The Verge

Disney has finally showed off a first look at its “real” retractable lightsaber, which the company started teasing in April, with a new video showing the saber in action — and it looks very, very cool.As rumored, the new toy lightsaber doesn’t require any awkward plastic prop blades, instead featuring a retractable light-up blade that extends out from the (otherwise fairly normal-looking) hilt — just like the crackling energy blades in the films and shows.The announcement doesn’t go into too many details on how the retractable sabers actually work, but some clever minds on the internet have managed to piece together a rough idea from Disney’s patent filings. The broad strokes are that the new blade works almost like a modified,... Continue reading…

You probably knew already that it’s May 4th, or the Star Wars-themed May the Fourth (be with you) day. Lots of retailers are discounting their Star Wars stuff, and it’s led to some of today’s best deals — that is, if you like Star Wars or are at least curious about it. Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart are offering each Star Wars film in UHD Blu-ray for $17, down from around $30. It’s a good deal if you care about owning physical copies and have a device like an Xbox One S, Series X, a PS5 with a disc drive, or just a standard 4K Blu-ray player that can get the most from this kind of disc.Each of these films also includes the film in 1080p (so it’ll work in non 4K Blu-ray players), as well as a digital code. Speaking of digital, if all you... Continue reading…

Walmart’s unannounced cloud gaming service, codenamed Project Storm, has been detailed in new confidential emails. An exhibit in the Epic Games v. Apple trial reveals Walmart’s efforts to pitch its cloud gaming service to Epic Games and get Fortnite on board.“I played Walmart’s demo on an Android phone (with an Xbox controller) and the experience felt like playing on PS4 and superior to playing on Android or iOS,” said Epic Games co-founder Mark Rein in an email thread from April 2019. Rein also excitedly shares a photo of a game clip with the rest of the Epic Games executive team, showing how Walmart was planning to sell this in stores to let a phone attach to a controller. “They’re going to sell the clip for a crazy low amount, they... Continue reading…

Image: Scroll Twitter’s acquisition spree continues today with Scroll, a $5-a-month subscription service that removes ads from participating news sites (including The Verge). Twitter is working on building out a new kind of subscription plan that will include Scroll, the recently acquired Revue newsletter service, and other homegrown Twitter services. In a blog post announcing the deal, Scroll CEO Tony Haile says that one reason he sold his company is because “Twitter’s ambitions are larger than people suspect.”The Scroll service is an ingenious hack that uses third-party cookies or browser extensions to tell websites to not serve ads to you. It’s not quite an ad-blocker per se but instead sends a portion of your subscription fee to the participating... Continue reading…

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is adding a new Reading Progress feature to Microsoft Teams, designed to help students improve their reading fluency. Reading Progress works by allowing students to record themselves reading a passage of text, and offering teachers the ability to assess accuracy rates, mispronunciations, and more.Typically, students practice reading fluency in front of a teacher where they’ll read a passage out loud and the teacher will mark it accordingly. Teachers will measure the speed, accuracy, and expression of reading as part of this process. Microsoft accelerated its work on this feature during the pandemic, when it became clear it would be difficult for teachers to measure reading fluency remotely.“With the pandemic, if you think... Continue reading…

Moment’s cold shoe and 1/4” threaded MagSafe mount is $59.99. There is nothing better than tech that just works. The satisfying joy that comes with transferring files via AirDrop, the relief when a new pair of wireless earbuds automatically pop up on a phone screen and ask to be connected without opening the Bluetooth settings. These moments are still rare, but when they happen it feels like I’m actually living in the future promised to me. One of seamless connection and endless possibilities.And the iPhone’s MagSafe (not to be confused with the old MacBook MagSafe, RIP), it just works. Moment’s MagSafe accessories are stainless steel disks with a matte finish. Moment lenses can be attached via Moment Cases. Even with a metal and glass... Continue reading…

Adobe Flash Logo. | Image: Adobe Microsoft will start fully removing Adobe Flash from Windows 10 this summer. The Windows 10 “Update for Removal of Adobe Flash Player,” which permanently removes Flash as a component of the operating system, will become mandatory starting in July. Updating to Windows 10 version 21H1, expected to start rolling out this month, will also remove the software.The update that removes Adobe Flash will also be available for older operating systems like Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Embedded 8 Standard. Microsoft announced the timeline in an update to a blog post.Microsoft has already been removing support from EdgeMicrosoft has already been removing Flash support from its Microsoft Edge browser with an update that many people... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Phil Schiller, the Apple executive in charge of the App Store, raised the possibility of the company cutting its 30 percent commission rate to 25 or even 20 percent back in 2011 in response to competition. Schiller floated the idea in an email to then Apple CEO Steve Jobs and head of Apple services Eddy Cue. The email has been made public as part of the company’s legal battle with Epic Games. Bloomberg was first to report on the email exchange.“Do we think our 70/30 split will last forever?” Schiller’s email begins. “I think someday we will see enough challenge from another platform or web based solutions to want to adjust our model.” Schiller goes on to suggest that if Apple were to ever change its fee structure, that it should do so... Continue reading…

Photo: Skydio US dronemaker Skydio has begun shipping its first enterprise drones today with prices starting at an enterprise-worthy $10,999. Skydio is best known as a pioneer of self-flying drone tech, but in recent years has shifted its attention away from a consumer market dominated by Chinese giant DJI to courting enterprise customers instead.This switch is partly due to geopolitics. The US government blacklisted various Chinese drones over spying fears last year, meaning law enforcement, military, and federal customers are looking more to US firms instead. The switch helped boost Skydio to a $1 billion valuation, no doubt assisted by the higher prices such business can command.Skydio’s enterprise drones are available with thermal and color... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A new document released as part of Epic’s legal battle with Apple has revealed how much Epic paid developers to give away their games for free following the launch of the Epic Games Store in December 2018. The document, which was spotted by writer Simon Carless, covers the 38 games given away free between December and September the following year. We already know that Epic is spending millions on its giveaways, but the new document reveals how much that translates to on a per-game basis.Epic CEO Tim Sweeney previously revealed that the company pays a flat fee to each developer to give away their games, rather than paying per download. Over the period covered by the document, Epic paid over $11.6 million in total for the games. In... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Both Apple and Epic have released their opening presentations on why they feel they should win this week’s trial, which is set to determine the future of the App Store. In the documents, which you can look through below, each company lays out its case.The lawsuit started when Apple removed Epic Games’ Fortnite from the App Store after Epic bypassed Apple’s system for in-app purchases. But it’s turned into a much deeper examination of Apple’s walled-garden approach to technology, and whether some of the walls the company puts up might violate antitrust law.We took a deeper look at the companies’ legal strategies in advance of the trial, but you can see the same arguments play out in these presentations. Epic uses metaphors of brick... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge General Motors has finally revealed its plan to fix the issue at the center of last year’s Chevy Bolt recall, which the automaker issued in response to a handful of battery pack fires. Affected customers have to bring their Bolts to a dealer so the battery packs can be inspected, and GM says some of the modules that make up the pack may be replaced if any “anomalies” are found. But dealers will also install “advanced onboard diagnostic software” on all of the affected vehicles.That software, GM says, will be able to “detect potential issues related to changes in battery module performance before problems can develop.” The company says the software will be standard on all new Bolts moving forward.Following last year’s recall, GM... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge It’s no secret that Sony held back PS4 cross-platform play for years, but new confidential documents and emails reveal just how much Sony was against letting people play the same games with their friends on other platforms. Sony initially blocked cross-platform play for both Rocket League and Minecraft, despite Nintendo and Microsoft both enabling players to play across Xbox and Switch. The issue really blew up when Sony blocked Fortnite crossplay in 2018, and players were angry. It now appears that Sony may have been holding out to offset potential revenue losses.In the months leading up to Sony’s decision to block Fortnite crossplay in 2018, Epic Games had pleaded with Sony to enable crossplay, emails in the Epic Games v. Apple case... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After a meteoric rise to popularity in 2018, Fortnite generated more than $5 billion in its first year for Epic Games, new financial documents reveal. The document, made public as part of Epic’s court battle with Apple over the latter’s App Store practices, shows that the game brought in more than $9 billion total for Epic in 2018 and 2019.The document doesn’t break down how much Epic specifically profited from Fortnite, but the company reported more than $5.5 billion in profit from the two-year period. In the document, the company provided predictions for 2020, but since Epic doesn’t usually publicly provide financial statements, it’s hard to tell how accurate the predictions ended up being.The revenue from Fortnite far outshone any... Continue reading…

An internal Epic document from June 2020 shows plans to “announce the first-ever sports event in Party Royale” An internal presentation at Epic Games showed ambitious promotional plans for the game, including a basketball mini-game and a planned “Party Royale” featuring Zion Williamson and LeBron James. Made public as part of the ongoing Epic v. Apple trial, the document comes from a quarterly business review performed in June 2020.In addition to detailing the game’s revenue and promotional outlook, the presentation lays out a new kind of “experimental” venture to be built inside of Fortnite, including plans to implement a basketball mini-game as part of a broader NBA partnership.One slide describes the project as “a Fortnite version of arcade basketball,” which would allow players to take to the courts as an alternative to the traditional... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge PlayStation is now partnering with Discord, the popular online communication service, with a promise to “bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year.”Details on what that would actually entail are slim, and Sony’s announcement just says that the two companies are “hard at work connecting Discord with your social and gaming experience on PlayStation Network.” Whether that means a full-fledged Discord app coming to PlayStation consoles or a more limited integration (like connecting PSN and Discord accounts to more easily chat with friends off platform) has yet to be announced.As part of the new partnership, Sony is also investing an unspecified amount of money into Discord... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Beginning Monday, Twitter will bring the ability for accounts with 600 or more followers to host Spaces, its Clubhouse-like social audio rooms, the company announced. Although this is a bit later than the company’s hoped-for April launch, users on iOS and Android devices will be included in the update.The company said it landed on the 600 followers number after feedback from readers and what it’s learned since it introduced Spaces late last year. “These accounts are likely to have a good experience hosting live conversations because of their existing audience,” the company said in a blog post announcing the changes. “Before bringing the ability to create a Space to everyone, we’re focused on learning more, making it easier to discover... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is enabling its Xbox FPS Boost mode on 74 more games today, bringing the total up to 97 games. Titles getting an FPS Boost include Assassin’s Creed Unity, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Wasteland 3, and Far Cry 5 all moving to 60fps. You can find the full list at Microsoft’s site.The FPS Boost feature for Xbox Series X and Series S consoles is designed to make existing games run better. Microsoft has improved frame rates with some backward-compatible games, but the FPS Boost feature improves older games without developers having to make changes.The updates come just weeks after Microsoft also added FPS Boost mode to 13 EA games, with 12 of them adding support for up to 120fps. Microsoft also added FPS Boost to a number of Bethesda... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Epic Games v. Apple trial is starting today, and it has begun with a court conference call full of kids screaming for Fortnite to return to mobile. The public call line allows anyone to dial in and listen to today’s proceedings, but the court didn’t manage to properly mute all participants for more than 20 minutes. The result was what sounded like a chaotic Discord call.More than 200 participants were dialed into the public line, with many screaming “free Fortnite” or “bring back Fortnite on mobile please judge.” Others played Travis Scott tunes, chatted away, or advertised their YouTube channels.The trial was supposed to begin at 11:15AM ET, and court clerks could be heard attempting to mute participants multiple times... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Dronemaker DJI says a firmware update is coming to fix a battery discharge issue in its DJI Mini 2 drone. According to TechRadar, the company says the update will “initiate auto-discharge when batteries are in the drone or charging hub and have not been used recently.” It’s a relatively minor issue that mainly affects the battery’s longevity; lithium polymer batteries like the one in the DJI Mini 2 have a longer lifespan if they can discharge slowly when left at a full charge for a long period of time.Unlike its Intelligent Flight Batteries, the batteries in the DJI Mini 2 “use a minute amount of charge to maintain vital functions and do not initiate auto-discharge,” the company told TechRadar. DJI recommends that batteries in the DJI... Continue reading…

G4’s newest host looks a little different from the rest of its lineup: it’s hired CodeMiko — one of the biggest virtual streamers on Twitch — to bring her eccentric interviews to the network.CodeMiko, unlike the typical G4 host, is not human — or at least, not entirely. CodeMiko is a Vtuber (“virtual YouTuber,” though they’re often found elsewhere), who uses motion capture tech to broadcast herself as a 3D character who can change her appearance on a whim. Since getting started about a year ago, CodeMiko has blown up, with more than 680,000 followers on Twitch and an average audience of more than 6,000 viewers at a time.On G4, CodeMiko will be interviewing “some of the most notable names in gaming and entertainment” and chatting with... Continue reading…

The new tech improves contrast. | Image: Lancer Brigade The US Army’s Lancer Brigade showed footage of the world as seen through the latest in night vision technology, and it’s a major improvement on the familiar blurry green visuals. By swapping the standard green tubes for white (along with other tweaks), the new Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binoculars (ENVG-B) clearly show people and objects outlined in a glowing light, almost like a video game objective.

The long-awaited League of Legends animated series is coming to Netflix. The streaming service confirmed today that the show, called Arcane, will be available later this fall. The show was first announced back in 2019 as part of a League 10th anniversary celebration event; last year, developer Riot announced that Arcane would be delayed to 2021 due to the pandemic.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Follow the money, baby Continue reading…

Marvel has just revealed a first look at one of its most exciting upcoming projects: Eternals, the studio’s next big superhero team-up that’s set to arrive in theaters on November 5th. It’s the next big project from Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao, following her Best Picture and Best Director wins for Nomadland earlier this year.Unfortunately, the teaser (which primarily serves as a hype reel for Marvel’s return to blockbuster films after a months-long pandemic-induced break from theatrical releases) doesn’t provide too much footage from Eternals. Instead, there are just a few quick glimpses of some of the bigger stars, including Salma Hayek’s Ajak riding a horse, Kumail Nanjiani’s Kingo staring off into the distance, and Richard... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Whether you’re a new or not-so-new Switch owner, everyone needs some good games to play. If you want some of the best titles released for Nintendo’s console, you can get them for $20 off their full $60 price. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen these discounts, but it’s rare that these price cuts extend to both physical and digital versions of the games. So if you’d prefer to purchase a game code so you can instantly download it to your microSD card, that’s an option.You can find a few other Nintendo-published games like Mario Tennis Aces, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, and more discounted at Amazon, Target, and GameStop. In other Switch-related deal news, a reputable eBay seller has copies of the New Pokémon Snap for $10 off its... Continue reading…

ArtStation As it prepares to do battle in court with Apple over App Store fees, Epic Games has acquired ArtStation, an online marketplace for digital artists, the companies announced. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.“The ArtStation leadership team brings tremendous talent and an unparalleled track record of supporting a vibrant creator community and ecosystem,” Epic Games vice president and general manager Marc Petit said in a statement. “We look forward to working with them to provide creators with access to even more resources and tools, empowering them to do their best work.”Founded in 2014, ArtStation is a popular portfolio site for professional artists in gaming and entertainment. ArtStation artists can also sell their work on the site,... Continue reading…

Verizon has sold its AOL and Yahoo properties to Apollo Global Management in a deal said to be worth $5 billion, about half of the nearly $9 billion Verizon originally paid for the pair. Verizon will maintain a 10 percent stake in the company, now known as Yahoo and led by CEO Guru Gowrappan. The deal, which includes Verizon’s ad tech business, was heavily rumored over the last week and is still subject to closing conditions. Once complete, it’ll bring an end to Verizon’s troubled experiment with media production and advertising.Apollo is a private equity firm that owns the Venetian resort in Las Vegas and crafts retailer Michaels. Apollo co-founder Leon Black recently stepped down as Chairman, soon after it was revealed that he paid... Continue reading…

Kroger is partnering with Drone Express on deliveries of packages up to five pounds. | Image: Kroger Kroger is joining rival Walmart by launching a drone delivery pilot program for groceries later this spring. The supermarket chain is partnering with Drone Express to deliver items like baby products, over-the-counter medications, and picnic supplies weighing up to about five pounds from a test store in Centerville, Ohio.A landing page for the Kroger Drone Delivery service says that groceries will be flown by “certified drone pilots under FAA approval.” A press release suggests that deliveries can be made to street addresses as well as to parks or beaches by homing in on a customer’s smartphone location.As part of the pilot, Kroger is designing bundled product offerings that fit within the size and weight constraints of the Drone... Continue reading…

Castlevania | Netflix Just started watching season four of The Handmaid’s Tale and I remember why I prefer the weekly release schedule for this show: Bingeing it is utterly draining (Monica Hesse makes this point much more eloquently in her mostly spoiler-free review in the Washington Post). The show has a conundrum: it can’t kill off its main character (which would be an incredible plot twist) and it can’t take her out of Gilead because that’s where the action is. So June has to keep suffering over and over. And over. After the first three episodes, June’s done plenty of suffering already. Over the rest of the season I’m really hoping to see A) much more of Alexis Bledel and Samira Wiley and B) something good happen to June. Anything.Here’s the roundup of... Continue reading…

iFixit did a teardown of Apple’s AirTags | iFixit The team over at iFixit has done its teardown thing again, this time examining Apple’s AirTag trackers. Part one of its two-part review digs into the guts of the little trackers, and for those lamenting the lack of a key ring loop on the AirTag, iFixit (carefully) drilled a hole into one without damaging any of its parts.

Facebook Facebook is continuing its campaign against Apple’s iOS 14 privacy updates, adding a notice within its iOS app telling users the information it collects from other apps and websites can “help keep Facebook free of charge.” A similar message was seen on Instagram’s iOS app (Facebook is Instagram’s parent company).Technology researcher Ashkan Soltani first noted the new pop-up notices on Saturday (see his tweet below), but a Facebook spokesperson directed The Verge to a blog post from earlier last week that detailed the update. The company refers to the notices as “educational screens,” and said they provided “more details about how we use data for personalized ads,” according to the blog post by Dan Levy, Facebook’s vice president for... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Neuralink President Max Hodak tweeted Saturday that he has left the company he co-founded with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk xxx. Hodak didn’t elaborate on why he left the company or elaborate on the circumstance for his departure. “I am no longer at Neuralink (as of a few weeks ago),” he tweeted. “I learned a ton there and remain a huge cheerleader for the company! Onward to new things.”

An open office, 1960s-style. | Photo: United Artists So it seems that Google, the exemplar of the open-office concept, is trying now to figure out how to keep its design ideals intact while offering its employees at least some feeling of safety in these 6-foot-apart times. Apparently, these measures may include a number of interesting concepts, such as inflatable walls. (A GIF of one of those walls slowly unfolding nearly had me doing a spit-take with my morning coffee.)These rather complex measures may have some people wondering whether we should abandon the entire open-office concept and go back to a more old-fashioned — but in these pandemic days, safer — plan of separate offices and high-walled cubicles. To tell you the truth, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea. But.First, let me... Continue reading…

NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, left, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi. | Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images Four astronauts returned from the International Space Station early Sunday morning aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico nearly six months after arriving at the orbital laboratory in November last year as the first operational, long-duration crew under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Soichi Noguchi boarded Crew Dragon and undocked from the space station on time at 8:35PM ET Saturday to begin their roughly six-hour trek home.The crew splashed down off the coast of Panama City, Florida at 2:56AM ET on Sunday, marking the first nighttime splashdown of a crewed US spacecraft since December 1968,... Continue reading…

A sleek, but slow, Chromebook Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft had been planning to cut its Xbox store cut to just 12 percent, according to confidential documents filed in the Epic Games vs. Apple case. The software maker details its store fees and changes in a document from January, where it also lists the 12 percent cut to PC games it announced this week. While most of the important parts of the document are redacted, one page reveals Microsoft also wanted to reduce its 30 percent store cut on the Xbox console side.A table reveals “all games will move to 88 / 12 in CY21,” which means Microsoft had been planning a significant cut to Xbox transactions for some point in the 2021 calendar year. While Microsoft has announced its PC cut, which is also listed in the same table, the company has... Continue reading…

Just two days before Apple gets dragged into a California court to justify its 30 percent App Store fee — and two days after Microsoft axed its 30 percent cut on PC — we’re learning that gaming giant Valve is now facing down lawsuits against its own 30 percent cut and alleged anticompetitive practices with its PC gaming platform Steam.“Valve abuses its market power to ensure game publishers have no choice but to sell most of their games through the Steam Store, where they are subject to Valve’s 30% toll,” argues indie game developer and Humble Bundle creator Wolfire Games, in a lawsuit filed Tuesday (via Ars Technica).Clear parallels to Epic v. AppleMuch like Epic v. Apple, the new suit argues that a platform owner is using an... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Conservative news channel Newsmax has posted an apology to an employee of Dominion Voting Systems, after it reported without evidence that he was involved in manipulating results of the 2020 US presidential election.“On behalf of Newsmax, we would like to apologize for any harm that our reporting of the allegations against Dr. Coomer may have caused to Dr. Coomer and his family,” a statement posted to Newsmax’s website states. According to the statement, there was no substance to the allegations made about Eric Coomer, Dominion’s director of product strategy and security:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge An expert witness for Epic Games testified that Apple’s App Store had operating margins above 70 percent in fiscal years 2018 and 2019, new court documents show. Ned Barnes testified that information from Apple’s Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis group show the App Store had a 77.8 percent operating margin in 2019, and 74.9 percent in 2018.The figures are close to Barnes’ calculations of the App Store’s profits, he testified, and “also refute criticisms of my report proffered by certain Apple expert witnesses that it is not possible to calculate reliably or usefully the operating margins of the App Store.” Barnes also testified that Apple has been tracking its App Store profits for several years.Apple has hotly contested that... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge An appeals court in California has ruled that Amazon can be held liable for products sold through its marketplace by a third-party seller, the Los Angeles Times reported. It’s the second major case in California where an appeals court has rejected Amazon’s long-held position that it is merely an intermediary between buyers and its third-party sellers. Amazon collectively refers to these sellers as its “Amazon Marketplace” even though it’s not a separate or distinct part of Amazon’s website. Third-party sellers’ products typically appear in Amazon listings, with a small line of text to indicate that Amazon itself is not the actual seller.At issue was the case of a woman who suffered burn injuries after a hoverboard she purchased on... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A former Netflix executive was convicted of taking bribes and kickbacks from vendors doing business with the company, according to the US Department of Justice. Michael Kail, who was Netflix’s vice president of information technology operations from 2011 to 2014, was found guilty by a jury of money laundering, and wire and mail fraud. According to the DOJ, Kail used his position at the company to “unlock a stream of cash and stock kickbacks” for himselfNetflix sued Kail in 2014 claiming he hid payments from vendors by directing them to his personal consulting company. According to the DOJ, Kail accepted bribes totaling more than $500,000, as well as stock options from nine tech companies that provided products or services to Netflix.K... Continue reading…

A screenshot from Disco Elysium. | Image: Studio ZA/UM At some point during my time with Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, after I read yet another minutes-long dialogue sequence to try and learn more information about the game’s murder mystery, I realized I felt like I was slowly working my way through a long novel — one that went just a little bit over my head.In The Final Cut, an enhanced version of the 2019 cult hit role-playing game that made its console debut on PlayStation in March, you play as a cop with amnesia investigating a murder case about a hanged man. You’ll explore a fictional place called Revachol and talk to a huge cast of characters to piece together clues about the hanged man’s killer.Almost every conversation or interaction has an extensive dialogue tree, allowing you... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Florida is on the verge of passing legislation that would fine social media companies like Twitter and Facebook that “knowingly de-platform” political candidates. The bill was first proposed in February by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a supporter of former President Trump, although Florida Republicans insist the bill has nothing to do with the former president, a famous denizen of social media who was banned earlier this year by major platforms.The Florida House of Representatives passed SB 7072 by a vote of 77 to 38 on Thursday, after the state Senate voted Monday to pass the measure. The bill now goes back to the Senate to approve some of the changes made by the House; the Senate’s version called for fines of $10,000 per day for banning a... Continue reading…

A woman gets a COVID-19 vaccine at a mobile vaccine clinic in Texas on April 30, 2021. | Photo by CECILE CLOCHERET/AFP via Getty Images If you’re one of the few thousand people heading to see the Milwaukee Bucks play the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, May 2nd, you have a chance to get a very special souvenir during the game — your first dose of a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. The unusual vaccination drive is part of a host of new efforts across the US to get people their shots, whether that’s by bribing them with savings bonds in West Virginia or hosting vaccine clinics at professional basketball games in Wisconsin.In the US, vaccine supplies are high, but demand is starting to taper off, as my colleague Nicole Wetsman wrote last week. That means that people are getting a lot more creative about ways to convince people to get their shots. You know, in case the free beer, free... Continue reading…

Apple We’ve reached the weekend, and the start of another month. Sayonara, April, and hello to May. The past few days at The Verge have been some of the best tech deals so far this year, like the now-expired deal that knocked $150 off the Apple Watch Series 6, putting it lower in price than even the Apple Watch SE. That one sold out in just a few hours, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see it come again soon.Not all of the best sales of the week have ended. You can save on PC games in celebration of Golden Week in Japan, and get $80 off a Google Nest Wifi bundle, to name a couple of examples. Find even more below.Save up to $147 on a preorder of a new M1 iPad Pro or iMacApple announced that the new iPad Pro and the colorful iMacs will... Continue reading…

Sony’s newest lenses are three new compact primes lenses that each cost $600. The new Sony 24mm f/2.8, 40mm f/2.5, and 50mm f/2.5 are three new compact prime lenses that each cost $599.99 and will be shipping in mid-May. While they uphold the reputation of quality Sony has established with the G lineup, it’s their uniformity and small size that come as a welcomed surprise.Uniformity and size are so rarely a topic of discussion in regards to lenses. As a video-first creator, 67mm, 77mm, and 82mm are common thread sizes in my gear bag. But it feels like with every new lens I buy I have to factor in the cost of a new ND filter or a step-up or down ring. These three new lenses all conveniently share the same 49mm filter thread.Then there is weight and size. It’s no secret that bags with full-frame camera gear are... Continue reading…

Microsoft shook up the PC gaming industry this week with the announcement that it was cutting the fee it takes from game sales on the Windows store. On the surface, it’s a welcome move, with Microsoft matching the 12 percent cut that Epic Games takes, and putting more pressure on Valve, which still takes a 30 percent cut on most Steam purchases. But the cut is also a tactical move: Microsoft wants to help pressure Apple, and this week’s changes could play a role in the bigger app store battles kicking off next week.Microsoft’s announcement comes just days before a huge court trial between Epic Games and Apple, and just as the EU has found issues with Apple’s rules — claiming the company has a “dominant position in the market for the... Continue reading…

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images A report from Vice has opened my eyes to just how big the Pokémon trading card collecting market is getting — apparently to the point where card rating companies have waitlists that range from six to ten months, with one company claiming it’s receiving over 500,000 cards to grade per week. The card graders, who rate trading cards’ conditions to determine how collectable (and therefore valuable) they are, are so swamped that people who want to get their Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, or sports cards graded are also having to wait in line (or pay out the nose to skip it).One card rating company apparently needed employees so bad it offered $1,000 starting bonuses — and then bumped them up to $2,500. Another company had to buy two warehouses to store... Continue reading…

If you’d like a visual of one way that doom could overtake Earth almost immediately, then YouTube user Anselo La Manna has just the video for you: a large asteroid impact simulation scored to nothing other than Pink Floyd.Specifically, that’s “Great Gig in the Sky,” off what might be the band’s most beloved and over-analyzed album, Dark Side of the Moon. It’s got everything total annihilation needs: contemplative piano, pedal steel guitar, and of course, a plaintive wail, capturing the whole range of emotions that people might feel if they were burned to a crisp because one big rock hit another.Anselo La Manna also hosts the original clip the mashup video uses on their YouTube page, a simulation of a large asteroid impact. It appears... Continue reading…