The Verge

Pandora Pandora is giving podcast hosts more information about the listeners they reach on its platform starting today. The company just announced its new Podcast Analytics feature with the goal of giving podcasters more data about their listeners, like where they live, how long they listen to each episode, and the number of thumbs up or thumbs down their show receives. For access to their analytics, podcasters have to sign up for Pandora For Podcasters, which is free but requires podcasters to submit their show’s RSS feed.This move makes Pandora’s podcast product more equitable with Apple and Spotify, which both already offer data dashboards. Spotify specifically incorporates the music listeners enjoy, in addition to their podcast habits,... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is $100 right now ($30 off) for the 8GB version in black. If you fancy one of the other colors, like plum, twilight blue, or sage, those are $25 off instead. Whichever you choose, you’ll be getting the best e-reader for even less than usual. Compared to the more affordable Kindle model, this one’s screen has a more pixel dense display for smoother fonts and better-looking images. It’s also backlit for night-time reading and IPX8 waterproof. This model also supports Bluetooth headphones, so you can listen to Audible audiobooks if that’s what the moment calls for instead of reading.If getting a waterproof Kindle with a great screen isn’t a priority, but you need an e-reader, the regular Kindle is $65 (usually... Continue reading…

The original founders of World View Enterprises — a company aimed at using giant balloons to send payloads into the stratosphere — are launching a new venture together, one that will use those same massive balloons to send people leisurely above the Earth. Named Space Perspective, the now distinct company is focused on floating paying customers up to the edge of “space,” where they can get a rare view of the curvature of the Earth.Such a relaxed space travel experience has long been the aim of Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum, the co-CEOs of Space Perspective who are announcing the launch of the company today. They originally started World View with tourist flights as the primary end game, but they’re now making a separate enterprise to... Continue reading…

A $110 tablet that’s good for watching Prime video and not much else Continue reading…

Apple’s series of macOS (and iOS) devices aren’t just part of a technology ecosystem — they’re part of a lifestyle. From iPhones to iPads to Mac laptops, the constellation of tech devices, joined with the operating system and wide range of apps and games, are what make fans out of Apple users.But while macOS is known for its ease of use and relatively failure-free operation, there are always questions that will come up — and we’re here to answer them.If you’ve just bought your first Mac system, or are trying to introduce a friend or relative to a new Mac, we’ve got some great articles that can help. Whether it’s something as general as how to manage your system updates or take a screenshot, or more specific tasks like enabling... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Google is rolling out a software update that improves network performance for Nest Wifi and Google WiFi routers on slow network connections, the company announced in a blog post. “Your Wi-Fi will better support multiple video calls, gaming sessions and more simultaneously,” Google Nest product manager Sanjay Noronha wrote in the post, adding that the latest software update will also “improve device connection speeds on wireless networks and optimizations so your devices move to faster Wi-Fi radio channels.”The update includes improvements to general security and stability. The priority device feature, which lets users choose which device temporarily gets the strongest Wi-Fi available, is getting “smarter” as well, according to Google.... Continue reading…

There isn’t much downtime in The Last of Us Part II. As Ellie, driven by loss and trauma, players will spend hours shooting, stabbing, and strangling their way to vengeance. Ellie is a swift and capable killer in a game that rarely has a feel-good moment to spare. It’s a breath of fresh air, then, to have some downtime for one of the game’s more calming aspects of play expressed through Ellie practicing guitar.Scattered throughout The Last of Us Part II are cast-off instruments for Ellie to take a break with. Naughty Dog has finally discovered the best use for the PlayStation 4 controller’s touchpad: swipe for a satisfying strum. By using the controller’s joysticks, swapping between notes, and brushing the touchpad, you’re free to play... Continue reading…

Djay’s NeuralMix feature. | Photo: Algoriddim Algoriddim is adding an impressive new feature to its Djay app for iOS: a set of sliders that let you instantly fade out certain portions of whatever track you’re playing, letting you highlight just the drums, the vocal track, or all the instruments in between. Algoriddim says the feature works well with just about any genre of music you throw at it.“Heavy metal maybe wasn’t the greatest,” Karim Morsy, Algoriddim’s CEO, told The Verge. “But I would say everything else is pretty spot on.”There are already ways that DJs can attempt to isolate different portions of a song, but they aren’t particularly reliable. The best option is still to have the official stems from a track, giving DJs the isolated vocals, drums, and so on.If you don’t... Continue reading…

Image: Nvidia Select Square Enix titles are returning to Nvidia’s cloud gaming service GeForce Now, Nvidia announced on Thursday. The new library of Square Enix games consists of 14 PC titles, including the most recent entries in the Deus Ex and Tomb Raider reboot series. Square Enix was one of the earliest game publishers to pull its library of games from GeForce Now when Nvidia launched its paid version back in February, and some previously supported games will still be missing, like the Batman: Arkham series, Nier: Automata, Final Fantasy XV, and Octopath Traveler.Nvidia tells The Verge that Square Enix is returning to the platform thanks to its opt-in program, which it put in place last month. Now, if a developer wants its games on GeForce Now,... Continue reading…

Spotify Spotify has a new podcast deal that’ll allow it to make narrative shows around DC Comics characters, like Batman and Harley Quinn. The company announced the multi-year, first-look licensing deal with WarnerMedia, which owns DC Comics, this morning, giving Spotify another group of exclusive podcasts to add to its catalog. The agreement means Spotify can produce, market, distribute, and sell ads against podcasts built around DC Comics IP. Although the company didn’t detail the agreement, it’s likely Warner is making money not just off the licensing but also the ads that’ll show up in the shows. Spotify hasn’t yet released details on the programs and casting.DC’s biggest competitor, Marvel, has its own audio deal with Pandora. In October... Continue reading…

Photo by Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images Parents are supporting their kids through intense but potentially lucrative careers Continue reading…

Microsoft is getting ready to launch its xCloud game streaming service later this year as part of Xbox Game Pass. The service will initially be powered by Xbox One S consoles in server blades in Microsoft’s datacenters, but the software giant is planning to upgrade this hardware next year. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that testing has already begun on upgraded xCloud servers, and that Microsoft is even experimenting with dedicated PC server blades for streaming PC games over xCloud.Microsoft will use its new Xbox Series X hardware in xCloud servers next year, and it provides some big performance gains for its cloud streaming efforts, particularly on the CPU side. This next-gen processor is far more powerful and... Continue reading…

A chart produced by Amazon shows the scale of the attack. | Image: Amazon Amazon Web Services recently had to defend against a DDoS attack with a peak traffic volume of 2.3 Tbps, the largest ever recorded, ZDNet reports. Detailing the attack in its Q1 2020 threat report, Amazon said that the attack occurred back in February, and was mitigated by AWS Shield, a service designed to protect customers of Amazon’s on-demand cloud computing platform from DDoS attacks, as well as from bad bots and application vulnerabilities. The company did not disclose the target or the origin of the attack.To put that number into perspective, prior to February of this year, ZDNet notes that the largest DDoS attack recorded was back in March 2018, when NetScout Arbor mitigated a 1.7 Tbps attack. The previous month, GitHub disclosed... Continue reading…

An image allegedly showing Lore Elisabeth Blumenthal throwing burning debris into a police sedan during protest in Philadelphia on May 30th. | Photo: US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania It took an Etsy review, a LinkedIn profile, a handful of Instagram videos, and a few Google searches for FBI agents to identify a masked woman accused of setting two police cars on fire during recent protests in Philadelphia. The protests took place on May 30 in response to the police killing of George Floyd.The case, as reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, demonstrates how police have been able to use social media and other publicly-available online records to identify protesters from just a few scraps of initial information. According to NBC, the individual charged by the FBI, 33-year-old Lore Elisabeth Blumenthal, now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison if convicted and a fine of up to $250,000.Social media... Continue reading…

Images: Ford Ford announced late last year that the Mustang Mach-E will be the company’s first car to allow hands-free driving in certain situations. Today, the company is opening up about how exactly that technology will work, but it’s also saying that the feature won’t be available until the second half of 2021.When the Mach-E goes on sale at the end of this year, buyers who want the hands-free driving mode will have to purchase what Ford’s calling the “Active 2.0 Prep Package.” This will make sure the car has the hardware (a forward-facing camera and radar sensors) that’s necessary for the hands-free driving mode, which Ford is calling “Active Drive Assist.” But the Active Drive Assist feature will require a separate purchase of its own, and... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales Programming note: The Interface is off on Thursday. Back on Monday.It seems hard to believe now, but there was a time when political advertising was relatively uncontroversial. Sure, individual ads regularly proved to be controversial, from the nuclear provocations of Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Daisy” to racist fear-mongering of George H.W. Bush’s “Willie Horton.” And the economics of political advertising, which depend heavily on moneyed interests pushing their agenda through opaque front groups, have been the subject of sustained and valid criticism since well before the Citizens United decision.But the basic idea that a politician ought to be able to buy space in a media outlet and show it to a bunch of people — that was something we... Continue reading…

Photo by Matt McNulty - Manchester City/Manchester City FC via Getty Images Amazon will start streaming live Premier League football (soccer) games free on Twitch later this month. Twitch viewers in the UK will be able to access four matches, starting with the Crystal Palace vs. Burnley match on June 29th. Deadline reports that the Premier League streams will also include Twitch chat, so expect to see thousands of fans shouting virtually from the sidelines and spamming emoji alongside the games. Amazon will also be streaming its Premier League games on Prime Video for subscribers.This is the first time that Amazon has chosen to stream Premier League games through its Twitch service, free of charge. Amazon secured the rights to stream Premier League matches in the UK for three years back in 2018, and streamed... Continue reading…

The extension links to specific text on a web page, highlighted yellow. | Screenshot: Web.Dev Link to Text Fragment is a new Chrome Extension from Google that lets you generate URLs to specific text on a webpage, regardless of the page’s formatting.With the extension installed, simply highlight the text you want to link to, right click, and select “Copy Link to Selected Text.” This can then be shared and opened by anyone using a compatible browser. For example, clicking this link in Chrome or Edge will bring you directly to a highlighted section at the bottom of the article.The Google extension builds upon a new feature that was recently added to Chromium called Text Fragments, which works by appending extra linking information to a URL after a #. It’s the same technology that Google now sometimes uses to link to specific... Continue reading…

Samsung has released its Health Monitor app in South Korea, enabling blood pressure tracking for the Galaxy Watch Active 2 smartwatch. The rollout is slightly ahead of schedule; Samsung previously said the app would be released in the third quarter of this year after getting approval from South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in April.The Galaxy Watch Active 2 still won’t work as a full-on replacement for a traditional blood pressure cuff; in fact, you need to use one to calibrate the app every four weeks. That’s really for the best, though — optical-based sensors can technically only measure the change in blood pressure rather than give an accurate reading by themselves. With a traditional reading as a baseline, Samsung’s app... Continue reading…

In the image above, a field of pulsating blue spheres rearranges itself into geometric patterns. If that looks familiar, that means you probably watched Sony’s PlayStation 5 reveal last week. The ultra-modern vibe of the graphics and their white, black, and blue color scheme set the stage perfectly for the reveal of the actual PS5 console.But the image above actually isn’t Sony’s. It’s the work of Maxim Zhestkov, a Russian media artist — and the similarities between his work and the graphics in Sony’s PS5 video make us think his studio was commissioned to make those graphics. Let’s take a look at some of what was shown in the PS5 video and compare it to his work.Check out the below GIF from the PS5 video, for example. Here, a column... Continue reading…

With a huge chunk of the working world now working remotely, conference calls in Zoom or Skype have become a central part of day-to-day life. So Dell is adapting with a new Mobile Adapter Speakerphone, which combines a USB-C hub that adds HDMI or USB-A ports with a conference call-style speakerphone for better audio quality.With both a wrap-around USB-C cable and a second USB-C port, the Mobile Adapter Speakerphone lets you plug in a power adapter for 90W USB-C PD passthrough charging, while providing access to two USB-A ports (rated for up to 10 Gbps speeds), and an HDMI 2.0 port (with support for 4K HDR at 60Hz refresh rates). There’s no SD card slots or Ethernet port, though — a particularly puzzling move given how much video... Continue reading…

Kim Kardashian West has entered into a deal with Spotify to produce and host a new exclusive podcast. The deal follows Spotify’s landmark contract last month with podcast juggernaut Joe Rogan, who is moving his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience to the music streaming platform this later this year. The Wall Street Journal first reported Kardashian West’s deal on Wednesday.It’s unclear what the financial terms for the deal are; media reports said Rogan’s exclusive contract with Spotify was worth more than $100 million. It’s unlikely Kardashian West’s is as lucrative, as she’s not migrating an existing popular podcast to Spotify’s platform like Rogan did, but starting an altogether new one. Spotify declined to comment on the specifics of... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is committing to spending more than $175 million on racial equity initiatives with a focus on financing black-owned businesses and supporting black entrepreneurs. The funding was announced by Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Wednesday alongside a number of other commitments and changes meant to fight anti-black racism and support black Google employees and their families.The $175 million commitment is part of an “economic opportunity package” that Google breaks down into four groups. The largest sum is $100 million in funding to be directed toward black-led venture capital firms, startups, and other organizations focused on black entrepreneurs. Another $50 million will be used as financing and grants for small businesses “focused on... Continue reading…

Image: VWIDtalk Volkswagen’s first all-electric SUV, the ID 4, has broken cover thanks to leaked images from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology that were picked up by a VW fan forum.The ID 4 — which was previously known as the ID Crozz when it was still a concept — is the first vehicle from VW’s forthcoming ID lineup of electric vehicles that will be sold in the US. The ID 4 will also be sold in China and Europe. The German automaker is said to be planning a full reveal of the ID 4 sometime later this summer. It’s expected to get around 300 miles of range on a full charge and is built on the same modular EV platform that will power VW’s other ID vehicles.It will be the first ID vehicle to come to the USThe photos published on... Continue reading…

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images The Department of Justice has released a proposal for changing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, urging Congress to pass a dramatic reduction in the law’s scope and expose services like apps and websites to greater legal liability. The proposal creates new categories of “egregious content” that wouldn’t be covered, makes it potentially easier to sue for content removal, and denies protection if a service “purposefully facilitates or solicits third-party content” that’s illegal.The new rules draw on a workshop the Justice Department held early this year, and cover several disparate complaints about Section 230. The proposal suggests allowing lawsuits against sites when users upload child abuse and exploitation, terrorism, or... Continue reading…

Zynn is no longer paying users to watch videos and refer friends to the app, a practice that quickly rocketed the TikTok clone to the top of both Apple and Google’s app stores.The payment feature is being replaced with a new rewards system called Zynncheers. Zynncheers still gives users points for watching videos (now in addition to commenting on and liking videos). The big distinction is that there are currently no rewards being offered in exchange for the points — not money or anything else.In the app, Zynn says users will get “benefits and rewards” for collecting Zynncheers, but it doesn’t say what those will be. “We have some plans about the use of Zynncheers, but we need your ideas [sic] more,” the company writes. The Verge has... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is testing a new method of selling subscription services with select Android developers that will allow customers to buy a subscription from the Play Store, without even needing to install the app first. The news, reported today by TechCrunch, was first hinted at last week when Google announced the Google Play Billing Library Version 3, an updated set of developer tools for processing Play Store payments and handling purchases of digital goods that coincided with the release of the Android 11 beta.“Billing Library version 3 unlocks the ability for users to discover and purchase items outside of your app, such as across the Play store,” reads Google’s blog post. “One example is the new frictionless subscription promo code... Continue reading…

Horizon Forbidden West — the sequel to 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn — won’t arrive on the PlayStation 5 until 2021, game director Mathijs de Jonge confirmed in a new video that offered further information on the upcoming title. According to de Jonge, Guerrilla Games is “aiming to release the game next year in 2021,” meaning that it won’t be out when the PS5 launches this holiday season.While there’s no new footage of Horizon Forbidden West in the video, de Jonge did offer more details about what to expect when the sequel arrives next year. According to de Jonge, the world of Forbidden West is even more detailed than the previous game and also offers a larger map.“Virtually” no loading screensAnd thanks to the PS5’s super-fast SSD, de... Continue reading…

Alex Castro Today, Twitch launches its proprietary streaming software, Twitch Studio, on Mac in open beta, according to a blog post on its website. It’s a smart move. The original version of the software was PC-only, and while PCs are somewhat easier to stream from for a variety of reasons — mostly having to do with software options — it makes sense that creators who aren’t PC users would want to get in on streaming, too. (The pandemic also definitely got more people interested in streaming.) If you’re new to streaming, Twitch Studio is a great place to start. It’s been optimized by Twitch for ease of use, and it walks you through the hardest parts of setting up a stream. (That is: fiddling with technical settings.) It also has... Continue reading…

Twitter is rolling out the ability to record audio snippets and attach them to your tweets. The new feature is available first on iOS and launching today for “a limited group of people,” according to the company. “Sometimes 280 characters aren’t enough and some conversational nuances are lost in translation. So starting today, we’re testing a new feature that will add a more human touch to the way we use Twitter — your very own voice,” Twitter’s Maya Patterson and Rémy Bourgoin wrote in a blog post.If you’ve got access to it, you’ll see a new waveform icon beside the camera icon when composing a tweet. Tap that, and a red record button appears at the bottom of the screen, which you can tap to start recording your message.“Each voice... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Google Assistant Smart Displays will be able to access AMP web articles starting later this summer, Google says. Alongside the AMP news, Google has also announced a number of improvements for its voice assistant, which it says will make interactions with it faster and more seamless and yield more accurate responses to queries.AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is Google’s instant article format, and it’s designed as a way to load webpages faster on mobile. According to Google, the new AMP functionality is designed to bring the “depth of great web content” to its Smart Displays, with news being an area of focus. Google’s Smart Displays currently provide a host of news content, but in the past, they’ve focused on showing you video clips and... Continue reading…

Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images Over the last several weeks, social media has been filled with videos of police officers pepper-spraying, bludgeoning, and shooting protestors. They were captured by civilians, recording on smartphones — not by police body cameras. That changes how people understand the events on the video, helping protestors rather than police shape the narrative.Many people treat video footage, regardless of where it comes from, as objective evidence, says Mary Fan, a professor at the University of Washington School of Law who studies cameras and police encounters. “The temptation is to see it as a window into what really happened,” she says. But that’s not the case: the place the video comes from has a big impact on how people interpret it.“Police... Continue reading…

Photo by Bradley Kappel for The Verge Lyft announced a plan on Wednesday to transition to “100 percent” electric or zero-emission vehicles by 2030. By working with automakers and rental car companies, as well as the millions of independent contractors who drive for Lyft every day, the ride-hailing company believes it can prevent “tens of millions of metric tons” of pollutants from entering the atmosphere.“Now more than ever, we need to work together to create cleaner, healthier, and more equitable communities,” John Zimmer, co-founder and president of Lyft, said in a statement. “Success breeds success, and if we do this right, it creates a path for others.”The news comes as talk of EV mandates for ride-hailing companies is gaining traction among many big US cities. It’s... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Zoom says it will begin allowing users of its videoconferencing software to enable end-to-end encryption of calls starting with a beta next month, the company announced on Wednesday. The feature won’t be restricted to paid enterprise users, either. It’s coming to both free and paid users, Zoom says, and it will be a toggle switch any call admin can turn on or disable, in the event they want to allow traditional phone lines or older conference room phones to join.The company said as recently as early June that it might not be able to enable end-to-end encryption for free users out of concern that the app could be used for unlawful activity. Strong encryption would make it difficult for the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Lucid Motors has announced that it will reveal the production version of its first all-electric luxury sedan, the Air, in an online event on September 9th. The California startup says it will show off the Air’s final exterior and interior designs, and offer new details on the car’s specs, configurations, and pricing.But customers will now have to wait a little longer to get behind the wheel of their preordered Airs thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to TechCrunch, which reports that the first batch of cars that come off of Lucid Motors’ production line at the end of this year won’t be sold. Instead, the first customer car deliveries have now been pushed back to early 2021.The Air was slated to be revealed at the 2020 New York... Continue reading…

Hikaru Nakamura in 2017. | Photo by Andrew Halseid-Budd / Getty Images One of the fastest-growing games on Twitch is also one of the oldest. Over the past few months, the ancient board game chess has become a mainstay on the streaming platform, thanks to a combination of popular streamers and big-name chess champions playing online. According to data from analytics firm SullyGnome provided by StreamElements, the hours watched on Twitch for chess have nearly doubled every month this year; in May, the number topped more than 8 million hours watched.The surge has been led by Hikaru Nakamura, a five-time US chess champion and the youngest American to ever achieve the grandmaster title. Nakamura has seen particular success coaching popular streamers like Felix “xQc” Lengyel, Faze Clan’s Nate Hill, and League of... Continue reading…

Google Calendar has added Juneteenth as a holiday in the United States.Juneteenth dates back to June 19th, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to read federal orders, freeing the last remaining slaves in the state. Celebrations of the holiday began as early as 1866 when freed slaves in Texas celebrated its first anniversary.Google Calendar is not the first major calendar app to recognize Juneteenth as a US holiday. In 2018, some users noticed Apple added the day as a holiday on its calendar app. The addition to Google Calendar was spotted by Android Police.In response to protests against racism and police brutality across the US, many private companies announced that they would start celebrating... Continue reading…

Google is taking another step toward its Meet integration with Gmail today, bringing the videoconferencing service directly into Gmail for iOS and Android. Gmail mobile users won’t need the dedicated Google Meet app to join meetings, and Google has decided to include Meet as a separate, and rather large, tab at the bottom of the main Gmail interface. If you don’t want Meet to appear as a tab, then you’ll have to turn off the Meet integration in the settings menu.Google made Google Meet free for anyone at the end of April, and it has wasted no time integrating the service into Gmail ever since. In the coming weeks, iOS and Android users of Gmail will find the new Meet tab to quickly join meetings. Google has really been... Continue reading…

Triumph, the premium British motorcycle brand most preferred by James Bond, is out with a new two-wheeler of a different sort. The Trekker GT is the world-famous motorcycle maker’s first electric bicycle, and, at first glance, it appears to be a highly capable commuter model. It won’t be cheap, though: the bike will be going on sale in Europe, the UK, and the US for £2,950 ($3,318).The bike has a minimalist design, with much of the battery, wiring, and drivetrain tucked inside the hydro-formed, lightweight aluminum frame. Triumph says the Trekker GT is “perfect all-road choice for commuting, fitness and everyday riding fun” — although we’d have to test it before we could agree.A minimalist designTriumph outfitted its first e-bike... Continue reading…

Photo by BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images A cheap, common steroid improves survival rates for COVID-19 patients on ventilators, according to a press release from the research team. The drug, called dexamethasone, reduced deaths by one-third in patients on ventilators, and by one-fifth in patients who needed supplemental oxygen, according to the team. It did not help patients who were able to breathe on their own.Steroids like dexamethasone blunt inflammation in the body. Researchers think that some patients with severe cases of COVID-19 have dangerously high levels of inflammation as part of an overactive immune response to the virus and that calming that down with an anti-inflammatory like dexamethasone could help ease their symptoms. That’s also why people shouldn’t take... Continue reading…

Image: NBC Consumer electronics have replaced studios during the pandemic Continue reading…

DC Comics is preparing to host a 24-hour event this August that will include teasers and announcements for upcoming comics, games, TV shows, and films, including The Batman, Shazam!, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman 1984.The event, called FanDome, will kick off on August 22nd at 1PM ET. Alongside announcements and general news, DC Comics and WarnerMedia are wrangling an assortment of talent for interviews and discussions across some of the company’s most anticipated titles, including Aquaman, The Batman, Batwoman, Black Adam, Black Lightning, DC Super Hero Girls, Legends of Tomorrow, Stargirl, Doom Patrol, The Flash, Harley Quinn, the Snyder Cut of Justice League, Lucifer, Pennyworth, Shazam!, The Suicide Squad, Supergirl, Superman & Lois,... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge A few weeks ago, I highlighted a $100 deal on a refurbished set of Jabra Elite 75t headphones. That price remains unbeatable, though if you aren’t wanting to go down the refurbished route, a brand-new set is more affordable than ever at Amazon and Best Buy. These normally cost $180, but you can get them now for $150.While the Elite 75t lack noise cancellation or a wireless charging case, they make up that with excellent sound quality, a comfortable fit, and USB-C charging. Compared to AirPods, they have better noise isolation and better compatibility with Android devices. These earned one of the top spots in our buying guide to the best truly wireless headphones. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Amazon’s... Continue reading…

Image: Sonos Sonos has announced a new color option for its portable $399 Move speaker: it now comes in a “lunar white” design in addition to the grayish-black color the company already offers.It makes sense since every other Sonos speaker (from the $799 Arc soundbar to the cheapest $179 One SL) already comes in both black and white color options. The new design allows the Move to match the rest of the Sonos speaker lineup. Image: Sonos The Move is different from Sonos’ other products in one key respect: while it’s still a home speaker that’s designed to stream music over Wi-Fi and in conjunction with other Sonos products, it also has an integrated battery and Bluetooth support, allowing it to be moved around (or even outside)... Continue reading…

Image: Boston Dynamics Robotmaker Boston Dynamics has finally put its four-legged robot Spot on general sale. After years of development, the company began leasing the machine to businesses last year, and, as of today, is now letting any US firm buy their very own Spot for $74,500.It’s a hefty price tag, equal to the base price for a luxury Tesla Model S. But Boston Dynamics says, for that money, you’re getting the most advanced mobile robot in the world, able to go pretty much anywhere a human can (as long as there are no ladders involved).Although Spot is certainly nimble, its workload is mostly limited right now to surveying and data collection. Trial deployments have seen Spot create 3D maps of construction sites and hunt for machine faults in offshore... Continue reading…

Amazon, which is currently being sued for allegedly failing to protect workers from COVID-19, has unveiled a new AI tool it says will help employees follow social distancing rules.The company’s “Distance Assistant” combines a TV screen, depth sensors, and AI-enabled camera to track employees’ movements and give them feedback in real time. When workers come closer than six feet to one another, circles around their feet flash red on the TV, indicating to employees that they should move to a safe distance apart. The devices are self-contained, meaning they can be deployed quickly where needed and moved about.Amazon compares the system to radar speed checks which give drivers instant feedback on their driving. The assistants have been... Continue reading…

As restaurants across the US begin to reopen, Yelp is rolling out new tools to allow business owners to share the safety measures they’re taking to keep both customers and staff safe.Yelp will launch a new COVID-19 section for businesses listed on the platform today. Located in between the business’s name and reviews, the section will let business owners show what services they will offer, like indoor or outdoor dining, and what safety measures they are taking, like temperature checks.A number of different attributes will be available under the COVID-19 section. Business owners will be allowed to check off whether they observe different safety measures such as contactless payment or mandatory face masks and gloves for staff.... Continue reading…

Image: Nintendo Jump Rope Challenge is a charming new free game from Nintendo that uses a pair of Joy-Cons to jump a virtual rope. You hold the Joy-Cons as though they’re jump-rope handles, and swing them around as you jump. Jumping bunny rabbits show your progress on-screen. The initial aim is to do one hundred jumps a day, although this goal can be increased.It’s a simple bit of exercise, but the big benefit is that the game doesn’t require any additional accessories. In contrast Nintendo’s other recent exercise game, Ring Fit Adventure, has experienced big stock shortages, as people turned to it as a way to workout at home. Other fitness equipment has seen a similar surge in demand, resulting in shortages.“It’s all the fun of jumping, but there’s... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Last week I wrote about a set of predictions that I got spectacularly wrong. Today, to soothe my fragile ego, let’s talk about a case where I was a closer to the mark.In April, after talking with public health experts, I wrote about why Bluetooth-based approaches to finding new cases of COVID-19 seemed likely to fall short. A combination of human behaviors and technical challenges seemed likely to limit the effectiveness of a pandemic response scheme that relied on our phones passively pinging each other wherever we went. At the same time, I wrote, a more old-fashioned approach — using human beings to make phone calls and identify people who may have been exposed to the disease — seemed much more promising.Somewhat hilariously, at... Continue reading…

Microsoft is launching a new Money in Excel feature that’s designed to help the millions of people who use Excel to track budgets and personal finances. Money in Excel is a template and add-in for Excel that allows Microsoft 365 subscribers to securely connect to bank, credit card, investment, or loan accounts and import transactions and account information directly into a spreadsheet.You’ll need to be a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriber in the US to get access to Money in Excel, and you can simply download the template to begin connecting bank accounts through the Plaid connector. Most major US financial institutions are supported, and the template will automatically import transactions from accounts into a single workbook. ... Continue reading…