The Verge
Sony Glass Sound Speaker review: it’s not what it looks like
A mood-setting novelty speaker that doesn’t slouch on sound
The VergeThe VergeThe Verge’s 2021 home tech holiday gift guide
Illustration by Richard Parry
Spruce up your digs with some clever gadgets
The VergeNintendo’s latest indie announcements include Chicory and Omori on the Switch
Chicory: A Colorful Tale.
Nintendo closed out the year with its final Indie World Showcase, and the 20-minute-long event revealed a nice mix of games coming to the Switch, including a handful of surprises. We got new looks at previously announced games like Sea of Stars and OlliOlli World, as well as Switch ports for celebrated indies like _Chicory: A Colorful Tale_and _Omori._Some of the games are even launching today. Here are the biggest announcements.
Dungeon Munchies.
Chicory,Dungeon Munchies, and more are out today
The Nintendo eShop is getting a handful of new titles today, including the much-requested Switch port of the beautiful painting adventure Chicory. Also coming today: Dungeon Munchies, an action game about hunting monsters and...
The VergeDell’s Concept Stanza converts your chicken scratch to digital text
Here it is. | Dell
Dell has shown off a new concept device that (let’s be honest) may never actually come out — but it’s a lot of fun to play with. The Concept Stanza is an 11-inch tablet that’s meant to simplify the process of taking notes at work. The idea is that if you write on the Stanza and then double tap your notes, they’ll be instantly converted to digital text. Connect it to a computer, and your notes will show up on the big screen.
Now, this is obviously not a revolutionary use case — devices like Samsung Galaxy Notes can convert handwritten notes to digital ones already. But the big difference with the Stanza is that it’s _just_for writing — there are no cameras, speakers, or ports on the device, in an effort to create what Dell describes as a...
The VergePeople spent 15 hours roleplaying a McDonald’s drive-thru on Twitter Spaces
Photo by Alex Burstow/Getty Images
I didn’t think I’d spend the first two hours of my morning listening to people place orders at an imaginary McDonald’s drive-thru. And yet that’s exactly what I did thanks to Twitter Spaces.
Twitter user Julee, whose handle is @thequeensbit, spent hours roleplaying as a McDonald’s cashier to an audience of thousands of listeners. At the time I joined the conversation, she was on hour 13 with more than 1,700 people tuned in. She approved one user to speak at a time as the customer. The customer would then put in their order, often incorrectly, or make absurd requests for food that’s not on the menu. One person asked for “the cookies, and put it in milk in a bowl.”
welcome to mcdonald’s may i take ur order ? https://t.co/ujJThBCPOa
—...
The VergeApple scrubs controversial CSAM detection feature from webpage but says plans haven’t changed
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Apple has updated a webpage on its child safety features to remove all references to the controversial child sexual abuse material (CSAM) detection feature first announced in August. The change, which was spotted by MacRumors, appears to have taken place some time between December 10th and December 13th. But despite the change to its website, the company says its plans for the feature haven’t changed.
Two of the three safety features, which released earlier this week with iOS 15.2, are still present on the page, which is titled “Expanded Protections for Children.” However references to the more controversial CSAM detection, whose launch was delayed following backlash from privacy advocates, have been removed.
When reached for comment,...
The VergeDell’s wire-free webcam could one day eradicate Zoom side-eye
Image by Dell
Dell’s vision for the future of webcams, the Concept Pari, isn’t the kind that stays glued to the same spot on top of your monitor — it’s one that offers a lot more mobility. Ahead of CES, the company showed off the webcam alongside its ultra-repairable Luna laptop concept. The Concept Pari doesn’t just cut the wire — it adds magnets that would theoretically make it easier to place anywhere on your screen, which means instead of automatically giving people side-eye on Zoom calls, you could finally make some eye contact.
At first glance, the Concept Pari looks like the typical webcam that sits atop your monitor. However, Dell made it so that you can remove the cylindrical camera housing from its dock (which also doubles as a USB-C...
The VergeHow Amazon warehouse policies put workers at risk
Illustration by Kristen Radtke
Six people died in an Amazon warehouse collapse — why were they there at all?
The VergeSifu’s stunning martial arts combat will appeal to a generation of kung fu fans
Sifu, the newest game from Absolver developer Sloclap, feels like exactly the kind of shot in the arm the roguelike genre needs. Far too many of that style of game favors sword and board combat in medieval or otherwise indeterminate but distant past fantasy settings. Sifu is a refreshingly modern take on the die-and-restart style of play that ditches the sword in favor of these hands.
I got to play a bit of Sifu in a hands-on preview that demos the first half of the second chapter. The preview dropped me right into the action — no tutorial mission, no story explanation, just a destination simply known as The Club. The preview makes you fight your way through the club, battling simple minions that go down in one or two punches to heavy...
The VergeAmazon is having another massive server outage, and it’s taken down Twitch
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Amazon Web Services barely finished the postmortem on last week’s incident that interrupted deliveries and shut off feeds from security cameras, and now it appears AWS is having problems again. While last week’s outage was in the US-EAST-1 region, reports suggest connections to the company’s US-West servers are failing.
We are aware of several issues affecting Twitch services.
Our team is aware and hard at work fixing them - we'll continue to update you, here.
— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) December 15, 2021
The network of Amazon server farms powers more services than you can imagine, but the most visible sign of trouble is the fact that Twitch, the Amazon-owned livestreaming platform, is currently inaccessible for most of us. A...
The VergeThe Verge’s favorite holiday gifts under $25
Illustration by Richard Parry
Cross some names off your list without spending a mint
The VergeWhat’s the best student laptop? We asked students
The Dell XPS 13 is one of the best laptops for high school and college students. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Shopping for a laptop can be stressful — doubly stressful if you or your children will be learning online for the first time. Kids of different ages have a range of different laptop use cases and different needs. And as the choices for best laptop and best Chromebook evolve, so do students’ needs. So I spoke to some experts on the subject: students themselves.
My recommendations here are meant to accommodate a variety of preferences and price ranges. But they’re a jumping-off point rather than an exhaustive list: every student is different. Before making a decision, you’ll want to make sure you read reviews and try out devices yourself if you can. I’ll do my best to keep this article up to date with items that are in stock.
Best laptop...
The VergeSave on peripherals from Logitech and Razer
The Logitech G604 was originally available for $99.99 but is currently discounted to $44.99 at Amazon, the lowest price we’ve seen for this versatile, MOBA-oriented mouse. The G604 features a powerful 25K DPI optical sensor and 15 programmable buttons. Perhaps the most striking feature of this claw-shaped mouse is the cluster of six buttons above the thumb rest that is ideal for storing macros. This mouse may lack the trademark RGB lighting present with most gaming mice, but this lends the G604 an impressive battery life, reportedly capable of lasting up to 240 hours with a single AA battery.
One of the more impressive ambidextrous mice available from Logitech, the G903 Hero, features a 25K DPI sensor and has buttons that can be...
The VergeDisney Plus now supports Apple’s new group watch feature SharePlay
Image: Disney Plus
Apple users will now be able to stream thousands of movies and series on Disney Plus with friends and family.
Apple started rolling out its anticipated SharePlay feature to iPhone users with its iOS 15.1 update (and on macOS with the latest Monterey update). SharePlay allows Apple users to sync their playback for supported streaming in FaceTime services so they can watch movies and shows or listen to music together in real-time.
Disney already offers a GroupWatch feature of its own, but SharePlay allows users to FaceTime while doing other things on their Apple devices when a video is playing on their screen. If you’re watching on your iPad, for example, your video will appear as a picture-in-picture tile while you navigate across other...
The VergeTheranos promised a blood testing revolution — here’s what’s really possible
Photo by Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty Images
Innovation is possible, even if it’s not magic
The VergeAsus Vivobook Pro 14 OLED review: snappy performance and a smooth screen
Asus puts a workstation’s power in a small, pretty package
The VergeInside the slow, strange collapse of electric delivery startup Chanje
How an EV startup and its charismatic CEO nearly cornered the market for electric delivery vans — until it all fell apart
The VergeHow Silicon Valley enabled Theranos to run wild
As the trial of Elizabeth Holmes comes to a close, many questions have surfaced about what — or who — enabled Theranos to rise to such heights. As charismatic and ambitious as Holmes was, none of her success would have been possible without the nearly $945 million in funds she received from notable investors like Rupert Murdoch or the Walton family.
It’s not unusual for investors to blindly place their money into companies with little to no knowledge of their technology. But when those companies end up on trial for more fraud charges than you can count on two hands, who is to blame?
In the first episode of a three-part series, we look into the culture surrounding venture capital investors in Silicon Valley and what role they may have...
The VergeHere are the shipping deadlines to get your holiday gifts there on time
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
The same thing happens every year. Things get busy with work, school, and life in general until you’re suddenly up against the clock as you race your gifts to your local post office, FedEx store, or UPS store. We’ve all been there — and this year is looking the same for me, personally — but we want to offer a little bit of help, so you can plan around the upcoming shipping deadlines and avoid some holiday stress, if at all possible.
Below, we’ve rounded up the domestic shipping deadlines for various retailers and shipment carriers to ensure that your package arrives before Christmas or Kwanzaa.
UPS
You have until Thursday, December 23rd, to ship via Next Day Air and have your package arrive on Christmas Eve, December 24th. Wednesday,...
The VergeS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is getting NFTs, including one that lets you become an in-game ‘metahuman’
You can become an NPC in_S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2_thanks to NFTs. | Image: GSC Game World
_S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl_is one of the bigger releases of 2022, and for better or worse, it’s going to feature one of the biggest tech trends going into next year: non-fungible tokens (or NFTs).
GSC Game World, which is developing the game, has announced the “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Metaverse,” which will “use blockchain technology to let the community own a piece of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.” That includes the opportunity to become the “first-ever metahuman,” which GSC Game World appears to define as a non-player character rendered in very high detail. (Though a spokesperson confirmed a metahuman won’t be made with Epic Games’ MetaHumanCreator tool). GSC Game World is partnering with NFT platform DMarket on the new items.
To become a...
The VergeAmazon Halo View review: the Fitbit clone no one asked for
It didn’t have to be like this
The VergeAnalogue Pocket will soon let you save Game Boy Camera photos to an SD card
The Analogue Pocket. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
The Analogue Pocket, a modern handheld console that can play old Game Boy cartridges, already supports Nintendo’s classic 1998 Game Boy Camera accessory. But with an upcoming firmware update, Gizmodo reports that you’ll be able to actually do something with the low-resolution, grayscale, and yet utterly cool photographs it takes. Namely: transfer them to a microSD card.
Since the Game Boy Camera cartridge itself only stores 30 photos, it’s important to have a way to export them if you don’t want to constantly curate your collection. Back in the day, Nintendo’s official solution was a small thermal printer accessory called the Game Boy Printer which could attach to the handheld via its link port. But given its reliance on proprietary 38mm...
The VergeMicrosoft to make Windows Terminal the default Windows 11 command line experience
Microsoft is a planning to make its Windows Terminal the default command line experience in Windows 11 next year. While Windows 11 currently supports setting Windows Terminal as default, the default terminal emulator has always been the Windows Console Host. Microsoft hasn’t ever officially supported replacing this console host, meaning that command prompt and PowerShell always open in Windows Console Host.
“Over the course of 2022, we are planning to make Windows Terminal the default experience on Windows 11 devices,” explains Kayla Cinnamon, a program manager for Windows Terminal at Microsoft. “We will start with the Windows Insider Program and start moving through rings until we reach everyone on Windows 11.”
While this change won’t...
The VergeAlexa’s latest celebrity voice is Santa Claus himself
Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge
Amazon has introduced a new novelty voice for Alexa this festive season: Santa Claus. After enabling the skill with the command “Alexa, enable ‘Hey Santa,’” you can ask St. Nick to sing songs, crack jokes, tell stories, or just respond to typical Alexa commands like setting timers or playing music in his more festive voice. Judging by the customer reviews left on the Alexa skill’s Amazon page, the feature appears to have been released earlier this month.
There are of course several Christmas-themed questions to ask Santa. Asking “Hey Santa, am I naughty or nice?” will prompt a series of questions to work out whether you’re getting presents or coal on the big day, and the big man will also happily tell you about his reindeer or favorite...
The VergeOppo’s Find N is an impressive first folding phone
After teasing its first folding phone last week, Oppo is revealing the Find N in full today. Oppo’s chief product officer Pete Lau told reporters in a briefing that the company has been working on this phone since 2018, with the final Find N the result of six generations of internal development. I can believe it — I’ve been using it since last week, and it’s a surprisingly impressive and refined product.
The Find N features a similar design to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series, with a large, squarish folding OLED panel on the inside and a smaller screen on the outside that can be used when the phone is closed. The 120Hz inner display is 7.1 inches diagonal and has a slightly landscape 9:8.4 aspect ratio, unlike the Z Fold display, which is...
The VergeGoogle is threatening to fire unvaccinated employees
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge
Google employees who haven’t been vaccinated could be put on forced leave and then let go from the company if they fail to follow its COVID-19 rules, according to an internal memo obtained by CNBC. The policy will reportedly affect employees that would have fallen under the jurisdiction of President Biden’s vaccine mandate, which is currently facing challenges in the Senate and court system.
According to the memo, Google gave its employees until December 3rd to upload proof of vaccination or receive approval for a medical or religious exemption. The company says that anyone who doesn’t do either of those things by January 13th will be placed on a 30-day paid administrative leave. If they’re still not in compliance after the 30 days, they...
The VergeThe Verge’s 2021 holiday gift guide for creators
Illustration by Richard Parry
Gifts for the aspiring and established content creators
The VergeLeaked documents link Huawei to China’s domestic spying in Xinjiang
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Huawei was involved in building technology for labor and reeducation camps, as well as surveillance systems in China’s Xinjiang region, according to PowerPoint presentations obtained and translated by The Washington Post. The report shows some of the ways the tech giant’s work may have been involved in the persecution against ethnic minorities in the region.
The Washington Post says it obtained the PowerPoints from a public Huawei site before they were taken down. According to the report, the slides included details on Huawei’s involvement with other companies in creating several systems and had metadata dating them anywhere from 2014 to 2020 (with copyright dates being listed from 2016 to 2018).
Image: The Washington...
The VergeSix more women file lawsuits against Tesla, allege sexual harassment worsened by Musk’s tweets
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Six more women who work at Tesla’s Fremont, California factory and service center have filed lawsuits against the company, according to a report from The Washington Post. Each woman has filed a separate lawsuit in the California Superior Court in Alameda County, alleging that they’re subject to a culture of sexual harassment at the workplace. These new lawsuits come not even a month after two other women filed suit against the company with similar allegations.
One woman claims she told HR about the issue but was only moved to a different work area
The six women claim that their male coworkers frequently make lewd comments towards their bodies or clothes, as well as engage in abusive behavior like catcalling and inappropriate touching....
The VergeThe Verge’s 2021 gaming and entertainment holiday gift guide
Illustration by Richard Parry
A collection of our favorite games and gadgets