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The Pokémon Company International and The Wand Company are teaming up to release premium replicas of the classic Poké Ball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball, and Premier Ball. These $99.99 die-cast metal balls come with proximity-sensing tech that causes its button to light up and change color when pressed. You might be thinking that the point of a poké ball, any poké ball, would be to be thrown, as decades of games and cartoons have taught — especially for one that’s motion activated — but not this ball, buddy! This is not a toy. A replica weights in at 10.5oz, which, according to the very first result on Google, is twice the weight of a baseball and 4.5oz heavier than a cue ball. It is distressingly described as having “real heft” and being... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3mAwU9m

Images: Nikola Motor Company General Motors ditched its plans to acquire an equity stake in troubled electric truck startup Nikola. GM will also no longer help engineer and manufacture Nikola’s battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, including the Badger pickup truck . It won’t come as a total shock to anyone who’s been following Nikola over the last several months . Less than a week after GM announced its plan to acquire an 11 percent stake in the buzzy company, short-selling firm Hindenburg Research published a bombshell report accusing Nikola of fraud in showcasing its electric vehicle technology. Nikola founder Trevor Milton stepped down as board chairman on September 21st in the wake of the report. GM is shifting from partner to customer On Monday,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/39zpqA9

A woman from the Mayan community of Tecoh wades through the water in a flood caused by Tropical Storm Cristobal in the town of Tecoh near Merida in Yucatan State, Mexico, on June 3rd, 2020. | Photo by Luis Perez / AFP via Getty Images The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season officially ends today, wrapping up a truly exhausting season that smashed records and dealt repeated blows to vulnerable coastal communities. “It’s just been crazy,” says Allison Wing an assistant professor of meteorology at Florida State University. “For the forecasters and scientists involved I think everyone is really just a bit tired at this point and kind of ready for it to be over.” This was the most active Atlantic hurricane season ever documented This was the most active Atlantic hurricane season ever documented. Thirteen storms strengthened into hurricanes, the second highest number in recorded history. Thirty storms grew strong enough to earn a name, beating 2005’s record of 28 storms. The... Continu

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced plans to depart the commission when President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20th. Pai has served on the FCC since 2012. “It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve at the Federal Communications Commission, including as Chairman of the FCC over the past four years,” Pai said in a statement. “To be the first Asian-American to chair the FCC has been a particular privilege. As I often say: only in America.” “As I often say: only in America” Pai was appointed chairman in 2017 and served for the duration of the Trump administration, overseeing an unusually active period in federal telecom policy. He began his term with the controversial decision to roll back Title II classification , undoing the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3mnirh9

Cool stuff for the house and family Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3fQmP5E

Photo by Blake Nissen for The Boston Globe via Getty Images Moderna plans to file for authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine today, after the final analysis of its clinical trial data confirmed that it is safe and 94 percent effective. It is the second company to submit COVID-19 vaccine data to the Food and Drug Administration, after Pfizer and BioNTech submitted their data earlier this month. In a press release , Moderna said that there were 196 cases of symptomatic COVID-19 reported in the 30,000-person trial. Of those cases, 185 developed in people who received a placebo, and 11 cases developed in people who took the vaccine. There were 30 cases of severe disease in the trial, and all of them were in the placebo group — indicating that the vaccine can prevent the most dangerous forms of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3obQnho

Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images Two of the year’s most anticipated public listings — DoorDash and Airbnb — will seek higher than expected valuations for their IPOs, new filings show. Each company has seen its fortunes affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with DoorDash surging and Airbnb seeing its business drop off sharply. But both have priced their IPOs in roughly the same range. Food delivery platform DoorDash is seeking to raise $2.8 billion in its IPO, at a valuation of up to $30 billion. Its most recent valuation pegged it at $16 billion , following a fundraising round of $400 million in June. DoorDash will list 33 million shares priced between $75 and $85. DoorDash’s star has risen during the pandemic, as restaurants closed to in-person dining. Its IPO... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3fPeCyN

Exciting gifts for your favorite gamers Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/37gDwU6

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Italian Competition Authority, Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato or AGCM, has fined Apple €10 million (around $12 million) for making misleading claims about the waterproofing of its iPhones, Reuters reports . Affected iPhone models go back to 2017’s iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. In a press release , the AGCM criticized Apple for not being clear enough about its water resistance claims. It said that claims about iPhones being water resistant for up to 30 minutes at depths of up to four meters only apply in certain circumstances like controlled lab tests with pure water. The regulator also criticized Apple’s disclaimer that said water damage is not covered as part of the iPhone’s warranty, despite marketing the phones’ water... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2JcAx7m

Cyber Monday is here. It’s the last big shopping opportunity of 2020, and if you didn’t already take advantage of some deals that debuted over the weekend, now’s your chance. Every retailer has debuted at least a few new deals earlier than ever, and we’re focused on adding them here — in addition to the great Black Friday deals you can still get. As you’re expecting, there are some great deals on gaming laptops, wireless noise-canceling headphones, earbuds, tablets, and much more. We’ll be doing our best to keep this post updated during Cyber Monday, and stay tuned throughout Cyber Week as we give you as many chances as possible to get everything on your holiday wish list. We’ve put the latest deals right at the top for easy viewing. L... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3fNQIDX

Google Nest Wifi. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If you’re looking to improve your home Wi-Fi situation, the best thing you can do is invest in a mesh router. Mesh router systems make it easy to cover all corners of your home with a strong Wi-Fi signal and are easily expandable depending on how much square footage you have. Fortunately, a number of the best mesh router systems on the market are heavily discounted for Cyber Monday, so you can save quite a bit on one right now If you have a basic home internet plan of 300Mbps or less, you can do fine with a Wi-Fi 5 based system, such as the entry-level Eero or Google’s Nest Wifi. If you have faster internet at home, up to a gigabit connection, you might want to invest in a Wi-Fi 6 system. Looking for more Cyber Monday deals? Be sure to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3lYINWC

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Woot is offering the best price yet on the bean-shaped Samsung Galaxy Buds Live wireless earbuds. This model has gone as low as $130 during Black Friday, but they’re currently at $110 for Cyber Monday . Given that the Galaxy Buds Live debuted at $170 in the summer alongside the Note 20-series phones, this is a sharp price drop in a short period of time. It’s obvious from looking at them that they offer a bold design, and according to our review from Chris Welch, these offer lengthy battery life and powerful sound. They also support wireless charging. The noise cancellation isn’t as effective as he’d hoped, but it’s a nice feature to have in a pinch. You’ll be able to find the Galaxy Buds Live available in a few colors at Woot, including... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/33pkVEj

Sonos One | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Sonos has discounted several of its speakers for Cyber Monday including the compact One and One SL, powerful Five, portable Move, Beam soundbar, and Sub add-on. All three models are $100 off, a significant discount from their regular prices. Sales on Sonos speakers are rare — we typically only see meaningful discounts on them during the holiday shopping season. This marks the only time of the year that you might see significant discounts on popular speakers such as the One, Move, and Five. Sonos One and One SL deals The One is Sonos’ base speaker and one of its most popular models. It is compact in size, but outputs a surprising amount of volume and punch. You can use it standalone, in stereo configurations, or as rear surrounds in a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3lZ6OfZ

Spotify’s Christmas Hits playlists was one of the ones to get an accompanying story. | Screenshot: Spotify Spotify is testing a new Snapchat-style Stories feature alongside some of its playlists. On its Christmas Hits playlist, for example, a series of artists including Jennifer Lopez, Kelly Clarkson, and Pentatonix use a series of short video clips to share personal anecdotes about the festive period and their songwriting processes. Engadget notes that similar stories have been spotted on the Tear Drop emo rap playlist, and a version of Megan Thee Stallion’s album Good News . The videos can be accessed from an icon on the top left of each supported playlist. Tapping it reveals an interface that’ll be familiar to anyone who’s ever watched an Instagram or Snapchat story, allowing you to tap on the left or right of the screen to skip through a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/37g5Hm6

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The UK government is banning the installation of new Huawei 5G equipment from September 2021 as part of its plans to phase out the Chinese firm’s technology by 2027, The Financial Times reports . The decision follows the government’s announcement in July that firms would be barred from buying new equipment from January 2021 over national security concerns. The announcement means that any telecoms companies who have stockpiled Huawei equipment ahead of the January cutoff will now not be able to use this for long-term 5G rollouts. The Financial Times reports that some companies have been stockpiling this equipment since summer. Firms will still be allowed to maintain old equipment after September, according to BBC News . Firms have... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/33puses

Universal Studios Japan has announced an opening date for its long-awaited Nintendo-themed area. The Super Nintendo Land zone will open at the Osaka theme park on February 4th, 2021. That’s actually a little earlier than expected — last month Nintendo said that the project would open in spring. A themed cafe and merchandise store have already opened in the larger Universal Studios Japan park. USJ and Nintendo have also provided details on what is sure to be one of the park’s flagship attractions: a Mario Kart -themed rollercoaster. It’s housed inside a reconstructed Bowser’s castle and makes use of AR and projection mapping technology, with riders donning AR headsets shaped like Mario’s cap. Bloomberg got an early look at Super Nintendo... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3ltPoaB

The Note 20 5G (left) is getting a new red color, while the Z Flip 5G (right) will be sold in white. | Image: Samsung Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20 5G and Z Flip 5G are available in a pair of new colors in the US starting today, the company has announced. The Note 20 5G is now available in red, while the Z Flip 5G is available in white. Both colors are being produced in “limited quantities,” Samsung says, and there’s no difference in specs or pricing between these and the original models. For those keeping track, these are the fourth and third colors for the Note 20 5G and the Z Flip 5G, respectively. The Note 20 5G is currently available in copper, green, and gray, while the Z Flip 5G is available in copper and gray. Although they’re not getting the new colors, the Ultra version of the Note 20 is also available in white and black, while the 4G version of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2JoYOqk

John Boyega stars in Small Axe: Red, White and Blue | Amazon Prime I would like to discuss my THOUGHTS about the Netflix movie Happiest Season with you all but I don’t want to spoil the ending if you have not seen it. Suffice to say it could have used 100 percent more of both Aubrey Plaza and Dan Levy. The ending was... disappointing. Like VERY. It’s fine, but man I was hoping a Hallmark-esque LGBTQ rom-com might go with a more unexpected ending. K-Stew deserved better. So as not to become too ensconced in holiday rom-com land, I just started The Undoing. Gotta keep those streaming algorithms guessing. Before we get to the latest new trailers, in honor of the original Darth Vader, David Prowse, who died this weekend , let’s watch the original trailer for The Empire Strikes Back. The Empire Strikes... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2JbrbJ3

A mysterious monolith appeared, then disappeared, in rural Utah | Utah Department of Public Safety The Utah monolith has now disappeared almost as abruptly as it was discovered. The Utah Bureau of Land Management released a statement that the “illegally installed structure” had been removed from its public lands by an unknown party, likely on November 27th, after receiving national and international attention. “The BLM did not remove the structure which is considered private property,” according to the statement posted to the agency’s Facebook page. “We do not investigate crimes involving private property which are handled by the local sheriff’s office.” The 10- to 12-foot steel object was first discovered by the Utah Department of Public Safety during a sheep-counting expedition in the Utah desert on November 18th. There was “no... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2VgPiby

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A trade union has called on workers at an Amazon warehouse in Germany to hold their second strike in a week in an effort to disrupt Black Friday order processing, Reuters reported . Some 500 workers took part in a three-day strike that started Thursday and ended Saturday, according to trade union Verdi, with the next strike set to begin Monday night and end Tuesday night. Germany is Amazon’s second-biggest market after the US. Amazon workers at six sites across Germany struck in June to protest safety at its logistics centers, where dozens of workers had become infected with the coronavirus. Warehouse workers in Germany have struck against Amazon several times in recent years to protest workers’ pay and conditions . The strikes in Germany... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3qeiIVR

Cyber Monday is upon us. The big finale of the busy shopping weekend will officially happen Monday. But if you’ll be busy with work or whatever else, there’s some good news today: You can get a lot of the best Cyber Monday deals early. More and more retailers have lifted the veil on their new deals earlier than ever, and we’re focused on adding them here. As you’re expecting, there are some great deals on TVs, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, video games, and much more. We’ll be doing our best to keep this post updated ahead of Cyber Monday, and we’ll be back all of next week to give you as many chances as possible to get everything on your holiday wish list. Latest deals Sony’s WF-1000XM3 wireless noise-canceling earbuds are down to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2VdVKAb

David Prowse played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy | THIERRY ZOCCOLAN/AFP via Getty Images David Prowse, the actor who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films, has died, the Associated Press reported . He was 85. George Lucas asked Prowse to audition for Star Wars after seeing the 6-foot-6 actor in the 1971 Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange. Prowse had his choice of playing Chewbacca or Vader, and opted for the latter because, as he told the BBC , “you always remember the bad guy.” Plus, he added, he didn’t fancy wearing Chewbacca’s fur suit. Prowse played Luke Skywalker’s erstwhile father in Star Wars , The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi , but famously, his voice didn’t make it into the films. He said all Vader’s lines, but the voice of James Earl Jones was later dubbed in. RIP David Prowse, 85. T... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3mlp0AC

Look how brave this patio lamp in Spider-Man: Miles Morales is | Doctor Curiosity As any avid gamer knows, bugs and glitches are part of the deal. Sometimes they take gameplay to a whole other level, as seems to be the case with Spider Man: Miles Morale s where players unexpectedly turned into inanimate objects, including a patio space heater (there’s a probably joke there about great power and great responsibility but we’re above puns at The Verge dot com) (spoiler: we totally are not ). game bugs sometimes turn into the best thing ever https://t.co/VvpRyQG3tY — Tom Warren (@tomwarren) November 28, 2020 The patio heater incident was weird enough, but it’s not the only strange inanimate object to abruptly replace a player in-game: this bug gets even better. They should turn this into a fun mode h... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3lgGtsI

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Trump administration has once again extended the deadline for ByteDance to sell video sharing platform TikTok’s business in the US, Reuters reported . The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has given China-based ByteDance until December 4th to either sell or spin out its US business, according to a court filing. CFIUS reportedly granted the extension “to allow time to review a revised submission” that it recently received. President Trump said in August that TikTok and its parent company were a national security risk to the US, and issued the initial order requiring TikTok to sell its US business. Trump’s order would have blocked all US transactions with ByteDance. In September, the US Commerce Department... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/37hhRLt

Photo by FilmMagic/FilmMagic Tony Hsieh, the former CEO of online shoe retailer Zappos has died, the company confirmed Saturday . Hsieh retired from the Las Vegas-based company in August, after 20 years at the helm. Under his leadership, Zappos became known for its customer service and employee-focused company culture. Hsieh wrote a best-selling autobiography titled “Delivering Happiness” that detailed his philosophy. Amazon acquired Zappos for $1.2 billion in 2009, and kept Hsieh on as CEO. He said in 2010 he had decided to sell to the e-commerce giant because Amazon recognized “the uniqueness of Zappos’s culture and Amazon’s duty to protect it. We think of Amazon as a giant consulting company that we can hire if we want—for instance, if we need help redesigning... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2VavvdA

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge We kind of loved the beans . The Galaxy Buds Live’s bean-like shape made sense! But though it originally seemed like Samsung was in on the joke — the company called them beans internally , and even printed the word on the circuitry — Samsung’s next earbuds may take a take a different tack. Today, Indonesia’s telecommunications certification authority has revealed the company has a new “Galaxy Buds Pro” set of earbuds waiting in the wings ( via MySmartPrice ), and SamMobile may have already revealed what to expect: a source says they’ll be a set of sealed in-ear buds with the same design as the earlier Galaxy Buds+, only now with active noise cancellation and “an improved Ambient mode” to let you hear more of your surroundings. ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3o61Xu2

In early August, we learned the lovely Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey would come to Nintendo Switch , but we didn’t know exactly when. It turns out yesterday (Thanksgiving) was the day! You can now pick up The Alto Collection from the Nintendo eShop for $7.49 , a temporary 25 percent launch discount over what will become its standard $9.99 price. (Check out the video above to get a pretty good sense of what the games are like; we called Alto’s Adventure “the next great iPad game” in our review way back in 2015 .) Originally, you’d control Alto and his snowboarding / sandboarding friends by simply tapping the iPhone, iPad or Android touchscreen to jump and perform tricks, but the games now have full controller support as well. You’ve... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3lfsF1u

The Verge would greatly appreciate it if you bought a certain Samsung TV today. We make some of our money from affiliate revenue, and Black Friday in particular helps pay some of the bills! And today only, this particular TV is fifty thousand dollars off . That should make it easy for you, right? You think it’s a typo? Some pricing error, maybe a scam where you’ll owe the full amount when all’s said and done? Nope! It’s just that the 98-inch Q900 normally costs $100,000, and Samsung is making it a win-win for everyone (particularly us!) by offering it half-off. Wait, you’re telling me you don’t have $50,000 for a new TV? How are you going to afford a 98-inch 8K television with that kind of thinking? You can’t, of course: at the bargain... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2VbpJZq

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Two days ago, Coinbase did something we rarely see a company do: it gave the world a heads-up that The New York Times would soon publish “a negative story” about how “several Black employees had negative experiences at Coinbase over the last few years.” Well, Nathaniel Popper’s NYT story is now here , and that description looks like the understatement of the week: twenty-three current and former employees went on the record to help produce a thoroughly damning report about systemic racial discrimination at the company. It includes passages like this: One Black employee said her manager suggested in front of colleagues that she was dealing drugs and carrying a gun, trading on racist stereotypes. Another said a co-worker at a recruiting... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/36dPq1R

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images At 6 billion views and just as many controversies, the YouTube superstar says he’s a “realistic role model” Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3o5P83d

Photo by Brennan King / The Verge Deals on Apple’s iPad are more common than you might think. Whether you’re after the most affordable iPad, the high-end iPad Pro, or something in between like the iPad Air or iPad Mini, there’s usually some sort of price cut happening somewhere. Of course, it’s difficult to know exactly where you can find those deals unless you’re looking around at all of the major retailers. But that’s what we’re doing each day when we hunt for deals, so let us help you out. Below, we’ve listed each of the current iPads available for purchase. Sometimes, there just isn’t a deal happening. In that case, we’ve mentioned how much the most recent sale price was for, so you know when to take the plunge. But most of the time, there’s some sort of deal going... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3cCvDsX

After making a huge splash in her Twitch debut last month, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) plans to join the streaming platform again tonight to play Among Us with MPP Jagmeet Singh , leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, and two other Twitch streamers. The stream, hosted by Singh, is set to begin at 7PM ET on Friday. Ocasio-Cortez’s first time playing Among Us on Twitch was a massive hit, peaking at 435,000 viewers at one point during the match on October 20th . She played with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), as well as Twitch streamers Pokimane, HasanAbi, and more, to get out the vote, with the stream becoming one of the 20 most-viewed of all time. Canadian Members of Parliament & US Members of Congress venting each other into space.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3fEYu2E

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Apple AirPods are among the most popular headphones on the market. They’re compact, easy to pair with your devices, and they offer reliable connectivity, which can sometimes be a problem with truly wireless earphones. So there’s a chance that you might be looking for a deal on them. Surprisingly, they’re no stranger to the occasional price cut. There are commonly discounts on even the more expensive AirPods Pro, which offer noise cancellation and better sound than the standard second-generation model. We’ll run through all three of the current models below, including the second-generation AirPods, the more expensive second-generation AirPods that include a wireless charging case, and finally, the AirPods Pro. AirPods deals You can... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3dQLg0t

The “Make Amazon Pay” logo projected onto Amazon’s campus in Hyderabad, India. | Image: Make Amazon Pay campaign An international group of climate activists and Amazon warehouse workers have launched an online campaign called “Make Amazon Pay, ” calling on the tech giant to provide better working conditions for its employees and to reduce its expanding carbon footprint. The protests come just as the New York Times reports that the Seattle-based company has been on a hiring spree this year, expanding its global workforce. “During the Covid-19 pandemic, Amazon became a trillion dollar corporation, with CEO Jeff Bezos becoming the first person in history to amass $200 billion in personal wealth,” the campaign states on its website. “Meanwhile, Amazon warehouse workers risked their lives as essential workers, and faced threats and intimidation if they... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/33mMcr4

Black Friday is here. You know the deal: it’s the biggest shopping day of the year, followed closely by Cyber Monday, which is happening first thing next week. As you’re expecting, there are some great deals on tech, including TVs, laptops, gadgets, video games, and much more — we have it all below. Unlike most years, the ongoing pandemic saw retailers releasing some of their best Black Friday deals earlier than ever, giving shoppers more opportunities to snag gifts. With that, a few deals might look a little familiar, but we’ve aimed to put in just as many brand-new deals that are hitting for the first time. We’ll be doing our best to keep this post updated during Black Friday, and through the weekend so that you can be certain that... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3fMNnVx

Photo by Alexander Kramer for The Verge Apple’s brand-new computers based on its own custom M1 chip have both been getting sterling reviews due to their great performance and better life. (Well, almost sterling reviews; The Verge ’s Nilay Patel is not a fan of the Touch Bar that still adorns the MacBook Pro, and according to reviewer Chris Welch, the Mac mini has a truly awful speaker . But aside from that...) Normally, brand-new Apple computers would not be on sale, even during Black Friday. But the M1-powered MacBook Pro 13 has already had a $50-off sale at Amazon, and today Adorama and B&H are discounting the Mac mini, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro with M1 chips. For the MacBook Air, both B&H and Adorama are taking $100 off of both the base configuration and the upgraded model... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3lh61G1

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Spotify is currently down and experiencing a widespread outage, affecting countries across Europe and beyond. The music streaming service stopped working for many at around 4:15AM ET, but Spotify hasn’t provided a status update on its dedicated Twitter account about the issues yet. Spotify outages are rare, and the last major one happened back in August after the company forgot to renew its TLS certificate. The service was down for an hour back then, but we’ve checked and the TLS certificate doesn’t appear to be the source of the issues this time around. Spotify also experienced problems earlier this year during a broader Facebook iOS SDK problem . The app was crashing on mobile devices due to a Facebook iOS SDK bug, but today’s outage... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/33D5Zmf

New scene support in Ikea’s Home Smart app. | Ikea Ikea has rolled out scene support in the latest Home Smart software update. Owners of Ikea Tradfri Gateways running the new 1.12.31 firmware can now configure scenes to control several Home Smart products at once, like Ikea smart lights, Sonos-compatible Symfonisk speakers , or Fyrtur blinds . The update also supports Ikea’s new Shortcut Buttons that can be dedicated to executing individual scenes, and should be available to buy shortly for less than $10 / €10. Once updated, scenes will appear in a dedicated section at the top of the Ikea Home Smart app. One scene suggested by the app is “All off,” which can be configured to turn off every Ikea light in the home while silencing every Sonos-compatible speaker. In the future, such a scene... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3fJ2Dmf

Xiaomi’s budget sub-brand Redmi has never released a smartwatch before, and its first entry turns out to be what you’d expect: a pretty uninspiring design at a pretty attractive price. The Redmi Watch just launched in China for 299 yuan, or about $45. The watch has a 1.4-inch rectangular display with curved glass, and it comes in black, white, and blue color variants. The silicone strap is available in black, white, blue, green, and pink. There’s a single button on the side of the watch, with everything else being handled by the touchscreen or the Mi Fit app on a paired smartphone. Other specs include NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, a heart rate monitor, and waterproofing up to 50m. Xiaomi claims that battery life will be good for up... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3pZ1agm

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Oculus is hosting a big sale on games and experiences for Black Friday, with more discounts coming on Cyber Monday. There are plenty of standalone deals, but Oculus has also curated several bundles, each one on a different theme. And you can gift titles to other people from the Oculus store, too. You’ll just need their e-mail address when checking out. According to Oculus, all of the games in the bundles below will work with Quest standalone headsets. Be aware, though, that only some of them support cross-buy, meaning one purchase will work both as a standalone app on Quest and when wired to your PC via Oculus Link. All others are exclusive to either Rift or Quest. To avoid confusion, I’ve labeled which support cross-buy. Make sure you... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3lfDCjD

Surface Laptop 4 and Surface Pro 8. | cozyplanes ( Twitter ) Microsoft’s next Surface Pro 8 tablet and its upcoming Surface Laptop 4 have appeared in leaked images online. Twitter user cozyplanes discovered the images at what appears to be an FCC-like filing, noting that the Surface Pro 8 may ship with LTE support. Both devices will likely launch early next year, and don’t appear to feature any major updates to their design. Windows Central reports that the Surface Pro 8 and Surface Laptop 4 could launch as early as mid-January, with 11th Gen Intel processors and Intel’s Xe graphics support. The Surface Laptop 4 is also rumored to include AMD processor options, which will likely be a custom Microsoft chip based on AMD’s Ryzen 4000 series. #Surface EXCLUSIVE 2021 new devices 1950: Surface Laptop 4... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2V5S9UC

Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge Best Buy is offering a pair of great deals on Apple’s recently-released 10.2-inch iPad, with offers of up to $70 off. The retailer has knocked $50 off the price of the base 32GB model , which is now $280 compared to its usual asking price of $330. Meanwhile the 128GB model , which is the model we recommended most people should buy , is $70 less than its usual price of $430 at $360 . It’s the lowest price we’ve seen the 128GB model sell for since its launch. Apple’s 10.2-inch iPad sits at the bottom of its tablet lineup, but it’s still very good at doing the kinds of things iPads have always done well. This year’s model comes with a faster A12 Bionic processor that means the tablet still feels fast and sprightly to use, even if its outward... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3q4p1eQ

ROME, ITALY - AUGUST 25: Health workers wait for passengers arriving from high-risk countries to carry out rapid antigenic tests for Covid-19 at a testing station set up inside Leonardo Da Vinci airport, on August 25, 2020 in Fiumicino, Rome, Italy. The region has introduced mandatory COVID-19 tests for anyone arriving from Croatia, Greece, Spain and Malta to avoid a spike of new cases. | Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images Rome’s Fiumicino airport plans to welcome passengers from the US without requiring them to quarantine, as long as they test negative for the novel coronavirus multiple times. Fiumicino says it will be the first airport in Europe to offer the “COVID-tested flights,” creating what it calls “safe air corridors” between Italy and the US. It will test the idea out in December starting with flights from New York’s JFK airport, New Jersey’s Newark Airport, and Georgia’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport. If those flights are successful, similar flights could be mad

Image: Balenciaga Luxury fashion company Balenciaga will debut its next clothing collection in a video game on December 6th, according to WWD . Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow is an “allegorical adventure” set in the year 2031, in which “a hero avatar advances throughout distinct zones, motivated by tasks and interactions.” As game descriptions go it’s not the most detailed — it could apply to every video game from Super Mario through to Wolfenstein — but obviously the focus here is the company’s fall 2021 collection. Input reports that the Afterworld will be playable through browsers. Like many other industries, the world of fashion has had to reckon with how to drum up excitement in a year where big in-person launches are impossible. Approaches have... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/379ZSGH

Photo by Alexander Kramer for The Verge Apple has asked Foxconn to move some iPad and MacBook manufacturing capacity to Vietnam, Reuters reports . The assembly lines are set to start production in the first half of next year at Foxconn’s Bac Giang province, according to Reuters ’ source, who notes that Apple wants to diversify its supply chain due to the ongoing trade disputes between the US and China. Reuters ’ report doesn’t state which iPad or Mac models will be assembled in Vietnam, nor what proportion of Apple’s total production will shift out of China. But these wouldn’t be the first Apple products to be assembled in Vietnam — Apple started producing AirPods Pro units there earlier this year . Apple has also used India for production of certain iPhone models for a while ,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/33l098F

Photo by Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images Disney plans to lay off around 32,000 employees, mainly in its theme parks business, in the first half of next year, the company has announced in a 10-K filing . The company says it’s making these redundancies “due to the current climate, including COVID-19 impacts.” It’s an increase of 4,000 compared to the 28,000 layoffs it initially announced back in September . The new figure includes the layoffs that were previously announced, Variety reports . Along with the layoffs, Disney said it’s considering additional measures like reducing its investments in film and TV content, halting capital spending, and furloughing more employees. Already, 37,000 of its employees were on furlough as of October 3rd, Variety notes. The announcement comes... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/39i3bOM

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge If you are looking to buy the AirPods Pro, but have been holding off to wait for a significant price drop, your time has come — Apple’s flagship wireless earbuds are just $169 at Walmart and Amazon right now. This is the lowest price we have seen on the AirPods Pro to date; normally, these wireless earbuds would set you back $249. This historically low price beats the previous best-ever price by $21 . The AirPods Pro offers a more customizable fit that includes three different silicon tip sizes, making it easier to fit in your ear canals, unlike the standard AirPods, which offer a “one size fits most” design. My colleague, Chris Welch, notes that the AirPods Pros are the best wireless earbuds on the market if you own an iPhone and/or... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/367xsxQ

Image: Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be able to run at 60fps on all next-gen consoles thanks to an update that Ubisoft is set to release on Thursday. With the new 1.0.4 title update, Ubisoft is adding a performance mode, which will let the game adapt resolution and graphics settings to maintain 60fps while you’re playing, and a quality mode, which will max out resolution and graphics settings to maintain 30fps. Digital Foundry found that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla sometimes dips below 60fps on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (with the Series X doing so more often), and the game currently doesn’t run higher than 30fps on the Xbox Series S, so the update seems like it should be a welcome upgrade. The new update is also supposed to address... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/33kCtRM

Like some of its competitors, Walmart has started offering a ton of discounts on tech products in the weeks leading up to Black Friday. Fortunately, Walmart has some interesting Black Friday deals going on right now, including the lowest price we have seen yet on Apple’s AirPods Pros . I also wanted to take the time to mention that Walmart has confirmed that at 9PM ET on November 25th, it will open up inventory for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X gaming consoles. These products will only be available for purchase online and Walmart will not be selling either console in-store on November 27th, according to the retailer. Below, we have highlighted the best Black Friday tech deals across different subcategories that Walmart is currently... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/368mFng

A slate of new emoji was announced in January . Months later, they’ve finally trickled onto most people’s phones ... but in one case, it’s really more of a skitter. I’m talking about the cockroach, arguably the most shudder-inducing emoji of 2020 — and the product of a great little short story about the looming end of the world. As my colleague Jay Peters and an excellent 2019 documentary explain, anyone can submit an emoji proposal to the Unicode Consortium. The proposal must convince the consortium that many people will use the emoji in a variety of ways. And for the authors of the cockroach application — Jason Li, Melissa Thermidor, and Amanda Hickman — that includes the aftermath of a nuclear war. It starts with a line from the opening... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/37bJ0iK