Lead Hacker

Comcast’s Xfinity Stream app on Apple TV | Image: Comcast Comcast’s Xfinity Stream app replaced the old Xfinity TV setup in 2017 , allowing cable TV subscribers (who haven’t cut the cord yet) to pull up live channels, DVR content, and on-demand video, and now it’s available in the App Store on Apple TV boxes. Comcast and Apple announced a deal last October to make this happen , as well as an Apple TV Plus app for Comcast’s X1 platform, which launched in March for compatible cable boxes, Xfinity Flex, and XClass Smart TVs. Other platforms with the Xfinity Stream app include Roku, Amazon Fire, LG smart TVs, and Samsung smart TVs. Comcast senior VP of strategic development Michael DelCiello said in a statement that “With today’s launch of the Stream app on Apple TV, our customers now have a new... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/30/23189915/apple-tv-comcast-cable-tv-xfinity-stream

Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge While several retailers are gearing up for the long July Fourth weekend with some exciting sitewide sales , there are plenty of standalone deals worth checking out ahead of Captain America’s birthday (oh, you didn’t know?). Starting off, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is currently discounted to its lowest price ever at Amazon. The 256GB configuration of this foldable phone typically costs $1,799.99 but is currently on sale for $1,249.99 . This sizeable discount extends to the 512GB configuration as well, knocking its usual $1,899.99 price tag down to a more reasonable $1,349.99 instead. The Z fold 3 proved that Samsung could make a good and durable foldable phone, particularly for multitasking on its 120Hz refresh rate display that can extend... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/good-deals/2022/6/30/23188216/samsung-z-fold-3-amazon-blink-tv-logitech-brio-webcam-deal-sale

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Pokémon Go maker Niantic has made a social app for its games — and it’s coming out very soon. The developer says that the app, called Campfire, will kick off its global rollout “in the coming days.” Campfire was originally announced in May and has been in a testing phase with Ingress players over the last few months. The initial rollout will be available for “select groups of Pokémon Go players throughout the summer,” according to the developer. The core of Campfire is a map that includes information about nearby in-game events and activities, theoretically making it easier to find folks to play with or arrange meet-ups with friends. It includes a group and private messaging tool for your in-game friends; in Pokémon Go , for instance, you... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/30/23187953/niantic-campfire-social-network-rollout

Return to Monkey Island is coming to Switch and PC in 2022. | Image: Terrible Toybox This week, we finally saw the first gameplay trailer of Return to Monkey Island , a follow-up to the first and second Monkey Island games that’s headed up by Ron Gilbert. Much of the game’s rollout has been delightful — an apparent April Fools’ joke by Gilbert about a new Monkey Island game turned out to be a real announcement . But there’s been some sour discourse following the new trailer, and on his personal blog, Gilbert said he won’t be posting about Return to Monkey Island anymore ( via Eurogamer ). “I’m shutting down comments,” Gilbert said in a post featuring the new trailer. “People are just being mean and I’m having to delete personal attack comments. It’s an amazing game and everyone on the team is very proud of it. Play it or... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/30/23189707/ron-gilbert-return-to-monkey-island-online-abuse

Persona 4. Over the years Persona has seen a steady rise from a niche RPG series to a bonafide hit — so the next natural step is a live-action adaptation. While there’s nothing officially in the works just yet, Toru Nakahara, producer on the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movies, says that it’s something that Sega is exploring. “Atlus’ worlds are filled with high drama, cutting-edge style and compelling characters,” Nakahara told IGN . “Stories like those from the Persona franchise really resonate with our fans and we see an opportunity to expand the lore like no one has seen — or played — before.” More directly, he said that “together, Sega and Atlus, are working to bring these stories and worlds to life through new mediums and for new audiences.” T... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/30/23189800/persona-live-action-tv-show-movie-sega

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge As early as this week, President Joe Biden plans to ask the Federal Trade Commission to protect consumer data privacy following the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade , according to a new report from Axios . Biden’s request is expected to come by way of a letter to the FTC, asking the agency to protect the privacy of women and birthing parents online. Specifically, Axios reported that Biden “will say the FTC should not tolerate unfair or deceptive practices related to reporting, surveillance, sharing or sale of personal information — including sensitive health-related information — in any state.” Soon after the Supreme Court released its ruling last week, privacy advocates and lawmakers warned that data obtained from... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/30/23189779/biden-abortion-roe-wade-privacy-ftc-flo-fertility-tracking-apps

Adding a password manually to Google’s password manager. | Image: Google Google is updating its built-in password manager for Chrome and Android as it attempts to position it as an alternative to standalone services offered by 1Password and Bitwarden, the company announced today. Most significant is the ability to manually add passwords to the service, rather than simply relying on Chrome’s offer to save credentials when you use them. There had previously been signs of this feature on Chrome on desktop , but now Google says it’s making it available across “all platforms.” The search giant also says it’s working to unify the design of the password manager between Chrome and Android with “a simplified and unified management experience” and says this includes a feature that will automatically group multiple... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/30/23189450/chrome-password-manager-updates-ios-android

The actual start of Prime Day is July 12th, and it will continue through the 13th. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon Prime Day is inching ever closer, and there’s already some momentum building with early deals. July 12th is slated as the start of the two-day sales event , but you can bet on some nice discounts popping up ahead of that date. We may see a slow crescendo of deals building up or the occasional deluge. It’s also likely other retailers will be looking to get into the mix, so keep on the lookout for sales from the likes of Walmart and Target, the latter of which already has a “Deal Days” event planned for the same time period . While Amazon is obviously the star of its own show, it also bears mentioning that Prime Day deals are exclusive to Prime members while competing sales from other retailers are open to all. In the meantime, we’re... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/good-deals/23176667/amazon-prime-day-2022-best-early-deals-tech...

The MacBook Air equipped with Apple’s M1 processor is the best laptop for most people and is often on sale. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If you want a great laptop, you’re going to have to fork over a ton of money, right? Not necessarily. There are dozens of good laptops on the market at various price points. While it can feel overwhelming to find the right one for your needs (some are better suited for, say, college students, whereas others are ideal for gamers), that’s why we’ve come up with this list of some of the best laptop deals available right now . In addition to the latest deals, we’ll share each discounted model’s best features (and downsides) to give you more clarity during your shopping journey. And if you need to do more research, you can also check out our guides to the best laptops on the market and the top cheap laptops as well. Just remember that Prime... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/good-deals/23161948/apple-macbook-hp-lenovo-d...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TweetDeck for Mac will shut down in just two days on July 1st . I rely on the TweetDeck app for my job as a news writer here at The Verge — I live for my alerts about big news and like being able to scroll the infinity of my Twitter columns — and I was disappointed to hear TweetDeck was going away. But if you’re looking for a replacement, you should seriously check out Tweeten . I downloaded it up a day or two after Twitter announced TweetDeck was going away, and I haven’t looked back. Tweeten is basically TweetDeck. Like Twitter’s official power user app, Tweeten lets you do things like tweet right from the client and make columns of all different kinds so that you can plug into the matrix. Seriously, just look at this Tweeten screenshot... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/29/23188099/tweetdeck-mac-replacement-tweeten

Anjali Pinto/Prime Video If a new season of Stranger Things wasn’t enough ‘80s-themed sci-fi for you, Amazon has decided to release the first trailer for its upcoming Paper Girls series. The teaser is incredibly short, but it shows off some of the time-traveling shenanigans that viewers can expect, along with a very pink color palette. Paper Girls started life as a 30-issue comic from Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang that followed four newspaper delivery girls who get sucked into a long-running war between various time-traveling groups. It has lots of classic ‘80s adventure movie elements — like kids riding all over town on bikes — before getting going in its own direction to become extremely weird and interesting. The series, meanwhile, stars Sofia Rosinsky,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/29/23063811/paper-girls-amazon-prime-video-trailer-release-date

Jason Momoa as Baba Voss in the third season of See. | Apple TV Plus Just as sight is beginning to return to the world of Apple TV Plus’ See , the series is coming to an end with its upcoming third and final season. Though Baba Voss (Jason Momoa) and Queen Maghra (Hera Hilmar) were able to triumph over Baba’s brother Edo (Dave Bautista) in See ’s second season finale, the war between the Trivantians and the monarchy ended with an ideological divide threatening to upend the new balance of power. After years of operating as witch hunters — killers of people like Baba and Maghra’s twin daughter Haniwa (Nesta Cooper) and son Kofun (Archie Madekwe) born with the ability to see — many of those loyal to the throne balk at Maghra’s decision to eradicate the practice. Though some of the Queen’s new Royal Guard see... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/29/23188134/see-apple-tv-season-three-series-finale

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Waymo will deliver home goods for Wayfair using its fleet of autonomous semi-trailer trucks, the company announced Tuesday. The deliveries will take place as part of a pilot that’s being conducted by Waymo and JB Hunt Transport Services to test out self-driving trucks along certain shipping routes in Texas. One of JB Hunt’s customers is furniture and home goods giant Wayfair, which will begin sending out deliveries using Waymo’s fleet for a six-week test this July and August. a six-week test this July and August The deliveries will take place in Texas, with Waymo’s Class 8 autonomous truck hauling goods along Interstate 45 between facilities in Houston and Dallas, which was the route used by Waymo and JB Hunt during the original pilot... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/28/23186715/waymo-self-driving-trucks-deliver-wayfair-home-goods

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After months of pressure from Republicans, Google has a new plan to keep campaign emails from being marked as spam, according to new documents obtained by The Verge . Google’s plan, first reported by Axios , would allow for candidates, political party committees, and leadership political action committees to apply for a special “pilot program” that would make their messages exempt from Gmail’s spam detection systems. The idea was proposed to the Federal Elections Commission in a June 21st filing asking for the body’s approval. Google spokesperson José Castañeda confirmed in a statement Tuesday that the company made the request to the FEC. He described the program as an opportunity to “help improve inboxing rates for political bulk senders... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/28/23186742/google-spam-proposal-republicans-democrats-campaign-fundraising

Image: Sky Mavis Ronin Bridge, the link that enables users to transfer funds to and from accounts in the “play to earn” Axie Infinity game, has reopened following a $625 million theft that took place in March . Sky Mavis, the developer group behind Axie Infinity and the Ronin blockchain that powers the game, announced that players can now use the bridge to make deposits and withdrawals. Since March, the Ronin Bridge has been closed off as Sky Mavis worked to bolster its security protocols and recover users’ funds. The attack went unnoticed for six days until a user tried to withdraw funds and couldn’t do it. In a postmortem , Sky Mavis blamed a spear-phishing attack that compromised an employee’s account, saying that person no longer works with the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/28/23186368/axie-infinity-nft-game-transactions-625-million-theft

Image: Bored Ape Yacht Club The company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club has sued conceptual artist Ryder Ripps for selling duplicates of its Bored Ape non-fungible tokens or NFTs. The lawsuit , filed in a California court this weekend, accuses Ripps of a “calculated, intentional, and willful” scheme to damage BAYC while promoting his own copycat work. Ripps and Yuga Labs have been at odds for months, in part because of Ripps’ RR/BAYC NFT series . The series used BAYC images but connected them with a different crypto token and sold them for the equivalent of around $200 apiece, a bargain compared to the real thing, which currently sell for around $100,000 on the low end. “This is no mere monkey business. It is a deliberate effort to harm Yuga Labs at the expense of... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/28/23184747/bored-apes-yuga-labs-ryder-ripps-lawsuit-trademark-infringement

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images I hope you all had a good weekend. I certainly wasn’t huddled in a ball of anxiety about the very fabric of women’s rights in the US being stripped away, no sir. On that note, there is a lot going on in the audio world in response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade . Podcasters are organizing, Slate is doing a stunt campaign in areas where abortion is now restricted, and Howard Stern is running for president, maybe. But first, a very special Hot Pod announcement (elegant transition, right?) Hot Pod Summit goes Hollywood Big news: we’re bringing Hot Pod Summit to Los Angeles. On November 3rd at KCRW, we’ll have a day of conversations about how the podcasting industry is being shaped by West Coast tech giants and becoming... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/28/23186432/abortion-roe-scotus-howard-stern-my-favorite-murder-podcast

The Supreme Court declined Apple’s bid ( pdf ) for a hearing over two Qualcomm patents (US Patent No. 7,844,037 and US Patent No. 8,683,362) that were part of lawsuits filed in 2017, claiming infringement by Apple’s iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches . Reuters points out that Apple and Qualcomm’s 2019 settlement of a worldwide legal battle over patents largely ended the squabbling in favor of a six-year licensing agreement but allowed a case in front of the Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board to continue. There, Apple argued the two patents should be invalid, but the board ruled in Qualcomm’s favor. Last April, the Federal Circuit court rejected Apple’s request for an appeal based on the 2019 settlement covering... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/27/23184743/apple-qualcomm-patent-lawsuit-supreme-court-5g-modems

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Valve is doubling the number of Steam Decks it ships to customers, the company announced Monday. “Production has picked up, and after today we’ll be shipping more than double the number of Steam Decks every week!” Valve said in a tweet from the official Steam Deck account . And in response to a question from my colleague Sean Hollister, Valve designer Lawrence Yang spelled out the change more clearly : “in previous weeks we were shipping x units / week to customers, starting this week we’ll be shipping 2x units / week.” If you’ve been eagerly refreshing your inbox every Monday and Thursday for the chance to order your Steam Deck reservation, the increased production could be a sign that you might be able to buy your device sooner than you... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/27/23185038/valve-steam-deck-doubling-shipments-production

The larger Pixel 6 Pro has a 6.7-inch screen and additional rear telephoto camera. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales Google’s top-tier flagship phone, the Pixel 6 Pro , is on sale for its lowest price yet. Woot is selling new unlocked Pixel 6 Pro phones for $779.99 for today only . You can choose from all three colors (including Sorta Sunny, the best one) until the end of the day or while supplies last. The only storage capacity on offer is the base 128GB amount, which is a fair amount, especially when you consider that total savings of $120 off the regular $899 asking price from Google and other retailers. We saw the Pixel 6 Pro previously drop by $100 for Father’s Day, but as the saying goes, the late dad gets the deal worm and saves... or something about bad jokes. Whatever, dad, it’s a good deal! If you’ve been waiting on the Pixel 6 Pro, you’re in... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/good-deals/2022/6/27/23184942/google-pixel-6-pro-woot-one-day-deal-sal...

Image: Google After sunsetting Google Hangouts for Workspace users in February, Google’s now beginning the process of migrating free, personal Hangouts users to Chat. In an announcement posted to its blog , Google says people who still use the Hangouts mobile app will see a prompt to move to Chat. As for users who use Hangouts in Gmail on the web, Google says it won’t start prompting users to make the switch to Chat until July. Hangouts will remain usable on its desktop site until November, and Google says it will warn users “at least one month” in advance before it starts pointing the Hangouts site to Chat. Image: Google Confusingly, Google Chat isn’t the same thing as GChat (or Google Talk), which Google discontinued for good... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/27/23185012/google-hangouts-shutting-down-november-chat-migration

The Supreme Court has turned down a request to revisit a decades-old libel ruling, despite a dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas. This morning, the court denied a petition to hear Coral Ridge Ministries Media v. Southern Poverty Law Center , in which an evangelical Christian ministry accused the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of falsely designating it as an anti-LGBTQ hate group. If it had overturned the ruling, the Supreme Court would have greatly increased the odds of public figures winning libel cases in the future. Instead, the decision delays (but likely won’t end) a long-running push to expand the scope of defamation law. Coral Ridge Ministries Media v. SPLC hinges on the “actual malice” standard — a protection that means... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/27/23184792/supreme-court-coral-ridge-splc-petition-denied-libel-law-actual-malice

The Roku Streambar is a competent audio platform with built-in streaming services. | Image: Roku Both the Roku Streambar and Streambar Pro soundbars are matching their lowest prices ever. The 14-inch Roku Streambar (perfect for smaller entertainment setups) usually sells for $129.99 but is on sale right now at Amazon and Best Buy for $99.99. The larger 32-inch Streambar Pro with more powerful sound is down to $149.99 from its usual $179.99 at both Amazon and Best Buy . While these soundbars have some differences, each comes with the Roku OS baked in and 4K HDR playback, meaning they function as competent streaming devices, not just soundbars, and are an excellent way to consolidate devices in your living room. They certainly aren’t the largest or most powerful soundbars on the market, but considering that a Roku Streaming Stick... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/good-deals/2022/6/27/23184686/roku-streambars-pro-apple-watch-se-gigabyte-aero-gaming-laptop-st...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitch’s concurrent viewership record has been broken again. Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos Garatea (who goes by “Ibai” on the platform) hit a peak of more than 3.3 million concurrent viewers during a boxing event he hosted over the weekend, according to Twitch ( via Eurogamer ), crushing the previous record of nearly 2.5 million held by Spanish streamer TheGrefg. HISTORIA Congrats to @IbaiLlanos on setting a new Twitch record with a peak of over 3.3M concurrent views during today’s boxing and entertainment event, La Velada del Año II. pic.twitter.com/5WUKrz0FkF — Twitch (@Twitch) June 25, 2022 Ibai’s event, La Velada del Año II, featured other content creators competing in the ring as well as some musical performances. Content... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/27/23184858/twitch-boxing-event-ibai-concurrent-viewer-record

Image: Google Despite being a more affordable counterpart to last year’s flagship, it’s starting to look like the upcoming Pixel 6A might offer a key improvement over the Pixel 6 series: a faster fingerprint sensor. That’s according to Fazli Halim , a Malaysian YouTuber who appears to have gotten his hands on Google’s upcoming device a month ahead of its official launch on July 28th . We spotted the video via 9to5Google . It’s potentially good news after the Pixel 6 series’ fingerprint sensors ended up being a surprising weak point for the devices, and were noticeably slower to authenticate than other phones. “The fingerprint scanner is the only biometric authentication available, and it’s just not very good,” Dan Seifert wrote in our review . A Google... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/27/23184573/pixel-6a-fingerprint-sensor-faster-than-pro-early-hands-on

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook Pro M2 base model appears to have slower SSD speeds than its M1 predecessor. MacRumors reports that YouTubers Max Tech and Created Tech have both tested the 256GB base M2 model and discovered the SSD’s read speeds are around 50 precent slower than the M1 MacBook Pro with 256GB of storage. Write speeds are reportedly around 30 percent slower. Testing was completed using Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test app, and Max Tech even disassembled the 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro and found that Apple is only using a single NAND flash storage chip. The M1 MacBook Pro uses two 128GB NAND chips, and multiple chips can enable faster SSD speeds in parallel. Other 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro models with larger SSD storage don’t appear to... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/27/23184515/apple-macbook-pro-m2-slow-ssd-speeds

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Facebook’s app for smart TVs, which lets users tune into various videos, shows, and livestreams on the platform, may no longer be available on Apple TV, as first reported by 9to5Mac . Some users say they’re no longer able to access the app after its most recent update. In a thread on MacRumors , one user shares an image of the notice they received after attempting to open Facebook Watch on their Apple TV 4K: “The Facebook Watch TV app is no longer available, but you can still find lots of videos on Facebook at www.facebook.com/watch.” Several other users report having the same experience. Facebook rolled out its Watch app on Apple TV in 2017 after first launching it on Samsung smart TVs . The app is also available on various other smart TVs... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/26/23184144/facebook-watch-apple-tv-no-longer-available

Image: Riot Games Riot Games, the developer behind the free first-person shooter (FPS) Valorant , will start monitoring players’ voice communications on July 13th (via PCGamer ). The game company says it’s to help train the language models that it will eventually use when evaluating player reports across all its games. Riot initially announced this change in April 2021 after making an update to its privacy policy . The new terms give Riot permission to “record and potentially evaluate voice data when using Riot-owned voice comms channels” with the purpose of combatting hate speech and harassment over voice chat. Riot says it will analyze recordings when a player reports someone for abusive or offensive comments. In turn, this should help the company... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/26/23184009/valorant-monitor-voice-chats-july-13th-riot-games

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s poised to release a slew of new devices between this fall and the beginning of 2023, according to a report from Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman . What Gurman describes as a “deluge” of products will reportedly include four iPhone 14 devices, a set of new iPads, three Apple Watches, several M2 / M3-upgraded Macs, a pair of refreshed AirPods Pro buds, a new HomePod, and a spec-boosted Apple TV model. Let’s break down these predictions. Although Apple announced two new Macs with its flagship M2 processor at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) earlier this month, Gurman expects to find the chip — and its variations — in several other devices. This includes an M2 Mac mini, M2 Pro Mac mini, M2 Pro / M2 Max 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/26/23183875/apple-gearing-up-launch-flood-new-devices-this-fall-m2-chip-macbook-iphone-14-watch-series-9

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s mixed reality headset has been shrouded in rumors for months now, and a new report from Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman indicates that it could come with Apple’s flagship M2 processor . According to Gurman, Apple’s most recent version of the device, which is reportedly capable of delivering augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences, includes a base M2 chip and 16GB of RAM. This deviates from supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s previous prediction that Apple’s headset will have one processor with the capabilities of an M1 chip and an additional lower-end processor dedicated to handling data from the device’s sensors. While Gurman doesn’t mention the purported secondary chip in this report, a multiple chip setup has also... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/26/23183777/apple-mixed-reality-headset-m2-chip-rumors-virtual-reality-ar

Check out that wear and tear. | Image: Andrew Webster Back in November 2009, I was getting ready to attend the Montreal International Games Summit, and I panicked — it was my first major event as a member of the press, and I had no way to record an interview. This was a problem because I was scheduled to talk with Yoichi Wada, then president of Square Enix, along with several other notable industry people. So I rushed to Radio Shack and picked the cheapest voice recorder I could find, a little grey rectangle made by RCA that was locked up in a glass display case. I have no idea what model it is, but it went on to follow me through my entire professional career to date — now, nearly 13 years later, it’s finally being retired. I hung on to that gadget for one main reason: I trusted it . The... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23180451/cheap-rca-digital-voice-recorder-13-years-of-interviews

Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Spritz Society Spotify has a brand new original topping its podcast chart, but it would probably prefer if you didn’t know about it. Last week, Spotify launched a new pop culture show, Breaking Bread , on Spotify Live. Breaking Bread ’s recordings now rank at number 11 on Spotify’s top podcast chart after holding the number two spot for most of the week, putting it just behind Joe Rogan. The show’s popularity — and the reason the company might be staying quiet about its new hit — is due to its two hosts: Jackie Oshry Weinreb and Claudia Oshry (aka Instagram’s girlwithnojob ), who come with a huge built-in audience. While the sisters have delivered their massive fanbase to the app, they have a controversial history that could be problematic for Spotify at... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/26/23181940/spotify-claudia-jackie-oshry-breaking-bread-girl-with-no-job

It isn’t a fantastic TV or monitor, but it’s a good compromise for people who want both in the same package Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23180741/samsung-m8-smart-monitor-review-32-inch-4k-smart-tv-usb-c-hdr

It took a while. My review of the M2 MacBook Pro went up last Wednesday. But as soon as I got my hands on the device on the prior Thursday, it was clear that running down the battery — one of the most important things a laptop reviewer needs to do — was going to be a Whole Thing. Reader, I tried. I would use the device all evening and leave it running all night, but it would still have plenty of charge left in the morning, and I’d have to plug it in for testing, abandon it to film, or give it to our video and photo teams for shooting before I could fully drain it down. I did not have a long enough interrupted span of time to continuously use the device. That’s how absurdly long this laptop lasts. But, with the written review and the video review both... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/26/23182162/apple-macbook-pro-2022-m2-battery-life-test-drain-diary

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A sophisticated spyware campaign is getting the help of internet service providers (ISPs) to trick users into downloading malicious apps, according to research published by Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) (via TechCrunch ). This corroborates earlier findings from security research group Lookout , which has linked the spyware, dubbed Hermit, to Italian spyware vendor RCS Labs. Lookout says RCS Labs is in the same line of work as NSO Group — the infamous surveillance-for-hire company behind the Pegasus spyware — and peddles commercial spyware to various government agencies. Researchers at Lookout believe Hermit has already been deployed by the government of Kazakhstan and Italian authorities. In line with these findings, Google has... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/25/23183046/google-hermit-spyware-isp-android-ios

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple Music has raised the subscription price of its student plan in the US, UK, and Canada, as first reported by 9to5Mac (via TechCrunch ). While it’s increasing the price from $4.99 to $5.99 / month in the US and Canada, student users in the UK can expect a similar jump from £4.99 to £5.99 / month. Apple hasn’t acknowledged the changes yet, but the new pricing information is currently available on Apple Music’s webpage . Students subscribed to Apple Music have also started seeing the price increase on their iPhones and iPads’ subscription pages. It’s unclear when exactly Apple implemented these changes, but, as 9to5Mac points out, it was likely rolled out sometime between June 21st and the 23rd — an archived Apple Music webpage shows the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/25/23182887/apple-music-student-plan-more-expensive-us-uk-canada

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Intel is postponing the groundbreaking ceremony for its planned chip-making facilities in Ohio because the US government hasn’t yet provided it with funding, the company confirmed to The Verge (via The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal ). The ceremony, which was originally set to take place on July 22nd, has been delayed indefinitely in a likely bid to push the US government towards passing the CHIPS Act. Intel announced its $20 billion plan to build two semiconductor plants in New Albany, Ohio earlier this year, noting that its expansion to potentially include up to eight plants will “depend heavily on funding from the CHIPS Act.” The CHIPS Act reserves $52 billion in funding for semiconductor companies, including Intel, to... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/25/23182727/intel-groundbreaking-ceremony-delayed-government-funding-chips-act

Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City is a competitive game for up to four players Cyberpunk 2077 is getting a board game courtesy of a Kickstarter campaign . Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City is a strange twist on the high-tech, low-life underbelly of the world brought to life by CD Projekt Red and Mike Pondsmith. The game is being published by CMON Games, which have put together board game adaptations of God of War and Bloodborne in addition to other existing IPs. If the slang-ridden synopsis of the game provided on its Kickstarter page is any indicator, it’s clear that its creators have some serious reverence for the source material: “Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City is a competitive game in which 1 to 4 players take on the role of ruthless gangs vying for control of the underground in the glittering hellhole... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/24/23181868/cyberpunk-2077-gangs-of-night-city-board-game-kickstarter

Earth.fm homepage For people who love discovering new sounds, there’s an intriguing new site that collects soundscapes from around the world. The site, Earth.fm , bills itself as “Like Spotify, but for natural soundscapes.” You can listen to bird species in Malaysia or India or forest sounds in Ghana . The sounds are gathered from numerous contributors who have experience recording the natural world in places including Brazil, Spain, Norway, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The website features sounds from locations like national parks and the everglades. Users can create their own specialized playlists of sounds available on Earth.fm, zipping from Brazil to Egypt in a matter of minutes. You can compile a list of different... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/24/23180360/earth-fm-nature-sounds-soundscapes-environment

Bitcoin mining units in Fort Stockton, Texas, on Friday, April 29th, 2022. | Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images After taking a nosedive in June, the price of Bitcoin has stayed so low that it’s forcing the blockchain’s massive electricity use to similarly dip. Over the past couple weeks, Bitcoin’s energy consumption has dropped by more than a third, according to estimates of annualized electricity use by digital currency economist Alex de Vries on his website digiconomist.net . Bitcoin’s energy hunger, which has alarmed environmentalists and consumer advocates concerned about pollution and utility prices , comes from the process of mining new tokens. Bitcoin miners earn new tokens by validating transactions through an inherently energy-inefficient process , using specialized machines to solve complex puzzles. All that computing by all those machines... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/24/23181683/bitcoin-ethereum-energy-use-drops-price-plun...

The actual start of Prime Day is July 12th, and it will continue through the 13th. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon Prime Day is inching ever closer, and there’s already some momentum building with early deals. July 12th is slated as the start of the two-day sales event , but you can bet on some nice discounts popping up ahead of that date. We may see a slow crescendo of deals building up or the occasional deluge. It’s also likely other retailers will be looking to get into the mix, so keep on the lookout for sales from the likes of Walmart and Target, the latter of which already has a “Deal Days” event planned for the same time period . While Amazon is obviously the star of its own show, it also bears mentioning that Prime Day deals are exclusive to Prime members while competing sales from other retailers are open to all. In the meantime, we’re... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/good-deals/23176667/amazon-prime-day-2022-best-early-deals-tech...

Wait, but what did Evans take this picture with? | Image: Chris Evans I think most of us here at The Verge can agree that if we were famous celebrities who acted in some of the highest-grossing films of all time , we would always be rocking the latest and greatest tech. That’s apparently not how Chris Evans, star of Lightyear and The Avengers , rolls — on June 23rd, 2022, he posted a message on Twitter and Instagram that he’s finally upgrading his phone: “RIP iPhone 6S,” he said. “We had a good run.” In his posts, Evan says that he’ll miss the 2015 device’s home button — a photo he posted shows that he’s upgrading what appears to be an iPhone 13 Pro — but not the fact that it was a “nightly battle” trying to get the 6S to charge. (In the comments of Evan’s Instagram post, Hidden Figures and Onward actress... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/24/23181821/chris-evans-iphone-6s-ios-16-upgrade-iphone-13-pro

These sub-$25 items fall right in the “this is so handy!” bucket of gift-giving. | Image: Tile Wanting to treat a friend or a loved one to some tech or a cool gadget while on a very lean budget can feel like an impossible task. Most of the everyday devices we use cost multiple hundreds of dollars, so what do you get when you just want a nice birthday or “just because” kind of gift but can’t break the bank? Sure, you can default to something basic like socks or a scarf, but that gets boring quick. Here, we’ve assembled a bunch of cool tech ideas on a budget of just $25 that are worth your money. At a price this low, you can get some tech essentials, like a dual headphone stand for $21.99 or a quality USB-C charging cable for under $12 . That may not sound very exciting at first, but when that cable is 10 feet long and sustains 100... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23156368/best-cheap-tech-gadgets-under-25

The Mars Express. | Image: European Space Agency Engineers at the European Space Agency (ESA) are getting ready for a Windows 98 upgrade on an orbiter circling Mars. The Mars Express spacecraft has been operating for more than 19 years, and the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) instrument onboard has been using software based on Windows 98. Thankfully for humanity and the Red Planet’s sake, the ESA isn’t upgrading to Windows ME. The MARSIS instrument on ESA’s Mars Express was key to the discovery of a huge underground aquifer of liquid water on the Red Planet in 2018. This major new software upgrade “will allow it to see beneath the surfaces of Mars and its moon Phobos in more detail than ever before,” according to the ESA . The agency originally... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/24/23181715/mars-express-marsis-windows-98-upgrade-esa

It looks like another week of jaw-dropping runs. | Image: Games Done Quick Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ), the annual weeklong summer speedrunning marathon for charity, kicks off on Sunday, and the schedule is chock full of potentially jaw-dropping runs. The very first event? A Shadow of the Colossus randomized boss rush that will somehow be completed in 47 minutes. On Monday, there’s a The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening ( Switch version ) race that’s estimated to take just under two hours. If you’ve been meaning to check out the indie hit Tunic , one runner plans to blast through the game in 40 minutes. The final day of the marathon, July 2nd, is packed with hit after hit, with an Elden Ring run set to conclude the show. You can peruse the full SGDQ 2022 schedule right here . The first run starts on Sunday,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/24/23181727/summer-games-done-quick-sgdq-2022-how-to-watch

Image: SpaceX It’s always fun to check in with SpaceX, Elon Musk’s least dysfunctional company — oh wait, what’s this? The workers at SpaceX are upset? Last week, as first reported by The Verge , a group of SpaceX workers wrote a letter to Musk about his tweets. “Elon’s behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks,” the letter states. “As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company. It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values.” The plan was to hand-deliver signatures of... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/24/23181513/elon-musk-twitter-spacex-letter-harassment

Deepwater Wind installing the first offshore wind farm in Block Island, Rhode Island, on August 14th, 2016. | Photo by Mark Harrington/Newsday RM via Getty Images The White House and 11 governors from East Coast states forged a new partnership on Thursday to build up domestic supply chains for offshore wind farms and related infrastructure. The new Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership includes governors from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. As part of the announcement, the Biden administration committed to the facilitation of “timely and effective permitting and environmental reviews” for offshore wind projects and lease sales. In the past, permitting has been a significant bottleneck for advancing offshore wind projects. Crucially, President Joe Biden also moved to ease... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/23/23180000/joe-biden-...

Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company backed by General Motors, is now officially a commercial service. The company began charging for rides in its self-driving taxis in San Francisco this week, marking an important milestone for the company’s plans to expand its service. The company said that fared driverless rides are currently taking place with “most riders” in the Northwest section of San Francisco. Cruise will continue “expanding our paid service in alignment with the smoothest customer experience possible,” a spokesperson said. Cruise currently offers a range of services , from daytime rides in its autonomous vehicles with safety drivers behind the wheel to nighttime trips in its fully driverless cars. (The company is currently... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/23/23180156/cruise-driverless-vehicle-charge-riders-san-francisco

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A government watchdog has warned that private insurance companies are increasingly backing out of covering damages from major cyberattacks — leaving American businesses facing “catastrophic financial loss” unless another insurance model can be found. The growing challenge of covering cyber risk is outlined in a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which calls for a government assessment of whether a federal cyber insurance option is needed. The report draws on threat assessments from the National Security Agency (NSA), Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Department of Justice to quantify the risk of cyberattacks on critical... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/23/23180115/gao-infrastructure-catastrophic-financial-loss-cyberattacks-insurance

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is making its Edge browser a little more gamer-friendly today thanks to some Xbox and PC gaming improvements. Alongside a new gaming-focused homepage and casual games integration, Edge is also getting a Clarity Boost to improve Xbox Cloud Gaming streams and an efficiency mode to prevent Edge from taking PC resources when a game is being played. The new efficiency mode is the most interesting addition for PC gamers. Both Windows 10 and Windows 11 users will be able to benefit from enabling this efficiency mode in Edge, and it will stop the browser from taking resources when a game is opened. “With this feature, you do not need to close the browser to play and reopen it when you are done. As soon as you close the game, Microsoft... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/23/23179788/microsoft-edge-xbox-pc-gaming-efficiency-mode-clarity-boost-features

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twenty-five Black Snapchat creators will receive funding, mentorship, and other resources through a one-year accelerator program , the company announced today. The program follows similar efforts at other major platforms to provide support to emerging creators from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. “Black creators face unique systemic barriers across the creator industry — from disparities in compensation and attribution, to toxic experiences and more,” Snap says. “We believe one of the ways we can help remove some of those barriers is to provide mentorship and financial resources to emerging Black creators in the early stages of their professional career.” The resources Snap says it will offer selected applicants range from... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/23/23178797/snapchat-black-creator-accelerator-mentorship-program