The Verge

The unusual LG Wing is one of only a few devices approved to use C-band 5G so far. | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge LG Wing and Pixel 5 owners have something to look forward to: the Federal Communications Commission has approved these devices to use faster C-band 5G frequencies, according to a PCMag tipster. The two phones have joined an exclusive company made up of some of the first devices approved to use the new frequencies. Samsung’s Galaxy S21 phones and the iPhone 12 lineup are the only others that currently offer support for these frequencies in the US.C-band will deliver a much-needed speed boost to 5G in the US, particularly for Verizon and AT&T customers. Currently, their nationwide networks rely mostly on slower low-band spectrum. This swath of so-called mid-band frequencies went up for auction at the end of 2020, and US carriers bid a... Continue reading…

The McPlant burger. | Image: McDonald’s McDonald’s new plant-based burger, which the company announced in November, has debuted for a trial run in Denmark and Sweden, according to Bloomberg. Dubbed the McPlant, the burger features a patty made from pea and rice proteins, which was co-developed with Beyond Meat.The trials began in January and will last until March 15th in Sweden and April 12th in Denmark. The McPlant’s Scandinavian success will be evaluated before potentially rolling out to other markets.The patty is cooked on the same grill as beef burgers, so it’s not technically vegan (or vegetarian, depending on your dietary strictness). Nonetheless, a press release from McDonald’s Sweden pitches the McPlant as the latest option for “flexitarians” — people who are... Continue reading…

NCAA Football 14 After being missing in action for years, Electronic Arts announced today that it will be making college football video games again. EA is working with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), a well-known licensing partner for many schools, to secure the use of over 100 teams in the FBS, including the stadiums, mascots, and uniforms used by these institutions.EA Sports College Football is currently in the works and still very early in its development cycle, with no launch window currently revealed yet. More importantly, EA Sports College Football won’t use any real names or players’ likenesses.

Image: Amazon Amazon is no stranger to Super Bowl ads, and the company has another one ready for this year’s big game. The 2021 ad stars actor Michael B. Jordan, who you might know as Erik Killmonger from Black Panther or quarterback Vince Howard from Friday Night Lights, as the company’s Alexa smart assistant.In the ad, a woman dreams of what it would be like if Alexa was personified as the very handsome Jordan, and she’s appropriately smitten with the AI. At one point, for example, the woman asks Alexa to dim the lights, and Jordan takes off his shirt in response. (Her partner then humorously rushes over to demand Alexa turn the lights back up.)The ad is a fun twist on Super Bowl ads that use attractive women to sell something. (Some of Carl’s... Continue reading…

He’s real, he’s here, and I am so happy. The stonks guy is now a five-inch-tall, $30 thing you can buy, complete with a line graph that’s forever up 69 percent. It first debuted last July, but don’t let that stop you.Officially his name is Meme Man, and he’s the wonky former mascot of at least one surrealist meme page, though he began his life as a failed model of a human head over at 4chan’s 3D modeling board. Meme Man, however, has transcended his origins. You probably know him best in his banker config, confidently and wordlessly asserting that the Line Will Go Up and that numbers, by extension, can be trusted. I’m not gonna lie to you: I have never wanted anything so dumb so badly before. Possibly that’s because of... Continue reading…

Instagram Instagram is making it easier to bring back deleted posts. The company is rolling out a “recently deleted” feature in the app that’ll allow you to review content you’ve deleted, including photos, videos, reels, IGTV videos, and stories, and restore them. Instagram is positioning this feature as helpful against hacks, particularly if hackers gain control of an account and start deleting content. Starting today, users will need to confirm they’re the account owner through either text or email in order to permanently delete or restore content.Deleted items will stay in the folder for 30 days, and if not touched, they will automatically delete after that point. Deleted stories are the exception, however: they will only stay in the recently... Continue reading…

Millions is a new startup with a big promise: simply pick six numbers on its website, follow the @Millions Twitter account, and you could win $1 million.It’s not some kind of scam, either: it’s being funded by same big names, like Biz Stone (one of the co-founders of Twitter), Joey Zwillinger (an Allbirds co-founder), Dave Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal (co-founders and CEOs of Warby Parker), Jeff Raider (who helped found both Warby Parker and Harry’s), and Daniel Greenberg (who helped found the viral internet firm MSCHF) among others. And the company — whose actual team is staying anonymous for now — is going to do 10 lottery drawings for the big $1 million prize.It sounds too good to be true. A free million-dollar giveaway being run by... Continue reading…

When the enhanced remake of the Mass Effect trilogy arrives, it won’t include multiplayer. According to longtime Mass Effect developer Mac Walters, the team would have had to put in an immense amount of effort to bring the feature to the Legendary Edition. “At some point we had to draw a line,” the project director said in a briefing about the game. “We’ve talked about doing the remaster for some time now, and at least at one point in time everything was on the table.”BioWare introduced multiplayer to the final installment of the trilogy, Mass Effect 3. Although “these aren’t insurmountable challenges,” Walters said, they would have required focus on features outside of the single-player experience: how to incorporate crossplay or what... Continue reading…

Remastering a series like Mass Effect — not quite a full remake of the trilogy, but more substantial than a port — is a thorny task. It requires work on all three games and dozens of downloadable content packs. There are fan expectations, from players who want to see a beloved universe preserved to those who are still salty about how it all ended. As Mac Walters, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition project director, put it: “We talk about it sort of like we were restoring a beautiful, beloved car. But then it quickly turned into sure, if that car had been buried in cement, and every time you tried to clear off some of the cement you were worried about dinging the paint, or ripping off a mirror.”Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, coming May 14th... Continue reading…

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will stick to a faithful retelling of the game’s story and already-made DLC, with no new narrative elements on the way. Speaking about the enhanced trilogy during a briefing, project director Mac Walters said while the team did consider incorporating new content, ultimately, BioWare decided against it. “Honestly we had looked at, is there stuff on cutting room floors and things like that that we could bring in?” Walters said. “And a lot of times that isn’t really in a state where you can just resurrect it and use it. It actually would require rebuilding from scratch and at that point you’re diverting effort away from the remastering of everything else.”That also applies to hopes that the game might... Continue reading…

Although the Mass Effect trilogy allowed players to create their own Shepard, the game had limited options for making non-white characters. Environment and character director Kevin Meek told The Verge that improving options for people of color was one of its top priorities when it came to Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, an upcoming remastered collection. “If you have type 4 hair or a really dark skin tone or if that’s the Shepard you wanted to play as, you just did not really have that option in the original Mass Effect,” Meek said.Legendary Edition packages all three games with all of their corresponding DLC. Although the game won’t add new story content, it does overhaul its graphics and expand some gameplay elements to make them... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon will pay $61.7 million to Flex drivers to settle allegations of stolen tips, after an extensive investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission. The figure represents the total amount of allegedly withheld tips over the two and a half years that Amazon Flex’s controversial base pay system was in place. Amazon also agreed to new restrictions on how it communicates wage information to drivers.“In total, Amazon stole nearly one-third of drivers’ tips to pad its own bottom line,” FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra said in a statement, accusing Amazon of “expanding its business empire by cheating its workers.”Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.“In total, Amazon stole nearly one-third of drivers’ tips to pad its... Continue reading…

The Helix proposal at Amazon’s Arlington, Virginia campus. | Image: Amazon Amazon has unveiled the design for the next portion of its Arlington, Virginia headquarters, and one building stands out far from the rest: a swirling glass tower covered in trees that rises to a point above the rest of the city’s skyline. Amazon calls the building “the Helix” because its corkscrew shape is supposed to take inspiration from “the natural beauty of a double helix.”It also — it must be said — bears a distinct resemblance to the swirling poop emoji, though with some healthier colors mixed in.On the inside, the Helix will be filled with a “variety of alternative work environments” that Amazon employees can use. On the outside, there’ll be two sets of spiraling paths dotted with local plants that you’ll literally be able to... Continue reading…

Uber announced today that it’s buying alcohol delivery service Drizly in a deal worth $1.1 billion, as the ride-sharing company continues to build out its stable of food and other delivery services.The eventual plan is for Drizly’s marketplace of beer, wine, and liquor to be integrated into the existing Uber Eats application, giving Uber users a one-stop shop for both food and drink deliveries. The existing Drizly app will stick around, though.Drizly is effectively an online delivery storefront for existing local liquor stores. The company partners with local sellers and then enlists delivery drivers — similar to Uber Eats — to handle the delivery. The service is now available in over 1,400 cities across the United States.This deal... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Black Friday 2020 saw many great deals, especially on Eero’s products. If you are looking to improve your Wi-Fi situation at home, Amazon and Best Buy have the Eero 6 mesh router three-pack (which includes one mesh router and two extenders) back down to its Black Friday price of $223, a nice drop from its usual cost of $279.When planning your setup, keep in mind that while the Eero 6 mesh router includes two Ethernet ports, the two Eero 6 extenders that come in this bundle do not include any. Alternatively, you can buy two Eero 6 routers for $206 if you want to wire Ethernet to your routers across different areas in your home. Image: PlayStation PS5 owners can play God of War on PS5 if they own a digital or... Continue reading…

Disney’s latest bundle combining Disney Plus, ad-free Hulu, and ESPN Plus for $18.99 per month is now available. This package was first announced in December 2020, and it actually first started rolling out for new subscribers to Hulu. The news today is that the sign-up page is accessible to more people looking to subscribe. The cheaper bundle that includes Hulu with ads sprinkled in is still available for $12.99 per month.This is a good value for people who’ve been patiently waiting (since Disney Plus launched in late 2019) for a bundle that includes the ad-free version of Hulu. With this one, you’ll save about $6 per month by getting all three of these services. Purchased outside of a bundle, Disney Plus costs $6.99 per month, ESPN... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Users of Comcast’s Internet Essentials plan will be getting a significant speed increase on March 1st. The service, which currently runs at 25Mbps, will be automatically upgraded to 50Mbps without requiring additional fees or action from customers. Upload speeds are also being increased from 3Mbps to 5Mbps. Faster access for the same price should be a relief for many families struggling to adapt to having work, school, and entertainment largely shifted to the internet during the pandemic.The Internet Essentials plan is Comcast’s $9.95 per month (plus tax, of course) internet service provided to qualifying low-income households eligible for assistance from programs like SNAP, Medicaid, or WIC. This is the second time in a year that... Continue reading…

Destruction AllStars is a game about smashing cars. It’s right there, the first word in the title. It’s also a major milestone for the PS5 — a huge exclusive that’s solely on the next-gen console that isn’t a remake or stretching across generations.It’s a title that will, by necessity, be used to showcase what kind of games developers can make when given free rein of the PS5’s new features and firepower. But smashing is still the heart of Destruction AllStars: so much so that the seed of the game was a simple idea. “Imagine how awesome we can make damage on PS5,” John McLaughlin, a senior producer at Sony XDev, tells The Verge.“Imagine how awesome we can make damage on PS5.”It was a short jump from there to partnering with Lucid... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Tesla has agreed to recall more than 134,000 Model S sedans and Model X SUVs that will eventually suffer from faulty displays after pressure from the leading US safety regulator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Tesla announced the recall to customers in an email, according to Electrek, and said a software update could allow them to keep accessing crucial features like the backup camera in the meantime if their displays fail.The problem that prompted the recall has to do with the 8GB eMMC NAND flash memory device that Tesla used in its massive touchscreen displays on most 2012–2018 Model S sedans and 2016–2018 Model X SUVs. These chips eventually wear out, as Motherboard first reported back in 2019, and when they do,... Continue reading…

Astra’s 3.2 rocket launching from Alaska | John Kraus/Astra Astra plans to become the first small rocket maker to go public, the company announced Tuesday, after reaching space for the first time in December. It’ll become the second publicly traded space venture after Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.The Northern California-based rocket firm’s “3.2” launch vehicle blasted to space for the first time in December from its Kodiak, Alaska launch site, a key test mission that “far exceeded our team’s expectations,” Astra CEO Chris Kemp told reporters at the time. The launch demo, though just barely missing orbit, propelled Astra into a small group of firms that have reached space.The company has 50 customer launches lined up, and over $150 million of contracted launch revenue so far. Now, Astra is... Continue reading…

Mushrooms are helping architects and engineers solve one the world’s biggest crises: climate change. These fungi are durable, biodegradable, and are proving to be a good alternative to more polluting materials.“Our built environment needs these kinds of materials,” says David Benjamin, founding principal architect at the firm The Living. “Different countries have really ambitious climate change goals, and this material could really help jump-start some of that progress.””Our built environment needs these kinds of materials.”Building materials and construction make up about a tenth of global carbon dioxide emissions. That’s way more than the global shipping and aviation industries combined. And the problem is getting worse.Materials... Continue reading…

The Pink Cloud. | Photo: Sundance Institute. Like most recent events, the 2021 edition of the Sundance Film Festival has shifted from an in-person showcase to a virtual one. Despite the change, we’ll still be bringing you reviews on the most interesting experiences we find, from indie films to VR experiments.The Pink Cloud starts with a message that underlines the distressing ludicrousness of where we are: it’s a movie about people stuck in a never-ending quarantine because of a deadly threat outside their doors. It’s also an early prescient one, as it was written in 2017 and filmed in 2019. It has no purposeful connections to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s impossible not to draw parallels between The Pink Cloud and our current reality.The movie is set in a Brazilian city where... Continue reading…

Logitech Logitech sold enough keyboards, mice, and PC webcams during the pandemic that it can afford its first-ever Super Bowl commercial. The 60-second spot, titled “Defy Logic,” will air during the first quarter of the game on February 7th and feature rapper and songwriter Lil Nas X.The documentary-style ad spotlights how artists and other creative types use Logitech products for their work. It shows Lil Nas X writing and recording a song, along with graphic and visual artists; streamers; musicians; and climate, gender equality, and education reform activists demonstrating their Logitech items.In May, Logitech reported sales of its products were booming as the pandemic kept millions of people working and schooling from home. Sales of its... Continue reading…

Photo by Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images The famed animation studio returns with its first 3D CG movie, Earwig and the Witch Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Cheaters in Call of Duty: Warzone are ruining the game and forcing professional players to abandon it. Game hacks and cheat software are being widely used in the battle royale hit, and it has left the community of millions of players feeling frustrated with the lack of attention from publisher Activision and developer Infinity Ward.Cheating in some of the world’s top PC games has been getting worse over the past year, and aimbots and wallhacks are now increasingly common in the industry’s most competitive shooters. Aimbots automatically lock onto opponents’ heads, making it easy to wipe out waves of players. Wallhacks expose everyone on a map, so cheaters get a huge advantage by knowing where their opponents are at all times. In battle... Continue reading…

Image by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is planning a series of news events over the coming months that will focus on categories like gaming, cloud, and Windows. The Verge has learned that Microsoft is dedicating time to particular categories at a time when the pandemic has halted in-person events. Microsoft’s first event will take place later this week, focusing on what’s next for work and Microsoft 365.The company is planning similar events that focus on what’s next for its cloud ambitions, as well as gaming, Windows, and security in the coming months. Microsoft typically discusses a broad range of its products at events like Ignite or Build, and this will continue, but these separate events are designed to highlight what its product changes mean for entire... Continue reading…

Art: Alex Castro / The Verge Gaming was already popular when the pandemic hit in early 2020; with a large number of people stuck at home, it has become close to a national obsession. So once you have your console or computer, and your game (or games), what more do you need?We asked the staff of The Verge, many of whom are avid gamers, to talk about their favorite gaming gear. Below, we describe game controllers, mice, headsets, and other useful peripherals that can take your gaming experience up that extra notch (or even several notches).Have a great time!Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Photo: Nintendo Nintendo Switch Pro Controller If you have a non-Lite Nintendo Switch, the Pro Controller is a necessary accessory, in my opinion.... Continue reading…

Boston Dynamics will sell an arm to allow the robot to interact with objects in its environment. | Image; Boston Dynamics There’s also new browser based controls and a robotic arm attachment Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge TF Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo has corroborated reports that Apple and Hyundai are working together on an electric car. In a research note quoted by AppleInsider, Kuo says that Apple’s first car will be based on Hyundai’s E-GMP platform for battery-powered electric vehicles.The E-GMP platform was announced late last year and is expected to be the basis for Hyundai’s electric cars from this year on. Hyundai claims that E-GMP vehicles can theoretically get over 500km (310 miles) in range on a full charge, with the battery able to reach 80 percent capacity in 18 minutes via fast charging — though individual vehicle performance would of course vary based on design.Kuo claims that the first Apple car will be produced together with... Continue reading…

Remedy’s supernatural thriller Control was one of the best games on the previous generation of consoles, but it’s also one that clearly struggled on the hardware. In 2019, when I reviewed the game on a base model PS4, you could feel the action chug along when the action got too intense. It worked, but just barely. (I don’t think any game has made my PS4’s fan quite so loud.) We already know that one of the best things about the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X is that they make older games better, whether that’s through backward compatibility or, in the case of next-gen Control: Ultimate Edition, brand-new versions that make use of the hardware. And now that I’ve spent a few hours with Control on the PS5, I can say it really feels like... Continue reading…

Lady Dimitrescu. | Image: Sony If you’ve been following recent news about Resident Evil Village, the next game in the hit horror video game franchise, you may have heard about Lady Dimitrescu, a very tall woman / probably-vampire who has become very popular.Seriously, she’s tall — just look at this GIF from Sony. Lady Dimitrescu towers over the other women / probably-vampires in this scene.A lot of people have wondered exactly how tall Lady Dimitrescu is, apparently, and Kotaku’s Ash Parrish even went to great lengths to estimate that Lady Dimitrescu is 96 inches tall (8 feet). On Monday evening, though, the official Resident Evil Twitter account revealed that Parrish wasn’t even close.If you include her hat and high heels, Lady Dimitrescu officially stands at... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Hey, did you hear Elon Musk went on Clubhouse?The media and venture capital worlds were abuzz this weekend in advance of, during, and after Musk’s appearance on the not-quite-year-old audio social network. Musk is not exactly a recluse — he gives interviews more or less regularly to a variety of mainstream outlets, and will sit down with NBC tomorrow — but his arrival on Clubhouse served as validation for the company and the idea of live, interactive audio streaming more generally.Despite beginning at 1AM ET on Monday, Musk’s room quickly hit the Clubhouse cap of 5,000 concurrent listeners — as did one overflow room hosting a broadcast of his appearance, and then another overflow room after that. All day long, hustlers and hucksters... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge After fourteen months, Google has decided it doesn’t want to be a game company anymore. Where once it had its own cloud-based console, controller, and the promise of homegrown triple-A games, it no longer wants to build its own games as of today.And though a Google spokesperson emphasizes that the company continues to “remain committed to Stadia as a platform,” it’s looking increasingly likely that platform won’t be a service where you sign up with Google to buy and rent cloud games.Stadia boss Phil Harrison announced that Google was shutting down the company’s game studios in a memo today, and I think the exact wording of that memo is extremely telling. Go read it for yourself. I’ll wait.Back? Good. Did you see the part about how... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has agreed to pay $2.5 million to more than 5,500 employees and job applicants impacted by alleged systematic pay and hiring discrimination. The US Department of Labor found that female software engineers were being underpaid. It also identified “hiring rate differences that disadvantaged female and Asian applicants” for Google engineering positions.As part of the settlement, Google will hand over $1,353,052 in back pay and interest to 2,565 female engineers. It will also pay $1,232,000 in back pay and interest to 1,757 female engineering applicants and 1,219 Asian engineering applicants for “engineering positions not hired.”The alleged disparities impacted employees at Google offices in Mountain View, Seattle, and Kirkland,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge It looks like we’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to movies about the WallStreetBets / GameStop saga: Deadline is reporting that both MGM and Netflix have plans to make one, before the dust has even settled (via Kotaku and Polygon). If you weren't paying attention to the stock-spikes, short squeezes, and diamond hands that were going on last week, we have an explainer that should get you caught up on the big picture.MGM’s version of the movie is set to based as a book that hasn’t yet been written. The author of that book is Ben Mezrich, who wrote The Accidental Billionaires, which was the basis for David Fincher’s 2010 movie The Social Network. Mezrich was apparently inspired by Fincher’s title, as he’s calling his new book The... Continue reading…

Illustrations by Alex Castro / The Verge Investment app Robinhood has plummeted back down to a one-star rating on Google Play, thanks to a flood of thousands of new negative reviews.The latest low rating comes just days after Google salvaged the app’s rating by removing nearly 100,000 reviews, following a flood of negative ratings after the Robinhood blocked purchases of popular stocks from Reddit’s /r/WallStreetBets like GameStop or AMC last week. Google confirmed to The Verge at the time that it was actively removing negative reviews on the app.The review rollercoaster for Robinhood’s rating has been nearly as up-and-down as GameStop’s stock price. When users began to review bomb the app last Thursday, Robinhood reached a one-star rating with nearly 275,000 reviews. Google... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Stock trading app Robinhood is facing dozens of lawsuits after the company restricted several stocks popular on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit. At least 30 parties across 10 states have sued the company in federal court, many seeking class action status. They allege that Robinhood users lost millions of dollars because they were unable to buy or sell stock during the freeze, and that the company chose to “manipulate the market” to help other financial institutions.Robinhood, which bills itself as a democratizing force in the stock market, helped facilitate an unprecedented boom around a handful of “meme stocks” last month. But on January 28th, it infuriated users by freezing trades on several of these stocks. That included GameStop... Continue reading…

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is planning to send its first “all-civilian” crew to space at the end of 2021 in a charity-focused mission commanded by tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. The company said in a press release it’ll pick three people to ride alongside Isaacman to orbit aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.Isaacman, a trained pilot and the chief executive of Shift4 Payments, said he donated $100 million to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and wants to help raise $200 million more by inviting people to donate at least $10 to St. Jude for a chance to get picked. Three people will be chosen “to represent the mission pillars of leadership, hope, generosity and prosperity,” according to a press release — though one person was already... Continue reading…

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images A new report finds that claims of anti-conservative bias on social media platforms are not only untrue but serve as a form of disinformation. The report from NYU’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights says not only is there no empirical finding that social media companies systematically suppress conservatives, but even reports of anecdotal instances tend to fall apart under close scrutiny. And in an effort to appear unbiased, platforms actually bend over backward to try to appease conservative critics.“The contention that social media as an industry censors conservatives is now, as we speak, becoming part of an even broader disinformation campaign from the right, that conservatives are being silenced all across American society,”... Continue reading…

Image: Guy Dupont Classic iPods have their fans, but they’re not built for the modern age of music streaming — except for this one, which has been turned into a Spotify player by tinkerer Guy Dupont. While it may look like an iPod from the outside, inside, it’s got a Raspberry Pi loaded with software custom-built by Dupont to interface with Spotify, while still keeping the classic iPod style. He calls it the sPot.In a video showing off the project and the process behind it, Dupont says he was inspired when his mother-in-law gifted him the old iPod. In a Hackaday post, he says he “had forgotten how good it feels to hold and use one of these things,” but he wanted to update it with some modern features, including (obviously) Spotify streaming, Bluetooth... Continue reading…

Photo by Matt Kennedy / Marvel Studios Writer-director Ryan Coogler is making a new Marvel TV show for Disney Plus that will be set in the Kingdom of Wakanda as part of a five-year TV exclusivity deal with Coogler’s production banner, Proximity Media (which includes principals Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Ludwig Göransson, Archie Davis, and Peter Nicks alongside Coogler himself).Coogler — who directed and co-wrote Black Panther, and is set to write and direct a sequel Black Panther II for release on July 8th, 2022 — will develop the new Wakanda Disney Plus series as his first project under the new deal, Deadline reports.The deal with Proximity Media also includes the option to create shows for other parts of the Disney banner, not just Marvel Studios. According to Coogler,... Continue reading…

Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued a joint statement Monday saying they would work together to advance comprehensive cannabis reform legislation in the current Congress.“The War on Drugs has been a war on people—particularly people of color. Ending the federal marijuana prohibition is necessary to right the wrongs of this failed war and end decades of harm inflicted on communities of color across the country. But that alone is not enough,” they said. “As states continue to legalize marijuana, we must also enact measures that will lift up people who were unfairly targeted in the War on Drugs.”All three senators have previously supported legislation to decriminalize cannabis in some form. Schumer... Continue reading…

The upcoming patch will allow the game to run at 60fps on PS5. | Image: Sony Sony’s reboot of God of War, one of the most popular first-party exclusives released on PS4, is getting an update tomorrow, which will allow the 2018 hit to take advantage of the PS5’s hardware, Sony’s Santa Monica Studio announced in a blog post today.The new update will allow early adopters of the PlayStation 5 to run the game in 4K resolution and at 60 frames per second. If you own a PS4 copy digitally or physically, you will receive the update at no additional cost. Santa Monica Studio also announced today that users who downloaded God of War via the PlayStation Plus Collection will have access to the PS5 optimization patch.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Google is shutting down its internal Stadia game development division, the company announced today, as it refocuses Stadia to be a home for streaming games from existing developers instead of developing its own games for the service.“Creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and significant investment, and the cost is going up exponentially,” reads a blog post from Phil Harrison, a vice president at Google and general manager for Stadia. “Given our focus on building on the proven technology of Stadia as well as deepening our business partnerships, we’ve decided that we will not be investing further in bringing exclusive content from our internal development team SG&E, beyond any near-term planned games.”As part... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s latest watchOS 7 and iOS 14 beta releases indicate a new casting feature for Apple Fitness Plus subscribers is on the way, according to TechCrunch.The upcoming software updates will allow AirPlay casting of Fitness Plus workouts to compatible smart TVs, which include any with AirPlay 2 compatibility. That’s good news for Fitness Plus users who may not own an Apple TV, which was previously the only way to get an audio or video workout playing on a bigger screen.Fitness Plus was announced in September of last year and launched in December, and the paid service costs $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year for access to guided workouts. The service requires at minimum an Apple Watch Series 3 and a paired iPhone 6S or newer, both... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple is releasing its iOS 14.5 update to beta testers today, and one of the welcome changes is support for the new PS5 DualSense and Xbox Series X controllers. Neither of these new controllers is currently supported in the latest versions of iOS and iPadOS, but 14.5 introduces support for both.Apple’s upcoming iOS 14.5 update follows the company revealing back in November that it was working with Microsoft to include support for the Xbox Series X controllers. Steam also added PS5 controller support last year, followed by Nvidia’s Shield TV support last month.iOS 14.5 will also include the ability to unlock an iPhone with an Apple Watch while wearing a mask, Siri emergency contact calling, CarPlay ETA sharing, and dual-SIM 5G support.... Continue reading…

Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple’s latest iPhones stuck with Face ID as the singular method of biometric authentication in an era when people are wearing face masks everywhere they go. This inevitably means having to enter your passcode constantly throughout the day. But Apple has come up with a stopgap solution that should make it easier to get into your phone during mask life — as long as you’ve got an Apple Watch.As first reported by Pocket-lint, the new iOS 14.5 update, which went into beta today, uses the Apple Watch on your wrist to quickly authenticate and unlock your iPhone. Apple already offers this convenient trick on the Mac, but now it’s coming to the iPhone as well.It works similarly here. You lift your iPhone to turn on the screen, and you’ll... Continue reading…

Image: Lego Lego made a white noise playlist featuring Lego bricks, and it’s surprisingly relaxing. I don’t get many opportunities to build Lego sets anymore, but I’ve been listening to the playlist while writing this story, and it’s taking me back to the hours I spent as a kid building elaborately designed spaceships with an ever-increasing number of wings and laser guns.The playlist has seven different tracks, each about 30 minutes long. Some sound like you’re sitting next to somebody shuffling through a pile of bricks while working on a build. I’m a big fan of “Searching for the One (Brick)” because it captures the feeling of digging through a pile of bricks and finally finding that one piece you were looking for.Other tracks use Lego bricks... Continue reading…

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge An interview with the founder of Backstage Capital Continue reading…

Google is updating its search results with a major new feature: an “about this result” menu that will let you pull up information from Wikipedia about a website in your search results, making it easier to vet sites that you’re not familiar with.To see the new information boxes, just tap on the three-dot icon on the top right of the result’s card, which will pull up a short snippet on the article. Google says “these descriptions will provide the most up-to-date verified and sourced information available on Wikipedia.”Additionally, the new search information box will show more detailed information on the result like whether it’s an organic search result or a paid ad, or if the site uses a secure HTTPS connection. Google... Continue reading…