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Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge It may sound funny to say this, but PDF files — electronic copies of printed documents — are still around and are still very useful. Short for Portable Document Format, PDFs allow you to create a digital version of a paper document, letting you store and access them a lot easier than having to rifle through a filing cabinet. While there are a variety of PDF apps available — Adobe Acrobat being the most well-known — you actually don’t need to download one to create a PDF from an existing paper document with your iPhone or iPad. You can just use Apple’s Notes. Create a PDF from a paper document Here’s how to create a PDF on your iPhone (the process on your iPad is very similar): Go to your Notes app and create a new document by selecting... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24191864/pdf-iphone-ipad-ios-how-to

You’re not getting enough for the $750. This is meant to be the best Polar’s got, but it has no business being this expensive. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24182483/polar-grit-x2-pro-review-smartwatch-fitness

Photo by Sheena Vasani / The Verge An ongoing outage is preventing Amazon Kindle users from downloading both new and previously purchased books to their e-readers. According to moderators responding to users reporting the issue on Amazon’s support forums, the company is aware of the issue and is “currently working to resolve it.” Attempting other troubleshooting steps, like resetting the device, has not fixed the problems, so users may need to wait this one out for now. Good e-Reader reported the problem on Wednesday, noting a response from Amazon support saying it’s the result of “server issues” and that “it would be at least 48 hours before ebooks started downloading again, but it could be longer.” The Verge has contacted Amazon for details, and we will update this post... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/4/24192228/amazon-kindle-downloading-is-down-outage-ebooks-e-readers

Just don’t expect it to rival an iPad in terms of functionality. | Image: Amazon Let’s face it: Apple’s slates seem to get all the attention when talking tablets (and understandably so). However, you don’t necessarily need to spend $1,000 on an iPad Pro or even $350 on an entry-level model if all you need is a cheap entertainment device for watching The Boys , reading, or burning through your latest audiobook. Amazon’s latest Fire HD 10 tablet will get the job done for a lot less — especially since it’s currently on sale for Amazon Prime subscribers for an all-time low of $74.99 ($65 off) in its ad-supported base configuration. The 2023 Fire HD 10 isn’t going to blow you away with an OLED display or a laundry list of premium features, though it is a step up from some of Amazon’s low-end models. The inexpensive tablet... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/4/24191765/amazon-fire-hd-10-tablet-philips-hue-solo-light-strip-deal-sale

The latest Beam isn’t tiny, but it’s far from the biggest soundbar around. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge While the world of deals is about to heat up with Fourth of July sales and Amazon’s upcoming Prime Day event , there are some great discounts you can take advantage of right now. For starters, Sonos is selling refurbished models of its second-gen Beam in black or white for $299, which is $100 off its usual refurb price and $200 cheaper than buying the soundbar in new condition. That’s as cheap as you’re going to find the latest version of Sonos’ midrange soundbar, which is a lot like its first-gen version but with small improvements like Dolby Atmos and low-latency eARC support. The Beam is a good all-around performer if you want a simple soundbar that sounds great for its size, doesn’t clutter up your space with extra speakers or... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/3/24191483/sonos-beam-ray-soundbar-refurbished-ipad-air-deal-sale

Image: Marvel Studios The premise of Disney Plus’ What If…? made it seem like the animated Marvel series might run indefinitely as the studio keeps putting out live-action projects, but it looks like this chapter of the big multiverse story is just about over. Though What If…? season 3 doesn’t have a premiere date, Entertainment Weekly reports that it will be the final installment in the series that gave us Jeffrey Wright’s Uatu the Watcher and Hayley Atwell as Captain Peggy Carter. Speaking on this week’s episode of Marvel’s new official podcast , What If…? executive producer Brad Winderbaum described the upcoming season as the “completion of a trilogy” and teased that it will go “beyond the first two seasons in its exploration of the multiverse.” Notably,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/3/24191652/what-if-season-three-cancellation

Photo illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Between the Apple Watch Series 9, the Ultra 2, and the second-gen SE, there are more options than ever. We’ll help you sort through them. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23037217/apple-watch-series-9-ultra-2-second-gen-se-best-smartwatch-how-to

You can find the Xiaomi Moaan InkPalm Plus for around $125 online. | Image: Xiaomi It seems like everyone is enamored with the Boox Palma, including our own David Pierce , but at $280, it’s expensive for an e-reader. For another option that mirrors larger e-readers but in a tiny and cheaper package, John Moltz has taken a look at the $125 Xiaomi Moaan InkPalm Plus over on Six Colors . There are some notable compromises, like a reflective screen that will potentially have users struggling to dodge glare, ordering off of AliExpress , and a dated Android 11 OS that isn’t fully translated from Chinese to English. The display is also a few years behind the 300ppi e-paper panels you now get on Kindles, Kobos, and even the Boox Palma, featuring a 5.84-inch E Ink screen with just 276ppi of resolution. The InkPalm Plus also has... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/3/24191451/xiaomi-moaan-inkpalm-plus-reader-e-ink-onyx-boox-palma-smartphone

The current promo lets you secure a better rate than either of the monthly plans, but you’ll have to pay upfront. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge With a Paramount Plus price hike coming on August 20th, now might be a good time to secure a year’s worth of access to the streaming service. Thankfully, Paramount is offering new and returning subscribers 50 percent off its Paramount Plus with Showtime plan, dropping the price of an annual ad-free plan to $59.99 (down from $119.99) until July 14th. That’s about $5 broken down monthly, as opposed to its forthcoming monthly rate of $12.99. Paramount has steadily loaded its streaming coffers over the years with movies and shows from its film divisions, CBS networks, and more. Do you like planes, Tom Cruise, or a combination of both? Top Gun: Maverick should be your first stop if you haven’t already seen the modern take on dogfighting... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/2/24190642/paramount-plu

Illustration: The Verge It hasn’t always been that simple to create a PDF using your phone. Several years ago, when I started handling my mother’s bills, I realized I needed a quick way to scan her documents while I was at her home. Rather than drag a scanner around, I found a handy Android app called Tiny Scanner that let me turn paper documents into easy-to-store PDFs using my phone’s camera. Later, Google introduced the beta of its own scanning app called Stack , so I began using that to create many of my PDFs. It offers quick scans and categorization and was just a little more fun to use. However, as is Google’s wont , that company is now sunsetting Stack and giving some (although not all) of the app’s abilities to create, edit, and store PDFs to Google... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24190747/pdf-google-drive-slack-how-to

Photo illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge From simple fitness bands and rugged sports watches to rings, these are the best trackers you can get. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/22985108/best-fitness-tracker

Image: Meta On Monday, Meta announced that it is “updating the ‘Made with AI’ label to ‘AI info’ across our apps, which people can click for more information,” after people complained that their pictures had the tag applied incorrectly . Former White House photographer Pete Souza pointed out the tag popping up on an upload of a photo originally taken on film during a basketball game 40 years ago, speculating that using Adobe’s cropping tool and flattening images might have triggered it. “As we’ve said from the beginning, we’re consistently improving our AI products, and we are working closely with our industry partners on our approach to AI labeling,” said Meta spokesperson Kate McLaughlin. The new label is supposed to more accurately represent that... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/1/24190026/meta-instagram-facebook-made-with-ai-info-label-metadata

Despite how recently it launched, Apple’s latest iPad Pro is already on sale for up to $100 off. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge While the best iPad deals usually land during major sale events like Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day , many of the best iPad deals from the holiday season have persisted well into 2024. The discounts come and go like changing winds, but you can still take advantage of sales on many models today, particularly on the more affordable iPads. What’s more, Apple recently released a new iPad Pro and iPad Air , and they’re already causing prices on older models to drop even further. It’s difficult to know where exactly you can find the most notable iPad deals unless you’re scouring the major retailers on a daily basis. But that’s often what our deal hunters at The Verge are doing each and every day, so let us help you out. Below, we’ve listed... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/21280354/best-ipad-deals-apple

Image: The Verge The EU has formally charged Meta with violations of its Digital Markets Act (DMA), marking its second such charge in as many weeks. The European Commission writes in a preliminary ruling that the “pay or consent” advertising model that launched last year for Facebook and Instagram users runs afoul of Article 5(2) of the DMA by not giving users a third option that uses less data for ad targeting but is still free to use. Regulators found in their investigation that Meta gives users a “binary choice” that forces them to either choose to pay a monthly subscription fee to get the ad-free version of Facebook and Instagram or consent to the ad-supported version. Where Meta runs afoul of its rules, it says, is by not letting users opt for a... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/1/24189796/eu-meta-dma-violation-pay-consent-ads-model