How Tesla will open up its Superchargers to other EVs

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has, foryears, talked about opening up his company’s vast Supercharger network to other electric vehicles. But earlier this month, Musk tweeted that Tesla plans to do this “later this year,” and this week, he finally offered some details about how it might work.

It will be “real simple,” Musk claimed on an investor call Monday. Owners of other EVs will be able to charge at a Supercharger station by using the Tesla app — which, right now, is geared toward people who’ve purchased the company’s products. That’s about all Tesla will have to do to make this possible in Europe and China, where there are standardized charging cable connectors, Musk said. (Tesla has already committed to opening up the network in Norway.)

B...

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United Airlines will let passengers preorder food and snacks online before flights

United Airlines announced a new option for passengers to preorder food, snacks, and beverages online up to five days before their scheduled flight. Orders can be made either on United’s website or through the airline’s mobile app. United claims that it is the “first and only” carrier to allow economy customers this option.

Previously, only premium customers on certain eligible flights could preorder their food and drinks. Now, United is extending the option to all ticket-holders. To start out, only passengers on flights from Chicago to Honolulu; Orange County, CA; Sacramento, CA; and San Diego will be eligible to preorder food and drinks. But by early fall, United says it will extend the option to passengers of all flights over 1,500...

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After years of turmoil, Boeing’s Starliner capsule is set for a do-over

Photo by Joel Kowsky/NASA via Getty Images

Test-launching its astronaut capsule a second time, Boeing needs a success now more than ever

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Watch Valve’s Gabe Newell explain why the Steam Deck exists

Image: IGN

Valve president Gabe Newell has given a rare interview to IGN, where he talks about why the company’s upcoming Steam Deck handheld exists and the philosophy the company had when designing it. The interview is worth a watch to see Newell and developer Pierre-Loup Griffais discuss the motivation behind creating an “open” device (with Newell mentioning that you could hook up an Oculus Quest to it if you wanted), along with what discussions inside Valve led to the system’s development. IGN also has a write-up summarizing the interview if you’d rather read than watch.

Newell also discusses the obvious comparison between the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch, saying Valve has chosen different trade-offs when creating its portable gaming...

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How to get rid of that irritating Meet tab in Gmail for Android and iOS

I have nothing against Google’s Meet videoconferencing platform — in fact, I’ve used it a few times — but I can’t help being annoyed when the feature is pushed at me via other apps. Specifically, Gmail. Meet first appeared on the desktop Gmail app in the spring of 2020, but it did not take up much space and was reasonably easy to ignore (or remove from your screen, if you so wished).

A few months later, however, Meet made its way onto the mobile Gmail app via two tabs at the bottom of the screen: one labeled “Mail” and one labeled “Meet.” The problem here isn’t only that you’re being pushed to use a particular videoconferencing app while all you want to do is check your email, but it also takes up space, expanding the bottom margin of...

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T-Mobile’s new prepaid offer is a direct play for the Boost customers it sold to Dish

T-Mobile is offering customers who switch from an MVNO a discount on an unlimited Metro plan with 5G. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

T-Mobile is introducing a new prepaid promotion with incentives for customers on other prepaid MVNOs to switch to Metro by T-Mobile, including waiving switching fees, a discount on an unlimited plan with 5G, and a trade-in offer for a new 5G phone. In other words, it’s doing exactly what it told regulators it wouldn’t do when it acquired Sprint a year ago.

The US wireless market is lousy with 5G phone trade-in offers and 5G plan upgrades these days, but this one stands out in its direct pitch to lure Boost Mobile customers to T-Mobile’s prepaid brand — the same customers it was ordered to sell to Dish network with the intention of setting the company up as a fourth wireless carrier to replace Sprint. It’s also what Dish warned might be...

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Google will require employees to be vaccinated before returning to offices

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google will require that employees be vaccinated before they’re allowed to return to the company’s offices, CEO Sundar Pichai announced today in a letter obtained by The New York Times.

The announcement marks Google as one of the first major technology companies to require that employees be vaccinated before they return to work. The news comes as part of a new wave of vaccination requirements this week, spurred by the Biden administration reportedly planning to announce a requirement for federal workers to either be vaccinated or face frequent testing for COVID-19 sometime on Thursday.

Google’s vaccination requirement will reportedly apply to workers at US offices “in the coming weeks” and to other regions “in the coming months,” per...

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Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine’s protection against severe disease holds steady over six months

Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine’s protection against severe cases of the disease holds steady after six months, according to new data released by the companies. But its ability to protect people from developing any symptoms of the disease dropped over time, the analysis showed.

The data could add to the debate around if and when people may need booster doses of the vaccines, which the Biden administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other experts have been deliberating on for the past few months. The issue became more pressing when cases of COVID-19 in the United States started to surge as the Delta variant spread.

Overall, the vaccine was 91 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19 over six months. It...

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James Bond’s iconic Aston Martin DB5 is coming to Rocket League for a limited time

Would you pay $10 for the privilege of strapping rocket boosters to James Bond’s iconic Aston Martin DB5 automobile and using it to score spectacular gravity-defying goals with a giant ball? Rocket League is officially making that possible from Thursday, July 29th through August 4th.

Epic Games developer Psyonix says it’s signed a multiyear deal with MGM and Aston Martin to bring 007 to the vehicular sporting game — starting, of course, with the ‘60s classic made famous by Goldfinger but still stealing scenes as recently as _Skyfall_and the upcoming No Time to Die.

Will I buy it, though? Nah — because aside from the teaser atop this post, there doesn’t seem to be much Bond about Rocket League’s version other than the DB5’s historic...

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The Oppo Watch 2 launches in China with a promise of 16 days of battery life

The Oppo Watch 2 has launched in China, featuring the same Apple Watch-style design as the original Oppo Watch but with improved internal hardware. That includes Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 4100 platform and a promise of up to 16 days of battery life from a single charge while using a low-power mode (via 9to5Google).

As was the case for the Chinese model of the original Oppo Watch, the Oppo Watch 2 runs Oppo’s Android-based ColorOS, not Google’s WearOS. Last year’s model was eventually released outside of China with WearOS and access to the Google Play Store, but Oppo has yet to announce any plans for a broader release at this time. It’s also possible that the company is waiting for Google and Samsung’s upcoming WearOS 3.0 collaboration...

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Activision Blizzard faces lawsuit and employee backlash over sexual harassment

Image: Blizzard

California’s suit alleges a toxic culture, discrimination, and retaliation

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Activision Blizzard employees say CEO’s letter ‘fails to address’ key concerns

Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

In a new letter, Activision Blizzard employees said that CEO Bobby Kotick’s note addressing allegations of sexual harassment and workplace discrimination at the company “fails to address critical elements at the heart of employee concerns.” Last week, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a huge lawsuit against the company bringing the allegations to light.

Staff slammed the company’s initial response to the lawsuit, and in Wednesday’s response, the employees said they are pleased to see that they have “convinced leadership to change the tone of their communications.” But employees point out that Kotick’s letter does not address some key areas of concern, including ending forced arbitration for all employees...

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How to hide Google Meet in Gmail

Google rolled out Google Meet, a revamped version of its video chatting program Hangouts Meet, in April 2020, and made the app available to anyone with a Google account. You can start or join a Meet videoconference right from your Gmail inbox, using the buttons that Google has placed on the left-hand side of the page.

But what if you don’t intend to use Meet, or even if you just don’t want it to be there all the time? No worries — you can hide the buttons. (Note: if you’re on a corporate Google Workspace account, you may not be able to change this, depending on your administrator’s settings.)

Here’s how to hide Google Meet in Gmail:

• Open Gmail.
• Click on the cog icon in the top-right corner and on “See all settings.”
• Click on the “Chat...

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How to schedule an email in Gmail

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google announced that Gmail would natively support email scheduling in April 2019, and the feature became available in desktop and mobile about a month later.

Previously, you’d have to use a third-party add-on to do this sort of basic scheduling. Thankfully, Gmail’s feature is perfectly easy to use, and it has a range of applications for scheduling work and personal messages. Maybe you’re trying to talk to someone in a different time zone, nag someone about an event, or you just want to remind your future self about something. If so, schedule an email.

To schedule a message via Gmail in a desktop web browser, follow these steps:

• Compose a new email
• Click the triangle next to the blue “Send” button
• Select one of the suggested times, or...

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The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is the perfect vacation game

_The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles_is the kind of engrossing murder mystery that’s perfect for a long vacation — it just happens to be a video game. As a prequel of sorts, Chronicles takes place long before the original Ace Attorney trilogy, with new characters and a much more grounded tone, but with the same absorbing investigative gameplay and shock story twists that make it hard to put down. It’s the best of the franchise in one lengthy package.

The game — which is actually a collection of two titles that previously launched in Japan — follows a budding defense attorney named Ryunosuke Naruhodo during the late 19th century in Japan. Things immediately get off to a rough start. In the first case, Naruhodo is forced to defend himself in...

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Google shows off Play Store’s upcoming data privacy section

The section gives a summary of data collected, and security practices. | Image: Google

Google has revealed an in-progress design for the Play Store’s upcoming safety section, which will provide information about an app’s data collection, privacy, and security practices. Announced in May, developers will be able to start declaring their safety info in October until a deadline of April next year. The safety section is currently due to start appearing in app descriptions in the first quarter of 2022.

Although Google says the design is subject to change, screenshots released today show the safety section sitting above a listing’s existing Ratings & reviews section. It offers a summary of an app’s data privacy features, including the types of data collected and whether data is encrypted. There’s also a “See details” option to...

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Twitter pilots a new shopping section for brands

GameStop and Arden Cove are two of the brands piloting the feature. | Image: Twitter

Twitter is piloting a new feature that allows businesses to add a shopping section to the top of their profiles, the company has announced. The Shop Module launches in the US today and offers a carousel of products for visitors to browse. Tapping a product will link to a listing with the option of making a purchase without ever leaving Twitter. The pilot is currently limited to iOS devices for people who use the service in English, Twitter says.

“People talk about products on Twitter everyday, so we’re excited about how this early exploration of the Shop Module can build a bridge between people talking about and discovering products on Twitter to actually purchasing them,” Twitter says. The pilot is only available with a small number of...

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Extreme heat is on Democrats’ infrastructure agenda

People wait to buy ice cream from a vender on the National Mall as the DC area experiences a heatwave on June 30, 2021, in Washington, DC. - Climate change is causing record-setting temperatures to become more frequent. Globally, the decade to 2019 was the hottest recorded, and the five hottest years have all occurred within the last five years. | Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

During a summer of deadly heatwaves, Democratic senators are pressing for a bigger federal response to the danger posed by extreme heat. Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) reintroduced the Preventing Heat Illness and Deaths Act today. Representative Charlie Crist (D-FL) will introduce similar legislation in the US House of Representatives.Theyare pushing for its measures to be included in either the bipartisan infrastructure or budget reconciliation package that Democrats are scrambling to advance.

“We’ve heard that extreme heat is among the White House priorities in the climate space, and I am fighting to include provisions of my bill,” Markey said in an email to The Verge.

“We’ve heard that...

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Snapchat’s built-in map will start recommending places for you to visit

Snap

More than 250 million people use Snapchat’s built-in map to see where their friends are in the world. The map interface was recently upgraded to a main tab inside the app, and today, Snap is adding a new feature that’ll surface popular places it thinks you may want to visit. Snap Map users will also start seeing lists of places, such as bars or restaurants, they’ve either tagged in past posts or favorited to check out.

The “Popular” tab at the bottom center of the Snap Map will show recommendations for places to go based on factors like your current location, friend activity on the map, and the kind of places you’ve saved as favorites. “This new algorithm in our Popular Tab sets Snap Map apart as a highly personalized discovery platform,...

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The Verge’s back-to-school gift guide 2021

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge

Great gifts for high schoolers and the college bound

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Sony has sold 10 million PS5 consoles

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony has now sold more than 10 million PS5 consoles. That’s up more than 2 million sales from the 7.8 million Sony previously revealed in April, and it means the PS5 continues to outpace sales of the PS4, making it the fastest-selling console in Sony’s history.

The PS5 may be selling well, but supply is constrained and it’s still difficult to purchase a console right now thanks to a global chip shortage. “While PS5 has reached more households faster than any of our previous consoles, we still have a lot of work ahead of us as demand for PS5 continues to outstrip supply,” says Jim Ryan, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. “I want gamers to know that while we continue to face unique challenges throughout the world that...

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The Atmos-ready Sonos Arc sees a rare discount at Wellbots

In a rare move, Wellbots is offering the standout Sonos Arc for $50 off MSRP. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Sonos products are an easy sell, at least when the price is right. Like most products in the Sonos lineup, the Sonos Arc features a clean design and excellent sound quality, the latter of which is evident while listening to everything from Dolby Atmos movies to the lush sounds of The National’s most recent album, I Am Easy to Find. What’s more, the all-in-one soundbar includes built-in support for Alexa and Google Assistant, as well as Apple’s AirPlay 2. Granted, you’ll need a recent TV that supports Atmos over HDMI ARC to truly unlock the Arc’s potential, but if you have one, it’s a great way to future-proof your home theater setup. Normally $800 and rarely discounted, the white iteration of the Sonos Arc is currently on sale at...

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The teen tycoons of Depop

Illustration by Ari Liloan for The Verge

Young people can make real money selling vintage clothes online — if they can stay on the right side of the algorithm

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Could you beat this bipedal robot’s 5K run time?

Researchers from Oregon State University have coaxed a bipedal robot off the couch to successfully complete the first ever robotic 5 kilometer outdoors run. The bot, Cassie, completed the route in 53 minutes, untethered and on a single battery charge. So next time you’re out for a jog, remember: that’s the time to beat if you want out-pace the killer robots.

(For now.)

Cassie is the creation of OSU spin-off Agility Robotics, which has been pushing the commercial case for bipedal robots for a while. Cassie itself was the company’s first product, manufactured between 2017 and 2019, and now embraced by research labs. Agility now makes an updated bipedal bot, Digit, which has arms to handle packages and has been used by Ford as part of a r...

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Poco’s latest high-performance phone is the $299 X3 GT

The Poco X3 GT looks very similar to the Chinese version of Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 10 Pro.

Xiaomi spin-off Poco has announced yet another X3 phone. The X3 GT follows the X3 Pro and the X3 NFC, this time focusing on performance with a fast 120Hz screen and a new MediaTek processor. It’s mostly a rebranded version of Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 10 Pro, which was released last month in China.

MediaTek is often associated with lower-end devices, but its Dimensity processors for 2021 feature configurations of Arm cores that aren’t too far off what you’d find in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. The 6nm Dimensity 1100 in the Poco X3 GT has four A78 cores at 2.6GHz and four lower-power A55 cores at 2GHz — compare that to the Snapdragon 888’s single 2.84GHz X1, three 2.42GHz A78s, and four 1.8GHz A55s.

We found the similar Dimensity 1200 to be a...

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WhatsApp reportedly developing iOS to Android transfer option for chat history

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

WhatsApp is developing a way for its users to transfer their chat histories from iOS to Android, according to reports from WABetaInfo and 9to5Google. The feature could fix one of the biggest annoyances with the Facebook-owned messaging service, which is that it’s not officially possible to transfer a backup of your messages between iPhone and Android, only between phones running the same operating system. Details of the in-development feature have been appearing in WhatsApp’s software since at least April.

Screenshots shared by WABetaInfo show a new “Move chats to Android” option in WhatsApp’s iOS app. A second screenshot shows a screen prompting users to keep their iPhone unlocked with WhatsApp open while the transfer is taking place....

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ZTE’s newest under-display selfie camera looks slightly improved

ZTE’s Axon 30. | Image: ZTE

Last year’s Axon 20 5G from ZTE was the world’s first commercially-available phone to put a front-facing camera underneath its display. It was an impressive step forward for phone technology but there was one big problem: the camera sucked. It took lousy pictures and the module distorted the display in certain settings. Now, ZTE is trying again with the updated Axon 30, which seems to offer some improvements over its predecessor.

First, a little spec dump. The Axon 30 has a 6.92-inch AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate and FHD+ resolution, all powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 870 5G chipset. There’s a four-camera array on the rear of the device, with a 64-megapixel main, 8-megapixel 120-degree wide-angle, 5-megapixel macro lens, and an...

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Krispy Kreme is selling Xbox doughnuts

Krispy Kreme’s new Xbox doughnut. | Image: Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kreme has created an Xbox doughnut. The fluffy doughnut is a marketing collaboration with Microsoft to celebrate 20 years of Xbox, and will be sold at Krispy Kreme stores, cabinets, and online across the UK and Ireland between August 2nd and August 22nd.

The doughnuts won’t come equipped with CPUs, GPUs, or SSDs, but you might be able to win that type of hardware in the form of an Xbox Series S. As part of this marketing campaign, Krispy Kreme is also giving away Microsoft’s latest mini Xbox. You’ll need to purchase a dozen of the new Xbox doughnuts for a chance to win a console, and Krispy Kreme will include a month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with every dozen doughnuts bought.

Welcome to the next generation

Introducing... The...

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Spotify’s paid subscribers hit 165M as podcast listening ‘improved modestly’

Spotify’s latest subscriber numbers. | Image: Spotify

Spotify now has 165 million premium subscribers and 365 million monthly active users according to a new earnings report released today. It’s a year-over-year increase of 20 percent and 22 percent respectively, and up from the 158 million subscribers and 356 million MAUs seen last quarter.

Rivals Apple Music and Amazon Music don’t regularly release comparable numbers, but their most recent public figures compiled by Music Ally put them at 60 million and around 55 million paying subscribers, respectively.

Spotify’s interest in podcasts has showed no signs of slowing this quarter, as it’s continued to make acquisitions and investments in both podcasting content and technology. The company recently acquired the exclusive rights to two...

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Halo Infinite’s first multiplayer beta begins on July 29th

The first Halo Infinite multiplayer technical preview will start tomorrow, July 29th. The beta will run until Sunday August 1st, offering a short chance for those invited to test Halo Infinite’s multiplayer aspects. It’s the first of many technical previews for Halo Infinite, as Microsoft prepares to launch the free multiplayer game mode later this year.

The first preview will include testing gameplay against AI bots, with a bot arena to “gather feedback on Bot behavior and online performance,” according to 343 Industries. This arena will include the slayer mode across three maps, and a variety of challenges throughout the weekend. “The Bots still have their quirks, which is why we’re flighting them, but they certainly aren’t pushovers....

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