The Verge

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple’s Mac computers typically come with a one-year warranty that you can optionally extend to three years by purchasing AppleCare Plus. The extended warranty also adds coverage for accidents and physical damage. But now, Apple is giving Mac customers the choice to keep AppleCare Plus going for even longer than the usual three-year limit.As noticed by MacRumors, there’s a new support page that confirms people in the United States can convert AppleCare Plus into an indefinite annual subscription once the coverage they paid for upfront lapses. Apple says the recurring annual coverage must be purchased “within 30 days of the end date of your original coverage.” Once you’ve moved to annual billing, it renews automatically.More peace of... Continue reading…

Microsoft is starting to allow Windows 10 testers to access Linux GUI apps. The first preview of support for GUI applications is available today for Windows Insiders, allowing developers to run GUI editors, tools, and applications to build and test Linux apps. It’s a significant extension for Microsoft’s Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), after the company added a full Linux kernel to Windows 10 last year.While it has been possible to run Linux GUI apps within Windows previously using a third-party X server, official support from Microsoft means there’s also GPU hardware acceleration so apps and tools run smoothly. Audio and microphone support is also included out of the box, so Linux devs can easily test or run video players and... Continue reading…

This morning, I wrote how Apple’s $64 billion-a-year App Store isn’t catching incredibly obvious multimillion-dollar scams because the company isn’t even bothering to audit its most profitable apps for fraud, and how app developer Kosta Eleftheriou is showing the company how it’s done.But that’s not the only kind of scam Eleftheriou has been uncovering in Apple’s App Store — he has also discovered that Apple’s review teams have been approving games that transform into secret gambling dens when you access them from certain countries (or via VPN). We wrote about two of them last Thursday as if they were an isolated incident, but he’s now found at least two more, suggesting this may be a trend — including a match-three puzzle game dubbed L... Continue reading…

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson says the mixed reality headset company will be shipping limited quantities of a second-generation device at the end of this year, with broader availability in the first quarter of 2022.Johnson offered a timeline for the Magic Leap 2 launch in an interview with Protocol. She says the long-awaited device is half the size of the first-generation headset and about 20 percent lighter. It’s optimized for professional use and is designed to be wearable for long periods, and it’s supposed to double the Magic Leap One’s field of view. “For frontline workers, the product has to be something comfortable that they can wear all day long,” Johnson told Protocol.Magic Leap left the consumer market last yearMagic Leap has... Continue reading…

Images: Silk-FAW China’s original state-owned automaker, First Automobile Works (FAW), has revealed the first electric vehicle that’s part of the government’s massive Belt and Road project. The Hongqi S9 is a 1,400-horsepower hybrid hypercar created in partnership with Italian engineering and design startup Silk EV.The car was first teased in February, but the two companies gave it a proper debut at Auto Shanghai 2021 this week. FAW and Silk EV are only making 99 of them and will start taking orders by the end of this year. They didn’t announce a price tag and also didn’t share many specs for the S9 (besides that the internal combustion engine will be a V8). It was designed by Walter de Silva, known for his past work with Alfa Romeo, Audi, Volkswagen,... Continue reading…

Dakd Jung’s ferrofluid speaker. | Image: Dakd Jung A speaker made by artist Dakd Jung, spotted by Gizmodo, visualizes music with ferrofluid, a liquid filled with tiny magnetic particles. The ferrofluid, a viscous black blob, reacts to an electromagnetic device and dances around in sync with the sounds being played.The video shows Jung’s process for putting the speaker together: treating the glass container so the ferrofluid won’t stick, sanding the 3D-printed casing, and wiring up the electromagnetic device. The full prototype in action is a little less mesmerizing than his initial test that’s shown in the video because the blob breaks apart, but Jung says the speaker is still in development. He’s used ferrofluid in artworks before, including a huge ferrofluid panel and a ferrofluid... Continue reading…

Image: Google Android 12’s third developer preview has arrived, and among its host of updates are new OS-level tools to help app developers get more out of the camera and haptic hardware found in modern Android flagships. App launch animations, call notifications, and linking between apps are among the other tweaks made in this release.It’s a developer-focused beta, meaning much of this could change before Android 12’s full release later this year. However, it’s likely to be the last preview before Android 12 enters beta next month and receives an official unveiling at Google I/O, meaning the preview should provide some useful hints about Google’s priorities for the next major version of Android.First up, the preview gives developers more options... Continue reading…

The feature can alert you to the sound of a crying baby or turn on a lamp when light levels dip. | Image: Samsung Samsung has launched a beta program to help put some older Galaxy phones to new uses. Owners of certain phones can download an update to turn the device into a smart home sensor with some neat functions — it can detect the sound of a crying baby or turn on a lamp when it gets dark. The program is limited to certain models launched in 2018 or later, which is fairly limited, but it’s a nice, accessible offering that could help users get a little more use out of their old devices.Announced at CES earlier this year, the company is launching the program in the US, UK, and Korea starting today. By downloading a software update through the SmartThings app, users can access two basic functions. The first is an audio sensor that detects the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Among the more than 75 million people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the United States by the second week of April, there were only 5,814 reports of coronavirus infections — a staggeringly low number that shows just how effective the shots are.Because the vaccines aren’t 100 percent effective, some breakthrough infections were inevitable and expected. Still, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is watching them closely. Studying those cases will help experts make sure the vaccines are working as expected and understand any factors that make it more likely that a vaccinated person would get sick.Currently, the CDC has a national database where state health departments can send reports of any cases of COVID-19 in people... Continue reading…

An AirTag. | Apple Apple’s AirTags have one feature not mentioned during the announcement yesterday: they’ll work with Android to a limited extent. As 9to5Mac noted, there’s a support article on Apple’s site that details how AirTags will work with an Android device if you don’t have your iPhone handy.The way AirTags function is by securely communicating with Bluetooth devices and iPhones equipped with ultra-wideband that are in the area. If AirTags exclusively worked with Apple devices it would severely limit their effectiveness, particularly in regions where iPhones aren’t as popular as Android. Image: Apple Any NFC-equipped phone should be able to just tap the AirTag to get more details. AirTags won’t work out of the box with... Continue reading…

These can snap onto any phone thinner than 11.5mm | OnePlus OnePlus CEO Pete Lau tweeted pictures of some attachable gaming triggers the company has created, and they’re made for more than just OnePlus’ phones. SlashGear and Android Headlines noticed them being teased during the unveiling of the OnePlus 9 back in late March, but they’re available online now in India from the OnePlus site for 1,099 rupees, which converts to roughly $15. OnePlus hasn’t confirmed that these gaming triggers will be releasing globally, and the company wouldn’t comment on pricing and availability when I reached out.These triggers can be clipped around the edge of most phones (any Android or iOS device, so long as they’re less than 11.5mm thick with a case on). If you want to do some mobile gaming but hate touch... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge OnePlus has announced that it plans to bring new features, like an always-on display mode, a 12-hour watchface, and more to its new smartwatch with future software updates. The news came with the announcement of the Watch’s first software update after its release, which OnePlus says it’s starting to roll out. This release aims to fix the issues we experienced with heart rate and activity tracking, among other bugs.The lack of an always-on display was one of the ways we found the Watch to be lacking when we reviewed it, so it’s a standout feature among the planned updates. While that feature alone won’t make the device a great smartwatch, it will at least make it more useful as a timepiece. However, it will be interesting to see how... Continue reading…

A screenshot from The Great Ace Attorney Collection. | Image: Capcom Capcom announced that it will be releasing two classic games in the Ace Attorney series in English for the first time this July. The new collection, titled The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, bundles The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures and The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve in one package that will be available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Steam for $39.99 on July 27th.Unlike the Ace Attorney games starring Phoenix Wright, which take place in modern day, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles are set in the late 19th century during the Meiji period and the Victorian era. You play as Ryūnosuke Naruhodō, a defense attorney and an ancestor of Wright, to try to prove that your clients are innocent in court.There’s a character named... Continue reading…

There’s now a much greater range of emoji to react with. | Image: Zoom This week’s Zoom update includes a couple of quality of life improvements for anyone using its annotation or emoji reaction features, the company has announced. Meeting participants can now use any emoji that was previously available in Zoom chat to react during a meeting, up from the six meager options that were available previously. These include emoji with different skin colors. Hosts can also restrict emoji reactions to the standard six, if they prefer, and for larger accounts the full emoji set must be manually enabled by admins or account owners.The service’s annotation feature is also being enhanced. Anyone who’s used Zoom’s annotation feature to draw text on the presentation screen will know how annoying it quickly becomes when... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Apple’s latest iPad Pro might look very similar to the model it’s replacing, but it contains several major upgrades on the inside. It’s got the same powerful, energy-efficient M1 chip as the latest MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and now the redesigned iMac. Cellular models have made the jump to 5G. The front-facing camera can zoom and pan to keep you in focus on video calls. But aside from the processor, the biggest technical leap is exclusive to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro: it’s what Apple calls the “Liquid Retina XDR,” a new display that adopts Mini LED backlighting to achieve higher brightness and greater contrast than any iPad (or Mac) that the company has ever made.Apple says the 12.9-inch iPad Pro can reach 1,000 nits of... Continue reading…

Life is Strange: True Colors. Early in development, before the team at Deck Nine Games had settled on a main character or even a story for the next Life is Strange game, they knew the general theme they wanted to tackle. “We did know early on that we wanted to explore empathy,” says Felice Kuan, senior staff writer on Life is Strange: True Colors. “We were particularly interested in pushing that concept as far as we could.”The result was Alex Chen, a new protagonist who has the power to see, experience, and manipulate the emotions of those around her. At the outset of the game — which launches in September — Alex moves back home to live with her brother, who then dies in an accident. She’s forced to use her powers to find out exactly what happened.“We were looking... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is removing its requirement for an Xbox Live Gold subscription to play free-to-play multiplayer games today. The software maker has been testing this removal over the past few weeks, and now every Xbox One and Xbox Series S / X owner will be able to play free multiplayer games without Xbox Live Gold. Microsoft is also unlocking Xbox party chat and the Looking For Groups (LFG) feature as part of this rollout.The Xbox Live Gold changes mean popular games like Destiny 2, Call of Duty: Warzone, Fortnite, Apex Legends, and many others will no longer require a subscription. More than 50 games will now be free-to-play. The changes certainly make the $299 Xbox Series S console a lot more appealing as a device for free-to-play... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Roku is officially getting into original content. The set-top box maker announced Roku Originals, a new brand, in a press release today. Roku says it will debut over 75 original series and films this year on its free, ad-supported network, The Roku Channel. Quite a few of these original new shows will come from the Quibi library of content Roku got in a fire sale in January 2021.Earlier this year, Protocol spied a job listing that suggested Roku would be investing in original content beyond the Quibi stuff it now owns. Free, ad-supported content is still a relatively new but growing area in streaming. Peacock, Paramount Plus, and even Plex have all had some success wooing viewers with totally free stuff they can watch on their set-top... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge “Identity shapes what we want to share and what we want to broadcast, [so] it is part of our content,” says Yana Calou, PR director of Trans Lifeline. The nonprofit operates a peer support and crisis hotline and offers microgrants to trans and nonbinary recipients. More recently, it launched a streaming discovery tool called Peer2Peer that functions as a searchable directory. Broadcasters can tag themselves in categories like “trans,” “Black,” or “lesbian,” and viewers can search for the tags they want to see.With Twitch reluctant to allow identity-based tagging, marginalized viewers’ ability to find streamers and associated communities of people like them has been limited. But when a group of streamers approached Trans Lifeline about... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge At Best Buy, you can get a refurbished set of the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro truly wireless earbuds for $110 today in the silver colorway. This model released just a few months ago alongside the Samsung Galaxy S21, and at most retailers they still sell for their original $200 price. The lowest price we’ve seen recently for a new set is $165, and that’s bound to happen again at some point. But if you’re all about saving money, this refurbished deal can’t be beat. The Galaxy Buds Pro provide the “best sound quality yet for Samsung earbuds,” according to audio expert and Verge reviewer Chris Welch.These come with a charging case, a USB cable, and three pairs of ear tips.Oculus is set to announce some VR games later today, April 21st, and... Continue reading…

All modern means of communication rely on glass, from the Gorilla Glass on our phones to the infotainment screens in our cars. Most of the time, the glass is right in front of us, but when it comes to the internet — whether it’s 5G, Starlink satellites, or Wi-Fi — it’s easy to miss the 750,000 miles of fiber optic cables currently running under our oceans.These tiny strands of glass carry our photos, emails, and video chats from our phones to data centers to friends and family all across the world. It’s through these hair-thin strands of fiber that we are able to instantly communicate to almost anyone, anywhere, and it all relies on a 5,000-year-old technology: glass. Image: Alix Diaconis / The Verge A... Continue reading…

Apple’s new AirTag trackers are finally here after years of rumors. The $29 trackers work with Apple’s Find My network, utilizing both Bluetooth and UWB technology to help owners track anything from their keys to their bags.But the design of the new trackers is somewhat controversial: unlike most Bluetooth trackers, Apple’s iteration doesn’t include a built-in key ring loop. The subsequent debate has shattered the tranquility of The Verge’s newsroom over whether Apple’s somewhat Spartan design is brilliant or bogus. Well, at least between two of the most genteel Verge staffers, Jon Porter and Chaim Gartenberg. Image: Apple Artist’s rendering of an AirTag design featuring a keychain hole punch. Jon Porter,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The European Union has published a new framework to regulate the use of artificial intelligence across the bloc’s 27 member states. The proposal, which will take years to implement into law and will be subject to many tweaks and amendments during this time, nevertheless constitutes the most ambitious AI regulations seen globally to date.The regulations cover a wide range of applications, from software in self-driving cars to algorithms used to vet job candidates, and arrive at a time when countries around the world are struggling with the ethical ramifications of artificial intelligence. Similar to the EU’s data privacy law, GDPR, the regulation gives the bloc the ability to fine companies that infringe its rules up to 6 percent of... Continue reading…

iPad Pro 2021 | Image: Apple Apple has announced the next generation of its iPad Pro line. But most of the biggest changes for Apple’s flagship tablet are largely on the inside. The latest iPad Pros feature a new eight-core M1 processor; the same chip featured in the most recent model refreshes for the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and the newly announced iMac.Like last year, the iPad Pro comes in two sizes: 11 inches and 12.9 inches. The 12.9-inch model this year also includes a new Mini-LED screen, which Apple is branding as a “Liquid Retina XDR” display. The iPad Pro 2021 refreshes also include support for Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4, in addition to 5G connectivity. Both iPad Pros also feature a new 12-megapixel ultrawide camera that can automatically track... Continue reading…

Images: Cadillac Cadillac has announced that its first electric car, the Lyriq, will start at $59,990 before tax, license, and dealer fees. The luxury brand of General Motors also said the electric SUV will be available for reservations starting in September ahead of the start of production in the first quarter of 2022. The Lyriq SUV will officially go on sale shortly after that in the first half of the year.The Lyriq got a proper debut last August, but that was technically still just a show car. The photos Cadillac showed off Wednesday as it announced pricing are of the final production version. You’d be forgiven if you didn’t notice the difference; even Cadillac says that there have only been minor changes since then, like the addition of an extra... Continue reading…

image: Bandai Today, Bandai is announcing the Tamagotchi Pix: a combination of its classic Tamagotchi pet-rearing toy line with a new built-in camera for taking pictures with your digital pet.The Pix is shaped like a hatching egg, with the top part of the “broken shell” working as a shutter button. Using the camera, you can insert yourself (and friends) into photos with your Tamagotchi, with appropriately cute photo frames. We’ve reached out to Bandai for more information about the camera quality.Photos taken with the Pix are stored locally, and any photos you take will appear in a feed that documents your time with your pet. Bandai frames this as a sort of on-device social media, but because the Pix can’t connect to Wi-Fi and sharing photos is... Continue reading…

People demonstrate at the ‘Stop Asian Hate March and Rally’ in Koreatown on March 27, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. March 27 is the #StopAsianHate National Day of Action against anti-Asian violence. On March 16th, eight people were killed at three Atlanta-area spas, six of whom were Asian women, in an attack that sent fear through the Asian community amid a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. | Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images With new tools and new technology, groups like Project 1907 want to fix hate crime statistics Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The FBI says it used facial recognition technology to track down and arrest an individual suspected of taking part in the US Capitol riots earlier this year. The case, which was first reported by The Huffington Post, is notable for the FBI’s acknowledgement that it used facial recognition not just to confirm a suspect’s identity, but to discover it in the first place.According to an affidavit shared online by the Huffington Post, federal agents tracked down an individual named Stephen Chase Randolph using crowdsourced images from the riots (including those shared on Twitter by a group known as SeditionHunters). They searched these pictures on the web using “an open source facial recognition tool, known to provide reliable results,” and... Continue reading…

The new iPad Pro’s front-facing camera can digitally pan and tilt to track video conference participants. | Video: Apple Apple has confirmed that the digital pan and zoom feature of the new M1 iPad Pro’s front-facing camera can work with any video conferencing app, not just FaceTime. That opens the door for popular apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams to make remote work and e-learning blend more seamlessly into the realities of pandemic life — a hybrid lifestyle that’s likely to continue even after the outbreak subsides.Center Stage, as Apple brands it, keeps video conferencing participants properly framed even as they move about a room by combining machine learning with a fixed 12-megapixel sensor touting an ultra-wide 122‑degree field of view. We’ve seen similar tracking on the Portal TV, Echo Show 10, and even the Xbox Kinect accessory. But those are... Continue reading…

Images: Gogoro Gogoro is branching out of home country Taiwan in the biggest way yet, as it just announced a partnership with major two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotorCorp to bring its swappable battery and scooter tech to India. As part of the deal, Hero will build electric scooters based around Gogoro’s tech, and will also install Gogoro’s battery-swapping stations in cities throughout the country.Electric vehicles could help eat away at some of India’s pollution, and Tesla is even wading into the market. But building out charging infrastructure to handle passenger EVs is going to be a challenge for any company that wants to build a business there.It’s a different story for scooters, and especially the ones made by Gogoro, which was founded by a... Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge A one-man Bunco Squad is poking holes in Apple’s App Store image Continue reading…

Leaked images appeared to show a new fitness-focused VR headset from HTC. HTC has downplayed leaked images that appeared to show a new fitness-focused VR headset built by the firm. Pictures and details of the HTC Vive Air leaked online earlier this week on a design award website but HTC now says the headset is “only a concept.”“It’s exciting to see our concept piece, the VIVE Air VR headset, win an iF Design Award,” the company said in a statement given to UploadVR. “While this is only a concept, the design language has elements and inspirations you’ll see elsewhere in our products. We’re not ones to rest on our laurels, so although it’s great to win this award, we have business to attend to — hopefully we’ll see you on 11/12 May at ViveCon.” The HTC Vive Air claimed to be made from... Continue reading…

The PI7 true wireless headphones. | Image: Bowers and Wilkins Bowers and Wilkins’ debut pair of noise cancelling true wireless earbuds, the PI7, fix one of the key annoyances with the form-factor — it’s usable with in-flight entertainment systems because the case doubles as an audio transmitter. Plug the case into an audio source using an included 3.5mm to USB-C cable and it will retransmit the audio wirelessly to the earbuds. Alongside it, Bowers and Wilkins has also announced the less expensive PI5 true wireless headphones, which also offer noise-cancellation.Bowers and Wilkins claims the PI7’s transmitting case is an industry first, and it’s certainly the first time we’ve heard of such a feature. In contrast, trying to use other popular true wireless earbuds like the AirPods Pro with a plane’s... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram announced a new tool today that will allow users to automatically filter out direct message requests containing offensive words, phrases, and emojis. The tool is targeted at celebrities and public figures who receive a large number of unwanted, harmful DMs.The update builds on Instagram’s work to combat hate speech on the platform. In February, the company said it would begin disabling the accounts of users who sent multiple harassing messages. In 2018, the company expanded its offensive comments filter to automatically block comments that attack a person’s appearance or character.The message requests filter can be toggled on or off in a new section of the app called “hidden words.” When it’s on, offensive messages will be... Continue reading…

Apple just announced an M1-powered update to the iPad Pro, and Logitech has followed up with a new keyboard and trackpad accessory for the 11-inch and 12.9-inch models. The Combo Touch is a case with a Microsoft Surface-style kickstand and a detachable backlit keyboard with a trackpad. It connects over the iPad Pro’s Smart Connector.Logitech already released a similar Combo Touch keyboard for 10.2-inch and 10.5-inch iPads, as well as a related Folio Touch for the 11-inch iPad Pro and 10.9-inch iPad Air. The Folio Touch’s keyboard isn’t detachable and its trackpad is a little smaller than the new Combo Touch, but otherwise it’s a comparable product. This is the first time Logitech has offered a keyboard/trackpad option for... Continue reading…

After what feels like ages of rumors, speculation, and worry that I was getting way too obsessed with a Bluetooth item tracker that seemed similar to ones made by several other companies, AirTags are finally here. But before you preorder the Mentos-esque pucks, there’s something you should be aware of: if you want to engrave your AirTags, you can’t combine a horse and poop emoji in that order.That’s right, the emoji version of “horseshit” is a no-go when getting an engraving for Apple’s newest product. Here’s what happens when you try to make that your engraving of choice: Apple says no to “horseshit” in emoji form. Curiously, poop and then horse (“shit horse”) is totally fine, though. Apple has... Continue reading…

Tim Cook, the mild-mannered Apple CEO, probably didn’t have to lift more than a finger to launch a new line of iPad Pros with the company’s Arm-based M1 chip.Tim Apple, on the other hand? He’s the kind of daring superspy who can pull off a high-security heist, slicing through plate glass, rappelling down buildings, and dodging lasers, all with a trusty grappling hook at his side — as you’ll see in the video above. Also, he’s apparently able to unsocket a soldered-down chip, perhaps the most impressive trick of all — except perhaps for the one where he gave Donald Trump a “new” factory and the “first” Mac Pro off its assembly line. Not bad for a 60-year-old, even one who’s in charge of the most profitable company in the... Continue reading…

Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images The simmering issue of how Tesla deals with customer complaints in China came to a boil this week as police detained a woman after she protested at Tesla’s booth at the Auto Shanghai 2021 trade show. The woman was dragged off the show floor after jumping on top of a Tesla Model 3, where she shouted about a brake issue the company has been criticized for with its China-made cars. Tesla has since said it will conduct a self-inspection of its service and operations in China.The woman, who police referred to only by her surname “Zhang,” according to Reuters, was detained for “disrupting public order.” She has protested before about the brake issue, after she was involved in a crash. She is reportedly being held for five days.

One of the new Magic Mouse colors. | Image: Apple Apple revealed a redesigned iMac and Magic Keyboard at its “Spring Loaded” event on Tuesday, but didn’t, for some reason, decide to change the Magic Mouse 2’s infamous charging solution. While the mouse will come in new colors to match the new iMacs, Apple confirmed to The Verge that its charging port is still on the bottom — meaning that five and a half years after its introduction, Apple still seems to think that the best way to charge the mouse is by flipping it over (rendering it useless) and plugging in a Lightning cable.The Magic Mouse’s charging situation has long been a bit of a joke — my former colleague Nick Statt equated it to looking like “a beetle with its legs in the air” all the way back in December 2015, and frankly, I’m... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The M1-powered Mac Mini can now be configured to included 10-gigabit networking, an option that the computer was notably missing compared to its Intel-powered counterpart (via 9to5Mac). The update to the 2020 computer seems to have come during Apple’s store update that came with the bigger product announcements today, including a new iMac and iPad Pros. Adding the faster networking will add $100 to the price of the computer — the same price as if you were to add 10Gbps to the Intel version.When Apple added the 10Gbps port as an option to the Mac Mini in 2018, it was welcomed by those running home and professional servers, as well as anyone who needed fast network access from a cheaper Mac (like video professionals using network-attached... Continue reading…

Photo by Chuck Zlotnick / Marvel Studios The Marvel Cinematic Universe may soon be home to two new queens. Yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Olivia Colman was negotiating a role in Marvel’s Secret Invasion Disney Plus series, and today, Variety reports that Emilia Clarke is in talks to do the same.Secret Invasion is expected to be the television adaptation of the comics storyline of the same name that’s focused on a hostile takeover of Earth led by a shape-shifting alien race you may already know and love from Captain Marvel: the Skrulls. Few details have been revealed since the project was first announced, but we do know the show will feature the return of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn as the friendly Skrull Talos, who was last seen i... Continue reading…

Image: Apple TV Plus Apple TV Plus launched on November 1st, 2019, but odds are that you (along with almost two-thirds of other Apple TV Plus customers) aren’t actually paying for it, thanks to Apple’s lengthy free trials. But Apple may have finally found the carrot to convince people to actually shell out their hard-earned cash for another streaming service: the upcoming second season of sleeper hit Ted Lasso, which is set to debut on TV Plus on July 23rd — just after Apple’s free subscriptions for its earliest customers end on July 1st.It’s no secret that Apple TV Plus has a paying subscriber problem: as of January, research firm MoffettNathanson noted that approximately 62 percent of TV Plus subscribers are enjoying Apple’s free ride. The free trials for... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Apple refreshed its Apple TV 4K streaming box today with upgraded specs and, perhaps most importantly, a redesigned, simpler Siri remote. When the new device ships in late May, it’ll cost the same price as before: $179 for a 32GB unit or $199 for 64GB. (Sidenote: I’ve yet to meet anyone who has needed the higher storage option on any Apple TV.)But along with the new Apple TV 4K and improved remote — you can buy it standalone — it turns out Apple is keeping the ancient 2015 Apple TV HD around. And for some reason, it still costs the same $149. I just... I don’t get it.How was this not the moment to slash the price to something more reasonable? Something closer to competitive?The price discrepancy between Apple TV 4K and 4K streamers... Continue reading…

An image from the Netflix series Bridgerton. | Image: Netflix Netflix is seeing a slowdown in new subscriptions as the company puts out fewer shows following a year of delayed productions. The company now has 208 million paid subscribers across the globe, up from 204 million last quarter. That’s not much to complain about, but it’s a substantial slowdown compared to the rapid growth Netflix saw during the same time period in 2020 when it added four times as many new subscribers.It’s also fewer subscribers than Netflix had hoped to add. The company believed it would hit 210 million subscribers by the end of the first quarter, but it came in 2 million short. The results were reported in Netflix’s Q1 2021 earnings release. Its stock fell around 10 percent in after-hours trading following the results,... Continue reading…

Photo by Curtis Waltz After more than three years of grandiose promises and missed deadlines, Foxconn and Wisconsin have agreed to amend their contract to reflect the reality of a much-diminished project. Under the amendment, which was approved by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) today, the company will receive vastly smaller tax subsidies in exchange for greater flexibility about what business it ultimately pursues in the state.Foxconn had originally promised to build an enormous LCD factory employing 13,000 workers and costing $10 billion. With the amendment, it now says it will employ a total of 1,454 people and invest $672 million. In return, the tax subsidies the company is eligible for have been slashed, from $2.85 billion to $80... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Apple has been quietly sticking special locator beacon chips into some of its new iPhones that’ll let you unlock your car and find lost items through walls — the latter thanks to the $29 AirTags announced today — but sadly, you won’t find that chip in the new M1-based iPad Pros or the long-awaited new Siri remote for the Apple TV.Apple confirmed to us that the U1 locator chip, which uses pulses of ultra-wideband (UWB) radio to broadcast its precise location, won’t appear in the Siri remote. We’re waiting on final bulletproof confirmation about the iPad Pros, but it also doesn’t appear in their product page, spec sheet, or press release. Last year’s iPad Pros didn’t include a U1 chip, either.Is Apple expecting us to stick AirTags to... Continue reading…

iOS 14.5 will enable use of AirTag trackers to help locate tagged items using Apple’s Find My feature. | Image: Apple In a press release for Apple’s new Tile-like AirTag tracker, the company has revealed that iOS 14.5 will officially arrive “starting next week” — as spotted by Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern. AirTags go on sale April 30th and will only work with devices running iOS 14.5 or higher. Likewise, watchOS 7.4 and macOS 11.3 will also launch next week, as they support new Apple Podcast feature updates.Apple first launched the 14.5 beta to the public earlier this year in February alongside watchOS 7.4 beta (no word on whether that’s arriving soon, too). Along with AirTag support, it will implement Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency requirement, which mandates that developers ask for permission to track users for ad targeting. The feature... Continue reading…

Xbox Game Streaming running on an iPhone. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Microsoft has started inviting Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to test its Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) service on iPhones and iPads today. The service works through web browsers, allowing it to also run on PCs and Macs on Edge, Chrome, or Safari. We’ve managed to get an early look at this beta and see how Xbox Cloud Gaming works on an iPhone or iPad.The web interface for xCloud (yes, we’re going to keep calling it xCloud) is very simple to use. It scales across devices like the iPhone, iPad, or even a large monitor attached to a PC to provide quick access to games. Microsoft has even included a search interface, which is something that’s strangely missing on rival service Google Stadia.

Image: Polaroid The Polaroid Go, Polaroid’s new $99.99 instant camera seems tiny. In design and functionality, it’s almost like a condensed version of the Polaroid Now launched last year. But it has a few add-ons like a selfie mirror and a longer-lasting battery for the trendier, on-the-go, social media-savvy crowd who are the champions of instant film cameras these days.The Go is 2.4 inches tall, 3.3 inches wide, and 4.1 inches long. Smaller than a breadbox, or the Now, which is over an inch larger in nearly every direction. Along with the mirror and Polaroid’s claims of an improved 750mAh battery, it also has standard features like a self timer (good for group shots), flash, and the ability to do easy double exposures with just a button click. ... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Monday, I had a chance to talk with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s plans to build new audio products over the next few months. The occasion for our interview was the opening of Sidechannel, a Discord server I launched over the weekend with some fellow independent journalists. We didn’t know what to expect when we opened the doors, but more than 2,500 people filed in over the first day, and many of them joined us for a lively conversation about Facebook’s rapidly evolving attitudes toward creators.If you missed the conversation, you can find the audio here on Soundcloud. (Skip to 1:10 to get past my welcome message to Sidechannel members.) There’s also a very rough automated transcript up on Otter, if you like your... Continue reading…