The Verge

Roku is testing a new version of its remote control for its set-top boxes, the Roku Voice Remote Pro, which ditches the AAA batteries for a built-in rechargeable battery instead, via Zatz Not Funny.Along with the rechargeable batteries the new model — revealed by Reddit user u/KingTut206 over on the Roku subreddit — offers a few extra features, including a “lost remote finder” option and hands-free voice controls. (So you’ll be able to say something like “Hey Roku, find my remote” and have it pinged.) It also features two customizable buttons, in addition to the four pre-programed ones for streaming services that have partnered with the company. Image: u/KingTut206 / Reddit Unfortunately, the new remote charges via... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Apple released watchOS 7.3.1 on Monday, and it could help fix an issue that prevents some Apple Watch Series 5 or SE smartwatches from charging while in the battery-saving Power Reserve Mode. But even the software update might not fix the issue, according to Apple. If it doesn’t, the company will repair your watch for free.“A very small number of customers with Apple Watch Series 5 or Apple Watch SE models running watchOS 7.2 or 7.3 have experienced an issue with their watch not charging after it enters Power Reserve,” Apple says in a support document. If your Apple Watch still won’t charge after installing the update and after you put it on a charger for at least 30 minutes, the company asks that you contact Apple Support to set up a... Continue reading…

Illustrator by Alex Castro / The Verge Much of Texas has been hit by a historic winter cold front, leaving many without power and affecting internet and cell phone services in the state.Downdetector is showing spikes in user reports for T-Mobile and AT&T from Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and the surrounding areas.“We’re experiencing network issues following severe weather in several areas of the country and especially across Texas,” T-Mobile president of technology Neville Ray said in a tweet. “Our teams are working hard to restore service.”

The Nothing brand logo | Image: Nothing Nothing, the recently-launched startup from former OnePlus executive, Carl Pei, has acquired the Essential brand, according to a report from 9to5Google citing filings at the UK Intellectual Property Office. Essential, of course, was the company started by Android creator Andy Rubin after he left Google. It launched a single smartphone before shuttering its doors due to poor sales performance. Nothing’s acquisition, which was completed on January 6th, 2021, ahead of Pei’s formal announcement of Nothing, apparently includes all of the trademarks, logo, and other branding of Essential.It’s not clear what Pei’s new company plans to do with the Essential brand (or anything else for that matter; the information on what exactly Nothing’s... Continue reading…

Image: Team17 (via the PlayStation Blog) Overcooked All You Can Eat, which bundles all of the content from Overcooked and Overcooked 2 into one big package, will be released on Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam on March 23rd, developer Ghost Town Games announced on Monday. Right now, the game is only available on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, so a lot more players will be able to jump into this combined bundle with the wider release.Overcooked All You Can Eat also serves as a remaster for the games, running at 60fps and a 4K resolution. The game also has faster loading times, which I personally am happy to hear about. Levels in the Switch version of Overcooked 2 sometimes loaded frustratingly slowly.

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images The alternative social network Parler has reopened after a month offline. The company announced in a press release that the site is now accessible for users with existing accounts and will accept new signups starting next week. It’s also announced a new interim CEO: Mark Meckler, who previously cofounded the right-wing group Tea Party Patriots. The relaunch comes after Apple, Google, and Amazon suspended service in the wake of January’s attack on the US Capitol, citing violent threats on the platform.Old Parler user accounts have been restored, but old “parleys” — the site’s term for posts — don’t appear to have carried over. Some high-profile users, like Fox News host Sean Hannity, have begun posting on the new site already. The... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge UK automaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) says its Jaguar luxury brand will be all-electric by 2025. Meanwhile, its Land Rover brand will release its first all-electric vehicle in 2024, the first of six fully electric models planned for release over the next five years. JLR’s transition will be funded by a £2.5 billion (around $3.5 billion) a year investment into electrification and related technologies, Bloomberg reports.JLR’s plans are ambitious, but the automaker has previously been slow to embrace electrification. It’s only fully electric car to date is the Jaguar I-Pace SUV, which Bloomberg notes has struggled to make inroads against more established electric carmakers. Even then, the car is built by a contractor, rather than being... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is rolling out a new update for its two-factor authentication prompt on Android, which adds support for dark mode (along with a new Material Design-style look), via 9to5Google.Is this objectively a minor cosmetic update in the great scheme of things? Yes. Is it nice to not be blasted with retina-searing white light when your two-factor authentication prompt comes up while you’re trying to log into something in pitch-black darkness? Also yes. Image: 9to5Google The old (left) and new (right) two-factor authentication prompts on Android In addition to the less blinding hue, the new update also features a couple of other minor cosmetic changes, including Google’s custom Google Sans font for the UI, and... Continue reading…

Sundance Institute A New Frontier for a year at home Continue reading…

Microsoft has started testing its xCloud game streaming through a web browser. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s Xbox plans tell The Verge that employees are now testing a web version of xCloud ahead of a public preview. The service allows Xbox players to access their games through a browser, and opens up xCloud to work on devices like iPhones and iPads.Much like how xCloud currently works on Android tablets and phones, the web version includes a simple launcher with recommendations for games, the ability to resume recently played titles, and access to all the cloud games available through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Once you launch a game it will run fullscreen, and you’ll need a controller to play Xbox games streamed through the browser.... Continue reading…

The Galaxy F62 will be available in blue, grey, and green. | Image: Samsung Samsung’s Galaxy F62 is a new affordable handset that’s releasing in India on February 22nd. It features a massive 7,000mAh battery and the same Exynos 9825 processor that powered the Galaxy Note 10 back in 2019. It’s available in two variants: one with 6GB of RAM that costs ₹23,999 (around $330), and a second with 8GB of RAM that costs ₹25,999 (around $358).Around front you’ll find a 6.7-inch 1080p OLED display with a 32-megapixel selfie camera contained within a hole-punch notch, while on the back there’s a quad camera array. Here there’s a 64-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide with a 123-degree field of view, a 5-megapixel macro camera, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. There’s a side-mounted fingerprint sensor on the... Continue reading…

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Nissan has issued a statement denying that it’s in discussions to work with Apple on the US company’s long-rumored autonomous car project. Earlier today the Financial Times reported that Apple had approached the Japanese automaker about a potential partnership “in recent months.”“We are not in talks with Apple,” a Nissan spokesperson tells Reuters. “However, Nissan is always open to exploring collaborations and partnerships to accelerate industry transformation.”That statement doesn’t address whether the talks ever took place, which means it doesn’t directly contradict the Financial Times’ story. That report said that “the contact was brief and the discussions did not advance to senior management levels following divisions over... Continue reading…

The original hatchback Bolt EV is also getting a refresh Continue reading…

M. Night Shyamalan’s Old | Universal Today’s big drop was the premiere trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League which, fortunately for weekend editors everywhere, came just after 10AM ET. It comes to HBO Max March 18th.Last weekend during the Super Bowl we got a new trailer for the upcoming Disney Plus series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which premieres March 19th. Here it is in case you missed it (what, it’s possible someone missed it):There are, however, a few non-superhero shows and movies on the horizon in case you need a breather from the DC/Marvel/Disney universes (I mean I guess that’s also possible). Here’s what we got.Nomadland Frances McDormand is Fern, a houseless— not homeless, she insists— woman who leaves her home in Nevada after her husband dies,... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The developers of audio chat room app Clubhouse plan to add additional encryption to prevent it from transmitting pings to servers in China, after Stanford researchers said they found vulnerabilities in its infrastructure.In a new report, the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) said it confirmed that Shanghai-based company Agora Inc., which makes real-time engagement software, “supplies back-end infrastructure to the Clubhouse App.” The SIO further discovered that users’ unique Clubhouse ID numbers —not usernames— and chatroom IDs are transmitted in plaintext, which would likely give Agora access to raw Clubhouse audio. So anyone observing internet traffic could match the IDs on shared chatrooms to see who’s talking to each other, the... Continue reading…

With Zack Snyder’s Justice League set to release nearly a month from now, Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for the film.Set after the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice where Batman and Wonder Woman form a superhero team including Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg as the group tries to protect the world from Steppenwolf.The trailer opens with a voiceover from Lex Luthor: “The god is dead” and as expected, gives us a new look at Jared Leto’s Joker.Justice League first debuted in November 2017 in theaters. Snyder was the original director but stepped away from the project during post-production for personal reasons, leaving Joss Whedon to step in and complete the film. After its release, fans criticized the contributions... Continue reading…

DJI’s first-ever FPV (first-person-view) drone hasn’t been much of a secret for months — but an unboxing video now shows off the new quadcopter, controller and FPV goggles from practically every angle (via OsitaLV).While the prominent “NOT FOR SALE” and “DISPLAY DEMO” stickers on the box and controller suggest that some details might change before a rumored March launch, we can clearly see a set of front- and downward-facing cameras that are likely obstacle avoidance sensors, in addition to the large main camera mounted high in the drone’s shell. The battery is a tall rectangular brick that plugs right into the back, and it seems like the kit comes with both a charger and a portable power bank of some sort — though it’s... Continue reading…

Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images Mercedes-Benz USA is recalling 1.29 million vehicles because of a failure in its eCall software which may not provide a vehicle’s correct location to emergency responders after a crash, Car and Driver reported.The recall covers vehicles sold from model years 2016 to 2021 and includes CLA-Class, GLA-Class, GLE-Class, GLS-Class, SLC-Class, A-Class, GT-Class, C-Class, E-Class, S-Class, CLS-Class, SL-Class, B-Class, GLB-Class, GLC-Class, and G-Class vehicles, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.The automaker said it was unaware of any instances of material damages or personal injuries that have resulted from the issue, and plans to provide a free software update to be installed over the air or at dealerships.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has provided a bug fix to its iOS YouTube app, the first update to a major Google iOS app since December, 9to5Google reports. Although there’s been speculation that the reason for the lack of updates to iOS versions of Gmail, Docs, Search, and Photos is an attempt to avoid Apple’s new privacy labels, Google has explicitly denied that was the case. The company said in a January 12th blog post it would add the labels to its apps when updates were available:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Last year, the pseudonymous writer behind the SlateStarCodex blog abruptly shut it down, claiming a forthcoming story from The New York Times was going to reveal his real name and potentially put him in danger. Reporter Cade Metz says he was able to easily find the blogger’s real name —Scott Siskind— online. After a farewell post on the blog, Metz says he and his editor were harassed online by its angry fans. Now, Metz’s reporting on SlateStarCodex and the philosophical views that made it so popular is finally here. It’s a compelling look at the mindset among many in Silicon Valley’s tech industry.

Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, Robinhood co-CEO Vlad Tenev, and Keith Gill (aka Roaring Kitty) are all on the witness list for an upcoming hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, according to a release from Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA). The hearing, to be conducted virtually, will probe the recent volatility in shares of GameStop following a rally fueled by a group of day traders active on the r/WallStreetBets Reddit board.Over a two-week period that began last month, GameStop’s stock (GME) skyrocketed by 500 percent, hitting a high of $483 on January 28th. Several government entities are now looking into whether there was market manipulation involved, and whether Robinhood and other brokerages that temporarily restricted... Continue reading…

Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Donald Glover at the 2019 British Academy Britannia Awards | Photo by Frazer Harrison/BAFTA LA/Getty Images for BAFTA LA Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Donald Glover will star in a new Amazon Prime Video series based on the 2005 film Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The movie starred Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt as a pair of married killers-for-hire who are assigned to assassinate each other.I am trying to envision what Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag character would make of this news and whether her Mrs. Smith will make the asides to the camera that Fleabag was known for (please do). And! This not the first time the two stars have been in the same production; both were in the 2018 Disney movie Solo: A Star Wars Story, he as a young becaped Lando Calrissian and she as snarky droid L3-37.Glover made the announcement via a story on his Childish Gambino Instagram page, which was... Continue reading…

An image from the Mario Kart 64 listing on the Edge extensions store. Microsoft’s Edge extensions store was hosting likely illegal copies of a number of iconic games, including Mario Kart 64, Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Pac-Man, Tetris, Cut The Rope, and even Microsoft’s own smash hit Minecraft. The developers listed on the titles weren’t Microsoft, Nintendo, or any other recognizable game developer, meaning that they almost certainly aren’t official copies of the games.In the hours since we published this story, all but one game we found has been removed. We had also seen another Sonic game, another Mario game, a couple of Pac-Man games, and a variety of copies of 2048, Flappy Bird, Fruit Ninja, Temple Run, but they aren’t available anymore. All that remains is what appears to be a copy of... Continue reading…

Earlier this week, Netflix dropped a surprise announcement that it’s adapting author Brian Jacques’ iconic Redwall books into a new animated movie and TV franchise. Based on the 22-book children’s series that was published from 1986 through 2011, the books span generations of sword-fighting anthropomorphic mice, rabbits, badgers, and other woodland creatures living at the titular Redwall Abbey.While the show was previously made into a TV series back in the late ‘90s, it’s never been adapted with the scale (or presumably, the budget) of a Netflix feature film. Many of us here at The Verge are longtime fans of the series. Here’s how we’re taking the news.What were your initial thoughts on a Redwall adaptation?Chaim Gartenberg: I... Continue reading…

Dr. Michelle Chester, right, rolls up the sleeve of Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, before she is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, December 14th, 2020. Lindsay was one of the first people in the United States to get a dose of the newly authorized vaccine. | Photo by Mark Lennihan / Pool / Getty Images The pandemic has been anything but “the great equalizer” that some people called it when it started more than a year ago. Here in the US, COVID-19 has sickened and killed a disproportionate number of Black, Native American, and Latinx people. Vaccine rollout is proving to be inequitable, too. Black and Latinx elders in Los Angeles, for example, have been vaccinated at a lower rate than their white and Asian American counterparts.Distrust in vaccines has been a challenge across the board. But Black Americans were less inclined than other racial and ethnic groups to want to get vaccinated, according to a Pew Research Center survey from December. To fix a system that isn’t fully serving Black Americans and other people of color, “There... Continue reading…

That’s The Verge’s Chris Welch wearing Bose’s Noise Canceling Headphones 700 | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge You wouldn’t know it from looking at The Verge’s deals coverage this week, but we’ve been getting so many pitches for deals that are on because of Valentine’s Day on Sunday, February 14th, and Presidents’ Day, which is happening the following day in the US. We haven’t featured any of them because, truthfully, better deals have popped up. But below, you’ll find a mix of the holiday-themed deals you actually need to know about, along with some favorite discounts of the week that are still happening. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Bose’s refurbished headphones are $150 off until today at 10:55AM ETAt eBay, you can save 20 percent on refurbished tech by using the code PREZDAY20 at checkout. I invite you... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Earlier this month, Aaron Epstein spent $10,000 to buy an ad in The Wall Street Journal to tell AT&T’s CEO he wasn’t happy with his internet service — service that was limited to a paltry 3Mbps (via Ars Technica). Now, AT&T has him hooked up with a fiber connection, and he’s getting over 300 Mbps up and down. All it took was getting interviewed by Ars, the ad going viral on Twitter, and a Stephen Colbert mention.In his ad, the North Hollywood, CA resident says he’s been an AT&T customer for 60 years (and backs it up with a @pacbell.net email address), and says he’s disappointed that the company isn’t keeping up with competitors when it comes to his area’s internet. Less than two weeks later, AT&T techs had him hooked up, though the... Continue reading…

In 2002, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion, turning it into the way you’d buy and get paid for items you sell on the ginormous auction site. But the once-happy couple has been breaking up for years — and on Valentine’s Day, some sellers may no longer be able to sell items on eBay at all without connecting an old-school bank account instead.This morning, I received a final warning that I would need to add a bank account by February 14th or else “your ability to revise or relist existing listings, or create new listings will be disabled.” eBay tells The Verge this isn’t the deadline for every seller — it’s rolling out in phases, and a quick scan of the web shows it’s been going on for at least a couple years. This isn’t... Continue reading…

Amazon’s Ring has so many different video doorbells in the market it’s getting hard to keep track, but one of them is apparently about to get a big bump with some brand-new features: The Ring Wi-Fi Video Doorbell Pro 2 has just leaked in a listing at Best Buy Canada, as spotted by ZatzNotFunny.It appears to be a direct successor to the high-end Ring Video Doorbell Pro at the same CA$325 (roughly $250 US dollars), but also the first Ring to stream video resolution at higher than 1080p, with a 1536p “expanded Head to Toe view” that “allows you to clearly see who is at your door.” That means Amazon’s catching up to the field-of-view and resolution that Arlo’s Video Doorbell introduced in late 2019.As a Ring Video Doorbell Pro owner... Continue reading…

Photo by Daniel Slim / AFP via Getty Images You might not have to ride public transit to work right now, but if you’re one of the many workers who still commutes in New York City (or if you’re someone like me who fantasizes about their old commute), you’ll now have some new celebrity voice talent to keep you company on your bus or subway ride, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) announced Friday.Normal transit announcements can easily fade in the back of riders’ minds. They’re either too garbled to be understood or you’ve heard them so many times that they don’t even register. But that might be different if, say, Whoopi Goldberg was the one reminding you to wear a mask on the bus.At least that’s a theoretical benefit of the MTA’s new announcements rolling out today,... Continue reading…

On January 6th, the day a riot of pro-Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, Twitch removed the iconic PogChamp emote because the person it depicted made statements calling for further violence. Two days later, the company committed to rotating in a new version of PogChamp every 24 hours, meaning many streamers briefly became the new face of the emote — but they were sometimes subjected to harassment following their new site-wide prominence.On Friday, the Twitch community voted to crown a new face for PogChamp — and the winner isn’t the face of a streamer. It’s a Komodo dragon. Here’s what the emote looks like:

Nintendo Switch Mario Red & Blue Edition | Image: Nintendo Alongside the release of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury for the Nintendo Switch, several retailers have a Mario Red & Blue Edition Switch game console available for purchase. You can buy one right now at Target, while supplies last.Similar to the Animal Crossing: New Horizons-themed Switch released last year, this limited-edition console stands out from other models, with the entire Switch and its accompanying accessories based on the outfit typically worn by the mustached plumber. Retailing for $300, the limited-edition Switch features an all-red console, a red dock stand, a pair of red Joy-Cons, a red casing around the screen, and a blue Joy-Con grip.Additionally, for $300, the Mario-themed Switch also includes a screen... Continue reading…

Screenshots of the new interface shown off in 2019. | Image: VideoLAN / FOSDEM Version 4.0 of VLC, the popular cross-platform media playing software, is planned for release in the coming months, Protocol reports. The big new feature is a redesigned interface, which VideoLAN foundation president Jean-Baptiste Kempf hopes will look “a bit more modern.” Protocol also reports that the team is working on integrating more online content into the software, as well as a new way of running VLC in a webpage. It also has an IMDb competitor in the works.VLC’s developer VideoLAN gave the world a peek at what this new interface could look like way back in February 2019 at the FOSDEM conference. Screenshots released at the time show an interface that ditches the player’s dated light grey color scheme in favor of a design... Continue reading…

Dave Chappelle reclaims his namesake. | Photo By: Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images Dave Chappelle says that his long running beef with Comedy Central over rights to Chappelle’s Show is over. The surprise announcement came during a 10-minute performance titled Redemption Song posted to Chappelle’s Instagram account late Thursday night. The clip closes with news that the sketch comedy will return to Netflix starting today.Netflix began airing Chappelle’s Show on November 1st but pulled it on November 24th after the comedian complained that Comedy Central’s owner ViacomCBS licensed the show without his approval. “I called them and I told them that this makes me feel bad. And you want to know what they did,” said Chappelle in a clip posted to Instagram on the morning of November 24th. “They agreed that they would take it... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is testing a new privacy feature to its Chrome browser for iOS that can lock incognito tabs behind Face ID. Apple’s facial recognition system is used to secure an iPhone or iPad, but many apps have their own Face ID support for extra security. Google has started testing securing incognito tabs behind Face ID in its latest Chrome iOS beta, signaling that it should arrive to regular users in the coming months.Update notes for the latest Chrome 89 beta on iOS reveal that “when you return to the Chrome app, your incognito tabs will be blurred until you confirm it’s you.” You can enable this feature in the privacy section of Chrome’s settings, but it appears to be in early testing as not even every beta tester has access just yet.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has permanently suspended the account of conservative activist group Project Veritas, after the organization released a video of a reporter questioning a Facebook executive outside their home, the New York Times reports. The account of Project Veritas’s founder, James O’Keefe, was also temporarily locked.In a statement given to the NYT, Twitter said the @Project_Veritas account was suspended for “repeated violations of Twitter’s private information policy.”Twitter says it repeatedly violated its private information policyIn a statement published by Policito, O’Keefe said the offending video included footage of a reporter questioning Facebook vice president Guy Ronsen, but denied that Project Veritas had published his private... Continue reading…

It’s fair to say the PlayStation 5’s huge, two-tone industrial design is not for everyone, and now Dbrand says it has a solution. The company best known for its custom phone skins and cases has put “Darkplates” on sale, with the promise that the precisely carved slabs of plastic will turn your PS5 into a murdered-out matte-black hunk of hardware.This isn’t just an unofficial accessory — Dbrand is actively encouraging Sony to sue it for putting the product out. The background there is that a small company, first called PlateStation5 then CustomizeMyPlates, was forced to cancel and refund orders for a similar product last year following legal action from Sony. Now Dbrand’s order page reads “Go ahead, sue us” at the top.The goading... Continue reading…

Stardew Valley’s 1.5 update delighted a lot of us when it came out for PC in December, and now it’s finally arriving for consoles. The game’s developer announced on Twitter that the update should be rolling out to Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation “within the next couple of hours.” As of this writing, it is already available on the Nintendo Switch.The most notable feature in the update is local, split-screen co-op play, which seems absolutely perfect for consoles. Do I want to sit next to someone I love on the couch and build a farm together? Absolutely, yes, and now we can.The update also includes a new Advanced Options menu, new buildings, animals, and enemies, and of course a crop of bug fixes.

The Ring Video Doorbell Pro can now talk to your visitors with Alexa. | Image: Amazon Amazon is announcing that it’s adding Alexa to its Ring Video Doorbell Pro, giving it the ability to talk to people when they come to your house. The feature is called Alexa Greetings, and requires that you have a Ring Protect subscription, which starts at $3 a month. If you do, Alexa can ask your visitors what they want, and they can choose to leave a video recording as a message. If they’re a delivery person, Alexa will be able to tell them where to leave the packages — assuming the delivery person is willing to talk to your robotic doorbell.Beyond automating the process of taking video messages and directing deliveries, it’s unclear if Alexa will bring any additional functionality.The company is also announcing a Quick Replies... Continue reading…

Today Epic revealed the latest crossover for its battle royale hit, which brings the retrofuturistic world of Tron into the game.There are ten different Tron-themed skins available in the in-game store right now, and each has a removable helmet. You can also get a Light Cycle glider and an Identity Disc pickaxe. It’s not yet clear whether you’ll be able to throw it.

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Okay, screenwriters, directors, authors, and production companies — we get it. You have some experience telling stories about Wall Street, the video game industry, or social networks, and you see some mighty big dollar signs in the true tale of how Reddit managed to drive an ailing video game retailer’s stocks to completely ridiculous highs through sheer power of will plus a David versus Goliath narrative that probably doesn’t hold up under close examination.So you’re making movies — five of them — and two shows. Why not? It’s not like any one person has the rights to a news event like this!As of Thursday, February 11th:

Image: Tesla Elon Musk has said for years that he wants to offer a rocket thruster package to increase the already ludicrous speed of the second-generation Tesla Roadster. But now he says he’s considering using the thrusters to make the Roadster hover, too.“I want it to hover, and I was trying to figure out how to make this thing hover without, you know, killing people,” Musk told Joe Rogan in a new episode of of the Joe Rogan Experience released Thursday. “Maybe it can hover like a meter above the ground, or something like that. If you plummet it’ll blow out the suspension but you’re not gonna die.”It’s an extraordinary idea, and one that is sure to create a headache for safety regulators if Musk actually goes through with it when the new... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Several US government agencies are investigating the GameStop stock brouhaha to determine whether there was market manipulation involved, The Wall Street Journal reported. An enthusiastic group of day traders on Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets board encouraged each other to buy the stock and created what’s known as a short squeeze.The Department of Justice and the San Francisco US attorney are seeking information about activity surrounding GameStop’s stock by brokers and users on Reddit and other social media sites. Prosecutors have subpoenaed information from brokers, including Robinhood, where much of the trading activity occurred, the Journal reported.During a two-week period that started in January, GME rose by some 500 percent, hitting... Continue reading…

Image: LG Several of LG’s 2021 Gram laptops are now available for purchase. LG announced the new lineup earlier this year but had not yet announced pricing or availability.The models you can buy now are the Gram 14, the Gram 16, and the Gram 17. The company also has two convertible laptops — the Gram 14 2-in-1 and the Gram 16 2-in-1 — coming in mid-March. Image: LG The 14-inch convertible is coming in mid-March. The models are targeting the high-end ultraportable space, with Gram 14 configurations starting at $999. Gram 16 models start at $1,299, while the singular Gram 17 model is $1,799. This last model only comes in black, while the 16-inch and 14-inch counterparts come in white and silver as well.Gram laptops... Continue reading…

Photo by NASA/ Joel Kowsky via Getty Images NASA is planning to buy an astronaut seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft through Texas-based aerospace firm Axiom Space, according to two people familiar with the plans. The seat is a backup for NASA in case its upcoming ride with SpaceX runs into technical problems, and it suggests the agency is proceeding cautiously.The agency announced Tuesday it was weighing options to procure a Soyuz seat as a safety net to keep the International Space Station staffed with US astronauts. It’s the second time NASA has procured a Russian seat through a US-based company, following a deal with Boeing in 2017 for five Soyuz seats. This time, the deal is with Axiom – a startup that arranges private astronaut rides to space.The terms of the agreement for... Continue reading…

Maverick Sure, you can drink at home with some music on, but that doesn’t replicate the feeling of being out at a bar among friends and total strangers. As it turns out, nothing can, other than... well, being at a bar.But a project called I Miss My Bar, via belong.io, comes the closest to making me feel like I’m at my local watering hole — loud voices, street sounds, and all. The only element missing is the trademark bar scent of booze mixed with cleaning products. You know the smell.Anyway, head to I Miss My Bar, where, unlike real life, you can choose just how loud everyone is talking. You can also tweak the volume of a number of different sound effects that might make you even more nostalgic for better times, like the clinks of a bartender... Continue reading…

Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Disney Plus reached a new high of 94.9 million subscribers around the world, the company announced in its Q1 2021 earnings report. Hulu now has 39.4 million subscribers, while ESPN Plus has 12.1 million subscribers.The strong numbers for Disney Plus show a noticeable jump from the 86 million subscribers Disney announced it had reached at its investor day in December 2020. The surge in subscribers likely came from holiday streaming releases of major titles like Pixar’s Soul and the final episodes of The Mandalorian’s second season in December.Disney Plus is doing better than Disney ever imaginedIt also means that Disney has already crossed its original 90 million subscriber goal for the service — a number the company originally... Continue reading…

Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images Uber and Lyft reported their quarterly earnings this week, and while both companies are showing signs of improvement, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cast a long shadow over the overall ride-hailing business.It raises the question of how both companies, neither of which have ever turned a profit, can hope to claw their way out of the deeper financial pit in which they’ve been cast by COVID.2020 was a brutal year for Uber and LyftUber lost $968 million over the last three months, with its adjusted net revenues down 16 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. Over the entire year, the company reported a net loss of $6.7 billion, down slightly from the $8.5 billion it lost in 2019. It brought in less revenue compared to 2019... Continue reading…

Matthew Inman, the creator of The Oatmeal webcomics and popular card game Exploding Kittens, has released a free mobile word game called Kitty Letter. Inman describes it as “Scrabble combined with Clash Royale.”In the game, you swipe around letters at the bottom of your screen to spell words, which sends small armies of cats marching toward your opponent in an attempt to blow up their base. Your opponent, meanwhile, is sending armies back at you to try to blow up yours. The mechanics are easy to pick up, and everything was in reach of my thumb, so I could easily play it one-handed. A round of Kitty Letter. I played the first few levels of Kitty Letter’s story mode, which not only served as a tutorial for the game’s... Continue reading…

A leaked press render of the upcoming midrange Galaxy A52 5G. | Photo by Evan Blass Samsung may be getting closer to refreshing two popular midrange devices: the Galaxy A52 and A72. Leaked press renders and prices have popped up over the last month, and now SamMobile is reporting that the phones will get higher refresh rate screens. This is a welcome feature that’s trickling down from much pricier flagship devices; faster refresh rates make for a much slicker experience, with smoother animations and scrolling than the typical 60Hz screen offers.The A52 and A72 are both expected to sell in LTE and 5G versions; the LTE phones will allegedly have 90Hz displays, while the 5G versions get 120Hz panels. (SamMobile only indicates that the A52 5G will have the 120Hz screen, but it seems likely the A72 5G would, too.) A 90Hz... Continue reading…