FREE TECH

The Hubble Space Telescope | Image: NASA SpaceX and NASA have agreed to figure out whether or not a SpaceX ship could visit and potentially breathe new life into the iconic Hubble Space Telescope. They announced that they were partnering on a study that would look into whether or not that kind of mission was even possible. The study will take about six months to complete and will involve NASA and SpaceX. It also involves the Polaris Program , a private human spaceflight effort funded by billionaire Jason Isaacman. Earlier this year, Isaacman bought three flights to space on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, a series of missions he’s calling Polaris. It is not clear yet whether or not a trip to the Hubble would even require a crew It is not clear yet whether or not a trip to the Hubble... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/snh0aVW

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Google had big plans for its cloud gaming service, but it never tipped the scales. Soon, Google will be shutting it down. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/sxvmuBA

Intel’s Arc A750 arrives next month. | Image: Intel Intel surprised PC gamers earlier this week with $329 pricing for its top Arc A770 GPU, matching Nvidia’s RTX 3060 retail pricing. While it’s still difficult to find an RTX 3060 at $329, Intel is now undercutting Nvidia’s popular GPU with a $289 starting price for its A750, a card it claims should be able to trade blows with the RTX 3060. We’re still waiting on independent reviews of the Arc A750, but Intel did release 48 benchmarks last month showing that it should be able to beat or come close to Nvidia’s RTX 3060 performance in modern games. Intel tested its A750 directly against the RTX 3060 across 42 DirectX 12 titles and six Vulkan games, and the results look promising. Intel is clearly aiming for performance per dollar and budget... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/cgqCkV2

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Apple’s vice president of procurement, Tony Blevins, has been fired from the company after his crude remarks in a TikTok interview went viral, according to a report from Bloomberg . Earlier this month, creator Daniel Mac posted a video where he asked Blevins what he does for a living, which showed Blevins responding: “I race cars and play golf and fondle big-breasted women. But I take weekends and major holidays off.” The video doesn’t identify Blevins by name and doesn’t reference his position at Apple, though Blevins does note that his job offers “a hell of a dental plan.” Mac’s format on TikTok mostly consists of walking up to people in expensive or luxurious cars and asking what they do for a living. As a slightly more safe for work... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/abJC1WX

Google’s text-to-speech tech is getting new voices across Android apps to improve clarity and sound more natural. | The Verge The speech engine Speech Services by Google is being upgraded to improve clarity and make text-to-speech voices in Android apps sound more natural. You can hear the difference between the old voices and the updated voices for yourself through prerecorded snippets on the Android Developers Blog . Frankly, while the voices do sound clearer, I’m skeptical about the claims it sounds more natural. It’s also still difficult to ascertain what the first sentence in these US English-language recordings actually says — is this my gun? Is this my god? Apparently it says “is this mic on?” but that was lost on me. Old New All 421 voices in 67 languages within Google’s speech engine are getting a new voice model All 421 voices in 67 languages... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/XTszSuo

Image: Ustwo Games / Netflix The quality of Netflix games has gone from simple, cotton candy-like fluff suitable for short bursts in a waiting room to bespoke, narrative experiences that require hours of strategic thinking. Desta: The Memories Between is the latter. Now I’m going to say some words that make sense independently but seem confusing when smashed together: Desta is a dreaming dodgeball roguelike friendship simulator. I promise you, it works. That’s the thing that enamored me of this game: those disparate words and genres, when put together, frickin’ work on a level that I simply have not seen in a mobile game, let alone one brought exclusively to mobile via Netflix — whose first crop of games included such BAFTA hopefuls like Shooting Hoops and Teeter... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/iHGwX1c

Image: Hertz Hertz and BP are joining forces to build a network of electric vehicle (EV) chargers throughout the US ( via Engadget ). The initiative should help support Hertz’s growing fleet of EV vehicles, as the rental car company recently announced plans to purchase a total of over 300,000 EVs from Tesla , Polestar , and GM . Details about the project are still pretty slim, and the two companies haven’t indicated how many charging stations they plan on building, how long it could take, or how much money either side is committing to the project. But we do know that Hertz is working with BP Pulse, the oil giant’s EV branch, to build out “a network of fast-charging hubs” with the goal of serving both Hertz customers and everyday EV drivers. According to a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/25fF0Sl

The company’s “been exploring new ways to make” the info you want easier to find. | Illustration: The Verge Google may be trying to reinvent the way we search in the future and expanding access to its impressive multisearch feature , but perhaps one of its most exciting announcements from today is a feature it’s calling “discussions and forums.” The idea is simple: whenever you do a Google search that it thinks could be an open-ended question, it’ll pop up a box full of results from “a variety of popular forums and online discussions across the web.” An example in its blog post shows results from Reddit, Quora, and Edmunds showing up when the user searches “best car for big family.” It’s more or less a meme at this point that you have to add “reddit” to a search if you want to find actually useful results instead of a page full of ads and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/mpOuX1a

Amazon says that its Kindle Scribe includes a pen that never needs to be charged. | Image: Amazon In the span of one hour, Amazon absolutely flooded the zone with a litany of product announcements . Thankfully, we were ready; we flooded our respective zone with stories covering the new Kindle Scribe , the smarter, more capable Fire TV Cube , and a lot more. If you’re wondering when you can get your hands on Amazon’s latest tech, most of it will launch later this year (and as soon as October, in some cases). Better yet, many of these devices are available to preorder now. So, here are all of the preorder links, release dates, and pricing details available for Amazon’s latest slate of products. Image: Amazon Kindle Scribe The Kindle Scribe (pictured above) is Amazon’s new, high-end e-reader, one that also functions as... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/kcawd4u

Eviation’s all-electric aircraft Alice flies above the runway during its first test flight. | Image: Eviation A prototype all-electric passenger plane took off for the first time yesterday in a test flight that marks a significant milestone for carbon pollution-free aviation. The nine-passenger commuter aircraft called Alice took off at 7:10AM yesterday from Washington state’s Grant County International Airport. Alice is ahead of much of the pack when it comes to all-electric aircraft under development. It could become the “first all-new, all-electric commercial airplane” if the Federal Aviation Administration certifies it to carry passengers, The Seattle Times reports . Alice is ahead of much of the pack The US is trying to erase the planet-heating pollution it produces in the coming decades, including emissions from aviation . All-electric... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rgmPsfo

Google’s search is becoming both more visual and more exploratory. | Image: Google The internet is more visual and more interactive than ever. So how does the world’s biggest search engine change to fit the times? By redefining the whole idea. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ZoAPBHR

Tumblr’s post interface. | Photograph: Amelia Krales Tumblr is adding a new filtering feature called “community labels.” Contrary to speculation from some users, Tumblr’s parent company, Automattic, says its broader rules haven’t changed so far — but the feature might lay the groundwork for a more liberal moderation policy. Community labels, announced yesterday , make the site’s moderation tools more granular. Tumblr is asking users to tag posts that depict or reference three categories of content: drug and alcohol addiction, violence “similar to what you might see in an age-restricted movie,” and “sexual themes” including “erotic writing or imagery.” Adding any of them will add a “mature” label to the post. You can also add a “mature” label for anything you think is sensitive but doesn’t... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/G8ectvq

Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine | Image: Marvel Studios In what could best be described as a very predictable move that’s going to have multiple generations of Marvel fans losing their minds, Hugh Jackman has joined the cast of Marvel Studios’ Deadpool 3 as Wolverine, everyone’s favorite Canadian mutant. Deadline reports that Jackman will reprise his role as Wolverine for Shawn Levy’s Deadpool 3 — the first time he’s portrayed the character since James Mangold’s Logan in 2017. Jackman’s reprisal is of particular note given how Deadpool 3 will be the franchise’s first film following Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2017 , which brought all of the X-Men IP (which includes both Wolverine and Deadpool) back to Marvel Studios. While there was initially some concern as to whether the D... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3IZXpRy

Photo Illustration by William Joel / The Verge Buying a new phone can be a chore, but we’ve done the work for you Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/lqsS3tk

It’s a Zenbook, all right. | Image: Asus If you were intrigued by Asus’ Zenbook 17 Fold OLED but put off by the fact that it, well, folded, there is now a more... normie option for you. Asus has announced the Zenbook Pro 17, a ginormous version of its highly regarded, portable Zenbook line (and the first Zenbook with a 17.3-inch screen). The device starts at $999 and will be available from Asus and Amazon . Ship dates are yet to be announced. That pricing puts it below many of the best-known 17-inchers in the consumer space today. The Dell XPS 17 and LG Gram 17 , two of the best-known products in this category, currently start at $1,849 and $1,199 , respectively. Earlier this year, Asus announced an almost-as-large Zenbook Pro 16X OLED , starting at $2,599. The Pro 17, while... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6Tiyswe

Currently, the wallet only supports Polygon — no relation to Vox Media’s gaming-focused publication. | Image: Robinhood Robinhood has launched the beta for its “Web3 wallet” for 10,000 iOS users who signed up for the waitlist. The company teased this product earlier this year after making an earlier crypto wallet more broadly available. Unlike its existing cryptocurrency wallet, the Web3 wallet isn’t just for storing cryptocurrencies that can be traded on the financial platform — it can also be used to “seamlessly access the decentralized web,” as Robinhood’s press release puts it. The wallet will also let people trade cryptocurrencies without any fees. The Web3 wallet also differs from the company’s other crypto wallet in that it’s self-custody, meaning you’re responsible for keeping the keys for it secure. In practical terms, that gives you a bit more... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/EofxvHb

Image: Intel Samsung Display and Intel are working on “slidable” PCs. During Intel’s Innovation keynote today, Samsung Display CEO JS Choi appeared onstage to show off a prototype PC that slides from a 13-inch tablet into a 17-inch display. “We’re announcing the world’s first 17-inch slidable display for PCs,” said Choi. “This device will satisfy various needs for a larger screen and portability as well.” Samsung Display has chosen to implement a sliding (rather than foldable) technology for its flexible PC displays, and Choi appeared to indicate that “foldable is gone” on PCs for now. Image: Intel Samsung Display’s concept PC slides into place. Intel has been experimenting with new PC form factors for years and was... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/qg5K0uz

The Roomba Combo j7 Plus is iRobot’s first combination robot vacuum and mop. | Image: iRobot Robot vacuums that can also mop have been around for a while, but most make you remove the mop before they can vacuum your carpets — unless you like slightly damp carpets. iRobot’s newest bot looks to solve this problem with a retractable robot mop arm that can lift itself up and under the vacuum to mop when it’s needed and stow itself up top when it’s not. The Roomba Combo j7 Plus costs $1,099 and is available to preorder today. It will ship on October 4th, and is only being sold with the auto-emptying Clean Base at launch. The two-in-one vacuum mop uses a new combination of acoustic sensors to detect the different types of flooring in a home and “decide” when to lift its pad to avoid thread counts and when to lower it to clean hard... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/bileuYV

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing crypto company Nexo, alleging that the company misled customers by saying it was registered to sell securities and commodities and that it wasn’t approved to offer services like its “Earn Interest Product” that promised returns on deposited crypto. It’s the latest legal move in a fight between regulators and crypto companies looking to offer interest-earning accounts, often insisting that they shouldn’t be classified as securities. Seven other states — California, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington, and Vermont — are also filing “administrative actions” against the company, according to a press release from the New York AG. The release also quotes James as saying:... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wo76iaM

The surface of Dimorphos moments before the DART spacecraft slammed into it. | NASA A NASA spacecraft slammed into the surface of a distant asteroid at 7:14PM ET on Monday night, the climax of the agency’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). IMPACT SUCCESS! Watch from #DARTMIssion ’s DRACO Camera, as the vending machine-sized spacecraft successfully collides with asteroid Dimorphos, which is the size of a football stadium and poses no threat to Earth. pic.twitter.com/7bXipPkjWD — NASA (@NASA) September 26, 2022 Telescopes around the world (and a few in space!) are now turning their attention to the scene of the collision. They’ll be watching to see how much the impact changed the movement of the asteroid, Dimorphos. The crash is part of the first practical planetary defense experiment — a trial to see if... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/AwQFzEg

Nearly two years later, it’s a little easier to get your hands on Sony’s PlayStation 5. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge As Sony’s PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition approach their second birthday, it seems that supplies of both next-gen consoles are finally catching up with demand (even with a new model reportedly on the way ). Restock events are still the norm for snagging a console online, but things get a little more forgiving if you’re willing to visit a brick-and-mortar store, especially if you’re okay with paying a little more upfront for a bundle. What’s more, we’re beginning to see online stock stick around for several days if not longer, giving would-be buyers a better chance at securing Sony’s next-gen console without ever having to step foot outside the door. With a little patience, determination, and luck, you can still get a PS5... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/S9Fdtfa

The desperate, confused, righteous campaign to stop Asian hate Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0FTaOJD

Image: Night School Studio Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals has been delayed to 2023, its developer Night School Studio has announced . “To make Oxenfree II truly special and add more localizations, we’re moving our release window to 2023,” the developer’s statement reads. “Thank you for your patience, support, and understanding. We can’t wait to share the game with you. Stay tuned!” This is the second major delay to have hit the sequel to the acclaimed 2016 adventure horror game . Lost Signals was originally announced in 2021 and planned for release later that year. But just a few short months later the game’s developers announced a delay to “early 2022.” No specific reason was given for the delays beyond ensuring the game is “the experience we believe it should be.” An... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Im8KfAG

Testing out AptX Lossless with Apple Music and the NuraTrue Pro. The NuraTrue Pro are the first earbuds to support Qualcomm’s new codec Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/TB49nYr

An illustration of DART headed towards Dimorphos | NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben When NASA smashes a spacecraft into an asteroid on Monday, people on Earth will get an extremely close look at the action. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) is headed for its final destination, the surface of an asteroid called Dimorphos, which it will crash into at speeds of over 14,000 miles per hour. Researchers are hoping that the collision will change the asteroid’s orbit, speeding it up just a tiny bit. Neither Dimorphos, nor its larger companion, Didymos, pose any danger to Earth, but the experiment is designed to test whether or not a similar impact could make a difference if scientists ever discovered an asteroid that posed an imminent threat to life on Earth. DART will be on its own during its final approach. The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/x4lenDY

A new Prime Day is on the Horizon | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The rumors were true: Amazon’s holding a second Prime-exclusive sales event starting on Tuesday, October 11th at 3AM ET / 12AM PT and running through Wednesday, October 12th. We first heard about the possibility of another day of deals back in June, but now Amazon has made it official — the only difference is that it’s calling the event Prime Early Access Sale instead of Prime Day. Besides the name, it doesn’t look like too much is changing between the two events. Just like Amazon Prime Day, the Prime Early Access Sale should still bring some of the best deals of the year out to play, as well as feature sales on Amazon devices in addition to a wealth of other cool tech. So, if you’ve waited this long to buy a new pair of noise-canceling... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2TJRaUI

That poor Surface tablet. Microsoft Surface tablets have been taking a beating at football events these past two weekends. During the Buffalo Bills game against the Miami Dolphins this afternoon, Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey took his frustration out on his tablet as the Dolphins secured a win during the final moments of the game. Dorsey’s reaction may have been warranted, although he probably could’ve chosen another outlet for his anger (like a stress ball perhaps?). The Bills had a chance to run one more play to win the game, but the team ultimately ran out of time, losing to the Dolphins 19-21. When cameras turned to the booth where he was watching the game, Dorsey ripped off his headset and tossed his hat before he picked up the tablet and started... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rsDRTvQ

An illustration of the DART spacecraft and the asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos | NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben Dimorphos is a lump of space rock so far away from Earth that we don’t even know what it looks like — and on Monday, we’re going to smash it with a spacecraft. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will be traveling at more than 14,000 miles per hour when it hits the asteroid, in what has to be one of the most metal science experiments of all time. DART is a NASA effort to see if it can change an asteroid’s movement in space. It’s being billed as the world’s first “planetary defense test mission” — a test run to see if we have what it takes to avert a serious asteroid impact on Earth sometime in the future. You know, just in case. To be extremely clear, neither Dimorphos, or its larger companion Didymos, pose any threat to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/EyfK7FV

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket hasn’t had a very good start to the football season. For the past two weekends in a row, subscribers have struggled to get their streams to work, and this weekend is no exception. Even before today’s games started, users began complaining about numerous issues, with many saying that they can’t log into their accounts on the Sunday Ticket website or app and others having problems loading the streams. Those who are able to access the stream are reporting quality issues . Somehow Sunday Ticket is acting worse than last week. Truly depressing. @DIRECTV — Alex Reno (@alex_reno) September 25, 2022 DirecTV hasn’t issued any statement about whether it’s working to fix the stream, and the company didn’t immediately... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/htf5VGM

The iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple could introduce a new naming scheme when it releases the iPhone 15 next year, replacing the current “Pro Max” branding with “Ultra.” This is according to Apple tracker Mark Gurman , who also expects the iPhone 15 to come with some “bigger changes,” including USB-C. The Pro Max name first appeared with the iPhone 11 in 2019, and adding Ultra branding to the iPhone lineup wouldn’t be all that surprising. Apple already launched the new Watch Ultra with the moniker earlier this month, and added the name to its M1 Ultra processor . Apple also introduced a minor change to its naming scheme with the iPhone 14 , bringing back the seemingly retired “Plus” name to the iPhone 14 Plus. The iPhone 14 isn’t even a month old yet, but other rumors... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/gZb7X30

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple Pay Later is facing some “significant” setbacks that could delay its launch until next year, according to a report from Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman . The feature is Apple’s version of a buy now, pay later (BNPL) service, letting you make a payment through Apple Pay and then pay it back in four installments without interest. Apple said its Pay Later feature would arrive with iOS 16 when it first announced the program at WWDC in June. But now that iOS 16 is out, Apple Pay Later hasn’t made an appearance, and the fine print on Apple’s iOS 16 page vaguely says it’s “coming in a future update.” As Gurman points out, Apple Pay Later is the only unreleased iOS 16 feature on the page that doesn’t include a timeframe for when we might expect its... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/7lTOw6r

The Triton 500 SE is an expensive gaming laptop that doesn’t flex its hardware enough Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/VLSsXzq

Darth Vader in Disney Plus’ Obi Wan. | Image: Lucasfilm James Earl Jones has been the iconic voice of Darth Vader since the beginning of Star Wars , but at 91 years old, it seems he’s ready to have the work done for him. According to a report from Vanity Fair ( via Deadline ), Jones signed over the rights to his archival voice work, allowing the Ukrainian startup Respeecher to leverage AI technology and recreate the sound of his voice in Disney Plus’ Obi-Wan Kenobi . To do this, Respeecher uses sound bites to “clone” an actor’s voice, allowing a studio to record new lines without having the actor present. Matthew Wood, Skywalker Sound’s supervising sound editor, told Vanity Fair that he presented Jones with the option once he “mentioned he was looking into winding down” the role of Darth Vader.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Wt6vNZ0

Teyonah Parris as Yo-yo, Jamie Foxx as Slick, and John Boyega as Fontaine. | Netflix In Netflix’s upcoming sci-fi comedy feature The Cloned Tyrone from director Juel Taylor, everybody with even the slightest bit of common sense knows that Black people have plenty of reasons not to trust the government or the police stalking their neighborhoods. Some of those reasons, like police brutality and harassment, are obvious. But the real threat everyone’s facing in They Cloned Tyrone ’s first trailer is a bit more hidden and insidious because it’s the sort of thing few people would be inclined to believe. They Cloned Tyrone tells the story of Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris), Slick (Jamie Foxx), and Fontaine (John Boyega), three unlikely friends who are brought together by their shared discovery of a massive, secret governmental... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Bmc8ogT

Guillermo del Toro taking a peek at a miniature set featuring Pinocchio sleeping or not yet alive in Geppetto’s workshop. | Netflix Once upon a time, it seemed as if Netflix’s upcoming stop-motion Pinocchio from co-directors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s might in a bit of competition with Disney’s “live-action” spin on the classic story from Robert Zeemckis. But that all changed when del Toro stopped by Netflix’s annual Tudum event to give everyone a closer look into the labor-intensive, mesmerizing, and magical process that brought his Pinocchio to life. In the new video, which features a number of different Pinocchio scenes in the midst of production, del Toro opens up a bit about what all he wanted to bring to his take on the fairytale, and why he insisted that the bulk of its animation was done by hand. While there’s also quite a bit of digital... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/qfj9tJc

NASA’s SLS on the pad on September 3rd, 2022 | Photo by Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel / Tribune News Service via Getty Images I’ve got good news and bad news for fans of big NASA space launches. The good news is that after repeated delays and a nail-biting test of a leaky fuel system, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) could make its big debut as soon as Tuesday. The bad news is currently named Tropical Depression Nine. It’s a developing storm in the Caribbean with the potential to become a major hurricane and a trajectory that is currently headed toward Florida. There is just a 20 percent chance that the weather on September 27th will cooperate, according to a Friday forecast from the Space Force’s 45th weather squadron, which is in charge of determining whether or not the weather is good enough to launch. This particular launch will be the start of Artemis I,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/tE1JuFQ

The “NASTY!” message when you flub a note is inspired. | Image: Holy Wow Studios Trombone Champ has been the star of my timeline this week; I’m constantly running into absurd renditions of songs like “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” But in a conversation with Dan Vecchitto, the founder of Trombone Champ developer Holy Wow Studios, he brought up something I think is a major factor in the game’s success: we just don’t see a lot of comedy in gaming right now. Games have been pushing the boundaries of capital-S Serious Storytelling for some time with series like The Last of Us . Others remain popular because of their high-skill and high-stress competitive multiplayer. But we just don’t see many games that embrace their own comedy in the way that Trombone Champ does. While there are a growing number of games that are... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0MdkzlE

Logitech’s budget-friendly G435 boasts color and comfort, as well as a host of solid features. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A good gaming headset is practically a necessity these days. Clean and precise audio is essential for competitive gaming, allowing you to pinpoint your enemies and communicate effectively with your teammates. Moreover, recent developments in spatial audio and virtual surround sound have allowed headsets to meet — and occasionally surpass — more expensive audio setups, allowing even the most budget-conscious gamer to obtain a competitive edge at a fraction of the price. While you could always invest in a massive pair of speakers, they’re likely to earn you the dubious distinction of the worst roommate of the decade. Thankfully, the right headset will allow you to keep the running and gunning to yourself, which is why we’ve rounded up a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rA5TZSl

You have to admit these guys were getting old. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple plans to release new MacBook models in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a new report from DigiTimes . DigiTimes also reported last week that suppliers are “gearing up” for shipments of the upcoming products. The report corroborates a number of rumors that have surfaced over this summer and makes the prospect of an October MacBook release look increasingly likely. In June, just days after Apple dropped this year’s M2-powered MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, Bloomberg reported that updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models could ship by early 2023. These MacBooks are unlikely to look much different from their predecessors but are expected to include more powerful M2 Max chips with 12 CPU cores and up to 38 GPU cores. T... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Xk4Tgm

We already know what they look like, but we don’t know for sure how much the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro will cost. | Image: Google It feels like it shouldn’t be news when the price of something doesn’t go up, but that’s where we are in the year 2022 . We’re paying roughly a thousand percent more for a loaf of bread than we were this time last year, but a couple of price tags that may be staying the same during inflation-o-rama are the ones on the upcoming Google Pixel 7 and 7 Pro. Android Police founder Artem Russakovskii tweeted the alleged prices for the devices: $599 for the Pixel 7 and $899 for the Pixel 7 Pro. That’s not just noteworthy because the price of everything everywhere is going up. If true, it’s particularly good news because the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro were already priced really well, to begin with — both the iPhone 14 and Galaxy S22 start at $799. Google... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/4Kw6IaQ

T-Mobile continues adding perks to its Magenta and Magenta Max plans. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge T-Mobile is broadening its free in-flight Wi-Fi promotion by adding domestic United Airlines flights to the offer. Subscribers to T-Mobile’s Magenta Max and Magenta post-paid plans have already had access to a similar deal on Alaska Airlines and Delta flights, but now United is also in the mix . It’s part of T-Mobile’s ongoing push to add more incentives to its top-end plans, like free Apple TV Plus , the prospect of future SpaceX Starlink connectivity , and 5GB of high-speed data while traveling abroad . The latter is part of T-Mobile’s “Coverage Beyond” campaign, of which this in-flight Wi-Fi program is a component. T-Mobile wants to capitalize on increased travel now that the pandemic is “ over ” and more destinations are opening up... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/P32yCHm

Photo by Scott Olson / Getty Images Harm reduction programs will soon be able to more easily bulk buy medication that can treat opioid overdoses, thanks to new guidance from the Food and Drug Administration . The guidance centers around naloxone, which reverses overdoses. Advocacy groups have been pushing for this change , which will make it much easier for them to distribute the lifesaving drug. Naloxone is currently a prescription drug at the federal level, even though state-level laws make it so people don’t need a prescription to obtain it. But because of the federal rules, manufacturers normally have to follow specific requirements around how they can distribute the drug. Those guidelines made it hard for harm reduction groups, which work to prevent overdoses, to get... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/UI2ls3D

Amazon’s Logo. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon plans to limit automatic ebook returns to cases where people have read no more than 10 percent of the book, according to the Authors Guild . The change, which follows complaints that Kindle buyers were returning titles they’d fully read to get a refund, is expected to take place by the end of the year. The Authors Guild says it reached the deal after negotiating with Amazon executives. Individual authors raised concerns about an uptick in returns earlier this year, noting that Amazon would bill them for any royalties they earned from the books. Some pinned the practice’s rise on the book community of video platform TikTok, and in a press release, the guild blamed “BookTok influencers” for encouraging people to get “free” books by... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/v4nI9Ft

When you’re in the Xbox Cloud Gaming app, the yellow Logitech button pulls up the Xbox shade as if you were playing on a console. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Yesterday, Logitech announced its $349.99 G Cloud Gaming Handheld , which is coming out in the US on October 17th (until then, it’s $50 off to preorder). Today, I got to briefly test it out. It was just a 10-minute demo, but it was long enough for me to snap a few photos, launch some apps, and see how it felt in my hands. We’ll have a full review in the coming weeks. As I arrived at the testing station, Deathloop ( freshly available on Xbox Game Pass) was streaming via Wi-Fi to the handheld’s Xbox Cloud Gaming app. Sadly, it was the action-less intro sequence, but I still got to sprint and jump around. Though it wasn’t a fun killer, like all of my experiences with cloud game streaming, there was just a whiff of input lag that, at least for... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/8fnHXZ...

Valve’s stats page for its Steam storefront now has real-time charts showing both the top-selling and most played games at any given moment. You can look at the new stats page right here . As I write this, the top-selling title is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II — which perhaps isn’t too shocking given that preordering the game gets you early access to the open beta — but the next best-selling game is, to my surprise, Slime Rancher 2 . According to a blog post from Valve , the top-selling lists are ranked based on total revenue, including DLC and in-game purchases, which is intended to provide a “more complete picture of which games players are excited about getting into and continuing to play.” And Valve has added metrics like number of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/D8rJIiW

You can currently buy the AirPods Max for around $449 instead of $549. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge With more people working from home than they used to, owning a good pair of noise-canceling headphones has become more appealing than ever. However, they can be expensive and difficult to shop for due to the range of available models, many of which cater to different lifestyles and priorities. Some are better suited for long-haul flights, for instance, while others are ideal for multitasking and marathon listening sessions. That’s why we’ve curated this list of the best deals on noise-canceling headphones. Here, you’ll find sales on all kinds of on-ear and over-ear headphones, all of which are designed to eliminate outside noise but come with their own strengths and weaknesses. And if you want to do even more research before making a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/vc45ZBu

Sure, it’s slow, and the screen is low-res and dim, but it’s the best tablet you can get for $59.99. At this price, decent is perfectly fine. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/EgPiD26

A baleen whale swimming in Alaska. Many species of baleen whales, like the one pictured above, spend time in the Arctic region. | Image: Planet One Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Scientists have been “eavesdropping” on whales in the Arctic using fiber-optic cables. In July, a group of scientists published a study that took a practical method usually used to monitor the cables themselves and used it to monitor the activity of baleen whales in the Arctic. The researchers say similar studies could transform how scientists collect data on marine life. Under the oceans, fiber-optic cables carry internet traffic around the world. They have also become a usual tool for scientists in the field who would like to collect and access data in real time. Notably, they can be used to detect earthquakes , including aftershocks that go undetected by traditional seismic stations. In this case, those cables were used to detect... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts htt...

At the base of the Space Launch System, repair crews work to replace a seal on September 8th, 2022. | Photo by NASA / Chad Siwik Today, NASA got its next-generation Moon rocket all tanked up with nowhere to go. Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fuel were loaded into the Space Launch System (SLS) today in an hours-long test of its troublesome fueling system. It was what NASA called a “kinder, gentler” fueling procedure that was being tested after a hydrogen leak stymied the second launch attempt of the rocket and the Artemis I mission on September 3rd. The new procedures were “designed to transition temperature and pressures slowly during tanking to reduce the likelihood of leaks that could be caused by rapid changes in temperature or pressure,” NASA said in a blog post . “I am extremely encouraged by the test today,” said Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, launch... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Y1vjs6

The Verge Google’s “Results about you” tool, meant to simplify the process of removing search results that contain personally identifying information, is starting to roll out to some users, according to a report from 9to5Google . Google announced the feature earlier this year during its I/O conference, saying that it’d be coming to the Google app. Google already had a way to remove search results that contained your home address, email address, or phone number, along with a host of other types of potentially dangerous or damaging information. That system wasn’t necessarily the easiest to access or use, though. If you found a search result that linked to your sensitive information, you’d have to go to a support page and fill out a form containing... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/gha3A5j

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Have you ever wanted to make your iPhone your own, with your individualized style and flair? Sure, you can change your homescreen wallpaper. But if you really want to personalize your phone, why not create your own app icons? It’s doable, using Apple’s built-in Shortcuts app. You actually won’t be replacing the icons that the apps came with — rather, you’ll be creating separate shortcuts that lead to the app. It’s a tedious and time-consuming process, but in the end, you can have a fully customized iPhone homescreen. Here’s how you do it: Before you begin, it’s a good idea to find an icon for your new shortcut. There are a bunch of icon sources online ( Flaticon , for example), or if you’re artistic and / or ambitious, you can create... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/nUK3jlZ

You can stream House of the Dragon on HBO Max and save for a limited time only. | Image: HBO Football is upon us, everything pumpkin spice is here, and the days are slowly — very slowly, this Southern Californian might add — but steadily getting colder. This means a lot of us are beginning to spend more time indoors and will do so even more as fall officially settles in and we begin bingeing spinoffs like Andor and House of the Dragon along with an abundance of fall programming. And while it’s true that most streaming services don’t cost very much, we all know that those monthly subscription fees have a way of adding up in the long run. Before you know it, you’re spending as much on streaming as you would on cable. If you’re trying to cut down on your expenses (and who isn’t these days?), you don’t necessarily need to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/CZ4IBPa