FREE TECH

Foxconn’s Indian operation began assembling iPhones for Apple outside of China for the first time in 2021. Apple is sending independent auditors to investigate an iPhone assembly facility in India, after poor working and living conditions at the plant prompted workers to go on strike. The facility in southern India is operated by longtime Apple partner Foxconn. An investigation by Reuters found that women working at the plant were laboring in extremely difficult conditions, forced to sleep on the floor in crowded dorms and sharing toilets without running water. Recently, an outbreak of food poisoning left 150 individuals hospitalized, prompting workers to strike and shut down the plant on December 18th. In response, Apple says it’s put the plant on “probation” (though the company hasn’t said what this means for Foxconn or the workers who... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3EIWhhu

QWERTY and quirky — Blackberry’s later Android incarnations retained the famous keyboard. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Dear friends, we’re gathered here today to mourn the death of that once-beloved monarch of the mobile world: BlackBerry. And, yes, I realize that this is not the first time we’ve announced the death of the company or its devices (and, for reasons I’ll explain below, it likely won’t be the last) but this is a very definite ending for legacy BlackBerry hardware. As of January 4th, any phones or tablets running BlackBerry’s own software — that’s BlackBerry 7.1 or earlier, BlackBerry 10, or its tablet operating system BlackBerry PlayBook — will “no longer reliably function,” says the company . Whether on Wi-Fi or cellular, there’ll be no guarantee you can make phone calls, send text messages, use data, establish an SMS connection, or even... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3EBQY3y

The test is simple. Remove your hand from the box and you die. | Image: Bauhütte Here’s something for the gamer that has everything: a tabletop hand massager that can be used to remove fatigue from your aching mitts and keep you on top form. Created by Japanese makers of gaming hardware and peripherals, Bauhütte, the device uses 15 heated air cushions to supposedly simulate the feeling of a real massage and, well, why the hell not. Bauhütte recommends you use the massager before gaming to warm up your hands; during breaks to improve circulation; and after you’ve finished to rub the stiffness out of your tired little fingers. Because you deserve it. A shiatsu mode will apparently rub your palms with firm pressure, while a “thimble” mode will pull and stretch each finger one by one. The only thing missing is a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3EHqs90

Shadow of the Tomb Raider | Image: Square Enix If you’re a PC gamer who has not already done so, you may want to open up the Epic Games Store and snag the final installment for its 15 Days of Free Games promotion . It’s especially worth your time because instead of gifting users a single title like Shenmue III or Control , the Epic Games Store is ready to cough up the entire rebooted Tomb Raider trilogy: Tomb Raider Game of the Year Edition , Rise of the Tomb Raider 20 Year Celebration , and Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition . Trying to add the titles to your digital library earlier today was harder than it should’ve been, as continued server problems, following yesterday’s Fortnite outage , slowed down the store. It’s unclear if Epic Games is still having issues or if people... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3qAt9UH

Select iPad models go on sale quite regularly. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge We saw some of the best iPad deals of the year during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but if you missed out, there are still a couple of decent discounts available. Whether you’re after the high-end iPad Pro or the most affordable Apple tablet, the entry-level iPad, there’s a sale going on somewhere you may be interested in. Of course, it’s difficult to know exactly where you can find the most notable deals unless you’re looking around at all of the major retailers on a daily basis. But that’s often what our deal hunters at The Verge are doing each and every day, so let us help you out. Below, we’ve listed the best deals available on each iPad model that is currently available, some of which are outgoing models with freshly introduced... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3cCvDsX

Canon EOS-1D X Mark III | Image: Canon When Canon revealed the EOS-1D X Mark III in January 2020, we proclaimed that the DSLR “still isn’t dead,” but that camera will mark the end of the line for a flagship model that some pro photographers still swear by to capture everything from sporting events to wild animals. An end to the production and development timeline of the EOS-1 is estimated as “within a few years.” CanonRumors points out an interview Canon’s chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai gave this week to the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun (via Y.M. Cinema Magazine ). The piece highlight how high-end mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras have taken market share digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras previously dominated. In it, the CEO is quoted (in Japanese, which... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3HnRxjo

Samsung has started teasing its next flagship smartphone SoC — expected to be called the Exynos 2200 — ahead of a January 11th announcement with a tantalizing tidbit of information: the new chipset will feature a GPU powered by AMD’s RDNA 2 graphics architecture, better known for powering the next-gen graphics on the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and AMD’s RX 6000-series graphics cards. Of course, given that the Exynos 2200 will be powering a smartphone, the new GPU won’t be magically enabling next-gen graphics on par with the most powerful consoles and gaming PCs. But it likely will enable some improvements in graphics, along with whatever other upgrade Samsung has up its sleeve for its latest flagship chip. #PlaytimeIsOver . The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3EEEOqv

Image: evleaks (Twitter) It looks like Samsung’s next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, will borrow more heavily from the Galaxy Note’s DNA than ever before. In fact, a newly leaked official render published by Evan Blass confirms that the phone is pretty much a Note in every way except for its name. Wider screen with more surface to write on? Check. S Pen silo? Check. Flat top and bottom? Yep. Around back is a camera array that sticks closely to the layout from the S21 Ultra. Personally, I think the S21 Ultra was one of the boldest, best-looking phones Samsung has ever produced — especially that sleek matte black version. It owned the large camera bump in a way that actually looked good . Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3zaimEG

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla has issued voluntary recalls for nearly half a million vehicles to address potential failures in its trunk latching systems, as first reported by Barron’s . The recalls apply to all Model 3 units released between 2017 and 2020, as well as certain Model S units . For the Model 3, Tesla believes the opening and closing of the trunk could damage the cable harness attaching the rearview camera, causing the camera to unexpectedly fail. The Model S issue is more serious, potentially preventing the front trunk from fully latching. According to documents submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are 475,318 vehicles subject to the recall, comprising 356,309 Model 3 vehicles and 119,109 Model S vehicles.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Jub7Mr

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Sony’s Xperia 1 III has a few things that other flagship phones don’t, including a near-4K, 120Hz OLED display, along with plenty of high-quality manual photo and video controls, dual front-facing speakers, and a headphone jack. And yet, The Verge ’s Allison Johnson couldn’t recommend it — mostly due to its high $1,300 cost. Though, today’s deal on the phone makes the price just a little more digestible. For only the second time since it launched during the summer, Sony’s unlocked Xperia 1 III smartphone has returned to its all-time low price of $1,198 at Amazon and Adorama . For context, that’s around the same price as the iPhone 12 Pro Max and even cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra with equivalent storage capacity. Best Buy also... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/32C818H

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Some great ways to tweak your new PC Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Hn7W7t

Tom Brady #12 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers watches from the sidelines during the 2nd quarter of the game against the New Orleans Saints | Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images On the Sunday Night Football stage, December 19th, Tom Brady and the Buccaneers were swept for the second consecutive regular season against the Saints — a frustrating shut-out loss that had Brady spiking a poor Microsoft Surface tablet on the sideline. Tom Brady threw the tablet after his INT (via @NFLBrasil ) pic.twitter.com/PyvdFi30NO — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 20, 2021 Now, per Brady on his Let’s Go podcast that aired Monday , the NFL is not going to let the Surface abuse continue. Should the seven-time Super Bowl champion throw the tablet again, he will be fined. “I did get warned from the NFL about that so... I won’t throw another Surface.” Brady said. The co-host of the podcast, Jim Gray, joked that the whole... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/32xObv...

Image: Canoo A vehicle at EV startup Canoo burned on August 24th after lithium-ion batteries left inside the car started a fire. The local fire department was able to extinguish the blaze and no one was injured, according to an incident report obtained by The Verge . The fire happened in the parking lot outside Canoo’s Torrance, California corporate office, which was once the startup’s headquarters — before it started calling Bentonville, Arkansas home in November . Canoo’s VP of communications Agnes Gomes-Koizumi confirmed the fire occurred after The Verge requested comment. “A small fire occurred several hours after the intentionally destructive testing of a battery module,” Gomes said in an e-mailed statement, noting the module passed the test and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/32H07uq

The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is one of many e-readers currently available as part of a discounted bundle at Amazon. | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge When it comes to finding a device to use to read your ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your smartphone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality. Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons. Below, we’ve listed each model currently available for purchase. Sometimes, there isn’t a deal for one, or any, of the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/35V2I1Y

LG will be incorporating OLED EX technology into its TVs from the second quarter of 2022. | Image: LG Display LG is the maker of some of our favorite OLED TVs, so when the company says it’s improved on its basic panel technology, it’s worth paying attention. Today it did just that, with LG Display announcing its next-generation OLED technology — dubbed OLED EX — which the company says will increase brightness by up to 30 percent, boost picture accuracy, and allow for smaller bezels in finished products. These improvements are due to two key changes. The first is the use of an element known as deuterium in the chemical make-up of LG’s OLED panels, and the second is the incorporation of algorithmic image processing. LG says the latter will predict the usage of each individual light emitting diode in your TV based on your personal viewing habits... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3pxoBPH

LG ThinQ Recipe app features 10,000 one-click shoppable recipes. | Image: LG LG just announced its latest lineup of smart kitchen appliances. Fine, but what’s notable this time is a service that could make life just a little bit easier. LG says the ThinQ Recipe app and service is “new for 2022” and will let users seamlessly select from thousands of recipes for delivery directly from Walmart or Amazon Fresh without ever leaving the app. The LG ThinQ Recipe app is powered by SideChef, which LG has been partnering with since at least 2019 . According to an LG press release, ThinQ Recipe offers “10,000 one-click shoppable recipes” that can be added to a shopping list within the app for delivery by Walmart or Amazon Fresh. If it’s as seamless as it sounds, the service could take some of the pain out of the weekly... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Hh8vQn

Illustrator by Alex Castro / The Verge A ruling ( pdf ) on Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has backed up an April 2020 decision by the FCC to open up 1,200MHz of spectrum in the 6GHz band for unlicensed use. Unlicensed means anyone can use it, as long as they do so responsibly, covering uses like your future Wi-Fi 6E home network. While Wi-Fi 6 connections make more reliable and efficient use of the same spectrum that’s been in use for the last couple of decades, especially when multiple devices are connected, Wi-Fi 6E routers will work at 2.4GHz and 5GHz plus the new 6GHz band. That has enough room for up to seven maximum capacity Wi-Fi streams to broadcast in the same area at once without interfering with each other or using any... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3163PNI

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge T-Mobile has suffered another cyberattack after being rocked by a massive data breach in August . This time around, attackers accessed “a small number of” customers’ accounts, according to documents posted by The T-Mo Report . According to the report, customers either fell victim to a SIM swapping attack (which could allow someone to bypass SMS-powered two-factor authentication), had personal plan information exposed, or both. The document shows that the customer proprietary network information that was viewed could’ve included customers’ billing account name, phone and account number, and info about their plan, including how many lines were attached to their account. The person who took credit for the summer hack called T-Mobile’s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/344KAp0

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge LastPass says there’s no evidence of a data breach following users’ reports that they were notified of unauthorized login attempts, as reported by AppleInsider . The password manager maintains that it was never compromised, and users’ accounts haven’t been accessed by bad actors. Something very strange and bad is happening to a lot of people's @LastPass accounts. I posted this to Hacker News and it gathered 192 comments, including 7 separate reports of master password breaches & login attempts from the same Brazil IP range. Uhh. https://t.co/tcM0aFdavv ` — Greg Technology (@technology_greg) December 27, 2021 Reports started cropping up on the Hacker News forum after a LastPass user created a post to highlight the issue. He claims that... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3qzsl2j

Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge Rivian is telling customers that it won’t be building R1T pickup trucks with the “Max pack” battery option until 2023, as it’ll be prioritizing ones with the standard “large” battery pack for production throughout next year ( via Electrek ). In an email attributed to CEO RJ Scaringe, the company says it will work on orders for the higher-trim “Adventure Package” trucks with the regular battery first, and that the lower-end “Explorer Package” and bigger battery will come later. When the company debuted its truck in 2018, the 400-mile estimated range afforded by the 180kWh Max pack was a big selling point. The “large” battery pack that comes standard with the trucks gets an EPA estimated range of 314 miles, but for the adventurous, off-road... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3FxbNym

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Adult smokers who say that they don’t plan to quit smoking but who start using e-cigarettes are more likely quit than those who don’t start vaping, according to a new study. People who say they’re not trying to quit often aren’t included in studies of the potential benefits of e-cigarettes for adult smokers, and the new data shows that the group should be considered during that type of analysis. In the new study , published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open , researchers evaluated data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, which is run by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Participants were interviewed about their tobacco use four times between 2014 and 2019. Of the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3z6yN4X

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Many Alexa-powered Amazon Echo speakers and displays are still enjoying Black Friday discounts. One of the most appealing deals is on the Amazon Echo Show 5 display, which is normally $84.99 but can be found at Amazon and Best Buy for $44.99. This smart display could be the perfect companion for your nightstand or kitchen counter, since it can handle alarm, recipe, and entertainment duties. While it shares a lot of functionality with Echo speakers, the Echo Show display is capable of more, like streaming video from Prime Video and Netflix, showing you the forecast, or displaying your agenda for the day. Additionally, the built-in camera lets you video chat with family and friends. Read our review . You can also find the latest version... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/343qFqu

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Hello, hello. I hope you all had a nice holiday and are ready for another one. Last week we looked back on 2021, and this week, we’re looking forward to 2022. We have a couple quick news hits from last week to get through first, but then Aria and I will offer our predictions for the year to come. Off we go. Project Brazen and Audiation ordered to release audio recorded for Fat Leonard In a troubling precedent for journalism, a judge in San Diego ruled the podcast companies behind Fat Leonard , Project Brazen and Audiation, must share all recorded audio from their lead character, Leonard Glenn Francis — even audio that wasn’t included in the show’s final cut. The San Diego Union-Tribune has all the details , but essentially, the podcast... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/33XdQxH

Image: Lego After months of waiting, Lego’s official Sonic the Hedgehog set is finally here: a $69.99, 1,125-piece recreation of the iconic Green Hill Zone stage, complete with Lego-ized versions of the titular heroic hedgehog, a handful of classic Sonic villains, Dr. Eggman, and — of course — the Chaos Emeralds. Officially called the Lego Ideas Sonic the Hedgehog Green Hill Zone set, the new kit’s origins are in a crowdsourced Lego Ideas set that was suggested by Lego and Sonic fan Viv Grannell in early 2019. After the set reached 10,000 votes through the Ideas program, Lego conducted an official review of the project in March 2020, and in February 2021, greenlit the proposal for development into a real set. Image: Lego “... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3JrFjI7

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Load your phone with these recommendations, many of which are free Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3et6K6n

Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images People who test positive for COVID-19 only need to isolate for five days as long as their symptoms have stopped, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday . The change to isolation guidelines from 10 days to five is based on data showing people with COVID-19 are most likely to be contagious to others during the few days before and after they start showing symptoms, the agency said in a statement. After leaving isolation, people should wear a mask around others for five additional days, the CDC said. The CDC also said Monday that people who haven’t received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine but received their second dose of an mRNA vaccine six months ago, or who received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine two months ago,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3HmjcBj

People walk outside the Apple Store on the Upper West Side on March 12th, 2021 in New York City. | Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images As initially reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman , all of New York City’s Apple Stores have joined the list of locations closing their doors to most customers amid a spike in the number of COVID-19 infections. Image: Apple.com Services at Apple Upper West Side Last week, Apple closed seven stores in North America in a single day as positive tests among employees rose, and MacRumors points out that even before this announcement, the Apple website listed more than 20 locations that were closed today due to the effects of the pandemic. For people in New York City, the stores are still accessible if you have an appointment to pick up an online order. All other services, like its Genius Bar tech support or shopping... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/311XNxx

Walmart store Last week, the California attorney general and 12 state officials filed a lawsuit against Walmart, saying it allegedly illegally disposed of electronic and hazardous waste, compromising local landfills. California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleges in a statement the company violated state environmental laws with their practices, and the waste included materials like lithium and alkaline batteries, insect killer sprays, aerosol cans, LED lightbulbs, and more. State investigators conducted 58 inspections across 13 counties from 2015 to 2021 and said they found classified hazardous and medical waste in each store’s trash compactors, as well as customer information that should have been rendered indecipherable. The California DOJ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3z0q8kq

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Zoom has acquired the Zoom-based broadcast tools created by the startup Liminal, along with two of the company's co-founders, the videoconferencing platform announced in a post on its blog . Liminal’s add-ons, ZoomOSC and ZoomISO , are built for creating professional virtual events, which Zoom will likely natively integrate into its software as part of the acquisition. The acquisition will help “bridge” the gap between “emerging” and “traditional” forms of event control tools As noted on Liminal’s site, ZoomOSC is designed to enhance professional meetings and events using the Open Sound Control (OSC) protocol, enabling you to integrate Zoom with third-party software, hardware controllers, and media servers. Meanwhile, ZoomISO allows you to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Jy1Ymr

Final Fantasy XVI is the latest game to be hit by COVID-related development delays, with the game’s producer Naoki Yoshida announcing in a letter posted to Twitter that work on the upcoming PlayStation 5 RPG has been set back by about six months. Furthermore, Yoshida announced that the next major reveal for the upcoming title — originally promised for sometime in 2021 — is now being pushed out to sometime in spring 2022. A message from Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida. #FF16 #FFXVI pic.twitter.com/qtfJUUp6LA — FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) December 27, 2021 It’s not too surprising that Final Fantasy XVI has been hit by delays. As the first flagship Final Fantasy game for a next-generation console, the development... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3exJWC8

“The Vault” is an appropriate name. | Image: XPG XPG has announced the XPG Vault, a “concept” mouse that has a built-in SSD to let you carry around your mouse and storage in one package ( via Engadget ). While lots of gaming mice have some built-in storage to let you easily carry macros and preferences from computer to computer, and the concept of a mouse doubling as a flash drive has been around for over a decade , XPG is aiming a little higher. It’s promising “to make your gaming libraries conveniently portable,” right from your mouse. There aren’t many details for the Vault in XPG’s press release, but XPG says the “current prototype can integrate up to 1TB of Solid State memory running at 985MB/s” and connects with USB-C. Given that it’s a wired mouse, that performance seems possible —... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3ptzKRI

Polish opposition leader Krzysztof Brejza | Photo by Mateusz Wlodarczyk/NurPhoto via Getty Images Several members of political opposition groups in Poland have produced evidence that they were hacked by Pegasus spyware, raising alarming questions about the Polish government’s use of the software. The most alarming case involved the leader of Poland’s Civic Platform party, Senator Krzysztof Brejza, whose phone was compromised a total of 33 times in the six months leading up to the 2019 election, as reported by the Associated Press . During the campaign, Polish state media published damaging text messages obtained from Brejza’s phone, leading to concerns that spyware had been used. a threat to “the rules-based international order” The compromises were discovered by Citizen Lab, a spyware research group based at the University of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3HcxGUb

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge During the Christmas holiday, it was easy to pick up on the theme on Twitter that many of you either bought or received an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset . Well, in perfect timing, Oculus has discounted many of its official accessories for the Quest 2, which can help to protect your headset, as well as make it more comfortable to wear. We’ve seen promotions that discount these add-ons when you purchase a headset, but never by themselves, so that’s why they’re prominently featured today. Best Buy has the best deal on the Elite Strap that replaces the fabric strap that comes with your Quest 2. It distributes the weight of the headset more evenly on your head, with adjusters on the top and rear of the Elite Strap. Normally $49, it’s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3HiuDtM

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Armies, aliens, automobiles, the legendary mascot of the Xbox, and more Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3EqgUiw

The Movano Ring is a smart ring with medical ambitions | Image: Movano The Oura Ring isn’t the only smart ring on the block anymore. For CES 2022, health tech company Movano is announcing the Movano Ring, a wearable that aims to help people affordably monitor chronic illnesses and better understand their data. The Movano Ring will measure all the basic metrics, including heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), sleep, respiration, temperature, blood oxygen levels, steps, and calories burned. However, instead of a raw data dump, Movano says it’ll distill how your metrics relate to each other “take a more proactive approach to mitigating the risks of chronic disease.” For example, the Movano app might tell you how your exercise habits impact your sleeping patterns or HRV over time. This isn’t surprising —... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3prNIn4

The OLED Shelf displaying a piece of art. | Photo by LG Display LG Display has come up with more uses for transparent screens with its innovative new concepts that will be on display at CES 2022: the OLED Shelf, Shopping Managing Showcase, Show Window, and Smart Window. The company is not to be confused with LG Electronics, as LG Display simply creates concepts that other companies can adopt and introduce to the market. Its OLED Shelf consists of two transparent OLED displays mounted on top of one another, and as its name implies, it can be placed atop a shelf. LG Display says it’s ideal for the living room, where it can display art or a TV show. Always on Display Mode ensures that the screen stays on all the time, so if there was a piece of art on display, that image will stay put just like an... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3myBuHk

The Epic Games Store is offering Control for free as part of its 15 days of free games promotion — the game is only available for free until December 27th at 11AM. To get the game, simply log in to the Epic Games Store (or create an account), navigate to Control ’s game page , and then hit “Get” to add the game to your library for free. The Federal Bureau of Control has granted us authorization to disperse free copies of @ControlRemedy for one day only. Claim yours while you can, Director. https://t.co/1bzgT8zKH0 pic.twitter.com/ZkJp5yh9VX — Epic Games Store (@EpicGames) December 26, 2021 Control was a freebie on the Epic Games Store this past June, so if you missed picking it up then, now you have another chance to grab it for free.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3swry53

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has reportedly hired Andrea Schubert, Meta’s communications and public relations lead for its augmented reality (AR) products, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter. Schubert’s LinkedIn page indicates that she’s been working for Meta for nearly six years. “Meta, with Oculus, has been the market leader in headsets, so such a hire makes sense as Apple nears its launch” “Meta, with Oculus, has been the market leader in headsets, so such a hire makes sense as Apple nears its launch,” Gurman explains. On both Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 was one of the top-selling products. Not to mention that Meta’s Oculus app topped the App Store in the US on Christmas Day, and became... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3sBaMBY

Alexander Skarsgård is out for revenge in The Northman | Focus Features Hello and welcome to the final trailers roundup for 2021, I hope you have enjoyed reading (and watching) these roundups as much as I have enjoyed writing them. There were a lot of really good streaming shows and movies this year despite the persistence of the coronavirus that disrupted so much of our lives. Among my personal favorites were Loki, Succession, Ted Lasso, The Beatles: Get Back, King Richard, and Y: The Last Man (pls someone pick up this show it was just getting started!). This week’s list has Vikings, Hercule Poirot, and a look at the upcoming Showtime series about the early days of Uber. The Northman Director Robert Eggers ( The Witch , The Lighthouse ), said in an interview with EW that The Northman was “by far the hardest... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3sA5bvr

A Tesla Model S strapped with dynamite. | Screenshot from Pommijätkät via YouTube When faced with a repair bill that costs half of what you paid for your car, do you go through with the expensive repair, bring it to the junkyard, or sell it for parts? Finnish Tesla owner Tuomas Katainen decided to do something a little more extreme — but arguably a lot more satisfying — when faced with such a situation: he watched his car go up in flames, as noted in a report from Gizmodo . Katainen handed his 2013 Tesla Model S over to Pommijätkät , a group of explosion experts on YouTube who loves to make things go “boom,” after he was quoted $22,600 for a battery replacement. “Well when I bought that Tesla, the first 1,500km [932 miles] were nice,” Katainen recounted. “Then, error codes hit.” After Katainen brought his Tesla to a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3z39VLw

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge New phone, new start Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Jj5NeX

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge A privacy-minded roundup of apps, including a self-care penguin Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Eyr4NX

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge As kids and adults alike flock to the Nintendo eShop, eager to spend the gift cards they found in their stockings, that excitement was quickly spoiled by an eShop error screen. The annual holiday surge has brought down the Nintendo Switch eShop for some yet again, according to a report from Kotaku . We are aware that players are experiencing errors accessing Nintendo eShop, and are working to address the issue as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding, and please see our Network Status page for the latest updates. https://t.co/KnM0g7z7jn — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 25, 2021 Nintendo sent out a tweet, noting that the company is “working to address the issue as soon as possible.” It also includes a link... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Fx7V0u

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge If you’re lucky enough to have one, that is Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3ptl1X2

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Steam Global seems to have been banned in China, according to a report from TheGamer . Only the Chinese version of Steam remains accessible in the country, which currently offers a limited library of just 103 games — a very small fraction of the over 110,000 games that Steam Global has at this time of writing. Reliable Fortnite leaker and data miner Ricky Owens (aka iFireMonkey) first noticed the ban and tweeted out a screenshot of what appears to be Steam on a list of blocked websites in China. We tried to verify this for ourselves using Comparitech’s tool that checks whether a site is blocked in China. Upon entering “store.steampowered.com,” into the site, the tool indicates that Steam has been blocked in all parts of the country — as... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/32hV581

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge The best games to play together or alone Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3H8HuhW

Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls Early Christmas morning, NASA’s revolutionary new space observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, successfully launched into space after taking off on top of a European Ariane 5 rocket from South America. The launch marks the beginning of one of the most anticipated NASA missions in decades, a program that promises to transform how we study the deepest depths of the Universe. “From a tropical rainforest to the edge of time itself, James Webb begins a voyage back to the birth of the Universe,” Rob Navias, NASA’s announcer on the agency’s livestream, said at liftoff. Though the initial trip to space may have been successful, there’s still a risky journey ahead for the James Webb Space Telescope , also known as JWST. Over the next month,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3mtmhY4

After nearly two and a half decades of planning and work, NASA is finally set to launch its next-generation space observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, this morning. The spacecraft will ride to space on top of a European Ariane 5 rocket, taking off out of Europe’s primary launch site in French Guiana, South America. The launch is expected to last just 26 minutes to get JWST to space. Once it’s free of the rocket, JWST will then spend the next month traveling to its final destination roughly 1 million miles from Earth and slowly unfurling to reach its final form for probing the cosmos. Here’s what you need to know to watch today’s launch. How do I watch the launch? NASA plans to livestream today’s launch on its dedicated channel,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3mSRLr1

Microsoft is the latest company to drop a physical presence at CES, as the increased prevalence of COVID-19 spooks exhibitors. It joins a growing list of major companies ditching the world’s largest technology show. “After reviewing the latest data on the rapidly evolving COVID environment, Microsoft has decided not to participate in-person at CES 2022,” a company spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement. (The spokesperson declined to give their name because that’s how Microsoft prefers to announce event status changes.) Instead, the company will have a digital presence for both the Microsoft Partner Innovation Experience and Automotive Press Kit. Microsoft was a featured exhibitor at the technology conference, and is now the latest to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3srJTQK

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple must allow dating app developers to offer non-Apple payment systems for in-app purchases or face a hefty fine, according to a detailed ruling released today from the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). The regulator has been investigating the company’s App Store practices since 2019, but Reuters reports that it decided to focus on dating apps after receiving a complaint from Match Group, owners of dating services like Tinder, Match.com, and OkCupid. This decision doesn’t apply to other app categories, like games or productivity apps, in the country. “Some app providers are dependent on Apple’s App Store, and Apple takes advantage of that dependency,” writes Martijn Snoep, chairman of the board of ACM. “Apple has... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Eti9xr