Amazon’s new MMO could come to its Luna cloud gaming service

A screenshot from Amazon Games’New World. | Image: Amazon Games

New World, Amazon Games’ upcoming MMO, is just a few weeks away from its September 28th PC launch. But at some point in the future, it could be offered on Amazon’s Luna cloud gaming service, Richard Lawrence, studio director at Amazon Games, said in an interview with The Verge.

“I’m fairly confident that at some point you’ll also see New World on Luna,” Lawrence says. That could expand the number of potential players by a significant amount since Luna is available on lot of different devices, including, as of Thursday, Chromebooks and Amazon Fire tablets.

It’s not clear when the game might come to Luna, though

However, the holdup on bringing the game to Luna is “more on the New World side than anything else,” Lawrence says. He didn’t...

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Tesla Model S Plaid sets production EV record at Germany’s Nürburgring race course

Screenshot: Touristen Niko

Tesla set a new lap record for a production electric vehicle at Germany’s famed Nürburgring race course. A brand-new Model S Plaid completed the 12.9-mile lap in seven minutes and 30.9 seconds, beating a record set in 2019 by a Porsche Taycan by 12 seconds. The new record was confirmed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Twitter.

According to Musk, the Model S Plaid was “completely unmodified, [and] directly from [the] factory.” In a follow-up tweet, he said Tesla would take another crack at the Nürburgring using a “modified Plaid with added aero surfaces, carbon brakes & track tires (all things that can be done without Tesla being in the loop).”

How important a record this is for Tesla, or any automaker for that matter, is certainly up for...

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DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats sue New York City over restaurant fee caps

The three food delivery services are suing NYC for capping the amount they can collect in fees from restaurants. | Getty Images

Delivery service platforms DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats are suing New York City for capping the amounts they can collect in fees from restaurants. In a complaint filed in US District Court court late Thursday, the companies argue that the fee caps are government overreach that will harm businesses. Along with monetary damages and a jury trial, the three companies are seeking an injunction to keep New York from enforcing the fee-capping rule that the city made permanent in August.

The city put a temporary cap on delivery fees last June to help restaurants that were relying on food deliveries to stay in business while they were closed to in-person dining because of pandemic restrictions. The platforms can’t charge restaurants more...

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How to use iOS 15’s Focus modes to quickly customize your iPhone’s homescreen

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

Customizing your iPhone’s homescreen took off last year when iOS 14 introduced widgets and the ability to hide default app icons in favor of your own cool, customized ones. But iOS 15 opens up a new dimension to homescreen customization, thanks to Focus modes — which give a quick and easy way to hide and reveal groups of homescreens with just a single tap. Here’s how to do it:

Focus modes are ostensibly an extension of Apple’s Do Not Disturb mode — the intended idea behind the feature is that you can tie specific homescreens to different use cases, like having a work homescreen with your calendar and email widgets that automatically pop up when you’re in the office, and a regular homescreen with social media apps and music widgets for...

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Defaced on finding his way and building an icon through NFTs

Taking inspiration from Jim Henson and Shigeru Miyamoto

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Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate is the right thing to do

Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

On Thursday night, President Joe Biden announced a new federal vaccine mandate, putting new pressure on Americans who refuse to be inoculated against COVID-19.

“This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Biden said in a speech to the nation. “Despite the fact that for almost five months, free vaccines have been available in 80,000 different locations, we still have nearly 80 million Americans who have failed to get the shot.”

“This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated”

The federal government can’t directly force people to get vaccinated, but Biden’s new mandates doeverything short of that. Among other efforts, the plan requires all federal workers, contractors, and a range of government-linked businesses to vaccinate their employees,...

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Samsung releases eco-friendly watchbands made from apple peel

Prices for the watchbands start at $39.99. | Image: Samsung

Samsung has announced six limited edition watch bands for the Galaxy Watch 4 made of recyclable and eco-friendly materials including apple peel. The range was made in collaboration with Sami Miró, a fashion designer whose previous collections have made use of upcycled materials. The bands are available today, with prices starting at $39.99.

There are six designs included in the collection. The “Midnight Black” and “Stratus Sky” bands are made out of 100 percent apple peel skin “recovered from the fruit industry.” Samsung claims the material has the “premium look of leather” while obviously not being sourced from animals. The other four designs (“Aurora Night,” “Cloud Navy,” “Earth Sunrise,” and “Dawn Atlas”) are made of a thermoplastic...

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons museum exhibit finds the personal amid the pandemic

The National Videogame Museum explores the game’s impact by listening to players

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Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K is now available for the lowest price yet in 2021

Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K is no longer the latest model, but its value is hard to beat. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K has long been considered one of the best streaming devices on the market, especially if you’re already tapped into Amazon’s ecosystem. The arrival of the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max may complicate things next month, however, if you couldn’t care less about Wi-Fi 6 and improved processing power, the current model should suffice.

As far as specs go, the last-gen Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K checks all the boxes. The 4K streamer offers everything HDR (Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10), as well as Dolby Atmos sound, access to all major streaming apps, and an Alexa-enabled remote that lets you issue commands without having to shout across your living room. Normally $50, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is now on sale at Best Buy...

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Google sets new water goals as droughts worsen

A picture taken on December 6, 2016 shows Google Groningen logo for the office during the opening of the new Google data center in Eemshaven, near Groningen, Netherlands. | Photo by VINCENT JANNINK/ANP/AFP via Getty Images

With drought sucking the Western US dry, Google announced new plans to protect vital water resources. Google guzzles up water to cool its data centers, three of which are in the drought-stricken West. To offset its thirst, the company said that by 2030, it wants to replenish 120 percent of the water it consumes.

Google guzzles up water to cool its data centers, three of which are in the drought-stricken West

Google laid out three strategies to accomplish that goal: using water more efficiently in its operations, partnering with communities to make watersheds healthier, and offering its technologies as tools to predict and prevent water stress.

The company has faced pushback from communities near its data center in South Carolina and a...

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Google and Jio’s smartphone collaboration has been delayed

Image: Jio Platforms

The JioPhone Next, a smartphone being jointly developed by Google and Indian tech giant Jio Platforms, has missed its planned September 10th launch date, the companies have announced. The delay is needed to give both companies more time to refine the device, and to navigate problems created by the global semiconductor shortage. The JioPhone Next is now scheduled for wide release around Diwali, which will take place in early November. The phone is currently in testing with a small number of users.

The phone is designed to be an affordable 4G smartphone to help the roughly 300 million Indian users currently on 2G networks upgrade to 4G. When it announced the phone in June, Jio’s parent company Reliance said it would include voice...

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Xiaomi promises its 120W fast charger won’t kill its new phone’s battery

Photo by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

If you’ve been following the Chinese phone scene for the past few years, you’ll have noticed the inescapable fast-charging arms race. It feels like every few months there’s a new champion, with high-wattage chargers constantly pushing down the time it takes to fill a phone battery.

This month, Xiaomi is making its biggest effort yet to bring its “HyperCharge” technology to a mainstream, global audience. The upcoming Xiaomi 11T Pro has a 120W charger, a huge power increase on the current global flagship Mi 11, which uses a 55W charger that can get you to 100 percent in 45 minutes. Xiaomi hasn’t revealed estimating charging times for the 11T Pro yet, but last year’s China-only Mi 10 Ultra also had a 120W charger that took just 23 minutes...

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Steam’s downloads page just got a lot more informative

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Valve has just released a big update for Steam that offers a number of small but significant tweaks to the digital games store. Many of these changes have been available in beta for months, but now they’re hitting the software’s stable release channel. The update overhauls the downloads page and introduces a much improved section for managing your storage, amongst a host of other tweaks and fixes.

The downloads page has seen the bulk of the improvements. For starters, as well as showing download progress, the page also now shows installation progress. It should cut down on those frustrating moments when a game appears to be fully downloaded but isn’t playable because it’s not yet fully installed. The priority of downloads in the queue...

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Google’s Material You design is coming to Gmail, Calendar, and Docs on Android

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google is starting to roll out its new Material You design system to Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and more on Android. The new look will include changes to navigation bars, improved action buttons, and Google’s Sans text for better readability. It’s part of the bigger Android 12 redesign that includes big, bubbly buttons, shifting colors, smoother animations, and some overhauls to built-in apps.

The design changes mean Pixel devices with Android 12 or newer will be able to match the colors inside apps like Gmail, Google Meet, and Google Drive with their wallpapers for what Google calls a “more dynamic, personalized look.” Existing color schemes and color-coded file types and folders will remain unchanged within the apps, though.

...

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Apple reportedly overcomes Watch Series 7 manufacturing issues

Last year’s Apple Watch Series 6. | Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge

Apple has reportedly overcome the production issues it’s been having with its unreleased smartwatch, the Apple Watch Series 7, and will now begin mass manufacturing the device in mid-September, according to a report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo seen by MacRumors. The news comes as Apple gears up for a major launch event on September 14th. The fall event will presumably be focused on its latest iPhone models with the new Apple Watch also expected to make an appearance.

Late last month _Nikkei_and _Bloomberg_reported that Apple had temporarily halted production of its latest smartwatch while it fixed the problems. The issues were thought to be related to the Series 7’s revamped design, which is said to consist of “a flatter display and edges”...

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Apple Music is adding more DJ mixes with new features powered by Shazam

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Last year Apple showed how it could embed Shazam’s music identification features even more deeply within iOS 14, and now it’s taking things another step forward within Apple Music. Apple Music initially introduced DJ mixes and mash-ups in 2016 through a partnership with Dubset Media Holdings to identify and pay for licensed music within mixes.

Now Apple says that by building upon the Shazam tech acquired in 2018 and partnering with various labels, Apple Music has the tools to identify and compensate individual creators, event promoters, labels, etc. It also allows subscribers to see the names of individual tracks, skip songs within the mix, listen with lossless audio on “most mixes,” and save them to their library for viewing offline.

...

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Apple won’t let Epic bring Fortnite back to South Korea’s App Store

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales

Apple says it won’t let Epic Games back in the App Store until they agree to “play by the same rules as everyone else.” Earlier today Epic asked Apple to reinstate its developer account so that it could re-release the iOS version of Fortnite in South Korea, which recently passed a bill forcing Apple and Google to allow alternate in-app payment systems.

Apple, however, maintains it’s under no obligation to let Epic in the App Store at all. “As we’ve said all along, we would welcome Epic’s return to the App Store if they agree to play by the same rules as everyone else,” an Apple spokesperson says in a statement to The Verge. “Epic has admitted to breach of contract and as of now, there’s no legitimate basis for the reinstatement of their...

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Vivo finally adopts wireless charging with new X70 Pro Plus flagship

Vivo has announced the X70 series, its latest line of flagship phones. It sees the company further extend its camera partnership with renowned lens company Zeiss while refining the blueprint laid down by the X50 and X60 phones from the past year-plus.

The X70 Pro Plus is the top-of-the-line device, featuring a Snapdragon 855 Plus processor, a 6.783-inch (yes that’s the stated spec) 1440p OLED screen, and a 4,500mAh battery that uses Vivo’s 55W FlashCharge technology. More importantly, it has 50W wireless fast charging that also works with Qi. This is Vivo’s first ever phone to support wireless charging, which should make it a more viable switching option for anyone who’s already put Qi chargers all over their house.

The X70 Pro Plus’...

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Apple fires senior engineering program manager Ashley Gjøvik for allegedly leaking information

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple has fired senior engineering program manager Ashley Gjøvik for allegedly violating the company’s rules against leaking confidential information. For months, Gjøvik has been tweeting openly about allegations of harassment, surveillance, and workplace safety.

“When I began raising workplace safety concerns in March, and nearly immediately faced retaliation and intimidation, I started preparing myself for something exactly like this to happen,” she says. “I’m disappointed that a company I have loved since I was a little girl would treat their employees this way.”

Gjøvik has raised concerns that her office is in an Apple building located on a superfund site, meaning it requires special oversight due to historical waste contamination....

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Vape receipts help DOJ nab man who allegedly botnetted thousands of passwords

28-year-old Ukrainian national Glib Oleksandr Ivanov-Tolpintsev has been indicted by the Department of Justice for allegedly using a botnet to brute force people’s passwords, and then selling the credentials on a dark web store ominously called The Marketplace. According to the DOJ, Ivanov-Tolpintsev bragged that he was able to get at least 2,000 logins a week, and he allegedly told one of The Marketplace’s admins that he had cracked over 20,000 passwords. The DOJ’s description of the alleged methods and victims serve as a reminder of how much stolen information is out there, and the importance of implementing basic security principles.

The indictment, which can be read in full below, alleges that Ivanov-Tolpintsev talked about...

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Google Stadia’s director of games has left for Google Cloud

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Google’s Stadia cloud gaming service appears to have lost another top video game industry veteran — kind of. Jack Buser, Stadia’s Director for Games and a former PlayStation exec, is moving to the company’s Google Cloud division to head up “Gaming Solutions,” according to a ZDNet report.

Google confirms Buser is leaving the Stadia group for Google Cloud, providing this statement to The Verge:

Gaming is an incredibly important vertical at Google and we’re seeing huge momentum across all products and services. Jack’s new role will allow us to better bring customers the best of Google across our Cloud services, Stadia, YouTube, and more. Stadia continues to be led by its GM Phil Harrison, and Stadia’s business development and partner...

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Epic tests Apple with new request: let us relaunch Fortnite in Korea

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Epic Games has asked Apple to reinstate its Fortnite developer account so it can release the game in South Korea, following the passage of a bill that will force Apple and Google to let apps use alternative payment systems.

“Epic has asked Apple to restore our Fortnite developer account,” Epic said in a tweet on the official Fortnite account. “Epic intends to re-release Fortnite on iOS in Korea offering both Epic payment and Apple payment side-by-side in compliance with the new Korean law.”

Epic has asked Apple to restore our Fortnite developer account. Epic intends to re-release Fortnite on iOS in Korea offering both Epic payment and Apple payment side-by-side in compliance with the new Korean law.

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) September...

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Twitter is beginning to test labels for bot accounts

An example of what an automated account label looks like on Twitter. | Image: Twitter

Twitter is beginning to roll out labels for automated accounts (or bot accounts), the company announced Thursday. “Examples of automated accounts you might see on Twitter include bots that help you find vaccine appointments and disaster early warning systems,” Twitter said in an FAQ. “When these accounts let you know they’re automated, you get a better understanding of their purpose when you’re interacting with them.”

Initially, in what Twitter is calling a test, a small number of developers will be invited to be able to apply the labels to their accounts. For accounts in the test that have activated the labels, an “Automated” label will appear on profile pages and on tweets themselves for accounts. Twitter says all developers will be...

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Refusing to wear a mask on an airplane could now cost you up to $3,000 in fines

Photo by Gado/Getty Images

Refusing to wear a mask on an airplane is about to get really expensive. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced that it was doubling civil penalties for those who refuse to comply with federal mask mandates on commercial airlines, at airports, or on certain forms of public transportation like passenger rail or intercity buses. Repeat offenders could now face fines of up to $3,000.

First time offenders will be fined $500-$1,000, up from the previous amount of $250. Second offenders will be fined $1,000-$3,000. The new TSA penalties, which are separate from the fines issued by the Federal Aviation Administration for unsafe behavior, will take effect September 10th.

“Wearing a mask protects the traveling public”

“...

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FDA has rejected nearly one million flavored e-cigarettes

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

After a year-long review of millions of e-cigarette**-**related products, the Food and Drug Administration says it has rejected 946,000 flavored products, prohibiting them from being marketed or sold. It also said that the applications for 4.5 million products were missing materials that the agency required to make a decision. All of those products must also be removed from the market.

The FDA said in a statement Thursday that it has reviewed 93 percent of the applications submitted, which included 6.5 million products.

It will continue to review the remaining 7 percent of products. Notably, that group includes e-cigarettes made by Juul, a market leader and the company that drew federal attention for its product’s popularity among kids and...

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The biggest announcements and best trailers from Sony’s PlayStation Showcase 2021

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony is the latest video game company to put on a big virtual event, and its PlayStation Showcase 2021 didn’t disappoint. It was a chance to show off some of the biggest games coming to the PS5, and while there were some notable absences — Sony still isn’t talking much about the next generation of PlayStation VR — we were able to catch a glimpse of highly-anticipated titles like God of War: Ragnarok, Spider-Man 2, and a remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. There were even a few surprises, like a new Wolverine game.

Here’s everything you need to catch up on the showcase.

Knights of the old Republic is getting a next-gen remake

Sony opened the show with a reveal that’s been rumored for some time: the classic Star Wars...

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Texas passes law that bans kicking people off social media based on ‘viewpoint’

Photo by Montinique Monroe/Getty Images

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed a bill regulating how social media companies moderate content.

The new law, passed as HB 20 in early September, controversially prohibits banning (or demonetizing or otherwise restricting) content based on “the viewpoint of the user or another person,” whether or not that viewpoint is expressed on the social media platform itself.

HB 20 also requires social media services to disclose how they promote and moderate content and mandates transparency reports similar to those produced by Facebook, Google, and other major web companies. If platforms are notified of illegal content, the law requires them to evaluate it within 48 hours, a policy that mirrors at least one proposal in US Congress. (Unlike...

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Radiohead teams up with Epic Games for Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition

Radiohead is teaming up with Epic Games for Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition — an interactive experience coming to PlayStation 5, PC, and Mac in November as part of the band’s upcoming Kid A Mnesia release.

Kid A Mnesia is a commemorative rerelease of Radiohead’s iconic albums Kid A and _Amnesiac,_along with a third, new album — Kid Amnesiae — of unreleased material from the two original albums’ recording sessions.

According to the announcement, the _Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition_for PlayStation will be an “upside-down digital / analogue universe created from original artwork and recordings” to accompany the rerelease. Given Epic’s recent taste for interactive musical experiences, it’s likely that _Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition_will offer...

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Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection remasters two classics for PS5 and PC

Image: Sony

At its PlayStation Showcase on Thursday, Sony announced Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, a remaster of both Uncharted: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and it’s coming to both PS5 and PC. The collection will be released in early 2022, Sony says, though the PS5 version will be released first while the PC version will arrive “shortly after,” according to a PlayStation Blog post.

Uncharted: A Thief’s End is the fourth mainline game in the hit series starring Nathan Drake, while Lost Legacyis a side story starring Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross. The arrival of A Thief’s End on PC isn’t a complete surprise, as the PC release was mentioned in a May investor presentation.

Uncharted creator Naughty Dog’s last big release was T...

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God of War: Ragnarok finally has a trailer

Sony

We’ve finally got a first glimpse at the newest entry in the “Kratos tries to Dad” series, and it looks pretty damn cool. God of War: Ragnarok, first teased almost exactly a year ago with naught more than a logo, finally has a trailer.

The new trailer, showcased during Sony’s PlayStation event, features Atreus bickering with his father about his destiny as the cataclysm of Ragnarok looms.

God of War: Ragnarok is the ninth entry in the series and sequel to 2018’s award-winning God of War. God of War took the marquee PlayStation franchise from ancient Greece to ancient Scandinavia, pitting Kratos against the gods and monsters of Norse mythology. Developed by Santa Monica Studios, God of War stars a not really kinder nor gentler Kratos...

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