The Verge

PCWorld has confirmed that Nvidia is planning on releasing stock of GTX 1050 Ti and RTX 2060 GPUs to its board partners in an attempt to deal with the stock shortages and sky-high prices of its newer 30-series cards. At the moment, it’s not just new cards that people are having trouble getting their hands on — it’s any modern graphics card at all.While the GPUs that Nvidia is planning on releasing were meant to be affordable when they first launched, they’re certainly not now. The GTX 1050 Ti cost $139 when it launched in October 2016, but when I went looking for them on Newegg and Amazon, I found that Newegg itself only had one model in stock (which it was selling for $189), and third-party sellers were asking for $250, $340, and even... Continue reading…

Medium workers have announced they’re forming a union with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 9410. The Medium Workers Union says more than 70 percent of eligible employees have already signed cards in support, currently representing 140 workers across editorial, engineering, design, and product, according to CNN.The organization plans to negotiate a contract for its members. Right now, it’s asking Medium to voluntarily recognize the union. If the company refuses, the union can force recognition through the National Labor Relations Board as long as a majority of employees vote in favor of unionization.The Medium Workers Union is not putting out a list of demands and says it didn’t organize around a single issue. “We’re... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Beginning next week, Twitter will add labels to the personal accounts of heads of state as it expands its policy on government-affiliated accounts, the company said Thursday. The labels are meant to provide context for users to “have a more informed experience on Twitter,” according to a blog post from Twitter Support.This appears to be a change from an earlier position when the company said it would not label the personal accounts of heads of state since such accounts already have “widespread name recognition, media attention, and public awareness.”

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the creators and showrunners of HBO’s Game of Thrones, have a new project in the works with Netflix that will see the duo team up with actor Hugh Jackman to executive produce an adaptation of the 2018 novel The Overstory. The novel, from author Richard Powers, is a work of environmental fiction centered on the lives of a group of individuals and how their experiences relate to a distinct set of trees and the movement to preserve and protect nature.Benioff and Weiss inked a deal with Netflix in 2019 worth a reported $250 million to bring new shows to the platform. The Overstory adaptation will be the duo’s third after an adaptation of Liu Cixin’s sci-fi trilogy The Remembrance of Earth’s Past (perhaps... Continue reading…

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images NASA chose SpaceX’s heavy-lift Falcon Heavy rocket to launch the first two elements of the agency’s Lunar Gateway, a planned outpost orbiting the moon. The two Gateway pieces, a propulsion module and astronaut living quarters, were originally designed to launch separately, but NASA picked SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy as a one-trip solution for $332 million.Falcon Heavy, SpaceX’s strongest operational rocket, will send both Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and its Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) to space as one integrated payload “no earlier than May 2024,” NASA said in a statement Tuesday night. NASA originally planned to have the PPE, built by Maxar, and HALO, built by Northrop Grumman, mate in space after launching atop... Continue reading…

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Google hasn’t updated many of its iOS apps in weeks, perhaps to avoid potential criticism from what might be revealed from Apple’s new mandatory App Store privacy labels. But now, some of Google’s own iOS apps seem to be complaining about the wait: we’re now seeing confusing notices inside Gmail, Google Maps and Google Photos saying that the apps are out of date — even though there aren’t newer versions of the apps available (via Techmeme editor Spencer Dailey).To see the notice, you have to be logging into your account — so if you’re already logged in, you might not see it. After you type in your email address, you might see this warning message: “You should update this app. The version you’re using doesn’t include the latest security... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge By now, you’ve probably heard the theoretically scary story of how hackers managed to infiltrate the computer systems at a water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Florida and remotely control the chemical levels — but it turns out that description gives the hackers far, far too much credit.The reality? The water treatment plant itself left off-the-shelf remote control software on these critical computers — and apparently never, ever bothered to change the password.An official cybersecurity advisory about the incident from the state of Massachusetts (via Ars Technica) explains that the SCADA control system was accessed via TeamViewer, the kind of remote desktop application an IT administrator might roll out to remotely troubleshoot... Continue reading…

Toyota will finally introduce its first mass-market all-electric vehicles in the United States later this year, the world’s leading automaker announced Wednesday, though it offered no further details about vehicle type or pricing.Toyota has previously said it’s developing an electric SUV on a new flexible platform that can power multiple EVs, following in the footsteps of Volkswagen, General Motors, and others. The two new EVs will be announced alongside an unspecified Toyota hybrid.“We continue to be leaders in electrification that began with our pioneering introduction of the Prius nearly 25 years ago,” Bob Carter, Toyota North America’s executive vice president of sales, said in a statement. “Toyota’s new electrified product... Continue reading…

Wearing a mask is one of the easiest things individual people can do to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is partnering with WarnerMedia in the hopes that fan-favorite characters like Harry Potter, Wonder Woman, the Joker, and Imperator Furiosa can convince people to mask up.The ad, which was created by a partnership between WarnerMedia, the Ad Council, and the CDC, features a wide variety of WarnerMedia characters from iconic films — but with digitally inserted masks. Whether it’s heroes (like members of the Fellowship of the Ring or the Justice League) or villains (like the Joker doing his iconic stair dance), everyone masks up. Even the murderous clown demon... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Security researcher Alex Birsan has found a security vulnerability that allowed him to run code on servers owned by Apple, Microsoft, PayPal, and over 30 other companies (via Bleeping Computer). The exploit is also deviously simple, and it’s something that many large software developers will have to figure out how to protect themselves from.The exploit takes advantage of a relatively simple trick: replacing private packages with public ones. When companies are building programs, they often use open-source code written by other people, so they’re not spending time and resources solving a problem that’s already solved. For example, I’ve worked on websites that had to convert text files to webpages in real time. Instead of writing code to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge You should change your Slack password if you used the app on Android, according to an email sent out by the company and published by Android Police. Apparently, from December 21st to January 21st, the Android version of the Slack app would store users’ credentials in plain text, which theoretically means any other apps on your phone could have access to them.If you’ve got the popular communications tool installed on your Android phone, the first thing you’ll want to do is update to the latest version from the Play Store since changing your password won’t do any good if you’re still running the old version. Then, if you got the email from Slack, you can click on the link to change your password. Otherwise, you’ll have to reset your... Continue reading…

Rep. Tom Emmer tunes into a House Financial Services markup upside down. Like plenty of other congressional committees this week, the House Financial Services Committee met Wednesday to press forward on the latest pandemic relief package. Unlike those other committees, however, this one had the floating head of an upside-down congressman.It’s not unusual for lawmakers to appear virtually for committee hearings much anymore due to the coronavirus pandemic. But it is unusual for them to stream in as a bodiless apparition. Asking to speak during Wednesday’s hearing, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) appeared flipped upside-down while making a standard statement on the underlying measure.“Mr. Emmer, are you okay?” Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) asked.“I am,” Emmer responded. “I don’t know what happened. It just came... Continue reading…

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images People who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and don’t have any symptoms don’t have to quarantine if they’re exposed to someone with the disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in new guidelines released today. They should still follow other public health guidelines, like wearing a mask.Someone is considered fully vaccinated if it has been more than two weeks since they’ve received the second dose of a two-dose vaccine or a dose of a single-dose vaccine.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The hackers who targeted video game developer CD Projekt Red (CDPR) with a ransomware attack are now auctioning off the stolen source code they acquired for a payday of potentially millions of dollars.The breach, which CDPR first disclosed yesterday after learning of it on Monday of this week, involved critical game code related to high-profile releases like The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. CDPR said at the time that it had no intention of meeting the hackers’ demands, even if that meant stolen material from the hack began circulating online.That has now started to happen, it appears. Earlier today, leaks of potentially legitimate source code information started appearing on online forums, as noted on Twitter by the cybersecurity... Continue reading…

Asus Is there anything worse than repeatedly dropping the super tiny screw that lets you install an M.2 solid-state drive in your PC? Yes, but it’s definitely up there on the list — and now, Asus has a solution.It’s called the Q-Latch, and it’s about as simple as it gets: a plastic retaining lever that you can rotate into place with the single swipe of your thumb. You can get one in several of Asus’ new Z590 and B560 motherboards, though it hasn’t rolled out to the company’s most expensive boards yet, as PCGamesN notes.

Photo by John Keeble/Getty Images Demand for Pokémon cards has been high the last few weeks as the series celebrates its 25th anniversary. To accommodate the high demand, The Pokémon Company announced today that it will be reprinting trading cards.The Pokémon Company released a statement on its support page that it is “aware that some fans are experiencing difficulties purchasing certain Pokémon trading card products due to a very high demand and global shipping constraints impacting g availability,” while also confirming that it is reprinting impacted products at “maximum capacity.”

Its quad-core CPU and low-powered RTX 3070 are great for efficiency but not intensive tasks Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has refused an order from the Indian government to block certain Twitter accounts, including ones from politicians, activists, and journalists that were critical of the government’s response to a protest carried out in the country’s capital in January.In a blog post on Wednesday, Twitter explained that, while it has started blocking some accounts, it has “not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians” because it believes doing so would “violate their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law.”Starting at the beginning of February, the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has sent orders to Twitter to block a number of accounts and... Continue reading…

Photo: HP HP announced today that it has refreshed its Pavilion x360 line of 14- and 15-inch convertible laptops, making them smaller, lighter, and more geared toward streaming entertainment. The 15-inch version is available today. With an 11th Gen Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB of memory, and 256GB of storage, it starts at $750. The 14-inch version will be available later this spring; no pricing was available.In view of marketing to “Gen Z” during a streaming-heavy pandemic, HP says it has optimized the new line for entertainment. The bezels have been reduced — something you’ll likely appreciate when watching videos — and HP has included a simplified version of its Omen Gaming Hub, which allows you to customize your keystrokes, lighting, and other... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A new bill introduced in the North Dakota Senate might have far-reaching consequences for app store operators. The bill, Senate Bill 2333, seeks to ban stores like Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store from mandating developers only use those app stores and their respective in-app payment systems. It also bans retaliation against developers in the event they choose an alternative distribution channel or payment system.“The purpose of the bill is to level the playing field for app developers in North Dakota and protect customers from devastating, monopolistic fees imposed by big tech companies,” said Sen. Kyle Davison (R-Fargo), who introduced the bill before a Senate committee on Tuesday, told reporters in a press conference... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook, a company known for ripping its ideas from competitors, has reportedly set its sights on social audio. The New York Times reports today that the company is working on a copycat of Clubhouse, the buzzy invite-only social audio startup. The Times reports the product is in the “early stages of development,” so it’s unclear if and when it might launch.The news comes only five days after CEO Mark Zuckerberg joined Clubhouse and participated in a room to talk about the future of augmented and virtual reality. His presence on the app was shocking, given it’s a new social network, so the fact that Facebook might now be cloning Clubhouse is no surprise. The company has already done so with multiple other apps, including, most... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google’s News Showcase, a program wherein the search giant pays to curate news content from publishers, has launched in the UK and Argentina. In the UK, the service covers over 120 publications, while 40 Argentinian publications have signed up. For readers, the service includes the ability to access select paywalled content for free. News Showcase launched in Germany and Brazil last year, and Australia last week, and now includes content from over 450 publications worldwide.In the UK, publications available through the service include Reuters, the Financial Times, The Independent, the New Statesman, and The Telegraph, while Argentinian publications include Clarín, La Nación, and Perfil. An FAQ from Google notes that publishers are paid... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram is toughening its stance on hate speech in direct messages. The company announced today that it’ll start disabling the accounts of people who repeatedly send hateful messages. First-time offenders won’t be able to send messages for an undefined period of time, but if they send hateful messages again, their account will be disabled.“We’ll also disable new accounts created to get around our messaging restrictions, and will continue to disable accounts we find that are created purely to send abusive messages,” an Instagram blog post states.Instagram’s hate speech policy bans attacks on people based on protected characteristics, including race or religion, as well as “more implicit forms of hate speech,” like content depicting... Continue reading…

The FitBit Charge 4 gets a healthy feature boost with a new update | Image: FitBit Fitbit is offering a major update for some of its current smartwatches. As detailed by Wareable, the company is making new health data available to Charge 4 users and expanding access to previously paywalled information to more users. Fitbit, recently acquired by Google, continues its trend of supporting devices well after launch with feature updates and fixes to keep them fresh.With the update, Charge 4 users will be able to access blood oxygen readings on the watchface, information that was previously available only through the app in sleep data. The update also adds skin temperature data to the Charge 4, which wasn’t offered previously on this device at all.Owners of the Charge 4, Versa 2, and Inspire 2 also gain access to Health... Continue reading…

David Santiago/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images A US appeals court has ruled that Customs and Border Protection agents can conduct in-depth searches of phones and laptops, overturning an earlier legal victory for civil liberties groups. First Circuit Judge Sandra Lynch declared that both basic and “advanced” searches, which include reviewing and copying data without a warrant, fall within “permissible constitutional grounds” at the American border.Lynch ruled against a group of US citizens and residents objecting to invasive searches of their electronic devices. The group includes Sidd Bikkannavar, a NASA scientist who was detained and pressured to unlock a secure government-issued phone. Most of the incidents date to 2017, when then-President Donald Trump pushed for tighter border... Continue reading…

Tianwen-1’s first image of Mars, captured Feb. 5 | China National Space Administration China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft successfully rolled into Mars orbit Wednesday morning, the China National Space Administration confirmed. The probe’s arrival makes China the sixth space-faring power to reach the planet. It’s also the second country this month to celebrate its first Mars mission, arriving a day after the UAE’s Hope orbiter entered Martian orbit Tuesday morning.Tianwen-1, which translates to “questions to heaven” or “questioning the heavens,” is a five-ton bundle of a rover, lander, and orbiter that launched from Wenchang in south China in July last year. China was one of three countries to use a narrow, roughly two-month window to launch spacecraft to Mars as it closely aligned with Earth in their orbits around the Sun — an... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Former President Donald Trump will not be returning to Twitter at any point in the future, according to the company’s chief financial officer. In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box program on Wednesday, Twitter CFO Ned Segal said that running for public office again would not reverse the ban the company handed out to Trump in the aftermath of the US Capitol riot on January 6th.The question is relevant considering Trump’s ongoing impeachment trial. A central question in the trial is whether Democrats can bar Trump from running for president again in 2024 or seeking other public office. Regardless of the outcome, the @realDonaldTrump will still remain suspended for good, Segal said.

Image: Rebecca Black Rebecca Black has released a 10th anniversary remix of her viral hit “Friday.” Yes, somehow, the original song came out 10 years ago, and I have never felt so old. The original song came out on February 10th, 2011, which weirdly means this new version of “Friday” happens to be released on a Wednesday morning.The original “Friday” was honestly kind of iconic for me. I was a senior in college when it came out, and I remember hearing it pretty much everywhere I went on weekends — especially on Fridays.The remix, which features 3OH!3, Big Freedia, and Dorian Electra, is a bit too busy and dance-y for me, though. The original’s generic-sounding pop-rock vibe is part of what made it so great, and I feel like this remix loses that.And yes,... Continue reading…

Photo by Erin Schaff for The Verge Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) put out a new bill Wednesday that would overhaul the US’s crumbling unemployment benefits systems.Over the last year, outdated state unemployment systems have kept jobless Americans from accessing the increased benefits approved by the federal government to curb the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Wyden’s new $500 million plan would create standardized tools for states that choose to adopt them. The Department of Labor would be in charge of creating these tools with the help of outside tech experts.“Many states have been unable to get benefits out the door in a timely manner”“While enhanced jobless benefits have enabled millions and millions of families to pay the rent and buy groceries, many... Continue reading…

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis receives the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. | Photo by YANNIS KOLESIDIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Vaccine selfies — vaxxies, if you will — abound as more people are vaccinated against COVID-19 every day. People are anxiously awaiting their turn to get the jab, perhaps so anxiously that they forget to think about what’s best to wear for the event.One of the most recent vaxxies to make the rounds is of the French minister of health. He’s wearing a typically boring dress shirt, but it’s completely unbuttoned as his bare arm is stuck. He gazes solemnly into the middle distance as he tastefully conceals his nipple with the shirt.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge HBO Max is bringing back Clone High, the animated series from Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Bill Lawrence that originally ran for one season starting in 2002. It was essentially a parody of typical high school dramas, but one set at a school for the clones of historical figures like Cleopatra and Gandhi. HBO calls the new version “a modern refresh of the hit series” and says that all three creators are on board. The show is being produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and Erica Rivinoja, a writer on the first season who also worked on the sequel to Borat, will serve as showrunner.Lord and Miller have been on a roll in recent years, working on films like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie, and serving... Continue reading…

Image: Psyonix Rocket League developer Psyonix announced today it's partnering with an auto company to add an actual truck into the game. Sadly, no, it is not the Tesla Cybertruck. It's the Ford F-150. A Rocket League-themed F-150 will be available for a limited time, beginning February 20th until February 28th.The Ford F-150 RLE bundle will be available in the item shop with its own tab and costs 1,500 credits. The bundle includes the Ford F-150 RLE (pictured below), a set of standard and special edition wheels, boost, audio engine, player banner, and decal, all of which are themed after the special edition pickup truck.As someone who enjoys pickup trucks, I am crying tears of joy because I can use one in Rocket League. There is something... Continue reading…

Epic Games has announced a new, browser-based software tool powered by its Unreal Engine called the MetaHuman Creator that can craft highly realistic human faces and help power more realistic body movements and facial animations. Epic provided a sneak peek at the platform today in a pair of YouTube videos showing off examples of creations built using the MetaHuman Creator, and “metahuman” appears to be the term the company is using to describe this brand of virtual, non-real individual.Epic says the MetaHuman Creator can be used in conjunction with modern motion capture and animation techniques for creating lifelike movements and human interactions scenes built for video games, film, TV, and other formats. The company says these... Continue reading…

Redwall, Brian Jacques’ fantasy novels about heroic anthropomorphic animals, is coming to Netflix in a new film and TV show. The company announced on Twitter that Over the Garden Wall creator Patrick McHale is helming the project. The movie will be based on the series’s first book, Redwall, while the TV show will tackle the story of Martin the Warrior.Jacques, who died in 2011, published Redwall in 1986. The book follows a young mouse monk, Matthias, as he defends Redwall Abbey from an invading rodent army. Matthias’ story is deeply linked to Martin’s, a legendary warrior whom he idolizes. Although Redwall has been previously made into a TV show, Variety reports that the Netflix deal is the first time the same company has held rights... Continue reading…

Starting at $329, Apple’s most affordable iPad model comes at a very attractive price — but if you have been holding off in the hopes of buying it at an even better price, your patience has paid off. At Amazon and Walmart (in select colors), you can buy a 32GB model for $299; you can also get it for $300 at Best Buy. This is the lowest price we have seen for this model to date. If you need a little bit more storage, you can grab the 128GB model at Best Buy for $380.While its design looks similar to its predecessor, the 2020 iPad model features a faster A12 Bionic processor.Over at OnePlus’ website, now until February 17th, the company has a few discounts going. Most notably, you can grab an unlocked OnePlus 8 Pro with 12GB of RAM... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Nearly five months after it was announced, a proposed hosting deal between Oracle and TikTok is on permanent hold, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The deal has been “shelved indefinitely” pending a broader review of the Trump administration’s China policy, says the Journal, citing sources familiar with the situation.Oracle announced in September that it was planning to take over as TikTok’s “trusted tech partner” for the United States as part of a broader arrangement by the Trump White House. But the deal was widely criticized as a “glorified hosting deal” that did little to resolve underlying concerns about Chinese government influence over the platform.The Trump White House had pushed hard for a deal between TikTok... Continue reading…

The latest absurd YouTube video to do the rounds is that of a lawyer named Rod Ponton who accidentally attended a civil hearing on Zoom wearing a cat filter (and couldn’t figure out how to turn it off).While we’re not absolutely sure where Mr. Ponton’s filter came from (according to an article from the BBC, it’s an old app called Live Cam Avatar that used to be preinstalled on some Dell computers), there is at least one app out there called Snap Camera that will let you turn yourself into a variety of on-camera creatures. While it doesn’t provide the exact cat head the lawyer found himself wearing, it does let you add a wide range of effects, backgrounds, and distortions, some of which are downright nightmarish. (My favorite is the one... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge I.Blocking is having a moment.Last month, Tracy Chou announced that she had raised a little under $1.5 million to launch Block Party, an anti-harassment startup that helps people filter abuse out of their social media experiences. On Monday, Block the New York Times, a tool to block 800 Times reporters on Twitter at once, materialized via a satirical website.Meanwhile, the unique blocking mechanics of the audio social network Clubhouse — and their enthusiastic use by the platform’s lead investors — have raised questions about whether people in positions of power should be blocking to avoid public scrutiny.Behind all these stories, I think, is a kind of despair over what public social networks have done to public debate. Context... Continue reading…

Ever since the open green fields of Super Mario 64, Nintendo has experimented with the best way to transport Mario into three dimensions. From the bite-sized planetoids of Galaxy to the hakoniwa-inspired worlds of Odyssey, the Kyoto game maker has never settled on just one formula. Mario’s side-scrolling adventures largely all worked the same, but in 3D, players never knew what to expect.That’s part of what made Super Mario 3D World so beloved when it launched on the Wii U in 2013. It took the familiar level-based gameplay of classic two-dimensional Super Mario games and fused it with the more expansive 3D gameplay, building off of the portable-only Super Mario 3D Land. Plus, it let Mario dress up as an adorable cat for the first time.I... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook plans to test how people respond to seeing fewer posts about politics in the News Feed. Starting this week, Facebook will “temporarily reduce” political posts for a “small percentage” of people in Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia, with a test in the US following some weeks later. The tests will continue for the next few months.The experiment comes in response to feedback Facebook has (somehow just now) heard that “people don’t want political content to take over their News Feed,” Aastha Gupta, product management director at Facebook, wrote in a blog post this morning. The goal is to improve the News Feed by “finding a new balance of the content people want to see.”Users “don’t want politics and fighting to take over their... Continue reading…

Relax, Ikea’s wooden gamer hand is here to take care of your gaming gear. | Image: Ikea In an ideal world, we’d always keep a hand free to protect our precious gaming gear. But for those times when you’re busy, Ikea has released a ¥129.00 (around $20) wooden hand to act as a caretaker — one of dozens of new gaming products just launched in China. As Ikea explains it, the Lånespelare accessories stand (or the Gaming Hand, as we’ll be calling it) “takes care of cables, headsets and other gadgets that you want tidied away, yet still have within reach.” Sounds, uh, handy?Ikea’s Gaming Hand is part of the company’s recently announced lineup of gaming furniture and accessories, which it says was developed in collaboration with Asus’s Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand. There are over 30 products in the range, which include... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is working with TSMC to develop ultra-thin and energy-efficient micro OLED displays for its upcoming augmented reality devices, Nikkei Asia is reporting. The R&D project is said to be in a trial production stage, focusing on displays that are smaller than one inch in size and “several years” away from commercialization. Apple is also said to be developing MicroLED displays at the same Apple lab in Taiwan.According to Nikkei, the micro OLED displays in development are able to be so thin and compact because they’re built directly onto chip wafers, rather than glass like traditional OLED or LCD screens. News of the project follows reports that Apple has both VR and AR headsets in development. It could release its first VR headset... Continue reading…

Nintendo has announced the next SNES and NES games coming to its Switch Online service. Depending on your perspective, the selection shines a light on some underappreciated gems or demonstrates that you probably shouldn’t expect any more big-name third-party titles to appear in the library. Possibly both.Here’s the list of games:

The new reporting interface in Apple Maps. Apple is bringing accident, hazard, and speed check reporting to Apple Maps. The feature is currently only available to users with the iOS 14.5 beta, and is similar to user-reporting features found in Waze and Google Maps.When you’re using the feature, you (or preferably a passenger) can press a new Report button in the bottom tray, and select what type of incident or hazard you’re reporting. You can even do this using Siri: I was also able to say “there’s a speed trap here” or “there’s something on the road.” MacRumors shows that the interface is available on the CarPlay version of Maps, too. Screenshot: The Verge Apple Maps will give you a confirmation that your report has been submitted. This user-centric... Continue reading…

Apple has launched a new, free battery replacement program for 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pros that won’t charge past one percent. The issue affects “a very small number of customers,” according to Apple.If your battery is affected, you’ll see a “Service Recommended” message when checking the battery health status. “If the status indicates that your battery is Normal, your battery is not affected by this issue,” Apple says.To get the battery replacement started, contact Apple support. The company will examine your Mac prior to servicing it to “verify that it is eligible for the free battery replacement,” Apple says.Earlier on Tuesday, Apple released macOS Big Sur 11.2.1, which is also intended to help fix charging issues with some 2016 and... Continue reading…

Image: Satechi Satechi has launched a double-sided charger that can wirelessly charge an Apple Watch or AirPods — but not both at once — while hopefully saving you from the added clutter of extra cables. The Satechi USB-C Watch AirPods Charger features a Qi charging pad shaped like an AirPods Pro charging case on one side, and a charging “puck” for an Apple Watch on the other. The charger is available now, exclusively from Apple for $49.95.Satechi’s new charger has an aluminum build, white finish, and a small charging indicator light that fits right in with Apple’s minimalist product design. Because of the reversible nature of USB-C, switching between Apple Watch and AirPods charging only requires pulling the charger out, flipping it over, and... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey imagines a future where you get to choose what you see on social media by picking out your favorite recommendation algorithm, rather than relying on a single controlling company to get it exactly right.On a call with investors today, Dorsey expanded on his vision of how a decentralized social network might work — and why Twitter would want to create a network that’s beyond the control of itself or any other company. Dorsey said Twitter would benefit by having access to “a much larger corpus of conversation” from which it can surface relevant content to users. “That’s where we will be competitive,” he said.“That is something that not only we can host but we can participate in.”Dorsey said Twitter is “excited to... Continue reading…

The original Prepear logo, compared to Apple’s. Last August, the routine story of a trademark opposition captured the world’s imagination, when Apple declared that Super Healthy Kids (yes, that’s the real name of a company) shouldn’t be allowed to trademark its pear logo because it might “cause dilution of the distinctiveness” of Apple’s own famous fruit-shaped intellectual property.Six months later, the case is now settled, and it seems Apple didn’t actually have a pear-shaped problem after all — because Super Healthy Kids has agreed to change the shape of the leaf atop that pear, and Apple has agreed that’s good enough to let the trademark go forward. USPTO Prepear’s new logo has a half-moon shaped leaf, instead of the pointed oval. Apple has already... Continue reading…

Hyundai Who needs an Apple car when you’ve got one with four legs? Hyundai, which recently acquired a controlling stake in robot maker Boston Dynamics, rolled out a new version of its four-legged “walking car” concept that it first unveiled in 2019.Hyundai is calling it TIGER, which stands for “Transforming Intelligent Ground Excursion Robot.” It’s the second vehicle to come out of the automaker’s Ultimate Mobility Vehicles studio in Silicon Valley, and the first designed to be fully autonomous, with no space for drivers or passengers. It’s like a real-life Transformer, but without the “bent on world domination” vibe.It’s like a real-life Transformer, just without the “bent on world domination” vibe.In fact, Hyundai actually thinks its... Continue reading…

Tesla, led by Elon Musk, confirmed that it purchased about $ 1.5 billion in bitcoin in January and expects to start accepting it as a payment in the future. | Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images Tesla just gave bitcoin a big boost that’s likely to result in more greenhouse gas emissions from the energy-hungry cryptocurrency. After Tesla purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin and announced that it will accept bitcoin as payment in the future, the price of bitcoin reached an all-time high.The price of bitcoin reached an all-time high“It’s hard to imagine, frankly a more credible endorsement than one coming from folks like Elon [Musk] who are inventing the future,” says Garrick Hileman, head of research at crypto asset company blockchain.com and visiting fellow at the London School of Economics.When prices are high, bitcoin “mining” — creating new coins by verifying transactions — ramps up. But even though that mining happens... Continue reading…