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Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images Microsoft started testing Minecraft ray tracing on the Xbox earlier this week, and now the software giant says it was mistake and will be removed. A preview version of Minecraft appeared for Xbox testers with optimizations for Xbox Series X / S consoles and the ability to enable ray tracing. “The previous Minecraft Preview build available to Xbox Insiders inadvertently included prototype code for ray tracing support on Xbox consoles,” says the Minecraft team in a tweet . “This early prototype code has been removed from Preview and doesn’t signal near future plans to bring raytracing support to consoles.” The previous Minecraft Preview build available to Xbox Insiders inadvertently included prototype code for raytracing support on Xbox... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/v1Kd6Ww

The new feature works on fourth generation or newer Echo smart speakers. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Amazon’s Alexa has launched a new feature that will notify Prime customers up to 24 hours in advance about specific discounts, the company announced today . Amazon says the new feature is designed to help customers save money while saving time. The smart voice assistant will alert Prime members when eligible products in their wish list or shopping cart, or that they’ve marked “saved for later,” are on sale. Customers will then be able to ask Alexa to order the items when the deal is live or send a reminder. Amazon did not elaborate on exactly what it defines as an “eligible” item or if these deals will also include products sold by third parties. Only US Amazon Prime customers who own Echo smart speakers that are fourth generation or... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/a9zYKwg

Jared Leto as Michael Morbius, the Living Vampire. | Columbia Pictures Sony’s latest Spider-Man villain feature will drain you Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/SbE8Up7

Dell’s latest laptop dock adds a little something extra: a Qi wireless charging stand that lets you see and charge your phone while also connecting your laptop to monitors and peripherals ( via Ars Technica ). The Dual Charge Dock can provide 90W to your computer over USB-C and 12W of power to your phone via the fabric-covered wireless charger. In a press release, Dell says that the charging coils in the Qi portion of the dock are widely spread out — meaning that you can charge your phone while it’s in portrait or landscape, and you can even use the charger to juice up a pair of wireless earbuds. Of course, as a dock , it’s also meant to let you plonk your laptop down on a desk, plug in a single cable, and be able to use external displays... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/PWa43EG

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Did I speak too soon? Two days after my one-month check-in with the Steam Deck portable gaming PC, Valve has already addressed a few of the most annoying issues I pointed out. In a pair of updates, one in the stable channel and one only currently available in beta (full changelogs there), Valve has: Added a dual-trackpad keyboard so I can type two letters at a time with my thumbs instead of hunt-and-peck Finally added a full-size virtual keyboard to the Linux desktop mode, so you probably don’t need to plug one in (previously, you could only summon the old 2015 dual-trackpad keyboard there, but the new one does touch and gamepad, too) Fixed the Wi-Fi so it automatically connects and reconnects without prompting you to re-enter the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wzQL5Iq

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The social network touts downranking as a way to thwart problematic content, but what happens when that system breaks? Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rBuQm9N

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge To help bring an end to wrangling with Dutch regulators that stretched over the last several months, today, Apple published a new version of its App Store rules that allow local dating apps to take payments through third-party processors. Until now, its proposals to comply with a December ruling mandating the change had not satisfied the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) and earned Apple 50 million euros worth of fines. Apple previously announced that it would allow dating apps to use alternative payment systems, but it imposed various conditions on how they could do so. Developers would have to submit a separate app binary for the Dutch App Store, and would have to choose between using its in-app payment system or a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/pTcNds2

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple and Meta handed over user data to hackers who faked emergency data request orders typically sent by law enforcement, according to a report by Bloomberg . The slip-up happened in mid-2021, with both companies falling for the phony requests and providing information about users’ IP addresses, phone numbers, and home addresses. Law enforcement officials often request data from social platforms in connection with criminal investigations, allowing them to obtain information about the owner of a specific online account. While these requests require a subpoena or search warrant signed by a judge, emergency data requests don’t — and are intended for cases that involve life-threatening situations. Fake emergency data requests are becoming... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/kdZvzWY

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is rolling out a picture-in-picture mode for YouTube TV on iOS devices running iOS 15 or newer, the company announced Wednesday . YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan promised on The Vergecast that the feature was on the way, and now it’s finally here. The Vergecast gets results ;) https://t.co/z57srOSCLQ — nilay patel (@reckless) March 30, 2022 With picture-in-picture, you’ll be able to keep watching YouTube TV when you navigate away from the YouTube TV app. The feature could come in handy if, for example, you’re watching a sports game but want to scroll through Twitter to see reactions to what just happened on the field. It’s a feature that’s been available on Android for years , so it’s good to see that Google has... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/4aiCpQt

The new PlayStation Plus Premium subscription will have PS1 games, but it’s the most expensive tier. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony has just announced its new PlayStation Plus subscription tiers , which will be available later this year, and with the new “Extra” and “Premium” levels, you’ll get access to back catalogs of many PlayStation games. However, if you want to play classic PS3, PS2, PS1, and PSP games, you’ll have to pay for “Premium,” the most expensive option, meaning that Sony is joining Nintendo in putting some of its older games behind its highest-cost subscription. Using a subscription to access classic games isn’t new for Sony. For years, the company has offered access to PS4, PS3, and PS2 games as part of PlayStation Now, which is an entirely separate subscription service from PlayStation Plus. But instead of using the Plus shakeup to bring more... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/d5yBTHh

It promised this change in September, 2021. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is making good on its promise to let some developers link out to their own sites from within their apps, according to an announcement from the company on Wednesday. The new rules, which go into effect today, let developers of “reader apps” (apps that are primarily meant to provide access to digital content, like Netflix, Kindle, or Spotify) link out to their sites for things like account management or creation. This should help improve the historically bad user experience for these types of apps caused by Apple’s previous rules. Previously, if you downloaded the Netflix app but didn’t have an account, Netflix wasn’t allowed to give you a link to sign up or tell you where you could go to create an account. That made apps frustrating... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/U9pNxXY

Verizon’s network has gotten a noticeable speed bump. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Verizon and AT&T’s recent 5G rollout could put them in a better position to compete with T-Mobile, which has had similar tech rolled out for years , according to data from Opensignal . The company’s analysis showed that when Verizon turned on its C-band equipment in January, its average 5G speeds jumped — and where carriers have their new tech rolled out, they’re all achieving similar speeds. When looking at the average 5G download speeds for each carrier, there’s a clear bump in Verizon’s numbers after the carrier took its C-band equipment online in January . The increased speeds that were available to customers in the rollout area brought its average up by around 15 megabits per second, according to Opensignal. Despite also rolling out... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/kCsNmJ7

British sports car maker Lotus is jumping on the electric bandwagon with the reveal of the Eletre, a plug-in crossover SUV with design language inspired by the automaker’s Evija hypercar . The Eletre will also be the first of three new EVs that Lotus plans to roll out over the next four years, including a sports car (natch), a coupe-sedan, and another SUV. Previously called Type 132, the Eletre is the Geely-owned automaker’s second electric vehicle and will feature futuristic components like camera-only side-view mirrors and a lidar sensor affixed to the front and rear of the roof. As is befitting its sports car legacy, Lotus is emphasizing the performance capabilities of its new electric SUV. The Eletre will be able to sprint from... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Ff9koiw

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Social media use is more strongly linked to bad mental health for adolescents and teenagers during years around puberty and when they’re probably about to leave home, according to a new study . Teenagers who used social media more frequently in those periods scored lower on measures of life satisfaction one year later. Many researchers say things like Instagram and TikTok probably aren’t entirely bad for all adolescents. They’re not entirely good, either, and can cause documented problems with body image, but the impact varies: for some kids at some points in time, it might help them socialize and build relationships; for others at other times, it might be a hit to their self-esteem. The challenge has been figuring out which teens are... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/F6L94mg

The new shortcuts give you new tools for your chats. | Image: Meta Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is introducing Slack-like shortcuts to Messenger that let you do things like send a message silently or quickly call up a GIF while you’re chatting with your friends. Two of the shortcuts are available today, March 29th, according to Meta: @everyone and /silent. @everyone will let you notify everyone in a chat, which could be useful if you want to make sure to get everyone’s attention. (On behalf of your friends’ notifications, I beg you to please use this one responsibly.) However, if you want to send a message without pinging the whole group, you’ll be able to use the /silent shortcut, Meta says. In “the coming weeks,” there will be a few more shortcuts. /pay will let you send or request money... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/E89ZXnI

The Series 7 was the first Apple Watch to get fast charging. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge While the Apple Watch Series 7 didn’t come with longer battery life, it did offer faster charging — at least, it did until last week. Some users are now complaining the feature no longer works after updating to watchOS 8.5, according to a 9to5Mac report . Fast charging is exclusive to the Series 7. With it, Apple says the Watch’s battery can go from 0 to 80 percent in roughly 45 minutes. However, Series 7 owners on Reddit , Apple’s support forums , and MacRumors ’ forum are saying their Watches are now charging at a snail’s pace. A couple of Reddit users claimed that the Watch would only charge roughly 5 percent in 15–20 minutes. Meanwhile, a user on Apple’s forum claimed the Watch only charged 5 percent in an hour. For context, Apple says... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/JfU4Hwp

Jio has launched a new prepaid plan that offers a full month service including 1.5GB daily data and unlimited calls. The new plan is called Calendar Month Validity and it’s a prepaid recharge but one that renews on the same date every month.  This means, for example, If you top up for ₹259 on March 5, then the next recharge would be on April 5. It will then recur on April 5, May 5, June 5, so on and so forth. The company in its press release announcing this new plan says its “Postpaid-like plan construct now available in prepaid for convenience”. Jio ‘Calendar Month Validity’ Plan Benefits  Reliance Jio’s ₹259 plan christened Calendar Month Validity offers 1.5GB/Day of mobile data and if you cross that threshold, the speed will reduce to 64 Kbps. Along with data, you also get unlimited voice calls and 100 SMS messages per day. In addition to the above essentials, you also get a complimentary subscription to Jio Apps like JioTV, JioCinema, etc. Now all of these benefits under the

For the next few weeks, we’re showing you how to run various commonly used benchmarks on your PC. Reviewers like myself find these very helpful in comparing laptops we test to each other. But you don’t have to rely on us — you can easily run these benchmarks yourself on your own PC. Geekbench is one of the easiest and fastest ones to run and will show you how your device stacks up against the competition in a few key areas. Within Geekbench 5 (the latest release), there are a few different tests you can run. Geekbench CPU measures your processor’s performance, simulating both single-core and multi-core usage scenarios. When the test is complete, you’ll get both a single-core and a multi-core score. Geekbench Compute, by contrast, e... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/djW47eD

Coda’s stars after winning big at the awards. | Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images CODA has become the first film from a streaming service to win best picture at the Oscars, in a sign of the growing dominance of streamers like Apple, Netflix, and Amazon at Hollywood’s most prestigious awards ceremony. The Apple TV Plus film follows the struggles of Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones), the only hearing member in a deaf family, as she tries to explore a life away from her family. Apple acquired the rides to CODA for $25 million in a bidding war after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival last year. As well as winning best picture, CODA ’s Troy Kotsur won best supporting actor for his role in the film, and its writer-director Siân Heder also took away the award for best adapted screenplay. Kotsur is the first Deaf actor to have... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ulr9RXI

Poco X4 Pro 5G is the new Poco phone in the Indian market. It originally came about at MWC 2022 along with Poco M4 Pro 4G. The latter then got launched in India at the fag end of February and as we are at the tail-end of March, the X4 Pro 5G is also here. The newcomer is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 chip. It also comes with a 67W charger charging a 5000mAh battery and keeping a 6.7-inch screen on. By the back, there is a 64MP camera and inside, you are getting MIUI 13 software that’s still based on Android 11. Poco X4 Pro 5G India Specs and Features Poco has presented a 6.7-inch AMOLED display on the front with a 120Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling rate, up to 1200 nits of peak brightness, Gorilla Glass 5 protection, DCI-P3 support, and a punch-hole cutout. There is a 16MP selfie shooter inside this hole. The back cameras, meanwhile, are a 64MP primary camera, an 8MP 118 degree ultrawide camera, and a 2MP macro camera. The internal components comprise of Snapdragon 695 p

As per a recent report, the OnePlus could launch 6 new smartphones before Diwali 2022 and one of these phones would be the OnePlus 10R which is said to materialize in the month of May. It would be a successor to the OnePlus 9R and a watered-down version of the OnePlus 10 Pro. The latter is scheduled to arrive on March 31, but ahead of it, we have come across the key OnePus 10R specifications, thanks to 91Mobiles.  OnePlus 10R Specs and Features (Expected)   OnePlus 10R design render | Source: Pricebaba​ The back of the phone could look somewhat like the image shared above. As you can see, it has got three cameras and the primary one is expected to be a 50MP sensor. Although the face of the phone is still behind a veil, it would reportedly have a 6.7-inch E4 AMOLED panel with an FHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and HDR10+ support.  Under the hood, there may be a Dimensity 8100 processor propelling the phone.  OnePlus could ship the phone in two battery+charging configurations

Samsung has announced the launch date of Galaxy M33 5G in India to be April 02, 2022. It will be retailing through Amazon and there’s a new ‘Notify Me’ microsite on the site, which reveals the key specs of the phone. Samsung India has teased the device will feature an unnamed 5nm octa-core processor, up to 8GB RAM, 16GB Virtual RAM, 128GB storage, a 6.6-inch 120Hz screen, and a 6000mAh battery with 25W charging support. However, there will be no charger in the box to “minimize the environmental impact”. Samsung has also listed the Galaxy M33 5G specifications on its SamsungMobilePress website. Let’s have a look at those details. Samsung Galaxy M33 5G Specs and Features (Expected) Galaxy M33 5G would be available in Green, Blue, and Brown colours. Samsung is using an unnamed 5nm APU coupled with 6/8GB LPDDR4x RAM, and 128GB of internal storage. There will be support for up to 16GB RAM+ VRAM feature and up to 1TB micro-SD card expansion.  The internals will also consist of a 5G mode

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon workers claim they weren’t all properly alerted as what they thought was smoke filled the third floor at a Bessemer, Alabama warehouse on Friday, according to a report from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) (via Input ). While workers on the third floor were told to clock out, go on unpaid voluntary time off, and evacuate, employees on the other floors were allegedly left to continue working as an unidentified vapor spread throughout the facility. The “smoke” was later found to be vaporized oil from a malfunctioning compressor. According to the RWDSU’s timeline of events, workers on the third floor evacuated around 1:30PM. Hours later, workers on the first floor started seeing the smoke-like substance and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/aCVpRBO

Users could previously watch delayed simulcasts for free on Crunchyroll. | Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Crunchyroll will no longer offer free ad-supported streaming for newly-released episodes, the anime streaming service announced in an update on its site (via Gizmodo ). Viewers who want to watch episodes of new or continuing series will have to upgrade to one of Crunchyroll’s premium plans, which start at $7.99 / month . Users didn’t need a subscription to watch simulcast titles before the change, but there was a tradeoff — Crunchyroll would delay the release of new episodes by one week for free users, while subscribers could watch them one hour after their premiere in Japan. This was something I (and a lot of other people using Crunchyroll for free) happily dealt with as long as I actually got to watch the new episodes. The new policy... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/GjngfIh

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple is reportedly planning to release an iPad Pro with the rumored M2 chip sometime between September and November of this year, according to Apple tracker Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter . Gurman expects Apple to issue a major update for the upcoming generation of iPad Pros, which will supposedly include support for MagSafe charging. As Gurman points out, Apple last gave the iPad Pro a significant update in 2018 , when Apple introduced a design with harder corners, an edge-to-edge display, and a USB-C connector. This update came about a year and a half after the release of the iPad Pro 10.5 in 2017 . The new iPad Pro is also rumored to have a glass backing Apple is on track to repeat the same pattern this year, as it launched the most... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6KtidFQ

Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images The Academy Awards return this weekend to celebrate a standout year of film releases. With vaccinations now widely available, theaters saw record-breaking ticket sales as moviegoers seemed more willing to return to auditoriums to watch highly anticipated releases. But theaters haven’t completely edged out streamers — Netflix swept up a dozen nominations for its critically acclaimed drama The Power of the Dog and several more for its doomsday comedy Don’t Look Up . Folks with traditional cable bundles or an antenna are already teed up to watch the event live on ABC when it airs this evening. But if you’re short the hardware or a cable box, several services will carry the coverage as well. Who is hosting the Oscars? Wanda Sykes, Regina... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3KwVGJf

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple Pay will no longer support Russian card payment system Mir, closing a loophole that let Russians continue to use the service amid economic sanctions put on the country, according to a report from Reuters . “Apple has informed NSPK [Russia’s National Payment Card System] that it is suspending support of ‘Mir’ cards in the payment service Apple Pay,” a translated announcement on Mir’s site reads. “Since March 24, uploading new ‘Mir’ cards to the service has been unavailable.” The company also notes any Mir cards previously added to Apple Pay will stop working over “the next few days.” Apple Pay first added support for Mir cards last year . Many Russian users have already been cut off from Apple Pay and Google Pay According to The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/uH0ZQz3

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber has secured a 30-month — or two-and-a-half-year — license to keep its ridesharing services up and running in London, according to a report from the BBC . This marks the close of a lengthy battle with the city’s transportation agency, Transport for London (TfL), over Uber’s safety protocols. We’re delighted to announce @TfL has granted Uber a new 30 month licence in London. TfL rightly holds our industry to the highest regulatory and safety standards and we are pleased to have met their high bar. — Uber UK (@UberUK) March 26, 2022 “We’re delighted to announce @TfL has granted Uber a new 30 month licence in London,” Uber announced in a tweet on Saturday morning. “TfL rightly holds our industry to the highest regulatory and safety... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/tLYZcFS

Screenshot: Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Gran Turismo 7 developer Polyphony Digital is apologizing for the changes recently introduced to the game’s economy and is promising improvements, along with a million free credits. These changes come after the game had a massive outage last week , which was the result of an update that also made changes to how players could earn credits by actually playing the game rather than through microtransactions. In a post on the PlayStation Blog , Polyphony president Kazunori Yamauchi apologized for “the frustration and confusion caused last week with our patch updates which resulted in, not only a server outage but also adjustments to the in-game economy which were made without a clear explanation to our community.” As a “goodwill gesture,” the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/V915Cg8

Google contract workers voted on whether to join a union | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A group of workers for a Google Fiber subcontractor in Missouri has voted to unionize, the first of its kind at Google’s parent company Alphabet. The votes were counted Friday in a Zoom hearing with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The workers are employees of Google contractor BDS Connected Solutions, a staffing agency in Kansas City. Ten of the 11 workers signed union cards in January to organize under the purview of the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), which is part of the larger Communication Workers of America union. On Friday, the official count found there were nine votes in favor of joining the union, with one vote against. The AWU will be a members-only union , representing those workers who join voluntarily, rather than... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ysLXd9v

Lilith Walther Bloodborne ’s seventh anniversary was earlier this week, and even though FromSoftware lets fans languish without a PC port, Lilith Walther — creator of the popular Bloodborne PSX demake — continues to keep the community fed, watered, and loved with her new fan project: Bloodborne Kart . An announcement: pic.twitter.com/miydPUzZbR — Lilith.zip ️‍⚧️ (ps1 goth girl) BLM ACAB (@b0tster) March 25, 2022 Bloodborne Kart seems to be exactly what the name implies: a Bloodborne kart racer. It has the same graphics and overall vibe of the PSX demake, but instead of felling foul beasts, the Hunter will now get the opportunity to roam the streets of Yharnam and possibly beyond on a sweet-ass motorcycle. I’m hoping there will be the opportunity... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ACbBskc

The Bose QuietComfort earbuds are discounted to just $219.99 at Amazon and Best Buy right now. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge If you have yet to pick up a decent pair of true wireless earbuds, you can still buy the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds at Adorama and Amazon for $219.99 instead of $279.99, one of the lowest prices we’ve seen on these earbuds since Black Friday. There’s no shortage of noise-canceling earbuds available right now; however, we think these are worth your attention thanks to their excellent sound quality, impressive fit, and wireless — albeit, bulky — charging case. Even with newer options available like the Sony WF-1000XM4 and Samsung Galaxy Buds 2, we still count these among some of the best wireless earbuds you can buy, especially if superb noise cancellation is what you’re after. Read our review . If you’re looking for a solid discount on... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/l5BchZ1

UConnn’s Paige Bueckers faces off against UCF players Tay Sanders and Alisha Lewisin in the second round of the tournament. | Photo by M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Sweet Sixteen games in this year’s March Madness tip off tonight and tomorrow — all exciting games (like reigning national champions Stanford vs. Maryland) and one that is going to be deeply stressful for me personally (Connecticut vs. Indiana — go Huskies). You’d be forgiven for thinking that the games started yesterday, though. As of this writing, searching “sweet sixteen march madness” pulls up a schedule box for the men’s tournament, which did have that round start yesterday. The women’s games are relegated to a ribbon at the bottom. This is the first year that the women’s college basketball tournament is able to use the high-profile March Madness branding. The change came after an uproar over the embarrassingly inequitable... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/5x

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google announced Wednesday it’s making some improvements to how it decides which product reviews it shows in Search results. The idea behind these and other recent product reviews updates is to ensure that reviews you see are high quality and actually include helpful information about a product you might be considering buying. The improvements build on earlier updates “to make sure that product reviews in Search meet certain criteria,” Google’s Perry Liu said in a blog post. Here are some examples of the criteria Liu says the company is looking for: Include helpful in-depth details, like the benefits or drawbacks of a certain item, specifics on how a product performs or how the product differs from previous versions Come from people who... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/T6xvVla

Spotify For years, a loose coalition of companies, including Spotify and Epic Games, has been railing against the so-called app store tax — taking Apple and Google to court and spurring regulators to investigate their up-to-30 percent cut of developers’ app revenue. They argue they’re locked into grossly overpriced billing, hosting, and curation services that sometimes hurt more than they help . So it was a surprise when, on Wednesday, Google revealed a pilot program with Spotify that will let some developers bypass Google Play billing on Android — letting Spotify and potentially others use their own payment platforms instead. But if you think that means Google’s going to give up its piece of the action, think again. Reading between the lines,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ORISF9U

Blizzard Entertainment In the wake of the Overwatch 2 beta date announcement and an apologetic video from game director Aaron Keller promising the team would give more consistent updates on progress , the Overwatch 2 news floodgates have officially opened. In this latest update, we’re offered a glimpse of Overwatch 2 ’s overhauled ping system. “We wanted to create a system that would enhance voice communication as well as provide alternative ways to share information with your team,” systems designer Gavin Winter says in the blog post . New features include character-specific callouts in which, when a player makes a ping, their teammates hear that notification in that player’s hero’s voice. The blog gives an example: “if you’re playing Tracer and ping an enemy... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/myeI49S

Spotify’s Car Mode for Android could be making a return. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Spotify is reportedly letting some Android users test out a new, voice-focused car mode after it removed Car View last year without any obvious replacement. According to a report from 9to5Google , which includes screenshots of the test, Car Mode is less like the hyper-simplified Car View that came before it and more like a version of Spotify’s usual interface that’s tweaked to make quick actions easier. While the current version of Car Mode that Spotify’s testing does have a tab that lets you access your recently played music, the search screen has been replaced by a voice control feature. The interface for controlling what’s currently playing has a similar layout to Spotify’s regular mode, which should let you use muscle memory (without... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2SzYaGb

Nanoleaf’s existing Essentials light bulb and light strip work with Thread, but won’t be updated to support Matter. | Image: Nanoleaf You shouldn’t be concerned about the delay of Matter, the new smart home interoperability standard, because we’re not. That’s the message from smart home device makers Eve Systems and Nanoleaf, who have been involved with developing the protocol that promises smart home nirvana since its earliest days. “I think the three-month delay might actually be a good thing,” says Gimmy Chu CEO of Nanoleaf. “I feel that now there’s more certainty across the industry that we’ll have unity at time of launch.” While there may be more certainty in the industry, current smart home owners are still in a quagmire of uncertainty around which products to buy and when. Especially now that Chu has confirmed to The Verge that Nanoleaf’s Thread-enabled A19... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/TOg1mZA

After announcing Call of Duty Warzone And Vanguard Season 2, Activision is introducing Season 3 of COD Mobile too on April 01 at 5:30 AM IST. The new update is themed around the 80s and the star of the show is Snoop Dogg. Well, he has collaborated with the gaming giant and is also part of the aforementioned COD S02 on other platforms. You can play as him and unlock his flashy wear and gear through a lucky draw. But, there’s more. Call of Duty Mobile Season 3 Radical Raid Attractions   In the CODM Season 3, you stand a chance to earn 50 new tiers of Battle Pass rewards and enjoy both free and premium content including new operators, events, skills, map, etc. It packs new operators like Gunzo – Clownpin, Park - Glam and the D-O-double-G Snoop Dogg as a freelance covert agent and field operative. You get to even test your luck at winning his flashy items. Then, there is a new Miami: Strike map which is a smaller version of the original Miami map. According to Activision, “​​Players

Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images Apple’s digital car keys are arriving on the 2022 Kia Niro, 2022 Genesis G90, and the all-electric 2022 Genesis GV60. As spotted by MacRumors , Apple added a key symbol next to all three vehicles in a list on its site , indicating support for the feature. It’s not clear when Apple first updated the list or if the feature is immediately available on any of these cars. There hasn’t been an official announcement from Apple or either car company yet, so there may be more steps involved in the rollout. Kia and Genesis have reportedly been working to integrate Apple’s digital car keys since last year . Samsung has also announced a partnership with Genesis (along with Audi, Ford, and BMW) to create a phone-based digital car key of its own. A Kia... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/pIG0dnv

Last week , AMD promised a new technology that should let you blow up your games to higher resolutions or increase their framerates without requiring the fancy machine learning hardware of Nvidia’s GPUs like Nvidia’s lauded DLSS. Now at GDC 2022, it’s revealing how the new FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 actually works — and that it’s coming to Microsoft’s Xbox game consoles too. While AMD says it can’t actually say when Xbox game developers might take advantage of FSR 2.0, it says it “will also be fully supported on Xbox and will be available in the Xbox GDK for registered developers to use in their games.” And it’s also giving the community a list of both AMD and Nvidia GPUs where you can expect FSR 2.0 to run — if... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/SKZ9cOz

Photo by The Verge Although many data plans these days are advertised as “unlimited,” most actually have a cut-off point when your data stream is going to slow radically. If you don’t want to pay the premium prices that “unlimited” plans demand, then it’s even more important that you avoid going beyond your maximum data allowance, or there will be high penalties to pay. Either way, it’s smart to monitor your data flow — not only to make sure you don’t pass your limits but also to find out if you need to rethink your current data plan. It’s not hard to do this using tools baked into current versions of Android or a third-party app. Here are a few strategies that you can try. (Note: these directions are for a Pixel 6 running Android 12. The interface of your... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Z9vxMyh

No bookmark bar needed (though it’s still available if you’re a fan). Google has introduced a new sidebar feature to Chrome, which lets you quickly access your bookmarks and reading list while using the desktop version of the browser ( via 9to5Google ). Previously, the reading list’s main home was as a button on the bookmark bar, which not everyone has enabled. Clicking the side panel button, which looks like a rectangle with a shaded portion on the right side, will show or hide the panel. Once you’ve got it open, you can access the same reading list functions that were available in the old UI, including the ability to add the page you’re currently on to your list, mark items as read, or remove them. You can also switch over to the bookmarks tab to browse your saved pages. Of course, you’re... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/pAHhiNU

© 2022 Stellantis Stellantis, the parent company of Dodge, Jeep, and Chrysler, plans to build an electric vehicle battery factory in the US. The news came out of an announcement Wednesday that the automaker would invest $4.1 billion on a new battery facility in Canada, along with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution. The factory in Windsor, Ontario, will be the first of two planned battery plants to come out of the joint venture between Stellantis, which was formed last year from the merging of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group, and LG. Construction on the plant is expected to start later this year, with operations set to launch in the first quarter of 2024. A second plant will be built somewhere in the US, officials said at the event announcing the Windsor... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/1wyOinm

Google doesn’t have plans to support C-Band on the Pixel 5A. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Google says it doesn’t plan to update the software for the Pixel 4a 5G , 5 , or 5a to support C-band 5G in the US, despite also saying that the phones have the necessary hardware and that the functionality will work in other countries. Google hasn’t explained this decision, which it announced in a post on the Pixel support forums (h/t to Android Police for spotting that post). Google has updated its latest Pixels in the US, the 6 and 6 Pro, with C-band via a software update , but not those older phones. The post says that the earlier Pixel models “have C-band capable hardware and are enabled for operation in certain countries” but that the company does “not have any plans to support C-band operation in the US” for those earlier Pixel... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Q0MqSoN

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter may have just rolled back a really bad product decision , but on Tuesday, it added a very good one: you can make GIFs right from the in-app camera on iOS . The new feature could be a useful way to share short clips to your timeline without having to upload a full video. Here’s a GIF I recorded from my iPhone 12 Mini just before writing this story if you want to get an idea of how one of these GIFs looks: ✌️ pic.twitter.com/0USszZDQBZ — Jay Peters (@jaypeters) March 22, 2022 Recording the GIF was easy. In the iOS app, I hit the new tweet button, tapped the photo icon, then the camera icon, made sure I was on the GIF mode, and pressed and held the record button. (Twitter has posted a handy GIF of its own demonstrating the steps.)... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/840DbT1

Select iPad models go on sale quite regularly. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge While some of the best iPad deals happen around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you can still find plenty of great discounts if you know where to look. Whether you’re after the high-end iPad Pro, or the most affordable Apple tablet, the entry-level iPad, there’s likely a sale going on somewhere you may be interested in. Of course, it’s difficult to know exactly where you can find the most notable 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 the best deals you can get on each iPad model that is currently available, some of which are outgoing models with freshly introduced replacements. The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/4t1SBUb