Former Trump advisor’s Gettr platform appeared to be briefly hacked Sunday

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Several verified profile pages on Gettr, the new social media platform from Jason Miller, once an advisor to former President Trump, were apparently hacked and defaced briefly on Sunday (via Insider).

The accounts of several well-known Republicans, including Miller, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Florida had their pages’ header images replaced with the same message: “@JubaBaghdad was here :) ^^ free palestine ^^.” according to screenshots. Twitter user @JubaBaghdad told Insider it was easy to hack the pages and that he had done it “just for fun.” Most of the affected profiles appeared to be back to normal at the time of publication.

Zachary Petrizzo, a writer for Salon, posted screenshots on...

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Trese mashes a police procedural with a sinister supernatural world

Comics have never been bigger: with Marvel TV shows, DC movies, and indie adaptations growing by the day, comic books have never been more prominent in pop culture. This biweekly_Verge_column recommends comic series new and old, whether you’re a longtime fan or a newcomer.

Trese is one of the most interesting new shows on Netflix, a gritty detective story set in a modern-day Manilla beset by all kinds of supernatural forces. It’s great, but it also ends quickly: the debut season is only six episodes long. Luckily, if you’re looking for more of Alexandra Trese, there’s plenty to dig into with the books on which the show is based.

What is it?Trese follows the titular Alexandra Trese, a Manilla resident who owns a club called Diabolical,...

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Apple Music is missing one major thing: a classic iPod to go with it

Earlier this year, I did something weird: I bought an iPod 5th generation, originally manufactured back in 2006. I got it mostly as a fun thing to mod, but I’ve actually been using it on a near-daily basis. The experience has brought me to the conclusion that Apple should bring back the iPod, but updated for the modern age. It should keep the click-wheel of course, but I can’t stop thinking about how good an iPod, designed for the age of music streaming, AirPods, and high-res displays would be. I know that might sound silly, but let me explain.

There are a few reasons why Apple should make a new iPod. For one, it would allow the company to capitalize on some nostalgia for the iPod age that seems to be coming around, based on recent...

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TikTok parent ByteDance has begun selling the video app’s AI to other clients

TikTok’s parent company has started selling its AI to other companies | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

ByteDance, the Beijing-based parent company of video sharing app TikTok has started selling TikTok’s AI to other companies, the Financial Times reports (may require subscription). The company has a new division called BytePlus, and according to its website, its client list already includes US fashion app Goat, Singapore travel site WeGo, Indonesian shopping app Chilibeli, and India-based social gaming platform GamesApp.

TikTok’s recommendation algorithm is a huge part of what has made it so popular. Essentially, the way you interact with the app affects what videos it will recommend to you. The company explained in a blog post last year how its ForYou feed determines what videos to serve a given user. Its recommendations are based on...

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TCL 20 Pro 5G review: good looks aren’t everything

The 20 Pro 5G includes premium features you’d be hard-pressed to find in another $500 phone

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China regulator orders Didi ride-hailing app removed from stores

Didi has some 377 million users in China | Getty Images

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has ordered app stores to remove Didi Chuxing’s app, claiming the ride-hailing company had been illegally collecting users’ personal data (via Reuters). The regulator said it had ordered the company to make updates to put it in compliance with China’s data protection rules, but didn’t elaborate on what the violations may have involved.

Didi was founded in China in 2012, and a recent regulatory filing shows it has 377 million active users in China alone. The company just went public on June 30th, the biggest IPO of a Chinese company on a US stock exchanges since Alibaba in 2014. On Friday, the CAC announced new user registrations for Didi’s service were being suspended pending a “cybersecurity...

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Games Done Quick’s speedrunning summer marathon kicks off Sunday

SGDQ is You. | Image: Games Done Quick

Games Done Quick’s weeklong summer speedrunning event for charity begins on Sunday, and looks to have a whole bunch of good runs to look forward to. Things kick off for Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) Online 2021 at 12PM ET on the Games Done Quick Twitch channel.

You can see the full schedule here, and it’s packed with a treasure trove of interesting-looking runs. There’s a lot I want to check out, but I think I’m most interested in the _blindfolded_70-star run of Super Mario 64 on Saturday.

SGDQ and its wintertime counterpart, Awesome Games Done Quick, are two of my favorite weeks of the year. I love watching players absolutely dismantle some of my favorite games, such as in this run of Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, or pulling off...

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Watch the first trailer for the Star Wars: Visions anime anthology

At an Anime Expo Lite panel, LucasFilm revealed the very first look at Star Wars: Visions, an upcoming anthology of short anime films set in a galaxy far, far away. The sneak peek featured a huge range of visual styles and ideas, with shorts that featured, among many other things, a rock opera, a chibi Boba Fett, droids in straw hats, a twin Star Destroyer, and much more.

“We really wanted to give these creators a wide creative birth to explore the Star Wars galaxy,” LucasFilm executive producer James Waugh said during the panel. “We wanted this to be as authentic as possible to the studios and the creators. The idea was, this is their vision, riffing off all of the elements of the Star Wars galaxy that inspired them.”

The shorts...

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Some accused in Capitol riot reportedly tried to scrub info from their phones and social media

Trump supporters stand on the U.S. Capitol Police armored vehicle as others take over the steps of the Capitol on January 6th. | Photo By Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Some 49 people accused of taking part in the January 6th riot at the US Capitol building have tried to erase images, videos, and texts from their phones and social media accounts, the Associated Press reported, citing a review of court records. Authorities told the AP that the people may have realized that the many photos and videos posted to social media by people participating in the riot could be used as evidence against them.

The _AP_cited several cases where accused rioters’ social media posts apparently contradicted what they told authorities about their involvement in the attack.

Hundreds of supporters of former President Trump stormed the Capitol building on January 6th as members of Congress prepared to certify the results of...

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REvil ransomware attacks systems using Kaseya’s remote IT management software

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Just in time to ruin the holiday weekend, ransomware attackers have apparently used Kaseya — a software platform designed to help manage IT services remotely — to deliver their payload. Sophos director and ethical hacker Mark Loman tweeted about the attack on Friday, and reported that affected systems will demand $44,999 to be unlocked. A note on Kaseya’s website implores customers to shut off their VSA servers for now “because one of the first things the attacker does is shutoff administrative access to the VSA.”

On Saturday, Kaseya issued another update, saying that it had been advised by its outside experts that “customers who experienced ransomware and receive a communication from the attackers should not click...

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Dutch court rejects Facebook’s bid to have privacy lawsuit in the Netherlands dismissed

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A court in Amsterdam ruled that privacy litigation against Facebook in the Netherlands can proceed, rejecting the social network’s bid to have the lawsuit from two non-profit groups thrown out.

As TechCrunch reported, the Amsterdam-based Data Privacy Foundation and Dutch consumer advocacy organization Consumentenbond are suing Facebook on behalf of users over what they claim are violations of European Union privacy law. The lawsuit says Facebook has not provided enough details about the information it gathers from users, including what it does with the data, and therefore doesn’t have a legal basis to process the information.

Facebook tried to block the lawsuit claiming that the Amsterdam court doesn’t have jurisdiction over its...

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How to find the documents behind big legal cases

Earlier this year, I spent a month covering the trial for a dispute between Apple and Epic. The case was one of the biggest antitrust suits in recent memory, and it brought to light revelations about both companies and the larger tech industry, often in the form of legal filings. I (and other reporters) try to pick out the most relevant details from these filings for readers. But sometimes, the documents are worth checking out in their own right. A site called CourtListener makes that easier than it might sound — if you know how to look.

US federal court documents are supposed to be publicly available through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. But as somebody who frequently uses PACER, I can confirm it’s a...

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The Verge’s favorite summer gear for 2021

Photo: Wise Owl Outfitters

After over a year of indoor living, people are finally able to go out and enjoy the outdoors: beaches, sports, hiking, camping, bird-watching, bicycling, picnics… you name it. We asked some of our colleagues from The Verge what they were planning to take with them in their outdoor escapes. Here are some of their recommendations, including outdoor tech, camera gear, rugged footwear, and gadgets that help you take it easy.

Outdoor tech

ZMI PowerPack 20000

Twelve months predominantly spent indoors did wonders for my battery anxiety. Not only was I using my phone less, thanks to having constant easy access to a tablet and laptop, but even when my phone got close to running out, my trusty charger was never far out of reach. However, I know...

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Bird plans a pilot program for electric wheelchair and mobility scooter rentals in NYC this summer

Bird is piloting a mobility scooter rental program in New York City | Bird

Scooter company Bird is partnering with mobility vehicle company Scootaround on a pilot program that will test accessible electric vehicle rentals in New York City this summer, the companies announced. A new button in Bird’s main app will let people with mobility issues choose one of three different models to rent, including three- and four-wheel scooters and the Whill Model Ci2 power wheelchair.

Once the rider chooses a vehicle, they pick a rental length between one and 14 days. Riders will get an in-person tutorial the day of their rental to ensure they’re comfortable using, charging, and storing the vehicle. Bird has a toll-free number for questions about the process.

“As micromobility options such as shared bikes and scooters...

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Enjoy these tech deals for your Fourth of July weekend

If you’re in the US, you might be prepping for some exciting Independence Day plans. Whatever you’re getting up to — whether it be drinks with close friends and family or fireworks, if it’s safe in your area — we’ve pulled together some tech deals we think are worth your while. Plenty of retailers and manufacturers are offering great discounts this weekend on a wide variety of tech, including phones, video games, handy travel accessories, and more.

Preowned games are B2G1 free at GameStop

Whether you have a Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, or another platform, you can load up on games this weekend with GameStop’s latest promo. If you add three preowned games to your cart, you’ll receive the least expensive one for free at checkout.

...

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Elon Musk’s Boring Company pitches underground transit loop to Fort Lauderdale

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The Boring Company, Elon Musk’s tunneling venture, pitched an underground transit system to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the town’s mayor said in a tweet. It’s the latest city to become transfixed by Musk’s quixotic “Tesla in a tunnel” concept.

It’s not a done deal, but Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis called it “an innovative and unprecedented approach to addressing traffic congestion and transit needs.” Trantalis said the project, which would be called the “Las Ollas Loop,” would connect Fort Lauderdale’s downtown to the beach.

Fort Lauderdale has received a proposal from Elon Musk's The Boring Co. to build an underground transit loop between downtown and the beach. Called “The Las Olas Loop,” this represents an innovative and...

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Police ticket driver for sticking Starlink terminal on car’s hood

California Highway Patrol

A California Highway Patrol officer stopped a Toyota Prius on Friday that had what looks like a Starlink dish fastened to its hood, the agency said in a Facebook post. The “visual obstruction,” sitting right smack in the middle of the car’s hood, landed the driver a ticket.

“Sir I stopped you today for that visual obstruction on your hood. Does it not block your view while driving?” an officer said, quoted in a post on CHP Antelope Valley’s Facebook page. The driver replied: “Only when I make right turns...”

The driver told the CHP officer that they were using the antenna to have Wi-Fi for a business they run out of their car, the agency told CNBC, which first reported on the traffic stop.

“Yes, it is in fact illegal to mount a...

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Joe Biden’s executive order on refugees matters a lot for climate migration

SAN PEDRO SULA, CORTES, HONDURAS - 2020/11/07: In the aftermath of Hurricane Eta, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced due to flooding. | Photo by Seth Sidney Berry/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Joe Biden’s administration is crafting a report that will include proposals for how the US might respond to global migration due to climate change. Biden commissioned the report as part of a broader executive order he signed yesterday aimed at overhauling the US refugee resettlement program, which was gutted under the Trump administration.

“I’ve worked on this very intersection of issues for over a decade, and I never thought that this would be a part of any American president’s priorities, especially within the first 30 days of their administration,” says Kayly Ober, climate displacement manager at the humanitarian organization Refugees International. “So I am delighted and surprised.”

"A game-changer for people who’ve fled their homes..."

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A German man is keeping $60 million in bitcoin from police by never revealing his password

Photo by Michele Doying / The Verge

The wonderful thing about bitcoin is many of its apparent benefits, like the ability to be anonymously owned and securely transferred, are also the things that often create situations like this: police in Germany have seized more than €50 million ($60 million) in bitcoin, but they can’t access any of it because, as Reuters reports, the person they took it from won’t tell them his password.

The man in question was sentenced and has served his time in jail for covertly installing bitcoin mining software on people’s computers, but throughout the entire process, he never shared a peep about how German authorities should get in. “We asked him but he didn’t say” is the explanation Reuters was offered by a prosecutor. It presents a big, and...

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Someone modded a Game Boy Color to act as a much better Apple TV remote

Image: Otto Climan

Most people who have used the Apple TV Siri remote have probably craved something that isn’t so darn frustrating to use — but most of us haven’t modded a Game Boy Color to work as one (via Gizmodo). That’s exactly what Italian YouTuber Otto Climan did, and while his project looks sleek as all get-out, it’s surprising how well it works using the Game Boy’s original hardware.

Photo by Otto Climan Wow, that custom case. Photo by Otto Climan That screen is looking nice.

First off, we have to talk about the case he used. It was apparently made by a company called Retro Modding, specifically for the project, and it looks incredible with its blend of ‘90s Apple and Nintendo aesthetics....

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Please GameStop it, Hollywood

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Okay, screenwriters, directors, authors, and production companies — we get it. You have some experience telling stories about Wall Street, the video game industry, or social networks, and you see some mighty big dollar signs in the true tale of how Reddit managed to drive an ailing video game retailer’s stocks to completely ridiculous highs through sheer power of will plus a David versus Goliath narrative that probably doesn’t hold up under close examination.

So you’re making movies — four of them — and a TV show. Why not? It’s not like any one person has the rights to a news event like this!

As of Friday, February 5th:

• HBO now has a movie from the guy who wrote Too Big to Fail and co-created Showtime’s Billions
• MGM optioned a...

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Destruction AllStars no longer turns on voice chat by default, thanks to new hotfix

Characters from Destruction AllStars . | Image: Sony

Sony released the car-smashing game Destruction AllStars exclusively for the PlayStation 5 on Tuesday, but it shipped with one very annoying feature: voice chat in multiplayer matches was turned on by default, meaning you could be subject to the unfiltered comments and background noise from your opponents. And worse, it wasn’t immediately obvious how to turn voice chat off.

On Friday, however, developer Lucid Games addressed the issue by releasing a hotfix for the game that disables voice chat in multiplayer lobbies by default (via Kotaku).

I jumped into a couple of matches with the hotfix installed to test things out, and I was greeted with glorious silence from my fellow players. However, it seems there’s no option for public voice...

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Patient names and colonoscopy results from US hospitals posted by hackers to the dark web

Illustration by Ana Kova

Patients of two US hospital chains had their names, birthdays, and colonoscopy results posted on the dark web after a hack, reported NBC News . The tens of thousands of files released were from patients at Leon Medical Centers in Miami and Nocona General Hospital in Texas.

The patient records posted in this hack also include letters to insurers. There does not appear to be ransomware locking up the systems at Nocona, and the organization did not open a ransomware demand, an attorney for the organization told NBC News.

Cyberattacks on hospitals and health care organizations are increasingly common. These attacks doubled in the second half of 2020 compared to the first half. Two major attacks targeted US health care facilities in the fall....

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Justice Department closes criminal probe of Ford emissions testing

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has closed a nearly two-year investigation into the process Ford uses to evaluate the emissions of its vehicles, the automaker disclosed in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Ford says it “cooperated fully” with the probe, but no action was taken.

Ford originally disclosed the investigation in April 2019, just a few months after it announced its own internal probe into concerns over the process. Those concerns, first raised by Ford employees, had nothing to do with the kind of deceitful “defeat devices” at the center of Volkswagen’s Dieselgate scandal. Rather, the employees believed there were problems with some of the analytical models Ford was using to calculate things like...

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Go read this New York Times investigation of the location tracking data of the Capitol rioters

You’re being tracked — around the web, sure, but also in real life: the apps on your smartphone are constantly feeding data into the digital advertising market, where it’s bought and sold by hedge funds, financial institutions, and marketers. A new report in The New York Times underscores the horrifying implications of the system, featuring location data mined from the rioters who sacked the US Capitol on January 6th, leaked by an anonymous source in the industry.

“This new data included a remarkable piece of information: a unique ID for each user that is tied to a smartphone,” they write. “This made it even easier to find people, since the supposedly anonymous ID could be matched with other databases containing the same ID, allowing us...

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A cappella group covers iPhone tones after nailing Windows sound effects

Image: Maytree

In January, South Korean a cappella group Maytree wowed us with their spot-on vocal interpretations of Windows sound effects, and on Friday, the group released a video of their next impressive showcase: interpretations of sounds from iPhones.

The video is a little over a minute long, and I recommend watching the whole thing, which you can do at the top of this post. They cover a lot of ringtones, including the familiar “Opening” ringtone, the classic “Marimba” ringtone, and even the twangy “Strum” ringtone. (I should warn you that they also re-create the blaring “Alarm” ringtone, so be prepared to experience that brief moment of terror.) They even tackle some system noises, including the sounds of text messages being sent and received...

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Microsoft suspends donations for politicians who attempted to overturn the 2020 election

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft has announced that it will suspend all donations for the upcoming 2022 election cycle for any members of Congress, state officials, and organizations that voted to object to the certification of electors in the 2020 election or supported attempting to overturn the election.

The company temporarily suspended all political contributions after the January 6th attack on the Capitol, with Microsoft taking the time to decide “whether to suspend further donations to individuals who voted against certification of the Electoral College.” Today’s announcement makes that decision a permanent one for the coming election cycle, but only for politicians who attempted to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. (Other...

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Three countries are due to reach Mars in the next two weeks

A fleet of spacecraft from three countries will reach Mars in February.

A small fleet of spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates, China, and the United States will reach Mars this month after launching from Earth last year. The march to the Red Planet marks a marathon of firsts: it’s the UAE’s first foray into deep space, China’s first independent attempt to land on Mars, and NASA’s first shot at deploying a Martian helicopter.

The rare convoy of Mars-bound spacecraft launched off Earth in a slim, roughly two-month window last summer when Earth and Mars lined up just right in their orbits around the Sun. This planetary alignment only happens once every two years, and three countries took advantage of it in 2020, just as outer space reemerged as a playground for scientific discovery and displays of national...

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How to install Apple’s watchOS 7 and iOS 14 betas so you can unlock your phone with your watch

Apple’s iOS 14.5 beta is out, and with it comes the ability to have your Apple Watch unlock your Face ID-protected phone if you happen to be wearing a mask. If you really want this feature right now, you’ll have to download the latest iOS and watchOS betas — something that does come with at least a little risk, as it’s unfinished software. There are bugs, and features might change between updates. There have been reports in the past of watches being bricked by betas (though I didn’t find any for this release).

With all that said, I’ve been using the betas since they came out, and I haven’t noticed anything acting particularly buggy. So if you’re willing to throw caution to the wind to get access to the new Apple Watch unlock feature,...

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Robinhood has stopped limiting GameStop shares

Illustrations by Alex Castro / The Verge

Robinhood has finally lifted all the restrictions on WallStreetBets-fueled stocks like GameStop and AMC, according to a report on Friday from Reuters. The company currently lists no limits on its support document entitled “Changes due to ongoing market volatility,” whereas last week, there were 50-plus companies included on the list.

Robinhood’s decision to restrict buying certain stocks caused a firestorm of controversy, leading to harsh condemnations from major public figures and politicians and the app being review-bombed on both Android and iOS. For its part, Robinhood said it wasn’t shutting trades down on a matter of principle or due to any shady deals with hedge funds, but because it simply didn’t have enough cash to meet its...

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