The Verge
Becca’s ‘buds’ beat out other words
Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon
Buds, buds, buds, buds!
The VergeThe VergeBuy Nothing exploded on Facebook — now it wants a platform of its own
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
A new app hopes to be an independent platform for the wildly popular Buy Nothing groups
The VergeHow to mute a word or phrase on Twitter
In February 2020, I found that that it was possible not only to mute conversations or other accounts on Twitter, but (courtesy of a tweet by @nonprofWHIT ) that you could also mute a specific word. And you could do it straight from a tweet.
Now, Twitter has announced it is expanding this feature so that when you mute a word or phrase, it will not appear in your Explore tab or Event-based notifications.
Here’s how you go about it.
Mute words or phrases on an iPhone
If you’re using the Twitter app on an iPhone, it’s a quick and easy process:
- Long-press on the word you want to mute.
- Choose “Mute” from the pop-up menu.
- You’ll be sent to a page where you can choose from where you want to mute the word (your timeline or notifications), from...
The VergeMeta’s real antitrust problems are only beginning
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Just over 13 months ago, the Trump-era Federal Trade Commission sought to break up Facebook. The lawsuit was a long time in coming — it sought to unwind acquisitions that were made in 2012 (Instagram) and 2014 (WhatsApp) — and, in its initial form, was laughed out of court. The FTC had not plausibly demonstrated that Facebook had a monopoly, Judge James E. Boasberg ruled at the time, and thus could not proceed.
Still, Boasberg offered the FTC a second chance: re-file the case with more evidence to support its central claim, and perhaps it could go to trial. In the intervening months, President Trump had been dislodged from office, and antitrust crusader Lina Khan took the reins at the FTC. To no one’s surprise, she took Boasberg up on...
The VergeThe Verge guide to working from home
Working from home is normal now. For some of us, it has become a permanent change.
Thankfully, in these days of videoconferencing, texting, and file-sharing, it has been possible for many of us to move to home desks and offices and thrive that way. It helps that remote working was already a part of many people’s lives before COVID-19 appeared. But that doesn’t mean it’s been easy. It’s been an adjustment for many of us here at The Verge, too.
Now we’re taking the tech expertise of our staff, and the experience of our writers and editors, to put together our best tips and advice on working from home. For example, we give advice on looking for the best monitor, choosing a business-level file-sharing service, and buying a printer. (Yes,...
The VergeHow to choose the right printer for your home office
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
The need for a home / office printer has increased as more of us are working or schooling from home. You could be a parent who needs to print out workbooks for your child. Or you may find that it’s easier to make notes on a business report using a pen or pencil rather than a keyboard. Or you’ve suddenly discovered that a government office is demanding that you snail mail a form to them. Or you’re tired of trekking to your local office supply store for printing out occasional forms.
Whatever the reason, if you find yourself in need of a printer, it’s not difficult to find one. Printers have not changed a lot over the past few years; they’ve just become more efficient and less expensive. You will still be choosing between laser and inkjet...
The VergeMicrosoft Teams’ Walkie Talkie feature now available to everyone
Microsoft is making its Walkie Talkie feature of Microsoft Teams generally available to all users of its communications app today. Walkie Talkie lets Microsoft Teams users turn smartphones or tablets into a walkie-talkie that works over cellular data or Wi-FI. It was originally announced two years ago, and has been in preview until today.
Microsoft has primarily pitched this at frontline workers, employees who are customer-facing and run day-to-day operations inside companies. The software maker is even teaming up with Zebra Technologies to add a dedicated push-to-talk button on a range of Zebra mobile devices. These devices are used widely by frontline workers, the employees that have helped steer the world through the ongoing pandemic.
...
The VergeKeychron Q2 review: a great keyboard, now more compact
A great choice for the space constrained
The VergeNuro’s new delivery robot will include external airbags for pedestrians
Nuro, the autonomous delivery company, announced its third-generation autonomous vehicle with a host of new improvements, including a bizarre-looking external airbag for pedestrians.
The company, which has a fleet of driverless delivery pods scurrying through the Southwest, says its new vehicle will have twice the cargo space as the second-generation R2 robot. It will also include modular inserts and new temperature-controlled compartments to keep food warm or cold, depending on the need.
twice the cargo space
Nuro, which is valued at $8.6 billion, was founded in 2016 by Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, two veterans of the Google self-driving car project that would go on to become Waymo. It is one of the few companies to be operating...
The VergeOur 14 favorite gadgets and hacks for working at home
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
From mesh networks to lap desks, here’s how The Verge’s staffers create their workspaces
The VergeHow to make your home office a more pleasant place to work
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
This pandemic has more people working from home than ever before, but it’s not all lollipops and daffodils. While there may have been some early excitement about not commuting or being breathed on by Chet the Xerox Tech, an actual home office can be downright depressing and / or uncomfortable. I should know.
As someone who has freelanced for the great majority of the last decade, I’ve worked from home nearly that whole time — even when home was a camper van for more than five of those years. Yes, that was a tight space for a home office, but those constraints led me to refine my WFH game to keep my body healthy and my mind at least partially sane. Here are some of the tips (and items) that made the biggest difference for me.
Desk setup
I...
The VergeLogitech’s new stream light is an affordable, convenient alternative to Elgato
Logitech’s Litra Glow is a small LED light that’s designed to illuminate you while you’re sitting at your desk. It’s designed primarily with content creators like Twitch streamers or YouTubers in mind, but should work just as well for smartening you up on a Zoom call. In other words, it looks like a competitor to Elgato’s $129.99 Key Light Air, but at a more affordable $59.99 (€69) price point.
It’s not an identical accessory. Rather than having a large desk stand, the Litra Glow comes with a small mount to balance it on top of a monitor. It looks like it might be less versatile than the Key Light Air’s stand, but it could be more convenient if you want to reduce desk clutter. Power is provided via a USB-C port on its back.
...
The VergeLime launches its new electric bikes in Washington, DC as part of $50 million blitz
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge
Lime’s next-generation electric bikes are finally making their North American debut. Nearly a year after announcing its plans to spend $50 million on a major e-bike expansion, the San Francisco-based micromobility company says it will deploy the first wave of new bikes in Washington, DC, starting this week.
Lime says the new bikes are significantly improved over the ones currently in service, which the company inherited from Jump after acquiring the bike-share company from Uber in 2020. The $50 million investment will largely go toward designing, manufacturing, and assembling its next-generation bike, which start rolling out this year. The new model comes with a more powerful 350-watt motor and a swappable battery capable of up to 25...
The VergeWyze’s security camera pay-what-you-want subscription accepts $0
A Wyze security camera. | Image: Wyze
Wyze has officially launched a new pay-what-you-want subscription tier for its lineup of home security cameras called Cam Plus Lite. In a forum post, the company explains that Cam Plus Lite includes Person Detection, which alerts you when it detects a human being rather than just motion, as well as cloud recordings that are limited to 12 seconds in length, with a 5 minute cooldown period between them. Users can choose to pay as little as $0 a month for the new tier.
Wyze also says it’s removing the 32GB microSD card size limit on its cameras, and is adding new rewind and skip buttons to make it easier to scrub through locally-saved footage.
Regarding subscriptions, Wyze started experimenting with its pay-what-you-want model for its...
The VergePCIe 6.0 is coming for the speedy SSDs and GPUs of the future
PCI Express 5.0 has only just started arriving on the consumer side, but the specification for PCIe 6.0 has just been finalized. The PCI Special Interest Group has published the final specs for PCIe 6.0, doubling the bandwidth over the 5.0 version up to a theoretical maximum bidirectional speed of 256GBps on an x16 slot (128GBps in a single direction).
The first super fast PCIe 5.0 SSDs appeared just before this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, promising read speeds of up to 14GBps. That was already twice what we’re used to seeing with PCIe 4.0 drives, and with the doubling PCIe 6.0 brings we’d expect to see SSDs offer up to 28GBps in the future.
Image: PCI Special Interest Group
PCIe 6.0 vs. existing PCIe...
The VergeThe latest phishing scam to watch out for: fraudulent QR codes on parking meters
Photo by Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images
Police in several US cities are warning residents not to pay for their parking using QR codes stuck to parking meters. That’s because these codes have been placed there by scammers, who are using them to direct people to fraudulent sites that capture their payment details.
Warnings have been issued by law enforcement in Austin and San Antonio over the holiday period (we spotted the story via The Overspill newsletter). Police say they discovered a number of stickers with illicit codes appearing on parking meters, while a report by local news site Click2Houston shows how one of the fraudulent codes directed people to a site promising “quick pay parking.” (The site now appears to be offline.)
Police are advising anyone who inadvertently...
The VergeThe Wordle clones have disappeared from the App Store
Earlier today, the App Store was overflowing with games ripping off a viral web app. | Illustration by William Joel / The Verge
Has Apple taken action against apps that cloned the popular web game Wordle? They have now disappeared from the App Store, after severalpublications (including The Verge) called out a flood of copycats so blatant as to be named “Wordle” and that featured the same gameplay and UI, each taking advantage of the fact that developer Josh Wardle didn’t create an Apple app of his own. While we’re still seeing a few clones on the App Store, they don’t use the Wordle name.
The clone apps had a spotlight shone on them today, when one developer started bragging about how many downloads his version of Wordle was getting. Following some intense backlash from the community, he set his account to private, but people had already started finding many...
The VergeVerizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile say they’re not blocking Apple’s iCloud Private Relay
T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T — the three biggest US cellular carriers — have all confirmed to The Verge that they aren’t blocking Apple’s new iCloud Private Relay feature, following reports that some customers were having issueswith the VPN-like feature.
AT&T and Verizon straight-up say they’re not blocking the feature from functioning. Verizon spokesperson George L. Koroneos confirms that Private Relay works on both cellular and Fios internet connections, and AT&T spokesperson Seth Bloom says the carrier’s policy is not to block Private Relay.
T-Mobile’s situation is a little more complex: most customers shouldn’t have any issues with iCloud Private Relay. But those who use content filtering services (like the carrier’s Family...
The VergeThe App Store clones are here to profit off Wordle’s success
Copies of the popular web app have made it past App Review.
Wordle, the word-guessing puzzle game that’s taken over our Twitter timelines, doesn’t currently have an official app. That may come as a surprise to anyone who’s searched for it on the App Store, though — doing so will show you several blatant unofficial copies, which use the same name and mechanics as the original, which was made by Josh Wardle.
Most people who’ve been online recently will have had at least some exposure to Wordle if they haven’t been playing it themselves (The Guardian reports it has 2 million daily players). It’s a simple concept but done well: each day, you go to the Wordle website, where you’re given five chances to guess a five-letter word. The game gives you feedback about what letters you’ve put in the right...
The VergeThe best deals on 4K TVs
The 48-inch configuration of the LG A1 OLED is now available for just shy of $800 at Amazon. | Image: LG
With CES 2022 having just wrapped, the future looks bright if you’re looking to nab a great TV deal. At CES, many manufacturers — including LG and Samsung — announced new versions of some of their most popular models, ranging from The Frame to LG’s new C2 lineup. That means we’re probably going to start seeing prices fall on last-gen models as newer models become available throughout the rest of the year.
For those looking to pick up a solid deal before the new models arrive, however, fret not, as retailers will also likely be discounting TVs in the run up to the Super Bowl next month. And if you need one now, there are currently a lot of discounted 4K TVs available to choose from, complete with a wide variety of prices and performance...
The VergeIt fills me with glee that Canon printers now think Canon’s own toner is fake
Sadly, not for consumer inkjets like this one.
Printers are the worst. They’re unreliable, they guzzle reportedly $12,000-a-gallon ink, and their manufacturers have been known to use dirty tricks, scare tactics, and DRM to _strongly encourage_you to buy cartridges exclusively from them. But Canon is now getting a taste of its own medicine. Some of Canon’s own toner cartridges are now being detected as fakes — and they’re forcing the company to teach customers how to bypass its own DRM (via Techdirt).
According to Canon’s own support website (Europe, Germany), the company is “currently facing challenges in sourcing certain electronic components that are used in our consumables for our multifunction printers.” In other words, Canon’s been hit by the great chip shortage, too — only the...
The VergeCalifornia budget aims to clear up port congestion and pollution
Southern California Ports Work Through Night To Help Ease Congestion | Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s newly proposed budget includes plans to tackle pollution choking portside communities while also expanding the state’s capacity to accommodate the nation’s growing hunger for imported consumer goods. The proposal comes as pandemic-fueled supply chain problems have created a crisis at California’s ports, thrusting them into the national spotlight.
The draft budget released yesterday for the 2022–23 fiscal year proposes investing $2.3 billion in the state’s congested ports. That includes $875 million for zero-emission vehicles and infrastructure — with a majority earmarked for trucks. It also includes $1.2 billion for “port-related” projects, like rail yard expansions, meant to increase the flow of goods...
The VergeHere are the best Amazon Echo deals right now
The Echo Show 5 (left), Echo Show 8 (middle), and the Echo Show (right). | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge
When it comes to smart speakers, Amazon has a slew of voice-enabled Echo devices to choose from, one for practically every occasion. Maybe you want to add Alexa to a spare bedroom, for example, or you’re looking for an Echo device that will allow you to easily manage your lighting or other smart home devices. Regardless of the reason, this is one of the best times of the year to pick up an Echo device, even if Black and Cyber Monday are behind us. Below, we’ve curated a list of some of the very best Amazon Echo deals available right now, from the last-gen Echo Dot to Amazon’s latest Echo Show 10.
The best Echo Dot deals
Last year, Amazon released the fourth generation of the Echo Dot, which looks more like a sphere than an actual dot....
The VergeJudge says the FTC’s Meta monopoly lawsuit can go forward
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
A federal judge says the US Federal Trade Commission can proceed with an antitrust lawsuit against Meta, formerly known as Facebook, after dismissing the suit last year.
District of Columbia Judge James Boasberg said in an opinion released today that the FTC’s first complaint had “stumbled out of the starting blocks.” But a revised version, Boasberg said, makes the same arguments with facts that are “far more robust and detailed than before.” As a result, he’s denying Meta’s motion to dismiss and allowing the case to proceed, although he states that the agency “may well face a tall task down the road in proving its allegations.”
The FTC may still face a “tall task” proving its claims
Throughout the case, the FTC has alleged that Meta...
The VergeApple’s $19 polishing cloth is back in stock online
You can buy the cloth once again. | Image: Apple
Apple’s $19 polishing cloth is back in stock at the company’s online store, as spotted by 9to5Mac. The very expensive piece of cloth was first introduced following Apple’s October event, but it was quickly backordered — according to MacRumors, it was “impossible” to get one before the holidays — so if you’ve been waiting to get one, now’s your chance.
“Made with soft, nonabrasive material, the Polishing Cloth cleans any Apple display, including nano-texture glass, safely and effectively,” reads Apple’s description of the cloth on its product page. Sounds perfect if you need to clean a Pro Display XDR with the nano-texture glass screen. That already costs $5,999 — the nano-texture glass is a $1,000 upgrade from the standard model — and if...
The VergeWhite House says that insurers are required to reimburse or pay for at-home COVID tests
Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
At a press conference on Monday, the Biden administration announced a policy that will require insurance companies to reimburse up to eight over-the-counter at-home COVID-19 tests for their customers beginning January 15th, as first reported by the Associated Press. The administration said in a Twitter thread that the “update” is a part of a larger plan to “increase access to COVID-19 testing.”
Under the new policy, insured Americans will either have to purchase the test kits under their insurance or submit receipts to their insurance for reimbursement. A family of four under the same plan would be eligible to be reimbursed for up to eight COVID tests each, totaling 32 tests per month. The plan will also require consumers wanting...
The VergeThe excellent Beats Fit Pro earbuds are coming to many more countries on January 28th
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Beats’ best earbuds yet, the Beats Fit Pro, were only available in the United States immediately upon their release a few months ago. Apple then launched the earbuds in China, but now they’re set to become much more widely available on January 28th. That’s when the Beats Fit Pro will launch across Canada, Europe, and Japan.
According to a tweet from the Apple-owned brand, preorders for the “worldwide” release will begin on January 24th before the buds hit shelves on the 28th. The Beats Fit Pro include flexible wingtips that help them (comfortably) stay anchored in your ears without coming loose — even during exercise.
According to Engadget, in Europe the Beats Fit Pro will be priced at £200 / €230; in Canada they’ll cost $250 CAD; and...
The VergeBest 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
The VergeA ransomware attack took a New Mexico jail offline, leaving inmates in lockdown
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
A ransomware attack last week has left an Albuquerque area jail without access to its camera feeds and rendered automatic door mechanisms unusable. Inmates have been confined to their cells as a result, while technicians struggled to bring systems back online.
As first reported by the Albuquerque Journal, visitor access to the Metropolitan Detention Center was completely suspended as the jail was put into lockdown. All internet services at the jail were also knocked offline, leaving staff unable to look up inmate records.
All county internet services at the jail were also knocked offline, leaving staff unable to look up inmate records
Based on the lack of camera coverage, all inmates within the facility were placed on lockdown from the...
The VergeAmazon will redo Bessemer union election on February 4th
The NLRB said Amazon broke labor laws in the original election. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
The second union election at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama will begin on February 4th, according to a notice posted Tuesday by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which you can read below. The election is a redo of the one that was carried out in 2021, the results of which were declared invalid by the regulatory agency after reports that Amazon had broken labor laws during the union drive.
The election will be carried out almost a year after workers originally voted on whether to unionize Amazon’s BHM1 facility. The union lost that election nearly two-to-one but disputed the results, taking issue with a mailbox that employees feared Amazon had access to. The mailbox was installed by the USPS, at Amazon’s request, and at...