receive notifications for. Creators will also be able to add countdown timers to regular TikTok videos in the form of a sticker to help promote their upcoming streams, too. ... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s string of record-breaking earnings reports continued on Tuesday, with the company posting a strong fiscal third quarter that saw $81.43 billion in revenue. That’s a year-over-year increase of 36 percent and a new all-time record for the June quarter. It also crushes the $73 billion figure that analysts were expecting. Apple recorded a net quarterly profit of $21.7 billion.This quarter is traditionally one of the slower periods for iPhone sales, as consumer interest begins shifting toward the next lineup of devices that Apple is expected to announce in September. But sales were still impressively up — by nearly 50 percent — compared to this time a year ago, reflecting continued momentum for Apple’s first 5G smartphones. Mobile... Continue reading…

Former eBay security manager Philip Cooke has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in an intense stalking campaign against a pair of eBay critics. A Massachusetts judge issued the sentence nine months after Cooke pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses. He’s the first of seven former eBay employees to be sentenced after the Justice Department revealed the scheme last year.In comments reported by Bloomberg, US District Judge Allison Burroughs called the case — which saw eBay employees harassing husband-and-wife publishing team Ina and David Steiner with a funeral wreath, live cockroaches, and a bloody-faced pig mask — “just nuts.”Cooke, a former police officer, admitted... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Last quarter, Google roared out of the post-pandemic-peak period with a record $17.9 billion in profit, finally joining other tech giants that had been raking it in despite (or perhaps because of) the rise of COVID-19. But Alphabet’s Q2 2021 earnings do it one better — the company just set an all-time record revenue of $61.9 billion this quarter, and record profits for the fourth quarter in a row at $18.5 billion. Some of the numbers the company’s posting today (PDF) are nearly double those it reported a year ago.Google search appears to be the big driver, shooting up over $14 billion since this time last year to $35.8 billion total (that’s nearly $4 billion higher than it did last quarter as well). YouTube advertising revenue grew... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft posted the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2021 financial results today, reporting revenue of $46.2 billion and a net income of $16.5 billion. Revenue is up 21 percent, and net income has increased by 47 percent. While cloud and Office services have boosted Microsoft’s revenues, it’s clear that the global chip shortage is taking its toll elsewhere.With the PC market experiencing its first big growth in 10 years earlier this year, there were some signs recently that laptop and PC sales could be starting to slow again amid a global chip shortage. Microsoft’s Windows results this quarter reflect that. Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge The Surface Pro 7 Plus has been on sale for six months now. Windows OEM... Continue reading…

Fast charging and elegant software offset a so-so camera Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter will be bringing on the team building Brief, an app that summarizes news, the company announced Tuesday. The Brief team, which consists of four people, will work on projects that support features like Spaces and Explore, a Twitter spokesperson tells The Verge.Twitter declined to share details on the terms of the deal, but the spokesperson said that Twitter isn’t buying the Brief business; this is more of an acquihire, as it’s only bringing in the team that worked on the app. The Brief app will be wound down on July 31st, and subscribers will see a notification starting Tuesday about the impending change.The Brief acquihire continues Twitter’s recent trend of acquisitions and talent pickups for news features. The company bought... Continue reading…

Twitter’s new banners informing users their account has been suspended or locked. | Image: Twitter Twitter is testing new notices that tell you if your account has been suspended or locked and has been put in read-only mode for violating Twitter’s rules. The notices, announced Tuesday, will show up as a banner at the top of your feed. They are in testing across a small percentage of Twitter users on iOS, Android, and the web, a Twitter spokesperson tells The Verge.The company is testing this feature after getting feedback from users that they realized they were suspended or locked and in read-only mode only after trying to tweet or follow new accounts, the Twitter spokesperson says.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok’s Text-to-Speech is both a great accessibility feature for people with visual and reading impairments and a tool to create enjoyable content. While Text-to-Speech is available on devices like tablets or phones via the operating system, it’s relatively forward-thinking for a social app like TikTok to make it available within the app. Other platforms like Twitter and Facebook don’t make use of this feature. Instagram does auto-caption stories but only if someone is already speaking in the video.The feature doesn’t come without controversy, however. TikTok changed the original voice after the actor filed a lawsuit claiming she had never agreed to be featured in the app. The new voice is less of a monotone than the original and... Continue reading…

PAX West will now require attendees to prove they’ve been vaccinated for COVID-19 or received a negative test result before they’re allowed to enter the convention, organizers Penny Arcade and ReedPop announced on Monday.ReedPop set PAX West 2021’s September 3rd start date in 2020, and at the time, it wasn’t planning on requiring attendees to be vaccinated or prove they were COVID-19-free. The initial health and safety guidelines for the event instead focused on the face coverings, social distancing, and the cleaning protocols PAX West would feature when attendees congregated in Seattle. You don’t have to scroll very far through PAX’s Twitter replies to see how fans and potential attendees have responded to the convention’s gung-ho... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Activison Blizzard employees are staging a walkout on Wednesday, July 28th in response to the company’s handling of sexual harassment allegations brought by the state of California. Employees will meet outside Blizzard’s main campus in Irvine at 10AM PST. “We believe that our values as employees are not being accurately reflected in the words and actions of our leadership,” the organizers said in a statement.The news comes after California sued the renowned gaming studio and its publisher, saying women were subjected to constant sexual harassment and discrimination at work. One female employee allegedly died by suicide after having nude photos of her passed around the office. Following the suit, numerous employees took to Twitter to... Continue reading…

Image: Disney The adventure flick based on a ride has lofty and often entertaining aspirations Continue reading…

Google TV for Android shown on a mobile device. | Image: Google The Android app for Google TV is getting new discovery features and support for a handful of entertainment, news, and live TV apps not previously available, including YouTube TV and FuboTV.Google TV’s Android app will borrow some of the discovery tools from Google TV on the Chromecast, including more rows of personalized recommendations as well as the “watched” tool already available on the TV experience. To help improve recommendations, users can now head to the details page of a title and select “watched” if they’ve already seen a series or movie that the platform recommends to them.Additionally, the Android app will now display Rotten Tomatoes scores on show and movie posters, another useful feature carried over from the Chromecast... Continue reading…

Facebook is pausing worldwide sales of the Oculus Quest 2 while it upgrades the headset’s storage and supplements its foam facial covers with a new silicone design. Starting August 24th, all Quest 2 virtual reality headsets will come with a minimum of 128GB of storage instead of 64GB. They’ll ship with a silicone interface between your face and the headset on top of the old foam design. And all current Quest 2 owners can request a free silicone mask online to cover their foam one, thanks to a recall after some users reported skin irritation.Facebook Reality Labs head Andrew Bosworth announced the news in a blog post today. “As more people got into VR with Quest 2, we started receiving reports that a very small percentage of Quest 2... Continue reading…

Sony There’s a new trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife that gives away more of the setting and plot than anything we’ve seen to date — and boy, does it look good.After a year of really weird Americana trailers more reminiscent of Man of Steel than Ghostbusters, it's nice to see what this movie will actually be about. While early trailers were full of epic music and wide vistas and whispers, this trailer actually has some ghosts! And Annie Potts! And the voice of Dan Aykroyd! This is the first trailer that actually makes the movie feel like a sequel rather than a weird and mopey kid-focused reboot.Crucially, besides the welcome cameos from the original Janine Melnitz and Ray Stantz, there are a lot of actual ghosts in this trailer for a... Continue reading…

Microsoft Flight Simulator is getting its biggest update ever on PC today, thanks to a new patch that delivers significant performance improvements. The game has been notoriously demanding since its launch last year, but the team behind the simulator has been focusing heavily on improving its CPU and memory usage. PC players can now go ahead and download the latest update, and it should improve frame rates across a variety of hardware.I’ve been testing the update for the past couple of weeks on my own PC, equipped with an Intel Core i9-11900K and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and the improvements are staggering even on top hardware. I use Microsoft Flight Simulator for benchmarks during our GPU reviews, and in the same section flying... Continue reading…

Imagine Linguini from Ratatouille stuck in endless Zoom meetings. | Image: The Verge Want to make your next quarterly Zoom check-up a little more interesting? Feel like aggravating your colleagues at the virtual all-hands? If so, why not turn yourself into a freakish living cartoon, courtesy of Snapchat’s desktop app?We’ve written about the Snap Camera app before, as it’s fun, free, and easy to use. But Snap seems to have updated it recently with the cartoon filter from its mobile app, which is worth a look in its own right. The filter turns you into a generic DreamWorks / Pixar creation, and is surprisingly fluid. Its ability to capture your full range of expressions is a little limited (it can’t quite do a proper DreamWorks Face, for example) but access through the desktop app means you can now use the filter on your... Continue reading…

Master & Dynamic has announced the latest addition to its distinctive lineup of true wireless earbuds. The new MW08 Sport noise-canceling earbuds are available today for $349, a $50 price increase over the standard MW08 buds released earlier this year. The extra money gets you three main benefits: wireless charging, a redesigned case with a Kevlar finish, and the addition of foam ear tips in the box. They come in black, white, blue, or green.Despite “sport” being tacked on to their name, these earbuds still closely resemble the MW08 in design — though Master & Dynamic says it’s using sapphire glass this time instead of the ceramic from the regular MW08s. If you’ve ever wanted earbuds that are essentially scratch-proof, here you go. The... Continue reading…

A chat with localization director Janet Hsu Continue reading…

When Amazon started cracking down on mobile electronics companies with shady reviewer programs, Aukey and Mpow were the first to get whacked — and yet Aukey is still selling at least three sets of wireless earbuds at the giant online retailer, The Verge has found.Two weeks ago, I pointed out to Amazon PR that both Aukey and Mpow had seemingly found a way around their bans. Mpow had an “xMpow MFly” set of wireless Bluetooth headphones, and Aukey was selling several different sets under its “Key Series” sub-brand.I’ve been watching their product pages ever since, and today I noticed that the xMpow MFly has disappeared. But Key Series is alive and well with three products. Aukey appears to be paying Amazon extra to promote them in... Continue reading…

When Valve and IGN revealed last Thursday that the new Steam Deck handheld will target 30Hz gameplay, not everyone was impressed with that low bar — but Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais has taken to Twitter to clarify his original comment, and reveal a new feature of the portable console.First, he says 30 fps is more of a minimum bar than anything else: @Plagman2 (Twitter) “The ‘30 FPS target’ refers to the floor of what we consider playable in our performance testing; games we’ve tested and shown have consistently met and exceeded that bar so far,” he writes.In other words, when Griffais said in that IGN video interview that “We haven’t really found something that we could throw at this device that it couldn’t... Continue reading…

Zendaya and Timothee Chalamet in Dune | Legendary Happy Saturday! Posting the trailers roundup a day early this weekend since I’ll be on vacation starting Sunday (and shout out to the reader who said he preferred when we did the roundup on Saturdays, you got your wish at least for this weekend).The internet (or at least the little corner I inhabit) seemed divided into camps this week: people who really like the Apple TV Plus show Ted Lasso and people who... don’t. It’s OK to not like things! I had a longer rant prepared about how the effort to look cool online seems so exhausting but really, who cares, Ted Lasso has returned for season two and it’s still a lovely, warm-hearted show about a bunch of very likeable weirdos.We ended up with a very sci-fi themed roundup this week which... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge “What’s your favorite planet?” is a real question that Robinhood execs really picked to answer during the Q&A section of its retail investor roadshow.“Definitely Pluto,” says long-haired CEO Vlad Tenev. He is having a good time. He goes on to explain that there will be a great view of Venus tonight after sunset.The first meme IPOMany of the questions the management picked have been lackluster; asked if Robinhood will add a customer support line, Tenev cheerily explains there already is one. Another question is wasted on whether the stock will pay dividends — anyone who read the prospectus knows the answer is no.I am watching this roadshow — my first, and the first, I suspect, of many who are watching — because Robinhood plans to sell... Continue reading…

GM is suing Ford over the BlueCruise name for its hands-free driving system | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge General Motors has filed a lawsuit to try to prevent Ford from using the name “BlueCruise” for the hands-free driving feature it announced earlier this year. First reported by the Detroit Free Press, GM claims the name is too close Super Cruise, the name of is own hands-free driving technology introduced in 2017, and to its autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise. GM is suing Ford for trademark infringement and unspecified damages.In the lawsuit filed Friday, GM said in that the companies had been involved in “protracted discussions” over the name but were unable to resolve the matter. “Ford knew exactly what it was doing,” GM alleges in its complaint, adding that if Ford “wanted to adopt a new, unique brand, it easily could have done so... Continue reading…

Amazon may be testing the cryptocurrency waters | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon is hiring a digital currency and blockchain product lead for its payments team, according to a new job listing. First reported by Insider, the ecommerce giant is looking for an “experienced product leader to develop Amazon’s Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap.” The listing, which Amazon has confirmed is legitimate, continues:

A viable option for streamers and gamers on the go Continue reading…

A bill that would offer Americans a refundable tax credit on the purchase of a new electric bicycle was just introduced in the Senate by Ed Markey (D-MA) and Brian Schatz (D-HI). The bill is called the Electric Bicycle Incentive Kickstart for the Environment, or E-BIKE Act for short, and it’s the companion bill to one introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this year.E-bikes are more expensive than normal bikes, typically costing anywhere from $1,000 to $8,000 for some of the more high-end models. But they also have the potential to replace car trips for a lot of people, with a recent study finding that if 15 percent of car trips were made by e-bike, carbon emissions would drop by 12 percent.“the electrification of... Continue reading…

A new lawsuit alleges widespread sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard | Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The president of Blizzard Entertainment sent an email to staff calling allegations of sexual harassment at the company “extremely troubling.” First reported by Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, J. Allen Brack wrote that “the fight for equality is incredibly important to me,” and that he has spent his career fighting against “bro culture.”The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed suit against Blizzard and owner Activision Blizzard on Tuesday, alleging a culture of “constant sexual harassment” existed at the company. The complaint describes a “frat boy culture” that included male employees drinking and sexually harassing female employees without repercussions. Brack is named in the complaint as being one of the... Continue reading…

A screenshot from Super Mario 64. | Image: Nintendo Earlier this month, a sealed copy of Super Mario 64 sold for $1,560,000 at auction, a staggering price that nearly doubled a record set just two days before by a similarly pristine copy of The Legend of Zelda. The auctions could mark just the beginning of even more eye-poppingly large video game sales. It seems very likely that Mario’s first 3D adventure won’t be the last game to command a million-dollar sum.“I think we’ll see more million dollar games, probably sooner rather than later,” Chris Kohler, editorial director at Digital Eclipse, a developer that works on rereleases of classic video games, tells The Verge.Collecting and selling stuff has become a popular trendCollecting and selling stuff — both physical and virtual — for... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The best deal available today is on the 40mm Apple Watch Series 6 with Wi-Fi and GPS connectivity. Usually $399, it’s just $279 at Best Buy through Saturday, July 24th. Amazon is honoring this deal, too, even going a bit lower with a $265 price (though, act fast as Amazon’s stock tends to sell out faster than Best Buy’s). The thing is, this price cut is limited to the Product Red colorway that has a red aluminum case and a red sport band. This is great news for people who can’t get enough of the color red in their lives, but it’s probably not most people’s first choice in terms of how they’d like their Apple Watch to look. It’s hard to argue with the price, though. We’ve seen it sell for $20 less than this, but not since late in April. R... Continue reading…

Image: Nintendo The Nintendo Switch was, like most consoles during the pandemic, once in short supply. Thankfully, retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart now routinely stock the Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite in multiple color configurations and models, giving those who struck out ample opportunity to purchase Nintendo’s versatile console.We’re keeping an eye across the web to find where you can buy a Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo Switch Lite (the portable-only version of the console), and the forthcoming Nintendo Switch OLED model, as well as any bundles that seem like good deals.Keep in mind that stock — new, preowned, or otherwise — may still occasionally sell out as a result of the pandemic. However, we’ll do our best to keep this article... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Facebook announced a new API that will let developers incorporate video from the Quest 2’s sensors into their games and applications, creating a mixed reality experience. With the Passthrough API, developers will not only be able to mix the black-and-white images from the headset’s sensors into their experiences, but they’ll also be able to customize how it ends up looking to the player, apply effects, and even have the real world show up on specific surfaces.Facebook’s announcement includes examples of how the API could improve productivity software by allowing integration of real-life keyboards and desks, and how games could include your real-life furniture for enemies to hide behind. It’s also easy to imagine other fun experiences... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Throughout the past week, we’ve seen story after story about a company called NSO Group, and a piece of spyware called Pegasus. Some of the stories have been shocking, with allegations that fully updated smartphones can be hacked with a single text message, and reports that two women close to murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi were among those targeted by a government agency using the spy tool.A coalition of news outlets, including The Washington Post, Le Monde, and The Guardian is behind the reporting, and they’re calling it the Pegasus Project. The project was led by Forbidden Stories, an organization of journalists that works on stories after the original reporters have been silenced in some way. Amnesty International ran detailed... Continue reading…

Image: NASA NASA’s Europa Clipper will start its journey to Jupiter’s icy moon aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket built by SpaceX. NASA will pay SpaceX $178 million to launch the vehicle in October 2024.The Europa Clipper got the green light from NASA in 2015. It will fly by the moon 45 times, providing researchers with a tantalizing look at the icy world, believed to have an ocean lurking under its icy crust. The Clipper is equipped with instruments that will help scientists figure out if the moon could support life.For years, the Clipper was legally obligated to launch on NASA’s long-delayed Space Launch System (SLS). But with the SLS perpetually delayed and over budget, NASA has urged Congress to consider allowing the Europa Clipper to fly... Continue reading…

Electric vehicle startup Rivian has raised another massive round of funding, this time to the tune of $2.5 billion, bringing its total raised to date over the $10 billion mark. The funding round comes as Rivian recently confirmed it’s looking for a location to build a second factory — one that will also produce batteries for its vehicles — in the United States. The company is currently aiming to roll its first electric pickup trucks off the line at its existing factory in Illinois this September.The new round was led by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Ford, D1 Capital Partners, and funds advised by T. Rowe Price, each of which are already investors in Rivian. Amazon and Ford each own more than 10 percent of the buzzy EV startup, and are... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The United Steelworkers Union (USW) said Friday it has reached a tentative contract deal with a sub-contractor for Google Pittsburgh. The announcement comes almost two years after employees of engineering and IT contractor HCL Technologies voted to unionize, saying that even though they worked alongside Google employees, they didn’t receive the same benefits.Amanda Parks, a member of the USW bargaining committee who works at HCL, said in a statement that the proposed three-year contract includes “meaningful wage increases” and addresses pay parity concerns. It includes language that offers job security and additional time off, according to the statement. “We work hard, and we deserve what all workers deserve, an agreement that reflects... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After deciding to release its full slate of 2021 Warner Bros. films on HBO Max under a hybrid streaming and theatrical model, it appears WarnerMedia is prepared to continue using its Warner Bros. assets to lure subscribers to the service in 2022.During AT&T’s second-quarter earnings call this week, the company’s executives were asked about how the pandemic release model would shape a more permanent release strategy going forward, particularly as it relates to theaters. Citing the theatrical success of Godzilla vs. Kong to the tune of $463 million in revenue, WarnerMedia chief Jason Kilar responded that while “the motion picture format absolutely matters,” the company also feels “very good about the response that consumers have given it... Continue reading…

Apple may be removing iDOS 2, a popular (or, at the very least, popular for a DOS emulator designed to run decades-old software and games) emulation app that allows users to run DOS games and software on Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices.According to the developer, Chaoji Li, Apple issued the notice of the pending takedown after a recently submitted update for a bug fix. While iDOS 2 has been available since 2014 on the App Store, it seems that with the most recent update, the company has changed its mind.Per the letter that Li received:

Some important details have emerged about Valve’s Steam Deck handheld console-meets-PC — particularly about its target performance level and whether you can actually install your own NVMe SSD to upgrade storage.In a video interview from IGN, Valve stated that the Steam Deck’s 800p display, capable of up to a 60Hz refresh rate, will be targeting 30Hz for gameplay. In other words, the Nintendo Switch comparisons might go a little deeper than the surface, as many games on that platform run well below 60 frames per second. Though, given that most PC games offer a trove of graphical settings to fine-tune, the Steam Deck should be able to achieve smoother gameplay at the cost of graphical quality if you’re willing to knock down a few... Continue reading…