The Verge

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Amazon is rolling out a new partnership with AT&T today that will let customers link their phone numbers to their Alexa account, allowing them to both make and receive phone calls via their Alexa devices.It’s an expansion of Amazon’s existing Alexa calling feature, which the company debuted in 2017, that allowed Echo devices to call mobile numbers and landlines for free. The difference here is that Amazon is working much more closely with AT&T, giving customers the opportunity to use their Echo devices in the same way they’d use their regular AT&T phones.Amazon has previously rolled out this feature overseas: Vodafone OneNumber customers in the UK and Germany and EE customers in the UK have already been able to take advantage of... Continue reading…

Image: Sun Squared Media Classic 90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is being rebooted as a drama for streaming service Peacock, its original star Will Smith has announced on YouTube. The new version, titled Bel-Air, is based on a viral trailer released last year which was a dramatic reimagining of Will’s journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the mansions of Bel-Air. The series is coming in 2021, according to its announcement video.Deadline reports that Bel-Air became the focus of a bidding war last month, with Netflix and Peacock emerging as the two frontrunners. Peacock has ordered two seasons of the reboot, in a deal that Will Smith called “unprecedented.”“I’ve been in this business for thirty years and that does not happen,” Smith said. The... Continue reading…

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers remarks on climate change and ecology during the official opening ceremony of Lisbon European Green Capital 2020 event, on January 11, 2020 in Lisbon, Portugal. | Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images 2020 is on track to be a hell of a year for yet another reason: it will close out the hottest five-year period in recorded history, according to a new report. The average global temperature for that five-year period was 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures.Even a degree of change has dire consequences.Even a degree of change has dire consequences. World leaders that have signed onto the Paris climate agreement are working to keep the planet from warming more than 1.5 degrees Celsius in order to avoid catastrophic damage. But they are nowhere near meeting that goal, the report reaffirms.The new report released today by the World Meteorological Association and other United Nations agencies breaks down how climate... Continue reading…

Image: Yubico Yubico is announcing a new version of its USB-C equipped YubiKey 5 security key with NFC built in, which should theoretically be a convenient combo and compatible with many future devices moving forward.Previously, YubiKey offered the YubiKey 5 series in your choice of USB-A; USB-A and NFC; USB-C; and USB-C and Lightning. But with the new YubiKey 5C NFC that’s being announced today, you no longer have to pick between being able to plug your key into a USB-C port or the convenience of NFC authentication, which lets you just tap your key on your device — you can now buy a key that offers both.Hardware-based keys offer extra layer of account securityHardware-based keys offer an extra layer of account security by requiring that you either... Continue reading…

Rain-Bow fenders fitted to the Eeyo 1S. | Photo: Oski Collado The incredibly lightweight Eeyo 1S electric bike is certainly fun to ride, as I said in my review, but it’s not very practical for most city commuters. Not only is it expensive at $4,599, its unique diamond-frame design eschews both front and rear fenders — you can’t even buy them as accessories from Gogoro. While the resulting look is sleek and desirable, it also means arriving at your destination splattered in road grime whenever it rains.That problem was seen as an opportunity by Amsterdam-based designer Oski Collado and his minimalistic Rain-Bow fenders. He’s now built a set for the Eeyo 1 and 1S e-bikes that are ready to ship worldwide. The lightweight Rain-Bow fenders are made of aluminum stays and plastic strips sourced from... Continue reading…

One aspect of the 2020 presidential campaign that isn’t much discussed is the fact that both candidates want to end the internet as we know it. Both President Trump and Joe Biden have called for the end of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects tech companies in most cases when their users post something illegal on their platforms.Trump brought the subject up today when a Twitter account with fewer than 200 followers posted an obviously doctored image of Senate Majority Mitch McConnell dressed up in Soviety military garb, with the caption reading “Moscow Mitch.”“Why does Twitter leave phony pictures like this up, but take down Republican/Conservative pictures and statements that are true?” the president wanted... Continue reading…

The Microsoft Surface Duo | Dieter Bohn / The Verge From Surface Mini to Surface Duo Continue reading…

Image: CBS To coincide with the 54th anniversary of the TV debut of Star Trek’s original series, CBS has unveiled a new trailer for the third season of Star Trek: Discovery which is set to premiere on October 15th. If you’re in the US, where the show will stream on CBS All Access, you can watch the full trailer via the tweet below. International viewers, who’ll be able to watch the series on Netflix starting October 16th, can watch it over on the official Star Trek website.Discovery’s first two seasons were set roughly 10 years before the original Star Trek, but with season 3 the crew of the USS Discovery are traveling some 930 years into their future to the year 3188. In this future, the Federation has mostly collapsed after an event ominously... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Nintendo is said to be increasing its Switch production again, with a new Bloomberg report saying the company is asking its partners to manufacture as many as 30 million consoles this fiscal year. While Nintendo’s official forecast remains a conservative 19 million shipments, Bloomberg has reported hikes in production targets to 22 million, 25 million, and now 30 million throughout the year.The Switch is still difficult to find in some markets, including Nintendo’s home country of Japan, as the coronavirus pandemic has sparked a huge increase in demand. With people staying at home, some of Nintendo’s titles like workout RPG Ring Fit Adventure and escapist island fantasy Animal Crossing: New Horizons have been constantly selling in big... Continue reading…

Taboola and Outbrain, best known as the rival chumbox providers who fill space on your favorite websites with garbage like “You Won’t Believe What [NAME] Looks Like Today!” and the ever-popular “1 Weird Trick,” will apparently not be merging into the ultimate source of low-quality web filler we’d feared ever since the Department of Justice saw fit to put its stamp of approval on the deal.CNBC, The Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch are all reporting that the merger, first announced in October 2019, is being called off, after an attempt to renegotiate changing conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t result in a new agreement.What a shame!If you’re curious what a chumbox looks like, you won’t have to look far. (Vox Media is not... Continue reading…

Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images A group of Senate Republicans introduced a new bill Tuesday aimed at chipping away some of the protections provided to social media companies through Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.The Online Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity Act, introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), would strip away the liability protection provided by Section 230 if a platform restricted access to content without providing specific rules that it violated. The bill would require platforms to have an “objectively reasonable belief” that content violated a specific policy in order for it to be removed, or they could be held liable for their moderation actions.The bill would also amend language in the... Continue reading…

Need to tell your co-workers you’re taking lunch? Slack will now let you pick from your last five custom statuses so you don’t have to type them (and find the right emoji) over and over again.That’s it, that’s the news — but it’s already becoming a most welcome feature at The Verge, let me tell you.Except perhaps for the shaming:

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Google-owned mapping app Waze will now let you send directions from your computer to your phone.The process to do so was pretty straightforward in my brief testing (my personal phone is an iOS device). First log in to Waze on your phone, and then log in to Waze on a desktop browser by scanning a QR code with your phone’s camera. Then, use the browser to get directions to where you want to go, and you’ll see a button to save those directions to the app. Click that button and you’ll get a notification on your phone from Waze. Tap that notification to start the directions on your phone.Google Maps has offered a similar feature for years, so it’s nice to see Waze finally getting the functionality. Waze says that both Android and iOS users... Continue reading…

Image: Vizio The Apple TV app is now available on Vizio SmartCast TVs to customers in the US and Canada, Vizio announced today. With the app, you can access your library of movie and TV show rentals / purchases and also stream Apple’s original content if you’ve got an Apple TV Plus subscription. Vizio TV owners can redeem a three-month free trial of Apple TV Plus, but only if they’re new to the service; this promotion expires on October 16th. (Apple TV Plus normally costs $4.99 per month.)The Apple TV app also offers add-on subscriptions, Apple TV Channels, for other premium services like CBS All Access, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, and more. You can watch content from your Apple TV Channels inside the Apple TV app — without being bounced between... Continue reading…

Image: YouTube LG’s upcoming “Wing” smartphone is expected to be a dual-screen device with a swiveling mechanism, and the screen that flips around could be surprisingly thin, as shown in new leaks of the phone.Take a look for yourself in this video — when this person, who appears to have the phone, shows a side profile of the device, you can see that the rotating screen appears to be quite thin:The video also gives us a good look at the Wing’s swiveling mechanism in action, which allows one screen to rotate 90 degrees horizontally above another screen so they can align in a T-like shape.And in an image shared by leaker Evan Blass on his Patreon, you can get another peek of the thin-looking side profile of the device. Blass’ image also indicates... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings is still confident that 2021 will see more Netflix originals released than this year, but he is acknowledging that with the pandemic affecting production, especially in the United States, it won’t be as many as previously predicted.Hastings sat down with many publications ahead of the launch of his new book, and one question that repeatedly came up is how Netflix is fairing with production on titles moving slower or stopping completely. Netflix is far from the only company encountering these issues, but the slowdown is still prevalent. Hastings says despite those obvious setbacks, the streamer is still on track to release more original films and series in 2021 than this year.“Next year, we’ve planned out... Continue reading…

Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge Samsung and SK Hynix will reportedly stop selling components to Huawei as the Trump administration tightens sanctions on the Chinese phone maker. According to Chosun Ilbo and other Korean news outlets, the companies will suspend trade on September 15th, the day a new set of rules limits dealing with Huawei.These sanctions were introduced in August, following a string of other restrictions implemented since last year. They ban non-American companies from selling components that were developed with US technology unless these companies obtain special approval. This poses a serious threat to Huawei, which has said it may no longer be able to make its Kirin chipsets. Conversely, Huawei’s business is valuable to many other companies, as it r... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple will seek damages against Epic Games for allegedly breaching its contract with the iOS App Store, in a new escalation of the two companies’ ongoing legal fight. The move came in a filing entered on Tuesday, alongside counterclaims for unjust enrichment and tortious interference with Apple’s relationship with its customers.“Actions were undertaken in good faith to advance legitimate business interests.”“Epic’s flagrant disregard for its contractual commitments and other misconduct has caused significant harm to Apple,” the filing reads. “Left unchecked, Epic’s conduct threatens the very existence of the iOS ecosystem and its tremendous value to consumers.”Epic Games sued Apple in August, after the company’s hit game Fortnite was... Continue reading…

Google has officially announced Android 11, and the new operating system is already rolling out to Pixel phones. In honor of the release, Google has created a statue that you can view in augmented reality on any Android phone. Dave Burke, Android’s VP of engineering, tweeted a picture of the virtual statue earlier this afternoon.

Photo illustration by William Joel / Levoy talks to The Verge after leaving Google and joining Adobe Continue reading…

Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for TurboTax The Federal Trade Commission is actively investigating Intuit, maker of the popular TurboTax tax preparation software, according to a new report by ProPublica. The case was revealed in a public court filing, in which Intuit sought to limit the scope of the investigation.The investigation centers on TurboTax’s “Free File” product, offered free of charge to most Americans in exchange for the assurance that the IRS would not develop a competing product. But a string of ProPublica investigations found that Intuit had made Free File difficult to find, in one case adding code to prevent it from being indexed by search engines. As a result, many users who were eligible for the free TurboTax filing may have been diverted to paid products.Now,... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra are both $200 off at Amazon, B&H Photo, and Best Buy. This brings the price for the smaller device down to $800, and $1,100 for the Note 20 Ultra. The Note 20 series released less than a month ago, and this price cut is far more appealing than Samsung’s preorder incentives that granted up to $150 in e-gift card credit.Both phones are a match when it comes to having the Snapdragon 865 processor, support for 5G, IP68 resistance against water and dust, and other specs you can scope out here if you’re curious. However, the Note 20 Ultra is the one you’ll want if you need even more power, an amazing display, and superior battery life. The Note 20 Ultra’s 6.9-inch, 1440p OLED screen supports up to... Continue reading…

Amy Johnston is carefully perched against the hip of her co-worker for the day, an animator by the name of Marianne Hayden. It’s a strange scene, to say the least: two grown women in a mismatched embrace, one of them decked out in a Tron-like suit fitted with bright orange and green panels. Johnston slowly wags her legs and rests her head on Hayden’s shoulder. “I loved it so much,” Johnston says. “It was very relaxing. It’s nice to be a baby.”Johnston, an experienced stuntwoman, was helping animators for The Last of Us Part II capture movement for an in-game baby. Rather than suit up a real baby (just imagine the complications there), Hayden had asked Johnston to sub in. A little bit of quiet head bobbing, some long and curious stares —... Continue reading…

Image: 9to5Mac Apple’s Tile-like location tracking product has finally entered production, according to a report from Nikkei, meaning you might be able to buy them sometime soon. Rumors about the trackers, which will apparently help you wirelessly locate items they’re attached to like a bag or wallet, have been swirling since last year. They may be called “AirTags,” are apparently designed to work with Apple’s Find My app, and are expected to be small circular discs.AirTags may have some kind of offline finding feature, too, according to a now-deleted Apple support video, meaning they may not require a Wi-Fi or cellular connection to be located. That suggests they could have ultra-wideband radio technology built in, similar to the U1 chip in the... Continue reading…

Image: EA Sports EA is bringing Colin Kaepernick back to Madden. Starting today, Kaepernick will be available as a QB who can be added to any team in Franchise mode in Madden NFL 21, which was released in late August. He can also be selected in the game’s Play Now mode. Kaepernick hasn’t been playable in a Madden game since 2016, according to The Undefeated.“Colin Kaepernick is one of the top free agents in football and a starting-caliber quarterback. The team at EA SPORTS, along with millions of Madden NFL fans, want to see him back in our game,” EA wrote in a statement.

Bose hasn’t released a pair of true wireless earbuds since the SoundSport Free in 2017, but it seems the company is about to make up for lost time. Last year, Bose said it was readying two sets of new earbuds — the Noise Canceling Earbuds 500 and 700, still listed on this website — and a new video suggests the launch of at least one of those could be imminent. Bose has apparently reconsidered its branding choices and is reverting back to its signature “QuietComfort” series: the Noise Canceling Headphones 700 are now simply called the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds. Seems like the right decision to me.This is according to a marketing video that was prematurely discovered by Redditors on retailer Harvey Norman’s website. (CNET reported on the... Continue reading…

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images The temperature was in the 70s in State College, Pennsylvania on Friday, but the local school board voted to call a “snow day,” cancel classes, and have students in the town’s public schools stay home. Cases of COVID-19 in the area had spiked, and the school district’s board of directors needed time to decide what to do.No students or staff in the district were sick. Instead, the local increases were driven by outbreaks at Penn State University.“We knew that we were opening schools at the same time Penn State was opening,” Amber Concepcion, the school board president, said during a meeting. “We knew there would be a growth curve.”COVID-19 cases are climbing in college towns around the country, and those outbreaks are forcing local... Continue reading…

Photo by David McNew/Getty Images Wildfires have already ripped through a record 2.2 million acres of California this year, making this year’s blazes the most widespread on record. The fires have killed eight people and destroyed 3,300 structures. The second and third single largest fires in the state’s history — the SCU and LNU lightning complexes in Northern California — are burning at the same time.Ridiculously high temperatures for the region set more records over the Labor Day weekend and fueled flames. The mercury rose to 121 degrees Fahrenheit in Woodland Hills, California on September 6th. It was the highest temperature ever recorded in Los Angeles County.The danger isn’t over yet. California is forecast to cool down this week, but firefighters are bracing... Continue reading…

Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge Android 11 is officially launching today after months of betas — and it’s getting a wider release than expected, with the latest version of the operating coming today not only to Pixel devices but to phones from OnePlus, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Realme, too.As expected, the final version of Android 11 is now available to download on the Pixel 2, 3, 3A, 4, and 4A. OnePlus has also confirmed that the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro will be getting Android 11 today in North America, Europe, and India. Google also promises to expect “more partners launching and upgrading devices over the coming months,” so today’s launch will likely be the first of many Android 11 update announcements for the next few weeks.Android 11 adds a variety of new features to... Continue reading…

Priority chat notifications, stricter privacy controls, and a new power menu Continue reading…

Apple has officially announced its upcoming “Time Flies” event for September 15th, and the company hid a neat augmented reality Easter egg in the event announcement that uses Apple’s ARKit to turn the swirling Apple logo into a floating image of the “9.15” event date. Apple has a long history of creating interesting logos and teasers for its event invitations. The AR element, though, adds an interactive spin on the company’s typical invites, while at the same time leveraging Apple’s augmented reality technology. It’s not clear if Apple will be announcing any specific AR-focused updates at the event or if this is just a fun use of the technology, but we’ll presumably find out next week. Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber announced Tuesday that “100 percent” of rides will take place in electric vehicles by 2030 in the US, Canada, and Europe, and by 2040 for the rest of the world. But rather than pay drivers directly to trade their gas-burning vehicles for electric ones, the company will impose an extra fee on trips completed in an electric vehicle to incentivize drivers to make the switch.Starting today, Uber is launching its “Uber Green” surcharge in 15 cities in the US and Canada. For a dollar extra, riders can specifically request a hybrid or electric vehicle. Drivers who use hybrid or electric vehicles to pick up passengers will get an extra 50 cents per ride, while drivers using specifically battery-electric vehicles get another dollar on top... Continue reading…

Apple has announced an event for September 15th at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. Normally, Apple announces new iPhones in September, but this year, there have been rumors of the phones being delayed. Instead, the event’s tagline, “Time Flies,” suggests we’re looking at a new Apple Watch.The event is taking place later than the usual September announcement for Apple’s fall lineup, likely due to delays caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Apple confirmed that it wouldn’t ship its new phones in September during its most recent earnings call.

Razer Razer’s latest gaming accessory is chewing gum aimed at boosting your focus and reaction time in games. The company teamed up with 5 Gum from Mars Wrigley to make “Respawn by 5 Gum” in three flavors: cool mint, tropical punch, and pomegranate watermelon. The gum is available starting today at $2.99 per 15-stick pack or $27.99 for a 10-pack. It will be available from Razer.com as well as Amazon. Razer previously released a flavored energy drink mix in 2019.Razer says this gum was developed with an “extensive amount of R&D,” part of which came from studying the daily regimens, gaming schedules, and snacking habits of casual and pro gamers. If you were turned off by the high amount of caffeine in the drink mix, you might like that the... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Project Connected Home over IP — the ambitious attempt to bring together Amazon, Apple, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance with a unified, open-source smart home platform — has just posted its latest update on the project. The group has announced (in the first major update since the standard was revealed) that work on the project is still ongoing, and it’s targeting a 2021 release, along with the first clear idea of what devices the standard is aiming to work with.The project is still on track to provide a “draft specification” for the new standard by the end of the year, with a full launch set for 2021, according to the blog post shared by the Zigbee Alliance (a group that includes Ikea, Samsung SmartThings, and Signify / Philips Hue as... Continue reading…

The next Legend of Zelda adventure is coming very soon. Today, Nintendo revealed a new title called Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which will launch on the Switch this year.The game, which is being developed by Koei Tecmo, looks to be a successor of sorts to the original Hyrule Warriors from 2014. That game combined the massive battles of Dynasty Warriors with the lore and history of Zelda. The new game is set 100 years before Breath of the Wild, where players can experience the great calamity that influenced the events of BOTW. You can get a brief glimpse of the action in the video above.Age of Calamity will launch on November 20th. As for the long-awaited sequel to Breath of the Wild, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma says, “You’ll have... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft is reportedly preparing to launch a smaller Surface Laptop later this year. Windows Central reports that Microsoft is preparing a more lightweight version of the Surface Laptop with a smaller 12.5-inch display. This new model will reportedly include Intel’s 10th Gen Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. The smaller Surface Laptop is said to be targeted at students, and it will be running Windows 10 in S Mode.Microsoft is even rumored to be pricing this new Surface Laptop between $500 and $600, making it an affordable option for the Surface line. It appears to be positioned as the Surface Go equivalent to the Surface Pro, as a smaller and more budget-friendly clamshell laptop.As is always the case with Surface... Continue reading…

Frictional Games Early in the coronavirus pandemic, during the ambient dread of New York’s locked-down spring, I realized that I couldn’t put words in a coherent order. I built virtual spaces instead. That’s how I fell in love with the cockroaches from one of my favorite horror games.I’m talking about Amnesia: The Dark Descent, an adventure gaming masterpiece that turns 10 years old today. Frictional Games’ Amnesia is a Lovecraftian tale that puts players at the mercy of enemies they can’t fight in a world full of vivid, eerie grotesquerie. Its protagonist, Daniel, wakes up in a Prussian castle with no memory and a letter, written by himself, demanding he kill the estate’s master Alexander. He ventures deeper and deeper into the castle, pursued by... Continue reading…

Music is about to become a much bigger part of Fortnite. Today, Epic is announcing a new, three-week-long concert series that will take place on the game’s party royale island. It kicks off with a live performance by Dominic Fike on September 12th and will be broadcast from a brand-new Los Angeles studio built specifically for in-game concerts. It’s all part of a bigger plan to turn Fortnite’s virtual stage into an important place for musicians.“This is a tour stop,” explains Nate Nanzer, Fortnite’s head of global partnerships. “If you’re on tour, you want to stop on the Fortnite stage. It’s a unique way to get in front of an audience that maybe you’re not reaching through other means.”“If you’re on tour, you want to stop on the... Continue reading…

The verified calls feature allows businesses like banks to display the reason for their call when they contact you. | Image: Google Google has officially announced a new “Verified Calls” feature for its phone app, which is designed to give more information when a business is calling you. Compatible calls will show a company’s name, branding, a small badge to show that it’s verified, and a reason for its call.The feature is coming to the Google Phone app, which typically comes preloaded on Pixel and Android One phones. However, Google says it will now be available to download on a “limited” set of additional phones running Android Pie and higher, including flagship handsets from Samsung and LG. Compatible phones will be able to grab the app from the Google Play Store and then set it as their default phone calling app.Depending on how businesses use it, the... Continue reading…

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert Detained, dehumanized, deported. Inside the cruel bureaucracy of ICE’s immigrant detention centers. Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Nine rival companies have pledged that any coronavirus vaccine they produce will be developed and tested with “high ethical standards and sound scientific principles.” The statement appears to be an effort by the pharmaceutical industry to quell public concerns that the vaccine approval process may be influenced by politics or other interests instead of safety.The statement, signed by the CEO of each company says: “We believe this pledge will help ensure public confidence in the rigorous scientific and regulatory process by which COVID-19 vaccines are evaluated and may ultimately be approved.”The companies’ plans for the pledge were first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Friday. Among other things, the statement promises that... Continue reading…

As the Alto series grew, so did the team behind it. With Alto’s Adventure, the game was made in collaboration between Toronto studio Snowman and English artist and developer Harry Nesbitt. But as the franchise expanded with new platforms and with a sequel, Nesbitt brought on more help. Eventually, they started working under the moniker “Team Alto.” Now, after a lot of soul searching, Nesbitt is announcing the launch of a brand-new studio called Land & Sea, which will continue to work on the series but also develop new titles.Nesbitt says that the studio is something the group has been thinking about for some time. “After the dust began to settle from launching Alto’s Adventure, I started asking myself what kind of games I’d really like... Continue reading…

General Motors is taking an 11 percent stake in electric truck startup Nikola, the companies announced on Tuesday. As part of the deal, GM will help Nikola engineer and manufacture its battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, including the Badger pickup truck.Nikola, which went public through a “reverse merger” with a special acquisition company earlier this year, will “exchange $2 billion in newly issued common stock for the in-kind services and access to General Motors’ global safety-tested and validated parts and components,” the companies announced. GM will also get to nominate one director to Nikola’s board.GM will supply hydrogen fuel cells to Nikola for its Class 7 and Class 8 semi trucksGM will supply hydrogen fuel... Continue reading…

The new treadmill is smaller than the original and drops the latter’s slatted belt design. | Image: Peloton Peloton has doubled its product lineup, announcing a cheaper treadmill and more expensive exercise bike. The new treadmill, called the Tread, will be available for $2,495 starting in “early 2021,” while the exercise bike, the Bike Plus, will also sell for $2,495 from September 9th in the US, UK, Canada, and Germany. As a result of the launches, the original Peloton Tread has been renamed the Tread Plus ($4,295), while the original Bike keeps its name but has a lower price tag of $1,895.We heard reports last week that this new equipment was coming, and it’s no surprise considering how Peloton’s business has grown during the pandemic. With gyms closed and more people keen to work out from home, the company has seen sales grow 66 percent... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says he doesn’t expect his company’s employees to return to the office until the “majority” are vaccinated — a shifting deadline that will probably see staff working from home into 2021 given current time frames for vaccine development.Netflix is one of many Silicon Valley firms currently trying to balance a desire to keep its employees safe while maintaining the sort of in-person interactions that can define a company’s culture. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Hastings made it clear he thought working from home was detrimental to his business, and that he’d be pushing for a return to the office as soon as possible. Here’s what he told the WSJ:

Apple’s latest retail store has drawn comparisons to a floating lantern, with a unique design incorporating a glass dome that sits directly on the water of Singapore’s Marina Bay. We first saw a glimpse of the store, the company’s third in Singapore and 512th worldwide, a few weeks ago, and the iPhone-maker has now shared new pictures of the building’s interior, which opens to visitors on Thursday, September 10th.The store is called the Apple Marina Bay Sands, and is located in a luxury district of Singapore full of shops, restaurants, and the Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino. The sphere is constructed from 114 individual pieces of glass held in place by 10 vertical mullions (the architectural term for supporting bars between panes of... Continue reading…

Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox Series S console leaked earlier today, just before the company officially confirmed its $299 pricing. Now a new leak is providing more details on exactly what’s inside the smaller Xbox Series S. Twitter leaker WalkingCat has posted a promotional video for the Series S, confirming that the console is targeting 120fps gaming at up to 1440p resolution and offering 512GB of storage.The Xbox Series S will also include support for ray tracing, variable rate shading, and variable refresh rate. Microsoft is also including support for 4K media streaming, and even 4K upscaling for games. The video also reveals the Xbox Series S is the smallest Xbox ever, and it will be 60 percent smaller than the bigger Xbox Series X.

Hours after Microsoft’s Xbox Series S console widely leaked, the company has gone on the record to confirm its existence. In a tweet, Microsoft describes the Series S as offering “next-gen performance in the smallest Xbox ever” and lists the price as the previously leaked figure of $299. In the UK it’ll cost £249.99.The accompanying image gives a better look at the Series S than the first leaked picture, showing off how thin it is and confirming the lack of a disc drive. As with the leaked imagery, the Series S is pictured standing upright, but the orientation of the Xbox logo suggests it’s expected to be more commonly used in a traditional horizontal configuration.That’s about all for the announcement right now — Microsoft says it... Continue reading…

Xiaomi’s Poco sub-brand has announced its latest phone, the Poco X3 NFC. As you might have guessed from the inclusion of “NFC” in the name of the phone itself, this is not a device targeting a typical flagship audience. But like other recent Poco phones, the X3 NFC looks to be a strong proposition from a price-performance standpoint.This is not a subtle phone, even before you get to the giant glossy “POCO” logo on the plastic back. It’s big and chunky at 9.4mm thick and 215g, with a large camera bump — but that’s just what you get when you make a phone with a massive screen, a huge battery, and a bunch of cameras. The display is a 6.67-inch 1080p panel with a refresh rate of 120Hz. It’s an LCD, which means it’s not quite... Continue reading…