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The Elecjet Apollo Ultra graphene battery charges five times faster than conventional power banks. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
The Elecjet Apollo Ultra power bank charges five times faster than conventional battery packs
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Black Friday sales are in full swing, and now some popular streaming services are starting to join the party. Through November 29th, both new and returning customers who qualify for the deal can enjoy 12 months of Hulu’s ad-supported streaming service for just $1 per month. Typically $7 per month — or $84 per year — that equates to a $72 discount or about 85 percent off. While you’ll see an ad popping up every now and then with this plan, you can still access all of Hulu’s TV shows and movies on your TV, streaming box, tablet, laptop, console, and other devices. Two people are also allowed to simultaneously stream on this plan as well, and you can have up to six users profiles.
While newcomers to Hulu shouldn’t face any obstacles in...
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Verge wireframe logomark T-shirt.
We relaunched The Verge Merch Store a month ago for our 10th anniversary — and now, we’re giving Verge fans an extra special treat for Black Friday / Cyber Monday.
Now through 11:59PM ET on Monday, November 29th, use promo code VERGEBFat checkoutto get 20 percent off your purchase on our online store. Treat someone special — including yourself! — to Verge merch this holiday season.
We love hearing from all of you about what kinds of items you’d like to see added to the store next, so be sure to leave a comment below with your requests. Coffee mugs? Baby onesies? Tote bags? Bandanas? Mouse pads? You tell us!
Check out all of our Black Friday coverage here — and don’t forget to subscribe to our _Verge Deals_newsletter for all of the...
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Tying your content to hardware may not be such a great idea in the long run. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
When gyms and fitness boutiques closed their doors in early 2020, it was fitness tech’s moment to shine. Stuck at home, people needed new ways to stay active — and for many, that meant stepping into the world of connected fitness. Nintendo Ring Fit Adventure was impossible to find. Fitness influencers turned to Instagram to broadcast live workouts. Even big tech companies started getting into wearables or launching their own on-demand fitness services. But no one had a year quite like Peloton.
Ironically, Peloton started 2020 as the butt of everyone’s jokes thanks to a terrible holiday commercial gone viral. Nobody was laughing a few short months later. When lockdowns began, Peloton started by offering a free 90-day trial to its app —...
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The sticker maker lets you crop out a background, and add extra flourishes like emoji. | Image: WhatsApp
WhatsApp’s web version has been updated with a built-in custom Sticker Maker, which lets you turn ordinary images from your computer into stickers that can be sent via the messaging service. To access it, click the paperclip (attachments) icon, select Sticker, and then pick an image to upload. As well as WhatsApp’s web version, the feature is also coming to its Desktop apps in the next week.
Once uploaded, images can be edited to turn them into the perfect sticker. An outline can be drawn around a picture’s subject to cut out the background, and images can also be cropped (though always in a square aspect ratio). Emoji, text, and additional WhatsApp stickers can also be layered on top of your sticker creations.
Being able to make your...
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Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge
If you’re hunting for an Xbox Series X, you might want to check your email inbox. Microsoft has been emailing out special links over the past week to the Microsoft Store, that let you directly order an Xbox Series X bundle. Microsoft says it has a “limited supply of Xbox Series X bundles” that are available to “valued Microsoft customers” in the US.
The emails are addressed to Microsoft Store customers, and bundles are available on a first-come and first-serve basis. Microsoft is limiting orders to one bundle per order, or two bundles per 30-day period. The links to order a bundle are unique and tied to a Microsoft Account, and don’t always guarantee that stock is available for a purchase.
Microsoft has been offering Xbox Series X...
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The latest game to come to Netflix’s fledgling gaming service is the racing title Asphalt Xtreme, TechCrunch reports. If that name sounds familiar, that’s because the mobile game was originally released in October 2016 but was subsequently pulled from app stores at the end of September 2021. A trailer for the game released on Netflix’s YouTube channel notes that it will be available “exclusively” for the service’s subscribers, with no ads or in-app purchases.
It’s an interesting launch that sees Netflix’s gaming service borrowing from its video streaming playbook. Rather than exclusively releasing all-new, original titles, Netflix seems to be bulking out its catalog by licensing previously released games. Same as how Netflix’s video...
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Twitter has updated its iOS app to prevent those annoying situations where tweets disappear as you’re trying to read them, the company has announced. “Now when you pause your timeline scrolling to look at a Tweet, it should stay put!” the company tweeted.
The updates made on iOS follow similar improvements made on the web version of Twitter last week. Twitter explained that tweets can disappear when replies are being added to an ongoing conversation, because this would push existing tweets up the timeline. “We know it’s a frustrating experience, so we’re working on changing it,” the company said in September.
We’ve made some updates on iOS to prevent Tweets from disappearing mid-read. Now when you pause your timeline scrolling to look...
The VergeBut you need to really hate the look of televisions
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Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Apple is planning to partner with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. for the production of its own 5G modems for future iPhones, according to a new report in Nikkei. Apple is said to be planning to use TSMC’s 4nm process node, which hasn’t yet been deployed for any commercial product; the modem is apparently being designed and tested at 5nm before moving to mass production in 2023 at 4nm.
Apple’s switch to modems of its own design is widely expected to happen in 2023, and TSMC is the natural manufacturing partner. Qualcomm, which is the dominant player in the industry and produces modem components for the entire iPhone 13 lineup, recently said that it expects to account for just 20 percent of iPhone modem orders in two years’ time.
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Image: JRR Token
It seems our prediction that a Lord of the Rings-themed “JRR Token” cryptocurrency was destined for the fires of Mount Doom was accurate — the World Intellectual Property Organization (or WIPO) has declared that it violated a trademark belonging to the estate of author J.R.R. Tolkien, and ordered that one of the project’s web domains be transferred to that estate (via the Financial Times).
If you’re unfamiliar with JRR Token (not Tolkien), here’s the lore — it was a cryptocurrency project that drew heavy inspiration from The Lord of the Rings. Its tagline was “The One Token That Rules Them All,” its website featured Tolkien-esque imagery of rolling hills and wizards, and there was even a promotional video featuring an actor from the...
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Photo by Ethan Swope/Getty Images
Holmes confesses to a passion for graphic design
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Twitter verified a fake account for Norway’s new Minister of Finance, but apparently, it’s not Twitter’s fault. As first reported by Norwegian tech site NRKbeta, the Prime Minister’s Office and Norway’s Security Authority (NSM) mistakenly passed along a fake account for verification.
Twitter has verified a fake account portraying the Norwegian Minister of Finance, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum.
The Norwegian Ministry of Finance confirms the story to news agency NTB: https://t.co/dcpINS9ZhSpic.twitter.com/U6MvNk93d0
— Ståle Grut (@stalebg) November 22, 2021
Norway’s Minister of Finance, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, has never had a Twitter account. The report states that several fake accounts impersonating Vedum cropped up since he was elected...
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Image: BioWare
According to a report by Deadline, Amazon isn’t relying on the just-launched_Wheel of Time_ series and its upcoming Lord of the Rings show to pull in sci-fi/fantasy viewers. The entertainment news outlet reports that Amazon is “nearing a deal to develop a series” based on the Mass Effect games.
While Electronic Arts and BioWare have not announced a series, there have been more than a few hints. Earlier this year, the project director for EA’s remastered Mass Effect: Legendary Edition trilogy set told Business Insider that it’s “not a matter of if, but when” a movie or TV show project appears relating to the game.
There was also that interesting Instagram post in February from Henry Cavill, who may want to add male Commander Shepard to his...
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Image: Apple
Apple’s digital driver’s license / ID feature won’t be coming until “early 2022,” according to an update to Apple’s iOS 15 page that MacRumors noticed. The change comes after news broke that Apple was looking for strict control over how states roll out the feature, which was previously listed as coming late this year.
Originally announced at WWDC 2021, Apple says that the feature will let you use its Wallet app to store your digital identification for use at airport security checkpoints. Of course, the system is dependent on your state supporting it — the company announced that Arizona and Georgia would be the first to let citizens add their licenses to their phones (with Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah...
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Image: Nintendo
Chris Pratt’s voice as Mario is “phenomenal,” says one of the men who has the most to gain if that’s true. But Pratt likely won’t be putting on Mario’s familiar fake Italian accent for the majority of the film.
When asked to defend the casting of Chris Pratt (a white American man best known as the Guardians of the Galaxy’s Star-Lord) as Mario (a denizen of the Mushroom Kingdom previously voiced by a white American man of French descent attempting to sound like an Italian plumber from Brooklyn at the request of the character’s Japanese creators, just so we’re clear), producer and Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri suggested to TooFab that it’s OK because:
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Funko Pop is teaming up with ViacomCBS for its latest “Digital Pop” NFT collectibles, with a new series of blockchain-based cards featuring classic Star Trek characters.
Funko’s “Digital Pop” NFTs aren’t a new thing: they’ve been around since July, and the new Star Trek ones are just the latest incarnation. And as is the case with the other Digital Pop sets, certain specific rare NFTs cards will also include a free physical Funko Pop figure too, which is a potentially nice bonus.
But there’s something uniquely depressing about Star Trek NFTs specifically, given the utopian ideals of the Federation and the very intentionally post-scarcity world in which the franchise is set. Thanks to the ubiquity of advanced technology like replicators...
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Photo by Henning Kaiser/picture alliance via Getty Images
PlayStation has been hit with a lawsuit that alleges gender discrimination and wrongful termination, as first reported by Axios. According to the details of the lawsuit, former IT security analyst Emma Majo is seeking to establish a class action suit to represent other women who might’ve been affected by PlayStation’s alleged gender discrimination. The lawsuit claims that “Sony tolerates and cultivates a work environment that discriminates against female employees,” alleging that women were denied promotions and weren’t paid equally to male workers who held similar positions.
This comes less than a week after PlayStation boss Jim Ryan sent out an email to employees condemning Activision Blizzard’s response to reports of CEO Bobby...
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One of 13 remaining copies of the Official Edition of the Constitution. | Image: Sotheby’s
The organizers behind ConstitutionDAO have decided to shut the group down after raising $47 million in cryptocurrency and then failing to win an auction for a rare copy of the US Constitution.
Many members of ConstitutionDAO had expressed hope that the group could live on, albeit with some alternative goal given that there are currently no other famous copies of the Constitution at auction. Group leaders initially floated launching a new token for members who wanted to take part in the group’s continuation, called We The People tokens, but later backtracked, saying they should have given it more consideration. It was never made clear what, exactly, the group might focus on if it were to continue.
“The community has taken all actions that...
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The home security experts at Simplisafe are offering big discounts on their home security systems during a Black Friday sale that runs until December 1st. This sale is marking down any new security system by up to 60 percent and will throw in a free indoor camera for your trouble. (If you’re still shopping around, make sure to pay a visit to our Black Friday hub with ongoing coverage of the best early Black Friday deals.)
Our own smart home expert, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, says that “Simplisafe is a good, easy-to-use smart security system that doesn’t rely solely on an app — you can manage the whole system from its keypad. It also has a decent selection of smart home devices to add on to your system, including an excellent door lock and...
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McMurdo Station in Antarctica | United States Antarctic Program
On a volcanic rock just off the coast of Antarctica, McMurdo Station is abuzz with scientific research this time of year. Run by the US National Science Foundation, the station sees up to 1,000 visitors in the Antarctic summer from October to February, who travel here to conduct research on topics ranging from climate to ocean science.
But despite its central role in Antarctic research, McMurdo is lacking something most scientists working at 21st-century laboratories take for granted: high-speed internet.
McMurdo sits on the only continent that doesn’t have a high-speed fiber optic cable connection to the rest of the world. That could soon change, however.
Earlier this year, the NSF began seriously exploring the possibility of building...
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Mozilla announced last week via a support article that its Firefox Lockwise password manager app will reach end-of-life on December 13th. The final release versions are 1.8.1 (iOS) and 4.0.3 (Android) and will no longer be available to download or reinstall after that date.
What started in 2018 as a small experimental mobile app called Lockbox ended up bringing a way to access saved passwords and perform autofills on iOS, Android, and desktop devices to a small but enthusiastic following of Firefox fans. The app was also later adapted as a Firefox extension. It seemed like it was apt to stick around for the long run.
The login screen for the Lockwise app in iOS advertises Mozilla’s other active products like Mozilla VPN...
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Black Friday and Cyber Monday are often thought of as times to stock up on smaller investments on the cheap, like headphones, games, and other gadgets you may not have wanted to pay full price for. But it’s also a great time to save on big-ticket items, like that laptop you’ve maybe had your eye on. The shopping holidays have brought some seriously good discounts on laptops, whether you’re keen on sticking with Mac, or you want a Windows PC. Both often come in very slim designs, but for people who don’t mind a heavier laptop, we’ve included some gaming laptop picks.
The kinds of deals you can get on laptops vary depending on the retailer, so that’s how we’ve split up the deals.
Apple’s MacBook Air with the M1...
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Polestar teased its gorgeous sedan concept, the Polestar Precept, giving it a new name — Polestar 5 — and a 2024 production date.
The company first revealed the Precept in concept form back in February, with sporty intentions, a software system powered by Google’s Android, and an interior chock-full of sustainable material. This week, Polestar posted a video in which we got the closest look at the new car yet.
The company first revealed the Precept in concept form back in February
Polestar, which started out as the performance sub-brand of Volvo, has emerged as one of the more interesting EV companies on the market. The company, which is jointly owned by Volvo and Volvo’s parent company, Geely, recently announced plans to go public by...
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Image: Asus
The Asus ROG Phone 5S and ROG Phone 5S Pro are finally available in the US. You can snag the 5S model with 16GB of RAM for $1,099 on Amazon and Mobile Advance. The 5S model also has an option for 12GB of RAM, but there’s currently no option to order that one on either site.
On the higher end of the scale, the 5S Pro packs 18GB of RAM and goes for $1,299 on Amazon and Mobile Advance. Just keep in mind that while you can get the 5S in both black and white, the 5S Pro only comes in black.
Both gaming phones have the Snapdragon 888 Plus, which should offer a small boost in performance when compared to the standard Snapdragon 888 that the Asus ROG Phone 5 and 5 Ultimate come with. The 5S and 5S Pro also offer an improved 360Hz touch-sampling...
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Now Apple has followed WhatsApp and its parent company Meta (formerly known as Facebook) in suing Pegasus spyware maker NSO Group. Along with promising new information about how NSO Group infected targeted iPhones via its FORCEDENTRY exploit, the company says it’s “seeking a permanent injunction to ban NSO Group from using any Apple software, services, or devices.”
Apple: NSO agreed to the iCloud Terms of Service
Senior VP of software engineering Craig Federighi says in a statement “State-sponsored actors like the NSO Group spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without effective accountability. That needs to change...Apple devices are the most secure consumer hardware on the market — but private companies...
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Photo by Phil Esposito / The Verge
But for $140,000, is it worth it?
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Photo by Yoon S. Byun/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Fortnite maker Epic Games has announced its latest acquisition: Harmonix, the studio behind iconic music games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
In a blog post, Harmonix said that support for existing games like Rock Band and Fuser would continue. The studio also explained its plans to expand into — what else? — the metaverse. “Now, we’ll be working with Epic to once again challenge expectations as we bring our unique brand of musical gaming experiences to the metaverse, and we couldn’t be more excited,” the blog post reads. As part of this, Epic says that the studio will “develop musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite.”
Music has become an increasing focus for Epic, following the big success of virtual concerts inside of Fortnite from...
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Have you ever played Pokémon Go and thought, “I wish this game let you earn small amounts of Bitcoin by engaging with internet finance memes and a cryptocurrency debit card system?” If so, I don’t believe you, but I have good news.
Fold AR is a new augmented reality game from Pokémon Go developer Niantic and the financial company Fold. The game — which a press release dubs part of the metaverse — is very loosely modeled on _Pokémon Go_but themed around cryptocurrency. As explained by Fold CEO Will Reeves, it runs with the metaphor of “mining” Bitcoin. So instead of capturing cute monsters, the central mechanic involves finding cubes of binary code and tapping them like Minecraft blocks until they reveal a prize.
The prizes...
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The AirPods Pro were recently refreshed with a MagSafe compatible charging case. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
The Black Friday season just keeps on rolling, and we keep seeing such exceptional early deals day in and day out. If things keep up at this rate, we may all go broke by the time Black Friday actually arrives — but wow, will we have saved so much money on the coolest tech in the process.
As the days go on, we continue to track the latest deals we can find for you. That means we’re constantly updating our ongoing deal coverage while we check new deals that are worthy of your attention.
Today is no exception, where we have the best price ever on the AirPods Pro. The latest revision of the AirPods Pro, complete with its MagSafe-compatible charging case, has dropped to a historical low of just $159 at Walmart as well as Amazon. That is a...