GM backs electric boat startup in $150 million deal

Image: Pure Watercraft

General Motors has taken a 25 percent stake in Pure Watercraft, a Seattle-based startup that makes electric outboard motors and batteries for boats, CNBC reports.

The deal is worth $150 million, though that’s split between cash and payment-in-kind contributions from GM. The two companies didn’t tell CNBC what that split will look like, but GM “will become a supplier of components to Pure Watercraft, a co-developer of new products, and will provide engineering, design and manufacturing expertise to help [Pure Watercraft] establish new factories,” according to the report.

GM struck a similar deal — though half the size — with Lordstown Motors in 2020 as part of that electric pickup truck startup’s merger with a special purpose acquisition...

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Hitman 3 VR is coming to PC in 2022

Photo by IO Interactive

Hitman 3 VR will become available on PC next year, according to an announcement by game developer IO Interactive, which outlines the roadmap of content that players can expect in Hitman 3’s second year.

We're excited to announce that HITMAN 3 - Year 2 starts on 20 January 2022.

Prepare for new maps, new storylines, new modes and new ways to play. pic.twitter.com/ALtABxoaqx

— HITMAN 3 (@Hitman) November 22, 2021

One of the most significant updates is VR support for PC, as the VR version of the game was exclusive to PlayStation VR when it first came out. The accompanying “Year 2” video briefly shows Hitman 3 VR played with both an Oculus Rift S and Valve Index. The experience already looks more immersive than the PSVR version, which...

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Oura Ring Generation 3 review: a relationship for the long term

Oura’s adding ambitious new features, but you’ll have to wait to use them

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Twitter introduces aliases for contributors to its Birdwatch moderation program

Twitter has introduced aliases for contributors in its Birdwatch moderation program | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter is introducing aliases for participants in its Birdwatch moderation tool so they don’t have to include their usernames in notes they leave on others’ tweets, the company announced in a blog post Monday. The social media platform launched the pilot of Birdwatch in January as a way to crowdsource fact-checking on tweets that might contain misleading or inaccurate information. But the company said contributors in the pilot Birdwatch program “overwhelmingly voiced a preference for contributing under aliases. This preference was strongest for women and Black contributors.”

Introducing Birdwatch aliases! We want everyone to feel comfortable contributing to Birdwatch, and aliases let you write and rate notes without sharing your...

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Over a million GoDaddy WordPress customers had email addresses exposed in latest breach

GoDaddy via FastCompany

GoDaddy has suffered a security breach that gave an attacker access to more than 1 million email addresses belonging to the company’s active and inactive Managed WordPress users, according to a disclosure it filed with the SEC on Monday.

The company says the attacker gained access to a provisioning system (meant to set up and automatically configure new sites when customers create them) in early September by “using a compromised password.” GoDaddy says that it noticed the intrusion on November 17th and immediately locked the attacker out before beginning an investigation and contacting law enforcement.

The compromised password gave the attacker access to emails and much more

The hackers had access to more than just the email addresses —...

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The best smartphone you can buy for under $500

Best budget phones of 2021: iiPhone SE (2020), Pixel 5A, OnePlus Nord N200 5G, TCL 20S, Moto G Pure, Samsung Galaxy A52 5G. | The Verge

You can get a great smartphone at this price, whether you want an iPhone, a 90Hz screen, or 5G support

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Black Friday 2021 smart home tech deals: speakers, cameras, robots, and more

The Echo Show 8 is one of many smart speakers and displays on sale this smart home buying season. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

There is never a better time to dive into the smart home than Black Friday and its close cousin Cyber Monday. Traditionally, tech deals on home gadgets are huge this time of year, plus, it’s the only time you’ll find real bargains on gear from some of the smaller companies, such as Eve, Level, and Nanoleaf.

Whether you’re thinking about dipping a toe into this home automation shindig with a smart speaker or maybe a connected door lock, or want to bolster an already impressive smart home setup, it’s worth investing some cash this holiday season.

Also, if you just want to upgrade your home cleaning routine or have a way to check in on Fido now that you’re back at work (the separation anxiety is real), this is a good time to get a great...

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Twitter is the latest social media network to combine shopping and livestreams

Twitter’s livestream shopping interface. | Image: Twitter

Twitter is hosting its first shopping livestream on November 28th at 7PM ET, the company announced today as it becomes the latest social media platform to embrace the trend.

The “Cyber Deals Sunday” stream will be a collaboration with Walmart and will take place during the post-Thanksgiving weekend, which is traditionally associated with big sales promotions. Twitter describes the livestream, which will be hosted by Jason Derulo, as a “30-minute variety show” that will feature “electronics, home goods, apparel, seasonal décor, surprise special guests, and much more.”

Twitter joins a growing trend towards shopping-focused livestreams on social media, providing a modern QVC-style shopping experience with influencers and integrated...

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Qualcomm is updating its Snapdragon branding to try and simplify its chip names

Qualcomm’s teaser for its new branding scheme | Image: Qualcomm

Qualcomm has announced some key changes to how it brands its Snapdragon chips, including a shift away from the three-digit numbering system it’s been using to differentiate between its products for years. The news comes ahead of the company’s expected next-gen flagship chip debut at the Snapdragon Tech Summit on November 30th.

To start, Snapdragon will now exist as a standalone brand, separate from the “Qualcomm” brand (which won’t be showing up as much on its chips). It’s a direction the company has started moving in earlier this year (the Snapdragon 888 Plus badge, for example, notably lacked the word “Qualcomm”), but today’s news solidifies that plan going forward.

Image: Qualcomm

The already “Qualcomm”-less...

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Walmart’s hosting a PS5 and Xbox Series X restock for subscribers at 4PM ET

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Walmart is kicking off Black Friday with a bang today, offering its Walmart Plus subscribers early access to a big console restock that begins at 4PM ET / 1PM PT. At that time, paid members will have a go at snagging a PlayStation 5 (both the $499.99 disc-based version and $399.99 digital version) or the $499.99 Xbox Series X console. To get this early access to boost your chances of getting a console (though it’s no guarantee), you’ll needto be a paying member to Walmart Plus, starting at $12.99 per month. To reiterate, members sampling the free trial will notget early access to this restock or Walmart’s myriad Black Friday deals that launch an hour earlier at 3PM ET.

Here are the links, with more details about this restock beneath...

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Britain launches review of bias in medical devices

Health secretary Sajid Javid | Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Britain’s health secretary announced Sunday that he’s launched a review of racial and gender biases in medical devices, triggered by reports that blood oxygen monitoring devices work less well on people with darker skin.

Secretary Sajid Javid told the BBC that he thinks it’s possible that some people died during the COVID-19 pandemic because of those discrepancies and that they may have contributed to the overall higher death rates in Black and South Asian people in the United Kingdom.

“The possibility that a bias — even an inadvertent one — could lead to a poorer health outcome is totally unacceptable,” Javid wrote in the Sunday Times.

Research published in the _New England Journal of Medicine_in late 2020 found that pulse oximeters,...

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UK-based EV retrofitter company looks to grow in the US market

Everrati’s Ford GT40 build in collaboration with US partner Superformance | Image: Everrati

Justin Lunny, CEO of the UK-based electric vehicle conversion company Everrati, sees his work as more than just taking on iconic vehicles, like the VW Microbus, and giving them an electric powertrain. “Our ethos is about redefining the cars,” Lunny said in an interview with The Verge. “We redefine them as an EV.” After two years in operation, Lunny is finally bringing that ethos to the US in the hopes of tapping into a growing EV conversion market.

No structure is damaged during the process of converting the cars: “To the untrained eye, they look like a beautiful, original Porsche or GT40 or Land Rover... true to the essence of the original, but without any emissions anymore,” Lunny shares.

All conversions are also reversible to retain...

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TikTok is now available on Samsung and LG TVs, Android TV devices

Image: TikTok

TikTok is expanding its presence on TV screens in a major way. After initially launching in North America on Amazon’s Fire TV platform, the TikTok TV app is today available on Samsung and LG smart TVs — plus Android TV devices, including the Chromecast with Google TV.

Whereas the massively popular mobile app is intended for “little bursts of joy,” TikTok says its big-screen software is optimized for “a TV home-viewing experience, making it easy to watch content from our For You and Following feeds on the big screen. This includes the most liked and viewed videos across a huge range of categories, from gaming and comedy to food and animals.” There’s a Discover section in the TV app, as well. TikTok videos can be up to three minutes in...

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Uber Eats will let you order weed in Ontario but won’t deliver

You can now order cannabis via the Uber Eats app, but only in Ontario and there’s no delivery option. | Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Uber is partnering with a cannabis retailer in Canada to allow cannabis purchases via its Uber Eats food delivery platform. The arrangement does not include delivery of weed orders, however, but makes it possible for users in Ontario to order products from Tokyo Smoke in a dedicated section on the Uber Eats app.

For customers in Ontario, in the Uber Eats app, select either the “cannabis” category or search for “Tokyo Smoke.” After confirming their age, the customer is directed to the menu of a Tokyo Smoke store in the area to place their order, which Uber says will be filled within an hour. The consumer then picks up their order at the Tokyo Smoke store.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in April that the company would take a look at...

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Analogue Pocket preorders will ship December 13th

Analogue Pocket preorders will start shipping on December 13th. In a brief blog post, Analogue, manufacturers of the retro handheld Pocket, wrote, “Due to unprecedented shipping congestion, your order will ship and be delivered between December 14th - December 30th.”

If you’re unable to accept delivery during that window, the company also outlined steps you can take to defer shipping until after January 3rd, 2022.

Customers who preordered the Pocket will receive an email with more information.

The Analogue Pocket, which has the ability to play cartridges from the Game Boy family and the Sega Game Gear, was delayed numerous times due to global electronics component shortages brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Other handhelds like...

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Roku lines up more than 50 new shows for its free channel

Roku serves as a gateway to access various streaming services, but now, a report from The Wall Street Journal reveals that the service wants to develop over 50 original series in the next two years, expanding the original content that it already has on its free Roku Channel.

As noted by the WSJ, 155 million people have access to Roku devices, and about half tune into the Roku Channel, a hub for ad-supported TV shows, movies, and live news. The service added Roku Originals to the Roku Channel earlier this year, a large portion of which actually come from Quibi, the short-lived streaming service that shut down last year. Apparently, the set of 50 new shows also include some of the service acquired from Quibi that never premiered.

Roku...

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The Verge’s 2021 holiday gift guide for dads

Illustration by Richard Parry

Clever gift ideas to satisfy the pickiest of dads

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The Verge’s 2021 holiday gift guide for working from home

Illustration by Richard Parry

Great gifts to outfit the home office of a working professional

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The Apple Watch SE costs just $219 at Amazon and Best Buy

A proverbial tidal wave of deals crashed down this morning, heralding the beginning of Black Friday week. As I searched for deals to include in this roundup, I kept finding one after the other that was better. If you think these are good, consider acting fast, as it’s impossible to tell if they’ll stick around all week or if they’re just a flash in the pan. The very best discount that kicked off recently is a big $60 discount on the Apple Watch SE (40mm, GPS) at Best Buy and Amazon. Regularly selling for $279, it’s just $219 — the lowest price yet. If you want the larger 44mm-sized model, it’s $249 instead of $309. You can shop all of the sizes and colorways right here at Best Buy.

We heartily recommend the SE over the Apple Watch Series...

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Kojima Productions launches new division focused on film and TV

Death Stranding studio Kojima Productions has announced a brand-new division as it looks beyond video games. No new projects have been announced, but the company says the Los Angeles-based office “will focus on securing opportunities in the film and television space.”

Death Stranding originally launched in 2019 as the first title from renowned Metal Gear director Hideo Kojima following his much-publicized departure from Konami. (It has since been re-released on both the PC and PS5.) While he’s best known for his work in games, it’s also no secret that Kojima is a huge movie fan, something that often bleeds into his gaming work. Death Stranding featured the likes of Norman Reedus and Léa Seydoux, and Kojima previously partnered with...

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Nreal Light review: Hardware is only half the battle

Through a glass, darkly

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The best Black Friday deals on noise-canceling headphones 2021

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Whether you’re overdue for a new pair or are just trying to cancel out the usual onslaught of holiday music, Black Friday season is a great time to invest in some noise-canceling headphones. You’ll find significant discounts on many of our favorite headphones featured in our noise-canceling headphones buying guide. These include picks from Sony, Bose, Apple, Sennheiser, and others. In some cases, these deals will save you $100 or more.

Aside from the steep discounts, another good thing about buying headphones during the holidays is the extended return period at many retailers. That gives you plenty of time to try out your new cans and make sure the sound quality, ANC, comfort, and other factors are all to your liking before you’re stuck...

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Sony has patented its PS5 faceplates

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony has filed a patent for its PS5 faceplates. The design patent was originally filed just a week before the PS5’s November launch last year, and it was subsequently published in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on November 16th. It has fueled speculation that Sony will create its own PS5 faceplates or skins.

The design patent, spotted by OP Attack, comes more than a year after Matt MacLaurin, Sony’s former VP of UX design at PlayStation, previously hinted at a black version of the PS5 or “a special edition for everyone.” While Sony has created black versions of its DualSense controller and Pulse 3D Audio headset, the PS5 console remains white for now.

Image: DBrand

DBrand’s previous PS5...

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Android Messages update handles Apple iMessage reactions properly

An example emoji reaction in iMessage. | Screenshot: Apple Messages

An update to Google Messages on Android allows it to properly display emoji reactions sent from the iPhone’s Messages app, 9to5Google reports.

The update addresses a long-standing issue that occurs when users of Apple’s iMessage service chat with friends using the Messages app on Android. Previously, when an iPhone user reacted to an Android user’s message using an emoji, it appeared as a separate text message when received on Android, often resulting in confusion and lots of unnecessary clutter.

Screenshot: Google Messages

The old method generated a separate message for each reaction.

Screenshot: 9to5Google

The new approach is much cleaner.

After the update, however, the...

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League of Legends’ 2022 world championship will be a multi-city affair

Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images

One of the biggest esports events in the world will be spread across four North American cities next year. Riot Games has announced that the 2022 edition of the League of Legends World Championship will take place in New York, Toronto, Mexico City, and San Francisco. The announcement was made ahead of an NBA match between the Warriors and Raptors at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Riot says this will be the first-ever multi-country edition of its annual competition; it’s also the first to take place in North America since 2016. Things will start out with the play-ins portion of the event in Mexico City (the Liga Latinoamerica competition arena), followed by the group stage and quarterfinals in New York (the Hulu Theater at Madison...

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Bobby Kotick is still the CEO of Activision Blizzard, for now

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Bobby Kotick is still the CEO of Activision Blizzard, despite aWall Street Journal report that detailed Kotick’s history of harassment and abusive behavior while also saying he knew about allegations and incidents of abuse within the company for years.

The WSJ claims that some employees asked in meetings if Kotick would step down

Kotick has reportedly told executives that he may consider stepping down if the company can’t fix its toxic work environment “with speed,” according to the WSJ. Sources close to the situation told the WSJ that Kotick met with Activision Publishing and Blizzard Entertainment leaders last week. His status as CEO was addressed, as executives said some employees won’t “be satisfied” until Kotick hands in his...

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Spotify stops shuffling albums by default because Adele said so

Photo by Cliff Lipson/CBS via Getty Images

Spotify has stopped shuffling albums by default following a request from Adele, according to a report by BBC. Previously, when viewing an album on Spotify, you’d see a small shuffle icon within the larger “Play” button. This indicated that Spotify would begin playing the album’s songs in a random order, which isn’t always what users would expect (or want) it to do.

Now, when you hit “Play” in Album View, songs will play in order — that is, as long as you have a Premium subscription. You can still enable shuffle mode by toggling on the “Shuffle” icon when viewing an individual track.

This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry! We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason....

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New trailers: The Expanse, Ozark, Encounter, and more

Welp, The Morning Show season two finale was a messy disappointment much like the rest of the season. I think Linda Holmes’ recap at NPR really nailed why a season that seemed full of promise never hit the mark, mostly because it couldn’t quite figure out what it wanted to be. The latest season of Succession has yet to steer me wrong, however(and we learned this week that there is a fun Verge-related Succession backstory).

This week’s round up is heavy on the sci-fi, which was unplanned but makes for some nice symmetry.

The Expanse

The sixth and final season of the sci-fi drama is on the horizon, and is a disappointingly short six episodes. It has a lot of work to do and from the looks of the trailer, wastes no time getting down to...

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Facebook Messenger and Instagram may not get default end-to-end encryption until 2023

Photo Illustration by Thiago Prudêncio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Meta — Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp’s parent company — doesn’t plan to roll out end-to-end encryption (E2EE) by default on Messenger and Instagram until 2023, first reported by The Guardian.

The company merged Messenger and Instagram chats last year, as a part of its plan to create a unified messaging system across all of its platforms. And while messages sent through Messenger and Instagram can be E2EE, that option isn’t turned on by default — and likely won’t be — until sometime in 2023. WhatsApp already supports E2EE by default.

Meta wants to keep users safe while still “assisting public safety efforts”

In a post in The Telegraph, Antigone Davis, Meta’s head of safety, attributes the delay to concerns about user safety. Since...

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Leaked Resident Evil 4 VR video suggests free Mercenaries DLC will arrive in 2022

Capcom

A leaked video suggests that Resident Evil 4 VR may be getting a free update that adds The Mercenaries mode in 2022, first spotted by UploadVR.

According to the report, a trailer for the highly-requested Mercenaries mode briefly appeared on the Oculus YouTube channel before getting taken down. However, users still managed to save the trailer and repost it on YouTube. The leaked trailer says that The Mercenaries DLC is “arriving in 2022” as a “free update on Meta Quest 2.”

Some fans ofthe series were disappointed to find out that Mercenaries wasn’t included in RE4VR, which challenges you to kill hordes of enemies and rack up as many points as possible before the timer runs out. As UploadVR notes, The Mercenaries mode has been present in...

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