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Saints Row. | Image: Volition Volition, makers of Red Faction and Saints Row , is shutting down for good. The news was announced on the company’s LinkedIn account at around 12:30PM ET, or right after all the reviews for Starfield went live. In the post, the company explained that the reason for Volition’s closure was tied to parent company Embracer Group’s new restructuring program. “This past June, Embracer group announced a restructuring program to strengthen Embracer and maintain its position as a leader in the video game industry,” the announcement read. “As a part of that program, they evaluated strategic and operational goals and made the difficult decision to close Volition effective immediately.” Back in June, Embracer Group announced this restructuring... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/31/23854126/volition-shuts-down-embracer-group-saints-row

The Acer Chromebook 516 GE was one of the first gaming-specific Chromebooks, announced 2022. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The point of cloud gaming is it doesn’t require a powerful PC; a Chromebook should do just fine. Today, Google and Nvidia are ready to prove it by giving away a free, no-strings-attached GeForce Now subscription to every modern Chromebook owner. You don’t have to buy a new machine, and there’s no recurring subscription. You don’t have to enter any credit card information, Google spokesperson Peter Du confirms to The Verge . As long as you’ve got a Chromebook from 2017 or newer, you can simply head over to Google’s Chromebook Perks page and hit the “Get perk” button to redeem a three-month subscription to the Priority tier of Nvidia’s GeForce Now. If you’ve purchased a gaming Chromebook , the deal’s even sweeter: you get three months of... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/31/23463558/chromebook-free-geforce-n

The Huawei Mate 60 Pro supposedly comes with a 5G chip. | Image: Huawei Huawei released the Mate 60 Pro on Wednesday with little fanfare and some missing details — namely, the kind of chip it uses. Any mention of a chip is notably absent from the $960 phone’s product pages despite mentioning “better communication experience” and a “more stable network connection.” That information has only surfaced in unboxing videos and reviews posted online, including this one from the tech outlet Gizmochina , which says that the device comes with the Kirin 9000s to support 5G and satellite calls. This seems to be the latest version of the Kirin chipset that we last saw with the Mate 40 series devices in 2020 . However, Gizmochina notes that “there is very little information that can be confirmed” about whether the company... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/30/23852150/huawei-5g-chip-us-sanctions-mate-60-pro

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Sony is raising the price of its PlayStation Plus subscription next month. The service’s annual Essential plan will go from $60 to $80, the Extra plan from $100 to $135, and the Premium plan from $120 to $160. The new pricing goes into effect starting September 6th. If you’re currently subscribed to PlayStation Plus, Sony says the price increase won’t take effect until your next renewal date or after November 6th. However, if you make any changes to your subscription, “such as upgrades, downgrades or buying additional time,” you’ll have to pay the new rate. Sony says the price hikes will go into effect globally and will allow the company to “continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits” to the service. It adds that the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/30/23852353/playstation-plus-prices-increase-essential-extra-premium

Panic / The Verge Today, Panic put on its very first game publisher showcase . The showcase was short but very sweet, featuring some of the most interesting and innovative indie games coming to PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Switch. Here are all the highlights, including a surprise announcement from the makers of Untitled Goose Game . Arco Arco comes from an international team of developers, artists, and storytellers. It’s a tactical action game that pits regular people against an all-powerful corporate gang. In the reveal trailer, the diverse landscapes exude so much ecological detail rendered in pixel graphics, and the combat seems like a real-time action game. Arco is due on Steam in 2024. Thank Goodness You’re Here Thank Goodness You’re Here , or TGYH for... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/29/23850681/panic-publisher-showcase-house-untitled-goose-game

Legs may soon come to the unwashed virtual masses. | Image: Meta Meta is adding legs to Quest Avatars in Quest Home — but not Horizon Worlds — in a new beta announced last week in the Meta Community forums ( via UploadVR ). Community manager Ryanality posted in the forums that the “Public Test Channel (PTC) for Quest v57 is starting to roll out for Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2 soon,” though without specifying any new features. Then, yesterday, a forum user named TomCgcmfc reported their avatar had legs . A post on X (formerly Twitter) from Brad Lynch shows what the legs will look like . For now, beta users can’t see their legs without looking at an in-game mirror, and from the video, it looks like the avatar won’t crouch when the user does so. Although the legs reportedly don’t make an appearance in H... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/29/23850750/meta-avatar-legs-beta-testers-quest-home

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge Apple is holding its next big event in September to take the wraps off the iPhone 15, new Apple Watches, and more. Here, we’ll go over how and when you can watch the event, along with the new product announcements we’re expecting to see from Apple. When is the iPhone 15 showcase? The iPhone 15 event will take place on September 12th, 2023, at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. As shown in the invite sent out by Apple, the company has named the event “Wonderlust.” It will take place live from Apple Park in Cupertino, California. How to watch Apple’s iPhone 15 event As is the case with past events, Apple will likely stream the iPhone 15 showcase on its website and YouTube channel . Apple hasn’t posted the links to its livestream just yet, but we’ll add them... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23837051/apple-event-september-iphone-15-date-time-live-stream-watch-how-to-rumors

Image: Specialized Specialized announced the second e-bike from its resurrected Globe brand, the Haul LT, a long-tailed (the “LT” in the name) cargo bike with fat tires, a sturdy aluminum frame, and a $3,500 price tag. A quick recap: in 2022, Specialized announced it was bringing back its defunct Globe logo for a lineup of heavy-duty e-bikes that could carry a ton of stuff but wouldn’t break the bank. The first, the Haul ST , went on sale earlier this year and instantly won accolades for its utility, ride quality, and whimsical design . A Class 3 e-bike with a 700-watt rear-hub motor and 772-watt-hour battery, the Haul LT looks every bit the Haul ST’s successor. Design-wise, the two bikes are nearly indistinguishable, aside from the extended rear rack.... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/29/23849526/specialized-globe-haul-lt-ebike-cargo-photo-specs-price

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge DoorDash is launching a new answering service for restaurants that could put you on the phone with AI when ordering takeout or delivery. With the new service, restaurants can have AI field phone calls and take orders from customers, with live agents available “to support customers at any time.” The answering service is supposed to pick up every phone call that restaurants receive, making it easier for staff to manage takeout orders while juggling in-person customers. When someone calls in, the AI-powered service will attempt to upsell them by offering “curated recommendations to complement their meal,” while also offering multiple language options. Meanwhile, callers who have ordered from the restaurant before will get the chance to... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/28/23849040/doordash-ai-voice-ordering-takeout

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images This story originally ran in Hot Pod Insider , The Verge’ s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more. Hope everyone who attended Podcast Movement is replenished and recovered! Last week, I sent a special recap of the conference to Insider subscribers of Hot Pod — which we’re now making available to everyone for free. Tomorrow, I’ll be back with more in-depth news, analysis, and goodies related to the conference and more. Want more from Hot Pod Insider? Sign up here — the first month is free. Podcast Movement 2023: the good, the bad, the uneventful What does being a “podcaster” mean in 2023? It’s a descriptor that covers YouTube-native creators like Ethan and Hila Klein of the H3 Podcast . It applies to... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/28/23849035/podcast-movement-2023-recap-spotify-apple-podcasts-youtube-rss

This banana is being operated by a Da Vinci Xi robot located in Los Angeles. No 5G was involved. | Image: Dr. Kais Rona / Instagram A couple weeks ago, I asked Vergecast listeners to send me real-world examples of meaningful 5G experiences since the 5G hype-industrial complex so intensely overpromised what the tech would deliver. My go-to example is the impressive network capacity at NFL stadiums, which has allowed thousands of people to simultaneously livestream the Eras Tour at every stop, but that’s basically all I can think of. What I was not expecting was for so many people to send me versions of a video that shows a banana getting stitches in a robotic surgery device, with the captions claiming that the surgery is being done remotely over 5G. This video has had an incredible journey; it has been reposted dozens of times across multiple platforms , all with the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/28/23846049/banana-surgery-5g-video-viral

For two decades, Google Search was the invisible force that determined the ebb and flow of online content. Now, for the first time, its cultural relevance is in question. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23846048/google-search-memes-images-pagerank-altavista-seo-keywords

The Roomba Combo i5 Plus (left) and Combo j5 Plus (right) are new robot vacuum mops from iRobot. | Images: iRobot iRobot is beefing up its robot mop offerings by launching two new combo models: the Roomba Combo j5 Plus ($799) and the Roomba Combo i5 Plus ($549) . These are combination cleaning bots that can mop and sweep simultaneously and come with a charging dock that also automatically empties their dustbins. When the company’s first robot mop / vacuum, the Combo j7 Plus , launched last year, it was a few years behind the competition and slightly underwhelming. While the robotic arm on the j7 that raises and lowers the mop up and over the robot to avoid your carpets entirely is pretty cool, the mopping itself is less than stellar . (iRobot has had a very effective mopping-only line, the Braava Jet , for several years.) These new models don’t have... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/28/23845899/irobot-roomba-combo-j5-plus-robot-vacuum-mop-price

Image: Dolby Dolby Atmos is about to get a whole lot more adaptable. Today, Dolby is announcing Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, which it describes as “a new feature that seamlessly pairs together a TV’s sound system with accessory wireless speakers to deliver a more extensive and immersive Dolby Atmos sound experience.” Since it factors your TV speakers into the equation, FlexConnect doesn’t necessarily require a soundbar at the center of everything. TCL will become the first TV manufacturer to offer FlexConnect with its upcoming 2024 TV lineup, and it also plans to release a line of wireless speakers optimized to support the feature. Dolby says that FlexConnect “intelligently optimizes the sound for any room layout and speaker setup, offering the freedom... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/28/23848678/dolby-atmos-flexconnect-tv-speakers-tcl

My 2021 iPad Pro 11-inch. | Image: Wes Davis / The Verge As the third tier of Apple’s connected personal computing devices, the iPad sits in an awkward place in 2023. It’s a supremely capable product, there’s no doubt about that. It’s powerful and responsive; most of the models have beautiful screens; and its interface is friendly. But it’s also incomplete and insistent on doing things the Apple-prescribed way. And even as it dominates the tablet landscape, sales of iPads have withered since 2020 , as Mark Gurman noted in Bloomberg today. In short: it needs more. To be clear, I like my 2021 iPad Pro a lot. It’s a nice device for reading and solid for watching TV in bed. It’s also indispensable for following recipes while I’m cooking. But when Steve Jobs first introduced the iPad in 2010, saying... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/27/23847743/ipad-pro-oled-m3-13-inch-magic-keyboard-bigger-trackpad

Honestly, I’d keep this grip attached at all times just for the wrist strap. Camera grips are back, baby. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23845090/xiaomi-13-ultra-review-camera-photography-shutter-grip-hands-on-testing

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 3, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. Thanks to everyone who sent stuff in this week — we’re starting to get the hang of how this all works, and I really hope it’s fun and useful! I know I’ve already downloaded a terrifying number of new apps thanks to y’all. Only one housekeeping thing today: Installer now has an RSS feed ! You can add this link to any RSS reader, and it should work (let me know if you run into issues). Also, Installer ’s new homepage has every edition ever — all two of them so far. We’re still working on some cool new ways you can subscribe and contribute to Installer , but hopefully, we’ve got all the basics covered now. This week, I’ve been watching season 3... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23845815/threads-web-fabric-car-tech-installer-newsletter

The Falcon-9 launches NASA’s Crew-7 mission into space. | Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center this morning at 3:27AM ET, NASA announced today. The rocket pushed four astronauts on NASA’s Crew-7 mission into orbit before a scheduled Sunday morning dock with the International Space Station (ISS). The mission brings astronauts from four countries to the ISS — Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, the European Space Agency’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furakawa, and Konstantin Borisov, a Russian cosmonaut. When the Dragon spacecraft — named Endurance — autonomously docks with the ISS, it will bring the station’s crew number up to 11 for a few days until board the capsule and return to Earth in a few days. “Aboard station,” says NASA... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/26/23847081/spacex-falcon-9-launch-iss-crew-7-dragon-endurance-astronauts

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A federal judge in California’s eastern district has dismissed the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) lawsuit against Google over the company’s alleged “discriminatory” spam filtering, according to The Washington Post . The suit complained Google intentionally sent RNC political emails to Gmail users’ spam folders , and the RNC sought restitution for “donations it allegedly lost as a result” of those lost emails. The RNC cited a North Carolina State University study that found Gmail was more likely to mark emails from Republican campaigns as spam. One of the study’s authors spoke to the Post in May last year, saying its findings had been misrepresented. Muhammad Shahzad noted that it only tested default email settings — in tests on... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/26/23845050/judge-dismisses-republican-lawsuit-against-google-over-gmails-spam-filtering

Linus Sebastian discusses changes coming to Linus Tech Tips. | Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge Linus Media Group (LMG) founder Linus Sebastian explained LMG’s HR policies and how it will improve accuracy and ethics in a video posted to YouTube last night . Following a 10-day pause to evaluate its processes, Sebastian said the company held meetings with team members to “dig through every misstep” and identify “communication and ... teamwork challenges” that resulted in accusations of LMG’s quality issues. He added that the company will no longer insist on uploading videos daily and will slow down to verify its content is accurate. Sebastian did not directly address sexual harassment allegations recently levied by a former employee, Madison Reeve. Sebastian detailed changes to its HR structure over the year, including hiring... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/26/23846889/linus-tech-tips-gamersnexus-harassment-controversy-response

It may not feature person detection like the new model, but the third-gen Blink Outdoor is still a good security camera.for the price. | Image: Amazon As we enter the last week of August, it’s time to prepare for a jam-packed fall gadget season. Many companies, including Apple , will likely release new gadgets. Shopping events like Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days and Black Friday are set to take place, and of course, we can’t forget the holidays. Altogether, it amounts to a very busy season, particularly for the mail carriers who’ll be delivering all your purchases – and for the porch pirates, who’ll try to steal all of them. If you want to keep your packages secure, the third-gen Blink Outdoor security camera with the Sync Module 2 included is on sale starting at $49.99 ($50 off) from Amazon and Best Buy . The last-gen budget-friendly camera will help you keep tabs on your goods even... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/26/23845684/third-gen-blink-

But has it? | Photo by Fabian Sommer / Picture Alliance via Getty Images A year ago at Berlin’s IFA tech trade show (think European CES), Verge reporter Jon Porter witnessed a Google Nest Hub control an Apple HomeKit smart plug. This “ lightbulb moment for the smart home ” was the first public demonstration of Matter . The new smart home standard is designed to fix the biggest issue facing tech in our homes: interoperability, and witnessing two fierce competitors in the space working together was exciting. Twelve months later, on the eve of IFA 2023 , we’re still waiting for that lightbulb to turn on across the industry. The smart home remains fragmented. Despite being developed by the biggest names in the industry — Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, and more — Matter has yet to deliver on its main promise. You... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/26/23844529/smart-home-matter-ifa-2023-tech-show

Illustration: The Verge Google is experimenting with a text-to-speech feature for Chrome’s reading mode on desktop, as reported by Android Police . I sometimes use a similar feature in Instapaper, and in Chrome, I could see it being a useful tool to listen to articles in the browser I’m already using while I work. The feature can apparently be found in Chrome Canary, Google’s bleeding edge version of Chrome, according to X user Leopeva64 . If you have the feature, you can click a play button at the top of an article you’re looking at in reading mode to have Google read the text. Leopeva64 also shared a link to a video showing off the feature on Reddit . Chrome for desktop will also have the option to "read aloud" articles, the initial implementation of this... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/25/23845986/google-chrome-reading-mode-speak-articles-out-loud

Google Keep is a simple, solid note-taking app — hopefully Google doesn’t kill it. | Image: Google Good news for Android-toting Google Keep users: you’re finally getting the text formatting options the app has so desperately needed for years. Google announced this week that the ability to bold, italicize, and otherwise transform text in your notes is rolling out now, and you should start to see it in the app soon. (I don’t have it yet, but Mishaal Rahman and a few others actually spotted the feature ahead of its official launch, so it seems to be coming fast.) The new Keep features are more in the “should have been here all along” category than they are shiny new things, but they’re still a welcome addition to the app. And actually, Google has been paying an unusual amount of attention to Keep recently: users got a new homescreen... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/25/23837296/google-keep-app-formatting-version-history

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) has officially gone into effect. Starting on August 25th, 2023, tech giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and more must comply with sweeping legislation that holds online platforms legally accountable for the content posted to them. Even though this new law was passed in the EU, we’ll likely see far-reaching global effects as companies adjust their policies to comply. Here’s what exactly the DSA does and how the EU plans on enforcing it. What is the Digital Services Act? The overarching goal of the DSA is to foster safer online environments. Under the new rules, online platforms must implement ways to prevent and remove posts containing illegal goods, services, or content while... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23845672/eu-digital-services-act-explained

These are Meta’s old Ray-Ban Stories — not the new ones. | Photo by Amanda Lopez for The Verge How will Meta convince you to buy its next Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses after a reported 90 percent of buyers abandoned them after purchase? Meta has a plan! The second-gen glasses will let you livestream video to viewers who can talk back to you . Tech journalist Janko Roettgers says he’s seen internal documents that show the second-gen Ray-Ban Stories will not only let you stream video directly to Facebook and Instagram but also let viewers whisper in your ear. “Live streamers will be able to directly communicate with their audience, with the glasses relaying comments via audio over the built-in headphones,” Roettgers writes at Lowpass . The device should also have “improved battery life and better cameras” — that’s a quote from... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/22537624/meta-ray-ban-stories-version-2-leak-livestream-video-audio

Illustration by William Joel Open-source AI model repository Hugging Face just got massive investments from Google, Amazon, Nvidia, and Salesforce as demand for AI model access grows. Hugging Face, which acts like GitHub for machine learning and other AI models, codes, and datasets, raised $235 million in a Series D fundraising round, reported CNBC . This latest financing brings Hugging Face’s valuation to $4.5 billion, just one of the many businesses benefitting from investors’ interest in generative AI. Investors in this round included Google, Amazon, AMD, Intel, IBM, Nvidia, and Salesforce, all of whom have invested significantly into generative AI foundation models or processors running these models. Clement Delangue, Hugging Face CEO, tells The Verge the new... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/24/23844444/google-amazon-nvidia-hugging-face-generative-ai-investment

Image: The Verge Meta is finally launching a much more capable web app for Threads, the company announced on Tuesday. You’ll be able to post, interact with other posts, and look at your feed, spokesperson Christine Pai tells The Verge . It’s set to roll out over the next few days, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday , and many of my colleagues got access Wednesday night or Thursday morning. So far, Threads on the web has essentially been a glorified way to look at somebody’s profile — you couldn’t even like or reshare a post even though the web app included the buttons to do so. (If you clicked them, Threads would show you a QR code to download the mobile app.) The new desktop web interface looks a lot like the one in the mobile app, though with some... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/22/23840441/meta-threads-web-app

Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images Hollywood producers are trying to turn up the pressure on striking writers — but writers aren’t biting. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) publicly released its counteroffer to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) on Tuesday, which details proposals surrounding AI, residuals, streaming data transparency, and more. This is the same counteroffer that the Hollywood studios first presented to writers on August 11th , with the AMPTP claiming it “addresses all of the issues the Guild has identified as its highest priorities.” As outlined in the document , the AMPTP proposes higher wages and streaming residuals, along with a requirement of at least two employees in the writers’ room and a guaranteed minimum of 10 weeks... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/23/23842892/hollywood-producers-amptp-proposals-wga-strike

Image: Meta Meta’s new Horizon Worlds release will make it easier to block and report other users who aren’t playing nice. The new v124 release for the metaverse social platform lets players quickly access mute, block, and report functions in the user pause menu. To access the safety controls, users can hover over another person’s nameplate while pausing. A shortcut will appear to mute, block, or report them. Meta is also adding new tutorials inside of the safety settings to teach users how to use the platform’s safety controls, including setting personal boundaries, controlling volume, changing voice modes, muting, and even polling with others to remove someone . Entering pause also now lets users more easily access sound and profile settings. The... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/23/23842975/meta-horizon-worlds-v124-moderation-safety-report-features

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Spotify said its “next phase” of podcasting would be all about creators — and today, the company is starting to deliver. The audio giant is announcing a wave of new creator-focused updates that will let podcasters customize their show page and get deeper analytics about who’s tuning in. Creators will have more options to customize their podcast page, including the ability to highlight specific episodes, cross-promote other podcasts, and display promotional banners for their paid content. Spotify for Podcasters will also let creators view trending data on individual episodes and reveal the specific sources of impressions. Spotify’s aim appears to be twofold with these new updates: creators will have more control over how they appear to... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/23/23842929/spotify-podcast-customize-show-pages-better-analytics

We’ve tested and reviewed every laptop on this list ourselves. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Here are the best laptops for video editing of every shape, size, and price point. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23643460/best-video-editing-laptop

Image: @ZGFTECH via X Somebody has already unboxed a VR headset that is almost certainly Meta’s Quest 3, even though the device isn’t supposed to launch until sometime in the fall. You can see a video of the unboxing in this video on X , the platform formerly known as Twitter. The device comes in a brown box, and you can see the person who is filming the unboxing pull out the headset and the two Touch Plus controllers. Everything looks exactly like what Meta showed off when it announced the headset in June . Quest 3 leaked early again #metaquest #Quest3 pic.twitter.com/KfjXx5Qxi7 — VR Panda. Alex From CHN (@ZGFTECH) August 23, 2023 It’s not exactly shocking that Meta may have already prepped final boxes for the device. A new VR headset that appears to be... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/23/23842962/meta-quest-3-leak-unboxing-vr

Unlike the latest iPad, the 2022 iPad Air works with the second-gen Apple Pencil and is only $50 more. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge It’s anybody’s guess whether or not Apple will release a new iPad during its rumored September iPhone 15 event , but if you need one now, the latest iPad Air has thankfully returned to its all-time low price. You can currently buy the Wi-Fi-enabled iPad Air with 64GB of storage for $499.99 ($100 off) at Best Buy in all five shades. The tablet’s also on sale over at Amazon , although it’s only in stock in a few colorways. Considering the latest 10th-gen iPad sells for just $50 less, the iPad Air offers a lot of value for your money. We think it’s the best iPad for most people for many reasons, like the fact that the Air works with the second-gen Apple Pencil, unlike that 10th-gen iPad. At the same time, it comes equipped with a faster... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/23/23837788/apple-ipad-air-wyze-ca

Image: Google Google spent big money to score the rights for NFL Sunday Ticket and bring the popular service to YouTube and YouTube TV this season. So it makes complete sense that you’re about to start seeing Sunday Ticket plastered all over the company’s major platforms as Google looks to maximize that investment and make sure everyone is keenly aware of Sunday Ticket’s new home and expanding features . If you have a recent Chromecast or a TV in your living room that runs Google TV — think Sony, TCL, Hisense, and others — that heavy promotion will be starting as early as today. Sunday Ticket will be getting prominent placement on the Google TV homescreen. “Starting this football season, NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube and YouTube TV will be fully... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/23/23842853/nfl-sunday-ticket-google-tv-homescreen-free-channels

Photo by JC Olivera / Getty Images Opening Night Live 2023 will have over two hours of trailers and announcements. Just don’t expect too many world premieres. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/22/23841479/opening-night-live-2023-geoff-keighley-gamescom

LAist Studios/SCPR This is Hot Pod , The Verge’ s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more. I’m writing to you today from Podcast Movement in Colorado — where I hope to meet many of you over the next few days. This morning kicked off with a discussion on the state of the podcasting industry hosted by Amplifi Media’s Steven Goldstein. Panelists included industry veterans such as Magnificent Noise’s Eric Nuzum, Lemonada Media’s Jessica Cordova Kramer, Workhouse Media CEO Paul Anderson, and Barometer CEO Tamara Zubatiy. Some interesting insights from the panel: Brand safety is a huge factor right now in the marketplace . “There’s never been more sensitivity than there is right now,” noted Anderson. It’s easier for... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/22/23841491/laist-imperfect-paradise-elsa-podcast-disney-triton-youtube

Image: AT&T AT&T is expanding the availability of its $55 per month Internet Air plan (or $60 per month without autopay), which uses 5G to beam Wi-Fi into your home. The plan comes with no overage fees, equipment costs, or annual contracts, but AT&T will charge up to $10 per month extra for up to five Wi-Fi extenders. The plan offers download speeds of 40 to 140Mbps, but AT&T may “temporarily slow data speeds” if the network is busy. Once you sign up for the service, AT&T will send you its All-Fi Hub, a 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) receiver that you’ll wirelessly connect your devices to. Say hello to @ATT Internet Air. In home Wi-Fi delivered over our reliable wireless network that you can set up in less than 15 minutes. For info & locations:... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/22/23841470/att-5g-internet-air-plan-expansion

Photo illustration by Alex Parkin / The Verge Today, I’m talking with Perkins Miller. He’s the CEO of Fandom, which runs thousands of wikis for everything from Disney and Taylor Swift to The Matrix and Grand Theft Auto as well as several publications like TV Guide , Metacritic , and GameSpot . It’s a big, complicated media company in a big, complicated time for media companies. Fandom started as Wikia — the commercialized sister company to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is the noble community-supported encyclopedia, and Fandom is the explicitly profit-driven entertainment platform, and that means a lot of things that often collide with how people think about wikis. For example, Perkins talks about Fandom like you would any other large ad-supported media company with tons of user-generated... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23841327/fandom-wikia-perkins-miller-ads-ai-community-passion

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge TikTok users searching the app for specific videos will begin to see sponsored content in search results . The company announced today that advertisers will be able to place ads alongside organic content that appears when searching in the app. When a user clicks on an ad, they can continue scrolling to view search results in a feed-like format. Ads are pulled from other videos that the brand is running on the platform. Image: TikTok Ads will appear next to organic posts. Ads will appear next to organic content that’s served when a user searches on TikTok, with a semitransparent “sponsored” label on the video thumbnail. Ads already appear as videos between organic content in users’ For You feeds with the same... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/22/23841335/tiktok-search-results-ads-toggle-sponsored-content

Image: Suzanne Tenner / Lucasfilm Ltd. At this point, live-action Star Wars shows are no longer novel. In fact, it’s getting pretty crowded out there, with everything from the ongoing adventures of The Mandalorian to series like Andor , Obi-Wan , and The Book of Boba Fett . So, a new story like Ahsoka needs to do something a little different to stand out from the ever-growing pack. And in its first two episodes, the series manages to do just that by focusing on a very specific and important part of the Star Wars mythos: mystery. The show starts out like classic Star Wars , complete with a title crawl (this time in red text) followed by a massive spaceship slowly making its way through the inky expanse of space. The story — which takes place roughly during the same period as The... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23839946/ahsoka-star-wars-review-disney-plus

Palms are hit by strong wind and rain from Tropical Storm Hilary in the deserts of Southern California on August 20th, 2023, in Palm Desert, California.  | Photo by David McNew / Getty Images California is notoriously dry this time of year. Yet, over the course of a single day this weekend, some desert areas were hit with more than a year’s worth of rainfall. Hurricane Hilary threw California into a state of emergency after more than 80 years without a tropical storm making landfall there. This kind of storm is unusual for California, and it will probably remain a rare occurrence. Even so, strange and extreme weather is a hallmark of climate change. And experts say it could have more curveballs in store that the state should be preparing for. “There probably will not be a whole lot more [hurricanes that move into the southwestern US] in the future. But when they do happen, they’ll be much more like Hilary,” says David... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/202

It’s a gamechanger if Google can figure out multiday battery life for the Pixel Watch 2. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge While reviewing the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 , I was surprised how much its small gains in battery life impacted my overall attitude toward the watch. It got me wondering whether my opinion about the Google Pixel Watch would change if its paltry battery life was just a smidge better. So, the second I wrapped up my Samsung review, I booted up the Pixel Watch. I had reason to hope because Wear OS watches sometimes have the annoying quirk of getting better after the fact. For instance, battery life for the first day or two after setup is often the worst. Sometimes, it’s so crappy I wonder if I got a defective unit. But after a few days to about a week, the watch learns your usage patterns, and it gets a little better. Even more annoying is... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23836353/pixel-watch-2-battery-life-wear-os-4

Palestinian embroidery is a centuries-old tradition. Can digitizing hard-to-access patterns help preserve it for a new generation? Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23833322/palestinian-embroidery-digital-archive-tatreez-wafa-ghnaim-tirazain

Image: Samsung Almost two years after its initial announcement in October 2021 , Samsung says the first game to support the HDR10 Plus Gaming standard is nearing release. That game is The First Descendant , a free-to-play third-person shooter from Nexon which is running an open beta starting September 19th. Samsung’s announcement doesn’t specify which platforms the game will support HDR10 Plus Gaming on, but we’re assuming it’s PC rather than consoles given neither Sony nor Microsoft have announced support for this latest HDR format on their platforms. On PC, Nvidia announced it was adding support for HDR10 Plus Gaming to its RTX and 16-series graphics cards in November 2022 . HDR calibration without the sliders The big advantage being advertised for... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/21/23839768/samsung-hdr10-plus-gaming-standard-the-first-descendant-nexon

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US Department of Agriculture announced nearly $700 million in funding Monday to expand high-speed broadband access in rural communities across the country. The USDA’s ReConnect Program is providing $667 million in grants and loans for broadband projects in 22 states and the Marshall Islands in areas that lack access to speeds of at least 100Mbps down and 20Mbps up. Recipients of this funding will be required to build out infrastructure capable of providing upload and download speeds of 100Mbps, surpassing the Federal Communications Commission’s current speed minimums of 25Mbps down and 3Mbps up. “The reality is, we have faced some challenging times in rural places” “The reality is, we have faced some challenging times in rural... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/21/23837593/biden-broadband-usda-reconnect-internet-rural-farms

Illustration: The Verge Meta will launch the web version of Threads , its competitor to X (formerly known as Twitter) early this week, reports The Wall Street Journal. A web version has been frustratingly missing since the short-form posting service began. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is working on adding the feature along with better search (well, search at all, really — right now, you can only search for usernames on the platform) earlier this month, and that it would be ready in “the next few weeks.” However, WSJ says, its sources say the feature’s “launch plans aren’t final and could change.” Mosseri posted on Threads last week that Meta had been testing “an early version internally for a week or two,” but that it “needs some work” before wide... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/20/23839495/meta-threads-web-version-coming-this-week

Luna-25 launching from Russia earlier this month. | Photo by Xinhua via Getty Images Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft failed to land on the Moon , Roscosmos, Russia’s state-run space corporation, announced today. In a statement, the organization reported that the lander “ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon.” It would’ve been the country’s first Moon landing since 1976. Luna-25 entered orbit around the Moon last week, and was meant to orbit for just five days before landing on Monday, August 21st, but over the weekend, Roscosmos said it was analyzing a “technical glitch” that occurred as it was preparing the craft to move to a pre-landing orbit. Now the organization says Luna-25 has been lost. Russia was pushing to beat India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission to land on the Moon. That spacecraft also... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/20/23839240/russias-luna-25-space-craft-ceased-to-exist-after-colliding-with-the-moon

Dr. John Warnock in 2009. | Photo by Patrick Tehan/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images Adobe co-founder Dr. John Warnock passed away on Saturday at the age of 82, Adobe announces today. A cause of death has not been released; he is survived by his wife, graphic designer Marva Warnock, and his three children. Warnock founded the revolutionary software company Adobe with his partner, the now- late Dr. Charles Geschke , in 1982. Marva Warnock designed the company’s original logo , and Adobe released its first program, the desktop publishing software Adobe PostScript, two years later. Warnock served mostly as the company’s CEO until 2000 and was co-chairman of the board along with Geschke until 2017. Warnock remained on the company board of directors afterward. Warnock was “one of the greatest inventors in our generation with... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/20/23839212/adobe-co-founder-dr-john-warnock-has-died-he-was-82

The SwitchBot Curtain 3 on a telescoping rod. | Image: SwitchBot SwitchBot has announced the Curtain 3 , a smart curtain controller it says will be quieter than the Curtain 2, and twice as strong. The company also claims a new, improved (and separately available) solar panel will offer “true unlimited battery power,” something the previous panel didn’t quite achieve. The Curtain 3 and the SwitchBot Solar Panel 3 will retail for $89.99 (£89.99 / €89.99) and $25.99 (£25.99 / €25.99), respectively, when they release on August 25th. The Curtain 3 is, as the name suggests, the third iteration of the company’s smart curtain controller. It can now pull up to 36 pounds (16kg), according to the company, which is more than double the Curtain 2’s 17lb weight limit. Like the Curtain 2, the new curtain controller... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/20/23838496/switchbot-curtain-3-matter-apple-home-solar-panel-stronger