Facebook says FTC chair shouldn’t help decide the future of its antitrust case

Photo by Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images

Facebook has asked recently confirmed Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan to recuse herself from the agency’s antitrust fight against Facebook, claiming her previous criticism of the company disqualifies her from fairly judging its conduct.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on Facebook’s petition, which was filed with the FTC today. In the petition, Facebook attorneys write that “Chair Khan has consistently and very publicly concluded that Facebook is guilty of violating the antitrust laws. She has built her career, in large part, by singling out Facebook as a professed antitrust violator.” Facebook cites Khan’s previous anti-monopoly work at the nonprofit Open Markets Institute, her contribution to a congressional antitrust...

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Taking NYC’s temperature with a thermal camera

The urban heat island effect can be deadly

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TVA TemPad review: who needs TikTok when you can control time and space?

Loki’s signature gadget, reviewed

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Apple’s educational ‘Today at Apple’ classes are launching on YouTube with a Peanuts-themed session

Learn how to draw yourself as a_Peanuts_character in the first “Today at Apple” YouTube session. | Image: Apple

Apple is bringing its educational “Today at Apple” classes to YouTube, the company announced Wednesday. The first episode will show you how to draw yourself as a Peanuts character in the company’s Pages app.

The session features two people who work on the Apple TV Plus show The Snoopy Show — showrunner Mark Evestaff and storyboard artist Krista Porter — and it’s hosted by an Apple Store employee named Anthony. I’ve watched the nearly 10-minute episode, and it’s a pretty easy guide to follow about turning yourself into a Peanuts cartoon. Unsurprisingly, it’s packed with Apple technologies; Anthony and Porter draw on iPads using Apple Pencils, and they’re collaborating in the same Pages document.

“Today at Apple” first launched in 2017

A...

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Netflix Kids’ new Top 10 row makes content discovery a little easier

Netflix Kids will now have its own top 10 row. | Image: Netflix

Netflix is launching two new tools this week that should help make finding age-appropriate content a little easier to discover within the kids version of its streaming service.

Today, Netflix is introducing a new Top 10 row for age-restricted profiles, borrowing one of the most useful tools for discovery from the adult version of the service. Netflix’s existing top 10 tool works by surfacing the most popular titles on the service, often new and original titles, which can make finding something to stream a lot less of a headache. Launching in 93 countries, the row will be updated daily and will feature both shows and movies with the regional equivalent of a PG and below rating. Additionally, titles that make the cut will display a “Top...

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Skyward Sword HD is just the thing to hold you over until Breath of the Wild 2

Breath of the Wild changed a lot about The Legend of Zelda. Most importantly, it made the fantasy realm of Hyrule more open, increasing the sense of pure adventure. If you saw something off on the horizon — a crumbling ruin, a giant mountain, whatever — you could find your own way there, rather than following a path laid out by the game’s developers. It’s what made the game so refreshing, but it could also make going back to older entries challenging.

At least, that was my fear playing Skyward Sword, which originally launched a decade ago and is coming to the Switch this week. Aside from a few quality-of-life tweaks, slightly updated visuals, and the very welcome addition of a motion control-free control scheme, the new version is the...

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Amazon is crowdfunding these Diane von Furstenberg Echo Dots

Amazon is launching the next line of products for its Build It crowdfunding platform. The company has collaborated with fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg on a range of Echo Dot smart speakers that’ll only go on sale if enough people pre-order them within 30 days.

That’s by no means a given. Amazon launched the Build It program earlier this year with three Alexa-powered devices — a nutrition scale, a cuckoo clock, and a sticky note printer — and only the last of those reached its goal in time. Amazon currently estimates that the Smart Sticky Note Printer will ship between July and September, but if you didn’t get in on the Build It campaign, you can’t pre-order it right now.

The Echo Dot x Diane von Furstenberg range comes in three...

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HyperX’s excellent Cloud Alpha S gaming headset is just $90 at Amazon

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

The gaming industry saw explosive growth in 2020, with more than half of US residents turning to video games as a way to pass the time, socialize, and generally entertain themselves during the pandemic. If you’re new to the whole gaming thing, however, you might want to consider picking up a capable headset before jumping into competitive play. Thankfully, everything in HyperX’s headset lineup is consistently reliable, with the Cloud Alpha S being a solid choice for those looking for clean sound, comfort, and a subtle look that should mesh well with just about anything. Right now, the jet black model is on sale at Amazon for $90, nearly matching the best price we’ve seen on the wired headset. Read our review.

Like HyperX, Blue is a...

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Facebook’s satellite internet team joins Amazon

An artistic rendering of a satellite in orbit. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon has acquired a team of employees from Facebook focused on delivering internet connectivity from low Earth orbit satellites, The Information reports. Amazon paid Facebook an undisclosed sum as part of the acquisition, which saw more than a dozen Los Angeles-based employees switch companies in April to work on Project Kuiper. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the news to The Information.

The move brings an end to Facebook’s efforts to deliver internet connectivity to remote areas via its own satellites. When it confirmed the initiative in 2018 the company said that it believed the technology would make it possible “to bring broadband connectivity to rural regions where internet connectivity is lacking or non-existent.” Facebook had...

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Loki Easter egg officially confirms a second season

Disney’s Loki_TV show is getting a second season, according to a scene appended to the sixth and final episode of its first season. The confirmation, first spotted by Variety,_ comes mid-way through the episode’s credits at the 42 minute and 48 second mark, when a stamp appears on screen which simply reads “Loki will return in season 2.”

Loki is the third Marvel show to have premiered on Disney Plus, and the first to have had a second season officially confirmed. _WandaVision_star Elizabeth Olsen has confirmed that the show, which premiered in January this year, isn’t due to receive a second season. Meanwhile it’s currently unclear whether _The Falcon and the Winter Soldier_will return for a second season, especially given the show leads...

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Democrats have a new plan to legalize marijuana federally

Photo by: BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

On Wednesday, Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) released a discussion draft of legislation that proposes sweeping reform to marijuana policy in the US. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act would decriminalize marijuana federally, expunge federal non-violent cannabis convictions (and encourage states to do the same), and create “new grant programs to fund nonprofits that provide services to those adversely impacted by the War on Drugs.”

In the introduction to the 30-page draft legislation, the senators note that adult use of cannabis is already legal in 18 states, Washington D.C., the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam. Medicinal marijuana is even more widespread, legal in 37 states, Puerto...

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Retail stores are packed with unchecked facial recognition, civil rights organizations say

More than 35 organizations are demanding top US retailers cease using facial recognition to identify shoppers and employees in their stores, which companies have used to deter theft and identify shoplifters.

The campaign is aptly named Ban Facial Recognition in Stores, and has identified stores that have committed to not using facial recognition, like Walmart, Home Depot, and Target. It is now pressuring companies currently using the technology, or those who might use it in the future. Some companies that are currently using the technology, according to the website, include Apple, Lowe’s, Albertsons, Macy’s, and Ace Hardware.

Companies that might use it in the future include McDonalds, Walgreens, and 7-Eleven. A full list can be found...

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iPhone 13 rumors grow more certain ahead of September launch

Last year’s iPhone 12 Pro. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple’s flagship 2021 iPhones will come in the same sizes as last year’s models, but with a smaller display notch, according to a new report from Bloomberg. This mirrors previouspredictions from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. According to Bloomberg, this year’s phones will be an iterative upgrade over the iPhone 12 series, and will include incremental improvements to their processors, cameras, and displays when they’re announced in September.

_Bloomberg_reports that “at least one” of the four new devices will include an LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) display. It’s a technology Apple has previously used with its smartwatches to dynamically adjust their screen refresh rates to conserve battery. That lines up with a previous prediction...

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iPhone 12 reverse wireless charging can power up Apple’s new MagSafe battery pack

Photo: Apple

Apple surprised us Tuesday by simply putting its latest iPhone accessory on sale. The $99 MagSafe Battery Pack isn’t the first power cell we’ve seen that uses Apple’s new magnetic system to connect with the iPhone 12 family (Anker offers a 5,000mAh pack with slower 5W charging for $45.99), but it is the first one from Apple and can charge at up to 15W while it’s plugged in.

MacRumors and 9to5Mac point out a support document that helps answer a few questions we immediately had about the device, including confirmation that this will unlock the iPhone 12’s “secret” reverse charging feature. While iFixit didn’t spot any additional hardware to add wireless charging, FCC filings revealed the company’s plan to let you charge accessories while...

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Space startup Momentus charged by SEC with misleading investors

Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday charged embattled space infrastructure startup Momentus Space and its founder, Mikhail Kokorich, with allegedly misleading investors about its propulsion technology and downplaying regulators’ national security concerns associated with Kokorich, who is Russian.

The SEC also charged the company, Stable Road Acquisition Corp, that was going to acquire Momentus as part of a deal to take the startup public (and sidestep the IPO process). Stable Road Acquisition Corp is a SPAC, a company that exists only to buy another company; the CEO of Stable Road, Brian Kabot, and its sponsor SRC-NI have also been charged by the SEC. Everyone except Kokorich has settled the charges with the SEC and paid a...

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Google is capping Meet’s formerly unlimited group video calls to an hour for free accounts

Image: Google

Google has brought an end to its effectively “unlimited” group video calls in Meet for free Gmail accounts, according to support pages spotted by 9to5Google. Now users with free accounts logging on to Meet will have group calls capped at an hour rather than the previous 24-hour meeting duration.

Google’s unlimited group meeting offer was helpful because so many traditionally in-person functions moved online due to COVID-19. Not having to worry about a call cutting out or creating new meeting links meant you could leave your video call on during long family get-togethers.

One-on-one calls are still unlimited

Meet was opened up to non-enterprise users in April last year to better compete with Zoom, and at the time Google promised to keep...

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Mercedes-Benz’s new Roadster has a flippy touchscreen

Large touchscreens are commonplace in new cars these days, and the bigger these rectangular screens get, the fewer things you can do with the hardware to really differentiate from the competition. Perhaps that’s why, in the new 2022 AMG SL Roadster, Mercedes-Benz is taking the screen out of the dashboard, anchoring it to the center console, and letting it electronically flip up and down.

That’s right, Mercedes-Benz’s newest car has a flippy screen. The company said it designed the 11.9-inch portrait touchscreen this way in order to help fight glare — the AMG SL Roadster is a convertible, after all — but it’s also clearly a flashy parlor trick that seems to say, “Hey, we did something different from Tesla.”

The new AMG SL Roadster also...

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Facebook groups can now designate Group Experts

Image: Facebook

Facebook is introducing a new feature called “Group Experts” today, which will allow admins to designate which members are highly knowledgeable about the group’s topic.

Beyond the bragging rights, Group Experts will have a badge next to their name emblazoned with the proof of their elevated status. This badge will show up on posts, comments, and in the Q&A feature.

Group Experts will be selected by group administrators, and experts will only be given this extraordinary power once they have accepted the nomination. Admins can revoke the expert status, as well.

Facebook is testing ways to make it easier for admins to find these experts, by prompting specific users, currently in the gaming and fitness spaces, to add which games or...

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The Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Con drift problem, explained

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Nintendo Switch owners have been experiencing problems with the console’s removable Joy-Con controllers for years now, with users reporting weird joystick drifting problems that cause false inputs and have been steadily growing over time as original Switch machines grow older.

Ever since a report by Kotaku from July 2019 shined a light on the Joy-Con drift issue, Nintendo has changed its policies significantly. The company will now repair drifting Joy-Con controllers for free, even if your controllers are outside the regular warranty. But Nintendo hasn’t changed the design of the controllers, and it’s still an issue today, even on the refreshed Switch models that launched last year.

If you’re looking for more information on the...

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Google fined €500 million in France over bad faith negotiations with news outlets

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google is being charged with a historic €500 million ($589 million) fine from the French Competition Authority (FCA) for failing to comply with an April 2020 order to negotiate fairly with news publishers over the use of, and payment for, their articles and other content (via CNBC).

News publishers gained the ability to request payment for the use of their content on third-party platforms with the passage of the European Union’s controversial Copyright Directive, which was adopted by France in 2019 and generally tries to shift power toward content producers rather than the platforms that reshare their work. Article 11 of the directive, colloquially called the “Link Tax,” gives publishers the right to ask for payment for snippets of...

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Twitter will let you change who can reply to a tweet after you post it

Tap the three dots menu to change who can reply to your tweet. | Image: Twitter

Twitter is rolling out the ability to let you change who can reply to a tweet after you have posted it, the company announced Tuesday. You could already limit who replied to your tweets thanks to a feature rolled out widely in August, but you had to set that preference while writing the tweet — with this update, you can change who can reply at a later time, which could be a helpful way to reduce harassment. The feature will be available globally on iOS, Android, and the web.

To change who can reply, click or tap the three-dot menu on a tweet and look for the option in the menu that appears. You can make it so that everyone can reply, only people you follow can reply, or only people you mention in your tweet can reply.

Your Tweets =...

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GM drops wireless charging from some SUVs due to chip shortage

General Motors is dropping wireless smartphone charging from some new SUVs because of the global microchip shortage. It’s the latest feature to get the axe at the company due to the low supply of semiconductors, as GM has already pulled HD radio from some models, along with auto start-stop and a fuel management module that made pickup trucks slightly cleaner and more efficient.

Certain trims of the 2021 Chevy Tahoe and Suburban, as well as the 2021 GMC Yukon, made after July 12th will no longer include a wireless charging pad, as was first reported by the GM Authority blog. But GM tells The Verge that certain 2022 Buick Enclaves, Chevy Traverses, and Cadillac XT5s and XT6s made after August 2nd are also affected.

Buyers of these...

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Discord buys AI anti-harassment company

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Discord has purchased a company working on AI tools to help detect harassment online. The company, Sentropy, monitors online networks for abuse and harassment, then offers users a way to block problematic users and filter out messages they don’t want to see. Its first product, Sentropy Protect, was initially focused on helping users clean up their Twitter feeds.

The company is now shutting down its independent tools and joining Discord, where it plans to help the hugely popular chat app “expand and evolve its [trust and safety] capabilities.”

It could be a good pairing. Discord has a huge network, with more than 150 million monthly users, and servers can be a real challenge to moderate. The service is made up of more than 19 million...

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Quibi’s zombie corpse rises again to claim eight Emmy nominations

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Quibi wasn’t long for this world, but its spirit refuses to let us move on from its chaotic memory. Despite shutting down in December, the doomed streaming service scooped up several Emmy nominations today for its shortform originals across three categories.

The service received eight nominations for three of its series, including Die Hart, Mapleworth Murders, and _Reno 911!_As was the case when a handful of Quibi originals were nominated for Emmy awards last year, the service cleaned up in shortform content categories, which makes a lot of sense considering it doesn’t exactly have a ton of competition in the arena. Its nominations by category are as follows:

Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series

Pete Devon in Bonding...

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New report suggests corporate climate change pledges aren’t that valuable

A trader monitors offers in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index options pit at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) on August 24, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois.  | Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Many S&P 100 companies that claim to care about climate change are either ignoring or derailing policies that could provide solutions to the crisis, a new report finds. A whopping 92 percent of companies on the S&P 100 index in 2019 have pledged to cut down their own planet-heating emissions, but just 40 percent are actually pushing lawmakers to address the climate crisis, and 21 percent have advocated against science-based climate policy over the past five years.

Corporations and lawmakers alike will need to do much more to meet the scale and urgency of the climate crisis

So while companies might sell themselves to consumers as planet-friendly, they’re not necessarily having the same conversations with decision-makers who are most...

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Apple is working on Apple Pay Later to help you buy things without paying for them yet

Image: Apple

Even if you haven’t signed up for the Apple Card, you may soon be able to put your purchases on Apple’s tab. Apple is teaming up with Goldman Sachs yet again to turn every Apple Pay transaction into a potential “buy now, pay later” opportunity, reports Bloomberg — no Apple Card needed.

You know how many online checkout counters across the web tempt you to pay with Affirm or Klarna or PayPal’s Pay In 4 instead of coughing up the full purchase price at the start, then they charge you in installments instead? It sounds like this Apple service will be a direct competitor — with the important distinction that this will be baked into hundreds of millions of Apple devices that many people are already using to tap to pay at gobs of physical...

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Instagram launches Security Checkup for people whose accounts have been hacked

Instagram’s Security Checkup | Image: Instagram

Instagram introduced a new security check today for any people whose accounts have been hacked before. People with previously compromised accounts will see a prompt when they log in asking if they want to start a security checkup. The feature walks users through security steps, including confirming other accounts that share login information, reviewing login activity, and keeping recovery contact information updated.

Instagram is also planning to add support for two-factor authentication through WhatsApp, in addition to its current options of phone numbers and authenticator apps.

Instagram says there’s been an uptick in accounts claiming to be Instagram in direct messages to get people to share their passwords. Instagram only sends...

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Google launches its Workspace tier for individuals in five countries

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google Workspace Individual, the company’s Workspace plan designed to give one-person businesses access to some premium features in the software suite, is now available in five countries (via 9to5Google).

With Workspace Individual, you’ll be able to host group meetings in Google Meet for longer than 60 minutes on a computer as well as record Meet calls and use noise cancellation. Workspace Individual also makes it easy to let others schedule time on your Google Calendar, thanks to shareable booking pages. And professional and customizable email layouts in Gmail are “coming soon” to the Workspace tier.

Workspace Individual is available if you live in Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, and the US, according to a Google support doc, and you can...

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You can’t make fun of Gogo’s airline internet anymore — because it changed the name

If you’ve ever purchased inflight Wi-Fi in the United States, there’s a good chance you’ve cursed Gogo’s name. But now, you’ll have to direct your anger at Intelsat instead: it’s the new name of the consumer chunk of the inflight internet company.

Technically, Intelsat is also the name of that chunk’s owner, a bankrupt satellite operator that purchased the inflight internet’s consumer brand in 2020, at a time when both companies were struggling with the realities of travel at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gogo furloughed 60 percent of its workforce in April 2020 and laid off 14 percent of its workers that July.

The Gogo brand will likely still live on for “business aviation,” however, as Gogo Business Aviation, LLC is now a...

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Google slashes Stadia’s revenue share to try to attract developers

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Google is revising how much of a cut it takes from Stadia games in a bid to try to attract more developers. Starting on October 1st, Google will take 15 percent of sales up to $3 million through the end of 2023.

With the change, Google seems to be trying to make its cloud gaming platform a more enticing option for developers — a proposition that has likely become much harder since the company shut down its own in-house studios. Google has also tried offering exclusive games to try to bring developers on board (which it presumably paid hefty sums to acquire), but many of those games have since been released on other platforms.

The news comes as revenue shares between developers and platform holders have come under intense scrutiny as of...

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