Ring’s security drone could be flying in your home soon

Ring’s Always Home Cam security drone is ready for takeoff. | Image: Ring

First announced at last year’s Amazon hardware event, the Ring Always Home Cam is now ready for take-off. Starting today, September 28th, you can request an invitation to be a crash-test dummy for Ring’s newest innovation. The Always Home Cam is a Ring camera attached to a drone that can fly predetermined paths in your home when triggered via a Ring Alarm sensor or from the Ring app. The camera costs $249.99; if you live in the US, you can apply for an invitation to buy it today, and the devices will ship later this year.

Designed to solve the problem of wanting to be able to see inside your home when you’re not there but not wanting to have dozens of cameras watching you when you are, the Always Home Cam only records when it’s in...

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Sling TV coming to all existing Echo Show devices

During its big hardware and announcement event today, Amazon revealed some exciting news for those of us who prefer linear viewing: Sling TV is coming to all existing Echo Show devices.

Amazon said during the event that the Echo Show will soon have support for live and linear viewing through the Sling TV app. Support will also extend to the new wall-mounted Echo Show 15, which could change the way users interact with their devices. Support for Sling TV will make the Show work more like a traditional television, particularly in rooms like kitchens where space might be tight.

Amazon confirmed to The Verge that Sling TV will arrive on all Echo Show devices in the US soon.

Developing...

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Amazon Glow is a video chat gadget with built-in games to keep kids engaged

Amazon has never shied away from making strange gadgets that require a bit of explanation, but the new Amazon Glow might take the prize for the strangest in several years. It’s a videoconferencing device that also has a tabletop projector built into it. The idea is that younger children get quickly bored with video chats and wander off, leaving their remote relative staring at an empty screen. So the Amazon Glow can project games, books, or puzzles onto a table that kids and their parents (or grandparents) can play together.

Amazon Glow will cost $299.99 when it’s released widely, but for now, anybody who wants one will need to apply to an invite-only program (and get an introductory price of $249.99). It comes with a year of the Amazon...

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Amazon will let you teach Alexa to recognize and respond to sounds

Today is Amazon’s fall product hardware showcase, and the company’s Alexa voice assistant is learning an intriguing new trick: Amazon says you’ll be able to program Alexa to recognize “custom sounds,” so it could theoretically alert you or trigger smart home actions when it hears something. The company’s experimented with this a lot in the past, saying it’s taught Alexa to detect snoring, and it turned the ability to detect breaking glass and smoke alarm sirens into its Alexa Guard feature in 2018 and 2019.

Theoretically, you could soon program Alexa to do far more, but the company isn’t providing a lot of details today. Amazon announced the feature alongside its sizable new Echo Show 15 smart display, which includes a custom AZ2 Neural...

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Amazon’s new Echo Show 15 is meant to hang on your wall

Amazon’s Echo Show 15 | Photo: Amazon

Amazon is once again expanding its lineup of Echo Show smart displays, and this time, it’s going bigger. The new $249.99 Echo Show 15 is the largest smart display the company has released so far, with a 15-inch, 1080p HD display. It’s also got a different design than the company’s prior models — instead of being a touchscreen attached to a bulky speaker, the Echo Show 15 is flat and can be hung on the wall.

Amazon’s pitch for this smart display is for it to be a shared hub for families to see things like upcoming calendar appointments, to-dos, sticky note reminders, and shopping lists. It envisions it being placed in communal spaces — a living room, frequently accessed hallway, and, of course, the kitchen. It’s capable of all the things...

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Amazon takes on Nest with a $59.99 smart thermostat

Amazon Smart Thermostat | Image: Amazon

Amazon revealed its excitement over the “promise of ambient computing” by opening its fall hardware event with a new smart thermostat. Like the ones we’ve seen from Nest, it will automatically adjust your indoor environment when it detects that you’re home and based on other learned preferences. Amazon has built up Alexa’s ability to act on “Hunches” over the last few years, and it appears the thermostat relies on a deep connection with the AI assistant’s smarts to understand what it should do and when.

Integrating smart features like Alexa routines and presence detection at its price means that it’s not only poised to undercut more expensive products like the $130 Nest or Ecobee’s $250 option. It’s even cheaper than value-priced smart...

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Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ new trailer shows what you’ll be doing outside of battle

We already know that the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Arceusmakes some big changes when it comes to combat and capturing monsters. But the latest trailer for the roleplaying game shows some of the other things you’ll be doing. That includes familiar elements like riding pokémon, customizing your trainer with clothes and hairstyles, and what looks like a fairly robust photo mode. The trailer also ends with a look at a brand-new monster called Kleavor. Additionally, the developers revealed that players will get a device called an Arc Phone, which will likely serve as a pokédex of sorts. It also looks suspiciously like the titular new Arceus pokémon being introduced in the game.

Arceus isn’t launching until...

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Artificial intelligence might eventually write this article

Illustration by William Joel

I hope my headline is an overstatement, purely for job purposes, but in this week’s Vergecast artificial intelligence episode, we explore the world of large language models and how they might be used to produce AI-generated text in the future. Maybe it’ll give writers ideas for the next major franchise series, or write full blog posts, or, at the very least, fill up websites with copy that’s too arduous for humans to do.

Among the people we speak to is Nick Walton, the cofounder and CEO of Latitude, which makes the game AI Dungeon, which creates a plot in the game around what you put into it. (That’s how Walton ended up in a band of traveling goblins — you’ll just have to listen to understand how that makes sense!) We also chat with...

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Toyota’s autonomous division just bought the company that made a self-driving DeLorean do donuts

Woven Planet Holdings, a subsidiary of Toyota, acquired Renovo Motors, a startup that makes operating systems for autonomous vehicles. It’s the latest acquisition that aims to accelerate Toyota’s mission to develop autonomous vehicles with connected software. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Toyota established Woven Planet in January 2021 to invest in and develop mobility with artificial intelligence. Since then, the company has been on a shopping spree, acquiring Carmera, a firm that provides real-time, high-definition maps and data for driverless vehicles, and Lyft’s Level 5 autonomous vehicle division.

Renovo converted a DeLorean with an electric powertrain and then did autonomous donuts with it

Renovo, which is based in...

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Rivian’s R1T electric pickup truck took me to the top of the mountain

Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge

Car of the wild

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LG’s brilliant 65-inch C1 OLED is still $300 cheaper than usual

If you’re in the market for a new TV set, you’re in luck. The 65-inch version of LG’s C1 OLED is selling at an all-time low of $1,797 at Amazon and BuyDig, where you can also snag a $50 Visa gift card with your purchase. The same deal is available at Costco through October 10th, only your purchase comes with a three-year warranty through Allstate and a $100 streaming credit toward Google Play, Paramount Plus, Showtime, or Sling TV. Best Buy is selling this model for $1,799.

The lauded TV, released earlier this year, offers a slew of features gamers especially will enjoy, including support for Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync technologies, which help the TV resist screen tearing. It also boasts a 120Hz refresh rate, low input lag, HDMI 2.1,...

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Trouble in the Club(house)

Image: Clubhouse

Hello, hello. Welcome to week two of Hot Pod under The Verge, although I should probably count this as the first official Tuesday Hot Pod, given that last week was all mission statement and little fun. Today, I go deeper into a story I published this morning about Clubhouse’s sponsorship woes and look over some quick news. Let’s get going.

EXCLUSIVE: Where are the sponsors? Inside Clubhouse’s creator program

This morning, I published a story about Clubhouse’s Creator First program, an initiative where Clubhouse offered creators a stipend to make 12 episodes of a live audio program. As part of the deal, the platform advertised that it would match these creators with sponsors so they could turn their idea into a “profitable creative...

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Ikea and Sonos announce new Symfonisk lamp speaker, coming October 12th

Image: Ikea

Today, Sonos and Ikea officially announced the second-generation Symfonisk table lamp speaker. The Verge previously reported that the product was in the pipeline, and its design, which is now more customizable and comes in different styles, leaked earlier this month. The new Symfonisk lamp will be available in Ikea’s US stores, US website, and “select markets in Europe” starting October 12th. It’ll expand to all of Ikea’s markets in 2022.

Ikea is changing up how it’s selling the new model; this time around, the lamp base (available in black or white) is sold separately from two different styles of lampshades. You can get an opaque glass shade that’s somewhat reminiscent of the original lamp speaker — though this one is open-ended on top...

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John Carreyrou’s final chapter on Theranos

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge

Covering the blood testing startup in print and audio

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iPad Mini 2021 review: a little different

The middle child of the iOS lineup

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GM’s BrightDrop starts building its first electric vans

Images: BrightDrop

BrightDrop, which is General Motors’ new dedicated electric delivery van spinoff, has revealed its second vehicle: a smaller van with many of the same capabilities of the larger versino announced in January. The new mid-size electric van comes as BrightDrop is announcing that it has already built the first production versions of the larger van, and expects to have them on the road this year.

The larger van, dubbed the EV600, has 600 cubic feet of cargo space, can travel up to 250 miles on a full battery, and has a gross vehicle weight of less than 10,000 pounds. The new van has a little more than 400 cubic feet of cargo space, and is so named “EV410.” The smaller van will also share the same standard safety features (like front and rear...

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Dolby Vision gaming launches first on Xbox Series X and S

Dolby Vision is now available on Microsoft’s latest Xbox consoles. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is bringing Dolby Vision gaming support to its Xbox Series X / S consoles today. The feature has been in testing since May and will be available in more than 100 HDR games. While Xbox has supported the HDR10 standard for years, Dolby Vision gaming is appearing first on Xbox consoles and offers support for dynamic metadata. Microsoft says this should result in “brighter highlights, sharper contrast, and more vibrant colors.”

“There are more than 100 next-gen HDR titles optimized for Series X / S that will feature Dolby Vision today, and in the future you’ll see more games like Halo Infinite taking full advantage of Dolby Vision,” explains Katie Slattery, an Xbox program manager at Microsoft.

Microsoft has also been working with...

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Clubhouse needs creators, but creators need cash

Illustration by Tarik Mask

Hosts looked to Clubhouse for sponsors — it rarely delivered

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1Password gets its own ‘hide my email’ feature

1Password will let you create unique email address for each service. | Image: 1Password

1Password is launching a new feature to let users create unique email aliases for logins, much like Apple’s iCloud Plus Hide My Email function. 1Password is partnering with Fastmail to bring its masked email feature to the password manager, giving all users the option of hiding their email addresses from apps and services.

“Your email address is your online identity,” explains Bron Gondwana, CEO of Fastmail. “If your credentials are compromised in a data breach, having a randomly generated email address adds a second line of defense because it can’t be associated with your primary email address, and therefore, your identity.”

Image: 1Password

1Password will let you sign up to services with a unique email and...

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There might be more to come from buzzy VR theme park The Void

The Void attendees wearing the the company’s headsets and VR backpacks. | Image: VERONIQUE DUPONT/AFP via Getty Images

VR arcade company The Void, which offered large-scale virtual reality experiences before financial difficulties forced it to transfer its IP to a creditor late last year, is planning to make a comeback. Protocol reports that the company’s assets have been acquired by a new company called Hyper Reality Partners, headed by a former investor.

The Void emerged as one of the more exciting VR arcade startups in recent years. With Disney as one of its highest-profile investors, the company offered large-scale multiplayer VR experiences, with some based on Hollywood franchises like Star Wars,Wreck-It Ralph and Avengers. Attendees would strap on a modified VR headset and a backpack containing a computer to power it, and then walk around an...

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Why Facebook should release the Facebook Files

Photo illustration by William Joel | Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images

The company’s least-bad option might also do a lot of good

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Imgur has been bought by the owner of Kik, Genius, and WorldStarHipHop

Popular image-sharing site Imgur has been acquired by MediaLab, a Santa Monica-based firm that describes itself as a “holding company of consumer internet brands.” The company owns a number of B-list tech and internet services, including messaging apps Kik and Whisper, lyrics annotator Genius, and viral video aggregator WorldStarHipHop.

Imgur, which currently claims some 300 million users, says the move will help the company “keep the main Imgur team focused on what we do best: creating the best place for community-powered entertainment online.” In a blog post, the company said “Imgur’s journey is far from over” and that MediaLab is committing to “investing more resources in engineering and community.”

MediaLab has bought a number of...

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Android ‘12.1’ could be a big foldable-focused update

A redesigned lock screen could make better use of horizontal space. | Image: XDA Developers

Big foldable-focused improvements are on the way for Android, if leaked code analyzed by XDA Developers is to be believed. Previous reports have suggested that this year’s Android 12 is going to be followed by a minor revision, which is expected to be called Android 12.1 based on previous naming conventions.

XDA’s analysis suggests this update may deliver a host of improvements for how the operating system handles large foldable-sized screens, including offering a better split-screen UI, a lockscreen that makes better use of horizontal space, and a new taskbar that makes it easier to use multiple apps at once. They’re helpful additions that should reduce the need for manufacturers like Samsung to build their own foldable-focused UI...

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Logitech’s MX Keys Mini ditches the numpad for other useful keys

The function row has dedicated emoji, voice dictation and mic mute keys. | Image: Logitech

Logitech’s MX Keys Mini is a compact, platform-agnostic wireless keyboard that lacks the numpad found on the standard MX Keys. It costs the same amount at $99.99 despite its smaller size, yet there might be enough additions to make this one the preferable option (you know, if spending $100 on a keyboard is feasible).

Logitech added a dedicated emoji key to the top row of Mini’s function keys that lets you add some personality to your messages, in addition to a voice dictation key and a mic mute key that mutes on a system level, not per application. Joining them on the function row are media and volume keys, along with an option to adjust the brightness of the keyboard backlighting.

The MX Keys Mini charges via USB-C and can flip between...

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Nintendo confirms Donkey Kong area for Super Nintendo World

Nintendo has confirmed plans to expand Super Nintendo World, its recently opened theme park at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, with a new Donkey Kong area. The news doesn’t exactly come as a surprise — construction already appears to have been underway for some time.

Imagery released by Nintendo confirms that, as speculated, the Donkey Kong zone will indeed be accessed through a large round door that already exists in the park, which is currently almost entirely Mario-themed. The zone will be a significant addition that increases Super Nintendo World’s overall size by about 70 percent, according to Nintendo.

Nintendo

A map showing the location of the new Donkey Kong area within Super Nintendo World.

The...

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Trump pushing Microsoft to buy TikTok was ‘strangest thing I’ve ever worked on,’ says Satya Nadella

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella | Asa Mathat / Recode

It’s difficult to remember now, but in August 2020 there was a deeply surreal episode wherein Microsoft proposed acquiring some portion of TikTok in a complicated deal as the Trump administration was threatening to come down hard on the platform. Ultimately, TikTok turned Microsoft down just a day before Oracle came in with an entirely different kind of deal and the whole thing dissipated.

Speaking today at the Code Conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the whole ordeal was the “strangest thing I’ve ever sort of worked on.”

In terms of the value of such a deal for Microsoft, Nadella said he “was kind of intrigued by it,” before trying to move right along with a laugh, deadpanning after a pause “and then I guess the rest is...

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AMD CEO Lisa Su downplays the company’s role in crypto mining

AMD CEO Lisa Su at Code Conference 2021. | Photo: Asa Mathat

Can’t get a new graphics card for your PC? You might be tempted to blame bots, scalpers or cryptocurrency miners for that — but AMD CEO Lisa Su is downplaying the impact of crypto at the 2021 Code Conference today. When asked about how big a deal crypto is for the chipmaker, she told the audience that it’s a rather small part of AMD’s business, called it “a pretty volatile space,” and suggested that it shouldn’t be a focus for AMD going forward either.

That’s not a particularly surprising stance for several reasons. First, what upside there was for GPU makers like AMD and Nvidia has drastically shrunk — GPU prices have slowly been dropping amidst China’s cryptocurrency crackdown, which only got stronger this past week as China’s central...

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Ford reveals plans for massive EV and battery factories in the US

Ford and South Korean battery manufacturer SK Innovation will spend a combined $11.4 billion to build several new factories in the Tennessee and Kentucky focused on the development and production of electric vehicles and the batteries that power them.

The new facilities represent the first new plants built by Ford, completely from scratch, in over 50 years. The Tennessee plant will be a “mega campus” that houses a vehicle-production facility for Ford’s F-series pickup trucks and a battery assembly division, while the twin factories in Kentucky will manufacture lithium-ion batteries.

“This is show, not tell time”

The facilities won’t come online until 2025, but Ford CEO Jim Farley says the investment signals the seriousness with which...

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US employment watchdog sues Activision Blizzard over discrimination claims

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has sued Activision Blizzard over its allegedly pervasive sexual harassment and discrimination. The lawsuit, filed Monday in California court, is based on a three-year EEOC investigation that included cooperation from the games publisher. It seeks a court order requiring the company to cease unlawful behavior and pay restitution to employees who suffered discrimination or retaliation.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Activision Blizzard was in settlement talks with the EEOC, and the company said in a statement that it was “actively engaged in continued discussions with the EEOC.” In its complaint, the EEOC says it notified the company of its findings on June 15th after...

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Netflix reveals how many accounts are actually watching its top titles

Asa Mathat

During this year’s Code conference, Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos shared a significant haul of data about some of the streaming giant’s top titles — a rare move for a company that traditionally holds numbers close to the chest.

In one slide, shared while Sarandos was speaking on the Code stage with Kara Swisher, Netflix shared numbers about how many accounts viewed its top 10 films and series based on the number of accounts that watched at least two minutes of the title during the first 28 days it was on Netflix.

The first season of Bridgerton led its top series list with 82 million accounts having viewed the title, followed by part one of Lupin and The Witcher, with 76 million accounts having watched each. E...

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