The Verge

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Google is still trying to iron out connectivity issues with its Pixel Buds. The company has confirmed that it has identified the cause of a strange, frustrating bug that caused audio to drop out for some users every one minute and 50 seconds — on the dot. I’ve gotten numerous emails about this issue from Pixel Buds owners, so it’s good to see that Google has managed to resolve it.According to a post on the company’s support forums, a new firmware update is currently rolling out to the true wireless earbuds that will eliminate the pause after every 1:50. In case you’re unfamiliar with the update process, Google has this guide for installing Pixel Buds firmware.If you’re not using your Pixel Buds with an Android phone — well, that’s an... Continue reading…

Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images A bombshell report in The Washington Post today details the ongoing feud between the Trump administration and the US Postal Service, and it provides insight into just how lucrative Amazon’s business is for the agency.According to documents obtained by watchdog group American Oversight, Amazon generated $1.6 billion in profit and $3.9 billion in revenue for the USPS in fiscal year 2019, with the postal service delivering 1.54 billion packages for the e-commerce giant. That represented about 30 percent of Amazon’s total volume last year, and, according to the Post, revenue has increased this year.President Trump has complained for at least the last two years — without citing evidence — that the USPS loses “$1.50 on average for each... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro Twitter will start prompting high-profile political accounts to take heightened security measures ahead of the 2020 US election, the company announced Thursday.In a blog post, Twitter said that administration officials, members of Congress, political campaigns, major news outlets, political journalists, and other government officials will be prompted to take enhanced security measures ahead of the election. Over the next few days, Twitter will be automatically turning on password reset protection for these accounts while recommending that these high-profile users turn on two-factor authentication. These accounts will also be required to use strong passwords.“Voters, political candidates, elected officials and journalists rely on... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple gives you the option of picking new default browser and email apps in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. But it’s been discovered that, at least in the 14.0 software release, this freedom of choice is only temporary: after a reboot of your device, Safari and Mail will be restored as their respective defaults until you change the setting again. 9to5Mac reported on the issue earlier today.The Verge has confirmed the behavior across several different iPhones and iPads. This is almost certainly a bug and something the company can rectify in a matter of days with an iOS 14.0.1 update. But it’s not a great look given Apple’s current predicament with ongoing antitrust probes. At least most people don’t find themselves rebooting these devices with... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge The Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics card was released at 9AM ET, and disappointment began only seconds later. All major online stores in the US are sold out, and there have been reports of brick-and-mortar stores each having as few as 10 units for sale. The end result: eBay scalpers are now trying to cash in, and very few people who want to enjoy the graphics card seem to have actually gotten their hands on a confirmed order.The card is being listed on eBay for many hundreds of dollars — in some cases, even thousands of dollars — over its $699 sticker price. And PC gaming fans are mad, claiming that Nvidia held a sloppy launch just a day after US retailers similarly botched early preorders for Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 5.A list here of... Continue reading…

Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images Warner Bros., the studio behind the latest Harry Potter video game title — Hogwarts Legacy, which will debut on next-gen consoles and PCs — has just posted an FAQ that directly addresses J.K. Rowling’s involvement with the title. “J.K. Rowling is not directly involved in the creation of the game, however, her extraordinary body of writing is the foundation of all projects in the Wizarding World,” the company writes. “This is not a new story from J.K. Rowling.”That will certainly reassure some corners of the internet. Over the last few years, Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, has made a name for herself as a prominent trans-exclusionary radical feminist online.Her latest book, written under the pen name Robert Galbraith... Continue reading…

Image: NASA A US production company is planning to produce a reality TV show competition, where the winner will receive a trip to the International Space Station as the ultimate prize, Deadline reports. The plan is yet another way to capitalize on the newly developed private human spacecraft, from SpaceX and Boeing, that are opening up ways for non-government astronauts to reach space.Dubbed Space Hero Inc., the production company plans to put together a televised contest called Space Hero that would select contestants from around the world to train for space, according to Deadline. The winner of the contest would supposedly receive a 10-day trip to the space station that would be televised from launch to return to Earth.“We look forward to ...... Continue reading…

Amazon van with prime logo in a logistic centre. | Photo by Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty Images In its first round of funding from its $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, Amazon is investing in the battery and e-waste recycling company led by former Tesla executive JB Straubel, along with four other companies. It’s not clear how much money each company will receive.Amazon will need the technology being developed by the startups it’s now fundingAmazon made the $2 billion commitment in June as part of efforts to slash its greenhouse gas emissions. Last September, the retail giant said it would cut or capture all of its planet-heating pollution, achieving net-zero emissions, by 2040. To hit that target, Amazon might need the technology being developed by the startups it’s now funding.“I am excited to announce that we are investing in... Continue reading…

Image: Riot Games Riot Games has released a series of animated shorts to hype up the upcoming League of Legends World Championship tournament, including one that could be really helpful if you’ve been interested in watching competitive League.League of Legends is one of the most popular esports in the world, but the game itself can be difficult to understand if you’re a first-time viewer. I’ve been watching matches for years and still only have a basic understanding of the deeper mechanics of the game. But I think Riot did a great job explaining everything you need to know to watch a match in the animated short embedded at the top of this post, and I recommend checking it out.Riot released a short in the same animated universe giving a brief overview of... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook is adding new rules intended to slow the spread of misinformation and other harmful content on its Groups feature. From now on, if a group is removed for violating Facebook’s policies, its members and administrators will be temporarily unable to create any new groups. If a group has no administrators, it will be archived. And Facebook won’t include any health-related groups in its recommendations.Facebook groups have been blamed for spreading misinformation and conspiracies, particularly when Facebook’s recommendation algorithm promotes them. And the company’s new rules expand on existing efforts to police them. Admins were already barred from creating a new group similar to a banned one, for instance.Some of the new policies... Continue reading…

Nintendo has always been a strange company. The Kyoto-based game maker turned an Italian plumber into one of pop culture’s biggest icons, and the company has experimented with everything from DIY cardboard game accessories to three-pronged controllers. This unpredictable nature is what makes Nintendo so exciting (and occasionally infuriating).Often, these concepts seem to come out of left field — but at its best, Nintendo makes the strange feel necessary. Nowhere was that more apparent than with the Nintendo DS line of dual-screened handhelds.That era is now over, as Nintendo recently discontinued the 3DS and all of its various models. The news isn’t surprising: the Switch has become a runaway success, largely supplanting the need for... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook is launching a new app to let small business owners manage pages and profiles across Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, COO Sheryl Sandberg announced in a blog post Thursday. The app, called Facebook Business Suite, will merge the back end infrastructure of the three apps so small business owners can receive messages from customers, alerts, and notifications in one unified inbox. It plans to add WhatsApp integration in the future, the company confirmed to The Verge.The app will also let small businesses post to Facebook and Instagram at the same time and provide insights about how ad campaigns are performing on the platforms. Much of this cross-posting functionality already is available for admins of Instagram business... Continue reading…

Nintendo recently revealed a huge slate of Mario games coming to the Switch (and one Zelda spinoff), but today, the company put the focus on some of the third-party titles that will help fill out the console’s lineup. The event included some big-name publishers like Capcom and Square Enix, though many of the games won’t hit the Switch until next year.If you missed the event, here are the biggest and most interesting reveals.Ori is coming back to the Switch todayThe gorgeous 2D platformer Ori and the Will of the Wisps is coming to the Switch — and it’ll be available later today. There’s even a gorgeous special edition for those who want a physical version of the game.A lot of Monster HunterCapcom announced a pair of brand-new M... Continue reading…

The Mandalorian was one of the first shows to premiere on Disney’s streaming service when it launched in November 2019, and now it’s the reason Disney Plus won its first Emmy awards.The streamer won five Creative Emmys last night for various visual and audio effects seen in a number of Mandalorian episodes. The Mandalorian won awards for Outstanding Special Visual Effects, Outstanding Cinematography for a Single Camera Series, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series, and Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program. The event can be watched on the Creative Arts Emmys website.The Mandalorian was nominated for 19 awards in total, including Outstanding... Continue reading…

The queue outside Micro Center in Brooklyn. | Photo by TC Sottek / The Verge Nvidia’s new RTX 3080 graphics card went on sale earlier today, but it seems the new $699 GPU is already sold out pretty much everywhere. In the US, Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, and Nvidia’s own website are either listing the card as being out of stock or only with an option to be notified when a card is in stock. Even stock checking sites like NowInStock.net are coming up empty-handed.Across Twitter, reports are popping up of people attempting to buy the card in person and not having much more luck. One user reported people camping outside their local Micro Center for two days to secure one of the store’s stock of just 11 cards. Another posted a picture of people queuing up overnight outside their local store before its manager was forced... Continue reading…

Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Moon Studios’ sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest, is launching today for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo announced the news today during a small Nintendo Direct presentation.Will of the Wisps launched earlier this year. In the Metroidvania-style platformer, players control Ori in the immediate aftermath of Blind Forest. Both games first released on the Xbox One and were only available via Microsoft platforms or PC. Moon Studios released Ori and the Blind Forest for the Switch in 2019. In an interview with The Verge, the studio explained that Will of the Wisps is an example of Moon Studios’ “iterative polish” process, in which it is constantly refining the game.A collector’s edition that includes digital... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Apple Watch Series 6 releases tomorrow, starting at $399 for the 40mm size and $429 for the 44mm size. If you don’t think you need the latest model, you can save $100 on the now-previous version of Apple’s smartwatch, the Series 5. Both Amazon and Walmart have the larger 44mm size with the gold aluminum case and pink sport band for $329.It’s a little confusing to shop for an Apple Watch since their specs and features change with each new model; I’ve made a comparison chart to make it easier. But on the whole, the Series 5 matches most of what the new Series 6 delivers. It has an always-on display and a more advanced heart rate sensor than the Apple Watch SE or the Series 3. Aside from the Series 6’s blood oxygen app, the Series 5 is... Continue reading…

Ford broke ground on a new manufacturing plant outside of Dearborn, Michigan, where it will build an electric version of its extremely popular pickup truck, the F-150. The new facility, located within the automaker’s historic Rouge Complex, will be completed in time to start production on the new electric truck, slated for mid-2022.That release date means the F-150 EV will likely hit the road after electric pickups from a number of Ford’s rivals. Tesla’s Cybertruck and General Motors’ electric Hummer pickup are slated to be released in late 2021. EV startup Rivian is aiming to ship its first electric pickup trucks in early 2021 (alongside an electric SUV) after production was delayed by COVID-19.Ford is spending $700 million to build... Continue reading…

With the recent discovery of a possible sign of life on Venus, it’s possible we could see a new surge of missions headed to the cloudy world in the future. Those next-generation robotic explorers may need to take extra precautions than Venusian explorers of the past.Numerous missions to Venus have been proposed throughout the years, but few have actually manifested over the last three decades. That could change now, with perhaps the most compelling reason to visit the planet again. Astronomers found a gas, phosphine, in the sulfuric acid clouds of the planet, and they can’t really explain why it’s there. It’s possible that phosphine is being produced by some tiny lifeforms since we know that it’s produced by microbes here on Earth, or... Continue reading…

A viral video can spur thousands of subs Continue reading…

Photo: Comcast Comcast is launching a program to provide free Wi-Fi in community centers as part of an effort to improve internet access for students in low-income areas, the company said Thursday. The so-called “lift zones” will provide free internet connectivity as well as “access to hundreds of hours of educational and digital skills content to help families and site coordinators navigate online learning.”The first 200 lift zones have been selected and will include BUILD in Chicago, the Harvey Johnson Community Center at Union Baptist Church in Baltimore, the Olney Recreation Center in Philadelphia, the Catholic Youth Organization of Mercer County in Trenton, and the Sanneh Foundation Distance Learning Hub in St. Paul. Other community centers in... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is changing how Google Drive handles trashed files and documents. Starting on October 13th, files in the trash will automatically delete after 30 days. The change means that Drive’s trash will work the same way as other Google products, like Gmail, for more consistent behavior across all of Google’s products.Previously, Google Drive would keep files in the trash indefinitely — unless you went in and emptied the trash to actually delete them for real — making it less of a “trash” and more of a way to just hide files you didn’t want to see. Administrators for G Suite will also still have the power to restore items that are deleted from the trash for up to 25 days for active users, so if you accidentally lost a critical work... Continue reading…

Also a very red smartwatch Continue reading…

Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge Earlier this month, Intel announced its 11th-Gen “Tiger Lake” laptop CPUs. The company proclaimed them the new best processor for thin-and-light laptops — but thanks to AMD’s 7nm Ryzen 400 chips, competition for that title is fierce. This week, we finally got a chance to try one out.For some background: the Tiger Lake line includes nine new processors. These aren’t what you’d find in a large gaming laptop or desktop replacement — they’re meant to power ultraportable devices. The chips feature Thunderbolt 4 support, Wi-Fi 6, and the company’s new Xe integrated graphics. They’re built on a 10nm node similar to their 10th-Gen predecessors, but Intel says that they’ll perform faster with lower power consumption thanks to a new “SuperFin... Continue reading…

Apple One, Apple’s long-awaited services bundle, has arrived — or, more accurately, three different Apple One bundles have arrived. It’s a move that highlights both how inaccurate that “Apple One” name actually is and the general confusion over Apple’s services right now.According to Apple, each of the three plans offers big monthly savings, with the cheapest Individual plan cutting $6 per month off the total compared to buying each of the four included services separately. The Family plan saves $8 per month, and the Premier plan saves $25.Those numbers are making a big assumption, though, which is that customers want and are willing to pay for all of those separate services. Look closer, and it’s less of a bargain than Apple may want... Continue reading…

There are lots of ways to play Super Mario games if you’re feeling creative. You could use a regular controller, sure, but why not a Guitar Hero guitar, Donkey Kong’s famous bongo peripherals, or even a real-life drum kit. And what about using Mario himself, turning a figurine of everyone’s favorite plumber-slash-war criminal into a physical controller?That’s what self-declared “hardware hacker” @r1ckp did, using a Mario mannequin released as part of a Lego Super Mario toy set earlier this year. As you can see in the videos below, @r1ckp tilts Lego Mario backward and forward to move around the game world of Super Mario Bros. (which is running via an emulator in a Linux virtual machine on a Mac), and with the right movements, Mario can... Continue reading…

Here’s what to expect from Microsoft’s tiny new console Continue reading…

The PlayStation 5 Digital Edition. I’m generally a person who appreciates physical media. I collect vinyl records, buy print books, and like to watch 4K Blu-ray movies. But for a variety of reasons, I switched entirely to buying digital games on each platform as soon as the option became available. Now that Sony and Microsoft have revealed their next-generation consoles in full, a lot more people may well choose to do the same.To recap, yesterday Sony announced the pricing for its upcoming PlayStation 5 — both the regular model and the disc-less Digital Edition. The standard PS5 is $499.99 and the otherwise identical Digital Edition is $399.99, saving you a full $100 if you swear off physical games for good.Microsoft, meanwhile, has gone even further to incentivize... Continue reading…

Evernote used to be the default in note-taking: the fastest, easiest way to keep track of thoughts across devices. Its fall from grace was slow then sudden (as when four executives left in a single month and the firm was declared to be in a “death spiral”), but a recovery of sorts could be on the horizon. This week, Evernote released a completely redesigned app for iOS and says new apps for Android, Windows, Mac will arrive “in the coming weeks.”The new iOS Evernote app is cleaner and simpler to look at than the old one, and comes with a whole bunch of UI changes and new features. There are now real-time search suggestions, easier ways to organize tags, a new formatting toolbar that suggests your most-used options, greater control of... Continue reading…

Processor is a digest for what’s happening in the world of consumer technology, with incisive analysis (or maybe just jokes) from Dieter Bohn. Sign up for the newsletter here and check out the Processor video series on YouTube.It is a remarkably good time to be into video games. It’s not just that we’ve got new console launches from Microsoft and Sony. It’s also that Nvidia is invigorating PC gaming with new possibilities as it brings 4K performance into a more achievable price range. And it’s that Oculus has released a new, less expensive VR headset.On top of all that, we see game companies beginning to experiment with new pricing models and methods of distribution. Microsoft has bundled its hardware into a subsidy plan with its... Continue reading…

OnePlus’ Nord handset, released internationally but not in the US. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge We were pretty pleased with the OnePlus Nord — a well-balanced, mid-ranger that made some compromises but generally delivered for its price. But the Nord wasn’t available in the US, which is why we’re excited to see reports that OnePlus is readying a new Nord model that apparently will be coming to the United States: the Nord N10 5G.News of this handset comes from Android Central which cites “an insider source.” The publication says the Nord N10 5G will be powered by the Snapdragon 690 which offers 5G support (the original Nord had a Snapdragon 765G), and that the base variant will have 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 6.49-inch FHD+ display with 90Hz refresh rate. That’s a slightly larger screen than the original’s (6.44-inch) but... Continue reading…

Mozilla’s browser extension invites user input on YouTube’s algorithm | Mozilla YouTube’s recommendations algorithm can lead you down some very weird rabbit holes, suggesting videos that feel weirdly personal and off-target at the same time. Today, Mozilla will introduce a new browser extension, RegretsReporter, that aims to crowdsource research about users’ “regrettable recommendations,” to let users better understand how YouTube’s recommendation algorithm works and provide details about patterns it discovers.Mozilla started gathering stories from users last year about the videos that YouTube recommended to them; one user searched for videos about Vikings and was recommended content about white supremacy; another searched for “fail” videos and started getting recommendations for grisly videos of fatal car wrecks.... Continue reading…

Apple announced the new Safari features back at WWDC 2020. | Image: Apple Apple has released the latest version of its Safari browser for macOS Catalina and High Sierra, ahead of the release of Big Sur later this year. Safari 14 improves the browser’s tabs, adds a new privacy report feature, and offers new customization options for your start page. You can download it by heading to System Preferences app and clicking “Software Update.”One of the key improvements that’s coming with the latest version of Safari is improved tab management. The tabs themselves have been redesigned to be more space-efficient, display website favicons by default, and show a preview of each tab while hovering your mouse over them. There’s a new start page which you can customize with your own backgrounds and links, and a Privacy... Continue reading…

Sony is continuing its refresh of its smartphone line to focus on photography and video with the new Xperia 5 II. It’s the smaller sibling of the very tall and weirdly expensive Xperia 1 II, and this newer phone betters it in several regards. It’s cheaper, for one thing, going on sale on September 29th for $949. The other major improvement is that Sony has put in a high-refresh-rate 120Hz panel.Oddly, though, Sony says it’s not shipping until December 4th and even more oddly, it will have 5G but won’t work with the 5G networks in the US — just like the Xperia 1 II.The basic idea of the Xperia 5 II is that it’s a phone with a tall 21:9 screen, but it’s relatively small at 6.1-inches. That sounds big, but since it’s so tall it works out... Continue reading…

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Nintendo has discontinued every model of the 3DS, according to its Japanese website. The page listings for the New 3DS LL, New 2DS LL, and 2DS are still live, but each product lists “out of production” under its name, and a message on the main page says that the entire series has ended production. It’s not clear when the change was made; several Japanese Twitter users noticed it this afternoon.Nintendo’s US site, meanwhile, appears to have scrubbed all mention of the 3DS sometime in the past few hours. The homepage doesn’t feature the handheld console at all other than a support link all the way at the bottom — under a similar link for the definitely-dead Wii U.Nintendo shipped more than 75 million 3DS consoles worldwideThe 3DS was... Continue reading…

iRobot has announced a pair of new midrange vacuum cleaners that have some of the perks of its top-range models but a few compromises, too. They are the $599 i3 Plus, which comes with the company’s automatic bin-emptying station, capable of holding 60 days’ worth of dirt, and the plain old $399 i3, which has no emptying station but is otherwise identical.The big drawback for these vacuums compared with iRobot’s pricier models — the i7 Plus and i7 ($799 / $599 with and without automatic emptying) and s9 Plus and s9 ($899 / $1,099, ditto) — is that they don’t include the company’s smart mapping features. This allows the Roombas to map your house so you can tell them to clean specific rooms and even specific areas of specific rooms (like... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Sony’s PlayStation 5 opened pre-orders today, and it’s an utter fiasco so far — there was no communication about when, where, or how to get one without competing with scalpers. But perhaps we can help you get your hands on Nvidia’s new RTX 3080 graphics card, a GPU that finally powers 4K 60fps gaming or better for $700?Truth be told, we don’t know when all of these retailers will begin — we’ve already seen this MSI card go in and out of stock — but Newegg recently tweeted that orders begin at 6AM PT, and an Nvidia community manager said the same, so that seems like a pretty safe bet. It’ll definitely happen by end-of-day Thursday, because September 17th is launch day.But we do know where you might want to look: Amazon, Best Buy, and N... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Sony revealed the PlayStation 5’s price and release date ($399 for the all-digital version, and $499 for the one with a disc drive, both out on November 12th), as well as the company’s six launch titles that will be available at release. That’s not a huge lineup, and you might be wondering if you can play some of your PS4 collection on your new PS5 as more games become available — and fortunately, it seems like there’s a good chance you will.The new console is “99 percent” backward compatible with the PS4 games the company has tested on it so far, Sony PlayStation boss Jim Ryan said in an interview with The Washington Post. In March, Sony said it believed the “overwhelming majority” of PS4 games would be backward compatible with the... Continue reading…

Sony ended its presentation Wednesday with the long-awaited price and release date for the PS5 — but stopped short of telling gamers when and where to buy one, until a tweet seemed to make things clearer: preorders would begin tomorrow on September 17th. Or so it seemed for an hour or two. Now, it’s become an utter mess.Gamers across the globe raced to get their preorders in as retailers jumped the gun. Prospective customers were met with broken links, page time outs, and “out of stock” messages in the US and beyond. In the UK, for example, one Verge staffer managed to snag a PS5 Digital Edition in the three minutes the Amazon link was live and available to purchase.Perhaps eager to capitalize on the demand, retailers quickly turned... Continue reading…

Photo by Nick Statt / The Verge Social networks contain multitudes. One day you’re writing about internal dissent over the company’s ability to uproot influence campaigns and election interference; the very next, you’re watching a live stream of the same company’s foray into virtual reality helmets and designer mixed reality glasses. At a company with as many interests as Facebook has, different days call for different kinds of stories. And so today’s edition will be a lot different from yesterday’s.This is all a roundabout way of saying that I talked to Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook Connect. The event, which was previously called Oculus Connect, gives the company an annual opportunity to discuss the latest advances in next-generation computing platforms. Facebook... Continue reading…

When internet detectives revealed the PlayStation 5 was going to be huge, we were extremely amused — but even their fancy Photoshops couldn’t completely prepare us for how enormous the PS5 truly is.Roughly half an hour after Sony finally revealed the next-gen console’s price and release date ($399 or $499, November 12th) the company released a full spec sheet that includes the console’s dimensions. And it’s a monster.Quick, what’s the biggest console ever made? Did you say the original 2001 Xbox, or the VCR-sized original Xbox One? Perhaps the 60GB PS3, affectionately dubbed the “Phat”?Wrong. The PS5 is bigger than all of them.Bigger than the PhatAccording to Sony, the PS5 is approximately 390mm (15.4 inches) tall, 260mm (10.24... Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge Over the last several months, I have seen a great many comparisons of fabrics that can be used to construct homemade face masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, but I have not seen anyone discuss the use of live snakes. I assume it is because of this crucial omission that a man boarded a UK bus using a live snake as his face covering.Snakes are adorable, so I understand the temptation. However, it is worth considering that a good face mask needs to be made of a breathable material, and a live snake, unfortunately, is not that. Because this man cannot breathe through his snake, which looks to my non-expert eye like a ball python, he is inhaling and exhaling through the gaps around the snake’s body — which means his breath isn’t... Continue reading…

Image: Sony Alongside the reveal of the PlayStation 5’s $399 and $499 price tags and November 12th release date, Sony also announced how much the various accessories for the upcoming console will cost.The most important price is that of Sony’s new DualSense controller, which will cost $69.99 for additional gamepads. That’s a $10 increase compared to the $59.99 MSRP for the DualShock 4 — apparently all the fancy haptic feedback technology and adaptive triggers that Sony is adding don’t come cheap. And the charging station, which can recharge two DualSense controllers at once, is set to cost $29.99. Meanwhile, the Pulse 3D wireless headset — which will support Sony’s big push for 3D audio — is set to cost $99.99, while the PlayStation... Continue reading…

Image: Sony / Insomniac Games Sony has confirmed its PlayStation 5 first-party launch lineup, as well as confirming some details around PS4 versions of its exclusive titles and how the transition from current-gen to next-gen will work. In a blog post published after revealing the price of both of its upcoming consoles (the standard for $499.99 and the digital edition without a disc drive for $399.99), Sony says it has six launch titles confirmed for the PS5 on November 12th.Here’s the full list, including pricing and confirmation for the first time that Sony intends to raise the price on some exclusive titles by $10 to a max of $69.99:

Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, Apple’s newest software updates for the iPhone and iPad, are rolling out now, and they bring a lot of new features. On iOS 14, you’ll be able to add widgets to your home screen, watch video in picture-in-picture mode, and use a new Apple-made language translation app. On iPadOS 14, you’ll be able to handwrite into text boxes and use a redesigned search experience. And both software updates offer improvements to Maps, Messages, Safari, and Siri.Here’s what you need to know to download and install the new updates. And if you want to know which devices support each update, just check our listings at the bottom of this article.How do install iOS 14 and iPadOS 14

A man crosses a street in downtown Portland, Oregon where air quality due to smoke from wildfires was measured to be amongst the worst in the world, September 14, 2020. | Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images It’s gotten a lot easier for anyone to track wildfire smoke and air pollution Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Facebook packed its Connect virtual and augmented reality conference into a single day this year, and it announced a lot of news during its two-hour keynote. That included a new VR headset, the retirement of an old headset, and a long list of upcoming games and apps.As usual, Connect centered on Facebook’s VR division Oculus. But we also learned about Facebook’s plans for Ray-Ban “smart glasses,” as well as a more advanced AR initiative called Aria. Here are some of the details. The Oculus Quest 2 ships October 13th for $299Facebook is unifying its entire VR hardware lineup into one headset: the Oculus Quest 2 all-in-one headset. The Quest 2 bumps up the original Quest headset’s specs, particularly its screen, and... Continue reading…

Sony revealed the release date and price for its next-gen console, the PlayStation 5, alongside news of its launch titles and upcoming games. According to a post on the PlayStation Blog, games from “our own Worldwide Studios titles will be priced from US$49.99 to US$69.99.”Although not unexpected, the price point is a jump from the current era of consoles, which typically run about $60 for a new game. Launch day titles such as Bluepoint’s Demon’s Souls remake and Destruction All Stars will be the first to carry the new price point. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Mile Morales Ultimate Edition — another launch day title that acts as an expanded version of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales for $49.99 — will be available for $69.99 as well.P... Continue reading…

A week after Microsoft detailed the price and release date for both the Xbox Series X and the Series S, Sony has followed suit with a major PS5 showcase event. On Wednesday, Sony revealed not only how much the PS5 will cost and when it will launch, but also more details on the games coming to the next-gen platform.If you missed the event live, here are all the major reveals.

Sony released the first gameplay from Bluepoint Games’ upcoming remake of Demon’s Souls. The video dropped today as part of the PlayStation 5’s event.Demon’s Souls is a total remake of the original game from the studio that also worked on the PS4 remake of Shadow of The Colossus. The gameplay video features an encounter with the demon Vanguard, one of the first big challenges players will encounter.“It was essential to us that we recreated Demon’s Souls in such a way that longtime fans are transported back to the Boletaria they love,” said SIE Worldwide Studios External Development creative director Gavin Moore in a post on the PlayStation blog. “It’s the Boletaria that has been growing and maturing in their imaginations for over a... Continue reading…