The Verge

It’s Google’s new smartwatch OS, but it’s Samsung’s watch Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Researchers have produced a collision in iOS’s built-in hash function, raising new concerns about the integrity of Apple’s CSAM-scanning system. The flaw affects the hashing system, called NeuralHash, which allows Apple to check for exact matches of known child-abuse imagery without possessing any of the images or gleaning any information about non-matching pictures.On Tuesday, a GitHub user called Asuhariet Ygvar posted code for a reconstructed Python version of NeuralHash, which he claimed to have reverse-engineered from previous versions of iOS. The GitHub post also includes instructions on how to extract the NeuralMatch files from a current macOS or iOS build.“Early tests show that it can tolerate image resizing and compression,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Recruitment, robots, and really powerful supercomputers Continue reading…

Image: Nintendo Pokémon Unite, the five-versus-five MOBA game that released in July for the Nintendo Switch, will debut on iOS and Android devices on September 22nd. The Pokémon Company shared today during a livestream that you can pre-register for the mobile game now on your respective devices (iOS, Android). You’ll be notified when it’s officially available to download.Whether you play Pokémon Unite on mobile or a Nintendo Switch, the game will offer cross-platform play to broaden who you can play alongside or against. By linking your account on both the Switch version and the mobile game, you’ll be able to have cross-progression, which will allow you to play the game with your saved data and characters on whichever device is more convenient.

Microsoft’s upcoming release of Windows 11 will make it even harder to switch default browsers and ignores browser defaults in new areas of the operating system. While Microsoft is making many positive changes to the Windows 11 UI, the default apps experience is a step back and browser competitors like Mozilla, Opera, and Vivaldi are concerned.In Windows 11, Microsoft has changed the way you set default apps. Like Windows 10, there’s a prompt that appears when you install a new browser and open a web link for the first time. It’s the only opportunity to easily switch browsers, though. Unless you tick “always use this app,” the default will never be changed. It’s incredibly easy to forget to toggle the “always use this app” option, and... Continue reading…

The $1,199 Galaxy S21 Ultra, which showed ads in its default apps. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Samsung has confirmed that it will stop showing ads in default apps including Samsung Weather, Samsung Pay, and Samsung Theme. It follows comments made by its mobile chief TM Roh in an internal town hall meeting reported by Yonhap. “Samsung has made a decision to cease the advertisement on proprietary apps including Samsung Weather, Samsung Pay, and Samsung Theme,” the company said in a statement given to The Verge. “The update will be ready by later this year.”“Our priority is to deliver innovative mobile experiences for our consumers based on their needs and wants,” the company said. “We value feedback from our users and continue our commitment to provide them with the best possible experience from our Galaxy products and services.”“... Continue reading…

The ROG Phone 5S Pro has a small display on its rear. | Image: Asus When you’re selling high-spec gaming-focused phones, it makes sense to have the most powerful processor possible. At least, that’s the only explanation I can come up with for why Asus would announce its new Snapdragon 888 Plus-powered ROG Phone 5S lineup, just months after releasing the original ROG Phone 5.There are two new S-branded phones, the ROG Phone 5S and the ROG Phone 5S Pro. Aside from its 888 Plus processor, more responsive 360Hz touch-sampling rate, and increased maximums of 18GB RAM and 512GB of storage, the 5S appears to be a very similar device to the ROG Phone 5. That means it’s also got a 6.78-inch 144Hz display, 6,000 mAh battery, and triple rear cameras with a 64-megapixel main sensor.Both feature more responsive... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Google has started to push out the silent upgrade to its new Fuchsia operating system on first-gen Nest Hub devices (known as the Google Home Hub on release), meaning the secretive project will be broadly used by consumers after years of opaque development. The OS, which unlike Android isn’t based on Linux and uses a microkernel called Zircon, was previously made available to some devices enrolled in a preview program back in May.Now, Google has confirmed to 9to5Google that a new firmware update for non-preview Nest Hub devices includes the Fuchsia upgrade, meaning that all first-gen devices should be running Fuschia already or very soon. I just checked the one on my desk — which Google explains how to do here — and sure enough, turns... Continue reading…

Intel’s RealSense computer vision tech will soon be going away, as the company is “winding down” the business, according to CRN. If you don’t remember the tech from January of this year, where Intel pitched it as a way to create facial recognition systems, you may remember it from some incredible tech demos (or possibly a few devices, if you were really paying attention).Now that the tech is on its way out, perhaps it’s a good time to look back at some of the cool ways we’ve seen it shown off to remember the good times.

Roku users who’ve been unable to get Charter’s Spectrum TV app through the platform’s channels store can once again do so after months of being unable to download it.Roku announced on its blog today that new and existing users can access Spectrum TV on its devices by signing into the app using their Charter broadband credentials or by signing up for an account through Roku. The agreement resolves an ongoing carriage dispute that resulted in Roku pulling the Spectrum TV app from its store in December. The companies issued a joint statement on Tuesday that both had come to “a mutually beneficial agreement to renew distribution of the Spectrum TV App.”“As a result of the renewal, the Spectrum TV App is now available for download from the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Update August 17th, 6:04PM ET: Sony appears to have sold out of PS5 consoles for the day. We’ll make sure to let you know when the next opportunity comes up.Sony began releasing a fresh batch of PlayStation 5 consoles through its online storefront today at 5:15PM ET / 2:15PM PT. Both the $499.99 version of the PS5 that can accept discs and the discless version that costs $100 less are currently available for order, however, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to purchase one if you make it through the public queue, which can take an upwards of an hour.If you’re unfamiliar with Sony’s ordering process, it uses a slightly better queuing system that automatically places you in line if you’re on its site when the sale goes live. Consoles... Continue reading…

Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge For the first time in many years, August will come and go without the introduction of a new Galaxy Note smartphone from Samsung. Instead, with their lower prices and improved durability, the company is giving its latest foldables — the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 — a firm push into the mainstream phone market. With the Z Flip selling for a penny under $1,000, it’s certain to stand out from the iPhone and Samsung’s own Galaxy S21 devices that cost a similar amount (or more).But for repeat buyers of Notes past and present, it does feel like there’s something missing. We’re talking about the brand that established Samsung as the leading manufacturer of huge phones. Yet the company has completely skipped producing a new Note this... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Google is offering a new promotion to YouTube Premium subscribers — three free months to try the games included in Stadia Pro, as long as you’re a new subscriber (via 9to5Google). While there’s a chance someone willing to pay to remove ads from YouTube may have already messed around with Stadia, three months is a solid amount of time to see if cloud gaming makes sense for you, and it’s two months longer than Stadia’s usual free trial.The deal comes with a few caveats, naturally. Besides limiting the free months to new subscribers, Google is also only offering the promotion in the following countries: the US, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. You... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge For over a year, Anti-Defamation League researcher Daniel Kelley has been finding re-creations of a horrific mass shooting on Roblox — and every time he looks, he says he finds more. Kelley told The Verge it’s happened three times: first in January 2020, then again in May 2021. The most recent incident came on August 13th, as he was preparing a presentation on how to report offending content.“I would like one time,” Kelley said on Twitter after the last incident, “to search for ‘Christchurch’ on Roblox and not find a new recreation of the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting on a game platform aimed at very young children.”The mosque shooting, which killed more than 50 people, has been condemned as one of the most violent single acts of... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has updated Safari’s design in the latest iOS 15 beta (Developer Beta 6), making the address bar look and act more like what users are used to and giving you the option to put it at either the top or bottom of the screen. Safari’s redesign, especially on iPhones, has been controversial since it was first announced, but it seems like Apple is starting to walk back the floating design that’s persisted throughout the beta.MacStories founder and podcaster Federico Viticci has posted screenshots of the new design on Twitter, showing off the changes. If the user chooses to have the address bar on the bottom, it sits above a row of controls, including back and forward buttons, a share button, and the tab button. (In previous versions of... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge EVgo is changing how it prices the electricity that gets doled out on its electric vehicle charging networ, and is launching a nationwide rewards program for its customers.Starting in September, the company will start offering three ways to pay for charging on its network across the country. There’s the typical pay-as-you go option, which has the highest price-per-minute of charging and requires a $1.99 fee for each charging session. There’s a basic membership program that requires $4.99 per month of pre-payments toward charging, but which waives the session and (in most locations) offers per-minute rates that cost a few cents less. And now there’s a higher-tier $6.99 per-month subscription plan called EVgo Plus that drops the session... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Tuesday, Twitter announced that it will begin testing a new reporting feature for users to flag tweets containing possible misinformation.Starting today, users will be able to report misinformation through the same process as harassment or other harmful content, through the dropdown menu at the top right of every tweet. Users will be prompted to select whether the misleading comment is political, health-related, or falls into another category. The politics category includes more specific forms of misinformation like content related to elections. The health category will also include an option for users to flag COVID-19-specific misinformation.The new feature will be available on Tuesday for most users in the US, Australia, and South... Continue reading…

Photo: Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez Amazon has removed two of its Hub lockers from parks in Chicago after public outcry over blocked sidewalks, Book Club Chicago writes. While they offer a convenient place to pick up packages and drop off returns, a locker making a public park less accessible might not be the kind of tradeoff even a devoted Amazon customer is comfortable with.Photos shared by the 33rd Ward Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez make it pretty clear how egregious the placement was, at least in Brands Park. Technically, you could still roll by the locker and get to the rest of the park, but that possibility goes away as soon as someone stands in front to get something out.

That huge carry handle, pump-action underbarrel grenade launcher, and digital ammo counter on the side: is there a more iconic sci-fi weapon than the Aliens M41A Pulse Rifle? Now, it’s about to become an iconic Nerf blaster as well, because Hasbro has just announced a $95 version that flings foam darts — enough of them that it might actually be viable in a stock Nerf war! You see, unlike Nerf’s $130 blaster rifle from The Mandalorian or most of its Overwatch toys, this 28-inch long blaster isn’t just a prop with a few token foam projectiles inside: it’s a fully-automatic blaster that takes Nerf Elite-sized dart magazines a la the fan-favorite RapidStrike, powered by four C batteries, plus “movie-inspired blast sounds.”O... Continue reading…

Image: Apple One of iOS 15’s marquee new features, SharePlay, has been delayed and now won’t be rolled out until after the major update is released this fall. Apple has informed developers that SharePlay will be disabled in the next betas of iOS 15, iPadOS15, tvOS 15, and macOS Monterey. SharePlay allows people to enjoy entertainment (TV shows, movies, music, etc.) together at the same time and syncs everything up across devices.The company has confirmed that this feature will be absent in the official release of iOS 15 when it widely rolls out in the fall. Apple now says that SharePlay will return “in future developer beta releases and will launch to the public in software updates later this fall.”“We’re thrilled with the high level of enthusiasm... Continue reading…

Image: Disney Disney has shared an impressive trailer for Star Wars: Visions, its anime anthology series premiering September 22nd on Disney Plus. The trailer oozes style and flair, and it looks like the series will tell some thrilling new stories in the Star Wars universe.Visions will feature nine animated shorts from seven anime studios. Disney also revealed the English dub voice cast, which features some big names including Alison Brie, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Harbour, Neil Patrick Harris, Lucy Liu, and Temuera Morrison (who is reprising his role as Boba Fett). You can see more of the cast here on the official Star Wars website. And Disney says that you’ll be able to watch the series both with the English dub cast and the original Japanese... Continue reading…

Image: WinFuture After first surfacing last month in an FCC filing (which Bose quickly withdrew), the company’s upcoming QuietComfort 45 headphones have now been leaked more extensively courtesy of WinFuture. Set to be priced at $329, the QC45s certainly look the part of a successor to the popular QC35s. The overall design is very similar, with some modern refinements like a USB-C port thrown in.According to WinFuture, the QC45s will offer active noise cancellation, an Aware Mode for piping in outside noise, and be tuned with Bose’s signature Active EQ. Battery life is expected to be up to 24 hours of continuous playback. A quick 15-minute charge will give the headphones 2.5 hours of listening time. Multipoint pairing to two devices at the same time... Continue reading…

After an online-only event this year, the CTA is still planning to put on CES 2022 as a hybrid event with in-person and digital components. Today the CTA announced that if you’re planning on showing up in Las Vegas, then you will need to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19.

Taliban fighters patrol a road in Kabul | Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images Social platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are coming under new scrutiny for the way they treat Taliban accounts, as the militant Islamist group emerges as the dominant power in Afghanistan in the wake of the US withdrawal. While none of the platforms have publicly changed their policies on the group, moderation practices have come under close scrutiny, and many are shifting resources to ensure the policies are appropriately enforced.A particular question raised by The Washington Post is whether the group will be allowed to wrest control of the official Facebook and Twitter accounts for the government of Afghanistan. While the Taliban has seized effective control over the government, granting access to official accounts... Continue reading…

Google joins Apple and Samsung by ditching the in-box charger. | Image: Google Google is the latest manufacturer to bid farewell to the in-box charging brick, saying it expects the Pixel 5A will be the last phone to include one. That means the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro won’t include one when they arrive this fall.The company says that most people already have a USB-C charging brick, so there’s no longer a need to include one with its phones. Apple and Samsung made similar arguments when they announced they would no longer be offering an in-box charger. That may be true, but it’s likely that the cost savings of not including a charger played a big role in those decisions. Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Google says it expects the Pixel 5A to be the last phone to include the charger. T... Continue reading…

The Google Pixel 5A features a 6.34-inch display and IP67 water-resistance rating. | Image: Google Google has officially revealed the Pixel 5A 5G, a phone it kind of announced in April to contradict rumors that it had been canceled. It comes with a short list of updated features compared to its 4A 5G predecessor, including a slightly bigger screen, a much bigger battery, and an IP67 rating for water resistance.Few though they may be, these are some important tweaks to an already good midrange phone, and the best part is that the price has gotten smaller: in the US it will cost $449, which is $50 less than the Pixel 4A 5G’s introductory price. The 5A goes on sale in the US and Japan on August 26th. Image: Google The 5A supports wired charging only, and Google says it’s the last Pixel phone that will ship with... Continue reading…

Smart updates and a lower price Continue reading…

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Microsoft is hiring Manik Gupta, the former head of product at Uber, in a renewed effort to boost Microsoft’s consumer apps. Gupta will be responsible for Microsoft Teams consumer, Skype, and GroupMe, and he will report directly to Jeff Teper, Microsoft’s head of Microsoft 365 collaboration.Gupta spent four years at Uber running the various teams that contribute to the Uber app, and he also oversaw product management for Google Maps for seven years. While Gupta has a lot of experience in maps, that’s not why he’s joining Microsoft. The software giant appears to be keen to tap into his wealth of experience in consumer-focused apps.“Manik’s experience... will be invaluable to us building world-class consumer experiences across all of... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is announcing some new features for search to make it easier to find what you’re looking for amid the huge amount of content on the platform.One helpful update is that YouTube will show video chapters right in search results, which should make it easier to jump to the exact part of a video that might be most helpful to you. Instead of having to tap into a video and scroll through the chapters just to find exactly the information that you’re looking for, you’ll be able to see the chapters from a search so you can navigate to certain spots in a video more easily. YouTube is also adding video previews to search results on mobile, meaning you can see a short clip of a video before you tap into it.Video previews are coming to... Continue reading…

Imagine if you were really into a video game series, but no one released a controller that let you play it properly for 14 years. Unfortunately, that’s exactly the situation that fans of Densha de Go! found themselves in until recently. Taito’s quirky train-driving franchise has been around since the mid-‘90s across countless systems and devices, but it just isn’t the same if you can’t slam the brakes with a giant lever as you pull into the station 17 seconds late.This month, though, a company called Zuiki came to the rescue with the release of an officially licensed Densha de Go! controller for the Nintendo Switch. It works with the latest version of the game, Hashirou Yamanote-sen, and it marks the first console controller to be... Continue reading…

Boston Dynamics has published a pair of new videos showcasing its bipedal Atlas robot. The first is typical Boston Dynamics flash, with two Atlas units demonstrating an extremely impressive gymnastics routine. They flip, they vault, they nearly fall over but not quite — it’s brilliant. The second video, though, offers an unusually transparent assessment of Atlas’ capabilities, as the company’s engineers explain what goes into creating these routines.As Boston Dynamics has said before, Atlas is essentially a research project: a cutting-edge machine that helps the company’s engineers work out better control and perception systems. “At a practical level it’s a platform for us to do R&D on,” says Benjamin Stephens, control lead for Atlas,... Continue reading…

This dizzyingly gorgeous gamepad is a costly investment. | Scuf Scuf has introduced two pricey controllers, the $170 Instinct and the $200 Instinct Pro. They’re made for Xbox, and to that end, they feel like Microsoft’s official controller in fit and finish. I mean that quite literally because they have the same dimensions as the newer Xbox wireless controller that ships with the Series X and S consoles.The similarities go all the way down to the main board, which Scuf told The Verge is, in fact, the same as Microsoft’s. This means that Scuf’s new controllers will use Microsoft’s dynamic latency input protocol to nip lag in the bud, and they will get all of the firmware updates and improvements as the official Xbox controllers. These are the first wireless controllers made by a third party that... Continue reading…

Zendure’s latest “portable” charger is the SuperBase Pro 2000, a hulking power station equipped with a 2,096Wh battery that’s designed to get you through everything from a camping trip to a blackout. Weighing in at 46.5 pounds (21.2kg), it’s only portable in the technical sense of the word — you’re much more likely to use its built-in handle to wheel it around like a rollable suitcase. It’s launching on Indiegogo with an early bird price starting at $1,299.We’ve generally liked Zendure’s more portable chargers designed for smaller devices like phones and laptops, and this isn’t the first time it’s offered a beefier power station for more power-hungry electronics (competitors Aukey and Anker sell similar units). But what sets the... Continue reading…

Fortnite: Imposters is a new, limited-time game mode that’s rolling out today, one that might sound a bit familiar to anyone who’s played Among Us (one of the other incredible popular online games right now).Imposters puts players into two teams. One team, with up to eight agents, has a goal of maintaining the headquarters of one of Fortnite’s secretive factions (the Imagined Order) by accomplishing various tasks. The other is a team of two imposters (Epic apparently couldn’t be bothered to change the name) whose goal is to take out all the agents. At any point, if players find an eliminated player (or see something too suspicious), they can call a meeting, where players can discuss the events of the game and vote off... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple is introducing an option to fully disable Night Mode on an iPhone camera in iOS 15. While you’ve always been able to turn off Night Mode for a particular shot, the iPhone camera will also re-enable it the next time it detects it needs to be used. In iOS 15, you can now toggle whether the camera remembers Night Mode has been turned off.Night Mode is often a useful way to capture great photos in low light, but occasionally there are times when an iPhone enables this mode and you end up with a photo that’s worse with Night Mode enabled. If you’re someone who prefers to have full control over their iPhone camera, 9to5Mac notes that you can effectively disable Night Mode in iOS 15:

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Argo AI CEO Bryan Salesky on a new partnership with Lyft and setting realistic expectations for self-driving cars Continue reading…

I always think this guy looks like Ed Helms. | Image: CD Projekt Red If you’ve ever said to yourself “I think I’ll wait to buy Cyberpunk 2077 until it’s like $10 or so,” then today is your day to act on that. Best Buy has knocked the price down for the much-anticipated RPG that promptly landed a little flat on its face when it released late last year due to myriad performance issues. Many of those issues have been resolved and developer CD Projekt Red has been steadily updating the game, though the game still might not be what some were hoping for. Read our review.The game is available on disc at Best Buy for the Xbox One and PS4, though both can be played on newer consoles like the Xbox Series X or PS5, if you have one. The developer hasn’t yet officially released a proper next-gen patch, but you’ll... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Roku is adding more than a dozen new channels to the Live TV Channel Guide on the Roku Channel, its free streaming service.Roku’s live and linear live TV hub includes more than 200 free channels to surf. The newest slate of channels arriving on its live guide includes CBC, AccuWeather Now, FilmRise True Crime, Haunt TV, and IGN. On Wednesday, the platform will also add a dedicated channel for The Wiggles to mark the second anniversary of its Kids & Family experience, which launched in 2019. The full list of channels coming to the service is as follows:

Selecting objects from a flat background is easier with the Magic Wand. | Image: Adobe Adobe has announced it’s updating Photoshop on iPad today with a classic desktop tool missing from the original launch of the app — the Magic Wand. Some of the intelligent selection features from Magic Wand have been introduced to the iPad app in the past, but now Adobe is adding the tool itself, making it easier to select, adjust, or remove specific elements of a larger project with a tap.The Magic Wand tool on iPad should be familiar to anyone who’s used it on desktop. The tool makes it easy to extract objects from a flat background, select oddly shaped areas, or select a specific colored section of a project to then transform in the usual Photoshop ways.The Magic Wand makes selecting things easierAdobe is also introducing a new... Continue reading…

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge A lack of protected bike lanes and a sharp increase in cyclist injuries could hamper the Big Apple’s rollout of e-scooters Continue reading…

OFTV includes original content including the “Unlocked” interview series. OnlyFans is a juggernaut of NSFW content, but its abundance of nudity has stopped the platform launching as an app on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. Now, though, the company is pushing a new app available on iOS and Android called OFTV. It features many regular OnlyFans creators but the content is strictly safe-for-work.The app has been in development for a while and launched back in January, but OnlyFans is only now promoting it, according to a report from Bloomberg. It’s part of the company’s attempt to move beyond adult content and position itself as a neutral platform like Patreon, allowing entertainers, musicians, and creators to monetize their relationships with fans.“There’s no adult content on OFTV”“OFTV provides... Continue reading…

Gigabyte is offering a return and exchange service for two of its power supply units (PSUs), following complaints that the products were “exploding” or failing. PSU reviewer Aristeidis Bitziopoulos and Gamers Nexus both found that Gigabyte’s GP-P850GM and GP-P750GM models could fail catastrophically, with some sparking and others arriving dead out of the box. These models had been the subject of many negative reviews on Newegg, and were previously part of a forced bundle with RTX 30-series cards.After spending months testing the two PSUs, Gamers Nexus found a surprisingly high rate of failures. Out of the PSUs that Gamers Nexus sourced from YouTube viewers or purchased, 50 percent of the GP-P750GM failed. Gamers Nexus even managed to... Continue reading…

A card with an EMV chip and contactless, but not magnetic stripe. | Image: Mastercard Mastercard is phasing out the use of magnetic stripes on its credit and debit cards over the next decade, as the industry moves towards more secure or convenient alternatives like chips and contactless payments, the company has announced. It says it will be the first payments network to phase out the technology, which dates back to the 1960s.Mastercard says the transition will start in 2024, when the stripe will no longer be required on new cards in regions like Europe where chip cards are already widely used. In the US, where the adoption of chip payments has been slower, the transition will start in 2027. From 2029, no new Mastercard debit or credit cards will come with a magnetic stripe, and they’ll be gone completely by 2033.The... Continue reading…

Astro Astro’s latest set of products are a bit outside of its usual lane. Instead of releasing a new gaming headset or controller, it has worked with reputable bag and accessory brand Timbuk2 during the pandemic to make a backpack and a sling bag with Astro’s name printed on it.Astro’s focus on gaming means that, unsurprisingly, each bag has been made to carry your gaming essentials. As such, they’re built with sections dedicated to storing — and, crucially, protecting — things like headphones, controllers, and laptops.The smaller sling bag, called the CS03, costs $79.99 and seems tailor-made for Switch owners looking for protection and utility from a bag. Lifting the bag’s magnetically sealed front flap reveals a pocket to store keys or... Continue reading…

The California Public Utilities Commission is displeased with T-Mobile. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge According to a ruling published on Friday, T-Mobile made false and misleading statements in testimony to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) about its plans for Sprint’s legacy CDMA network. The company will have the opportunity to explain why it shouldn’t face sanctions for violating the commission’s rules.The decision comes after a long back-and-forth that started with a petition from Dish Network in April asking the Commission to modify its decision on the Sprint acquisition. Dish claimed that T-Mobile made statements under oath that indicated the company would shut down Sprint’s 3G CDMA network in a three-year timeframe. When T-Mobile announced it would decommission the network on January 1st, 2022, Dish cried foul... Continue reading…

Intake towers for water to enter to generate electricity and provide hydroelectric power stand during low water levels due the western drought on July 19, 2021 at the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River at the Nevada and Arizona state border. | Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images For the first time ever, there’s an official water shortage at the largest water reservoir in the US. Today, the US Bureau of Reclamation declared a water shortage at Hoover Dam’s Lake Mead, which 25 million people across the Western US and Mexico rely on for water. It’s the first time this kind of declaration had been made on the Colorado River, the main source of water for Lake Mead, CNN and E&E News report.The declaration will trigger mandatory cuts to water use starting January 1, 2023. California, Arizona, and Nevada all tap water from Lake Mead. Based on federal guidelines for shortages brokered in 2019, Arizona will lose 18 percent of its annual apportionment of water from Lake Mead, and Nevada will lose seven percent of their... Continue reading…

The recently-announced Galaxy Buds 2. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge People always look at me weirdly when I say that I use Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Live with my iPhone 12 Pro. But it’s a pairing that makes sense for me: First, I need something that sits entirely within my ear, without a stem that’s going to risk being knocked about by a bike helmet’s strap. Second, they work with Samsung’s companion Galaxy Buds app on iOS, so I can still access their advanced features. And third? I just love that they’re shaped like little kidney beans.But if you were to try the same thing with Samsung’s newer Galaxy Buds Pro or Galaxy Buds 2 you’ll find Samsung’s iOS earbud companion app hasn’t been updated to support them. Samsung wants you to buy a Samsung phone, so it appears to be locking you out of numerous little... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing issued a statement saying Riot Games has failed to inform its employees of their right to speak to the government about instances of harassment and discrimination.In a press release, the DFEH — the body also suing Activision Blizzard for discrimination and harassment — stated that it has asked the courts, “to compel Riot Games Inc.’s compliance with the Court’s June 4, 2021 order requiring the company to send a notice to its workers about their rights to speak with DFEH.”In 2018, an extensive investigation by Kotaku revealed Riot Games fostered an environment in which female employees were harassed, belittled, and passed up for promotion. In November of that year, one current and... Continue reading…