Mastercard is phasing out magnetic stripes on its cards starting in 2024

A card with an EMV chip and contactless, but not magnetic stripe. | Image: Mastercard

Mastercard is phasing out the use of magnetic stripes on its credit and debit cards over the next decade, as the industry moves towards more secure or convenient alternatives like chips and contactless payments, the company has announced. It says it will be the first payments network to phase out the technology, which dates back to the 1960s.

Mastercard says the transition will start in 2024, when the stripe will no longer be required on new cards in regions like Europe where chip cards are already widely used. In the US, where the adoption of chip payments has been slower, the transition will start in 2027. From 2029, no new Mastercard debit or credit cards will come with a magnetic stripe, and they’ll be gone completely by 2033.

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Astro teams up with Timbuk2 to make bags for all of your gaming gear

Astro

Astro’s latest set of products are a bit outside of its usual lane. Instead of releasing a new gaming headset or controller, it has worked with reputable bag and accessory brand Timbuk2 during the pandemic to make a backpack and a sling bag with Astro’s name printed on it.

Astro’s focus on gaming means that, unsurprisingly, each bag has been made to carry your gaming essentials. As such, they’re built with sections dedicated to storing — and, crucially, protecting — things like headphones, controllers, and laptops.

The smaller sling bag, called the CS03, costs $79.99 and seems tailor-made for Switch owners looking for protection and utility from a bag. Lifting the bag’s magnetically sealed front flap reveals a pocket to store keys or...

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California regulators think T-Mobile lied to get Sprint merger approved

The California Public Utilities Commission is displeased with T-Mobile. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

According to a ruling published on Friday, T-Mobile made false and misleading statements in testimony to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) about its plans for Sprint’s legacy CDMA network. The company will have the opportunity to explain why it shouldn’t face sanctions for violating the commission’s rules.

The decision comes after a long back-and-forth that started with a petition from Dish Network in April asking the Commission to modify its decision on the Sprint acquisition. Dish claimed that T-Mobile made statements under oath that indicated the company would shut down Sprint’s 3G CDMA network in a three-year timeframe. When T-Mobile announced it would decommission the network on January 1st, 2022, Dish cried foul...

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Drought-choked Colorado River faces an unprecedented water shortage

Intake towers for water to enter to generate electricity and provide hydroelectric power stand during low water levels due the western drought on July 19, 2021 at the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River at the Nevada and Arizona state border. | Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

For the first time ever, there’s an official water shortage at the largest water reservoir in the US. Today, the US Bureau of Reclamation declared a water shortage at Hoover Dam’s Lake Mead, which 25 million people across the Western US and Mexico rely on for water. It’s the first time this kind of declaration had been madeon the Colorado River, the main source of water for Lake Mead, CNN and E&E News report.

The declaration will trigger mandatory cuts to water use starting January 1, 2023. California, Arizona, and Nevada all tap water from Lake Mead. Based on federal guidelines for shortages brokered in 2019, Arizona will lose 18 percent of its annual apportionment of water from Lake Mead, and Nevada will lose seven percent of their...

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How the latest and greatest Samsung and Apple earbuds lock you into their world

The recently-announced Galaxy Buds 2. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

People always look at me weirdly when I say that I use Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Live with my iPhone 12 Pro. But it’s a pairing that makes sense for me: First, I need something that sits entirely within my ear, without a stem that’s going to risk being knocked about by a bike helmet’s strap. Second, they work with Samsung’s companion Galaxy Buds app on iOS, so I can still access their advanced features. And third? I just love that they’re shaped like little kidney beans.

But if you were to try the same thing with Samsung’s newer Galaxy Buds Pro or Galaxy Buds 2 you’ll find Samsung’s iOS earbud companion app hasn’t been updated to support them. Samsung wants you to buy a Samsung phone, so it appears to be locking you out of numerous little...

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California accuses Riot of misleading employees about their right to speak up

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing issued a statement saying Riot Games has failed to inform its employees of their right to speak to the government about instances of harassment and discrimination.

In a press release, the DFEH — the body also suing Activision Blizzard for discrimination and harassment — stated that it has asked the courts, “to compel Riot Games Inc.’s compliance with the Court’s June 4, 2021 order requiring the company to send a notice to its workers about their rights to speak with DFEH.”

In 2018, an extensive investigation by Kotaku revealed Riot Games fostered an environment in which female employees were harassed, belittled, and passed up for promotion. In November of that year, one current and...

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How to choose between the Dell XPS 13 OLED and the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED

Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge

OLED has been commonplace in high-end TVs for quite a while, but it’s still making its way into the laptop mainstream. That’s good news for shoppers looking for a more vibrant multimedia experience. OLED panels have unbeatable contrast ratios, combining the blackest possible blacks with the whitest possible whites. They bring entertainment to a new level, and they can lend a hand with creative photo and video work, too.

Not too long ago, OLED laptops were a luxury purchase. But smaller mainstream OLED devices are becoming more common each year. Whether you’re a die-hard OLED enthusiast or you’re just looking for a way to upgrade your movie-watching experience, you now have two excellent 13-inch OLED machines to choose from: the Dell XPS...

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T-Mobile says unauthorized access to its data occurred, not clear if customer info involved

T Mobile data breach | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Following a weekend report that its servers had been breached, T-Mobile said Monday that unauthorized access to some of its data occurred, but it had not yet determined whether personal customer data was involved.

“We are confident that the entry point used to gain access has been closed, and we are continuing our deep technical review of the situation across our systems to identify the nature of any data that was illegally accessed,” the company said in a news release. “This investigation will take some time but we are working with the highest degree of urgency. Until we have completed this assessment we cannot confirm the reported number of records affected or the validity of statements made by others.”

Motherboard reported on Sunday...

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Windows users can now manage their iCloud Passwords

If you sync your iCloud Passwords with Windows, Apple’s new, dedicated iCloud Passwords app is going to give you some much-needed new abilities. The app, which comes with the iCloud for Windows 12.5 update, lets you search through your saved passwords, update them, add new ones, and delete login info you no longer want.

Apple’s documentation explains how to manage your iCloud Passwords using the new app, but it’s relatively straightforward. You can access the app from the Start menu, and make any changes to your passwords that you need. Those changes will then be synced to your Apple devices.

iCloud Passwords running on Windows 10 (note that all data included in screenshots is example data).

Apple rolled out some...

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Call of Duty: Vanguard announced, with more to be revealed in Warzone on August 19th

Image: Activision

Activision has officially announced Call of Duty: Vanguard, the next title in the hugely popular series, with a short teaser video on Monday. While the video doesn’t reveal a lot — it consists mostly of footage of four different locales that each feature a mysterious face — it seems that the game will take place during World War II, likely on the four fronts of the war.

Details are light right now, but more will be revealed about Call of Duty: Vanguard at an event inside Call of Duty: Warzone, the series’ take on a free-to-play battle royale shooter, on August 19th at 1:30PM ET.

Call of Duty: #Vanguard
Worldwide Reveal on August 19 in #Warzonepic.twitter.com/DQTqaaLsF8

— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) August 16, 2021

Call of Duty:...

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Researcher says he found terrorist watchlist exposed online

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Nearly 2 million terrorist watchlist records, including “no-fly” list indicators, were purportedly exposed online. The list was indexed across multiple search engines on July 19th, but the Department of Homeland Security did not remove it until three weeks later, as first reported by _Bleeping Computer_Monday.

Security Discovery researcher Volodymyr “Bob” Diachenko discovered the watchlist, which appears to be the product of the Terrorist Screening Center, last month. The files were indexed by multiple search engines in an easily readable format. Records included information like full names, citizenship status, date of birth, passport numbers, and no-fly indicators. No password or separate authentication was necessary to access it,...

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After Apple rejections, FlickType gives up on popular iPhone keyboard for the blind

If you’re a blind or low-vision iPhone user who relies on the FlickType keyboard to type, I’ve got some bad news — you’re about to become a casualty of the fight between Apple and one of its staunchest critics. Developer Kosta Eleftheriou has announced that he’s discontinuing the iPhone keyboard portion of his app, and says that keyboard will automatically be removed in a future update.

It's with a heavy heart today that we're announcing the discontinuation of our award-winning iPhone keyboard for blind users.

Apple has thrown us obstacle after obstacle for years while we try to provide an app to improve people's lives, and we can no longer endure their abuse. pic.twitter.com/cH1HCQzeP1

— FlickType Watch Keyboard (@FlickType) August 16,...

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Twitter’s decentralized social network project finally has a leader

Image: Bluesky

Bluesky, the Twitter-funded effort to create a decentralized social network standard, has finally found a project lead — the creator of Happening, Jay Graber. Bluesky and Graber have also begun hiring for the project’s first developers, meaning the slowly gestating project might finally become a bit less “blue sky” and a bit more real.

Besides experience leading the work on Happening’s event organizing features, Graber worked on Zcash, a cryptocurrency created by the Electric Coin Company that uses zero-knowledge cryptography to secure transactions. Graber was also one of the authors of a report Bluesky published in January detailing its research into decentralized web systems.

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be leading @bluesky, an...

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Tinder will make its ID Verification option available to all users

Tinder is adding ID Verification option for all users | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Tinder said on Monday that it will make its ID Verification feature available to all members around the world “in the coming quarters,” according to a news release. The feature will allow users to verify their identities by uploading documentation; in Japan, where the feature has been live since 2019, a passport or license is typically used, but that may vary from place to place.

The company said it will take into consideration recommendations from experts and input from Tinder members about which documents would be used in each country as well as local regulations and laws while it rolls out the feature. Tinder says it will use the feedback to ensure the process is inclusive and “privacy-friendly.”

Rory Kozoll, head of trust and safety...

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Peloton says a fix is ready for one of its treadmill recalls

Peloton

Peloton is ready to address at least one of its treadmill recalls. Regular Tread owners can now get their equipment fixed, which will involve a technician coming to users’ homes. They can schedule the visit starting this month. The company recalled both the Tread Plus, its more expensive first treadmill, and the Tread, its newer, cheaper device, in May after reports of multiple injuries and at least one death on the Tread Plus. There were 18 incidents of the regular Tread’s touchscreen falling and causing minor cuts and bruises in the UK and Canada.

Peloton and the Consumer Product Safety Commission haven’t said exactly what was wrong with the Tread — only that the touchscreen could loosen — or how it’s being fixed. Only 1,050 units of...

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Local and anonymous social media app Yik Yak is back

Yik Yak — the anonymous, local social media app that only shows posts from people in your immediate area — has returned from the grave with new ownership after shutting down four years ago.

According to the app’s relaunched website, the new incarnation of Yik Yak bought the rights to redevelop the service in February 2021, with the aim of providing a local social media network that’s free from the “labels” that dominate communication on other platforms.

The new app resembles the original version of Yik Yak from 2014: users can post and comment on short text posts that are only able to be viewed within a five-mile radius. Like Reddit, posts can be upvoted and downvoted, and a separate “hot” feed compiles the top post from the past 24...

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Xbox Series X is getting a new 4K dashboard

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

Microsoft is starting to test a new 4K dashboard for the Xbox Series X today. Xbox Insiders in the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring will get access to the increased resolution for the Xbox dashboard later today, designed to improve UI elements for 4K displays.

“This change means Home, Guide, and other areas of the UI will be displayed in a higher native resolution for increased sharpness and text readability,” says Microsoft’s Xbox testing team.

Until this new 4K dashboard, Xbox Series X consoles had been running dashboard UI elements at 1080p. Native 4K elements for Home, Guide, and other parts of the dashboard will greatly improve how the Xbox Series X appears on 4K TVs.

It’s not yet clear whether HDR will also be supported as part of this new...

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OpenTable adds a new ‘verified’ tag for restaurants to check vaccine status

OpenTable is adding a new feature that will let restaurants tag diners as “verified” for meeting entry requirements. The initial — and obvious — use of the verification feature will be for restaurants to log guests who are vaccinated for COVID-19, but the feature could also be used to do things like confirm a diner is of legal drinking age or other requirements for entry.

The feature should be rolling out to restaurants later this month, and it aims to help make it easier for restaurant owners to better serve repeat customers, especially with cities like New York City starting to roll out vaccination requirements for restaurants as the delta variant continues to rise.

OpenTable wants to make things easier for repeat diners

The...

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Walmart is on the hunt for someone to develop cryptocurrency products

Walmart is looking to hire a new senior director to develop new digital currency products, possibly including cryptocurrency payments, according to a listing on the company’s job site (via Bloomberg). The move mirrors a similar interest shown by Walmart’s sworn enemy Amazon, which wants to hire someone to head up cryptocurrency products.

The new Walmart senior director position will serve as the company’s “Cryptocurrency and Digital Currency Product Lead,” in charge of “developing the digital currency strategy and product roadmap.” Among other responsibilities, the listing says this new role will also be focused on “identify[ing] crypto related investment and partnerships,” suggesting Walmart might buy its way into preexisting...

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Spin’s electric scooters are coming to Google Maps

Photo by Horst Galuschka/picture alliance via Getty Images

Google Maps users will be able to find and rent Spin’s electric scooters after the Ford-owned company announced a new global integration on Tuesday.

Starting Sunday, anyone who uses Google Maps will be able to see the nearest available Spin e-bike or e-scooter in real time, including how long it will take to walk to the vehicle, as well as battery range and expected arrival time.

But to pay for the scooter, unlock it, and take their ride, users will be redirected to Spin’s app. Google Maps users will be able to see Spin’s availability in 84 cities, campuses, and towns in Europe and North America, the company said.

“Our goal is really to make it just as convenient or even more convenient to get around with alternative transit, bikes,...

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Go read this deep dive on why US public health data systems couldn’t handle COVID-19

Public health data systems in the United States are out of date, underfunded, and can’t communicate with each other. Those issues left states unable to keep track of COVID-19 spread, and during surges, many local health departments stopped contact tracing, according to a new investigation from Politico.

The deep-dive look at the gaps in public health surveillance shows breakdowns at nearly every step in the process. Labs that ran COVID-19 tests didn’t report data directly to health departments through electronic systems, instead using faxes or emails. Health departments used different systems to track different types of outbreaks and relied on programs that required laborious, manual entry. They couldn’t get information about cases...

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Cyberpunk 2077 to get easy perk resets to entice players back into Night City

Viktor, a character in_Cyberpunk 2077._ | Image: CD Projekt Red

Cyberpunk 2077 will let you more easily reset your character’s perks in the upcoming 1.3 patch, according to a new blog post from developer CD Projekt Red. The new feature arrives ahead of the next-gen upgrade set to hit sometime this year and could be useful for anyone who wants to dive back into the game and switch up how their character plays.

You can see the new feature in action in a video from the developer, which shows that you’ll have to pay some in-game currency to reset your perks. You can already reset your perks, but it’s quite expensive to do so — this new option seems to be much more affordable.

It appears that the reset feature doesn’t let you switch up your attributes (the five main traits in the game’s skill tree that...

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Boyfriend Dungeon will update its content warning after player concerns

Kitfox Games

Boyfriend Dungeon is getting an update, but not to its gameplay. In response to players’ concerns that the current content warning doesn’t go far enough, Kitfox Games tweeted on Saturday that it would update the message next week. The developer says that right now the warning, “inadequately describes the events of stalking and emotional manipulation that exist in the story.”

The content warning for Boyfriend Dungeon inadequately describes the events of stalking and emotional manipulation that exist in the story. We'll update the game next week with a more accurate CW. We apologize for any hurt inflicted by our mistake. Thank you for playing!

— Kitfox Games BOYFRIEND DUNGEON OUT NOW (@KitfoxGames) August 14, 2021

Boyfriend Dungeon...

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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin sues NASA, escalating its fight for a Moon lander contract

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin brought its fight against NASA’s Moon program to federal court on Monday, doubling down on accusations that the agency wrongly evaluated its lunar lander proposal. The complaint escalates a monthslong crusade by the company to win a chunk of lunar lander funds that was only given to its rival, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and comes weeks after Blue Origin’s first protest over the Moon program was squashed by a federal watchdog agency. Now in court, Blue Origin’s challenge could add another pause to SpaceX’s contract and a new lengthy delay to NASA’s race to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024.

Blue Origin’s complaint, filed with the US Court of Federal Claims, was shrouded behind a protective order. The...

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Intel enters the PC gaming GPU battle with Arc

Intel Arc is the new branding for Intel’s GPUs.

Intel is branding its upcoming consumer GPUs as Intel Arc. This new Arc brand will cover both the hardware and software powering Intel’s high-end discrete GPUs, as well as multiple hardware generations. The first of those, known previously as DG2, is expected to arrive in the form of codename “Alchemist” in Q1 2022.

Intel’s Arc-based Alchemist GPUs will be available in both desktops and notebooks in early 2022, with Intel seemingly aiming to compete against both AMD and Nvidia here. While we still don’t know much about the performance of the first Alchemist GPUs, Intel published a teaser video today that showed prototype silicon powering PUBG, Psychonauts 2, Metro Exodus, and more.

Here's a sneak peek of pre-production Intel Arc...

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How drones are changing our view of sharks

Two sharks and a surfer off the coast of California. | Image: CSULB Shark Lab

A quick Google search for “sharks” drums up a sampling of headlines of recent sightings. “Leopard Sharks Return to La Jolla Waters in Droves,” reads one, while another highlights a “cluster of juvenile great white sharks off Pacific Palisades coast.” There’s been a steady stream of these kinds of stories all summer: sharks swimming eerily close to unknowing swimmers nearby.

Drones are actually helping researchers dispel some misguided fears

If there seem to be more shark sightings than ever, it may be thanks to drones. Aside from driving some scary headlines, drones are actually helping researchers dispel some misguided fears: it turns out that shark encounters aren’t actually so rare. People often don’t even realize when there are...

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Amazon’s latest Fire HD 10 tablets with improved specs are $50 off

Image: Amazon

Amazon refreshed its Fire HD 10 tablets in late April, and it added a faster processor and more RAM to make its biggest budget-friendly model a better value. Now is a great time to buy one, as the Fire HD 10 with 32GB of storage and ads on the lock screen is $50 off its usual price, bringing it down to $100. The ad-free version is $115. And, if 32GB of storage doesn’t seem like it’ll be enough, you can purchase an affordable 256GB microSD card that can greatly expand its internal storage for things like apps, movies, and more (it supports up to a 1TB microSD card).

The slightly more capable Fire HD 10 Plus is also far less expensive than usual. Normally $180, it’s $130. This upgrade won’t be for everyone, but it has more RAM (4GB...

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US government opens probe into Tesla Autopilot crashes with emergency vehicles

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a probe into Tesla’s Autopilot software, citing the cars’ repeated collisions with parked emergency vehicles.

The NHTSA investigation will cover Tesla Models Y, X, S, and 3 vehicles released from 2014 through 2021. The federal agency says since 2018 it has logged 11 incidents (which include 17 injuries and one fatality) in which Tesla vehicles using the company’s Autopilot features, like Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, have crashed into stationary emergency vehicles. The agency says most of these incidents took place after dark, with the software ignoring scene control measures including warning lights, flares, cones, and an illuminated arrow board.

The...

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The Tether controversy, explained

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

How stable are stablecoins?

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Fitbit Charge 5 leaked images show color display and new rounded look

Fitbit is apparently preparing an update to its line of Charge fitness trackers, and newly-leaked images offer our best look yet at what will likely be the refreshed design.

The renders, from leaker Evan Blass, purportedly show the upcoming Charge 5 model. It looks like it shares design notes with Fitbit’s recent Luxe tracker, released in April. There’s an organic feel to the tracker, with a curved screen that blends into a more rounded body.

Two slim panels on either side of the device look like they will offer capacitive controls, letting users tap and slide to navigate the tracker’s settings. Fitbit has put capacitive buttons on past devices like the Charge 4 and Fitbit Sense, but they’re far from universally adored. In our own...

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