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The announcement image for Shadow of the Erdtree is enough to fuel weeks of speculation. | Image: FromSoftware One of 2022’s biggest games, Elden Ring , is getting what looks to be its first major expansion: DLC content titled Shadow of the Erdtree . Developer FromSoftware announced in a tweet this morning that the DLC was officially under development, though the company did not share when we might expect a release. A short blog post confirmed the DLC will be coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam. It also said a “follow-up report is still a little ahead” (translation from Japanese via Google) so we can hopefully expect more details sooner rather than later. Elden Ring DLC is hotly-anticipated content for a number of reasons. Elden Ring has been a massive success, selling more than 20 million units worldwide, and FromSoftware... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/FzZmcGf

Image: Aventon Aventon announced a new electric cargo bike, the Abound, which the California-based company describes as “an efficient alternative to driving a car around town.” With a 750-watt motor, a variety of accessories, and a total weight rating of 440 lbs, the Abound is designed to be a versatile, safe, and affordable mobility option for anyone looking to do less driving in their life. Aventon is mostly known for its fat-tired, adventure-themed road bikes, so a cargo bike was never a guaranteed addition to the company’s lineup. That said, Aventon brought a lot of the same attention to detail to the Abound as it did with previous models, which should help give the bike a bit of a leg-up compared to other low-cost models. Aventon says the suggest... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/HhEzyWN

Image: Alex Castro / The Verge We’ve talked before about the problems in the early days of PayPal , which was then called X. Elon Musk, in his infinite wisdom, decided customer acquisition was the most important thing, and as a result, PayPal had to deal with rampant fraud. Don’t just take my word for it — here’s Peter Thiel, describing those days : We had decided to give credit cards to absolutely anybody who wanted them. You got a up to $10,000 credit limit. Elon had told the woman who was rolling the service out that he wanted a million people to be using the new credit card by the end of the year. Fortunately, it was about two levels down from the front page, and so not that many people were able to discover this. Some people did; they wrote us back and said, “This... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Zw4aPUm

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Reddit is adding the ability to search for comments within a specific post right from the search bar. The new feature seems pretty handy, as it should make it much easier to find certain comments on a post without having to scroll forever or use CTRL / CMD + F. Here’s a GIF from Reddit showing how it works: GIF: Reddit Handy! I can think of a lot of times this could be quite useful. It could be a great way to find a discussion of a specific character from a TV show or movie, for example, or perhaps to pull up a fitness routine buried in another post. And those are just ways I’d use it; I’m sure the vast number of Reddit users out there will be more creative. Reddit says the feature is available now on desktop,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0yHcgI1

The iPad Air has the most color variety among the current lineup. | Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple’s sweet spot of an iPad is back down to its lowest price. The 2022 iPad Air is on sale for $499.99 at Best Buy and Amazon in its base 64GB Wi-Fi configuration, about $100 off its regular $599 price. That same $100 discount can be had on the 256GB version, costing $649.99 at Amazon or Best Buy instead of its usual $749. The excellent midrange Air comes in five different colors, each of which is on sale at this great price. In addition to being one of the most colorful iPads, the fifth-generation iPad Air offers great value for performance. It packs an M1 processor that’s more than capable for the most labor-intensive iPad uses, all-day battery life, and a handy USB-C port as well as second-gen Apple Pencil compatibility. At this... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/RBxrHA2

Illustration: The Verge Google is introducing a new widget for its notes and lists app Keep, which will let you put a single interactive note on your home screen. With it, you’ll be able to check items off a list, which could be handy for a to-do or grocery list. While you can force one of Keep’s current widgets to show just a single note using the tags system, doing so isn’t as simple as just selecting one to display on your home screen. Plus, Keep’s existing widgets don’t have the level of interactivity that Google’s promising with its new widget; if you try to mark off checkboxes, it’ll just open the app instead of actually checking it off like the single note widget will. Gif: Google The new Keep single note widget will let you keep... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6Vlo1mA

Those glowing blue lines on the back aren’t (just) for show. | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge OnePlus’ latest concept phone is all about keeping cool. The company showed off the OnePlus 11 Concept device at MWC Barcelona , which features glowing blue pipelines on its back to represent the cooling liquid of its “Active CryoFlux” cooling technology. Yes, it’s designed to look flashy, but OnePlus argues the cooling system serves an important practical purpose. By keeping the phone cooler under load, the company claims you can get better performance from games, and faster charging speeds. All without the need for the “size, weight, and noise” of a physically spinning fan like we’ve seen from the likes of Nubia or in smartphone cooling accessories from Razer or Asus . Two quoted performance benefits include a 2.1 degree Celcius (around... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wXQRcPr

Photo by Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images The Crew-6 mission’s getting ready to blast off into space. With the help of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the company’s Dragon Endeavour spacecraft will lift off early Monday morning at 1:45AM ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft will carry four astronauts, including NASA’s Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, as well as the United Arab Emirates’ Sultan Alneyadi and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. They’re headed to the International Space Station for an up to six-month stay, where they’ll conduct various research projects to help “prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and benefit life on Earth.” With #Crew6 , we’ll gather new information in experiments that will bring us closer to our goal of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/jgt8zYs

Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The massive mobile show is back. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/7GPTA2p

Álvaro Bernis / The Verge How we use the internet is changing fast, thanks to the advancement of AI-powered chatbots that can find information and redeliver it as a simple conversation. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/uqcWyIP

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter product manager Esther Crawford no longer has a job at the company following yet another wave of layoffs, according to Platformer ’s Zoë Schiffer . Crawford headed up various projects at Twitter, including the company’s Blue with verification subscription as well as Twitter’s forthcoming payments platform. During her time at Twitter, Crawford emerged as one of Twitter’s most prominent product managers under Elon Musk’s leadership, and notably tweeted a picture of herself on the floor of Twitter’s office in a sleeping bag and eye mask. “When your team is pushing round the clock to make deadlines sometimes you #SleepWhereYouWork,” the tweet reads. When your team is pushing round the clock to make deadlines sometimes you #... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/i5LEVGm

The Xiaomi 13 Pro offers a big image sensor and very fast wired charging. | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge The Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro are making their global debut today, starting with a launch event at Mobile World Congress. The 13 series phones were announced in China late last year , each with Leica co-branded cameras and top-shelf Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipsets. Based on previous releases, they won’t be coming to the US, but will be available in the UK, Europe, and other parts of Asia. Given that we’ve known the phones’ specs since December, there’s nothing surprising there, but here’s the recap: they’re both upper midrange phones, but the 13 Pro stands out with a 1-inch-type sensor borrowed from the Xiaomi 12S Ultra and 120W wired fast charging. Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge The Xiaomi 13 Pro (pictured) and 13 boast... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rTmeF4h

Photo by John Sciulli/Getty Images for Turner The 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards honors outstanding performances in both film and television. This year’s event will take place at the Fairmont Century Plaza hotel in Los Angeles, California, but won’t air on TNT or TBS as it has in the past. If you’re looking forward to seeing whether Michelle Yeoh takes away an award for her leading role in Everything Everywhere All At Once , or if the stunt performers in Avatar: The Way of Water win for those spectacular underwater action scenes , here’s how to watch the ceremony live. What time do the 2023 SAG Awards start? The SAG Awards take place on Sunday, February 26th, 2023 at 8PM ET / 5PM PT. Where can I watch the SAG Awards? While the year’s event won’t air on cable, you can watch it... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/RO9SkYs

Image: Trae Patton / Paramount Plus The first episode of Star Trek: Picard ’s third and final season is available to stream online for free, as spotted earlier by Gizmodo . You can either watch the full, hour-long premiere on YouTube or from the Paramount Plus website , but it’s only available for a limited time . Star Trek: Picard ’s final season sees Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) reuniting with some of his USS Enterprise crewmates, including Worf (Michael Dorn), William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) as they face off against a new foe, Vadic (Amanda Plummer). We've got your weekend shore leave plans right here. For a limited time, stream the season premiere of #StarTrekPicard... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/sESer0B

Apple’s M2-powered Macbook Air is on sale for $1,049. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Just in case you woke up this morning feeling like spending a thousand bucks, we’re starting off the weekend with a terrific deal on Apple’s latest MacBook Air. Right now, the M2-powered model with 8GB of RAM, an eight-core CPU, and 256GB of storage is on sale at Best Buy and B&H Photo for $1,049 ($150 off), which is one of its best prices to date. If you need a laptop that’s a jack-of-all-trades, the M2-powered MacBook Air will likely fit the bill. It boasts a lot of the same features as the excellent M1 model from 2022 — including all-day battery life, Touch ID, and MagSafe charging — yet it offers faster performance and a lighter build. It also features a 1080p webcam and a brighter display than its predecessor. So long as you don’t... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/TKpOwNI

Ads may be coming to Ted Lasso. | Image: Apple Apple has made a notable hire that could signal its intent to move into ads on Apple TV Plus. The company has hired advertising exec Lauren Fry to “to help build a video advertising business for its Apple TV Plus streaming service,” according to The Information . Apple has been turning more to ads to help grow its revenues; it added new ad placements in the App Store last year and reportedly wants to bring ads to apps like Maps, Books, and Podcasts , so it’s not surprising that it’s looking at ads for TV Plus as well. And this hire isn’t even the first exploration of ads with its streaming offerings, as it has run ads against its Major League Baseball games and is reportedly building an ad network around its streaming service with Major... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/lBanWr9

A bear roaring into a cloud of cocaine. | Image: Universal Director Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear over-delivers on a very simple, silly premise that mostly works because it doesn’t take anything seriously except being ridiculous. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/T1nRsdA

A lift boat off the beach near Wainscott, New York, on December 1st, 2022. The vessel’s drill will be used in the construction of a wind farm. | Image: Johnny Milano/Bloomberg via Getty Images The largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments is calling on the Biden administration to pause offshore wind projects. They want to ensure that tribes are included in project planning and that there are measures in place to protect their territories and traditional resources. In a resolution adopted this week, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) “strongly urges the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt all scoping and permitting for offshore wind projects until completion of a comprehensive and transparent procedure adequately protecting tribal environmental and sovereign interests is developed and implemented.” It was adopted during a meeting... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts htt...

Motorola Defy Satellite Link accessory by Bullitt. | Image: Bullitt Bullitt, the company that brought you rugged Cat-branded smartphones with thermal cameras , is stuffing trendy emergency-response satellite tech into a Motorola-branded Bluetooth keychain accessory . Making its debut at MWC 2023, the new Motorola Defy Satellite Link can enable almost any smartphone to send and receive text messages in places lacking cellular signals. Satellite communications features are being mainstreamed after Apple added Emergency SOS via satellite in the iPhone 14 and Apple Watch Ultra. Qualcomm is also looking to stick similar tech into upcoming high-end Android devices later this year, but Bullitt and MediaTek say their devices will be the first ones you can buy that communicate in both directions. Outdoorsy users... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/BOTgfYj

Each option (except for the Hori Split Pad Pro and 8BitDo USB Adapter) is compatible with all Switch models, including the Switch Lite. From the unbeatable Switch Pro and comfy Joy-Con alternatives to a dongle that lets you use your Xbox or PlayStation controllers with your Switch, these are the best Switch controllers you can get. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/suxGv1F

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Since Thursday morning, Dish Network has been experiencing a major outage that’s taken down the company’s main websites, apps, and customer support systems, and employees tell The Verge it’s not clear what’s going on inside the company. The company’s Dish.com website is completely blank save for a notice apologizing for “any disruptions you may be having” while promising that “teams are working hard to restore systems as soon as possible.” The Boost Mobile and Boost Infinite sites display a similar message. When we called each brand’s customer support lines, there were no humans on the other end — each call automatically hung up after delivering a recorded message about the outage. Dish’s website is currently just a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/TCnf86N

The Aqara FP2 presence sensor is now available to buy in China and is coming soon to the US. | Image: Aqara More details have emerged about Aqara’s FP2 presence sensor as presales for the device begin in China for a March launch, indicating an international release is imminent. The sensor, which uses mmWave radar tech rather than traditional PRI sensing, is now available to preorder for a discounted price of ¥599 (roughly $86), according to this tweet from the Chinese tech blog WaveTech . The Aqara FP2 — which we named a Best in Show at CES 2023 and should come to the US in the spring — could revolutionize motion control in the smart home. A presence sensor differs from a standard motion sensor in that it can accurately detect human presence from movements as slight as the rise and fall of your chest when breathing, as well as know where you... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Znj7wI1

Josh.ai showed off a proof-of-concept ChatGPT integration using its voice assistant. The Josh system is currently only available through professional installers. | Image: Josh.ai Today, you can ask Alexa to turn on the lights or have Siri tell you the temperature in your bedroom, and sometimes they’ll get it right. Or you may hear, “You have 15 devices named lights; which one would you like to control?” or “The current temperature in Kathmandu is 53 degrees.” But what if your voice assistant was not only always accurate but could also respond to nebulous comments like “I’ve had a rough day; what’s a good way to unwind?” with “intelligent” responses? For example, by lowering the shades, dimming the lights, adjusting the thermostat, and queuing up some goodies on Netflix? That’s the potential of voice assistants powered by new AI language models, according to Alex Capecelatro, co-founder of the Josh.ai home... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6Hv7MsR...

Image: Eli Ade Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut feels like an experimental remake of Rocky V that finally lets Adonis Creed step outside of his mentor’s shadow. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/UNGf2kF

Image: Enhance Humanity , the newest game from Tetris Effect publisher Enhance, has you play as a glowing Shiba Inu to direct crowds of marching humans through Lemmings -like puzzles. Yes, it sounds strange, but you’ll be able to get your hands on it starting Thursday, so at least you can pass judgment on it for yourself. I’d recommend watching the trailer first , though. As the dog, it seems you’ll help direct the faceless humans across all sorts of environments, obstacles, and opposing humans to lead them to safety. The game’s campaign mode will include 90 levels, but you’ll also be able to make your own maps and puzzles for others to try. The game, which was first announced in 2019 , is coming to PS4, PS5, the original PSVR (yes!), PSVR 2, and PC. A... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Pbd79sf

A painting of a young Mrs. Kersh and her “father” Bob Gray. | Image: Warner Bros. In both Stephen King ’s original It and Warner Bros.’ recent adaptations of the novel , one of the most alarming things the Losers Club discovers about Pennywise the Dancing Clown is just how long the extra-dimensional being has been terrorizing the people of Derry, Maine. The tiny taste of Pennywise’s history featured in 2019’s It Chapter Two was one of the most memorable moments in the film, and one imagines that’s part of why HBO Max is working on a new It prequel series set in the same world. Today, HBO Max announced that Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs are developing Welcome to Derry , a new series that “expands the vision” that Andy Muschietti first began crafting while directing It and It Chapter Two . In a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/aLWbB4E

Automating your finances can make it more convenient to pay bills, save, and budget. | Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Few things are more stressful than money. Between paying bills, buying necessities, investing for retirement, and saving up for a rainy day, personal finance can feel like a full-time job. But it doesn’t have to be. The best part about online banking is that everything can be automated — even if you’re living paycheck to paycheck. There are several benefits to automating your money . You’ll always pay your bills on time, which in turn eliminates late fees and protects your credit score. If you’re bad at saving money, you can automatically transfer a set amount per week or month to a savings or retirement account. Budgeting sound like a total nightmare? That can be automated, too. But while automating your finances can be convenient,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ByVQ9jD

Don’t be afraid to take advantage of your PlayStation 5’s expandable storage — it’s easy! | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge It’s the 23rd day of the second month of the year 2023. What does that mean? Absolutely nothing. So let’s get to today’s deals. The 2TB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD with an included heatsink is selling for a new low price of $159.99 at Amazon and Best Buy on a one-day deal. That beats its previous low by $10, saving you an outright $110 off its full price. While this is a speedy drive for a desktop PC, you can use it to upgrade the storage of your PlayStation 5, especially since it includes the requisite heatsink. If you haven’t opened up your PS5 and given it a storage boost yet, we can’t recommend this SSD enough because it’s very easy to install , and the 667GB of available built-in storage runs out quickly when you install 100GB-plus... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wk9MJFs

A reproduction of the cover page and the second page of Zarya of the Dawn, from the US Copyright Office’s letter. | Image: Zarya of the Dawn — Kris Kashtanova / Midjourney The US Copyright Office has reconsidered the copyright protection it granted last fall to Kristina Kashtanova for her comic book Zarya of the Dawn, reports Reuters . It featured pictures created by feeding text prompts to Midjourney, an artificial intelligence image generator. According to this letter (PDF) sent to her lawyer by Robert Kasunic, the associate Register of Copyrights, the US Copyright Office has decided that Kashtanova “is the author of the Work’s text as well as the selection, coordination, and arrangement of the Work’s written and visual elements.” The images themselves, however, “are not the product of human authorship,” and the registration originally granted for them has been canceled. To justify the decision, the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/djrZ037

Look at that beautiful crowbar. | Screenshot: Valve via game mod by sultim_t It’s time to dust off your trusty crowbar and see it in a new light, complete with colorful reflections. A PC mod of the original Half-Life from 1998 that adds realtime path-traced ray tracing to the game is now available, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. First teased by its creator sultim_t (Sultim Tsyrendashiev) over a year ago, the mod pack is now available to download on GitHub to install and play with the original Half-Life on Steam . While a proper remake of Half-Life already exists in the form of Black Mesa , let’s say this falls more in the “remaster” camp — much like sultim_t’s other projects, adding ray tracing to original Doom and Quake titles. The ray-traced Half-Life has elements that still look very late-90s, but greatly... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/XHhy1WZ

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Nvidia just reported its fourth quarter and full-year earnings , and it’s not exactly rosy — at least compared to pandemic highs. Last year , Nvidia had record quarterly revenue of $7.64 billion, including $3 billion in pure profit. For Q4 of its fiscal 2023, the company forecast that it would see just $6 billion in quarterly revenue in today’s earnings results, and that’s just about where it landed: $6.05 billion in revenue, down 21 percent, of which $1.4 billion was profit, down 53 percent. For the full year, it raked in $26.92 billion, almost identical to last year, though profit was down 55 percent. Remember: in 2021, $5 billion in revenue a quarter was a new Nvidia record . Now it’s the status quo: the company says it’s expecting to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/D0PtviM

Image: Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz unveiled the 2024 E-Class’ interior, and while its cabin is not a radical departure in design from existing Benzes, the new E-Class is packed full of interesting and advanced features that will influence the rest of the lineup — like a selfie camera and built-in apps for TikTok and Zoom. One of the major upgrades in the 2024 E-Class is the Superscreen, which combines the large standard central touchscreen with a second display in front of the passenger. (Unlike the EQS’s Hyperscreen , the digital gauge cluster remains a standalone display.) It looks beautiful, with slim air vents that curve around the top of the screen and a row of touch-capacitive buttons sitting below the center display. The new E-Class is packed full of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/CUMNOnG

The organization behind Matter wants to create a data privacy specification for the smart home. | Image: CSA Do you wish you could see exactly what data your smart thermostat collects and how it uses that information? Would you like to know what your video doorbell knows about who visits your home and when? Are you interested in who can see that map of your bedroom your robot vacuum generated ? Or would you at least like to be reassured that no one else knows these intimate details? Today, the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), the group behind Matter , announced the formation of a new Data Privacy Working Group . The group will develop a global “Alliance Data Privacy Specification” to certify the data privacy of smart devices and the services they use as well as provide information about how that data is used in a clear, digestible manner —... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/53qjxym

Day 588 and the other wall art still hasn’t noticed I am a speaker. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Presidents Day is over, but there are some excellent deals still lingering as well as some fresh ones to accompany them. The Ikea Symfonisk picture frame speaker , which can disguise itself as wall art, is one of the most unusual smart speakers on the market, and it’s on sale for its lowest price of $194.99 ($65 off) direct from Ikea. This 16 x 22-inch speaker is part of Ikea’s partnership with Sonos, so it works natively with Sonos’ Wi-Fi-connected ecosystem. It has good sound quality for the money, about on par with the $219 Sonos One , but no Sonos speaker allows you to free up space on your furniture quite like the Symfonisk picture frame. It may not be everyone’s style, especially if you’re not fond of the cable hanging from it, but... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/CtBHyTM

Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) threw his support behind striking YouTube Music workers in a letter addressed to Google CEO Sundar Pichai Tuesday, as first reported by the Austin Chronicle . Sanders’ support comes amid growing tensions between workers on YouTube Music’s Content Operations team and its parent company, Google. The nearly 60 workers are formally employed by Cognizant, a third-party contractor to Google. Last October, they filed for a union election with the 1,300-member Alphabet Workers Union (AWU). But shortly after that request was filed with the National Labor and Relations Board, Cognizant issued a new return-to-office mandate that organizers — and Sanders — argue amounts to an illegal union-busting strategy. “Our request to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/zsK7arI

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The first shots have been fired in a Supreme Court showdown over web platforms, terrorism, and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Gonzales v. Google — one of two lawsuits that are likely to shape the future of the internet. Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh are a pair of lawsuits blaming platforms for facilitating Islamic State attacks. The court’s final ruling on these cases will determine web services’ liability for hosting illegal activity, particularly if they promote it with algorithmic recommendations. The Supreme Court took up both cases in October: one at the request of a family that’s suing Google and the other as a preemptive defense filed by Twitter.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Sewi2W

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft and Sony’s gaming chiefs are both preparing to meet with EU regulators today in a showdown over Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The closed-door hearing in Brussels will see Xbox chief Phil Spencer and other senior Microsoft executives argue the case for the $68.7 billion deal to proceed, with PlayStation chief Jim Ryan attending to voice Sony’s concerns over the deal. It’s a pivotal moment for Microsoft’s proposed acquisition, which has already seen opposition from regulators in the UK and US. The FTC is suing Microsoft to block its Activision Blizzard purchase, while the CMA published its provisional findings of its investigation earlier this month, warning that the deal could harm UK gamers. The CMA... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/oW5PnjD

The Sonos Era 300. Plus an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, and more lobbying from Microsoft. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Hg2UIh7

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Call of Duty will be available to Nintendo players on the same day as Xbox with “full feature and content parity” under a 10-year agreement between the two platforms, Microsoft’s Brad Smith announced . The deal was announced in early December , but Smith is offering more details today ahead of a hearing in which Microsoft will argue its case with EU regulators to allow its $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard to proceed, Reuters reports . As my colleague Tom Warren wrote back in December , the Nintendo deal is almost certainly part of Microsoft’s attempt to pressure Sony into accepting a similar offer and allay regulatory competition concerns. The PlayStation maker has emerged as one of the chief opponents of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/zY1qkeL

Google Chrome’s Memory Saver and Energy Saver modes can extend battery when a device is low on power and reduce memory being hogged by tabs. | Image: Google Google has released optimization features designed to improve battery life and memory usage on machines running the latest version of its Chrome desktop web browser. Chrome’s new Energy Saver and Memory Saver modes were first announced in December last year alongside the release of Chrome 108, and now as noted by Android Police , the two optimization utilities are starting to roll out globally onto Chrome 110 desktops for Mac, Windows, and Chromebooks. Memory Saver mode essentially snoozes Chrome tabs that aren’t currently in use to free up RAM for more intensive tasks and create a smoother browsing experience. Don’t worry if you’re a tab hoarder though, as these inactive tabs are still visible and can be reloaded at any time to pick up... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/hutNcAW

Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge As Super Nintendo World opens up in Los Angeles, the creator of Mario talks about getting back to his roots, and exploring new creative fields. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/V5anY7L

Image: Ubisoft Ubisoft will start messing with Rainbow Six Siege players that cheat by using XIM or similar devices to spoof controller inputs by using a mouse and keyboard on console. In an update to Rainbow Six Siege, players that cheat by using third-party devices like XIM will soon start to notice more input latency that will mess with their aim. Devices like XIM, Cronus Zen, and ReaSnow S1 are often used in online competitive shooters to allow mouse and keyboard users to get the benefits of aim assist from controller mixed with the benefits of movement from mouse and keyboard. They’re steadily becoming a problem across Overwatch, Call of Duty, Destiny 2, Rainbow Six Siege , and other online shooters. “This is a problem that all console shooters... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/QmLnIAW

It’s really not that hard. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Getting PCBs made is fun and cheap, they’ll let you draw whatever you want on there, and the cops can’t stop you. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/FmpgvbL

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is preparing to launch a new version of Microsoft Teams next month that has been rebuilt from the ground up to significantly improve its system resource usage on PCs and laptops. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the software giant has recently started testing this new Teams client broadly inside Microsoft, with plans to roll out a preview to Microsoft Teams users in March. Known as Microsoft Teams 2.0 or 2.1 internally, Microsoft has been working on this new Teams client for years. The app should use 50 percent less memory, tax the CPU less, and result in better battery life on laptops. While Microsoft shipped some of this early work in the built-in Teams experience for consumers in Windows 11 ,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Qo906Kf

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge While Twitter removes a key security feature for non-paying users. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/dPbrhon

David Harbour as Hellboy in the 2019 reboot. | Image: Lionsgate Almost two decades after the release of the Guillermo del Toro-directed Hellboy , the character is getting yet another reboot. Millennium Media has confirmed that Hellboy: The Crooked Man will enter production next month in Bulgaria, Deadline reports . Casting for the titular character (originally played by Ron Perlman and then David Harbour) is yet to be announced, but the new film will be directed by Brian Taylor, best known for the Jason Statham action movie Crank. Perhaps most interesting is that the comics’ original creator Mike Mignola has written the script for the upcoming film alongside Chris Golden. Both were reported to have worked on the script for the 2019 reboot by The Hollywood Reporter , though Andrew Cosby ultimately ended... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/sF73ojN

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta’s testing paid verification for Instagram and Facebook for $11.99 per month on web and $14.99 per month on mobile. In an update on Instagram , CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that a “Meta Verified” account will grant users a verified badge, increased visibility on the platforms, prioritized customer support, and more. The feature’s rolling out to Australia and New Zealand this week and will arrive in more countries “soon.” “This week we’re starting to roll out Meta Verified — a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support,” Zuckerberg writes. “This new feature is about... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/APvTu1l

Illustration: The Verge Google Meet’s launching new 360-degree virtual backgrounds for video calls on mobile. While Google first announced the new feature last month , now it’s rolling out on both iOS and Android and uses your device’s gyroscope to move with you. As you can see in the embedded GIF, the 360-degree background will change depending on where your phone or tablet’s positioned. So, if you move your phone left or right, your background will adjust to show different scenery. Google says users can apply “several” new 360-degree backgrounds during video calls, including one that shows a beach and another with a temple. Image: Google While the feature does look pretty cool, I can see how these backgrounds might get distracting if... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Lujc0DP

Photo by Nilay Patel / The Verge Starlink’s testing a new satellite internet service it says will let you “connect from almost anywhere on land in the world,” according to a message some Starlink users have received . The SpaceX-owned company calls it “Global Roaming Service” and says it’ll cost $200 per month in addition to the base $599 Starlink Kit. The service, which uses “Starlink’s inter-satellite links (aka space lasers) to provide connectivity around the globe,” comes with a pretty big caveat. In its message to users, Starlink notes that you should expect “Starlink’s typical high speed, low-latency service intermixed with brief periods of poor connectivity, or none at all” but that this will “improve dramatically over time.” NEWS: Starlink is testing a new... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/az3CPFv

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft says it’s implementing some conversation limits to its Bing AI just days after the chatbot went off the rails multiple times for users. Bing chats will now be capped at 50 questions per day and five per session after the search engine was seen insulting users , lying to them, and emotionally manipulating people. “Our data has shown that the vast majority of people find the answers they’re looking for within 5 turns and that only around 1 percent of chat conversations have 50+ messages,” says the Bing team in a blog post . If users hit the five-per-session limit, Bing will prompt them to start a new topic to avoid long back-and-forth chat sessions. Microsoft warned earlier this week that these longer chat sessions, with 15 or more... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/qW2etsS