FREE TECH

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Six months after predicting the global chip shortage would last until at least 2023 , Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is now suggesting it might be 2024 before we’re fully out of the woods. “[W]e believe the overall semiconductor shortage will now drift into 2024, from our earlier estimates in 2023, just because the shortages have now hit equipment and some of those factory ramps will be more challenged,” he told CNBC on Friday. But while that sounds a little doom-y and gloom-y, you should know that the “chip shortage” is an involved, evolving situation that doesn’t affect every kind of chip at every time. Some industries and some kinds of parts have been worse hit than others as things go on. In fact, Intel’s own chips are doing fairly well.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/E3AIJ7v

Warner Bros. While Warner Bros.’ and Mattel Films ’ upcoming Barbie movie is sure to have some level of self-awareness about its main character’s status as a real-world cultural icon, Mattel is taking a firm stance against featuring the iconic doll’s very unofficial anthem that basically everyone knows by heart. The small tease of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie that Warner Bros. shared this week — a still image of Margot Robbie all dolled up and driving a dream car — singlehandedly put the project at the back front of people’s minds as something they might actually want to see. Partially because of the bright, colorful, “fun” vibes the image gave off, a number of fans began speculating what sorts of music Barbie might feature, and Aqua’s 1997 Hit “Barbie... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ypLUt12

Stray , an upcoming game where you play as a cat, will now be released in summer 2022, according to a video in an official PlayStation tweet . Last July, publisher Annapurna Interactive said Stray would be released in early 2022 on PS5, PS4, and Steam, but it seems now we’re going to have to wait just a little bit longer to play the game. What does one do in a cyberpunk cat simulator, you might ask? “ Stray is a third-person cat adventure game set amidst the detailed neon-lit alleys of a decaying cybercity and the murky environments of its seedy underbelly,” developer BlueTwelve Studio says on the game’s Steam page . “Roam surroundings high and low, defend against unforeseen threats and solve the mysteries of this unwelcoming place inhabited... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/QI9vUl4

Ubisoft Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones finally seems to be emerging from the depths of development hell. As reported by Kotaku , test footage has leaked online, showing off the biggest glimpse of the live-service pirate adventure that’s been seen since its announcement at E3 2017 . In the video, a voiceover explains some of the core details of Skull and Bones . A stat called “infamy” is used to gauge how good players are at being a pirate. Players can increase their infamy via raiding ships, completing contracts, and finding hidden treasure. Higher tiers of infamy grant players access to more difficult bounties and contracts, and failure will result in the loss of some infamy. Players will start with a modest pirate ship that they can then upgrade with... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/sbxmlR2

Photo by Olly Curtis/Future Publishing via Getty Images The celebrated game director shared insight into the process of crafting Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker’s story Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0Jy1wdb

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images In its latest notice to shareholders , Thomson Reuters announced that it would align with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and conduct an independent, company-wide human rights impact assessment of its products and services, including contracts with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The announcement comes after years of criticism over data brokerage services provided by the Canadian media conglomerate to ICE, which uses a Thomson Reuters database service known as Clear to track, arrest, and deport undocumented migrants in the US. Currently, Thomson Reuters has more than $100 million in contracts with ICE and provides the immigration agency not only with raw data gathered from cellphone... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/tUJhrVH

Mari Yamamoto as Hana | Apple Ahead of Pachinko ’s season 1 finale, Apple has just renewed its adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s best-selling novel for a second season. Today, Apple announced that it’s moving forward with more of series creator Soo Hugh’s multigenerational story about a family of Korean immigrants surviving and thriving in Japan throughout the 20th century. In a press release about the renewal , Hugh was mum about what’s next for Pachinko , but she called out the show’s fandom for having been vocal about its desire for more. “Words cannot express my joy in being able to continue telling the extraordinary story of this indomitable family,” said Hugh. “I’m grateful to the amazing team at Apple and Media Res studio for believing and supporting this show, and to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/XOIMoJ0

It isn’t the first time. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Activision Blizzard is facing another complaint to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that it’s trying to keep employees from talking about their working conditions, despite their legally protected rights to do so. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) has filed an unfair labor charge against the company, alleging that it told workers “they could not discuss issues related to the sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit filed by state of California against the company,” according to a press release from the union. According to the complaint , an employee was threatened by a manager after posting an article about the lawsuit in Slack and discussing holding Activision Blizzard accountable with other co-workers. According to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/A1Kwd32

The Bethesda game launcher is no more. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Bethesda.net game launcher is giving up the ghost as of May 11th , so Bethesda is allowing anyone who has purchased games on their exclusive platform to migrate their purchases to Steam. The launcher and your library will remain accessible after May 11th, but Bethesda has recommended that users begin the process as soon as possible. In the process of migrating your games, Bethesda has noted that your entire game library and wallet will be accompanied by all of your saved games — meaning that you shouldn’t have to worry about losing your 500-plus-hour playthrough of Fallout 76. However, we’d recommend backing up those files wherever applicable before you start the process. Bethesda.net logins will still be a thing, however, and your... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/d36KerO

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon Prime Day, the company’s annual shopping holiday that targets subscribers to its premium shipping / entertainment package, will take place in July this year. The manufactured holiday for discount shopping has moved around a bit after Amazon delayed it to October for 2020 and then moved it back up to June for 2021 . Amazon announced the information in its Q1 2022 earnings report and hasn’t shared any other details about what to expect or the exact dates. This year, Prime Day will take place in July in more than 20 countries. During Amazon’s annual shopping event, Prime members will be able to save on products from national brands and small businesses across every category. What we do know is that, outside of Black Friday and Cyber... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/r8JzYZW

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Last month, Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov accused DJI of helping Russia to kill Ukrainian civilians in an unusual way — by allowing Russia to freely use a drone-tracking system called DJI AeroScope to target the exact location of Ukrainian drone pilots and, allegedly, kill them with mortar strikes and missiles. So we wrote an in-depth explainer on what DJI AeroScope actually is , how it works, what it was designed for, and what, if anything, DJI could actually do to prevent people from getting killed using its tech. But a hacker pointed out that DJI wasn’t being truthful with us on at least one point — and the company is now admitting it. The AeroScope signals broadcast by every modern DJI drone aren’t actually encrypted,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Gm0yVoB

An excellent midrange feature set at the right price Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/QVCrzxT

A good screen and the right 5G bands, but not much else going for it Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/dsO1qvl

This is Igloo! His birthday was yesterday, and he is very patient and kind. | Alex Cranz Elinor Karlsson has never owned a dog. But ever since she was a graduate student, she’s been studying dog genetics. (They’re good models for studying genetic diseases in humans.) Part of that work involved collecting genetic and behavioral data on thousands of dogs. And all that data meant the research team could ask a question Karlsson had been wondering for years: does a dog’s breed really say anything about how that dog acts? “Everybody was assuming that breed was predictive of behavior in dogs,” said Karlsson, now the director of the Vertebrate Genomics Group at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, during a press briefing. “And that had never really been asked particularly well. And we could actually do that.” The answer they... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Dk13pbP

Image: Pop TV Schitt’s Creek , the extremely GIF-ed comedy series, will be moving homes from Netflix to Hulu on October 3rd. Hulu announced its acquisition of the show’s US streaming rights on Thursday, saying that it will become the only place you can stream all six seasons of the show later this year. The show currently lives on Netflix, so it’s hard to see this as anything other than Disney (which owns Hulu) swiping away a show that’s been incredibly popular on a rival streaming service. Netflix has had a lot of bad news recently, and while losing Schitt’s Creek isn’t on the same level as the company’s subscriber numbers dropping for the first time in a decade , it’s not a great sign, either. The streaming service has struggled to hang onto other... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/RMqGymb

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images It’s not your imagination: follower counts on Twitter really have been shifting wildly in response to news that Elon Musk had finalized a deal to acquire the platform. Data compiled by The Verge from social media statistics site Social Blade shows that in the two days since the deal was completed, influential conservative accounts have increased their follower counts at roughly ten times the average daily rate for the month leading up to the acquisition. Meanwhile, popular liberal accounts have suffered, collectively losing hundreds of thousands of followers on April 25th and 26th after a month of gains. The shifts are unlikely to be the result of changes within Twitter’s management of the platform, as the deal will not close for months... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/trAEe1M

Photography by Vjeran Pavic / Treatment by Alex Castro / The Verge Chinese drone maker DJI has confirmed to The Verge that it is halting all shipments of its products to both Russia and Ukraine and will no longer provide aftersales support because it’s worried about its products being used for combat purposes during Russia’s invasion. It’s the first concrete action China’s DJI has taken to address the war after Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Federov accused the company of helping Russia kill Ukrainian civilians in a roundabout fashion (by using DJI’s AeroScope drone detection system to target Ukrainian pilots on the ground, something DJI apparently never anticipated). Both countries are using DJI drones for reconnaissance, and we’ve seen reports of Ukraine turning some of them into makeshift... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/niqPhlH

Amazon’s Alexa can now tell you when your Ring, Google Nest, or Abode camera sees a person. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Alexa has always had aspirations to be a type of digital butler, and today, it’s getting closer to that goal. Amazon’s voice assistant can now announce when there’s a person or package at your video doorbell or security camera. If you have an Echo smart display or Fire TV, it can also show you who or what is there by automatically pulling up a live video feed. The new feature will work with video doorbells and security cameras from Ring, Google Nest, and Abode, with more brands potentially adding the ability thanks to a new API from Amazon. Amazon says that person detection announcements are rolling out now to all Ring video doorbells and cameras and will be coming soon to the Google Nest Cam Outdoor, Nest Cam Indoor, Nest Cam... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0SwGeQZ

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Twitter’s prospective new owner Elon Musk still has some restrictions on his tweets that most of us do not. They’re as a result of a 2018 settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over his infamous “funding secured” tweet about taking Tesla private. Even considering Musk’s complaints that he was coerced into taking the deal and contempt for the “bastards” at the SEC , earlier today, US District Judge Lewis Liman ruled against Musk, letting the agreement stand as originally written (via Reuters ). One of the things Musk wanted — but didn’t get — was for the court to stop a subpoena from the SEC for information to determine if a tweet last fall with a poll about selling 10 percent of his stock had been vetted first, per... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/GonAJ9p

Image: YouTube YouTube is starting to test advertisements on Shorts , a short-form video feature the company introduced in 2020 that’s similar to what TikTok and Instagram offer. The company is specifically experimenting with app-install ads and other promotions, Google’s chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, told investors on Tuesday. “We are experiencing a slight headwind to revenue growth as Shorts viewership grows as a percentage of total YouTube time,” Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said. “We are testing monetization on shorts, and early advertiser feedback and results are encouraging.” According to Google, YouTube’s Shorts is generating 30 billion daily views, which is four times that of last year’s. Meanwhile, YouTube’s ad-revenue growth went up,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/fcTjBgH

Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge Here’s the situation: you’re typing a report for work, and you suddenly have to write the phrase “Jones née Berkowitz.” Or you are adding a phrase in Spanish and need to use the word “años.” How do you add the special characters to the letters with your Windows 11 PC? Special characters (also known as diacritical marks ) may be more common in certain languages, but there are plenty of circumstances in which English speakers may need to use them. But because they are so rare in English, native English speakers may not have learned how to add those marks to documents, emails, or other writings. It’s not difficult to add them to your Windows document, although it’s not quite as smooth an operation as on a Mac , where all you have to do is... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/tFivVJR

Microsoft’s third quarter 2022 financial results are here, and the company’s posting double-digit growth yet again: revenue of $49.4 billion and net income of $16.7 billion. Revenue is up 18 percent, and the profit represents an 8 percent jump year over year. Microsoft is crediting a chunk of this quarter’s growth to the cloud, with server and cloud services revenue up 29 percent specifically, and Microsoft Cloud up 32 percent to $23.4 billion. There was plenty of reason to suspect Microsoft would still sport a smile this quarter. While the PC industry has started to decline from its pandemic highs, it was flagging Chromebook sales — not Microsoft Windows machines — that were responsible for the entirety of the recent dip. Meanwhile, the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2MfjwS0

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Most people who use smartwatches and other wearable devices that can track health are white, well-educated, and wealthy. That’s not because other groups aren’t interested in using the devices to keep tabs on their fitness, heart rate, or other metrics, according to a new study . It’s just that the cost of these devices is too high. That leaves lower-income groups and racial minority groups excluded from research studies that use wearable data. The study was conducted by researchers at the All of Us Research Program, an initiative at the National Institutes of Health aiming to build a health database that’s representative of the United States. The team is purposefully seeking to include groups historically underrepresented in medical... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/M0L84kn

Subaru is sticking to its outdoorsy roots when marketing the Solterra. | Image: Subaru Subaru has announced the pricing of its first all-electric vehicle, the Solterra SUV . The vehicle, which comes standard with all-wheel drive like most Subarus, will start at $44,995, with the “Limited” and “Touring” trims starting at $48,495 and $51,995, respectively. All models will have an extra $1,225 destination and delivery charge, bumping their cost out the door up a bit more. The Solterra will have an “up to a 228-mile” range, according to Subaru, and will be able to charge 80 percent of its battery in under an hour. While the Limited and Touring models add features like roof rails, wireless charging, and a glass roof, there’s currently not an option to add more range to the vehicle — something that many other manufacturers offer. ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/nCwH1MQ

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If combining NFTs with the medical industry doesn’t sound the most logical, this report from BuzzFeed News will likely confirm your skepticism. An NFT project called MetaDocs assigns doctors / influencers, like Dr. Pimple Popper, to (somewhat unsightly) cartoon personifications of themselves, which users can then purchase to gain access to one-on-one conversations, question-and-answer sessions, or DMs. But despite MetaDocs’ goal of cutting the “red tape” that comes with gaining access to doctors, the MetaDocs themselves aren’t legally able to give medical advice to NFT holders. As BuzzFeed points out, MetaDocs doesn’t have a license to practice telemedicine, barring its doctors from giving medical advice, writing prescriptions, or... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Uxe72RM

HUNGA TONGA-HUNGA HA’APAI, TONGA – DECEMBER 24, 2021: In this image 2. of a series created on January 19, 2022, Maxar overview satellite imagery shows the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on December 24, 2021, | Photo by Maxar via Getty Images Catastrophe has become more commonplace, according to data from a new United Nations report . Not only that, but humans are largely responsible for the increasing number of disasters, which are only going to become even more frequent, the report warns. Looking back, from 1970 to 2000, the world averaged between 90 and 100 disasters reported per year, according to the report published today by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). That grew tremendously from 2001 to 2020, to between 350 to 500 disasters a year. That includes disasters caused by hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, extreme weather, crop plagues, epidemics, and more (the UN counted biological, geophysical, and weather... Continu...

Meta Meta is launching its first hardware retail store on its campus in Burlingame, California. The store, which opens May 9th , will let visitors try out and buy Meta’s Portal videophones and Quest virtual reality headsets. They’ll also be able to demo the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses that debuted last year and get help ordering them online. Meta’s store will include a demo area for Portal where users can test its video calling features with a store employee. There’s a space to test several Quest 2 demos, including Beat Saber , GOLF+ , Real VR Fishing , and Supernatural , and visitors will take home a 30-second mixed reality clip showing them playing a game. They can also try on different styles of the Ray-Ban glasses, which capture and share... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/5w9PSq0

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge If you're trying to buy a new video game console in 2022, then you probably already know that they’re still in short supply. While the Nintendo Switch (including the new Switch OLED model) and Xbox Series S are generally available throughout the US, it’s a little harder to get something more powerful, and NPD data released today reflects that. Between the Xbox Series S remaining in stock consistently and the increasingly obtainable Xbox Series X (try opening up your Best Buy app in the morning or checking local stores to find one — many have had them in stock lately ), Microsoft’s consoles led in terms of hardware dollars for March 2022 and the entire first quarter in the US. This is the most total Xbox units sold in March since 2011 U... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/HsPiu9p

The 2023 Chevy Corvette Z06 | Chevy General Motors will release an “electrified” version of the Chevy Corvette next year, followed by a fully electric version of the iconic sports car soon after that, the automaker’s president Mark Reuss said on CNBC Monday . Reuss wouldn’t confirm when the all-electric ‘Vette would make its debut, but did note that “this is coming very quick.” The automaker plans to continue selling gas-powered versions in the meantime. “This is in addition to all the great performance that Chevrolet and Corvette have been known for many, many years with our internal combustion engine, so it’s an addition to [that],” Reuss said. BREAKING: An electrified #Corvette will be available as early as next year and a fully electric version to follow. Stay... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/c7P9hWS

Image: Blizzard We already knew Blizzard is working on a new entry in the Diablo series that is designed for mobile devices . And today, timed to coincide with Activision Blizzard’s Q1 2022 earnings report, the company announced that Diablo Immortal will release on Android and iOS on June 2nd and, surprise, on PC too in open beta. On June 2, Hell is everywhere. iOS & Android PC Open Beta Pre-register: https://t.co/hKUMmROvQI pic.twitter.com/BoC4tDL7Kq — Diablo Immortal (@DiabloImmortal) April 25, 2022 According to the developers, Diablo Immortal will have cross-play and cross progression with controller and keyboard support on PC. Set after Diablo II: Lord of Destruction , Diablo Immortal, is a free-to-play MMORPG. The game will be online-only, and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/OytXQBd

The PA147CDV next to one of Asus’ laptops. | Image: Asus The Asus ProArt Display PA147CDV is a 14-inch touchscreen that’s designed to act as a secondary display for creatives. With its small form-factor and ultrawide 32:9 aspect ratio it looks as though Asus has ripped the secondary display off one of its Duo laptops and turned it into an external monitor. The PA147CDV was technically announced last September , but Asus is currently showing it off at the NAB 2022 show in Las Vegas and is announcing plans to release the monitor in Q2 2022 in North America at a price that’s yet to be announced. With its support for Microsoft’s Pen Protocol 2.0, and a built in dial that’s designed to emulate the functionality of Microsoft’s Surface Dial , Asus is pitching the PA147CDV as an accessory for creatives... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ifVqSdU

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Workers at Nintendo’s third-party repair facility reportedly faced a “very stressful” work environment caused by a deluge of Switches sent in for issues related to Joy-Con drift, according to a report from Kotaku . A former supervisor at the New York-based United Radio, the company that partners with Nintendo to repair broken devices, told Kotaku that the large volume of Joy-Con repairs resulted in a high turnover rate and “lots of” mistakes. United Radio is its own company — Nintendo merely acts as the middleman, handling customer communications and leaving the repairing to United Radio, which serves Nintendo customers located in the eastern half of the US. The ubiquity of Joy-Con drift led to “easily thousands” of Joy-Cons that passed... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/43cQ8aB

Image: Android Central Our first look at what seems to be the Google Pixel Watch comes under strange circumstances: someone supposedly found its prototype lying around at a restaurant and sent pictures of it to Android Central on the condition of anonymity. The images of the purported device match up with what we’ve seen from previously leaked renders, down to the circular watch face, rotating crown, and nearly bezel-less design. As shown in the photos, a physical crown sits between two buttons on the side of the watch. If it’s anything like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 , the two buttons could be used to turn the watch on or off, return to the home screen, or even as a shortcut to pull up recently used apps. Meanwhile, the small hole next to the crown could be a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/oygzcJI

The Chevy Spark EV ran from 2013 to 2016. | Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images General Motors will reportedly no longer provide battery replacements for the all-electric version of the Chevy Spark, according to a report from EV-Resource (via InsideEVs ). The Chevy Spark electric vehicle (EV) was first released in 2013, and GM continued to make new models until 2016. A GM district executive confirmed to EV-Resource that the company is “no longer going to supply that [the Spark EV’s] battery.” GM’s inventory of Spark EV battery packs has reportedly run out as well, and the company doesn’t plan on making any more. The Verge reached out to GM with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back. It’s unclear if GM will continue to honor the Spark EV’s battery pack warranty With the oldest model of the Spark EV... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/yPF6NV2

This $1,550 robot can mop, vacuum, clean itself, and find you in your home Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/sEUDen3

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple may be cracking down on apps that no longer receive updates. In a screenshotted email sent to affected developers, titled “App Improvement Notice,” Apple warns it will remove apps from the App Store that haven’t been “updated in a significant amount of time” and gives developers just 30 days to update them. “You can keep this app available for new users to discover and download from the App Store by submitting an update for review in 30 days,” Apple writes in the email. “If no update is submitted in 30 days, the app will be removed from sale.” While Apple will remove the outdated apps from the App Store, any previously downloaded apps will remain on users’ devices. I feel sick. Apple just sent me an email saying they're removing... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6hzdgRo

Ubisoft says “Project Q” isn’t the game’s official name. | Image: Ubisoft Ubisoft announced its upcoming “team battle arena game,” with two major disclaimers: it’s not just a battle royale and there aren’t any NFTs. The game company shared the news on Twitter after leakers posted footage of the game, codenamed Project Q , online. “This is not a Battle Royale,” Ubisoft said in a series of tweets . “The game will feature a variety of PvP modes with one single goal in mind: FUN! We don’t have plans to add NFTs to this game, you can find out more by registering and taking part in the upcoming tests!” So, we heard you heard... ‍Introducing codename “Project Q”, a team battle arena letting players truly own the experience! The game is in early development and we will keep testing, so for now all you can do is... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/WduHSDO

Photo by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images Twitter levied a new ban today on “misleading” advertisements “that contradict the scientific consensus on climate change.” “We believe that climate denialism shouldn’t be monetized on Twitter, and that misrepresentative ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis,” the company said in a blog post today. “Misrepresentative ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis” Its decisions about what’s legit content in regard to climate change will be guided by “authoritative sources,” it says, including the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC has published a couple of landmark reports on the crisis over the past few months that break down what... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/TUufqz4

Florida’s governor has signed a bill stripping Disney of its special tax status in the state | Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a bill stripping the Walt Disney Company of its special tax status in the Orlando area. The move is widely viewed as retaliation against Disney for its criticism of the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, a position DeSantis took umbrage at. Disney CEO Bob Chapek apologized last month to employees who protested what they viewed as a failure by the company to support its LGBTQ community. Disney then issued a press release that said its “goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that.” DeSantis said Friday he was “just not comfortable having that type of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/yKHza5l

A screenshot from Borderlands 3 . | Image: Gearbox Software Gearbox Software added crossplay to Borderlands 3 last year, but Sony’s platforms didn’t support the feature at first . That will change soon, as the company announced at PAX East that full crossplay support — including with PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 — will be arriving sometime in the spring, GameSpot reports . When the feature is available, PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Stadia players will all be able to play the game with each other. Sony has been resistant to enabling crossplay on some games in the past, originally blocking support for it in titles like Fortnite and Rocket League before eventually coming around . However, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands , a Borderlands spinoff, launched in March with support for crossplay on all platforms, i... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/pULn4qH

A video was posted on Reddit Thursday that appears to show a Tesla vehicle slowly crashing into a $3.5 million private jet after being “summoned” by its owner using the automaker’s automatic parking feature. The Reddit user (who did not immediately respond to a request for comment) said the incident took place at an event sponsored by aircraft manufacturer Cirrus at Felts Field in Spokane, Washington. Tesla meets $3.5 million private jet The smartphone video appears to capture security camera footage of the Tesla slowly crashing into and then actually pushing the Cirrus Vision Jet across the tarmac. A spokesperson for Felts Field also did not respond to a request for comment. Someone just crashed into a Vision Jet!!! from ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/fqzFWAj

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Two months ago, my best friend stayed with me and watched all of Emily in Paris on my Netflix account. I have spent the time since flitting past worthless recommendation after worthless recommendation because, while I enjoy a frothy dramedy, my taste is different than hers and Netflix has failed to grasp that. A “forget what you just saw” button on Netflix would fix this. But when you’re using the Netflix app on your phone, tablet, set-top box, TV, or even, if that’s a thing you do, your Facebook Portal, there is no button to forget what you have seen. There is just the ruin of your recommendations after a friend visits or your kid goes on a Cocomelon binge. But, as this tweet pointed out , there is actually a Forget button. Well okay,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/o81jeWm

Image: Sony (WH-1000XM4, left), TechnikNews (WH-1000XM5, right) Sony’s WH-1000XM4 noise-canceling headphones have been one of the best options since they debuted in 2020, but it appears the company is gearing up to release the next generation. German tech news site TechnikNews has published some images and specs of the successor, seemingly called the WH-1000XM5 ( via Gizmodo ). The first thing you might notice is a sleek new design, particularly a thinner headband. The 1000XM3s and 1000XM4s were almost identical, but Sony could change the way things look for the new 1000XM5s. Instead of a shrouded arm that swivels, the arm is exposed, with a single contact point replacing the XM4’s larger folding hinge over the ear cups. That changes the design of the ear cups as well but suggests just a bit more of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/l8NBvWI

The rotating bezel on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3. | Dan Seifert / The Verge While we’re likely months away from seeing Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 lineup, a disturbing report is making its way around the smartwatch rumor mill. According to a SamMobile report , Samsung is considering ditching the Classic model — and possibly the physical rotating bezel along with it. To put it nicely, that is a stupid idea. It is not hyperbole to say that the physical rotating bezel is one of the most beloved features on Samsung smartwatches. It goes back all the way to when its smartwatches were under the “Gear” moniker. The bezel at that time actually looked like a gear — teeth and all. It was a clever design aesthetically, but it was also functional. Being able to rotate the bezel to scroll through widgets, screens, and apps is... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/JDpy30M

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On April 17th, the decentralized finance (DeFi) project Beanstalk Farms was exploited for $182 million after an attacker mounted a lightning-fast hostile takeover, buying a controlling stake of tokens and immediately voting to send themself all of the funds . The incident sparked discussion around “governance attacks,” a way of manipulating blockchain projects that use decentralized governance structures by gaining enough voting rights to reshape the rules. In the wake of the attack, chat logs and video evidence show that the founders were warned about the risk of exactly this kind of attack, but they dismissed community members’ concerns. The Beanstalk exploit was made possible by another DeFi mechanism known as a “flash loan,” which... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/flHxbFL

Image: Google With all the apps that we tend to have running on our phones, it’s a constant worry as to whether the battery will be able to make it through the day — and that’s not helped when apps misfire and run power-draining features in the background. According to 9to5Google , a recent bug in Google’s Messages app on Android phones left the camera running in the background — a great way to both heat up your phone and run down your battery. The Google Messages app allows you to easily take a photo directly from the app and attach it to a chat message. According to the article in 9to5Google , the camera app would occasionally keep running, even when you did not have it on screen. (This issue was also reported happening with a Pixel 6 Pro in a Reddit... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/T4ZGu0P

But Google’s own app can still record calls. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is changing its Play Store policy to clamp down on a workaround that call recording apps were using, potentially closing the final loophole that allowed these apps to exist ( via NLL-Apps on Reddit ). On May 11th, a rule clarifying that “the Accessibility API is not designed and cannot be requested for remote call audio recording” will go into effect, making it so that apps won’t be able to record audio from a call. As XDA points out , Google has been playing whack-a-mole with call recording methods after it removed the official API with Android 6. In an email to The Verge , Google spokesperson Dan Jackson said the reason for the change is that call recording was an inappropriate use of the accessibility API. “Only services that are... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0kVSmx7

Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images Following a 23–16 Wednesday vote, Florida’s Senate passed SB 4-C, a bill designed to dismantle any and all of the state’s special tax districts that were created before 1968. Though there are over 1,800 different special tax districts in the state, given the GOP’s ongoing fight with The Walt Disney Corporation, the new bill reads very much like retaliation against the megacorporation for recently denouncing Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill . In a press conference earlier this week ahead of the Florida legislature’s special session , Governor Ron DeSantis urged his fellow Republicans to support a legislative move that would dissolve Florida’s special tax districts like the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the Disney-controlled governing... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/8LCkrpw

Asus has quietly announced two additions to its Zenbook line that are all about the screens. The new AMD-powered Zenbook 13 S joins a limited, but slowly growing lineup of 13-inch OLED laptops for folks seeking the benefits of OLED technology for a consumer-accessible price. But Asus isn’t leaving Intel behind — the company has also unveiled a new Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED convertible powered by 12th-Gen Core processors and Arc GPUs. The Zenbook 13 S OLED doesn’t look too different from 13-inch Zenbooks we’ve seen before. It weighs 2.2 pounds and is just over half an inch thick. It’s available in some fun colors: Ponder Blue, Aqua Celadon, Refined White, and Vestige Beige. But the most interesting thing is that the word “Asus,” famously... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/AYxF0Tz

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Sony is reportedly working to bring advertisements to free-to-play PlayStation games, according to a report by Insider . The ads would appear in games and are meant to give game developers a way to monetize their work and encourage them to continue building free-to-play games. The in-game ads are expected to launch by the end of the year and would appear in inconspicuous places within the game, like billboards . Players could also get rewards for watching advertisements, and the ads would be sold through a private marketplace, Insider reports. Sources told Insider that Sony hasn’t yet decided if it would take a portion of ad revenue but is considering having developers and publishers pay for consumer data. Sony did not immediately respond... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/5cYx7GJ

Psyonix Carcinization describes the evolutionary process in which a crustacean will eventually and inevitably evolve into a crab. Battle royale-ification is this process happening in video games . Rocket League , the game with the simple-yet-elegant premise of “what if soccer was soc car, ” will undergo battle royale-ification with its new game mode Knockout Bash . Starting on April 27th, Knockout Bash will pit eight players in a free-for-all to be the last car driving. Knockout Bash will feature the hallmarks of a typical battle royale mode: perma-death (in this case, instead of infinite respawns, players get three KOs before a game over) and an encroaching danger zone with an ever-shrinking battle arena. Rocket League will add new actions and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/YOmipjR

Astrobotic CEO John Thornton unveiling the Peregrine lander | Image: Astrobotic This afternoon, commercial space company Astrobotic unveiled its nearly complete robotic lunar lander, designed to take payloads for paying customers like NASA to the surface of the Moon. It marks the first time the company has shown the mostly finished flight hardware for the lander ahead of its launch, tentatively scheduled for late this year. Called the Peregrine Lunar Lander, the spacecraft is roughly the size of a squat refrigerator, standing just over six feet tall. Five main engines mounted on the lander’s base will help navigate the vehicle through space and eventually allow the vehicle to touch down on the surface of the Moon. The vehicle has various locations it can store mounted payloads for experiments designed to take... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/SR5Xify

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge An ebook subscription platform used by thousands of public libraries in the US and elsewhere is offering Holocaust denial, COVID disinformation, LGBTQ conversion therapy, and other conspiracy theory books, according to a report by Motherboard . Hoopla — a Netflix-like subscription service that libraries use for audiobooks, ebooks, and movies — serves more than 8,500 public libraries in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Titles on Hoopla included antisemitic books like Debating The Holocaust and A New Nobility of Blood and Soil . Unlike physical books, which libraries can order individually, Hoopla sells libraries a subscription to its service, meaning librarians don’t always have control over what is being offered. OverDrive,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/krYpveN