Sony pivots into cars with Sony Mobility and a Vision-S SUV prototype at CES 2022

During Sony’s keynote presentation at CES 2022, the company rolled out the Vision-S EV we saw last year, along with a new concept SUV dubbed Vision-S 02. But the big surprise (this time) is the launch of Sony Mobility, a new company it’s starting that will focus on electric cars. While the tech industry has been focused for several years on whether or not Apple might produce a vehicle, Sony already showed us a working prototype packed full of its technology, and now it’s going a step further.

Sony will establish an operating company “Sony Mobility Inc.” in the spring of 2022, through which the company intends to explore entry into the EV market.

Sony posted several demo videos on YouTube featuring both Vision-S prototype EVs. Some, like...

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You can now watch the Uncharted movie’s entire plane fight scene

You knowwhat kind of video game movieUncharted will be. You know it in your heart. But just in case you don’t know that you know it, you can now watch PlayStation Pictures’ entire live-action recreation of the infamous scene from that one _Uncharted_video game where Nathan Drake gets dragged out of an airplane by a rope ladder consisting of gigantic pieces of cargo and somehow manages to survive, without any cuts or annoying plot to get in the way.

There is a lot of green screen. Lots of baddies go down. Very young actors appear to do acrobatic things. Action abounds, just as Sony promised it would in the company’s CES 2022 presentation this evening, where it also revealed it’s pivoting into electric cars.

I am now adequately prepared...

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Shure’s new Aonic 40 are a slightly cheaper pair of noise-canceling wireless headphones

The Aonic 40 is made of aluminum alloy and glass-filled nylon. | Image: Shure

Shure has expanded its headphone lineup with the release of the new Aonic 40. The Aonic 40 are a set of wireless over-ear headphones with adjustable active noise cancellation, Environment Mode, 40mm composite drivers, USB-C quick charging, and an estimated 25 hours of battery life with ANC turned on. Priced at $249, this new model sits below the current $299 Aonic 50 in Shure’s lineup — which earned a nod in The Verge’s best noise-canceling headphones of 2021 — and shares some features like a user-customizable EQ through the ShurePlus Play app.

The Aonic 40 are available now

While the Aonic 40 have a slightly revised look taken from their older sibling, with an aluminum build and a collapsible design, 2020’s Aonic 50 remain at the top...

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Sony confirms PlayStation VR2 name and Horizon game

Sony has confirmed the name of its next VR headset: unsurprisingly, it’s going to be called PlayStation VR2. Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan announced the name as part of Sony’s CES 2022 presentation, in a move reminiscent of two years ago when the PS5 logo was first revealed on stage in Vegas amid much fanfare. (It looked like the PS3 and PS4 logos but with a 5.)

Sony still hasn’t shown off what the headset itself will look like, but we know quite a bit about its technical specs already. PS VR2 will work with the PS5, of course, and Sony also detailed the controllers — now officially named Sense controllers — all the way back in March. The headset supports haptic feedback, eye tracking, 4K HDR, 90/120Hz frame...

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The ROG Strix Flare II Animate puts a tiny dot-matrix display on a keyboard

A built-in display can show animation, system info, and more. | Image: Asus

ROG, one of Asus’s gaming brands, has announced the Strix Flare II Animate, a mechanical keyboard that gets its name from the LED display built into it, which can play animations or display logos, similar to the dot-matrix displays ROG’s built into the lids of some laptops.

Asus calls this tech the AniMe Matrix LED display, and says you can use it to show all sorts of things; custom images and animations, system info like battery life, time, and date, and even audio visualizations. It’s blingy, to say the least, and more eye-catching than an illuminated logo. That could be a good thing though — this keyboard will cost $220, so it has to justify that price somehow.

Gif: Asus

Yes, ROG’s all-caps font does make it...

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Activision sues company distributing Call of Duty cheats

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Activision Publishing, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against EngineOwning, a company that advertises cheats for Call of Duty games and other popular online shooters, and is seeking to shut down software that allows people to cheat in any Activision-published game.

“By this lawsuit, Activision seeks to put a stop to unlawful conduct by an organization that is distributing and selling for profit numerous malicious software products designed to enable members of the public to gain unfair competitive advantages (i.e., to cheat) in the COD Games,” Activision said. “These ongoing activities damage Activision’s games, its overall business, and the experience of the COD player community.”

According to the lawsuit,...

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The OnePlus 10 Pro’s official specs are not the least bit surprising

The OnePlus 10 Pro | OnePlus

Rather than announce all of the details of the OnePlus 10 Pro flagship, OnePlus is choosing to space out the details in drips and drabs. First, it released an official teaser image that revealed the design of the phone alongside a China release date of January 11th. Now, it’s announcing the phone’s specs, which include the newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, ultra fast charging, and a 5,000mAh battery.

If you’ve been keeping up on Android news the past few months, none of these details will come as a surprise. Flagship Android phones in the US all tend to feature Qualcomm’s most powerful processor and if there’s any interesting news here, it’s that OnePlus is getting a small jump on Samsung and becoming the first major smartphone to...

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Chip shortages cost GM the US vehicle sales crown it’s held since 1931

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge

General Motors is no longer the top seller of vehicles in the US as reported Tuesday by CNBC. The Detroit powerhouse lost the crown to Toyota, which reportedly sold about 114,000 more vehicles than GM in 2021.

GM reported Tuesday that total sales were down almost 13 percent last year due to semiconductor shortages. Vehicle and technology companies worldwide have been faced with production difficulties due to chip shortages, and GM has had to cut features from some vehicles, such as wireless chargers and HD radios, due to supply issues.

Toyota dethrones GM to become America's top-selling automaker in 2021 https://t.co/oO4AmytFyu

— CNBC (@CNBC) January 4, 2022

But things are looking up for GM — the parent company of Chevrolet and GMC...

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BMW’s iX M60 is a dual-motor performance EV with 280 miles of range

The second EV to feature the German automaker’s coveted performance branding

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Robinhood debuts First Trade Recommendations for beginner investors

Image by Robinhood

Robinhood has introduced a new experience geared towards trading noobs, and the company says its personalized stock recommendations could help beginners get a sense of the technical side of trading.

If you’re a new user and haven’t added anything to your Investment Profile, you’ll get the option to choose “Get help with your first investment” from the Investing tab. Robinhood will then present you with a questionnaire that asks what your investment goals are, how long you plan on investing your money, and more.

Based on those answers, Robinhood will recommend a personalized portfolio containing four diverse exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with additional information about each fund and why Robinhood picked it for you. Once you’ve reviewed...

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You can buy Wemo’s new HomeKit video doorbell right now

WeMo’s first video doorbell supports HomeKit and HomeKit Secure Video.

And then there were three... At CES 2022 this week, Wemo announced the immediate availability of the Wemo Smart Video Doorbell, a HomeKit video doorbell that works with HomeKit Secure Video. It joins the Logitech Circle View and Netatmo Smart Video Doorbell camera as the only currently available residential HomeKit video doorbells.

The $250 wired doorbell from the Belkin smart home brand is a short, chunky black device measuring 4.9 inches high. It has a 178-degree vertical field of view, 4MP high-resolution camera with “enhanced night vision and optimal zoom clarity,” according to the press release. It also features IP55 weatherproofing and works on 2.4 and 5 GHz Wi-Fi.

Image: Wemo

The Wemo Smart Video Doorbell...

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Dell’s videoconferencing monitor has a 4K webcam, USB-C hub, and more

Dell’s new 32-inch UltraSharp videoconferencing monitor supports 4K in more ways than one — the first, obvious for a display, is its 3840 x 2160 panel. But it also has a built-in 4K webcam, perfect for the age of Zoom meetings and working from home. Better still, you can connect to the monitor with a single USB-C cable, which will provide a video signal to the screen and send 90W of power back to your laptop.

The monitor’s official name is the U3223QZ (Dell’s naming is catchy as ever), and its webcam uses a Sony 4K HDR STARVIS CMOS sensor. That’s similar to the imaging tech that Dell uses for its $200 external UltraSharp webcam, but unlike that device, the monitor has two built-in microphones. Dell also says that you’ll be able to...

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Google will pay top execs $1 million each after declining to boost workers’ pay

Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Fortune

Google is giving four of its top execs a significant pay bump, raising their salaries from $650,000 to $1 million, just weeks after the company told staffers it wouldn’t automatically adjust salaries to account for inflation. The new executive salaries were disclosed in an SEC filing.

The executives receiving the $1 million base salaries are chief financial officer Ruth Porat, senior vice president Prabhakar Raghavan (who is in charge of Google search); senior vice president and chief business officer Philipp Schindler; and president of global affairs and chief legal officer Kent Walker. All four executives are eligible to “participate in a maximum $2,000,000 annual bonus program, based on contributions to Google’s performance against...

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Verizon joins T-Mobile and AT&T by offering a truly unlimited mobile plan

Verizon is the latest carrier to offer a mobile data plan without monthly caps on its fastest network speeds. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Verizon has updated its unlimited plans in anticipation of new 5G spectrum coming online ~~tomorrow~~ soonish. The new plans cost the same and include the same level of access to the carrier’s Nationwide and Ultra Wideband 5G networks, but the priciest Get More plan receives a notable upgrade: unlimited monthly “premium data.” That puts it on even terms with the other major carriers’ top-tier unlimited plans.

The plans previously known as Start, Play More, Do More, and Get More Unlimited are now called 5G Start Unlimited, 5G Play More Unlimited... you get the idea. The Get More plan ($90 / month for one line with autopay) previously included 50GB of premium data each month — once customers reached that limit, they’d be subject to slowdowns...

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Nvidia still has no idea how to pronounce the name of its best gaming GPU

Ti or Ti?

It’s a question that’s plagued Nvidia fans for years, ever since the company started appending the “Ti” designation to its most powerful GPUs, like the RTX 3090 Ti that Nvidia just announced at CES 2022.

But how do you pronounce “Ti”? There are two camps: those who pronounce it “tie,” like the neck garment or the first syllable of “titanium,” while others fervently insist that it’s pronounced as initials: “tee-eye.” Not even Nvidia seems to know which is right, as the company’s CES presentation showed — different presenters switched back and forth between saying “tie” and “tee-eye” from one segment to the next.

Should “GeForce” be called “Gee-Eee Force”? Of course not. Do you say “Ertex” instead of RTX? Preposterous. But...

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TikTok is testing a Twitter-like Repost button for sharing videos

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The highly addictive clock app is testing a feature that should save you the trouble of having to DM the most share-worthy clips from your For You page with friends. TikTok has introduced a “Repost” button that works a little like Twitter’s retweet feature — but it doesn’t appear to be available to everyone yet.

Several sites earlierreported on the feature, and social media consultant Matt Navarra tweeted an image of the button on December 19th. _TechCrunch_today reported a more detailed explanation of how the tool works in practice, including that it seems to be limited to the For You feed from the share menu rather than throughout the TikTok app. (Videos that are shared can similarly be un-shared from this menu as well.)

Additionally,...

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Hyundai imagines a world in which it has turned everything into a robot

Hyundai has already showed off some practical robotics concepts last month in the lead-up to the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show. Now the South Korean automaker is going full galaxy brain with the introduction of a new “Mobility of Things” concept that it claims will power a whole slew of objects, from household plants and book shelves, to ambulances and autonomous passenger pods.

The spectrum of things that can be roboticized (for lack of a better term) is “unlimited,” said Dong Jin Hyun, vice president and head of Robotics Lab of Hyundai Motor Group, in a statement. “The goal is for robotics to enable all kinds of personal mobility, connected to communicate, move and perform tasks autonomously.”

“The goal is for robotics to enable all...

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All the gaming laptops announced at CES 2022 with the latest Intel, AMD, and Nvidia mobile components

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

As is usually the case for CES, there is an abundance of gaming laptops being announced for release in early and mid-2022 that have at least two of the following traits in common: they have Intel’s 12th Gen H-series processors, or they support AMD’s Ryzen 6000-series processors, and they have Nvidia’s new RTX 3070 Ti or RTX 3080 Ti graphics chips. What’s more, many of them will also support DDR5 RAM at 4,800MHz. It’s a great time to be shopping for a laptop, as these seem faster than ever.

There are always outliers we won’t catch, and we’ll be making more passes at this through the week, but there are currently well over a dozen laptops coming that have some combination of these components. We’ve covered the biggest CES 2022...

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Latest Google Pixel update fixes bug that prevents 911 calls with Teams installed

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Google is bringing an update to older Pixel devices to fix a dangerous bug that prevents users from calling 911, as noted by a post on a Google support page. The bug stems from an unintended interaction between the Android OS and Microsoft Teams — it only affects devices with Android 10 or later and could occur if you have Teams installed but aren’t signed in.

The update resolves the “issue preventing emergency calls in certain conditions”

On the support page, Google notes that the update resolves the “issue preventing emergency calls in certain conditions while some third-party apps are installed.” It’s available on devices running Android 12 (including the Pixel 3 and up), but the update hasn’t rolled out to the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro...

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NXP’s new tri-radio chip makes it easy to add Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and Thread to smart home gadgets

Imagine these devices have NXP’s new IW612 SoC | Image: NXP

NXP has a new tri-radio SoC that it’s announcing at CES 2022 that’s designed to serve as a silver bullet for comprehensive smart home connectivity in a single chip, offering out-of-the-box support for Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth LE 5.2, and 802.15.4 (i.e., Thread) all at once.

The idea is that hardware manufacturers building new smart home devices — and especially ones building routers, smart speakers, and hubs that are designed to serve as bridges between different radio standards like Wi-Fi and Thread — can now just integrate a single chipset solution to their products.

That’s especially critical with the upcoming launch of the new Matter standard later in 2022, which aims to provide a single standard to connect all the different smart home...

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Targus built Apple’s Find My tracking tech into its Cypress Hero EcoSmart backpack

Image: Targus

In addition to designing several new products for people trying to keep germ-free during a pandemic, Targus is targeting iPhone users with this new Cypress Hero EcoSmart Backpack that has built-in Apple Find My technology.

Image: Targus

The Cypress Hero EcoSmart backpack includes Apple’s Find My technology.

In turn, users can also use their backpack to track a lost iPhone by pressing a button in the backpack. The backpack has an integrated battery that’s replaceable and can be recharged via USB, which Targus claims will provide better protection from thieves than a simple tag. Like the other bags in the Cypress Hero EcoSmart line, Targus says this one is built using approximately 26 recycled water bottles.

C...

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John Deere’s self-driving tractor lets farmers leave the cab — and the field

Self-driving tractors could be coming to a farm near you. | Image; John Deere

Agricultural equipment maker John Deere has announced its latest piece of autonomous farming kit: a package of hardware and software that combines machine learning with the company’s GPS-powered auto-steer features to create a “fully autonomous tractor.”

The technology to support autonomous farming has been developing rapidly in recent years, but John Deere claims this is a significant step forward. With this technology, farmers will not only be able to take their hands off the wheel of their tractor or leave the cab — they’ll be able to leave the field altogether, letting the equipment do the work without them while monitoring things remotely using their smartphone.

“This is not a demo. It’s not a concept machine. It’s something we’ve...

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Why AT&T and Verizon are feuding with the US government over a last-minute delay to 5G

A long-brewing battle between wireless carriers and airlines

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Qualcomm is working with Microsoft on custom chips for next-gen AR glasses

Qualcomm and Microsoft are partnering to develop a new, customized Snapdragon augmented reality chip that’ll power future AR glasses within Microsoft’s ecosystems. The new partnership was announced at Qualcomm’s CES 2022 keynote.

“We’re announcing that we’re developing a custom augmented reality Snapdragon chip for next-generation, power-efficient, very lightweight AR glasses for the Microsoft ecosystem,” said Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon. “And we’re integrating into that chip platform software from both companies: the Microsoft Mesh platform, and the recently announced Qualcomm Snapdragon Spaces XR development platform. Snapdragon Spaces will be fully integrated into Microsoft Mesh, and this platform will be available for...

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OPI announces Xbox-inspired nail polish that unlocks in-game content

The line consists of 12 colors with cheesy gaming-inspired names. | Image: Xbox/OPI

OPI and Xbox are collaborating on a new lineup of gaming-inspired nail polishes that also unlock in-game content for Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5. The vibrant line of 12 nail polish colors is available today in the US at Ulta Beauty. Purchasing colors in the line qualifies for redeemable codes to unlock an exclusive Ford GT livery in Forza Horizon 5 as well as an armor coating in Halo Infinite.

The OPI x Xbox collection colors have some unique names, ranging from lighthearted and fun to full-on gamer cringe: Quest for Quartz (rose quartz), Pixel Dust (shimmery mauve pink), Racing for Pinks (crème rose), Suzi is My Avatar (pink-nude), Trading Paint (crème apricot), Heart and Con-soul (crimson), The Pass is Always Greener (pastel...

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Asus has announced the first 42-inch 4K OLED gaming monitor

Asus

At CES 2022, Asus announced the ROG Swift OLED gaming monitor that comes in a 48-inch (PG48UQ) or a 42-inch (PG42UQ) size. Now, 48-inch OLEDs aren’t novel at this point, but the 42-inch size is a brand-new innovation for 2022. LG debuted its 42-inch C2 OLED this week, and Asus says it’s the first company to adapt a similarly-sized model into its own product. Asus hasn’t shared a release date or price for these monitors, but you know the usual disclaimer about OLEDs: don’t expect them to be cheap.

The PG42UQ, like the 48-inch model, has a 4K (3840 x 2160) display, an impressive 1,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio, a lightning-fast 0.1ms response time, a 120Hz refresh rate, 10-bit color with 98 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, and...

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The latest Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and G15 add a webcam

Sure, you could play Titanfall 2, but many newer games should run just fine here. | Asus

Asus has delivered some big upgrades to its ROG Zephyrus G14 and G15 laptops for 2022. These lines have already been beloved for great battery life, solid performance for gaming and creative work, and aggressive pricing. The most notable feature improvements for both laptops include the Windows Hello IR camera (both laptops previously omitted a webcam), while the G14, with its 14-inch display, has a 50 percent bigger trackpad, along with a jump to 16:10 aspect ratio displays from its previous 16:9 (the G15, which has a 15.6-inch display, is still 16:9).

That’s not all, though. The G14 features up to AMD’s new Ryzen 9 6900HS processor, paired with a Radeon RX 6800S graphics chip. This offers 105W of graphical power by taking advantage of...

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Asus’ ROG Flow Z13 is a powerful gaming tablet that can connect to an RTX 3080

Just playing co-op Spiritfarer while enjoying Asus-branded chips and soda. Hit me up on my Asus phone if you want to chill. | Asus

The iPad Pro is likely the most powerful gaming tablet you can currently buy — and likely the most popular — but Asus is announcing a Windows-based gaming tablet that may go toe-to-toe in terms of power but will vastly exceed Apple’s tablet in terms of game and accessory compatibility on day one.

The ROG Flow Z13 has been announced at CES 2022, and it’s a tablet with a 13.4-inch display and a kickstand. Impressively, Asus will offer configurations of the Z13 with Intel’s Core i9-12900H 45W processor and Nvidia’s RTX 3050 Ti with 40W of total graphics power — both of which are incredible achievements in a 12mm-thick tablet. The Z13 is essentially a high-end gaming laptop that’s been crammed into a much thinner form factor, complete with...

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China launches iPhone and Android apps for its digital currency

Liu Junfeng / Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images

China has rolled out a pilot version of an app that allows users to store and pay with digital yuan, also known as e-CNY, as reported by the South China Morning Post. And no, the digital yuan isn’t a cryptocurrency — it was developed by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to replace banknotes and coins; thus, it isn’t a decentralized form of payment, nor will it operate on the blockchain.

Although it might sound like we already pay with digital cash when we use a credit card or an online payment service like PayPal and Apple Pay, the digital yuan isn’t anything like that. e-CNY is essentially physical cash converted into a digital form, and it’s been in the works since 2014. According to CNBC, distribution of the digital currency will take...

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Qualcomm is expanding its automotive platforms with new Volvo, Honda, Renault deals

Qualcomm’s vision of a Digital Chassis vehicle | Image: Qualcomm

Qualcomm has announced several new expansions of its partnerships with major car companies to provide hardware and software platforms for connected vehicles at CES 2022, partnering with Volvo, Honda, and Renault to add more functionality to their upcoming cars.

Qualcomm already has a full suite of automotive platforms, which it collectively calls the Qualcomm Digital Chassis. The goal is to provide automakers with a variety of tools they can use to help make their cars more intelligent and more connected (although companies can pick and choose which of the platforms they want to use).

Those include:

• Snapdragon Ride, which provides driver assistance and automated driving technologies
• Snapdragon Cockpit, for in-car...

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