Electric boat startup Arc wants to make a big splash

Images: Arc

Electricity and water don’t mix — well, actually, they mix really well, which can be problematic for humans. So the thought of an electric boat may seem risky. A new California startup called Arc is going to try to shred that perception, starting with a limited edition 24-foot watersports boat that will cost around $300,000.

That’s an incredible amount of money. But Arc — which is coming out of stealth mode today, boasts a handful of SpaceX expats, and is backed by Silicon Valley powerhouse firm Andreessen Horowitz — plans to work its way down from that price point once it’s producing and selling boats, just like Tesla once did for electric passenger cars with the Roadster, followed by the Model S and X, and then the Model 3 and Y.

“We...

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Hulu’s live TV service gets NFL Network and RedZone ahead of 2021 season

A new sports add-on from Hulu with Live TV. | Image: Hulu

Hulu is adding two big channels for football coverage to its live TV service. The NFL Network will be included in Hulu’s live TV package beginning today at no extra cost, while NFL RedZone will now be offered as part of a new sports add-on. The add-on includes a half-dozen channels, but subscribers will have to pony up for access.

The NFL Network joins the more than 75 live TV channels already available as part of Hulu’s live TV package, which starts at $65 per month. The channel includes studio coverage, original series, live NFL season games, as well as NFL preseason games.

The NFL says broadening distribution is among its “top priorities”

Hulu’s new sports add-on package can expand those channels with NFL RedZone in addition to MAVTV...

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Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook review: midrange done right

The Flex 5 is built for its price range

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Fortnite teases concert series with ‘record-breaking superstar’

The next big Fortnite concert is happening very soon — but who will be performing remains a mystery. Developer Epic announced an event called the Rift Tour, which will take place from August 6th to the 8th, with a series of events across different time zones. It’s described as “a musical journey into magical new realities where Fortnite and a record-breaking superstar collide.” Epic previously teased an alien-themed event happening on August 6th with an in-game countdown.

Who that superstar is remains to be seen. Recent rumors suggest that Ariana Grande could be the next performer to take Fortnite’s virtual stage. She would join the likes of Travis Scott and Marshmello, whose Fortnite performances have been some of the most popular...

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Airbnb’s new tool makes it easier for hosts to list Wi-Fi speeds for remote work getaways

Airbnb is adding a new tool for hosts that will let them easily test and list their Wi-Fi speeds on listings. The new addition is in recognization of the fact that — particularly with the current remote work and school model — customers are renting Airbnb properties not just for vacations but for working trips that provide a change of scenery. In that vein, knowing that you’ll actually be able to have strong internet when you’re booking is a useful feature.

While it’s been possible for hosts to list Wi-Fi speeds or share screenshots of speed tests before, the new tool is integrated directly into Airbnb’s app (using M-Lab’s open-source software) and allows for Wi-Fi speed to be displayed directly on a listing alongside other information...

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Jodie Whittaker’s run on Doctor Who will end in 2022

Image: BBC

The Thirteenth Doctor is set to step away. Today, the BBC announced that Jodie Whittaker, who took over as the first female lead in Doctor Who in 2017, will end her run on the show in 2022. Showrunner Chris Chibnall will also be leaving.

“My heart is so full of love for this show, for the team who make it, for the fans who watch it and for what it has brought to my life,” Whittaker said in a statement. “And I cannot thank Chris enough for entrusting me with his incredible stories. We knew that we wanted to ride this wave side by side, and pass on the baton together. So here we are, weeks away from wrapping on the best job I have ever had. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express what this role has given me. I will carry the Doctor and...

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Airports have a wildlife problem (and vice versa)

Every summer, hundreds of diamondback terrapins crawl over to New York’sJohn F. Kennedy International Airport to lay their eggs. In past years, the turtles have been so obstructive, they’ve caused flight delays. To manage situations like these, airportslike JFKhave entire departments dedicated to keeping wildlife and planes out of each other’s way.

While keeping the tarmac clear of turtles allows airports to operate smoothly, the real danger looms in the skies. On average, over 10,000 wildlife strikes are reported each year to the Federal Aviation Administration, most of them birds. As more planes take to the skiesthe number of bird strikes hastrended upward at an alarming rate,threatening to damage planes, or worse, cause...

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How to use the PS5’s M.2 SSD expandable storage

The PS5 software beta now supports M.2 SSDs. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

Sony has started beta testing the first software update for the PS5 today, and it includes M.2 SSD expandable storage support. The long-awaited feature is available for testers right now and will launch on all PS5 consoles later this year. We’ll need to test a variety of drives with the PS5, but right now Sony requires at least a PCIe Gen4 SSD, with a minimum capacity of 250GB. Sony is also recommending a drive capable of 5,500MB/s, but slower Gen4 drives may still be supported.

I’ve tested Corsair’s MP600 (2TB) with the PS5, and it’s very easy to get it all up and running in less than two minutes. Here’s how it all works:

• To use the expandable storage in the PS5, you’ll need to remove the side panels from the console. Make sure you’ve...

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Nikola founder charged with securities fraud over allegedly fake truck demo

In Southern District of New York federal court on Thursday, Nikola founder Trevor Milton was charged with securities fraud. The charges allege that Milton made a series of materially false claims which portrayed the electric vehicle company Nikola as far closer to releasing a functional product than it actually was, and raising more than $500 million of investment in the process.

“Milton sold a version of Nikola not as it was – an early stage company with a novel idea to commercialize yet-to-be proven products and technology – but rather as a trail-blazing company that had already achieved many groundbreaking and game-changing milestones,” the indictment alleges.

“Behold, the Nikola One in motion”

Specifically, the indictment argues...

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This is Beast Canyon, the evolution of Intel’s modular mini gaming PC

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

This 8-liter desktop upgrades in a snap

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The children of tech’s guest workers are pushing for immigration relief

Illustration by Ari Liloan for The Verge

‘Documented Dreamers’ have few good options after aging out of dependent visas

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Uber teaming up with Rosetta Stone to offer free language courses to drivers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Uber is teaming up with popular language service Rosetta Stone to provide free classes to drivers and couriers, the company announced Thursday.

The deal is being extended to drivers and delivery workers in select markets where Uber operates. Rosetta’s digital language learning programs, which cover 24 languages, will be fully integrated into the Uber app used by its workers. And the company is working with Rosetta on developing language skills directly related to their work as ride-share drivers and delivery workers.

Drivers have previously been able to take English-language courses as part of Uber Pro, the company’s rewards program for drivers. The new language services are part of a broader effort by the ride-hailing company to...

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Nothing Ear 1 earbuds review: almost something

Standout design, noise cancellation, and wireless charging for $99

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Huawei’s P50 announced with Snapdragon 888 and HarmonyOS

The Huawei P50 Pro. | Image: Huawei

Huawei has announced its latest flagship phones for the Chinese market, the P50 and P50 Pro. They’re the company’s first major phones to launch with HarmonyOS, the company’s own-branded mobile operating system, which they pair with Huawei’s typically well-specced cameras, and hardware that includes Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 888 processor in some models.

The launch of the P50 series has come a little later in the year than the P40 did in 2020, thanks to US sanctions which have seriously impacted Huawei’s ability to produce new phones, and restricted its ability to buy chips and other components from companies using US tech. When he first teased the phones last month, Huawei’s consumer business CEO Richard Yu said that a launch date...

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Apple’s M1 MacBook Air is at its lowest price ever at Best Buy today

Apple MacBook Air with the M1 processor | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple’s latest MacBook Air with the M1 processor is an excellent, lightweight productivity laptop for school or work. It has excellent performance, stellar battery life, and runs completely silently, thanks to its fanless design. At Best Buy, you can save up to $250 off the price of the 8GB RAM / 256GB storage model, bringing it down to just $750, the lowest price we’ve seen yet. Read our review.

To get the best deal, you need to be signed into a My Best Buy account (free) and then toggle the option for the limited time student deal, which knocks another $100 off the discounted $850 price. If you need more storage, the 512GB version is getting the same discount, bringing its price down to $1,000.

In 2019, Amazon claimed to have sold...

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Facebook’s next hardware launch will be its Ray-Ban ‘smart glasses’

What exactly the glasses will look like or how they will function is unclear.

Facebook’s next hardware launch will be its long-awaited Ray-Ban ‘smart glasses,’ CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed on an earnings call this week. When exactly the glasses will arrive is unclear. We least heard they were launching some time in 2021, but the pandemic has changed a lot of companies’ plans, and Zuckerberg did not comment on a time frame.

“Looking ahead here, the next product release will be the launch of our first smart glasses from Ray-Ban in partnership with EssilorLuxottica,” said the Facebook CEO. “The glasses have their iconic form factor, and they let you do some pretty neat things.”

We don’t know what those “neat things” are, though Facebook has previously confirmed that the glasses will not have an integrated display...

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The summer Intel fell behind

Looking back a year later at Intel’s worst summer, and how it’s been fighting its way back since

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Sony’s first PS5 software beta arrives with M.2 SSD support

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony’s PS5 system software beta program is starting to roll out today, and it include access to the long-awaited M.2 SSD slot. The first PS5 beta is available for select users in the US, Canada, Japan, UK, Germany, and France. The beta includes some new UX enhancements and customizations, but the biggest addition is M.2 SSD expansion support.

Sony notes you’ll need an M.2 SSD that’s PCIe Gen4 and has read speeds of 5,500MB/s or faster. That’s largely what we were expecting, and it means a variety of Gen4 drives will be supported — including Samsung’s 980 Pro, Western Digital’s SN850s, and many other modern M.2 SSDs.

You may need to consider the cooling requirements for using an M.2 SSD in a PS5, though. “Using an M.2 SSD with your PS5...

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Google is kicking ‘sugar dating’ apps out of the Play Store

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

“Sugar dating” apps will not be allowed on the Android Play Store from September 1st, Google has announced as part of a series of policy changes for the platform. The change, which was first reported by Android Police, specifically prohibits apps relating to “compensated sexual relationships.” Other changes coming to the platform include a new crackdown on inactive developer accounts, Google says.

Traditionally, sugar dating relationships involve older, wealthier individuals dating and showering younger partners with gifts. As _Android Police_notes, there’s no shortage of apps on the Play Store designed around setting up “sugar daddy” relationships. None of them explicitly say that older men are expected to compensate younger women for...

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Bang & Olufsen launches its first pair of noise-canceling true wireless earbuds

The Beoplay EQ are available in gold (pictured) and black. | Image: Bang and Olufsen

Bang & Olufsen’s Beoplay EQ are the Danish audio brand’s first pair of noise-canceling true wireless headphones. Two microphones on each earbud handle noise cancellation duties alongside an extra mic for making calls, for a total of six across the two earbuds. They’re releasing globally on August 19th in black and gold.

At $399 (£359 / €399), the Beoplay EQ are around $50 more expensive than B&O’s non-noise-canceling Beoplay E8 earbuds were at launch. They don’t feature the third-generation E8’s formidable battery life, which tops out at 35 hours of total charge from the earbuds and case combined. Instead, the Beoplay EQ can run for around 20 hours when used with the charging case. Battery life from the earbuds themselves is about the...

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Robot arranges 100,000 dominoes into a Super Mario Bros. mural in one day

Engineer and YouTuber Mark Rober has created a robot that can make domino murals at lightning speed, and has shown it off with a video of it arranging 100,000 dominoes into a Super Mario Bros.-themed mural in just over 24 hours. Rober says it would take a team of seven humans a week to do the same thing.

The robot, named the “Dominator,” achieves this by putting down 300 dominoes at a time — which are, of course, loaded into it by another robot. Rober says in the video that the current version of the Dominator is the culmination of years of work from him and his team, and he goes into how the device actually works, as well as showing some of the failed designs that led to the final product.

If the name Mark Rober rings a bell, it may be...

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Samsung boosts profits and pledges to ‘mainstream’ foldables

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Samsung Electronics has released its second-quarter earnings, reporting 20 percent higher revenue and 54 percent higher operating profit year-on-year despite its mobile division taking a hit due to component shortages. The company made an operating profit of 12.57 trillion won (~$10.97 billion) off 63.67 trillion won (~$55.56 billion) in revenue.

Samsung says its mobile business suffered from the industry-wide component shortage as well as “production disruptions” in its Vietnam factories, some of which were closed after a COVID outbreak. Combined with weak seasonality resulting in less demand, revenue declined from the previous quarter, though it was still up year-on-year.

The semiconductor business continues to be Samsung’s biggest...

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The best deals on MacBooks right now

MacBook Air (late-2020).

With multiple configurations and various models to choose from, including some equipped with Apple’s new M1 processor, finding a deal on a MacBook or Mac Mini is not all that difficult.

We’ll run through discounts currently available for the latest MacBook models as well as any deals to be had on the Mac Mini. Of course, there are also frequent discounts available for older Intel-based configurations — all of which will be compatible with macOS Monterey upon its release in the fall — and we’ll also highlight those when we find them.

Alternatively, purchasing refurbished is another way to save money on an Apple computer. Apple’s refurbished store provides a one-year warranty on all products and generally has discounts of 15- to...

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Netflix will mandate COVID-19 vaccinations on productions in the US

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Netflix will require the casts and some crew on its productions in the US to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a measure that comes as the Delta variant continues to spread across the country.

Deadlinefirst reported that the streaming giant recently notified its production teams that it would require casts and crew working in “Zone A” on US productions to be vaccinated. _Deadline_described this classification as including both cast members and those who are in close contact with them. According to the report, Netflix plans to make few exceptions to the new vaccination policy, with exclusions including age, medical, and religious reasons.

Netflix confirmed the measure to The Verge but declined to comment further.

Similar measures have been...

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Amazon’s older Kindles will start to lose their internet access in December

Amazon’s Kindle e-readers with built-in 3G will begin to lose the ability to connect to the internet on their own in the US in December, according to an email sent to customers on Wednesday. The change is due to mobile carriers transitioning from older 2G and 3G networking technology to newer 4G and 5G networks. For older Kindles without Wi-Fi, this change could mean not connecting to the internet at all.

As Good e-Reader first noted in June, newer Kindle devices with 4G support should be fine, but for older devices that shipped with support for 3G and Wi-Fi like the Kindle Keyboard (3rd generation), Kindle Touch (4th generation), Kindle Paperwhite (4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th generation), Kindle Voyage (7th generation), and Kindle Oasis (8th...

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How Instagram can take its child safety work even further

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

In May, I wrote here that the child safety problem on tech platforms is worse than we knew. A disturbing study from the nonprofit organization Thorn found that the majority of American children were using apps years before they are supposed to be — and fully a quarter of them said they have had sexually explicit interactions with adults. That puts the onus on platforms to do a better job in both identifying child users of their services and to protect them from the abuse they might find there.

Instagram has now made some promising moves in that direction. Yesterday, the company said that it would:

• Make accounts private by default for children 16 and younger
• Hide teens’ accounts from adults who have engaged in suspicious behavior, such...

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Facebook will require US office employees to be vaccinated

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Facebook will require its US employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when they return to the office, the company confirmed to The Verge on Wednesday.

“As our offices reopen, we will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of our US campuses to be vaccinated,” Facebook’s vice president of people Lori Goler said in a statement. “How we implement this policy will depend on local conditions and regulations. We will have a process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons and will be evaluating our approach in other regions as the situation evolves. We continue to work with experts to ensure our return to office plans prioritize everyone’s health and safety.”

Facebook expects to reopen offices in the US fully in...

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The best Chromebook for 2021

Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge

The best Chromebook laptop or two-in-one for every Chrome OS fan

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Apple will require masks again in most of its US stores

Apple will be requiring customers and staff at most of its more than 270 US retail stores to wear masks even if they are vaccinated, according to a new Bloomberg report, bringing back a requirement that had been removed starting in June. The change goes into effect Thursday.

“After carefully reviewing the latest CDC recommendations, and analyzing the health and safety data for your local area, we are updating our guidance on face masks for your store,” Apple informed workers in a memo obtained by Bloomberg. “Starting July 29, face masks will be required in store for customers and team members — even if they’re vaccinated.” Apple employees who work in its corporate offices have also been told they must wear masks inside of Apple office...

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How to back up your Gmail

Photo illustration byJakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

You may be switching jobs, or maybe you’ve decided to stop using a specific email account, or maybe you just want a copy of all your email just in case. Whatever your reasons, it’s not a bad idea to back up and export your Gmail and other Google accounts using Google’s Takeout feature. In fact, you can set your accounts to back up regularly, which is a good practice in general.

One note: if you’re backing up a company account, you may find that your company has disabled Takeout. There are third-party apps that say they can back up your Gmail, but you should check your company’s policies before you try them out.

How to back up your Gmail:

• Go to myaccount.google.com
• Under Privacy & personalization, click on “Manage your data &...

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