by Andrew Liszewski on (#6S2YW)
Google Slides is getting more professionally designed templates for businesses, teachers, and students. | Image: Google Google is introducing a new collection of modern templates to Google Slides the company says have been professionally designed" to cater to a wide range of use cases." There are new templates for sales pitches, product roadmaps, lesson plans, book reports, workshop facilitation, and even team game templates" for companies looking to bolster collaboration amongst their staff.The new templates might make it easier for users moving over from Microsoft's office suite and Powerpoint, similar to recent updates that brought easier table formatting to Google Sheets and tabs that make it easier to organize information in a single Google Doc.The refreshed library of templates started rolling out to everyone this week, covering both personal... Continue reading...
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The Verge - All Posts
Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
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Updated | 2024-11-21 13:46 |
by Verge Staff on (#6S2VQ)
Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A collection of fun, affordable, and unique gifts fit for everyone on your list. Continue reading...
by Ash Parrish on (#6S2VR)
Image: Palworld Palworld developer Pocketpair has revealed the patents at the center of the infringement lawsuit Nintendo and The Pokemon Company filed in Japan back in September. Pocketpair has also shared that, in addition to 5 million yen each plus late fees, they're seeking an injunction against the game and compensation for a portion of the damages incurred between the date of registration of the patents and the date of filing of this lawsuit.The Pokemon Company cites three Japanese patents, No. 7545191, No. 7493117, and No. 7528390. From the translation of the claims, they appear to describe Pokemon-style activities, with 191 focused on the act of throwing a ball at characters in a field, 117 tied to aiming, and 390 on riding characters.... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6S2VS)
Photo: Vjeran Pavic, The Verge Think about how you like to play video games. Are you the type to sink into your couch, controller in hand, TV across the living room, for a few hours of Madden? If so, Sony's new PlayStation 5 Pro is not for you. But if you find yourself leaning forward, creeping ever closer to the screen, looking for every clue hidden in the grass or every tiny twitchy graphical advantage, a $700 console might not be such a silly idea.On this episode of The Vergecast, The Verge's Sean Hollister joins the show to talk about his experience with the PS5 Pro. We go through what you can expect from this super-powered new gaming machine, which games and which gamers might get the most from it, and why the PS5 Pro might have more in common with a gaming PC... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6S2PM)
Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge AMD launched its latest Ryzen 7 9800X3D to glowing reviews this week, but if you're looking to buy one then you might have to wait for more stock. The 9800X3D is currently sold out at Newegg and Best Buy, with the majority of Micro Center locations also sold out of AMD's best gaming processor.The situation is similar across Europe, too. In Germany most retailers have run out of stock, with new shipments not expected to arrive until later this month. In the UK Scan is accepting preorders for the 9800X3D, but stock won't arrive until November 29th. Overclockers in the UK says its stock is currently held at UK customs and that its first and second shipments are allocated and sold out. It's not expecting another shipment until December.
by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#5ZMMD)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge From basic and affordable to premium and ultra-customizable, these are the best controllers we've tested for Xbox. And they work with PCs, too. Continue reading...
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by Victoria Song on (#6BDGF)
Garmins aren't just multisport behemoths anymore. | Illustration by Will Joel / The Verge Garmin may be best known for its hardcore fitness watches, but it's got an extensive line of lifestyle offerings, too. Continue reading...
by Allison Johnson on (#5BG1G)
The best screens for screen time. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge The bad news: flagship phones cost a small fortune these days. The good news: we can help you pick the right one and get the most for your money. Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6S2BC)
Illustration: The Verge Google Photos is making it easier to follow activity in your shared albums with a new Updates section. In the new section, you'll be able to see notifications like updates to a shared album and updates to a conversation within Google Photos, according to a support post from Google.The Updates section can be found by tapping a bell icon that replaces the Sharing button (the one that looks like two people). Updates are shown chronologically, and you'll be able to look at activity from today, yesterday, this week, this month, last month, and beyond." We want to streamline how you can view recent activity with an interface that makes albums, groups, and conversations more accessible."Google notes that if you want to access shared... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6S2BD)
Rivian's R2 vehicles will be powered by batteries made domestically in the US by South Korea's LG Energy Solution, the company announced in its third quarter earnings report.Rivian first revealed the new batteries back in March when it announced the R2 as its more affordable electric SUV that would start at $45,000. (It also announced the sportier R3 vehicle.) The cell is called 4695" due to its diameter of 46 millimeters and height of 95 millimeters - larger than Tesla's 4680 cells.The battery packs that Rivian currently uses in its R1T and R1S vehicles are assembled at its Normal, Illinois, factory using cells manufactured in South Korea by Samsung SDI. Now, the cells will be produced in the US to better comply with tax credit... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6S2BE)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Apple is showing some love to Android users by finally displaying their message reactions correctly. Now when an Android user reacts to an RCS message from an iOS user, the selected emoji will appear in line with the message bubble on iOS - instead of archaically appearing as a separate line like this: to that wasn't supposed to happen.'"The Verge sent test messages and emoji reactions between iPhones running iOS 18.1 and different Android phones, confirming both devices now display reactions as intended. It's unclear when this change happened or whose side - Google or Apple - had to make adjustments to get it working.When RCS first launched widely on iOS in September, message reactions from Android users still weren't being... Continue reading...
by Andrew Liszewski on (#6S2BF)
The Sol 5 includes color temperature adjustments to help set a mood in a photo. | Image: Harlowe Harlowe's Sol 5 is a three-inch extending light that attaches to the MagSafe mount on your iPhone to improve the quality of your photos and selfies. It's available now for $79 or for $159 as part of a travel kit that includes a softbox diffuser to help reduce harsh shadows.The Sol 5 isn't a new idea. When the iPhone 12 debuted with MagSafe it opened the flood gates for new accessories including similar lights that could stay attached to the back of the phone - ready to improve a photo at a moment's notice. What the Sol 5 appears to do better is offer more flexibility and control.The Sol 5's glowing puck is connected to its magnetic mount with a short arm that extends its reach and lets it swivel 180 degrees and angle as needed. That... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6S2BG)
Image: AOL via YouTube Elwood Edwards, the voice of AOL's You've Got Mail" greeting, has died at age 74 after a long illness, according to local Ohio news station WKYC, where he was employed for many years.During a 2016 interview, Edwards recounted how he became the voice of AOL. His wife, who worked at Quantum Computer Services (which later became AOL), heard that the company was looking to add a voice to its software. I'd been an announcer throughout my entire broadcasting career, and she volunteered me," Edwards said.In 1989, Edwards recorded the once-ubiquitous phrase, along with Welcome," Files done," and Goodbye" on a cassette tape for just $200. It started off as a test just to see if it would catch on, and lo and behold, in the mid-90s, it had... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6S28T)
Image: Sega Sega is planning to delist a lot of its classic games from digital storefronts as of December 6th at 11:59PM PT.Steam will be affected the most, losing 62 titles including Crazy Taxi, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Jet Set Radio, NiGHTS into Dreams, and Sonic 3D Blast. Sega is pulling 12 titles from the Xbox store. The Nintendo eShop and the PlayStation Store will just" lose SEGA Genesis Classics - but that title includes more than 50 old Genesis games, so it still means a lot will be unavailable. You can see the full lists of what's getting pulled on a Sega support page.Any games that you have purchased will still be available to download and play after they're delisted from the storefronts, so if you've had your eye on any of... Continue reading...
by Emma Roth on (#6S28V)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav thinks putting Donald Trump back in the White House could offer a friendlier environment for major media mergers. We have an upcoming new administration," Zaslav said during an earnings call on Thursday. It's too early to tell, but it may offer a pace of change and an opportunity for consolidation that may be quite different."Zaslav made the statement in response to a question about streaming partnerships, saying changes under the Trump administration could have a real positive and accelerated impact" on the entertainment industry. With more competition than ever in streaming, it's getting harder for services to get a viewer's undivided attention.This is an industry that really needs to... Continue reading...
by Sheena Vasani on (#6S28W)
Apple's AirPods are an excellent option for iPhone owners looking for noise-canceling earbuds. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Black Friday might technically be a 24-hour event, but in reality, it's more like a month-long affair. That's because many retailers have already begun their sales, including Best Buy, which is dropping impressive deals ahead of its early sales event tomorrow. Today only, for example, Best Buy is offering the second-gen AirPods Pro with a USB-C for $169.99 ($80 off), which is just $1 shy of their lowest price to date. Walmart is also matching Best Buy's pricing, though the latter retailer won't begin offering Black Friday deals until November 11th.The current promo drops Apple's highest-end earbuds to roughly the same price as the open-style AirPods 4 with ANC, which are currently on sale for $168.99 ($11 off). That being said, Apple's... Continue reading...
by Ash Parrish on (#6S251)
Image: BioWare After its success with Fallout and the recently released Like A Dragon: Yakuza show, Mass Effect is the next game Amazon wants to adapt. According to Variety, a show based on BioWare's military space opera RPG is officially in production at Amazon MGM Studios. Variety has reported that F9: The Fast Saga writer Daniel Casey has signed on to write the show with BioWare producer Mike Gamble serving as executive produce along with Ari Arad.Though BioWare released the Mass Effect Legendary Edition - a collection of the first three games updated for modern consoles - back in 2021, the Mass Effect series hasn't had an original entry since the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda back in 2017. After Andromeda, BioWare released Anthem, a... Continue reading...
by Mia Sato on (#6S252)
Image: TikTok A new Share to TikTok" feature in Spotify and Apple Music is making it easier for users to share songs, playlists, audiobooks, and more directly in content on the video platform.Using the integrations, TikTok users can create a direct link to content on the streaming platforms, similar to how they can share songs directly on Instagram Stories. When a user shares a Spotify track, for example, they can choose whether the song will appear as a video, photo, or Story post on TikTok. Viewers of the content can then click the song and navigate directly back to their preferred music app.It creates an easy link between TikTok and content on other platforms - previously if you wanted to share a playlist you made, you'd have to send a link via... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6S253)
Image: Laura Normand / The Verge Jeff Bezos might just be the biggest climate philanthropist out there, which is what makes his swift embrace of Donald Trump as the next US president particularly cringeworthy.Wishing @realDonaldTrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love," Bezos posted on X, hours after Trump declared victory.The Amazon founder and chair launched his Bezos Earth Fund in 2020, committing $10 billion to funding action on climate change. The fund's website describes it as the largest philanthropic commitment ever to fight climate change and protect nature."
by Andrew Liszewski on (#6S254)
The 8BitDo Retro 108 Mechanical Keyboard will be available starting on December 12th, 2024. | Image: 8BitDo 8BitDo has introduced a new version of the Retro Mechanical Keyboard it debuted last July with its original tenkeyless layout now expanded to include an integrated number pad. The new 8BitDo Retro 108 Mechanical Keyboard is available for preorder now through Amazon for $119.99 - $20 more expensive than the original - with the same NES or Famicom theming. Availability is expected to start on December 12th, 2024.The new 108-key version of the keyboard uses the same hot-swappable Kailh Box White V2 switches as the tenkeyless version, paired with dye-sub PBT keycaps. The integrated numpad includes additional Windows shortcut keys, a calculator lock button, and a screen lock button. The 8BitDo Retro 108 Mechanical Keyboard's compatibility is... Continue reading...
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by Victoria Song on (#6S255)
The store will be around from November 8th to December 31st. | Image: Meta Meta announced it is opening up Meta Lab, a pop-up experiential retail space for its Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses starting November 8th in Los Angeles. The temporary store will be around through the end of the year and allow customers to try out the glasses and customize their glasses cases as they shop. Meta Lab will also have local events with various creators, including stand-up comedians, live podcasts, and cooking classes.This particular retail store is an extension of the Meta Lab experience earlier this year at Connect 2024. At that time, Meta had unveiled the transparent versions of its Ray-Bans. The company says that over 90 percent of Connect attendees had attended, with more than 25 percent then purchasing a pair. It appears... Continue reading...
by Umar Shakir on (#6S21P)
The new AUDI" logo and E concept for China. | Image: Audi Audi is making a big change to its branding for the Chinese market with a new logo that lacks the automaker's famous four-ring emblem. Today in Shanghai, the company showed off the new AUDI" logo - yes, it's just Audi in all caps - on the front of a new E concept electric Sportback that notably lacks its broadly used E-Tron" branding.In a press release, Audi's CEO Gernot Dollner said it's hoping to tap into China's more tech-savvy" customers who expect leading connectivity as well as automated driving." Reuters reported in August that Audi was planning a rebrand for China, where the automaker sold less than 10,000 vehicles in the country in the first half of 2024. Image: Audi Image: Audi Audi... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6S21Q)
Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge iRobot, the parent company of robovac maker Roomba, is laying off around 105 employees. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission spotted by TechCrunch, iRobot says the job cuts will impact 16 percent of its current workforce.The company announced the news as part of its earnings report released on Wednesday. These moves, while challenging, have fundamentally changed the way we work with our partners to efficiently develop and build our robots," iRobot CEO Gary Cohen said during an earnings call.In January, iRobot laid off 350 workers after Amazon's deal to acquire the company fell through. The company also appointed Cohen as CEO, who shut down Roomba's subscription service iRobot Select.Additionally, Cohen said the... Continue reading...
by Andrew Webster on (#6S21R)
Image: Disney / Lucasfilm The future of Star Wars movies just got a little more confusing. Deadline and Variety both report that Lucasfilm has tapped Simon Kinberg, best-known for his work on the X-Men films, to write and develop a new Star Wars trilogy. Kinberg will be working alongside Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy to produce them, according to the reports.Just what that trilogy will look like is unclear. Deadline says it could a continuation of the Skywalker story, which would make these episodes 10-12. But it could also be a brand-new saga that is tied in part to the other three Star Wars movies that Lucasfilm announced last year, which will be directed by James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Lucasfilm previously said that Obaid-Chinoy's... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6S21S)
The Fitbit Inspire 3 offers a bright, easy-to-read OLED display, which is a nice perk at this price. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge Google's Pixel Watch 3 is still down to a record low price, but honestly not everybody wants to - or even needs to - fork out $275 on a smartwatch. That's especially true if all you really need is something to help you keeps tabs on basic health and fitness metrics basics. The Fitbit Inspire 3 is a better, more affordable alternative, one that's currently down to its best price of $69.95 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Google.The comfortable tracker does a good job of delivering the essentials, helping you accurately keep tabs of basic health and fitness metrics while lasting up to 10 days on a single charge. It also comes with some extra conveniences found in pricier trackers, from a bright OLED screen to features like irregular... Continue reading...
by Emma Roth on (#6S21T)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Google could soon add AI Replies" to the Phone app's call-screening feature. A line of code spotted by 9to5Google suggests the app will generate new AI-powered smart replies" based on how someone responds to the call screen.Google widely rolled out its call-screening feature in Android 12. It allows you to filter calls and have Google Assistant respond with an audio message to ask who's calling, rather than having to pick up the call yourself. Late last year, Google added contextual replies," which use the context of someone's call to serve up customized audio responses. It also updated its call-screening feature in March with a way to respond even when the caller is silent. Image: Google These are some of the... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6S21V)
Image: Microsoft Microsoft is adding AI-powered themes to Outlook today. Dubbed Themes by Copilot," this AI-powered feature will require a Copilot Pro or business license to add a more personalized look to Microsoft's email client.The themes will appear across Outlook for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and on the web, and they're designed to make Outlook more beautiful and approachable," according to Microsoft.You'll be able to create a theme based on the weather or locations, and they can dynamically update every few hours, each day, weekly, or monthly. If you've enabled location permissions in Outlook, the My Location theme will bring you imagery uniquely inspired by your locale, dynamically updating for you as you head out the door on a trip or... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6S1YD)
Netflix Toei's Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain from director Kenji Nakamura is one of this year's most visually stunning anime films, and it's making its way to Netflix in just a few weeks.Like the Mononoke series, Phantom in the Rain tells the tale of an unnamed merchant (Hiroshi Kamiya) who, in addition to selling medicines, specializes in exorcizing mononoke" - malevolent spirits who terrorize the living. When the Medicine Seller arrives at the imperial palace, his senses tell him that a mononoke is lurking somewhere deep within the building's innermost chambers.As a man, the Medicine Seller is forbidden from stepping foot inside of the imperial harem of women like Asa (Tomoyo Kurosawa) and Kame (Aoi Yki), who have gathered in... Continue reading...
by Nilay Patel on (#6S1YE)
Image: The Verge; Getty Images On this week's episode of Decoder, we're talking about work. Specifically, where we work, how our expectations of working remotely were radically changed by the covid-19 pandemic, and how those expectations feel like they're on the verge of changing yet again. For many people, the pendulum has swung wildly between working fully remote and now a push to return to the office from their bosses, and there are a lot of theories about what might be motivating big companies to try and bring everyone back.Here on Decoder, I've talked to lots of CEOs about the benefits of working fully remote versus hybrid or having everybody back in the office over the past several years, and I've heard the full spectrum of responses. Some executives are... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6S1YF)
Image: Hello Games The developers at Hello Games are back with yet another update for No Man's Sky. Starting today, a select number of users will have the ability to play around in their NMS universe across a collection of platforms with the new cross-save functionality. According to the announcement, adding cross-saving was a bit of an undertaking for the development team.It's very common for players to rack up thousands of hours of saves," the announcement reads. Adding cross-save for us is a little bit like moving house, the longer people have lived there the more complicated it is to move them."No Man's Sky now supports cross-saves across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Series S/X, Xbox Game Pass, PC, Steam Deck, PSVR 1 / 2, PCVR, GOG, and Nintendo... Continue reading...
by Andrew Liszewski on (#6S1YG)
The Nikon Z50II uses the same APS-C sensor as the original, but upgraded with a faster image processing engine. | Image: Nikon Nikon has announced a new version of its entry-level Z50 mirrorless camera. The Z50II offers improved shooting capabilities thanks to a new image processing engine, and a selection of 31 film-inspired looks" quickly accessible through a dedicated button. It will be available starting in late November for $909.95 for the camera body alone, but can also be bundled with lenses. Adding a 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens will boost the price to $1049.95, while a bundle with both a 16-50mm and a 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR lens will be $1,299.95.That dedicated Picture Control button - the first on any Nikon camera - is the Z50II's most exciting upgrade. Pressing it enables a real-time preview of up to 31 built-in color presets" so you can see how each... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6S1YH)
Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge The latest macOS beta changes the options you'll see when you use AirPlay to mirror your screen. As reported by MacRumors, the new beta version of macOS Sequoia 15.2 lets you select a single window or app on your Mac to display on another screen, like your TV - or maybe something else, like a Vision Pro headset or Apple's rumored smart display.macOS 15.2 is expected to be released publicly in early December. It also brings new Apple Intelligence features, including Image Playground and ChatGPT integration for Siri. It's also getting a new weather menu item that can give you the outside temperature at a glance.The new AirPlay experience includes a new menu pop-up asking what do you want to show" on Apple TV, with three large buttons... Continue reading...
by Emma Roth on (#6S1YJ)
Cath Virginia / The Verge Max will kick off its password-sharing crackdown over the next few months with very soft messaging" surrounding the change. During Warner Bros. Discovery's Q3 earnings call on Thursday, chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels said this initial rollout will be followed by more progress in 2025 and 2026.Wiedenfels called password sharing a form of price rises," as the company is asking members who have not signed up, or multi-household members to pay a little bit more." This isn't the first time we've heard about Max's interest in password sharing, but now we have more details about when - and how - it will all begin.In March, JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery's head of global streaming and games, said Max will start its crackdown... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6S1YK)
Image: Kojima Productions It took a few years, but Sam Porter Bridges has finally trekked his way to Xbox. Kojima Productions announced today that the director's cut of Death Stranding is now available on the Xbox Series X / S. At launch, for a limited time," the port will be available for 50 percent off.Death Stranding first launched in 2019, as Hideo Kojima's first release after going independent, following a messy split with Konami. The director's cut - which isn't really a director's cut - launched two years later on the PS5, and the game has also been ported to PC, Mac, and iOS. As part of today's announcement, the studio also launched the game on Luna, Amazon's fledgling game streaming service.The news comes as Kojima Productions is expanding quite a bit... Continue reading...
by Chris Welch on (#6S1YM)
Now the best value in Apple's lineup, the Mac Mini takes its ideal form with an impressively small design that compromises on very little. Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6S1VB)
Image: Archer Archer Aviation, a leading electric flight company based in San Jose, California, is bringing its futuristic air taxis to Japan. The company will sell 100 of its Midnight battery-powered aircraft to Soracle, a joint venture between Japan Airlines and Sumitomo Corporation, in a deal valued approximately at $500 million.Archer says that Soracle plans on deploying its aircraft - which look like a cross between a drone and a helicopter - in cities where existing ground transportation is constrained by traffic or geographic barriers," the company said. Still, Archer will need to achieve certain milestones in advanced aircraft delivery" before Soracle approves pre-delivery payments.in cities where existing ground transportation is... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6S1VA)
Illustration: The Verge It's been two long years since the launch of Matter - the one smart home standard designed to rule them all - and there's been a fair amount of disappointment around a sometimes buggy rollout, slow adoption by companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google, and frustrating set-up experiences.However, the launch of the Matter 1.4 specification this week shows some signs that the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA, the organization behind Matter) is using more sticks and fewer carrots to get the smart home industry coalition to cooperate.The new spec introduces enhanced multi-admin," an improvement on multi-admin - the much-touted interoperability feature that means your Matter smart light can work in multiple ecosystems simultaneously.... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6S1VC)
Image: Microsoft Microsoft appears to be stepping back from charging Microsoft 365 Personal and Home subscribers another $20 per month to get access to AI-powered Office features. The software giant quietly announced it's making Copilot Pro features part of its Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions last week, but only in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand for now.It's been nine months since we introduced consumers to Copilot in our Microsoft 365 apps via Copilot Pro. We've spent that time adding new features, improving performance, and listening carefully to customer feedback," says Microsoft in a press release spotted by ZDNet. Based on that feedback, we're making Copilot part of our Microsoft 365 Personal and... Continue reading...
by Umar Shakir on (#6S1ES)
Pokemon developer Game Freak's unreleased Project Bloom game is included in the sale. | Image: Private Division Take-Two Interactive is selling off its indie games label Private Division, which published titles such as The Outer Worlds and OlliOlli World, following rumors over the summer that Take-Two laid off most of Private Division's staff.Take-Two did not disclose the buyer of Private Division or how much they paid. In an emailed statement to The Verge, Take-Two spokesperson Alan Lewis wrote:
by Wes Davis on (#6S1ET)
Image: Cath Virginia/ The Verge The Federal Trade Commission has charged Sitejabber, an online review platform, with violating its new fake reviews rules by using point-of-sale reviews to misrepresent what customers think about products. In one of its first enforcement actions under new rules banning companies from making or selling fake reviews, the FTC is ordering the company to stop.The FTC says Sitejabber deceptively" punched up businesses' review counts by incorporating responses to point-of-sale questionnaires asking customers to rate and review their shopping experience, before they'd actually gotten any products or services. It also alleges that by giving its clients tools to publish that feedback on their own sites, Sitejabber enabled them to mislead people... Continue reading...
by Jay Peters on (#6S1EV)
Striking New York Times tech workers have created a Guild Builds" page dedicated to strike-themed games you can play, including a spin on Wordle, a word search, and the custom Connections I reported on earlier today.As part of its strike announcement on Monday, the New York Times Tech Guild requested that people don't cross the digital picket line to play the NYT's daily puzzle games. This collection of five other games offers an alternative if you want to support the striking workers but also do some brain teasers.There are currently five games on the page:
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by Emma Roth on (#6S1EW)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Microsoft is testing a big Windows on Arm update to let more x64 software and games run under Prism emulation on Copilot Plus PC with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite or X Plus processors. The capability comes as part of the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27744, rolling out to testers in the Canary Channel.This way, Qualcomm's new chips can run more kinds of apps that don't have native ARM64 versions and, until now, weren't usable with emulation. It could even enable games that use AVX2, like Starfield and Helldivers 2, to work on Windows on Arm.With this update, Microsoft's emulator will open up support for 64-bit x86 software to use processor extensions like AVX, AVX2, BMI, FMA, and F16C. However, it says 32-bit software still won't... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6S1C2)
Illustration: The Verge Roblox is going to block kids from accessing certain types of experiences following reports alleging that the platform has enabled child abuse.One new measure will stop kids under 13 from accessing experiences with certain types of interactive features," Roblox says in a post on its developer forum. Those include social hangouts," where the primary purpose is to communicate with others over text or voice chat, and free-form 2D user creation" experiences, where players can do things like draw on a chalkboard or whiteboard. This change goes into effect beginning November 18th.Another change stops kids under 13 from playing, searching for, or being able to discover unrated experiences. This change goes into effect after December 3rd.... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6S1C3)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung might be working on a Galaxy S25 Slim" model, with similar rumors to the ones about a Slim" iPhone 17 in 2025 that may replace the iPhone Plus. South Korea's ET news first reported on it, saying Samsung might release a slim smartphone during the second quarter of 2025 (April - June) as a follow-up a few months after the rest of the Galaxy S25 family makes their debut.And now Smartprix has shown the listing for a smartphone with the market name Galaxy" and model number SM-S937U in the GSMA IMEI database. Smartprix says Samsung typically adds smartphones it's working on testing internally to the database before launching it six to seven months later, and this model number lines up with others that line up with the usual Galaxy... Continue reading...
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by Barbara Krasnoff on (#6GEA9)
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge These days, we are all dealing with huge amounts of information, from meeting notes to social media, to photos and videos, to whatever else we've collected - and we are all trying to find some way to store it, organize it, and find it when we need it.If you want to get really basic, you can use a spreadsheet or create a simple set of word-processing documents. Otherwise, you can try what is somewhat inaccurately described as a note-taking app. These apps, at their simplest, store your notes and other thoughts and, at their more complex, are capable of manipulating any and all content you want to drop into them.One of the most well-known has been Evernote, which has gone through quite a few changes over the years, both financially and... Continue reading...
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by Kylie Robison on (#6S191)
Image: OpenAI On Wednesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted a simple URL on X: chat.com. It automatically routes to ChatGPT.Previously, the domain was owned by Dharmesh Shah, the founder and CTO of HubSpot. In early 2023, Shah purchased chat.com for $15.5 million. However, just a few months later, he announced that he had sold the domain, though he wouldn't disclose the details of the sale or the buyer. Notably, he did confirm that he sold the domain for more than he had originally paid for it.The reason I bought chat.com is simple: I think Chat-based UX (#ChatUX) is the next big thing in software. Communicating with computers/software through a natural language interface is much more intuitive. This is made possible by Generative A.I," Shah wrote in... Continue reading...
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by Allison Johnson on (#59XEB)
You can get a great device for less than $500 these days if you know how to pick your priorities. | Image: The Verge You can't have everything at this price, but you can get a great smartphone. Whether you want an iPhone, a 120Hz screen, or water resistance, you've got options. Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#569T9)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Get some peace and quiet with any of our top picks for noise-canceling headphones. Sony's still the best overall, but there are reasons to go elsewhere, too. Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6S192)
The all-electric CLA. | Image: Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz is showing off its all-electric CLA prototype and sharing a few new details planned for the upcoming 2025 production version. The CEO of Mercedes-Benz Group, Ola Kallenius, provides a limited tour of the car, in which he talks to its new AI assistant, and takes it for a spin in a new video posted by the automaker.The CLA is camouflaged like the one spotted in September, but now we're getting a look at the likely final version of Mercedes' star logo headlights and a small look at the CLA's interior. Mercedes-Benz says much of the tech from the EQXX Concept revealed in 2022 is incorporated into the CLA.Kallenius says this CLA ushers in an era of a whole generation of new vehicles from Mercedes" that uses its newest... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6S193)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is adding AI-powered text editing to Notepad, the stripped-down text editor originally introduced in 1983. The feature, called Rewrite, is rolling out in preview to Windows Insiders and will let you use AI to rephrase sentences, adjust tone, and modify the length of your content," according to the Windows Insider Blog.If you're a Windows Insider with early access to the feature, you can try it by highlighting the text you want to adjust in Notepad, right-clicking it, and choosing Rewrite. Notepad will then display a dialogue box where you can decide how they want to change their text - for example, if it needs to be longer or shorter. Rewrite will then offer three rewritten versions that you can replace your work with. ... Continue reading...
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