Nintendo’s new Big Brain Academy is like Mario Party with brainteasers

Nintendo

Nintendo sneakily announced Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain, a new educational puzzle game for the Switch that sees the revival of a franchise that previously appeared on the DS handheld (and later ported to Wii U’s Virtual Console). It’ll release on December 3rd, 2021 for $29.99, and in it you’ll race through puzzle mini games and challenges to flex your smarts.

In addition to single player modes, the game will support couch multiplayer and online play. Nintendo is even implementing a ghost data system, so you can test your skills against people who have gotten higher scores.

#BigBrainAcademy: Brain vs. Brain is coming to #NintendoSwitch on 12/03! Flex your brainpower or engage in a battle of brains with your family and friends! ...

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Fujifilm just announced its cheapest medium format camera yet

Image: Fujifilm

Today is Fujifilm’s September X Summit event, and the company has announced a slew of new hardware including several cameras and lenses for both the GFX and X systems. Leading the way is the new GFX 50S II, the company’s latest medium format camera. More importantly, at $3,999 body-only, it’s Fujifilm’s cheapest way into the GFX system yet. For comparison, the GFX 100S costs $5,999 and the GFX 50S still goes for $5,499. So dropping under $4,000 could mean big things for the lineup.

The GFX 50S II has a 51.4-megapixel sensor that’s 1.7x larger than what you’d get in a full-frame camera, 5-axis in-body image stabilization good for 6.5 stops, improved autofocus (compared to the 50S), and a body that’s the same size as the GFX 100S. At 1.98...

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WhatsApp fined $267 million for breaching EU privacy law

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Facebook-owned WhatsApp has been fined €225 million ($267 million) for breaking the European Union’s data privacy rules. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced the decision in an 89-page summary (PDF), noting that WhatsApp did not properly inform EU citizens how it handles their personal data, including how it shares that information with its parent company.

WhatsApp has been ordered to make updates to its already lengthy privacy policy and change how it notifies users about sharing their data. This will bring it into compliance with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which governs how tech companies gather and use data in the EU. GDPR came into effect in May of 2018, and WhatsApp was one of the first...

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The best budget laptop of 2021

We’ve got the best cheap laptop for you, no matter your budget.

The best cheap laptops for video editing, gaming, and more

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Apple’s AirPods Max are $80 off at Woot

Though expensive, the AirPods Max feature fantastic sound and noise cancellation. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Apple’s notoriously expensive AirPods Max headphones are, in some ways, more of a luxury purchase — but today you can live it up for just a little less thanks to the Woot’s ongoing “Sounds of Summer” sale. Well, if you’re an Amazon Prime member that is.

Now through the end of the month (or while supplies last), Prime members can save $80 on a pair of the AirPods Max, regardless of color. Woot’s current deal includes a one-year limited warranty from Apple and brings the price down to a cool $470, one of the lowest prices we’ve seen on Apple’s excellent noise-canceling headphones in recent months.

Despite their price, the AirPods Max are some of the best noise-canceling headphones you can buy right now. The Max can easily block out...

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What losing Paradise tells us about today’s blazes

An aerial view of homes destroyed by the Camp Fire in Paradise, California on February 11, 2019, three months after the deadly wildfire. | Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Thousands of Californians have fled their homes this week, as the Caldor, Dixie and other fires continue to blaze across the state. Despite the best efforts of firefighting teams, the Dixie Fire already torched the small mountain town of Greenville in early August, robbing many residents of a home to which to return.

The exodus sparked by each blaze has become an eerily familiar scene as fire seasons in the Western US grow more intense with climate change. Each community that loses part, or all of itself brings to mind the carnage left behind by the Camp Fire in 2018. That’s when Paradise, California was nearly wiped off the map, and surrounding communities suffered similar losses.

“Paradise is worth being remembered”

Journalist Lizzie...

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Music startup Roli has filed for administration and is reforming as beginner-focused Luminary

Roli’s Lumi keyboard and app is like_Guitar Hero_for learning the piano. | Image: Roli

UK music startup Roli, best known for its squishy keyboards like the Seaboard Rise, has filed for administration and is reforming as Luminary. The new company will focus on the Lumi keyboard and app, which are designed to teach beginners to play the piano.

The news was reported by_Insider_, which notes that Roli has struggled with generating revenue and growth. The company reported pre-tax losses of £34.1 million ($47 million) from income of £11.4 million ($16 million) in the 18 months leading up to the end of June 2019. The company’s CEO and founder Roland Lamb told Insider that a limited market for its products had combined with pandemic difficulties to force the closure of Roli.

“Ultimately what happened was the pro-focused products...

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Nvidia Broadcast now works with more cameras and uses less VRAM

Nvidia is updating its Broadcast app to improve noise removal, support more cameras, and reduce the amount of VRAM used by the app. Nvidia Broadcast is primarily used by streamers and content creators to filter out background noise from a microphone, or blur a backdrop for a webcam. Nvidia is focusing on improving these main use cases with version 1.3 today.

While Nvidia Broadcast has become a popular choice for streamers, the app would sometimes filter out high-pitched voices when someone was speaking excitedly. “The new update addresses this with dedicated training sound profiles to retain that speech while removing the unwanted background noise,” says Nvidia. That should mean any screaming or shock moments on stream will no longer be...

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Fashion follows function: what’s next for the phone industry

The Galaxy Z Flip 3 in Samsung’s stylish new case. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is a totally normal phone with One Weird Trick: it folds. As Dan Seifert explained in our full review, it’s the beginning of a new phase for foldables, one where buying a folding phone is something that could appeal to anybody, not just techies.

Samsung is promoting the phone in the ways Samsung usually does, touting features and spec improvements. But it’s also doing another thing: promoting the phone as something stylish. A full-on music video ad with BTS joins online vertical video ads that are as focused on the clothing and pockets the phone fits in as the phone itself. In essence, it’s the latest in a long time of tech companies trying to make the case that their phones are fashion.

That’s nothing new, but it’s...

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What If...?’s art style aims to keep characters ‘feeling monumental and powerful’

Image: Marvel Studios

Ryan Meinerding has spent much of the last 15 years bringing some of the world’s most iconic superheroes to life. After starting as an illustrator on the original Iron Man, he worked his way up to head of visual development at Marvel Studios and has spent more than a decade figuring out how to bring comic book characters into live-action films. So it was a nice change of pace when he learned about What If...?, an animated anthology that takes those very same characters but remixes them in new, and often strange, situations.

“I don’t think anyone could have come up with an animated project that I would’ve been more interested in working on,” he tells The Verge. “The endless possibilities that are created by having the multiverse, by being...

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How to get great audio for podcast interviews

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Podcasts continue to be very popular, and more and more people are getting involved in them. Even if you’re not a podcast creator, at some point, you may find yourself being interviewed on or contributing to someone else’s podcast. In that case, it’s not enough to be ready to talk about your topic — you also want to make sure your voice comes through loud and clear.

We asked The Verge’s senior audio engineer Andrew Marino if he had any audio tips for people who are about to participate in a podcast. Here are his answers to our questions.

Is it better to use my phone’s mic or use my Bluetooth headset?

If this is a live show, the quality of the call is important, as there can be no editing later on, so you want to get good sound. (We’ll...

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Sony announces PlayStation showcase, promises ‘sneak peek at the future of PS5’

Sony is announcing that it will hold a special PlayStation showcase on September 9th. The event will start at 10AM ET / 1PM PT, and will run for 40 minutes in what is being teased as “a look into the future of PS5.” Sony says its showcase will include updates from its PlayStation Studios, and a look at games releasing this holiday and beyond.

Sony could be ready to launch a new PS5 system software update that it has been beta testing. The update unlocks M.2 SSD support, and also includes some UI improvements to the PS5 dashboard and 3D audio support for built-in TV speakers.

Get a sneak peek at the future of PS5, with updates from PlayStation Studios and industry-leading devs. Hope to see you there!

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) S...

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JBL boosts the durability of its popular Flip Bluetooth speaker

The JBL Flip 6. | Image: JBL

JBL has announced an update to its popular lineup of Flip Bluetooth speakers with the Flip 6. Perhaps the biggest change is that the latest speaker is now officially dustproof thanks to its IP67 rating, while the Flip 5 was officially only waterproof (IPX7). Its Bluetooth version has also been boosted from 4.2 to 5.1, and it features a newly redesigned JBL logo. Battery life is unchanged at around 12 hours. It’ll retail for $129.95 when it goes on sale in December in the US, up from the Flip 5’s current $119.95 price.

The Flip 6 is just one of a host of new audio products JBL is announcing today. There’s also the Partybox 110 and 710, two large rugged speakers which feature guitar and mic inputs for impromptu music-making and which will...

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This chainless drive system could revolutionize e-bike designs

Schaeffler’s Free Drive system converts pedal power into electrical power. | Image: Schaeffler

We don’t often write about bicycle components, but it’s not everyday that an innovation like the Schaeffler Free Drive is announced for pedal-assisted e-bikes. The so-called “bike-by-wire” system, first spotted by Electrek, dispenses with the need to string a chain or belt between the pedals and wheel hub. It’s an all-electric drive system that allows for entirely new bicycle designs with fewer moving parts.

The Free Drive system works by converting the rider’s pedaling power into electrical energy via a small generator housed between the pedals. It then delivers this energy to the rear wheel (or wheels) via cables strung inside or outside the frame of the bike, rather than sending it mechanically through a chain or belt. Excess energy...

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Yahoo is Yahoo once more after new owners complete acquisition

Image: Yahoo

Yahoo and AOL, formerly known as Verizon Media, have officially been acquired by their new owners and renamed as simply “Yahoo.” Verizon announced it was selling the properties to Apollo Global Management in May in a deal said to be worth $5 billion, around half of the nearly $9 billion the telecom giant originally paid for them, and a fraction of the hundreds of billions the twocompanies were worth at their peaks.

Verizon originally purchased AOL in 2015 for $4.4 billion, and acquired Yahoo in 2017 for $4.5 billion. After completing its Yahoo acquisition, Verizon placed both brands under the woefully bland “Oath” brand. “#TakeTheOath” proclaimed AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. The media divisions, which include properties like Yahoo Sports, T...

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Quick phrases could let you skip ‘Hey, Google’ for common tasks

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

“Quick phrases” is a new feature currently under development for Google Assistant that could one day let you skip having to say “Hey, Google” for common phrases like “What time is it?” or “Turn the lights on,” _9to5Google_reports. The feature is yet to be officially announced, and it’s unclear when it might launch or exactly which devices might support it.

The feature emerged back in April under the codename “Guacamole.” At the time it was called “Voice shortcuts,” and its capabilities seemed limited to silencing alarms and timers, or responding to incoming phone calls. But the new menu discovered by 9to5Google shows a much broader range of tasks, or “salsas” as Google is nicknaming them. These salsas include the ability to ask about the...

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Samsung announces 200-megapixel phone camera sensor

Samsung

Samsung has announced a 200-megapixel image sensor intended for smartphone cameras, by some distance the highest resolution phone camera sensor ever made. The ISOCELL HP1 has 0.64μm pixels and can bin 16 of them at once for the equivalent of a 12.5-megapixel sensor with 2.56μm pixels.

Samsung calls the HP1’s pixel-binning technology “ChameleonCell.” The four-by-four 12.5-megapixel setting is intended for low-light usage, but it can also capture full 200-megapixel resolution photos, or use a two-by-two binning technique for 50-megapixel images.

The two-by-two binning mode also lets the HP1 capture 8K video. Samsung says it’s capable of shooting 8K without cropping, although standard 8K (7,680 x 4,320) is less than 50 megapixels.

Samsung...

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Apple concedes to let apps like Netflix, Spotify, and Kindle link to the web to sign up

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

While vocal app developers accused Apple last week of spinning a lawsuit settlement into an App Store change that was barely a change at all, the company appears to be making a true, if small concession today: Apple says it will let developers of “reader” apps (think Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon’s Kindle app) directly link their customers to their own sign-up website, where they could potentially skirt Apple’s in-app payment system (and its 30 percent cut) entirely, in those cases where they haven’t already.

In a press release, Apple claims that the move will close an investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), and that it’ll only apply to those sorts of “reader” apps right now — a category that was originally designed by...

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Elon Musk says the Tesla Roadster ‘should ship’ in 2023

The Tesla Roadster. | Image: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the upcoming Tesla Roadster “should ship in 2023” in a tweet on Wednesday. He blamed the ongoing supply chain shortages for the long timeline. “2021 has been the year of super crazy supply chain shortages, so it wouldn’t matter if we had 17 new products, as none would ship,” Musk said.

2021 has been the year of super crazy supply chain shortages, so it wouldn’t matter if we had 17 new products, as none would ship.

Assuming 2022 is not mega drama, new Roadster should ship in 2023.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2021

Elon Musk first announced the $200,000 second-generation Roadster at a splashy event in November 2017, promising that the base model could go from 0 to 60 in a staggering 1.9 seconds....

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FAA investigating off-course descent of Virgin Galactic’s flight with Richard Branson

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

Richard Branson’s July flight to the edge of space is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration for veering out of its designated airspace mid-flight, the FAA said on Wednesday after a report from The New Yorker. The mission’s two pilots were alerted to yellow and red light warnings mid-flight that, according to sources in The New Yorker, should’ve prompted them to abort the mission. The flight continued and ultimately landed safely.

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo spaceplane air-launched from its carrier aircraft on July 11th carrying founder Branson and three company employees over the firm’s New Mexico spaceport, Spaceport America. The rocket plane soared 53.5 miles high, skimming the edge of space for a few minutes of...

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The time a human-driven car ran over an autonomous robot

Image: Starship Technologies

Crossing city streets filled with SUV drivers in a hurry is tricky for any pedestrian, but what about a robot that’s less than two feet tall? Starship Technologies is flooding college towns with autonomous electric delivery bots that trundle goods to your location in their locked storage compartment. While the safety of human pedestrians around large vehicles with autonomous capabilities is still being debated, this time, the roles were reversed. As shown in a video posted to TikTok by rach,ipsa, even a couple of lights plus cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors, and neural networks weren’t enough for this robot to avoid getting clipped by a Ford Escape.

@rach.ipsa

Reply to @cody_offic it's about as wonderful as you imagined

♬...

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Qualcomm’s aptX Lossless promises CD-quality audio for wireless headphones

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

2021 has been a big year for lossless music now that Apple has gone in on the higher-quality streaming and Amazon is no longer charging an added premium for it. But one of the main challenges confronting lossless audio is how to play it wirelessly (at full fidelity) on wireless headphones and earbuds. Qualcomm thinks it has found a solution with the new aptX Lossless, which is part of the company’s Snapdragon Sound program announced earlier this year.

With aptX Lossless (which is technically an extension of aptX Adaptive), Qualcomm says it’ll be able to stream CD-quality, 16-bit / 44.1kHz lossless audio over Bluetooth. The first devices to feature the new technology are expected to be available in early 2022. Snapdragon Sound leans on...

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Broadcasters secure a win in their fight against scrappy TV streamer Locast

ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox have secured a victory in their legal fight against Locast, a nonprofit that re-streams their local broadcast stations at little to no cost, much to the consternation of those networks.

Locast is a service that makes local broadcasts free — kind of, we’ll get to that — to those who may be unwilling to pony up for cable or live TV streaming services, or just don’t want to hook up an antenna in their living room. Those four networks are already broadcast over-the-air for free; Locast then uses a legal exemption in copyright law to re-transmit their broadcasts and put them online for people to more easily access. Locast doesn’t technically charge for its service, but it does ask for donations that start around $5 per...

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Facebook’s new fantasy sports-like prediction games let you blast your boldest picks to everyone you know

Screenshots of Facebook’s fantasy sports. | Image: Facebook

Facebook is adding fantasy sports-like prediction games that will let users guess what’s going to happen in sports, TV shows, and pop culture. The new games, called Facebook Fantasy Games, are rolling out first on the iOS and Android apps for users in the US and Canada.

The first game available is Pick & Play Sports, a daily sports prediction game it made in partnership with Whistle Sports. (It was already available in the iOS app for me, so it might be for you, too.) In the “upcoming months,” Facebook plans to release additional games for TV shows like The Bachelorette and Survivor, sports leagues like Major League Baseball, and one made with _BuzzFeed._Games will have public leaderboards, but you can also make your own public or private...

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Tech companies face pressure over January 6th subpoenas

Photo by Oliver Contreras/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

As Congress pushes for more details of the January 6th attack on the Capitol, tech companies have found themselves caught between a new request from the select committee investigating the attack and ominous threats from Republicans hoping to stall the committee’s investigation.

Pushing for new details about communications between Republican members of Congress and President Trump during the attack, the House select committee sent data requests on Monday ordering the preservation of phone records and other communications related to the January 6th attack. Requests went out to 35 companies, including Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Microsoft. Wireless providers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless also received the request.

“A...

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Reddit bans anti-vaccine subreddit r/NoNewNormal after site-wide protest

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Reddit has banned anti-vaccine and anti-mask subreddit r/NoNewNormal and has quarantined 54 other subreddits associated with COVID denial. A week ago, the company’s CEO said in a post that Reddit was meant to be a place of “open and authentic discussion and debate,” even for ideas that “question or disagree with popular consensus.” In today’s post, the company has clarified its rules with regard to health misinformation.

The subreddit NoNewNormal has been cited by many in the Reddit community as a source of vaccine misinformation, and it was known for “brigading” other subreddit’s discussions by butting in on conversations about COVID or related policies in other communities. NoNewNormal was the source of 80 such brigades in the past...

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Amazon isn’t denying its CEO saved an exec from being fired for discrimination

It hasn’t even been two months since Amazon CEO Andy Jassy took the reins from founder Jeff Bezos, but the company’s new chief executive is already facing a potential scandal. Two anonymous sources have accused Jassy of stepping in to overrule the company’s own HR department when it recommended that an executive be fired for discrimination — and Amazon isn’t denying it, reports Protocol.

The story goes that in 2019, a Black female Amazon employee accused AWS Outposts general manager Joshua Burgin of discrimination, and HR issued a report recommending he be fired. But Jassy fielded a personal request from Burgin’s boss, Charlie Bell, and decided to let him stay. (At the time, Jassy was CEO of AWS, Bell was a star cloud executive who also...

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Texas is set to pass a new law banning Facebook from censoring conservatives

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Texas is one step closer to enacting a law that would make it more difficult for social media companies to moderate political content. Both Texas’ House and Senate approved the bill earlier this week, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.

The bill would make it unlawful for social media companies with more than 50 million users, like Facebook and Twitter, to censor users and content based on political views or geographic location. This includes moderation actions like banning, deplatforming, or demonetizing users and removing posts.

The bill initially failed in a special session earlier this year

The bill initially failed in a special session earlier this year when Democrats fled the state to stall the passage of controversial partisan...

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Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible 7 are delayed again due to COVID concerns

Paramount is delaying the rest of its 2021 film slate, moving Top Gun: Maverick from its Thanksgiving weekend release date to May 27th, 2022, close to three years after it was first announced. It’s also moving _Jackass Forever_to release on February 4th, 2022, instead of the originally planned October 22nd, 2021, via Deadline.

Additionally, due to Top Gun: Maverick taking its former May 2022 slot, Mission: Impossible 7 is getting another delay: it’ll now be out on September 30th, 2022.

The delays are due to concerns over the spike in COVID-19 cases caused by the delta variant of the virus. Deadline notes that Paramount, rather than risk releasing potential billion-dollar franchise starters like the Top Gun sequel seeing comparatively...

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Apple reportedly wants a Watch with more health tracking and could ship one next year

Apple Watch Series 6 | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple apparentlyhas a growing wishlist of health features for future versions of the Apple Watch, some feasible and some far-fetched. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Apple’s plans include various types of monitoring, including blood pressure, temperature, sleep, and blood sugar. The details come just after reports that the release of the next Apple Watch is likely to be delayed because of manufacturing issues.

Some of the planned features outlined by the WSJ involve adding new sensors to the Watch. Apple wants to develop a sensor that can act as a proxy for a blood pressure cuff without squeezing the wrist. Blood pressure measurement has been in Apple’s plans for years; the company filed a patent application in 2016 for a...

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