The Verge

Students head to class at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. | E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign announced that it will discontinue its use of remote-proctoring software Proctorio after its summer 2021 term. The decision follows almost a year of outcry over the service, both on UIUC’s campus and around the US, citing concerns with privacy, discrimination, and accessibility.Proctorio is one of the most prominent software platforms that colleges and universities use to watch for cheating on remote tests. It uses what its website describes as “machine learning and advanced facial detection technologies” to record students through their webcams while they work on their exams and monitor the position of their heads. The software flags “suspicious signs” to professors, who can review its... Continue reading…

GameStop photo The Verge had extensive coverage this week of how the subreddit r/WallStreetBets sent GameStop’s stock skyrocketing, and the chaos that ensued thereafter.For this week’s episode of The Vergecast, The Verge’s Nilay Patel, Dieter Bohn, and Elizabeth Lopatto attempt to chronicle that chaos into a timeline of events, while also explaining the interweaving machinations of stock trading, short selling, and internet culture.Listen here or on your preferred podcast player to hear the full discussion.Verge stories featured in this episode:

Zack Snyder’s Justice League (aka “The Snyder Cut”) will hit HBO Max on March 18th, the director announced on Twitter today.The original theatrical release of Justice League debuted in November 2017 and, ahead of its release, endured a difficult production. Most notably, director Joss Whedon stepped in to finish the film during post-production after Snyder stepped away from the project for personal reasons. After Justice League was released, fans criticized Whedon’s contributions to the film, which included a lighter tone. Fans started an internet campaign for Warner Bros. to “Release the Snyder Cut” in the years since.

Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images A single shot of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine can prevent 85 percent of severe cases of the disease, the company announced today. Overall, it is 66 percent effective against both moderate and severe cases of disease.“We’re 85 perfect effective at preventing severe disease, which we define as disease that makes you feel particularly sick at home, or may go to the hospital, or worse,” Mathai Mammen, global head of research and development at Johnson and Johnson, told CNN. The company plans to file for emergency authorization next week.The efficacy is lower than that of the two COVID-19 vaccines already authorized for use in the United States, which prevent about 95 percent of symptomatic cases of COVID-19. Those vaccines... Continue reading…

For almost a decade and a half, the Yakuza franchise was all but exclusive to Sony’s PlayStation consoles. Other than a Japan-only Wii U remaster of the first two games, every single mainline entry or spinoff was released solely on the PlayStation 2, PSP, PS3, or PS4.Then Microsoft came along. Along with Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, Yakuza has slowly become a flagship Japanese series for Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service. It all started under a year ago with the addition of Yakuza 0, and as of this week you can play almost every mainline Yakuza game on Game Pass.Couple this with the fact that the next-gen version of Yakuza: Like A Dragon is still exclusive to Xbox Series consoles, with a PS5 version not set to arrive until March,... Continue reading…

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge Samsung’s new line of smartphones the S21 line — the Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra are now available for purchase at various retailers. Below, we tell you where you can order them and what deals you can get from each retailer. As a reminder, their prices range from $999.99 to upward of $1,379.99.If you want to check out our thoughts before you buy, we reviewed the Galaxy S21 and the Galaxy S21 Ultra. If you want more information on the Galaxy S21 Plus, The Verge’s Chaim Gartenberg did a hands-on earlier this month for all three phones.Where to buy the Samsung Galaxy S21

Robinhood has started restricting trading in cryptocurrencies this morning, just as the price of joke cryptocurrency Dogecoin has soared more than 300 percent in 24 hours. CNBC reports that Robinhood users started noticing instant deposits for cryptocurrencies were no longer working on Friday morning, and the company has confirmed it has put restrictions in place.“Due to extraordinary market conditions, we’ve temporarily turned off Instant buying power for crypto,” says a Robinhood spokesperson in a statement to CNBC. “Customers can still use settled funds to buy crypto. We’ll keep monitoring market conditions and communicating with our customers.” Image: Coindesk Dogecoin price on Friday morning. Dogecoin c... Continue reading…

Image: Tesla Tesla CEO Elon Musk says production for the company’s upcoming Roadster isn’t due to begin until “next year,” roughly two years after the car was initially set to enter production. Tesla announced its $200,000 Roadster back in 2017, when Musk said the car would start being built in 2020.In a tweet, Musk suggested that work on the car’s “Tri-motor drive system & advanced battery work” were to blame for the delay. Musk says that Tesla hopes to finish engineering this year, and to have a “release candidate design drivable in late summer.”

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook is planning to offer newsletter tools for independent journalists and writers, The New York Times reports. These are thought to include features for helping writers build a following using the social network, curate their email lists, and manage their paid subscriptions. Although work on the project is in its early stages, executives reportedly hope the features could launch as soon as this summer.The news comes as interest in newsletters is booming. Newsletter service Substack boasted over 250,000 paying subscribers across its service as of September last year, and just this week Twitter acquired newsletter rival Revue. A number of high-profile journalists have left traditional publications to start up independent newsletters,... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The latest version of Signal for both iOS (5.3.1) and Android (5.3.7) brings a number of new additions to the increasingly popular encrypted messaging app. These include mainstream features like chat wallpapers, animated stickers, and an “About” section in your profile. The iOS app now handles data more efficiently, too, bringing it closer to feature parity with the Android app.Messaging apps like Signal and Telegram have seen a surge in growth in recent weeks. Signal was helped by a recommendation from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, while both benefited from the backlash to Facebook’s confusing new privacy policy for WhatsApp.The new features were first announced on January 11th, and Android Police reported on them rolling out in the beta... Continue reading…

Xiaomi has announced “Mi Air Charge Technology,” a wireless charging system that the company claims is able to charge devices “within a radius of several meters.” Multiple devices can be charged at 5W at the same time, according to Xiaomi, and physical obstacles apparently don’t reduce charging efficiency.Xiaomi says the technology will also work with smartwatches and fitness bracelets. Another goal is to make “living rooms truly wireless,” with speakers, lamps, and smart home devices all being powered by the same remote system. A Xiaomi representative confirms to The Verge, however, that no commercial products will include the technology this year, and declined to provide a timeframe for release.Here’s how Mi Air Charge Technology... Continue reading…

Jon Stewart has just joined Twitter, and is now the proud owner of a verified account. And, of course, his first tweet was about the redditors on r/WallStreetBets and their stonks.While it may be the first time he’s made an appearance on Twitter, Stewart is already fitting right in — with a profile picture that’s not actually of him, but a dog.

Google is actively removing negative reviews of the Robinhood app from the Google Play Store, the company confirmed to The Verge. After some disgruntled Robinhood users organized campaigns to give the app a one-star review on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store — and succeeded in review-bombing it all the way down to a one-star rating — the company has now deleted enough reviews to bring it back up to nearly four stars.Robinhood came under intense scrutiny on Thursday, after the stock trading app announced it would block purchases of GameStop, AMC, and other stocks made popular by the r/WallStreetBets subreddit, and some users have already replaced their deleted one-star reviews with new ones to make their anger heard.Here’s a... Continue reading…

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge An upcoming change to Google’s Play Store policies will allow gambling and betting Android apps that use real money in 15 more countries, including the US, according to 9to5Google. Currently, gambling apps are only allowed in four countries: Brazil, France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.The new rules will be applied starting on March 1st, and they’ll permit gambling apps in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. Of course, each country will have its own limitations on what kind of online gambling is legal, with some countries allowing online casinos, sports betting, lotteries, and daily fantasy sports, and some being more... Continue reading…

Crayta’s timed Stadia exclusivity is coming to an end soon, with developer Unit 2 Games confirming that the title will be making its way to PC “very soon.” Originally announced as a “First on Stadia” timed exclusive, Crayta’s jump to other platforms was always more a question of “when” rather than “if,” but the announcement marks the first official indication of the regular PC port.The news — originally spotted by 9to5Google, citing a tweet from Twitter user @Yogarine — comes from an announcement by Unit 2 Games in the game’s Discord chat. The company promises that it’ll have more information (including a launch date and the digital storefront where Crayta will be offered) in the coming weeks, but it does promise that it’s “still every... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Epic Games Store released a bevy of stats to show off how its game storefront grew in 2020 compared to 2019, its launch year. It announced that there are over 160 million accounts now on PC, up from the 108 million users registered in 2019. It almost doubled in monthly active users from 32 million in December 2019 to 56 million last month. Epic also saw its daily active user count go up to 31.3 million, which the company claims is a 192 percent boost. Its peak concurrent player count hit 13 million in 2020, almost doubling its 7 million peak in 2019.Unsurprising to no one, giving away free games each week is a nice way to keep people coming back to your storefront. (It also helps when your store is the sole provider of Fortnite on PC.)... Continue reading…

Robinhood has announced that, beginning on Friday, January 29th, it will allow “limited buys” on restricted stocks, potentially signaling the end of a brutal day-long hold on GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry, Nokia, and other stocks.“Starting tomorrow, we plan to allow limited buys of these securities,” the company said in a blog post. “We’ll continue to monitor the situation and may make adjustments as needed.” The company’s statement does not elaborate on how limited purchases will be for GameStop and the other restricted stocks.“To be clear, this was a risk-management decision”On Thursday morning, Robinhood restricted purchases of GameStop and the other stocks, which had been driven to unusually high prices by coordinated activity on the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Wall Street Journal has written an excellent profile of the man who started r/WallStreetBets, the subreddit that’s been embroiled in controversy this week. His name is Jaime Rogozinski, and if you’re wondering how he’s been feeling about this whole thing, he likens it to “watching one of those horror films where you can see the bad guy slowly going up the stairs.”The article gives the impression that the subreddit, which is now trying to raise the price of GameStop stocks to the moon, wasn’t only created for profit — it was created for fun. Rogozinski was apparently bored with the usual stock market advice about just buying index funds and was looking for actual discussions about individual stocks. He also talks about how the... Continue reading…

Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Financial services company E-Trade has restricted purchases of GameStop and AMC stock, the company has confirmed to The Verge — and, like Robinhood, it plans to resume trading of both stocks on Friday.The two stocks have become popular on forums like the r/WallStreetBets subreddit and seen their prices skyrocket to unprecedented highs over the past week. (GameStop hit $483 earlier on Thursday and briefly went above that during the day. Last Thursday, the stock closed at $43.)Here’s E-Trade’s full statement:

Alleged leaked renders of the upcoming flagship show Sony sticking with a minimalist design and tall form factor. | Image: OnLeaks An early look at Sony’s next flagship phone shows it might be getting a more powerful zoom lens, thanks to some leaked renders posted by OnLeaks. The Xperia 1 III’s rear camera bump appears similar to its predecessor’s at first glance. But if you look closely at the bottom camera, it features a squared-off housing consistent with periscope designs. Previous Xperia phones have offered standard telephoto lenses with 2x or 3x optical zoom; a periscope design would allow for 5x or more of optical reach without sacrificing image quality.OnLeaks also reports that the Xperia 1 III will include 5G, practically a requirement for any flagship phone in 2021. Unlike the Xperia 1 II, it seems likely that Sony will offer 5G support for 1 III devices... Continue reading…

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), the incoming chair of the Senate Banking Committee, announced Thursday that he plans to hold a hearing on the “current state of the stock market” in the wake of unprecedented volatility around GameStop, AMC, and other stocks.The volatility has been most pronounced around the retailer GameStop, which has more than quadrupled in value over the past week in the face of a Reddit-organized campaign to boost the company’s value. But with several markets blocking further purchases of the stock to stem hedge fund losses, the incident has sparked a broader conversation about institutional bias in US financial markets.“People on Wall Street only care about the rules when they’re the ones getting hurt. American workers... Continue reading…

The revival of G4, a network focusing on video games with programs like X-Play and Attack of the Show!, is underway. The company announced today that it’s launching weekly series B4G4 on Friday, January 29th. The series will air on Twitch and YouTube.B4G4 is part of the lead-up to the network’s return this summer. It will feature original sketches, music parodies, game reviews, and more. Viewers will also be able to provide feedback on that content via the network’s Reddit community.Twitter accounts for Attack of the Show! and X-Play teased G4’s revival last year during the digital version of San Diego Comic-Con; both shows are expected to return. The network has been hunting for talent via a Twitter campaign. Continue reading…

Image: Brian Mueller Carrot Weather — the entertainingly antagonistic weather application from developer Brian Mueller — just got its latest version 5.0 update, which brings a whole new (and far more customizable) design, removes the upfront price tag in favor of more subscription tiers, and, of course, adds new dialogue and Easter eggs for the app’s malevolent AI character.It’s been a few years since Mueller released Carrot Weather 4.0, and the new update brings a fresh coat of paint to the weather app, with more detailed data that’s broken down into individual cards for things like Moon phases, wind speed, precipitation, and more. Image by Brian Mueller Users are also able to fully customize the layout of those interface cards based... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In the wake of Robinhood’s surprise trading block, a new class of Reddit investors are looking for apps that will let them plow their money into their favorite stocks. On Thursday morning, Robinhood announced that it would temporarily block investors from purchasing or trading companies including GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Nokia, all of which have been the subject of unexpected rallies over the past few days. But for the online communities that fueled those rallies, the block is being treated as an outright betrayal.Discussion about switching ramped up on Twitter and in investment discords after Robinhood halted buying and trading on stock, citing “recent volatility” in the market with the aforementioned stock as... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Discord is now helping the r/WallStreetBets team moderate its new server. The company originally banned the group yesterday due to “hateful and discriminatory content” and revealed it had sent repeated warnings to the team managing the community.Those warnings, for whatever reason, were ignored, but now the r/WallStreetBets team and Discord are working together. Discord staff are actively working with the server’s team to help with moderation. At least one Discord staffer, who is now in the new WallStreetBets server, is also helping with infrastructure problems related to the rapid growth the community is experiencing.“WallStreetBets members have set up a new server and we are working with them,” says a Discord spokesperson in a... Continue reading…

One year after pledging to remove all of its historic and future planet-heating emissions within a few decades, Microsoft says it has already slashed its carbon footprint by 6 percent. It’s an incremental change that’s in line with what’s needed globally to address the climate crisis, but there is a whole lot of work left for Microsoft to do.There is a whole lot of work left for Microsoft to doLast January, Microsoft pledged to do something that, at the time, was pretty unheard-of: it planned to become carbon negative by 2030. That gave the company a deadline to capture more planet-heating carbon dioxide than it emits. Not only would it target future emissions, but the company also pledged that, by 2050, it would remove the equivalent... Continue reading…

The Verge YouTube is introducing clipping — the ability to make short clips of live streams or videos — starting today with a small group of creators. Those clips can be anywhere between five and 60 seconds in length and will have a new URL associated with them. Creators and viewers will be able to create clips by clicking on the clip icon, though the feature is currently limited to desktop and Android devices.It’s a smart move from YouTube, because clipping is something of a live-streaming industry standard. You can more easily share live video content via a short video clip that can be passed around social media, rather than requiring viewers to skim through a potentially hourslong stream. Every platform from Twitch to the dearly departed site... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called on Congress to investigate the Robinhood app after it banned small investors from buying stock in companies like GameStop. Over the last week, Reddit users have rushed to buy the bemoaned video game retailer’s stock, inflating its price in what some are calling the “squeeze of a lifetime.”In a Thursday tweet, Ocasio-Cortez called Robinhood’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock in companies like GameStop and Blackberry “unacceptable,” and that’d she’d “support a hearing if necessary.” Ocasio-Cortez is a member of the House Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction to oversee the stock market and “securities and exchanges” more broadly.Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple overtook Huawei to reclaim its spot as the second-bestselling smartphone manufacturer in the world in 2020, according to new research reports from Counterpoint Research and Canalys. Samsung was still the leading seller in terms of number of smartphones shipped, while Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo took the next three spots, according to Counterpoint.It was just under a year ago that the same research analysts reported that Huawei had overtaken Apple to take second place in 2019. But since then, US trade sanctions seem to have hit Huawei hard. The Chinese company’s smartphone shipments were 21 percent lower in 2020 compared to 2019, according to Counterpoint, and Huawei dropped out of the top five entirely in the fourth quarter of the... Continue reading…

Clapper After this month’s deadly attack at the Capitol, QAnon has been widely banished from the internet. Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok have all banned Q-related content, and the right’s favored platform, Parler, has been forced offline for weeks. But it hasn’t all disappeared. A new platform called Clapper, a “free-speech” TikTok clone, is becoming a home for QAnon followers.Clapper launched last July as a “Free Speech Short Video” app — it’s basically TikTok, but the company promises a lot less moderation. In the six months since its launch, the app has been downloaded over half a million times, with a considerable amount of that growth coming in just the past two weeks.Once you download Clapper, you can start scrolling through a... Continue reading…

In Steve Gaynor’s attic, there is a box that does not belong to him. He bought his Portland home from a family who put the house up for sale after the death of its elderly owner. Months later, Gaynor and his wife discovered a cardboard box full of letters and other artifacts from a stranger’s life. “There was this backstory about this person who had been part of this family that was all contained inside this one cardboard box,” Gaynor said.It’s an anecdote almost too good to be believed: a co-founder of Fullbright, a studio known for pioneering “walking sim” games, living out his very own Gone Home-style adventure. Gaynor wondered not just about the box’s owner, but the possibilities of these found items: “How can we express that... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook’s Oversight Board has issued its first round of rulings, upholding one removal and overturning four decisions involving hate speech, nudity, and misinformation. Together, the rulings take an expansive view of what users can post under the current policies, based on concerns about vague rules and protecting freedom of expression online.The Oversight Board — composed of experts outside Facebook — accepted its first set of cases in December. While the original slate included six incidents, a user in one case proactively deleted their post, rendering the decision moot. Facebook has pledged to follow its rulings within seven days and respond to recommendations for new policies within 30 days. In a response to the rulings, Facebook... Continue reading…

The Razer Viper 8K weighs two grams more (71g) than the original Viper (69g). | Image: Razer Razer’s Viper 8K is a refresh of the 2019 true ambidextrous Viper. For the most part, it’s identical and is now available at the same $79 asking price, but it has some key upgrades for competitive gamers who are hoping that tech might help them get the edge over their opponents.First off, Razer now includes the Focus Plus 20,000DPI sensor used in many of its other 2020 mice, along with the latest generation of optical switches that have a more tactile click feel, according to the company (although it didn’t stand out as noticeable to me when I tested the mouse). The biggest news is that, according to Razer, the newly revised Viper can achieve the fastest polling rate of any mouse currently available: up to 8,000Hz — far higher than the... Continue reading…

Xinhua/Joel Lerner via Getty Images General Motors, an automotive company that sells hundreds of thousands of giant gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs every year, says it will be carbon neutral by 2040.The company says it will achieve this goal by “removing emissions from all our products, including every vehicle we produce, and all of our global operations in the next twenty years.” And when removing those emissions aren’t possible, GM says it will purchase carbon credits to offset the pollution for which it is responsible. Notably, though, GM wouldn’t commit to ending its sale of gas-powered vehicles within its targeted time frame.The announcement comes a day after President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders aimed at combating climate change. The new... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge If you are in the market for a new pair of wireless earbuds and want something with an unconventional design, Master & Dynamic’s MW07 Go true wireless earbuds are $120 at Best Buy today. That’s $80 off their usual price of $200.At first glance, the MW07 Go look like they might be uncomfortable inside your ears, but don’t let the looks fool you. The Verge’s Cameron Faulkner reviewed these earbuds in 2019 and noted they are much more comfortable than their appearance suggests. These buds also have great sound, last up to 10 hours on a single charge, and include a USB-C charging case.Amazon is currently selling Samsung’s 980 Pro NVMe M.2 SSD with 500GB for $112 today. Normally $150, this is the lowest price we have seen this internal... Continue reading…

Microsoft released its annual sustainability report today, and Minecraft developer Mojang decided to turn it into something interactive. Called simply “Sustainable City,” the new Minecraft map is available as a free download in the Minecraft marketplace, and it’s also been added to the game’s educational offshoot.The map features six included lessons, which Mojang says are “designed to give students a sense of stewardship for the planet.” The lessons cover topics like sustainable food production, water outflow and treatment, and responsible forestry. One lesson tasks players with exploring a home built entirely from sustainable materials; another has them venture to a landfill to learn what happens to non-recyclable materials.The... Continue reading…

Robinhood has added new limits to its app to restrict users from buying or trading any of the popular Reddit r/WallStreetBets stocks, including GameStop ($GME), AMC ($AMC), BlackBerry ($BB), Bed Bath & Beyond ($BBBY), Nokia ($NOK), and more. Users will still be allowed to close out existing positions but won’t be able to buy more of the stocks. The company is citing “recent volatility” in the market as the reasoning behind the change.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge An online casino Continue reading…

There are plenty of great 2D action games about exploring dark, mysterious worlds. Think Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, or anything inspired by Castlevania. Aside from similar themes, these games have something else in common: they’re almost always incredibly hard. Olija goes in a different direction. It still takes place in a world full of terrors to fight and secrets to uncover, and it features fast-paced action with lots of interesting weapons. But it’s also much more approachable. I wouldn’t call it easy, but it’s satisfying without being frustrating. You get the same haunting vibe without all of the stress.In Olija, you play as a man named Faraday whose ship crashes in an incredibly cursed part of the world called Terraphage. He has... Continue reading…

comcast NBC Universal’s Peacock streaming service hit 33 million signups in the fourth quarter, parent company Comcast reported Thursday, an addition of 11 million signups from the third quarter. While the company’s overall revenues beat Wall Street’s expectations, Comcast continued to see the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its filmed entertainment and theme park divisions.It’s still early to tell whether having The Office on Peacock will deliver a surge of new subscribers, since it only became exclusive as of January 1st. Peacock launched in July and is already on par with other, newer streamers like HBO Max, which had almost 40 million subscribers as of the most recent quarter and launched around the same time as Peacock. Disney Plus,... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge Faraday Future is going to become a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq stock exchange and is raising around $1 billion in the process.The troubled EV startup announced Thursday that it is indeed merging with special purpose acquisition corporation (or SPAC) Property Solutions, as first reported by Bloomberg earlier this month.About $230 million will come from the money that Property Solutions raised in its SPAC. The other $775 million will come from a new funding round happening concurrently with the merger. Geely, China’s biggest privately owned automaker, is contributing “less than 10 percent” of that new investment, and $175 million is coming from an unnamed “Tier 1 Chinese City,” meaning that the Chinese government is involved... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A new web standard is playing off of California’s powerful privacy law Continue reading…

Photo by Alexander Sayganov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Cyberpunk 2077’s big new 1.1 patch introduced a game-breaking bug earlier this week, and now Developer CD Projekt Red is fixing it. A new 1.11 hotfix is available across PC, Stadia, and Xbox / PlayStation consoles today. While it also restores item randomization to a previous state, the primary purpose is to fix the game-breaking part of the “Down on the Street” quest.The quest includes a holocall that’s supposed to trigger progress through the main part of Cyberpunk 2077’s storyline, but some players found the call was silent and blocked progress of the game. CD Projekt Red published a workaround after a few hours, and has now followed up with a hotfix after the problem was spotted earlier this week.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Telegram has added the ability to import your chat history from WhatsApp, meaning you won’t lose past conversations if you want to switch messaging services. On iOS the feature arrived with version 7.4, released yesterday and spotted by 9to5Mac, but the update doesn’t appear to be live yet on Android. Alongside WhatsApp, chat histories from Line and KakaoTalk can also be imported, according to Telegram’s changelog. We’ve verified that you can import chats from WhatsApp into the latest version (7.4.1) of Telegram and continue the conversation, so long as each WhatsApp user has a Telegram account.The addition of the feature comes as Telegram is reporting huge increases in user numbers, with the service now boasting over 500 million active... Continue reading…

Pac-Man celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, and to commemorate the occasion, Cook and Becker is releasing a history book later this year — and it looks incredible. While there’s a standard hardcover version of the book for $39, which is called Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon, you can also buy a $99 special edition that comes with an ingenious Pac-Man-shaped slipcase. There’s even a vinyl pressing of the single “Pac-Man Fever” included.The book is described as “the first-ever official history book” for the iconic video games series, and it’s written by Arjan Terpstra and Tim Lapetino. Here’s the official description:

The Pixel 5 and 4A 5G (pictured) can enable Night Sight mode automatically. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Thanks to its latest update, the Google Camera app now lets you permanently turn off its Auto Night Sight feature on devices that automatically enable the low-light photography mode, 9to5Google reports. The feature is available with version 8.1.200 of the app, which started rolling out on Monday. Additionally, the update lets you disable the mode from the app’s flash settings.When Google released the Pixel 4A 5G and Pixel 5 last year, it tweaked their camera apps to enable Night Sight mode automatically in low-light conditions. But using the feature means photos take longer to capture, so there’ll inevitably be occasions when you don’t want it to automatically come on. Annoyingly, as 9to5Google notes, the toggle to turn this feature... Continue reading…

Image: Vivaldi Vivaldi is releasing version 3.6 of the Vivaldi browser with a great and terrible power today: you can now create two-level tab stacks, so that grouped tabs can become pseudo-workspaces for whatever you get up to in your browser. Vivaldi first introduced the feature as an experiment in December 2020, but now you can officially indulge in two levels of too many tabs.Creating two-level stacked tabs is as easy as holding down the Command or Windows key, selecting whatever tabs you want to be in the stack, and then right-clicking and selecting “New Tab stack” from the drop down menu. You can also achieve the same effect by dragging and holding one tab over another. Clicking on the newly formed tab stack (signified with a white outline)... Continue reading…

Linking your WhatsApp account to your computer’s web browser or desktop app is getting a little more secure. Soon, if you’ve got biometric authentication enabled on your phone, you’ll have to unlock the app before you can link your account.The company says the new system is intended to ensure that should someone else gain access to your phone, they won’t be able to link your account to their web browser (which, in turn, would allow them to see any messages you send or receive).To be clear: WhatsApp (and Facebook) aren’t getting access to your fingerprints or facial recognition scansThe new system will be enabled by default on any iPhone devices running iOS 14 with either Touch ID or Face ID, and any Android devices that have... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Samsung Electronics has reported its fourth-quarter earnings, confirming that the company made more money in 2020 than the year before despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Operating profit was up to 35.99 trillion won ($32.1 billion) off 236.81 trillion won ($211.5 billion) in revenue for the year, increases of 29.6 percent and 2.78 percent respectively.Samsung says its fourth-quarter results were helped by its “company-wide efforts to ensure a stable supply of products and services globally” in the pandemic environment. Quarterly profit was up 26.4 percent year-on-year, largely driven by the display and memory businesses, though the latter was down quarter to quarter.Samsung’s display business had its highest ever... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s new privacy feature requiring developers ask for permission to track iOS users for ad targeting is at last going live in the next iOS 14 beta with a planned full release some time this spring for non-beta users, the company tells The Verge.The announcement coincides with Data Privacy Day, as well as a speech on privacy from Apple CEO Tim Cook later today at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference in Brussels. Apple initially planned for the feature to go live with the launch of iOS 14 last fall, but it delayed its implementation to 2021 in September of last year to give developers more time to comply. Today’s announcement narrows the launch window to this spring, but Apple is not commenting further on when... Continue reading…