The Verge

In 2004, I was an undiagnosed neurodivergent teenager who had given up on trying to fit in. It felt like everyone was trying to mold me into their version of perfect by chastising me when I did something wrong." It was confusing, exhausting, and demoralizing. I managed to make a few friends in high school who seemed to just get me, but the last thing I wanted to do was talk about how I felt - until all my friends started signing up for blogging accounts on Melodramatic.com.Shielded by the anonymity of a screen name, it was the first time I felt safe talking about my mental health - and discovered there were so many other teenagers like me who felt the same way. Even all these years later, if you search Melodramatic.com" on Reddit,... Continue reading...

It was a chilly winter morning in 2004. The scene was Stanley, Idaho - a city with a population of 101 and a current temperature of negative 17. My boyfriend, who had lured me here from London, England, handed me a bright red envelope and asked if I could drop it in the mailbox on my way into town.What's Netflix?" I asked, peering at the white letters printed on the side. It's DVD by mail," he said. They send you movies in the mail. You send them back when you're done. Then, they send you another one." It was a revelation.While Netflix had been growing in the US since its launch in 1998, it wouldn't cross the pond for another eight years. For the rest of the world, movie night in 2004 still meant a pilgrimage to the video store. As... Continue reading...

World of Warcraft, or WoW, is like the Red Hot Chili Peppers of the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre: not only is it still going strong but it's also somehow even bigger than you thought. World of Warcraft's current numbers aren't public, but one recent educated guess came in at 7 million paying subscribers, which, at $15 / month, would make the game a billion-dollar earner by itself. Its developer, Blizzard, merged with Activision in 2008, and Microsoft gobbled up both companies in 2022, but World of Warcraft remains a load-bearing spine of the newly formed corporate turducken. The game that redefined gold mining for the 21st century is still a 19th-century gold mine for its landlords.It's also thriving in a subscription... Continue reading...

Hey buddy, maybe take a look around? | Image: Bluetti Bluetti has taken portable power to absurd levels with its new Handsfree Backpack Power Stations. They're available in big or bigger versions depending on how long - and how much gear - you want to keep powered in the great outdoors.They're primarily aimed at outdoor photographers, but Bluetti also thinks they'll appeal to hikers, rock climbers, campers, adventurers, bikepackers, and motorcyclists... any nerd that wants to move beyond the cubicle with their gadgets. A side panel in the backpacks provides access to all the inputs and outputs without having to first remove the solar generator. Those ports can also be managed and monitored over Bluetooth from the Bluetti app. GIF: Bluetti You can carry a ton of gear... Continue reading...

DJI tells The Verge that it currently cannot freely import all of its drones into the United States - and that its latest consumer drone, the Air 3S, won't currently be sold at retail as a result.A customs-related issue is hindering DJI's ability to import select drones into the United States."That's not because the United States has suddenly banned DJI drones - rather, DJI believes the import restrictions are part of a broader initiative by the Department of Homeland Security to scrutinize the origins of products, particularly in the case of Chinese-made drones," according to DJI.DJI recently sent a letter to distributors with one possible reason why DHS is stopping some of its drones: the company says US Customs and Border... Continue reading...

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram appears to be working on a new Social Library" section in the app where you can easily access things shared in chat threads, your collections, and posts you've liked, according to an image shared by developer and leaker Alessandro Paluzzi.Judging from the looks of the screenshot from Paluzzi, the section will contain posts, Reels, and other media you've shared or received in chat threads as well as content you've liked or saved. A magnifying glass in the corner of the screenshot suggests this content will be searchable, too, which could make it a lot easier to quickly find a Reel or post you're looking for. Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge A screenshot of Paluzzi's Threads post. It's not clear... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images JD Vance is, by his own admission, plugged into a lot of weird right-wing subcultures." His much-mocked comments about childless cat ladies and unassimilated Italian immigrants were made on a masculinist" podcast. He doesn't eat seed oils, a dietary restriction du jour on the extremely online right. When he was nominated to be former President Donald Trump's running mate, his X following list included Bronze Age Pervert and Raw Egg Nationalist, two pseudonymous right-wing bodybuilders who often promote eugenics and the great replacement" conspiracy theory. But perhaps no one online has shaped Vance's thinking more than the neoreactionary blogger Curtis Yarvin, a former programmer with ties to Vance's friend and benefactor Peter Thiel.... Continue reading...

Image: Apple Soon, Apple will let businesses customize how they appear in emails and phone calls on the iPhone. Apple announced on Wednesday how companies using its Business Connect tool can add their brand name and logo in ways that will pop up in iPhone apps used for email, phone calls, and payments.Apple first introduced Business Connect last year as a way for businesses to claim listings across Maps, Messages, Wallet, Siri, and its other apps.Each registered business can confirm its info is accurate and add additional details like photos or special offers. Collecting verified, up-to-date business information could be useful for Apple if it ever launches its own search engine or inside features for Apple Intelligence instead of sending users... Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Amazon has discontinued the Kindle Oasis, which was the only Kindle still available with physical page-turn buttons. The company announced a new Kindle lineup earlier today, but Amazon confirmed to The Verge that it's moving on from the Oasis.Once current inventory of Kindle Oasis sells out online and in stores, we will not restock the device," Amazon's Devon Corvasce says in a statement. Today, all of our devices are touch-forward which is what our customers are comfortable with."Amazon's own listing for the Oasis includes a message that the e-reader is currently unavailable."Amazon first introduced the Kindle Oasis in 2016, positioning it as a high-end e-reader with page turn buttons and a design with added bulk on the side to... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Discord is fighting to keep its users anonymous in a court battle over piracy on the platform, claiming it would violate users' First Amendment rights to hand over too much of their information.Nexon, which publishes games including MapleStory, alleges that Discord has refused to comply with a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) subpoena issued by a federal court in Texas that ordered the platform to disclose user information connected to suspected intellectual property infringement. Nexon alleges that Discord members often use" the platform to provide pirated versions of video games," including Nexon's.In a recent court filing, earlier reported by TorrentFreak, Nexon said that Discord's counsel claimed the subpoena was too... Continue reading...

The F1 Arcade is a simulator. Just... a simpler one. | Photo: David Pierce / The Verge Confidence was my first mistake. As I plopped down in one of the 83 racing simulators in the new F1 Arcade location in Washington, DC, I told the company's CEO, Adam Breeden, that I'd raced plenty of times before. I picked Semi-Pro difficulty, even as Breeden told me he recommends most first-time arcade visitors pick something simpler. I adjusted the Vesaro simulator, started the race, and caused a six-car pileup on the race's very first corner.Luckily for me, the F1 Arcade is designed more for fun than fidelity, so my race wasn't over. It ended four minutes later, in dead-last place, as the onscreen timer mercifully ticked to zero. On a normal day at the arcade, this would signal it's time for someone else to race. For me, sitting at... Continue reading...

Image: Supergiant Games The first major update for Hades II, which is still in early access, is out now, adding things like a new region, the game's sixth and final weapon, new pets, native support for Macs with M1 chips, and more.The big feature looks to be the new region. You might be able to guess what that region is based on the update's title - The Olympic Update" - but if you haven't played the game yet, I'm not going to say anything else. I'm looking forward to exploring it as soon as I can and trying to take down the boss, who seems to be featured in the update's release trailer. (I'll probably try to get there with the new weapon, Xinth, the Black Coat.")There are a bunch of other updates, too. Supergiant has added two animal familiars to the game:... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Two days after Google cut a world's first" deal to purchase electricity from advanced nuclear reactors, Amazon announced three new agreements of its own today.Each deal supports the development of small modular reactors (SMRs), which can be one-tenth to one-quarter the size of a traditional nuclear power plant. If these projects make it to the finish line, SMRs would be a source of carbon pollution-free energy for big tech companies trying to salvage their climate goals by turning to nuclear energy.Each deal supports the development of small modular reactorsAmazon signed an agreement with Energy Northwest, a consortium of public utilities in Washington state, to enable the development" of four SMRs by the early 2030s. Energy... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Airbnb is making it easier for hosts to find someone to manage their Airbnb. The new Co-Host Network," which is available starting today, lets you compare co-hosts and work with the co-hosts that you hire right inside the app. Third-party Airbnb management companies are quite common already, but a co-host network directly in the Airbnb app could be a more convenient option for some users.Co-hosts can help with things like managing your listing and messaging guests that have booked at your Airbnb. Hosts are also able to choose from a range of payout options for their co-hosts, such as a cleaning fee, a percentage per booking, or a fixed amount.Airbnb has been piloting a co-hosting hiring service for several years," Skift reports, but... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge If you're not familiar with Google Flights, you may not realize that you're not always seeing the cheapest flights in your search results. The default algorithm considers numerous other factors, such as trip length, stops, and travel times. It was, admittedly, easy enough to expand the results and view the full flight list before now, but Google is introducing a change that brings a new Cheapest" tab that will sort all your flight options based purely on price.Google Flights will build itineraries that include long layovers or mixed and matched flights from different travel agencies, airlines, and nearby cities in order to show you the absolute cheapest options. If you like what you see, it'll direct you to the appropriate websites... Continue reading...

Image: Square Enix A look at the first two chapters in the return of Max Caulfield. Continue reading...

You can save $120 on the OnePlus Pad and get a free keyboard case valued at $149.99. | Image: Dan Seifert / The Verge Apple's new iPad Mini might be hogging the spotlight, but it's not the only great tablet on the market. If you're looking for a slate outside of Apple's ecosystem, the original OnePlus Pad is a terrific Android tablet that OnePlus is selling for $359.99 ($120 off) - a new all-time low - until October 20th at 11:59PM ET. To make the deal even sweeter, OnePlus is also throwing in a free OnePlus Magnetic Keyboard worth $149.99. Note that to get the discount you'll have to apply the on-page coupon, which you can find when you click on the Claim Now" button under "Check out all offers."The last-gen tablet still offers excellent value for your money. Its MediaTek Dimensity 9000 processor is snappy enough, while the Pad's sharp 11.6-inch LCD... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Users on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac are having trouble downloading apps from Apple's App Store right now. When users tap Get" to download an app, the icon swirls briefly to indicate that it's loading, but then it reverts to Get," leaving them unable to install the app they want.Reports of App Store issues are starting to mount on social media. Meanwhile, several of us here at The Verge, including in the US and Europe, aren't able to download apps, either. Judging by DownDetector's App Store outage chart, it looks like issues started to emerge around 11AM ET.Even though users are experiencing issues downloading apps, the App Store can still update apps that are already installed.Apple's status page still indicates that its App Store... Continue reading...

Anker's new car charger will supposedly deliver up to 75W of power. | Image: Reddit A reliable leaker has shared details and an image of an unannounced car charger from Anker that would be the first from the company to feature a retractable USB-C cable. As the proud owner of an eight-year-old minivan lacking modern amenities like built-in USB ports, this would be a welcome alternative to a glove box stuffed full of unraveled charging cables.The new Anker Nano car charger, which plugs into a vehicle's auxiliary power outlet, will reportedly deliver up to 75W of power shared between a 30W USB-C port, and a 45W retractable cable with a USB-C connector on the end that's almost 30 inches long, according to Reddit user joshuadwx.Pricing is expected to be somewhere between $30 an $40, while availability could be either later... Continue reading...

Photo by Grant Baldwin / Getty Images I'm honestly not sure which part of North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson's freshly filed defamation lawsuit to focus on here.The obvious lede is that Robinson - currently the Republican nominee for North Carolina governor - sued CNN for defamation yesterday. The suit targets the network for publishing meticulously documented allegations that Robinson made a series of bizarre and frequently bigoted comments on a porn forum called Nude Africa between 2008 and 2012, including referring to himself as a black NAZI" (capitalization in original).Robinson's lawsuit claims someone likely impersonated him using information from data breaches, which is certainly possible - but based on the evidence would require a remarkably complex... Continue reading...

Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment PlayStation has taken a novel approach to its rollout of Astro Bot's downloadable content. Instead of giving players a formal release date, choosing on several occasions to just say SoonTM, the developers at Team Asobi have simply decided to stealth launch the levels starting... tomorrow, October 17th. The DLC will feature five new challenge levels with 10 new bots to rescue. Though we've already seen the Stellar Blade bot and the Helldivers bot, Team Asobi is keeping the rest under wraps in order to preserve the little bolt of joy you get when you recognize one.Interestingly, instead of releasing all the levels at the same time, Team Asobi's going for yet another novel approach, launching individual levels on a weekly basis until all... Continue reading...

On a scorching 100-degree day, I find Henry Dorado's booth at the Brooklyn Flea Market. Above, trains rattle loudly on the Manhattan Bridge. The outdoor market is a small but trendy event that fills this corner every weekend, rain or oppressive shine. Among the typical antique market wares - racks of thrifted clothes, watches behind glass, bins of art - Dorado's booth stands out. People slow down, sometimes chuckle, take photos, and summon friends over to look at all this. A crowd surrounds the modest shop, just a few fold-out tables covered in pink tablecloths.Dozens of point-and-shoot cameras line the tables in rows, face up and laid flat; the circular lenses on each make it feel like you're browsing whole fish at a seafood market.... Continue reading...

What's a color screen for? Color book previews! | Image: David Pierce / The Verge For years, Kindle users have asked Amazon to make a color version of its e-reader. Now, the company is finally delivering: it's launching the new Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, a device that has a lot in common with the new Paperwhite, except instead of black and white it's color all over. The Colorsoft costs $279.99 and is available for preorder today, with shipments starting October 30th.Making the Colorsoft happen, Amazon executives said at a launch event on Tuesday in New York City, required a lot more than just swapping in a new display. Frankly, the technology just wasn't ready" before now, says Kevin Keith, who runs Kindle products for Amazon. And we now think the tech is ready." (Kobo, Remarkable, and others might... Continue reading...

The Scribe is as much a writing device as a reading one. | Image: Amazon Ever since Amazon launched the Kindle Scribe in 2022, the company has been noticing some unusual ways people are using the device. Scribe users read more nonfiction than normal Kindle owners; a full 60 percent of Scribe buyers use the device at work. That's maybe not shocking, given that the Scribe is the largest Kindle and the one with an included stylus for taking notes.But still: this is maybe the first Kindle ever to not be mostly a reading device, but rather equal parts book and notebook. With the new Scribe, which the company announced on Wednesday (and leaked on Tuesday night), Amazon is leaning into the notebook side of things in a big way.The new Scribe, which will cost $399.99 for a 16GB version (a 32GB is $419.99, while the... Continue reading...

A lot has been said about TV in 2004. That it was the best year of television of all time, the peak of the Golden Age of television. Or maybe that it was the year reality television became too much, suddenly showing up on every channel as we flipped the switch. But as famed Hollywood producer and UFO enthusiast Bryce Zabel wrote for the Los Angeles Times in 2004, it was the end of television as we knew it. He chalked it up to the prevalence of TiVo and DVR in American households and predicted an upheaval so severe the whole advertising business would crumble - and he didn't even know about streaming yet.The shift was one that a lot of people felt in real time. For many, it was through the show Lost, which debuted in 2004 and created a... Continue reading...

Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Decades before we got married and started a family, my partner and I connected over a little Boxer pup named Charlie. We tossed a ball around, scrubbed him down when he got dirty, and took him for daily walks. It was a bonding experience - mediated entirely through the original Nintendo DS's touchscreen. The tactile experience turned an otherwise simple game like Nintendogs, where the goal is to take care of virtual pets, into something that created a deep emotional connection. And years before smartphones were in everyone's pockets, it helped show a generation of gamers just what's possible with a touchscreen.Now, we mostly take them for granted, but prior to the arrival of the first DS in 2004, the idea of a touchscreen was, for many... Continue reading...

Project Know How builds on Adobe's work with Content Credentials. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge One of Adobe's most notable experiments this year could help combat misinformation and ensure artists are credited for their work, no matter where it appears online or offline. Announced during the Sneaks segment at Adobe Max, Project Know How' is an in-development tool that can link ownership of an image or video across any online platform, and a multitude of real-world surfaces like posters, tumblers, and textiles.Project Know How builds on Adobe's Content Credentials tech, which applies a digital tag to track where a piece of content has been posted, who owns it, and if/how it's been manipulated. Providing an image or video has Content Credentials applied, the tool can help creators establish ownership over their content even if... Continue reading...

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge In February 2004, a 19-year-old, flip-flop-wearing Mark Zuckerberg released an online directory of Harvard students. In those days, the internet still felt small. It was mostly about finding webpages, not people.It turned out that the internet was very good for connecting people. More than 1,000 Harvard students signed up for TheFacebook.com in the first 24 hours. The site started spreading quickly by word of mouth around campus. By the end of 2004, dozens of other colleges were on Facebook. The site had 1 million monthly users. Myspace's user base was about five times larger, though not for long.Social media predated Facebook, but nothing had captured the magic of what Zuckerberg and his classmates hacked together. The 2004 version of... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft has pulled its $1 Xbox Game Pass trial, just days before Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 releases on October 25th. The 14-day Game Pass trial was removed on October 8th, preventing people from signing up for a trial and playing through the Black Ops 6 campaign without paying for a full month of Game Pass.Microsoft first stopped its $1 trial for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass in March last year, before bringing it back and nerfing it down to just 14 days instead of a full month. The Xbox maker then briefly removed the $1 trial just days before Starfield's debut in September.It's not surprising to see the $1 Xbox Game Pass trial quietly removed once again, especially as Microsoft looks to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 to boost... Continue reading...

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Microsoft launched its Surface Laptop 7 earlier this year without Intel chips, in a bid to promote Windows on Arm and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips. Now, it looks like a Surface Laptop might arrive next year with Intel's latest Lunar Lake chips.A Surface Laptop prototype has appeared in a since-deleted listing on Chinese second-hand marketplace Goofish, complete with what looks like Intel's Core Ultra 7 268V processor inside. Windows Central spotted the listing, but it's not clear if this will simply be a Surface Laptop 7 variant or a Surface Laptop 8.Either way, the prototype laptop is clearly marked as such with a giant prototype - not for sale" etching at the bottom of the device. While it's easy to fake the CPU listing... Continue reading...

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images Former president Donald Trump threatened in an interview today that, if elected president, he would do something" about Google but stopped short of specifically saying he would break up the company.In the interview, Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait mentioned the US Justice Department's proposal to possibly break up Google and asked Trump if Google should be broken up. Trump initially didn't address Google at all, instead seemingly zeroing in on the Justice Department part of that question to rant about a recent DOJ lawsuit against Virginia election officials.But after Micklethwait got Trump back on course (the question is about Google, President Trump"), Trump expressed his unhappiness with how bad stories" seem to... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is rolling out new labels that tell if uploaded videos come from a real camera with unaltered footage and sound. The new captured with a camera" label can be seen in action courtesy of digital content authentication service Trupic, which uploaded a video to its channel, triggering the disclosure in the video description panel. Trupic says it has the first authentic video with C2PA Content Credentials on YouTube."YouTube is leaning on the C2PA standard to detect the authenticity of uploaded videos, meaning the feature will work only with recording devices and tools that support the metadata. The site's help page for the new feature says the label signifies that the creator used specific technology to verify their video's... Continue reading...

UK retailer John Lewis is already selling the new Amazon Kindles. | Image: John Lewis Amazon hasn't officially announced the next generation of its Kindle e-readers yet, but following leaks of several models, the UK retailer John Lewis was already selling the 12th-gen entry-level Kindle and the new Kindle Kids Edition through its website earlier today, as spotted by Good e-Reader. Both listings have since been taken down.The 12th-gen Kindle Paperwhite recently popped up in an eBay listing that has also been taken down, and which included images of the new e-reader's packaging revealing minor upgrades such as a slightly larger seven-inch E Ink screen. Screenshot: John Lewis John Lewis' listing for the 12th-gen entry-level Kindle model appeared to confirm leaked details from September. According to those... Continue reading...

Image: AeroGarden AeroGarden, which produces smart indoor planters with built-in grow lamps that work with a connected app, recently announced that it will shutter its business starting on January 1st next year, Ars Technica reported.The company, which was acquired by Scott's Miracle-Gro in 2020, says it will update users later on the longer-term status" of its app, which lets users monitor water levels and set lighting schedules. For now, AeroGarden only says the app will work for an extended period of time." Owners can still control its smart garden gadgets without the app as described in the user manual" for their specific product. (For instance, the Bounty Wi-Fi offers a touchscreen control panel.)Even so, Wi-Fi-enabled software features are a... Continue reading...

An enthusiastic Gelsinger introduced the partnership at today's conference, hosted by Lenovo. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge Nothing brings rivals together like a common enemy, and in this case it's the rise of ARM pulling Intel and AMD closer together than ever. The two chip makers - not exactly the friendliest frenemies - are the headlining members of a new x86 Advisory Group to try and defend the platform's interests against ARM, which finally appears poised to challenge x86's dominance.The alliance includes a long list of other founding members including Microsoft, Google, and Meta, as well as Lenovo, the company that hosted the announcement at its Tech World 2024 conference in Bellevue, Washington. This morning's keynote featured appearances by AMD CEO Lisa Su as well as Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, who unsurprisingly said that the x86 architecture is... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Google Chrome has begun to phase out uBlock Origin. The developer of the free ad blocker, Raymond Hill, recently reposted a screenshot that shows Chrome automatically turning off uBlock Origin because it is no longer supported."The change comes as Google Chrome migrates to Manifest V3, a new extension specification that could impact the effectiveness of some ad blockers. uBlock Origin has launched uBlock Origin Lite, which uses Manifest V3, in response to the transition. However, you have to manually install the extension because it's too different from uBO to be an automatic replacement," according to a FAQ Hill that posted to GitHub.Hill says you may notice a difference when using uBlock Origin Lite compared to uBlock Origin... Continue reading...