Epic’s CEO has bad news if you were hoping to see Fortnite NFTs

Apparently the glowing orb is not an NFT. | Image: Epic

On Monday, Tim Sweeney tweeted that Epic isn’t touching NFTs, in a public response to what was presumably an NFT pitch. He cites the space’s problem with scams as the reason for his hesitancy, which sparked some discussion in the comments (as strong statements about crypto tend to do). Sweeney has since clarified his views on NFTs a little, saying that, to him, owning an NFT is about as valuable as liking an image on Twitter and calling into question whether NFT ownership is actually non-fungible.

While Sweeney’s publicly made his position clear, it’s not likely to stop him from getting a wave of NFT pitches, which you can see for yourself by searching “@TimSweeneyEpic nft” on Twitter. It’s understandable why people try, though — F...

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Fitbit’s newest fitness tracker, the Charge 5, is now available

The Fitbit Charge 5. | Photo by Jay Peters / The Verge

Fitbit’s newest fitness tracker, the Fitbit Charge 5, is now available for purchase. The $179.95 tracker offers a number of improvements over the Charge 4, including a slimmer design and a bright color screen. But in my review, I had some frustrations with the software and the lack of any sort of physical button. And you should know that two of the new tracker’s headline features, an ECG app and the ability to give a new Daily Readiness Score, aren’t available just yet. Those are arriving in the coming months, Fitbit says.

Fitbit is also announcing new features coming to some of its devices for people who subscribe to its Fitbit Premium service, which costs $9.99 per month. Snore and noise detection is now available for all Fitbit Sense...

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RIP Android TV remote app, hello Google TV remote app

Image: Google

Google is killing its older Android TV remote. The move follows the company’s launch of its long-awaited Google TV remote app last week.

The company confirmed to The Verge that the Android TV remote app will take a bow after the Google TV remote app — which can be used for other Android TV OS devices as well — is widely available. Android Policeearlier reported the remote news.

“We’re making the experience of using your phone as a virtual remote control faster to access and easier to use by upgrading the UI and integrating the feature directly into the Android mobile OS as well as the Google TV app,” a spokesperson said. “After the new remote feature is widely available, the Android TV remote app will no longer be supported and...

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LG’s gamer-friendly C1 OLED is down to its best price to date

The LG C1 OLED TV supports HDMI 2.1 and 120Hz Variable Refresh Rate for use with modern consoles. | Image: LG

LG’s various OLED offerings include some of the most well-received models across the industry. The C1 OLED is one of these universally praised panels, and it comes in a variety of sizes to fit people’s preferences and home theater setups. Now, some C1 models have received their biggest discounts yet, which may please those with a penchant for large TVs. Amazon, for instance, currently has the 65-inch C1 for $1,797 and the 77-inch model for $2,997, which factor out to be $703 and $500 off, respectively. For roughly the same price, you can also get either TV with a $100 streaming credit at Costco or a $50 Visa gift card at BuyDig.

These are the lowest prices to date on each of these large displays, both of which feature 120Hz refresh rates...

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The beloved Babylon 5 is getting rebooted, and series creator JMS is running the show

In 1994, J. Michael Straczynski (Sense8, Changeling_)_brought the world a science fiction show like nothing we’d ever seen. _Babylon 5_told a single five-year story, filled with foreshadowing, deep political intrigue, and characters who grew and evolved, at a time when most TV shows still reset the agenda after every single episode. He wrote the vast majority of the award-winning show himself, and it appears he may be about to do it again — Warner Bros. Television is now in development on a “ground-up reboot” of Babylon 5 with Straczynski as writer and showrunner, designed to air on the CW.

Here’s the full description Warner Bros. provided to The Verge:

In a from-the-ground-up reboot of the original series, John Sheridan, an Earthforce...

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The Overwatch League grand finals were a storybook sendoff ahead of Overwatch 2

Blizzard Entertainment

The Shanghai Dragons’ very first Overwatch match was an 0-4 shellacking delivered by the Los Angeles Gladiators in 2018. The team would go on to lose the next 41 straight games — encompassing the entire first season of the league and the first two games of the second season — earning them the dubious honor of having the longest losing streak in esports history. The Shanghai Dragons’ very last Overwatch match of 2021 — and the last professional Overwatch match ahead of the sequel’s launch next year — was a 4-0 beatdown they themselves visited upon the Atlanta Reign to win the 2021 Grand Finals.

It is a long-time fan in-joke to call the Overwatch League “scripted.” Like a TV show, teams are given story arcs, villains and heroes are cast,...

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Ex-Apple designer Jony Ive is now designing expensive things for Ferrari, too

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

LoveFrom, the design firm headed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson, has entered into a creative partnership with Ferrari and Ferrari’s holding company Exor to design presumably automotive-related projects and explore “the business of luxury” (via Bloomberg). LoveFrom’s output has remained somewhat unknown since Ive left Apple to start the design firm in 2019, and Ferrari marks just the second high-profile partnership for the company following a separate deal with Airbnb last year.

Details on what LoveFrom is actually doing for the luxury carmaker or Exor are slim. “The first expression of this new partnership will bring together Ferrari’s legendary performance and excellence with LoveFrom’s unrivalled experience and creativity that has defined...

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Google is brightening up your Gmail avatar with new illustrations

Some of Google’s new illustrations | Image: Google

Google has created new images designed to be used for your Google profile picture, the company announced Monday. The new images, called Google Illustrations, look quite nice, and they could also be useful for people who want to associate an image with their account but don’t want to use a photo of themselves.

Google looks to have a wide variety of options, some of which you can see in the image at the top of this post. And you can see more in the below GIF, which shows different categories of images such as animals, technology, and space.

The new library of illustrations indicates that Google is taking a different approach from avatars like Snap’s Bitmoji or Microsoft’s Xbox avatars, which can let you make stylized...

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Hospitals say cyberattacks increase death rates and delay patient care

Almost a quarter of healthcare organizations that were hit with a ransomware attack in the last two years said they had increases in patient death rates in the aftermath, according to a new report sponsored by cybersecurity company Censinet. The finding adds to a growing pile ofdata showing that cyberattacks aren’t just causing financial or logistical problems — they could be major health risks, as well.

“There’s enough impact from ransomware on patient care that it’s undeniable” says Ed Gaudet, CEO and founder at Censinet. “We should not be afraid to look at this data, and to keep pushing on this question.”

The analysis, conducted by a research institute called the Ponemon Institute, collected survey responses from nearly 600...

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CIA developed plans to kidnap Julian Assange, per report

Cancillería del Ecuador / Flickr

The Trump administration’s CIA actively developed plans to kidnap or assassinate Wikileaks founder Julian Assange during his seclusion in London’s Ecuadorian embassy, according to a detailed new report from Yahoo News. Scenarios included abducting Assange from the embassy, intercepting a Russian effort to extract him, or an outright assassination attempt. While none of the operations were ever approved, they paint an alarming portrait of intelligence agencies’ ongoing obsession with Wikileaks and its controversial founder.

As sources, Yahoo cites conversations with more than 30 former US officials. Among those, eight provided details on plans to kidnap Assange.

The report mostly details operations developed during the Trump...

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Welcome to Hot Pod from The Verge

The podcast world is changing. Welcome to your front-row seat on the action.

In case you haven’t heard, _The Verge_acquired Hot Pod this month, and former writer and editor Nicholas Quah joined Vulture, our sister publication at Vox Media, as a full-time podcast critic. He’s still publishing over there — you can subscribe to his criticism newsletter right here — but I’ll be writing Hot Pod from here on out. I’m excited, and although I know Nick’s legacy and insight are unparalleled, I hope to do it justice. I appreciate you sticking with us.

I’ve been at The Verge for nearly six years and covering podcasting and audio for the past three. In that time, podcasting has gone from something that existed on the fringe to a full-blown cultural...

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Facebook is spending $50 million to ‘responsibly’ build the metaverse

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Facebook has announced a $50 million fund that it says will help it develop the metaverse more responsibly. It’s officially called the XR Programs and Research Fund, and the company says it’ll be invested into “programs and external research” over the course of two years. Facebook has previously funded academic research into the social impact of AR wearables and solicited VR hardware proposals. Facebook’s announcement blog calls the metaverse the “next computing platform” and says that the company will be working with policymakers, researchers, and industry partners while building it.

The announcement also gives us Facebook’s definition of the sometimes nebulous word “metaverse.” The company describes it as “virtual spaces where you can...

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Skype is getting another redesign with new themes and features

Skype’s new design and colorful layouts. | Image: Microsoft

Skype’s had more redesigns in the past five years than I’ve had hot dinners, but Microsoft is still ready to try and tweak things once again. The software maker is teasing plans for an “improved, faster, reliable, and super modern-looking Skype.” Microsoft says it has been listening to feedback and, over the next few months, will start rolling out changes to modernize Skype.

The most important part of Skype, what Microsoft calls the call stage, is getting the most attention. The grid that’s displayed during calls will soon include everyone on a call, regardless of whether they have enabled video or not. This puts all participants side by side, including your own video in the main interface.

Image: Microsoft

The...

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Congress isn’t satisfied with Facebook’s pause on Instagram Kids

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Facebook announced that it would be “pausing” work on its Instagram for kids app on Monday after weeks of growing pressure from lawmakers and advocacy groups to scrap the app. But many lawmakers aren’t satisfied with the pause, calling on Facebook to stop development entirely.

In a statement issued Monday, Democrats in the House and Senate called Facebook’s decision to halt development of the Instagram product targeted to kids under 13 as “insufficient.” Four lawmakers signed onto the statement, including Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA),

“Facebook has completely forfeited the benefit of the doubt”

“Facebook has completely forfeited the benefit of the doubt when it comes to protecting young people online and it must...

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Discord will now let you set a unique avatar in each of the servers where you hang out

Discord will let you have unique avatars across different servers | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Messaging app Discord announced today that its premium Nitro tier will now allow subscribers to use a different avatar on each of their servers. The option to “change nickname” in the app has been changed to “edit server profile.” That’s where you’ll be able to change both your nickname and server avatar, so if you use multiple servers — as a lot of Discord users do — you can keep each identity separate and unique.

Discord also announced today that they’re starting the rollout of scheduled events, which allow users to plan ahead, giving time to spread awareness and join. The company says it’s seeing more communities use stage channels to connect with members, in AMAs, open mic events, or other large-scale discussions.

With scheduled...

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Ford recalls Mustang Mach-Es over risk of glass roof flying off

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge

Ford is recalling the Mustang Mach-E out of concern that the windshield and panoramic roof could leak or, worse, come flying off during a crash or while driving. Nearly 18,000 of the electric SUVs sold to date are at risk of the former, though Ford says only around 13,000 of them run the risk of the roof detaching.

The company will start providing owners with recall instructions in late October, and it says it is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the defect. Ford initially started recalling Mustang Mach-E SUVs last week in Canada, as _Electrek_reported.

Ford told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration earlier this month that it had become aware that the windshield and panoramic roof of the Mustang Mach-E may...

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TikTok says it has passed 1 billion users

TikTok has passed 1 billion users | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

TikTok said Monday it has passed 1 billion monthly users. It’s a remarkable number for a platform launched in August 2018 that has been scrutinized by governments — including the US — that are worried about the data collection practices of its parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance.

TikTok’s popularity soared during the pandemic, becoming the most-downloaded app in the world in the first quarter of 2020, with some 315 million downloads in that quarter alone according to app analytics company SensorTower.

ByteDance reportedly saw its 2020 revenue more than double from the year prior, to $34.3 billion. From its launch to date, SensorTower says TikTok installs have reached 3.2 billion, which includes information from Douyin, the Chinese...

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Roblox is negotiating with music publishers after settling a copyright lawsuit

Image: Roblox

Virtual world-building platform Roblox has settled a lawsuit with the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) and is negotiating potential deals with individual music publishers. Roblox announced the news this morning, saying it was “committed to partnering with the music industry.”

The NMPA sued Roblox in June for letting users upload copyrighted songs into its shared library of game-building assets. Roblox quickly signed individual deals with BMG and Sony, but the new agreement settles all claims involving NMPA members. According to a press release and the NMPA, Roblox and the organization have agreed to the terms of an industry-wide settlement that individual music publishers can decide whether to opt in to, and the agreement...

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Death Stranding Director’s Cut makes the most of the PS5

Okay, I’ll make the obvious joke: was there really anything cut from Death Stranding? For better and worse, Hideo Kojima’s deeply indulgent post-apocalyptic delivery simulator did not feel like it had been subject to heavy editing. But Kojima himself has said that he doesn’t like the name of this new PlayStation 5 version of the game, dubbed a “director’s cut,” arguing instead that it has simply had new content produced for it. So there you have it.

In any case, Death Stranding Director’s Cut is one of the more worthwhile PS5 upgrades out there. For $10 (if you own the PS4 release), this new edition comes with extra missions, improved visuals and performance, more tools and items, DualSense-powered haptic feedback, and 3D audio support....

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Apple’s M1 MacBook Pro is $150 off today

The MacBook Pro remains Apple’s top-end option for notebooks with speedy M1 processors. There are talks of new models with a rumored M1X update, but as of now, if you’re looking for the best the M1 has to offer in the shape of a laptop, it’s the late-2020 MacBook Pro. Today, the 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro is $150 off at Amazon and Best Buy, bringing it down to $1,150 with 256GB of storage or $1,350 for 512GB. This is the second-best price of all time on the popular laptop from Apple.

We often offer praise for its MacBook Air counterpart, which goes on sale more often and is still currently discounted to $850, but the MacBook Pro is a great upgrade for those seeking a bit more performance with a better, brighter screen. You also get the...

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YouTube Music’s new Wear OS app is coming to older smartwatches after all

Google’s Wear OS app for YouTube Music. | Image: Google

YouTube Music’s Wear OS app is rolling out to a handful of older Wear OS 2 smartwatches from the likes of Fossil, Michael Kors, and Mobvoi starting this week, after previously launching exclusively on Samsung’s new Wear OS 3-powered Galaxy Watch 4 smartwatch. The app lets YouTube Music Premium subscribers download songs to compatible smartwatches and listen to music offline without needing a paired phone.

The new app was first detailed when Google and Samsung announced they were merging their Wear OS and Tizen smartwatch operating systems to create Wear OS 3, and initial reports suggested it wouldn’t be coming to devices running the older Wear OS 2 operating system. However, like Spotify’s offline support on Wear OS, the new YouTube...

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Here are our favorite MagSafe-compatible cases for the iPhone 13

A rainbow of Apple’s own MagSafe iPhone 13 caes. | Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Now that your brand-spanking-new iPhone 13 has arrived (or is on the way), it’s time to start thinking about protecting your baby. After all, it’s only a matter of time before your phone falls out of your pocket or makes contact with your keys, so it’s worth the extra investment now to prevent future damages.

Although MagSafe as an iPhone accessory standard is already a year old, Apple is off to a slow start building out its accessory ecosystem. Since its October 2020 launch event, Apple has only launched a dozen official MagSafe products: from the iconic MagSafe Charger puck to the 2021 MagSafe Leather Wallet.

Of course, third-party accessory makers are eager to make MagSafe products, too. Unfortunately, Apple is famously tight-fisted...

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Electric car company Polestar is going public via SPAC

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

Polestar, the Swedish electric car company that is a joint venture between Volvo and Geely, is going public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Polestar is the latest EV company — and futuristic transportation company — to go public via a reverse merger with a so-called “blank check” company.

By merging with a company backed by billionaire and “serial SPAC backer” Alec Gores and investment bank Guggenheim Partners, Polestar says it will have an “enterprise value” of $20 billion. The deal will also net Polestar a lot of cash: $800 million from Gores Guggenheim’s trust account and $250 million in cash from private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing “anchored by top-tier institutional investors,” the...

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 review: ninth time’s the charm

Lenovo has nailed the ThinkPad formula

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Amazon’s fall hardware event 2021: rumors, news, and announcements

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Expect new product announcements on September 28th

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A new Echo, a drone, and everything else to expect from Amazon’s big hardware event

Amazon’s 2021 fall hardware event is coming September 28th. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon is holding its annual fall hardware event on Tuesday, September 28th starting at 12PM ET / 9AM PT. It’s invite-only, and while Amazon said it would share news about “devices, features and services,” it’s not elaborating on which product lines might get updates or what new devices could be revealed.

If last year was any indication, expect to see a massive amount of hardware. Last year, Amazon unveiled a new spherical Echo with Zigbee support and “premium, adaptive sound” from Dolby, spherical Echo Dots (one which came with a clock), and the Echo Show 10 got a motorized base that turns its screen to face you while you’re interacting with it. It also added Netflix support.

Plus, Amazon unveiled its AWS-powered gaming service Luna...

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The Oculus Go’s operating system is being unlocked, John Carmack announces

The Oculus Go, originally released in 2018. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Facebook is unlocking the bootloader of its discontinued Oculus Go headset and giving users full root access. That means the headset will remain useful long after official support ends. The move was announced by Oculus’ consulting CTO John Carmack, who stepped down from his full-time role as CTO in 2019 to focus on his work as an independent AI researcher.

Root access will be achieved by sideloading a future software update, opening the door for anyone to modify and improve Oculus’ original standalone all-in-one VR headset. Facebook originally released the Oculus Go in 2018 before supplanting it with the Oculus Quest the following year. The Go was officially discontinued in 2020.

This opens up the ability to repurpose the hardware for...

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Metroid Dread feels right at home on Nintendo’s new OLED Switch

The most impressive feature in Nintendo’s new Switch model is its seven-inch OLED screen, giving games more vivid-looking colors and deeper contrast. It also has an improved kickstand that’s more functional and versatile than the one on the default Switch. But what’s a new system launch without a killer app? I was able to play the first 90 minutes of Metroid Dread, and not only does it look like it was worth the 19-year-long wait for a sequel to Metroid Fusion, but it might also be the ideal showcase for Nintendo’s new OLED Switch.

_Dread_is coming to the Switch on October 8th, 2021, the same day as Nintendo’s latest iteration of the tablet / console hybrid. There are many games that I’m looking forward to trying with the OLED screen, but...

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Facebook is ‘pausing’ work on Instagram kids app after widespread criticism

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Instagram says it’s “pausing” development of what’s been dubbed “Instagram Kids” — a version of the photo-sharing app aimed at children under 13. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri announced the news in a blog post today, saying that the Facebook-owned company would continue to work on parental-supervised experiences for younger users.

In a blog post and series of accompanying tweets, Mosseri blames the media and critics for misunderstanding the purpose of the app. “It was never meant for younger kids, but for tweens (aged 10-12),” he writes. In a separate tweet, he adds that news of the project “leaked way before we knew what it would be. People feared the worst, and we had few answers at that stage. It’s clear we need to take more time on...

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Resident Evil 4 VR is launching October 21st, but only on Oculus Quest 2

A virtual reality version of _Resident Evil 4_will launch October 21st on Facebook’s Oculus Quest 2 headset.

Resident Evil 4 VR was announced earlier this year. But Facebook and Capcom — as well as third-party development studio Armature — have only offered glimpses of its gameplay, including a short trailer. It adapts the original game’s content with a (mostly) first-person point of view, re-engineering it to take advantage of VR motion controls.

Armature’s Resident Evil 4 makes a somewhat complicated series of small changes the original 2005 horror game. It’s supposed to feature the same narrative content and world design, rather than getting the kind of overhaul Resident Evil 2 did in 2019. But it’s been re-engineered to...

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