The Verge

Image: Evan Blass Samsung’s entire rumored device lineup for today’s upcoming Unpacked event has been spoiled by a series of videos from leaker Evan Blass. Most interesting is the hands-on footage of Samsung’s unannounced Galaxy Z Fold 2 foldable (most previous leaks have only been press renders), but the videos also include footage of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, the Galaxy Tab S7 tablet, the Galaxy Buds true wireless earbuds, and the Galaxy Watch 3 smartwatch.The sheer quantity of leaks that have preceeded today’s event mean we already had a good idea of what to expect from the five devices, but in some cases this is the first time we’ve seen them outside of perfectly composed press renders. For the Galaxy Z Fold 2 that means seeing how its two displays... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge As with most recent product introductions, Samsung’s latest product launch is going to be entirely virtual this year, but it still promises to be a really big show. The event will start at 10AM ET / 7AM PT on Wednesday, August 5th.While the spotlight is certainly going to be on Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 20 phone, the company is promising to present us with five new products at this event. The latest rumors are that, besides the Note 20, the new devices include a tablet, smartwatch, true wireless earbuds, and (you guessed it) a foldable smartphone.Want to know more? To find out, watch the keynote and follow our reporters as they contribute their expert commentary on the proceedings.WHEN DOES THE EVENT START?It starts at 10AM ET / 7AM... Continue reading…

Lime is adding Jump e-bikes to its app for the first time since the the company acquired the former Uber division in May, the company tells The Verge. The Jump e-bikes will be exclusively available in the Lime app while the company irons out any software kinks, at which point Jump e-bikes will continue to appear inside Uber’s app as well.Uber handed the money-losing Jump bike and scooter sharing service to Lime in May as part of a $170 million investment, which Google’s parent company Alphabet was involved in as well. But Uber quickly caused a stir as, weeks later, the company started scrapping tens of thousands of the bright red e-bikes around the United States because it apparently couldn’t find a way to donate them. An Uber... Continue reading…

Photo by David McNew/Getty Images Airlines around the world are facing a difficult juggling act: how do you reduce the risks posed by COVID-19 while keeping costs down in a notoriously low-margin industry? As flight schedules begin to increase once more, Southwest Airlines is taking the decision to reduce its pandemic cleaning routines to minimize turnaround times and financial losses.The news comes from an internal memo sent to Southwest staff and obtained by USA Today, which says that armrests and seat belts will no longer be cleaned between each flights, and that attendants are to instead focus on high-touch areas like toilets and tray tables. “These are the most important areas to clean between each flight as they are prone to contamination from Customer use and... Continue reading…

The new Safe folder appears under Collections in the Files by Google app. | Image: Google The Files by Google app, which primarily gives Android users an easy way to manage files and free up space on their phone, is getting a new PIN-protected “Safe Folder” feature. After setting up a four-digit PIN, you can store any of your sensitive files in this encrypted folder. The folder is locked the moment you switch away to another app, and its contents are only accessible through Files by Google.According to Google, the feature is mainly designed to help people who share Android devices, which it says is common for women in many parts of the world. Safe Folders keep important files like identity documents safe and secure from accidental deletion or sharing by kids, for example. And yes, it could also help anyone who wants to keep... Continue reading…

Logitech G923 racing wheel | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Logitech is announcing its first new racing wheel in five years: the G923 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox, and PC. The G923 succeeds the G29 and G920 and will be available in August for $399.99.Though the G923 looks very similar to the G29 and G920, it features an all-new force feedback system the company is calling “TrueForce.” The system is designed to provide more realistic feedback through the wheel, thanks to integration with a game’s physics and audio engines. The wheel can then take those inputs, such as the level of noise coming from a car’s engine or the surface the wheels are traveling over, and translate them into vibrations that can be felt through the wheel. The company says the electronics inside the wheel are able to sample... Continue reading…

Look Around, the Apple Maps feature that provides 360-degree views of locations at ground level, is starting to expand outside the US. Unusually for Apple, it’s coming to Japan before anywhere else, and is now live in four cities: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyoto. The update was spotted by Ata Distance.Look Around is essentially Apple’s answer to Google’s Street View. You can bring it up in supported areas by tapping the binoculars icon, which initially displays the Look Around view in an expandable pop-up window. The transitions between photos are smoother than in Street View, which helps make it feel more like you’re actually exploring the area.Still, Apple has been very slow with the rollout. Look Around first came to the US as part... Continue reading…

Shelly Yang/Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images Decision Desk is projecting that Rep. Roger Marshall will win the Republican primary for Senate in Kansas, a huge blow to contender Kris Kobach. It’s also a blow to the political ambitions of billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, who had enthusiastically supported Kobach, offering public support and significant PAC funding to the candidate’s primary bid.Much of Thiel’s support came through the Free Forever Political Action Committee, which received the overwhelming majority of its funding from Thiel and purchased ads exclusively in support of Kobach and in opposition to Marshall. One recent Free Forever PAC mailing accused Marshall of funding “global warming musicals” and “transgender plays” because of his votes in support of the... Continue reading…

Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey, two mobile games we at The Verge love because of their beautiful art style and polished gameplay, are finally coming to PS4, Xbox One, and the Epic Games Store as The Alto Collection on August 13th. This will also be the first time Alto’s Odyssey comes to Windows. A Nintendo Switch port is “coming soon,” with no firm release date announced yet.Originally released on iOS in 2015 and both Android and Linux in 2016, Alto’s Adventure is an endless runner snowboarding game. You play as Alto or one of his friends as they traverse the snowy landscape while being chased by village elders; you control your character by tapping the screen, which lets you jump over obstacles and perform tricks. Alto’s Adventure... Continue reading…

SpaceX’s Starship prototype during the test hop, recorded by LabPadre’s livestream | Image: Screenshot from LabPadre livestream Just two days after returning its first astronauts back to Earth, SpaceX successfully flew a prototype of its next-generation, deep-space rocket in south Texas, sending the vehicle up to 500 feet and then landing it back down on Earth. It’s the largest test version of the massive spaceship to see some air.The prototype is that of SpaceX’s Starship, a spacecraft the company wants to build to transport people to deep-space worlds like the Moon and Mars. The final version of the spaceship would stand at nearly 400 feet high and 30 feet wide, and be capable of sending more than 100 tons of cargo into low Earth orbit, according to SpaceX. Starship is designed to fly to space mounted on top of a giant rocket booster, known as Super Heavy, and... Continue reading…

Photo by Angelo Merendino / AFP / Getty Images Controversial engineer Anthony Levandowski, who worked for the Google division that would become Waymo before founding trucking company Otto and selling it to Uber, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for trade secret theft during his various stints in the self-driving industry. His sentencing closes the book on a multi-year legal saga stemming from Levandowski’s high-rising and equally fast-falling career in Silicon Valley spanning much of the past decade.Levandowski was initially sentenced back in March, when the US District Attorney’s office recommended a 27-month sentence. Judge William Alsup on Wednesday sentenced Levandowski to 18 months in prison, to be served at a later date due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to T... Continue reading…

Disney plans to launch a new general entertainment streaming platform overseas in 2021 under the Star brand name, CEO Bob Chapek announced today. Chapek didn’t give too many details about the platform, including in which countries Star would launch or pricing, but he noted that it would include content from ABC, FX, Freeform, Searchlight, and 20th Century Studios.Star will not carry licensed content, which is different from Disney’s other general entertainment streaming service, Hulu. More information is expected to be announced at an upcoming investors day that will focus on plans for Disney Plus, Hulu, ESPN Plus, and Star. The announcement comes as Disney hits major streaming milestones, including surpassing 60 million Disney Plus... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends and Valorant, will be giving employees the week of August 10th off to “disconnect, recharge, and reboot,” the studio announced in a blog post published Tuesday.Riot has recently expanded beyond its global smash hit League of Legends, including releasing auto battler Teamfight Tactics, Hearthstone-like card game Legends of Runeterra (which are both set in the League of Legends universe), and Valorant, a brand-new tactical shooter that takes cues from Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch. But in an industry known for overwork and enforced overtime, referred to as “crunch,” to ship and maintain games, Riot is giving employees a break to help with their health.“As game developers,... Continue reading…

Image: Disney Disney’s live-action adaptation of Mulan will be released on Disney Plus on September 4th for $29.99, the company announced today.Disney executives walked through the new plan for Mulan’s release during an earnings call with analysts today. The $30 fee will be on top of the $6.99 subscriber fee for Disney Plus customers. Chapek also made it seem like non-subscribers can pay $30 for the film as well, but The Verge has emailed Disney to confirm.“We thought it was important to find alternative ways to bring [Mulan] in a timely manner,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek said. In countries where Disney Plus is not available, Disney is releasing Mulan in theaters on the same date. The new release date follows Warner Bros.’ announcement that... Continue reading…

Image: Samsung Russia Samsung’s Unpacked event tomorrow will be the official showcase for the heavily rumored and much-leaked Galaxy Note 20. For those who wanted yet another look at the phone in full before it’s unveiling, an AT&T promotional video pretty much shows off every inch of the device and even details its most important specs and new features.The video, which popped up on Twitter courtesy of South American tech blogger Karlos Peru, appears to have been prepped as a piece of marketing material to promote the new phone and its larger Ultra variant. It doesn’t tell us anything groundbreaking that we didn’t already know or suspect about Samsung’s upcoming extra-large phones, but it is pretty staggering that a video with this much information and... Continue reading…

Photo: Film Frame / Marvel Studios Disney continues to face financial woes in just about every part of its business, but one year after Avengers: Endgame came out, it’s clear just how much the pandemic has affected its studios division.Disney didn’t release any major films last quarter, and the third quarter earnings report shows how much that impacted the company. Overall, revenue hit $11.78 billion, down from $20.2 billion the year before, but most of that came from streaming. Studio revenues decreased 55 percent in the quarter to $1.7 billion, the company announced. That means Disney made $1.7 billion this quarter, and $3.8 billion in the same time frame last year. What it shows is there’s a big Avengers: Endgame hole in the calendar, and it’s a perfect example of... Continue reading…

Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images Virgin Atlantic Airways has filed for bankruptcy protection for its United States business, as it tries to nail down a £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) rescue plan announced last month. It’s the second of Richard Branson’s airlines to do so during the COVID-19 pandemic, after Virgin Australia filed for “administration” — a form of bankruptcy in countries like Australia and England — earlier this year.Virgin Atlantic filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday. Chapter 15 is a way for foreign companies to let US bankruptcy courts recognize restructuring efforts happening abroad. The company is not yet going out of business or liquidating its operations, which is what Chapter 7 bankruptcy... Continue reading…

Photo by Blake Nissen for The Boston Globe via Getty Images The pharmaceutical company Moderna started the last, longest step in the process of testing its COVID-19 vaccine candidate at the end of July — a Phase 3 clinical trial. It’s an enormous undertaking: their goal is to recruit 30,000 people, inject some of them with an experimental vaccine and then follow each and every one of them to see how many contract the coronavirus and how many do not. This will take months, even with the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed compressing the timeline whenever possible. Those months may seem endless when over a thousand people are dying from COVID-19 each day in the United States.The process is long and intensive for a reason, though. Just because a vaccine exists doesn’t mean it’s reasonable... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Samsung’s next midrange phone to get 5G connectivity is the Galaxy A51. Originally launched back in April, the A51 costs $400 normally and sits comfortably in the zone occupied by the now-discounted Pixel 3A and newly announced Pixel 4A (of which there is also a 5G version coming). But the new 5G version of the A51 will go for $500 and work on T-Mobile and Verizon’s 5G networks, Samsung says.Samsung originally announced that its Galaxy A-series lineup would get 5G back in April, and the A51 is the second device after the A71, which costs $600, to get the faster network treatment. Sporting slightly less impressive specs compared with the A71, the A51 has a 6.5-inch FHD+ OLED Infinity-O display with a hole-punch camera in the screen, a... Continue reading…

Photo by SUSAN WALSH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images The White House forced out commissioner with free speech concerns about social media rules Continue reading…

Image: Samsung It’s all kicking off on August 5th at 10AM ET Continue reading…

Image: T-Mobile T-Mobile says that it has officially switched on “the world’s first standalone 5G network,” allowing the company to maximize the use of its 600MHz 5G spectrum. Previously, that 600MHz footprint was directly tied to the carrier’s LTE coverage map and thus limited in reach. “With today’s launch, 600MHz 5G can go beyond the mid-band signal, covering hundreds of square miles from a single tower and going deeper into buildings than before,” T-Mobile wrote in a press release.It celebrated this expanded 5G availability — T-Mobile claims standalone 5G immediately increases its 5G footprint by 30 percent — by putting on a drone show in Lisbon, North Dakota, an example of one of the small towns that’s now getting 5G for the first time. In all,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple says it’s not interested in acquiring TikTok, despite an Axios report that named the company as a potential buyer for the embattled social network. The company tells The Verge that there are no talks at present to acquire TikTok, and it has no plans to pursue such a deal.Notably, Axios sourced the information to figures outside of Apple, who reportedly had knowledge of ongoing talks.Microsoft announced on Sunday that it was in talks to buy TikTok’s operations in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as guided by President Trump. There has been heated speculation about other potential buyers for the app in the days since. Axios also said there was significant private equity interest in the purchase, and Microsoft has stated... Continue reading…

The new Family Bell feature on Google Assistant smart displays and speakers. | Image: Google Google is expanding the capabilities of its Assistant on smart displays and speakers today to make it easier for families that are homeschooling their children during the pandemic.Leading the way is the new Family Bell feature, an alarm-like reminder that can be broadcast from a Nest Home smart display or speaker at a set time. Google is pitching the Family Bell as a way for families to announce when it’s time to start schooling or get ready for bed. A parent can program a Family Bell through the Assistant app on a phone, set when it will go off and repeat on specific days, and choose which smart display or smart speaker it will chime from. Family Bell alerts can also be programmed through Hey Google voice commands, but any management... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Apple is announcing updates for both the 27-inch and 21.5-inch iMacs. It’s updating the processors inside to Intel’s 10th Gen Comet Lake processors and also switching out the webcam to a higher-resolution 1080p HD sensor instead of the low-res 720p found in other Macs. SSDs are now standard across the line, and there will be a bunch of new configuration options — including a “nano-texture” version with less reflective matte glass.The 27-inch iMac starts at $1,799, is available to order today, and will ship this week. The 21.5-inch iMac starts at $1,099 and will ship next week. Apple is also giving the iMac Pro a small spec bump, making the 10-core Intel chips the new baseline for $4,999 — also shipping next week. (Oddly, the iMac Pro is... Continue reading…

Fitbit’s health-tracking business was losing money when Google swooped in to buy it. The European Commission is launching a full investigation into Google’s acquisition of Fitbit. EU regulators are worried that the deal will entrench Google’s position as a market leader in online advertising by giving the search giant access to data collected from Fitbit’s health tracking hardware that can be used for personalized advertisements.“The data collected via wrist-worn wearable devices appears ... to be an important advantage in the online advertising markets,” wrote the commission in a press release. “By increasing the data advantage of Google in the personalization of the ads it serves via its search engine and displays on other internet pages, it would be more difficult for rivals to match Google’s online advertising... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge Ford CEO Jim Hackett is retiring, the company announced on Tuesday, and he will be replaced by current chief operating officer Jim Farley. Hackett will stay with Ford until October to help with the transition and remain a “special advisor” through March 2021.Farley, who has been with Ford for more than a decade and came over from Toyota, said in a conference call that he wants to “swing for the fences” while in charge of Ford. “We know our competition today is Amazon, Baidu, Tesla, Apple, Toyota, and others,” he said. “They’re well-financed and voracious companies.”Hackett was installed as CEO in 2017 after previously running Ford Smart Mobility, the company’s new technologies wing. He replaced Mark Fields, who was pushed out after... Continue reading…

PowerA Gaming peripheral maker PowerA has debuted a few controllers designed with Microsoft’s new xCloud cloud gaming service in mind. The first is the MOGA XP5-X, a $69.99 wireless controller that will launch in September alongside the service’s integration into Game Pass Ultimate.You could just use Microsoft’s cheaper Xbox One Bluetooth controller (which this model looks very similar to) and pick up a cheap phone clip separately, but this pricier model might be worth it if you want to stay charged on the go. It includes an admittedly tough-looking phone clip, and the controller itself has a 3,000mAh power reserve that can be tapped to keep your phone juiced up via USB while you play. To do that, just flip the switch near the right joystick.... Continue reading…

Tapping the magnifying glass icon searches for the contents of the message. | Image: WhatsApp WhatsApp is piloting a new feature that lets users quickly search the contents of viral messages to fact-check misinformation, the company has announced. Starting today, a magnifying glass icon will start appearing next to messages that have been forwarded through a chain of five or more people. Tapping it searches for the message’s contents online, with the idea being that this should reveal any common conspiracy theories or misinformation the message contains.In a screenshot of the feature released by WhatsApp, it uses the example of a viral message which claims that “drinking fresh boiled garlic water will cure COVID-19.” A web search brings up three fact-checking websites, which flag this claim as false. Back in March, CNN reported... Continue reading…

The PlayStation 4 era may be winding down, but people are playing their consoles more than ever at home. Sony just announced as part of its first-quarter earnings that despite a 22 percent decrease in sales of hardware and packaged games, digital software sales are up 83 percent year-on-year, bringing in revenue of 395 trillion yen ($3.72 billion).At 599 trillion yen ($5.65 billion), total PlayStation revenue was 36 percent higher than the same period last year and was the highest for any April-June quarter in PlayStation history. More than 112 million PS4 consoles have now been shipped worldwide, and Sony has nearly 45 million PlayStation Plus subscribers.Sony cites sales of The Last of Us Part II and also calls out Ghost of Tsushima... Continue reading…

Microsoft plans to stop generating trash from its operations by 2030, the company announced today. It also pledged to stop using single-use plastics in its packaging by 2025.As part of its zero waste goal, the company will set up what it’s calling “Circular Centers” to allow the company to reuse or recycle 90 percent of its waste on site, instead of sending it to third-party recyclers. One of the big-ticket items that will be recycled in-house are the servers used in Microsoft’s data centers. The company also pledged to eliminate waste from its own manufacturing process, although its suppliers won’t be expected to stick to the same zero waste goal as Microsoft.People tossed out a record 53.6 million metric tons of e-waste globally in... Continue reading…

Photo by Gary He/Getty Images The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released a “preliminary summary” of its 18-month review of the Boeing 737 Max program, and with it, has detailed the remaining steps the company will likely need to take in order to allow the plane back into the air. Among the changes the agency is asking for is new software for the plane’s flight control computer and displays, a revised manual and enhanced training for flight crew, and new maintenance procedures. A few key issues remain unfinished, though, like finalizing a new pilot training process.The FAA laid out the changes both in the 96-page summary and in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published on Monday. The public will have 45 days to comment on the latter before the agency... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge One of Ubisoft’s most influential executives has been fired after an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment made against him, reports Business Insider. Ubisoft confirmed to The Verge that the executive, Tommy François, departed the company, but declined to comment on the nature of his departure.François was formerly Ubisoft’s vice president of editorial and creative services, a role that gave him oversight over the development of many of the studio’s largest franchises. A separate Business Insider report detailed some of François actions, which included commenting on how his female colleagues looked, massaging people without asking, and, on one occasion, telling his colleagues he had spent the previous evening... Continue reading…

Photo by Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images President Trump has withdrawn the nomination of FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, a six-year FCC veteran who was expected by many to be renewed for a third term, as first reported by Reuters. The withdrawal comes less than a week after Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) placed a hold on the nomination over concerns about O’Rielly’s position on a recently approved terrestrial 5G network.The conflict centers over a controversial 5G network recently approved by the commission. The proposed network would operate on the L-band spectrum traditionally utilized by radar and GPS, operated by Ligado Networks as a low-power terrestrial system. In its proposal, Ligado pledged to report its base stations and operating parameters to avoid any interference with... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter said that the Federal Trade Commission may soon fine it up to $250 million for improper use of users’ phone numbers and email addresses. The potential fines would come for violations of Twitter’s 2011 agreement with the FTC to no longer mislead consumers about how it protects their personal information.Between 2013 and 2019, Twitter used phone numbers and email addresses provided “for safety and security purposes” to help target ads. Twitter disclosed the practice back in October, saying that it was done “inadvertently” and called it “an error.” The FTC evidently believes that Twitter misled consumers by not disclosing that their data may have been used in this way.Twitter says that the commission sent a draft complaint on July... Continue reading…

Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for TurboTax Intuit’s $7.1 billion purchase of Credit Karma earlier this year is now subjected to review by the US Department of Justice. The department is concerned about possible antitrust issues if Intuit — owner of TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Mint — is allowed to take over a former rival that offered free tax preparation tools that were directly in competition with Intuit’s own offering, according to a report from ProPublica.In a memo obtained by ProPublica, the DOJ’s lawyers are apparently concerned about “the influence that Intuit’s purchase of Credit Karma will have on consumer tax preparation platforms and [the] software market.” Currently, the DOJ has requested Intuit and Credit Karma provide more information before it rules on whether to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The New York and California attorneys general, along with the Federal Trade Commission, plan to investigate Amazon’s online Marketplace platform, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. The agencies are going to interview witnesses jointly on conference calls over the next few weeks, in what Bloomberg suggests may be the beginnings of a formal antitrust enforcement action following last week’s landmark Big Tech antitrust hearing.The news comes after intense questioning over Amazon’s Marketplace practices during the hearing. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) asked CEO Jeff Bezos whether its actions toward Marketplace sellers was a pattern of behavior. She played testimony from a third-party bookseller who believed Amazon had blocked their store,... Continue reading…

Microsoft is preparing to launch its xCloud game streaming service as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate next month, and we’re now starting to get some more details on how touch controls will work with the service. Microsoft initially detailed touch controls last year, but the company has now been working with Xbox Game Studios developers like The Coalition and Ninja Theory to bring these controls to Xbox games.During a Microsoft Game Stack stream today, Jarret Bradley, senior gameplay producer at The Coalition, showed off how touch controls will work with Gears 5. The Coalition has built custom layouts for anything you can do in the game, including buttons for aiming, shooting, reloading, and controls for driving vehicles.The team has... Continue reading…

Image: Google Backing up your Android phone is always smart — and backing it up to the cloud makes it easy to reload your data even if your phone is lost, stolen, or broken. And now you can back up some of that data to Google’s cloud storage service, Google One, even if you aren’t on one of the company’s paid plans, which start at $1.99 for 100GB of storage. If you’ve got a personal Google account (not a G Suite account), you can get up to 15GB of storage for backing up your mobile data (although that can vary somewhat, depending on what other services / accounts you have).Back up data with AndroidOf course, you don’t need Google One to back up your app data, call history, contacts, settings, or SMS messages. You could already do that easily using... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Android’s real-time captions feature, Live Caption, is gaining the ability to work with voice and video calls, Google announced on Monday. Previously, Live Caption only worked with media that played on your phone, like a YouTube video, but this new functionality means you’ll soon be able to have a phone call with someone and get captions of what they’re saying as they say it.If you want to see Live Caption with calls in action, check out my colleague Dieter Bohn’s video he posted to Twitter using the feature on the newly announced Pixel 4A. Google says the feature will be rolling out to the Pixel 2, 3, 3A, and 4 as well.

Based on wallpaper by Michael Gillett (Wallpaper Hub) President Donald Trump claims that TikTok will “be out of business in the United States” on September 15th if its Chinese parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell it and provide the US Treasury Department with “a lot of money,” backing off an earlier claim that he planned to “ban” the app over the weekend. This follows reports that Microsoft negotiated a 45-day window to acquire the company, something it confirmed yesterday in a blog post.Trump announced the news at the White House today and elaborated on how he believes Microsoft or another “big,” “secure,” and “very American” company should buy TikTok. He argued that it should buy the entirety of the company from ByteDance — not just its operations in the US, Canada, Australia, and New... Continue reading…

Square Enix’s Avengers game will arrive this fall, and it’ll bring back console-exclusive content in a big way: the company announced that PlayStation players will get exclusive access to a playable Spider-Man character sometime in 2021.Frankly, that sucks. It’s not clear whether Sony paid Square Enix extra for the exclusive character or if this is simply an extension of the movie rights that Sony has long since held to the character. But the fact is that PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 owners will be able to get access to a major piece of content for the upcoming game that players on Xbox, PC, or Stadia won’t.Platform-exclusive content in third-party releases has been a frustrating aspect of the games industry for years, with both... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro In Dragon Ball Z, the popular anime series of the late ‘80s / early ‘90s, they have this thing called — hand to God — the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Go into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and you’ll experience a whole year’s time in a single day. On the show, friendly but aggressively jacked warriors essentially used it to cram for exams, squeezing in a few years’ worth of training into a weekend. That used to be a sweet idea to me: if I had one of those, I would hop in, not to get shredded but to watch TV. Four months into pandemic-induced isolation, that’s not as appealing anymore. I finally have all this time to watch TV, and I never know how to spend it.This is patently absurd. There has never been more TV to watch. At any given time,... Continue reading…

Image: FuboTV ESPN and many other Disney channels are now live on FuboTV, according to a FuboTV support document. You should now be able to watch ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ABC, ABC News Live, FX, FXX, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Freeform, National Geographic, and more on the over-the-top live TV streaming service following a deal struck with Disney on June 24th.The new additions to FuboTV come on the heels of a recent price hike, however — FuboTV announced in July that it would be increasing its monthly subscription prices, meaning the company’s standard plan now costs $59.99 a month. However, such price hikes aren’t uncommon when a streaming service strikes a deal to carry more content. YouTube TV announced a price jump from $50 per month... Continue reading…

Samsung’s next big product launch is right around the corner, taking place on August 5th at 10AM ET, though it’ll be a virtual event as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The main product reveal is almost certainly going to be the next phone in Samsung’s Galaxy Note series, its top-of-the-range smartphone lineup that pairs some of the most powerful phone hardware around with a big, beautiful screen and its signature S Pen stylus.But Samsung hasn’t been shy about teasing additional product reveals. The company said in a blog post that it plans to unveil five devices at the event, and more recently, it used a teaser trailer to show off five silhouettes. To our eyes, they look like silhouettes for a new tablet, smartwatch, true... Continue reading…

Google has announced the Pixel 4A, its new midrange Android phone that packs in features similar to the Pixel 4, like an excellent camera and astrophotography mode, but at a much more affordable price. It will be available starting on August 20th for $349. Check out Dieter Bohn’s video review, embedded above, for everything you need to know or read his full review right here.Preorders are up at a few places, including Google’s own store, Amazon, and Best Buy. Compared to shopping for most other phones, it’s simple here. There’s just one size, one storage configuration, and one color. So really, your only decision is where you want to buy it and whether you want a case included with your purchase.Starting with Amazon, Google is selling... Continue reading…

Dish has acquired Ting Mobile, a small cell service provider, in its latest step toward becoming a major nationwide carrier. Ting launched in 2012 and had 286,000 subscribers as of July 2018, making it downright tiny. Since Ting relied on other carriers’ wireless networks, the acquisition really only gives Dish the branding and customers.The bigger piece of this deal is something that most people won’t see: Ting’s parent company, the internet services company Tucows, will provide backend mobile services for the nationwide network Dish is building out. That includes core functions like customer billing, phone activation, and network provisioning — services that Dish needs in place before it can launch a truly independent wireless... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple’s second-generation AirPods that come with a wireless charging case are down to their cheapest price ever at Amazon. Normally $199, they’re just $140 right now. The previous best price was holding steady at $169, so this is a great time to invest. Interestingly, these are the same price as the model that doesn’t include a charging case that supports Qi chargers. Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If you’re in the market for tech that will help to extend and strengthen your home Wi-Fi connection, Google’s Nest Wifi mesh Wi-Fi system is among the best. Today at Target, you can save $70 on a bundle containing a Nest Wifi router along with a Point (what Google calls its mesh Wi-Fi extender that doubles as a Google... Continue reading…

Riot’s shooter Valorant hasn’t been out long, but it’s already becoming known for its excellent character designs and weapon skins. Recently, that’s included a stylish German hacker with adorable robots, and guns that transform into dragons. Now the developer has revealed its “glitchpop” skin line, which basically turns your weapons into cyberpunk sticker books.Really, the name says it all: all the weapon skins have a glitchy look out of a far-out dystopia but with bright colors to liven them up. A big collection of stickers adds more personality, giving the guns the feel of a DJ’s laptop. The weapons can also be leveled up to earn different color schemes, sound effects, and even a holographic projector.

Stripped to just the phone essentials, but it gets them right Continue reading…