How to transfer playlists from Spotify to Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, or Tidal

If you’ve been following The Verge’s coverageof the Spotify / Joe Rogan / Neil Young / Joni Mitchell stories, you may have decided to change from Spotify to another music service — or maybe you want to move from one service to another for another reason. At any rate, you will find that none of the services offer a built-in way to move your playlists — the ones that you’ve spent months or years building up — to a different music app.

There are, however, at least four apps that will help you move your playlists if you want: FreeYourMusic, SongShift, Soundiiz, and Tune My Music.

I tried out all four with my own not-very-impressive Spotify playlists to see how well they worked. I have six personal playlists (including one starred and one...

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Give & Take

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole

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It’s the end of the Note as we know it

The Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra will likely be the last proper Note devices that Samsung releases. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Samsung’s first 2022 Galaxy Unpacked event hasn’t started yet, but we’ve already got a strong notion that the event spells the end of the Note series. We know this because Samsung has done everything except shout from the rooftops that the next S-series Ultra will absorb the Note and its built-in stylus. You can even go ahead and preorder it if you want because, truly, what is a phone launch these days? In any case, Samsung is making the right call for its business and its brand, even if it stings a little for the Note faithful.

The future of the Note looked dubious last year when rumors of its demise circulated, and Samsung said that the S21 series would offer S pen support. Early in 2021, a Samsung exec expressed doubts about shipping...

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Google’s 4K-ready Chromecast is back down to its lowest price

Several retailers are selling the Chromecast with Google TV for $39.99 instead of $49.99. | Image: The Verge

The Super Bowl is less than a week away, which means you only have a few more days to take advantage of the streaming device deals currently available (and receive your purchase on time). Right now, you can pick up what we consider to be the best streaming device on the market, the Chromecast with Google TV, at a discount. Normally $49.99, it’s on sale at Best Buy, Target, Adorama, and Walmart for $39.99, matching its lowest price to date.

Google’s latest Chromecast offers support for 4K content, Dolby Atmos sound with compatible content, and Dolby Vision HDR, as well as access to all the major streaming services. The streamer also makes it easy to find something to watch, with software that brings together recommendations from a variety...

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The Xbox Share button is getting more customizable thanks to controller remapping

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft will soon allow Xbox Series X / S owners to fully customize the Share button on their controllers. While you’ve been able to use the Xbox Share button to create screenshots or game clips, you’ll soon be able to map it to lots of Xbox features including controlling the TV volume, accessing search, or switching on Night Mode.

Xbox Insider testers in the Alpha and Skip-Ahead Alpha rings can now access a new controller firmware update that enables the new customization for the Xbox Share button. You can then remap the button for hold, press, and double tap to the following options:

• Open the Xbox guide
• Send a message
• Search
• Launch an app or game
• Play / pause media
• TV volume up, down, or mute
• View achievements, friends, or party
• A...

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The counterfeit NFT problem is only getting worse

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole

So artists are joining together to fight back

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‘NFTs are a scam,’ says indie game store Itch.io

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The world of online creators is increasingly divided on the subject of NFTs, but indie game store Itch.io has taken a firm and clear stance on the topic.

“A few have asked about our stance on NFTs,” the company tweeted this week. “NFTs are a scam. If you think they are legitimately useful for anything other than the exploitation of creators, financial scams, and the destruction of the planet [then] we ask that [you] please reevaluate your life choices.”

Itch.io’s strong stance is notable at a time when many organizations — from gaming companies to digital storefronts like Itch.io itself — are at least toying with the idea of integrating NFTs. GameStop recently announced plans to launch its own NFT marketplace while games giant Ubisoft...

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This custom Asus GPU keycap even comes with a trio of tiny spinning fans

Spin free little GPU.

If you can’t get your hands on a new GPU right now, you could at least have a miniature version sitting at your fingertips. As seen via Tom’s Hardware, a new custom keycap in the form of an Asus ROG Strix brand GPU is now on sale in China. It replaces the right-shift key on your keyboard and comes with three miniature spinning cooling fans (though, sadly, there are no tiny customizable LED lights).

It’s not the first novelty GPU keycap we’ve seen. Last year, a custom keycap resembling an NVIDIA RTX 3080 started doing the rounds, and became something of a talisman for gamers struggling to buy the real thing due to the ongoing chip shortage. (And which is now available to buy from places like AliExpress for around $40.)

These keycaps are...

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Peloton is cutting 20 percent of workforce as CEO steps down

Training on the Peloton Tread. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Peloton is replacing its CEO and losing about 2,800 jobs among other cost-cutting measures, according to an interview the company gave to the Wall Street Journal. The job cuts amount to around 20 percent of the former pandemic darling’s corporate workforce, but will not affect the company’s lauded roster of instructors or fitness content.

Peloton hopes the changes will boost profitability after waning demand for its connected fitness equipment have made it an acquisition target, with Amazon, Nike, and even Apple named as possible suitors. The company, once valued at $50 billion, plunged to around $8 billion last week before takeover rumors began to swirl.

Once valued at $50 billion, it plunged to around $8 billion last week

Peloton...

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UK porn sites could verify age using credit cards or passports in revived plans

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The UK government has revived plans for porn sites to verify users’ ages — an initiative that was scrapped in 2019 due to technical challenges and criticism from privacy campaigners.

The new rules will be part of the UK’s Online Safety Bill, a mammoth piece of legislation intended to reset how digital platforms are governed in the country. The bill originally stipulated that only porn sites that allowed user-generated content (like OnlyFans) would have to verify users’ ages, but this has now been updated to cover all pornography sites.

“Parents deserve peace of mind that their children are protected online from seeing things no child should see,” said digital minister Chris Philp in a statement. “We are now strengthening the online...

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Galaxy S22: What to expect from Samsung’s February Unpacked

A leaked image, apparently of Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra. | Image: evleaks (Twitter)

The Galaxy S22 will likely be the main event, but what else could there be?

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Epic won’t update Fortnite to run on the Steam Deck

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Epic Games doesn’t plan to update Fortnite so that it runs on SteamOS, according to CEO Tim Sweeney, meaning owners of the upcoming Valve Steam Deck will likely have to install Windows to play the popular battle-royale game.

In a series of tweets, Sweeney said that the company doesn’t feel confident about its ability to combat cheating in Fortnite when running on custom kernel configurations. Fortnite isn’t on the Steam store in any case, but Sweeney’s comments rule out a Linux version that could run on the Steam Deck.

The Steam Deck uses Valve’s SteamOS, which is based on Linux, and makes use of a compatibility layer called Proton so that Steam games compiled for Windows can run on it. Epic has made its anti-cheat software, Easy...

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The best noise-canceling headphone deals

Sennheiser’s Momentum Wireless 3 headphones are just $241 instead of $399.99 at Adorama.

With more people working from home than they used to, owning a good pair of noise-canceling headphones has become more appealing than ever. However, they can be expensive and difficult to shop for due to the range of available models, many of which cater to different lifestyles and priorities. Some are better suited for long-haul flights, while others are ideal for multitasking and marathon listening sessions.

That’s why we’ve curated this list of the best deals on noise-canceling headphones. Here, you’ll find sales on all kinds of on-ear and over-ear headphones, all of which are designed to eliminate outside noise but come with their own strengths and weaknesses. And if you want to do even more research before making a buying decision,...

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After pulling songs, Neil Young is telling Spotify employees to quit their jobs

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Neil Young has told Spotify workers that the company’s CEO — not Joe Rogan — is the real problem, and is urging them to “get out of that place before it eats up your soul” (via Variety). This comes after Young pulled his music from Spotify, claiming the company was “spreading fake information about vaccines” through Joe Rogan’s podcast.

Young’s recent fight against Spotify initially targeted Rogan’s podcast, but now he seems to be blaming Spotify’s leadership instead. In an open letter posted to his website on Monday, Young says that CEO Daniel Ek is all about “numbers - not art, not creativity.”

Neil urges people to “ditch the misinformers” in his letter.

Young ended Monday’s letter by urging Spotify employees to “be free and take the...

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Read Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 press release two days before it’s live

Samsung is expected to announce three new tablet models soon, and leaker Evan Blass has shared a lot of information about them. | Image: Evan Blass via his Substack

We’re less than two days out from Samsung’s next Unpacked event. Ahead of the big show, leaked renders, pictures, and even a press release have revealed just about everything regarding the unannounced Galaxy Tab S8 lineup, which is the first to include a high-end “Ultra” model. Not only that, that Tab S8 Ultra has already been photographed in the wild.

Let’s start first with that press release. Serial leaker Evan Blass shared images of what looks to be Samsung’s entire press release about the Tab S8 lineup from his Leakland Substack, and the release corroborates other rumors about Samsung’s expected three new tablet models: the Galaxy Tab S8, S8 Plus, and S8 Ultra. Just a few highlights from the release: the tablets will apparently...

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Nvidia’s huge Arm deal has reportedly just been scrapped

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Graphics giant Nvidia will no longer be spending $40 billion to acquire Arm, according to three anonymous sources “with direct knowledge of the transaction” who spoke to the Financial Times_._Instead, Nvidia will likely be spending up to $1.25 billion to Arm owner SoftBank for failing to go through with the transaction, while Arm CEO Simon Segars will reportedly lose his job in favor of Rene Hass (who coincidentally used to run Nvidia’s own Arm business many years ago).

The deal, announced in September 2020, would have been one of the industry’s biggest ever, giving GPU manufacturer Nvidia control of the company whose architecture and intellectual property is key to every practically every smartphone and tablet chip ever made, as well as...

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Amazon’s new Super Bowl ad features a creepy mind-reading Alexa

Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost surprised by Alexa’s response in Amazon’s 2022 Super Bowl ad | Image: Amazon

Amazon’s Super Bowl LVI ad features real-life celebrity couple Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost, imagining how a mind-reading Alexa could wreck their relationship by revealing unfiltered thoughts to each other.

The ad starts at the couple’s home with Jost calling Johansson over to check out a cool smart home command for the big game. “Alexa, it’s game day,” Jost confidently calls out, and the home assistant turns on the TV with football playing on Amazon’s Prime video service, closes the blinds, and, to their surprise, specifically chills the rosé bottles in a smart wine cooler. “It’s like she can read your mind,” they say together.

This last action of cooling the bottles is based on a real feature of Alexa called Hunches, where Amazon...

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CoinDesk fixes a CMS leak that may have been used for crypto insider trading

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

CoinDesk has fixed an exploit that allowed anyone to view unpublished headlines, create drafts, and edit articles on the website. In a post on its site, CoinDesk says the vulnerability could’ve let “unidentified actors” view non-public information, allowing them to make trading decisions they could profit from.

“The issue is now fixed and added safeguards have been put in place”

“The exploit, which was brought to CoinDesk’s attention by a white-hat hacker, may have allowed unidentified actors to profit from nonpublic information by making trades ahead of the publication of at least one article,” Kevin Worth, CoinDesk’s chief content officer writes in the post. “The issue is now fixed and added safeguards have been put in place.”

While...

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Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 will track your sleep with cartoon animals

Tag yourself, I’m nervous penguin. | Image: Samsung

Samsung isn’t expected to launch a new smartwatch at its Unpacked event this week, but it hasn’t forgotten the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. Starting February 9th, both smartwatches will support new health and fitness features like custom interval training, sleep coaching, and the ability to set body composition goals. Oh, and it’s also promising better app compatibility for the new Wear OS platform — but you’re still going to have to wait a bit for Google Assistant.

Sleep tracking has been an area where Samsung’s lagged a bit compared to more fitness-oriented trackers. On that front, Samsung is adding a sleep coaching program that seems to take some inspiration from chronotypes — in a nutshell, it’s basically what your...

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Signal now lets you change your number without wiping out your conversation threads

Signal is rolling out a new feature that allows users to switch phone numbers on their account without losing all their existing chats, groups, and messages within the secure messaging app.

In order to add a new number, you’ll still need to be able to get Signal messages sent to your old number. Then, head over to the new “Change Phone Number” option under Signal’s account settings, where you’ll be asked to enter in both the old and new numbers. Lastly, Signal will guide you through the usual registration process for setting up a phone number with one of its accounts.

Once you’ve successfully updated your number, contacts you’ve been chatting with in Signal will see a new message inline in your thread that notes that...

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FuboTV is trying to sign people up for three-month plans, just in time for Super Bowl LVI

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

FuboTV is temporarily testing a new quarterly format that lumps together three months at once rather than the monthly subscriptions it usually offers. The change conveniently arrives just in time for two of the biggest sports events of the year: Super Bowl LVI and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The company told The Verge that the temporary pricing, earlier spotted by The TV Answer Man, launched a few days ago and is expected to conclude on February 17th. The test does not affect existing subscribers and isn’t available on every platform, but FuboTV spokesperson Jennifer Press says most of FuboTV’s new subscribers will be prompted to subscribe to the quarterly plans.

Most of FuboTV’s platforms are offering the new plans during the...

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Watch the first Steam Deck hardware reviews — nearly two hours of impressions

Image: Valve

Valve will finally start selling the $400 Steam Deck gaming handheld on February 25th, after a two-month delay — but you won’t have to wait another minute to see hardware in reviewers’ hands. GamersNexus, Linus Tech Tips, and The Phawx have now published extensive impressions to YouTube with the final version of the Steam Deck, giving us their thoughts on ergonomics, performance, battery life, and more.

While you shouldn’t take these as final Steam Deck reviews — Valve only let them test specific games, and they had to stay away from the underlying OS — I’m pretty sure you’ll get useful info from each of them if you’re on the fence.

For instance, none of them are seeing quite the battery life that Valve’s been promising, which is kind...

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PSA: buy Horizon Forbidden West’s PS4 version to play it on PS5 for cheaper

Get Sony’s ambitious new game for cheaper. | Image: Sony

Horizon Forbidden West’s February 18th release is almost here, but if you’re planning on getting a digital version of the game directly from Sony to play on your PS5, you should hold up just a second before pushing the buy button. While you might see listings for $69.99, such as on this landing page, you should know that the standard edition of the PS4 version of Horizon Forbidden West is $10 cheaper and has a free upgrade to the PS5 version.

In September, Sony announced that the game wouldn’t have an upgrade path from PS4 to PS5, despite originally promising a free upgrade, and Sony quickly pivoted in response to fan outcry. PlayStation boss Jim Ryan stated it plainly on the PlayStation Blog: “Players who purchase Horizon Forbidden West...

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Peter Thiel is stepping down from Meta’s board

Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images

Venture capitalist Peter Thiel is stepping down from his long-standing role on Meta’s (formerly Facebook’s) board of directors. The New York Times reported the news on Monday, and Meta confirmed it in a press release, saying Thiel would continue to serve until the company’s annual stockholder meeting.

The Times cites an unnamed source who says Thiel is retiring in order to focus on November’s US midterm elections. Thiel didn’t elaborate on his reasons for leaving in an official statement, nor did Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “Peter has been a valuable member of our board and I’m deeply grateful for everything he has done for our company,” said Zuckerberg. “Peter is truly an original thinker who you can bring your hardest problems and get...

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The Dropout’s trailer digs deep into Elizabeth Holmes’ deception

Hulu

The Dropout, Hulu’s upcoming miniseries based on ABC’s podcast by the same name about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, has the unenviable task of dramatizing an already out-there story revolving around a rather unbelievable person and getting audiences to take it seriously. But judging from the serious first trailer, _The Dropout_might just be able to pull it off.

Thetrailer traces the by-now-familiar arc of Holmes’ (Amanda Seyfried) story that began with her dropping out of Stanford to start what would eventually become Theranos and more recently saw the disgraced inventor being found guilty for defrauding Theranos’ investors. Guided by ambition and a belief that she could will her visions into existence, Holmes crosses...

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WarnerMedia is being sued for releasing The Matrix Resurrections on HBO Max

Warner Bros.

Another major studio is facing a lawsuit over the day-and-date releases of a highly anticipated title. Village Roadshow Films, which co-produced The Matrix Resurrections with Warner Bros., is suing WarnerMedia for releasing the film on HBO Max the same day it debuted in theaters.

The lawsuit, filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that WarnerMedia “rushed” the release of The Matrix Resurrections from 2022 to 2021 so that the film could debut as part of an internally coded initiative known as “Project Popcorn.” This release model would trade box office revenue for streaming subscriptions, depriving partners of revenue tied to the film’s performance.

Throughout 2021, WarnerMedia opted to release its full slate of films s...

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Google’s February update fixes annoying Pixel 6 keyboard and camera bugs

The Pixel 6 is getting a few tweaks, and earlier phones get one or two. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales

Google is rolling out its February update for Pixel phones running Android 12, which is meant to fix a few camera, Bluetooth, and keyboard issues. The company says that some users will start getting the update today and that the “rollout will continue over the next week in phases depending on carrier and device.” Google’s previous update process was a bit of a fiasco for Pixel 6 owners, so hopefully, this one ends up being more routine.

If you’ve got one of Google’s latest phones, the Pixel 6 or 6 Pro, this update contains:

• A fix for the bug that could cause your phone to reboot while using the camera
• Fixes for audio playback disconnecting with certain Bluetooth devices
• Improvements to Bluetooth audio quality for certain codecs
• A fix...

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Frontier’s acquisition of Spirit means there’s one fewer cheap airline

Frontier and Spirit claim they will become “America’s most competitive ultra-low fare airline.” | Photo by Derek Davis/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

Frontier Airlines plans to acquire Spirit Airlines, both of which are known for offering cheaper flights than other airlines, in a deal worth $6.6 billion, the two companies announced Monday. While Frontier and Spirit claim they will become “America’s most competitive ultra-low fare airline,” the acquisition will ultimately remove one airline from the market and potentially create less competition for more affordable flights.

That said, it’s not as if the new company will be small potatoes — the combined Frontier / Spirit airline will be the fifth-largest airline in the US, according to CNBC — so perhaps the new company will be able to better compete against bigger rivals with lower prices. But the wireless market hasn’t dramatically...

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IRS will end use of facial recognition after widespread privacy concerns

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Internal Revenue Service has announced that it will transition away from the use of third-party facial recognition services for the verification of taxpayers’ identities, effectively ending a contract with facial recognition company ID.me that had received widespread criticism.

The announcement was made in a press release published by the agency today. It follows weeks of intense public criticism after the agency announced in January that by summer 2022, ID.me would be the only way for taxpayers to log in when managing tax accounts online, requiring that all users upload a selfie to access their account at irs.gov.

“The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously, and we understand the concerns that have been raised,” said IRS...

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Spotify is more confused about Joe Rogan than ever

Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images

The Joe Rogan situation at Spotify keeps getting more confused.

As the situation has evolved, so has the company’s treatment of its star podcaster. One day, it says it’s a hands-off platform that treats all creators the same. The next, it admits to having backdoor discussions with Rogan and pulling episodes due to outrage over language used on the show. The whiplash undermines Spotify’s narrative about how it interacts with Rogan and other podcasters and offers a window into the delicate relationship between Rogan and the company that depends on him to stay differentiated. Let’s dive into where things aren’t lining up.

Spotify has reiterated multiple times now that it considers itself merely a platform for podcasts — despite paying...

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