The Verge

Image: Verizon Verizon just launched an updated version of its Stream TV streaming box, with a new feature for finding lost remotes and built-in support for Amazon Prime and Netflix (unlike its predecessor).The new Stream TV features an updated rectangular design and a big button on the top for powering on the device and finding the Google Assistant-enabled remote. You locate the remote by pressing the power button twice; the remote will beep until you press any of its buttons, hopefully making your dig through the couch that much shorter.The previous Stream TV’s biggest missing features were access to Netflix and Amazon Prime, two apps that 9to5Google said took months to finally arrive. This new version launches with both apps built in, along with... Continue reading…

The Verge’s resident Ravens fan, Taylor Lyles, forced me to use this screenshot Last month, the National Football League announced it would cancel the 2021 Pro Bowl game — news that went largely unnoticed, since very few football fans care about it. But today, first reported by CNBC, the NFL announced it will resurrect the Pro Bowl as a weeklong digital event with players competing in EA’s Madden NFL 21 instead.Details are scant, outside of the promise of “celebrities, NFL Legends, current players, and streamers,” according to an EA press release. Even the exact date is still to come. (Pinning one down will depend on if the NFL season is extended into an 18th week, the rumored solution if COVID cases mess with the schedule further.)Still, it’s a fun, inevitable solution to what has often been the NFL’s least... Continue reading…

1Password, one of the most popular password management services, has been updated for macOS Big Sur today, adding several new features that take advantage of the new capabilities of the operating system.Chief among those is the option to use your Apple Watch to unlock 1Password: if enabled, you’ll get a pop-up on your watch when you open the app, which you can then unlock by double clicking the side button on the smartwatch. The Apple Watch feature doesn’t interfere with the usual Touch ID option for Macs that offer it — customers will be able to use either method to unlock their passwords. (That said, Touch ID will still be considered the “default” method.)The new update for 1Password also increases its integration into Safari on Big... Continue reading…

Photo by Susan Walsh - Pool/Getty Images When Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) initially called for Tuesday’s hearing with the chief executives of Facebook and Twitter, it was done suddenly. It was done loudly. And it was done during the last few crucial weeks before the 2020 presidential election.On October 15th, the two Republican senators held an impromptu press conference in the halls of Congress where they tore into Twitter and its CEO Jack Dorsey for the company’s decision to block linking out to a widely factually disputed article about Hunter Biden from the New York Post published on October 14th.Cruz equated Twitter’s decision to “election interference,” telling reporters, “Never before have we seen active censorship of a major press publication with... Continue reading…

SoundCloud is trying to make sure people can tell who’s an authentic artist by rolling out verified badges, the company announced today.Badges will be given to top artists on the platform, but there’s a list of criteria that has to be met in order to get one. Artists must be “a well-known and/or highly searched-for artist, collective, DJ, label, curator or podcaster,” according to a blog post announcing the news. They must also have a unique profile, no misleading information, and each account must have a bio, profile photo, and one track uploaded. Current artists who have received the verification badge include Billie Eilish, Wiz Khalifa, and Trippie Redd.Prior to SoundCloud rolling out the verified badge, the site had Pro star... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is wrapping up 2020 with what it claims are major performance enhancements to the company’s Google Chrome browser. “This month’s update represents the largest gain in Chrome performance in years,” Matt Waddell, Chrome’s director of product, wrote in a blog post. Sounds pretty exciting on the surface, no? Waddell says a slew of under-the-hood changes and optimizations have led to boosts to Chrome on several fronts.The first has to do with tabs. Chrome now will prioritize your active tab over the others in the background, “reducing CPU usage by up to 5x and extending battery life by up to 1.25 hours (based on our internal benchmarks).” Google goes into greater detail on just what it’s doing to keep tabs in check (hint: it involves... Continue reading…

Photo by DAVID GANNON/AFP via Getty Images Tesla, Uber, Rivian, Lucid Motors, and others have joined forces to create a new lobbying group for electric vehicles on Capitol Hill. The group, which is called the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA), says its mission is that 100 percent of new car sales are electric by 2030.Some states are already moving in that direction. California recently announced its plans to ban the sale of combustion-engine vehicles by 2035. New Jersey has said it is interested in doing the same. However, the new industry group won’t push states to require its residents to only purchase EVs, but rather it supports policies to incentivize their sale.“point-of-sale consumer incentives”One of its five missions outlined in its announcement is... Continue reading…

One year ago, Google Stadia charged three ways to try its new cloud gaming service: you had to buy $130 worth of hardware, pay $10 a month for the service, and buy many of its games. But starting on November 19th — Stadia’s anniversary — Google will let you play Destiny 2 without paying a cent.It might be the single-biggest test for Stadia yet.Don’t expect much, and you might be impressedDestiny 2 is already a free-to-play game on consoles and Windows PCs, so it’s not like Google is handing out free copies of a full-priced game. If you get invested, you’ll still need to buy the expansions yourself. You won’t be able to play with your friends on other platforms because Stadia’s copy of Destiny 2 doesn’t support cross-platform... Continue reading…

Photo: GitHub GitHub has reinstated an open-source tool for downloading YouTube videos, and it’s changed its policies to make similar copyright-related takedowns less likely. Yesterday, the Microsoft-owned software repository reversed its removal of YouTube-dl, which lets users save local copies of streaming videos from YouTube and many other sites.The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) demanded that GitHub remove YouTube-dl in late October. It alleged that the tool “was designed and is marketed” for illegally saving copyrighted music, violating Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. GitHub initially agreed, but its decision drew criticism from journalists and software developers. As TechDirt chronicled, YouTube-dl is... Continue reading…

Minecraft Minecraft has announced a new DLC pack — and it’s Star Wars-themed.Per Minecraft’s blog post, the pack includes “a map, a skin pack, a full bespoke texture set, mobs and items reskins, UI treatment, and even a licensed soundtrack.” You’ll get content from the original trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) as well as The Mandalorian. To purchase it, open up the Marketplace on whatever device you use to play Minecraft.The map includes 12 planets to explore, including Tatooine, Endor, and Hoth, which are populated with characters, droids, and creatures. There are all kinds of character skins, including Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Han Solo, and (of course) Baby Yoda. You can zip... Continue reading…

Image: Bud Light Bud Light, the beer brand produced by Anheuser-Busch, has created a video game console. It’s called the BL6, and yes, it will keep two of your beers cold. It has 16 gigabytes of memory and six games, including Tekken 7 and Soulcalibur VI. It has a built-in Asus projector. It has the form factor of a six-pack of beer.Look, I’m not going to lie to you: I’m not sure why this exists. I’m not mad at it, though.I love drinking beer as much as the next person, and while I don’t usually consume Bud Light, I do have an appreciation for booze companies doing weird video game stunts. (My previous favorite entrant in this category: Miller Lite’s “Cantroller,” which was a can of beer you could game with.)But the problem with these devices is... Continue reading…

Late Monday night, a European rocket carrying two satellites failed during flight, leading to the loss of the payloads on board. It was the second major failure of this particular type of rocket within the last two years.The rocket that failed is called Vega, one of the primary rockets developed by European launch provider Arianespace. The vehicle took off last night from Europe’s primary spaceport in French Guiana. On board the rocket was a Spanish Earth-imaging satellite called SEOSat-Ingenio, which would have been operated by the European Space Agency, and another imaging satellite from France called TARANIS.“We can unfortunately confirm that the mission is lost.”At about eight minutes into the flight, the engine on Vega’s upper... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google has announced an update to its Fit mobile apps that will introduce a new centralized home screen of health-related information and more sleep tracking data. The updates, for both the Android and iOS versions of Google Fit, will start rolling out this week. Google is also adding new tiles to its Wear OS smartwatch app for workouts, weather, and breathing exercises.The new features are very much in line with the most recent Google Fit redesign launched last year. But the new home screen brings some key data points like weekly goals, recent workouts, and health info like heart rate and weight trends more front and center. As for sleep tracking, Google says Wear OS devices and compatible smart home accessories like the Fossil Gen... Continue reading…

Instagram Instagram users’ ability to search is getting an upgrade. Today, the company announced that English-speaking users in six countries, including the UK, US, Ireland, and Canada, will be able to search the platform using keywords. Before today, they could only search for hashtags or accounts. So, for example, if you previously wanted to find “healthy recipes,” you’d only be able to search for posts that tagged #healthyrecipes or accounts with variations on “healthy recipes” in their name or bio. Now, however, Instagram will let people search the keywords themselves, meaning posts that feature healthy recipes should surface, even if the specific tag is missing.It’s unclear how the service determines what a post is about, though. My search... Continue reading…

Image: Beats Beats today announced a glow-in-the-dark set of its Powerbeats neckband earbuds. Priced at $199.95 (a $50 upsell over the regular model), they’re a collaboration between Beats and design label Ambush, with the latter company’s logo printed on the buds.The glowing Powerbeats could prove useful for runners out on the street in the dark. They’re the first glow-in-the-dark product that Beats has made. Yoon Ahn, Ambush’s co-founder and creative director, said she was inspired by Tokyo’s energetic nightlife when working on the project with Beats. “I live in the middle of Shibuya and I am always inspired by how the city just glows at night time,” she said. “I thought it would be really cool to design a product that could capture that same... Continue reading…

Two of China’s top companies have joined forces to design, develop, and build an electric car for the express purpose of ride-hailing.The vehicle is an adorable green hatchback called the D1, and it was developed by Didi Chuxing, the top ride-hailing company in China that notoriously defeated Uber in 2016, and BYD, one of the leading electric vehicle manufacturers. The D1 will have a range of 418 km (260 miles) as judged by NEDC (New European Driving Cycle). They also explained some of the more interesting design touches that make this vehicle particularly well-suited for app-based ride-hailing. There is a medium-sized screen on the dashboard as well as two more touchscreens on the back of both headrests... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google’s Stadia game streaming service is officially adding support for messaging, the service has announced. Messages can be sent to members of your party (who you could previously voice chat with) as well as other players more generally. Alongside it, the service has also announced support for sharing screenshots and video clips on the web via sending links, and it’s adding more information to Stadia profiles. Although these are all fairly basic features, they’re a standard part of most online gaming services, and it’s good to see Stadia finally implement them.Stadia notes that its messaging feature also includes support for smart replies, saving users from typing out full messages using a gamepad. According to tweets posted by Stadia... Continue reading…

Tomas Rawlings had gotten cheese everywhere. At a lunch with some of the best and brightest minds of the European Space Agency, he dropped a roll that exploded “like a cheese grenade.” Melted goo fused with the wirey carpet. Those brilliant scientists and researchers he’d hoped to impress were now treading it all over.“I had this nightmare scenario of a future thing where like, the ExoMars mission would crash because they found a piece of cheese wedged in some critical solar panel,” Rawlings says.Rawlings isn’t just a menace to clean carpets; he’s also CEO of Auroch Digital and a game designer. Together with ESA, the team at Auroch has been working to create a strategy simulation that feels true to how agencies operate. In Mars Horizon... Continue reading…

Image: Instacart Electronics retailer Best Buy and on-demand delivery platform Instacart announced a partnership on Tuesday that will see Instacart power same-day delivery of Best Buy in every state in the US, covering nearly every Best Buy location throughout the country.The partnership is a big deal for Instacart, which has gradually expanded beyond its initial grocery delivery ambitions to include delivery of all manner of goods from many types of different retailers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for delivery of everything from home supplies to groceries to hot meals has skyrocketed, giving Instacart and its rivals huge revenue boosts and the means to continue expanding. For Best Buy, it’s a way to tap into the ease of on-demand delivery... Continue reading…

An interview with Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy Continue reading…

A few more holidays are coming to the virtual world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Today, Nintendo announced that Turkey Day and Toy Day — the in-universe versions of Thanksgiving and Christmas — will take place over the next two months. Additionally, the game’s next update will introduce save data transfers and expansion for your in-game storage.Let’s start with the holidays. Turkey Day will take place on November 26th, will involve a big meal in the town square, and players will be able to earn a gift by helping out. Toy Day, meanwhile, is much more elaborate. It lasts from December 1st through the 25th, and players will be able to gather ornaments from trees to create new seasonal items, while holiday-themed decorations and... Continue reading…

Image: Lego Lego’s next collection of Super Mario-themed sets includes Mario’s iconic Tanooki suit as a new “Power-Up Pack” launching on January 1st. The Tanooki Suit is just one of the new Super Mario Lego sets launching next year, which include the new 366-piece Master Your Adventure Maker Set, three new expansion sets, 10 collectible character packs, and a second Power-Up pack with a Penguin costume for the Italian plumber.For those unfamiliar with the Mario sets Lego launched earlier this year, the idea is to build 2D-style levels that players can manually hop their Lego Mario figurine through from start pipe to goal flag. You get coins for walking the Mario figurine through the level, bopping it on top of enemies, or interacting with other... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Firefox is finally getting a feature that other major browsers have had for years: pinch to zoom.It’s a foundational gesture control, and yet, Mozilla has taken an oddly long time to bring it to Firefox. Apple first added pinch to zoom to desktop Safari in 2011. Microsoft supported pinch to zoom in Internet Explorer on Windows 8 touchscreens in 2012. I can’t quite nail down when pinch to zoom was added to Chrome, but Google was experimenting with the feature as early as 2013 and brought it to Chrome OS in 2014. Firefox has been the holdout all these years.Pinch to zoom lets you naturally scroll in and out of a webpage by pinching in or out on a trackpad or touchscreen. It’s not a game-changing addition, but it’s something I find myself... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Uber is loosening some of the rules in its two-year-old rewards program to make it easier for customers to access perks like discounted rides and food delivery, the company announced. Under the new rules, customers can redeem rewards for fewer points and will have longer to use their points than under the previous rules.The move comes as the ride-hail giant continues to struggle to woo customers back to its ride-hail business after a steep dropoff as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Gross bookings in its ride-hailing division, or the amount of money it takes in before paying drivers, is down 50 percent year over year, according to Uber’s third quarter earnings report. And while its Uber Eats delivery business continues to soar,... Continue reading…

Microsoft is creating a new security chip that’s designed to protect future Windows PCs. Microsoft Pluton is a security processor that is built directly into future CPUs and will replace the existing Trusted Platform Module (TPM), a chip that’s currently used to secure hardware and cryptographic keys. Pluton is based on the same security technologies used to protect Xbox consoles, and Microsoft is working with Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm to combine it into future CPUs.This new chip is designed to block new and emerging attack vectors that are being used to compromise PCs, including CPU security flaws like Spectre and Meltdown. Intel revealed back in 2018 that it was redesigning its processors to protect against future attacks, and Pluton... Continue reading…

Photo: Nintendo Nintendo and Champion are attempting to turn Mario into a style icon with a new collaboration. As part of Super Mario’s 35th anniversary, the two companies have announced a limited edition capsule collection that mashes streetwear with the Mushroom Kingdom. The highlight is a pair of bright red overalls, but there’s also a tie-dye Toad shirt, T-shirts with classic Mario box art, and a Princess Peach hoodie.Nintendo says the gear will go on sale starting on November 18th in the US, with prices ranging from $30 to $150. Certain pieces, like the overalls, will only be available in “super-limited” quantities.The collaboration is the latest in a very Mario-themed year for Nintendo. To celebrate the franchise’s anniversary, the developer... Continue reading…

Image: Twitter Twitter on Tuesday announced a global launch of “Fleets,” the ephemeral tweeting feature it first announced earlier this year and tested in various markets around the globe.Now, any mobile Twitter user, regardless of where they live or what platform they’re on, will have access to the disappearing messaging feature, which will sit right at the top of the timeline in a row of Stories-like bubbles. Twitter hopes the new feature will help reduce the pressure around tweeting by letting users express more casual thoughts and feelings while also concerning themselves less with saying something profound or racking up likes and retweets. Fleets starts rolling out today on Android and iOS and should be available for everyone in the coming days,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok is expanding its parental control feature today to give parents more options over what their teen can see and how private their account is.Most of the updates are around privacy. Parents will now be able to restrict who can comment on their teen’s videos, who can view their account, and who can see what videos they’ve liked. That allows parents to limit an account so that only their child’s friends can see what they’ve been up to. TikTok already offers the ability for parents to turn off or limit direct messages, too.There are also some new content restrictions. Parents will now be able to stop their teenager from searching for videos, users, hashtags, or sounds, which could make it harder for them to find certain content on... Continue reading…

Your car’s infotainment screen will show information about nearby chargers and help you get to them. | Image: ChargePoint EV charging network provider ChargePoint is now tightly integrated with Apple CarPlay. That means drivers can now find a ChargePoint charging station, navigate to it, and start a charging session from their car’s infotainment screen without having to pick up their phone while traveling to launch the ChargePoint app. The feature is available starting today in the USA, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.ChargePoint says available EV chargers can be displayed on a map where drivers can find recently used stations, favorites, or filter their options based on cost, availability, and plug type. They’ll also be able to see a charger’s status, and... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter plans to take on Clubhouse, the invite-only social platform where users congregate in voice chat rooms, with a way for people to create “spaces” for voice-based conversations right on Twitter. In theory, these spaces could provide another avenue for users to have conversations on the platform — but without harassment and abuse from trolls or bad actors, thanks to tools that let creators of these spaces better control the conversation.The company plans to start testing the feature this year, but notably, Twitter will be giving first access to some of the people who are most affected by abuse and harassment on the platform: women and people from marginalized backgrounds, the company says.In one of these conversation spaces,... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The crush of new hardware to review and discuss is beginning to wind down, but there are a few more gadgets to talk about over the next week. Believe it or not, though, it’s also time to start talking about 2021’s consumer tech. No, not CES, but Samsung. The company is widely expected to hold its Galaxy S21 event in January instead of the usual March.How come? I don’t have any good guesses, but I think I’d be skeptical about COVID-related reasons. Samsung can move remarkably fast in bringing new products to market, but I bet its flagships are planned much earlier than things like the Galaxy S20 FE.Since our perception of time has become cattywampus, I do want to remind you that Samsung’s Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus were two of the best... Continue reading…

Google Maps can now give predicted delivery times for food orders in select markets. | Image: Google Google has announced a handful of improvements coming to Google Maps including updates to its COVID overlay, takeout ordering features, and real-time crowdedness information for public transport. Alongside them, the company says the Google Assistant driving mode, which gives you access to features like voice controls for music while you’re driving, is launching in preview in the US.The Google Assistant driving mode was first announced back at Google I/O 2019 and was spotted rolling out on some Android devices last month. The mode offers voice controls for features like phone calls and media playback from inside the Maps navigation screen, so you can access them while keeping your eyes on the road. These include being able to read out... Continue reading…

Adobe is releasing Arm versions of Photoshop for Windows and macOS today. The beta releases will allow owners of a Surface Pro X or Apple’s new M1-powered MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini to run Photoshop natively on their devices. Currently, Photoshop runs emulated on Windows on ARM, or through Apple’s Rosetta translation on macOS.Native versions of Photoshop for both Windows and macOS should greatly improve performance, just in time for Apple to release its first Arm-powered Macs. While performance might be improved, as the app is in beta there are a lot of tools missing. Features like content-aware fill, patch tool, healing brush, and many more are not available in the beta versions currently.Adobe lists a number of known... Continue reading…

Oppo has held its second annual “Inno Day,” an event where it shows off products in concept form and sets out its vision for the future. Headlining this year is a smartphone with an expandable “rolling” screen and a new set of AR glasses.The Oppo X 2021 is a concept phone that the company says is the result of its research and development flexible displays. In regular smartphone use the OLED display has a 6.7-inch surface area, but that can be expanded to a squarer, tablet-like 7.4-inch panel depending on the content or use case. The phone slid all the way open. Oppo says it developed its own power train, structural plate, and screen laminate to ensure the device’s durability. You can see how it works from the front... Continue reading…

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station this evening, more than a day after launching to space from Florida. The vehicle’s arrival marks the beginning of the first long-duration mission for the Crew Dragon, a type of flight the spacecraft will perform periodically for NASA over the next few years.Inside the Crew Dragon are NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, along with Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi — all part of a mission called Crew-1. Their spacecraft slowly approached the International Space Station this evening and attached itself onto an open docking port on the outside of the ISS. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is designed to automatically dock with the ISS... Continue reading…

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Huawei has announced plans to sell off Honor, its smartphone business focused on mid-range products for younger consumers. Huawei says the decision “has been made by Honor’s industry chain to ensure its own survival,” following “tremendous pressure” and “a persistent unavailability of technical elements needed for our mobile phone business.”Honor products often rely heavily on Huawei’s own technology, so the company has been equally hit by US sanctions preventing Huawei from doing business with American companies. The V30 line of phones, for example, uses the same Kirin 990 processor that powers Huawei’s P40 flagship devices. Under new ownership, Honor should have more flexibility to develop its products, potentially being able to deal... Continue reading…

Image: Hyprsense Constant updating has turned Fortnite from an early access fort-building game to a popular social space to spend time with friends, but despite that constant iteration, expression has always been limited to the emotes that Epic programs into the game. Conveniently, Epic just bought a company called Hyprsense that can put your facial expressions directly onto a video game character using a simple webcam, which seems like a great fit for Fortnite.For a taste of what that could look like, look no further than this promo for Hyprsense’s own app:Hyprmeet was released in open beta in September and while the app’s no longer available, it’s easy to imagine how nice even a tiny bit more facial expressiveness could be in Fortnite’s... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Xbox Series X and S launched last week, but if you weren’t lucky enough to have a pre-order or snag one of the few launch-day units, you might be waiting until next year — that’s when there might be enough Xbox supply to easily pick up a new console off the shelf, according to a top Xbox exec.“I think we’ll continue to see supply shortages as we head into the post-holiday quarter, so Microsoft’s Q3, calendar Q1,” said Xbox chief financial officer Tim Stuart at the Jefferies Interactive Entertainment Virtual Conference. (You can read a transcript of Stuart’s full remarks at the conference at Seeking Alpha.)Phil Spencer tried to set expectations about short supplyThat’s not an altogether surprising statement, as Xbox chief Phil... Continue reading…

Photo by ILMxLab The Void was the poster child for virtual reality arcades, a future that once seemed bright — we covered it numerous times at The Verge, particularly after Disney and ILMxLab chose to bring Star Wars, Wreck-It Ralph and Avengers experiences exclusively to The Void’s arcades. But Protocol reports that The Void is now as close to death’s door as a brand ever truly comes: after defaulting on a loan, Disney has abandoned its partner, the company’s assets have been reassigned to a creditor, and that creditor says he’s planning to sell them off.While new owner Jim Bennett tells the publication that resuming operations might also be an option, the name of his holding company suggests different, as Protocol points out:

Photo illustration by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images Airbnb filed for an initial public offering on Monday, released its prospectus, and indicated it will trade on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol ABNB.The prospectus gives a deep look at Airbnb’s business, particularly just how hard the platform has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic. As part of the filing, Airbnb says its business will continue to be affected by people scaling back travel as the virus continues to spread. Under risk factors, the company said the pandemic “and the impact of actions to mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic have materially adversely impacted and will continue to materially adversely impact our business, results of operations, and financial condition.”The company has seen annual net losses every year... Continue reading…

Image: Roblox Lil Nas X performed to an audience of millions across two days and four shows this weekend, playing in a setting that literally made him larger than life: the hit kids game Roblox. The shows gathered 33 million views in total across the performances, which started on Saturday afternoon and wrapped up with a surprise encore performance on Sunday, Roblox told The Verge. The identical shows starred a motion-captured incarnation of Lil Nas X, styled to fit in with a world that shifted to match each of the four songs he performed.It’s a huge number for Roblox, and it puts the game’s ability to hold a concert up there with Fortnite. In April, Fortnite hosted a similarly impressive performance from Travis Scott that drew 45.8 million viewers... Continue reading…

Hulu with Live TV is the latest virtual TV bundle to get a price hike — this time to $64.99 a month.Hulu with Live TV currently costs $54.99 a month, marking a $10 monthly increase for current customers, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It’s also on par with YouTube TV, a competing virtual live TV bundle. The price change will go into effect on December 18th and affect both new and current customers. Hulu last increased the monthly cost of its virtual TV provider last year when the company told subscribers they would go from paying $44.99 to $54.99 on December 18th, 2019.While these types of packages were originally meant to help cord-cutters who still wanted access to some live programming (like news and sports) but didn’t want... Continue reading…

Apple will now let anyone embed podcasts from Apple Podcasts on the web. This means that you might see more of Apple Podcasts online, and Apple is setting itself up to compete with other podcast players for coveted embed recognition.Anyone can embed a podcast from Apple Podcasts. To do so, find your desired podcasts on the Apple Podcasts web landing page and then click the episode you want to embed. From there, click the upload icon on the right-hand side and select the code icon. You’ll then have the embed code saved, which can paste wherever you want the podcast to appear.Here’s what it looks like for The Verge’s newest show, Decoder with Nilay Patel.While this feature might not outwardly seem like a massive change, it could give... Continue reading…

Photo credit should read ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images Jeff Bezos named 16 environmental organizations that will get the first chunk of his $10 billion fund for climate action on Instagram today. Collectively, they’ll get $791 million from the richest man on Earth, although Bezos did not specify how much would go to each group.“I’ve spent the past several months learning from a group of incredibly smart people who’ve made it their life’s work to fight climate change and its impact on communities around the world,” Bezos said on Instagram. “I’m inspired by what they’re doing, and excited to help them scale.” The Amazon CEO announced the creation of his personal $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund in February.Support for mainstream environmental groupsHis fund is equivalent to more than 7 percent... Continue reading…

If you’ve been put off by the astoundingly excellent-for-$349 Google Pixel 4A because it only comes in black, you should know that’s no longer true. In September, we got wind that Google originally intended to offer a baby blue color, too, and you can now officially buy it at Google’s website for the same $349 price — orange power button and all.It’s apparently a limited edition product since Google’s saying it’ll only be available “while supplies last” on its product page. Perhaps that’s why the color didn’t arrive at launch? Image: Google A taller image of the Pixel 4A in “barely blue.” Either way, if you want one, now’s probably the time. There are no Google Fi discounts on this one, sadly, so I’m sticking... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A recent ransomware attack on Capcom may have compromised personal data for approximately 350,000 people, the company says. That information includes names, addresses, birthdates, phone numbers, passport info, “HR information,” and more. It includes individuals across Japan and North America.In a post on its website, Capcom says it shut down its systems on November 2nd and began investigating. The company then confirmed “a targeted attack against the company using ransomware, which destroyed and encrypted data on its servers” by an organization demanding ransom money. “Because the overall number of potentially compromised data cannot specifically be ascertained due to issues including some logs having been lost as a result of the... Continue reading…

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge The saga of the $35,000 Tesla Model 3 has, once again, taken a dark turn. According to Electrek, the automaker will no longer be offering the cheapest version of its popular electric sedan with the forthcoming model year 2021 refresh. This represents the second time in so many years that Tesla has stopped selling the most affordable version of its mass-market car.Previously, the $35,000 Model 3 was available but extremely hard to find. Tesla stopped listing it as an option on its site and only made it available “off menu” by selling the car for $38,000 with a $3,000 discount for some software-locked features.Now, Tesla is informing its sales staff to longer offer the discount for the new Model 3 coming out next year, Electrek says,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge More copyright takedown requests might be coming to Facebook and Instagram. The company announced today that it’s going to allow all page admins around the world to submit images and videos for rights protection, expanding the reach of the feature outside of the limited group of partners who piloted the image copyright launch.This means more creators and brands will be able to issue takedown requests over re-uploaded videos and images they own across both Facebook and Instagram. These creators will also have the option of making money off matches if their re-uploaded content is monetized with in-stream ads.Facebook only launched support for claiming copyrighted images in September. Although anyone can claim rights for an image,... Continue reading…

Microsoft is introducing the ability to integrate popular workplace apps like Asana into meetings on its Teams collaboration platform. Teams meetings were previously limited to chats and channel communications, but now users can integrate 20 new apps into their meetings. For instance, you can discuss and modify a project built in Asana with others directly within a Teams meeting.The new apps for meetings join the more than 700 already available in the Teams App Store, Microsoft said. Image: Microsoft The company is also making its Power Platform — which provides low-code tools to build and deploy apps, chatbots, and workflows — available right within Teams. The Power Apps app for Teams is a maker studio where... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google is adding a new option to let users opt out of having their Gmail, Chat, and Meet data used to offer smart features like Smart Compose and Smart Reply, the company announced today. Although you’ve previously been able to toggle these individual features on and off, the new toggle disables the background data processing that makes them possible. Google says the new option will roll out “in the coming weeks.”According to images posted on Google’s blog, Gmail users will be shown two dialog boxes showing the data processing. The first concerns smart features offered within Gmail, including automatic email filtering / categorizations, Smart Compose, summary cards shown above emails, and extracting event details to create calendar... Continue reading…