The Verge

Photo: Michele Doying / The Verge Facebook’s long-awaited oversight board announced Thursday it is now accepting cases. The board, first announced by the social media behemoth in 2018, is meant to serve as an independent check on Facebook’s moderation decisions.The board is composed of independent members from around the world, who will make final and binding decisions on what content Facebook and Instagram should allow or remove based on respect for freedom of expression and human rights. “Our focus has been on building an institution that is not just about reacting to a single movement or chasing a specific news cycle, but about protecting human rights and free expression over the long term,” administrative director Thomas Hughes said in a Thursday call with... Continue reading…

Niko Tavernise/NETFLIX © 2020 The Trial of the Chicago 7 really shouldn’t be so fun to watch. The film, which premiered on Netflix last weekend, tells the story of a historic miscarriage of justice. In 1968, during that year’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, eight men were charged with inciting a riot when their protest against the Vietnam War led to a confrontation with police in front of the Conrad Hilton hotel. Aaron Sorkin’s film follows Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale, as they mount their defense against a biased court.It feels timely, too, given this summer’s Black Lives Matter protests and their ongoing fallout — protesters are again being charged after demanding... Continue reading…

Unlike the G5 15, Dell’s G5 15 SE (pictured) comes in a different color and is powered by AMD for both the GPU and CPU. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Dell is discounting a well-equipped version of its G5 15 gaming laptop. Normally, this particular model costs $1,640, but right now, you can get it for $1,200. This specific model’s configurations include a six-core Intel Core i7-10750H processor, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB NVMe SSD, a 1080p display with a 144Hz refresh rate, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 with Max-Q graphics chip.At this price, it’s a good deal for a gaming laptop that’s equipped to handle ray-tracing effects in games like Control or CD Projekt Red’s upcoming (and highly anticipated) title Cyberpunk 2077. Otherwise, it should be able to run most games at smooth frame rates and take advantage of its fast-refreshing display.We had a chance to check out the G5 15 SE, which my... Continue reading…

Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images On Thursday, October 22nd, at 9PM ET, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will face off for the final debate of the 2020 presidential campaign. The debate will be held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.Following Trump’s COVID-19 infection, the debate will be marked by a number of public health precautions. It will be held in person, but the candidates will be socially distanced and will not shake hands. The number of guests will be limited, and all guests will be required to wear masks.The second debate was originally scheduled to take place on October 15th but was reorganized after Trump’s illness and ultimately canceled after he declined to participate in a virtual event. As a result, tonight’s... Continue reading…

A “vote” mural by graffiti artist Slick. | Photo: 100 Thieves. 100 Thieves is following in the footsteps of the NBA and turning its home base into a voting center. The gaming and lifestyle company announced today that the 100 Thieves Cash App Compound — a 15,000-square-foot building that officially opened earlier this year — will serve as an official LA County Voting Center, which will be open for early voters from October 30th to November 2nd, as well as on Election Day on November 3rd.The company also partnered with graffiti artist Slick to create a temporary mural on the building; right now, it says “vote,” but it will be changed to say “we voted” on November 2nd. The voting process will also follow standard safety guidelines, as voters will have to wear face coverings and gloves while... Continue reading…

‘It’s harder to make PC games’ Continue reading…

It’s been over a decade since work began on a movie based on Naughty Dog’s popular Uncharted games. In that time, the film has cycled through seven directors, five release dates, and a series of scripts and actors. But a new picture from star Tom Holland — who’ll be playing a younger version of series hero Nathan Drake — in full costume as the character gives the best evidence yet that the film is actually happening this time.The shot is admittedly not much to go by — just a still of Holland in Drake’s cargo pants / henley combo and matching pistol holsters. But looking closely reveals the ring, which, in the game’s canon, belongs to Nathan’s maybe-ancestor Sir Francis Drake.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Quibi, the shortform video streaming service designed for people to enjoy on their phones, has shuttered after less than a year of existence.Led by veteran Hollywood executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and former HP CEO Meg Whitman, the streaming service was designed to be a revolutionary way to watch videos on the go, with shows and films specifically formatted to work in both landscape and portrait modes. With nearly $2 billion raised before Quibi even launched in April and a long line of Hollywood talent on board to provide movies and shows, Katzenberg and Whitman felt pretty good about their prospects — even if analysts and media critics questioned the duo’s strategy.Then the United States joined the rest of the world in shutting down d... Continue reading…

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is launching in the US for the first time ever. The tactical roleplaying game, originally released in 1990, will be available on the Nintendo Switch for $5.99 on December 4th.As the first game in the Fire Emblem series, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light stars Marth, a character best known Stateside for his appearance in Super Smash Bros. The Switch edition of the game will include fast-forward, rewind, and save state features. A remake of the game, called Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, was previously released for Nintendo DS.It’s important to note that the release is for a limited time only, until the franchise’s 30th anniversary on March 31st, 2021. Shadow Dragon and the Blade of... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge House Judiciary Committee Republicans and committee member Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) are spreading a misleading claim about a new Twitter feature that asks users to read articles before retweeting them. Earlier this year, Twitter started testing a prompt to discourage knee-jerk retweets. It appears on links across the entire service, but Republican lawmakers have cited individual warnings on right-leaning articles as the latest of many censorship accusations.Twitter announced last month that it would roll out the feature across its mobile apps, describing it as a way to “help promote informed discussion.” When you hit the retweet button on a link you haven’t visited, Twitter adds a label above the confirmation menu, warning that... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Live shopping is already huge in China, and now tech giants want to make it big in the US Continue reading…

Amsterdam Club | Photo: Lynk & Co Don’t call it a showroom Continue reading…

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images The Senate Judiciary Committee approved subpoenas on Thursday to force Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to testify before the body regarding complaints of anti-conservative bias on their platforms.Last week, the New York Post published a report alleging that Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, introduced his father to an executive at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. For months, President Trump’s reelection campaign has targeted Biden’s alleged connections to Ukraine as the foundation of political attacks. Reporters disputed the Post’s allegations, and Facebook and Twitter moved to reduce the article’s reach.Facebook signaled that the article was subject to third-party fact-checking, and Twitter banned linking to... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If you were tossing around picking up Apple’s new iPad Air, which my colleague Dieter Bohn says is the best tablet for most people despite costing $600, it won’t actually cost you $600 to buy one at Walmart and Amazon. Right now, you can pick up a 64GB base model in green for $560. This is a relatively small discount, all said, but any deal on the as-of-yet unreleased iPad Air that features USB-C charging, a brand-new design, and powerful internal specs is a good one in my book.Best Buy is continuing its deal event on Amazon products that rival Prime Day 2020 prices. All of these we wrote about yesterday are still happening, but below, we’ll list a few different options. Continue reading…

Microsoft is bringing Xbox touch controls to 10 games on its xCloud game streaming service today. xCloud launched last month with just Minecraft Dungeons supporting these new touch controls, but the list now includes big names like Streets of Rage 4, Dead Cells, and Killer Instinct. These touch controls will allow players to play games without an Xbox One controller.“Touch controls have been one of the top-requested features for cloud gaming,” explains Catherine Gluckstein, Microsoft’s head of Project xCloud. “For each title that uses Xbox touch controls we’ve worked to create an experience designed specifically for that game on mobile devices.” Microsoft has been working with game designers and players to mimic the controls you’d... Continue reading…

Twitter is adding features to encourage early voting | Twitter Starting today, US Twitter users will get prompts in their home timelines to encourage them to vote early, as the November 3rd presidential election approaches.The updates will include push alerts directing to on-Twitter public service announcements, prompts to vote early and find early voting options from nonpartisan voting advocacy group BallotReady, and interactive features, including an animated “like” button” and custom emoji for the hashtags #VoteEarly, #IVoted, #IVotedEarly, and #YoVoté.“As voters face unprecedented challenges when casting their ballot in the upcoming 2020 US elections, Twitter is doing what we can to ensure that people have access to the reliable information they need in order to exercise their right to vote,”... Continue reading…

Image: Huawei Huawei has announced the Mate 40 Pro and Pro Plus, its latest flagship devices following the P40 series from earlier this year. The phones mark the debut of Huawei’s new flagship 5nm Kirin 9000 chipset and include curved 6.76-inch 90Hz OLED displays and 50W wireless charging. Alongside them, Huawei has also announced the step-down Mate 40.Although Huawei’s phones have been difficult to use outside of China because of the lack of Google’s apps and services, its recent flagships like the P40 Pro and P40 Pro Plus have continued to offer excellent camera performance. On paper, the Mate 40 Pro series looks to continue the trend.The Mate 40 Pro Plus has a 50-megapixel main camera, a 20-megapixel ultrawide, an 8-megapixel periscope camera... Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge HBO Max, the new premium streaming channel from AT&T’s Warner Media, said in its earnings report on Thursday that 8.6 million customers have activated their subscriptions to the service in the third quarter, bringing the total number of HBO and HBO Max subscribers in the US to 38 million — ahead of the company’s target of 37 million for the end of 2020 — and 57 million globally.AT&T counts “activations” as well as subscribers, as many customers who already pay for HBO have access to HBO Max as part of their package, but haven’t yet activated that subscription and started watching. According to the earnings report, 28.7 million customers were eligible to get HBO Max at the end of the third quarter, but activations of HBO Max to date... Continue reading…

A wireless headset for Xbox and PC with more class than most Continue reading…

Amazon’s latest Echo brings room tuning and impressive sound quality to the $100 price point Continue reading…

Language learning app Duolingo is debuting what it says is the world’s first bilingual true crime podcast designed for people learning Spanish. El Gran Robo Argentino (The Great Argentine Heist) tells the story of the 2006 robbery of a Banco Rio bank in Buenos Aires, where five men stole a fortune worth $20 million.It’s quite the riveting drama; without giving too much away, the robbers became folk heroes in Argentina, and the heist was the subject of a movie — El Robo del Siglo— in Argentina earlier this year. For more, read Josh Dean’s great retelling of the tale in GQ (but obviously, spoiler alerts).The Duolingo podcast will be a serialized season of the Duolingo Spanish Podcast, which is geared toward Spanish learners and has 39... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge A new feature being internally tested at Google could remove the need to say “Hey Google” before voicing commands to Nest Hub smart displays, Android Central reports. Instead, the feature codenamed “Blue Steel” could allow the device to simply sense your presence, and proactively listen for commands without first needing to hear the wake word.The functionality has been shown off in a video posted to YouTube by Jan Boromeusz, who Android Central notes previously leaked features like the Nest Hub’s new dark mode prior to its official announcement. In the video, Boromeusz can be seen asking for a variety of information, all without once uttering the words “Hey Google.” His Nest Hub Max smart display is reportedly running leaked internal... Continue reading…

An Alaska Airlines plane takes off from Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California on May 12, 2020. | Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images Microsoft announced a new effort today to reduce pollution coming from some of its employees’ flights. It plans to buy credits for sustainable aviation fuel to cover travel on the commercial flight routes most frequented by its employees during business trips.It will buy the credits from Dutch company SkyNRG, which will then supply cleaner-burning fuel to Alaska Airlines. The less-polluting flights will be operated by Alaska Airlines for travel between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (near Microsoft’s corporate headquarters) and San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles international airports.The fuel could emit 80 percent fewer CO2 emissionsThe fuel that SkyNRG provides would be made in the US with used cooking oil or other... Continue reading…

The service can be accessed from the Taycan’s infotainment system. | Image: Porsche Porsche’s all-electric Taycan is the first car to get full Apple Podcasts integration, allowing owners to natively access Apple’s library of 1.5 million shows see its podcast charts, the company has announced. The car’s infotainment system is also getting support for Apple Music’s lyrics feature, which will be displayed on the passenger-side display. The features are available in new Taycan cars now, and will roll out to existing cars in January, the company says.Apple Podcasts has previously been available to stream to the Taycan’s infotainment system via Apple CarPlay, but the native app means you don’t have to connect your phone to start listening. It also means the app can stream over the vehicle’s built-in data connection (you get... Continue reading…

I’m not going to pretend it makes obvious sense, but famed former Apple designer Jony Ive and his firm LoveFrom will soon be working for Airbnb. Yes, the company that primarily makes it easy for you to rent someone else’s home needs design help, and they’re going to the man best known for turning consumer tech on its head — as well as the occasional all-diamond diamond ring, a Christmas tree that is actually just a tree, and a magazine cover with no content.So if you’ve been been put off renting one of Airbnb’s recently introduced, exorbitantly priced Luxe accommodations because they have too many furnishings, perhaps this is just the ticket? Dude loves minimalism.A “multi-year relationship”Airbnb is calling the deal a “special... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge National security officials announced Wednesday that Iran and Russia obtained voter registration information that could support efforts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. The officials also confirmed that Iran sent threatening emails designed to intimidate voters.“Iran and Russia have taken specific actions to influence public opinion relating to our election. Some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran and separately by Russia,” Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said in a press conference Wednesday evening. “This data can be used by foreign actors to attempt to convey misinformation.”“Do not allow these efforts to have their intended effect”Voter registration information is often publicly... Continue reading…

NASA shared astonishing images of its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touching an asteroid yesterday, revealing how the vehicle stirred up rocks and debris on the object’s surface when it made contact. The goal of the tap was to collect a sample of material from the asteroid, but the engineers behind the spacecraft say they won’t for sure if they collected anything until this weekend, when they spin the vehicle and measure how much material is inside.“the sampling event went really well, as good as we could have imagined.”However, the OSIRIS-REx team feels confident that they got something. “Bottom line is from analysis of the images that we’ve gotten down so far, is that the sampling event went really well, as good as we could have imagined it... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook Dating, the social network’s competitor to Tinder and other dating apps, launches today in Europe after a long delay from its planned Valentine’s Day debut.The dating service offers the same features in Europe as it does in the US, using the existing profile you’ve created on Facebook to find potential matches. Facebook tailors these matches with your preferences, Facebook activity, and, if you opt in, groups and events.Facebook originally planned to launch its dating service in Europe back in FebruaryWhile the service still only appears as a tab in Facebook’s mobile app, it’s deeply integrated with the rest of the social giant’s products. Your profile can pull stories and photos from Instagram, you can initiate Messenger... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla sent out the first “Full Self-Driving” beta software update to a select group of customers this week, CEO Elon Musk tweeted Tuesday. On an earnings call Wednesday, Musk said more Tesla owners would get the update as the weeks progress, with the goal of a “wide release” by the end of the year.Only those customers in Tesla’s Early Access Program will receive the software update, that will enable drivers to access Autopilot’s partially automated driver assist system on city streets. The early access program is used as a testing platform to help iron out software bugs.

Photo by Michael Kovac / Getty Images The Verge used to have a fine tradition of cataloging all of the times when Eric Schmidt stuck his foot in his mouth, and today’s feels like a worthy addition: the former Google CEO and executive chairman has decided that social networks are “amplifiers for idiots.”The fuller quote, according to Bloomberg: “The context of social networks serving as amplifiers for idiots and crazy people is not what we intended.”Without knowing who “we” refers to, you might think he’s talking about how the entire tech industry has failed to keep sites like Facebook and Twitter from creating echo chambers and polarizing politics around the world (though some argue we can’t blame social networks alone).He’s certainly a member of the tech elite, one who... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Artists on Twitter have a request: stop quote-tweeting their work.It’s all the more pressing now that Twitter has, temporarily at least, changed its retweet system to encourage users to quote tweets and add their own words on top, rather than simply boost someone else’s message. Artists say quote tweets take attention away from their profiles, making it harder for them to be discovered, while someone else gets the glory.“When you’re quote tweeting an artist, it’s almost like saying ‘I feel like what I have to say about this piece is more important than the actual piece,’” RadiantG, an artist, journalist, and indie game developer, told The Verge.Twitter made the change yesterday as part of an effort to “encourage more thoughtful... Continue reading…

Just when we thought the drama surrounding Zack Snyder’s Justice League couldn’t get any weirder, it seems Jared Leto’s.... controversial take on the Joker will be appearing in the director’s cut of the 2017 superhero team-up when it hits HBO Max next year.Leto, who infamously played the role of the Batman villain in 2016’s Suicide Squad, is reportedly joining the ongoing reshoots for the new Justice League cut, according to The Hollywood Reporter.It’s not entirely clear what role Leto’s Joker will play in the re-edited film. Despite the controversy over Leto’s edgy interpretation of the villain, the character has only had a minor role (at best) in the live-action DC films. Leto himself has only appeared in a few scenes in Suicide... Continue reading…

Foxconn’s “Fab”in Wisconsin. A state report says it no signs that it manufactures LCDs, or ever will | Photo by Curtis Waltz A state report on Foxconn’s Wisconsin factory depicts a project gone far off course. The report, issued this month by Wisconsin’s Division of Executive Budget and Finance and obtained through a records request, confirms that the company has not built the enormous Gen 10.5 LCD factory specified in its contract. It also says that the building the company claims is a smaller Gen 6 LCD factory shows no signs of manufacturing LCDs in the foreseeable future and “may be better suited for demonstration purposes.”The report notes that Foxconn received a permit to use its so-called “Fab” for storage, which The Verge first reported this week. Furthermore, according to an industry expert consulted by the state, Foxconn has not ordered the equipment... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Ubisoft is merging its loyalty program, Ubisoft Club, and desktop app Uplay into Ubisoft Connect, the developer announced. In addition to a rewards program, it will introduce crossplay and cross-progression in games such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion.The new hub will be available for free, but it requires a Ubisoft account. Ubisoft Connect “aims at giving the best environment for all players to enjoy their games and connect with each others whatever the device,” Ubisoft said. Players who use the service will be able to earn Ubisoft Connect XP for playing games and completing in-game challenges. Gaining XP will allow players to level up their Ubisoft Connect accounts, which will award a second currency, Units, that... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla made a profit of $331 million in the third quarter of 2020, its fifth straight profitable quarter and a sign that the electric automaker is hitting its stride. This quarter’s profit is more than doubles that of the third quarter last year.Tesla generated $8.771 billion in revenue, buoyed by $579 million in energy storage sales and $581 million in services revenue. Tesla once again wasn’t purely profitable based on its sales, though. It also sold $397 million worth of regulatory credits in the quarter, a decrease from the record $428 million in credits it sold during Q2 of this year.Tesla generated $8.7 billion in revenueTesla delivered 139,300 vehicles this quarter, beating the company’s previous record of 112,000 vehicle... Continue reading…

Netflix David Fincher’s new movie Mank comes out in just over a month, but if you want a sneak peek at the film, Netflix has a put out a (not so) ”secret” website showcasing its soundtrack and behind-the-scenes stills.The soundtrack comes from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who have created a score with an old-school Hollywood vibe — a big leap from the haunting digital style they’re best known for. From the teaser, you can already hear how Reznor and Ross find ways to impart themes and motifs we know them for into a genre of music that is anything but their usual fare.Alongside a nearly 11-minute sampling of the score, which plays in the background on the site, you can see over 200 photos, stills, and clips from the movie and on-set... Continue reading…

Image: Hulu Animation fans and nostalgia-seekers rejoice: the official trailer for the Animaniacs reboot was released by Hulu earlier today. It’s been 22 years since the original finale, and it looks like Yakko, Wakko, and Dot are embracing their jaunt across time. “We’ve missed so much,” Yakko exclaims as the trio and friends encounter such modern wonders as Instagram, catfishing, and Beyoncé.Originally announced in 2018, the reboot has been gathering hype this month after a clip was released at New York Comic Con. Animaniacs is now trending on Twitter, where fans are expressing excitement and recalling skits from the original series.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is temporarily changing how you retweet ahead of the November 3rd US presidential election, to help prevent abuse and the spread of misinformation. Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to retweet. But until at least the end of election week, it won’t be quite as easy as usual to retweet something to all of your followers.Starting today, when you click or tap the retweet icon, Twitter will pull up the Quote Tweet composer to encourage you to write something about that tweet before you share it. You don’t have to write anything if you don’t want — just leave the composer blank and hit the retweet button to retweet like you normally would. But Twitter is hoping that by introducing some friction into the process, people might better... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge PayPal on Wednesday announced it would begin supporting cryptocurrencies for the first time, allowing any PayPal account holder to store, buy, and sell popular virtual currencies starting later this year. The announcement makes PayPal arguably the most significant company in the financial tech sector to adopt support for virtual currencies.PayPal competitor Square launched support for bitcoin back in 2018 through its Cash app (Square also purchased $50 million worth of bitcoin earlier this month), but PayPal is going further in supporting bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. PayPal also plans to extend support to its money-sending subsidiary Venmo and international markets starting early next year. For now, PayPal plans to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Quibi — the shortform mobile-focused streaming service — is shutting down after just over six months of operation, making it one of the shortest-lived streaming services to date, according to The Wall Street Journal.There is any number of factors that can be pointed to in unpacking Quibi’s demise: the launch of a mobile-only streaming service at the height of a global pandemic when users were stuck at home; the lack of any real breakout content that was compelling enough to tempt subscribers; or the fact that shortform video content has a nearly infinite amount of free competition in the form of YouTube, TikTok, and other platforms.It’s not clear what will happen to the company’s lineup of expensive, star-studded original shows and... Continue reading…

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Update October 21st, 3:40PM ET: Quibi is, in fact, done for. Shortly after publication, The Wall Streets Journal reports Quibi is shutting down for good. Read more here.Struggling streaming service Quibi’s days appear to be numbered. The mobile-centric platform, which burned through a mind-boggling amount of investor cash trying to strong-arm its way into the streaming wars, may be imminently shut down, according to numerous reports about co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg’s failed attempts to salvage the company and its intellectual property.How exactly Quibi bites the dust is still a bit up in the air, though. The Information reported on Tuesday that company executives are considering shutting down the whole operation, after Katzenberg... Continue reading…

This evening, three astronauts who have been living on board the International Space Station for the last six months will return back to Earth in a Russian Soyuz capsule, landing in the middle of the Kazakhstan desert. The trio have lived in space for nearly the entirety of the COVID-19 pandemic and are now returning as cases are rising again across the world.NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin launched to the ISS on the Soyuz back in early April, nearly a month after the World Health Organization had declared that the COVID-19 outbreak had become a pandemic. Thanks to the outbreak, the crew underwent a stricter quarantine than usual before they took off. Cassidy said he remained mostly... Continue reading…

Cruise, the self-driving car company owned by General Motors, is doubling down on the Origin, its steering wheel-and-pedal-less autonomous people mover introduced late last year. With the COVID-19 pandemic discouraging many people from using shared ride services, the company unveiled new safety protocols intended to keep people socially distant during trips and the vehicle sanitized between fares.Cruise is also applying for permission from the federal government to mass-produce the Origin. The vehicle’s lack of traditional human controls means that the company will need an exemption from the federal government’s motor vehicle safety standards, which require vehicles to have a steering wheel and pedals. The National Highway Traffic... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Yesterday, the Department of Justice and 11 states sued Google for violating antitrust law. The complaint argued that Google had become “the unchallenged gateway to the internet for billions of users worldwide,” but that its success depends on unfair and monopolistic behavior. In some ways, the case is an obvious and long-awaited move. But it’s also an early test of how American antitrust law will handle the coming decade’s tech giants.Since the late 1970s, antitrust cases have typically focused on demonstrating consumer harm, like a company cornering the market on oil and jacking up gas prices with its power. This can be less straightforward with free services like Google search, but it’s hardly impossible. The landmark Microsoft... Continue reading…

Netflix Netflix executives love boasting about how many people are tuning into the streamer’s original movies and TV series, but co-CEO Ted Sarandos made a comment on the company’s earnings call last night that’s left a few people puzzled.Sarandos was talking about some of Netflix’s most popular movies, citing The Old Guard, Extraction, and basically any Adam Sandler movie Netflix releases. At one point, Sarandos said Netflix is getting “70, 80, 100 million folks turning out to watch [our] movies in their first 28 days,” and spending less on marketing than traditional studios, adding that it’s the equivalent to “a billion dollars of box office in terms of cultural impact.”There’s a lot to unpack here, but let’s start with the idea that The... Continue reading…

Image: Epic Games Fortnite on PC has shrunk considerably, down from over 90GB to just under 30GB, thanks to recent optimizations from developer Epic.The news, detailed yesterday in a Fortnite update note posted to the game’s service Twitter account, means the battle royale hit will now take up far less space on your computer’s drive. That gives you more room for other games — or some extra breathing room in the event you have the monstrous Call of Duty: Modern Warfare / Warzone installed.

Photo: Nintendo In order to enjoy playing Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit with friends, you need to embrace chaos. And I don’t mean the typical chaos associated with Mario Kart, like frustratingly timed blue shells or the nightmare of speeding through Rainbow Road. Here, the chaos is more physical — and it can be a lot of fun if you don’t mind the mess. Or the cost.In my review of Home Circuit, my biggest issue was how inaccessible multiplayer can be. It’s not something you can enjoy out of the box. The game — which has players controlling RC karts with their Switch, while driving through a real-life obstacle course — is expensive to play with friends. Each player requires not only a physical kart, which cost $99.99 each, but also their own Switch to... Continue reading…

The Porsche Design Acer Book RS laptop. | Image: Acer Acer is teaming up with Porsche Design on a new high-end “luxury” laptop, the Porsche Design Acer Book RS, which looks to combine Porsche Design’s product designs with Acer’s laptop know-how.The partnership here is an important one, given that the last Porsche Design-branded laptop, the Porsche Design Book One (which the design studio developed on its own), had some key flaws caused by prioritizing style over functionality. Image: Acer The Porsche Design Acer Book RS. The Porsche Design Acer Book RS, on the other hand, looks like a more conventional laptop (albeit, one that’s still covered in carbon fiber). The specs are also encouraging, with a choice of Intel’s 11th Gen Core i5 and i7 processors, 8GB or... Continue reading…

Acer Acer has announced its Chromebook Spin 513 and Chromebook Enterprise Spin 513. They’re the first Chrome OS devices powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7c chips. The 513 will be available in North America in February 2021 starting at $399.99; the Enterprise Spin 513 is coming in March 2021 starting at $699.99.The Snapdragon 7c is an entry-level mobile processor built on an 8nm process. It’s a lower-powered processor than many that you see in popular Windows devices — it’s currently Qualcomm’s weakest processor for laptops — but Qualcomm claims one of its chief benefits is longer battery life. Acer says you’ll see 14 hours (citing synthetic benchmarks).In other exciting news, you’ll be able to configure both models with 4G LTE, a nice... Continue reading…

They painted boarded-up businesses, then scrambled to save the art Continue reading…