Burn-in isn’t a huge risk for Nintendo’s Switch OLED, but you can still take precautions

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Nintendo’s Switch OLED Model is now available, and even if it’s no Switch Pro, there’s a lot to like about it. But as new owners of the console start enjoying its larger, more vibrant screen, some might also wonder whether they should pay any mind to the classic “risk” of OLED technology: burn-in.

In the early days of OLED smartphones, it wasn’t uncommon to find a mistreated demo phone at a carrier or Best Buy that had a ghastly display with home screen icons or a status bar left permanently visible whenever the screen was on. Burn-in could also befall OLED TVs if they were carelessly left on a news channel (with a ticker at the bottom) for many hours.

But we’ve come a long way since then.

Bloomberg has reported that Samsung Display is...

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Nintendo won’t make Europeans play worse versions of N64 games on Switch

The release also includes Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis controllers for Switch. | Image: Nintendo

The Nintendo 64 games being re-released as part of the upcoming Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription will run at 60Hz, Nintendo of Europe has confirmed. The news follows concerns reported by Eurogamer that the re-released games, which include classic titles like _Super Mario 64_and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, would run at a reduced 50Hz in European PAL regions.

The disparity is a holdover from the days of standard definition TVs which typically used the 50Hz PAL standard in Europe, but the 60Hz NTSC standard in the US. It meant that footage shown on European TVs would refresh 50 times per second, rather than 60 as in the US. This wasn’t a major issue for regular TV content (which typically ran at 30fps in the US...

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Astronaut Sally Ride will be one of the women featured on a 2022 US quarter

Sally Ride, the first American woman to go to space, will be memorialized on a 2022 quarter. | US Mint

Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel to space, will be featured on one of the first five coins in the US Mint’s American Women Quarters Program. Beginning next year and continuing through 2025, the Mint will issue five quarters each year with tails-side designs featuring trailblazing American women.

Ride, who died in 2012 at age 61, flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1983, and again in 1984. She was slated to go on a third shuttle mission, but after the Challenger blew up in 1986, NASA suspended the shuttle program, and Ride retired a year later.

She continued to advise NASA, as part of the panel that investigated the Challenger accident and a study team that wrote a report recommending the agency work on an outpost...

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Google TV is adding personalized profiles and watchlists soon

Image: Google TV

Google TV is making finding something to watch in a multiuser household a whole lot less chaotic by adding custom profiles, watchlists, and personalized Google Assistant help.

Previously, Google TV supported the ability to sign into multiple Google Accounts to be able to use services with more than one account. But content suggestions, the watchlist feature, and Google Assistant functionality were all based on the activity of the primary account holder. With personalized profiles, every user’s recommendations, watchlist, and Google Assistant responses will be tailored to their own interests and activity.

A Google spokesperson told The Verge that profiles will start rolling out next month on Chromecast with Google TV as well as Google TVs...

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Google’s plans for Fuchsia OS teased in job listings

The first generation Nest Hub, which was updated to run Fuchsia earlier this year. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Google says “it’s time” to now bring its mysterious Fuchsia operating system to “additional smart devices and other form factors” beyond smart displays, according to a number of job listings first spotted by 9to5Google. Fuchsia is Google’s newest operating system which was released earlier this year for the company’s first-generation Nest Hub.

There’s been a lot of speculation about Google’s plans for Fuchsia, which unlike Android and Chrome OS doesn’t use a Linux kernel (it uses a microkernel called Zircon instead), and whose purpose is still fairly vague despite having been public for over five years. When it arrived on the Nest Hub it was more or less functionally identical to the software that preceded it. The new job listings offer...

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‘Pixel Pass’ is Google’s rumored response to Apple One

Image: Google

Google seems poised to announce a new subscription bundle called “Pixel Pass,” which would combine a new Pixel device with an extended warranty and premium subscriptions for several Google services. The unconfirmed bundle has been detailed in a leaked image published by Brandon Lee. It’s unclear how much Pixel Pass would cost, but the documents suggest it will be sold via Google Fi and the Google Store alongside the purchase of a Pixel device.

As Lee notes, Pixel Pass appears to combine elements of Apple’s iPhone Upgrade program (which offers an iPhone via monthly subscription payments alongside an extended warranty) and its Apple One subscription services bundle. Pixel Pass could be pitched as a way to simplify access to all these...

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Fairphone 4 review: the price of sustainability

A modular smartphone that (mostly) feels like a modern device

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Instagram to introduce “take a break” feature and “nudge” teens away from harmful content

Instagram to introduce new features to nudge teams away from harmful content | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Instagram will introduce new measures to nudge teenagers away from harmful content and encourage them to “take a break,” from the platform, Facebook vice president of global affairs Nick Clegg said on Sunday. Clegg made the remarks on CNN’s State of the Union show less than a week after whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before Congress about internal research that showed Instagram can have a negative effect on the mental health of young people.

“We’re going to introduce something which I think will make a considerable difference, which is where our systems see that a teenagers is looking at the same content over and over again, and it’s content which may not be conducive to their well being, we will nudge them to look at other...

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Blue Origin postpones William Shatner’s space flight by a day

William Shatner is heading to space on October 13th | Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company Blue Origin said Sunday it will postpone the flight that is slated to fly William Shatner to space due to forecasted high winds at its launch site. The flight of the company’s New Shepard spacecraft is now scheduled for 9:30AM ET on October 13th, a day later than originally planned. It’s targeted to lift off from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in Texas.

A statement on Blue Origin’s website said New Shepard NS-18 has met all mission requirements, and the astronauts have started their training. “Weather is the only gating factor for the launch window,” according to the statement, which is signed with the company motto “Gradatim Ferociter” (Latin for “step by step, ferociously”).

The company officially...

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New trailers: Star Trek: Discovery, Doctor Who: Flux, Blade Runner: Black Lotus, and more

Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Captain Michael Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery | Paramount Plus

Before it premiered, Jason Sudeikis described season two of Ted Lasso as the show’s Empire Strikes Back season, and sure enough, the entire season focused on fathers and sons, and after the season finale we have a pretty clear “enemy” all set up for season three. I know season two was not as universally liked as its freshman season, but Ted Lasso dug into some thorny issues about men and sports and mental health that few other shows attempt, and still managed to make me smile pretty much every week. I’ll miss this show until its return next year.

I’ve also managed to binge-watch Midnight Mass on Netflix— an interesting if not quite fully-baked examination of organized religion— and am still hanging in there with The Morning Show which...

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SNL’s take on the Facebook whistleblower hearing reminds us of the good old MySpace days

NBC/SNL

Last week Saturday Night Live poked fun at Jeff Bezos and the billionaire space race, and this week it took aim at the senators who conducted this week’s Facebook whistleblower hearing, portraying them as mostly confused by the social media platform, and the memes they found online (or “mem-ays” as Aidy Bryant’s Ted Cruz pronounces it).

Cecily Strong reprises her role as Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who asks Heidi Gardner’s Frances Haugen about an_Animorphs_ post, and Kyle Mooney as Sen. John Kennedy asks about Facebook’s algorithm: “do you have it with you now?” while proudly showing off his Jitterbug flip phone (aw).

Bryant as Sen. Cruz asks whether posts that say “Ted Cruz sucks” should be flagged as misinformation, to which “Haugen”...

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Musk says Tesla will begin production at its German Gigafactory by the end of the year

Elon Musk appeared at the Tesla Gigafactory in Germany on Saturday. The first vehicles are due to roll off the production line there by the end of 2021. | Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images

Elon Musk said during an open house at Tesla’s new Gigafactory near Berlin this weekend that the company is aiming to begin production of its Model Y cars there before the end of the year. And the CEO added he’s hoping the plant will be producing between 5,000 and 10,000 vehicles weekly by the end of 2022, Bloomberg reported. But Tesla is still waiting for final approval for the plant, as local authorities evaluate its environmental impact on the area.

Tesla held a “Giga-Fest” county fair style event in Gruenheide near the Gigafactory on Saturday, which included music, rides, and food trucks along with tours of the new plant for local residents. Tesla’s German Gigafactory is in the final phases of construction, after being delayed...

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Google Pixel 6 leak teases Magic Eraser feature, plus five years of Android security updates

The Google Pixel 6 (top) and Pixel 6 Pro (bottom) | Google

New leaks from a marketing site appear to confirm that the camera for the Pixel 6 will have a new Magic Eraser feature, and the devices will apparently get five years of Android security updates (h/t 9to5 Google)

According to reliable leaker Evan Blass, the Carphone Warehouse website was showing images of Google marketing materials for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro (the images have since been taken down, but you can view the earlier versions of the Carphone Warehouse pages on the Wayback Machine here and here). Screenshots show the description for the previously leaked Magic Eraser, which will apparently be linked to Google Photos:

Magic Eraser makes distractions disappear with a few taps. Remove strangers and unwanted objects in Google...

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Boeing Starliner test flight delayed until 2022

A test flight for Boeing’s Starliner has been pushed back to 2022 | NASA/Joel Kowsky

NASA has officially pushed back the launch of its Orbital Flight-Test 2 until next year, as it continues to work on an oxidizer isolation valve issue on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, the agency announced.

The agency said in a blog post that it’s continuing to assess potential launch windows for the mission: “The team currently is working toward opportunities in the first half of 2022 pending hardware readiness, the rocket manifest and space station availability,” according to the post.

Steve Stitch, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, added that it was “a complex issue,” affecting parts of the spacecraft that aren’t easy to access, which has required “a methodical approach and sound engineering to effectively examine.”

Boeing’s...

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Elon Musk cites ‘last minute concerns’ in delay of Tesla software rollout

Tesla has delayed the latest rollout of its so-called “Full Self-Driving” software | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Tesla has delayed the rollout of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta 10.2 software rollout because of last-minute concerns, CEO Elon Musk tweeted early Saturday. He apologized for the delay, saying the release would likely happen Sunday or Monday. He didn’t elaborate on what the “concerns” were.

A few last minute concerns about this build. Release likely on Sunday or Monday. Sorry for the delay.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 9, 2021

The software was supposed to roll out Friday to about 1,000 Tesla owners with perfect safety scores of 100 —as determined by the automaker— with a gradual rollout for those with scores at 99 and below after that, according to Musk.

Tesla has been testing the beta version of its FSD software for about a...

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How to work with the Windows 11 Widget panel

Windows 11 has introduced a brand new Widgets panel, where you can access a variety of updated information using configurable topic boxes (what Microsoft calls information cards). It’s made up of two sections: a top section that offers widgets for weather, sports, your latest photos, and other personalized topics, and a news section that offers clickable headlines from a variety of sources.

Here’s how to make the most of the current Windows 11 widgets.

Access your widgets

To access the widgets, select the Widgets icon in the taskbar (it’s the one that looks like a square divided into white and blue sections). You can also hit the Window + W keys or, if you’ve got a touchscreen, swipe from the left.

You’ll probably see a variety of...

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This 55-inch QLED TV is available for a stellar price at Best Buy

Perhaps not as impressive as some of the cutting-edge OLED TVs, it's tough to argue with a deal this good. The 55-inch Insignia F50 4K TV is currently available at Best Buy for $450, nearly its lowest price ever. This sizeable QLED panel features a 60Hz refresh rate and is powered by the Fire TV OS allowing for built-in Alexa voice controls. This gives the TV native access to most major streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu, and Disney Plus. The picture can be enhanced with Dolby Vision and HDR for increased depth of color, and a narrow bezel provides the TV with a sleek aesthetic.

The ever-increasing size of game updates has become something of a meme by now. If you’re tired of constantly freeing up space on your PC or console,...

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Apple is appealing the Epic Games ruling it originally called a ‘resounding victory’

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple has filed for an appeal of the ruling in its major trial against Epic. While Apple largely won that case (the company went so far as to call the ruling a “resounding victory”) with Judge Gonzalez Rogers ruling in favor of Apple in nine of the ten claims Epic brought against the company, it did lose on one important point: the judge found that Apple violated California’s anti-steering rules, and demanded that Apple let developers link to outside payment systems. That policy would have taken over in December, but it may be pushed out beyond that — and it seems that’s the point.

As part of the appeal, Apple is asking for a stay to prevent the company from having to implement the new anti-steering rules, arguing that it “will allow...

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My new favorite Twitter account just posts classic clips of SNL hosts introducing the musical guest

Sean Penn introducing LL Cool J on Saturday Night Live. | Image: @snlhostsintro

The highlight of my Friday so far has been the discovery of the @snlhostsintro Twitter account, which posts old clips of Saturday Night Live hosts introducing the musical guest. While the account isn’t new to everyone — it was created in September and already has more than 37,000 followers — I felt it was my duty to write about it because it posts some absolutely magical time capsules.

Here’s a tame one to start, to give you an idea of the format: former US vice president Al Gore introducing Phish.

pic.twitter.com/euUBPCP8HF

— SNL Hosts Introducing the Musical Guest (@snlhostsintro) September 29, 2021

But how about Sean Penn, with a casually-yet-confidently undone bow tie, introducing LL Cool J?

pic.twitter.com/wogxUz9atG

— SNL...

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Facebook is trying to stop the sale of Amazon rainforest land on its Marketplace

Photo by Ricardo Beliel/Brazil Photos/LightRocket via Getty Images

Did you know you can sell land on Facebook Marketplace? No? Neither did I. Did you know people were trying to sell land in the Amazon rainforest on Marketplace? Again, neither did I! Selling land in ecological conservation areas is typically illegal and can have negative impacts on the flora, fauna, and people living there, so Facebook announced Friday that it’s changing its commerce policies to explicitly prohibit the sale of protected land on Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms.

Facebook’s announcement comes after a February BBC investigation into its Marketplace that found people illegally sold large plots of land in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest on Facebook’s Craigslist alternative. The plots were frequently sold...

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If you want to use the Apple Watch Series 7’s new fast charging, make sure to use the cable in the box

Image: Apple

One of the best features on the Apple Watch Series 7 is its newly added fast charging system, which Apple claims is 33 percent and capable of charging the watch to about 80 percent charge in about 45 minutes. But if you want to take advantage of the fast charging, you’ll need to make sure to use the charger that comes with the Series 7, which is a brand new “Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger” that’s different from the old model (which doesn’t offer similar charging speeds).

The old USB-C charger and the new model look identical from the outside, but only the new cable can charge the Series 7 at full speed (assuming you’ve got a USB-C charger that can put out the proper wattage, that is — Apple recommends its own 20W USB-C charger, of...

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Google Reader is still defunct, but now you can ‘follow’ RSS feeds in Chrome on Android

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google Reader is still defunct, but its spirit lives on in a “follow button” for Chrome that Google first started experimenting with in May. The RSS tracking feature was limited to the experimental Canary versions of Chrome on Android, but today the company has started enabling it on stable versions of the browser, according to Adrienne Porter Felt, a director of engineering on Chrome.

You can follow a site through the browser’s three-dot menu to subscribe to its RSS feed and have it update in your Chrome app. Sites you’re following will appear in a tab called “following,” which sits along Google’s “for you” tab of recommended articles. The feature isn’t out yet on iOS, so I’m not able to check it out on my phone, but Felt shared some...

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Watch the Pixel 6 Pro get put together and taken apart in leaked videos

Image: YouTube

While Google has already shared a lot about its upcoming Pixel 6 Pro flagship, including its bold exterior design, two new videos posted to YouTube reveal what Google will probably never show us: what it looks like on the inside, how to put it together, and how to take it apart.

The two videos, which appear to be used for training purposes of some kind, show how to assemble and disassemble the Pixel 6 Pro. It seems unlikely that these were intended to be released publicly, as they are extremely focused on showing specific steps for how to put together and take apart the phone, don’t include any voiceover, and have a mishmash of low-quality graphics, text, and music. That being said, the videos are still worth checking out, as they are a...

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Facebook confirms that some of its services are having issues again

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Instagram has been experiencing issues for many of us here at The Verge, but it turns out that the problem might be broader than that, according to a statement from Facebook.

“We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products,” Facebook said in a tweet. “We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and we apologize for any inconvenience.”

The scope of the problems is unclear. Sometimes my Instagram feed has refreshed, and other times, I get an error. However, over the past few minutes, things seem to have worked okay, and I haven’t had issues with Facebook’s website.

The problems follow a massive outage earlier on Monday, which took down Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and...

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The six-figure Mercedes-Benz EQS gets a 350-mile range rating

Image: Mercedes-Benz

The all-electric Mercedes-Benz EQS is chock full of luxury and tech features. Now we know it will be competitive with some of its six-figure rivals in regards to range, as the official estimates are finally in from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The agency says the rear-wheel-drive version should get around 350 miles on a full battery. Buyers of the all-wheel-drive version should expect a little less, around 340 miles. That’s roughly even with Tesla’s new triple-motor Model S Plaid, which the EPA says is good for about 348 miles on a full charge on 21-inch wheels. Tesla says the Model S Plaid on 19-inch wheels should get closer to 400 miles, but that claim hasn’t been evaluated by the EPA just yet. A dual-motor Long Range Model S...

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This iPhone 13 case adds what the phone was always missing — a candy launcher

No matter how much Apple hypes Ceramic Shield — the special glass mixture introduced with the iPhone 12 — and the build quality of the metal and glass sandwich that is the modern iPhone, expensive phones need cases. Maybe you ordered one alongside your new iPhone 13, but if you didn’t, may I propose an exciting and undeniably useful option — a giant case that rockets hard candy into your mouth (via Gizmodo).

YouTube creator and inventor Matty Benedetto is responsible for the DIY case, which he calls the Candy Catapult. It’s 3D printed from flexible TPU filament with a hard candy container back for your poison of choice, be it M&Ms, Skittles, or Reese Pieces (only sickos would mix all three). To actually launch the candy out of the case,...

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Watch the first trailer for The Expanse season 6, arriving December 10th

The beloved, intriguingly political, and mysterious sci-fi show The Expanse’s final season on Amazon is nigh. Season 6 is coming December 10th, and the company just dropped the final trailer at New York Comic Con and on YouTube (you can watch it immediately above). It’ll run for just six episodes, airing each Friday on Amazon Prime Video and ending on January 14th, 2022.

If you’ve been devoutly following The Expanse, you know things are bad in the universe of the show. Earth’s on fire, beloved characters have died, and a mass murderer is gaining an awful lot of support.

Here’s how Amazon describes season 6:

The sixth and final season of The Expanse picks up with the solar system at war, as Marco Inaros and his Free Navy continue to...

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Here’s where you can buy a Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch OLED model boasts a vibrant, 7-inch display and slate of minor upgrades. | Image: Nintendo

The Nintendo Switch was, like most consoles during the pandemic, once in short supply. Thankfully, retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart now routinely stock the Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite in multiple color configurations and models, giving those who struck out ample opportunity to purchase Nintendo’s versatile console.

We’re keeping an eye across the web to find where you can buy a Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo Switch Lite (the portable-only version of the console), and the new Nintendo Switch OLED model, as well as any bundles that seem like good deals.

Where can I buy a Nintendo Switch or Switch Lite right now?

• Over at Amazon, you can buy an updated Nintendo Switch model with gray Joy-Cons, plus a 64GB SanDisk MicroSD...

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PC Building Simulator is free on the Epic Games Store

Your key to the PC of your dreams

Depending on who you ask, PC Building Simulator is either utterly ridiculous or incredibly satisfying. You can decide for yourself by downloading this niche simulator for free from the Epic Games Store before October 17th.

Like the majority of sim games, PCBS speaks to a very specific type of fantasy. If your idea of a good time is overclocking your computer while managing a small business, this is a game that does exactly that. My favorite feature has to be making your work computer in-game look exactly like your computer IRL. The game will even adjust the RGB lighting and wallpaper of your machine to match.

Photo by Alice Newcome-Beill / The Verge

It’s just like my desk... except cleaner.

However, depending...

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Apple removes the Apple Watch Series 6 from its official lineup

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

The Apple Watch Series 7 is finally available to preorder, nearly a month after Apple announced the new smartwatch. But the launch of the Series 7 also brings the removal of the Series 6 from the company’s official Apple Watch lineup.

If you want to buy a brand new Apple Watch from Apple, you now only have three options: the Series 7, which starts at $399; the still-very-good SE, which was introduced last year and starts at $279; and the years-old Series 3, which starts at $199.

There are still a few ways to get a Series 6, though, and given how many features are shared between the Series 7 and the Series 6, the previous generation model could be a good option to consider if you want to save some money. Apple’s refurbished store has t...

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