The Verge

Microsoft is officially launching its xCloud gaming service today on Android phones and tablets, allowing you to play more than 150 genuine Xbox games on devices that could never run those games themselves — because they’ll be streaming from remote servers much like a YouTube video.But to do that, you’ll need to pay for an Xbox Game Pass subscription. And not just any Game Pass will do — you’ll need the highest-tier, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, which costs $14.99, £10.99 or €12.99 a month (though you can pay $1 for a one-month trial).You might be thinking that’s a lot of money! You might also be wondering, ‘What do the other two Microsoft Game Pass subscriptions offer?’ Because Game Pass is about a lot more than xCloud, it... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge As mail-in ballot deadlines approach and with the presidential election less than two months away, Twitter is introducing an election hub. It will provide real-time voting and election information as well as breaking election-related news, the company announced today.The hub will appear at the top of the Explore tab for US users, and it will have Twitter Moments from “reputable news outlets” and its curation team in English and Spanish; live streams of debates and other major events; a tool that shows candidates in a user’s state; and local news. Twitter “Twitter wants to empower every eligible person to vote in the 2020 US election, and we’re focused on helping people register, better understand the voting... Continue reading…

Expect Apple Watches and iPads Continue reading…

Frictional Games Amnesia: Rebirth, the latest game from Swedish studio Frictional Games, will be released on October 20th. Rebirth is a sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which was released 10 years ago this month. Preorders are open now, and the game will sell on GOG, Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Sony PlayStation 4.There’s still much we don’t know about Rebirth, but it takes place in the Algerian desert, where a woman named Tasi Trianon has to survive otherworldly looking monstrosities with little more than her wits and some limited supplies. A new trailer shows off parts of Rebirth’s world and hints at what Tasi will be running from, as well as what kind of gameplay players can expect. (It seems to involve a lot of staring at your hands in... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google has rapidly updated its videoconferencing Google Meet software, as the COVID-19 pandemic has meant more people rely on it now than ever before. But today, the company is announcing new Google Meet videoconferencing hardware — though the hardware is designed for conference rooms, not for your home.The new Series One hardware, designed by Google but made in partnership with Lenovo, has a number of different pieces. There’s a 12MP Smart Camera and, for bigger conference rooms, a 20.3MP Smart Camera XL. Google says the devices can automatically frame participants in a meeting and sense how many people are in a room without using facial recognition, as well as digitally pan, tilt, and zoom.There’s also a Smart Audio Bar, which has... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Waze is finally adding one of the handiest features from Google Maps and Apple Maps: lane guidance. The feature, now out of beta on the Google-owned navigation app, recommends what lane you should be in when you’re entering or exiting a freeway, for instance. It’s also helpful when navigating complicated intersections or highway mergers.I don’t own a car, but often rent one for short day trips. That means I usually don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of the streets I’m driving on, so I personally have found lane guidance on other apps to be a very useful feature to make sure I’m in a good position to follow the intended instruction on the screen. I imagine it will be just as handy in Waze. Waze also announced a number... Continue reading…

Samsung’s titanium Galaxy Watch 3 now has a price and a release date: it’ll start at $599.99 and be released on October 2nd.Functionally, the new titanium model is identical to the stainless steel model that Samsung released earlier this year, with the exception of the case material (obviously) and the inclusion of a matching titanium bracelet instead of a leather strap. Whether that’s worth the $170 price premium over the comparable $429 stainless steel model will depend largely on your horological preferences.To start, Samsung is planning on releasing just a 45mm Bluetooth-only variant of the watch in a single “mystic black” color scheme. You won’t be able to get the more premium material in the smaller 41mm size or with LTE, at... Continue reading…

Google Fiber will double the maximum internet speed offered to its customers starting later this year from 1 Gbps to 2 Gbps, the company announced this week. The new plan will cost $100 a month, $30 more than the company’s existing 1 Gbps option. However, only downloads will be offered at the new maximum speed; uploads will remain at 1 Gbps. With the new plan, Google says it will provide customers with an unspecified “new Wi-Fi 6 router and mesh extender” to make the most of the new speeds.Pilots of the new plan are due to kick off in Nashville, Tennessee, and Huntsville, Alabama, next month, with a full rollout in the two cities planned for later in the year. The company says it currently offers Google Fiber and Google Fiber Webpass... Continue reading…

The social etiquette surrounding video calls and meetings is still an evolving phenomenon, but a new gesture-activated add-on that works with Zoom, Slack, Skype, and more could certainly alleviate some problems. In short, it saves you from unmuting your mic to make small contributions by using gestures to activate comic book-style dialogue boxes.So if you wave, it’ll say “Hello.” A thumbs-up produces a “Yes.” A closed fist a “No.” Raise a finger, and it’ll show that you want to ask a question. Laugh, and the words “Ha Ha” will flit across the screen. Best yet, if you leave the frame at all, text will appear telling the call’s other participants that you’ll “be right back.”Each prompt is activated with a specific gestureIt’s a genius... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitch has started automatically running ads in the middle of streams for some viewers. It’s been very careful to frame the move as an experiment, probably because the company knows backlash from the community is coming.Here’s what you need to know. The ads will run across affiliate and partnered channels; creators will get paid for every ad that runs; and picture-in-picture viewing is enabled for all channels, so theoretically the ads won’t be too disruptive. If you pay to subscribe to a channel, you won’t see these ads, and if you pay to subscribe to Twitch, using Turbo, you won’t see them either.Anyway, here’s an artist’s rendition of what the experience might look like in practice, courtesy of Twitter user @GottaBeHenry.

More than 400,000 people have registered to vote on Snapchat as of Monday, Axios reported on Tuesday.Last week, Snapchat rolled out a slate of voting tools, including a feature for users to register to vote directly in the popular messaging app. Axios reported that 407,024 users registered to vote in the app by Monday evening. Snapchat has previously included in-app voter registration tools, and more than half of the users who registered through the service actually voted in 2018.More than half of the users who registered through the service actually voted in 2018Still, the voting features are relatively new, and more people could register to vote in-app in the coming weeks, primarily young people. Snapchat’s user base broadly... Continue reading…

The Tivoli Model One Digital Gen 2. | Photo: Tivoli Audio Tivoli has announced updated versions of its Model One Digital and Music System Home speakers, with the company taking the retro-inspired designs and adding Chromecast and AirPlay 2 support. This will make the previously standalone speakers easier to integrate into your home audio system.Both the Model One Digital Gen 2 and Music System Home Gen 2 look virtually identical from the outside and feature the same mix of integrated AM/FM radio (befitting their old-school wood cabinet designs) side by side with Wi-Fi- and Bluetooth-based digital streaming. The difference is mainly in how those digital streaming options are offered: the new models use industry-standard methods of AirPlay 2 and Chromecast streaming. There are also previously... Continue reading…

Photography by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Razer’s Opus wireless, over-ear headphones with active noise cancellation are 10 percent off their usual price. Normally $199.99, this brings them down to $180. It’s the first time we’re seeing these headphones discounted, and Verge readers can get this exclusive deal over at Razer by adding the Opus to your cart, then putting the offer code VOXOPUS10 in at checkout.I reviewed the Opus, and for a company that doesn’t have much experience in the consumer headphones space, I was impressed with the performance and value. Their design is understated, and the sound quality was better than I expected. Their long battery life with USB-C charging is an extra perk. If you don’t want to spend upward of $400 on noise-canceling headphones, these... Continue reading…

Disney has debuted the first look at The Mandalorian’s second season just days after announcing the show will return on October 30th.The trailer seems to pick up where the first season of The Mandalorian left off, with the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda (or “the Child”) traveling across the galaxy. A voice over ominously talks about “stories of eons past” describing great battles between the Mandalorian and “an orderer of sorcerers known as Jedi.” Exciting!Fans of The Star Wars live-action series have been concerned the show wouldn’t hit its previously announced October release date. The coronavirus pandemic shut down production on a plethora of TV shows and films around the world. But Disney CEO Bob Chapek has reiterated multiple times... Continue reading…

Image: Take-Two Interactive The next generation of game consoles is on the way, but the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S might not just be bringing better graphics and more advanced technology. The new consoles could also usher in a higher price for games themselves, with the $60 norm that’s been a standard since 2005 potentially going away.That’s not necessarily a problem, according to Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick, who defended the idea of a next-generation price increase in an interview with Protocol.“The bottom line is that we haven’t seen a front-line price increase for nearly 15 years, and production costs have gone up 200 to 300 percent. But more to the point since no one really cares what your production costs are, what consumers are able... Continue reading…

Fortnite will hold its next in-game concert on Saturday, September 19th, with Anderson .Paak set to perform, Epic Games announced today. The show is the latest in its Spotlight concert series.Epic built a soundstage specifically for its series, the first of which took place last week with Dominic Fike. While Anderson .Paak will be performing live at the Party Royale Spotlight soundstage in Los Angeles, players can watch the concert in the game’s Party Royale social space. The live show will kick off at 5PM ET, with replays later that night at 11PM ET and on Sunday, September 20th at 1PM ET.Anderson .Paak is the latest in a growing lineup of artists who’ve performed in Fortnite, including Travis Scott and Marshmello. Epic plans to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The event kicks off at 1PM ET / 10AM PT on September 15th Continue reading…

Disney has Disney Plus, Apple has Apple TV Plus, and now ViacomCBS is about to have Paramount Plus.ViacomCBS announced that it would be renaming its CBS All Access streaming service to Paramount Plus in early 2021. As part of the rebrand, Paramount Plus will also receive five new original series from different verticals across the company, including Paramount, CBS, MTV, and BET. Some new titles include The Offer, a 10-episode scripted mini-series about the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, a new iteration of MTV’s Behind The Music, and a revival of The Game. In addition to the new series orders announced today, ViacomCBS plans to bring more than 30,000 additional episodes and movies from its various content houses to the... Continue reading…

If you subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you likely now have access to Microsoft’s xCloud game streaming abilities, and can immediately jump into one of more than 150 games — today is the official launch of Microsoft’s xCloud service. Many more games will come later this quarter, when the EA Play catalog of games gets added.Let’s run through what you need to try it yourself today.It’s possible that you might already have all the necessary components to make it happen — on Android, anyhow. But if you’re looking to try out xCloud on an iPhone, the process unfortunately begins and ends right here. Apple hasn’t made an exception for xCloud or any other game streaming service to exist on its App Store, and it doesn’t seem like it will... Continue reading…

Photo by Brennan King / The Verge Android 11 has arrived, which means Samsung’s custom One UI skin is also due for an update to incorporate Google’s latest software, One UI 3.0, which the company has started rolling out to selected developers in the US and South Korea in a “pre-beta” ahead of a larger public beta test.The early screenshots, obtained by XDA-Developers, give us a nice look at what changes we can expect in the update, which includes a mixture of new features that are being added at on OS-level, thanks to Android 11, along with Samsung-specific tweaks and enhancements. Android Police has posted the full changelog for the update, which gives a broader overview of what to expect. Image: XDA-Developers Visually, One UI 3.0 looks fairly... Continue reading…

Image: Netgear AT&T has announced pricing and a release date for Netgear’s latest 5G hotspot, which it will start selling exclusively for $509.99 on September 18th. The Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot Pro can connect to both flavors of 5G — mmWave and sub-6GHz — and support up to 32 devices attached over Wi-Fi 6. As well as buying the hotspot outright, AT&T is also selling it for $17 a month over 30 months.Internally, the hotspot is running on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 mobile platform, and it’s powered by a 5,040mAh battery. AT&T doesn’t provide any estimates for how long the Nighthawk will last on a single charge, but it notes that it can also run without a battery when its power adapter is plugged in. It can be controlled via a built-in touchscreen,... Continue reading…

Image: SteelSeries There’s a new version of SteelSeries’ Arctis 9 wireless gaming headset available starting today for $199.99. The design and feature set is almost an exact match to the SteelSeries Arctis 9X. But while the Arctis 9X supports the Xbox One (and is forward compatible to Xbox Series S / X), the new Arctis 9 is compatible with the PC and PlayStation 4, with compatibility for the PS5 ensured at launch. And while the Arctis 9X doesn’t require a dongle to connect to the Xbox, the Arctis 9 needs the included USB receiver that you can toggle from PC to PlayStation, depending on the platform you’ve plugged it into.Otherwise, the new headset has the same claim of 20-hour battery life and the ability to be connected via 2.4GHz wireless and Bluetooth... Continue reading…

Image: EA EA’s Origin desktop app is getting a rebrand and a visual refresh, GameIndustry.biz reports. The client is now set to be called the “EA Desktop App,” and it will be faster, simpler, and include more cross-platform features, EA tells GamesBeat. Other improvements reportedly include a “better patching experience” for updating games and access to more information about how much time you’re spending playing. You’ll also be able to access EA’s game subscription services via the client.This isn’t the first step EA has taken to move away from its Origin branding, which GamesBeat notes dates back to its acquisition of Origin Systems way back in 1992. Last month, the company announced it would be rebranding its Origin Access and Origin Access... Continue reading…

The new Luxury Stores include a 360-degree viewing mode for items of clothing. | Image: Amazon via Vogue Can shopping on your phone be a luxury experience? It seems unlikely, but that’s not stopping Amazon’s latest attempt to get high-end brands onboard its platform. Today, the company is unveiling what it calls Luxury Stores — a new way for brands to present their wares to discerning customers on Amazon’s mobile app, with high-end ready-to-wear brand Oscar de la Renta as the first official partner.Luxury Stores will allow brands to create what Amazon is calling a “store within a store” experience. That means giving companies more control over inventory, selection, and pricing, while leveraging Amazon’s enormous reach to find customers. The online retailing giant will also supply brands with the digital equivalent of fancy shop windows,... Continue reading…

Image: Arlo Arlo has announced a new wire-free video doorbell that runs on rechargeable batteries, which should make it much easier for most people to install. The Arlo Essential Wire-Free Video Doorbell is available to preorder now for $199.99, and Arlo says it should start shipping “this holiday season.”Aside from its new rechargeable battery, the new doorbell has very similar specs to last year’s Arlo Video Doorbell. You still get a camera with a 180-degree field of view and a 1:1 aspect ratio, it still supports HDR and night vision, and it still comes with support for video calls, two-way audio conversations, and the ability to send pre-recorded messages. You also still have the option of hardwiring the new battery-powered doorbell and having... Continue reading…

No, Apple’s latest event isn’t about iPhones or even Macs. However, it is likely about iPads and Apple Watches, and if those are things that interest you — or if you want to know what else Apple may have up its sleeve — then you’ll want to watch the live stream of today’s events.What can you expect? Rumors abound. In answer to the “Time Flies” moniker, you can probably expect two new Apple Watches: one high-end successor to the Series 5 (probably the Series 6), and one less expensive version to replace the Series 3. Another possibility is a new, redesigned iPad Air. There is talk of a new, more affordable HomePod and new subscription bundles. And who knows what else?Want to know more? To find out, watch the keynote and follow our... Continue reading…

Image: HP HP debuted a value-priced Omen Vector wired gaming mice earlier this summer, but the new Vector Wireless is the company’s high-end option. It’s $99.99 and is available starting today in the US. What stands out about the Vector Wireless is its USB-C charging port that, beyond being convenient, allows for very fast charging speeds.HP claims that 30 seconds is all the charging time it needs to get an hour of battery life. Also according to HP, five minutes of charging time should be enough for it to last through an entire day, while 15 minutes will get you 30 hours of performance. It supposedly takes 90 minutes to fully charge the mouse, yielding up to 180 hours of battery life. Image: HP The Omen Vector Wireless... Continue reading…

Image: LG 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.Over the weekend, the US Customs and Border patrol gleefully praised itself for seizing counterfeit AirPods. Only they weren’t really knock offs, they were the new OnePlus Buds. Which, yes, kind of look like knock-off AirPods. But they’re also a real product from a real company that really does make things (though if you want to make the case that OnePlus is just Pontiac to Oppo’s Chevy, I’d hear you out). Chuckles were had by all.Except the CBP didn’t laugh. The CBP doubled down and said that no, it didn’t... Continue reading…

Melinda Gates and Bill Gates. | Image: GatesNotes.com America’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been “shocking” and “unbelievable,” with matters made much worse by “terrible leadership,” said Bill and Melinda Gates in a series of interviews this week.The couple condemned the United States for bungling its pandemic response. They criticized not only the Trump administration for its inaction, but also national bodies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for making key errors over the past year.“You know, this has been a mismanaged situation every step of the way,” Bill Gates told Stat News. “It’s shocking. It’s unbelievable — the fact that we would be among the worst in the world.”“Science should never be politicized.... Continue reading…

Image: Adobe Adobe is updating both Premiere Pro and After Effects today with some pretty nice quality-of-life features, but the most exciting are the new 3D transform tools for After Effects.The new feature will combine position, scale, and rotation into one easy-to-use tool, mimicking what other professional 3D applications like Cinema 4E, Maya, and Blender have been providing users for years. Users can also focus on one type of property for greater precision. GIF: Adobe As someone who has worked in After Effects for over a decade now, these updated 3D tools (aka gizmos) are long overdue and appreciated. Having all three tools directly accessible in the viewport is fantastic. Besides being easier to use and more precise,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On the eve of the deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok, there was much movement and little certainty. The whole thing seemed to come down to three words — “trusted tech partner” — and no one I’ve spoken to seems to know what they mean.The most recent events were set in motion on Sunday afternoon, when ByteDance announced that it had rejected Microsoft’s bid to acquire TikTok in favor of an extremely vague partnership with a 43-year-old enterprise software company. The gist seems to be that Oracle would store American TikTok users’ data and keep it secure, but the app itself would continue to be owned and operated by ByteDance.It could also include voting control over by TikTok by its US-based investors, the New York Times reported.... Continue reading…

Photo illustration by William Joel | Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images Facebook today pledged to slash greenhouse gases and purchase enough renewable energy and offsets to cancel out carbon dioxide emissions from its global operations this year. Facebook is, however, still pumping out greenhouse gases.The social media giant is also setting a more ambitious target for 2030The company’s new pledge to reach “net zero” carbon emissions puts it on track to offset its global power consumption and planet-heating pollution by investing in renewable energy projects and initiatives that capture and store carbon dioxide. The social media giant is also setting a more ambitious target of reaching net zero emissions for its supply chain, employee commuting, and business travel by 2030.That puts Facebook in the... Continue reading…

Sony has announced the A7C, a new camera that is by far the smallest model yet in its Alpha range of full-frame mirrorless cameras. The A7C looks more like one of Sony’s APS-C models like the A6400 than an A7, adopting a more compact body with the electronic viewfinder on the top left corner of the camera’s back panel, rangefinder-style.The A7C measures 124.0mm x 71.1mm x 59.7mm and weighs 509g. It has a 24.2-megapixel full-frame sensor with in-body image stabilization and a standard ISO range of up to 51,200. It can shoot up to 10fps with autoexposure, and it’s capable of 4K/30fps or 1080p/120fps video, both at up to 100Mbps. The body has USB-C, Wi-Fi, and a vari-angle 3-inch 921,000-dot LCD. Sony has developed a new kit... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple’s first big fall event is happening on Tuesday, September 15th, but it may be much different than previous September events.Let’s address the elephant in the room up front: it doesn’t seem like there will be new iPhones. Typically, Apple’s September events mark the arrival of Apple’s latest and greatest smartphones, but you shouldn’t expect to see them on Tuesday, according to The Verge’s editor-in-chief Nilay Patel and other well-connected journalists. And Apple has already said that the new iPhones won’t go on sale during their usual late-September timeframe.That doesn’t mean there aren’t some interesting things to look forward to, though, since the Apple rumor mill has been as active as ever. The event’s “Time Flies” moniker... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Anchor, a Spotify-owned company, is addressing the copycat podcast problem that’s roiled the industry for the past month. In an interview with The Verge, Mike Mignano, Anchor’s co-founder and head of podcast mission at Spotify, says the company is recalibrating its automated copycat detection system, implementing additional rules and checks on people who want to monetize their show, and making it easier for creators to report copycat shows when all else fails.Since August, publications like PodNews and Digiday have pointed out that Anchor has allowed users to upload rip-offs of legitimate, popular shows. People have found copycats of Serial, Nice White Parents, and The Ezra Klein Show, among others. Seemingly, Anchor’s seamless podcast... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge In a statement to The Verge, a US Customs and Border Protection spokesperson has defended the agency’s seizure of 2,000 pairs of OnePlus Buds at JFK airport on August 31st. Last night, CBP publicized the action and described the OnePlus Buds as “counterfeit Apple AirPods,” which set off a wave of controversy. It seemed like a possible gaffe by border officers who somehow didn’t realize they were blocking a genuine product, and OnePlus has also been mocked for even finding itself in this situation, thanks to the similarities between its own earbuds and AirPods.But CBP’s statement seems to rule out this being a mistake. What remains unanswered is why the OnePlus Buds drew such scrutiny — weeks after they had already gone on sale in the US... Continue reading…

iOS 14 brings one of the most long-awaited features to Apple’s operating system in years: the ability to change the default browser from Apple’s Safari to a third-party option like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Mozilla Firefox. But you don’t have to wait for Apple to release iOS 14 this fall to break free of Safari. If you’ve got the iOS 14 beta installed, you can already switch to another default browser today. Here’s how to do it.To start, you’ll need to be running the latest iOS 14 beta. (To install that, check out our guide here.) Once that’s set up, you’ll need to have a compatible third-party browser installed.For Google Chrome, simply download the regular Chrome app from the App Store; Google’s already updated its app with... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Despite what a recent patent application suggests, Instagram says it has no plans to add links to photo captions. The patent application was uncovered by Mike Murphy, in his weekly roundup of tech patents over at Protocol.Instagram parent company Facebook first submitted the patent application back in 2016, which shows a pop-up appearing when the user adds a URL to a caption, asking if the user wants to pay $2 to make the link live. The patent application (titled “adding paid links to media captions in a social networking system”) describes how the system would work: “If the online system detects the text content of the caption includes a string of link text identifying an address, the online system prompts the posting... Continue reading…

Photography by Dan Seifert / The Verge It doesn’t matter how big your laptop’s screen is — if you’re going to be doing any serious multitasking for work or school, connecting a monitor can be a big help. Any modern laptop should be able to connect to whatever external monitor you have, but you may need to get creative.The first step is to figure out what outputs your laptop supports. It’s likely going to be HDMI, mini-HDMI, a USB-C port with Thunderbolt and / or DisplayPort support, DisplayPort, or Mini DisplayPort. If you have an older computer, it may be VGA or DVI (the ones that are covered in holes). If you’re not sure what ports you have, a quick Google search can help you out. You should be able to find a list on the manufacturer’s website or in reviews of your laptop... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Razer accidentally exposed over 100,000 gamers’ personal information for close to a month, according to a new report.Security researcher Volodymyr Diachenko discovered that customer data on Razer’s website was made publicly available on August 18th because of a server misconfiguration. A redacted sample pictured below shows records of orders made on the company’s digital store, exposing personal information including email and mailing addresses, the type of product ordered, and phone numbers. Credit card information was not included. Image: Volodymyr Diachenko No credit card information, but customers’ email and mailing addresses were compromised. After discovering the misconfiguration online, Diachenko... Continue reading…

Photo illustration by William Joel | Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images Today, Facebook Gaming is set to allow its partnered streamers to play copyrighted, popular music in the background of their live streams — which means they’ve seemingly solved the copyright problem that’s plagued live-streaming (and basically the entire internet) since the beginning. In a press release, a spokesperson for Facebook Gaming put it like this:

Image: GMC General Motors will reveal the all-electric Hummer truck on October 20th, and to help whet your appetite until then, the automaker is confirming a rumored standout feature.GM confirms that the Hummer will come with Crab Mode, allowing it to move across the terrain diagonally like a sand-dwelling crustacean. Crab Mode is enabled by the electric pickup truck’s four-wheel steering capability and is a functionality that is “tailor-made for off-roading customers,” the company says.Crab Mode was teased last week when GMC, the GM brand under which the EV will be sold, tweeted a Hummer badge with a crab graphic.GM scratched the original May 20th reveal of the Hummer EV due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, the automaker has been t... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Ming-Chi Kuo has a new research note out, obtained by MacRumors, that says none of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 12 phones will include a high-refresh ProMotion display — and that includes the pricier Pro models. Kuo anticipates that Apple will move to the smoother 120Hz refresh rate with next year’s 2021 iPhone lineup.That’s pretty disappointing news, seeing as most modern Android flagships now utilize high-refresh screens ranging from 90Hz to 120Hz. But according to the reliable and proven Kuo, Apple is going to keep iPhones at the traditional 60Hz for another entire year. Some people won’t care or consider this to be any sort of deal-breaker, but other tech enthusiasts will feel the sting. The smooth response of high-refresh screens adds... Continue reading…

Photo by Anton Novoderezhkin\TASS via Getty Images Nvidia’s $40 billion acquisition of Arm is a hugely significant deal for the tech world, with implications that will take years to unravel spanning many areas of the sector. But if you listened to the press babble coming from the two companies over the last 24 hours, you’d think there was only one factor driving the purchase: artificial intelligence.“AI is the most powerful technology force of our time. It’s the automation of automation, where software writes software,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told journalists during a press call this morning. “Together, [Nvidia and Arm are] going to create the world’s premier computing company for the age of AI.”“We now look at a world ahead of us that is defined by AI.”On the same call moments... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google is planning to launch its Pixel 5 smartphone, a new Chromecast, and a new smart speaker later this month. Google has started inviting members of the media to a special event on September 30th, promising new hardware. “We invite you to learn all about our new Chromecast, our latest smart speaker, and our new Pixel phones,” reads the invite.Google already confirmed its plans to launch a Pixel 5 later this year, complete with 5G connectivity. The Pixel maker revealed its launch plans alongside the introduction of the Pixel 4A last month, promising 5G versions of the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4A in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia. Google’s event invite. A new... Continue reading…

Photo by Prodip Guha/Getty Images Amazon is adding its next high-profile celebrity voice option for its Alexa digital assistant, this time an exclusive for the India market. Starting next year, Alexa users can augment the voice assistant to sound like Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, one of the most prolific actors in Indian cinema and a household name in the country of more than 1.3 billion people.India is a key growth market for Amazon outside the US, as the e-commerce platform is most popular in Germany and other European countries at the moment. But India’s strong smartphone adoption and the growing purchasing power of its large population make it integral to Amazon’s worldwide expansion over the next decade, particularly around voice interfaces for shopping and... Continue reading…

Image: Epic Games You can now buy an X-Wing glider in Fortnite, Epic Games announced Monday. The new glider has become available the same day EA released a new animated short introducing the story of Star Wars: Squadrons. The glider costs 1,200 V-Bucks.This isn’t the first time a Star Wars-themed item has appeared in Fortnite. You could buy a number of cosmetics, including skins for Rey and Finn and a First Order Tie Fighter glider, as part of a major crossover event around the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker last year, and you could get the Millennium Falcon as part of the game’s last Winterfest event. And EA and Epic have teamed up to help promote Star Wars games in the past, too. A stormtrooper was added to Fortnite with the release of J... Continue reading…

The Xbox Series S might have leaked earlier this week before being officially unveiled, but Microsoft was hiding it in plain sight months ago. Xbox chief Phil Spencer appeared in multiple interviews in July, ahead of Microsoft’s Xbox games showcase, and he hid an Xbox Series S on the shelves behind him.The official Xbox account revealed the elaborate prank today, and Spencer added that the Xbox Series S appeared in at least three YouTube video interviews during July. While it might sound surprising for an unannounced console to be hidden in videos, Microsoft has a habit of hiding secrets and codes as teasers ahead of its console announcements.

Photo by Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic TikTok star Addison Rae Easterling has been cast as the lead role in a new, gender-swapped version of 1999 teen romantic comedy She’s All That, called He’s All That. Easterling, with over 60 million followers, is the second most popular TikTok user in the world (after Charli D’Amelio), but He’s All That will mark her film debut.The upcoming reboot is being produced by Miramax, Variety reports, which made the original film over 20 years ago, with R. Lee Fleming (the writer of the original) and producers Jennifer Gibgot and Andrew Panay (who also worked on She’s All That). Mark Waters, best known for directing Mean Girls and Freaky Friday and producing 500 Days of Summer, is set to direct.Like the original She’s All That, the remake... Continue reading…

Image: Crytek We already knew that Crysis Remastered would support ray tracing if you had the PC hardware to run it. However, ahead of the release on PC and current-gen consoles, Crytek announced this week that, for the first time, in this console generation, the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X will offer ray-tracing support — because it’ll appear in the current-gen console versions of Crysis Remastered.Crytek’s CryEngine provides software-based ray tracing, allowing current-gen hardware to support the feature. Back in 2019, the game studio showed off the Neon Noir Tech demo, which, according to Crytek, was developed using a modified version of CryEngine 5.5. Software-based ray tracing isn’t remotely new; most recently, Nvidia added the feature to GTX cards... Continue reading…