Samsung’s colossal 1,000-inch MicroLED display has improved colors and a thinner design

The Wall as a massive in-store display. | Image: Samsung

Samsung is releasing a new version of The Wall, its massive modular MicroLED display. Measuring in at over 1,000 inches in size, the new “IWA Series” display is aimed at businesses and commercial applications rather than homes, and Samsung’s promotional images showcase it being used as a huge display in a retail environment. The display is available in “select markets” from today, but Samsung’s press release doesn’t publicly list a price.

Improvements for this year’s display include LEDs that are up to 40 percent smaller than last year, which Samsung says should lead to higher contrast and better color uniformity. The purity of The Wall’s colors has also been improved over the 2020 model, and Samsung boasts that it’s got a new AI...

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Tencent is buying British game studio Sumo for $1.27 billion

Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Tencent has announced plans to buy British video game company Sumo Group for $1.27 billion. The Chinese tech giant already has an 8.75-percent stake in the developer, as Gamesindustry.biz reports, and the offer represents a 43-percent premium on Sumo’s current valuation.

Based in Sheffield, England, Sumo’s well-regarded core studio Sumo Digital has carried out contract work for many of the biggest names in gaming. It developed Sony’s PlayStation 5 launch title Sackboy: A Big Adventure and was the primary studio behind Microsoft’s Crackdown 3 for Xbox consoles and PC. In 2017 Sumo released Snake Pass for multiple platforms, its first foray into original IP.

“The three founders of Sumo, who work in the business, Paul Porter, Darren Mills...

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Nintendo denies report that OLED Switch will have higher profit margin

Image: Nintendo

Nintendo has issued an unusual statement denying a report that said the upcoming OLED version of the Switch would have higher profit margins than the regular model. The report in question was published by Bloomberg last week and speculated that the higher-end components in the OLED Switch could total around an extra $10 per unit, based on analyst estimates.

“A news report on July 15, 2021(JST) claimed that the profit margin of the Nintendo Switch (OLED Model) would increase compared to the Nintendo Switch,” Nintendo’s statement reads. “To ensure correct understanding among our investors and customers, we want to make clear that the claim is incorrect.” Nintendo didn’t provide any information about the profit margins of either Switch...

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New Trailers: Sweet Girl, Reservation Dogs, Flee, What We Do in the Shadows, and more

Jason Momoa stars in Sweet Girl | Netflix

Season one of Loki is a wrap and while I know not everyone loved the finale, the show is my favorite of the Marvel/Disney streaming series so far. That’s due mostly to Tom Hiddleston’s fascinating performance as the title character, once a villain who’s evolved into... someone else, not quite sure who yet. Plenty of storylines to pick up in Loki season two (yay).

And a reminder it’s Ted Lasso week; season two arrives on Apple TV Plus July 23rd. In the media buzz leading up to the new season, there has been some evidence that Ted and creator Jason Sudeikis are kinda the same person: At the show’s world premiere, Sudeikis wore a shirt with the names of three England footballers who were subjected to racist vitriol on social media, to show...

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New Steam Deck reservations now showing ‘expected order availability’ in Q2 and Q3 2022

Steam Deck will start shipping in December 2021 | Image: Valve

If you’re looking to reserve a Steam Deck and haven’t managed to secure a reservation yet, it looks like you’ll be waiting a while to actually get your device. According to Steam’s store site on Sunday, the $399 64GB Steam Deck and the $529 256GB version both have “expected order availability” dates of of Q2 2022, meaning sometime next spring. The 512GB $649 model is even later; it’s showing expected availability in Q3 of next year, which is sometime between July and September 2022.

According to Steam’s website, it plans to send order invitations by December of this year. Steam will then convert reservations to orders.

As of July 18th, the wait time for the top-of-the-line Steam Deck is Q3 of 2022.

Steam’s...

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Latest leaks indicate new iPhones may have always-on displays like Apple’s Watch

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

A new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says the 2021 iPhone may have an always-on display similar to Apple’s Watch, and which Android phones have had for some time. Gurman wrote in his Power On newsletter that the phones will have improved battery life, a smaller notch on the screen, better video recording, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a faster A15 chip.

It isn’t the first time a leak has suggested Apple is working on always-on screens for upcoming iPhones. Leaker Max Weinbach hinted earlier this year that Apple may use the same kind of low temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) panels that its Watches have on future iPhones.

That’s in keeping with Bloomberg’s previous reporting that “at least one” of the four new iPhones will...

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Pegasus spyware used to target phones of journalists and activists, investigation finds

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A sweeping investigation by 17 media outlets found that NSO Group’s Pegasus software was used in hacking attempts on 37 smartphones belonging to human rights activists and journalists, The Washington Post reported. The phones were on a leaked list of numbers discovered by Paris journalism nonprofit Hidden Stories and human rights group Amnesty International, according to the Post. The numbers on the list were singled out for possible surveillance by countries who are clients of NSO, the report states, which markets its spyware to governments to track potential terrorists and criminals.

Pegasus can extract all of a mobile device’s data, and activate the device’s microphone to listen in on conversations surreptitiously, as The Guardiann...

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Robot collision at Ocado warehouse near London sparks fire, delaying customer orders

Photo by James Vincent / The Verge

Online-only British supermarket Ocado has had to cancel some customers’ delivery orders after a Friday robot collision at one of its warehouses caused a fire, the company said.

The fire at the company’s Erith warehouse east of London “appears to have been caused by the collision of three bots on the grid,” the company said in a statement on Sunday. No one was injured, and the damage was limited to less than 1 percent of its grid, according to Ocado.

The grocer’s warehouses are populated with washing machine-sized robots that move products around on a grid system. The Verge’s James Vincent wrote about Ocado’s plans in a 2018 feature story. He described the process:

Deliveries are unpacked into crates; crates are placed onto conveyors;...

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Why the Steam Deck won’t flop like Valve’s Steam Machines

You’re not having deja vu. Six years after launching a line of Linux game consoles that went down as one of the biggest tech flops of the past decade, Valve is trying once again. Only this time, its Steam Machine dreams and unusual touchpads have been rolled into a 7-inch handheld PC that looks and works like a Nintendo Switch.

It’s called the Steam Deck, and you can read all about its specs, extensive controls and TV docking station right here.

I’m not deluding myself into thinking it’s a Switch-killer. (Even if the Steam Deck’s $399 starting price might seem close to Nintendo’s $350 Switch with OLED screen, you’re not getting Mario, Zelda and Metroid on a Steam Deck.) But having watched Valve closely over the past nine years, I don’t...

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How to use Focus modes for notifications on iOS 15

One of the most powerful new features in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey, is Focus mode.

At its core, a Focus mode is a more customizable version of Apple’s existing Do Not Disturb and is accessed from the same menu on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. But Focus modes are far more customizable, allowing for more granular triggers for when you’re filtering out notifications.

• To set up a Focus, head over to “Settings” > “Focus” and hit the plus button to add a new Focus. You’ll also be able to see existing Focus modes that you’ve set up and edit them.
• Apple offers a variety of preset Focus modes to start with, including Personal, Work, Fitness, Gaming, Reading, and more. You’re not limited to Apple’s preset suggestions, though some of the...

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Facebook pushes back against Biden remarks on COVID-19 misinformation

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Facebook continued its pushback Saturday against President Biden’s comment that social media platforms were “killing people” with COVID-19 misinformation, in a blog post from its vice president of integrity Guy Rosen. The post states that the “facts tell a very different story to the one promoted by the administration in recent days.”

“At a time when COVID-19 cases are rising in America, the Biden administration has chosen to blame a handful of American social media companies,” Rosen wrote. “While social media plays an important role in society, it is clear that we need a whole of society approach to end this pandemic. And facts — not allegations — should help inform that effort.”

(The post was titled “Moving Past the Finger Pointing:...

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Amazon is getting hauled into court for not recalling dangerous products the right way

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Since 2019, Amazon has sold nearly 400,000 hair dryers that could shock someone if they fell into a pool of water, 24,000 carbon monoxide detectors that didn’t actually detect carbon monoxide, and an unspecified number of “children’s sleepwear garments” that didn’t meet flammability requirements, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Now, the US safety regulator wants to force Amazon to recall those products. This past week, it sued the company in a case that could be the latest to hold Amazon accountable for products offered by its third-party sellers. But here’s the thing: Amazon has already recalled these specific products. They’re no longer for sale.

Amazon says, and the CPSC acknowledges, that the giant...

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TurboTax parent company Intuit is exiting the IRS Free File Program

TurboTax parent company Intuit has opted out of the IRS Free File Program. | Getty Images

Intuit, the parent company of tax filing software TurboTax, is exiting an IRS program that allows many Americans to file their taxes for free. The IRS partners with the Free File Alliance, a nonprofit coalition of tax software companies that offer no-cost tax filing services for the Free File program. Intuit says in a blog post on its website that part of the reason it’s leaving Free File— which is available to 2020 filers with adjusted gross income of $72,000 or less— is the “restraints” of the program.

“With the Free File program surpassing its founding goals of e-file and free tax preparation, and due to the limitations of the Free File program and conflicting demands from those outside the program, we are not able to continue in the...

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Tesla Full Self Driving subscriptions are now available for $199 a month

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Tesla has started offering a monthly subscription for its Full Self Driving package for $199 per month (h/t Electrek). Tesla owners who bought the since-discontinued Enhanced Autopilot package can get the FSD subscription for $99 per month, according to Tesla’s support page. Until now the automaker had sold its FSD package for a one-time fee of $10,000, but the monthly subscription lets users test-drive (literally) the FSD features without a long-term commitment. Tesla owners can cancel their monthly FSD subscription at any time, according to the terms on the Tesla website.

Only Teslas that have the FSD computer hardware 3.0 (HW3) or above plus either Basic or Enhanced Autopilot configurations are eligible to subscribe to FSD; other...

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The space tourism industry is stuck in its billionaire phase

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

The spectacle of launching billionaires into space is the beginning of a long road ahead

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No more Zoom weddings in New York after Cuomo lifts executive order

Zoom weddings soared during the pandemic | Illustration by Grayson Blackmon

Virtual weddings, one of the more endearing traditions to emerge during last year’s pandemic-related lockdowns, are no longer legal in New York now that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has lifted his April executive order. First reported by the New York Times, the order Cuomo signed was meant for a state of emergency, and he rescinded the EO effective June 25th.

New York state law requires that a couple planning to wed “must state in the presence of an authorized public official or authorized member of the clergy and at least one other witness that each takes the other as his or her spouse.” So in order to keep Zoom and other virtual weddings legal, new legislation would be necessary.

Zoom weddings allowed brides and grooms to keep their wedding...

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California legislature approves ‘historic’ broadband internet bill

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

California’s legislature has voted unanimously to approve a $6 billion plan to build a statewide open access fiber network (h/t ArsTechnica). The state will provide $3.25 billion to hire a third party to build and maintain a so-called “middle-mile” network, which won’t bring internet directly from backbone infrastructure to customers, but rather to connection points, leaving the last mile to be handled by internet service providers (ISPs). The legislation provides $2 billion for last-mile infrastructure lines to connect residences and businesses to local networks.

Making the middle-mile network open access will allow “non-discriminatory access to eligible entities on a technology and competitively neutral basis, regardless of whether the...

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Sony’s Xperia 1 III is pricey, performant, and perplexing

A good camera system and top-notch features, but it’s priced too high to recommend

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What’s on your desk, Andrew Marino?

Photo by Andrew Marino / The Verge

A cornucopia of audio tech spread across two desks

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The week’s best deals include smart home gadgets, Chromebooks, and gaming headsets

The second-gen Google Nest Hub | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Though we’re hitting the sleepy, dog-days of summer and there aren’t any big sale events on the horizon, there are still plenty of great deals out there if you know where to look. This week we found bargains on bundles of Google’s Nest Hub and Nest Thermostat, HyperX’s excellent gaming headset, the best Chromebook you can get right now, and Amazon’s kids-focused Fire HD tablets. Check them out below.

For a limited time, you can pick up a Google Nest Hub (second-gen) and a budget-friendly Nest Thermostat for $167 through BuyDig’s official storefront on eBay. If you prefer a smart speaker over a thermostat, BuyDig is also offering the same Hub model with a Google Nest Audio for $140, more than $100 off what they would cost if you were to...

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WhatsApp tests encrypted cloud backups on Android

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

When you’re using WhatsApp your messages are encrypted end-to-end, which means prying eyes can’t easily see what’s in them as they travel back and forth. However, if you keep a backup stored in the cloud, then the authorities can use a search warrant to have Google Drive or iCloud hand over access to the data.

WABetaInfo has reported previously that WhatsApp is working on the technology to independently encrypt your backups in the cloud, and says that in the most recent beta update on Android (2.21.15.5), the system has been enabled.

Opting in should keep your chat history and media securely backed up, with the significant caveat that if you forget your passcode / lose the 64-digit recovery key, then they’ll be locked away permanently —...

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Amazon just got Fakespot booted off Apple’s iOS App Store

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Fakespot, known for its web browser extensions that try to weed out fake product reviews, suddenly no longer has an iPhone or iPad app — because Amazon sent Apple a takedown request, both Amazon and Fakespot confirm, and Apple decided to remove the app.

The giant retailer says it was concerned about how a new update to the Fakespot app was “wrapping” its website without permission, and how that could be theoretically exploited to steal Amazon customer data. But Fakespot founder Saoud Khalifah tells The Verge that Apple abruptly removed the app today without any explanation. Apple didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

The new Fakespot app launched just over a month ago on June 3rd, and I can confirm it let you log into Amazon,...

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Biden says platforms like Facebook are ‘killing people’ with COVID-19 misinformation

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The White House escalated its fight against vaccine misinformation on Friday, with President Biden directly criticizing Facebook and other platforms for allowing vaccine misinformation to spread — and consequently raising the ongoing death toll from the deadly pandemic.

Asked for a message to platforms like Facebook, Biden replied, “They’re killing people ... the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and they’re killing people.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for clarification of the president’s comments.

The full exchange is embedded below:

Reporter: "What's your message to platforms like Facebook?"

President Biden: "They're killing people." pic.twitter.com/jrAvQpG7i0

— The Hill (@thehill) July 16,...

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Trump supporters charged in plot to bomb Facebook and Twitter headquarters, among other targets

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Two California residents have been indicted for allegedly planning to firebomb the offices of California’s Democratic governor in Sacramento after the 2020 election, and had also discussed bombing Facebook and Twitter, federal court records show.

The pair, who were indicted on conspiracy charges as well as illegal possession of firearms and explosives, were part of an anti-government militia with a strong pro-Trump agenda called the Three Percenters. The conspirators’ texts alluded that their planned actions would send a message to tech companies like Facebook and Twitter days after they bannedTrump from their platforms.

Texts recovered by the FBI indicated that the two men believed President Trump won the 2020 election, and that they...

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Ford made a premium gas fragrance for EV owners who miss the smell of fossil fuels

My face when I sniff gas...perfume. | Photo: Ford, Christopher Ison

So you just dropped a cool $59,000 on a Ford Mustang Mach-E GT, your own sporty slice of our electric future, made by a company that only knows how to build them tough (Ford Tough, to be precise). What happens when you go to plug in your new car and you miss that telltale whiff of chemical-y gasoline smell wafting from its insides? According to Ford, you substitute it with a “premium fragrance” inspired by gasoline called “Mach-Eau.”

Mach-Eau — the name does not get better the more I type it — was born from a survey conducted by Ford Europe that found that 1 in 5 drivers will miss the “smell of petrol most” when they switch to an electric car. Naturally, wanting to push more Mach-Es and F-150 Lightnings into the world, Ford settled on an...

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How to change your iPhone’s text size for a specific app

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg

Sometimes you want the text in your app to be smaller, so you can fit more content on a single screen. Sometimes you want it to be bigger, especially if you’ve been putting off buying those reading glasses. But until recently, if you had an iPhone, you had to pick a single text size as a standard for all your apps.

Not anymore. In iOS 15, you can adjust the text size separately for each of your apps. So you can, for example, keep the text small for your email, but make it a bit larger in Twitter — or vice versa. (Thanks to @OmarShahine for the info.)

One of the best hidden new iOS 15 features is per app font sizes. I like to use the smallest dynamic size system wide but bump up Outlook by one side since I read so much email. p...

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Virginia will invest $700 million to bring broadband to every household in the state

Image: Alex Castro / The Verge

On Friday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced that the state plans to invest $700 million in American Rescue Plan funding to reach universal broadband connectivity by 2024. This new investment shaves four years off of the governor’s original plan to connect every household to high-speed broadband.

The pandemic dramatically affected the ways in which people work and attend school — pushing many office-holders to renew efforts to ensure citizens are able to get online. According to Northam, more than 233,000 homes and businesses in Virginia are without broadband access.

“Not just a luxury for some, but an essential utility for all”

“It’s time to close the digital divide in our Commonwealth and treat Internet service like the 21st...

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There’s enough Steam Deck demand to take Steam’s store down

Steam Deck multiplayer | Image: Valve

Valve officially revealed its handheld PC gaming machine only a day ago, but that was apparently enough to spread the word — when the Steam Deck went up for preorder today at 1PM ET, the demand from gamers knocked Steam for a loop as the store produced error after error. Seemingly every step produced another pitfall: two-factor authentication if you weren’t signed in, some signed-in accounts had to sign in once again, credit card checks, even a wonky response from a system that pegged long-established Steam accounts as being “too new” to participate.

Other parts of Steam got flaky during the crush of preorder interest, too. The entire Steam store, Steam’s community pages, and the age gate that lets you view mature-rated titles didn’t...

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Google redesigns its emoji to be more universal and authentic

992 of Google’s emoji designs are receiving tweaks. | Image: Google

Google is tweaking 992 of its emoji designs to make them more “universal, accessible, and authentic,” the company announced today. The new designs will arrive this fall alongside Android 12, but Google says they’ll also be available on older versions with apps that use its Appcompat compatibility layer. They’re also coming to other Google platforms like Gmail, Chrome OS, Google Chat, and YouTube Live Chat this month.

None of the changes are particularly drastic. Instead, they’re mostly the kinds of tweaks that make the meaning of each emoji easier to understand at a glance by a wider range of people. The pie emoji, for example, currently looks like a classic American pumpkin pie. That’s fine for Americans, but it means that, in the UK,...

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How to use SharePlay

The headline feature for Apple’s fall updates (including iOS 15, iPadOS 15, tvOS 15, and macOS Monterey) is SharePlay. It’s a new software feature on top of FaceTime that allows you to watch and listen to movies, TV shows, music, podcasts, and more with friends and family while video chatting.

Right now, the number of SharePlay-compatible apps is a pretty small list: the Apple TV app for movies and TV shows, the Apple Music app for music, and Apple’s Podcasts app for podcasts. The company is promising some bigger third-party partners when iOS 15 launches this fall, including HBO Max, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, TikTok, and Twitch. Some big names seem to be skipping out for now, though: most notably, Netflix and YouTube.

For now, if...

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