its ur expert

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with six states , filed a lawsuit against John Shriber and Roman Zaks, owners of the room renting and roommate finder platform Roomster, for allegedly defrauding consumers, accusing them of paying people for fake reviews and listings on their site. The agency says that the “deceptive tactics” violated the FTC Act and state laws. In a complaint filed by the FTC and the attorneys general of New York, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, and Massachusetts, the group alleges that Roomster released “tens of thousands of fake positive reviews to bolster their false claims that properties listed on their Roomster platform are real, available, and verified.” They also allege that Roomster would post... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/oGLbE9P

Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta is setting up a product organization to identify and build “possible paid features” for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, according to an internal memo sent to employees last week that was obtained by The Verge . The new division is Meta’s first serious foray into building paid features across its main social apps, all three of which boast billions of users. It’s being set up after Meta’s ads business was severely hurt by Apple’s ad tracking changes on iOS and a broader pullback in digital ad spending. The group, called New Monetization Experiences, will be led by Pratiti Raychoudhury, who was previously Meta’s head of research. In an interview with The Verge , Meta’s VP of monetization overseeing the group, John Hegeman, said the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Svg7Gmw

Nick Barclay / The Verge Gadgets galore Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/5tSBhv8

The ShoeCare cleaner will take the stench out of your sneaks. | Image: LG If you’ve browsed around the Container Store looking for the perfect sneaker storage, you’re looking in the wrong places. Maybe what you really need is LG’s new Styler ShoeCase — a shoebox with a window that’s currently being displayed at IFA. The enclosure can keep your shoes safe from moisture and has filters to protect them from UV light. Oh, then you went to Ikea to get stackable shelving for all your kicks? Well, I’m happy to report that the Styler ShoeCase lets you stack up to four of these bad boys on top of each other. And each has a built-in Lazy Susan that can be rotated to show off your Jordan VII’s best angles — and hide that one scuff mark from when homie moved the chair over it. LG’s also presenting its new Styler ShoeCare... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/bY6FEN2

Samar Haddad / The Verge If you’re an organization junkie and an iPhone user, then iOS has provided you with a useful tool: the App Library, which organizes your apps in labeled groups to make them easier to find. Introduced with iOS 14, all your current apps can be found there, and any apps you download are placed there as well. (You can decide whether you want the apps to also be visible on your homescreen; we’ll tell you how later in this article.) If you haven’t paid any attention to the App Library up until now, here are some ways to begin. Automatic groupings The App Library appears as a separate page on your homescreen. Wherever you are on your homescreen, just keep swiping left — the App Library will be the last page you hit. It automatically organizes... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/GcCn8B3

A screenshot of Horizon Worlds | Image: Meta Mark Zuckerberg is betting his company’s future on the metaverse — a virtual space in which people interact with each other using avatars and developing AR / VR technology — investing tens of billions of dollars in an attempt to build the platforms and hardware that capture a new generation of users. Now, the question is: will Zuckerberg’s gamble on the metaverse being the future of the internet — and his company — actually succeed? One of the biggest parts of that bet is Horizon , Meta’s software for people to socialize, work, and play in the metaverse. Think of Horizon as a blend of The Sims , Minecraft , and Roblox , with users interacting through their avatars in virtual worlds they build. “We are seeing the youngest generation spend an... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/tyf5Pih

Updates for Apple’s older devices are rare but worth paying attention to. | Photo by Michael Shane / The Verge Almost a year after the last update , Apple released a new version of iOS 12 on Wednesday, meant to patch a security hole that was recently fixed in newer versions of the OS . If you’re still using an iPhone 5S or an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, it’s worth taking the time to update — Apple obviously doesn’t release security updates for its older software that often, so when it does, you know it’s a reasonably serious issue. The vulnerability fixed by iOS 12.5.6 is one that could let a malicious website run unchecked code on your phone if you open it in Safari or another browser. What’s more, Apple says it’s possible someone out in the world has tried to use this exploit. While this type of warning isn’t a reason to panic — it’s relatively common... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wAPyHB9

That’s a lot of Dishy McFlatfaces. | Image: Royal Caribbean Royal Caribbean, the cruise company that also operates Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises, has announced that it’ll be outfitting its fleet of ships with SpaceX’s Starlink internet service ( via TechCrunch ). The company says the service will make the internet experience while at sea faster and more reliable. Royal Caribbean seems to be moving full steam ahead with deploying Starlink — it trialed the service on one of its ships over the summer, and will be officially launching it on September 5th, starting with a ship called the Celebrity Beyond. The company expects to have the service fully deployed across its fleet by the first quarter of 2023. Royal Caribbean’s announcement doesn’t include technical details, like how many Starlink... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/425bBws

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Netflix has found an executive to lead its plan for an ad-supported tier : Snap’s chief business officer and top ad exec, Jeremi Gorman. Gorman on Tuesday told colleagues at Snap that she was leaving to join Netflix along with Peter Naylor, Snap’s vice president of ad sales for the Americas, according to two people familiar with the matter. Russ Caditz-Peck, a Snap spokesperson, confirmed the departures. Both Gorman and Naylor are leaving Snap amid a restructuring of its ads team and layoffs hitting the social media firm this week. Snap plans to cut roughly 20 percent of its workforce starting Wednesday, The Verge earlier reported . Netflix has had its own rounds of layoffs this year, cutting hundreds of employees and paring back... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/u4IKT7L

The typewriter might be a reference to Hanx Writer , another app from Tom Hanks that emulates writing with a typewriter. | Image: Blueline Studios Hanx101 Trivia , a trivia game that is narrated by actor Tom Hanks, will soon be one of the games exclusively available on the Apple Arcade subscription service ( via Variety ). Despite the name, it’s not a game dedicated to quizzing you about Hanks’ career — a press release from the game’s developer , Blueline Studios, says it’ll feature “tens of thousands of questions” about subjects like history, math, geography, and food. (I’m hoping the later set contains at least one question about a box of chocolate.) The game will feature a head-to-head competition mode, a team mode, and a “Hanx101 mode” where you apparently try to get a high score while answering 101 questions. There will also apparently be “unique formats such as ‘Word Jam’ and ‘I... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/9BbAE2w

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Snap is planning to lay off approximately 20 percent of its more than 6,400 employees, according to people familiar with the matter. The layoffs, which Snap has been planning for the past several weeks, will begin on Wednesday and hit some departments harder than others, the people said. For example, the team working on ways for developers to build mini apps and games inside Snapchat will be severely impacted. Zenly, the social mapping app Snap bought in 2017 and has since run separately, will also see deep cuts. Another team that will see layoffs is Snap’s hardware division, which is responsible for Spectacles and the Pixy camera drone that was recently canceled after being on sale for just a few months. The company’s ad sales... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Fj0GDvA

Photo by Lars Niki / Corbis via Getty Images A Virginia judge has dismissed an unusual case that could have banned selling two books to children in the state. Following a hearing on Tuesday, Virginia Beach Circuit Court Judge Pamela Baskervill found that Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir and Sarah Maas’ A Court of Mist and Fury failed to meet the standard for obscenity under Virginia law — and, more consequentially, that the obscenity law itself was unconstitutional. Republican State Delegate Tim Anderson and former congressional candidate Tommy Altman instigated the dispute earlier this year , exploiting a little-used rule that allows anyone to launch obscenity proceedings in the state. Altman and Anderson objected to what they characterized as sexually explicit material in both... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/5RcPXrU

Photo by Scott Olson / Getty Images Truth Social is strapped for cash and facing a mountain of tech and legal troubles that could doom the future of former president Donald Trump’s personal social media platform. The most immediate problem is the platform’s stalled SPAC, initially planned as a way to publicly trade shares in the new company without the diligence of an IPO. But the SPAC has been delayed, leaving the Digital World Acquisition Corp., which was projected to take ownership of Truth Social, in an awkward position. SEC filings show that the company has lost over $6 million in the first half of this year, hasn’t generated any revenue, and holds only $293 million in a trust that houses most of its assets. DWAC’s stock price has shed nearly 75 percent of its value... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ZlW9pMO

Logitech’s new G502 X Plus is the top model with Lightsync RGB. | Image: Logitech Logitech has three new gaming mice, and the wireless ones finally have USB-C up front. That’s right, Micro USB’s reign of terror continues to be on the decline as Logitech’s new G502 X series gaming mice come to succeed the company’s popular G502 line. The three mice — G502 X, G502 X Lightspeed, and G502 X Plus — also now include hybrid optical-mechanical buttons for greater responsiveness as well as a more precise 25,600 dpi “Hero 25K” sensor. They’ll have an overall lighter weight and come in both black and white. While the mice sport the company’s new “Lightforce” hybrid optical-mechanical switches that are designed to utilize the speed of optical technology, they also include the clicking satisfaction of a traditional mouse button.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/TrB8y0a

Apologies to my editors, who are going to start getting drafts bursting with emoji. A few months after Google added emoji reactions to Google Docs, the company’s making it easier to include them in your actual document as well. Today, it announced a new shortcut that lets you easily insert an emoji while writing, so you no longer have to pull up your computer’s picker or copy and paste the icons from other places. The new system gives you several ways to get at emoji, which Google lists in this help document . The simplest is to just type “@[emoji name],” and typing “@emoji” will pull up a searchable emoji picker, like the one on your phone. Gif: Google It’s a pretty simple system. You can also type “@:[emoji name],” which I’ve found to be the fastest and most reliable method. Typing in the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/7ZVCANh

The new HP 965 4K Streaming webcam | Image: HP HP has a new webcam that feels familiar and uses AI to keep you and your fidgeting guests in the frame during meetings. The $199.99 HP 965 4K Streaming webcam is the company’s new business-oriented model that contains a Sony Starvis CMOS sensor, similar in spec (and price) to Dell’s 4K webcam offering, Elgato’s Facecam , and Razer’s Kiyo Pro . A home office 960 version is available in white but, according to HP spokesperson Christine Wahl, has identical specs, and after initially appearing on HP’s website with a $50 discount, the 960 is now priced identically with the 965. Those webcams have similar tracking abilities, just like the following abilities found in Logitech’s StreamCam ( one of the best webcams our colleague Cameron tested )... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/kZmA0GY

If you’re in the market for a budget Android phone, the Pixel 6A is the one to get. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Just when you were getting ready to wish your loved ones happy Honda Days, Amazon went and threw a new commercial holiday on our calendars: Android Days. Today is apparently the first day of Android Days, and as cringe-inducing as that sounds, there are actually some really good deals to be had, starting with our favorite midrange Android phone of the year: the Google Pixel 6A . Usually $449, it’s marked down to $369 right now — a discount of $80. You don’t need to be a Prime member to get the deal, and naturally, you can find some good prices on other Android phones, like the OnePlus Nord N20 5G — marked down from $299 to $259. It’s a great option if you’re looking to spend a bit less than midrange prices, and it offers fast wired... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/O4c8E6u

Photo by Nate Smallwood / Getty Images Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman is calling on President Joe Biden to decriminalize marijuana before visiting Pennsylvania next week. “It’s long past time that we finally decriminalize marijuana,” Fetterman said in a Monday statement. “The president needs to use his executive authority to begin descheduling marijuana, I would love to see him do this prior to his visit to Pittsburgh.” Biden is expected to travel to two key midterm swing states next week — Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — to “celebrate Labor Day and the dignity of American workers,” according to a Monday White House advisory. When in Pittsburgh, Biden is set to meet with Fetterman, the Democrats’ pick to beat Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz. Fetterman is a longtime... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/VzjPKT4

It could come down to business negotiations. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge As Apple’s iPhone 14 event gets closer , rumors continue to swirl around the phone’s potential ability to provide emergency communications via a satellite network. On Monday, noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple had “completed hardware tests for this feature” with the iPhone 14, but it would have to negotiate a business model with carriers if it wants to include it. According to Kuo, “whether iPhone 14 will offer satellite communication service depends on whether Apple and operators can settle the business model.” Kuo says this hurdle may have already delayed the feature once — according to him, the hardware that would’ve let the iPhone 13 communicate with satellites was finished, but Apple couldn’t figure out the business end with... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/4BwA0jW

Samar Haddad / The Verge None of us are perfect, and all of us have published Facebook posts with misspellings, grammatical errors, mistaken “facts,” or opinions that we immediately realized might not need to be aired in public. When that happens, you’re going to want to hop into your post and fix the problem — either by changing it or deleting it altogether. Luckily, it’s really easy — if you know how. What follows are directions on how to edit a Facebook post, delete it, and restore it on the web and using the mobile app. (I used the Facebook app on a Pixel 6, but the steps will be similar on other phones and on iOS.) On the web In the post you want to edit, click on the three dots in the upper right of your post. Click on Edit post if you want to change it;... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/MpKYlVD

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram has fixed a recent bug that removed the sound from Reels video clips that were downloaded from the editing screen. The bug impacted iOS users and was detrimental to creators who use Reels as a filming tool and then export to other platforms, like TikTok. After The Verge published a story about the issue, Seine Kim, a spokesperson for Instagram’s parent company, Meta, reached out to say the change wasn’t intentional and would be fixed. Kim said today that the issue was fixed in an update to Instagram released on Friday. The issue appears to be resolved on my own iPhone. In a test this afternoon, I was able to download a clip from the Instagram Reels, complete with sound, the same as I could before the bug. This fix will help... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/OoEYT6c

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge The Android 12L-based One UI 4.1.1 has finally started to land on Galaxy Tab S8 devices, making it the first line of tablets to receive the Samsung-flavored update ( via Sammobile ). So far, it’s only rolling out to users in South Korea and Europe, with people in more countries likely to see the update soon. One UI 4.1.1 is built off of Android 12L , which is specifically made for devices with larger screens. The update came to the Lenovo P12 Pro tablet first , with Samsung and Microsoft committing to bringing the update to their devices later on. Android 12L adds a new two-column layout that lets you view two different screens at once, as well as a taskbar that allows for more efficient multitasking. With the update, you can open... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/RouxOIU

LG Electronics said on Monday it will showcase the world's largest organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV at the upcoming electronics show in Berlin, as it looks to expand its portfolio of large OLED TVs and solidify its leadership in the premium TV segment. LG said it will unveil a 97-inch OLED TV, or the OLED evo Gallery Edition, among others, at the IFA 2022, set to open on Friday in Germany. The South Korean tech company said the model will be available in the market in the fourth quarter, the peak season for consumer electronics and home appliances amid holiday shopping. With the arrival of its biggest-ever screen size, LG's OLED TV lineup for this year offers 42, 48, 55, 65, 77, 83, 88 and 97-inch options, reports Yonhap news agency. OLED TVs' self-lit pixels can be turned on and off individually, leading to innovative form factors, such as flexible and rollable TVs, LG said. The global electronics trade show will come at a time when global tech companies have been st...

With iOS 16 and watchOS 9 this fall, Apple Watch and iPhone will offer features that focus on 17 areas of health and fitness, from heart health to sleep, women's health, mobility and more, according to the tech giant. Apple users can now store over 150 different types of health data from Apple Watch, iPhone, and connected third-party apps and devices. They can also choose to share certain types of this health data with loved ones. These features, available in nearly 200 countries and territories, provide users with high-quality data gathered throughout the day and night, said the company. As pandemic show us the importance of being fit and healthy, Apple is creating devices and services packed with "science-based technology" that equips people with even more information and acts as an intelligent guardian for their health, "so they are no longer passengers on their own health journey", according to Jeff Williams, Chief Operating Officer at Apple. The company fee...

After a cyber-security research firm claimed that call data records of around 20 million customers of Vodafone Idea (Vi) were leaked and accessed by cyber-criminals, the telecom operator has denied the breach. Cyber-security research firm CyberX9 claimed in its report that the call data records of 20.6 million postpaid Vi customers were leaked due to vulnerabilities in the company's systems. The report claimed that data leaked included call time, duration of the call, from where the call was made, full name of the subscriber, address SMS details and roaming details. However, Vi denied the claim, saying that there was no data breach and the report is "false and malicious". The company said that it learnt about a "potential vulnerability in its billing communication" and that "was immediately fixed" and a thorough forensic analysis was conducted to "ascertain there was no data breach". Vodafone Idea said that it performs "regular checks...

Tech giant Google has announced that Meet users will soon be able to unmute themselves by holding down the spacebar and to mute themselves again by releasing it. The company said that will make it easier for users to participate in their meetings by quickly unmuting to say something. "This feature will also help in situations where you forget to mute again after unmuting yourself. This feature is OFF by default and can be enabled in the Google Meet settings," the company said in a blogpost. The company said it changed how the "Hey Google" voice control works for Google Meet hardware devices. With this update, the Google Assistant will only be active when a device is not in a meeting and within 10 minutes of an upcoming meeting, the company said. Google has also launched a new feature that allows you to create high-performance custom functions that support built-in Sheets formula constructs. The company said users can now use visitor sharing to allow non-Google users...

National Cinema Day has 3,000 participating theaters so far. | Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images Movie tickets across the US will cost just $3 on Saturday, September 3rd in celebration of National Cinema Day ( via Associated Press ). If you’ve never heard of such a holiday before (at least in the US), that’s because it never existed until now , apparently. The $3 ticket price (not including tax) applies across all tickets, formats, and showtimes — and yes, this includes IMAX and 3D movies. So far, a growing list of 3,000 theaters, including popular chains, like Regal , Cinemark , and AMC, have agreed to take part in the new holiday. You might not want to count out your local, independently-run theaters, either. In a list of participating theaters viewed by The Verge , we spotted several smaller locations, like the Starmax Cinemas in... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/CHTY0nz

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Trademark filings spotted by Bloomberg suggest Apple might incorporate “Reality” in the name and branding of its long-rumored mixed reality headset. Three separate filings show trademarks for “Reality One,” “Reality Pro,” and “Reality Processor,” matching the realityOS name that cropped up in Apple’s code and a trademark application that potentially refers to the headset’s operating system. The applications weren’t filed by Apple itself, but by a company called Immersive Health Solutions, LLC. Companies like Apple often use the names of shell companies when filing for a patent or trademark to help keep their plans private. But, as Bloomberg points out, the Delaware-based Immersive Health Solutions was registered by Corporation Trust Co.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/lb5DGNo

Google has launched a new cross-device software development kit (SDK) that allows developers to build apps that work across Android and non-Android devices. The cross device software, compatible till the Android 8 version, is now available with a developer preview for Android phones and tablets, and will arrive later for Android surfaces and non-Android operating systems. Users can also share an app's current state with the same app on another device and start the app on a secondary device without having to keep the app running in background. The initial release contains a set of rich APIs focused around the core functionality of device discovery, secure connections, and multi-device sessions, said the company. With device discovery, you can locate nearby devices, authorise peer-to-peer communication, and start the target application on receiving devices. Secure connections enable encrypted, low-latency bi-directional data sharing between authorised devices. Multi-device sessions e...

Global technology brand OnePlus on Saturday forayed into the wired earphones category in India with the launch of its first-ever Nord wired earphones. In India, the Nord wired earphones will go on sale on September 1 at just Rs 799 across online and offline channels. The company looks to offer its signature audio experience to a wider audience with an accessible range of wired earphones compatible with the 3.5mm jack. The product will come with 9.2mm dynamic drivers and a 0.42cc sound cavity, set to deliver the all too familiar OnePlus bass experience, the company said in a statement. The design will resemble the community-favourite OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z Series with a smooth black finish, complemented by striking red accents for the classic OnePlus look. Some of the other key features are easy audio controls and magnetic clip. The earphones come equipped with magnets to ensure portability and a hassle-free experience. The device features an inline mic and button controls which giv...

A little known spyware company, Intellexa, is now competing with Pegasus developer NSO Group, offering its services to hack into Android and iOS devices for a fee of $8 million (around Rs 64 crore). Malware source code provider Vx-underground found documents representing a proposal from Intellexa, offering services that include Android and iOS device exploits. "Leaked documents online show the purchase (and documentation of) an $8,000,000 iOS Remote Code Execution zero-day exploit," it tweeted. The offer includes 10 infections for iOS and Android devices, as well as a "magazine of 100 successful infections". According to Security Week, the documents, "labeled as proprietary and confidential", revealed that the exploits should work on iOS 15.4.1 and the latest Android 12 update. Apple released iOS 15.4.1 in March, which suggests that the offer is recent. "Specifically, the offering is for remote, one-click browser-based exploits that allow users to inj...

 Zomato on Saturday kicked off a pilot test of delivering groceries via Blinkit on its main platform in Delhi-NCR, as the online food aggregator aims to "accelerate" the 10-minute delivery platform's journey to profitability. The pilot test is currently being organised at select circles in Delhi-NCR, and after analysing the response, it will be expanded to other cities as well. "Blinkit tab in Zomato app is currently a pilot running at few locations for a small set of customers. We will share more details on this in due course,"A Zomato spokesperson told IANS. Currently, those part of the pilot project can order for a minimum order value of Rs 150 via Blinkit on Zomato's main app, while on Zomato, it remains Rs 49. Once the acquisition of Blinkit is closed, Zomato will experiment with cross leveraging its customers base for Blinkit and vice versa, its Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal has stressed. "The Blinkit app will continue to operate independently. ...

Image: Marcos Cruz / Netflix Netflix’s Resident Evil series has been canceled a little over a month after its initial debut, according to a report from Deadline . The streamer reportedly decided against renewing the series due to lackluster ratings and viewership. Like the many other Resident Evil adaptations, Netflix’s live-action series attempts to put yet another spin on the video game franchise it’s based on. The show, which was helmed by Supernatural ’s Andrew Dabb, flashes between two different timelines, centering around Umbrella executive Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick) and his two daughters (played by Tamara Smart and Siena Agudong). In our review of the series , my colleague Charles Pulliam-Moore notes that it “keeps things feeling fresh up to a point,” but... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/52aVESd

There are a few companies that want to keep you connected when you’re in remote areas. | Image: SpaceX On Thursday, Elon Musk got on stage with T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert to announce that SpaceX is working with the carrier to completely eliminate cellular dead zones . The companies claim that next-generation Starlink satellites, set to launch next year, will be able to communicate directly with phones, letting you text, make calls, and potentially stream video even when there are no cell towers nearby. What’s more, Musk promised all this is possible with phones that people are using today, without consumers having to buy any extra equipment. It’s a bold proclamation from the carrier — Verizon and AT&T don’t offer anything like it. However, SpaceX and T-Mobile aren’t the only companies looking to use satellites to directly communicate with... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/undeN6J

But source code isn’t a skeleton key. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Earlier this week, LastPass started notifying its users of a “recent security incident” where an “unauthorized party” used a compromised developer account to access parts of its password manager’s source code and “some proprietary LastPass technical information.” In a letter to its users , the company’s CEO Karim Toubba explains that its investigation hasn’t turned up evidence that any user data or encrypted passwords were accessed. Toubba continues on to explain that the company has “implemented additional enhanced security measures” after containing the breach, which it detected two weeks ago. The company wouldn’t comment on how long the breach had been going on before it was detected. Don’t panic, LastPass users As LastPass explains,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/igHB0qC

Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav told investors earlier this month that his grand vision to revitalize the company included finding a new Kevin Feige type to lead its embattled DC Films division to a new era of Marvel Studios-like success. While nothing’s been finalized yet, it seems as if the studio’s found its pick in longtime producer Dan Lin. According to The Hollywood Reporter , Dan Lin — the producer behind The Lego Movie , Godzilla vs. Kong , and Netflix’s upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender series — is the top contender to replace Walter Hamada as the new head of DC Films as part of a larger corporate restructuring that would streamline the company’s internal hierarchy. Post-restructuring, a single executive — potentially Lin... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/dDKvapR

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge So far, the biggest tech antitrust cases have focused on Facebook and Google — but Apple may soon be joining the pack. Politico is reporting that the Department of Justice is in the early stages of drafting an antitrust case against Apple, alleging that the company “abused its market power to stifle smaller tech companies, including app developers and competing hardware makers.” It would be the first such case against Apple by a US federal agency, although European antitrust regulators have raised similar cases over the company’s App Store fees and the iPhone’s treatment of tap-to-pay technology . The company has also fended off a number of civil cases from rival companies — most notably, the App Store challenge from Epic Games, which... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/gOYrc7I

Rob Flaherty, White House director of digital strategy There’s only a few weeks until the midterms, and President Joe Biden is starting beef on Twitter. Earlier this week, Biden announced that the federal government would cancel up to $20,000 worth of federal student loans for millions of borrowers. While the internet’s reaction to the news was typical, the White House’s response to that reaction was not. On Thursday, the White House’s official Twitter account called out Republican lawmakers who spent the last few days criticizing the administration’s student loan forgiveness plan. In a series of tweets , the White House name-dropped Republicans like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA) and Matt Gaetz (FL) for taking out business loans during the pandemic that were later forgiven by the federal... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/oqYkjI2

Samsung made big strides with last year’s foldables in terms of durability — the Z Flip 3 and Z Fold 3 were the first devices in the series to offer serious water resistance and an IPX8 rating. This year’s phones aren’t a whole lot tougher, but the Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 are still something of an engineering marvel. We got a glimpse at the foldable assembly line last year, and as the newest Flip and Fold go on sale today, Samsung is giving us another peek at how the sausage is made. And it’s pretty flippin’ cool. The video — spotted by XDA Developers — mostly features the Fold 4, starting from the moment its back cover is pressed into place and ending with a look at the folding phone dunk tank. Along the way, various functions are tested,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/UkRu0eh

It’s hard to tell what it’ll look like at this point. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta is trying to make it easier for its users to get support when their accounts or posts are removed, according to a report from Bloomberg . The report quotes Brent Harris, Meta’s vice president of governance, who says that the company is “spending a bunch of time on” customer service. Since Facebook’s inception, people haven’t really had any recourse or way to talk to the company about moderation decisions. At this stage, it doesn’t seem clear what Meta’s customer service division will actually do. Last year, the company piloted a live chat support program that gave some English-speaking users a way to actually talk to a human at Meta if they needed help using a new feature or got locked out of their accounts. At the time, the company... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/HS8uzma

A real meat-and-potatoes meal. | Photo: Mitchell Clark / The Verge It’s hard to stand out in the world of plant-based meats, but Juicy Marbles is trying to do so by attempting to replicate not just a steak but also one of the higher-end cuts: the filet mignon. When the company reached out to The Verge asking if we wanted to try its steaks, its promises of a tender filet that’s marbled and cooks like a real steak caught my attention, as someone who swore off eating meat for two years (but who still gets a little jealous of the delicious-looking things my wife eats). The price also caught my attention — $40 for a four-pack of four-ounce steaks. For the mathematicians at home, that’s $40 a pound. Having eaten plenty of plant-based meats, though, I know that marketing materials can be very deceiving and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/hUq2QDJ

You gotta love the spin. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Peloton’s numbers don’t look great. In its Q4 2022 earnings release this morning, the company reported a $1.2 billion operating loss, a 28 percent revenue drop, a membership decline, and a monthly subscriber churn exceeding 1 percent for the first time in a long while. (Perhaps ever?) And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In a nutshell, losses were greater than both Peloton and investors had anticipated. And yet, Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy would have you believe the numbers actually paint a picture of “substantial progress” and the true start of Peloton’s comeback story. “The naysayers will look at our Q4 financial performance and see a melting pot of declining revenue, negative gross margin, and deeper operating losses. They will say... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/YsOo1Fl

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Summer is running out, but I accidentally stumbled upon a weird hack that I might come back to for the warmer months. One day recently, before I headed to the office, I tossed some Pixel Buds A-Series wireless earbuds into my messenger bag, and they somehow settled near my packed lunch and the ice pack keeping it cool. I didn’t expect that those earbuds would catch a chill from being close to them, but when I popped them in my ears, the cool sensation was both unexpected and amazing. I kind of felt like I was in a dramatized breath mint commercial, and I can’t stop doing it. You might be turned off by the idea of inserting earbuds that are anything other than a reflection of the ambient temperature. Perhaps I can win you over by saying... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3TnLiuq

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is officially getting into podcasts. The app will launch a test version of Twitter Spaces today that includes podcasts, letting you listen to full shows through curated playlists based on your interests. The redesigned Spaces tab opens with Stations, topic-based playlists combining podcast episodes pulled from RSS with Twitter’s social audio events and recordings. It functions like a Pandora station but for spoken word and is pretty different from the a la carte listening podcast consumers are used to on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Live and upcoming spaces are still in the tab, further down the page. The test will roll out to a random group of users across the world, initially only in English. Image: Twitter ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/YbO2cAv

Image: Instacart Instacart customers who know they need sustenance but don’t know what to buy will soon be able to browse suggestions from celebrities. Beginning today, the company is rolling out product collections curated by public figures, influencers, and retailers for customers to shop from. The new feature, called Carts, will display lists of grocery items themed around events (“Game Day” or “Self Care Sunday”) or picked by celebrities that customers can add to their own carts. Musician Lizzo is one of the first celebrities to be featured. In the blog announcing the new feature, Instacart says the curated carts will help inspire customer purchases — helpful, perhaps, if you often find yourself browsing aimlessly while ordering... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/WZLAyY0

Amazon Pharmacy is built on top of PillPack. | Image: Getty Images It was only last year that Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, called Amazon Care one of the most exciting innovations at the company. But on Wednesday, employees learned that Amazon Care would shut down at the end of the year, an abrupt end to a program once central to its plans to reshape healthcare. The abrupt shutdown doesn’t mean Amazon is getting out of healthcare — it might just mean a reframing. It recently bought the subscription-based primary care company One Medical, which offers similar services to Amazon Care. Reports indicate Amazon is also interested in at-home healthcare technology company Signify Health. Amazon still wants to take on healthcare, but it’s clarifying its approach: instead of building from scratch, it’s taking over... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/MCrAhm7

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Listening to the lawyers representing Elon Musk and Twitter argue over which documents need to be provided as part of legal discovery today, I began to wonder if it is possible to measure anything at all. The arguments centered on a wonky count of user numbers: mDAUs, or “monetizable daily active users.” It’s a nonstandard measure — most social media companies use daily or monthly active users — that focuses on which users can see ads. But Twitter is a nonstandard social media company! “We are allowed to question their process.” Twitter is suing Musk for abandoning a deal to buy the company for $44 billion. Part of Musk’s argument is that he was misled about the amount of spam and bots on the platform and that, therefore, the deal can’t... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rs3bVNB

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you live in the US, chances are you’ve at least heard of WhatsApp, the messaging app that Meta acquired in 2014 . But if you live in other parts of the world, like India, the service is more than just an app for communicating with friends and family. “WhatsApp in India is a way of life,” said Rajeev Khera, founder of food tech business Chakki Peesing, which operates outside of New Delhi. Khera is one of the millions of Indians who run businesses mainly through WhatsApp. And it’s not just businesses: roughly 400 million people in India use WhatsApp to keep in touch with relatives overseas, send money, access critical medical information, and more. WhatsApp’s simple design helped make it a hit internationally, especially in countries... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Vr27Ofd

A 3D product rendering of the upcoming Sonos speaker codenamed Optimo 2, as created by  The Verge | Product render by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge After spending 2022 focused on midrange products like the Ray and the rollout of its own voice service, Sonos is about to shift its attention back to upscale devices. Aside from the upcoming, delayed Sub Mini , the company is also at work on a completely new high-end speaker codenamed Optimo 2. The Verge has viewed early, work-in-progress images of Optimo 2, and it marks a substantial evolution in design compared to Sonos’ existing products, such as the Sonos One, Five, Arc, Beam, and Roam. Encased in a funky, dual-angled shell, the new device will be positioned as the best-sounding speaker that Sonos has ever produced. It includes an arsenal of drivers, including several that fire in different directions from beneath the shell between... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/txAVFfH

I know people are hyped for a subscription-based future of video games. But if it’s anything like a streaming service, the actual experience of having a big library is scrolling around your options and going, Hmm, I sort of remember hearing about this thing five years ago . And because the stakes are low, you try it, and more often than not, you realize why you never bothered paying to see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in theaters. Sometimes, though, a mediocre product can be gratifying, especially if you go into it with some pals. I stumbled upon Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands on Xbox Game Pass, which, from the title, I assumed was a game about doing recon, in the wildlands, in search of Tom Clancy’s ghost. Turns out I was wrong.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/1JVtsBk

This screen is just not meant for full-sized apps. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge The Galaxy Z Flip 4 is a great little foldable held back by a too-tiny front display. It’s just hard doing much on a 1.9-inch screen. Even though Samsung tried making it a little more useful in this year’s iteration, it’s still just a little window from which you can view notifications and certain widgets, but not much more. Developer IJP addresses just this pain point with its Cover Screen OS, a free app on the Google Play Store . It’s been available for the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and got a recent update to support the Flip 4 . And it works — but it’s also kind of awful for reasons outside of the developers’ control. To IJP’s credit, the app does a nice job of walking you through a somewhat involved setup process — you have to give it a lot of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/YlmD7ig

Samar Haddad / The Verge Wi-Fi is essential in most homes these days. From streaming your entertainment and music to making it possible to work from home, we rely on Wi-Fi for many of today’s modern conveniences. But sometimes, you just need it to stop. This is particularly true for parents. I recently wrote about how I use my smart home — which runs on Wi-Fi — to help keep my family on track . A key component of that is turning off internet access to my kids’ devices. Thankfully, today’s modern Wi-Fi routers give you the power to pause using your internet service provider or router manufacturer’s smartphone app — no more need to unplug the router just to get your kid off their Xbox or type an IP address into a browser to fiddle with your daughter’s iPad... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/R5nj3YJ

California is about to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles. | Getty California is poised to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles — a far-reaching policy that is likely to reverberate throughout the rest of the country and the world. On Thursday, the California Air Resources Board will issue the new rules that were first rolled out by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2020 , which would require 100 percent of new cars sold in the state to be free of carbon emissions, according to The New York Times . The rule would phase in over time The rule would phase in over time, with 35 percent of new passenger vehicles sold by 2026 and 68 percent by 2030. California says that over 16 percent of new car sales were “zero-emission vehicles” in 2022 — up from 12.41 percent last year and 7.78 percent in 2020. CA continues... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/NIum6kZ

During Gamescom’s Opening Night Live event, Sonic Frontiers got a release date and a new trailer. What was previously announced as winter 2022 now has a firm date of November 8th, making it yet another unfortunate game that has to share a release month with God of War: Ragnarok . The trailer features Sonic rescuing a cute stone creature that seems reminiscent of the vacant-eyed but adorable Chao from Sonic Adventure . Sonic’s then confronted by a glowing, malevolent-looking child that seems to dislike the hedgehog running all over the place. Though the trailer shows new gameplay footage, there isn’t much new on offer aside from a confirmed release date and a bigger look at the story. Sonic Frontiers’ developers say this latest entry in... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/MCwgkb9

Three characters from New Tales from the Borderlands . | Image: Gearbox via Xbox Wire Gearbox’s new Tales from the Borderlands game, which is just called New Tales from the Borderlands , will be released on October 21st, the studio announced Tuesday at the Gamescom Opening Night Live event. The game will be available on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The original Tales from the Borderlands is a narrative adventure game that was originally made by Telltale Games. This sequel will have a new storyline and new characters, and some of the team that worked on the first Tales from the Borderlands are back for this entry, Gearbox Entertainment founder Randy Pitchford said onstage at Opening Night Live. Gearbox had revealed earlier this year that a Tales from the Borderlands follow-up was in the works for sometime in... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/IG7hU15

A screenshot from Return to Monkey Island | Image: Terrible Toybox Return to Monkey Island , the new entry in the popular point-and-click series from Ron Gilbert, will be released on September 19th, which just so happens to be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, according to a trailer shown at the Gamescom Opening Night Live event. The game will be available on PC and Nintendo Switch. Gilbert first teased the game this year in what appeared to be an April Fools’ joke, but a few days later, it turned out that he actually wasn’t kidding . The new game is a direct follow-up to The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge , though, in an interview with The Verge , Gilbert and Dave Grossman hinted the game could include canon from other games in the series. Those who preorder the game... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/hywrAcs

Narrator lives on Windows laptops, such as the Lenovo Yoga 9i. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge There are numerous third-party screen readers available for Windows 11. The most popular ones include Job Access With Speech (JAWS) and NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) . (Microsoft has a full list on its website .) But Windows also has a free, built-in screen reader called Narrator. Given the wealth of options that are out there, the majority of people don’t use it as their primary screen reader. But if you’re in that majority, it can be useful if you’re borrowing someone else’s device and can be there in a pinch if you can’t use your preferred software for whatever reason. If you want to turn on Narrator, there are a couple ways to do it. How to turn on Narrator with the keyboard Assuming you’re not using a remapped keyboard, you can turn... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/mwOC1DH

Image: Sony Sony has just announced a new DualSense Edge Wireless Controller. The “high performance” controller is fully customizable, much like the Xbox Elite controller. Sony appears to have the best features from the Scuf and Elite controllers, with removable analog thumbsticks, rear buttons, changeable stick caps, and multiple control profiles. The DualSense Edge allows owners to change out stick caps for three types: standard, high dome, and low dome. There are also two swappable back buttons (half-dome or lever) that can be mapped to any other buttons, much like typical paddles. You can even replace the stick modules, which is a great advantage over the Xbox Elite. These will be sold separately. Image: Sony The two new... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3eCsDAE