Here are the best AirPods deals you can get right now

Apple’s AirPods Pro wireless earbuds are a go-to pick that’s often on sale | 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 and larger size.

With Apple’s invite to its September 14th event just going out and rumors circling that new AirPods might be on the docket, we may see new versions of the standard AirPods soon. Luckily for those who seek a deal on the tried and true current crop, many of the most popular models routinely see discounts. There are often sizable sales on the second-gen...

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Twitter takes on Facebook Groups with invite-only Communities

Twitter

Twitter is launching Communities, its rival to Facebook Groups and Reddit, for tweeting with others who share specific interests.

Starting Wednesday, Twitter users can be invited to an initial batch of Communities that include #AstroTwitter, #DogTwitter, #SkincareTwitter, and #SoleFood (a group for sneaker enthusiasts). Once people join a Community, they can tweet directly to other members rather than to just their followers. Only members of a Community can like or reply to tweets sent by other members.

Similar to how groups on Facebook and Reddit’s subreddits work, each Twitter Community will have its own moderators who are able to set rules and invite or remove people. Twitter invited a handful of users to create the first Communities...

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Google says Android 12 is a ‘few weeks away,’ makes beta available on Pixel 5A

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Google is releasing what it says is the fifth and final version of the Android 12 beta, adding that the official release of the full Android 12 operating system is “just a few weeks away.” The new beta release will also be the first one that Pixel 5A owners will be able to install.

People who are already running the beta aren’t likely to notice much of a difference, as its focus is on getting developers ready for the impending official Android 12 release, rather than adding new features. But, for those who’ve gotten their hands on Google’s latest phone, there’s now the opportunity to see what that release will be like before it happens — and without a ton of risk, since the beta has entered its “platform stability” phase.

The Pixel 5A l...

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Sony buys The Playroom developers to bolster its PlayStation Studios

A screenshot from_The Playroom._ | Image: Firesprite

Sony announced that it will acquire UK-based studio Firesprite, the developers of The Playroom and _The Playroom VR._It’s unclear what Firesprite might be working on in its new first-party capacity, but executives are already hyping what’s to come. “Firesprite’s ability to weave best-in-class gameplay with new technology is exceptional and I think fans will be excited about their creative vision for the future,” Hermen Hulst, the head of PlayStation Studios, said in a press release.

Firespite was founded by staffers from Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Liverpool studio, so there are already strong connections between the two companies. While Firesprite’s experience with The Playroom VR could suggest that the company is working on a game...

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The best part of Life is Strange: True Colors is that you can finally binge

A game that balances horror, heartbreak, and mystery

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Apple refuses to make NDA concessions for workplace harassment and discrimination

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple, like many tech companies, has an intimidating employment agreement that it makes employees sign to protect its trade secrets. Though the agreement is in place to prevent workers from sharing internal details of Apple’s products and processes, it is unclear whether they can speak out about working conditions, according to a group of activists and Apple shareholders.

Now, that group is pushing the company to add language that makes clearer exception for cases of workplace harassment and discrimination. Apple has refused. Last week, they filed a shareholder resolution to pressure Apple to make the change.

“We approached Apple in good faith and encouraged them to take a leadership role here,” says Ifeoma Ozoma, who’s helping to lead...

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Razer’s Basilisk V3 has more LEDs and a brilliant scroll wheel

The Basilisk V3 features more RGB LEDs than the previous iteration. | Razer

Razer’s new Basilisk V3 wired gaming mouse has arrived with more features than its predecessor, as well as a slightly lower price. It’s out now at Razer’s online store, Amazon, and Best Buy from $69.99, a $10 price drop from generation to generation.

Its scroll wheel houses the biggest improvements, borrowing a trick from Logitech’s G502 Lightspeed and G502 Hero. A button positioned next to the Basilisk V3’s wheel can toggle between a staggered scroll mode that offers tactile feedback and a free-spinning mode that lets you sail down the page freely. There’s also an optional feature within Razer’s Synapse software that automatically switches between the two modes depending on the inertia of your scroll, engaging the free-spinning mode...

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In Netflix’s Don’t Look Up, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence are astronomers trying to save the world

It’s not quite as terrifying as the moon falling, but Netflix’s upcoming Don’t Look Up deals with another space-related disaster: a comet that’s on a collision course with the Earth. The twist here is that, after two low-level astronomers (played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) discover the problem, no one seems to believe them. That includes a president played by Meryl Streep, with Jonah Hill as her annoying son (and chief of staff).

The first trailer looks like a lot of fun, and the cast is similarly impressive; outside of main stars there are also appearances from the likes of Ron Perlman, Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, Cate Blanchett, and Tyler Perry. Don’t Look Up was directed and written by Adam McKay,...

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Today I learned that Amazon’s game engine can be used to aid humanity in a zombie apocalypse

Amazon’s in-house game engine, Lumberyard, can’t normally be used for life-critical or safety-critical circumstances, as stated in the terms of service agreement for Amazon Web Services. Things like medical equipment, automated transportation systems, autonomous vehicles, crewed spacecraft, or military use in connection with live combat are all off-limits.

Almost all software and hardware come with extensive mandatory agreements that you need to comply with to use them, so these rules are understandable and probably for the best. At the same time, you should also know that some of those rules will go totally out the window in the event of a zombie apocalypse, should it (hopefully not) ever happen.

@oddpride

who's excited for ✨spooky...

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DC’s latest superhero crossover: Batman x FaZe Clan

Batman x FaZe Clan | DC Comics

Ahead of DC’s FanDome event next month, the comics company celebrates Batman Day with a slew of superhero-themed items for fans. That includes a new ten-episode scripted podcast on HBO Max, an augmented reality app, and, of course, a limited-edition comic featuring some of the stars of FaZe Clan.

While we didn’t actually see that last one coming, it is a real thing that will be available in comic form on September 24th. According to DC Comics, you can expect to see FaZe Banks, FaZe Apex, FaZe Temperrr, FaZeRain, FaZe Adapt, FaZe Rug, and FaZe Blaze as heroes, all followed by a slew of crossover merch dropping throughout Batman Month.

Fulfilling co-owner Lee Trink’s statement on The Vergecast that he believes “gaming is going to drive...

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The Lenovo Chromebook Duet is an excellent value at $250

Lenovo’s Chromebook Duet is a capable 2-in-1 that comes with kickstand and keyboard | Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge

Labor Day is in the rearview and the kids are back in school, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still save some nice coin on a versatile Chromebook offering a great value for tackling homework or everyday tasks. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet, one of our top picks across all Chromebooks — not just budget options — is currently $50 off at Best Buy. The 2-in-1 normally punches above its weight class at full price, but with this added discount it may just be one of the best contenders around for light tasks while on the go or general needs at home as a secondary device.

A new model with a bigger OLED panel is coming soon, but it will be clocking in at a much higher price point of $430 and up. For now, the Duet’s 10.1-inch display with 1920 x...

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The Fiido X folding e-bike: what a difference a year makes

The Fiido X at the dawn of a new day.

An impressive follow-up to the Fiido D11

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DJI’s smartphone gimbal is now a selfie stick, too

DJI just released the Osmo Mobile 5, a new smartphone gimbal, which includes a telescoping selfie stick (okay, sure, an “extension rod”) built right into the handle.

The OM 5 retains the same foldable design principle as its predecessors but with some minor changes. The gimbal is slightly smaller and lighter this year. And eagle-eyed users will notice the angle of the handle is more acute than before to accommodate for the 8.4-inch selfie stick. I worry it might make it less comfortable, but we won’t know until we actually check it out in person. There’s also a new button on the handle, which will let you quickly access some of the core OM 5 features. But with the changes in design, the battery life is taking a huge hit. While the OM 4...

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The Gmail app takes calls now, too, because Google wants it to do everything

The new Gmail design, with Google Spaces. | Image: Google

Google is announcing even more Workspace features today, part of an increasedcadenceofchanges to the company’s office and communications software suite over the past year or so. Today’s announcement is a bit of a milestone, however. Although there is still the smattering of small and coming-soon updates, the bigger change is that Gmail is getting a redesign that reveals its true nature in Google’s eyes: the central hub for every Google communication app.

To begin, Google is adding the ability to “ring” another Google user with Google Meet — but inside the Gmail mobile app, not inside the Meet app. When the feature rolls out and turns on, your Gmail app will be able to be called just like any other VOIP app (in addition to being able...

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The Series One Desk 27 is a $2,000 Google Meet machine that doubles as a laptop monitor

The Series One Desk 27

Google is announcing two new hardware devices designed specifically to work with Google Meet and to look like Google hardware. The Series One Desk 27 and Series One Board 65 are both made by Avocor but are part of the Series One program where Google specifically blesses devices that are custom-built for Meet. They even include a custom Google Edge TPU chip in addition to a more standard Intel Core i5.

As its name implies, the Series One Desk 27 is a 27-inch display that has custom speakers, mics, a camera, and a touchscreen. In addition to using it as a standalone videoconferencing device, the Desk 27 can also be used as a laptop monitor. It has a USB-C plug on the back and when you dock in, your laptop can use its AV array for video...

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Theranos’ greatest invention was Elizabeth Holmes

Photo Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Holmes was where the girlboss met Silicon Valley founder worship

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Amazon’s cashierless tech is coming to Whole Foods next year

Image: Amazon

Amazon is bringing its cashierless “Just Walk Out” technology to two new Whole Foods locations next year, the company has announced. One of the stores will be in Washington, DC, while the second will be in Sherman Oaks, California. When they’re open, customers will have the option of paying at a traditional self-checkout or customer service booth, or having the new technology automatically bill them when they leave the store.

The move marks Amazon’s latest step towards scaling its cashierless technology, which works by using a series of cameras and sensors to automatically detect what people pick up off shelves, into a variety of larger stores. Just Walk Out originally debuted in small Amazon Go convenience stores, before the company...

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News sites are liable for defamatory Facebook comments, rules Australia’s High Court

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Media companies in Australia can be held responsible for defamatory comments left on their social media pages by members of the public, the country’s High Court has ruled.

The decision is part of a long-running defamation case that could have huge consequences for Australia’s media industry, forcing news sites to strictly moderate or remove comments on stories shared on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere. Writing in The Conversation, David Rolph, a professor of law at the University of Sydney, said the ruling “may mean anyone who runs a social media page can theoretically be sued over disparaging comments posted by readers or random group members — even if you aren’t aware of the comment.”

“anyone who runs a social media page can...

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Toyota says it’s investing $13.6B in car batteries over the next decade

Toyota’s electric BZ4X SUV concept. | Image: Toyota

Toyota will invest around $13.6 billion in battery tech over the next decade, including a $9 billion investment in production, as it attempts to electrify its vehicle lineup, The Wall Street Journal reports. It reportedly plans to have 10 battery production lines by 2025, eventually increasing to around 70 across an unannounced number of factories around the world. Eventually, it could produce as much as 200GWh of batteries, the company’s chief technology officer, Masahiko Maeda, announced in a press briefing.

Toyota’s commitments mirror similar investments planned by others across the auto industry. Volkwagen plans to produce around 240GWh of batteries in Europe alone by 2030, the WSJ notes, while Ford has said it plans to produce...

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Logitech’s new dock is designed for a work from home world

Logitech is announcing a new all-in-one dock that’s designed for the new realities of a post-pandemic hybrid workforce. “When the pandemic hit, we spent an incredible amount of time with our end users to understand their needs and pain points in a work-from-home world. The result was Logi Dock,” says Scott Wharton, general manager and vice president of Logitech video collaboration.

The $399 Logi Dock lets you connect up to five USB devices and up to two monitors, all while charging a laptop with a single cable connection. The dock itself is a giant speaker, because it’s also designed with meetings in mind. There are meeting controls on the Logi Dock that let you quickly mute or disable video in Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom....

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Microsoft’s Clipchamp acquisition will help improve video editing on Windows

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge

Microsoft is acquiring Clipchamp, a browser-based video editing tool, and is hinting that it will be a great fit for Windows. Founded in 2013, Clipchamp lets people create and edit videos in a browser and utilize the full power of a GPU to render the final result. Clipchamp is used by companies like Google, Dell, and Deloitte.

Microsoft is now looking to integrate Clipchamp into its Microsoft 365 offerings, and perhaps even Windows itself. “As a web app that uses the full power of your PC, Clipchamp is a natural fit to extend the cloud-powered productivity experiences in Microsoft 365 for individuals, families, schools, and businesses,” explains Chris Pratley, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Office media group.

Microsoft says...

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HBO Max is coming to parts of Europe on October 26th

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

HBO Max will launch in Europe next month on October 26th, the streaming service announced today. Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Spain, and Andorra are the first six countries it’ll be available in, before it expands to the following 14 territories next year: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

The list of territories corresponds to the regions currently covered by HBO Europe, which operates a handful of different streaming services on the continent including HBO España, HBO Nordic, and HBO Go. The company has previously said it plans to transition its European HBO-branded services to HBO Max over the course...

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Lenovo is rebooting its Chromebook Duet with a 13.3-inch OLED screen

Here’s the Chromebook Duet 5 in “storm grey.” | Image: Lenovo

Over a year after it was unveiled, Lenovo’s category-defining Chromebook Duet is getting a sequel. The Chromebook Duet 5 (branded as the IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook outside of North America) is a head-to-toe reimagining of the detachable budget-oriented Duet, with a higher price, a new processor, and — most interestingly — a 13.3-inch OLED screen.

Lenovo says the Duet 5 is likely the first of multiple additions to the Duet line, in an ambitious effort to bring the detachable form factor to multiple price points. The company will continue selling the 10.1-inch Duet (for the time being).

A 2-in-1 Chrome OS tablet with a detachable keyboard

The new OLED display covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, Lenovo says, and will emit “70...

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Lenovo’s new IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon is the lightest 14-inch laptop with an OLED screen

Typing away on the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon. | Image: Lenovo

Joining an army of OLED laptops that have launched this month is Lenovo’s new IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon (branded as the Yoga Slim 7 Carbon outside of North America). Lenovo claims it’s the lightest 14-inch OLED laptop on the market at 2.37 pounds. (I’m guessing the company is right. The closest competitor I can think of is Asus’ ZenBook 14X OLED, which is 3.09 pounds. It’s also lighter than both the ZenBook 13 OLED and the Dell XPS 13 OLED.)

One thing to note is that the OLED panel (from Samsung Display) comes with QHD+ resolution, rather than the 4K resolution that you often see on OLED laptops. This means you won’t get as many pixels as you would on a 4K OLED machine (like the ZenBook 14X), but you may also see better battery life. QHD+ is...

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Twitter is testing an official ‘soft block’ feature

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter has begun testing the first of its proposed suite of new privacy tools: the ability to remove a follower without blocking them. The remove follower feature is currently being tested on the web and seems to canonize the “soft block” concept as an official Twitter tool.

According to the tweet announcing the test, you can remove followers from the follower list on your profile page. You just click the three-dot menu next to a follower’s name, click “Remove follower,” and your tweets will no longer automatically show up in their timeline.

Image: Twitter

The remove follower option.

This is different than blocking someone, which keeps them from viewing your tweets and direct messaging you (and keeps you from...

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Tripwire CEO out 53 hours after tweeting his opinions on Texas abortion law

Tripwire Interactive

John Gibson, CEO of Tripwire Interactive — the studio known for making horror games like Killing Floor and Maneater — was made to step down a blisteringly quick 53 hours after he tweeted in favor of the controversial Texas abortion law.

In the tweet, Gibson says, “Proud of #USSupremeCourt affirming the Texas law banning abortion for babies with a heartbeat. As an entertainer I don’t get political often. Yet with so many vocal peers on the other side of this issue, I felt it was important to go on the record as a pro-life game developer.”

The tweet drew sharp criticisms from across the gaming industry with many consumers stating they would no longer buy Tripwire games and sharing how to block the developer from showing up in Steam...

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Hulu’s monthly prices increase by $1 as Disney pushes its streaming bundle

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Hulu’s streaming plans cost $1 more starting on October 8th, with its ad-supported tier going up to $6.99 each month and its ad-free tier going up to $12.99 monthly. According to Variety, the price of Hulu’s live TV service, which also includes access to its streaming content, isn’t increasing. Disney, the majority owner of Hulu, has increased the prices of its other streaming services over the past year, making its bundle that includes all of them look more and more attractive.

The price of the Disney bundle, which includes Hulu, Disney Plus, and ESPN Plus, doesn’t appear to be going up along with Hulu’s prices — however, it already went up by a dollar earlier this year when Disney Plus got a $1 per month price hike. It currently costs...

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Twitter tests a new timeline with edge-to-edge picture and video

Image: Twitter

Twitter has announced that it’s testing edge-to-edge media in tweets on iOS, creating a more full-screen, almost Instagram-like experience for the photos and videos in your timeline.

In an email to The Verge, Twitter writes that it’s testing the change because it wants to better support conversations that are both visual and text-based. You can get a sense of what that looks like in a video posted to Twitter’s support account:

Now testing on iOS:

Edge to edge Tweets that span the width of the timeline so your photos, GIFs, and videos can have more room to shine. pic.twitter.com/luAHoPjjlY

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) September 7, 2021

This change, if it rolls out beyond a select group of iOS users, also helps Twitter address...

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Apple’s car chief is heading to Ford

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Ford has hired away Apple’s car chief, Doug Field, to become its chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer. “Field will lead Ford’s efforts to develop the next-gen Blue Oval Intelligence tech stack to deliver smart, connected vehicles and services that improve over time through constant updates,” according to Ford’s press release. He’ll report to Ford’s president and CEO, Jim Farley.

Field was a VP of special projects at Apple, where he was the de facto head of the company’s confused efforts to make an autonomous electric car — known as Project Titan. He had a previous stint at Apple where he was once the VP of Mac hardware engineering, but he left the company in 2013 to become Tesla’s chief vehicle engineer, where he helped...

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LG claims its ‘Real Folding Window’ beats folding glass, will ship in 2023

Bendable glass was supposed to unlock a future straight out of science fiction: phones that fold. But the actual glass we got wound up relying on factory-installed plastic screen protectors to avoid shattering when you fold it. Now, LG wants to cut out the middleman by improving the plastic instead: the company just announced its “Real Folding Window,” a cover material it claims will be as hard as glass but without the whole cracking issue.

More PET, less glass

What’s the secret? Well, LG doesn’t quite say in its press release, only that it’s a “new material” that it uses to coat both sides of a sheet of plastic film — PET film, to be precise. (PET is probably best known as the plastic in your soda bottle.) The idea is that if you apply...

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