Verizon charges $5 per month to make calls from Alexa using your mobile number

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Verizon’s new Number Share Home plan gives you the ability you make and receive calls from your Echo Show, Echo Dot, and Echo using your existing phone number, as noted in a post on Verizon’s website.

“Alexa, call Keith.”

Introducing Number Share - Home, a new feature that allows @Verizon customers to make and receive hands-free audio calls through their supported Amazon Alexa-enabled devices. @alexa99@amazonnewshttps://t.co/S3bfgHJskP

— Verizon News (@VerizonNews) November 16, 2021

The feature costs an extra $5 / month, but Verizon will waive the fee for three months if you purchase an Alexa-enabled device through them. And if you already have an Alexa device that you’d like to use, Verizon will only give you one month for free.

O...

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Miramax sues Quentin Tarantino over Pulp Fiction NFTs

Tarantino NFTs

Production company Miramax has sued director Quentin Tarantino over his non-fungible token or NFT collection based on Pulp Fiction. The lawsuit, filed yesterday in California court and noted online by attorney Mark Jaffe, says NFTs don’t fall under Tarantino’s reserved rights for the film. Miramax accuses him of violating the company’s copyright and trademark, and it’s demanding a halt to the upcoming sale.

Tarantino’s NFT collection is supposed to include blockchain tokens associated with high-resolution scans from his original handwritten screenplay of Pulp Fiction, plus a drawing inspired by some element of the scene. But Miramax alleges that Tarantino’s limited contractual rights for Pulp Fiction — including interactive games, live...

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The best Chromebook for 2021

Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge

The best Chromebook laptop or two-in-one for every Chrome OS fan

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UPS will make deliveries using Waymo’s autonomous Class 8 trucks

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Waymo and UPS are expanding their nearly two-year-old partnership to include deliveries made using the Alphabet company’s fleet of autonomous Class 8 trucks. The companies had previously only conducted local deliveries using Waymo’s self-driving minivans; now, they will work together on longer-distance freight hauling.

The deliveries will take place in Texas, where Waymo is building a nine-acre hub for its autonomous semi-trailer trucks. Starting now and lasting until the end of the year, Waymo and UPS will collaborate on freight hauling between facilities in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. The companies will gather data during the trial process, with an eye on safety and efficiency in particular.

Gathering data, with an eye on safety...

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Biden’s FCC is still deadlocked, and net neutrality hangs in the balance

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

After nearly 11 suspenseful months, the Senate is expected to hold a confirmation hearing on Biden’s recently appointed Federal Communications Commission chair on Wednesday. But the new chair will arrive in the middle of an agency stalemate that’s put net neutrality work on pause for Biden’s entire first year in office.

Today, the Senate is expected to advance former FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel as chair of the commission — but it will take no action on Biden’s other nominee, and it will keep the FCC deadlocked with two Democrats, two Republicans, and one empty seat. Without a majority, Democrats will have little chance of bringing back Obama-era net neutrality rules, since the Republican commissioners remain deeply opposed to...

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The Moto Watch 100 won’t run on Wear OS

The Moto Watch 100 is opting for a proprietary OS over Wear OS. | Image: eBuyNow

The original Motorola Moto 360 was one of the few good Wear OS (then Android Wear) smartwatches. At least, it was until Motorola quit the smartwatch game in 2016. It got a remake in 2019 under a different company, and two years later, eBuyNow just announced the Moto Watch 100, a cheaper, entry-level smartwatch. And for the first time, it will not run Wear OS.

Instead, the new Moto Watch 100 features a proprietary software called Moto OS. This is a major departure from the Moto watches we’ve seen until now. That means it’ll be following in the footsteps of recent watches like the Huawei Watch 3, the OnePlus Watch, and every Fitbit smartwatch since the Ionic launched in 2017.

There are some clues in the Moto Watch 100 press release as to...

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Nissan’s upcoming electric SUV, the 2023 Ariya, will start at $47,125

The 2023 Nissan Ariya, the automaker’s upcoming electric crossover SUV, finally has a sticker price. The company announced that the EV will start at $47,125, and that reservations are now being accepted.

The Ariya, which was first announced last summer, was expected to go on sale in Japan in the middle of 2021, followed by the US and Canada later in the year. But that’s been delayed, with North American customers not expected to receive deliveries until early fall 2022.

Nissan also revealed a bunch of new information about the various trim levels

In addition to pricing, Nissan also revealed a bunch of new information about the various trim levels. The least expensive Ariya will cost buyers $47,125 (after a $1,175 destination charge),...

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Amazon’s Echo Show 15 goes up for preorder, shipping December 9th

Amazon’s Echo Show 15. | Photo: Amazon

Today, Amazon is opening up preorders for its largest Alexa-enabled smart display yet, the Echo Show 15. The $249.99 device has a 15.6-inch 1080p touchscreen that can be oriented in portrait or landscape, and can either be mounted on a wall or placed on a countertop.

Announced in late September, the Echo Show 15 is designed to act as a communal hub for families and show useful information like calendar appointments, reminders, and to-do lists. It shows these in permanent home screen widgets, which are displayed alongside a more typical assortment of news headlines like previous Echo Shows.

Image: Amazon

It can also be oriented vertically.

Image: Amazon

Or placed on a countertop.

...

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Axiom Space reveals science that will be done on first crewed flight to the ISS

The International Space Station | Image: NASA

Private space habitat company Axiom is revealing the science that the company’s first private astronauts will do when they travel to the International Space Station (ISS) next year. The research experiments include working with stem cells to gauge how space impacts aging as well as performing a two-way 3D hologram projection demonstration using a Microsoft HoloLens.

These and other experiments will be performed by four crew members whom Axiom plans to send to the ISS in February 2022, part of the company’s Ax-1 mission. The crew will fly to the space station inside a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that Axiom purchased in March 2020. It’s actually the first of many SpaceX Crew Dragon flights that Axiom bought from SpaceX in order to send...

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NFT makers are trying to build the next Disney

There’s a long way to go

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YouTube co-founder predicts ‘decline’ of the platform following removal of dislikes

YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim edited the description to YouTube’s first ever video (above) to make his opinion known. | Image: YouTube

Jawed Karim, the third co-founder of YouTube, has condemned the platform’s removal of public dislike counts on videos, suggesting that the change will lead to YouTube’s decline.

“Why would YouTube make this universally disliked change? There is a reason, but it’s not a good one, and not one that will be publicly disclosed,” writes Karim. “The ability to easily and quickly identify bad content is an essential feature of a user-generated content platform. Why? Because not all user-generated content is good.”

YouTube made the change to its UI last week, saying it removed public dislikes in order to counter harassment and promote “respectful interactions between viewers and creators.” But many YouTuber users and creators have criticized the...

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Uber’s latest subscription offers discounts on rides, food, and delivery for $10 a month

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Uber is no stranger to subscriptions, offering Amazon Prime-style benefits for a monthly fee since 2018. Today, the company is rolling out its latest, dubbed Uber One, which is aimed at highlighting the company’s post-pandemic shift to food and grocery delivery.

For $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year, Uber One members will get access to perks such as guaranteed pricing on rides and delivery, and discounts such as 5 percent off “eligible” rides, food, and grocery deliveries.

Uber One is targeted at the company’s most frequent — and loyal — customers

Uber One members won’t have to pay a delivery fee for takeout and groceries, will have priority access to top rated drivers and couriers, and get $5 cash back on late deliveries. They’ll also...

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Apple will offer iPhone parts and instructions for DIY repair

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

Apple is opening up iPhones and Macs to at-home repairs. The company plans to start selling parts and tools and offering instructions on how to repair Apple products at home, without having to bring them into a store or a third-party repair shop. Apple plans to start with the iPhone 12 and 13, followed by Macs with M1 chips. You’ll be able to replace the iPhone’s display, battery, and camera using parts from Apple at first, with other options coming later.

This is a huge shift from Apple, which has historically been resistant to the right-to-repair movement and from any repairs happening outside of its own stores. Even this week, Apple was walking back software that prevented Face ID from working if customers replaced their own screen.

A...

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Tidal launches free streaming and splits HiFi into two plans

Image: Tidal

Tidal is making some significant changes to its subscription plans and introducing a free, ad-sponsored tier for the first time. The new Tidal Free plan launches today, is exclusive to the US, and the company says it offers “access to our entire music catalog and playlists, with limited interruptions.” Streaming quality tops out at 160kbps, however, so it’s not much for Tidal’s paid options on that front.

As for those paid subscriptions, Tidal is upgrading its standard paid plan to include lossless and high-resolution audio. Now known as Tidal HiFi, the $9.99-per-month tier offers the improved music quality (up to 1411kbps) and also adds “offline capabilities, access to features like Tidal Connect and My Activity, which provides...

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Medical photography is failing patients with darker skin

Universal Images Group via Getty

Even medical stock photos only depict white people

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Nintendo’s latest Pokémon remakes are perfectly fine versions of great games

The past week or so has shown just how challenging the concept of a remake or remaster can be, whether we’re talking about games or TV shows. The remastered Grand Theft Auto trilogy, for instance, seemed like a slam dunk but has instead turned into a meme factory. Netflix’s take on Cowboy Bebop, meanwhile, has had to thread a tricky needle of remaining true to the anime while also standing on its own. So, while it may seem like faint praise, it’s important to say this about Nintendo’s latest Pokémon releases, which bring the classic Diamond and _Pearl_to the Switch: they’re perfectly acceptable.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, as they’re called, are slightly upgraded versions of the games that first graced the Nintendo DS in...

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The best early Black Friday deals at Walmart

Walmart is already discounting the AirPods Pro, Google Nest Mini, and a host of other products ahead of Black Friday.

As Black Friday approaches, several retailers are already offering significant discounts — and Walmart is no exception. Right now, the retail giant is dropping early Black Friday deals on everything from the AirPods Pro to the most popular TVs and streaming devices.

We’ve featured a few of these items in our guide to early Black Friday deals, however, the list below highlights all of the best sales Walmart is offering across several categories rather than just a few. It’s perfect, then, for anybody who plans on shopping primarily at Walmart.

The store will continue to publish more deals as we get closer to the big day, with many of the better deals going live on November 22nd, according to a recent online circular. If you subscribe to...

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The best early Black Friday deals at Amazon

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

If you’ve been tracking Amazon’s lead-up to Black Friday like we have, you’ve likely seen the online retail giant rebrand its “Deal of the Day” page to “Epic Daily Deals” and now “Early Black Friday Deals.” We’re nearly on the precipice of full-on Black Friday sales everywhere — when that landing page will be transformed yet again — but there’s already a lot to consider if you plan on getting your holiday shopping done early. In fact, Amazon has a slew of deals worth jumping on now if time is of the essence.

Below are a variety of deals worth your time and attention, especially if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber. If you’re cross-shopping at the other major retailers, we’ve also put together a more general roundup of the best early...

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Clean energy faces its own supply chain crisis

Solar panels above parking spaces at the QCells solar panel manufacturing plant in Dalton, Georgia, U.S., on Monday, May 3, 2021.  | Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The future of energy in America will depend on whether the US can break free from its dependence on other countries that dominate clean energy supply chains. To reach the Biden administration’s energy and environmental goals, the US will have to dramatically scale up its mining and manufacturing, lawmakers argued today during a joint hearing of the House Energy Subcommittee and the Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee. They also raised serious concerns about the US’s ability to do so.

“The sustainable economy of the future will definitely need to be built and manufactured. The question that remains to be seen is whether it will be manufactured by Americans,” said Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY) in his opening statement.

“The...

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Amazon to ban Visa credit cards in the UK in battle over payment fees

Photo by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Amazon will stop accepting payments from Visa credit cards issued in the UK from January 19th, 2022. Customers will still be able to use Visa debit cards issued in the UK, as well as credit cards issued by MasterCard, American Express, and other firms.

Amazon is blocking UK credit cards from Visa as part of an ongoing battle over “interchange” fees — levies charged by card issuers to a merchant’s bank for each transaction. Visa’s interchange fees for transactions between the UK and the European Union (where Amazon UK processes payments) were previously capped at 0.3 percent by EU law. But since the UK left the EU, Visa has been able to hike that fee to 1.5 percent.

It’s not clear why Visa is being singled out by Amazon

However, Visa...

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Sonos finally adds DTS audio support to its home theater lineup

The second-generation Sonos Beam soundbar. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Sonos’ latest update contains big news for surround sound fans: the addition of DTS audio support for its home theater speakers. These include not just newer speakers like the second-generation Beam and Arc, but also older devices like the first-gen Beam, the Playbar, and the Playbase. Even the Sonos Amp is getting in on the DTS action.

For those unfamiliar with the technical nightmare that is home cinema audio, DTS is a rival surround sound format to Dolby Digital. So DTS support means that Sonos users can benefit from surround sound across more sources, like Blu-ray discs that use the DTS format. The release of the update comes a week after Disney announced that DTS audio support will be coming to its Disney Plus streaming service in...

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LA’s Staples Center will be renamed ‘Crypto.com Arena’

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images

The Staples Center, home to Los Angeles sports teams including the Lakers, Clippers, Kings, and Sparks, is getting a new name: “Crypto.com Arena.” Yes, Crypto Dot Com Arena. The cryptocurrency exchange paid more than $700 million for 20-year naming rights, according to the LA Times, making it one of the largest such deals ever. Staples paid $100 million for the rights for 10 years in 1999.

The logo will reportedly be revealed on Christmas Day for the Brooklyn Nets’ game with the Lakers, and Staples Center branding should be phased out by June. “In the next few years, people will look back at this moment as the moment when crypto crossed the chasm into the mainstream,” Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek tells the LA Times. “This is just such a...

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Fujifilm announces film-digital hybrid Instax Mini Evo camera

Fujifilm has announced the Instax Mini Evo, a new digital camera that prints to Instax Mini film. The company describes it as a new Instax flagship that has been “designed with a premium and classical touch;” and it has several retro elements including top-mounted dials and a print control that works like a film advance lever.

Like other hybrid Instax cameras, the Mini Evo has an LCD screen to help you frame your digital shots before printing. The Mini Evo includes ten lens effects that can be combined and applied to photos, and Fujifilm says that it has twice the exposure resolution of previous models. Image quality from Fujifilm’s previous hybrid Instax cameras hasn’t been great, so we’ll have to see how this one works out in practice.

...

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Razer’s new Kaira Pro headset will bring the bass to PS5

The Kaira lineup for PS5 has leatherette-covered ear cups. | Razer

After releasing a fleet of gaming products geared toward Xbox and PC, Razer is finally giving the PS5 a little love with two new Kaira wireless headsets, the $99.99 Kaira and the $199.99 Kaira Pro. They aren’t carbon copies of the Xbox versions, either. Razer made a color palette swap to a white / black colorway, and there’s leatherette covering the ear cups, as opposed to a piece of breathable mesh fabric. But that’s not all.

The more expensive Kaira Pro is the only one of the two models to have HyperSense haptics, which will deliver jolts of vibration to make your games and other content more immersive. Razer recently announced that this feature’s coming to the new (and similarly priced) Kraken V3 Pro that is also made to support...

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Theranos drained $96 million from an experienced investor — plus some blood

Getty Images

In their meetings, Elizabeth Holmes did most of the talking

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Spider-Man: No Way Home’s latest trailer brings back all the bad guys

Image: Sony Pictures Entertainment

The latest trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home has arrived, bringing with it some big surprises for Spider-Man’s latest MCU outing.

If you’re trying to go into the latest adventure of the web-slinging hero without spoilers, you’ll probably want to skip hitting play here (or reading the rest of this post).

Spoilers forSpider-Man: Far From HomeandSpider-Man: No Way Homebelow:

As revealed in the first trailer, No Way Home picks up right where Far From Home left off: with Peter Parker’s secret identity as Spider-Man revealed to the world, something that Peter tries to enlist Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) assistance in rectifying. Magical multiverse hijinks ensue.

Things appear to go wrong, though, resulting in appearances...

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iPhone 13 DIY screen replacements don’t break Face ID in iOS 15.2 beta

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple told The Vergelast week that it would be rolling out a software update to iPhone 13 devices to make it easier to replace their screens without breaking Face ID, but it didn’t specify when that update might arrive. Fortunately, we may not have to wait long, as repair experts say they have successfully completed the easier screen swaps on iPhone 13 handsets running the iOS 15.2 beta.

Before the update, keeping Face ID working after swapping the screens also required moving over a microcontroller from the original phone to the new one. Doing so is a complex process, and having to do it for every iPhone 13 that needs a new screen could make things difficult for indie repair shops. (You can read all about the issue in an article from i...

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Star Trek: Discovery is leaving Netflix tonight before heading to Paramount Plus

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Paramount Plus is grabbing back its Star Trek: Discovery series from Netflix, where it’s been streaming to international viewers for three seasons.

The series lived on Paramount Plus (fka CBS All Access) for US viewers and on Canada’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel, but the move will bring old and future seasons of the series under a single streaming umbrella for folks outside of those regions. Season 4 of Discoveryhad previously been set to debut on Paramount Plus in the US, CTV Sci-Fi Channel, and on Netflix elsewhere on November 18th.

The show will leave Netflix at 12AM PT in regions where it had previously been available to stream. (It will remain on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on the Crave in Canada.) All seasons of the show...

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Nvidia’s Arm acquisition undergoes more scrutiny by the UK government

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Nvidia’s $40 billion proposed acquisition of the Brtish chip designer, Arm, will undergo an even more in-depth investigation by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), as reported by CNBC. A notice on the UK government’s website confirms that Nadine Dorries, the UK’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, ordered the CMA to launch a Phase 2 investigation. The probe will take place over a 24-week period and will scrutinize potential national security risks and competition concerns associated with the acquisition.

The CMA completed its Phase 1 probe in August — which you can now read in its entirety as a PDF — with CMA’s chief executive Andrea Coscelli commenting that “NVIDIA controlling Arm could create real...

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Uber reintroduces shared rides with a new name

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Uber is bringing back shared rides with a new name: UberX Share. The revamped carpooling product is available first as a pilot in Miami.

Uber suspended its Uber Pool carpooling feature in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the company promised earlier this month that it planned to bring shared rides back. Uber prices have gone way up recently, so a carpooling option allows the company to offer cheaper costs that could make taking an Uber a more popular transportation option.

On an UberX Share ride, you’ll only ride with one other person (in addition to the driver) during your trip. Everyone in the car must wear a mask, even if they are all vaccinated. UberX Share rides will have a 5 percent discount, and you’ll get Uber...

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