The Verge

With Dolby Vision gaming HDR technology available on Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, some TV owners have noticed that suddenly there’s a new setting to worry over. While some HDMI 2.1-equipped 4K displays could handle 120Hz, and some can support Dolby Vision for gaming, at first there weren’t any that could do both things at once.Now LG has confirmed it’s the first manufacturer with Dolby Vision HDR at 4K 120Hz support on some of its TVs, just a couple of weeks after owners noticed it arriving in updates. The 03.15.27 firmware enables the feature on C1 and G1 2021 OLED TVs, and today LG says support is on the way for other premium TVs in its 2021 lineup.

Photo Illustration by Thiago Prudêncio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The alternative social network Parler and representatives of former president Donald Trump were reportedly considering an idea to make Trump an active member of the platform after he left office, but Parler apparently pushed back on one key part of the proposed arrangement: the platform did not want to ban Trump’s detractors, according to an excerpt of Michael Wolff’s upcoming book about the last days of Trump’s presidency published in New York Magazine.Here’s what was going on, according to Wolff:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Juul has agreed to settle its first state lawsuit over deceptive business practices with North Carolina, a move that will limit the vaping company’s marketing claims and placement of products in stores.Under the settlement, Juul will no longer use marketing strategies geared toward young people, including most social media marketing campaigns, advertising near schools, and sponsoring sporting events or concerts. The company also cannot use models under 35 years old for advertisements in the state, and it’s required that Juul products are sold behind the counters of stores, according to The News & Observer. Juul will also pay a $40 million fine to the state.“North Carolina is now the first state in the nation to hold Juul accountable... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’ve been experiencing the bug where the iOS version of Snapchat crashes at launch, it seems that there’s now an update to fix it available in the App Store. The bug that’s been fixed by the update didn’t appear to have affected the Android version of the app.Before updating to the latest version, 11.34.1.35, the app would give me a message that something went wrong, before crashing to Springboard on my iPhone 12 Mini. Now, I’m no longer getting the error, and have successfully been able to send a Snap.This is what the bug looked like when it was present:

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on Windows 11. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is announcing that the next version of Office for Windows 11 will have a native 64-bit Arm version, for improved performance on large or picture-filled documents, and support for 64-bit add-ins. The new version of Office is currently in beta, available to Office Insiders.Microsoft also announced a redesign of Office, which you can see above and below. While it uses a similar design to Windows 11, it’ll be available whether you're running the Windows 11 Preview or Windows 10. In addition to the new design, Office will also adapt to your Windows light / dark mode, so you should be able to avoid the experience of opening a document and having it blast light into your eyes at night. Image: Microsoft The... Continue reading…

SoftBank is reportedly restructuring its robotics business and has already halted production of its Pepper robot, according to Reuters. Robotics is just one of many businesses the large Japanese firm has invested in, but potentially permanently ending production of Pepper is notable because of the robot’s role as a sort of unofficial mascot for the company.SoftBank plans to lay off 330 staff members based in France, the original home of SoftBank’s robotics efforts, and apparently half of the division’s sales team in the UK and the US, Reuters writes. Production of Pepper robots was reportedly halted last year and would be costly to restart, Reuters’ sources claim. We’ve reached out to SoftBank to confirm the details of the report.The R... Continue reading…

YouTube Theater | YouTube Google-owned YouTube will have its name on a new live event venue in Inglewood, California, part of the new Hollywood Park mixed-use development, the companies announced Monday. YouTube Theater will be a 6,000-seat performance venue, which will host concerts, comedy shows, YouTube creator events, esports competitions, and community shows. Financial terms of the multiyear naming rights deal were not disclosed.The development is the site of the former Hollywood Park Racetrack and part of the same complex as SoFi Stadium — where the Rams and Chargers play — and American Airlines Plaza. Hollywood Park also houses 3,000 apartments, a 300-room hotel, and an 890,000 square-foot retail area.“YouTube Theater will drive the uniqueness of... Continue reading…

If the internet has looked a little empty to you over the last day or so, check to see if your browser is using AdBlock or Adblock Plus. According to several users, ad blockers have inadvertently wiped out the content they’re looking for on a number of mainstream sites.It’s unclear exactly what caused the problem, but the issue should either resolve itself or it can be fixed by going into settings and requesting an update for your filter lists. In an email, the Adblock Plus support channel confirmed the problem “has already been fixed” without going in depth about what it was. Several posts on social media pointed to a recent change in filtering that works in other blockers but was interpreted by Adblock Plus to block content tagged as... Continue reading…

Image: Amazon Amazon Music Unlimited customers can now score several months of Disney Plus for free, and the offer extends to new subscribers as well as existing users.Amazon announced Monday that existing Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers in the US and Canada can activate three months of Disney’s streaming service for free through a new promotion. New Amazon Music Subscribers, meanwhile, will be able to access six months of Disney Plus through the offer.Amazon’s ad-free music streaming service costs $8 a month or $80 annually after a trial period. It is separate from Prime Music, the music service bundled with an Amazon Prime subscription. But where Prime Music has a catalog of roughly 2 million songs, Amazon Music Unlimited’s library comprises... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook has joined the ranks of companies valued over a trillion dollars as of today’s market close. The company’s market cap is sitting at $1.008 trillion according to Yahoo Finance, putting it over the mark for the first time in its history.Some of the most notable of Facebook’s divisions are the Facebook site itself, along with Messenger, as well as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus. On the list of US tech companies that have passed the $1 trillion valuation mark, Facebook is the only one founded in the 2000s, making it the newest — as long as you’re counting from the date that Google was started (which was in 1998), instead of Alphabet (which was created 2015).The news comes alongside the dismissal of the FTC’s case to unwind... Continue reading…

BMW will stop selling the i3 electric hatchback in the US starting next month. It’s the latest pint-sized vehicle to fall victim to American car buyers’ insatiable appetite for huge, towering, climate-killing trucks and SUVs.First released in 2013, the i3 was BMW’s first real electric vehicle. Always intended to be more of a city car than anything intended for long trips, the i3 maxed out at 80 miles of range from a 22kWh battery, with a modest 170 horsepower. The battery capacity grew 50 percent — to 33kWh — after a 2017 update, increasing the range to 113 miles. Thanks to its kooky, futuristic, and polarizing design, it was never a sales juggernaut, but it certainly developed a cult following over time. The i3 was able to carve out a... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Monday, a US District Court dealt a huge blow to the federal government’s antitrust case against Facebook by dismissing a complaint filed against the company by the Federal Trade Commission. The lawsuit, filed late last year, sought to unwind Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The judge also dismissed an associated case filed by a group of state attorneys general.In its initial complaint, the FTC alleged that Facebook violated federal antitrust laws by purchasing a would-be competitor in the social media market. But in his decision to dismiss the complaint Monday, Judge James E. Boasberg wrote that the FTC offered insufficient evidence for its central claim — that Facebook wields monopoly power.“This case involves no... Continue reading…

Dennis Crowley, co-founder of Foursquare, is stepping down from his full-time role with the company | Getty Foursquare founder and former CEO Dennis Crowley is stepping down from his full-time role at the company, he wrote in a Medium post on Monday. He’ll remain on the board of directors.“What started around my kitchen table in the East Village back in early 2009 has grown to nearly 400 people working around the world in 2021,” Crowley wrote. “What started as a quest to ‘build a Marauders Map’ and to ‘turn the real world into a game’ and ‘build a hipster version of Clippy’ has turned into one of the world’s leading location technology platforms, powering location services for thousands of apps and top brands around the world.”Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai launched Foursquare in 2009 as a smartphone app that let people use their... Continue reading…

Microsoft’s xCloud, the cloud game streaming component of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate that doesn’t require a console to use, is rolling out fully to iOS devices, including iPhones and iPads, as well as PCs and macOS computers via the web. It’s been in an invite-only beta period since mid-April 2021, but Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can now access games right from their devices.Microsoft says that on PCs, xCloud can be accessed through the Edge browser and Google Chrome. We’ve gotten it to work within macOS on Microsoft Edge and Safari. More than 100 games are available, and the service is compatible with Bluetooth controllers or ones connected via USB. On iOS, it’ll work as a web-based app via Safari, and you’ll have a choice between a... Continue reading…

In a blog post today, Microsoft is making another attempt at clarifying the minimum requirements for Windows 11, which have confused many, especially regarding what generation of CPUs the new OS will support. The post is clear that Intel 6th Gen Skylake and earlier CPUs, along with non-Zen AMD processors, will not meet “principles around security and reliability and minimum system requirements for Windows 11.” That lines up with the company’s original statement that Windows 11 would require Intel 8th Gen Coffee Lake or Zen 2 CPUs and up, but there is some hope for Intel 7th Gen Kaby Lake and Zen 1 users.Where things get confusing again is the news that its first Insider build of Windows 11, which is available today, won’t require TPM... Continue reading…

Samsung has taken the wraps off it and Google’s new unified smartwatch platform at MWC 2021 — sort of. The company isn’t announcing a new Galaxy Watch today, or even what the new platform will be called (it’s unofficially referred to as Wear); those announcements will come later this summer at a proper Galaxy Unpacked event. But what Samsung did show off was a first look at what its new One UI Watch software will look like, and it elaborated on just what the new Google / Samsung partnership could mean for future Galaxy Watches.To be clear: what Samsung is showing of One UI Watch won’t be what all smartwatches built on the new unified Google / Samsung platform look like — it’s an added layer on top specifically for Samsung devices. It’s... Continue reading…

Microsoft is releasing its first Windows 11 preview build today. Windows Insiders can download the Windows 11 preview (build 22000.51) right now, which includes access to the new Start menu, multitasking features, and overhauled Microsoft Store. Unlike the previous Windows 11 leak, this official preview also features an updated File Explorer that replaces the ribbon with a command bar to simplify file management a little more.Most of the Windows 11 visual changes that Microsoft revealed last week will be available in this initial preview. The new Start menu with its centered launcher-like interface is part of this build, alongside rounded corners throughout the OS and improvements to the notification center, volume flyouts, and more. If... Continue reading…

Image: 91mobiles and OnLeaks In 2020, OnePlus expanded its product lineup with the midrange OnePlus Nord, and new leaked renders from 91mobiles and OnLeaks have given us a good look at what the rumored next phone in the Nord line might look like. You can see the renders in this video (which I’ve also embedded at the top of this post).The phone, which I will call the Nord 2 (though we don’t know if that might be the official name) looks to take a lot of design cues from the OnePlus 9, particularly with the similar-looking rounded rectangle rear camera module and the hole-punch selfie camera. That rear camera module houses 50-megapixel, 8-megapixel, and 2-megapixel cameras, while the selfie camera is 32 megapixels, according to 91mobiles.

YouTube TV is today revealing more details about two anticipated new features: 4K playback and offline downloads. As it turns out, the service will be bundling them together in a new add-on package it’s calling “4K Plus.” There’s no getting one without the other.4K Plus is available starting today and will cost an extra $19.99 per month on top of the standard $64.99 YouTube TV subscription. That sounds awfully expensive, but at least there’s this: customers will receive a free one-month trial — and if you sign up early, 4K Plus will be discounted to $9.99 each month for the first year. That’s easier to swallow than $20, but you’ll eventually be shifted over to the full price once that initial promotion expires. So for the first year,... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has warned buyers to keep Apple AirTags away from young children, saying it’s too easy to remove a potentially dangerous battery from the tiny location trackers.An ACCC statement cautions that AirTags’ small lithium button batteries can severely injure children if they leak or become stuck in a child’s throat, nose, or ear. It raises particular concerns about Apple’s design making those batteries too readily accessible.

Smartwatches and security Continue reading…

Last week Apple revealed that Foundation, the upcoming sc-fi show based on a series of books by Isaac Asimov, would debut on Apple TV Plus in September. Now we have something even better: a proper trailer.It’s the first good look at the show since the debut teaser last year, and it reveals what looks to be an ambitious series that could give Apple’s streaming service its own must-watch epic along the lines of Game of Thrones or The Witcher. The trailer shows lavish sets, big-name stars, and, of course, a baby floating in a tank.“‘Foundation’ has always been at the top of my bucket list.”The show, which was first announced in 2018, is being helmed by showrunner David S. Goyer, and stars Lee Pace and Jared Harris. According to Apple,... Continue reading…

You’re getting a solid laptop for $800 Samsung released its latest wave of Windows 10 laptops in late April, and one of them is already seeing a significant discount. The Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha is $800 at Best Buy when you clip the $100 “Student Deal” discount underneath its asking price (you’ll need to sign in with a Best Buy account). This is $250 off its original $1,049 price. For an $800 laptop, the Flex 2 Alpha has a lot going for it, like its QLED display, a recent 11th Gen Intel Core i7 1167G5 processor, 16GB of RAM, and that it’s a flexible 2-in-1 form factor. It comes with 512GB of storage, and its ports include two USB Type-A 3.0 ports, one USB-C port, a headphone jack, a power plug, HDMI, and a microSD slot.The lower-spec version of the Flex2 Alpha that has half... Continue reading…

The biggest trackpad you can get, if not necessarily the best Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung is hosting a virtual event for Mobile World Congress 2021 on Monday, June 28th, where it promises to share how it’s “reimagining smartwatches.” Along with wearables, the company is also supposed to share news on the latest additions to the Galaxy ecosystem and the work it's doing to enhance mobile security.At I/O 2021, Google announced that Samsung’s Tizen operating system would be merging with Wear OS to serve as the future software powering smartwatches for Android phones (tentatively called “Wear”). There are no rumors to suggest Samsung will offer an in-depth look at those efforts, but recent leaks show that the company does have a new Galaxy Active Smartwatch in the works it might announce. There’s also a chance Samsung... Continue reading…

Netflix’s partial downloads feature displayed on a mobile device. | Image: Netflix Netflix is launching a new feature for Android users that allows them to view partially downloaded titles — which will hopefully make exasperated attempts to quickly download content minutes before a flight a slightly less distressing experience.Beginning today, Android users on mobile and tablets (versions 7.64 and higher) will be able to stream Netflix shows and movies before their download is completed. Previously, a title needed to be completely finished downloading to a device before it could be viewed — which, depending on your wifi connection or data plan could make streaming a title a headache, particularly in the aforementioned airport scenario.Partial downloading will be limited to Android mobile and tablet devices for now,... Continue reading…

TCL’s 20 Pro 5G is priced to compete with established midrangers like the Galaxy A52 5G. | Photo: TCL TCL is bringing three of its 20-series phones to the US today, with the $499 20 Pro 5G leading the way. It’s joined by the $249 TCL 20S with a trimmed-down feature set and the $189 TCL 20 SE equipped with a massive display and 5,000mAh battery.First announced in April, the 20 Pro 5G is positioned to take on midrange devices like the Google Pixel 4A 5G and Samsung Galaxy A52 5G. It features a large curved 6.67-inch 1080p OLED screen, a 48-megapixel main camera with OIS, wireless charging, and sub-6GHz 5G connectivity. The device comes standard with 256GB of built-in storage and 6GB of RAM coupled with a Snapdragon 750G processor. There’s even a headphone jack. Photo: TCL The 20 Pro 5G’s screen is slightly curved... Continue reading…

Microsoft keeps hinting at an October release date for Windows 11. The software giant teased an October date several times during its Windows event last week, including one instance where a Microsoft Teams message says “excited to turn it up to 11... can’t wait for October!” Microsoft has only officially said “holiday” for Windows 11 availability, but the company’s official marketing material strongly hints at an October 20th date.The Microsoft Teams message is from Stevie Bathiche, a key engineer on Surface devices, to Panos Panay, Microsoft’s head of Windows and devices. Bathiche is either hinting at a Windows 11 release date, new Surface hardware, or the possibility of both Windows 11 and new Surface devices in October. ... Continue reading…

Getty Images/iStockphoto Qualcomm’s best mobile processor, the Snapdragon 888, is getting even more powerful at MWC 2021 with the announcement of the Snapdragon 888 Plus. The upgraded model boasts a boosted clock speed, bumping the Kryo 680 CPU from 2.84GHz up to 2.995GHz (which Qualcomm is optimistically rounding up to 3GHz in its marketing.)Also getting upgraded is Qualcomm’s sixth-gen AI Engine. Where the base Snapdragon 888 could perform 26 trillion operations per second (TOPS) for AI tasks, the 888 Plus is approximately 20 percent more powerful, capable of 32 TOPS. Midyear refreshes for its top chips are nothing new for Qualcomm, which took similar approaches with the Snapdragon 855 Plus and 865 Plus, each serving as more powerful mid-cycle... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge IOActive security researcher Josep Rodriquez has warned that the NFC readers used in many modern ATMs and point-of-sale systems are leaving them vulnerable to attacks, Wired reports. The flaws make them vulnerable to a range of problems, including being crashed by a nearby NFC device, locked down as part of a ransomware attack, or even hacked to extract certain credit card data.Rodriquez even warns that the vulnerabilities could be used as part of a so-called “jackpotting” attack to trick a machine into spitting out cash. However, such an attack is only possible when paired with exploits of additional bugs, and Wired says it was not able to view a video of such an attack because of IOActive’s confidentiality agreement with the... Continue reading…

GIF: Veloretti Vintage cool and high tech as hell Continue reading…

Image: Lenovo Lenovo has announced the new $679 Yoga Tab 13, a global version of the Yoga Pad Pro that launched in China earlier this year. The tablet can function as an external display for a laptop (or a Nintendo Switch or any other HDMI device), thanks to its built-in Micro HDMI port. And with an attached stainless steel kickstand that can rotate 180 degrees from the back of the device, you can stand it up or hang it from a wall.The Tab 13 was announced alongside a slew of other Android tablets that Lenovo expects to launch later this summer, including a smaller Yoga Tab 11, a Tab P11 Plus with a 2000 x 1200 display, and the budget-oriented Tab M7 and Tab M8. (This last will not be sold in the US.)The Tab 13 is compatible with Lenovo’s Precision... Continue reading…

Here’s the Smart Clock 2 in “heather grey.” | Image: Lenovo The Lenovo Smart Clock and Smart Clock Essential are both functional, attractive alarm clocks with some extra smart home capabilities. Today, Lenovo has announced the next in line: the Lenovo Smart Clock 2.The big news is that the Google Assistant-powered Smart Clock 2 can come with an optional wireless charging dock, which can juice up Qi-compatible devices. This dock can also act as what Lenovo describes as “a soft, ambient nightlight.”Beyond that, Lenovo says the new Smart Clock has an updated design with three color options that blend in with “nearly any home decor.” And 85 percent of the plastic on the device is made from recycled materials. Image: Lenovo Here it is in “abyss blue.” Compared to the... Continue reading…

Image: CNSA In March, NASA released audio of its Perseverance rover firing lasers on the surface of Mars. Now China has released audio of what it says is its Zhurong rover arriving on the red planet and getting settled in, Space News reports. China has also released pictures of its Mars rover, which is unexpectedly cute as we saw in its first “selfie” a few weeks ago.Listen to what it sounds like as Zhurong rolls down the ramp of its lander vehicle on to the surface (but just to manage your expectations: you’re not going to hear any “pew pew pew” noises).The solar-powered Zhurong first landed on Mars in May, part of China’s Tianwen-1 mission which arrived in Mars’ orbit in February. After descending from the Tianwen-1 orbiter above the planet’s... Continue reading…

Regina King and Idris Elba in The Harder They Fall | Netflix Since it was one of the top picks on Netflix and everyone’s talking about it, I started watching Manifest and got five episodes in before I realized it was basically a version of Lost with a few wacky twists and I am not falling for THAT again. But the deeply weird and wonderful The Good Fight is back, and the pilot had Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald at their best, so I can’t wait to see what happens this season (although we said goodbye to two of the show’s best characters, boo). Also can we talk about Loki? We probably can’t without giving away spoilers but episode three gave us a LOT, most of which I suspect were attempts at misdirection.I got so engrossed in writing last Sunday’s trailers post that I totally missed the new T... Continue reading…

91Mobiles Leaked renders of the Galaxy Buds 2 obtained by gadget site 91Mobiles suggest the next iteration of Samsung’s earbuds will look pretty similar to Google’s Pixel Buds. A May filing with the FCC showed the earbuds woud come in a white case with rounded edges.The new images confirm previous reports that the buds will come in four different colors: black, green, purple, and white. The cases in the new renders show each will have a white exterior, while the internal color will match the buds. There aren’t a lot of other details available yet, including price, but the new renders show that the Galaxy Buds will have two microphones for improved noise reduction, and their in-ear design will include silicon tips, much like the Galaxy Buds Pro.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube took down several videos from a human rights organization’s channel, which was attempting to document human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang province, for violating its anti-harassment policy, Reuters reported.On June 15th, Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights said the Google-owned video platform disabled its channel entirely, telling the group it had received too many strikes against its channel for videos where people displayed identification cards showing they were related to missing Xinjiang residents. That apparently broke YouTube’s rule against displaying personal information, which led to the videos’ removal. The channel was restored three days later, according to Reuters.YouTube reportedly asked Atajurt to cut out or conceal... Continue reading…

An image of a smart display device from a patent application Verizon filed with the FCC | FCC According to a Friday filing with the Federal Communications Commission (first discovered by Protocol), Verizon is preparing to launch a smart display device based on the Alexa voice assistant. The FCC filing shows a basic-looking device that resembles an Amazon Echo, with an 8-inch display and front-facing camera, and the specs show it has 4GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, Bluetooth, wi-fi and 4G connectivity.It’s not clear from the filing what the user interface will look like on its screen but the device, referred to as LVD1, will “wake” when users speak the phrase “Hi Verizon” to it. That would seem to confirm, as Protocol notes, that the device is part of Amazon’s Alexa Custom Assistant program, which allows companies to build... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Volkswagen plans to stop selling combustion engines in Europe by 2035, a board member told German newspaper Muenchner Merkur (via Reuters).Klaus Zellmer, Volkswagen’s board member for sales, told the newspaper that the company would “exit the business with internal combustion engine cars in Europe between 2033 and 2035.” But, he added, it would take longer to stop selling combustion engines in the US and China— that will come “somewhate later,” he said— and in South America and Africa, where he said “it will take a good deal longer.”Zellmer said the automaker’s entire fleet will be carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest. He wants to see electric vehicles to account for 70 percent of the company’s total sales in Europe by 2030.V... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson will pay $230 million to settle an opioid lawsuit with the state of New York, the state’s attorney general said Saturday.According to a release from New York AG Letitia James, Johnson & Johnson “has committed to ending the manufacture and sale of all opioids and opioid products for distribution in the state of New York, as well as to no longer ship these products anywhere within the United States.”The company said in a statement Saturday that it “made the business decision in 2020 to discontinue all of its prescription pain medications in the United States.” The settlement removes Johnson & Johnson from a trial scheduled to begin in New York on Tuesday, but not from other cases across the US,... Continue reading…

WarnerBros Denis Villeneuve’s Dune was among the big 2020 movies that saw its release date delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. After being moved to October 1st, Dune’s release has been pushed back yet again, this time to October 22nd, Variety reports. The move was one of several releases Warner Bros. rescheduled, with the Clint Eastwood-directed Cry Macho moved to September 17th, and The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos, moved to October 1st.The adaptation of the 1965 Frank Herbert sci-fi classic has an all-star cast that includes Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Stellan Skarsgård, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, and Javier Bardem. Dune is slated to be the first of two movies based on the... Continue reading…

The Bose 700 offer some of the best noise cancellation you can get, especially for shy of $250. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Prime Day is officially behind us — well, sort of. The annual two-day shopping blitz saw an abundance of terrific discounts, from noise-canceling headphones to brilliant OLED TVs, some of which have stuck around for the remainder of the week. Retailers are already moving on, however, and we’re already seeing an influx of deals ahead of Independence Day, including a sizable discount on one of our favorite pairs of noise-canceling headphones, the Bose 700.But eBay isn’t the only one offering discounts this weekend. Right now, you can also save on Apple’s luxe Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro, the perfect summer speaker, and the white whale that is Microsoft’s Xbox Series S.Save 15 percent on refurbished headphones and more at eBayWhile... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Messaging chat app Telegram has added group video chat to its mobile and desktop apps at last, something it promised was coming back in April 2020. Voice chats in any group on the platform can be turned into video calls by tapping the camera icon to turn on your device’s video.Telegram says an unlimited number of users can participate in an audio call, but group video calls will be limited to the first 30 people who join a voice chat. The company plans to increase that limit “soon,” it said in its announcement. Users can also share their screens during a video call. Telegram Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said in January that the company had reached 500 million active users, many of whom came to the platform after the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla has had a run of bad publicity in China so far this year, with officials raising concerns over security risks, and protests about how the US automaker handles customer complaints in the country. On Saturday the stretch of bad news continued, as The Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla is recalling more than 285,000 vehicles in China—most of which were made locally— over a safety risk with the vehicles’ cruise control,China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said Saturday that the recall includes 249,855 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles that were made in Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai, and 35,655 Model 3 vehicles which were imported, all produced between December 2019 and June 2021, the WSJ reported. According to the... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Despite Apple’s efforts to keep anyone from finding out what it’s working on, leaks have continued to give the world early previews of new iPhones, Macs and more. Its campaign to plug the holes is apparently extending to threats of legal action, as the leaker known as “Kang” posted to Weibo this week about a notice he received from the company (via MacRumors).Kang currently holds the number one spot on the AppleTrack leaderboard, which attempts to compare the reliability of the information various leakers share, and AppleTrack indicates that other leakers have received similar messages. Prior to the iPhone 12 launch, Kang posted about all four models that Apple had prepared, revealing their prices, colors and planned release dates.A... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft says some of its customer support tools were accessed by the hacking group Nobelium, which was also connected to the separate SolarWinds attack, due to a Microsoft customer service agent’s computer being compromised. Microsoft told Reuters that the agent had limited access, and was able to see things like what services customers used, and their billing contact information. According to Microsoft, the hackers used the info gleaned from the tools to start “highly targeted” attacks on specific Microsoft customers.The attack, Microsoft says, was part of a larger Nobelium campaign largely focused on IT companies and governments throughout the world. The company says it’s reached out to the customers who were affected by the hacking... Continue reading…

Department of Defense/US Navy For those who feel abducted by the recent UFO hype, this one’s for you Continue reading…

Image: Microsoft Microsoft has updated its PC Health Check App to show more information about why your computer won’t be able to run Windows 11, to help deal with some of the confusion that’s sprung up around compatibility. If you’ve already downloaded the app, it should auto-update when you go to run it again, and if you haven’t downloaded it yet you can get it here.