The Verge

Spotify’s podcast subscription product will require podcasters to host their shows on Anchor. | Spotify For the first time, Spotify is letting podcasters on its platform offer subscriptions to their shows. The company announced its paid podcast subscription product for the US today, which will initially allow select partners who host their shows on Anchor to charge for content. Twelve independent shows, including Tiny Leaps, Big Changes and Mindful in Minutes, will offer bonus subscriber-only content, and NPR will launch ad-free versions of popular shows. A waitlist will open today, so podcasters can sign up to be included in the expanded rollout in the coming months, which will include international market availability. Notably, no Spotify-owned shows will go behind a subscription wall at first.Podcasters won’t have to pay Spotify... Continue reading…

Microsoft Teams was down and experiencing an outage worldwide for many users for more than two hours today. The issues started at around 6:30AM this morning, and were blocking connectivity for lots of Microsoft Teams users across Europe and Asia. Microsoft says it has identified the root cause for the issues and has put a fix in place. “We’re seeing signs of recovery and will continue to monitor the service.”The connectivity issues were affecting users globally, with some Microsoft Teams users reporting 401 error codes when attempting to access the service via the web. Others were able to see Teams and channels but were unable to send messages. Microsoft also warned that some users “may experience degraded performance with multiple... Continue reading…

ADT’s octagonal blue sign. | Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images Home security company ADT is suing Amazon subsidiary Ring, claiming its recent designs are a “brazen” copy of ADT’s octagonal blue symbol. The firm cites Ring’s blue octagonal outdoor siren as a recent example. In the filing, ADT lists a dozen of its trademark registrations dating back to the late 90s that feature a combination of blue and octagonal designs, and claims millions of its customers display this symbol to show that their homes use ADT’s security systems.ADT claims Ring’s use of blue octagons risks confusing customers and misleading them into thinking the two companies are affiliated or associated. In its filing, ADT says “the striking similarity” is evidence that Ring is trying “to reap the benefit of the goodwill associated... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The European Commission will issue antitrust charges against Apple over concerns about the company’s App Store practices, according to a report from the Financial Times. The commission has been investigating whether Apple has broken EU competition rules with its App Store policies, following an initial complaint from Spotify back in 2019 over Apple’s 30 percent cut on subscriptions.The European Commission opened up two antitrust investigations into Apple’s App Store and Apple Pay practices last year, and the Financial Times only mentions upcoming charges on the App Store case. It’s not clear yet what action will be taken.Spotify has previously claimed Apple uses its App Store to stifle innovation and limit consumer choice in favor of... Continue reading…

Image: Amazon Amazon is expanding its in-garage delivery option today to every city where it offers grocery deliveries. According to the company, that’s now over 5,000 US cities where Key by Amazon Garage Grocery Delivery can be used to have Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods orders left directly in your garage. You can check to see if the service is available near you by entering your ZIP code on Amazon’s site.Garage Grocery Delivery was initially only available in Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles in November 2020, but this expansion should reach even more Amazon customers. Along with living in a supported city, you’ll also need a MyQ-enabled garage door opener or a MyQ Smart Garage Hub to participate.With all of those boxes... Continue reading…

KPRC2 Houston A Tesla Model S that crashed and caught fire recently in Texas, killing two men, may have had someone in the driver’s seat, according to Tesla’s top executives. Their comments in an earnings call Monday contradict statements made by local law enforcement in the immediate aftermath of the crash, and could complicate the efforts by federal crash investigators who are also examining the incident.Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering, said that company representatives were able to inspect the crash, along with local law enforcement and investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Moravy said the company was able to determine that the... Continue reading…

Image: Tesla Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Monday that his company made “significant mistakes” in its solar roof tile project that have led to further cost overruns and delays. The product was originally revealed back in 2016.Tesla is currently still trying to meet significant demand for the solar roof, but has yet to widely roll out the product, Musk said in a conference call with investors following the release of Tesla’s financial results for the first quarter of 2021. Tesla reported $494 million in sales of its energy generation and storage products in the first quarter, but the overall division is still not profitable. Musk’s comments come as irate customers have told outlets like The Verge and Electrek that Tesla is increasing the price of the... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge The Internet Archive, in partnership with George Blood LP, has been working since 2016 to digitize thousands of 78rpm records, some of which were made in the early 1900s. Over 250,000 records have been preserved, and the archive posted a Twitter thread yesterday detailing how each record is cleaned and filed away.

Image: Apple Apple now lets you add augmented-reality lasers, confetti, and more to your Clips videos, thanks to an update to the short-form video app. The feature, called AR Spaces, will let users with LIDAR-equipped Apple devices (so far, that’s the iPhone 12 Pros and iPad Pros from 2020 or later) add room-filling effects that can interact with walls and floors. (If you watched Apple’s April 20th event, you may have spotted a brief look at the update ahead of today’s release.)You can get an idea of what this will look like in action with this GIF taken from Apple’s demo video. Image: Apple The Prism and Dance Floor effects. Apple says that the AR Spaces effects should work with the other effects built in to Clips, such... Continue reading…

Morning commuter traffic backs up on Interstate 80 westbound in Berkeley, Calif. Tuesday, April 6, 2021. | Jessica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images California is on track to regain its power to set tougher vehicle emissions standards than the rest of the US. The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it’s reconsidering a Donald Trump-era edict that sought to strip California of that ability. The EPA plans to rescind the Trump decision altogether after a public comment period ends on July 6th, the Los Angeles Times reports. Last week, the Department of Transportation moved to repeal a related Trump-era rule that barred individual states from setting their own tailpipe standards.California has essentially set the tone for the countryCalifornia has been able to set its own tailpipe standards since it was granted a waiver under the 1970 Clean Air Act. At the time, the... Continue reading…

Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images President Biden issued an executive order today to create a new labor task force in support of worker organizing in the United States. The effort will be led by Vice President Kamala Harris.“Despite the importance of unions to our economy and democracy, and nearly 60 million workers today saying they would join a union if given the chance, American workers have faced increasing barriers to organizing and bargaining collectively with their employers,” the order reads.The task force, which includes a long list of cabinet members and policy advisers, will make recommendations on how the federal government can help workers organize and join unions. This could include helping contractors in industries that have been difficult to organize,... Continue reading…

Photo by Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post via Getty Images Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin is fighting NASA’s decision to award SpaceX $2.9 billion to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024. NASA’s Human Landing System program, which funded the development of three rival lunar lander prototypes (including Blue Origin’s), was expected to pick two of those landers in April. But NASA opted for just one — SpaceX’s Starship — because of short funding from Congress.Blue Origin’s 175-page protest, filed with the Government Accountability Office less than two weeks after SpaceX won the contract, accuses NASA of misjudging several parts of its proposal for Blue Moon, the lunar lander it’s developing with a “National Team” of established space and defense contractors: Northrop Grumman, Lockheed... Continue reading…

Image: Capcom Resident Evil Village is nearly here, and Capcom is giving you more time to play a piece of it ahead of launch. The studio originally announced that players on Xbox, Playstation, and PC would have access to a 60-minute demo this weekend for just 24 hours, but after fan criticism, Capcom has extended the demo’s availability to a full week.Village’s final demo will still unlock on May 1st at 8PM ET in North America, but availability will now end on May 9th at 8PM ET, a two-day overlap with the game’s full release on May 7th. Capcom announced the change along with extended time frames for both the United Kingdom and Europe on the game’s Twitter account. Playtime for the demo will still be limited to an hour, though.

Lyft is selling its autonomous vehicle division to a subsidiary of Toyota — the latest in a series of acquisitions that is seeing the world of self-driving cars grow increasingly smaller.Woven Planet Holdings, a subsidiary of Toyota, will acquire Lyft’s self-driving division, Level 5, for $550 million in cash — $200 million of which was provided to Lyft up front. The rest of the money, $350 million, will be paid out to Lyft over five years. The ride-hailing company says it will see an annual savings of $100 million of non-GAAP expenses, which it claims will better position it to ultimately earn a profit. Toyota has also agreed to use Lyft’s fleet data and platform for any commercial service it eventually launches under its Woven Planet... Continue reading…

Image: Tesla Tesla has drawn a lot of scrutiny lately, has run into delays with the refreshed Model S and Model X, and the auto industry is struggling through a global shortage of semiconductors. But none of those things seemed to have much effect on Tesla’s business.On Monday, the Silicon Valley automaker announced its best-ever start to a year, despite not making a single Model S sedan or Model X SUV. That’s thanks in large part to the fact that Tesla continues to increase the number of Model 3s and Model Ys it makes and sells out of its year-old factory in Shanghai, China, validating CEO Elon Musk’s long-standing goal of localizing production in the world’s biggest markets for electric vehicles.As a result, Tesla generated $10.4 billion in... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Until recently, the default voice for Apple’s Siri assistant has been stereotypically female-sounding. However, studies have found that having AI assistants default to female-sounding voices can reinforce harmful stereotypes, so Apple has tried to fix that in its upcoming iOS 14.5.Starting with iOS 14.5, when you get a new phone, you’ll be prompted to pick a default voice for Siri — and Apple is including two new voice options. But if you’ve updated your current phone to 14.5, you don’t have to wait. This guide will show you how to change the voice after setup.It’s a reasonably simple process. First, go to the Settings app, then to Siri & Search, and tap Siri Voice. There, you’ll be presented with the list of options. ... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple has just released macOS 11.3, alongside iOS 14.5. It’s probably worth updating your Mac to it as soon as you can — not only because it comes with some new features, including improvements for running iPhone and iPad apps on M1 Macs and updates to Apple Music and Podcasts, but it also fixes a major security flaw.The update reportedly patches a vulnerability that allowed malware to bypass many of macOS’s built-in protections, like File Quarantine and GateKeeper’s opening dialog box. While Apple’s built-in anti-malware system could still block malicious programs if Apple were aware of them, enterprise software company Jamf did find evidence that the security flaw was being exploited by attackers.Apple also details a slew of other... Continue reading…

Ever mysteriously lost a job opportunity? Did they treat you like a criminal? Better check to see if your family forgot to return a VHS tape 22 years ago!As utterly ridiculous as that sounds, it’s apparently the true story of Texas woman Caron McBride, who had a warrant out for her arrest in Oklahoma for felony embezzlement — all because a movie store thought she rented a copy of Sabrina and the Teenage Witch in 1999 and never bothered to bring it back. Never mind that the store in question (“Movie Place”) closed in 2008, or that VHS is such a dated tech that even the last Japanese manufacturer finally stopped producing the players five years back.McBride told local Fox News affiliate KOKH (via Gizmodo) that she had no idea this tape... Continue reading…

World leaders are seen on a screen during a climate change virtual summit from the East Room of the White House campus April 22, 2021, in Washington, DC. | Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images There was a lot of hype about carbon capture and green hydrogen at Joe Biden’s climate summit Continue reading…

The Motorola Moto G20 features a large 5,000mAh battery and a faster-than-standard 90Hz 6.5-inch display. | Photo: Motorola Motorola has announced several low-cost devices with big batteries and fast-refreshing displays this year, and now it’s offering its least expensive model yet: the Moto G20. Launching in Europe this week for €149 (about $180), it includes a 6.5-inch 720p LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate and a 5,000mAh battery. It’s the latest in a series of budget devices from Motorola targeting slightly different price points in the budget range, and it would likely have a place in the US market if the company chose to offer it in the States.The G20 features a 48-megapixel main camera, 8-megapixel ultrawide, 2-megapixel macro and depth-sensing cameras, and a 13-megapixel selfie camera. Unlike other Moto G-series phones launched this year, the G20 does not... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is adding a new prompt to users’ timelines to help promote the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination effort, providing users around the world with the “latest vaccine info” in their particular country.The new notice appears as a massive unmissable box at the top of users’ Twitter feeds on the iOS and Android apps, prompting users to “make sure you have the most up-to-date information on the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations.” (The prompt is so large that on my iPhone 12 Pro, it obscured all but a single tweet when I opened the app.) Tapping that link takes you to a new Twitter event page with information about the vaccines, shown as a series of collected tweets from organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO)... Continue reading…

A screenshot from FIFA 21. | Image: Electronic Arts Electronic Arts wants to push FIFA players to the FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) mode, which lets people spend real-world money and in-game currency to buy loot boxes with virtual athletes, according to documents obtained by CBC News. Loot boxes, which typically offer random collections of virtual goods with the tantalizing (and often very small) chance of winning something that could give you an advantage in a game, can bring in piles of money for studios but have come under criticism for being linked to gambling.You can read two of the documents CBC News had access to right here, which appear to be taken from an internal EA presentation. In one, EA says that “FUT is the cornerstone and we are doing everything we can to drive players... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is launching a series of COVID-19 vaccine public service announcements, calling it the “first chapter” of a partnership with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s Vaccine Confidence Project. The ads will start running in the US today and roll out internationally in coming weeks, coinciding with local vaccine availability.YouTube posted a dozen 16-second videos on the company’s channel, as well as two 31-second clips (one in English, one in Spanish) and a longer compilation stringing them together. The messages encourage people to “get back to what you love” by getting the vaccine, offering reasons like “because birthday songs,” “because roller coasters,” “because wedding receptions,” and “because everything.”... Continue reading…

Apple’s iOS 14.5 is out, and with it comes the ability to have your Apple Watch unlock your Face ID-protected phone if you happen to be wearing a mask. This will make it a lot easier to get through your day without having to enter your passcode each time you need to use your phone (because the Face ID can’t recognize you with that mask on). As long as your phone and watch are in close proximity, you will be able to unlock your iPhone just by turning on the screen.Once you’re officially running iOS 14.5 (and watchOS 7.4), it’s easy to enable the feature that lets you unlock your iPhone with your watch.

99% Invisible’s podcast artwork | Image: Sirius XM Holdings Inc. SiriusXM, a company still best known for its satellite radio stations, is acquiring podcaster Roman Mars’ company 99% Invisible Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Mars and his team will join the company under Stitcher, the podcasting company Sirius acquired last summer.Mars and the team will continue to host and produce the popular 99% Invisible show, as well as other shows like What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law. They’ll also create new shows under Stitcher with that programming being available across platforms, including Sirius’ own Stitcher, Pandora, and SiriusXM apps.In an interview with The New York Times, Mars said he wanted to escape growing “administrative duties” while also giving his staff more resources. Meanwhile, Megan... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple has begun rolling out iOS and iPadOS 14.5. The latest software update includes the new App Tracking Transparency feature, which lets users decide whether to allow apps to track their activity “across other companies’ apps and websites” for advertising purposes. A pop-up will now appear whenever apps are designed to share your activity in this way. Facebook has heavily criticized Apple over App Tracking Transparency, claiming that it presents “a false tradeoff between personalized ads and privacy.” The new option could have a detrimental impact on Facebook’s ad business.Apple made a video to explain App Tracking Transparency:Perhaps more important to day-to-day iPhone usage, iOS 14.5 also includes a very helpful and timely new... Continue reading…

Images: Ford Ford will start taking orders for the GT and GT Performance variants of its first electric Mustang on Wednesday, and it has finally revealed how much they’ll cost. The GT version starts at $59,900, while the Mustang Mach-E GT Performance has a starting price of $64,900 (before tax, title, registration, and delivery fees).Both new versions of the Mustang Mach-E pack a more powerful wallop than the more affordable variants, and they come standard in an all-wheel drive configuration. In the Mustang Mach-E GT, that means a peak output of 480 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque and the ability to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3.8 seconds. The GT Performance has the same peak of 480 horsepower but 634 pound-feet of torque, which helps... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Spotify is increasing the price of many of its subscriptions this week across the UK and parts of Europe, with the US seeing a hike to Family plans. Subscribers have started to receive emails informing them of the changes, and they will affect Student, Duo, and Family plans across parts of Europe and the UK, and Family subscriptions in the US from April 30th. Single Spotify Premium subscriptions are unaffected.Spotify family is increasing from $14.99 to $15.99 per month in the US. Fortunately, Duo, Premium, and Student pricing will remain the same... for now. The bigger hits to pricing will affect users in the UK and Europe.In the UK, Spotify Student is increasing from £4.99 to £5.99 per month, with a Duo subscription (for two people)... Continue reading…

Chloé Zhao accepts the Directing award for ‘Nomadland’ | Photo by Todd Wawrychuk/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images The news of Chloé Zhao’s Oscar win for Best Director has been censored on social media and search engines in China at the direction of the country’s propaganda ministry, The Wall Street Journal reported. Zhao, who was born in Beijing, is the first Chinese woman and first woman of color to take home the Academy Award for directing. Nomadland also won Best Picture at Sunday night’s awards ceremony, and the movie’s star, Frances McDormand, won Best Actress.But according to the Journal, early messages congratulating Zhao had been scrubbed from Chinese social media sites by midday Monday, and searches on Chinese search engines Baidu and Sogou had few links to the Oscar news. There was no news about Zhao’s win on China Central Television, the... Continue reading…

The YouTube TV app could disappear from Roku devices in the coming days, according to an email sent to subscribers on Monday. In a last-ditch effort, Roku is calling on subscribers to reach out to Google to “urge them” to reach an agreement.In a statement issued Monday, Roku accused Google of attempting to control the platform’s user experience in a way that favors its own products as the two companies negotiate a contract renewal for YouTube TV.“Google is attempting to use its YouTube monopoly position to force Roku into accepting predatory, anti-competitive and discriminatory terms that will directly harm Roku and our users,” a Roku spokesperson said in a statement Monday. “It should come as no surprise that Google is now demanding... Continue reading…

Microsoft’s new Chromium-based Edge browser is coming to Xbox soon, and the company has now added all-important mouse and keyboard support that will pave the way to stream PC games to Xbox consoles. Xbox testers in the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring are now able to access this new version of Edge and try out a mouse in the console version of the browser for the first time. I’ve been testing this new support over the weekend, and I’ve even managed to play some Steam PC games on my Xbox.Despite a few obvious bugs here and there — as this is very much an early beta browser — it works as expected. I’ve been able to write documents using Word online, type messages into Discord chats, and even play some Krunker or Quake JS through the browser with a... Continue reading…

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Microsoft’s first-gen Surface Headphones might not be the latest set of noise-canceling headphones, but they’re still a stellar value — especially today. They have good sound quality, USB-C charging, a comfy fit, and they can block out a considerable amount of noise. Today at Woot, you can get them new for just over $80. To get this price, you’ll need to download the Woot app (iOS, Android), then find the deal there. Doing that alone will save 15 percent on the price it’ll cost everyone else, which is $96. These headphones used to cost $250 (and most competitors cost more than that), so you’re getting a good deal either way. If you have Amazon Prime, you’ll get free shipping on this order.Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra with 256GB of... Continue reading…

Facebook Facebook is building its own in-app podcast player, the company confirmed today. This will be separate from its new in-app Spotify player. Podcasters will be able to distribute their shows through their Facebook page and will opt into doing so. The exact product details are still unclear. It’s possible this will operate through RSS or that creators will have a backend way to upload their content to Facebook. This functionality is expected to roll out within the next “few months,” according to a Facebook blog post.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the Spotify partnership as being primarily about “music” during a chat with Platformer writer Casey Newton last week. But Spotify’s release about its Facebook miniplayer today specifically... Continue reading…

Venture capitalist Peter Thiel has put $10 million into a newly formed PAC backing a business partner’s Senate bid, as first reported by Politico. Formed on April 19th, the Saving Arizona PAC is taking aim at the state’s 2022 Senate race, which will see former astronaut Mark Kelly defending his seat for the Democrats. According to Politico, the PAC will support Thiel Capital executive Blake Masters in the Republican primary and general election, putting him at an immediate fundraising advantage in one of the most closely watched races of the cycle.Masters came to prominence as the co-author of Thiel’s popular book, Zero to One, and was hired shortly afterward as an executive at Thiel Capital. The book originated as Masters’ notes from... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The latest TVs can really showcase what these consoles are capable of Continue reading…

Spotify’s miniplayer will allow people to stream music and podcasts from their Facebook News Feed. | Spotify Facebook is making it easier to never leave its app. The company’s partnership with Spotify is coming to fruition today in the form of a miniplayer for the News Feed that’ll allow people to play music and podcasts from within Facebook. Audio content can be shared from Spotify to Facebook, and once on Facebook, listeners can press play and listen to it even as they scroll around. It’ll be available on both iOS and Android and in 27 markets, including the US, at first. More will follow in the coming months. Users will also see the miniplayer on shared videos that have music in the background. A play button will surface after the video finishes where people can play the song.Facebook listeners will hear the shared track, and once it ends,... Continue reading…

Image: Zoom Zoom is rolling out a video background feature called Immersive View that could make video calls feel a bit more like an office meeting — or at least look a lot more like one. Zoom announced the feature last year at its Zoomtopia conference, but now it’s actually available for Free and Pro accounts attending meetings and webinars with up to 25 participants.Immersive View builds on the virtual background features Zoom already has, but focuses on actually placing meeting attendees in a realistic-looking location, rather than just switching out a flat background. Meeting hosts can enable Immersive View from the same menu where you can find Speaker View and Gallery View; from there, Zoom will automatically place attendees in a variety of... Continue reading…

Photo by Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance via Getty Images Luminar, the newly public LIDAR company, is teaming up with the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world to bring its laser-guided mapping and perception technology to new heights.LIDAR, the laser sensor that sends millions of laser points out per second and measures how long they take to bounce back, is seen as a key ingredient to autonomous driving. But it hasn’t seen as much traction in the world of aviation. Luminar and its new partner, the French aerospace giant Airbus, are out to fix that by applying the laser sensor’s 3D mapping capabilities to the aerospace company’s helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft in the hopes of making flying a lot safer.“making overall transportation safe and autonomous”Specifically, Luminar’s work... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has announced new spending plans for the US, including the establishment of a 3,000-employee “campus and engineering hub” in North Carolina and the commitment of an additional $80 billion in investment across the country.Back in 2018, the firm said it would spend more than $350 billion in the US over the next five years, but today, it announced it is increasing that figure by 20 percent to $430 billion.“At this moment of recovery and rebuilding, Apple is doubling down on our commitment to US innovation and manufacturing with a generational investment reaching communities across all 50 states,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a press statement.And why not? Like many big tech firms, Apple has done very well during the pandemic, when... Continue reading…

When used with a compatible Samsung device, the headphones launch a custom Deezer theme. | Image: Deezer As part of a new partnership, Deezer will be available “pre-installed” on a new pair of USB-C earbuds from Mobee-K when they’re used with select Samsung Galaxy devices. Plugging the headphones into phones like the Galaxy S21, Note 20, or Z Flip effectively side-loads the music streaming service, without you having to visit the Google Play Store. It’s an interesting marketing tactic that could encourage listeners to give Deezer a try over bigger competitors like Spotify and Apple Music.As well as offering access to the streaming service itself, Deezer advertises that syncing the earbuds with Samsung’s devices gives access to a “customized Deezer theme” which includes “wallpapers, exclusive playlists, and shortcuts to Deezer” via the... Continue reading…

The Yayagram looks and works like an old-fashioned physical phone switchboard. | Twitter: @mrcatacroquer Making sure elders can keep in contact with children and grandchildren has never been more important in a time of global lockdown. That’s why Twitter user @mrcatacroquer, Manuel Lucio Dallo, built the Yayagram — a DIY project that makes sending and receiving voice and text messages over Telegram a physical process just like using an old-fashioned phone switchboard.It’s important, of course, not to generalize about the ability of older generations to get to grips with new technology. But speaking from personal experience, I know my own grandparents struggled with the digital interfaces of modern phones and smartphones. They much preferred physical buttons and switches to apps and touchscreens.That’s why the Yayagram is so compelling... Continue reading…

The since-removed photo, which appears to have been taken with the Pixel 5A. | Image: Google Google seems to have accidentally shared a photo sample from its upcoming Pixel 5A, giving us some hints about what to expect from the barely announced device. The photo appeared in an album posted alongside a blog post about Google’s HDR+ Bracketing technology, which aims to reduce noise in HDR photos (via Android Police). The EXIF data for most of the photos said they were captured by existing Pixel phones including the Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, Pixel 4, and Pixel 4 XL, but in among them was one image apparently taken with a Pixel 5A.Google recently confirmed the existence of the Pixel 5A 5G in response to rumors that the device had been cancelled. However, beyond confirming that the device will be available later this year in the US and... Continue reading…

Colette, a short film featured in the Oculus VR game Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, has won this year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Presented by Oculus Studios and Electronic Arts’ Respawn Entertainment, and later acquired and distributed by The Guardian, it’s the first time a video game industry project has won an Oscar.Directed by Anthony Giacchino, Colette features a French Resistance survivor, Colette Marin-Catherine, returning to Germany for the first time since the end of World War II to visit a slave labor camp where her brother was killed. The documentary is presented in a traditional 2D format whether you watch it in the Oculus TV app or elsewhere.“The real hero here is Colette herself.”“The real... Continue reading…

Ingenuity lifts off from the Martian surface | NASA/JPL NASA’s tiny Ingenuity helicopter made its third successful flight on Mars early Sunday, and flew higher and faster than it did even when it was being tested on Earth. At about 1:31 AM ET, the helicopter ascended 16 feet and flew 164 feet during its 80 second third flight, at a top speed of 6.6 feet per second.NASA received the flight data shortly after 10AM ET. “Today’s flight was what we planned for, and yet it was nothing short of amazing,” NASA’s Dave Lavery said in a statement. “With this flight, we are demonstrating critical capabilities that will enable the addition of an aerial dimension to future Mars missions.”In its second mission on Thursday, Ingenuity made a 51.9-second flight, traveling seven feet. For Ingenuity’s first... Continue reading…

Ted Lasso returns | Photo by SAGAwards2021 via Getty Images The Oscars are tonight and despite my best efforts I still haven’t seen all the Best Picture contenders, so will hold off on making predictions (but honestly not sure how anyone beats Chadwick Boseman as Best Actor). Lots of good trailers this week including the return of the most wholesome show on all of streaming and the next big Marvel movie.Ted Lasso Season 2You know when you really love a show and it gets popular and everyone else likes it... and you brace for its sophomore season to be not quite as good as its debut? I am hopeful that Ted Lasso will not fall into this pattern, and the trailer for season two looks extremely promising (Ted: “Back home if a team was playing poorly, we don’t call them unlucky, what do we call ‘em,... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images Audio social platform Clubhouse is partnering with the National Football League for some exclusive programming during the upcoming NFL draft, the company announced Sunday. This is the first sports partnership for Clubhouse.The NFL will host a series of draft-themed rooms on Clubhouse beginning Monday and throughout the week, which will include player assessments, a mock draft for fans, and a conversation with football team alumni from the University of Alabama. Football fans can drop into the NFL rooms on Clubhouse to follow the picks as they’re announced and listen to “discussions featuring key NFL figures—from athletes and coaches to network personalities,” according to a release from Clubhouse, and fans could be invited on stage by... Continue reading…

We’ve known that Brazilian soccer star Neymar was coming to Fortnite since March, when he was teased as part of the battle royale’s latest season — and now we finally know what he’ll look like. Today, Epic revealed Neymar’s video game look, which, in traditional Fortnite fashion, gets pretty outlandish, with unlockable outfits that look ripped straight out of Power Rangers.Curiously, Neymar isn’t sporting jerseys for either the Brazil national team or his club, Paris St. Germain, despite the fact that licensed team kits were introduced earlier this year. You can check out Neymar’s accessories in the image below. Neymar and his gear — including some new quests — will be available on April 27th for anyone who purchased the current pass. ... Continue reading…

Niko Tavernise/NETFLIX © 2020 The 93rd Academy Awards (also known as the Oscars) will broadcast tonight, April 25th. This ceremony will recognize the films and their associated talent in a particularly strange and difficult year for the industry, which has been forced to adapt to some big changes during the pandemic. Cinemas weren’t where most people saw newly-released movies. Instead, many of those films were pushed faster than ever to digital distribution platforms like Vudu, Apple TV, and Google TV for purchase or rental. Some were even made available simultaneously with the theatrical release, like some Warner Bros. films on HBO Max.This year’s Oscars are happening later in the year than usual, apparently to make room for more movies, since the pandemic dried... Continue reading…

Comics have never been bigger: with Marvel TV shows, DC movies, and indie adaptations growing by the day, comic books have never been more prominent in pop culture. This biweekly Verge column recommends comic series new and old, whether you’re a longtime fan or a newcomer.I’ve played a lot of Fortnite over the years, but I’ve never really thought about the internal lives of the many characters that inhabit the battle royale island. I was always too busy seeking shelter and supplies or exploring whatever big event was happening at the time. But now that I’ve read Zero Point, a crossover between Batman and Fortnite, I can’t stop thinking about what’s actually happening to them as they fight to the death over and over again.What is it? Ze... Continue reading…

Family members of Covid-19 infected patients stand in a queue with empty oxygen cylinders outside the oxygen filling center in New Delhi on April 23rd. | Photo by Naveen Sharma/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Doctors, hospital owners, journalists, and other Twitter users in India have been tweeting and amplifying pleas for oxygen supplies on social platforms out of desperation, as new coronavirus cases and deaths there hit record highs. Oxygen supplies are at critical low levels in India, and some hospitals are overwhelmed with patients suffering from COVID-19.Using hashtags like #CovidSOS and #COVIDEmergency2021, many in India are seeking ICU beds, oxygen, and plasma, and others have tried to direct those in need to suppliers. Groups on WhatsApp and Facebook have been inundated with posts from people in need of ICU beds, oxygen, and other supplies, as organizations like HumanKind Global try to track down leads to help them.