The Verge

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge The beauty and misery of private RSS feeds Continue reading…

Image: 343 Industries Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios is teaming up with Tencent’s TiMi Studios, developer of the wildly successful mobile hits Call of Duty: Mobile and Honor of Kings. According to a Google Translated version of the announcement from TiMi, the two companies have formed a “strategic partnership” to create “game content,” but it’s unclear exactly what that might mean or when we might be able to play anything resulting from the cooperation.TiMi Studios is no stranger to adapting hit franchises to mobile: Call of Duty: Mobile just crossed 500 million downloads worldwide and the studio is also the developer of the upcoming mobile strategy game Pokémon Unite. Perhaps Microsoft wants to bring some of its biggest titles to mobile platforms in some... Continue reading…

Photo: Alex Bailey/Legendary Sherlock’s kid sister is making a return. Today, Netflix announced Enola Holmes 2, a sequel to last year’s crime caper that took the Sherlock story in a slightly younger direction, focusing on the famous detective’s teenage sister.We don’t have many details about the new movie just yet — such as what it’ll be about or when it’s hitting the streaming service — but at the very least, many of the key figures are returning. That means Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill will reprise their roles as Enola and Sherlock, respectively, and that director Harry Bradbeer and writer Jack Thorne are also on board again. The new movie will be produced by Legendary “in partnership with Netflix.”

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Qualcomm has announced that it will skip Mobile World Congress’ in-person show in Barcelona this year, making it the latest major company to announce that it will miss the potential COVID-19 superspreader event in June in favor of an online presence at the show.“While we appreciate the health and safety measures being put into place by the GSMA for MWC Barcelona, we have decided that it is in the best interest of our employees and customers for Qualcomm’s participation to be virtual this year,” the company said in a statement obtained by TechCrunch.Qualcomm is by no means the only major company opting for a digital appearance at MWC this year: Google, Nokia, Ericsson, Sony, and Oracle have all pulled out of this year’s show entirely,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a two-page preliminary report on the deadly crash of a Tesla Model S in Texas last month in which local authorities said there was no one in the driver’s seat.There are several relevant disclosures in the NTSB report. The first is that security camera footage from the owner’s home captured the owner entering the driver’s side door, while his companion got in on the passenger side. The car leaves the house, travels 550 feet before departing the road on a curve, hitting a drainage culvert, a raised manhole, and a tree. The car then burst into flames, killing the two occupants.There has been much speculation from Tesla’s many interested online observersThe second relevant finding... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Several Apple suppliers may have used forced labor in China, according to The Information. Working with two human rights groups, the publication identified seven companies that supplied products or services to Apple and supported forced labor programs, according to statements made by the Chinese government. The programs target the country’s Muslim minority population, particularly Uyghurs living in Xinjiang.Six of the seven suppliers were said to participate in work programs operated by the Chinese government, The Information reports, which human rights groups describe as frequently offering cover for forced labor. Workers can be jailed for refusing to join the work programs, the report says, and those enrolled in the programs are often... Continue reading…

Image: FaceBook Facebook has announced on Twitter that it will start testing a pop-up that asks users if they’re sure they want to share an article that they haven’t opened. The pop-up will prompt users to read the article, but they can also choose to continue sharing it if they want. Facebook doesn’t say how wide the test will be.The pop-up is similar to Twitter’s, which it started testing in June 2020. Twitter’s implementation of the feature can be annoying to users (myself included) who have read the article elsewhere and decide to share it when they see it pop up on their feed.Facebook says the pop-up is meant to help people be more informed about the articles they share, likely as an attempt to combat the spread of misinformation the platform has... Continue reading…

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images The group behind the ransomware that took down Colonial Pipeline late last week has apologized for the “social consequences,” claiming that its goal is to make money, not cause societal problems. The group is called DarkSide, and the FBI has confirmed that the group’s malware was responsible for compromising one of the US’s largest fuel pipelines.According to Vice, the group’s apology was posted to its dark web site. It reads:

LiveWire, the first electric motorcycle from Harley-Davidson, will now become its own standalone brand. The Milwaukee-based company announced that it would be spinning out its electric motorcycle division as its own company with a distinct lineup and a tailored retail experience. Harley-Davidson plans to unveil the “first LiveWire branded motorcycle” on July 8th to coincide with the International Motorcycle Show.It’s a similar move to how Harley-Davidson approached its new electric bicycle company, Serial 1. The idea is that LiveWire continues to benefit from its relationship with its parent company while also forging its own brand identity that is distinct from Harley-Davidson.Harley-Davidson is interested in letting its electrified... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube has run the numbers and discovered what greeting its vloggers most use to open videos: “Hey, guys.” Those findings may not be surprising if you’ve watched a lot of YouTube, but the report actually shows a lot more, including what the runners-up are, how greetings have changed in popularity over time, and how video genre affects the most common openings. Let’s just jump into it!To get these findings, YouTube did quite a bit of data analysis, looking at the auto- and creator-generated captions from over a million videos. YouTube picked videos that had over 20,000 views from channels that had over 20,000 subscribers, so it is worth noting that the results are more reflective of how relatively popular videos open, rather than of... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In an open letter today, the National Association of Attorneys General called on Facebook to abandon plans for an Instagram platform focused on children under the age of 13. The letter is signed by 44 different state-level attorneys general (including non-states like Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands), representing a majority of US territories.“It appears that Facebook is not responding to a need, but instead creating one, as this platform appeals primarily to children who otherwise do not or would not have an Instagram account,” the letter reads. “The attorneys general urge Facebook to abandon its plans to launch this new platform.”“The attorneys general urge Facebook to abandon its plans”Plans for the child-focused... Continue reading…

And create the vocabulary for an absurd, ingenious art form. Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Bird, the electric scooter company that helped launch the global micromobility boom, is planning to go public via a reverse merger with a special acquisition company, or SPAC, according to dot.LA. Bird is merging with Switchback II Corporation, a Dallas-based “blank check” company focusing on companies reducing carbon emissions, according to documents reviewed by the website.Bird is the latest transportation company, but one of only a few e-scooter companies, to go public. A record number of companies have gone public this past year by merging with SPAC shell corporations, which avoids the scrutiny of a traditional IPO.Bird is the latest transportation company, but one of only a few e-scooter companies, to go publicReports first... Continue reading…

A classic point-and-click adventure game mashed with a Hollywood movie Continue reading…

Image: Ford Ford announced the name of its upcoming electric pickup truck: the F-150 Lightning. The new electric vehicle is set to debut on May 19th at an event held at the automaker’s Dearborn, Michigan, headquarters. It will also be live-streamed.The Ford F-150 has been the bestselling truck (and vehicle) in the US for more than 40 years, so its imminent electrification is a big deal. As such, Ford is treating the reveal as a major event, with dozens of ways to tune in across multiple platforms. The company is also hosting 18 in-person events around the country, including in Times Square and Las Vegas.The Lightning branding had leaked prior to today’s announcement, and as Car & Driver noted, it’s a somewhat familiar name for Ford, having... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Sony is nearing the release of its next set of noise-canceling true wireless earbuds, according to a post at The Walkman Blog. There are images of the WF-1000XM4 from pretty much every angle, and they line up with an initial leak back in February.The new design differs quite substantially from the aging 1000XM3s. Sony has seemingly downsized these earbuds quite a bit; they no longer have the flattened pill shape and are thus closer in line with competitors like the Galaxy Buds Pro, Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2, and other earbuds with a round outer design. Sony has moved its logo to the side, so the branding won’t be so obvious this time around. Image: The Walkman Blog Sony has made some major design... Continue reading…

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge For years, “infrastructure week” was a kind of running joke in Washington — a stand-in for all of the boring but popular rebuilding work that could happen if Donald Trump ever decided to get serious. Under Joe Biden, this idea has become something more tangible: the trillion-dollar American Jobs Plan, which lays out investments in everything from bridges to broadband.But while Congress grinds away on the details, we still want to think bigger. The pandemic showed just how shaky America’s foundation really is, whether it’s having enough hospital beds to survive a pandemic or having a connection fast enough to support a Zoom call. Fixing our infrastructure means looking at all of that — even the stuff like power grids and credit systems... Continue reading…

Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the extremely on-the-nose sequel to 2018’s Venom, has gotten its first trailer ahead of its pandemic-delayed September 24th release date. It promises more of the peculiar buddy cop comedy and Tom Hardy’s over-the-top acting that made the original a surprisingly fun watch.Picking up after the last movie, the trailer shows that Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote have achieved a sort of domestic peace: a “no eating people” sign is tacked up on the wall of Brock’s apartment, and Venom helps Eddie make breakfast in what might be the worst Ratatouille impression of all time. He’s trying.“No eating people”Things shift focus to Cletus Kasady, a murderous serial killer (Woody Harrelson, doing his best Dark Knight... Continue reading…

Image: Razer Best Buy has an attractive deal on Razer gaming gear, including headsets, keyboards, mice, and mouse pads. If you buy any two listed on the site, you’ll get 20 percent off the total at checkout. But if you get three, you’ll get 25 percent off the total. This deal seems especially great if you just got a gaming PC and are looking to get set up with all of the peripherals you need. For around $50, you can get the BlackShark V2 wired headset, the excellent Viper ambidextrous mouse, or the DeathAdder V2 wired gaming mouse. Near the $100 level, you’ll be opened up to deals on wireless gaming mice, keyboards, and more.Digital storefront Eneba is selling copies of Resident Evil Village for PC (redeemable on Steam) for around $43 when you use... Continue reading…

A county-by-county look at the broadband gap Continue reading…

‘This is a major, major investment in setting America on the right path for the years ahead’ Continue reading…

Pony.ai’s next-generation robotaxi is distinctive because it appears to be missing the cone-shaped LIDAR sensor perched on the roof that’s typical of most autonomous vehicles. That’s because the startup, which is based in Silicon Valley and Guangzhou, China, is teaming up with Luminar to use the fast-growing LIDAR company’s sleek new sensors that are more flush with the vehicle’s roof.The new vehicles with Luminar’s LIDAR sensor won’t be up and running until 2022, but Pony.ai founder and CEO James Peng said preparation was already underway for mass production of the next-gen robotaxi. After testing the vehicle next year, Peng said it will be ready for the company’s robotaxi customers in 2023. Pony.ai currently offers limited... Continue reading…

Corning manufactures glass for Apple and many Android device makers. | Image: Apple Apple is awarding Corning another $45 million investment from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund, in addition to the $450 million it’s already given to the US-based company over the past four years. According to Apple’s announcement, the investment will “expand Corning’s manufacturing capacity in the US and drive research and development into innovative new technologies that support durability and long-lasting product life.”Corning provides glass for a variety of Apple products, including the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. The two companies have a history dating back to the original iPhone. Last year, they collaborated on the iPhone 12 lineup’s Ceramic Shield technology, which Apple claims is “tougher than any smartphone glass” and makes... Continue reading…

Vivo X60 Pro Plus. | Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Vivo’s upcoming X-series flagship phones will receive three years of Android OS upgrades and security updates, the company announced today. The policy will come into force for phones launched after July 2021 in Europe, Australia, and India.“We are making a promise to our customers that they will be able to enjoy a premium smartphone experience for an extended period and continue to benefit from the latest software features,” Vivo’s CTO and senior vice president Yujian Shi said in a statement.With today’s announcement, Vivo is joining a small but growing group of Android manufacturers promising three years of OS updates for their flagship smartphones. Google has long had a similar policy for its Pixel phones. Last year, Samsung... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony doesn’t expect the PlayStation 5 supply situation to improve any time soon, according to comments its CFO reportedly made to analysts following the company’s recent earnings report. Hiroki Totoki said that it’s difficult for Sony to keep up with demand for the PS5, according to Bloomberg, and that the situation is likely to continue into 2022.“I don’t think demand is calming down this year and even if we secure a lot more devices and produce many more units of the PlayStation 5 next year, our supply wouldn’t be able to catch up with demand,” Totoki reportedly said, later adding “We have sold more than 100 million units of the PlayStation 4 and considering our market share and reputation, I can’t imagine demand dropping easily.”“I... Continue reading…

The online bank Simple shut down on Saturday and was supposed to seamlessly transition customers’ accounts over to its parent company, BBVA. But instead, many users found themselves unable to access their bank account at all, as BBVA’s website returned an assortment of error messages, from “system error” to warnings that their account information was mismatched.The transition has gone so poorly that BBVA’s US website now opens on a large red banner warning users of extended customer service wait times. Anyone who visits the Simple transition page will see a different red banner, apologizing for the issues.“To Simple customers converting to BBVA: This has not been a good conversion experience for many of you,” part of the message reads.... Continue reading…

SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket in February 2021. | Photo: SpaceX SpaceX is now accepting Dogecoin, and it’ll be paid exclusively in the cryptocurrency to launch an upcoming satellite named DOGE-1 to — yes — the Moon.The DOGE-1 is a cubesat meant to acquire “lunar-spatial intelligence” using onboard cameras and sensors. It’s being sent and paid for by a company named Geometric Energy Corporation, and it’ll be flown up on a Falcon 9 rocket in the first quarter of 2022.Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that started out as a goofy meme and is now a somewhat more valuable goofy meme, has been on the rise lately, with enough trading around spikes in the currency to cause crashes of the trading app Robinhood. Elon Musk is the coin’s highest profile supporter, tweeting Dogecoin memes, referring to himself as the... Continue reading…

The champions of the first season of the Call of Duty League are being honored in a unique way: with their faces plastered at the stadium in Call of Duty: Warzone. Today, Activision revealed that the front entrance to Verdansk Stadium in Warzone will soon display a giant rendition of the CDL trophy, along with pennants featuring all five members of the Dallas Empire who were crowned champions for the 2020 season.It’s a unique kind of crossover and an example of how game developers and publishers are able to leverage popular games to promote esports. In the past, games like League of Legends and Overwatch have introduced unique skins to celebrate championship teams or players. But this move by the CDL is more akin to traditional sports,... Continue reading…

Clubhouse After more than a year of iOS exclusivity, social audio platform Clubhouse is releasing its Android app. It will be available in beta on Google’s mobile OS today in the US, allowing users to sign up and participate in its audio-only chat rooms.“Our plan over the next few weeks is to collect feedback from the community, fix any issues we see and work to add a few final features like payments and club creation before rolling it out more broadly,” the company said in a blog post.The Android app, which the company says has been the top request from its community by far, will roll out to other English-speaking markets and the rest of the world in the days and weeks ahead, the company said. Users outside the US will be able to pre-register... Continue reading…

Elon Musk dressed as Wario. | Image: SNL As you’ve surely heard, last night’s guest host on Saturday Night Live was not a charismatic movie actor promoting a new project but instead an endlessly hyped CEO named Elon Musk. Over the course of an hour and a half, SNL had Musk dress up as a misunderstood Wario, mock some of his more questionable ideas during a cowboy sketch, and play a version of himself set some years into a future where SpaceX has made it to Mars. Musk’s partner, Grimes, also made a cameo appearance as Princess Peach. I’ll let you guess which sketch.While the show was streamed internationally on YouTube last night, those of us in the United States who don’t pay for cable were stuck waiting for clips to appear the following morning. As of press time, it is now... Continue reading…

Image; Paramount I’m sticking with The Handmaid’s Tale for now; in the latest episode we see a lot of very improbable situations that need to happen in order to move the plot along but at last, finally, the main story moves away from Gilead. Does that mean things are going well for June? I don’t think it’s a major spoiler to say “nope, not really.” But we get to see some backstory for Janine, who asks June some uncomfortable questions in the present. More of that, please. The back half of the season looks promising.Our trailers this week have a theme of sorts: Sequels. Trailers for the sequels to A Quiet Place and Stranger Things, and third trailers for Loki and In the Heights.A Quiet Place Part 2As my colleague Alex Cranz noted, this movie had its... Continue reading…

Apple’s Shortcuts app is a fantastic piece of iOS, a nearly limitless corner of the operating system that lets users automate almost anything they can think of, limited only by imagination and ability to use Apple’s coding system (Federico Viticci’s comprehensive collection on MacStories is a great place to start.) But Shortcuts has an issue so awful it renders it one of the most annoying parts of my phone, instead of one of the most useful: Apple insists on always showing notifications when I do something, and it’s virtually impossible to turn it off.Yes, I am aware that there is an extremely janky hack for disabling notifications on Shortcuts on a global level. The trick, as detailed by HowToGeek, involves going to the Screen Time... Continue reading…

While Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live, Dogecoin investors sold. When SNL first went live, the cryptocurrency hovered around 69 cents (nice). But as the show wore on, the price dropped. As of this writing, it is worth 56 cents, an 18 percent plunge.

Elon Musk on Saturday Night Live | NBC Elon Musk opened his hosting gig on Saturday Night Live by acknowledging his public comments get him in trouble. “Sometimes after I say something I have to say ‘I mean that,’” he said. He pointed to his “69 days after 4/20 again haha” tweet, but didn’t mention the 2018 tweet that got him in hot water with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Musk said he was the first person with Asperger’s to host SNL — something he hasn’t said publicly before. It did not appear he was joking, but it was a bit difficult to be sure how sincere Musk was being, given his history as both an internet troll and someone who doesn’t always know how to deliver a joke.The Tesla and SpaceX CEO joked that people sometimes don’t know what to expect from him. “I... Continue reading…

At least five of Tesla’s competitors bought ad time during Saturday Night Live hosted by Elon Musk, using the billionaire’s appearance to sell their own. non-Tesla EVs.Commercials for the Audi E-tron, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Volkswagen ID 4, and Lucid Air all aired within the first 30 minutes of SNL. Lucid Motors, a company founded by Peter Rawlinson, the former head engineer of the Tesla Model S who frequently clashes with Musk, teased its commercial earlier in the week. It was its debut commercial for the Lucid Air, a claimed 500-mile EV due later this year.

Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images The 100-foot-tall, 22-metric-ton Chinese Long March 5B rocket that launched the first chunk of Beijing’s new space station last month has reentered Earth’s atmosphere near the Maldives, China’s Manned Space Engineering Office reported.Scientists, amateur satellite trackers and the Pentagon had been monitoring the dead rocket stage’s location for over a week amid fears it would reenter over a populated area. US Space Command, which helps locate space junk and man-made satellites in Earth orbit, said the rocket “re-entered over the Arabian Peninsula at approximately 10:15 p.m. EDT,” adding it was unknown if the debris impacted land or water.“Everyone else following the #LongMarch5B re-entry can relax. The rocket is down,” tweeted Space... Continue reading…

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is hosting Saturday Night Live this week. He’s coming in fresh from Wednesday’s successful Starship prototype landing but also on the heels of recent customer complaints about Tesla’s Solar Roof costs and last month’s deadly Tesla crash. If you have the desire to spend part of your Saturday finding out if the self-proclaimed Technoking makes a good comedy show host, here are the details.Update: NBC announced Saturday afternoon that the show would be live-streamed internationally for the first time. The link for people to watch outside of the US is here.How do I watch?SNL airs on NBC, and it’s available to watch on the NBC website if you have a cable login. It will also be available on other live TV... Continue reading…

Photo By: Rosalind O’Connor/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images Saturday Night Live will be live from New York— and streaming to 100 countries around the world for the first time ever, NBC announced. Elon Musk is hosting the show for the first time (in case you have not read anything else on The Verge dot com today), and Miley Cyrus will be the musical guest.“‘SNL’ is a global phenomenon and this livestream marks the first time audiences around the world will experience the show simultaneously along with the US,” Frances Berwick of NBCU said in a statement. “It’s incredibly exciting to create this worldwide event with host Elon Musk and musical guest Miley Cyrus. We thank our international partners and YouTube for helping us make it happen.”Musk tweeted a link to the international feed:

Anthony Mackie as Falcon | Marvel Now that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has wrapped and we’re still a few weeks away from the debut of Loki, Marvel has released a behind-the-scenes video on its YouTube channel detailing the CGI effects that made it look like Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) was flying through the air as Falcon [minor spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched the show yet].Eric Leven, VFX Supervisor for Falcon, breaks down a couple of the show’s key scenes. including the mid-air chase scene from the series’ first episode.“What I really wanted to do for the big action sequences was, as much as possible, make things feel like they’re grounded in reality,” Leven explains. “Obviously, we don't have Anthony Mackie flying around in a real jet pack with real... Continue reading…

Image: Boom Comics / Matias Bergara Comics have never been bigger: with Marvel TV shows, DC movies, and indie adaptations growing by the day, comic books have never been more prominent in pop culture. This biweekly Verge column recommends comic series new and old, whether you’re a longtime fan or a newcomer.With most mainstream comics today tending to skew more toward sci-fi superheroes, Boom Studio’s Coda is a perfect gateway for those who prefer swords and sorcery — set in a magical post-apocalypse with some of the best comic art around.What is it? Coda is a 12-issue fantasy comic set in a desolate apocalypse after a gigantic, magical war between the forces of good and evil that cost the world most of its magic. Think Mad Max: Fury Road if it happened after the final... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge | Photo by Getty Images Pool Who is Elon Musk?Oh, come on.Seriously!Fine. He’s the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, the founder of The Boring Company and Neuralink, a certified member of the PayPal Mafia, and a well-known internet troll.He sounds rich.He is. Depending on where the market closes on Friday, he’s either the first or the second richest person in the world. The other contender is Jeff Bezos. A substantial part of both men’s net worth is tied up in their company stock.Okay. What is Saturday Night Live?Saturday Night Live is an American television show that has been on the air since 1975. It is in a sketch comedy format. There is usually at least one good sketch in each 90-minute episode, and it is often the digital short.SNL features a guest host, usually... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla has agreed to pay a $750,000 fine and install a solar roof project to settle air quality violations at its Fremont, California plant, officials announced Friday.The Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which regulates air pollution in nine San Francisco Bay Area counties, said the settlement covers 33 notices of violations dating back to 2015, including “installing or modifying equipment without proper permits, failure to conduct required emissions testing, failure to maintain records and failure to report information to the Air District in a timely manner.”The violations have since been corrected and Tesla is back in compliance, according to the air district’s statement.Both sides had agreed that the fine should be $1... Continue reading…

Image: Satechi I’m here with the latest collection of the best tech deals that appeared on The Verge this week. Similar to the last weekend’s post, deals have been ramping up lately. Hopefully it has helped you save a little money either shopping for yourself or a mom in your life for Mother’s Day. If you happen to be searching for a belated gift to ship over (orders placed today probably won’t arrive by Sunday, May 9th, which is Mother’s Day), check out our gift guide that’s full of fun gift ideas.Here are this week’s best deals.Save 15 percent on useful tech accessories from SatechiSatechi makes several accessories, like USB-C hubs, adapters, Apple Watch chargers, and much more. If you find something you want from its catalog of gadgets, it’s... Continue reading…

Funeral pyres burn for people who died of COVID-19 in India, on May 6. | Photo by PRAKASH SINGH/AFP via Getty Images This pandemic has taken millions of lives around the world — and researchers are realizing that the true death toll may be much higher than the official numbers we see every day.As of May 3rd, the death toll in the US officially stood at 574,043, but a new analysis published this week by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates that the actual toll is 905,289. IHME is a health research center based at the University of Washington that specializes in measuring global health on a population level. Its new analysis estimates that the global death toll due to COVID-19 stands at 6.93 million, not 3.24 million.The key word here is “estimate.” The researchers looked at countries around the world that reported deaths... Continue reading…

Colonial Pipeline says it was victim of cyberattack | Getty Images One of the largest pipelines in the US has been taken offline by its operator following a cyberattack. First reported by the New York Times, Colonial Pipeline, which carries 45 percent of the fuel supplies for the eastern US, said in a statement late Friday that it took “certain systems offline to contain the threat, which has temporarily halted all pipeline operations and affected some of our IT systems.”The pipeline is 5,500 miles long and carries jet fuel and refined gasoline from the Gulf Coast to New York, according to the Times, transporting some 2.5 million barrels daily.It’s not yet clear whether the attack targeted Colonial’s industrial control systems, or if there was ransomware or malware involved. Alpharetta, Georgia-based... Continue reading…

If you’re already invested in a wireless charging lifestyle, the Blade 11 Prime is a budget phone to match it Continue reading…

Ruin and recovery in the video game industry Continue reading…

Last May, TiVo attempted to muscle in on Roku and Amazon with an HDMI streaming dongle of its own — the $70 TiVo Stream 4K, which traded in the company’s traditional live TV + DVR functionality for the likes of Sling TV, Netflix, HBO and YouTube. It now appears that attempt was so unsuccessful, the company’s planning to abandon its Android TV dongle efforts entirely.Xperi Holdings CEO Jon Kirchner explained in an earnings call (via Zatz Not Funny) that it no longer feels it can compete using Android TV — the company likes to think its differentiator is a content guide that surfaces and lets you search for shows and movies across a variety of apps, but now that Google’s already baked something like that into its new “Google TV” layer on... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Shortly before the Epic v. Apple trial, Epic Games made an interesting announcement: it would offer the indie game storefront Itch.io as an app on its own Epic Games Store. The Fortnite publisher was going to trial with the aim of making Apple offer competing app stores on its iPhone and iPad, so the move showed that Epic was willing to open up its own store in the same way.On the fifth day of court, however, Apple tried to turn Itch.io into a liability — by telling Epic Games Store general manager Steven Allison about “so-called adult games” that were “so offensive we cannot speak about them here.”Itch.io is one of relatively few non-game apps on the Epic Games Store, along with software like the Brave browser. It’s also, as we’ve... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Is Roblox a game or not? Continue reading…