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Showing posts from December, 2022

Bring back personal blogging

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Twitter is creaking. Social media seems less fun than ever. Maybe it’s time to get a little more personal. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/KcWtb4r

9 great games for your Steam Deck from 2022

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Micha Huigen / The Verge If you’re the proud owner of a shiny new Steam Deck, here are some of The Verge’s favorite games to enjoy on Valve’s handheld. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/YLc2iKI

Twitter will soon let you swipe between tweets, topics, and trends

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter will soon let you swipe to switch between different views containing recommended and followed tweets, trends, topics, and more. In a tweet , Elon Musk announced that support for the navigation feature will arrive in January. Musk first hinted at the feature earlier this month, noting the “main timeline should allow for an easy sideways swipe between top, latest, trending and topics that you follow.” The platform already lets users swap between a chronological timeline that shows the latest tweets in order, and the Home timeline, which displays recommended tweets, by tapping the stars icon in the upper right corner of the screen. New Twitter navigation coming in Jan that allows swiping to side to switch between recommended &... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2rWevLz

The 10 best shows to stream on Apple TV Plus from 2022

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Micha Huigen / The Verge Apple TV Plus is one of the best bangs for your subscription buck. It started with a limited number of shows back in 2019, but the offerings have steadily increased, the shows that have ended have ended super satisfyingly, and there’s just a whole lot of stuff you can binge on there. The problem is that, unless it’s Ted Lasso, you might have problems finding other people in your friend group to watch these shows with. But there are probably dozens — dozens! — of us watching Apple TV Plus. Below are some of the best shows you can watch. I excluded Ted Lasso from this list because I’m positive you’ve already watched it. Severance You know it’s been a long year when you realize Severance premiered this same year. The show is about people... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/lgVzvw6

Andrew Tate detained in Romania by police investigating human trafficking

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A still image from Andrew Tate’s Twitter profile promoting his Hustler’s University program. | Image: Andrew Tate / Twitter Andrew Tate — an “alpha male” influencer / podcaster of sorts who has described himself in videos as “absolutely a misogynist” and has been banned from TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram — and his brother Tristan were detained in Romania by police investigating organized crime, human trafficking, and rape. He was led away from his home in Romania by police one day after his Twitter dustup with young environmental activist Greta Thunberg went viral, as he targeted her with a boast about his 33 cars and their “enormous emissions” while she remained unimpressed by the size. In a now-deleted YouTube video, Tate, who was born in the US and is a British citizen, said “40 percent” of his reason for moving to Romania was “because in Eastern... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wWnBjIS

Google Voice will now warn you about potential spam calls

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Google says it’s using “advanced artificial intelligence” to determine if a call is legit. | Image: Google Google has announced that it’s adding a red “suspected spam caller” warning to Google Voice calls if it doesn’t think they’re legitimate. In a post on Thursday , the company says it’s identifying spam “using the same advanced artificial intelligence” system as it does with its traditional phone app for Android . If the spam label appears, you’ll also have the option of confirming that a call was spam — in which case any future calls will be sent straight to your voicemail — or clarifying that it wasn’t, which will get rid of the label for future calls. Google Voice has had the ability to automatically filter calls identified as spam to voicemail for years, and has also allowed you to screen calls before actually picking them up, but those... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/LCWVtuc

I just wish my Tesla Model 3 had Steam

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I just want a rolling battle station. | Image: Tesla Steam, the PC gaming platform, is making its way around town as part of Tesla’s latest holiday update . It fulfills a promise Tesla CEO Elon Musk made almost two years ago: that you’ll be able to play The Witcher 3 using the car’s built-in hardware. But unfortunately for me, I won’t get to play it, and it doesn’t look like there will be any easy path toward upgrading. I have a 2018 Tesla Model 3, and I think I should mention it’s received plenty of upgrades over the years , including overhauled user interface, Autopilot visualizations, streaming apps, and arcade games . But in my car, all of Tesla’s fancy new software is running on the Intel Atom — a processor designed for cheap netbooks from the previous decade (Remember the Eee PC ?). So... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/tMbq6IR

Samsung might be working on a more colorful budget phone and we’re here for it

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Alleged renders of the Samsung A34 show a silver, pearlescent color option that’s way more fun than awesome black. | Image: The Tech Outlook A fresh batch of leaked renders allegedly show an upcoming Samsung device in a range of flashy colors. The leak is courtesy of The Tech Outlook ( spotted by XDA-Developers ) and features the Galaxy A34 with some healthy midrange specs: a 6.5-inch 1080p OLED, 48-megapixel main camera, and an Exynos chipset. But what’s really exciting are the color options: Lime! Purple! Pearlescent! If these renders are accurate, then we could see a more colorful outlook for budget phones in 2023, and it’s about damn time. Sometime in recent history, phone makers decided that people in the US — particularly those on a budget — only wanted black phones. A quick turn through Samsung’s current A-series options shows most models in exactly one color choice:... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/g9it3ny

Texans came together to save more than 1,500 bats from wintery doom

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Crowds watch as Mexican free-tailed bats are released by Mary Warwick, Wildlife Director at Houston Humane Society at the Waugh Bridge Bat Colony in Houston, Texas, on December 28, 2022. | Photo by MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images Hundreds of bats rescued from the winter storm that struck the US over the past week were finally able to return to their homes in Texas last night. The bats nearly froze to death as the storm brought a blast of cold Arctic air down to the Lone Star State and much of the continental US. Mexican Free-tailed bats started dropping from their roosts as temperatures dipped below freezing Mexican Free-tailed bats started dropping from their roosts as temperatures dipped below freezing on the evening of December 22nd, according to the Houston Humane Society . At one colony under Waugh Bridge in Houston, the tiny bats plummeted 15 to 30 feet to the pavement. Suffering hypothermic shock, the bats might have perished on the pavement. Weighing in... Continue rea...

India mandates USB-C on phones, turns focus to wearables

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India is following in the EU’s footsteps and will require all mobile devices to support USB-C charging by 2025. The country is also looking into a standardized charger for wearables. | Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge Mobile devices in India will be required to adopt USB Type-C as the standard charging port for electronic products by March 2025, according to a report by Business Standard . This follows similar legislation being passed by the European Union which requires new smartphones and other portable devices sold within the EU to use USB-C charging by December 28th, 2024 in a move meant to combat e-waste. The Indian government is also exploring the possibility of enforcing a standardized charger for wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. “The government will come up with two common types of charging ports for mobiles and wearable electronic devices,” said Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary to the Department of Consumer Affairs. No details... Continue reading… from...

Samsung’s latest fridge will be even better for TikTok

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The Samsung Bespoke Refrigerator Family Hub Plus features a large vertically-oriented touchscreen display, ideal for making shopping lists and watching TikTok content. | Image: Samsung Samsung has unveiled the Bespoke Refrigerator Family Hub Plus, a fancy name for its latest fridge with a built-in touchscreen display. At 32 inches, it features a much larger display than the 21.5-inch screen found on previous generations of the Samsung Family Hub refrigerators , which can be used to control SmartThings-compatible smart home devices, display Google Photos images, make digital shopping lists for Amazon delivery, and watch videos. Introduced via a Korean-language press release , the Family Hub Plus includes the free Samsung TV Plus service , allowing users to watch 190 TV channels in the US or around 80 channels in South Korea via the Samsung TV Plus app. The display’s vertical orientation also makes it suitable for watching... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://...

Twitter is acting up with intermittent error messages and notifications that won’t load

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’re having issues while trying to use Twitter tonight, you’re not alone. Dozens of users are reporting various errors, saying they’re getting messages that they’ve exceeded their rate limit, to the site appearing to be completely broken, or failing to fetch new tweets. DownDetector.com shows a spike of around 10,000 outage reports noted for Twitter, with reports starting just after 7:30PM ET. Twitter is having issues pic.twitter.com/5OWhK8RD10 — Tom Warren (@tomwarren) December 29, 2022 Here at The Verge , we have multiple instances of the desktop site logging accounts out suddenly. When I click the log in button, the site simply refreshes without prompting me for a username or password — or crashes, showing an error message. T... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/8hF2mbL

The LastPass disclosure of leaked password vaults is being torn apart by security experts

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Last week, just before Christmas, LastPass dropped a bombshell announcement : as the result of a breach in August, which lead to another breach in November, hackers had gotten their hands on users’ password vaults. While the company insists that your login information is still secure, some cybersecurity experts are heavily criticizing its post , saying that it could make people feel more secure than they actually are and pointing out that this is just the latest in a series of incidents that make it hard to trust the password manager. LastPass’ December 22nd statement was “full of omissions, half-truths and outright lies,” reads a blog post from Wladimir Palant , a security researcher known for helping originally develop AdBlock Pro, among... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6tPWr4V

Amazon’s started to deliver orders by drones in California and Texas

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Image: Amazon Amazon is now delivering orders by drones in California and Texas with the aim to ultimately fly out packages to customers’ homes within an hour, Ars Technica reports . The retail giant’s drone delivery service, Amazon Prime Air, already dropped a small number of packages via drone in the backyards of customers in the run-up to Christmas in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas. “Our aim is to safely introduce our drones to the skies. We are starting in these communities and will gradually expand deliveries to more customers over time,” Amazon Air spokesperson Natalie Banke told KTXL Fox 40 . The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave Amazon Part 135 approval to send packages by drone in 2020, as well as filing Final... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/oaWXnim

Sherlock Holmes will finally escape copyright this weekend

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A portrait of Holmes by artist Sidney Paget. | Wikimedia Watching the copyrights on art expire still feels like a novelty. After all, the US public domain was frozen in time for 20 years, thawing only in 2019. But this weekend’s Public Domain Day will give our cultural commons a few particularly notable new works. As outlined by Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain , the start of 2023 will mark the end of US copyrights on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s final Sherlock Holmes stories — along with the seminal science fiction movie Metropolis , Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse , and the first full-length “talkie” film The Jazz Singer . The public domain lets anyone republish, remix, or remake works without the permission of the rights holder — typically long after the original... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/vSDaYQJ

You’ll soon be able to talk to Home Assistant without Google, Siri, or Alexa

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Home Assistant’s Conversation integration can already take text commands and could become the basis of its new voice assistant efforts. | Image: Home Assistant Home Assistant, the open-source smart home platform, is getting its own voice assistant. Its founder, Paulus Schoutsen, posted a blog last week announcing a new project that could localize all voice commands that control smart devices — without the need to connect to a cloud that assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant have. The voice assistant is targeted to be available sometime in 2023. Schoutsen also runs Nabu Casa, a company that provides what’s effectively first-party cloud services for Home Assistant and also contributes to the development of the free platform. In addition, it’s making the Yellow out-of-box hardware solution that can run Home Assistant in your home without your needing to manually build one on a computer... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/7FfEkaT

Microsoft’s making Excel’s formulas even easier

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It’s only a matter of time before Excel can take over my job. | Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft has announced it’s making Excel’s autocomplete even smarter, at least in the web version that comes with Microsoft 365 ( formerly known as Office 365 ). Last week it announced formula suggestions and formula by example, both of which may help automate some things that you had to do manually. Formula suggestions are pretty much what they say on the tin: if you type the equal sign into a cell, Excel for web will try to intelligently suggest what type of formula you should be using, given the data that’s around it. For example, if you have a full of quarterly sales numbers and a column at the end labeled “total,” Excel might suggest summing the range of cells. According to a blog post from Microsoft , the feature currently only works... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/YI5WZxz

LG’s working with AI startup Asleep on TVs, washers, fridges, and more that can track sleep

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Image: LG LG and Korean AI sleep tech startup Asleep are working on smart home appliances that can detect when a user is asleep and adjust accordingly, according to LG’s Korean site and The Korea Economic Daily . Asleep’s AI technology lets users track the four sleep stages based on their breathing sounds, using devices that have microphones such as smart TVs and smartphones. LG plans to integrate that tech into other products like TVs, fridges, air conditioners, air purifiers, and washing machines. With that information, these appliances can turn on or off and optimize settings based on whether or not a user is asleep. For example, LG’s Whisen air conditioner could automatically adjust and optimize the room temperature based on which sleep stage... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/tIA0r4W

The Verge’s 2022 New Year’s resolution gift guide

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Illustration: Kristen Radtke / The Verge We’ve assembled a collection of some of our favorite tech to help you commit to improving yourself in the new year. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/JUMXFvV

The real fantasy in Final Fantasy XIV is owning a damn house

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Image: Square Enix Finding a place to call your own in Eorzea is a bureaucratic nightmare. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/toI7hwy

New iPad Mini could be a year away

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Apple’s iPad Mini launched at the end of 2021. | Photo: The Verge Apple is updating its iPad Mini with a new processor, says respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo . The inbetweener is supposed to begin shipping by the end of 2023 or the first half of 2024. The iPad Mini received an all new design at the end of 2021 after remaining largely unchanged since it was introduced way back in 2012 . The 8.3-inch tablet fits in between Apple’s largest iPhone (the 6.7-inch Pro Max) and 10th-gen iPad (10.9 inch). It runs on an A15 Bionic chip with a USB-C port and an option for 5G connectivity. Kuo says the new processor will be “the main selling point,” so we shouldn’t expect too much else to change. The iPad Mini will certainly be ready for a chip update after two years, if Kuo’s timeline is correct. That could mean an... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0Vnx5eD

LG’s new minimalistic appliances are also upgradeable

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LG’s new lineup of minimalistic appliances is coming in 2023. | Image: LG LG Electronics has a new lineup of minimalistic appliances that removes all unnecessary buttons and decorative flourishes in a refreshing “ less is more ” approach. The fridge, washing machine, dryer, oven, and dishwasher are said to feature improved controls for an “effortless” user experience. The appliances are also upgradeable via software and hardware as part of a program LG launched in January . “Upgradeability challenges the idea that expensive appliances are designed with planned obsolescence in mind,” said Lyu Jae-cheol, president of LG Electronics home appliances at the time. “We want customers to experience the feeling of getting a new washer or refrigerator throughout the entire lifecycle of an LG appliance, not just the first... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/U3ylB2C

Please don’t film me in 2023

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge In my favorite TikTok video of 2022, an amateur interviewer with a tiny microphone approaches a stranger in an AC/DC T-shirt minding their own business. Pushing the mic in front of the person’s face, the interviewer comes in with the favorite question of gatekeepers from time immemorial: “Can you name three AC/DC songs?” Wordlessly, without hesitation, the person in the AC/DC shirt glances down at the mic, back up at the interviewer, and swats away his hand, like how you’d shoo away a fly near your food. It is beautiful, amazing, perfect, and, if we’re all so lucky, will hopefully become way more normalized in the future. @hot.shame #stitch with @The9thInning. ♬ Love You So - The King Khan & BBQ Show The video is from an account... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/xlvIRwY

10 great games for your Nintendo Switch from 2022

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Micha Huigen / The Verge 2022 may have been a slow year for big AAA video game releases, but it was a great year for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo itself released a bunch of excellent games (including two great Pokémon titles), third-party developers ported some phenomenal RPGs, and indies launched some of my sleeper hits of the year. Yes, it’s a bummer that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was delayed to May 2023. But if you’re looking for some games to play in the meantime, here are some of my favorite Switch games from 2022. Card Shark Image: Devolver Digital Card Shark I’m an awful liar, but in Card Shark , I can pretend I can cheat at cards. You’ll pull off the tricks themselves in a variety of different ways: some have... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wCQWNiG

All I want is one productivity app that can handle everything

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There are too many productivity apps out there. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge I’m an organized person. I have to be. Writing is a deadline-oriented job, and I have the working memory of an elderly goldfish. Gone are the days when I could store an entire week’s worth of events, deadlines, and schedules in my head. Now, all of that stuff needs to live somewhere tangible. The problem is, there isn’t a single app that can handle the majority of my needs. By my count, there are at least 10 productivity apps I use on a daily basis to function — and they all suck. There’s Airtable for work projects so my editors can see what I’m working on — just one of the project management apps I’ve used in my career. There’s also been Basecamp , Asana , Trello , and in one instance, a rickety Excel sheet maintained by sweat and tears.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/svayE5q

The year’s worst video game writing

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Image: 2K Games When I think of bad video game dialogue, I’m reminded of this tweet : the thinly veiled exposition, the personality quirks as a stand-in for actual characterization, the stilted and strangely paced delivery. Basically, this is the way no person speaks or has ever spoken. And yet, in most video games, this is how every character comes across, like an alien figuring out how to sound like a human in real time. It’s so pervasive that you learn to live with it — or you press X to skip ahead. But what gets me are the games where the bad writing is completely unnecessary. This year, I’m thinking of a couple of games specifically: two where I loved actually playing them, until the moments where they forced me to sit and listen to atrocious... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/sA8ybap

Yes, I’ve got two watches on — why don’t you?

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A mechanical dive watch like this Seiko SKX013 is a classically cool look, especially on a NATO strap, but there’s no reason you can’t pair it with a smartwatch and still look great. A little over a year ago, I made the conscious decision to wear both a traditional watch on my left wrist and a smartwatch on my right wrist day in and day out. And I’m here to tell you with a straight face that this best-of-both-worlds solution has no downsides. If you’re into watches and tech or even remotely watch-curious, you should consider doing the same. It’s easy to be a little bit anachronistic, admiring the simplicities of the past while wanting the bleeding-edge intricacies of the future. I find myself bouncing back and forth on these all of the time. I want the latest technology in my digital camera, but part of me feels an itch to go back to shooting film. I like the convenience of streaming music on Spotify, but I spend... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Ve...

8 great shows and networks from 2022 to stream on Paramount Plus

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Micha Huigen / The Verge Paramount Plus, the streaming service formerly known as CBS All Access , is probably one of the more underrated streaming platforms available right now. It includes the CBS network’s TV library, combined with NFL on CBS (critically, at no extra cost), the treasure trove of Viacom content (which includes Nickelodeon, MTV, and VH1), and Paramount-produced feature films. This means Paramount Plus can entertain a wide variety of tastes, from wine moms to football uncles and every jaded Millennial, Xennial, and Gen Z teen in between. And at $4.99 per month with ads, the price ain’t too bad, either. If you’re looking to give Paramount Plus a try, here are some shows to get you started. NFL on CBS Image: Cleveland Browns / NFL ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/yuaDwxI

What keeping a bullet journal taught me about using to-do list apps

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An example from the official Bullet Journal YouTube channel of how to lay out daily tasks. | Image: Bullet Journal On July 6th of this year, I officially ended my three-year-long experiment with trying to organize my life using a physical bullet journal. I know the exact date because I’m looking at my discontinued notebook as I write this. Apparently, five months ago, I needed to take photos of the Corsair K70 keyboard for a then-forthcoming review and follow up with a quote I’d received to insulate my roof. I took the photos. I did not end up insulating my roof. Since then, I’ve used the notebook for jotting down things to remember here and there, but when it comes to keeping track of daily tasks and chores, I’ve switched back to the same hodgepodge of different note-taking and to-do list apps that I used three years ago. These include Notion for... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ZRasf97

Why scientists laid ‘murder’ to rest

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A sample specimen of a dead northern giant hornet is shown by a pest biologist from the Washington State Department of Agriculture on July 29th, 2020. | Photo by Karen Ducey / Getty Images What’s in an insect name? If that name happens to be “ murder hornet ” or “ gypsy moth ,” the moniker happens to be loaded with misinformation and / or prejudice. That’s why the Entomological Society of America (ESA) has axed both names — and more changes are likely on the way. The ESA has a project called Better Common Names that aims to put an end to insect names that might be harmful to people. This year, the group announced that it adopted the name “northern giant hornet,” refusing to accept popular colloquial titles for the invasive insect. It also changed “gypsy moth” to “spongy moth.” They’re also on the lookout for other names that need changing. Just about anybody can fill out a form , and the ESA will consider the proposal along... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts htt...

8 great Game Pass games for your Xbox from 2022

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Micha Huigen / The Verge By virtue of its incredible Game Pass library, the Xbox is one of the best values in gaming right now. Pay a monthly subscription fee — anywhere from $10 a month for the base plan up to $15 a month for the ultimate tier that includes online multiplayer — and get access to a library of games that you can play at no additional charge. A lot of the available games are brand-new Xbox exclusives or games that have been around for a while and are just making their way to Game Pass. But with 400-plus games to choose from, it can get a little daunting to figure out the ones that are worth your time — especially as time is at a premium during the holidays. Here’s a brief list of Xbox games to get you started. Dragon Age : Inquisition Xbox... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/YsGl4Z3

9 great series and movies from 2022 to stream on Hulu

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Micha Huigen / The Verge The streaming space in general was so packed with new series and movies in 2022 that it was basically impossible to catch everything that the big platforms put out. This time of year is always great for catching up on those must-see projects that you fell behind on or never got around to watching, and Hulu in particular has a sizable selection of things worth checking out — especially for those who find themselves with some time to kill during the holidays. There’s a very solid chance that you might be one of the millions of new subscribers who signed up for Hulu this year as it became one of the pricier streaming services comparable to rivals Netflix and HBO Max. At $15 per month, Hulu’s standard ad-free subscription isn’t exactly... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/1Wd4T2i

The quest to save a Stadia exclusive

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Image: Q-Games Earlier this year, Google announced that it was shutting down its game streaming service Stadia , a short three years since its launch in 2018. While it’s mostly fans of the service feeling the impact of the closure, there are a handful of developers with Stadia exclusives that will unfortunately lose their games when the service shuts down for good in January. One of those is Q-Games , makers of PixelJunk Raiders . The Verge spoke with Q-Games’ founder and CEO, Dylan Cuthbert, who explained the unique situation Q-Games is in, trying to get their exclusive off Stadia’s foundering ship and somewhere safe where people can play it. PixelJunk Raiders is a space exploration roguelike that takes advantage of Stadia’s unique “state share” feature... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/vZUID3w

YouTube’s testing its Queue system for its iOS and Android apps

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The desktop feature is finally coming to phones. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is starting to test out its queueing system on iOS and Android. The feature has been available on the web for years now , and shows in the YouTube apps under certain circumstances — users who control their Chromecast with their phones might recognize it , as will those who use the YouTube Music apps — but now YouTube Premium users who opt-in to the test will be able to add videos to a stack that acts like an impermanent playlist. After you turn on the feature (which we’ll cover how to do in just a second), you’ll have access to a new “Play last in queue” button in the three vertical dot menu that appears on video thumbnails. Tapping it will add the video to the bottom of your queue — or will create a new queue if you’re currently... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0maVzNn

9 great games for your PlayStation from 2022

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Micha Huigen / The Verge If you just bought a PlayStation 5 , there are a bunch of great games for you to play on that console. Since its release in late 2020, dozens of must-play games have appeared, including several console-exclusive games that you won’t be able to play anywhere else. If you don’t have the cash to spend on a PS5, don’t worry. Due to the continued difficulty of finding PS5s in stock, Sony has released PS4 versions of some of its biggest 2022 titles, including God of War Ragnorök , Gran Turismo 7 , and Horizon Forbidden West . However, that trend may eventually fizzle out, with Sony shifting more of its focus to the newer, more powerful console. I suggest checking out our 2020 and 2021 lists for games to play on PlayStation if you need some extra... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/c0GqN35

10 great shows from 2022 to stream on Netflix

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Micha Huigen / The Verge There’s more streaming competition than ever, but even still, Netflix remains on top when it comes to both breadth and scale. Put simply, there is a lot to watch on Netflix, to the point that even seemingly big-name series and films can get buried by the algorithm that’s trying to show you the latest in reality TV. So to help you out, we’ve curated 10 excellent new titles that run the gamut from zombie thrillers to stop-motion family movies to an incredible whodunit. Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities With Cabinet of Curiosities , Guillermo del Toro ( The Shape of Water , Pan’s Labyrinth ) has curated a terrifying anthology of hour-long episodes from some of the most exciting folks working in horror. There’s a fun romp about... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/n9xtAOI

Phone manufacturers: please give us the power button back

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It’s time to fight the power. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Every major phone manufacturer is guilty of a serious crime, and I won’t be quiet about it any longer: they stole the power button from us. Apple, Google, Samsung: guilty, guilty, guilty. Long-pressing the power button used to bring up an option to turn your phone off, but then these companies decided to get cute and make this a shortcut to summon their digital assistant. This is bad and wrong, and I’m politely demanding that these companies return what they took from us. Look, I get the logic. When phone screens got bigger, physical buttons like Apple’s home button were axed, and existing buttons had to pick up the slack. In the iPhone X, Apple re-homed the Siri function to the power button. Since then, turning your iPhone off has... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/7re5SBA

The problem with ‘next-gen’ gadgets

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The Dell XPS 13 Plus has a heck of a lot in common with the XPS 13 — but its audience is very, very different. | Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge Gadgets, since time in memoriam, have worked a certain way. You, a company, release one. It’s good, but it’s not perfect. No gadget is perfect! So you do market research and focus groups. You figure out who’s buying. You figure out what they like and what they don’t like. You refine. You fix problems. The next year, you release a version of that device that is objectively, concretely better. This is the next-gen device, the Device 2.0. You call this device an “upgrade.” You tell your customers to recycle Device 1.0 and replace it with Device 2.0. Some of them do. “Should you upgrade?” the tech bloggers write, calculating the pros and cons of doing so. I know, I know, this is a vast oversimplification of how consumer tech actually... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/LcMg241

EcoFlow Power Kit review: off-grid living made easy

A game-changing all-in-one power system for cabins and RVs that can be installed relatively quickly. Just add solar. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/XHolCcO

Users report Google Calendar bug creating random, fake events

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Google Calendar thinks you don’t have enough to do today. | Photo Illustration by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Numerous users have reported experiencing an odd glitch in the Google Calendar mobile app over the past few days. The app appears to be creating random, nonexistent all-day events based on the content of users’ Gmail messages. As 9to5Google (who reported the news earlier today) notes, various sorts of emails including delivery notifications, purchase receipts, and newsletters appear to be showing up as all-day calendar events. Some Verge staffers who use the Google calendar app are experiencing this glitch. “It’s like finding landmines in my calendar,” one writer (whose calendar is screenshotted below) complained. Google has not yet responded to a request for comment. Make sure you’re not late for your Epic Games... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ax5z30B

Why are Yule Logs scary this year?

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A nice, peaceful fire. | Photo by Sebastian Gollnow / picture alliance via Getty Images People who make Yule Log videos — are you okay? I’m worried about you. The standard flame-filled videos of holiday cheer seem a lot darker lately, and while I would love to know why, I’m also just generally concerned for your mental well-being. My first sign that something was wrong was The Witcher: Fireplace on Netflix, which technically came out last year but is understandably getting re-promoted now. It’s got a nice-looking fire crackling away in the Great Hall at Kaer Morhen, but the lightly ominous music lurking in the background killed “the perfect backdrop for a cozy vibe” that Netflix promised. Then Yellowjackets got in the game on Wednesday with a Yule Log that kept the logs but seems to have missed the Yule. It’s just two... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Ix5m9dv

Twitter says paying Blue subscribers now get ‘prioritized rankings in conversations’

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has updated its list of features for Twitter Blue , saying subscribers paying for the $8-a-month service will now get “prioritized rankings in conversations” and the ability to upload videos up to 60 minutes in length. Twitter owner Elon Musk has long promised to make Twitter Blue users more visible on the site. In November he said subscribers would get “Priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam,” and earlier this month the company repeated this promise , saying Twitter Blue will offer ”priority ranking in search, mentions, and replies.” “This feature prioritizes your replies on Tweets that you interact with.” An update to the company’s Twitter Blue support page ( spotted by TechCrunch ; compare... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/h9LvoZ2

Microsoft says three future Bethesda games will be Xbox-exclusive

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Image: Microsoft We knew Microsoft would make Bethesda’s Starfield exclusive to Xbox and PC, and it sure looked like The Elder Scrolls VI would skip PlayStation and Nintendo, too. But now, Microsoft’s lawyers are revealing that they’ve got eyes on at least one more exclusive title — there are three future Xbox exclusives from Bethesda, they revealed today, in a response to the FTC’s lawsuit against the Activision Blizzard deal . “Xbox anticipates that three future titles — REDACTED — all of which are designed to be played primarily alone or in small groups — will be exclusive to Xbox and PCs,” reads a passage in Microsoft’s response. Here’s the surrounding context, so you can see for yourself: What might that third game be? Well, B... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/5b8YIHU

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving is blamed for eight-car pileup in California

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A Tesla driver is blaming Full Self-Driving software for having caused an eight-car pileup in the Yerba Buena Tunnel in California last month, according to a police report obtained by CNN Business. According to the December 7th report obtained by CNN Business , California Highway Patrol (CHP) reviewed tunnel footage and found that a Tesla made an unsafe lane change before abruptly slowing down from 55 mph to 20 mph — causing vehicles behind it to crash into one another. In the report, the driver of the Tesla blamed the automaker’s Full Self-Driving software that allegedly malfunctioned and caused a sudden slowdown. The Thanksgiving incident left nine people with minor injuries, including one child that was hospitalized. California Highway... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/MZtA7g6

How to take control of macOS notifications

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Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Are you annoyed by how quickly the macOS notification banners that appear in the upper-right corner of the screen disappear? Has it ever annoyed someone you know? Is that person so frustrated with macOS notifications and multitasking that they write an 826-word attack against the preferred platform of many of their Verge colleagues? Well, maybe I can help you make it a bit less annoying. All it takes is deciding which app notifications you’d like to keep on-screen, which you want to hide automatically, and which you’d prefer to only show up as a red badge on your dock. A note: for these directions, I used a Mac loaded with macOS Ventura. If you have macOS Monterey or older, your directions and screens may be slightly different. N... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Ope1fYi

Tesla’s in-car navigation will get friendlier to non-Superchargers

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Tesla’s Superchargers have been the most convenient charging network for owners of its electric cars, but this week, the automaker announced it will begin to better integrate other compatible fast charging networks as well. Non-Tesla fast charging stations that meet certain criteria over a 60-day period, like an excellent charge success rate, could be whitelisted as what the company calls a “Qualified Third-Party Charger.” Once designated by Tesla, the station would thereby be bestowed as such into Tesla’s built-in navigation system. Your in-car navigation now includes more qualified third-party chargers across Europe and Israel. Read more → https://t.co/vQQu9M3NrD — Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) December 21, 2022 The program is... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/57YjXo4

YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket deal is a brilliant move for its subscription future

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The “pick me! pick me!” bidding war for NFL Sunday Ticket has finally come to an end, and YouTube won big. The company announced a “multi-year” deal that will see it carry Sunday Ticket both standalone (as a YouTube Primetime Channel ) and through YouTube TV. It’s a massive score for YouTube, which successfully fended off Big Tech rivals like Apple to land the deal, and a pivotal moment as live sports continue their transition away from traditional cable — DirecTV is the soon-to-be-former Sunday Ticket rights holder — in favor of major streaming platforms. In one fell swoop, Google has solidified YouTube as a vital destination for NFL fans. And it has resoundingly committed to a long-term future for YouTube TV, which has over 5 million... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/7kIJXAl

Twitter view counts start appearing prominently

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Making it easier to quantify how much of a banger your tweet was. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge View counts for tweets are starting to show up for some Twitter users — at least for their own tweets. On December 1st, Musk promised the feature would be coming for “all tweets, just as view count is shown for all videos,” an announcement he reiterated a week later adding that it would be coming “in a few weeks.” One Verge staff member has started to see a counter when he clicks into his posts. While a few other Twitter users have reported getting the feature as well, it doesn’t seem to be available to everyone yet (for example, at time of writing I’m currently not seeing view counts on any tweets besides videos). My coworker also says that he’s currently not able to see view counts on other users’ tweets. Screenshot:... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/cGS3KDv

Sam Bankman-Fried’s former friends pleaded guilty and are cooperating in the FTX fraud case

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Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, two executives in Sam Bankman-Fried’s fallen crypto empire, have pleaded guilty to federal charges and are cooperating with prosecutors. The news was announced late Wednesday by Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Williams didn’t specify what charges the two pled to, but said the guilty pleas were in relation to their roles as insiders at FTX and its sister company Alameda Research. Wang was a co-founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, and Ellison served as CEO of Bankman-Fried’s trading company Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried and a select group of insiders, including Ellison and Wang, are alleged to be the only people who knew that FTX was engaging in fraud . The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/OBcYv8z

Attorney says facial recognition got her kicked out of a Rockettes show

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Kelly Conlon, an attorney from New Jersey, says she wasn’t allowed to see a Rockettes show at Radio City Music Hall after she was identified by a facial recognition system, according to a report from NBC New York . Conlon told the outlet that guards approached her while she was in the building’s lobby and said she wasn’t allowed to be there because of her connection to a legal case against the company that owns the hall. “I believe they said that our recognition picked you up,” she told NBC, saying that she was asked to identify herself and that “they knew my name before I told them. They knew the firm I was associated with before I told them.” She says she ended up waiting outside while her daughter watched the show with other members... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/YcJsKRd

Mobvoi is the latest smartwatch maker to jump on the subscription bandwagon

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Mobvoi is just the latest wearable company to start charging users for “premium” features. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge One thing that’s guaranteed to rile up consumers? Tacking on a monthly fee where there was once none. Mobvoi, which is known for making affordable Wear OS smartwatches, is the latest to join the subscription bandwagon . The company will start rolling out new sleep features to its TicWatch lineup this week, but if you want ‘em all, it’ll cost you $4.99 a month. In a tweet , Mobvoi announced the new features would include sleep aid songs, AI sleep insights like sleep cycle reminders, historical sleep data, and more sleep-related metrics like maximum and minimum heart rate and SpO2. Of these new features, in-depth data like SpO2, min / max heart rate, and sleep trends will be available to subscribers only. Members will also get 50 sleep aid... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/CkHLOpt