Google Photos’ Locked Folder is now rolling out to more Android phones

Google Photos’ Locked Folder feature, which promises to keep sensitive photos out of your main photo roll, is starting to roll out to non-Pixel phones, according to Android Police. Google said in September that the feature would be rolling out to more Android phones “soon,” and it’s reportedly started to show up on some Samsung and OnePlus devices, according to Android Central. Older Pixel devices that didn’t originally get access to it are also getting it now, based on our tests.

The feature lets you choose specific photos or videos and put them in a passcode or biometrics-locked folder, taking them out of your main photo feed and keeping them off the cloud. It was introduced on Google’s own phones (Pixel 3 and up) in June, after being...

Continue reading…

Halo Infinite will soon let you stick just to deathmatch

A screenshot from_Halo Infinite’s_multiplayer beta. | Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Halo Infinite’s multiplayer beta has been a blast so far, but one common criticism is that you can’t pick a dedicated playlist for Slayer, the game’s deathmatch mode. Fortunately, that will be changing soon, but not until next year.

343 Industries community manager John Junyszek tweeted Friday that a Social Slayer playlist is in the works, but it won’t be ready until after the holidays. Junyszek also said 343 is aiming to add Fiesta, Tactical Slayer (SWAT), and Free-For-All playlists “before the end of the year.”

Let's talk about Halo Infinite playlists!
We've been reading your feedback, and we're working on plans to add Fiesta, Tactical Slayer (SWAT), and Free-For-All playlists as we speak. They won't land by Dec 8, but the team is...

Continue reading…

Nest Doorbells will sound a little more melodious this holiday season

Snowflakes and doorbells, the perfect duo | Image: Google

Google announced this Wednesday on its Nest community blog the return of holiday-themed ringtones for Nest Doorbells (via 9to5Google). Visitors arriving for family holiday gatherings can now press the Nest Doorbell and be greeted with sounds of the holidays, including “Winter,” Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and New Year’s jingles.

Time to give your #NestDoorbell ringtone some holiday cheer.

Choose from:
Hanukkah
Christmas
Kwanzaa
...and more!

Turn on holiday ringtones for the Nest Doorbell (battery) in the Google Home app, or for the Nest Doorbell (wired) in the Nest app: https://t.co/dyumPbyl5spic.twitter.com/yziGRTKrQA

— Made By Google (@madebygoogle) December 1, 2021

Google did have holiday bell options last year as well — but...

Continue reading…

Today I learned you can surf YouTube on old Chromecasts with a hidden phone remote

Did you know the YouTube app on your older Chromecast has a hidden remote control that lets you surface an entire YouTube app that you can scroll?

You just need to start casting something to your TV in the YouTube app with the Cast button up top — then hit the Cast button a second time to access a menu where you’ll find a button labeled Remote. Then, you get a full D-pad to move around, a voice search button, and the all-important Back button you’ll need to back out of that video and access a full YouTube interface.

Watching YouTube on your TV with Google Chromecast? You can use your phone as a remote to cast and control the YouTube app on your TV. Here's how: https://t.co/LdVa3Peyw3pic.twitter.com/nAaYUKx0Sy

— TeamYouTube...

Continue reading…

Best gaming laptop in 2021: seven laptops to get your game on

The best gaming laptop is the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales/ The Verge

The best gaming laptop at every size and price

Continue reading…

Twitter losing design and engineering leaders in restructure under new CEO

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter’s new CEO is reorganizing the company, with two top executives being removed as part of the shakeup. A regulatory document explains that Twitter is restructuring its Consumer, Revenue, and Core Tech divisions under individual leaders in an attempt to “drive increased accountability, speed, and operational efficiency.” Kayvon Beykpour, Bruce Falck, and Nick Caldwell will lead those three teams.

As part of the change, Twitter’s engineering lead, Michael Montano, and its design and research lead, Dantley Davis, will be leaving their positions at the end of the year.

A _Fast Company_profile of Davis, published in September, describes him as “the first Black executive to report to the CEO since Twitter went public.” According to The...

Continue reading…

Courtney Love says she has Elon Musk’s private emails

Courtney Love, ladies and gentlemen | Photo by Francesco Prandoni/Redferns

Courtney Love Cobain, Elon Musk, Bernie Sanders, and Kendall Roy are all in the running to be Friday’s Main Character on Twitter after a single tweet where the queen of ’90s grunge music Twitter-scolded the Tesla CEO for his mean reply to the Vermont senator (we’ll get to Kendall in a sec).

According to Love, she was bcc’d on Musk’s “str8, male, PayPal mafia email group” for months. “With that information in mind, don’t you think in a ‘civilized society’ one should embrace paying our fair share of tax?” she tweeted on Thursday. She attached a screengrab of Musk’s November 14th reply to Sanders’ tweet that asserted, “We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period.” Being one of those extremely wealthies, Musk...

Continue reading…

Valve says DayZ and five other games are now anti-cheat ready for Linux (and Steam Deck)

Image: Valve

Valve’s Steam Deck handheld won’t have any exclusive games, but it is slowly filling in some holes in its Windows game library — Valve saysArma 3,DayZ, Unturned, and Planetside 2 now have functioning BattlEye anti-cheat when you’re using the Proton compatibility layer to play Windows games in Linux. That brings the total to six games, including Ark: Survival Evolved and Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord.(Those two already had support as of November 8th.)

That compatibility is important for Linux in general (and the Steam Deck handheld specifically) because they don’t play Windows games out of the box unless they work with Proton, and third-party anti-cheat software is known to interfere.

But for two of the most popular flavors of...

Continue reading…

US State Department phones were reportedly hacked by NSO spyware

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

At least nine employees of the US State Department working in or with Uganda had their iPhones hacked with spyware made by NSO Group, according to a report from Reuters. While it’s unclear who carried out the attacks, NSO Group says it only sells its software to government organizations that have gotten approval from the Israeli government.

NSO has claimed that its spyware isn’t able to target US phone numbers (that is, numbers with a country code of +1). This case doesn’t seem to disprove that claim — Reuters reports that, while the people targeted were employees of the State Department, they were using foreign telephone numbers. Still, the devices were used for official State Department business, suggesting NSO may now be implicated...

Continue reading…

As warehouses take off, they need to kick natural gas

Warehouses in Redlands, California, U.S., on Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021.  | Roger Kisby/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Warehouses are increasingly dominating the commercial building landscape in the US, which could have ramifications for efforts to tackle climate change. According to data recently released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), warehouses and storage units have become the most common commercial buildings in the country — outpacing offices. That has the potential to cause greenhouse gas emissions to climb or tumble, and it largely hinges on whether warehouses can ditch natural gas.

Compared to office buildings, warehouses that store everything from food to clothes tend to rely more heavily on gas heating systems because upfront costs of those systems are cheap, and they’re easy to install, an expert tells The Verge _._Even...

Continue reading…

Facebook Messenger is getting a built-in bill splitting feature

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Facebook parent company Meta is introducing a built-in bill splitting feature in Facebook Messenger that it will test with users in the US beginning next week. The feature could be useful for situations like divvying up a restaurant bill with your friends or splitting a bill with roommates.

With the feature, you can ask for money from people right in a group chat and see who has paid their portion of the request. You can see how it all works in a series of screenshots below from Meta. The feature arrives shortly after David Marcus, Meta’s cryptocurrency chief and former Messenger lead, announced he would be leaving the company.

Image: Meta

Facebook Messenger’s upcoming bill splitting feature.

Meta has also...

Continue reading…

NASA funds three companies to develop commercial space stations

Northrop Grumman space station | Image: Northrop Grumman

NASA announced the selection of three US companies that will receive government funding to furtherdevelop private space stations on Thursday. From a set of 11 proposals, NASA selected Blue Origin, Nanoracks LLC, and Northrop Grumman to receive over $400 million in federal funds through three separate Space Act Agreements.

NASA began seeking proposals in July for its Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development (CLD) program, which aims to support the development of commercial space stations. It is a part of a bigger plan to eventually replace the International Space Station (ISS) with commercial space stations. Through this model, NASA would be a customer of the commercial space industry, allowing it to save on costs and focus on basic...

Continue reading…

Facebook took down a fake Swiss scientist account that was part of an international misinfo campaign

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Buried deep within Facebook’s November report on Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior is a tale of international intrigue that seems more like a Netflix drama than an attempted disinformation campaign (although the way Netflix mines social media for ideas these days, maybe stay tuned). On July 24th, a Swiss biologist named Wilson Edwards claimed on Facebook and Twitter that the US was pressuring World Health Organization (WHO) scientists studying the origins of COVID-19.

His claims spread quickly on social media, as such claims are wont to do, and within a week’s time, the Global Times and People’s Daily, two state-run Chinese media outlets, were denouncing Wilson Edwards’ claims as “intimidation” by the US. Wilson Edwards created his...

Continue reading…

Walmart’s in-store Gamer Drop might be your best shot at a PS5, Xbox, or Switch OLED

Walmart’s Gamer Drop prominently features the big three new consoles that are difficult to get. | Image: Walmart

Walmart has announced a new Gamer Drop event coming to select stores on December 11th, where the retailer is promising to have the latest gaming titles and consoles. This marks the first in-store console restock from Walmart, and it’s billing it as a holiday shopping event, complete with discounts and exclusive gear.

Details are a bit sparse, but the posted circular on Walmart’s website prominently features the major consoles, including the Nintendo Switch OLED Model, Xbox Series X / S, and both models of the PlayStation 5 with the note of “Available in-store or online at Walmart.com/GamerDrop.”

This event is exclusive to select Walmart stores. You can find the closest Walmart that’s participating in the Gamer Drop event on Saturday,...

Continue reading…

‘Face with tears of joy’ is once again the most-used emoji

24 face with tears of joy emoji, each more terrifying than the last.

Until recently, I was a firm believer in the traditional smiley emoji. “It’s cute!” I used to think, as I happily used it to indicate my gentle amusement at everything from puns to fun weekend plans. But apparently, this was a mistake, and when I thought I was expressing sincere happiness, I was actually sending an emoji that’s “colossally insulting in every conceivable way,” according to The Guardian.

It seems the rest of the world agrees, and the “slightly smiling face,” to use its full name, doesn’t feature in the top 10 of the most used emoji in 2021. In fact, according to data from the Unicode Consortium, the slightly smiling face isn’t even in the top 20. It’s down at number 28, sandwiched between “clapping hands” and “flushed...

Continue reading…

Sony’s ‘Spartacus’ could be PlayStation’s answer to Xbox Game Pass

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony is planning to create an Xbox Game Pass-like subscription service, according to Bloomberg. The company already offers two subscription services, PlayStation Plus (which is required for the majority of online multiplayer games) and PlayStation Now (which offers a catalog of games to download or stream), and they will reportedly be merged in this new offering. Sony will likely keep the PlayStation Plus brand, reporter Jason Schreier said on Twitter, but “phase out” PlayStation Now.

This new service, which is codenamed Spartacus, would have three tiers. One would offer current PlayStation Plus perks, another would include a catalog of PS4 and “eventually” PS5 games, and a third would have “extended demos, game streaming and a library...

Continue reading…

Once you’re done with Arcane, play this League of Legends RPG

Arcane isn’t just one of the best new animated shows on Netflix — it’s also a great introduction to the vast and often inscrutable world of League of Legends. If you’ve finished the show and have found yourself intrigued by the fantasy realm of Runeterra, you might be wondering where to go next. There are a few options, but thankfully developer Riot has just released a new role-playing game that’s a perfect next step for budding fans.

Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is available now on the Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and it’s a bite-sized RPG that lets you explore a different part of League mythology. It stars a handful of iconic characters — including the hulking Braum and the kraken-wielding priestess Illaoi — and lets you...

Continue reading…

Amazon charges sellers fees that are high enough to offset losses from Prime, a new report says

A new report says Amazon charges small businesses fees that eat into profits | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The massive reach of Amazon’s e-commerce platform is appealing for any small business that wants to sell its products online. But a new report suggests that the cost of doing business can become a Faustian bargain for a third-party seller, as the fees that Amazon charges them can quickly eat into profits.

Amazon Toll Road, a report from the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), found that Amazon charged third-party sellers a total of $121 billion in fees this year alone. According to the report, written by ILSR co-director Stacy Mitchell, those fees — for things like advertising, referrals, and shipping — usually mean that small businesses lose money to Amazon; Mitchell said that in 2014, sellers paid Amazon $19 of every...

Continue reading…

Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack is down to its lowest price yet

Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack is compatible with all iPhone 12 and 13 models. | Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge

Today marks one week since Black Friday (good riddance). The shopping weekend and Thanksgiving holiday may already feel as though they happened ages ago, but some deals have stuck around while new ones continue to crop up. We can’t stop time from flying by, but we can keep serving you the best tech deals possible.

Kicking things off, the Apple MagSafe Battery Pack has reached a new all-time low price. The portable battery was released in the summer, and it didn’t take long to see some decent discounts. Now, just in time for holiday gifting, you can pick up the MagSafe Battery Pack for $75 at Amazon or Best Buy — a whole $25 off. This battery pack may not be able to fill an iPhone 12 or 13 from empty, but it’s one of the handiest ways to...

Continue reading…

Twitter removes thousands of accounts linked to Chinese Xinjiang propaganda

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter has removed a total of 2,160 accounts linked to Chinese regional and state propaganda campaigns, the social network has announced as part of its latest data release on misinformation campaigns. The accounts were attempting to push back against allegations of human rights abuses by the Chinese government against the Uyghur population in Xinjiang.

Alongside it, Twitter has also detailed a campaign it discovered in Tanzania, which used copyright complaints to harass members and supporters of the FichuaTanzania human rights group.

Twitter says 2,048 of the accounts “amplified Chinese Communist Party narratives related to the treatment of the Uyghur population,” while a further 112 were connected to a private company backed by the...

Continue reading…

Meet the Nvidia and AMD GPU hunters who turned battling bots into a full-time job

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

Falcodrin tells us the average gamer has barely any chance

Continue reading…

Jimmy Wales is selling his first Wikipedia edit as an NFT

Jimmy Wales / Christie’s

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales is selling a non-fungible token (or NFT) based on his first edit of the free encyclopedia. Auction house Christie’s will hold a sale of the token from December 3rd to 15th, auctioning it alongside the Strawberry iMac Wales was using around Wikipedia’s launch. The funds will go toward charitable causes and WT.Social, a donation-backed social network that Wales launched in 2019.

Wales’ NFT is effectively the keys to a very early version of Wikipedia, which debuted in January of 2001. “What you see displayed is what Wikipedia looked like at the moment that I set up the software,” he tells The Verge. The single page will be launched publicly on the web, and much like Wikipedia itself, anyone will be able to...

Continue reading…

Microsoft backtracks on Windows 11’s controversial default browser changes

Microsoft is backtracking on changes it made to Windows 11 that made it more difficult to switch default browsers. A new test build of Windows 11 now allows users of Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers to set a default browser with a single button, which is a far simpler process.

Rafael Rivera, developer of the excellent EarTrumpet Windows app, discovered the new Windows 11 changes earlier this week. Instead of having to change individual file extensions or protocol handlers for HTTP, HTTPS, HTML, and HTM, Windows 11 now offers a simple button that lets people switch default browsers in a similar way to Windows 10.

Microsoft has confirmed the changes are intentional and are currently being tested. “In the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build...

Continue reading…

Netflix is turning viral Thanksgiving Mom tweet into a movie

Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench. | Image: Jamal Hinton

Five years after Jamal Hinton secured himself a seat at Wanda Dench’s thanksgiving dinner thanks to a wrong number, their story is being turned into a Netflix feature film, the streaming giant has announced. The Thanksgiving Text will be written by Abdul Williams (The New Edition Story and The Bobby Brown Story), but_Variety_notes that a cast or director are yet to be announced.

The Thanksgiving Text is the latest example of a film drawing inspiration from viral online content. Perhaps most notably, Zola turned viral Twitter thread #TheStory into a surprisingly good feature-length movie. This 2015 article from Gizmodo has plenty of other examples, including Bad Ass, a film loosely based on the viral video “AC Transit Bus Fight,” and the...

Continue reading…

Pokémon Go now runs much smoother on iPhones

James Bareham / The Verge

A new update to Pokémon Go for iOS lets you run the game at higher frame rates. With version 1.191.0’, the “advanced settings” section of the app now includes an option that reads “Unlock your device’s native refresh rate for higher FPS.”

I tried it out on my iPhone 13 Pro and it makes a huge difference. Pokémon Go isn’t the most visually complicated game, of course, but there’s a lot of scrolling and camera movement, and the smoother touch response feels a lot better when you’re lining up a pokéball throw with your finger.

Here’s how the feature appears in the game’s menu:

Pokémon Go was previously locked to 30fps on iOS devices. Many Android phones are capable of running the game at a higher frame rate, though in my...

Continue reading…

The next N64 game for Nintendo Switch Online is Paper Mario

Nintendo launched its “Expansion Pack” for the Switch Online service back in October, which brought Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64 games to the library of playable retro titles. The first new addition has now been announced, and it’s just one game: Paper Mario. It’ll be available on December 10th.

Paper Mario was released for the N64 in 2000 and was the first entry in what became a popular spin-off series featuring Mario characters and RPG-style turn-based combat. The most recent game, Paper Mario: The Origami King, came out on the Switch last year.

The launch of Nintendo’s Expansion Pack was somewhat contentious. The $49.99 annual fee does also include a big Animal Crossing expansion, but it’s still a big hike over the regular $29.99...

Continue reading…

Someone stole $120 million in crypto by hacking a DeFi website

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

On Wednesday night, someone drained funds from multiple cryptocurrency wallets connected to the decentralized finance platform BadgerDAO. According to the blockchain security and data analytics Peckshield, which is working with Badger to investigate the heist, the various tokens stolen in the attack are worth about $120 million.

Here is the current whereabouts as well as the total loss: $120.3M (with ~2.1k BTC + 151 ETH) @BadgerDAOpic.twitter.com/fJ4hJcMWTq

— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) December 2, 2021

While the investigation is still ongoing, members of the Badger team have told users that they believe the issue came from someone inserting a malicious script in the UI of their website. For any users who interacted with the site...

Continue reading…

All 53,000 attendees of Anime NYC urged to get tested after one got Omicron

Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images

Were you one of the 53,000 attendees of the Anime NYC 2021 convention in New York City, or know someone who did? New York City authorities and Anime NYC organizers are urgingevery single attendee, exhibitor, artist, and staff member to get tested for COVID-19 — because one of the United States’ first confirmed cases of the new omicron variant was a man who attended the convention and likely caught it there (via Kotaku).

If you attended the Anime NYC 2021 Convention at the Javits Center from November 18-22, get tested for #COVID19 as soon as possible.

➡️ https://t.co/fESkqpcKQopic.twitter.com/niI8ENg3ez

— City of New York (@nycgov) December 2, 2021

The Anime NYC team was notified today that one of this year’s attendees tested...

Continue reading…

Google reportedly re-evaluates January 10th return to office

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google is reportedly changing its return-to-office plans again, saying that its US employees won’t have to adopt a hybrid work model come January 10th, as was previously planned. According to a report from CNBC, the plan now is to hold off on coming up with new plans until next year, with decisions regarding timelines left up to local offices.

The company has changed its return to work plans several times as the pandemic evolved. In August, when the delta variant was a growing concern, we learned that the company intended to keep in-office work voluntary until at least January 10th, 2022. That plan itself was a change from a previous one that was revealed in December 2020, which would have had employees returning in September.

As COVID...

Continue reading…

Signal launches in-app sustainer program to accept donations from users

Signal users can make donations to the company within the app | Signal

Secure messaging app Signal has launched a new feature that allows users to make donations within the app, the company announced. As a nonprofit, Signal doesn’t receive financial support from any advertisers or shareholders, a new blog post notes, and relies on users for donations.

Users can choose to make monthly donations, or one-off contributions within the app using Apple Pay or Google Pay, and their payment information won’t be associated with a user’s Signal account, according to the blog post, as the company will use the same anonymous credential scheme it uses for private Signal groups:

Clients make payments and then associate a badge to their profile such that the server can authenticate the client is in the set of people who...

Continue reading…