The Verge

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Facebook is adding end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls in Messenger. The company announced in a blog post that it’s rolling out the change today alongside new controls for its disappearing messages. Some users may also see new test features related to encryption.Facebook Messenger got end-to-end encryption for text messages in 2016, when Facebook added a “secret conversation” option to its app. Now, that mode also supports calling. Facebook says it’s adding the feature as interest in voice and video calls grows, saying Messenger now sees more than 150 million video calls a day. Image: Facebook Encrypted video calling on Messenger Facebook chat app WhatsApp already offered calling with end-to-end... Continue reading…

Image: Boeing Boeing’s Starliner astronaut capsule won’t be launching to the International Space Station until it’s gone through “deeper-level troubleshooting” to fix an issue with stuck propulsion system valves, according to a press release from the company. That troubleshooting means removing the capsule from the Atlas V rocket it’s been coupled to and bringing it back to Boeing’s facility.The spacecraft’s initial launch attempt late last month was scrubbed hours before liftoff after engineers noticed a group of fuel valves in the Starliner’s propulsion section weren’t positioned as programmed. That valve issue, whose cause remains a mystery, is the latest engineering predicament to curse Starliner nearly two years after the capsule failed its... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge It’s a real robot, with some real robot issues Continue reading…

With the exception of an anime series on Netflix, the last few years have been quiet when it comes to the gothic action series Castlevania. It looks like that’s about to change, though: developer Konami just announced a new game coming exclusively to Apple Arcade.The new title is called Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls, and it’s described as “an original side-scrolling action game that features a line-up of classic, well-loved characters from the series’ hit catalogue.” The graphics certainly look like a departure for the series, but there are some notable names on board, including character designer Ayami Kojima and composer Michiru Yamane, both of whom have contributed to the series since the iconic Symphony of the Night. Grimoire of... Continue reading…

A Snopes editor reportedly plagiarized other news sites | Image: Snopes A startling new report from BuzzFeed News finds that the co-founder of Snopes, a website known for fact-checking and debunking fake news items, was himself plagiarizing other news outlets under a phony byline, his own name, and a Snopes byline for several years.According to BuzzFeed:

Matter — the upcoming smart home standard that looks to help unify Google, Apple, and Amazon’s separate smart home systems into a single cross-functional standard — has been delayed again to sometime in 2022, Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) CEO Tobin Richardson announced in a blog post.While Matter itself has a “feature-complete specification,” the group still has to finish developing the SDK and the certification program by which developers will be able to get both existing and new hardware officially labeled as Matter-approved. While the original goal was to have much of that work done this year, with the first Matter-certified hardware rolling out by the end of 2021, the new timetable pushes that out to sometime vaguely in the... Continue reading…

The new Nest Hub Max is displayed during the 2019 Google I/O conference at Shoreline Amphitheatre on May 07, 2019 in Mountain View, California. | Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Google is adding air quality data to its Nest Hub smart displays. While the new feature is still only available in “select” US markets, it’ll give some users an idea of how much risk they might face from smoke and pollution in the area.It’ll give some users an idea of how much risk they might faceGoogle says it will roll out the new feature “over the coming weeks.” An Air Quality Index badge will show up on the clock and weather widget on the Nest Hub’s Ambient screen. Anyone who doesn’t want to see the badge will be able to opt out.The data comes from the Environmental Protection Agency, which rates air quality on a scale from zero to 500, with zero being the best air quality. It also color-codes its ratings in categories ranging... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge During the course of the pandemic, the future of movie theaters looked grim. Cinema owners teetered on the edge of bankruptcy amid ongoing closures and lockdown orders, and streaming services introduced new release models that made clawing back theatrical exclusivity even harder for already struggling exhibitors. Theaters appeared to be facing an existential crisis, close to being snuffed out by a world that no longer needed them for distribution.But as cinemas have begun to reopen their doors and feature films finally make their silver screen debuts following prolonged delays, the story has started to change. In recent months, a number of studio owners have struck deals with exhibitors — including Regal parent Cineworld, Cinemark, and A... Continue reading…

Apple executive Craig Federighi says iCloud Photos’ plans to scan for child sexual abuse material (or CSAM) will include “multiple levels of auditability.” In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Federighi — Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering — offered new details about its controversial child safety measures. That includes a claim that the iPad and iPhone’s device-level scanning will help security experts verify that Apple is using the system responsibly.Like many companies with cloud storage services, Apple will check iCloud Photos images against a list from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), looking for exact matches with known CSAM pictures. But unlike many services, it will run... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.This week on The Vergecast, Nilay, Dieter, Alex Cranz, and Chris Welch discuss the hardware announcements from Samsung’s August Unpacked event, including the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and the Galaxy Z Fold 3. The crew discusses the upgraded features on this upgrade of the new foldables and question where they fit in the realm of Samsung’s flagship phones.In the second half of the show, senior reporter Adi Robertson explains the important changes coming to Messages and iCloud with Apple’s new tools on the iPhone meant to combat child abuse, and... Continue reading…

Razer’s PBT keycaps can now be bought with a matching USB cable. | Image: Razer Razer is expanding its range of mechanical keyboard accessories with new keycaps, cables, and wrist rests which offer a convenient way to change the look and feel of your keyboard. The accessories start at $20 for the new wrist rests, ranging up to $50 for a customization kit that includes both colorful keycaps and a matching USB cable.If you’ve spent any time on forums like the Mechanical Keyboards subreddit, then you’ll be no stranger to the fantastically colorful keycaps people like to customize their keyboards with. But beyond fast-growing enthusiast stores like Drop and Glorious PC Gaming Race, many of the best caps out there come from limited runs from smaller manufacturers, or with lengthy wait times. Razer’s designs might be... Continue reading…

Airbnb is updating its arbitration policy | Photo by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images Airbnb said Friday it will change its terms of service so that its arbitration provisions “will no longer apply to sexual assault or sexual harassment claims” by its hosts (the people who rent out their homes on the platform) and guests.The company said in a statement that “incidents of sexual assault are extremely rare on Airbnb,” and that the upcoming changes would “codify a practice we have already had in place.” Airbnb has not “asked a court fo force any of the very few cases involving sexual assault or sexual harassment claims by hosts or guests into arbitration” since January of 2019, and will continue to not enforce arbitration in such cases until the TOS are updated sometime in the fall.“We believe that survivors should be... Continue reading…

Lionheart. | Image: Netflix The streaming giant meets one of the world’s biggest film industries Continue reading…

A midrange phone with a big screen, huge battery, and all kinds of 5G connectivity Continue reading…

Microsoft’s flagship subscription combines Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold in one attractive package. | Photo by Nick Statt / The Verge If you’re a gamer, Xbox Game Pass is one of the best deals in town. Microsoft’s popular subscription service — which touted more than 18 million subscribers earlier this year — has been dubbed the “Netflix of video games,” namely because it provides access to more than a hundred Xbox titles for a flat, monthly fee. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate takes things a step further, combining Xbox Game Pass with Xbox Live Gold, giving subscribers access to exclusive deals, online multiplayer, EA Play titles, and Microsoft’s cloud gaming service, xCloud, which is now widely available on iOS and PC.Typically, a three-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate runs $45. And while Microsoft’s ongoing promotion will knock the price down to $1 for new... Continue reading…

Photo by SAEED KHAN/AFP via Getty Images Last weekend, a close friend texted me with the jarring news that her COVID-19 test had come back positive. She was vaccinated and had been since April. She got her first shot just a few days before I got mine.Before I got that text, I’d been reminding my friends and family that some people who get vaccinated are going to get COVID-19 anyway. Vaccines aren’t perfect. I cautioned that when cases are surging, like they are right now in New York City, the raw number of vaccinated people who get sick is going to go up. Unvaccinated people still face even higher risks of catching the disease.I know all of that. I think about those facts and statistics every day when I’m reading studies and checking transmission levels around the country.... Continue reading…

Screenshot: GTA3 Rockstar Games’ Dundee studio is working on remastered versions of three classic PS2-era Grand Theft Auto titles: Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Kotaku reports. A late October or early November release is said to be tentatively planned for the titles, which could eventually be released for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, Switch, PC, Stadia, and mobile phones.Rumors of the remastered titles have been floating around for some time, but this month Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive confirmed it has plans to release “three unannounced” iterations of old games, alongside current-gen ports of GTAV, GTA Online, and Kerbal Space Program. However, considering... Continue reading…

Amazon has decided to produce its upcoming Lord of the Rings TV series in the UK from the second season on. Although the first season was filmed in New Zealand, as with Peter Jackson’s movies, Amazon now says pre-production on season two will begin early next year in the UK while season one post-production continues in New Zealand through June.It’s not clear exactly where the series will be shot. Amazon is shipping the complex sets it built for the first season over to the UK and is currently booking stages for them, according to Deadline. The company films several Prime Video series in the UK already, including Neil Gaiman adaptations Good Omens and Anansi Boys.The move to the UK won’t be without controversy. Author J.R.R. Tolkien... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Food and Drug Administration will allow people with compromised immune systems to get a third dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. The agency amended the emergency use authorizations for each vaccine to allow this specific group of people to get an extra shot.Usually, the standard two doses are enough for a person to generate plenty of antibodies to fight off the coronavirus. But research done over the past few months shows that many immunocompromised people make too few antibodies or none at all. A third dose might give some of those patients the boost they need to produce antibodies. French officials have been recommending those patients get a third shot since April.The Center for Disease Control and... Continue reading…

Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images The US Attorney won’t be filing any charges against Jake Paul, according to TMZ and a statement sent to The Verge by Paul’s lawyers. Paul was being investigated by the FBI, who raided his house, for his involvement in an incident that took place at an Arizona mall in May 2020.These particular legal troubles began when Paul was filmed in and around a mall in Scottsdale, AZ, which was being looted in the wake of police brutality protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd. Paul denied participating in the looting (and wasn’t seen doing so in the videos that circulated on social media), but was still charged with criminal trespassing and unlawful assembly by the Scottsdale Police Department.According to police, the charges against Paul... Continue reading…

Image: Marvel Following a high-stakes lawsuit over Disney’s day-and-date release of Marvel’s Black Widow on its Premier Access streaming platform and the company’s compensation of the film’s star Scarlett Johansson, the head of Disney today defended both the company’s payouts to talent as well as its decisions around various pandemic movie releases.During the company’s third-quarter earnings call, Disney boss Bob Chapek explained the company’s multi-pronged approach to releasing its films throughout the pandemic, which included theatrical exclusives, straight-to-digital releases on Disney Plus, and a hybrid of both that saw films debut on Disney’s paid Premier Access platform the same day they premiered in theaters. Premier Access was chosen as the... Continue reading…

Image: Amazon Your Amazon packages may be getting an express ticket — Amazon has finished building its $1.5 billion air hub, located at the Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport, and has started operations there. Amazon started building the 800,000-square-foot facility in 2019, and it now boasts robots, miles of conveyor belts, and more.A big benefit of having a centrally located place to process packages and get them on planes is speed — that’s why UPS has a hub in Louisville, Kentucky; FedEx ships many packages through Memphis, Tenessee; and DHL has a hub in the same airport as Amazon. Amazon’s press release says that the cargo hub will help with the “rapid transport of customer packages throughout the U.S.” Jeff Bezos also made that... Continue reading…

Apple rolled out a small but meaningful update to senior executive Eddy Cue’s job title on Thursday that features an area of interest the company has long been focused on: services (via 9to5Mac). Eddy Cue is a longstanding veteran at Apple who helped build iTunes and the App Store, but his new title of “Senior Vice President, Services” reflects the company’s increasingly important side hustle, if not outright transformation into a media business and subscription peddler.Prior to Thursday, Eddy Cue was senior vice president of internet software and services, with responsibilities that included overseeing the iTunes Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, Maps, Search Ads, iCloud, and iWork. His new job description emphasizes Apple’s subscription... Continue reading…

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge Specifically citing concerns about a rise in cases of the delta variant of COVID-19, Facebook confirmed a Bloomberg report that it has pushed back plans for US workers to return to the office until next year.

Bill Gates, billionaire and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks during the One Planet Summit in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018. | Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg via Getty Images The bipartisan infrastructure deal could unlock a new stream of private funding for climate tech — and Bill Gates wants in on the action. Gates’ climate investment fund says that if the infrastructure bill moves forward, it will match $1.5 billion in government funds and put that money toward projects that are developing green technologies.Breakthrough Energy, Gates’ climate fund, laid out four different uses for the money: developing green hydrogen fuels, sustainable aviation fuels, energy storage, and technologies that take carbon dioxide out of the air. It said on Twitter that the money could “fast-track” commercial demonstration projects across the US.“Scale them up to a pretty gigantic level”“Critical for all these climate... Continue reading…

Photo by MARCO LONGARI/AFP via Getty Images WhatsApp and other apps are reportedly blocked in Zambia during ongoing general elections being held in the country Thursday, according to digital rights organization Access Now and internet monitor NetBlocks. The block, affecting state-owned internet providers and other private networks, could be cutting off voters from a vital form of communication during a contentious election.Lusaka Times, a local Zambian news organization, writes that officials from Zambia’s Ministry of Information and Broadcast Services considered shutting down internet access in the lead-up to election day, citing a desire to stop the spread of election misinformation. A dramatic decrease in election day internet traffic from WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, and... Continue reading…

Photo by Michele Doying / The Verge I’ve often wondered if part of the reason that there is so much venom spewed on Twitter and other social media is that it’s difficult to actually recognize pieces of text on a screen as being from real, feeling human beings.I was nudged into this thought by a recent Washington Post story about Brianna Wu, who had been the target of extreme harassment several years ago during the GamerGate situation. She is apparently getting contacted by some former members of that group, who are sending apologies and regrets for their past actions. The story reminded me of something that happened to me way back when, during the days of the BBS (bulletin board system).Bear with me for a couple of paragraphs while I set the stage.First, for those who... Continue reading…

Every PC graphics card we’ve reviewed in months has come with a disclaimer — if you can find one at all, you won’t be able to buy it for anywhere near its MSRP. And yet somehow, we’ve stepped into a bizzaro world where a few retailers listed the brand-new AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT for at or under its $379 suggested retail price, as PC Gamer notes today.Stock appears to have run out of the US cards while I was writing this post, but the UK cards still seem to be in stock, including a Sapphire RX 6600 XT Pulse for £374.99 at Overclockers and an XFX RX 6600 XT QICK 308 for £359.99 at eBuyer.The US cards included a PowerColor AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT Fighter for $379.99, and a Gigabyte RX 6600 XT Eagle with triple fan for $379.99 as well, both at... Continue reading…

The updated Mail app for Windows 11. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is improving some of the built-in apps available in Windows 11. Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel can now test new updates to the Snipping Tool, Calculator, Mail, and Calendar apps. Some of the updates are minor, but all are designed to match the new visual style in Windows 11.Microsoft is replacing the classic Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch apps in Windows 11 with a new Snipping Tool app that combines the best features of both apps. The Win + Shift + S keyboard shortcut will be the main way to take a screenshot in Windows 11, and it will activate the snipping menu with various options for selecting what content to screenshot. Image: Microsoft The updated Snipping Tool now has a dark mode. Once a... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 4 has a feature that can calculate body fat percentage and muscle mass, the company announced yesterday. It’s the latest tech company to offer a body composition feature, joining Amazon, which has a body fat percentage feature in its Halo Band.Body fat is generally a better way to assess health than weight, but it’s often calculated using a metric called the body mass index (BMI), which is crude and inaccurate. If wearables prove accurate, they could give people a better resource to monitor their health, Diana Thomas, a mathematician who studies body weight regulation at West Point, told The Verge in June.The Galaxy measures body composition using a technique called bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA),... Continue reading…

Audi released details of a new concept car this week called the Skysphere, a self-driving roadster that can change shape at the touch of a button.The sleek, villainous-looking convertible pairs an electric powertrain with luxury amenities for a result that even Batman would find a bit over the top. Notably, the vehicle features an adaptable wheelbase that can change size based on the driving mode, as well as a digital cockpit with a retractable steering wheel and pedals that stow away when the car drives itself.It’s a more fantastical outlook on the future than some of the German automaker’s other recent conceptsIt’s a more fantastical outlook on the future than some of the German automaker’s other recent concepts. But that doesn’t... Continue reading…

Epic Games It’s another day ending in -y so Fortnite is having a new crossover event. Today, Fortnite players can complete quests in order to earn a new Free Guy skin and emote. It was inevitable that Free Guy would get a Fortnite crossover in some way. Fortnite is slowly gobbling up every video game and pop culture IP known to man, so it’s only natural that the video game movie would get a piece of that action, too. After all, Free Guy is the closest we’ve ever gotten to an actual Fortnite movie — for now. (Which is exactly the threat it sounds like.)The “Dude” skin is a super beef-ified version of Ryan Reynolds’ character Guy and looks like the kind of person who routinely sets off the lunk alarm at Planet Fitness. Dude curiously has a blue... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Thursday, Verizon announced a range of new public commitments to protect low-income consumers in connection with its proposed acquisition of Tracfone. The commitments are part of a deal with public-interest groups and communications workers unions, who have agreed to support the acquisition on the basis of today’s announcement.For its part of the deal, Verizon pledges to continue to provide Tracfone’s Lifeline subsidy programs for at least three years after the merger closes. Verizon is also promising to offer a subsidized 5G program for low-income Tracfone users. According to the Communication Workers of America (CWA), over 1.7 million Tracfone customers depend on the Lifeline program.The CWA, Public Knowledge, and the Benton... Continue reading…

Hummingbird’s second-generation electric bike gets a lot right Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has banned a company that sold Android users’ location data for COVID-19 mapping and other purposes, Motherboard reports. SafeGraph was one of several companies that collected geolocation records through plug-ins in other Android apps, then aggregated it for organizations including The New York Times and Centers for Disease Control.According to Motherboard, Google told developers in June that they had to remove SafeGraph’s software development kit within seven days. Motherboard says it’s not clear whether SafeGraph is still collecting any data from Android apps, and The Verge has reached out to Google and SafeGraph to confirm.SafeGraph’s ban follows an earlier crackdown on location-collecting apps. In December 2020, Google and... Continue reading…

Image: ToneStone ToneStone is an app designed to make producing music easy, even for users without any musical experience, and it’s created by people who worked on Guitar Hero and Left 4 Dead. Even though the app is officially being announced today, it’s still in closed beta, and there’s a waitlist for those who want to try it out. As a music production hobbyist, ToneStone’s interface and game-like features very much seem like my kind of jam, based on videos I’ve seen of the app and my conversation with founder Greg LoPiccolo.If you’ve never heard of LoPiccolo, you’ve probably heard of games he helped make. He worked at Harmonix, the studio that made music-based games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Another ToneStone founder is Tom Leonard, who has... Continue reading…

Photo: Nickelodeon It’s been some time since we’ve heard news about Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but today the streaming company is finally revealing details: namely, the cast for some major roles. The show will feature Gordon Cormier (The Stand) as Aang, Kiawentiio (Beans) as Katara, Ian Ousley (13 Reasons Why) as Sokka, and Dallas Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings) as Zuko.The live-action adaptation was first announced in 2018 and ran into some trouble last year when Avatar creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko stepped away from the project citing creative differences with Netflix. “I realized I couldn’t control the creative direction of the series, but I could control how I responded,” D... Continue reading…

Microsoft has been the subject of many memes about its Xbox naming decisions in recent years. The Xbox Series X follows the Xbox One X, and the Xbox Series S is the successor to the Xbox One S, and before that there was the Xbox One. That’s led to the internet making memes about one Xbox One X box, and a series of Xbox Series X boxes. After many Xbox box memes, Microsoft has now started openly mocking its Xbox naming decisions.In a video on Instagram, Microsoft has made its own Xbox box meme, which includes an Xbox Series X, an Xbox Series X box, an ex-boxed Xbox Series X next to its box, a series of ex-boxed Xbox Series X next to their boxes, and a series of ex-boxed Xbox Series X next to their boxes in the shape of an X. Dizzy yet?

Good looks, but average performance Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge This week was supposed to be the first day of Google’s big reentry into flagship smartwatches. Samsung is back on board after years of Tizen-based wearables, with its new Galaxy Watch 4 that runs the new, revitalized Wear OS 3. It’s the smartwatch OS that merges the best of Google and Samsung’s discrete platforms together.But there was just one issue: Google was strangely absent from the proceedings. In fact, aside from a few oblique mentions of working with Google on the software, you might have watched Samsung’s whole presentation and not even caught that the new watches were running on Wear OS at all.On the one hand, this is extremely par for the course for Samsung. It’s practically a running gag at this point that Samsung goes... Continue reading…

The Honor Magic 3 Pro. | Image: Honor Honor has announced its first flagship smartphones since being sold off by former parent company Huawei: the Magic 3 series. The lineup consists of three phones, the Magic 3, Magic 3 Pro, and Magic 3 Pro Plus. They’re coming first to mainland China, but Honor says they’re getting a global release at a later date.When they launch globally, the phones will come with Google’s apps and services, which Honor wasn’t previously able to include while a subsidiary of Huawei due to US sanctions. It should make the Magic 3 series much more competitive outside of China compared to Honor’s recent Huawei-era phones, which had to rely on Huawei’s own services and AppGallery to download software. This setup came with significant drawbacks. ... Continue reading…

With decent sound and a stable connection, the Elite 65t were once our go-to alternative to the AirPods. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales It seems like the market for true wireless earbuds becomes more and more crowded each week, with products like Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 and Nothing Ear 1s being two of the latest contenders to jump into the already-burgeoning field. And while the Jabra Elite 65t are beginning to show their age in comparison and are by no means top of the field, they’re still a great pair of earbuds with enjoyable sound and a customizable fit, not to mention a two-year warranty that covers any potential damage they may sustain from prolonged exposure to sweat or dust. Normally $80, you can pick up the copper-black model at Best Buy for $50, slightly more than their best price. Read our review.When talking TV recommendations with the rest of The Verge s... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Reddit, the self-declared ‘front page of the internet,’ says it is now valued at more than $10 billion after raising an additional $410 million in funding, with the final round expected to grow to up to $700 million. The company continues to build and sanitize its business, removing racist, misogynist, and otherwise controversial communities, as it prepares to go public at some point in the future.“We are still planning on going public, but we don’t have a firm timeline there yet,” Reddit’s co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman told The New York Times in an interview. “All good companies should go public when they can.”The company previously raised $250 million in funding earlier this year for a valuation of $6 billion. But Huffman told the... Continue reading…

Google is adding a bunch of new features to Google Meet, making it easier for users to control and direct meetings. However, exactly which controls will be available depends on whether you are using Meet as a regular user or as part of a Google Workspace team.The main update is that all users will now be able to assign up to 25 co-hosts per meeting, who will have access to host controls. This will let them limit who can share their screen and send chat messages, as well as mute all participants with a single click, end the meeting, and control who can enter the meeting (though this last feature is only available to certain Google Workspace versions). Previously, assigning co-hosts was only available to Google Workspace for Education... Continue reading…

Image: Spotify Spotify’s updated Wear OS app is releasing “over the coming weeks,” Spotify has announced, and it’ll support offline playback on smartwatches running Wear OS 2.0 and up. The new functionality was announced in May alongside the news of Google’s collaboration with Samsung on the next-generation of the wearable operating system, Wear OS 3.The fact that offline downloads will be available on Wear OS 2 means that it’s not exclusive to upcoming Wear OS 3 watches like Samsung’s recently announced Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. Spotify says it should work on watches from the likes of Fossil, Mobvoi, and Suunto. Meanwhile Google’s new YouTube Music Wear OS app, which also supports offline listening, is exclusive to Wear OS 3.S... Continue reading…

Roboute Guilliman, primarch of the Ultramarines, takes on the Black Legion. | Image: Games Workshop Games Workshop is preparing to launch Warhammer Plus, a niche subscription streaming service for fans of the sprawling, lore-dense Warhammer universe (or rather, universes: the sci-fi world of Warhammer 40,000, and fantasy setting of Warhammer Age of Sigmar). The company now says Warhammer Plus will not only be available on iOS and Android through a number of dedicated apps, but also on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku services.The launch comes at a rather awkward time for Games Workshop, given that some fans are currently boycotting the firm after a recent change to its intellectual property policy. Warhammer 40k in particular has an extremely vocal and active fanbase (check out r/Grimdank for a taste) that produce memes, cosplays,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Zoom has announced a new Focus mode, which it says is meant to keep students from getting distracted while in a virtual classroom, while still allowing the teacher to keep an eye on everybody. When activated, Focus mode will make it so that a meeting’s participants won’t be able to see each other’s videos or screen shares, while the host is still able to see everyone’s webcams. It provides some of the control found in Webinar mode, without the complexity and lack of flexibility that comes with it — for instance, a teacher could turn on Focus mode while presenting, and then turn it off when it’s time for a class discussion. And, while hosting a Webinar costs money, Focus mode appears to be available to free accounts, based on my testing.T... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Three prominent Blizzard employees have been let go from the company, as first reported by Kotaku, marking the latest departures from the studio following a major sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the state of California. Diablo 4 game director Luis Barriga, lead designer Jesse McCree, and World of Warcraft designer Jonathan LeCraft are not employed at Blizzard anymore, according to Kotaku. Activision Blizzard confirmed the departures in a statement to The Verge after we published this story, but declined to comment on whether or not Barriga, McCree, and LeCraft were fired.“We have a deep, talented roster of developers already in place and new leaders have been assigned where appropriate,” a Blizzard spokesperson said. “We are... Continue reading…

Lordstown Motors is looking to essentially loan out some space at the massive former General Motors factory it owns, as the troubled startup gets closer to building its first production-quality Endurance pickup trucks later this year. Interim CEO Angela Strand shared Wednesday that Lordstown is in “serious discussions... with several potential partners” who may build vehicles or do other types of work at the plant alongside the startup — meaning the startup could act like a sort of WeWork for manufacturing.“This is a critical strategic pivot for us, a decision that we believe will lead to significant new revenue opportunities for Lordstown at the same time as production of the Endurance is ramping up,” Strand said.“Our current... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Today, Twitch has issued a statement announcing the steps it’s taking to protect its marginalized streamers.“We’ve seen a lot of conversation about botting, hate raids, and other forms of harassment targeting marginalized creators,” Twitch writes. “You’re asking us to do better, and we know we need to do more to address these issues.”Twitch says it’s identified “a vulnerability in our proactive filters, and have rolled out an update to close this gap and better detect hate speech in chat.” It also says it will implement more safety features in the coming weeks, including improvements to the account verification process and ban evasion detection tools.This statement is in response to the hashtag #twitchdobetter, which was an effort... Continue reading…