Man who unlocked nearly 2 million AT&T phones gets 12 years in prison

Man who pleaded guilty in a phone-unlocking case sentenced to prison | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A man who the Department of Justice says unlocked AT&T customers’ phones for a fee was sentenced to 12 years in prison, in what the judge called “a terrible cybercrime over an extended period,” which allegedly continued even after authorities were on to the scheme.

According to a news release from the DOJ, in 2012, Muhammad Fahd, a citizen of Pakistan and Grenada, contacted an AT&T employee via Facebook and offered the employee “significant sums of money” to help him secretly unlock AT&T phones, freeing the customers from any installment agreement payments and from AT&T’s service.

Fahd used the alias Frank Zhang, according to the DOJ, and persuaded the AT&T employee to recruit other employees at its call center in Bothell, Washington,...

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Vergecast: iPhone 13, iPad Mini, and everything Apple announced

Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.

This biggest tech story this week: Apple’s hardware event. Nilay, Dieter, and Verge managing editor Alex Cranz discuss everything announced at the event — iPhones, iPads, the Apple Watch, and more — and how they stack up against last year's models. A lot of rumors we discussed over the past couple of weeks didn’t turn out to be true, with instead just minor updates. So was this an “S” event?

After analyzing the new hardware season, keep listening for some other gadget news, including Nintendo finally adding Bluetooth audio to the...

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Apple and Google remove Navalny voting app under Russian government pressure

Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images

Apple and Google have removed jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s voting app from the iOS and Android stores under pressure from the government. _The New York Times_reports that the removal followed threats to criminally prosecute company employees within Russia.

A spokesperson for Russian president Vladimir Putin told reporters that the app was “illegal” and Apple and Google had acted “in accordance with the law.” On Twitter, Navalny aide Ivan Zhdanov called its removal “a shameful act of political censorship.”

The Russian government has mounted a sustained campaign against Navalny’s app, which was meant to rally voters against Putin’s party in Russia’s parliamentary election. The country’s internet censor threatened...

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Here are the accessories you’ll need for your PlayStation 5

Sony’s PlayStation 5 is still incredibly difficult to find. Whether you got lucky with a launch unit, or are still trying to snag one for yourself, picking up additional accessories to ensure you get the most out of your brand new console (whenever you get one) isn’t a bad idea. From headsets and remotes to M.2 SSDs that allow you to expand your console’s storage capacity — that’s a thing now, after all — these are just a few PS5 accessories we suggest picking up from the get-go, some of which are now available at a discount.

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How to use iPhone’s location tracking

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Your iPhone uses information from your cell service, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS to pinpoint its location, and since you almost always have your phone on you, your location as well. That information can be useful for a lot of things, such as letting others know where you are or finding your phone when it’s lost. Other times, it’s just more data that services and companies collect about you, creating privacy concerns.

The good news is you can tighten your controls so that apps are only accessing your location when it’s necessary.

Toggling your location settings can differ from phone to phone, depending on what model of iPhone you have and what version of iOS it’s running. The following directions were tested on an iPhone 11 running iOS 15;...

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HBO Max is offering 50 percent off ad-free plan for six months

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

HBO Max has started running an enticing deal where you can pay half price for the ad-free subscription tier, bringing it to just $7.49 per month. That rate, which is even lower than the ad-sponsored plan, will be good for up to six months, after which you’ll be switched back to the standard $14.99. You’ve got to act relatively quickly to take advantage of the offer: it’s available through September 26th.

WarnerMedia is promoting the deal to people who formerly subscribed to HBO through Amazon’s Prime Video Channels. As of September 15th, you can no longer subscribe to HBO through Amazon. So this is a sweetener to bring those customers over to a standalone HBO Max subscription.

But it’s also available to pretty much everyone else —...

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Half-Life: Alyx is a must-play VR game for $36

Image: Valve

Half-Life: Alyx belongs in every VR headset owner’s library of games, especially when it costs 40 percent less than usual. This game was released right at the start of the pandemic in early 2020 for $60, and while it’s worth every bit of that price, I highly suggest taking advantage of this deal, which drops the game to just $36. Not only does the game satisfy with respect to its story, which serves as the prequel to Half-Life 2 (you _really_need to see the ending), it’s a fantastic experience full of imaginative VR gameplay that makes every environment feel like a sandbox. Read our review.

You don’t need a high-end, wired VR headset to play this game. Grabbing an Oculus Quest or Quest 2 tether-free headset will do just fine (thanks to...

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OnePlus 9 software update pays homage to the Hasselblad XPan camera

A sample photo captured using the Hasselblad XPlan Mode, on the OnePlus 9 Pro. | OnePlus

OnePlus is finally putting its camera partnership with Hasselblad to good use — by bringing the look and feel of Hasselblad’s cinematic XPan camera to the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro, via a software update.

This is a happy surprise because the 9 Series’ cameras did not initially live up to the hype surrounding OnePlus’ multiyear collaboration with the historic camera brand. Although Hasselblad’s contribution to these phones was limited to helping OnePlus tune its camera colors and providing input on its interface earlier this year, as Allison Johnson noted in her OnePlus 9 review, “the Hasselblad color tuning is fine but nothing remarkable.”

This update adds an XPan Mode for the OnePlus 9 Series camera, alongside some much needed practical...

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Microsoft’s new photos app for Windows 11 is a welcome redesign

The new photos app for Windows 11. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft has started testing a new photos app for Windows 11. Like many other parts of Windows, the photos app has been redesigned to match the new operating system, with subtle improvements that help when you’re flicking through a collection of photos or videos.

The biggest addition is a new filmstip at the bottom of the photo viewer that shows small thumbnails of all the photos in a particular folder, collection, or album. It makes it easier to jump between them, or select multiple photos to enter the new “multi-view” UI.

Image: Microsoft

The new filmstrip UI in the Windows 11 photos app.

Multi-view is the best addition for me personally, as you can compare a bunch of photos in a single window. This is great...

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Ikea’s gaming range launches globally next month

Ikea’s gaming range consists of over 30 products. | Image: Ikea

Ikea’s lineup of gaming-themed furniture and accessories now has official pricing and a global release date: October. The lineup first came to China earlier this year as a collaboration with Asus and its Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand.

Pricing for the lineup ranges from cheap desk accessories like a $10 cup holder or $12.99 mouse bungee, all the way up to gaming chairs costing between $69 and $349, and a $599 standing desk. Oh, and that wooden hand designed to gently cradle your headphones and other accessories? That’ll set you back $24.99.

Image: Ikea

A mouse bungee to tidy away your mouse’s cabling.

Image: Ikea

A ring light to keep you lit, plus a phone holder to keep you in frame.

T...

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Oppo shows off new ColorOS 12 following OnePlus merger

Oppo has announced ColorOS 12, the latest version of its Android-based operating system. The update will come to OnePlus phones as well as Oppo’s own phones in China, where OnePlus has used ColorOS since early this year. OnePlus recently announced that it would be combining the codebase of its OxygenOS with ColorOS due to the two companies merging several operations.

ColorOS 12 doesn’t look hugely different to 11, but it makes more use of contrasting colors and white space, with lower information density across many screens. Icons have been subtly redesigned to make more use of depth and texture. Oppo says it’s improved more than 300 animations throughout the UI while also making use of an AI engine to reduce lag and stuttering.

...

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The iPad Mini doesn’t support mmWave 5G

Image: Apple

Apple’s newly redesigned iPad Mini was one of the most exciting announcements at its iPhone 13 event on Tuesday, but in the aftermath a limitation has been identified: As spotted by Jason Snell from Six Colors_,_the new iPad Mini doesn’t support mmWave 5G. There’s also a hint that its new A15 Bionic processor might be downclocked in comparison to the version that appears in the iPhone 13 line (via_MacRumors_).

Support for 5G on the cellular version of the iPad Mini was one of Apple’s major highlights, but looking at Apple’s tech specs, while it supports low- and mid-band 5G, it doesn’t offer mmWave. Apple first started playing into the 5G hype machine with the launch of the iPhone 12, and continues to tout the faster download and upload...

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Guillermo Del Toro’s next film Nightmare Alley is carnival meets noir in its first teaser

Image: Searchlight Pictures

Guillermo Del Toro’s next film _Nightmare Alley_is a bit of departure for the director. The new teaser trailer released by Searchlight Pictures on Thursday sees the Oscar award-winning filmmaker trading in his fascination with the supernatural for an R-rated noir set in and around a carnival.

Nightmare Alley stars Bradley Cooper as Stanton Carlisle, a nightclub mind reader who becomes tangled up with Cate Blanchett as Dr. Lilith Ritter, a psychiatrist out to debunk him as a fraud. The teaser trailer itself manages to be plenty tense without Del Toro’s usual monsters, featuring carnival sideshows, Willem Dafoe as some kind of ringleader, Blanchett as an obvious femme fatale, and what looks like a live electrocution. You can see for...

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Cameo Calls let you have a video meet-and-greet with a celebrity

Cameo is adding a new live calls feature into its app. Cameo is perhaps most well-known for letting you pay for pre-recorded video messages from celebrities, but the new feature, called Cameo Calls, will let you have short video conversations that are designed to be like meet-and-greets. (The app even sets up a photo op at the end of the call.)

The Cameo Calls page has a full list of whose available for conversations and how much it costs for a certain amount of their time. Cameo says that calls can last up to 15 minutes and that the average price for a call is $31. When I looked, I saw that most people offer two or three minutes per call, and prices ranged dramatically. (The highest fee I saw was $225 for a 10-minute call with Vanessa...

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Streaming service Locast permanently barred from operation

Things looked bad for Locast before, and they just got even worse. A judge this week permanently prohibited streamer Locast from continuing operations of its business, a decision that follows a yearslong legal standoff between major broadcasters and the scrappy streaming provider.

A permanent injunction order signed by Judge Louis L. Stanton this week stated that Locast founder David Goodfriend and his nonprofit Sports Fans Coalition NY, which operates the Locast service, “are permanently restrained and enjoined from operating” the free TV streaming service.

The injunction follows a series of rapid-succession developments that have led to Locast’s apparent demise, after the big four broadcasters suing the company — ABC, CBS, Fox, and...

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The bitter lawsuit hanging over the Apple Watch’s new swipe keyboard

Yes, Apple really did type “copy” into its own keyboard during the event.

Apple allegedly offered to buy his app; instead, it’s being Sherlocked

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Hundreds of T-Mobile stores will be able to fix phones soon

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

T-Mobile announced that 500 of its retail stores would start offering repair services starting on November 1st. The company says technicians will provide same-day fixes using manufacturer-approved parts to customers who subscribe to its Protection<360> service, which also includes device replacement in case of loss or theft.

T-Mobile is also improving that device protection plan by letting customers make five claims in a 12-month period, up from the previous limit of three. The claims are handled by Assurant and come with a deductible based on what kind of phone you have and what kind of claim you’re making. Still, it’s likely to be cheaper than buying five new phones if you wind up having an 18-karat run of bad luck.

Assurant...

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Home Assistant Amber is a ready-to-use smart home platform

Home Assistant Amber is a smart home hub for the free, open source home automation platform. | Nabu Casa

Home Assistant, the powerful-yet-prickly smart home automation platform, is finally moving toward the mainstream. Nabu Casa, the company behind the free, open-source software, has launched Home Assistant Amber, its first ready-to-use hub that can run Home Assistant software out of the box. Unlike with prior methods of using Home Assistant, there’s minimal programming required and no need to build your own computer when you have the Amber.

Debuting on the creators’ crowdfunding platform Crowd Supply this week, the $149 box is designed for both beginners and experienced HA fans. Shipping is targeted for June 2022, provided the $140,000 funding goal is met (it’s about a third of the way there as of publish).

Image: Nabu...

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Why smartwatch-measured blood pressure still isn’t ‘ready for primetime’

A traditional blood pressure meter lies on a doctor’s desk. | Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images

Cardiologists are looking forward to the future of blood pressure tech — but the field still needs to catch up

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Helen Mirren finds a side door into Harry Potter with a new game show

Photo by Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

Dame Helen Mirren is a wizard, reader. Or a witch. Or maybe a concerned Muggle? The details don’t really matter; either way, the Oscar award-winning actress is hosting a new Harry Potter quiz show later this year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the film series. _Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses_will be simultaneously broadcast on Cartoon Network and TBS, with plans to eventually stream on HBO Max as well, WarnerMedia announced Wednesday.

The four-part special “will unveil Wizarding World fans willing to put their Harry Potter knowledge to the test for the ultimate honor to be named House Cup champion,” according to WarnerMedia. Mirren will shepherd the latest expansion of the Harry Potter franchise and lend “some British...

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OpenSea’s product chief is out after insider NFT flipping accusations

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

OpenSea head of product Nate Chastain, who was recently accused of a form of NFT insider trading, appears to no longer be working for the company. His Twitter bio now includes the phrase “Past: @opensea.” OpenSea has not publicly named the employee involved in the incident, but CEO Devin Finzer says the NFT trading platform asked for and received their resignation.

Yesterday, Finzer put up a blog post saying an employee used knowledge gained from working at the company to purchase NFTs that were about to be posted to the popular trading site’s homepage (and would thus likely go up in value). While an investigation is apparently still ongoing, OpenSea does say that it’s implemented clearer rules to prevent employees from doing this kind...

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Nintendo’s latest FCC filing reveals a mysterious new controller

Nintendo may have a new wireless controller in the works based on this FCC listing the company filed Thursday (via Vooks). The new device has received the model number HAC-043, which, if it matters, is one model number higher than Nintendo’s wireless SNES controller from 2019.

Nintendo submitted a 180-day request for confidentiality to the FCC on July 26th that hides more revealing details of the device, like photos and actual schematics. But there are still a few details to share. The device is wireless and uses Bluetooth, and it appears to draw more power at 3.5mW than the Joy-Con’s 2.7mW. FCC label placement, which can sometimes reveal a bit more of how a device actually looks, also suggests whatever it is would be a departure from...

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Facebook will treat coordinated rule breakers using real accounts like troll farms

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge

Facebook is expanding its playbook for tackling “coordinated inauthentic behavior” to cover similar campaigns that don’t involve impersonation. Reuters first reported the new policy, which Facebook apparently says is in its early stages. Practically speaking, it means moderators can take broader actions than banning individual accounts or posts when they break hard rules, aiming to stop coordinated attempts to harass users or get them banned.

As Reuters points out, Facebook acknowledged in January that its coordinated inauthentic behavior (or CIB) rules had limits. “We have little policy around coordinated authentic harm,” an internal report published by BuzzFeedadmitted, referring to the Stop the Steal campaign to overturn the US...

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This Dell gaming laptop with an RTX 3050 is just $750

Image: Dell

Grabbing any of Nvidia’s new GPUs for less than a grand is unheard of, but today, you can grab a Dell G15 gaming laptop for just $750, nearly $300 off the initial list price. It may not have the same extraterrestrial curb appeal as Dell’s Alienware laptops, but this G15 still has muscle where it counts. This 15-inch laptop manages to pack in an RTX 3050 graphics card and an 11th Gen Intel Core-i5 CPU, which is ideal for supplying the high refresh 120Hz FHD display.

A trio of USB-A ports provides ample connectivity for peripherals or external storage, and a Type-C connection allows the G15 to dock and connect with an external display. There is also the option to use the built-in HDMI port to connect to your monitor or TV.

As with most...

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Facebook’s new commitments on climate misinformation miss the point, activists say

An Extinction Rebellion environmental activist mother group protest outside Google UK HQ demanding they stop climate deniers profiting on their platforms on October 16, 2019 in London, England.  | Photo by Ollie Millington/Getty Images

Lies about climate change still fester unchecked on Facebook, environmentalists say, even as the social media giant announces new climate initiatives. The company today said that it’s beefing up a “Climate Science Center” with more facts, quizzes, and videos. It’s also investing $1 million in grants to groups “working to combat climate misinformation.”

Those efforts still don’t get at the root of the problem. Trying to funnel Facebook users to a “science center” doesn’t actually stop climate deniers from posting false information that can spread like wildfire on the platform. And Facebook continues to accept advertising dollars from oil and gas companies.

Those efforts still don’t get at the root of the problem.

“Facebook knows the...

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The verdict is in: watch the new PS5’s heatsink put to the test

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony’s new, lighter PS5 model with a smaller heatsink has been put through extensive testing by Gamers Nexus and Digital Foundry,and ultimately, it doesn’t seem that there are significant enough differences between the two models to seek one over the other.

“We overall haven’t seen any major downsides to either heatsink,” Steve Burke, editor-in-chief of Gamers Nexus, said in a video.“It seems to be [that] the fans make a decent difference, but not enough of one where you should pursue purchasing a specific fan.”

“We also wouldn’t really recommend pursuing a specific console,” Burke continued. “The 1100 [the revised console] versus the 1000 series [the launch console] ... they’re not, in our testing, that different. There are a lot of...

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Surprise! Deltarune Chapter 2 drops September 17th

toby fox

The next chapter of Deltarune is coming and I am beyond excited. In a surprise announcement, Toby Fox, creator of the Undertale series, revealed Deltarune Chapter 2 will be released on Mac and PC on September 17th.

The news came on September 15th during a livestream of Deltarune Chapter 1 put on to commemorate Undertale’s sixth anniversary. Hosted by three dads from Fangamer — a gaming merchandise retailer — the Deltarune livestream featured hideous dad-approved shirts, canned laughter typical of a ‘90s sitcom, and commentary from Toby Fox himself via a skateboarding Annoying Dog proxy with a text-to-speech voice. You can (and should) check out a VOD of the wholesome stream here.

Deltarune is the much anticipated follow-up to Toby Fox’s...

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Microsoft Office 2021 will launch on October 5th

Microsoft is launching its next perpetual version of Microsoft Office for commercial customers today, and promising an Office 2021 consumer release on October 5th. Microsoft Office Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) for Windows and Mac will be available for commercial and government users today, providing a locked-in time release of Office that doesn’t require a subscription.

Office LTSC is designed for businesses in regulated industries where processes and apps can’t change on a monthly basis, or for manufacturing plants that rely on Office and want a locked-in time release. It won’t ship with the AI- and cloud-powered features that are found in Microsoft 365, and it won’t receive new features, either. Microsoft will support Office LTSC...

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Razer says its new mechanical keyboards have ‘near-zero’ input latency

The Huntsman V2 includes a volume wheel and media keys. | Image: Razer

Razer has announced an update to its popular Huntsman lineup of mechanical keyboards that reduces input latency to “near-zero,” the company claims. That’s because the newly announced Huntsman V2 and Huntsman V2 Tenkeyless (which omits the numpad, volume wheel, and media controls for a more compact board) both have a polling rate of 8,000Hz, meaning they can theoretically detect key presses eight times faster than the original Huntsman keyboards.

Combined with the keyboards’ optical switches, which use an infrared beam of light to sense when they’ve been pressed rather than metal contact points, Razer reckons the two new Huntsman keyboards will feel more responsive for gaming, especially when combined with a high-refresh rate monitor. In...

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Jabra Elite 3 review: nailing the essentials for $80

They’re consistent, they’re reliable, and they sound quite good for the price

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