The latest August Wi-Fi Smart Lock is cheaper than ever

The latest version of August’s lock is smaller and more discreet. | Photo: August

August’s latest Wi-Fi Smart Lock is on a special discount today through Wellbots. This small, discreet smart lock is on sale in both black and gray colorways for $199, and you can use promo code VERGE20 to take an additional $20 off the sale price while supplies last. This brings the Alexa-enabled August lock down to a new historic low price of $179, which is an exceptional deal for an app-connected smart lock that can be easily retrofitted to your existing deadbolt without the need for a locksmith. Read our review.

Continuing our run of great smart home deals, the Eufy Wi-Fi Video Doorbell 2K is at its all-time low price at Amazon. This wired doorbell is great if you’re looking to step into the smart home waters without diving too...

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Alphabet’s drone delivery service Wing hits 100,000 deliveries milestone

Wing, the drone delivery company operated by Google-parent Alphabet, is about to rack up 100,000 deliveries. The company says it will pass the threshold in the next few days, a significant milestone for a technology that has nevertheless yet to prove its utility at scale.

Drone deliveries began to catch the public imagination in the early 2010s as consumer quadcopters fell in price and AI control systems became more reliable. Then, in 2013, Amazon made wild promises about making drones a standard part of its delivery empire. But so far the technology has mainly found success at a much smaller scale: delivering high-value but physically small items like vaccines and blood in remote locations.

Wing’s success, though, hints that one future...

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How to watch Gamescom’s Opening Night Live stream

Gamescom is usually the biggest in-person video games conference, but it’s happening virtually for the second year straight due to the pandemic. That may be disappointing to people who wanted to go to Cologne, Germany, but the online presentation makes it a lot easier for viewers at home to see all of the highlights. Geoff Keighley’s two-hour-long Opening Night Live event is focused on doing just that, providing new Gamescom game announcements, trailers, and guest appearances.

As for what you can expect, Keighley promises a walkthrough of a full level from Call of Duty: Vanguard’s campaign playing on the latest consoles; some big news about Splitgate, the portal-based competitive FPS title that’s been popular lately; an update on Lego...

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Joe Rogan, confined to Spotify, is losing influence

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge | Photo by Vivian Zink/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

A Verge investigation shows how going exclusive stunted Rogan’s power

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The company behind PUBG is trying to create the next big fantasy epic

“Project Windless” concept art. | Image: Krafton

Krafton’s ‘Project Windless’ is still in its earliest stages

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Fitbit’s new Charge 5 has a rounded design and a color screen

Fitbit’s new Charge 5 in gold. | Image: Fitbit

It costs $179.95 and will be out this fall

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Popular online businesses are opening storefronts thanks to TikTok

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole

Viral fame, IRL customers

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Otter.ai can transcribe Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Cisco Webex meetings if you’re not there

Otter.ai is available on iOS, Android, and via the web. | Image: Otter.ai

Otter.ai is one of our favorite transcription tools thanks to the accuracy of its machine learning-generated notes. If you’re a paying user, you can also use its Otter Assistant feature to plug into your calendar and automatically join and transcribe meetings even if you’re not there. Previously, Otter Assistant only worked with Zoom meetings, but today the company is expanding it to integrate with Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Cisco Webex meetings.

It’s a handy feature, depending on the platform (or platforms) on which you tend to have meetings. Zoom already offers third-party transcription features, for example, while Teams has its own built-in free transcription tool. If you’re already using one of these services, then the...

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OnlyFans says never mind, it actually won’t ban porn on October 1st

Image: Alex Castro / The Verge

In an abrupt tweet, video and image sharing site OnlyFans announced a reversal of the shocker announcement that it would ban sexually explicit content. According to the company, “We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change. OnlyFans stands for inclusion and we will continue to provide a home for all creators.”

This comes just one day after its CEO said, in an interview with the Financial Times, that the reason for the ban was actually issues with its banking partners, not Mastercard as some had assumed.

Now OnlyFans creators, many of whom had already begun deleting content that violated the policy or started shifting their subscriber base to new...

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Halo Infinite is launching on December 8th

Halo Infinite, the next game in Microsoft’s long-running franchise, will launch on December 8th. The date appeared on the Microsoft Store today and will likely be officially confirmed later today during the opening of Gamescom. A source familiar with Microsoft’s plans tells The Verge that December 8th is accurate.

Microsoft had originally planned to launch Halo Infinite alongside the Xbox Series X / S in November 2020 but delayed the game to fall 2021 due in part to the challenges of game development during a pandemic.

Halo Infinite’s development has clearly been bumpy, and Microsoft even assigned Bungie veteran Joseph Staten to head up development of the game nearly a year ago. While we haven’t seen a great deal of campaign gameplay...

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Options Bae, Put Gang, and the new stock communities showing amateur traders how to make bank

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole

But the risk of trading means anyone can lose money trying

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Google adds Smart Reply to Docs comments to fill your life with more bland platitudes

Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

Google is expanding the scope of its AI-powered Smart Reply feature to suggest responses to comments in Google Docs. It will be rolling out in the coming weeks to all users and will be turned on by default, though you can disable it via Tools > Preferences > Show Smart Reply suggestions.

It’s the latest territory claimed by Google’s AI Smart Reply and Smart Compose features. The latter is already available in Gdocs and elsewhere, while the former lurks most prominently in your Gmail inbox.

Image: Google

Smart Reply as it appears in comments in Google Docs.

Reactions to these AI-powered features are varied. Some enjoy the convenience of using AI to offer up those little verbal platitudes that keep the wheels...

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Nirvana baby sues band alleging child pornography

Spencer Elden, now 30, is suing over the iconic Nevermind album art. | Photo by Samir Hussein/Getty Images

The iconic nude baby photographed for the cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind album is all grown up and suing the band, alleging the image violates child pornography laws. Spencer Elden, now 30, is seeking $150,000 from each of 17 named defendants, including record executives, Nirvana band members, and Courtney Love, the former wife and executor of Kurt Cobain’s estate, according to Variety.

The lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by Variety, claims that the defendants knowingly exploited young Elden to increase attention and boost sales.

“Defendants intentionally commercially marketed Spencer’s child pornography and leveraged the shocking nature of his image to promote themselves and their music at his expense,” reads the lawsuit....

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Samsung says it can remotely disable stolen TVs

Samsung says the feature is “already pre-loaded on all Samsung TV products.” | Image: Samsung

Samsung has revealed its TVs can be remotely disabled if the company finds out the units have been stolen. The feature is called the “Television Block Function” and Samsung says it was recently activated in South Africa after a number of Samsung TVs were taken from a company warehouse during a wave of protests and unrest last month.

Samsung says the technology is “already pre-loaded on all Samsung TV products” and “ensures that the television sets can only be used by the rightful owners with a valid proof of purchase.” It’s not clear, though, from Samsung’s description whether the feature is only intended to combat large-scale theft, or if it will ever be used to help individual consumers.

For the TV Block Function to work, Samsung...

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YouTube Premium subscribers can now turn on picture-in-picture on iPhone — here’s how

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

In June, YouTube announced it would be bringing picture-in-picture to iOS. Now, it seems the much-demanded feature is finally available, though perhaps for a limited time only and only for YouTube Premium subscribers currently. Here’s how to get it.

If you’re a YouTube Premium subscriber, open up a web browser and head to www.youtube.com/new. Scroll down to where “Picture-in-picture on iOS” is listed and click “Try it out.” You’ll be prompted to sign in to your account. Then, while watching a YouTube video, just navigate away from the app using the home button or by swiping up and picture-in-picture will start. Locking your phone screen while watching PiP will pause the video, but you can resume it via the lock screen media controls.

...

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California accuses Activision Blizzard of ‘withholding and suppressing evidence’

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Activision Blizzard’s leaders have promised to work to make the company a safe place for women to work — but California has now accused the company of illegally “withholding and suppressing evidence” and shredding documents that it requested for its investigation (via Axios). California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) originally filed the suit in July, which accused the company of creating a frat-like culture where female employees faced “constant sexual harassment” and discrimination.

The updated complaint can be read below, and you can read the original version here. Since the new version contains the same extremely disturbing details, it warrants the same content warning as the original.

The amended complaint says...

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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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Alaska Airlines evacuated a plane after a phone burst into flame

Alaska Airlines airplanes. | Image: Alaska Airlines

A cell phone caught fire in the cabin of an Alaska Airlines flight that had landed in Seattle from New Orleans on Monday evening. The phone was a Samsung Galaxy A21, Perry Cooper, a spokesperson for the Port of Seattle, told The Seattle Times.

“After much digging, I can tell you that the phone was burned beyond recognition,” Cooper said in an email to The Seattle Times. “However, during an interview with one of our Port of Seattle Police officers, the passenger volunteered the phone was a Samsung Galaxy A21. Again, we could not confirm it by looking at the remains of the device.”

Samsung did not immediately reply to a request for comment from The Verge.

An Alaska Airlines spokesperson tells The Verge that the plane’s crew used fire...

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FAA grants could clean up airport emissions

Airplanes sit on the tarmac at Charlotte Douglas International Airport with the city skyline in the background on April 21, 2020 in Charlotte, North Carolina.  | Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is giving out more than $35 million in grants so that airports in the US can cut down their pollution, the agency announced today. Gas-burning vehicles that shuttle travelers and their luggage around airports and other on-the-ground equipment create emissions that worsen air quality and add to the climate crisis. Electrifying those operations could make travel at least a little more sustainable while the technology to clean up planes’ pollution is still nascent.

$5.9 million will go towards “zero-emission” vehicles

$5.9 million will go towards “zero-emission” vehicles and charging infrastructure. Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in North Carolina will get the biggest chunk of that change:...

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Conservative pranksters face $5 million proposed fine over robocalls

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission proposed an over $5 million fine against conspiracy theorists and conservative activists John Burkman and Jacob Wohl for making hundreds of robocalls spreading 2020 election misinformation.

In its proposal, the FCC said that the agency is weighing a $5,134,500 fine against Burkman and Wohl for making over 1,100 robocalls in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA. The violating pre-recorded calls told voters that their personal information would be “part of a public database” that would be used by “police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts” if they chose to vote by mail in the 2020 election.

It’s the...

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LG’s OLED TV from my dreams reportedly delayed to 2022

At CES 2021, LG Display announced that it intended to produce a 42-inch OLED TV panel sometime in 2021. You weren’t alone if, like me, you got really excited, and also expected one of these more compact OLED panels to have already launched. That’s not happening this year, according to sources speaking to The Korea Economic Daily, who say that the launch of LG’s planned 42-inch OLED TV has been pushed to 2022 instead, alongside the new 2022 TV lineup and debut at CES 2022.

The delay doesn’t seem to have been caused by issues with production, according to _The Korea Economic Daily._While its sources expected LG to launch the 42-inch in the second half of 2021 following mass production of the panels, they say the company switched the launch...

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Samsung will let you unlock your Z Fold 3’s bootloader, but at the cost of your cameras

Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge

Samsung seems to be trying to discourage users from modifying the software on their new Galaxy Z Fold 3s, giving them a message that unlocking the phone’s bootloader will render the phone’s cameras unusable (via Android Police). This isn’t the first time we’ve seen phone manufacturers pull this sort of trick, but it seems to represent an escalation in Samsung’s fight against its users who want to gain complete control over their phones.

An XDA Forums user confirms that after unlocking the bootloader, the Z Fold 3’s cameras were completely non-functional: facial recognition, loading the camera app, and trying third-party camera apps all failed for them. The user reports that re-locking the bootloader made the cameras work again.

...

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Twitter boosts Spaces by showing which ones your friends are attending

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter is experimenting with a way to make it easier to find Spaces that you might be interested in. Some users on iOS or Android will now see if someone they follow is listening in on a Space right at the top of their timelines, according to the Spaces Twitter account.

Twitter has already been surfacing Spaces in that top bar (where you might have also seen Fleets before Twitter shut them down), but previously, it only showed Spaces from people you follow who were hosting the social audio rooms. Now, though, you might also see when somebody you follow is tuning into one.

we’re experimenting with ways to help you discover more Spaces. for some of you on iOS and android, if someone you follow is listening to a Space, you’ll see it at...

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YouTube is forcing the popular Groovy Discord music bot offline

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google-owned YouTube is starting to crack down on Discord music bots. The search giant has sent a cease and desist to the owners of the popular Groovy Bot, which lets Discord users play music from YouTube videos and is installed on more than 16 million Discord servers. Google wants the service gone within seven days, and Groovy is complying by shutting down its bot on August 30th.

“Groovy has been a huge part of my life over the past five years. It started because my friend’s bot sucked and I thought I could make a better one,” says Nik Ammerlaan, Groovy Bot owner, in a message announcing the closure. The Groovy Bot sources music from YouTube and allows Discord users to play and share it in servers where the bot is installed.

Groovy Bot...

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Walmart is launching a new white label delivery service

Image: Walmart

Walmart plans to offer its logistics and delivery services to other companies as part of a new last-mile delivery business, the company announced on Monday. The service, called Walmart GoLocal_,_hopes to serve as a white label delivery offering for businesses big and small, and yet another way for Walmart to try to edge out Amazon.

Details on Walmart GoLocal are fairly sparse, though Walmart does say the service will be “competitively priced” and that it has “already established a number of contractual agreements with national and enterprise retail clients.” Walmart tells _The Verge_pricing will be based on “the needs of the client and based on what they want to offer to their customers.” The GoLocal website offers a few more details:...

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Here are all the Game Pass games Xbox showed off at Gamescom 2021

Paradox Games

Gamescom doesn’t officially start until Wednesday, but Xbox got a head start on the festivities with an announcement of all the new games coming to Xbox Game Pass.

Xbox has been laser focused on its subscription platform. During E3 2021, Microsoft announced a ton of new games including all the forthcoming Microsoft Studios releases that will have day-one Game Pass availability.

Here are the games from today’s showcase coming to Game Pass.

• Age of Empires IV (PC)
• Into The Pit (PC / Console)
• Crusader Kings III (PC / Console)
• Psychonauts 2 (PC / Console)
• The Gunk (PC / Console)

A new crop of Humble Games are also coming day and date to Game Pass on PC, console, and cloud gaming.

• Archvale
• Next Space Rebels
• Midnight Fight Express
• D...

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Tim Cook’s Apple, ten years later

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Looking back at a decade without Jobs — Apple’s biggest decade ever

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Forza is getting a colorful, translucent controller for Xbox Series X

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft revealed a colorful new custom Xbox Series X / S controller to celebrate Forza Horizon 5 during its Gamescom 2021 Xbox stream. Much of the controller is a translucent yellow, but it also features blue and pink as accent colors, with “paint splotches” splashed across the front, pink buttons with blue letters, and the blue and pink control sticks. The controller also has black grips that look to have a rubberized texture, which will differ from the bumpier texture used on other Series X controllers.

The new controller costs $74.99, which is a $15 increase from the $59.99 price of standard controllers, but it also comes with some exclusive _Forza Horizon 5_DLC. You can preorder it from Microsoft’s online store now, and it will be...

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The biggest announcements and trailers from Xbox at Gamescom 2021

Microsoft had a good showing at this year’s iteration of E3, and the company returned to show off its upcoming slate of games at Gamescom 2021. There were the usual suspects — like Forza and Flight Simulator — along with a few surprises like cloud streaming coming to Xbox consoles. (Curiously, Halo Infinite did not make an appearance.) And the company continues to put a big focus on its Game Pass subscription service.

If you weren’t able to check out the nearly 90-minute-long event live, here are the best trailers and biggest announcements you missed.

xCloud coming to Xbox consoles this holiday

Microsoft revealed that it’s bringing its cloud gaming service xCloud to both the Xbox One and Series X / S this holiday season, which will let...

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Microsoft Flight Simulator’s next updates add electric air taxis and competitive multiplayer

Microsoft has revealed the next major additions coming to Microsoft _Flight Simulator_later this year, including the Volocopter VoloCity air taxi; updated maps for the Germany, Austria, and Switzerland regions; and a competitive online multiplayer racing mode.

First up is a new series of “Local Legends” planes that are being added to Flight Simulator, which will offer planes that are famous in a specific region that might not be as well known. The goal is to have these planes roll out alongside Flight Simulator’s world updates, so the first Local Legend plane will coincide with the upcoming World Update VI (featuring Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) and offer a hyper-realistic re-creation of the Junkers JU-52.The world update will...

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