The Verge

Spotify Spotify keeps adding to its exclusive podcast arsenal, and today, it’s getting into the esports space. The company announced a multiyear partnership with Riot Games that’ll make Spotify the hub for all League of Legends audio content, including exclusive podcast series.At least one show will launch this year, called Untold Stories: Top Moments from Worlds, a nine-episode series that’ll lead up to the 10th League of Legends championship this fall. Listeners will hear about the players and top anthem through game highlights, interviews, and game sound effects.Two music playlists, including the existing, “This is League of Legends,” will be updated regularly, too. Spotify’s also planning to dedicate a day to the Worlds Anthem, a song... Continue reading…

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge The recently-released Microsoft Flight Simulator is a game best enjoyed with a dedicated flight stick, but actually finding one of these controllers is a challenge. None of Amazon.com’s best-selling PC flight sticks are available to buy new as of Monday August 24th — they’re either listed as unavailable, only available used, or scheduled to be back in stock in the coming months.It’s impossible to know if this current shortage is directly caused by the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Flight yokes and sticks are a relatively niche product to begin with, and, even prior to the game’s official release, people on Twitter were complaining about shortages. Meanwhile, plenty of other gaming accessories like Nintendo’s Ring Fit have also... Continue reading…

Two new Google hardware devices have shown up in FCC filings, and as 9to5Google notes, it seems likely that they’re related to the new Android TV product that’s reportedly been in the works for a while. If so, the filings could suggest that Google is finally gearing up to release it soon.An XDA Developers report in June said that Google was preparing a TV dongle codenamed “Sabrina” that would use Android TV and a traditional remote-driven UI, unlike smartphone-controlled Chromecast devices. One of the new FCC filings refers to an “Interactive Media Streaming Device” with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, while the other is for a “Wireless Device” with Bluetooth and a power cover, which 9to5Google speculates could be Sabrina and its remote control... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Friday, the internet erupted in a small way to learn that Apple had successfully forced WordPress to monetize its free app — forcing it to sell premium plans and custom domain names seemingly just so that Apple could get its traditional 30 percent cut.But one afternoon and evening of surprise and outrage later, Apple is backing off. The company is issuing a rare on-the-record apology, and it says that WordPress will no longer have to add in-app purchases now that all is said and done.Here’s Apple’s full statement:

New leaked images may have the first look at the Google Pixel 5 and the Pixel 4A 5G. The image showing what could be the Pixel 5 in black and the Pixel 4A 5G in white came from a since-deleted post on Reddit. They also include details about the phones’ specs which seem to match up with previously leaked information, according to XDA Developers.Google launched the Pixel 4A earlier this month and announced the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4A 5G would be coming sometime this fall, likely early October. Renders of the Pixel 5 leaked last week, showing a fingerprint sensor on the rear of the device, a square-shaped camera array with two cameras, a flash, and a hole-punch front-facing camera. A previously leaked render of the (likely)... Continue reading…

A medical worker in New York checks blood for coronavirus antibodies. | Photo by Pablo Monsalve / VIEWpress via Getty Images The Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors as a treatment for sick patients. The announcement came after President Donald Trump publicly pressured the agency to speed the development of drugs and vaccines.Plasma should not be the new standard of care for COVID-19, the agency said in a statement. However, it may shorten or reduce the severity of the illness in hospitalized patients. “We’re encouraged by the early promising data that we’ve seen about convalescent plasma,” said commissioner Stephen Hahn in the statement.Preliminary research suggests that the plasma, which contains antibodies against the coronavirus, could help improve the survival rate of people hospitalized... Continue reading…

Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images The World Health Organization has released its guidance on face masks for children, as students— in some parts of the country at least— return to their classrooms to start the new school year. Children age 5 and younger shouldn’t be required to wear masks, the WHO says, since most are not able to put them on without help.Children age 6 through 11, however, should wear masks under certain conditions, including local infection rates, whether there’s an adult available to help them, and if they’ll be exposed to elderly people or people with health conditions who are at higher risk of complications from the virus.Kids 12 and older should wear masks under the same conditions adults would wear them, using the standard social-distancing... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has labeled a tweet from President Trump in which he questioned the use of mail drop boxes for the November election. The president claimed, without citing evidence, that the boxes made it “possible for a person to vote multiple times,” and are a “voter security disaster,” that “are not Covid sanitized.”Twitter applied a label to the Sunday morning tweet that reads “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about civic and election integrity. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.” A “learn more” link goes to Twitter’s rules about public-interest exceptions. “We placed a public interest interstitial on this Tweet for violating our Civic Integrity... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is threatening an entire ecosystem of game developers in response to the Fortnite lawsuit, Epic alleged in a new filing on Sunday.The motion centers on iOS support for the Unreal Engine, which Apple has threatened to revoke as part of Epic’s broader loss of developer privileges. Epic has asked the court to restrain Apple from revoking that access while the case is ongoing. Apple responded to the request on Friday, emphasizing that it was enforcing previously stated policies, but not denying that iOS support was at risk.Epic says removing support would be unnecessarily punitive, affecting developers who have built on Epic’s engine but have no direct interest in the case. “The breadth of Apple’s retaliation is itself an unlawful... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A group of WeChat users is suing the Trump administration over the president’s executive order banning transactions with the app, The Wall Street Journal reported. The group isn’t affiliated with WeChat or its owner Tencent, but seeks to block the president’s August 6th order which the group says is unconstitutional because it violates users’ due process and free speech rights, according to the Journal.The lawsuit also argues that the ban targets Chinese-Americans. “It is the primary app Chinese-speakers in the U.S. use to participate in social life by connecting with loved ones, sharing special moments, arguing ideas, receiving up-to-the minute news, and participating in political discussions and advocacy,” the lawsuit states, and has... Continue reading…

DC Comics and Warner Bros. held their first ever FanDome event today, a virtual convention that brought with it new movie trailers, announcements, and exciting gameplay footage.From Warner Bros. Games Montreal’s Gotham Knights reveal (including nearly eight minutes of footage) to the first trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League and an update on Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series at Netflix, a lot happened. Here are the biggest moments (and videos) from DC FanDome. If you missed it, there are encore panels playing for the next several hours. Head over to DC FanDome’s schedule for a full list of repeat performances.Gotham Knights announcement: As mentioned above, one of the biggest announcements was one fans have waited more than a year... Continue reading…

Robert Pattinson’s upcoming Batman movie, The Batman, is one of the most anticipated DC movies. Today, director Matt Reeves debuted a first look at Pattinson’s take on the Dark Knight.Maybe surprising to some, it’s a good sized teaser trailer. Production on the film shut down by the pandemic, but the footage Reeves brought to DC’s FanDome virtual convention is a pretty good glance at what fans of the caped crusader should expect. Like always in Gotham City, crime is running rampant, and some nefarious force is trying to get to Batman. The story takes place about two years into Bruce Wayne’s career as Batman, a period when he’s still just a masked vigilante. Reeves stressed that Batman isn’t Batman yet, and there are people “who are... Continue reading…

The team behind the beloved Batman: Arkham games is now exploring at different DC property. This evening at DC Fandome, Rocksteady Studios finally revealed Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a new action game starring the infamous super villain team. The game will be launching on in 2022 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X according to the teaser. The studio teased the game earlier this month after plentiful rumors.“The most dangerous villains in the DC Universe have been forced to team up and take on a new mission: Kill the Justice League,” the description under the trailer reads. “Create Chaos in Metropolis. You are the Suicide Squad.”Rocksteady is known almost entirely for its Batman games, which combined key elements of... Continue reading…

After years of campaigning from fans, Zack Snyder’s Justice League will see the light of day — and a first look trailer for the director’s version premiered today.Snyder brought the trailer for his panel at DC FanDome, a miniature version of San Diego Comic-Con’s Hall H for fans of DC and Warner Bros.’ films. The trailer is set to Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” and follows the various members of the team as they slowly come together. Snyder fans who wanted more of Ray Fisher’s Cyborg, more Superman, Darkseid, and a more Snyder vibe to the film overall should be pleased. Snyder also confirmed his version will be released as four parts, with each installment running one hour. The team is also working on a distribution plan for countries... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok confirmed Saturday that it will file a lawsuit against the Trump administration over an executive order demanding parent company ByteDance divest its TikTok operations in the US. It’s the first time the company has confirmed it will pursue legal action, a move that has been rumored for several weeks. Reports began surfacing Friday that a lawsuit was likely imminent.“Even though we strongly disagree with the administration’s concerns, for nearly a year we have sought to engage in good faith to provide a constructive solution,” TikTok spokesman Josh Gartner said in a statement to The Verge. “What we encountered instead was a lack of due process as the administration paid no attention to facts and tried to insert itself into... Continue reading…

Melbourne’s giant virtual obelisk. Microsoft Flight Simulator players spotted a giant mountain-high obelisk in Australia this week. While Flight Simulator has done a great job at recreating the real world, this unusually huge structure doesn’t exist in real life. Players have now discovered that its existence stems from a simple typo.University student Nathan Wright made an edit to OpenStreetMap data for part of his degree work last year, adding more than two hundred stories to a building that’s actually just two stories. Wright meant to type 2, but instead he typed 212 in the data section for floors. “I think it’s so funny as it was the first time I was using OpenStreetMap,” says Wright in an email to The Verge. “I was using it for a university task and had to add data... Continue reading…

Facebook’s new interface was first unveiled last year. | Image: Facebook Facebook’s “classic” experience, the interface with the iconic blue navigation bar at the top, is disappearing for good in September. Engadget reports that a Facebook support page has been updated saying everyone will soon have the new design. Although you can temporarily switch back to the old interface on Facebook’s site, the button warns that “the classic Facebook will no longer be available starting in September.”The new design was announced at Facebook’s developer conference last year, and initially rolled out on the service’s iOS and Android apps. In March it got a widespread release on desktop as an opt-in feature, leaving people free to continue using the old design if they want to. Come September, however, the old design will... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Facing higher production costs due to the inclusion of 5G hardware in this year’s “iPhone 12” series, Apple is attempting to use less expensive components in other areas, according to analyst Ming-chi Kuo (via MacRumors and AppleInsider). One of the biggest cost reductions is believed to come from battery technology; Kuo says Apple is reducing the number of layers in the battery board and placing cell components in a smaller area.This will result in a battery board that’s 40 to 50 percent cheaper than the iPhone 11’s equivalent part, according to Kuo, and next year’s iPhone batteries will get a further 30 to 40 percent price decrease due to additional design changes. Apple is also said to be trimming battery costs for a third-generation... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Fortnite-maker Epic Games and Apple are currently embroiled in a public battle over Apple’s App Store policies, and in the latest move in the dispute, Epic has announced a Fortnite tournament taking place August 23rd where players can compete to win anti-Apple prizes.Last week, Epic added a new direct payment system to Fortnite in violation of Apple’s policies. Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store the same day, and shortly after, Epic launched a campaign against Apple by suing the company, releasing a “Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite” video mocking Apple’s famous “1984” ad, and promoting the hashtag #FreeFortnite.

Image: Sarah Cooper We already knew that Sarah Cooper, the comedian that has gone viral for her impersonations of Trump, is getting a comedy special on Netflix. And today, Cooper has inked a deal with CBS to adapt one of her books into a TV series, according to Deadline and Variety.CBS plans to develop a comedy show inspired by Cooper’s book How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men’s Feelings. The show will focus on three females working at a predominantly male company. As you might have guessed from the name of the book, the show will tackle today’s gender politics and their impact on the trio’s professional and personal lives. Cooper will also be involved in the series serving as a co-writer and executive producer.Sarah Cooper blew up on social just... Continue reading…

Image: Magic Leap The Last Light, Magic Leap’s in-house mixed reality experience thought to be lost after nearly everyone who made it was laid off, got a surprise — and official — release this week. (We spotted the release thanks to a tweet from former Magic Leap employee Alexandria Heston.)In The Last Light, you follow along as a young woman, Kayah, moves through a story about her family that plays out on objects in the room in front of you. “It is not a game or a tech demo,” said former Magic leap employee Anastasia Devana on LinkedIn. “It’s essentially a short film that is best experienced alone, in a quiet area, and uninterrupted for around 35-40 minutes or so.”The Last Light was originally set to premiere at SXSW in March, but the festival was... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto both seem pretty useful for drivers — simply plug in your phone to charge, and it’ll link up with your car’s bigger touchscreen to give you directions to your doctor’s appointment, play music from your Spotify playlist, or send a text. Google also has an easier version that lets you connect wirelessly to your car stereo without even taking your phone out of your pocket — but it was limited to Google and Samsung phones. Now, Google has quietly announced that any phone running Android 11 will be able to connect to Android Auto, cable-free.Google’s updated Android Auto support page now notes that “any smartphone with Android 11.0” will be able to connect to Android Auto wirelessly. It’s likely in... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images For the past two days, photographers have been posting in a panic across Twitter, Reddit, and the Photoshop feedback forums. They’d downloaded Adobe’s latest update for Lightroom’s iOS app, and suddenly their photos and presets were gone. Adobe has now confirmed the issue, and it’s also said that the data is gone for good.“I’ve talked with customer service for 4+ hours over the past 2 days and just a minute ago they told me that the issue has no fix and that these lost photos are unrecoverable,” complained one Reddit user, who says they’ve lost over two years’ worth of photo edits. The complaints were spotted by PetaPixel.“This is literally the worst,” tweeted another customer, who said they’d lost not only 800 pictures but hundreds... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Major US news publishers have joined the list of companies and app developers criticizing Apple’s App Store terms as unfair and potentially anti-competitive. The digital media trade association Digital Content Next — which includes newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post and numerous magazines, broadcasters, and websites (Vox Media, parent company of The Verge, is also a member) — sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook on Thursday. The letter asks the Apple chief executive what would be necessary to negotiate a deal similar to the one it granted Amazon in 2016 for its Prime video app. News of the letter was first reported today by The Wall Street Journal.“We would like to know what conditions our members — high quality... Continue reading…

Photo credit should read WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images Tesla is working on a new motion-detection sensor that could detect a child left behind in a hot car. According to Reuters, the company is seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to market the technology, which would use unlicensed millimeter-wave radar sensors designed to operate at higher power levels than allowed under existing rules.In its application, Tesla said the device could be used to “reduce the risk of pediatric vehicular heatstroke, protect vehicle occupants from injury through advanced airbag deployment and seatbelt reminders, and enhance theft prevention systems.”“reduce the risk of pediatric vehicular heatstroke”Tesla envisions using radar imaging to measure body size so it can tell the... Continue reading…

Photo by Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images A fertility app that helps women monitor their cycles when hoping to become pregnant was sharing user data with several Chinese companies, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. The International Digital Accountability Council (IDAC), a nonprofit consumer privacy watchdog, said its research found that the Android version of the app was sharing data with three Chinese analytics firms, including unique device identifiers which could help them follow users’ activities across other apps and websites.IDAC sent letters to the FTC, Google, and the attorney general of Illinois, where Premom is based, earlier this month. Since users had no way to opt out of the tracking and were not aware it was even happening, IDAC says the practice could... Continue reading…

NASA and its Russian partner Roscosmos are going to try to hunt down the source of a very small leak on the International Space Station this weekend, one that has been causing air to release a little more rapidly from the ISS for the last year. The three crew members currently on board the station will stay in the Russian segment of the ISS over the weekend, while NASA tries to isolate the origin of the leak in other parts of the spacecraft.NASA first noticed it might have a leak on the station way back in September of 2019. Air inside the station slowly leaks out of the ISS over time, but officials noticed that the air seemed to be escaping at a slightly higher rate than usual. Since then, the leak seems to have increased slightly.... Continue reading…

Photo by Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the Federal Trade Commission this week as part of the regulator’s ongoing antitrust investigation into the company, according to a new report from Politico Thursday.The FTC has been investigating Facebook for potential violations of US antitrust law for at least a year. Facebook announced in July 2019 that the agency had launched a probe into the company as part of its quarterly earnings disclosures. According to Politico, that investigation is still ongoing, and Zuckerberg testified under oath over the course of two days this week as part of the probe.“We are committed to cooperating with the US Federal Trade Commission’s inquiry”“We are committed to cooperating with the US Federal... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber’s former security chief has been charged with obstruction of justice for trying to hide a data breach from the Federal Trade Commission and Uber management, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.Joseph Sullivan, who was Uber’s chief security officer from April 2015 to November 2017, allegedly concealed the hack that occurred in October 2016, which exposed confidential data of 57 million drivers and customers, including drivers’ license information. Uber paid the hackers $100,000 in bitcoin to delete the data, according to the Justice Department. (Sullivan was later fired.)In addition to obstruction of justice, Sullivan is charged with misprision of a felony, meaning he knew of the breach and took steps to... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Google is making a change in Android 11 that will force apps that want to take photos or video to use the phone’s built-in camera app — even if you’ve made a different camera app, like OpenCamera, your default choice for photos.“[W]e believe it’s the right trade-off to protect the privacy and security of our users,” the Android engineering team wrote on August 17th, adding that apps that call on the camera would need to explicitly name each and every third-party camera app they’d like to support. Now, Google’s giving us the reason: it’s to keep bad actors from potentially harvesting your location.It’s not a drastic change; many camera features will still work exactly the way they used to. It also mirrors the way the camera works on... Continue reading…

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images A California appeals court judge blocked an order requiring Uber and Lyft to classify drivers as employees, averting an expected shutdown of the ride-sharing services in California at midnight tonight. The court granted Uber and Lyft a temporary stay while their appeals process play out.Lyft had already announced it was planning to temporarily cease operations in the state earlier today, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had said the same about his company in an interview yesterday.But the companies won an 11th hour reprieve from the California Court of Appeals hours before the shutdown was expected to go into effect. Uber and Lyft will now have until October to convince the court to throw out the order that it employ its drivers. If... Continue reading…

Image: Netflix Netflix on Thursday announced the launch of a unique Stranger Things immersive theater production it’s calling a “drive-into experience,” in which it’s transforming a series of buildings in downtown Los Angeles into what is effectively a cross between a theme park and a live theater show. The central hook: you can drive your car through the entire thing and never have to get out. It sounds like a savvy way to capitalize on the hunger for live events during the pandemic while trying to give people an experience that’s safe and sensibly designed.The company says it will be featuring iconic locations from the show, including the newly opened Starcourt Mall, the secret underground Russian lab, and the supernatural Upside Down from the... Continue reading…

Photo by Cara Howe / Netflix If you want to watch a TV show that recaps the latest news with a healthy amount of jokes and comically bad photoshops, you have a lot of choices. There’s The Daily Show With Trevor Noah on Comedy Central, TBS’s Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, and HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. This week, however, there is one less option: Netflix has canceled Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, a show that superficially didn’t seem all that different from its competitors, but with each half-hour installment, it proved itself among the best.In 2020, it can be hard to watch these shows. As clever as the jokes can be and as deep as they can dig to surface under-seen issues, current events have become unimaginably bleak, and the United States’... Continue reading…

Google has finally launched more colors for its second-generation Pixel Buds, nearly four months since the true wireless headphones launched. In addition to “clearly white,” you can now buy the Pixel Buds in “oh so orange,” “quite mint,” and “almost black.”The second-generation Pixel Buds launched on April 27th, but they were only available in white at the time, despite Google also announcing the other three colors when the Pixel Buds were revealed in October. My colleague Chris Welch found in his review that the new Pixel Buds had a much-improved design over their predecessor (which were connected by a wire) but only an average battery life and weaker bass than their competitors. After the headphones launched, though, some users... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Airbnb is cracking down on house parties and events in properties listed on its platform to try to better follow local health departments’ social distancing requirements for large gatherings, the company said in a blog post Thursday. It’s imposing an occupancy cap of 16 people, and hosts or renters on the platform who try to evade the new rules risk being banned from the platform or even the possibility of legal action.With local health departments reacting to the coronavirus cases in their areas, many implemented restrictions on the number of people allowed in bars and restaurants. Airbnb said it found people were taking “bar and club behavior” to homes rented on its platform.“We think such conduct is incredibly irresponsible — we... Continue reading…

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Lyft will suspend its ride-hailing operations in California at 11:59PM PT on August 20th, the company confirmed in a blog post. Along with Uber, the company was ordered by a state judge to employ its drivers rather than classify them as independent contractors. But Lyft is choosing to end its service in California rather than comply with that order — at least for now.“This is not something we wanted to do, as we know millions of Californians depend on Lyft for daily, essential trips,” the company writes. “We’re personally reaching out to riders and drivers to share more about why this is happening, what you can do about it, and to provide some transportation alternatives.”Uber has also said it will cease operations in California at... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In June this year, Reddit began a huge campaign to remove hateful content from its site, blocking communities that engaged in hate speech and harassment. In an update on its progress today, the company says it’s banned nearly 7,000 subreddits (including repeat offenders) resulting in an 18 percent drop in users posting hateful content.“While I would love that number to be 100 percent, I’m encouraged by the progress,” writes Reddit user u/worstnerd, a member of the company’s Safety team.“While I would love that number to be 100 percent, I’m encouraged by the progress.”The progress is part of a sea change at Reddit after the site introduced new policies that explicitly ban hate speech and promised to enforce them rigorously. Reddit has... Continue reading…

Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP via Getty Images Vitagene, a company that makes mail-in, saliva-based COVID-19 tests, is switching its shipping from the United States Postal Service to FedEx, its CEO told The Verge.“We’ve had problems with USPS recently, in terms of tracking packages and the delivery of packages,” says CEO Mehdi Maghsoodnia.Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who took the position at the head of USPS in June, has instituted cost-cutting changes (like cutting overtime for postal workers) that have been criticized by lawmakers and the USPS workers union for slowing mail service. Vitagene started noticing the delays about three or four weeks ago, Maghsoodnia says. The number of customers calling the company to ask about the timing of their shipments because... Continue reading…

Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images President Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon and three others were arrested and are charged with fraud over a crowdfunded wall along the US-Mexico border. The “We Build the Wall” campaign collected over $25 million to construct the border wall proposed by President Donald Trump. But prosecutors claim that Bannon, We Build the Wall founder Brian Kolfage, and their associates Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars toward personal expenses.The recently unsealed case alleges that Bannon and others broke repeated promises to put “100 percent” of donations toward the wall. The group secretly arranged private payments through a nonprofit, giving Kolfage $100,000 within months of starting fundraising.... Continue reading…

Razer is best known for its all-black, LED-filled gaming accessories that are built to keep you gaming at your peak. But its latest lineup, consisting of a wireless mouse, a wireless mechanical keyboard, and a mousepad to match, is far simpler in function and design.The $99.99 Pro Click is a large wireless mouse with a palm-filling design and a grippy, concave thumb rest. Razer teamed up with office ergonomics company Humanscale to develop it. The mouse was built to position your wrist a 30-degree angle, which Razer and Humanscale say can help prevent discomfort and injuries, like tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. It’s a fresh look for Razer; the company is probably hoping you’ll confuse its mouse with something like Logitech’s MX... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Google is adding a number of new features to its Pixel Buds today — and also addressing the cutout / disconnect issues that some early buyers have experienced. The latest firmware update should decrease “instances of cut-outs during calls” and have “better auto-recovery when one or both earbuds lose connection.” A new transcribe mode is designed to translate long speeches directly into your ears, which is ideal for if you’re listening to a lecture or speech where a single person is speaking in a language you don’t understand. The Pixel Buds have always supported a translation feature, but this transcribe mode is designed for one-way translation instead of conversations back and forth, and it’s a more discrete way to translate using the... Continue reading…

Today, 505 Games is attempting to clear the air with a blog post about why it won’t be offering owners of the original Control game a free next-gen upgrade when that version releases in 2021. It comes after last week’s announcement that Control: Ultimate Edition, the $39.99 release that bundles the base game with all of the downloadable content, will give players on PS4 or Xbox One a free upgrade to the next-gen version. 505 caused some backlash when it said it won’t offer any such upgrade to people who bought the original copy of the game released in 2019.The publisher is sticking to its original position of not offering a free upgrade to current owners of Control, though it wants players to know that it explored multiple avenues to... Continue reading…

SpaceX is still pressing ahead with its lawsuit against the Air Force over rocket development money the company didn’t receive two years ago — despite just winning a more than $300 million contract from the Air Force to launch military satellites during the 2020s. In a new court document, SpaceX is arguing that not getting the funds caused “substantial harm” that still remains.On August 7th, the Air Force selected two companies — SpaceX and rival United Launch Alliance — as its primary launch providers that will launch the bulk of the Defense Department’s satellites between 2022 and 2026. The two companies beat out Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman in a fierce race to receive these launch contracts, which could ultimately result in... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge DoorDash is ramping up its on-demand delivery efforts with the launch of grocery delivery, starting with select chains in markets throughout California and parts of the Midwest. The move follows DoorDash’s push into convenience stores earlier this year and its recently announced DashMart virtual store for selling snacks and other food items and over-the-counter goods.For now, DoorDash is working only with Smart & Final, Meijer, Fresh Thyme, and Hy-Vee, with Smart & Final only serving California customers in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Orange County, Sacremento, and San Diego. Customers in Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee will have access to Meiher and Fresh Thyme, with support for Hy-Vee stores coming at a later... Continue reading…

Sony is ready to start marketing its next-generation PlayStation 5 console with commercials, but the new minute-long spot doesn’t include any PS5 games or the all-important price tag. Instead, Sony has opted to focus on the 3D audio support and the PS5’s DualSense controller’s support for haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.Sony is pitching the PS5 as a console that will allow players to “feel more,” with games that let people “see with sound.” It’s a big bet on immersion for the next generation of games, one that Sony has been teasing for months. Sony focused on audio portions of its PS5 event back in June, and the controller has been the focus of the first and only hands-on of the PS5 console so far. Image: Sony ... Continue reading…

Photo by Fabrice Coffrini / AFP via Getty Images Researchers have learned a lot about the new coronavirus in the 233 days since officials in China reported cases of a then-unknown disease to the World Health Organization. Much of what they’ve learned upended their early assumptions about the virus. The changes aren’t just hard to keep track of; they also make it hard to adjust to new recommendations.Initially, researchers thought it spread almost entirely through droplets of mucus or spit between people in close proximity. Now, we know it can spread through the air. Researchers thought that it was mostly passed between people with obvious symptoms. Now we know that people can contract the virus and never be visibly sick.During an emergency like a pandemic, it’s entirely normal for... Continue reading…

How Tulsa, Oklahoma, almost won Elon Musk using the language he knows best: memes Continue reading…

Google’s new wildfire-mapping feature includes wildfire boundaries, top news stories, and official updates. | Image: Google Type in the name of an ongoing wildfire into Google search, and the site will now bring up a map featuring a near-real-time boundary of the fire. Google revealed the feature today, which was piloted in California last year and will now be available across the US.Google Maps will also update users with road closures and provide them with directions that help them avoid danger and roadblocks. If someone is looking at an area near a blaze on Google Maps, they’ll get an alert. Image: Google Google search view of what people will see in the new feature. Getting accurate information to people near a wildfire can save lives. It’s also a constant challenge for emergency responders because the situation can change... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge When lectures go online, who gets to keep the copyright? Continue reading…

Western Digital has along since a mainstay for portable hard drives with its popular My Passport line, but its recently started to shift its focus to solid-state drives — and now the company is launching its second-generation My Passport SSD lineup, which brings even faster speeds than the original.The new My Passport SSDs borrow from the overall design language from the current hard drive models, but replace the angular corners and waves with a more rounded design to tell the two lines apart. The idea is that the hard drive lineup — with its larger capacities of up to 5TBs on a single device — will serve customers looking for sheer storage, while the new SSDs will offer better speed and durability. Speed is the name of... Continue reading…