White House vaccine and testing mandate doesn’t start until after the holidays

Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

The Biden administration on Thursday announced a rule that requires private businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 on at least a weekly basis. This new push to bump vaccination rates comes after the White House set a rule requiring federal contractors to establish plans ensuring their employees are vaccinated against COVID-19.

The new rule (PDF) was drafted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a government subagency under the US Department of Labor that covers about 84 million private-sector employers and workers. It requires that employers provide paid time for employees to go get vaccinated and ensure all unvaccinated workers wear a face mask at...

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The secrets of the first real smartphone, with Dieter Bohn

Our new documentary now streaming on your TV

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Insignia’s 55-inch QLED 4K TV is just $400 for today only

Image: Amazon

If you’re in need of an affordable 4K TV that punches above its price class before the Black Friday shopping craze begins, Insignia’s F50 QLED 4K TV might be exactly what you’re after. Normally $650, it’s just $400 at Best Buy and Amazon. The F50 is one of the company’s latest models, and it’s a big upgrade over its previous Fire TV Edition models. The F50 still features Amazon’s Fire TV software built in, with the ever-helpful Alexa just a button press and ping word away, but it has slimmer bezels, and its panel supports quantum dot HDR technology. With it, the TV should provide better color accuracy, more vivid contrast, and more realistic lighting.

Bose’s QC35 Series II over-ear, wireless headphones with noise cancellation have hit...

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T-Mobile is giving customers a free year of Paramount Plus

Image: CBS

T-Mobile is once again offering its customers a free streaming deal: starting on November 9th, any T-Mobile or Sprint customer (new or existing) on post-paid cellular or home internet plans can sign up to get a free year’s subscription of Paramount Plus Essential.

As always, there are caveats for the deal. The promotion only includes access to Paramount Plus’ Essential plan, which typically costs $4.99 per month and has “limited commercial interruptions.” Additionally, unlike the $9.99 per month Premium plan, it doesn’t include a live feed of your local CBS station, although NFL and Champions League games are still available on the lower tier.

For new Paramount Plus subscribers, or customers who are already subscribed to the Essential...

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Coinbase tests subscription service that waives some trading fees

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The largest US cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, is testing a new subscription service that reduces its trading fees in return for a monthly fee, _The Block_reports. The subscription service, which is reportedly being called Coinbase One, waives the commission fee Coinbase charges for trades, but customers will still have to pay spread fees to buy or sell cryptocurrency. There’s currently no word on the cost of the subscription, which the company plans to offer to a small number of users to start.

Coinbase confirmed its test of the subscription program in a statement given to The Block. “Customers in the test group will have the ability to buy, sell, and convert digital currencies on the Coinbase platform without a Coinbase fee for each...

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Google outlines plans for first alternative in-app payments in South Korea

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google has announced changes it will make to its in-app payments options in South Korea — a significant step back for the tech giant as governments around the world seek to curb the control Google and Apple wield over their mobile ecosystems.

In a blog post, Google says it will allow third-party payment options for in-app purchases to appear alongside its own Google Play billing system in Android apps. The company will still charge developers a commission if users pay using a third-party system, but this fee will be reduced slightly as compensation for the costs of supporting alternative payments.

Says Google:

Service fees for distributing apps via Android and Google Play will continue to be based on digital sales on the platform. We...

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Arlo’s new security camera keeps watch over LTE or Wi-Fi

Image: Arlo

If you’re looking to set up a security camera that can keep watch in areas without Wi-Fi, or that’ll still be able to keep an eye on things if your home internet goes out, Arlo’s new LTE-powered camera may be of interest. The $250 Arlo Go 2 LTE / Wi-Fi camera is built to go in somewhat remote places, like on a barn, cabin, or boat dock, and features full HD video recording (though saving that to the cloud will require a subscription, more on that later), weather resistance, and a rechargeable and swappable battery.

The original Arlo Go was significantly more expensive at around $400, didn’t support Wi-Fi (and therefore couldn’t use its cellular connection as a backup to your home internet like the 2 can), and also only recorded in 720p....

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Scammers use Google Ads to siphon off hundreds of thousands of dollars from fake crypto wallets

Illustration by Maria Chimishkyan

The crypto world is full of dangers, with scammers lying in wait for newbies and novices. A recent report from security outfit Check Point Research highlights a potent form of attack: using Google Ads to direct users to fake crypto wallets. In its report, CPR said it has seen roughly half a million dollars siphoned off through these methods in just the last few days.

Here’s how the scam works. Attacker buys Google Ads in response to searches for popular crypto wallets (that’s the software used to store cryptocurrency, NFTs, and the like). CPR says it’s noticed scams targeting Phantom and MetaMask wallets, which are the most popular wallets for the Solana and Ethereum ecosystems.

The scam is a fairly typical phishing attack

When an...

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Nintendo cuts Switch sales forecast due to global chip shortage

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

Nintendo had a relatively quiet quarter for Switch sales, with 3.83 million units shipped between July and September. That’s a big drop on the same period last year, when the company moved 6.86 million units. Nintendo has now sold 92.87 million Switch consoles to date.

Nintendo says “the extended impact of both COVID-19 and the global semiconductor shortage creates a state of continued uncertainty” and is revising its Switch sales forecast for the financial year down by 1.5 million units. The company had previously expected to sell 25.5 million consoles between April 2021 and March 2022, but has now set the figure at 24 million. However, Nintendo isn’t altering its expectations for revenue, and actually expects operating profit to be 4...

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Forza Horizon 5 is the perfect portable Xbox game

Forza Horizon 5. | Image: Microsoft

Forza Horizon 5 is an absolutely stunning showcase of the Xbox Series X. Cars look incredible, and I’ve loved taking in the game’s lush and colorful landscapes as I’ve raced through the streets of Mexico blasting classical music. On a console that’s largely lacking in big-name exclusives, it’s one of the rare games that really shows what the latest Xbox is capable of. Turns out it’s also a fantastic portable game.

Hear me out. Yes, the graphics are amazing and are a joy to take in on a big screen. But Forza Horizon 5’saccessible gameplay and bevy of customizability options means it translates really well to something the size of a smartphone. I’ve been playing the game via console streaming with my iPhone 12 Mini plugged into a Backbone...

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The best deals on 4K TVs

The Frame, Samsung’s art-like QLED TV, is on sale at Amazon right now for $998. | Samsung

There are a lot of 4K TVs available to choose from, complete with a wide variety of prices and performance. And, with many fall sales currently underway, now might be the best time of the year to get an amazing TV deal. Even if your budget is less than $500, you can get a good 4K TV in a bigger size than you might expect. Whether you want a secondary TV for the bedroom or a high-end OLED that’s built for a cinema-like experience, we’ve picked out the best TV deals across four common categories:

• The best 4K TV deals for most people
• The best TV deals on a budget
• The best deals on OLED TVs
• 4K TVs for the PlayStation and Xbox Series X

Note: We provide regular updates to this post so be sure to check back periodically for the most...

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Here are the best Kindle deals right now

The 2018 Kindle Paperwhite might not be the newest model, but it’s available for $40 off. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

When it comes to finding a device to use to read your ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your smartphone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality.

Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons.

Below, we’ve listed each model currently available for purchase. Sometimes, there isn’t a deal for one, or any, of the...

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Nintendo releases Animal Crossing’s big 2.0 update early

Image: Nintendo

The major 2.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now available to download, which is somewhat surprising because Nintendo previously said it wouldn’t be released until November 5th. That means you’ll be able to dive into all the new features two days earlier than expected.

The free 2.0 update was announced last month in a Nintendo Direct presentation. It includes a ton of expanded functionality including new house exterior designs, boat tours to other islands, more item, storage, a “pro” camera mode, the ability to cook food with grown ingredients, and more. Perhaps the most anticipated addition is Brewster’s coffee shop, a notable omission from the base game.

In addition to the free update Nintendo announced a $24.99 expansion...

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Sonos’ voice assistant might work alongside Alexa but not the Google Assistant

The Sonos Roam. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

When Sonos purchased a privacy-focused voice assistant Snips in 2019, it strongly implied that it planned to build an assistant that would “add to our customers’ ease of use and control” instead of going head-to-head with bigger assistants from other big tech companies. Nearly two years later, we might be close to being using the company’s homegrown assistant, as a Reddit user found code in the Sonos app that appears to show voice commands for Sonos Voice Control (via Protocol).

According to the code strings, you’ll be able to do things like play and pause music, adjust the volume, and check your Sonos’ battery. The Reddit user also found what looks to be the logo for Sonos’ assistant and evidence suggesting you’ll be able to have it...

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Take-Two spent $53 million on a cancelled game that was never even announced

Nestled in Take-Two Interactive’s most recent earnings report was information that it was charged $53 million dollars for an unannounced title that has been cancelled.

“Cost of goods sold included a $53 million impairment charge related to the Company’s decision not to proceed with further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline,” Take-Two said in a press release.

The report did not name the title nor the affiliated studio that worked on it. However, according to a Bloomberg report, the cancelled title is from Mafia III developer Hangar 13. The California-based developer also released the Mafia: Definitive Edition in 2020.

The Bloomberg report says that according to sources at the studio, the game was codenamed Volt and...

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Notability blinks on charging users more, grandfathers in existing users

Notability | Image: Notability Blog

Notability developer Ginger Labs announced today that, in a change of heart, its popular note-taking app wouldn’t eventually require current users to switch to a subscription model. This news comes just two days after the developer announced a new subscription model where current app owners who wanted to keep the same features would be forced to start a $14.99 / month subscription by November 1st, 2022.

Notability rolled back its original Monday pricing announcement and today posted an update on its company blog addressing current customers:

Everyone who purchased Notability prior to our switch to subscription on November 1st, 2021 will have lifetime access to all existing features and any content previously purchased in the app.

This...

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Roku is booting Pornhub and cutting off other private channels

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

After Roku announced last week that it will soon remove non-certified channels from its service, it appears the change will close a loophole that allowed apps like Pornhub to exist on the platform.

The company announced last week that it would be removing so-called “non-certified channels” by March of 2022. The change comes as Roku introduces new tools for developers, including a new independent developer kit that operates separately from its primary software developer kit for commercial-use channels. It also announced that it’s launching new beta testing capabilities that will allow app makers to run tests on their apps before making the changes live on the service.

The independent developer kit will allow developers to tinker with and...

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Alexa’s October updates let your music follow you around the house

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Alexa’s October update introduces a number of new helpful commands that let you start listening to audio in one room and continue listening on an Echo device in another. There are a few different commands for this, and the ones you use will depend on your situation.

The first command lets you move audio between groups, also known as the smart speakers that you’ve assigned to specific locations throughout your home. Simply say, “Alexa, move my music to [desired group],” and you can transfer your podcast, radio show, or music to the room that you plan on spending time in.

You can also continue listening to audio when you walk out the door — keep in mind that you’ll need a pair of Echo Buds in order for this to work. Once your Echo Buds are...

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Google’s reportedly bidding to be a military cloud provider

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google is reportedly “aggressively” working on winning a contract with the Pentagon, even though some of its previous Department of Defense work sparked major backlash from employees, according to The New York Times. According to the report, Google’s Cloud division has reassigned engineers to work on a proposal for Google to contribute to the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability program, which the DoD describes as an attempt to “achieve dominance in both traditional and non-traditional warfighting domains.”

The contract Google is reportedly looking into is one that will open to multiple companies to submit proposals and do work for, and the DoD estimates it could be a multi-billion dollar project. In a document describing what cloud...

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Boeing gets green light for satellite internet constellation

The Federal Communications Commission has authorized a satellite internet project from Boeing first proposed in 2017. Boeing can now move forward with building, launching, and operating its own broadband internet network from space, joining its main aerospace competitor SpaceX.

Boeing’s plan involves placing 132 satellites into low Earth orbit at an altitude of 1,056 kilometers (about 656 miles). Another 15 will be launched to “non geostationary orbit” at an altitude between 27,355 and 44,221 km (16,998 to 27,478 miles). The company says it wants to use the satellites to offer “broadband internet and communications services to residential consumers, government and business users in the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin...

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How to create a signature for PDF documents on an iPhone

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

More and more official papers are being turned into PDF documents, and you may be asked to sign one electronically while you’re away from your computer (here, by the way, is how to sign a PDF document using a Mac or a PC). If you’re using an iPhone, it’s actually not all that difficult; you can create a signature and reuse it by using the iPhone’s built-in Markup tool.

Here’s what to do:

• Open the PDF document in Markup.
• Tap the plus sign at the bottom right.
• Tap on the Signature button.
• If you haven’t created any signatures yet, tap on the label at the top titled “New Signature.” (If you don’t see “New Signature,” tap the plus sign in the upper left corner.)

In Markup, tap on the plus and then the Signature button.

...

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‘Sideloading is a cyber criminal’s best friend,’ according to Apple’s software chief

“Sideloading is a cyber criminal’s best friend and requiring that on iPhone would be a gold rush for the malware industry,” according to Apple senior vice president Craig Federighi, who delivered a dramatic speech at Web Summit 2021 declaiming the security risks if Apple were required to let users sideload apps.

Federighi, who oversees Apple’s iOS and macOS software divisions, was specifically protesting the European Commission’s proposed Digital Markets Act, which, if passed, would require Apple to let users install apps outside of the iOS App Store. According to Federighi, the lack of sideloading is what separates Apple’s relatively low rate of malware on iOS from the “5 million Android attacks per month,” and that if Apple were...

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Netflix adds a trio of movies from Squid Game director

Image: Netflix

Hwang Dong-hyuk is known for more than just the Netflix hit Squid Game, which garnered 111 million viewers in its first 17 days on the service. He previously directed several critically acclaimed South Korean films, three of which Netflix is adding.

Before bringing the visually astounding and socially relevant Squid Game to life, Hwang Dong-hyuk directed several acclaimed South Korean feature films — and now, three of those movies are available on Netflix in The US! pic.twitter.com/FV0nUQV91D

— Netflix (@netflix) November 3, 2021

Based on real events, Dong-hyuk’s _Silenced_centers around a teacher who just started working at a school for the hearing impaired. When he discovers that its faculty members have been abusing the students,...

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Apple’s colorful HomePod Minis are a fun addition to your smart home decor

Apple’s HomePod Mini now comes in three new color options.

Three colorful HomePod Minis were announced last month and went on sale this week, adding yellow, orange, and blue options to our smart speaker home decor selections. I got to try out the trio of bright speakers, and have to say I quite like adding a pop of color to my smart home.

Apple is a bit behind the ball here; both Google and Amazon have had color choices for their smart speakers for a while now. The Nest Minis come in coral and light blue colors, and Amazon’s Echo speakers have blue, tiger orange, and Billie Eilish-beige options. But as usual, Apple has gone the extra mile with its design here, creating something quite genuinely delightful.

Each $99 HomePod Mini comes with a matching colored box and a different shimmering,...

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Starlink delays orders by years for unlucky customers who played with the site’s digital map

Photo by Nilay Patel / The Verge

It was an exciting moment when Starlink rolled out preorders for its satellite internet service in February since it can potentially provide faster speed and better service to those in rural areas or with spotty internet access. But a single feature on the Starlink site is causing preorders to be delayed by years and there appears to be no fix in sight, an issue first spotted by Ars Technica.

“If you don’t already have service and move your address you go straight to the back of the line”

According to the report, some users on the r/Starlink subreddit moved their service area by just a few feet using the digital map tool on the site and wound up having their preorder dates moved from late 2021 to as far as 2023. One user wrote, “I moved...

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Pegasus spyware group blacklisted by the US government

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The US Department of Commerce has ordered American companies to not sell their tech to NSO, citing reports that the group’s Pegasus spyware is used against journalists, government officials, activists, and more. In its press release, the regulator says that the company is being added to the Entity List because its tool threatens “the rules-based international order” when its sold to repressive foreign governments.

Pegasus is a program designed to infect targets without notice, allowing police and intelligence agencies to get access to a phone’s text messages, photos, and passwords, all without leaving a trace. The Washington Post reported in July that the spyware could infect someone’s phone with a single, invisible text message: a...

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Instagram and Twitter finally make link previews work again

An Instagram link preview on Twitter. | Image: Instagram

The ice is thawing on a nine-year internet feud. When you share Instagram links on Twitter, you’ll see a preview of the link that includes an image instead of just the URL text starting on Wednesday. The feature is rolling out on Android, iOS, and the web. I didn’t see a preview when I tried sharing an Instagram post on my Twitter feed, so it might not work for you just yet.

Both Instagram and Twitter are promoting the change.

They said it would never happen… Twitter Card previews start rolling out TODAY.

Now, when you share an Instagram link on Twitter a preview of that post will appear. pic.twitter.com/XSZRx9dzd1

— Instagram (@instagram) November 3, 2021

If you want to share your latest Instagram post on the Twitter timeline...

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Facebook skirts Apple’s App Store fees with custom subscription links for creators

Facebook

Facebook has found a way to skirt Apple’s 30 percent tax on in-app transactions.

On Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook parent company Meta, announced that creators will soon be able to share custom web links directing their fans to pay them for subscriptions using Facebook’s native payments system. If a fan signs up through the link rather than Apple’s in-app subscription, the creator will keep all of the money minus taxes. Facebook subscription feature, which lets creators charge on a reoccurring basis for access to exclusive content, is available in 27 countries and accessible to creators who meet certain eligibility requirements.

Facebook is operating in a gray zone under Apple’s rules for the App Store, though a...

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How to create a signature for PDF documents on a PC

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

These days, more and more official papers are being turned into PDF documents. (PDF stands for Portable Document Format; it is a standard created by Adobe in the early 1990s that allows paper documents to be turned into exact digital copies.) In fact, hard copy paperwork is fast becoming the exception rather than the rule. However, even digital documents have to be signed. You can do it the long way — print those documents out, sign them, and then scan them back into your computer — or you can create a digital signature and place it directly on the PDF.

Windows doesn’t offer a built-in PDF signing feature the way a Mac does. However, you can use Windows’ built-in browser, Microsoft Edge, to sign a PDF document. There are also third-party...

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Adidas reveals a new, Xbox 360-inspired sneaker that you can actually buy

Microsoft is continuing to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Xbox in style this year with a second themed Adidas sneaker: the Xbox 360 Forum Mid, which, as the name suggests, is inspired by the company’s second console.

The Xbox 360 design follows the first Xbox / Adidas collaboration, announced in October which took inspiration from the original Xbox console. The Xbox 360 Forum Mid, however, is decked out in the 360’s white, silver, and green color scheme for a 2005-era look, complete with plenty of subtle details that reference the original design. The velcro strap, for instance, is emblazoned with the disc tray from the 360, while the air vents and Xbox button are featured on the outside. Even the heel is designed to look like the...

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