The Verge

Ray-Ban Facebook and Ray-Ban are teasing an announcement around their upcoming smart glasses on September 9th. Ray-Ban posted a promotional page with a silhouette of a pair of glasses, the date “09.09 2021,” and the text “sign up now to get your release notification” — although it doesn’t specify whether that’s news about the release or the release itself. Ray-Ban’s homepage also promises that “this is one story you’re going to want to follow,” plausibly a reference to Facebook Stories.The announcement coincides with some apparent teaser videos from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and virtual and augmented reality head Andrew Bosworth. The posts show point-of-view video clips from Bosworth and Zuckerberg, including Bosworth playing golf and... Continue reading…

The Matrix: Resurrections is still a ways off with a premier date of December 22nd, 2021, but you can watch two (and maybe more) teasers for the highly anticipated film today, in advance of a full trailer on Thursday. The teasers appear on the recently revived “What is The Matrix” website, gated by the film franchise’s all too familiar choice — red pill or blue pill?The red pill teaser, after pushing through recognizable threads of vertical green scrolling code, makes immediate callbacks to the revolutionary conflict at the heart of the series, with clips of what looks like returning star Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity, Keanu Reeves as Neo, and new cast member Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. A voiceover directed at you, the viewer, notes the... Continue reading…

The invite for the next Apple event. | Image: Apple Apple’s next big fall event will take place on Tuesday, September 14th at 1PM ET, the company announced. The event, which carries the tagline “California streaming,” will be another virtual event broadcast from Apple Park.The company typically announces the year’s new iPhones at the fall event, and this year’s entry is expected to be called the iPhone 13. The new series of phones will apparently come in the same sizes as the iPhone 12, but a headline feature for some models could be high refresh rate screens, finally delivering tech that has been available on many Android phones. The new phones are also expected to have smaller display notches and improved cameras. Image: Apple The full invite image for Apple’s... Continue reading…

Microsoft Start is a personalized news feed. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is launching Microsoft Start today, a personalized news feed that integrates into Windows 11 and is accessible online and on iOS and Android. Microsoft Start is very similar to the MSN feed that exists today and to Microsoft News. Microsoft is rebranding these into Microsoft Start and integrating the feed into the Windows 11 widgets section and the Windows 10 taskbar.Much like Microsoft News, Microsoft Start includes news and media channels from more than 1,000 publishers. Microsoft uses AI and machine learning algorithms to sort through which news is presented to users and to personalize content based on interests and how you engage with content. There’s also some “human moderation” involved, but Microsoft did layoff dozens... Continue reading…

Screenshot: YouTube/James Locke Nearly a year after Tesla started testing its controversial “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) beta software with a select group of customers, the company’s CEO Elon Musk said he is aiming for a wider release by the end of September. The news comes as an older version of the software leaked online.Musk said on Twitter that the company would begin rolling out FSD version 10 to customers in its early access program at midnight on September 10th. Then, the software “will need another few weeks after that for tuning [and] bug fixes,” which Musk estimated would take four weeks. At that point, a “public beta button” will be made available to more Tesla customers, which is expected to take the form of a download button for people who purchased the FSD... Continue reading…

Mobileye, the Intel-owned company that specializes in chips for vision-based autonomous vehicles, announced that it will launch a robotaxi service in Germany in 2022. It’s the latest big move by a company seeking to buck the trend in AV development by becoming both a supplier of autonomous driving technology as well as a fleet operator and service provider.The taxi service will be operated in partnership with German rental car company Sixt and Moovit, an Israel-based startup that specializes in mobility data that was recently acquired by Intel for $900 million. Customers can hail a ride through either Sixt’s or Mobileye’s app.But it won’t be a full-fledged robotaxi service at launchBut it won’t be a full-fledged robotaxi service at... Continue reading…

People who own a PS5 console with a disc drive can enjoy some small but noteworthy discounts on exclusive games at Walmart, GameStop, and Amazon. You can get up to $25 off of the Demon’s Souls remake, while Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is $10 off.The new version of Demon’s Souls made for the PS5 was developed by Bluepoint Games, the same studio that tackled the remastering of classics like Shadow of the Colossus, the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, and more. Demon’s Souls for PS5 features overhauled graphics and a new orchestral recording of the original soundtrack. And, of course, this one will satisfy if you like difficult games. Normally $70, it’s $45 at Walmart and Amazon, while GameStop is selling it for $50.Insomniac Games’... Continue reading…

Nicholas Quah, Ashley Carman, and Nilay Patel Vox Media today announced it’s entering an agreement to acquire Hot Pod, the preeminent publication covering the podcasting industry, founded by Nicholas Quah in 2014. At Vox Media, Hot Pod will become part of The Verge, with Quah deepening his long-running relationship with New York and Vulture as a full-time podcast critic.Senior reporter Ashley Carman will take over as lead writer of Hot Pod for The Verge, expanding Carman’s must-read coverage of podcasting and audio. The acquisition also marks The Verge’s first paid product as it will continue to publish Hot Pod’s weekly subscriber-only newsletter Hot Pod Insider, laying the groundwork for more paid Verge products in the future.“I can’t think of a better home for Hot Pod than The... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Remote work has made organizing easier Continue reading…

Remedy Entertainment’s 2010 cult classic Alan Wake is getting a remastered version for multiple platforms. Epic Games’ publishing arm will release Alan Wake Remastered across PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series S/X, and the Epic Games Store on PC.Originally an Xbox 360-exclusive title that went through a protracted development period, Alan Wake is a psychological thriller where you play a writer searching for his missing wife in the Pacific Northwest. The game was later released for PC in 2012, but Alan Wake Remastered will mark the first time it’s been available on PlayStation platforms.Epic says the remaster will feature “all-new rendered 4K visuals,” commentary from writer and creative director Sam Lake, and the expansions The Signal and T... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok’s users now spend more time each month watching content than YouTube users, according to a report from app analytics firm App Annie. In the US, ByteDance’s app first overtook YouTube in August last year, and as of June 2021 its users watched over 24 hours of content per month, compared with 22 hours and 40 minutes on Google’s video platform. In the UK the difference is even more stark: TikTok overtook YouTube in May last year and users there now reportedly watch almost 26 hours of content a month, compared to less than 16 on YouTube.The figures only include viewership on Android phones, however, so may not be representative of mobile users as a whole. But caveats aside, they show the extent of TikTok’s meteoric rise over just a... Continue reading…

Diagrams show a very similar accessory to the existing MagSafe iPhone charger. | Image: FCC Apple could have a new version of its iPhone MagSafe charging puck on the way. A new FCC listing for a “Magnetic Charger” first spotted by blogger Dave Zatz shows an accessory with a new model name (A2548) that looks otherwise identical to Apple’s existing charger (A2140). The new charger has been tested with a variety of devices including four marked as “New Phone,” which almost certainly correspond to Apple’s anticipated iPhone 13 models.There aren’t too many hints about what’s new in the official FCC documents. 9to5Mac notes that it’s been tested with all four existing iPhone 12 models (marked as “Legacy Phone”) as well as the four unannounced devices, which suggests this new MagSafe charger should be compatible with both... Continue reading…

A recently-installed Bitcoin ATM. As of today, Bitcoin is an official currency of El Salvador alongside the US dollar, after the Central American country became the first to adopt the cryptocurrency as legal tender. At three minutes to midnight local time, the country’s populist president Nayid Bukele tweeted that the country was about to “make history” with the move, after previously confirming that it had purchased 400 Bitcoins, the equivalent of around $20.9 million at today’s prices.Supporters argue the move will make it cheaper and easier for migrants to send money home to El Salvador, which is important given such remittances account for over 24 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to figures from the World Bank reported by CNBC. There are... Continue reading…

Who’s ready to for some scratching? | Image: LG LG, the company that maintains an entire lineup of “party speakers” adored by muscle-y guys who buy beer in buckets, is back with a subdued model. The LG Xboom 360 (model RP4) speaker has a design that still says “party,” but with a more wine-from-a-box aesthetic.The portable 360-degree speaker has a 29Wh battery that lasts for up to 10 hours between charges. The speaker can supply up to 120W of power to its 5.25-inch woofer and 2-inch horn tweeter when plugged into the wall, and accepts audio over Bluetooth, USB, or Aux-in sources. The integrated light has ambient, nature, and party presets, and can be further customized in the companion app. It’s available in your choice of beige, burgundy, black, or green fabric coverings. ... Continue reading…

Last year’s M1 MacBook Air is just one of many items on sale this Labor Day weekend. Labor Day is drawing to a close, however, there is still a slew of discounts available on some major hardware and accessories across the tech spectrum. Whether you’re picking up some last-minute gear for school or preparing to hunker down for the fall TV season with your favorite streaming device, this weekend might be the last real opportunity for you to save some serious money on TVs, headphones, and other gadgets until Black Friday and Cyber Monday roll around in November.To make sorting through the abundance of deals easier, we’ve curated a selection of the best Labor Day sales and deals available, the bulk of which are still available. We’ve also rounded up the best Labor Day TV deals, whether you’re in need of an OLED, midrange... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The private email service Protonmail is drawing harsh criticism from its users after providing IP information linked to a French activist who used the service, as first reported by TechCrunch.The data was requested as part of a broader investigation into a group of climate activists who have occupied a number of apartments and commercial spaces in Paris. While the members of the group are anonymous, one had used the address “jmm18@protonmail.com” in online postings. As a result, French police sought to identify any persons linked to the account.“The prosecution in this particular case was very aggressive”Because ProtonMail is based in Switzerland, it is not subject to French or EU requests. But the company is still subject to requests... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge California is poised to pass a new bill pushing back against the productivity measurement algorithms allegedly used in Amazon fulfillment centers, as recently reported by NPR’s Morning Edition and The New York Times. The bill passed California’s lower legislative chamber in May, and the upper chamber is expected to vote on it next week. If passed, the bill would place new transparency requirements on automated quota systems, and block any such systems that could endanger the health and safety of workers.Introducing the bill in July, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) cited a Verge report that found “hundreds” of Amazon warehouse employees had been fired for failing to meet productivity quotas at a single facility in Baltimore... Continue reading…

Photo by Paul Archuleta/WireImage According to Deadline and Variety, Phoebe Waller-Bridge has decided to leave Amazon’s upcoming Mr. and Mrs. Smith series. She was originally set to co-star alongside Donald Glover, but the Hollywood publications report that creative differences between the two have led the Fleabag creator to depart the production.Her exit is described as amicable, and Glover will remain onboard while Waller-Bridge’s role will be recast.Amazon’s Mr. and Mrs Smith series, based on the 2005 film starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, was scheduled to go into production in 2022; in addition to her co-starring role, Waller-Bridge also originally planned to executive produce the series along with Glover.The two previously appeared together in 2018’s S... Continue reading…

Five years after Volkswagen first unveiled its concept for an electric version of its iconic microbus, we’re finally getting our first glimpse of the vehicle on the road. But rather than some throwback to an era of hippies and flower power, the ID Buzz is outfitted with a high-tech suite of sensors and computing smarts for its new role as an autonomous test vehicle.VW says the autonomous ID Buzz will serve as a platform for the automaker’s full-scale commercial ride-hailing and delivery operation that it plans on launching in Germany in 2025. For now, VW plans to deploy the ID Buzz on public roads for testing in Munich, as well as at a private track near the city’s airport. The van made its public debut at the 2021 IAA Mobility Event... Continue reading…

Microsoft’s Top Gun expansion for Microsoft Flight Simulator is being delayed to match the movie’s shifted release date. Paramount announced earlier this month that it’s delaying the rest of its 2021 films, pushing Top Gun: Maverick from its Thanksgiving weekend release date to May 27th, 2022.The Top Gun expansion for Microsoft Flight Simulator had been planned for later this year, and will now be “released alongside the movie,” according to Microsoft and Asobo Studio. We still don’t have a whole lot of information on what Asobo Studio is planning to add with the Top Gun expansion, apart from some jets and locations from Top Gun: Maverick. “We look forward to sharing more information in the future,” says a blog post from Microsoft’s... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Automated resume-scanning software is contributing to a “broken” hiring system in the US, says a new report from Harvard Business School. Such software is used by employers to filter job applicants, but is mistakenly rejecting millions of viable candidates, say the study’s authors. It’s contributing to the problem of “hidden workers” — individuals who are able and willing to work, but remain locked out of jobs by structural problems in the labor market.The study’s authors identify a number of factors blocking people from employment, but say automated hiring software is one of the biggest. These programs are used by 75 percent of US employers (rising to 99 percent of Fortune 500 companies), and were adopted in response to a rise in... Continue reading…

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images In case you haven’t heard, Texas now has a law that makes it illegal for anyone to help women get an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest — and to take advantage of that, the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life encouraged citizens to report those people at a dedicated “whistleblower” website, promising to “ensure that these lawbreakers are held accountable for their actions.”As of Sunday, that dedicated website now appears to be no more.On Friday, Texas Right to Life had to find a new home on the web for the site, because hosting provider GoDaddy gave the group 24 hours to find an alternative. “We have informed prolifewhistleblower.com they have 24 hours to move to another provider for... Continue reading…

Halle Berry stars in Moonfall | Lionsgate I have to say I’m really appreciating what Ted Lasso is doing in season 2, and this week’s episode had some really great work from Jason Sudeikis and Sarah Niles. I won’t spoil it, but it was remarkable how the couch scene, which would have been just another “Ted being loopy” scene played for comic effect in season one hit completely different now that Ted’s realized he needs help with his mental health. Also, I recommend this New York Times profile of Niles — it’s a few weeks old but nicely captures how she sees Dr. Sharon fitting in with the rest of the Lasso team.Now on to this week’s teasers and trailers:Moonfall“What if the moon fell to earth” is the premise of this Roland Emmerich flick, which looks like about what you’d... Continue reading…

Firefly’s Alpha rocket takes off from Vandenberg Space Force base on September 3rd | Firefly Firefly’s Alpha rocket exploded mid-flight on Thursday, but the company posted a new video on Sunday and provided more detail on what happened. “Although the vehicle didn’t make orbit, the day marked a major advancement for our team,” the company tweeted. “We demonstrated we ‘arrived’ as a company capable of building and launching rockets.”Alpha, a two-stage rocket, lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force base in California at 9:59PM ET on Thursday, carrying a payload of private satellites. It was the company’s first-ever mission, and two minutes after liftoff the rocket began tipping horizontally, falling short of reaching its maximum aerodynamic pressure.According to Firefly, the rocket cleared the launch pad successfully, but... Continue reading…

The Segway Navimow robot uses GPS to navigate your lawn as it mows | Segway Segway has introduced its first robot mower, the Navimow, that uses GPS to stay on your lawn and keep it neatly trimmed. So unlike other robot mowers, you won’t have to install a boundary wire to keep the robot on the right patch of grass.Segway says its Exact Fusion Locating System keeps the Navimow to “precise positions and systematic mowing patterns,” keeping its position accurate to within two centimeters. If its GPS signal is temporarily weak, the Navimow has sensors that will keep it mowing.Users define the boundaries of the area to be mowed for the Navimow using its smartphone app, including giving it directions for which areas to avoid. Segway says the Navimow’s algorithm “determines a systemic mowing path,” and doesn’t have... Continue reading…

Images: Mercedes-Benz If you liked Mercedes-Benz’s flagship electric sedan, the EQS, but grimaced at its six-figure price tag (or don’t feel you need its sundry bells and whistles), the German automaker has a new vehicle on the way that may be of interest. On Sunday, Mercedes-Benz revealed the EQE, a slightly smaller sedan built on the same technical platform that will undoubtedly be a few bucks cheaper when it launches next year — though the company did not share pricing.The EQE was revealed at the 2021 IAA Mobility conference alongside a few other electrics that are coming out of Stuttgart: the EQB compact SUV, AMG performance and Maybach versions of the EQS, and an electric G-Wagen concept.While the EQE is 3.5 inches shorter than the EQS, it will share... Continue reading…

Images: Mercedes-Benz The G-Class is going electric Continue reading…

Images: Mercedes-Benz Just months after Mercedes-Benz launched its first true compact electric SUV, the EQA, the German automaker now has a slightly larger and more capable companion: the EQB. Revealed in full today at the 2021 IAA Mobility show in Germany, the company will start building the EQA in Hungary and China this month, and it will start selling the SUV in the US in 2022.Mercedes-Benz trotted out the EQB alongside a few other new electric vehicles that it’s adding to its stable. There’s the EQE sedan, which is a more attainable version of its flagship executive electric, the EQS. Mercedes-Benz also rolled out AMG and Maybach versions of the EQS. There’s even now going to be an electric version of the G-Wagen — though that’s not coming for a while,... Continue reading…

Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz said recently that it was going all-electric by 2030, which naturally got race fans excited about the possibilities of an electric high-performance car from the automaker’s AMG sub-brand. Today, we’re getting our first look at the upcoming AMG EQS, a wickedly fast sport sedan with a 0-60 mph time of 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph. It made its public debut at the 2021 IAA Mobility show in Germany.The AMG EQS is the first battery-electric production car from the automaker’s in-house performance subsidiary. As such, there’s a lot riding on Mercedes getting everything exactly right if it wants to satisfy its loyal customers while also luring new ones away from Tesla.first battery-electric production car from the... Continue reading…

A patent filing from Dyson showing a robot that can climb and clean stairs | UK Intellectual Property Office Premium vacuum company Dyson has patented designs for robots that look like they could climb and clean stairs, and open drawers, new filings show. It’s not clear whether the designs are for forthcoming products or ideas that are on hold, but Bloomberg reports that Dyson’s robotic unit has been working on a robot to interact with other home appliances. Whether it’s the robot hand or the stair-climbing robot, or another product entirely also isn’t clear at this point.The patents published in the UK on September 1st show the two designs; a “robotic device with tri-star wheels and actuated arm” that would be able to climb steps and clean them (a stair-climbing vacuum sounds like an excellent idea), and a “robot hand” which is shown in... Continue reading…

Scan a QR code on a compatible product to add to Home Depot’s Hubspace | Home Depot Home Depot has launched a smart home app meant to be an all-in-one for smart appliances and accessories the big box store sells, but it’s debatable why anyone would need it when Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa already exist.Called Hubspace, the free app is available in Android and iOS app stores, and “enables light bulbs, smart plugs and ceiling fans to be controlled from anywhere,” according to a press release from Home Depot. It’s compatible with Google Home and Amazon Alexa devices, and works with a short list of products that Home Depot sells, from its proprietary brands such as Hampton Bay and EcoSmart. “There’s no need for a hub or extra equipment, and the platform already works with more than 20 products,” the press release... Continue reading…

Facebook is apologizing for applying a “primates” label to a video of Black men | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook is apologizing for an incident where its AI mislabeled a video of Black men with a “primates” label, calling it an “unacceptable error” that it was examining to prevent it from happening again. As reported by the New York Times, users who watched a June 27th video posted by the UK tabloid Daily Mail received an auto-prompt asking whether they wanted to “keep seeing videos about Primates.”Facebook disabled the entire topic recommendation feature as soon as it realized what was happening, a spokesperson said in an email to The Verge on Saturday.“This was clearly an unacceptable error,” the spokesperson said. The company is investigating the cause to prevent the behavior from happening again, the spokesperson added. “As we have... Continue reading…

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, more commonly known as PUBG (or Game for Peace in China) is already one of the most successful and influential games ever made just four years after release. Its director Brendan Greene, a former DJ and web designer from Ireland, is credited with launching the entire battle royale genre, directly inspiring what you now know as Fortnite, CoD: Warzone, Apex Legends and more.But this past week, he announced that he’d left the Korean company whose work on his battle royale vision propelled him to fame to build a studio all his own — and late Thursday, he revealed what to expect from his next project.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Lyft and Uber are committing to pay legal fees for any driver on their respective platforms who get sued under Texas’ controversial anti-abortion law.The new law, which was signed this week by Texas governor Greg Abbott, bans abortions of fetuses after six weeks (which is before many women even know they are pregnant) and offers no exceptions for rape or incest. The law also empowers private citizens across the country to sue anyone for “aiding and abetting” abortions past the six-week mark, including clinics, anyone who pays for the abortion, or even people who drive someone to the procedure.the law allows people to sue those “aiding and abetting” abortions past six weeks“This is an attack on women’s access to healthcare and on... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Nintendo may be finally ready to bring its storied handheld gaming library to the Nintendo Switch — Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles will soon join the 100-plus NES and SNES games that it offers via its Switch Online subscription service, according to rumors from the “Nate the Hate” podcast, corroborated by Nintendo Life on Tuesday and now again on Friday by Eurogamer. It’s not every day we see a Nintendo rumor that strong.There’s no word on which titles might arrive, and I wouldn’t necessarily expect your favorites to be among them, particularly to start. Nintendo has curated its NES and SNES libraries for Switch very slowly, some of them are pretty deep cuts, and many titles like Earthbound, Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG are... Continue reading…

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge Should an artificially intelligent machine be able to patent its own inventions? For a US federal judge, the larger implications of that question were irrelevant. In April 2020, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ruled that only “natural persons” could be credited as the inventor of a patent, and a US court decided Thursday that yes, that’s what the law technically says (via Bloomberg).Not every country agrees with that direction. South Africa and Australia decided to go the other direction, granting one patent and reinstating a second patent application filed by AI researcher Steven Thaler, whose AI system DABUS reportedly came up with a flashing light and a new type of food container. Thaler is the one who sued the US in this... Continue reading…

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge A new peer-reviewed study from researchers at New York University and the Université Grenoble Alpes in France will show that misinformation got six times as much engagement on Facebook as real news, The Washington Post reports.The study looked at posts from the Facebook pages of more than 2,500 news publishers between August 2020 and January 2021. Researchers found that the pages that post more misinformation regularly got more likes, shares, and comments. This increased engagement was seen across the political spectrum, but the study found that “publishers on the right have a much higher propensity to share misleading information than publishers in other political categories,” according to The Washington Post.The researchers will... Continue reading…

Images: BMW Motorrad BMW’s Motorrad division has been pumping out some wild concepts over the last few years as the larger company turns its attention towards electric vehicles. It’s latest is also the to date, but still looks extremely cool: the CE 02 mini-bike.Debuted this week ahead of the IAA Mobility conference in Germany, the CE 02 is a tiny two-wheeler that borrows some of the futuristic vibes BMW has been honing for its larger concept bikes — including the CE 04, which is actually going into production. Clad in silver and black and “technoid typography,” the minimalist design looks like it came right off the set of a sci-fi movie.The CE 02 has an 11kW belt-drive motor, which can help the bike reach a top speed of around 90 kilometers per hour... Continue reading…

A rogue Commerce Dept. unit will be shut down, the agency said | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US Commerce Department said Friday that it will eliminate an internal security division after an investigation found it had overstepped its authority when it launched criminal investigations into Commerce employees and US citizens. The Investigations and Threat Management Service division had no “adequate legal authority” to conduct criminal investigations, according to an internal investigation by the Commerce Department’s Office of General Counsel.The investigators recommended that the ITMS unit be eliminated within 90 days, and that its security duties be folded into other Commerce divisions. The Commerce Department said in a statement it would accept the report’s recommendations.“Our most important priority is creating an... Continue reading…

The LTE-ready Apple Watch Series 6 is available at Amazon for its lowest price to date. | Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Apple Watch Series 7 may arrive as soon as this month, but if you’re looking for a sizable discount on what is currently the latest model, you’ll love today’s deal. The red 40mm, cellular Apple Watch Series 6 is filled with slick features and is on sale at Amazon today for $359 instead of $499, an all-time low for this particular model.Apple’s newest wearable boasts built-in sleep tracking and an always-on display, as well as sensors that can quickly measure blood oxygen levels. There is also an abundance of third-party apps designed to attract a variety of activities — even biking. The Series 6 is powered by Apple’s new in-house A13 chip and S6 processor; it also charges faster than other models — gaining a full charge takes about... Continue reading…

Image: Samsung Labor Day in the US is a great opportunity to get deals on many types of tech products. Of course, we’re covering all of the best discounts across categories in our detailed guide to the best Labor Day sales, but we’ve made this post just to focus on the many 4K TV deals happening this weekend. There are deals on value-focused models that make it easy to get started right away with streaming TV and movie content, as well as TVs that have high-end features and a higher cost.The best Labor Day deals on affordable 4K TVsTCL is usually known for TVs that come with Roku TV hardware built-in, but has started more recently to put out models that run on Android TV. Not to be confused with the even newer Google TV-equipped models that have a... Continue reading…

Image: Adult Swim A brief new promo for Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty features Christopher Lloyd playing the titular Rick Sanchez, scratching an itch that has persisted for many fans since the show’s genesis as a Back to the Future spoof.In the 14-second clip, we see Lloyd hop out of a portal and into his garage alongside Jaeden Martell (Knives Out, It), playing a pretty convincing Morty. Lloyd then does his best riff on Han Solo’s famous line from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with a signature Rick Sanchez belch added for good measure: “Morty, we’re home.”

Image by Karl Poyzer How a director of photography learned to create without physical limits Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge WhatsApp has added the ability for users to migrate their chat history when switching from iOS to Samsung Android devices, the company said in a blog post. Samsung announced the feature was coming during its August Unpacked event, and addresses one of the more frustrating features — or lack of— of WhatsApp on mobile devices. Previously, if users selected WhatsApp’s cloud backup feature, then iOS chat histories were stored in iCloud, while Android’s histories backed up to Google Drive, making it almost impossible to transfer chats between phones that weren’t running the same operating system. Image: WhatsApp There are a few caveats WhatsApp outlines in its blog post:

Damage in the city of Pointe-Aux-Chenes, near montegut, Louisiana on August 30, 2021 after Hurricane Ida made landfall. | Photo by MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images The forecast for the future is a deluge of disasters Continue reading…

Small launch company Firefly’s Alpha rocket exploded mid-flight Thursday night, minutes after a clean liftoff during its first attempt to reach space. The rocket was terminated, Space Force officials said, as it began tipping sideways off course just after reaching supersonic speeds. Firefly said it’s working with regulators to investigate the cause of the failure.Alpha, a two-stage rocket standing ten stories tall, lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force base in California at 9:59PM ET on Thursday, aiming to send a payload of tiny private satellites to space at no charge to the owners. The launch was risky — it was Firefly’s first ever mission, so a failure wasn’t a big surprise. Two and a half minutes after liftoff, the rocket fell... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where we discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.This week on The Vergecast, Verge executive editor Dieter Bohn chats with managing editor Alex Cranz, and news editor Chaim Gartenberg to explain the changing Apple App Store policies for iPhone app developers.Among the changes: Apple will now let developers of “reader” apps directly link their customers to their own sign-up website, where they could potentially bypass the 30 percent cut from Apple. The crew discuss what this and the other proposed changes means for Apple’s relationship with users and app developers.Second half of the show, the topic moves to... Continue reading…