The Verge
Govee’s inexpensive TV backlight goes big
A strong bias for bias lighting
The VergeThe VergeNintendo’s Metroid Dread has a bug: here’s how to avoid it
Dread is the first all-new 2D Metroid in almost 20 years. | Screenshot: Metroid Dread
Nintendo is working to fix a bug in recently-released Metroid Dread that could halt your progression if you’re unlucky enough to encounter it, the company has announced. According to a support page the bug causes the error message “The software was closed because an error occurred,” forcing it to close unexpectedly. Nintendo says the patch will be released before the end of the month.
Until this patch is released, however, players will need to avoid triggering the bug, which can apparently occur near the end of the game if the player “destroys a door while a map marker for that specific door is displayed on the map.” Thankfully, that means recovering from the crash when it occurs is fairly simple. Here’s what Nintendo says you should do...
The VergeClubhouse has a new Music Mode that could make it the place to play
Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Clubhouse has a tremendous amount of competition from big companies that want to own the live audio space, but it may be getting out ahead in one specific way. The company’s launching a new Music Mode that could make it a better place to play — and listen — to live music, ahead of Amazon’s reported entry into that space, and as Twitter has begun rolling out “ticketed spaces” where musicians could host shows as well. Spotify has its own live audio app, too.
If you’re a musician on Clubhouse, or you love listening to live music on the app, the new Music Mode “optimizes Clubhouse to broadcast your music with high quality and great stereo sound,” according to the company’s blog post. Clubhouse doesn’t say what it means by high quality, but...
The VergeApple rehires former HomePod engineer to get its software back on track
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
Apple has hired a former HomePod engineer, Afrooz Family, to head up the team developing HomePod software, according to Bloomberg, which could signal a renewed effort from Apple to make the HomePod more competitive. The company released HomePod software version 15 in September, bringing some welcome features like the ability to use one or a pair of HomePod Mini speakers as the default with an Apple TV 4K. But Apple’s smart speaker line faces stiff competition, particularly from Amazon’s and Google’s speakers that are equipped with their smart assistants.
Family left Apple in 2016, where he was a senior audio engineer, to co-found audio company Syng with ex-Apple designer Christopher Stringer. (A Financial Times article about Syng...
The VergeBlock Party is out of beta and ready to block anyone who likes bad tweets
Image: Block Party
Block Party, the anti-harassment service that specializes in making Twitter more tolerable to use, is out of beta and available now. Block Party automates the time-consuming process of moderating your Twitter feed, filtering out content from people you don’t want to see for later review and, starting today, blocking accounts that retweet or like a bad tweet of your choice with blocklists.
Block Party’s services are available in three different tiers. Free Basic accounts can use Block Party’s moderate filters to catch @mentions and place them in a “Lockout Folder” for later review. Premium accounts, which start at $12 per month, include stricter filters, block lists, a helper view to allow friends or family to review troubling tweets,...
The VergeBoeing chief technical pilot couldn’t ‘Jedi mind trick’ his way out of a federal indictment
Boeing
Boeing’s former chief technical pilot, Mark Forkner, was indicted on two counts of fraud and four counts of wire fraud for his role in the Boeing 737 Max debacle. He’s accused of withholding information from FAA evaluators about a system on the Boeing 737 Max that was at the heart of two crashes that killed 346 people,
That system, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), interpreted the plane as stalling when it wasn’t — causing crashes. Emails uncovered during the investigation showed Forkner was aware that the MCAS could make the 737 Max difficult to fly. They also showed that he knew the system was active at lower speeds than Boeing reported to the FAA.
Forkner emailed coworkers admitting that the system was...
The VergeApple Music might be coming to PS5
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Spotify has been a music streaming option on the PS5 since it launched in November, giving you the option to listen to your favorite music when playing games. Soon, though, the console might get support for another service: Apple Music.
The first clue came earlier this week when a Reddit user posted a picture of Apple Music appearing in the PS5’s music menu. The option apparently showed up after they made a new account and tried to link it with Spotify. It seems the app didn’t work, though — the Reddit user also shared a photo of a message that said, “This app is playable only on PS4,” which Eurogamer says is a standard error message when an app isn’t available.
image: u/HOLYWARS1990
A Reddit user’s photo of Apple...
The VergeMissouri governor threatens reporter who discovered state site spilling private info
Illustrator by Alex Castro / The Verge
Missouri Governor Mike Parson is threatening legal action against a reporter and newspaper that found and responsibly disclosed a security vulnerability that left teacher and educational staffs’ social security numbers exposed and easily accessible.
The _St. Louis Post-Dispatch_reports that it notified the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) that one of its tools was returning HTML pages that contained employee SSNs, potentially putting the information of over 100,000 employees at risk. Despite the fact that the outlet waited until the tool was taken down by the state to publish its story, the reporter has been called a “hacker” by Governor Parson, who says he’ll be getting the county prosecutor and...
The VergeIndiEV reveals electric car with a built-in gaming PC but not much else
There’s a new electric vehicle startup breaking cover in California, making bold claims and teasing pie-in-the-sky ideas while remaining guarded about its founder and origin story.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a story that’s been playing out on repeat the last half-decade. This time, it’s a company called IndiEV, which emerged from stealth mode Thursday with a small prototype electric car called the Indi One that it says will start at just $45,000 — a car it boldly says will launch at the end of 2022.
Parts of the script are the same: IndiEV wants to power the Indi One with a scalable lithium-ion battery pack (that can be adapted to fit more affordable or expensive models or future vehicles); It wants to take advantage of...
The VergeDeathloop’s huge new update brings DLSS, DualSense audio for PC, crash fixes, and more
Deathloop is an incredible game but also one with its fair share of nasty issues, particularly on PC — where some have experienced seriously stuttery performance and a nasty crash just as you’re supposed to crash the game’s penultimate party. Now, it appears Arkane Studios is coming fast and furious with the fixes and a little something extra as well.
A new 11GB update can add extra immersion to PC by letting you hear Julianna’s radio transmissions through a connected PS5 controller. Plus there’s brand-new support for Nvidia DLSS, letting you potentially eke out a substantial amount of extra performance if you’re willing to exchange your native resolution for a slickly AI-upscaled version. (The game supported AMD’s rival FSR from the...
The VergePressure mounts on Amazon and App Store discrimination in new bill
After months of hearings and negotiations, pressure is growing in the Senate to pass new laws banning online platforms from giving preference to their own products and services over those of their competitors. On Thursday, a bipartisan group of senators announced plans to introduce a nondiscrimination bill that could reshape Amazon’s online marketplace.
The American Choice and Innovation Online Act, led by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), would prevent platforms like Amazon, Apple, and Google from using their dominance to disadvantage other companies and competitors that use their platforms. In June, House lawmakers voted out a bill sharing the same name from the Judiciary Committee. Klobuchar’s Senate version isn’t...
The VergeI have a hard time believing your wearable is good if you had to Photoshop it onto a model
Wearable gadgets live or die on whether they’re actually comfortable to _wear —_it’s tough to recommend a fitness tracker that gives me a rash or a headset constantly dragging my head down. So, for HTC’s new, exceptionally light Vive Flow VR headset, the company wanted to show just how effortlessly it might fit into your life, commissioning pictures of men and women wearing it in their cozy living rooms without a care in the world.
One rather important reason why they don’t seem to care: they’re notwearing it at all. It’s photoshopped. The woman in the photo above was actually photographed with a bowl of popcorn, not a headset or a phone. Here’s what the original looks like at istockphoto.com:
Getty Images/iStockphoto...
The VergeFacebook rolls out end-to-end encrypted backups to WhatsApp
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
WhatsApp’s end-to-end encrypted chat backups for iOS and Android are available starting Thursday, Facebook announced. The company has offered end-to-end encryption for chats for years, but with this new change, you can get that same level of encryption with your backups.
WhatsApp backups are stored in iCloud or Google Drive, but that means that Apple or Google could hand over the backups to governments or law enforcement if compelled. With the change available on Thursday, you can secure your WhatsApp cloud backups with a password or a 64-digit encryption key, which theoretically means that no one else but you will be able to access the backup.
You can read more about how the encrypted backups work in our article about the original...
The VergeSignal’s founder is trolling with an NFT that’ll turn to shit if you buy it
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Secure messaging app Signal’s founder Moxie Marlinspike is doing a bit of trolling by releasing an NFT that shows up differently depending on what platform you’re looking at it on — and that will, allegedly, display as a poop emoji in your wallet if you actually buy it.
He seems to be doing this to point out the potential fragility of NFTs, which are supposed to act as a sort of permanent record of owning a piece of art or media. They’re unique digital tokens that are stored on the blockchain, but in most cases, it’s actually just the record that lives on the chain — the image is stored elsewhere. That means that people shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars for them could be at the mercy of image hosts who are operating...
The VergeAsus ROG Zephyrus M16 review: overpriced and underpowered
A polished PC with inconsistent performance
The VergeYou can now sign up to buy Spotify’s Car Thing, but you probably shouldn’t
Photo by Ashley Carman / The Verge
Spotify is making it easier to get ahold of its first hardware device, the Car Thing, by opening up a waitlist to purchase the device that anyone can join starting today. The catch is that now the streaming service’s previously invite-only product is $79.99 when it used to be free with paid shipping and handling.
While Spotify will let anyone with an account sign up for its waitlist, whether free or premium, you do still need a premium account to actually use the device. Also, at its new $79.99 price, it’s worth re-examining what the Car Thing can do.
Image: Spotify
The Car Thing comes with a selection of mounts for your car.
The Car Thing is not a standalone Spotify device. It connects to your phone over...
The VergeGoogle is making it easier to doomscroll through search results
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge
Google is making it easier to doomscroll through search results by automatically loading newer results as you get to the end of the page. Previously, when you got to the end of a page of Google search results, there was a big “See more” button at the bottom you could tap to, well, see more results. With continuously loaded results, you’ll be able to just keep on scrolling to see more.
Beginning today, continuous scrolling is starting to roll out to Google Search for most English searches on mobile devices in the US. Learn more: https://t.co/ulPL0EaKV0pic.twitter.com/W0iwL3fdy6
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) October 14, 2021
Continuous scrolling does have some advantages; it’s a lot easier to see more results quickly if you...
The VergeGenie Plus lets you skip lines at Disney World, but fans aren’t happy about it
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Walt Disney World is offering yet another way to make your experience more magical (or more miserable, depending on how you look at it). Set to launch on October 19th, Disney’s Genie service will grant you a number of wishes, including the ability to skip lines — once you pay up.
Image: Disney
Disney first introduced the service in an August blog post, noting that you’ll be able to access the Disney Genie service through the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps. The Disney Genie will serve as your personal trip planner and, if you choose the paid option, will let you jump to the front of your favorite rides’ lines via the Lightning Lane entrances. The only caveat is that you can only choose one ride at a time....
The VergeWaymo’s autonomous vehicles keep getting stuck in a dead-end street in San Francisco
Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Traffic is hell, but what if the cars clogging up the roadways are all robots? That’s what some residents on one quiet street in San Francisco have discovered, with a seemingly endless parade of autonomous vehicles from Waymo driving down a dead-end street in the city’s residential Richmond district, turning around, and driving away.
“There are some days where it can be up to 50,” resident Jennifer King told _KPIX 5_in this hilarious scene report. “It’s literally every five minutes. And we’re all working from home, so this is what we hear.”
“There are some days where it can be up to 50”
Residents are confused as to why the Waymo vehicles — Jaguar I-Pace SUVs with rooftop sensors and high-tech compute systems inside — keep coming, one...
The VergeNanoleaf’s latest smart lights are more nightclub than ever
Nanoleaf Lines is the latest product from the smart lighting company. | Image: Nanoleaf
First, there were triangles; then there were squares. Next came hexagons, and now, say hello to lines. No, this isn't your sixth grader’s geometry homework. It’s the latest addition to smart lighting maker Nanoleaf’s ever-growing catalog of modular LED light panels. The new Nanoleaf Lines are ultra-lightweight, color-changing lights in a bar shape. Backlit, they connect at 60-degree angles to create geometric designs of your choosing, and with dual-color zones, the Lines ($199.99) can add a visual feast to any wall or ceiling.
As with Nanoleaf’s Shapes, Canvas, and Elements wall panels, Lines can be installed using pre-affixed, double-sided tape, making it an easy setup — although you’ll want to plan your design before committing....
The VergeLawmakers want to strip legal protections from the Facebook News Feed
Democratic lawmakers want social networks to face legal liability if they recommend harmful content to users. Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), Mike Doyle (D-PA), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the “Justice Against Malicious Algorithms Act,” which would amend Section 230’s protections to exclude “personalized recommendations” for content that contributes to physical or severe emotional injury.
The bill follows a recommendation Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen made before Congress last week. Haugen, a former employee who leaked extensive internal Facebook research, encouraged lawmakers to crack down on algorithms that promote, rank, or otherwise order content based on user engagement. It applies to web services...
The VergeBose headphones and Apple iPhone accessories are on sale today
The popular Bose QC35 II headphones are just one of many great deals today. | Photo: Chris Welch / The Verge
There are many great deals to be had today, especially if you enjoy a variety of options to browse and online window-shop. Amazon’s highlighted daily sale, currently coined as Epic Daily Deals, has several Bose headphones and earbuds discounted. There is a little bit for everyone here, ranging from the popular mainstay QuietComfort 35 II Bluetooth headphones and its gaming-accessorized counterpart to noise-canceling and sport-focused earbuds.
First, let’s dive into the QC35 II. These noise-canceling headphones became the industry standard for folks wanting comfortable and lightweight everyday headphones, especially for commuting and traveling on planes where the ANC can be most effective. There is a new model that just came out, the Bose...
The VergeThe $499 HTC Vive Flow is VR for people who don’t like VR
HTC wants to find a new VR market — but what is it?
The VergeSony is letting you register for the chance to buy a PS5 for the holidays
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Sony has launched a landing page where you can register for the opportunity to buy a PS5 later this year, in time for the holidays. The company says it will have “a limited amount of PS5 consoles” for US customers through its PlayStation store. It’s probably a good idea to fill out the registration sooner than later, and you’ll need a PlayStation Network ID to do so. Though, unlike its queueing system for distributing consoles, the selection process here doesn’t seem entirely like a first-come, first-served situation.
Sony will begin to send out invitations with instructions to purchase a PS5, along with a slate of accessories if you’d like, in November. And it says that recipients of invites will be “based on previous interests and...
The VergeThey’re putting guns on robot dogs now
It’s not clear if this gun-equipped quadrupedal robot is for sale, but it’s only a matter of time. | Image: Sword International
Quadrupedal robots are one of the most interesting developments in robotics in recent years. They’re small, nimble, and able to traverse environments that frustrate wheeled machines. So, of course, it was only a matter of time until someone put a gun on one.
The image above shows a quadrupedal robot — a Vision 60 unit built by US firm Ghost Robotics — that’s been equipped with a custom gun by small-arms specialists Sword International. It seems the gun itself (dubbed the SPUR or “special purpose unmanned rifle”) is designed to be fitted onto a variety of robotic platforms. It has a 30x optical zoom, thermal camera for targeting in the dark, and an effective range of 1,200 meters.
What’s not clear is whether or not Sword International...
The VergeMicrosoft to ‘sunset’ LinkedIn for China, and replace it with an app lacking social media features
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Microsoft announced this morning that it’s shutting down the localized version of LinkedIn for China that has been available there since 2014. The move comes after increasing claims from academics and reporters that they’ve received notifications stating their profiles on the service are blocked in China, as reported recently by The Wall Street Journal.
In its blog post announcing the move and a plan to launch a new China-only standalone product called InJobs, Microsoft did not directly reference those reports. Instead, it says:
While we’ve found success in helping Chinese members find jobs and economic opportunity, we have not found that same level of success in the more social aspects of sharing and staying informed. We’re also facing...
The VergeTSMC is building a new chip factory in Japan, but warns of ‘tight’ supply through 2022
Photo by Walid Berrazeg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
TSMC has announced plans to expand its chipmaking efforts with a new factory in Japan during its Q3 2021 earnings call, marking the latest expansion for what’s already the world’s largest chipmaker, via Reuters. But the news comes as the company also cautions that supply will be “tight” for chips throughout 2022 as a result on the ongoing shortage.
The new plant is planned to focus on producing chips with older technologies, instead of the bleeding-edge processors that TSMC is best known for providing to companies like Apple, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm. That’s particularly important, given that it’s those older chips — like those found in cars for controllingthe airbags and seatbeltsor the power management chip in an iPhone — that are...
The VergeTCL’s budget 20S and 20SE phones beat expectations
Big phones with small price tags
The VergeIkea’s latest Sonos lamp speaker is still an acquired taste
Better looks, easier bulbs, still niche
The VergeEvery PC can now run Crysis
But can it run Crysis? The answer is now yes, no matter what PC you own. Nvidia is bringing _Crysis Remastered_to its GeForce Now streaming service this week, alongside Crysis Remastered Trilogy,Crysis 2 Remastered,and Crysis 3 Remastered.
The remastered version of Crysis includes ray tracing and DLSS support, which can both be enabled by Founders or Priority members of Nvidia’s GeForce Now service. Crysis Remastered will be available from Steam and Epic Games Store on GeForce Now today, with the full Crysis Remastered Trilogy available at launch tomorrow.
Most PCs on the market today can stream ‘Crysis’
The vast majority of PCs on the market today, and even some of the budget gaming PCs that existed in 2007, can run Crysis by streaming...