Netflix’s Masters of the Universe erases the past to chart a new future

Image: Netflix

Part of what made She-Ra and the Princesses of Powerso good was the way it completely reimagined the classic cartoon. It was still set in a magical realm with talking horses and evil robot armies, but it took an old show — which, if we’re being honest, was created for the express purpose of selling toys — and gave its characters and world some real depth and meaning. It was funny and exciting, heartbreaking and beautiful, without a toy commercial in sight.

On the surface, Masters of the Universe: Revelation, which stars She-Ra’s long-lost twin brother He-Man, isn’t quite so exciting. It’s not a reboot but a direct sequel, one that’s meant to pick up right after the original cartoon ended in 1985. It has the same cast of characters, some...

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Google gives Pixel 4 XL an extra year of free repairs for power issues

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verg

If your out-of-warranty Pixel 4 XL has been exhibiting some problems, you might be able to get a free repair. Google recently posted a support page outlining a “one-year extended repair program” for the larger of its two 2019 flagships. Those who are eligible can receive a free repair for up to a year after their original warranty expires. As for who’s covered by this program, Google points to “certain power-related issues.”

More specifically, the company says these are the problems that “may” get a free repair:

• A Pixel 4 XL that can’t be powered on
• The Pixel 4 XL restarts or shuts down randomly without any user action
• Charging problems with the power adapter
• Wireless charging issues
• The battery on a Pixel 4 XL is draining...

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Adam Neumann’s WeWork debacle wasn’t possible without VC help

Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for WeWork

A new book explains how the failed IPO truly took a village

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Tumblr starts letting bloggers charge a subscription

Tumblr’s Post Plus feature lets blogs offer a subscription for exclusive posts. | Image: Tumblr

Tumblr is finally offering its writers a way to make money off their work: charging a subscription.

The 14-year-old blogging platform is starting to add the ability for writers to put their posts behind a paywall. The feature, called Post Plus, lets creators offer a $3.99, $5.99, or $9.99 per month subscription, which will give readers access to any posts they decide to designate as for subscribers only. For now, the feature is available in a “limited beta” for select creators only.

Like Substack, without the whole email thing

The formula sounds a lot like what Substack offers — a blog and an easy way for writers to charge for it — minus the whole emailed newsletter component. Facebook is also starting to test the waters in this area and...

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How to change your name on TikTok

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

When you start using TikTok, you’re asked for a profile name and a username. If you’ve been using TikTok for a while, though, it wouldn’t be unusual to decide that you want to change one or both. Perhaps you used your real name and weren’t aware at first that your name would be made public. Or perhaps the name you originally chose is no longer quite right for the type of content you’re going to post. Or perhaps you simply decided that you want to be known by something more exciting.

Either way, it’s simple to change either your profile name or your username. (In TikTok, the username is the one preceded by an @ sign.)

Go to your profile page (by tapping the “Me” icon in the lower-right corner).

• Select “Edit profile.”
• Select “Name” (to...

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The latest iPad Pro and iPad Air tablets are each $100 off today

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

If you’ve been waiting for a sizable deal on the new M1 processor-equipped 12.9-inch iPad Pro or the 10.9-inch iPad Air released last year, you can save $100 on either model now at Amazon. Starting with the iPad Pro, the base model in space gray that comes with 128GB of storage costs $999 at Amazon. That’s $100 off the usual cost, which is great considering this iteration includes a brilliant Mini LED Liquid Retina XDR display with more contrast and color depth than in previous models.

It’s understandable if you might be after something a little less pricey instead. At Best Buy and Amazon, you can save $100 on the base model of the 2020 iPad Air that has a 10.9-inch screen and — like the iPad Pro — a USB-C port for charging. Normally...

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Nobuo Uematsu’s beautiful Fantasian soundtrack is now on Apple Music

One of the most exciting things about Fantasian — a Final Fantasy-style roleplaying game that debuted on Apple Arcade earlier this year — was how it reunited two industry legends. Hironobu Sakaguchi served as the creative director of the handcrafted adventure, while longtime Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu returned for the soundtrack. Now, all of that beautiful music is finally available to stream on Apple Music.

It’s a hefty album, too, with 58 songs spanning more than two and half hours of music and a wide range of genres. Prior to Fantasian’s release, Uematsu said that he was worried this might be his last soundtrack. “Will I get another chance to work on an entire game?” he said. “I didn’t want to have any regrets.” Sakaguchi...

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The Biden administration should take the First Amendment as seriously as Facebook misinformation

White House / Adam Schultz

Last week, the White House declared war on anti-vaccine misinformation and Facebook’s moderation system. President Joe Biden said that Facebook and other social networks were “killing people” by hosting false information about vaccines, although he later softened the attack. Facebook disputed the accusation sharply, promoting its vaccine efforts. And yesterday, the Biden administration hit back with a troubling — and unnecessary — promise that it was “reviewing” internet law in response to misinformation.

I want to be clear: the White House’s vaccine push is a good thing. American COVID-19 cases are abruptly rising as the virus’s Delta strain spreads, fewer than half of all Americans are fully vaccinated, and nearly all recent US...

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Watch the latest teaser trailer for Netflix’s upcoming animated Witcher film

Netflix has dropped the latest teaser trailer for its animated Witcher prequel, giving us a better look at the film’s characters and allowing us to hear its English-language voice actors for the first time.

_The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf_focuses on the early life of Geralt’s mentor, Vesemir, “a cocky young witcher who delights in slaying monsters for coin,” as per Netflix’s synopsis. Available plot details are thin, but the film involves Vesemir confronting “a strange new monster” and “demons of his past” in a politically-fraught kingdom. (So far, so Witcher.)

The film is being made by Korean animation house Studio Mir, which has previously tackled a number of Netflix animations, including Dota: Dragon’s Blood and Voltron: Legendary...

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How to jump on TikTok trends

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

So you’ve started posting videos on Tiktok, and now you’re ready to up your game. One of the easiest ways to make your videos more entertaining and to potentially get more views is to jump on trends.

The way the TikTok algorithm is designed, it rewards videos that use certain trending sounds, effects, or hashtags. These videos are more likely to receive views because they’re pushed to other people who also enjoy that trend, and they’re easier to find when browsing in the Discover tab. Here’s how to improve your TikTok strategy by using trends to your advantage.

Identify trends

Trends can originate from a variety of features on the app: sounds, dances, transitions, or hashtags. One of the easiest ways to identify trends is to browse via...

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Zoom will now let you add third-party apps to your calls

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Zoom is furthering its ambitions to be your go-to app for virtual meetings and events by making Zoom Apps and Zoom Events widely available starting Wednesday.

Zoom Apps are third-party integrations that will show up right in your Zoom call. There will be more than 50 apps available, including apps like Asana, the Pexels backgrounds app, or even games like _Heads Up._If you’re on the latest version of the Zoom client, you’ll be able to install apps from a new Apps tab you’ll see on the toolbar during Zoom calls (though your company administrator may need to enable them).

Zoom’s events platform, Zoom Events, offers features to help you host robust virtual events. For example, you can make a hub that provides details about the event and...

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Ford’s self-driving cars will be available on Lyft’s platform in Miami and Austin

Lyft customers in Miami will be able hail a robotaxi from Argo AI, an AV startup backed by Ford and Volkswagen, by the end of the year, the companies announced Wednesday. Next year, riders in Austin, Texas, will be able to do the same. It’s the latest move to make more autonomous vehicles available for public use after initial predictions about the wide-scale availability of AVs failed to materialize.

For years, Ford promised that it would launch a full-scale autonomous vehicle business, including robotaxis and driverless delivery, by 2021. That later got pushed to 2022, with the automaker citing delays due to the coronavirus pandemic. It also said it would use a purpose-built autonomous vehicle without steering wheel or pedals to power...

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Google Maps will help you avoid crowded mass transit in way more cities

Where available, users can report on how busy a transit option is. | Image: Google

Google is expanding the number of cities where Maps offers information about public transport crowding. The number of cities covered is increasing from around 200 today, to “over 10,000 transit agencies in 100 countries,” the company says. As well as crowdedness, Google says Maps is also being updated to offer more information about past travel.

Google Maps’ crowdedness information originally launched pre-pandemic in 2019, but over the past year social distancing has made it more important than ever. Crowdedness information is generated from a mixture of historical location data, as well as self-reporting from Maps users on individual trains. Google says it anonymizes the location history data used.

Image: Google

G...

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The Dish ‘fix’ for the T-Mobile-Sprint merger seems more shortsighted than ever

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

To sell regulators on their $26 billion mega merger, T-Mobile and Sprint executives told anyone who’d listen that the deal would provide near-miraculous benefits. But economists warned that US telecom merger promises are historically meaningless, and the reduction in overall competitors would — sooner or later — result in higher prices and job cuts.

Instead of heeding their warnings and blocking the deal, US antitrust enforcers concocted an elaborate workaround: they would erect Dish Network as the nation’s new fourth major wireless carrier. Under the plan Dish received some T-Mobile spectrum, the Boost Mobile prepaid brand, and the assurance that T-Mobile would help Dish run a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) while it got its own...

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Apple AirPods update to arrive later this year with iPhone SE refresh coming 2022: report

The third-generation AirPods will reportedly have a shorter stem than current models (above). | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple will start production on updated AirPods next month, with plans to launch the third-generation earbuds later this year, according to a report from Nikkei. It’s the latest rumor regarding Apple’s product schedule, which will reportedly include an all-5G iPhone line-up in 2022, including a revamped iPhone SE sporting the as-yet-unannounced A15 processor.

A refresh of Apple’s entry-level AirPods have been rumored for a while now, with previous generations launched in 2016 and 2019. Back in May, Bloombergreported that the earbuds will have a design similar to the AirPods Pro, with “a new case and shorter stems poking out of the bottom of each one.” If Nikkei is right about production starting next month, we can expect to see the...

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Valve will replace Big Picture mode with the new Steam Deck UI

Big Picture, the mode that converts Steam’s user interface into a more console-like design better suited to TVs and controllers than monitors and mice, may not be long for this world. According to austinp_valve, a Valve employee posting on the Steam community forums, the plan is for the new UI from the just-announced Steam Deck handheld PC to replace Big Picture mode on the desktop version of Steam as well.

Valve announced Big Picture mode in 2011 and released it the following year. The mode formed the basis of the UI for SteamOS, the version of Linux that shipped on console-style devices that were part of Valve’s ill-fated Steam Machine project. With the Steam Deck running an all-new version of the operating system called SteamOS 3.0,...

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Green travel rewards app Miles raises $12.5 million

Image: Miles

Three years ago, a startup called Miles launched a free app with the goal of becoming a sort of rewards program for all travel — with an emphasis on clean transportation. Cover enough ground by bike, bus, subway, or even on foot, and you’d be rewarded with “miles” (aka points) that could be exchanged for perks at Starbucks or discounts to services like Audi Silvercar.

I was curious, so I used Miles for a little over a year. I lived in New York City at the time and did a lot of daily walking and subway-riding, with occasional biking and bus travel. I was in a great spot to rack up miles without having to change my habits, so I shook the icky feeling of letting another app know my location to see if that occasional free coffee would be...

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One of the biggest myths about EVs is busted in new study

Vehicle bodies on the production line of the manufacturing plant for Zeekr Co., an electric-car unit of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China, on Wednesday, April 14, 2021.  | Photographer: Gilles Sabrie/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A new study lays to rest the tired argument that electric vehicles aren’t much cleaner than internal combustion vehicles. Over the life cycle of an EV — from digging up the materials needed to build it to eventually laying the car to rest — it will release fewer greenhouse gas emissions than a gas-powered car, the research found. That holds true globally, whether an EV plugs into a grid in Europe with a larger share of renewables, or a grid in India that still relies heavily on coal.

Fossil fuels are driving the climate crisis

This shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Fossil fuels are driving the climate crisis. So governments from California to the European Union have proposed phasing out internal combustion engines by 2035. But there are...

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Brokered cell location data led to the outing and resignation of a Catholic official

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Location data from a cell phone, obtained and sold by data brokers, has lead to the alleged outing and resignation of a priest working for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, according to a report from The Washington Post. The traffic data, which was linked to the priest and appeared to show when and where he was using the LGBTQ dating app Grindr, was obtained by a publication and shared with the Conference, where the priest worked as the general secretary.

This incident is another example of how invasive the collection and sale of location and other personal data by brokers can be. While the data sold by these companies is ostensibly anonymized, it’s been shown that individuals can be picked out and tracked. The data broker industry...

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Samsung announces Unpacked event for August 11th with Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip teaser

Samsung has officially announced when it will hold its next Unpacked product event: August 11th at 10AM ET / 7AM PT. It is widely expected to announce the next version of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 — both of which have already leaked quite a bit. Samsung’s not being shy about those expectations, as a quick look at its invite reveals the outline for both of those devices.

Samsung is also expected to announce new Galaxy watches, which would be the first to use the new combined Wear platform that was announced at Google I/O earlier this year.

Samsung is holding the event virtually again on its website, and it promises to post more details on the livestream here. It’s also keeping up another Samsung trend: letting customers...

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A fix is coming for those locked out of their Chromebooks by Google’s update

Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge

A bad update to Chrome OS, version 91.0.4472.165, has left some users unable to log in to their accounts, or reportedly with boot-looping computers (via Android Central). If you’ve found yourself locked out of your Chromebook, help is on the way: Google posted on its system status page that it’s working on a fix, which it expects to release on Wednesday. It’s also pulled the update, which should prevent more users from experiencing the issue.

According to Google, the only options to immediately regain access to your Chrome OS device (if it unfortunately downloaded and installed the update) will lead to the local data on the device being wiped. If you can wait until the new fix the issue is released, though, your device should...

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An on-the-ground look at Blue Origin’s motley crew

Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark and Oliver Daemen walk off New Shepard’s landing pad as Wally Funk, 82-year-old aviation icon and the mission’s fourth passenger, remains in awe at the size of New Shepard, the suborbital rocket they all launched to space on. | Joey Roulette/The Verge

A record-setting flight

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Chrome for iOS will let you lock down incognito tabs with Face ID

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Chrome’s latest update for iOS will let you secure your incognito tabs with Touch ID, Face ID, or a passcode (via MacRumors). When the new feature is rolled out to you, you can turn it on by navigating to the settings menu, then tapping “Privacy,” then “Lock Incognito tabs.” I just updated the app and the option wasn’t there for me, so you might have to wait just a bit until you can flip it on. Google first revealed it was testing this new privacy feature in February.

The update brings a few other handy features to Google’s mobile browser, including the ability to take a full-page screenshot of a website. You can use it by snapping a screenshot with the button combination specific to your device, tapping the screenshot preview, and then...

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Instagram introduces a setting to control sensitive content in your Explore tab

Facebook is announcing a new setting that allows you to limit how much potentially sensitive content shows up in your Instagram Explore tab. According to Facebook, the new Sensitive Content Control setting will let you “see more or less of some types of sensitive content,” which may be “upsetting or offensive.” How much content the three levels, “Allow,” “Limit (Default),” and “Limit Even More” will or will not show is pretty vague, and we’ve reached out to Facebook for clarification.

On the support page for Sensitive Content Control, Instagram says that sensitive content could include sexually suggestive or violent posts, as well as posts that promote things like tobacco or pharmaceutical use. Facebook is clear that this setting is...

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HBO Max launches a group watch tool to stream full episodes on Snapchat

HBO Max Minis shown on a mobile device. | Image: HBO Max

HBO Max has partnered with Snapchat to bring full-length episodes of its series to the social media platform. With HBO Max Minis, users will be able to stream the pilots of select series with up to 63 other Snapchatters.

The feature was announced today and is offered through Minis, which launched late last year and hosts third-party app experiences within Snapchat. Minis allow users to do anything from meditate with Headspace to buy movie tickets with friends through Atom. And now, HBO Max Minis will allow anyone on Snapchat to view entire episodes of more than a dozen series from the streaming service for free, including pilots from Lovecraft Country and Game of Thrones. With synchronized playback, everyone watching the title will be...

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Netflix’s gaming expansion starts with mobile

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Netflix revealed that its initial efforts in gaming will be focused on mobile games and that the games will be included with users’ Netflix subscriptions, the company announced as part of its second-quarter earnings report on Tuesday. The news comes just days after the company said it hired former EA and Oculus exec Mike Verdu to head up its gaming work.

Here is exactly what Netflix said about gaming, from its letter to investors:

We’re also in the early stages of further expanding into games, building on our earlier efforts around interactivity (eg, Black Mirror Bandersnatch) and our Stranger Things games. We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV....

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Square launches checking and savings accounts for small businesses

Image: Square

Square is launching a new free banking service on Tuesday that connects to the payment and point-of-sale products the company already offers to small businesses. Square Banking combines checking accounts, savings accounts, and Square’s existing small business loans (now called Square Loans) into a package that the company claims is both fair and accessible.

In terms of features, Square’s new savings account can automatically set aside money from every sale made on Square’s platform. Square Savings will also let users create custom folders for saving toward specific goals. Funds in a Square Checking account will be instantly available to use for payroll and other payments using a Square debit card, and Square says its accounts have no...

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Fortnite’s Short Nite film festival is coming back on July 23rd

Fortnite is hosting a second round of its animated short film festival, dubbed “Short Nite 2,” — a successor to the game’s original Short Nite festival that developer Epic held earlier this year.

According to Epic, Short Nite 2 will feature “a series of animated, online shorts by up-and-coming-creators,” which, like the original event, will air on the game’s combat-free Party Royale mode. Short Nite 2 will kick off on Friday, July 23rd, at 2PM ET, and last for about 40 minutes. If you can’t make the debut, the short films will continue to play nonstop until 2PM ET on July 25th.

Another short film festival is on its way

The developer hasn’t announced the full list yet, but it’s highlighting that the stream will feature two Gildedguy...

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Space billionaires get skewered in the first promo for Jon Stewart’s Apple TV show

Jason Alexander as Jeff Bezos. | Image: Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart shared a video promoting his upcoming Apple TV Plus show, The Problem with Jon Stewart, and it’s an odd one: the three-minute and ten-second clip shared on Twitter is a comedy skit roasting the recent billionaire spacerace, starring Jason Alexander as Jeff Bezos and a mop as Richard Branson. There are also a lot of dick jokes.

Here’s the clip, if you’re curious:

Sorry for the aborted launch!!! I’m a bad twitterer.
Enjoy this small step for man! pic.twitter.com/6gBHHJLByQ

— Jon Stewart (@jonstewart) July 20, 2021

It’s unclear exactly how this might relate to the show itself, which is set to debut in September. Apple announced in April that the show would be “a multiple season, one-hour, single-issue series” and each...

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Sony’s new PS5 Digital Edition for Japan is mysteriously two-thirds of a pound lighter

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony sleuths just stumbled onto a surprise in Japan: the company has quietly kicked out a new version of the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition that’s listed as 300 grams lighter than the original (via PSU). That’s fully two-thirds of a pound, bringing the mammoth console down from well over the eight-pound mark to just slightly under it.

How, you might ask? Well, that’s the question!

According to Sony’s official manual (PDF) and quick start guide (PDF), as spotted by PS5sokuhouInfo on Twitter, the only differences between the new CFI-1100B and the original CFI-1000B are that change in weight and a new thumbscrew for the PS5’s vertical stand so you don’t need a screwdriver or coin to get it set.

Image: Sony

A new...

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