Xbox consoles are getting xCloud this holiday so you can stream before you download

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft its bringing its Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) service to Xbox One and Xbox Series S / X consoles this holiday. The integration of xCloud will let Xbox owners simply click play on an Xbox Game Pass game and stream it immediately, allowing players to try games before they commit to the often hourslong process of downloading big titles.

More than 100 Xbox Game Pass titles will be available as part of this initial xCloud integration, and Xbox players will be able to try games as they wait for them to download fully. This xCloud integration also lets Xbox players jump into multiplayer games as soon as friends send an invite, avoiding having to wait for the install to complete.

Image: Microsoft

xCloud...

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How to get rid of those irritating Chat and Rooms tabs in mobile Gmail

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

In August 2020, Google decided to add a tab for its Meet videoconferencing platform to Gmail. Not a big deal for the desktop version — although you can still choose to get rid of it if you don’t intend to use Meet at all — but it could be a real issue for the mobile app, because it expanded the bottom margin of the app and gave you approximately three fewer lines to work with. So we provided directions for how to get rid of the Meet tab on your phone.

Now Google has added the ability to access its Chat and Rooms features directly from Gmail. As a result, many people are finding that the tabs are back at the bottom of their mobile screens, once again taking up precious space.

Gmail with the Chat and Rooms tabs.

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TikTok tests shopping tabs with select Shopify merchants

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

TikTok announced it’s piloting a new in-app shopping experience on Tuesday as part of its ongoing partnership with Shopify (via The New York Times). TikTok Shopping allows select merchants from the US, Canada, and the UK to use a new shopping tab and product links to sell products from Shopify storefronts.

The shopping tab is basically a dedicated section of a TikTok profile with a scrollable list of products that you can click through to be taken directly to a merchant’s Shopify storefront. Product links offer similar integrations by allowing merchants to link directly to a product from a TikTok post. In its current form, this isn’t really a full-blown monetization option for creators. The new shopping features require a TikTok for...

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US Apple Maps users are getting the ability to rate places and add their own photos

Apple Maps’ built-in ratings and photos system is rolling out to the US and Canada, letting users add their own information to points of interest on the map (via MacRumors). The system uses a thumbs up / thumbs down rating, and currently exists alongside Apple Maps’ existing integrations like Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Foursquare.

According to Apple, the feature started rolling out in the US and Canada on Monday, so there aren’t many places that have ratings yet. However, an Apple spokesperson told The Verge that the feature launched with iOS 14 and has been available in other countries like Japan or Australia for some time. That makes it possible to see how they show up by looking at point of interest cards abroad, where we can see the...

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Destiny 2: The Witch Queen offers the game’s biggest expansion in years on February 22nd

Bungie has officially taken the wraps off of the next major expansion for Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, which will continue the story of the sci-fi space series and see players finally face off against Savathûn, the titular Witch Queen.

Savathûn (the sister of Oryx, the main villain in the original game’s Taken King expansion) is a foe that’s been teased for over seven years, with her machinations behind many of Destiny’s previous major events (including the corruption of the Dreaming City). The addition of the Witch Queen marks the first time that players will be able to face off against her in person, though. And, as the trailer has revealed, she won’t be alone: Savathûn has managed to harness the player’s own powers of Light to empower...

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Climate change made Europe’s summer floods worse

Military personnel on an inflatable boat ship past a destroyed house on the Ahr river in Rech, Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany, on July 21, 2021, after devastating floods hit the region.  | Photo by CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP via Getty Images

Climate change raised the risk of deadly floods that sweptthrough Western Europe in July, new research confirms. As people around the world continue burning fossil fuels and pumping out greenhouse gas emissions, the threat of similar disasters grows.

Already, single-day rainfall events in the affected region are between 3 to 19 percent more intense than they would be without human-caused climate change. Global warming also makes extreme rainfall events like the one thattriggered mid-July floods in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg between 1.2 and nine times more likely to occur in the region.

At least 220 people died in Germany and Belgium because of swollen rivers and floods that raged through entire towns, knocking...

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Hulu is adding HDR for some of its original shows and movies

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Somehow, it is 2021 and Hulu is only just now adding HDR support — to _some_of its original shows and movies.

The addition was quietly added to Hulu’s support page this week, noting that customers can now “stream select Hulu originals in high-dynamic range (HDR), HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision on select devices.” A new HDR badge will appear on content that supports it.

HDR content with Hulu will be available on the usual streaming suspects to start: HDR-compatible Roku models, Fire TV hardware that supports HDR, Apple TV 4K, HDR-compatible Chromecasts, and Vizio TVs with HDR. Notably missing are mobile devices or consoles, although presumably Hulu will continue to expand HDR support over time.

The actual list of shows and movies that...

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You can buy the Oculus Quest 2 again following a pause in sales

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

You can now buy the Oculus Quest 2 again following a nearly monthlong pause in sales to outfit the headsets with new silicone covers.

Facebook halted sales because the foam part of the facial interface that shipped with the original Quest 2 headsets caused skin irritation for some users. So on July 27th, the company announced it would stop selling the Quest 2 until August 24th and that it was participating in a joint voluntary recall with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) over the issue. The CPSC said that it received about 5,716 reports of incidents of skin irritation and “approximately 45 reports of consumers that required medical attention.”

If you’re a current Quest 2 owner, you can request a free silicone mask to...

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Waymo starts offering autonomous rides in San Francisco

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Waymo is going to start shuttling a wider group of passengers around in its autonomous vehicles in San Francisco, California — though they’ll have to sign nondisclosure agreements, and there still will be a human safety driver behind the wheel.

It’s the second city where the company has expanded its nascent autonomous vehicle offering, as the Google sibling has been performing fully driverless rides rides without a safety driver in parts of Phoenix, Arizona for more than a year now. Waymo is one of a handful of companies trying to get a commercial service off the ground built around autonomous vehicles, like Argo AI (which is backed by Ford and Volkswagen) and Cruise (which is backed by General Motors).

Waymo has been testing...

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Peloton’s recalled, redesigned Tread goes on sale in the US on August 30th

Peloton Tread | Image: Peloton

In May, after a series of accidents linked to multiple injuries and one death, Peloton announced recalls for its Tread Plus treadmill and a redesigned version of the Peloton Tread. The more serious incidents involved the Tread Plus, which remains on the shelf. However, the new Tread has since received tweaks to keep the screen from loosening and falling off. Now Peloton says the $2,495 Tread will go on sale across the US, Canada, and the UK starting on August 30th.

Unlike the 32-inch screen on the treadmill we reviewed in 2019, this cheaper Tread has a 23.8-inch HD touchscreen with built-in speakers so you can interact with your trainer during a workout and track progress when you’re done. It also has a smaller footprint at 68 inches by...

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OnlyFans CEO on why it banned adult content: ‘the short answer is banks’

Image: Alex Castro / The Verge

OnlyFans founder and CEO Tim Stokely says banks were behind the online fundraising platform’s recent ban on sexually explicit content. “The change in policy, we had no choice — the short answer is banks,” Stokely told the Financial Times in an interview published today.

Stokely named three major banks that refused service because of “reputational risk” associated with the UK-based OnlyFans’ sexual material: Bank of New York Mellon, Metro Bank, an JPMorgan Chase. He said BNY Mellon specifically had “flagged and rejected” every wire transaction involving OnlyFans, threatening its ability to pay creators.

Last week, Bloomberg reported more generally that “banking partners and payment providers” had pressured OnlyFans — a platform previously...

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Samsung’s art-inspired Frame 4K TV is $200 off

The Frame camouflages itself as wall art when you’re not using it as a TV. | Samsung

The Frame, Samsung’s HDR-compatible QLED that pulls double duty as wall art, is one of the more unique TV designs that didn’t die in the concept phase or on the showroom floor of CES. Designed to look like a framed and matted photograph, the 120Hz screen hides in plain sight when switched to an Art Mode that displays still imagery instead of a black void when turned off. It’s a stunner of a TV in many ways and, for a limited time, Best Buy and Amazon are offering the 55-inch model for $200 off, the second-lowest price we’ve seen this year on the high-tech piece of home decor. It’s the perfect way to convince your friends you’re a person of culture and refinement while still being a techie nerd who loves large screens.

If you use the...

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League of Legends’ world championships moved from China to Europe

Photo by David Lee/Riot Games/Riot Games Inc. via Getty Images

The 2021_League of Legends_’ World Championship, the end-of-year tournament for arguably the biggest esport in the world, has been moved from China to a currently undisclosed location in Europe, Riot Games announced. The move happens just weeks before the competition is set to begin.

In a video, John Needham, global head of esports at Riot, said that travel restrictions and COVID protocols made it a challenge to hold the event in China. The move was first reported Monday by Upcomer.

“After considering all potential options, we concluded that moving Worlds to Europe provided the best opportunity for the most teams and their best players to compete,” Needham explained. “We’re not ready to announce where in Europe Worlds will be held this...

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How to watch Xbox’s game showcase at Gamescom 2021

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Some of the biggest Gamescom 2021 announcements are likely to happen during the Xbox stream. The stream will be a 90-minute blast that, according to Microsoft, will focus on “previously announced games” from its internal Xbox Studios and outside partners, as well as new titles coming to Xbox Game Pass. It’s possible that we’ll hear more about _Halo Infinit_e, Forza Horizon 5, and more. I’m personally crossing my fingers for more Elden Ring news.

The stream will be presented in 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second, according to the Xbox blog, so don’t fret if things aren’t looking their best during the debut. Though, if you’d rather wait until a higher-res video is available, a 4K / 60 frames per second video will be released...

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The quirks and features of YouTube car reviews with Doug DeMuro

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge

Building a career on pushing buttons and seeing what happens

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Movies Anywhere adds new, AI-powered list feature

Movies Anywhere is best known as the service that syncs together purchased movies across different retailers (so that you can, say, watch movies you bought on iTunes through Google Play, or vice versa). But the service also has a fairly robust app of its own, which is getting a new machine learning-powered list feature to automatically generate lists that sort your library based on what movies you like.

The feature, aptly named “My Lists,” offers two options: automatically generated lists — like gathering all the Star Wars movies together or creating a list of the romantic comedies you own — and standard user-created lists. Users will be able to edit the automatic playlists (to add or remove movies that they feel fit the collection), and...

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Spotify will let all US-based Anchor podcasters sell subscriptions

Spotify

Spotify is broadening the number of people who can offer subscription podcasts and have their shows play on its service. Today, the company announced that all US-based podcasters can use Anchor, its podcast creation and distribution platform, to sell subscriptions for exclusive episodes that’ll be available both through a private RSS feed and within the Spotify app, which doesn’t otherwise support private shows over RSS.

Along with the expanded rollout, Spotify says it’s also adding more pricing options — 20 up from three — and is giving podcasters the ability to download their paying subscribers’ email addresses. This means they can stay in better touch with the group and also take that list elsewhere if they ever leave Anchor....

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How to make Android 12’s device control panel easier to access

One of the first things you might notice when you get Android 12 on your phone is that a standout Android feature is no longer where you expect it.

I’m talking about the device control panel Google added into the operating system with last year’s Android 11 release. The panel offers a handy set of commands that lets you access and adjust any smart lights and other connected gadgets set up in your home.

On Pixel phones, at least, that panel used to come up when you’d press and hold your phone’s power button. With Android 12, though, it’s no longer part of the power button menu. But don’t despair: it isn’t gone entirely. It just takes an extra step and a teensy bit of preparation to reach it.

Reposition your Android 12 device control panel

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A guide to platform fees

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole

The hidden costs behind your favorite apps, games, and more

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The rise of the TikTok tour guide

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole

TikTok tour guides will show you their city — and the places hooking them up

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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 review: nearly normal

As good as foldables get, but is that good enough?

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Check your permissions: default settings in Microsoft tool exposes 38 million user records online

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Default permissions settings in an app-building tool from Microsoft have been blamed for exposing the data of 38 million people online. Information including names, email addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, and COVID-19 vaccination appointments was inadvertently made publicly accessible by 47 different companies and government entities using Microsoft’s Power Apps platform. There’s no evidence of the data being exploited, though, and the underlying issue has now been fixed by Microsoft.

The problem was originally discovered in May by security research team UpGuard. In a recent blog post from UpGuard and report from Wired, the company explains how organizations using Power Apps created apps with improper data permissions.

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TikTok follows Snap and Facebook by testing new augmented reality developer tools

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

TikTok is testing an experimental set of developer tools that might one day let creators build augmented reality effects for the popular app.

The platform is called TikTok Effect Studio and is currently in private beta, according to a report from TechCrunch. TikTok told the publication that Effect Studio is simply an “experiment” at this stage and may not make it to a full launch.

It would, though, be a sensible product for TikTok to build. Both Snap and Facebook have their own AR developer initiatives, which encourage people to build new camera effects for their respective platforms. It seems like a streamlined way to keep your audience engaged, outsourcing the development of new effects to users who know best what they want to see.

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Xiaomi moves away from its ‘Mi’ product branding

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge

Xiaomi is phasing out its “Mi” product branding, a spokesperson tells The Verge. Products including flagship smartphones like this year’s Mi 11 will instead simply carry the Xiaomi name. The news was first reported by XDA Developers.

“Starting in 2021 Q3, Xiaomi’s product series ‘Mi’ will be renamed to ‘Xiaomi,’” says the spokesperson. “This change will unify our global brand presence and close the perception gap between the brand and its products. This change may take some time to take effect in all regions.”

Xiaomi says that it’ll still keep the Redmi brand around, meaning that the higher-end Xiaomi products will form a distinct line alongside Redmi products. Xiaomi products “represent the pinnacle of technology and offer a premium...

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Google dismantles Health unit in favor of tried-and-tested ‘throw everything at the wall’ strategy

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Once again, Google is headed back to the drawing board to rethink its healthcare strategy. As first reported by Business Insider, the tech giant is dissolving its single, unified Google Health division, founded in 2018, in favor of a distributed approach to building health products. The head of the division, David Feinberg, is leaving the company, while an unknown proportion of Google Health employees will be sent to other teams at Google (like Search and Fitbit) to work on specific services, according to Google’s AI head Jeff Dean.

It’s a messy change for what was already a messy initiative. Tech giants like Google and Apple have become increasingly interested in the healthcare industry in recent years, but have failed to make in-roads...

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Google Meet now warns you when you're causing an echo

Google Meet now warns you with a red dot and alert message if it thinks you have an echo. | Image: Google

Google Meet will soon tell you when it thinks you’re creating an echo in calls, Google announced in a blog posting Monday. Right now, it’s hard to know if you’re creating an irritating echo for meeting participants unless they interrupt the meeting to tell you. Google’s new proactive warnings should therefore help minimize everyone’s suffering.

Google says that Meet already controls audio to remove echo. But it can’t account for all remote desktop speaker and mic configurations that result in audio being fed back into the call. The new echo warning appears as both a red dot on the Meet interface as well as a notification and a text alert. Clicking the notification provides steps to fix the echo, which include muting your mic, lowering...

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EA is opening the patents for some of its accessibility tech

A player uses the Ping System in_Apex Legends_to alert their team of the presence of a “Shield Battery”. | Image: Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts is pledging to open the patents for some of its accessibility-related tech, including the much-celebrated Apex Legends ping system, the company announced today. EA says it won’t file infringement lawsuits against people or companies for using tech that falls under patents listed in the pledge.

The ping system in Apex Legends, which allows people to play the team-based game without hearing or speaking, has been praised both as an impressive alternative to voice chat and as a great accessibility feature for players with a variety of disabilities. A patent that covers the system (US 11,097,189) was issued the same day as EA’s announcement of the pledge.

Along with the ping system patent, EA is opening patents for the tech...

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Watch the first trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home

After it leaked over the weekend, Sony Pictures has released the first official teaser trailer for the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home, the third Spider-Man movie to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I will just say up front that if you consider the basic premise of No Way Home to be a spoiler, you probably shouldn’t watch this trailer. There are already reveals in it that big Spider-Man and Marvel fans might want to save for the theater, though I’m not sure how practical that’ll be in the lead-up to release.

shout-out to the real ones who are watching the trailer for the first time right now

— Spider-Man: No Way Home (@SpiderManMovie) August 24, 2021

Suffice it to say for now that No Way Home follows on directly from the...

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Joe Biden reportedly hosting cybersecurity meeting with Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, and Andy Jassy attending

President Joe Biden plans to host a meeting on Wednesday to discuss how companies are improving cybersecurity after the waves of recent security breaches and ransomware attacks, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy will be attending, according to Bloomberg. Google, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, and the energy firm Southern Company have also been invited, and Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning is also set to attend, Bloomberg reports.

While it’s not clear exactly what the president and any attendees plan to discuss, there will surely be a lot to talk about given incidents like the massive Solarwinds hack, the Kaseya ransomware attack, or the Colonial Pipeline shutdown resulting from a cyberattack.

Apple,...

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Offline playback on Spotify’s Wear OS app is rolling out now

Spotify’s Wear OS app. | Image: Spotify

Support for offline playback in Spotify’s Wear OS app is rolling now, the company confirmed to The Verge. As spotted by Android Central, some users on Reddit report that they are already able to use the feature, so if you’ve been waiting for it, you might want to check and see if it’s already rolled out to you.

There’s a couple caveats to offline playback on Wear OS, though: according to a Spotify blog, your watch will need to be on Wear OS 2.0 or newer to be able to use the feature, and only Spotify Premium subscribers will be able to download and albums and playlists for offline listening. Both paid and free users can download podcasts for offline playback, though.

Spotify revealed on August 11th that its Wear OS would be getting...

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