The Verge

LG + Prime Video + Filmmaker Mode. | Image: LG LG’s 2020 and 2021 4K and 8K TVs can now turn on Filmmaker Mode automatically when you’re watching content from Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service, LG has announced. Filmmaker mode was launched in 2019 as a convenient way to turn off picture processing features like motion smoothing and image sharpening, which can create a horrid unnatural look often referred to as the “soap opera effect.”LG calls Prime Video’s ability to automatically trigger Filmmaker Mode an “industry first.” It delivers on a promise the company made when it first introduced the setting to its TVs back at CES 2020, when it said it would be offering an API to streaming apps to enable the mode automatically. Although it’s previously been possible to manually turn... Continue reading…

Parents take a lot of photos of their kids, but who wants to be constantly lingering on the fringes of family gatherings with their phone out? That’s the problem Canon’s new PowerShot PX is trying to solve. It’s essentially a home surveillance camera for happy memories. Stick it somewhere near you and it will automatically snap photos and videos, using built-in “subject recognition” to frame and select shots that you can browse later.It’s not exactly a new concept. Google promised similar functionality with its Clips camera in 2018 (though the company leaned more heavily than Canon on the promise of machine learning to select the right moment). But reactions were mixed, to say the least. Some thought Clips was creepy or invasive, while... Continue reading…

The Locked Folders feature was announced at this year’s Google I/O. | Image: Google Google is expanding several of its privacy and security features including Google Photos’ secure Locked Folder feature, the VPN offered alongside Google One, and the Pixel’s new centralized security hub. The plans were detailed in a blog post rounding up the company’s security initiatives.For starters, Google Photos’ Locked Folder feature, which currently lets Pixel owners hide sensitive photos and videos in a passcode- or biometric-protected folder, is coming to iOS “early next year.” The feature launched for the Pixel 3 and later in June, and in late September Google said it would be releasing for all Android phones “soon.” Now we have a timeframe for when Google Photos users on iOS will be able to protect sensitive images like nudes.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok is experimenting with a new tool that allows TikTok users to tip some creators directly on their profiles.According to a video of the tips feature shared this week by TikTok creator Jera Bean, who noticed the feature in-app and applied for approval, any money tipped to creators will go directly to that individual (meaning TikTok won’t take a cut).A screenshot of the application screen stated that in order to qualify for the feature, accounts must be in good standing on the platform, have at least 100,000 followers, meet an age requirement, and agree to TikTok’s tips terms. If creators meet these criteria, they can then apply for the tool — though it's unclear whether everyone who applies will be approved.

Image: Bloomberg In the first leaked images of Facebook’s smartwatch, it’s clear: there’s a notch, which is the kind of thing people love to make fun of, and what appears to be a front-facing camera. In the photo, the watch’s screen is off, but the beady little camera eye is clearly visible.The photo, which was first reported on by Bloomberg, was found inside the company’s app for its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses. The watch, referred to as “Milan” in the code, has a large display like the Apple Watch — but that smartwatch doesn’t have a camera. The picture today may not be a version that consumers ever see, according to Bloomberg. Still, it confirms earlier reporting about Facebook’s work.If this is the same watch as the one we reported on in June,... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Facebook (which is now called Meta) knows a lot of virtual reality headset owners hate logging in with Facebook. Requiring Facebook logins created bad blood almost immediately and even accidentally locked some people out of their Quest VR hardware in late 2020. And at today’s Connect keynote, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg hinted the restriction might be ending. But his comments raised more questions than they answered, and we still don’t know exactly what they mean.Zuckerberg mentioned the changes while talking about work applications for VR. Here’s what he said:

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales After what seems like an eternity of leaks, teases, and two reveals, the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are finally on sale. But Google seems to be running very low on inventory, as the company now offers waitlists so you can be notified of when the phone will be available again.Right at the top of the Pixel 6 Pro page on the Google Store, there’s a now banner advertising the waitlist. “Due to high demand, some Pixel 6 Pro models may be out of stock or have long delivery times,” the company says. “Get notified when they’re back in stock, or check out other authorized retailers who may have them available.” The banner includes buttons to join the waitlist and see other retailers where you can try to get the phone instead. After clicking the buy... Continue reading…

There’s a hook for the wand, but it’s sold separately. | Hasbro You’ve always wanted your very own Ghostbusters Proton Pack. Your options have been: find a cheap toy, 3D print, sand and paint your own, pay for someone to do it for you, start with a premade kit, or painstakingly build something even more intricate from scratch.Here’s a sixth way that might be the easiest and most cost-effective yet: pay Hasbro $400 for this incredible-looking thing: Hasbro The pack at an angle, covered in lovely shiny bits. Tactical shoulder and belt straps plus what looks like a lumbar pad. Hasbro says the Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler’s Proton Pack is based on 3D scans of the actual movie prop from Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and it’s complete with lights, sounds... Continue reading…

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, held a presentation today where it announced its rebranding and showed off what it imagines the future of computing will look like — but amid all the fluff, it actually had some interesting tech demos. The first showed off its life-like Codex avatars and an environment for them to exist in, which the company says was rendered in real-time and reacted to real-world objects. Mark Zuckerberg also talked about the company’s work with neural interfaces that let you control a computer just by moving your fingers.We’ll discuss the demos in just a moment, but it’s really worth seeing them for yourself. You can check them out on the Facebook keynote archive or on Reuters’ YouTube stream if you prefer... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple today posted strong earnings for its fourth fiscal 2021 quarter, reporting all-time highs for its services and Mac divisions. The company says it took in revenue of $83.4 billion, a year-over-year increase of 29 percent, and earnings per share of $1.24. That earnings number came in below Wall Street expectations of $84.85 billion.CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that supply chain constraints had a clear impact on financial results this quarter. “We had a very strong performance despite larger than expected supply constraints, which we estimate to be around $6 billion,” Cook said, attributing the supply issues to “the industry-wide chip shortages that have been talked about a lot and COVID-related manufacturing disruptions in Southeast... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon wants to avoid holiday shipping delays as much as you do. The company said today that it plans to spend “several billion dollars” to avoid problems during the holidays, which might extend from product delivery issues to keeping items in stock. The money will be spent on increased pay for workers, heightened shipping costs, and mitigating supply chain issues.“It’ll be expensive for us in the short term, but it’s the right prioritization for our customers and partners,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said today in the company’s third-quarter earnings release.The big spending comes as both a promise and a warning. Amazon’s earnings disappointed investors with a significant dip in quarterly profits from last year. That’s largely due to... Continue reading…

Vjeran Pavic/The Verge The company unveiled a new name and vision for the future in its keynote Continue reading…

Photo by Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images There’s good news in the latest version of the White House budget deal: the proposed federal tax credit for new electric bike purchases has survived the most recent round of Congressional bloodletting. Not only that, but it’s been restored to its former glory of 30 percent, after the House of Representatives slashed it to 15 percent.Still, it’s a hugely important proposal for a product that is still struggling to reach mass adoption. If the deal passes in its current form, e-bikes would become significantly cheaper for most Americans. In turn, that could mean a significant change in the transportation options for millions of people around the country.The legislation would offer Americans a refundable tax credit worth 30 percent of a... Continue reading…

A collage of Meta logos. | Image: Meta The company formerly known as Facebook just revealed its new name, Meta. And while that change brings a whole lot of questions, there’s one that many of us at The Verge have been pondering for about 30 minutes: how does the Meta name change the acronym used to refer to the biggest tech companies in one fell swoop?Before Thursday, FAANG — Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google — was perhaps the most commonly used one. But that acronym already doesn’t quite work. Google is technically a part of Alphabet now, so there should be a third A. (FAAAN?) It’s missing Microsoft, which is just as mind-bogglingly huge as some of the other companies. And you could argue that Tesla should be part of the acronym conversation, especially now that... Continue reading…

Dropbox will finally be updating its Mac app to natively support Apple Silicon sometime in the first half of 2022, the company confirmed today. A previous forum thread saw Dropbox staffers claim that a native app would require “a bit more support before we share your suggestion with our team.”The months-old thread was resurfaced in a post by developer Mitchell Hashimoto on Twitter (spotted by MacRumors), sparking complaints from Dropbox users who were disappointed by the impression that the company would only develop the app if enough customers asked for it. While Dropbox technically does work with Apple Silicon hardware thanks to Apple’s Rosetta 2 software translation layer, it’s not as power or memory efficient as it could be if it... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is rebranding its hardware to match its new name. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth announced that the company is phasing out its Oculus branding, including on the Oculus Quest virtual reality headset. Starting in 2022, the Oculus Quest product line will be known as the Meta Quest, while the Oculus App will become the Meta Quest App. The Facebook Portal video device is also getting rebranded to “Meta Portal” sometime in the next few months.“When people buy our products, we want them to clearly understand that all of these devices come from Meta and ladder up to our metaverse vision,” Bosworth’s post reads. That means retiring the name Facebook took on when it acquired Oculus in 2014. “We all have a strong... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Facebook just announced that it will change its company name to Meta. The new name comes with a new logo, a blue M that looks kind of like a pretzel, and now that logo has replaced the iconic thumbs-up Like icon at the company’s global headquarters in Menlo Park.Here are two more images of it, taken by The Verge’s own Vjeran Pavic: Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge It did not take long before people began to pose for photos. Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge A larger group. For comparison, here’s what the old sign looked like: Photo by Yalonda M James/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images The new sign had been teased ahead of its official reveal. At one point,... Continue reading…

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images After months of negotiations, President Joe Biden released the latest version of his Build Back Better framework on Thursday, advancing the landmark proposal into what will likely be its final phase before approval. The plan’s original $3.5 trillion budget resolution now sits at $1.75 trillion, unveiling scaled-back initiatives to tackle climate change and other social services.In its latest budget proposal, the White House’s total investment in fighting climate change remains relatively the same, sitting at $550 billion. What’s changed the most is how those funds will be used: focusing on manufacturing, electric power, and transportation.The White House’s total investment in fighting climate change remains relatively the same,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter regularly tests new features ahead of their official rollout, but the company is creating a new way for some people to check out new features before everyone else. On Wednesday, Twitter announced that subscribers to its paid Twitter Blue service will get early access to some new features under a new Labs banner. If you’re familiar with YouTube’s Labs features for Premium subscribers, it sounds like a similar model.Features in Twitter’s program include pinned conversations on iOS, which lets you pin DM conversations to the top of the list, and the ability to post longer video uploads from a desktop computer. You can read more about Labs in a thread from the Twitter Blue account.

Illustration by Samar Haddad The company wants to move past the ‘confusion and awkwardness’ of sharing a name with its main app Continue reading…

Teenage Engineering Teenage Engineering, a design company that dabbles in everything from synthesizers to helping build the Playdate gaming handheld, has made its first computer case. It’s called Computer-1. It’s a bold orange case that’s made for mini-ITX-sized motherboards, which are reserved for small form factor builds. Like most of the company’s products, it’s not exactly affordable at $195. But that might not be an obstacle if you’re a sucker for a case that’s dripping in color and unique style.The Computer-1 case is made with powder-coated aluminum and has chrome handles, which makes it look a bit like Apple’s most recent Mac Pro desktop chassis. Though, unlike that computer, this case comes unassembled. It arrives in a flat pack, like most Ikea... Continue reading…

Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook’s new name will be “Meta.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday at the company’s Connect event that the company’s new name will be Meta. “We are a company that builds technology to connect,” Zuckerberg said. “Together, we can finally put people at the center of our technology. And together, we can unlock a massively bigger creator economy.”“To reflect who we are and what we hope to build,” he added. He said the name Facebook doesn’t fully encompass everything the company does now, and is still closely linked to one product. “But over time, I hope we are seen as a metaverse company.”Zuckerberg owns the Twitter handle @meta (whose tweets are protected as of this writing) and meta.com, which now redirects to a welcome page on Facebook that outlines the... Continue reading…

Microsoft is rolling out Windows 11 to more PCs this week. After an initial launch to mostly new PCs earlier this month, Microsoft is gradually making the free Windows 11 upgrade available to more existing and eligible devices.“The availability of Windows 11 has been increased and we are leveraging our latest generation machine learning model to offer the upgrade to an expanded set of eligible devices,” says Microsoft. “We will continue to train our machine learning model throughout the phased rollout to deliver a smooth upgrade experience.” The Windows 11 upgrade prompt in Windows Update. If you’ve been waiting for the Windows 11 upgrade to appear in Windows Update, you might find the above prompt this week.... Continue reading…

Wyze is bringing more AI-powered smarts to its security cameras. | Image: Wyze Smart home company Wyze continues its tradition of making every small to medium-sized home appliance under the sun, announcing a slew of new products this week in honor of its fourth birthday.The most notable are a new smart wall switch, an interesting take on outdoor lighting, and revamped white smart bulbs that can match the sun throughout the day. But what really caught my eye is a new capability coming to its cameras. Using AI, Wyze’s smart security cameras will have the ability to alert a professional monitoring service when they detect a person. That’s one simple and cheap home security system.Wyze is known for its inexpensive smart home products, but what makes the company stand out is that it doesn’t skimp on the smarts to get... Continue reading…

A screenshot of the Project Cambria device Facebook is planning a high-end virtual and augmented reality headset codenamed “Project Cambria.” The device, which was teased briefly during Facebook’s Connect keynote, features cameras that pass high-resolution full-color video to the headset’s screens. It’s supposed to include cutting-edge features that Facebook can’t yet include in the Oculus Quest lineup, but there’s no price or exact release date yet — although Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says it’s a “completely new” product that will sit at the “high end of the price spectrum,” and we’ll apparently see the device released next year.The device is focused on mixed reality applications and will include face and eye tracking, something Zuckerberg discussed earlier this year. It’s... Continue reading…

Image: Facebook Facebook has announced the Active Pack, a set of fitness-focused accessories for the Oculus Quest 2 that are designed to help turn the VR headset into a piece of gym equipment.Included in the Active Pack are a set of grips designed to keep the Touch controllers from flying out of your hands when you’re, for example, doing a boxing workout in Supernatural. There’s also an easy-to-clean face pad, so you don’t have to gunk up your normal foam one if you use your Quest 2 for both exercise and entertainment.The Active Pack will ship “next year,” according to Facebook. While Facebook is clearly making it for those who have been turning to VR for their workouts during the pandemic, it’s also easy to imagine this could be popular with... Continue reading…

Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz is the latest car company looking to bolster its audio systems with Dolby Atmos. The luxury vehicle company is planning to add support for the 3D sound standard through its optional Burmester stereo add-on for high-end models starting in summer 2022.Mercedes-Benz isn’t the first car company to offer Atmos; that honor goes to the Lucid Air electric sedan, which just started shipping and is the first car to support Dolby Atmos thanks to its 21 speaker “Surreal Sound” system.The cheapest S-Class with Atmos will start at $117,580But Mercedes-Benz’s implementation of Atmos looks to go even further, with a whopping 31 speakers scattered around the car (a list that includes six 3D speakers above passengers, four “near-ear”... Continue reading…

Facebook is announcing a new, “more social” home space for Oculus users. Called Horizon Home, it looks a lot like the virtual home that people already have in their virtual reality headsets. But users will be able to invite friends to hang out and watch videos or start multiplayer games together, and they’ll eventually be able to customize their space, although that’s “a little further out.” Horizon Home will launch in an Oculus update soon.Home joins Horizon Worlds and Horizon Workrooms — as well as events app Horizon Venues, previously known as Venues — as part of Facebook’s “metaverse” hub. A video shows users getting pop-up messages inside VR games, as well as on their phones outside VR, then popping into the same virtual space. In... Continue reading…

Facebook Reality Labs Facebook is adding 2D apps from third-party developers to its Oculus Quest virtual reality platform. The new feature is aimed at giving people more tools to work in VR using the Progressive Web App (PWA) framework. It’s starting with Facebook, Instagram, collaboration app Smartsheet, and email client Spike, then adding Dropbox, Monday.com, Mural, My5, Pluto TV, and Slack in the future.Oculus has supported a 2D browser (which opens as a flat window in virtual space) for some time, and you could sideload 2D apps on the Quest, which runs a version of Android. Some Oculus apps also blur the line between VR and 2D apps: Horizon Workrooms, for instance, will support Zoom calls in the future. Facebook Messenger launched on Quest earlier this... Continue reading…

At this year’s Facebook Connect, the platform revealed something called the Presence Platform, a new way for developers to create mixed reality experiences for the Oculus Quest virtual reality headset. It includes a suite of AI tools for developers that makes the mixed reality experience more immersive, helping to combine the virtual world with physical reality.The system includes three main tool sets: Insight SDK, Interaction SDK, and Voice SDK. Insight, which builds on the the Passthrough API that launched this summer, lets developers overlay virtual objects on the Oculus Quest’s passthrough video feed. Facebook is also adding a system called Spatial Anchors that will let developers “lock” a virtual object to a specific physical area... Continue reading…

Image: EA In the years since Respawn and EA launched Apex Legends, the shooter has carved out its place among a crowded field of contenders. Other games have tried to enter the market and failed to make much impact alongside the other battle royale titans like Call of Duty: Warzone, PUBG, and Fortnite. Still, despite a healthy player base and competitive scene, a new update, dubbed Escape, arrives following one of the roughest seasons since the debut, and it might be exactly what the game needs.Last season’s new character, Seer, drew criticism from many players until Respawn nerfed his special abilities. Then that change led to its own controversy, as players accused the developers of intentionally releasing heroes with overpowered abilities to... Continue reading…

A lock icon will appear in the Phone app when a call is end-to-end encrypted. | Image: Google In the coming weeks, Google is rolling out end-to-end encrypted phone calls on its Google Fi MVNO, the search giant announced today. When enabled, the feature means that no one, not even Google, can listen in on the contents of a call. Although it’s possible to have end-to-end encrypted audio calls through services like FaceTime and WhatsApp, Google Fi’s new feature makes it the default for regular phone calls.The feature is a little limited in its current form. Google’s end-to-end encryption will only kick in for calls between two Android phones, where both users are Google Fi subscribers. So, for now, at least, iPhone Google Fi subscribers won’t benefit. Google says you’ll know when a call is end-to-end encrypted because it’ll play a... Continue reading…

Nintendo is now offering a free demo of Metroid Dread, meaning you can try one of the best games of the year at no cost before plunking down the cash to buy the full game. You can grab the demo from Nintendo’s website (click the “Download Demo” link) or on the eShop on your Switch.If you’re on the fence about Metroid Dread, I really recommend you download the demo to give the game a shot. If you’ve played a 2D Metroid, you’ll probably feel right at home, as Dread is an excellent evolution of action and exploration the games are known for. But the game mixes up the formula a bit with tense chase sequences where you’re fleeing from powerful robots called E.M.M.I. The boss fights are also quite good, though there are a few too many of... Continue reading…

You can now buy Google’s newest Pixels, pending availability. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Google’s new Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have been announced, reviewed, and are now up for order. These Pixels promise new designs, new cameras, a uniquely designed Google Tensor CPU, and more.This year’s Pixel phones come in two sizes: the standard Pixel 6 and the larger, triple-camera equipped Pixel 6 Pro. The base Pixel 6, with 128GB of storage, starts at $599, while the Pixel 6 Pro runs $899 and up if you prefer to go above the base 128GB.What’s newThe Pixel 6 and 6 Pro look mostly nothing like prior iterations, with a metal-and-glass design highlighted by a rear camera bar that is slightly reminiscent of the classic Nexus 6P. The smaller Pixel 6, which cannot truly be considered small by any stretch of the imagination, has a... Continue reading…

The new Pixels are the best phones Google has ever made Continue reading…

Sony’s PlayStation games on Steam are now published by PlayStation PC LLC instead of PlayStation Mobile. Forum posters at Resetera noticed the change yesterday, and it appears the PlayStation PC company was formed earlier this year. It could mean we’ll see Sony use more PlayStation PC branding in the future.Sony has been gradually growing its presence on PC over the past year, after Horizon Zero Dawn arrived on Steam in August 2020, followed by Days Gone in February. Sony is also bringing God of War to PC on January 14th and the remastered Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection at some point in 2022. Days Gone is now published by PlayStation PC. Sony’s head of PlayStation Studios, Hermen Hulst, revealed in June... Continue reading…

Brendan Hunt, Cristo Fernández and Jason Sudeikis in “Ted Lasso” | Image: Apple Comcast’s X1 platform has slowly added apps to its library over the years, and this morning on the company’s earnings call, CEO Brian Roberts announced that the Apple TV app would join the roster soon, while Comcast’s Xfinity Stream app will launch on Apple TV devices.Comcast’s tech platform, which already has apps for Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and Disney+ in the US, isn’t just on its cable boxes anymore. It underpins the Xfinity Flex streaming platform, the XiOne streaming set-top box, and new XClass 4K TVs that recently launched from Hisense. Image: Comcast XClass 4K TV Two models of the TV are available, in 43- and 50-inch sizes, for $298 and $348, respectively. Like other smart TVs in their price range —... Continue reading…

‘Shadow Planet’ was made by Robin Sloan and Jesse Solomon Clark, aka The Cotton Modules, using OpenAI’s Jukebox AI music model. The scare is over and the fun can begin. That’s how I tend to think of creative endeavors involving artificial intelligence these days. We’ve moved past, I think, hyperbolic claims about AI making human art redundant and can now enjoy all the possibilities this technology affords. In that light, Shadow Planet — a new album made as a three-way collaboration between two humans and AI — shows exactly what sort fun can be had.Shadow Planet is the creation of writer Robin Sloan, musician Jesse Solomon Clark, and Jukebox, a machine learning music program made by OpenAI. After an off-the-cuff Instagram conversation between Sloan and Clark about starting a band (named The Cotton Modules), the two began exchanging tapes of music. A seasoned... Continue reading…

One of the core promises of the Nintendo Switch — the ability to easily play multiplayer games on the go — has long been undone by a flimsy piece of plastic. While the original Switch model technically made it possible to whip out the tablet for some impromptu Mario Kart, the terrible kickstand made this impractical at best and dangerous (for your Switch’s screen) at worst. The latest iteration of the hardware finally fixes that — along with the showcase feature, a much-improved OLED screen — and makes the dream of spontaneous Mario Party tournaments a reality, at last.This week Nintendo is releasing Mario Party Superstars, a sort of greatest hits collection for the digital board game series. It includes boards from the early Nintendo... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The company is attempting to minimize its own research Continue reading…

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick sent a letter updating employees on the further steps he and the company will take to change its image in the wake of multiple sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits. Most notably, Kotick says that Activision Blizzard will employ a zero-tolerance harassment policy, waive arbitration in sexual harassment and discrimination claims, and the billion-dollar-net-worth CEO will take a massive pay cut — earning only $62,500 per year in total compensation until the board of directors feels certain diversity, equity, and inclusion goals are met. (Earlier this year, Activision Blizzard shareholders approved a $155 million pay package for Kotick.)The letter outlined other goals for the company, including... Continue reading…

Image: Ford BlueCruise, the “hands-free” driver assist feature that Ford sees as a viable competitor to GM’s Super Cruise and Tesla’s Autopilot, won’t reach car owners until the first quarter of 2022, the company’s executives said Wednesday night. The automaker had originally planned on pushing an over-the-air (OTA) software update activating BlueCruise for select Ford customers before the end of 2021.In an earnings call with investors, Ford CEO Jim Farley said the company’s engineers needed a little more time to make the advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) easier to use for customers.“We wanted to improve the customer experience,” Farley said. “So we pushed it back in terms of an OTA because we want it to be much simpler for the customer... Continue reading…

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge Rad Power Bikes announced that it had raised $154 million from investors as it seeks to grow its e-bike empire in the US and abroad. The company now claims it is the “most funded electric bike company in the world,” a little more than a month after Amsterdam-based VanMoof made the same claim.For over a year, Rad Power Bikes and VanMoof have been in a neck-and-neck race to raise enough investment cash to help capitalize on the bike boom while also smoothing out the rough edges of their direct-to-consumer business models. Last month, VanMoof announced that it had raised $182 million over two years, with almost 200,000 bikes on the road currently and a five-year goal of getting 10 million people on VanMoof e-bikes.Now, Rad Power Bikes is... Continue reading…

Cloud gaming may have finally arrived — for some Continue reading…

You can save up to $700 on LG’s brilliant C1 OLED today at multiple retailers. | LG You can save up to $700 on one of the best TVs for gaming today, the LG C1. Right now, BuyDig’s digital storefront on eBay is selling the 55-inch model for $1,297 instead of $1,500, while adding $120 of eBay credit and a four-year extended warranty. Meanwhile, Costco and Amazon have the 65-inch versions for $1,800 and $1,797, respectively, though you’ll need to be a Costco member to take advantage of its discount. If you are a Costco member, however, the OLED TV comes with an Allstate Protection Plan — an extended three-year warranty for your TV — and a $100 streaming credit toward Google Play, Paramount Plus, Showtime, or several other services.No matter which C1 model you buy, however, all sport several features gamers in particular... Continue reading…

Facebook Connect 2021 event site Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to deliver the opening keynote to the Facebook Reality Labs event, Facebook Connect, this Thursday, October 28th at 1PM ET / 10AM PT.The annual VR / AR announcement and live demonstration event is in its eighth year and was formally called “Oculus Connect” due to its focus on virtual reality technologies. With word on a Facebook rebranding looming, the event is the perfect stage for the 17-year-old company to announce big changes along with the possible announcement of a new “pro” Oculus VR headset.When and where can I watch the Facebook Connect event?The keynote starts at 1PM ET / 10AM PT on Thursday, October 28th. The event will be streamed live from the Facebook Connect event page, which can be... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla’s Sentry mode, the feature that uses the car’s cameras as a surveillance system to catch would-be thieves and vandals, has been upgraded to let owners view a livestream, Electrek reports. The “Sentry Mode Live Camera Access” feature is rolling out with Tesla’s 2021.36.8 software update, but only appears to work with the manufacturer’s iOS app at present. An Android release is yet to be confirmed.“You can now remotely view your car’s surroundings when parked to confirm the safety of your environment before returning to your car,” is how Tesla’s release notes describe the new feature. It’s a significant upgrade for the vehicle’s Sentry Mode feature, which originally launched in 2019. Although there have been workarounds, Sentry... Continue reading…

Twitter user @Jatodaro demonstrates how to use the new ‘Scale to fit below built-in camera’ feature. | @Jatodaro via Twitter A new support document released yesterday details a “Scale to fit below built-in camera” option in macOS that will forcibly scale apps to only use the display below the notch. It’s a temporary workaround for apps that don’t currently play nice with the notch on Apple’s new MacBook Pros.The camera notch cutout on Apple’s latest laptops was meant to enable a more expansive edge-to-edge screen. But as we saw yesterday, owners of the new MacBook Pro models have seen both apps and the OS misbehave, whereby app menus and status bar items can get hidden under the camera cutout. The scale-to-fit workaround fixes this, but results in the type of large bezels the notch was meant to negate.The scaling feature was demonstrated by artist @Jatodaro... Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge Photographs from a historic moment in tech news history, the day a Gizmodo reporter published hands-on pics of the then-not-yet-announced iPhone 4, are now missing. And they’re not alone — vast quantities of pictures from G/O Media sites like The Onion, Jalopnik, and Deadspin (as well as Gizmodo) have been removed, reportedly intentionally, according to Gawker.A recent Gawker report highlights that Buzzfeed has also been wiping many older images from the web. Still, Buzzfeed’s reason for doing so is relatively apparent after management explained the copyright claims on old photos deemed some of them “high-risk.”Both cases are examples of “link rot,” where content on the internet is drastically changed because it either disappears... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge In 2020, Samsung weathered the pandemic by posting a record high for revenue in the third quarter of 66.96 trillion won. The company just revealed that it set another record for the same period in 2021, reaching 73.98 trillion won, or about $63 billion. While its revenue was up about 10 percent, Samsung says its profits grew by 26 percent from last year to hit 15.82 trillion won ($13 billion).Despite a shortage of key chips worldwide, the memory chips and processors Samsung makes that go into everything from servers to mobile phones are in as much demand as ever. Shifts to hybrid work mean have companies buying more SSDs, CPUs, and RAM for serversSamsung will “reorganize” to focus on quantum dot 4K TVs instead of LCDsAs the world’s... Continue reading…