Lil Nas X, Bella Poarch, Grimes, and more are releasing TikTok NFTs

Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM

Because no peace can be found in the age of man, TikTok has decided to partner with select creators, celebrities, and online entities like Lil Nas X, Bella Poarch, and Grimes to release a collection of non-fungible tokens. These TikTok Top Moments, as the company is calling them, are inspired by six “culturally significant” TikTok videos in the form of one-of-one NFTs. TikTok plans to auction them alongside a selection of limited edition NFTs it’ll sell weekly throughout October.

The partnerships, creators, and new material being tokenized and put up for auction vary. Musician Lil Nas X is up first on October 6th with a collaboration with artist Rudy Willingham, while Grimes is collaborating with Brittany Broski (“Kombucha Girl”), and...

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Pixel phones can automatically record and upload video in an emergency

One of the features Google offers exclusively through its Pixel Android phones is the Personal Safety app. Over the years, it’s added features like a safety check-in that automatically notifies your emergency contacts if you don’t respond as scheduled and the ability to automatically dial 911 if it detects you’ve been in a car accident. Now XDA-Developersand Android Policepoint out a new feature that can automatically record video if you activate the built-in Emergency SOS.

We installed the update from Google Play on a Pixel device. It informs users that it can record continuously for up to 45 minutes once it’s activated, assuming your phone has enough storage. If there’s an internet connection, the video will get automatically backed...

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PSA: Neiman Marcus still exists and it was hacked

Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus has notified 4.6 million customers about a data breach | Getty Images

Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus said Thursday it had notified 4.6 million customers that their personal information, including credit card numbers. may have been part of a May 2020 data breach.

The Dallas-based company said in a news release that an “unauthorized third party obtained personal information associated with certain Neiman Marcus customers’ online accounts.” Neiman Marcus notified law enforcement, and is “working quickly to determine the nature and scope of the matter.” The company did not say who was responsible for the breach or how they were able to access its systems.

The data access may have included names and contact information, credit card numbers, and expiration dates— but not the CVV numbers on the back of the cards—...

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How the Surface Laptop Studio and Surface Pro 8 stack up against other creator laptops

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Microsoft announced a new version of the Surface Pro last week, along with the Surface Laptop Studio. The Surface Pro 8 feels very much like a logical evolution of Microsoft’s tablet / laptop. Some of the more notable improvements include a 120Hz display with slimmer bezels, Thunderbolt 4 support, as well as a reworked surface keyboard that includes a dedicated space to store and charge the new Surface Slim Pen 2.

Meanwhile, the Surface Laptop Studio features a uniquely hinged screen and more powerful hardware. This is effectively a replacement for the Surface Book 3, with a three-point adjustable display that can lay flat for drawing or snap upright to deliver a more traditional laptop experience. This laptop comes equipped with an...

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Before Astro, these were the robots people invited home

The 2017 version of Aibo, Sony’s robot dog. | Sam Byford / The Verge

Amazon announced its Astro home robot on Monday, which is designed to be an Alexa on wheels that can also bring you stuff (if other people load it into the cargo bay) and act as a sort of guard dog. With a touchscreen for a face and the ability to move itself around a single story of your house, it’s a bit like the personal robots from decades of science fiction. Given that Amazon seemingly wants to continue making home robots, though, we figured we’d go through a little history to look at some previous attempts.

Of course, there’s plenty of discussion to be had about what does or does not count as a robot — to anyone with a smart home setup, Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant could be considered robots, as they can do any number of tasks...

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Cruise gets the green light to give driverless rides to passengers in San Francisco

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Waymo and Cruise, two of the leading autonomous vehicle companies in the US, received permits from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to offer rides to passengers in their robotaxis.

But while Cruise was approved to give rides in its fully driverless vehicles without safety drivers, Waymo only is allowed to deploy its autonomous vehicles with a human monitor behind the wheel. In order to give rides to paying passengers in its fully driverless vehicles, as it does in Arizona, the Google spinoff would need to apply for an additional permit from the California Public Utilities Commission.

Waymo was the first company to receive a driverless testing permit in 2018. And while the idea of a fully autonomous ride-hailing service is...

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Anybody want to see Lindsay Lohan’s NFT fursona?

Photo by James Gourley/Getty Images

I am a woman who believes in taking accountability for her actions and this is mine. Because I unleashed this tweet upon my colleagues, I must now share it with the masses. This is my punishment. Now it’s yours too.

It's official, I'm a Friend of The Cartel!! It’s the first NFT the @CanineCartelNFT is minting for the collection and you've got a chance to own it!

Auction runs for 72 hours! https://t.co/k85RHYToRc

Best of luck! pic.twitter.com/6UNsFWsQxB

— Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) September 29, 2021

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Slack’s down for some people, so now’s the time to take a walk

Illustration by Alex Castro / Th

Slack appears to be having issues for some people, with reports coming in of users who can’t connect to the service, receive errors when trying to send messages, and can’t even access Slack’s website. The issue doesn’t appear to affect everyone, and Slack hasn’t gone as far as calling it an outage on its status page. The differences in experiences point to a possible routing issue or the even more likely culprit, DNS (it’s always DNS).

Some of my co-workers have had issues today, while it’s working fine for others (including, unfortunately, me). It’s unclear how widespread the issues are — DownDetector only shows a thousand or so reports.

We're doing our best!

— Slack (@SlackHQ) September 30, 2021

The company says it’s working on a...

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How to use Focus assist in Windows 11

It’s all too easy to allow distractions such as social media or videos to seduce us from the things we’re supposed to be doing — such as, say, writing articles about Windows 11. Features such as Focus assist are now being included with operating systems to try to help us keep our eyes on the road, so to speak.

Microsoft’s Focus assist was first introduced in a 2018 update of Windows 10, where it replaced a feature known as Quiet Hours, and while Windows 11 doesn’t offer any radical updates, it has made the feature easier to use. Focus assist stops notifications from popping up on your screen and can be activated automatically when you put on your display on presentation mode, are playing a game, or are using an app in full-screen mode.

...

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Clubhouse finally lets you record conversations

Clubhouse

Clubhouse is getting a bunch of new features today, including one many people have wanted: in-app recording. Starting in October, app users will be able to record a room, save it to their profile and club, or download it. Clubhouse is calling the feature “replays.” Creators and moderators are the ones who can record, and they can toggle that option on or off. Rooms must be public to be recorded.

Along with full recordings, users will be able to create 30-second shareable clips in rooms that allow it. The app is also gaining a search feature so people can type a keyword or name and receive the rooms, people, clubs, and bios that match. Finally, spatial audio is also now coming to Android devices after rolling out to iOS devices in August.

...

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Apple’s fortress of secrecy is crumbling from the inside

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The last five months marked a turning point in Apple’s company culture — will it last?

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USB-C cables are getting new, confusing logos for faster 240W charging standard

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) — the group that maintains the USB standard across its many varied incarnations — has introduced new, official logos for companies to use to brand their USB-C cables and packaging to go with its USB4 and 240W power standards. The goal is a noble one, aiming to help ease the confusion about the different types of USB-C cables (which can differ widely in things like charging and data transfer speeds) when you’re buying one.

Naturally, the USB-IF, in its... unique wisdom, has chosen to simplify things the only way it knows how: a slew of new logos that will soon adorn packaging for cables and chargers to help indicate to customers what charging and data speeds their devices support. Because nothing says...

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FCC considers new rules to stop scammers from hijacking your cell phone

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday said it’s looking into tightening rules around cell phone service, in an effort to rein in SIM swapping scams and port-out fraud, two ways fraudsters can access a person’s cell phone account and phone number for nefarious purposes.

The agency says in a statement it has received numerous complaints “from consumers who have suffered significant distress, inconvenience, and financial harm” due to SIM swapping and port-out fraud. And, the FCC said, recent data breaches have exposed customer information that could make it easier for bad actors to carry out these kinds of attacks successfully.

SIM swapping is when someone hijacks your cell phone number so they can intercept two-factor...

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Samsung is bringing digital car keys to its phones, starting in South Korea

Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge

After announcing plans for digital car keys in its phones during the Galaxy S21 launch, Samsung is finally starting to add support for the feature. Samsung says support for the ultra wideband (UWB) and NFC-enabled digital car keys will hit South Korea first, and it will only work with one car to start — the all-electric Genesis GV60.

On devices that support UWB — the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and Ultra, Note 20 Ultra, and Galaxy Z Fold 2 and 3 — Samsung promises “passive entry,” meaning you can unlock and lock your car without pulling your phone out of your bag or pocket. With your phone nearby, you’ll also be able to start your car and make adjustments to mirrors, seats, and more.

Image: Samsung

How keys for the...

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Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2021) review: cut by the Blade

The Zephyrus G14 is still great, but it’s no longer on top

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Why Bitcoin’s pollution could grow after leaving China

Cryptocurrency mining rigs sit on three-storeys of racks inside the BitRiver Rus LLC cryptocurrency mining farm in Bratsk, Russia, on Friday, Nov. 8, 2019. | Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images

China is cracking down on Bitcoin mining, and some experts fear that the cryptocurrency’s environmental footprint could become dirtier as a result.

Bitcoin is incredibly energy hungry. To create new coins, miners race to solve complex puzzles using specialized machines. As a result, Bitcoin is estimated to use as much electricity annually as the entire country of Poland. Until this year, a majority of that electricity came from a mix of coal and hydropower in China. Last week, China sounded the death knell for Bitcoin mining within its borders when it made all cryptocurrency transactions and mining illegal — although most mining operations fled earlier in the year when bans were announced in provinces where most had previously set up...

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Star Wars: Visions has a lot more fun than Marvel’s What If…?

Image: Lucasfilm

Both Marvel and Star Wars can get a little too serious for their own good. Their stories are often so focused on what happened before, or what’s coming next, that they forget about the fact that people are tuning in to watch thrilling adventures about superheroes and space wizards. What I’m saying is, both franchises often put canon ahead of fun. But Disney Plus has offered them a chance to cut loose a little in the form of the animated anthologies What If…? and Star Wars: Visions. The two series take very different approaches to the concept of messing with established stories and characters — and some extra freedom means that Star Wars ends up being a lot more exciting.

The premise of What If…? is pure comic book fodder: each episode...

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Amazon Basics ripped off accessories, now Amazon is coming for gadgets

The Amazon Halo View and the Fitbit Charge 5. | Image: Amazon / Fitbit

In the image above there are two wearables. One is Fitbit’s recently released Charge 5, a $179.95 fitness tracker designed to measure everything from your heart rate to your sleep and even your skin temperature. The other is Amazon’s new $79.99 Halo View fitness tracker, which Amazon says can measure everything from your heart rate to your sleep and skin temperature. Ten points if you can tell me which is which.

The Halo View was just one of a host of new devices announced by Amazon at its now annual fall hardware event this week. But while many of Amazon’s new products feature completely original designs and features, like its cute Astro “home robot” or Ring-branded home surveillance drone, there were a handful that bear a striking...

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‘Rife with sexism’: employees of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin describe ‘toxic’ workplace culture

Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Twnety-one current and former employees of Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin published a damning essay on Thursday saying the company “turns a blind eye to sexism, is not sufficiently attuned to safety concerns, and silences those who seek to correct wrongs.”

Co-authored by Blue Origin’s former head of employee communications Alexandra Abrams, the essay describes multiple accounts of sexist and dismissive behavior from some of the company’s “one-hundred percent” male senior technical and program leaders and says “professional dissent at Blue Origin is actively stifled.”

The employees accuse the company’s CEO Bob Smith of brushing off dissent by discouraging staff from raising questions during internal town halls, asking a colleague...

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Wyze’s new $15 smart scale has a mode for luggage, pets, and babies

Image: Wyze

Wyze, the budget-focused tech company that now sells everything from security cameras to headphones, has launched a new smart scale with four built-in electrodes capable of measuring everything from body fat percentage to body water percentage. In addition to weighing humans, there is also a dedicated mode to let you weigh your “baby, pet, luggage, or your kid’s absurdly heavy backpack,” Wyze says. The Scale S follows the original Wyze Scale released last year, but it’s $5 cheaper with a price of just $15.

Weight is displayed on the built-in 3.5-inch LED display, while a companion app (of course) allows you to set goals and track progress over time. It can sync data with Fitbit, Google Fit, and Apple Health and track data for up to...

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Facebook will now let you make group chats across Instagram and Messenger

Cross-app group chats between Instagram and Messenger. | Image: Facebook

Facebook will now let you start cross-app group chats between Messenger and Instagram, the company announced Thursday. The update is a big step forward in Facebook’s ambitions to make its apps work better with each other. To be able to use the cross-app communications, you’ll have to opt in, and Facebook says that “over 70% of eligible people on Instagram have updated to the new Messenger experience.”

The company is bringing other new features to the messaging apps in addition to cross-app group messaging. Polls will be available in group DMs on Instagram and in cross-app chats so you can, for example, vote on where to grab lunch. Facebook has added group typing indicators to Messenger, so you can see when multiple people are drafting a...

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How Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2 compares with Samsung’s flagship foldable

The Surface Duo 2 works with Microsoft’s lineup of Surface Pens, including the Surface Slim Pen 2. | Image: Microsoft

It’s official: the troubled Surface Duo is now last-gen. Microsoft announced its successor, the Surface Duo 2, during its recent fall Surface event, capping off months of rumors and introducing the device alongside the Surface Pro 8, Surface Laptop Studio, and a bevy of new devices designed to take advantage of Windows 11.

The new Android-based smartphone starts at $1,499.99 — $100 less than the original — and launches on October 20th in multiple configurations. It retains the hinged design of its predecessor — only this time, it comes equipped with a more thought-out camera system, 5G support, and a modern processor that brings it more in line with flagships from Samsung, Xiaomi, and OnePlus. And while it’s not a foldable in the...

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Lordstown Motors reportedly selling former GM factory to Foxconn

Struggling EV startup Lordstown Motors is nearing a sale of its Ohio factory to Taiwanese iPhone assembler Foxconn, which has its own electric vehicle ambitions, Bloomberg reports. The deal could be announced as soon as Thursday evening.

Lordstown Motors bought the 6.2 million square foot facility from General Motors in 2019 shortly after the Detroit automaker closed it down — a decision that drew the ire of then-president Trump. The startup previously announced in August that it was planning to rent out space at the factory in an effort to make money amid a serious cash crunch. _Reuters_is also reporting that a sale is on the verge of happening.

Since buying it, Lordstown Motors has put about $240 million worth of work into getting the...

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Kratos’ voice actor says God of War: Ragnarok delayed ‘because of me’

Sony Santa Monica

Kratos’ voice actor, Christopher Judge, says he’s the reason why God of War: Ragnarok was delayed. In a tweet, Judge writes that he needed multiple surgeries in 2019 and that God of War developer Sony Santa Monica studios delayed the game so he could recover and continue voicing video games’ favorite problematic dad.

in my feels right now. I need to be forthcoming. This has been approved by no one. To the beloved fandom, Ragnarok was delayed because of me. August 2019, I couldn’t walk. Had to have back surgery, both hips replaced, and, knee surgery. They waited for me too rehab…
Cont…

— Christopher Judge (@iamchrisjudge) September 30, 2021

No threats, no ,” who do you think you are?” Nothing but love and support. And @...

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The Game Awards will take place in December

The 2021 edition of The Game Awards, the annual Oscars-like award show for video games, will take place on December 9th. The show will take place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, and unlike last year, there will be an in-person audience — though it will be an invite-only event. Details about specific health and safety protocols for the in-person event will be shared “in the coming weeks,” according to a press release.

The awards, which will be hosted by creator and executive producer Geoff Keighley, will also be livestreamed on more than 40 different platforms, so you’ll be able to watch from home if you want. The show organizers are also promising that there will be “free playable game content” available as part of an “immersive...

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Corsair’s first gaming monitor is the pricey, 32-inch Xeneon

Corsair

When it comes to PC components and accessories, there isn’t much that Corsair itself doesn’t make. The company’s adding gaming monitors to its list of offerings with today’s announcement of a 32-inch model called Xeneon. It uses a 1440p quantum dot IPS 16:9 aspect ratio panel that has a 165Hz refresh rate to display fast-paced content. Other standout specs include AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync compatibility for adaptive sync to eliminate screen tearing when the frame rate fluctuates. It also has 100 percent coverage of the SRGB color gamut, and on its back, there are plenty of ports, which I’ll expand upon later.

Corsair is utilizing its well-known presence in the market to go up against not just other monitor manufacturers,...

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Best Buy is restocking Nvidia RTX 30-series cards in stores on Friday morning

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

If you’re an avid PC builder, you know that getting your hands on any of Nvidia’s 30-series GPUs has been next to impossible since they debuted. But Best Buy is hosting an event in select stores starting Friday, October 1st to give you the opportunity. If you haven't been outside in a while, you can use this page to find the store closest to you that will have these GPUs in stock, sold at their retail price.

Unfortunately, you can't just head down there cash in hand and hope to snatch one up. Best Buy has stated that you’ll need to line up at one of the designated stores before 7:30AM local time. This is when employees will begin handing out a limited amount of tickets (one per customer) that will allow you to purchase a single GPU. Of...

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Apple’s MagSafe Battery pack gets its first significant discount

Apple’s MagSafe Battery attaches to any iPhone 12 or 13 model. | Dieter Bohn / The Verge

The Apple MagSafe Battery pack recently launched in July, and we are now finally seeing the first significant discount on the magnetic power bank that usually costs $99. The MagSafe ecosystem may still be a bit underdeveloped, and there are some compelling alternatives from other manufacturers, but the little battery is a svelte option for juicing up an iPhone 12 or 13 on the go.

With 1,460mAh and 11.3Wh, the MagSafe battery doesn’t earn its praise on specifications alone, but it has the software integration that no other power bank — magnetic or wired — has, with on-screen animations and charge levels visible, so you know exactly how much charge is left. Not only can it charge certain iPhones, but while it’s recharging via its built-in...

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Sony acquires Bluepoint Games, the studio behind its incredible remasters and remakes

Some of the very best games on PlayStation 5 so far are old titles made new — so it’s fitting that Sony is officially acquiring Bluepoint Games, the acclaimed studio that specializes in remasters. It’s the team that brought us the _Demon’s Souls_and Shadow of the Colossus remakes, as well as fantastic remasters of the first three Uncharted games, the cult-classic Gravity Rush, and both the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection_and_Ico & Shadow of the Colossus _Collection_for previous gen consoles. Bluepoint was behind the excellent 2013 port of Flower to the PS4 as well.

That’s not the only reason Sony’s Bluepoint buy isn’t surprising though. The company spilled the beans in June when it bought _Returnal_developer Housemarque, but accidentally...

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Apple Watch flags multiple types of irregular heartbeats, study shows

Apple Watch | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

People who get irregular pulse notifications on an Apple Watch but don’t have atrial fibrillation — the condition the feature focuses on detecting — could still have another type of problem with their heartbeat, according to a new study.

The findings show that even if someone with a concerning alert from their Apple Watch doesn’t get an atrial fibrillation diagnosis, they may not be in the clear, says study author Marco Perez, the director of the Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic at Stanford University Medical Center. “Even if you didn’t find atrial fibrillation, we were finding a lot of people who had something else that probably needed some clinical attention,” he says.

The analysis, published in the journal Circulation, was done using...

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