Meta opens up access to its VR social platform Horizon Worlds

More than two years and a company rebrand later, Meta is finally opening up access to its VR social platform Horizon Worlds. Starting Thursday, people in the US and Canada who are 18 and up will be able to access the free Quest app without an invite.

Horizon Worlds is Meta’s first attempt at releasing something that resembles CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of the metaverse. It’s an expansive, multiplayer platform that meshes _Roblox_and the OASIS VR world from Ready Player One. Originally just called Horizon, it requires a Facebook account and lets you hang out with up to 20 people at a time in a virtual space.

“Now we can open up and say we have interesting things that people can do”

First announced in September 2019 as a private beta,...

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Activision Blizzard employees create strike fund while taking steps toward unionization

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A GoFundMe has been created to support employees participating in the latest work stoppage at Activision Blizzard. This latest walkout comes after the company announced a round of layoffs in the QA department of one of its subsidiaries, Raven Software, right before the holiday season. Though initially contained to the Wisconsin-based studio, the walkout spread to QA departments in Texas and Minnesota with many other employees not in QA departments joining in solidarity.

“Funds raised from this donation effort will contribute to offsetting wages lost from the work stoppage,” says the GoFundMe organized by Jessica Gonzalez, a Blizzard employee known for her activism and outspoken criticism of her employer, “as well as to assist in the...

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Motorola Moto Edge 5G UW (2021) review: Pixel envy

This middling $549.99 phone with a 144Hz display just can’t catch a break

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Instagram launches Playback so you can relive your favorite Stories from 2021

Instagram’s Playback will show your favorite stories from 2021 | Instagram

Instagram is getting in on the year-in-review trend with Playback, a feature that will let you relive your Stories from 2021. Instagram will share a curated Playback of 10 Stories for each user, but anyone can edit, add, or remove Stories from their Playback list via their Stories archive, which will pop up within Playback.

Users will see a message in their Instagram feed inviting them to create a Playback, and if they see a 2021 Story they want to add, users can click on the “2021” sticker to view and share in their Playback.

While Playback is likely to be popular, especially with power Instagram users who want to re-promote their favorite Stories, it’s a bit puzzling that Instagram hasn’t embraced a simpler end-of-year feature that’s...

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Instagram decision to remove ayahuasca post overturned by Meta Oversight Board

Meta’s independent Oversight Board overturned an Instagram decision to remove a post about ayahuasca | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Oversight Board for Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta has overturned a decision by the photo-sharing app to remove a post that discussed ayahuasca. The board found that while the July post from a spiritual school in Brazil violated a Facebook rule against promoting the use of non-medical drugs, it did not violate Instagram’s community guidelines “as they were articulated at the time.” The board said Meta needs to be clearer when it applies Facebook rules to Instagram content.

“The Board is concerned that the company continues to apply FB’s Community Standards on IG without transparently telling users it is doing so,” it wrote in its decision. The Instagram rule at the time of the removal only covered the sale and purchase...

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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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General Motors makes moves to source rare earth metals for EV motors in North America

General Motors announced a deal to source rare earth metals for electric vehicle motors in North America. Under the agreement, Las Vegas-based MP Materials will supply the automaker with “US-sourced and manufactured rare earth materials, alloy, and finished magnets for the electric motors” that will be used to power GM’s upcoming lineup of electric vehicles.

Electric motors are powered by permanent magnets, sometimes no larger than a pack of playing cards, that are made of rare earth metals. The magnets enable the motors to transform electricity into motion, thus powering the vehicle. But these rare earth magnets, mostly made of neodymium (NdFeB), are almost entirely mined and processed in China. And as tensions grow between China and...

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iPhones will be able to give owners a detailed history of what parts were replaced

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple is about to add a new feature to iPhones informing users if the device was previously repaired and whether a genuine screen or battery was used (via 9to5Mac). A new parts and service history section will appear (under Settings > General > About) with the upcoming iOS 15.2 update for iPhone — providing some insight and peace of mind for buyers of used or refurbished iPhones hoping to get a proper quality OEM unit.

The new update expands on a previous feature that can tell if a screen or battery was not genuine, now adding them in one place and even including a date on when the service was performed. Since the release of the iPhone 11, Apple started including a warning when an aftermarket (ungenuine) screen was installed. Now iPhones...

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Matter could bring universal casting that actually works

Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

This Amazon-led casting standard for TVs could challenge Apple AirPlay and Google Cast

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How to block and report text spam

Illustration by Ori Toor

No strategy is 100 percent effective, but you can stop much of it

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Tinder makes it easier to see if you vibe with someone’s Spotify taste

Image: Tinder

Tinder is expanding the ways you can judge a potential match by their musical tastes by introducing a Music Mode, which lets you actually hear the song someone’s set as their “Anthem” before you choose which direction to swipe. Music Mode will integrate with Spotify, like Tinder’s other music features, but should make it easier to judge someone by the song they’ve picked to represent themselves — even if you’ve never heard it before, you’ll immediately be able to tell the vibe.

Music Mode will live in the app’s recently added Explore tab, which means you can ignore it if you don’t feel like listening to people’s jams right now. Tinder’s product VP Kyle Miller likened Music Mode to “that feeling when you’re at a party and you find out...

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Kobo’s Elipsa and Sage e-readers are better for reading than writing

Don’t throw out your pen and paper yet

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EU proposals could give millions of gig workers employment rights

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has put forward a series of proposals that could lead to millions of gig workers across the bloc getting similar legal protections to traditional employees. In a press release, the Commission says these rights would include a minimum wage (where applicable), collective bargaining, paid leave, unemployment and sickness benefits, and pensions.

The Commission says an estimated 28 million people in the EU currently work through “digital labor platforms,” and of these, as many as 5.5 million may be incorrectly classified as being self-employed. So, with its new rules, the EU wants to lay out a series of criteria that will clearly determine whether a platform is a simple...

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Winning the war on ransomware

Illustration by Ori Toor

The DOJ’s task force is changing the landscape around hackers, but will it be enough?

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Elizabeth Holmes was always in control

Illustration by Joseph Gough

All the queen’s men

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Microsoft tempts software pirates with 50 percent discount on Office

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge

In a bold bid to turn digital crooks away from a life of crime, Microsoft is offering a 50 percent discount on its Office suite to some people using pirated versions. _Ghacks_reports that a new message in the Office ribbon bar is appearing on pirated Office apps, tempting people with a 50 percent discount on a genuine Microsoft 365 subscription.

The message links to an official Microsoft website that claims “pirated software exposes your PC to security threats.” Microsoft warns Office pirates that they run the risk of running into viruses, malware, data loss, identify theft, and the inability to receive critical updates.

Image: Ghacks

The 50 percent discount notification.

The discount brings the price of a...

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WhatsApp launches cryptocurrency payments pilot in the US

WhatsApp has launched a new pilot that lets a “limited number” of people in the US send and receive money from within a chat using cryptocurrency. The feature is powered by Novi, Meta’s digital wallet that launched as a pilot six weeks ago, with payments made using Pax Dollars (USDP), a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar issued by Paxos. The news was announced by Novi’s incoming head Stephane Kasriel and WhatsApp’s Will Cathcart.

According to Novi’s website, sending a payment works much like sending any other attachment in WhatsApp. You access the feature via the paper clip icon on Android or the + icon on iOS, and then select “Payment” from the menu that appears. Novi’s site notes there are no fees for sending or receiving money, no...

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Microsoft is bringing back the weather widget on the Windows 11 taskbar

The weather widget returns to the taskbar. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is bringing back its weather widget on the Windows 11 taskbar. It’s a feature that originally debuted in Windows 10, providing live weather conditions and quick access to the broader widget and news feed. Windows 11 removed this taskbar integration in favor of a separate widgets panel, though.

“We are trying out showing the Widgets entry point on the left side of your taskbar with live weather content,” explains Amanda Langowski, Microsoft’s Windows Insider chief. “You can also open the Widgets board by simply hovering over the entry point.”

Image: Microsoft

The weather widget will appear as an icon on left-aligned taskbars.

The weather widget will be displayed on the left side of the taskbar by...

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Amazon fined $1.3 billion for abusing market position in Italy

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon has been fined $1.3 billion (€1.1 billion) by antitrust regulators in Italy. The company is accused of using its dominance in the online shopping world to steer Italian sellers into using its logistics service, Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA). Amazon says it will appeal the decision.

The fine is one of the largest levied by a single nation in the EU as part of a years-long battle over online antitrust issues. Just last month, Amazon and Apple were both fined by Italian antitrust regulators for allegedly conspiring to limit the supply of Apple and Beats products. But that fine only totaled $77 million (€69 million) for Amazon — a drop in the bucket compared to today’s judgement. (Both companies are currently disputing the case.)

Italy...

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Amazon is retiring Alexa — no, not that one

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon is shutting down Alexa Internet, a service that has provided web traffic analysis for more than two decades. Alexa was founded in 1996 and bought by Amazon in 1999 (15 years before the shopping giant revealed its digital assistant of the same name).

Alexa is best known for Alexa Rank, a ranking of the world’s most popular websites, with this information frequently referenced in news coverage and public resources like Wikipedia. The company extrapolates this data from a small sample of web users who use its browser extension and from sites which choose to install its traffic monitoring software directly.

In an announcement post, the Alexa.com team said the company stopped offering new subscriptions on December 8th, 2021, and will...

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Oppo teases its first foldable, the Find N

A short teaser trailer shows the folding mechanism in action. | Image: Oppo

Oppo has announced its first foldable smartphone, the Oppo Find N, in a blog post penned by its chief product officer (and OnePlus CEO) Pete Lau. The device will be launched next week on December 15th, on the second day of Oppo’s annual Inno Day.

Although the post doesn’t reveal too many specifics about the device, a teaser trailer released on Twitter shows it has a similar form factor to Samsung’s Z Fold devices, combining a large internal folding screen with a smaller outer screen that can be used like a traditional smartphone. Interestingly, this small outer screen looks like it has a similar aspect ratio to a traditional smartphone, unlike the tall thin external display of the Fold 3.

In his post, Lau admits that other companies have...

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Apple’s AR headset reportedly uses 3D sensors for hand tracking

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple’s widely rumored upcoming mixed reality headset will make use of 3D sensors for advanced hand tracking, according to analyst Ming-chi Kuo, whose latest research note has been reported on by MacRumors and 9to5Mac. The headset is said to have four sets of 3D sensors, compared to the iPhone’s single unit, which should give it more accuracy than the TrueDepth camera array currently used for Face ID.

According to Kuo, the structured light sensors can detect objects as well as “dynamic detail change” in the hands, comparable to how Face ID is able to figure out facial expressions to generate Animoji. “Capturing the details of hand movement can provide a more intuitive and vivid human-machine UI,” he writes, giving the example of a...

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ViacomCBS announces partnership with Wattpad to adapt originals

Image: ViacomCBS

Wattpad has long been a pipeline bringing content adaptations of stories by emerging writers to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. Now, ViacomCBS and Wattpad’s studio arm are teaming up to spin out a slate of original series from successful titles on Wattpad and Webtoon.

Wattpad has been a story springboard for streaming services for years — The Kissing Booth and the After franchises are two notable examples — in part because Wattpad is able to mine a trove of internal data about how readers are interacting with stories and what specific kind of storytelling they return to. That can easily translate to hit franchises for services hungry for new original content, particularly for content that appeals to younger viewers. (After, for...

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Kickstarter says it’s switching to crowdfunding via the blockchain

Kickstarter is announcing some big changes to the foundations of its technology. The company said Wednesday that it will support the development of “an open-source protocol that will essentially create a decentralized version of Kickstarter’s core functionality,” according to a Kickstarter blog post published Wednesday. The protocol will live on a public blockchain and will enable anyone, “even Kickstarter competitors,” to build upon or use it, the company says.

An independent organization will start the development of the protocol, and Kickstarter will give this group funding, appoint a board, and will be one of the protocol’s first clients, the company says. It’s also making an “independent governance lab” that oversees “the...

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Twitter confirms its ‘Project Guardian’ keeps an eye on today’s main character

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter’s secretive “Project Guardian” aims to shield controversial characters and users with large followings from an onslaught of trolls and haters, according to a report by Bloomberg. The platform reportedly maintains a list of thousands of users that Twitter deems high risk for harassment, which includes musicians, professional athletes, journalists, and other users who are particularly prominent — even if just for the moment.

Bloomberg notes that when Twitter receives a report of an abusive post related to an account on the list, Twitter’s content moderation team will respond to that report faster than all the other ones it has lined up. The thinking behind the program is that Twitter can prevent harmful content from spreading, as...

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Destiny brings back Gjallarhorn, immediately Nerfs it

In Destiny, the legendary rocket launcher Gjallarhorn was the ultimate weapon for a time. Its ability to create explosions filled with more explosions was unparalleled — and, some would argue, in desperate need of a nerf. Amusingly, Bungie and toymaker Hasbro are now taking that part literally: the Gjallarhorn is now slated to become an official Nerf blaster, complete with Wolfpack Round-like cluster missiles of its own.

Image: Bungie

The in-game version that just came back to Destiny 2.

Destiny 2 just brought the digital Gjallarhorn back this week as part of the $24.99 Bungie 30th Anniversary Pack, and you’ll have to pay a lot more than that for the Nerf version, of course — $160, which makes it one of the...

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Apple’s upcoming macOS 12.1 update will fix the MacBook Pro’s notch and menu bar issues

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales

Apple’s upcoming macOS 12.1 update will fix some odd interactions between its new MacBook Pros’ notched displays and menu bar apps, which should no longer be blocked behind the notch, according to MacRumors.

Previously, some users had reported issues where menu bar icons could end up getting pushed behind the notch in the event that too many were open. Or, as Apple’s changelog describes the issue, prior to macOS 12.1, “[menu] bar extras may be obscured by the camera housing on 2021 MacBook Pro computers.”

WTF HAHAHAHA HOW IS THIS SHIPPABLE? WHAT IS THIS?! pic.twitter.com/epse3Cv3xF

— Quinn Nelson (@SnazzyQ) October 26, 2021

The bug admittedly was rare to begin with, requiring that users had enough menu bar icons (referred to by...

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CD Projekt Red is working to settle a class-action lawsuit over botched Cyberpunk 2077 launch

Johnny Silverhand in_Cyberpunk 2077._ | Image: CD Projekt Red

Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red has entered negotiations to settle a class-action lawsuit over the game’s bungled launch.

There are still a number of outstanding questions about any potential settlement, according to court documents, including all class certification requirements, the proposed allocation plan for the settlement fund, and how the settlement will be administered. In other words, it’s undecided exactly who will be eligible for anything awarded in a settlement or how much those eligible parties may receive.

The plaintiffs in the case must next file a preliminary approval of the settlement or an update on its status by January 13th, 2022. Four lawsuits against the company were compiled into one in May.

At release...

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Instagram head says it’s bringing back the chronological feed

Instagram is working on a chronological feed | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

During a hearing before a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the company is working on a version of its feed that would show users' posts in chronological order, unlike its current ranking algorithm that sorts posts based on user preferences.

The company’s algorithmically sorted feed, introduced in 2016, and then updated in 2017 to include recommended posts, is widely disliked by users who prefer to have their posts and their friends’ posts surface in a timely manner. The current feed uses AI to create what Instagram considers a more personalized feed, based on users’ activity. But it has remained generally unpopular among a vast swath of users, despite the company’s assertions otherwise.

Mosseri appeared...

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Apple will pay for Jennifer Lawrence to play Elizabeth Holmes in new Theranos film

Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for Fortune

Apple says it will produce a movie about former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, with Jennifer Lawrence of _Hunger Games_fame in the starring role. The movie, to be directed by Succession creator Adam McKay, will be based on the bestselling book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by former Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou. He wrote the first news stories detailing Theranos’ problems, even as the company and Holmes were being lauded in Silicon Valley.

Holmes is currently on trial facing 11 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud after it was discovered that Theranos’ blood testing technology didn’t meet the standards it claimed to investors. At the time of its unraveling, Theranos was valued...

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