The Verge

Here’s why Olivia Rodrigo keeps handing out songwriting credits Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge App Annie, a company that collects and sells information about the performance of mobile apps, has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a securities fraud investigation, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said in a statement.According to the SEC, App Annie used confidential information from app companies to generate its statistical models of app performance. It told the companies the data they provided would be aggregated and anonymized, and not disclosed to third parties. But the SEC alleged that between late 2014 and mid-2018, App Annie and its former CEO Bertrand Schmitt used data that had not been aggregated or anonymized to make its estimates more valuable to sell to trading firms. And, the SEC alleged, App Annie... Continue reading…

The 32GB HP Chromebook 14 is no powerhouse, but it can nail the basics without breaking the bank. | Image: HP The perfect laptop for the college-bound, this versatile 14-inch Chromebook from HP is available at Amazon for just $236, one of its better prices to date. This device packs a remarkable amount of versatility into a compact and lightweight package. At less than an inch thick and weighing in at less than 3.5 pounds, it's easy to tote around, without it turning into a third wheel. While the 13-hour battery may not provide all-day power, it's more than enough to ensure that it won’t die on you during a crucial lecture.The 32GB of onboard storage provides ample room to back up your documents, too, and the pair of USB-C and single USB-A ports can accommodate a variety of storage options. Equipped with a built-in wide-angle webcam and mic,... Continue reading…

Xiaomi has announced its first tablet in a few years, the Xiaomi Pad 5. (The last one was 2018’s 8-inch Mi Pad 4; Xiaomi recently phased out its Mi product branding.) It’s launching in the company’s European markets.The Xiaomi Pad 5 is an 11-inch tablet with a WQHD+ 120Hz display, quad speakers, 6GB of RAM, and a Snapdragon 860 processor — that’s the new speed-bumped version of the 855, Qualcomm’s flagship chip from 2019. Round the back there’s a 13-megapixel camera, and there’s a 8-megapixel sensor on the front.The Pad 5 pretty inescapably looks like an iPad Pro, from the slim bezels and flat edges to the tablet-specific MIUI customizations like the apps dock. The build isn’t as solid, and the screen doesn’t quite sit as flush with... Continue reading…

You no longer need a password for a Microsoft account | Image: Microsoft Microsoft now lets you remove passwords from Microsoft accounts to embrace a passwordless future. Starting today, the software giant will let consumers sign into Microsoft accounts with its Microsoft Authenticator app, Windows Hello, a security key, or an SMS / email verification code instead of a password.The new option arrives just months after Microsoft started rolling out passwordless authentication for commercial users in March to help people adjust to the realities of remote work. “When I think of security, I think you’ve got to protect your whole life,” says Vasu Jakkal, corporate vice president of Microsoft security, compliance & identity, in an interview with The Verge. “It’s no longer enough just to think about work or home... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube TV is expanding its live TV channels to include more Spanish-language content and add-on options.The company announced that beginning today, three new Spanish-language networks — Univision, UniMás, and Galavisión — would be joining the YouTube TV experience at no additional cost to subscribers. Notably, the new networks will include coverage of two events that are just around the corner: the 22nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards premiering on November 18th and the Campeones Cup airing on September 29th. This week’s announcement corresponds with the start of Hispanic Heritage Month.CNN Español, Fox Deportes, and more will be offered as a paid add-onLocal programming from Univision and UniMás will also be available to subscribers in... Continue reading…

Xiaomi has launched its 11T series, the headline of which is the 11T Pro and its previously announced 120W HyperCharge fast charging system. The phone has a 5,000mAh battery, and Xiaomi says the bundled 120W charger can fill it from zero to 100 percent in just 17 minutes. A 10-minute charge will get you to 72 percent, meanwhile. That’s even faster than the 120W Mi 10 Ultra Xiaomi released in China last year, and the 11T Pro is coming to Europe and beyond.For more on the 11T Pro’s fast charging technology — like whether it’ll destroy the battery or burn down your house, for instance — you can read my interview with Xiaomi’s Dan Desjarlais from last week.The 11T Pro is an entirely different phone to the Mi 11 flagship released earlier... Continue reading…

5G branding is going to get even more confusing, soon: T-Mobile has announced that it’ll be rolling out a new “5G UC” icon on the upcoming iPhone 13 lineup to let customers know when they’re connected to T-Mobile’s “5G Ultra Capacity” network, instead of the regular old 5G network.The difference here is one of bands and brands: at T-Mobile, an unadorned “5G” icon will soon refer to the company’s low-band network, which it calls “5G Extended Range.” As the name suggests, it’s a slower network (closer to legacy LTE speeds) but it reaches a broader area. From a spectrum perspective, it exists in largely the same areas as LTE but uses 5G technologies and techniques for improved speeds.A “5G UC” icon, though, will mean that you’re either... Continue reading…

Co-founders of Colossal, Ben Lamm (L), CEO and George Church (R) | Image: Business Wire A flashy new biotech startup launched yesterday called Colossal is on a mission to make an elephant-woolly mammoth mashup — with the ultimate goal of promoting biodiversity and combating climate change, it says. The effort has gotten a lot of hype and big-name backers, but scientists who work in conservation are still pretty skeptical.The science behind Colossal is in very early stages and is mired in ethical quandariesThe science behind Colossal is in very early stages and is mired in ethical quandaries. The company won’t actually bring back a woolly mammoth, which hasn’t roamed the Earth in about 10,000 years. Instead, Colossal’s de-extinction effort aims to create a hybrid between a woolly mammoth and its distant relative (the two... Continue reading…

Cameras continue to be one of the biggest differentiators in smartphones, and Apple’s iPhone lineup is no different. Apple says the iPhone 13 and 13 Mini have the company’s “most advanced dual-camera system ever,” while the 13 Pro and Pro Max have “our three most powerful cameras ever.”Which you’d hope for, of course. But this year, Apple really does appear to be making a big push with its cameras, particularly with the Pro models. As ever, the question will be what Apple is able to wring out of its hardware with image processing and software.The iPhone 13 lineup represents the first time Apple has increased the primary camera’s sensor size across the board since the iPhone XS and XR in 2018, though last year’s 12 Pro Max had a 47... Continue reading…

Less “big TV” more “projector replacement.” | Image: LG LG has announced a new lineup of Direct View LED (DVLED) home cinema displays, which range in size from a huge 108-inch HD screen to an obscene 325-inch 8K panel that costs an eye-watering $1.7 million, according to CNET, and weighs in at over 2,000 pounds. The company has previously reserved these displays for commercial buyers, but now it’ll sell them to anyone with pockets deep enough.Obviously, these screen sizes mean the home theater displays aren’t going to fit in a lot of houses, a limitation that’s likely to have a lot to do with the display technology they’re using. Rather than using an LCD layer to create pixels, and lighting it with separate LEDs, these displays just use LEDs (with some using smaller MicroLEDs, according to C... Continue reading…

(Photo by Jared Wickerham/Argo AI) Ford and Walmart are teaming to launch a robo-delivery service in three US cities, using autonomous test vehicles equipped with sensors and software developed by Argo AI. Customers who live in Miami, Austin, and Washington, DC, who order items from Walmart online and live within a specific geographic area may be eligible to have their items delivered by a Ford/Argo vehicle.The companies plan on kicking off “integration testing” for the delivery service this year, with plans to expand the geographic areas over time. Autonomous delivery is seen as a potentially lucrative market, with online grocery shopping growing fivefold over the next decade and American consumers spending upward of $100 billion on food-at-home items by 2025,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge How bad is Instagram for the mental health of its younger users? It’s a hugely important question, especially with Facebook planning to launch a version of the app for children.A new report from The Wall Street Journal suggests the answer is “pretty bad,” based on internal research conducted by Facebook that it’s been unwilling to share with the public. The WSJ recently got access to these in-depth studies, which paint a bleak picture of the detrimental effects Instagram has on its younger users, particularly teenage girls.For this latter group, Instagram is a powerful engine for “social comparison” — when one judges one’s own value, attractiveness, and success based on comparisons with others. Teenage girls are often blasted with... Continue reading…

Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images Amazon is now offering a year of Deliveroo Plus with its Prime subscription in the UK. Amazon Prime customers will be able to access the silver tier of Deliveroo Plus free of charge, enabling free deliveries on orders over £25. Deliveroo normally charges £3.49 a month for Deliveroo Plus, making this a saving of more than £40 per year.Deliveroo Plus includes unlimited free deliveries of food from a variety of participating restaurants. You’ll either need to be eating a lot or ordering for two or more people to really take advantage of the service, though. You’ll need to hit a minimum spend of £25 or more per order to benefit from free deliveries.The partnership comes more than two years after Amazon invested in UK-based food delivery... Continue reading…

My editor put together this image disturbingly soon after I pitched this article. | Image: Thomas Ricker If I were an emoji sommelier, there’s one pairing I’d definitely be recommending after looking at this year’s 37-strong selection of finalized emoji. And that’s a combination of the new “bubbles” emoji with the existing “peach.” The former emoji has just been finalized with version 14.0 of the Unicode Standard, but the collection has been public since earlier this year.The reason is simple. Peach has long pulled double duty as the internationally recognized symbol for the human butt, making “butt bubbles” an elegant euphemism for farts. Sure, you’ve long been able to tell a similar visual story by combining the peach with the gust of wind emoji (which I now see is technically called “dashing away”). But now you’ve got more options. Like... Continue reading…

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Nintendo has surprise-announced that Bluetooth audio support has come to the Switch through a software update. The ability to use Bluetooth headphones to listen to game audio has been a conspicuously missing feature since the console launched in 2017, so it’s great to finally have it — though there are some limitations.According to a Nintendo support article, you’ll be limited to using two wireless controllers if you’ve got a Bluetooth headset attached. The system also won’t support Bluetooth microphones, which isn’t necessarily surprising given that Nintendo’s own voice chat system relies on an app running on your phone. Still, it’s a bummer for people who play games with their own built-in voice chat abilities.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple’s “California Streaming” event was packed with announcements, from the iPhone 13 and forthcoming Apple Watch Series 7 to a sixth-gen iPad Mini. We expected much of this, yet, there were a number of things we had anticipated that Apple might announce but didn’t, including new MacBook Pros and next-gen AirPods.However, it looks like there’s still hope they may make an appearance soon, especially given that October is historically when Apple will showcase new Macs. According to Bloomberg’s reliable Apple-watcher, Mark Gurman, Apple will likely hold at least one more online event within the next “several weeks,” which means Apple may still reveal the no-shows from today before the end of 2021. Here are some of the more noteworthy... Continue reading…

David Odisho / Getty But will the technical jargon overwhelm the jurors? Continue reading…

The Apple Watch Series 7 has a larger display, and looks like an Apple Watch. | Image: Apple One of the big rumors heating up before Apple’s “California Streaming” iPhone announcement event about the Apple Watch Series 7 wound up fizzling out as soon as the new smartwatch was unveiled. The speculation was that Apple would perform the most significant overhaul of its smartwatch ever, aligning its design with that of the iPhone 12 and 13 — namely, flat sides and a more squared-off look with a larger display and smaller bezels. We got the larger display and slimmer bezels part, but the Apple Watch Series 7 still mostly looks like its predecessors at casual glance.The biggest change to the Series 7 is indeed physically bigger: the display. Apple increased the screen sizes to 41mm and 45mm, and with a thicker glass top the display... Continue reading…

Image: Microsoft Microsoft has announced that its xCloud service, officially known as Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Remote Play are now available to everyone with the Xbox app on Windows 10 (or 11). These features on PC rolled out to Xbox Insiders as a beta last month, and have been available on phones for a while, but them being officially available on PC is nice to see too. It’s giving you another option for how you want to play, whether the game is running on your personal console or Microsoft’s servers.Xbox Cloud Gaming, which seems like a natural fit for PCs that don’t have the power to run the games themselves, has been available on Windows for a few months through web browsers, but it’s a nice step forward that the service is now in a native app,... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Apple has announced its new iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, which feature better cameras, 120Hz screens, new processors (which Apple claims are the fastest in a phone, period), better battery life, and smaller notches compared to their predecessors. But should you upgrade from the iPhone 12, and is Apple beating the Android competition? Here’s how Apple stacks up to Samsung, OnePlus, Google, and its own previous devices on paper.One thing to keep in mind before we dive in is that specs don’t tell the whole story. There’s the obvious difficult comparisons (how does an Apple A15 chip stack up against a Snapdragon 888, and how do you compare traditional phones to folding ones), as well as the small details... Continue reading…

Apple introduced an updated version of its MagSafe leather wallet today with new colors and support for an additional feature: tracking in the Find My app. Apple’s location tracking service recently expanded with the addition of AirTags, and now the company is apparently working some version of the same functionality into its more low-tech accessories.That might seem like the continuous tracking AirTags offers, but Apple’s description points to something simpler. The company writes that the wallet “supports Find My, so you can be notified of your wallet’s last known location if it gets separated from your phone.” That’s helpful, but possibly not useful if someone moves your wallet after it’s separated.It seems like MagSafe is the keyA... Continue reading…

Apple The Apple Watch Series 7 was one of the many announcements made during Apple’s “California Streaming” event, sharing the stage alongside the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro, a new iPad Mini with USB-C charging, and more. The watch comes in new 41mm and 45mm case sizing, moving away from the 40mm and 44mm sizing that has been the standard for the last few generations of Apple Watch.As expected, Apple updated its online inventory of Watch bands accordingly for the new sizes. But many of them no longer list options for the 38, 40, 42, and 44mm sizing options for all of the bands. While it might appear at first that Apple has unceremoniously eradicated support for all previous models, don’t worry, it didn’t do that. However, the company did make it... Continue reading…

iPhone XR | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge As a slew of new iPhones come in, several models go out. This year, Apple pulled the plug on a couple of familiar standbys to make room for the iPhone 13, as MacRumors points out.The iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max have disappeared from Apple’s online store outside of refurb models. This is customary for Pro models when the lineup is refreshed, even though they’ve been shipping for less than a year. If you absolutely must spend more than $1,000 on a brand-new iPhone that isn’t the iPhone 13 (or you love that dark blue colorway), your options today are carriers and third-party retail shops.While the devices are likely to appear as cut-rate options at places like Woot from time to time, Apple’s retail option cuts out the option of buying... Continue reading…

The most 2021 gaming apparel yet | Razer What makes a gamer? I’ll tell you. It’s having the right attitude, the skills to dominate, and of course, the right tech. You won’t get ahead without the best, well, you name it.Razer has already produced gaming monitors, headsets, mice, keyboards, toasters, Chroma-enabled mug holders, chairs, controllers, plush animals, clothing, laptops, desktops, headphones, glasses that are also headphones, and truthfully, a lot more. If you’re still not getting the results you’ve worked for? Don’t worry, the company somehow still isn’t at a loss as to what to put out next to maximize your potential. Razer Pros know that this is elite form The latest essential gamer gear is hardcore thimbles that cost $9.99, with two... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Apple’s big product event today was all about iPhones, iPads, and the latest generation of its smartwatch — but make no mistake, it also underscored Apple’s increasingly aggressive push to dominate streaming.Apple wasted no time on Tuesday showcasing its quickly expanding and award-winning roster of originals on Apple TV Plus, with Apple boss Tim Cook kicking off the “California Streaming” event with a highlight reel of fall premieres and soon-to-debut titles. Cook gave a nod to the more than 130 wins and 500-plus award nominations for the service’s original films and series since launching in 2019, taking time to specifically herald the success of critical darling Ted Lasso, which recently swooped up a record-breaking 20 Emmy... Continue reading…

The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees, known as CODE-CWA, has filed suit against Activision Blizzard for unfair labor practices.As first reported by Protocol, this new suit, filed with the National Labor Relations Board, alleges Activision Blizzard engaged in intimidation and coercive tactics as employees fought to openly discuss pay discrepancy and their desire to end forced arbitration. CODE-CWA, a digital workers rights and labor organizer, filed the suit on behalf of A Better ABK — a group of Activision Blizzard employees working toward improving working conditions at what is one of the largest video game publishers in the US.In July, the state of California sued Activision Blizzard for enabling a culture of “constant... Continue reading…

The iPhone 13 lineup. | Image: Apple Apple just finished its “California Streaming” event, and it announced a whole lot of new products, including the iPhone 13 lineup of smartphones, Apple Watches with bigger screens, and new iPads.If you’re looking for a quick recap of the biggest news from the show, we’ve got you covered right here. Image: Apple The iPhone 13. The iPhone 13 has a familiar design with a smaller notch Apple’s new iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini look very similar to the iPhone 12 but have a smaller notch and a diagonal camera array. They’re equipped with the new A15 Bionic chip and have an improved dual-camera system on the back. Apple is also promising longer battery life than the iPhone 12.The iPhone 13 Mini starts at $729, and... Continue reading…

Apple is releasing the next version of its smartwatch operating system, watchOS 8, on September 20th. The company first introduced the new free update at WWDC 2021 and has been testing it in public beta over the summer alongside iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey.watchOS 8 is a modest change to the Apple Watch, but it still has some nice additions. Apple is adding support for new iOS 15 features like Focus mode for more granular control over app notifications and new types of keys and ID cards in Apple Wallet.The new watchOS is also getting new watchfaces to take advantage of the Apple Watch Series 7’s larger screen and new workout types for Pilates and tai chi (along with other updates to Apple Fitness Plus). The Apple Watch is... Continue reading…

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg Apple says it’s releasing iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 on September 20th. The company announced the new free operating system updates at WWDC 2021 earlier in June and offered public betas over the summer.Both of the new versions of iOS and iPadOS offer a grab bag of features. The headliners include changes to notifications like the addition of notification summaries, Focus modes for creating distinct lists of apps and notifications allowed to reach users at different times of the day, improvements to FaceTime that include the ability to invite Android and Windows users to calls for the first time, and a new look for Safari.A features grab bagOn the iPad, iPadOS 15 finally brings iOS 14 features like the app library and resizable widgets, and... Continue reading…

Apple announced its new iPhone 13 Pro handset today during the company’s California Streaming event. It’s the first iPhone to ship with 1TB of storage as an option, allowing owners to store double the maximum capacity of 512GB on the regular iPhone 13.Apple has previously offered 1TB for iPad storage but has kept the 512GB maximum on the iPhone Pro side until today. Rumors had suggested we’d get a 1TB iPhone this year, and it comes two years after Samsung shipped its Galaxy S10 Plus with a 1TB storage option for $1,600.Apple is also bumping iPhone storage on the standard models. The base iPhone 13 model will now ship with 128GB instead of the 64GB storage found on the iPhone 12.Apple’s iPhone Pro 13 will start at $999 and is shipping... Continue reading…

With a design that’s largely similar to last year’s phones, Apple is leaning on big upgrades inside the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro lineups to get people excited. Some of the most substantial improvements to the 2021 iPhones are found in the camera(s), and the company today announced several new features that will produce better still photographs and videos on the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max.The first is a new “cinematic mode” for video that replicates the rack focus effect commonly seen in movies. The iPhone 13 smoothly transitions between forefront and background focus based on what’s occurring in the frame. The system is intelligent enough to change focus when a subject looks away from the phone.... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Apple has announced a Group Workouts feature for Apple Fitness Plus. Fitness Plus will also be coming to 15 new countries, including Brazil, France, Mexico, and Russia, and workouts will be getting subtitles in six languages. There are new workouts, including guided meditation, Pilates, and programs to help you prepare for winter sports like skiing and snowboarding.Group Workouts will let Fitness Plus subscribers do a workout with a friend (or a group of up to 32 people), starting it through an iMessage or FaceTime call. On your screen, you’ll be able to see both the instructor and the people with whom you’re sharing the workout. (Hopefully Apple will include an option to turn your camera off if it gets too embarrassing.) You’ll also... Continue reading…

Image: Amazon Amazon has announced that most recent Kindles will be getting a new simpler UI through a software update (via Ars Technica). The update mainly focuses on navigation, adding a bar to the bottom of the screen that lets you jump between the Home screen, the book you’re currently reading, and the Library screen. Some have had the update for a few weeks, but Amazon has announced that the update will be rolling out widely over the next few weeks.The way you access the Kindle’s quick settings (which let you turn on airplane mode, adjust brightness, and more) has also changed. You now get access to the menu by swiping down from the top of the screen, instead of tapping a button.Amazon says more changes will be coming later this year, with an... Continue reading…

Well-designed, but far too expensive for most people Continue reading…

The anatomical heart and lungs emoji, as seen on iOS. | Image: Apple/Emojipedia The medical world needs more emoji, according to Shuhan He, an emergency medicine physician who helped propose the anatomical heart and lungs emoji. Now, He and others have laid out the case for an even larger variety of health-related emoji, which they argue could improve communication between doctors and patients.In recent years, emoji related to medicine and health — like stethoscopes, hearing aids, bones, and microbes — have made their way into the Unicode Standard. In commentary published last week in JAMA, He and his co-authors hope Unicode will approve more emoji that could be used in medical contexts, including emoji for more organs, like the stomach, liver, and intestines, and equipment like an IV bag, CT scan, and pill pack.... Continue reading…

Android 12 may be released on October 4th, according to an internal document shared by XDA Developers. The next version of Google’s mobile operating system features the new Material You visual design and has been in public beta since May.The document is used by Google to inform OEM partners when it will stop approving software builds for the various versions of Android (which it does for every software update to maintain compatibility with Google Mobile Services), according to XDA Developers. October 4th is the date Google lists as the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) release of Android 12 in the document. XDA editor-in-chief Mishaal Rahman notes that these AOSP release dates typically fall on the same day as the launch of a stable... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge President Joe Biden is expected to nominate privacy hawk Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission, as first reported by Axios on Monday.Bedoya is a professor at Georgetown University’s law school, focusing on privacy law. If confirmed, he would replace current Democratic Commissioner Rohit Chopra, who was nominated to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau earlier this year. In 2014, Bedoya founded Georgetown’s Center on Privacy and Technology. He also served as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law under the chairmanship of Sen. Al Franken (D-MN).Bedoya’s expected nomination comes at a time when the FTC has faced heightened scrutinyA naturalized immigrant from Peru, Bedoya... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is still weighing whether to appeal last week’s Epic v. Apple antitrust ruling, the company said today. In a call with reporters, a representative said Apple was still evaluating its legal options and had not made a decision about its next steps. The position contrasts sharply with Epic, which announced yesterday that it intends to appeal.Apple reiterated a position it took last week, casting the ruling as a near-total victory. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers dismissed nine of Epic’s 10 claims, including ones that would have required iOS to allow third-party app stores and payment processors. She ordered Epic to pay damages for breaching its developer contract. Apple also doesn’t have to return Epic’s hit game Fortnite to the iOS App... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On September 10th, a verdict finally arrived in Epic v. Apple, and it has left the App Store model in a precarious state. Epic wanted to do away with the system entirely, breaking Apple’s control over software distribution on iOS — but the ruling stopped well short of that. Instead, we got an ambiguously worded injunction that seems to open the door to developers skirting Apple’s commission system — or at least making it easier to use non-Apple payment methods outside their apps.In the immediate aftermath of the ruling, Apple pushed to cast it as a victory — and Epic seemed sure it had lost. It’s understandable: until we see how Apple reacts and how the court looks on Epic’s recent appeal, it’s hard to know for sure what the injunction... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook maintains an expansive program that exempts athletes, politicians, and other high-profile users from its typical moderation process, according to The Wall Street Journal. The program is reportedly meant to stop “PR fires,” or bad press caused by pulling down photos, posts, and other content from high-profile users that should have been allowed to stay up. In reality, the program just lets these users break the rules in ways that would have gotten most people into trouble, according to the report.The program is known as XCheck, or “cross check,” and it’s ostensibly meant to provide additional quality control around moderation when it comes to high-profile users, according to the Journal. Posts from users flagged for XCheck are... Continue reading…

Zoom plans to expand its support for automatic live transcriptions with the addition of live translation, and turn its whiteboard feature into a more of a fully-featured app, among several other changes the company announced at its Zoomtopia conference on Monday.Automatic live transcriptions / closed captions in English were announced to be coming to free Zoom accounts in February 2021. Now Zoom says it “plans to provide real-time transcription for (as many as 30 additional languages) by the end of next year.” As part of that push, Zoom will also offer translation services for paid accounts, with the plan “to support real-time translation across as many as 12 languages by the end of next year.” Zoom wasn’t able to share details about... Continue reading…

Litecoin spiked Monday after a false press release claimed Walmart would accept the cryptocurrency | Photo Illustration by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The Litecoin cryptocurrency saw its price spike by as much as 20 percent on Monday after a fake press release claimed Walmart would begin accepting Litecoin as payment.The press release posted to GlobeNewswire linked to a non-functioning website, and there was no evidence of any Securities and Exchange Commission filing, which would have been expected since Walmart is publicly traded. Walmart’s official newsroom never included the release, and the company typically uses Business Wire to distribute releases.Several news outlets published reports based on the hoax press release, and a short time later Litecoin’s price jumped, along with those of other cryptocurrencies, before quickly falling back to the previous levels.It’s not yet... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge You’re on Instagram looking for your best friend’s daily dog update, but you have to scroll endlessly through a sea of posts you care little about, and probably forget what you’re looking for in the first place. After a few extra annoyed scrolls, you close the app in frustration.It seems Instagram is well aware of your plight, because it is quietly testing out a solution for your messy feed called “Favorites.”According to Alessandro Paluzzi, a mobile developer who first posted about the new feature on Twitter, Favorites lets you categorize your most important Instagram accounts (friends and creators) as your priorities, so that their posts will land “higher” in your feed.

In partnership with The Verge, New York’s cover story looks at how workers are fending for themselves Continue reading…

You can do more with your iPad Pro by connecting it to a wireless keyboard, especially one that features a trackpad to help you navigate more like a traditional laptop. Brydge’s Pro Plus wireless keyboards with a trackpad for the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro are $50 off at Best Buy. Normally $170, the model built for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is $120. Naturally, the smaller Brydge Pro Plus for the 11-inch iPad Pro costs a bit less. It’s normally $150, but you’ll pay $100 for it now.The Brydge Pro Plus is one of a few options available that has a backlit keyboard and a trackpad built in. It connects to your tablet via Bluetooth and recharges via USB-C. Read our review.Also seeing a steep discount today are Samsung’s Galaxy Buds... Continue reading…

The first trailer for Disney Plus’ Hawkeye has arrived, giving a first look at the surprisingly whimsical Christmastime adventures of Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) — and his new successor, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), who also is running around New York City as a preternaturally skilled, purple-clad archer.Hawkeye picks up with the titular character after the events of Avengers: Endgame, which saw Renner’s character flip out into a gothic edgelord style as the murderous vigilante Ronin after his family was wiped from existence in Thanos’ snap. But with things back to normal (and his family restored), Clint just wants to enjoy Christmas with his family: visit New York City, see the new Captain America musical, and enjoy fine dining.... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Microsoft is holding a Surface event on September 22nd, where “the company will talk about devices and Windows 11.” With Windows 11 set to debut on October 5th, we’re expecting to see four new Surface devices showcasing all the latest software features in the new OS. It won’t be all Windows 11, though. Microsoft will also launch a second version of its Surface Duo Android-powered foldable device next week.The Verge will be covering all of Microsoft’s Surface hardware announcements starting at 11AM ET / 8AM PT on September 22nd, and here’s what to expect. Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge We’re expecting a new Surface Pro for Windows 11. Surface Pro 8The Surface Pro is the main flagship Surface device, and one... Continue reading…

Bluetooth, noise cancellation, volume limiting — these kids’ headphones have it all Continue reading…

A screenshot from Toem. | Image: Something We Made Toem is a delightful game about photography. Its emphasis on exploration and low stakes felt vastly different from another photography game I played this year, New Pokémon Snap. And to my surprise, I enjoyed Toem a lot more.In Toem, developed by Swedish indie studio Something We Made, you play as a character armed with a camera who wanders through a number of different themed areas, such as a forest and a city, taking pictures of what you find along the way. The bulk of your exploration takes place from an isometric point of view, but when you use your camera, the game shifts to a first-person perspective, often giving you a whole new look at the world around you. Image: Something We Made The camera view in T... Continue reading…