There’s now a subscription service for college textbooks

Pearson

Pearson, the largest publisher of college textbooks in the US, has announced Pearson Plus, a new subscription service for digital textbooks. The Pearson Plus app, available in both mobile and desktop form, will be available on US college campuses this fall and is expected to roll out globally in the future.

There are two subscription tiers. Enrolled students can pay $9.99 per month to access one textbook at a time or $14.99 per month for access to the company’s full library (a selection of over 1,500 e-books). The app provides various other study aids as well, including flashcards, annotations, and customizable fonts.

The Pearson Plus app will be available on US college campuses this fall

College textbooks are a big expense, and can...

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Vizio’s free streaming service WatchFree Plus gets a new look and more channels

Vizio’s free streaming service WatchFree Plus. | Image: Vizio

Vizio has revamped its WatchFree streaming experience, given it a brand new look, and tacked a “plus” on the end of its service’s title. (Because if a streaming service doesn’t include the symbol, does it even really count?)

With the update announced today, the service formerly known as WatchFree is getting new navigation features to improve search and discovery of free content with recommendations that cater to a viewer’s individual interest. Plus, its live programming guide now offers hundreds of free channels across a surprisingly comprehensive number of genres — everything from comedy and sports to a lengthy list of entertainment channels.

Image: Vizio

Vizio’s revamped WatchFree Plus service.

In addition,...

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Here are the best Apple Watch deals right now

The Product Red edition of the Series 6 is one of many Apple Watches currently on sale. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Thinking about picking up a new Apple Watch? It’s never a bad idea to wait until there’s a good deal, and thankfully, those happen with some regularity.

There are currently three Apple Watch models to choose from, all of which support watchOS 7. The latest model — and the highest end — is the Apple Watch Series 6 with GPS and cellular connectivity, which starts at $399. If that seems too expensive, you can save about $120 by opting for an Apple Watch SE, which also launched in the fall.

Finally, there’s the three-year-old Series 3, the most affordable Apple Watch to date. It has a starting retail price of $199, but it frequently goes on sale. However, if you want something more future-proof, you may want to consider the other two...

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Facebook is requiring all US employees to wear masks in offices

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Facebook announced on Monday that all employees will be required to wear masks when offices reopen. The policy goes into effect on August 3rd and will remain in place until further notice. The company confirmed last week that it’s requiring COVID-19 vaccination for all employees returning to work at its US campuses, which it plans to fully reopen by October.

“Given the rising numbers of COVID cases, the newest data on COVID variants, and an increasing number of local requirements, we are reinstating our mask requirement in all of Facebook’s US offices, regardless of an employee’s vaccination status,” said a Facebook spokesperson.

Facebook’s update happened the same day health officials in the Bay Area announced the reinstatement of i...

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Here are the best AirPods deals you can get right now

Apple’s AirPods Pro wireless earbuds | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Apple’s AirPods are among the most popular headphones on the market. Both the AirPods and AirPods Pro are compact, easy to pair with your devices, and offer reliable connectivity, which isn’t always the case with even the best true wireless earbuds. The AirPods Max, the latest pair of headphones to join the AirPods lineup, are just as dependable, albeit at a higher price.

Luckily, many of the most popular models routinely undergo a price cut. There are often sizable discounts available on the base model as well as the more expensive AirPods Pro and Max, which offer noise cancellation and better sound quality than the standard second-gen model.

Here, we’ll run through the best AirPods deals available, including those on the AirPods...

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Microsoft is ready to rent Windows 365 cloud PCs for as little as $20 per month

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Today Microsoft opened availability for Windows 365, the cloud PC setup that lets businesses stream Windows 10 or Windows 11 via a web browser. As described earlier this spring, it’s one way for businesses to support hybrid and remote work, with an instant-on PC experience that can work across different devices.

After it was announced, Microsoft revealed one pricing option of $31 per month, per user to access a cloud PC instance with the equivalent of two CPUs, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. Now that it’s available, the complete Windows 365 pricing page reveals more packages, ready for business (300 seats or less), or enterprise-level subscriptions.

Image: Microsoft.com

Windows 365 pricing options

The...

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The pandemic is over in Pokémon Go for players from New Zealand and the US

James Bareham / The Verge

Niantic reverted some of the pandemic-era changes made to Pokémon Go in the US and New Zealand on Sunday, including reducing the distance you need to be from the physical real-world locations of Pokéstops and Gyms to interact with them. The company announced the changes in June and has decided to move forward with its plans, despite backlash over the changes.

The distance you’ll need to be from real-world locations is effectively halved as part of the new update, going from a maximum of 80 meters (around 262 feet) to interact with a Pokéstop, to the game’s original 40 meters (around 131 feet), according to Dot Esports. There were multiple reasons for Niantic to double the distance originally, from reducing crowding during a pandemic, to...

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Twitch’s new ads are way less disruptive

One type of the new Twitch ads looks like a banner ad. | Image: Twitch

Twitch is experimenting with a new type of ad format for streamers that appears to be much less disruptive than the pre- and mid-roll ads that take over an entire stream. The new ads, called Stream Display Ads, instead show up under or around somebody’s stream but don’t stop you from seeing or hearing what’s going on.

You can get an idea of how one style, which is a banner ad, looks in this tweet from Twitch.

We are experimenting with a new ad format: Stream Display Ads!

These are less disruptive ads that allow viewers to see and hear Creators while being displayed. Creators will receive ad revenue for each SDA shown. This is an optional feature.

https://t.co/DzYp6yIT5apic.twitter.com/a9qo7Dam6n

— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) A...

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Twitter adds third-party signup with Apple or Google

Twitter has introduced third-party login support, letting users create accounts and log in to the social network with their Apple or Google accounts (via 9to5Mac). Currently, there doesn’t appear to be a way to link your Apple or Google account to an existing Twitter account, so third-party login is (at least for the moment) limited to accounts created using the feature.

The feature reportedly showed up in the Twitter beta last month, but now it appears to be more widely available. I was able to set up a Twitter account using my Apple account, and the process was like a more streamlined version of the regular signup process — there were no emails or passwords to deal with, and when signing in with Google, it even brought over the profile...

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Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series will premiere in September 2022

The first image from Amazon’s yet-untitled Lord of the Rings series. | Image: Amazon Studios

One of Amazon’s most anticipated originals to date, a yet-unnamed Lord of the Rings original series, will officially debut on Prime Video on Friday, September 2nd, 2022.

Along with a premiere date, Amazon Studios released an official first image from the forthcoming series, which will be set in Middle-earth’s Second Age. The series will take place thousands of years before the events chronicled in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, and it will follow characters “both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.”

The image release is tied to the series’s production wrap after filming in New Zealand. Fans quickly speculated that the series will be set in Valinor, as...

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The shadow of the chip shortage is looming over tech’s big quarter

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Tech earnings this quarter were, to the surprise of no one, high. But amid the record-settling revenues, the looming specter of the global semiconductor shortage was the fly in the ointment.

While virtually none of the major tech companies sounded too concerned on their calls, component shortages were called out by Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Tesla, AMD, and Intel as potential problems for either their previous or upcoming quarter.

Apple had already warned that part shortages could impact its iPad and Mac businesses at its Q2 earnings to the tune of $3 billion to $4 billion. CFO Luca Maestri said on last week’s Q3 earnings call that it was able to keep those losses mainly limited to iPads and under $3 billion, in what was definitely a win...

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Let’s all finally post a fleet

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter is yeeting Fleets, its Stories-like ephemeral posts, on August 3rd, meaning that depending on when you read this, you may have mere hours to unleash that fleet you’ve been thinking about for months unto the world.

And I ask — no, beg: please, post the fleets. I need some entertainment to kick off my month.

Look, I know that there are already a lot of different places where you can share expiring posts. Snapchat. Instagram. Facebook. Even LinkedIn. And that huge number of choices is probably part of why Fleets never really took off. Why share expiring posts on Twitter when many other apps have offered better tools to do so for years? Even on my iPhone 12 Mini, my Fleets bar was rarely filled up.

But let’s change that just for...

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A man violated a restraining order by renaming his estranged wife’s Napster playlists

Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

An Ohio man harassed his estranged wife through a shared Napster account, evading a no-contact order by changing the titles of playlists. Ohio’s Eighth District Court of Appeals outlined the case in a July 29th ruling, which was flagged on Twitter by writer and attorney Eric Goldman. It’s an example of how metadata can become a vector for harassment outside major social platforms — echoing long-standing problems on other services like Spotify.

According to the court ruling, defendant Jacob Dunn admitted to reaching out to his wife through a Napster account that both of them could access. A court had issued a temporary protection order (TPO) against Dunn in 2018, prohibiting him from contacting his wife through any means. But Dunn...

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Twitter verifies fake Cormac McCarthy account (again)

Cormac McCarthy at the premiere of the film adaptation of his novel The Road_in 2009_. | Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage

Twitter’s verification process is notoriously slapdash, but you’d expect the company not to fall for the exact same fake twice, right? Wrong!

In 2012, Twitter verified an account supposedly belonging to illustrious author Cormac McCarthy, which was in reality started by an unpublished novelist. Now, in 2021, it’s done the same thing again, briefly verifying a second McCarthy fake under the handle @CormacMcCrthy.

The account has now been un-verified, but a representative for McCarthy’s agent at ICM Partners confirmed to The Verge that it was fake. “I can confirm that this is definitely not a genuine Cormac McCarthy account,” they said. “Twitter is aware of this situation and we hope to have the issue resolved shortly.” Twitter has yet...

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This is the Pixel 6

Google’s new Pixel 6 phones, regular and Pro | Google

Google’s new Tensor SoC is the heart of its next phone

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Senate negotiators release bipartisan infrastructure bill

On Sunday, a bipartisan group of senators released their over $1 trillion infrastructure package after weeks of negotiations. As written, the bill authorizes over $500 billion in new spending to strengthen roads, bridges, and other physical infrastructure like high-speed broadband and electric vehicle adoption. The result is the largest domestic spending bill in more than 10 years, touching on nearly every aspect of the US economy.

Last week, negotiators reached a deal to bolster the nation’s broadband networks with an additional $65 billion, but left it unclear exactly how that funding would be spent or how much of it would go toward increasing affordability and adoption.But the text released yesterday contained language to make the...

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Microsoft director with intelligence background will lead the White House’s space council

The White House’s core space policy body will be led by Chirag Parikh, a veteran intelligence official and senior director for Microsoft’s space-based cloud services, Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Monday. Harris, chair of the National Space Council, tapped the seasoned national security official to lead the council’s day-to-day activities as the Biden administration sees global competition mount in space.

Parikh’s appointment, coming three months after the White House confirmed Harris would chair its space council, gets the ball rolling for the Biden administration’s coordinated priorities in space. Harris aims to put “her own personal stamp on the council” that could include a heightened focus on cybersecurity for space...

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8BitDo adds Xbox media remotes to its lineup of excellent console accessories

The remotes will ship in September. | Image: 8BitDo

8BitDo has a new pair of officially licensed media remotes for the Xbox Series X, Series S, and the Xbox One, which offer a more suitable controller for streaming services or the consoles’ built-in 4K Blu-ray players. There are two versions available: a slightly larger $24.99 black model which includes a full numpad and a compact $19.99 white version. Both are available to preorder on Amazon today, with shipping expected September 15th.

We’ve generally liked 8BitDo’s controllers in the past. Its Pro 2 controller gives Nintendo’s own Switch Pro controller a run for its money in terms of functionality and is more affordable to boot, while its wireless Arcade Stick is a great way to play fighting games on Switch and PC.

I...

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R2-D2 is officially a Tamagotchi digital pet now, two decades too late

R2-D2 — Star Wars’ beloved droid — is now officially a Tamagotchi toy, letting you take a pocket-sized, pixelated virtual pet version of the iconic astromech with you wherever you go.

The R2-D2 Tamagotchi comes in two colors: a white model that more accurately resembles R2’s chassis, and a more retro translucent blue version that harkens back two decades to when people actually bought Tamagotchis.

As for the actual gameplay experience, the R2-D2 version of the digital pet appears to be virtually identical to the same Tamagotchi gameplay loop that has existed for over 20 years. Using a 24 by 30 pixelated LCD display and three physical buttons, you’ll be able to train your R2-D2 pet in 19 different skills, take care of the...

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Govee’s excellent TV backlight kit is even more affordable today

Govee’s Immersion TV LED backlights can elevate your TV watching experience by syncing its lights to what’s on your 55-inch or 65-inch screen. The effect makes it look like the colors bleed through the bezels of your TV, out onto your walls. It’s not the only product that can do this, but it’s far less expensive than most at $80. For a limited time, Govee is knocking $5 off that price to sweeten the deal a little more. You can get this product for $75 if you check the $5 “extra savings coupon” listed underneath the price on the product page. Read our review.

Best Buy has been a reliable source for deals on Apple’s iPhone cases that rarely see much in the way of discounts. It launched another batch of price cuts today, focusing on cases...

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Libertarians built a crypto mecca in Keene, New Hampshire — then feds tore it down

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Libertarians built a Bitcoin economy in a small New Hampshire town — then feds tore it down

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The Nod hosts ditch Spotify to relaunch their original show

Photo: For Colored Nerds hosts Eric Eddings and Brittany Luse | SiriusXM/Stitcher

The co-hosts of The Nod are back, and this time, they’ve separated from Gimlet Media and Spotify and are instead taking their work to SiriusXM’s Stitcher. Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings tell The Verge today that they’re relaunching their Black culture show For Colored Nerds this fall, which they created, hosted, and produced prior to working at Gimlet. The podcast will be available widely and isn’t exclusive to one platform.

Stitcher will produce the show along with them, and SXM Media will exclusively sell ads for it. The co-hosts last published a For Colored Nerds episode in 2017, but the same feed will be revived for the comeback.

Notably, Eddings and Luse retain total control over their show — they own the audio masters, the feed,...

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YouTube ‘Premium Lite’ subscription offers ad-free viewing for less

Premium Lite offers ad-free viewing at a lower price. | Screenshot: YouTube

Google is piloting a more affordable premium subscription tier for YouTube that offers ad-free viewing without YouTube Premium’s other features like offline downloads or background playback. The new “Premium Lite” plan was spotted by a user on ResetEra, and YouTube subsequently confirmed the test offering in a statement given to The Verge. Premium Lite is currently being tested in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.

“In Nordics and Benelux (except for Iceland), we’re testing a new offering to give users even more choice: Premium Lite costs €6.99/month (or local equivalent per month) and it includes ad-free videos on YouTube,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. In comparison, YouTube’s...

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Super Nintendo World’s Donkey Kong zone may already be under construction

The door that may lead to Super Nintendo World’s Donkey Kong-themed area. | Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge

Super Nintendo World, the Super Mario-themed area of Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, finally opened back in March after multiple delays, and Nintendo may already be working on expanding the park. As noted by VGC, social media posts from recent visitors to USJ have shown cranes, scaffolding, and a jungle-themed backdrop around Super Nintendo World, suggesting work is underway on the rumored Donkey Kong area.

Neither Nintendo nor Universal have ever announced the Donkey Kong plans, but they’ve been rumored for many years. Leaked early concept imagery for Super Nintendo World included plans for a separate Donkey Kong-themed zone, including a mine cart-style roller coaster. Upon opening, Super Nintendo World was solely Mario-themed, but...

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Google soon won’t let you sign in on very old Android devices

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge

If you still have a device running Android 2.3.7 (the final version of Gingerbread) or older, Google won’t let you sign in to your Google account on that device starting September 27th, according to a support document (via Liliputing).

“As part of our ongoing efforts to keep our users safe, Google will no longer allow sign-in on Android devices that run Android 2.3.7 or lower starting September 27, 2021,” the company says. “If you sign into your device after September 27, you may get username or password errors when you try to use Google products and services like Gmail, YouTube, and Maps.”

Android 2.3.7 was released nearly 10 years ago

To give you an idea of just how old a device will be affected by this change, Android 2.3.7 was...

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Square to buy Afterpay, which offers a ‘buy now, pay later’ service, for $29 billion in stock

Somebody using a Square product on their phone. | Image: Square

Square plans to acquire Australian company Afterpay, which offers a “buy now, pay later” service that lets you pay for purchases in installments interest-free, for $29 billion in stock, the two companies announced Sunday. It’s the latest big move for Square, which has also announced a Bitcoin business unit and that it bought a majority stake in the Tidal streaming service this year.

“Buy now, pay later” services like those offered by Afterpay, Affirm, and Klarna have become increasingly prevalent across the web. And Square may not be the only payments giant jumping into the ring, as Apple is reportedly working on a similar service of its own that’s internally called “Apple Pay Later.”

The transaction is expected to close in the first...

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Leaked Galaxy Watch photos show Samsung and Google’s new smartwatch OS on an actual device

Photos of the rumored Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. | Image: 91mobiles

We’re a little over a week away from Samsung’s next Unpacked event, but new photos from 91mobiles may have revealed our first in-person look at two things we could see at the show: the rumored Galaxy Watch 4 Classic and the new smartwatch OS from Samsung and Google.

The two photos from 91moblies show off black and silver watches with rounded bezels, matching a design seen in leaked renders from Android Headlines and detailed GIFs posted by noted leaker Evan Blass in July. Perhaps more significantly, the photos show the new smartwatch OS (currently referred to as Wear) on actual devices for the first time. But disappointingly, there isn’t much to see — just an initial setup screen and a screen asking the user to set the time.

Google and...

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Ariana Grande is headlining Fortnite’s next concert series

Image: Epic Games

Last week, Epic Games teased that a “record-breaking superstar” would be performing in Fortnite’s upcoming Rift Tour concert series, and now we know that the mystery performer is none other than Ariana Grande.

The five-show concert series kicks off August 6th at 6PM ET, and shows will run through August 8th. (You can find the full schedule here.) Epic recommends being ready in-game 60 minutes before any of the performances so that you can jump into the Rift Tour playlist when it goes live 30 minutes ahead of showtime. Fortnite events have filled up in the past — I personally missed Fortnite’s “The Device” event in-game because I signed on too late — so I’d recommend showing up early to the Rift Tour shows just in case.

#rifttour
a...

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Jungle Cruise earned a third of its opening revenues from Disney Plus

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in Disney’s_Jungle Cruise._ | Image: Disney

Disney’s Jungle Cruise debuted in theaters and as a Disney Plus Premier Access title this weekend, and early revenue totals from the entertainment giant show that streaming accounted for a third of the film’s revenues, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Sunday’s Jungle Cruise numbers mark the second time Disney has released figures for a movie offered as part of the Premier Access program, which lets Disney Plus subscribers pay $30 to stream certain films the same day they hit theaters.

Jungle Cruise’s $30 million is half of the $60 million Black Widow earned on Disney Plus over the same period following its early July debut, but Jungle Cruise’s Disney Plus revenue represented a bigger slice of the total revenue pie than streaming did...

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Elite students are debating hot-button issues on an invite-only TikTok clone

Illustration by Ari Liloan for The Verge

To combat online polarization, Polemix aims to make young people ‘listen to the outside’

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