You can now buy a keyboard that only copies and pastes

Here it is. | Image: Drop

Sure, why not. Stack Overflow has teamed up with tech retailer Drop to release this cute little keyboard called The Key. It’s programmed to do exactly two things: copy and paste.

The product started as an April Fools’ Day joke earlier this year — Stack Overflow users were shown alerts claiming that they had a limited number of copy / pastes and that they could only lift that cap by purchasing The Key. Users, as Stack Overflow’s blog post notes, were disappointed to find out that The Key was not a real thing they could buy.

So, you can buy it now. It’s up for preorder on Drop’s website for $29. Per the company, the next batch is shipping on December 13th.

Image: Drop

What more could you need?

As you can see,...

Continue reading…

Google search’s next phase: context is king

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Google says search is still far from solved

Continue reading…

Google Maps is making it easier to see wildfires and tree coverage

Google’s Tree Canopy Lab | Image: Google

Google Maps has new features that should make it easier for users to see wildfires, tree canopy, and locations without formal addresses. It’s all aimed at helping communities be “safer, more sustainable, and discoverable,” according to the company.

A new wildfire layer on Maps will begin rolling out globally this week, Google announced today. It’ll show most major fires, those prompting evacuations, across the world. Red splotches and pins on the layer will indicate where blazes are and how far they’ve spread. By tapping on any single wildfire, users can see more information, like how many acres have burned, what percentage of the fire has been contained, and links to local emergency resources.

The map is updated about every hour. It...

Continue reading…

Google’s Search On fall 2021 event: news and announcements

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

All the new features coming to the search giant’s core product

Continue reading…

Google expands shopping searches with Lens and in-store inventory checks

Image: Google

Shopping online isn’t always a convenience. If you enjoy window shopping or browsing curated collections at a brick-and-mortar store for inspiration, finding something online you don’t yet know you want or are unaware of is tricky if you start with a text search. Google is announcing new shopping search tools to try to alleviate this, with features that utilize Google Lens for finding products to buy from pictures online, broader search terms to help you browse clothing, and the ability to check in-store inventory from home. It claims the new tools will help shoppers “find what they’re looking for in a more visual way.” This comes after Google allowed all businesses to create listings on Google Shopping for free last year. Now, it wants...

Continue reading…

Google Lens will soon search for words and images combined

Google is updating its visual search tool Google Lens with new AI-powered language features. The update will let users further narrow searches using text. So, for example, if you snap a photo of a paisley shirt in order to find similar items online using Google Lens, you can add the command “socks with this pattern” to specify the garments you’re looking for.

Additionally, Google is launching a new “Lens mode” option in its iOS Google app, allowing users to search using any image that appears while searching the web. This will be available “soon,” but it’ll be limited to the US. Google is also launching Google Lens on desktop within the Chrome browser, letting users select any image or video when browsing the web to find visual search...

Continue reading…

Google is using AI to help users explore the topics they’re searching for — here’s how

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

“Can you get medicine for someone at the pharmacy?”

It’s a simple enough question for humans to understand, says Pandu Nayak, vice president of search at Google, but such a query represents the cutting-edge of machine comprehension. You and I can see that the questioner is asking if they can fill out a subscription for another person, Nayak tells The Verge. But until recently, if you typed this question into Google, it would direct you to websites explaining how to fill out your prescription. “It missed the subtlety that the prescription was for someone else,” he says.

MUM is Google’s biggest, brightest AI language model

The key to delivering the right answer, says Nayak, is AI, which Google is using today to improve its search results....

Continue reading…

The Dart Zone Pro MK-3 might be the best foam blaster Nerf never made

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Almost everything Hasbro won’t give you in one package

Continue reading…

The Book of Boba Fett premieres on Disney Plus December 29th

The Mandalorian and Boba Fett in The Mandalorian. | Image: Lucasfilm

Disney’s The Book of Boba Fett, a new show focused on the iconic Star Wars bounty hunter, will premiere on Disney Plus on December 29th, Disney announced Wednesday.

Disney revealed that the show was in the works after a post-credits scene during the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian. Shortly after that big reveal, we learned that the show would premiere in December 2021, but now we have an official date.

Here’s the official synopsis, from Disney:

“The Book of Boba Fett,” a thrilling Star Wars adventure, finds legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand navigating the Galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate.”

...

Continue reading…

Instagram Reels are now widely available on Facebook in the US

Image: Facebook

A little over a month after Facebook announced a test blending Instagram Reels’ short-form video content with its main Facebook app, the company is ready to roll it out fully in the US. Now, the creators who use it can create reels on Facebook, and Facebook is testing suggestions that will push the videos to its users.

Image: Facebook

Facebook Reels recommendation

A big part of the Reels effort is appealing to the people who make entertaining content, and with its news feed, Facebook can offer potential levels of exposure that are bigger than anyone else, including competition like TikTok and Snapchat. To drive the point home, Facebook announced a Reels Play bonus program, which will invite certain creators to...

Continue reading…

With its next feature Encanto, Disney swaps pure fantasy for magical realism

Image: Disney

Disney’s next animated feature, Encanto, has a lot of what you’d expect from the studio. It’s bright and colorful, telling the story of a magical family living in the mountains of Colombia, most of whom have been blessed with superpowers. It’s even a musical with songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. But despite the familiar fantasy trappings, it explores new territory for Disney: the narrative tradition of magical realism. “The magic is born out of a human need or drive,” Encanto co-writer and co-director Charise Castro Smith tells The Verge. “It’s all generated by relationships and what these characters are going through.”

Encanto tells the story of the Madrigal family, who lives in a magical home and go through a very unique experience...

Continue reading…

Sony’s most affordable true wireless earbuds switch to a more traditional design

Image: Sony

They’re not audiophile earbuds by any means, but I’ve been a fan of Sony’s “extra bass” WF-XB700 earbuds since they were released. A big part of that is their unconventional shape, which twists into my ear canal deeper than most other earbuds for a sturdy fit that also manages to remain comfortable. But today, Sony is introducing the replacements for those earbuds, and while there are notable improvements like app support (with EQ), longer battery life, and easier controls, the overall design of the new $100 WF-C500 earbuds is definitely playing it safer. They also cost less out of the gate than the XF-XB700s did.

Sony says it decided to go for a more compact style this time, but it has maintained the IPX4 water and sweat resistance of...

Continue reading…

YouTube bans vaccine misinformation

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

In a new attempt to stem the flow of anti-vaccine misinformation, YouTube said Wednesday that it won’t allow videos that claim vaccines approved by health authorities are dangerous or don’t work. The platform is also banning prominent anti-vaccine accounts, including Joseph Mercola’s channel and the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-linked Children’s Defense Fund.

YouTube pulled ads from anti-vaccination content in 2019, and said in October 2020 that it would remove videos that pushed misinformation around COVID-19 vaccines. The new policy expands to block misinformation around other vaccines, including the flu shot, the HPV vaccine, and the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Videos that inaccurately claim that the MMR vaccine causes autism...

Continue reading…

Blue Origin ‘gambled’ with its Moon lander pricing, NASA says in legal documents

Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin’s founder, unveiling his space company’s Blue Moon lunar lander in 2019 in Washington, DC. | Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Blue Origin is backed by the world’s richest man — why didn’t it just offer NASA a cheaper lunar lander?

Continue reading…

League of Legends’ biggest stars turn into anime heroes in Worlds 2021 music video

Every year ahead of the League of Legends World Championship, developer Riot tries to get everyone excited with a new song. This year’s anthem is called “Burn It All Down” from American band Pvris, and it definitely fits into the tradition of music to get players amped up. But it also comes with a bonus: a music video that turns some of the game’s best players into anime heroes. (Journalist Ashley Kang has a great thread detailing who is who.) It’s the kind of short that makes you want a full League esports anime, and it even transitions to a 3D art style at the end, in a nod to the upcoming Netflix series Arcane.

This year’s iteration of Worlds will take place in Iceland starting October 5th; it was originally slated for China but was...

Continue reading…

Don’t be fooled — Amazon’s Astro isn’t a home robot, it’s a camera on wheels

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Yesterday, Amazon announced its “home robot” — a wheeled device named Astro that has a display, an array of sensors, and a camera that periscopes out the top of its body like a mast. In advertisements for Astro, Amazon presents the device as an engineering breakthrough and the realization of a long-held sci-fi dream: to build a robot that can help around the house.

This is rubbish, of course. What Astro is — for better or worse — is a camera on wheels.

Astro definitely can’t get a beer for you

The physical limitations of Astro are obvious. It has no arms or manipulators; no way to interact with the world other than bumping into objects at shin height. It can’t navigate steps, and, according to employees who worked on the robot and spoke...

Continue reading…

How to find your lost iPhone — even if it’s off

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple’s Find My app has been a very useful (and reassuring) feature, allowing you to locate a misplaced (or stolen) phone so that you can retrieve it (or contact the authorities, if that’s safer). With the expansion of Find My to a variety of other objects, especially via Apple’s AirTags, it’s become even more useful. And now that iOS 15 brings with it the capability to locate your phone even if the battery has run out or it’s been turned off, the utility of Find My has become even greater.

(Note: you can also use the Find My app to help with your own security — to share your location with individuals and send recurring notifications of when you leave and arrive. You can find directions for setting that up in our article “How to use...

Continue reading…

Bose QuietComfort 45 review: comfortably familiar

A masterclass in going back to what works

Continue reading…

The first plug-in hybrid Jeep Grand Cherokee is here

Jeep revealed the 2022 Grand Cherokee 4xe, the first plug-in hybrid version of the automaker’s best-selling SUV. It is the second Jeep vehicle to get an electrified version, following the hybrid 2021 Wrangler 4xe released last year. Jeep also announced an off-roading version of the Grand Cherokee, the Trailhawk, which also comes with a hybrid motor.

Tellingly, Jeep is not announcing a pure electric version of the Grand Cherokee, nor selling any battery-electric vehicles. The automaker recently announced that it would release “zero-emission” versions of all of its vehicles by 2025, along with plug-hybrid variants.

The Grand Cherokee 4xe (“four by E” in Jeep parlance) is estimated to get 25 miles of all-electric range and...

Continue reading…

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced is $600 off at Best Buy today

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

Despite not being the newest model, the 2020 Razer Blade 15 Advanced still offers plenty of power, which makes its current, $600 discount at Best Buy something to consider. Although we saw an even deeper discount on the 15-inch laptop earlier this month that brought it down to $1,600, today’s $1,800 price remains a solid deal for a laptop that has an RTX 2070 Super graphics chip and a fast 300Hz refresh rate display. It even comes packaged with a free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, allowing you to give your new hardware several benchmark tests.

There are plenty of options when it comes to gaming laptops, but it's tough to beat the Razer Blade 15 Advanced in terms of performance and portability. Read our 2020 Razer Blade 15 Advanced...

Continue reading…

As privacy issues worsen, Congress looks to the FTC

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Lawmakers are preparing to hold the first in a series of data privacy hearings on Wednesday in a fresh effort to bolster consumer data protections on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google.

On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee plans to discuss the creation of a new privacy bureau at the FTC and “the need for a comprehensive federal privacy law.” It’s an uncomfortable dodge since Congress has thus far been unable to pass any such privacy law. But with states enacting their own privacy framework, there’s more pressure than ever for some part of the federal government to take action.

As legislative efforts have stalled, the FTC could be the Biden administration’s best bet at regulating the tech industry’s grasp over consumer...

Continue reading…

Ah fuck: YouTube takes down classic ‘I can’t believe you’ve done this’ meme

‘Ah, fuck’ — a frame of Weedon getting socked in the face by his friend Tim from the original upload.

Whether it wants to be or not, YouTube is a guardian of internet history, with countless classic videos sitting in its archives. That makes it jarring when the company acts like what it is: a multinational corporation with no real understanding of this value. Case in point, this week YouTube removed the original upload of the “Ah fuck, I can’t believe you’ve done this” meme, rejecting an appeal from its creator (and the guy who can’t believe this was done) and claiming that the clip violates the company’s “violent or graphic content policy.”

In the words of Paul Weedon himself, star of and uploader of the original video: Ah, fuck.

Weedon tweeted out the news of the takedown and his unsuccessful appeal, noting that the video had been on...

Continue reading…

Valve reportedly developing standalone VR headset codenamed ‘Deckard’

Valve’s first VR headset, the Index. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Valve could have a second VR headset in development with a standalone design similar to what’s currently offered by Facebook’s lineup of Oculus Quest headsets. Evidence for the new headset was brought to light by YouTuber Brad Lynch. He found multiple references in Valve’s SteamVR code to a device codenamed “Deckard” which he then cross-referenced against the company’s recent patent applications.

Ars Technica subsequently confirmed with its own sources that much of Lynch’s findings are accurate, and that Valve does have a second headset prototype in development. In contrast with the company’s first VR headset, the Valve Index, released in 2019, the new headset has a built in processor that could allow it to work without being tethered...

Continue reading…

Amazon’s automotive efforts appear to be taking a pit stop

Amazon laid out its plans to make ambient computing an even bigger part of its customers’ lives at its hardware and services event on Tuesday. But while that vision includes surveillance drones and being followed around your home by a rolling Alexa-on-wheels called Astro, it was missing products for the other place people spend a lot of their time — their cars.

That left an automotive-sized hole in Amazon’s presentation, and there are some good reasons to find it odd. Rumors in the lead-up to Amazon’s event pointed to the launch of a second generation Echo Auto, alongside several other predictions that ended up being true, like the wall-mounted Echo Show 15. Leaks of the Ring Car Cam in June also seemed to suggest that the Amazon-owned...

Continue reading…

Withings’ latest hybrid smartwatch poses as a luxury dive watch

The new Withings ScanWatch Horizon showing SpO2 oxygen saturation. | Image: Withings

The ScanWatch Horizon is Withings’ latest hybrid smartwatch to combine a digital display with a traditional mechanical format. You buy a Withings because you hate the look of typical health-focused wearables and abhor the bombardment of notifications that plague other smartwatches.

Withings says it took design inspiration for the 43mm ScanWatch Horizon from “luxury dive watches” like the Submariner or Seamaster — influences that can be seen in the reflection-free sapphire-glass casing with titanium finish, a stainless-steel rotating bezel, and luminescent watch hands and indicators for visibility in low light. Its water resistance is only rated at 10 ATM, however, making it ill-suited for deep dives. But it should be fine for swimming,...

Continue reading…

iPhone 13 ‘unlock with Apple Watch’ bug fixed in iOS beta

Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple has reportedly fixed the issue that broke the “unlock with Apple Watch” feature on iPhone 13 models. The feature, which lets Apple Watch users unlock their iPhones without a password when wearing a mask, now works again as of the second iOS 15.1 beta, as reported by 9to5Mac.

Apple noted on its support page a few days ago that it was working on this problem. I’ve run into the issue myself on my personal iPhone 13 Pro and can confirm that it’s been pretty annoying after having gotten used to the feature since it was introduced earlier this year. Newer iPhones don’t have fingerprint readers, so the only way to unlock them when your mask interferes with Face ID is by using a password.

There’s no word on when iOS 15.1 will be released...

Continue reading…

Was Elizabeth Holmes like Steve Jobs? Her emails say no

Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/The Mercury News via Getty Images

A Steve Jobs biography makes an appearance in court — but it doesn’t explain Theranos’ problems

Continue reading…

You can change your Nest doorbell ringtone starting next month

You can soon set your Nest doorbell to cackle at your visitors. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Google Nest is bringing back seasonal ringtones for its video doorbells, which now include the Nest Doorbell (wired) — previously known as Nest Hello — and the new Nest Doorbell (battery). First up are Halloween-inspired tones, which will stick around through October, then the winter holiday-themed options arrive.

For the past three years Nest has offered them, the ringtones have disappeared following the holidays, leaving you with the standard ding dong. But this year, the new Nest Doorbell will also get six “evergreen” ringtones that are usable year-round. They will arrive with the Halloween options, but Google tells me they aren’t coming to the older Nest Doorbell (wired).

The spooky-themed ringtones should arrive on October 1st and...

Continue reading…

Amazon’s Astro cannot fetch your beer

Astro did not put that beer there! | Image: Amazon

Amazon introduced a new robot today with the face of an Echo Show, the sensor-laden body of Panera Bread delivery bot, and a pair of cupholders for a trunk. The instant it was announced, people clamored for a reason for its existence beyond “mobile camera with a cute face” and “potentially invasive surveillance drone.” Most seemed to settle on “beer fetcher.”

But friend, a pair of cupholders does not a robowaiter make.

While the $1,000 Astro could very well have a wide variety of capabilities beyond home surveillance, it’s not gonna be fetching you anything. For one, it reportedly sucks. “Astro is terrible and will almost certainly throw itself down a flight of stairs if presented the opportunity,” a source who claimed to work on the...

Continue reading…

Elon Musk slams Biden as ‘not the friendliest’ after White House EV summit snub

Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk criticized President Joe Biden as “not the friendliest administration” after the White House snubbed his company last month. Musk’s comments came during a Code Conference interview and followed a tweet in which the Tesla CEO mocked Biden using similar insults as former President Donald Trump.

The Biden administration invited auto executives to the White House last month to discuss the shared goal of increasing the production of electric vehicles. Top officials from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis were invited. But Tesla, which is the largest EV maker in the world, was not.

“Controlled by the unions”

One potential reason that Tesla wasn’t invited is that its factory workforce is not unionized, while...

Continue reading…