The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that would make it easier for people to cancel online subscriptions after a free trial period has ended. Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), John Thune (R-SD), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and John Kennedy (R-LA) say the Unsubscribe Act would require companies to be more transparent about their subscriptions.“The subscription-based business model is exploding, and it’s largely because of the deceptive practices that some companies use to lure and trap in customers,” Schatz said in a statement. “When people sign up for a free trial, they shouldn’t have to jump through hoops just to cancel their subscription before being charged.”The bill addresses what’s known as “negative option billing,”... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge One month ago, Amazon-first gadget brands Aukey and Mpow suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from the giant online retailer’s storefront, with almost all their electronics vanishing from Amazon’s shelves. Today, popular battery and charger brand RavPower has completely disappeared as well — and Amazon now confirms to The Verge that it was the one that removed RavPower from its store, and that it removed Aukey and Mpow previously.Amazon hasn’t yet said why it took the action on RavPower, but it’s not hard to imagine what happened here. On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal’s Nicole Nguyen ran a story about how her new RavPower charger included an offer for a $35 gift card in exchange for a review, something that Amazon confirmed was a... Continue reading…

The latest teaser for Star Trek: Picard’s second season has arrived, giving an actual look at the upcoming series (instead of some long shots inside Picard’s house as Patrick Stewart pontificates on the nature of time, as seen in the first “teaser.”) And while the new trailer — released in honor of “Captain Picard Day” — does give a glimpse of what looks like the time-traveling shenanigans the former Starfleet captain and his new crew will be up to when the show returns in 2022, something is missing.SPOILERS FOR PICARD SEASON 1Where are the robots? The first season of Picard dealt with the Federation debating whether artificial life and androids should exist, culminating with Picard himself getting his biological body replaced with a... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge E3 2021 is technically over, and without a show floor to demo things, plenty of developers lost an opportunity to spread the word about their games. Xbox has one way around that, collecting indie game demos on home consoles, and now Valve is launching its version for PC games. The latest Steam festival, Next Fest, has launched today with hundreds of demos of upcoming games to try and livestreams of playthroughs and interviews with developers if you’d rather watch than play.Running from June 16th to June 22nd, Next Fest includes a wide swath of games in a variety of genres, some of which weren’t spotlighted during last weekend’s loose collection of E3 livestreams and keynotes. Some notable games included in the fest are Sable, Chasing... Continue reading…

Stories inside the Xbox mobile app. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is now adding a row of stories to its Xbox app on iOS and Android. It’s the same interface that originated in Snapchat and has spread to every single social media app, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook Messenger, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Even Slack is adding stories soon, too.Now you’ll also see stories from Xbox games in the mobile app, just in case you haven’t had enough stories in your life. While most social media apps have stories content that’s created by your friends or whoever you follow, the Xbox stories will be from game brands instead. So if you play a lot of Fortnite or Call of Duty, you’ll see stories from these games and any others you follow on the Xbox network.Stories in the Xbox app are simply being used... Continue reading…

Photo by GRAEME JENNINGS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images In a surprise decision Tuesday, President Joe Biden tapped Lina Khan, one of the most prominent critics of Big Tech, to lead the Federal Trade Commission. In that role, Khan will have the authority to guide the FTC’s agenda — and it’s fair to assume she’ll be taking a hawkish stance toward Big Tech.The move is already spooking industry groups, with the conservative Open Competition Center warning Khan would use “antitrust law as a Trojan horse to advance woke goals and policy priorities” — and the tech-backed ITIF saying her agenda would cause “lasting self-inflicted damage” to the country.But it isn’t just Khan who has the tech industry raising the alarm. Khan’s position at the FTC is just one part of a multipronged antitrust effort... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Spending a little on any of these picks will get you a lot Continue reading…

Facebook is planning to start rolling out its podcast product next week, on June 22nd, and, eventually, add a feature that’ll allow listeners to create clips from their favorite shows.According to an email sent to podcast page owners and viewed by The Verge, hosts can link their show’s RSS feed up to Facebook, which will then automatically generate News Feed posts for all episodes published moving forward. These episodes will show up on a “podcasts” tab that doesn’t appear to be live yet, but that the company teased in a wider announcement about audio initiatives in April. (You can see it below.) Podnews first reported the date earlier this month, and at the time, Facebook confirmed with The Verge that a limited number of page owners... Continue reading…

Image: Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover is working on a prototype hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), which it plans to start testing later this year, the company announced. The vehicle is based on its Land Rover Defender, and the company says it will focus its testing on “key attributes” such as fuel consumption and off-road capabilities.The FCEV is part of the company’s strategy to achieve zero tailpipe emissions by 2036 and net zero carbon emissions across its supply chain and operations by 2039. Fuel cell electric vehicles generate electricity from hydrogen to power their electric motors, and Jaguar Land Rover considers them complementary to battery electric vehicles. “We know hydrogen has a role to play in the future powertrain mix across the... Continue reading…

Slack has announced a new Scheduled Send feature that the company is starting to roll out today, which — as the name implies — will let users schedule messages to send at a later time and date.The scheduled send feature adds a new drop-down arrow to the green “send message” button in Slack’s desktop app. Clicking it will reveal a new menu that allows for scheduling a message to send to a room, direct message, or group thread later on. Mobile users will be able to access a similar menu by long-pressing on the send button in the Slack app on Android and iOS.A better way to message co-workers across time zonesSlack will offer both pre-filled options (like “tomorrow morning at 9:00AM”) as well as the ability to set a custom date and... Continue reading…

China and Russia expect to put their first crews of astronauts on the Moon sometime in the next decade, representatives said on Wednesday. Already established plans for their International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) include a lineup of robotic lunar missions and coming up with a legal framework for exploring the Moon, an effort similar to the NASA-led Artemis lunar program.Officials from the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, gave a joint presentation during the Global Space Exploration Conference in Russia on their three-phase plan to build a network of Moon bases and satellites in lunar orbit. The space agencies formally teamed up on the project in March.“We are still focusing on... Continue reading…

Entertainment meets activism Continue reading…

Deepfakes aren’t a big problem on Facebook right now, but the company continues to fund research into the technology to guard against future threats. Its latest work is a collaboration with academics from Michigan State University (MSU), with the combined team creating a method to reverse-engineer deepfakes: analyzing AI-generated imagery to reveal identifying characteristics of the machine learning model that created it.The work is useful as it could help Facebook track down bad actors spreading deepfakes on its various social networks. This content might include misinformation but also non-consensual pornography — a depressingly common application of deepfake technology. Right now, the work is still in the research stage and isn’t... Continue reading…

Image: Pixar Animation Studios The best way to watch Luca, the latest feature from Pixar, is when you’re that very particular kind of tired that comes from a long day at the beach. I recommend pulling out a projector so you can watch it outside, preferably as the sun starts to set, and ideally with some gelato to accompany you. What I’m saying is: this is just about the perfect summer movie.Okay, sorry, so what is Luca actually? At its most basic, it’s a coming-of-age story about sea creatures, directed by Enrico Casarosa (who previously directed Pixar’s 2011 short La Luna). Luca (Jacob Tremblay) is a young monster who lives a sheltered life on a family farm under the sea, largely oblivious to the human world above him. Most of what he knows comes from his parents,... Continue reading…

Photo illustration by William Joel If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.Father’s Day is only a few days away, but if you’re starting to panic — don’t. We know that finding a good gift for Father’s Day can be really difficult — especially with all those “traditional” dad gifts out there that are just, well, boring. So this year, we’ve looked around for some special, interesting gifts for dad in a wide range of types and prices.We’ve got a bunch of stuff for the do-it-yourselfer: a Leatherman multitool, the ultimate gardening tool, and a whiskey- and rum-making kit. For the tech enthusiast, we’ve got a VR device, a gaming mouse, and a mini electric screwdriver set. And for the lovers of quirk, we offer a New... Continue reading…

Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge But no sign of a commercial release Continue reading…

AMD’s new Radeon RX 6900 XT Liquid Edition. | Image: Maingear AMD is launching a new variant of its Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card that is liquid cooled. This extra cooling allows the card to run at higher clock speeds, delivering better performance in games. Videocardz reports that the Radeon RX 6900 XT Liquid Edition also includes faster memory, at 18Gbps instead of the 16Gbps found on the regular RX 6900 XT.This liquid cooled edition will be powered by a single radiator fan attached to the card’s shroud. AMD is using the same number of compute units, 16GB memory size, and 128MB infinity cache as existing RX 6900 RT models, but the card will be clocked at 2250Mhz instead of 2015Mhz. Image: AMD AMD’s new Radeon RX 6900 XT Liquid Edition includes a single radiator. That... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple took over a health clinic to test plans for a primary care service with its own employees, The Wall Street Journal reported. But efforts reportedly stalled as employees questioned the integrity of data collected through the services.Tech companies including Apple and Amazon have spent the past few years looking to expand into healthcare, which is a $4 trillion industry in the United States. Amazon now offers its own telehealth and at-home healthcare program to other companies. But not all efforts have been successful. Amazon’s healthcare project Haven, co-founded with Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan, failed and shut down in January.Apple’s own plans for a primary care service focused on integrating data collected by devices... Continue reading…

Waymo just announced a second external funding round, raising $2.5 billion for the continued advancement of its autonomous driving technology.According to investor website PitchBook, the company is valued at just over $30 billion, though that figure does not include this most recent funding round. (A spokesperson didn’t respond to a request seeking clarification.) For years, the company has relied almost exclusively on the largesse of its corporate parent, Alphabet. Then, in March 2020, it announced its first external funding round of $2.5 billion, a figure that grew to $3 billion a few months later with the addition of some investors.Most of the same groups that participated in Waymo’s first external investment are back for this... Continue reading…

Facebook is launching a suite of new tools to help group admins get a grip on their communities. Some simply offer a clearer overview of posts and members, while others are designed to help admins tackle conflict — including an AI-powered feature that Facebook says can identify “contentious or unhealthy conversations” taking place in the comments.This tool is called Conflict Alerts, and Facebook says it’s just testing it for now so availability is unclear. It’s similar to the existing Keywords Alerts feature, which lets admins create custom alerts for when commenters use certain words and phrases, but uses machine learning models to try and spot more subtle types of trouble. Once an admin has been alerted, they can take action by... Continue reading…

GTA V trunk Rockstar Games announced that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of GTA Online, the online multiplayer component of Grand Theft Auto V, will no longer be accessible starting December 16th, 2021. Shark Cash Cards, which unlock the in-game currency for GTA Online, will no longer be purchasable on these consoles after September 15th, 2021.The company said in a press release that shutting down GTA Online for these consoles will “have no impact on access to, or progress within, the Grand Theft Auto V story mode.” You simply won’t be able to go online with the game.Additionally, website stat tracking for GTA Online will cease operation on December 16th, 2021. Web stat tracking for some of the studio’s other PS3 and Xbox 360 games that have... Continue reading…

General Motors announced that it would increase its investment in electric and autonomous vehicles to $35 billion through 2025. The new figure represents a 30 percent increase over the amount the automaker said it would spend last November, and a 75 percent increase from its initial investment prior to the pandemic.It’s a staggering amount of money to be spent on what is arguably still a small percentage of the overall car market. Despite rapid growth in sales over the past few years, EVs are still a niche product, making up just 2 percent of the new car market and 1 percent of all cars, SUVs, vans, and pickup trucks on the road.That said, sales are expected to pick up in the next few years, depending on new incentives and... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge There’s no shortage of deals as we near Father’s Day and Prime Day 2021. The high-end configuration of Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go that released in October 2020 is more affordable than ever at B&H Photo through today (or until supplies sell out). Normally $900 for the model with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, it’s down to $679 in all three available colors (platinum, ice blue, or sandstone). My colleague Monica Chin reviewed this model and liked its 3:2 aspect ratio display and lightweight design, but it lacks high-end features found in the Surface Laptop 3, like a backlit keyboard and a hi-res screen. Still, if you’re looking for an affordable, yet recent Surface device (and you think the Surface Go is too small for your tastes) this... Continue reading…

The Google Store in New York City | Google and Paul Warchol After years of pop-up experiments, Google is finally dipping its toes in the physical retail waters with its first store, located underneath its offices in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York City. It will primarily feature Google’s own hardware products, including Pixel phones, Nest smarthome gadgets, Fitbits, and assorted other devices. There will also be a selection of third party accessories and Google-branded swag like hats or T-shirts.Google characterizes this as its “first” store, but in a call with press yesterday declined to say when, where, or even whether other stores could open. Presumably one might, but it’s no sure thing. The retail space here is a relatively small way for Google to get into physical stores, not a big... Continue reading…

The Honor 50 in silver, copper, green, and black. | Image: Honor The Honor 50 series will be able to ship with Google’s apps and services, Honor officially announced today as it launched the Honor 50 and Honor 50 Pro in China. In a statement, Honor says its phones will go through Google’s security review and that “Honor devices will therefore have the option to have Google Mobile Services (“GMS”) preinstalled on compatible devices, in accordance with Google’s licensing and governance models.”“Consumers will be able to experience Honor smartphones and tablets equipped with GMS,” the company said. A spokesperson confirmed that the “Honor devices” referred to in the statement include the newly announced Honor 50. The device will be available for preorder in China on June 25th and will come to... Continue reading…

Greenroom is Spotify’s take on live audio rooms. | Image: Spotify Spotify’s live audio app, Greenroom, formally launches today on iOS and Android, marking the company’s first real attempt at creating a social media platform. The social audio app, which is similar to Clubhouse, allows users to host live conversations about sports, music, and culture.Today’s launch doesn’t come with a marquee creator announcement or specific event planned, but instead, the company is taking the opportunity to encourage people to sign up and figure out how they’ll want to use the app. Some of its core functionality, a person close to the situation says, will eventually make its way to the actual Spotify app, so the team will monitor what happens in Greenroom closely.The app is built on Locker Room, which Betty Labs... Continue reading…

The “Black Walnut” version of the console, which comes with a joystick and controller. | Image: Atari The Atari VCS — a part-desktop PC, part-retro console modeled after the Atari 2600 — is finally available to buy at retail. Atari is selling the console via its own site while Best Buy and Micro Center also have their listings. This isn’t the first time the console has been available to the public (VGC notes that IndieGoGo backers recently received their consoles) but it’s the first time the machine has been available to buy at retail.The VCS has been a long time coming. Originally teased in 2017 as the “Ataribox,” the project re-emerged the following year as the Atari VCS, with Atari running an IndieGoGo campaign to fund its development in June 2018. Originally, the console had been due to ship in mid-2019 but reportedly ran into a s... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft will let Xbox One owners play next-gen Xbox games through its xCloud service. The news was buried in a blog post recapping Microsoft’s Xbox + Bethesda showcase, with the company confirming plans to leverage Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) for Xbox One consoles. That means the 2013 hardware will be able to play Xbox Series X exclusive games from 2021 — extending the lifecycle of what would normally soon be obsolete boxes.“For the millions of people who play on Xbox One consoles today, we are looking forward to sharing more about how we will bring many of these next-gen games, such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, to your console through Xbox Cloud Gaming, just like we do with mobile devices, tablets, and browsers,” says Will Tuttle,... Continue reading…

Lincoln, Ford’s luxury brand, has announced plans to make its entire lineup either hybrid or all-electric by 2030 as part of its parent company’s new business plan. The brand will reveal its first all-electric vehicle in 2022, and it expects that half of its global sales will be zero-emissions vehicles by around 2025.In addition, Lincoln vehicles are gaining a hands-free advanced driver assistance feature based on Ford’s BlueCruise system, though the luxury marque will call its version “ActiveGlide.” New Lincoln vehicles coming in 2023 will also feature Google’s native Android Automotive operating system, which is is being added to “millions” of Ford vehicles that same year.Four of Lincoln’s electric vehicles will be built on the new... Continue reading…

Windows 11 leaked yesterday, offering a closer look at some of the UI changes Microsoft is planning for its next version of Windows. The leak has also revealed what will likely become Microsoft’s default wallpaper for Windows 11, and a collection of new wallpapers that are bundled with the operating system. They’re Microsoft’s best Windows wallpapers yet.The main default wallpaper includes light and dark mode versions, with what looks like a crumpled piece of fabric. It’s a big departure from the Windows logo that was used as the default in Windows 10, or the two daisy flowers in Windows 8.You can download the full-size versions in the gallery above.Microsoft has also included a collection of other wallpapers inside Windows 11. The... Continue reading…

Privacy-focused nonprofit Fight for the Future has launched a new website that tracks whether certain colleges and universities plan to use virtual proctoring software during the fall semester.The platforms — like ProctorU and Proctorio — often make use of students’ webcams to watch and record them as they work, using automated systems or live monitors to flag possible signs of cheating. The practice has sparked controversy in the US, with critics in both academia and government citing privacy concerns and the potential for such software to discriminate against marginalized students. Still, some colleges began using eproctoring last year to watch for dishonesty on take-home exams, after moving testing online due to COVID-19.Many... Continue reading…

Sony’s next-gen VR controllers. | Image: Sony Sony’s next-gen PlayStation VR headset is likely to come out in late 2022, according to a new report. Bloomberg’s sources say Sony is “aiming to release the successor in the holiday period next year,” and that the headset will use OLED panels from Samsung Display.A release in that timeframe wouldn’t be too surprising, since Sony has already started talking up the PS5 headset’s potential. Its existence was first confirmed in February along with some initial details, and Sony followed up by showing off the new controllers in March.The headset itself hasn’t yet been revealed. But according to an UploadVR report from last month, it’ll have a total resolution of 4000 x 2040 and make use of eye tracking to enable foveated rendering, which... Continue reading…

Image: Disney Many major streamers support advertising in some form or another — think Hulu, HBO Max, or Sling TV as just a few examples — but Disney’s chief says the company’s marquee service won’t be adding ads to its service anytime soon.Speaking at the Credit Suisse 23rd Annual Communications Conference on Tuesday, Disney head Bob Chapek was asked by moderator and Credit Suisse managing director Doug Mitchelson whether the service planned to introduce an ad-supported entry tier at some point down the line. While he didn’t entirely dismiss the concept of a cheaper ad-supported tier on Disney Plus, Chapek said it wasn’t something the company was currently planning for.“We’re always reevaluating how we go to market across the world, but we’ve got... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Owners of the original Oculus Quest will get the ability to stream from their PCs to their headsets wirelessly, using the Air Link system that’s been available to Quest 2 owners for a few months. When the feature was originally announced, it was an open question as to when the first-gen headset would get it (or if it even would), but under a post about the v30 update for Quest, Mark Zuckerberg said that Air Link would be coming “soon.” Zuckerberg’s post about the v30 update and his comment about Air Link. In the post itself, he also shows off being able to use multiple windows to multitask in Oculus Home, which acts as a virtual environment. In the video, he opens three windows at once, creating an environment not... Continue reading…

Noctua is known for making mighty quiet PC fans, and now it has a CPU cooler that doesn’t need a fan at all. Two years after announcing a passive heatsink potent enough to keep a Core i9-9900K CPU in check, the dead-silent Noctua NH-P1 (via VideoCardz) has finally gone on sale today for $110. It’s an absolute unit at 1.2 kilograms (2.6 pounds).According to the company’s delightfully ASMR build video below (via PC Gamer), the final product’s six soldered heatpipes and thick fins are good enough to run a Core i9-11900K near its TDP of 125W, and even give you a slight overclock to 3.6GHz, though it’ll heavily depend on your case and other components that might also generate heat. The company has a whole set of setup guidelines, a CPU... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The best anti-Prime Day deals included Continue reading…

Dish has some ambitious targets ahead of it as it prepares to launch its own 5G network. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge With the clock ticking down toward its deployment goal this fall, Dish Network has launched a website with more information on its forthcoming 5G network. There’s not much to the site — just a slightly cryptic name (Project Gene5is) and a link to sign up for a notification when the service is available in your area. Its appearance was first reported by Axios, and there’s no mention of it or the Project Gene5is name on Dish’s main wireless network page. Still, it’s an indication that Dish is moving in the right direction toward a network launch, which it needs to do if it’s going to hit its ambitious targets.Dish has promised to bring its under-development 5G network to life later this summer starting with Las Vegas. That’s just the... Continue reading…

MacKenzie Scott, whose estimated fortune stands somewhere around $60 billion, announced via a Medium post today that she would be parting with a $2.7 billion portion of that wealth and distributing it to 286 groups, all of which are painstakingly named and linked at the end of her note.This third and latest gift brings Scott’s total charitable contributions to society to around $8.5 billion in the past year alone — making her one of the planet’s most generous billionaires. The amount puts her well ahead of the lifetime gifts doled out by the likes of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg ($2.7 billion), Michael Dell of his eponymous computer corporation ($2.25 billion), Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer ($1.4 billion), or eBay’s Pierre Omidyar ($1.3... Continue reading…

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, one of the architects of the World Wide Web, is selling the source code to the original web browser as an NFT (via the BBC). The auction, being run by Sotheby’s, will not only include the code for the WorldWideWeb browser, but also a letter from Berners-Lee himself, a vector file that could be printed as a poster, and a 30-minute silent video that depicts the code being typed out. According to a press release from Sotheby’s, the proceeds will benefit causes supported by Berners-Lee and his wife.The code up for auction contains elements of the web that many of us are familiar with today, including functions to parse and display HTML documents, rudimentary styling support, the HTTP protocol, and even the ability to... Continue reading…

Elon Musk’s company was told SN8’s launch would violate its FAA license, but SpaceX launched anyway Continue reading…

Image: Lordstown Motors Lordstown Motors has stopped working on an electric van and other future projects in order to aim all resources at putting its first vehicle, a pickup truck called Endurance, into production later this year. The startup previously announced in March that it was accelerating work on the van, but it has struggled since then, with CEO Steve Burns and CFO Julio Rodriguez resigning this week after an investigation into misleading claims about preorders for the Endurance.Burns previously billed the van as a “high-top” recreational vehicle with up to 350 miles of range. He said that it would be the “first mass produced all-electric RV,” and that Lordstown Motors believed “there will be many commercial use cases for an electric van of this size... Continue reading…