Amazon’s incredibly popular Lost Ark MMO is ‘at capacity’ in central Europe

First_Final Fantasy XIV, now_Lost Ark_._ | Image: Smilegate

The free-to-play MMO _Lost Ark_has had a huge debut in the West, hitting the second-most concurrent players in Steam history just 24 hours after its February 11th release. Unfortunately, that popularity has meant that players in Europe have had to wait in long queues to play, though developer Smilegate and the game’s Western publisher, Amazon Games, are working to try and fix things.

The long queues were an issue for the Europe Central server soon after launch, and the developers quickly promised to implement a new Europe West server to give players another place to play. While that Europe West server is now active, “the Europe Central region is at capacity and unfortunately there is no way to increase the number of players per world in...

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Crypto exchange FTX is launching a gaming unit to drive token adoption

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Crypto exchange FTX is launching a new team focused on driving cryptocurrency and non-fungible token (or NFT) adoption in the gaming world, according to a Bloomberg report.

The initial offering from the new gaming unit will reportedly be a “crypto as a service” platform through which game publishers can launch tokens and provide support for in-game NFTs.

“We are launching FTX Gaming because we see games as an exciting use case for crypto,” an FTX spokesperson told Bloomberg via email. “There are 2 billion+ gamers in the world who have played with and collected digital items, and can now also own them.”

The new gaming-focused team from FTX is a sign of the continued push to bring blockchain-based products into the gaming space, as...

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Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro review: feature-packed buds

Anker continues to impress on value

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The US Copyright Office says an AI can’t copyright its art

Steven Thaler and/or Creativity Machine

The US Copyright Office has rejected a request to let an AI copyright a work of art. Last week, a three-person board reviewed a 2019 ruling against Steven Thaler, who tried to copyright a picture on behalf of an algorithm he dubbed Creativity Machine. The board found that Thaler’s AI-created image didn’t include an element of “human authorship” — a necessary standard, it said, for protection.

Creativity Machine’s work, seen above, is named “A Recent Entrance to Paradise.” It’s part of a series Thaler has described as a “simulated near-death experience” in which an algorithm reprocesses pictures to create hallucinatory images and a fictional narrative about the afterlife. Crucially, the AI is supposed to do this with extremely minimal...

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Final Fantasy XIV is resuming free trials on February 22nd after a two month hiatus

Image: Square Enix

Final Fantasy XIV is finally getting its free trial back on February 22nd, over two months after Square Enix stopped offering it to reduce player load after the incredibly popularEndwalker expansion. The news comes from FFXIV’s latest Letter from the Producer Livestream from director and producer Naoki Yoshida that took place over the weekend, via NME.

Final Fantasy XIV_has a generous free trial option for new players, allowing them to play the entirety of the base_A Realm Reborn release and the Heavensward expansion for as long as they’d like. Square Enix’s enthusiastic social media hype for the free trial has even become a meme in its own right.

Have you tried the expanded Free Trial of our critically acclaimed MMORPG #FFXIV?

You...

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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review: notably unique

A worthy Note successor that stands alone

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Twitter might be testing a way to let you untag yourself from threads

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Twitter might be testing an escape hatch for users who don’t want to be part of a thread. On Friday, writer and researcher Jane Manchun Wong tweeted an apparent screenshot of a new “leave this conversation” feature. As described in the screenshot, the feature would untag your username from a Twitter conversation, prevent people from mentioning you in the conversation again, and stop you from receiving notifications about it. (You can still see the thread.)

The feature looks different from “mute this conversation,” an existing option that turns off notifications for a thread you’re mentioned in. According to a followup tweet, leaving the conversation will make your Twitter handle appear as plain text in the tweet where you’re mentioned,...

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Trump’s new social media app launches on iOS

Truth Social’s listing in the App Store. | Screenshot: Apple.com

Truth Social, a social media network developed by former president Donald Trump’s new media company, is now live on the iOS App Store in the US. Reuters reports that the iOS app was available to download shortly before midnight, eastern time, prior to Presidents Day on February 21st.

The service appears to be closely modeled on Twitter, which was previously Trump’s preferred social media platform. The former president was banned from the platform in early 2021 after Twitter said he was inciting violence in the wake of the storming of the US Capitol building.

Image: Truth Social / App Store

An image included on Truth Social’s App Store listing.

As of this writing, Truth Social’s website is loading...

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Go read this report on a fake company that tricked real people into working for it

Madbird claimed to be a buzzy London-based design agency. | Image: BBC News

BBC News has just published an investigation into Madbird, a supposedly hip design agency led by a charismatic social media influencer called Ali Ayad. But while the company had dozens of real employees across the world, the BBC reports that much of its existence was faked, and used to lure real people into working for months for no pay in the hope of eventually making money after landing big projects.

It’s a remarkable story, not least because of the lengths the company’s founder went to create the illusion of a buzzy and successful London-based design agency. Fake employees reportedly bulked out the company’s Zoom calls, and senior employees listed on the company’s website didn’t appear to work at Madbird at all. Even the photos the...

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YouTube adds TikTok-style live rings to show when a channel is streaming

A live ring in action. | Screenshot: YouTube

YouTube is adding a new indicator to show when a channel is live streaming on the platform, its chief product officer Neal Mohan has announced on Twitter. It consists of showing a ring with the word “Live” on it around a channel’s profile picture when they’re live streaming, which you can tap to jump straight into the live broadcast. The feature should make it easier to find currently live content as you browse YouTube.

If the feature sounds familiar, it might be because it’s already used on a couple of other services. TikTok uses a similar pulsing ring effect on a channel’s profile picture if they’re live streaming when you scroll past their video in your feed. Instagram also shows a colorful ring around the profile pictures of live...

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You can now drill the best wireless charging AirPower alternative right into your desk

Image: Zens

Zens is expanding its excellent alternative to Apple’s failed AirPower charger, the Liberty wireless charger, with a new model: the Liberty Built-in charger — which, as the name implies, is designed to be integrated directly into your desk itself for an even more streamlined look.

The original Zens Liberty charger was released back in 2020 and offered an innovative 16-coil design that allowed you to simply place a Qi-compatible phone or device anywhere on the wireless charging pad instead of having to carefully align charging coils or rely on a MagSafe-style magnetic system.

Image: Zens

But the original model rather boringly sat on top of your desk, while the new Liberty Built-in charger is designed to be...

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Capcom announces Street Fighter 6

Capcom has announced Street Fighter 6, the next major entry in the iconic fighting game franchise, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. A brief teaser trailer was following the season final of the Capcom Pro Tour, where Kawano defeated veteran Daigo Umehara.

The trailer doesn’t show any actual gameplay, but it suggests that Street Fighter 6 will have a more realistic art style than previous games in the series — at least, as realistic as you could expect while maintaining Ryu’s formidable proportions. Capcom says more information on the game will be coming this summer.

Capcom will be hoping that Street Fighter 6 has a better launch than its predecessor. Street Fighter V looked and played great when it came out for PS4 and...

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Trump’s social media app will reportedly go live on Presidents’ Day

Truth Social is expected to be available on February 21st. | Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump’s social media app, Truth Social, is expected to make its debut on Presidents’ Day, according to a report from Reuters. In a test version of the app viewed by Reuters, the outlet saw a post from the network’s chief product officer (CPO) indicating the app’s February 21st launch.

“By the end of March, we’re going to be fully operational”

“We’re currently set for release in the Apple App store for Monday Feb. 21,” the executive — who goes by “Billy B” on Truth Social — reportedly said in response to a beta tester’s question about the app’s public release date. Truth Social has been open to “invited guests only” as early as December, with around 500 beta testers later gaining access to the network.

Former...

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Apple will reportedly debut an M2 chip with four new Macs this year

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple is reportedly gearing up to release several new Macs with an M2 chip later this year, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter. Gurman expects the company to debut a 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, 24-inch iMac, and a redesigned MacBook Air, all outfitted with the rumored M2 chip.

The M2 chip will be slightly faster than its predecessor

Apple hasn’t offered any hints about the potential M2 chip, but Gurman thinks its CPU will be slightly faster than the M1’s, and that it will share the same eight-core architecture. Its graphics cores, however, may jump from seven or eight to nine or 10. Come 2023, Gurman thinks Apple may release Pro and Max versions of the M2 chip — just like it did for the M1 chip — as well...

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Facebook whistleblower accuses company of failing to address climate change misinformation

Whistleblower Aid filed two new SEC complaints on behalf of Frances Haugen. | Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for TIME

Facebook is the subject of two new Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaints filed by Whistleblower Aid, the nonprofit that represents Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, first reported by The Washington Post. The complaints accuse Facebook, now Meta, of misleading investors about its efforts to tackle misinformation about climate change and COVID-19.

The complaint alleges readily available climate change misinformation

The first complaint, obtained by The Washington Post, alleges the presence of readily available climate change misinformation on Facebook, making Facebook’s claims that it’s fighting climate denial fall flat. It also contains internal documents detailing employees’ own experiences with climate-related...

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$1.7 million in NFTs stolen in apparent phishing attack on OpenSea users

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

On Saturday, attackers stole hundreds of NFTs from OpenSea users, causing a late-night panic among the site’s broad user base. A spreadsheet compiled by the blockchain security service PeckShield counted 254 tokens stolen over the course of the attack, including tokens from Decentraland and Bored Ape Yacht Club.

The bulk of the attacks took place between 5PM and 8PM ET, targeting 32 users in total. Molly White, who runs the blog Web3 is Going Great, estimated the value of the stolen tokens at more than $1.7 million.

“They all have valid signatures”

The attack appears to have exploited a flexibility in the Wyvern Protocol, the open-source standard underlying most NFT smart contracts, including those made on OpenSea. One explanation...

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Peloton’s new CEO sees app store and overhauled subscription model in its future

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Barry McCarthy, Peloton’s new CEO, weighs an app store and new subscription model as potential ways to kickstart the company’s stagnant sales, as stated in an interview with the New York Times’ DealBook.

“It could be an open platform and part of the creator economy”

McCarthy, who served as the former chief financial officer of Spotify and Netflix, says his vision for Peloton may include an app store open to third-party content. “Today, it’s a closed platform — but it could be an open platform and part of the creator economy,” McCarthy tells the NYT. “What other apps would you put on it? Could it be running an app store?”

He also downplays the importance of hardware when it comes to Peloton’s fitness equipment. McCarthy suggests the most...

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Elon Musk’s claims of ‘broken promises’ denied by the SEC

The SEC has responded to Musk’s letter. | Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images

The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has responded to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s claims that the agency has subjected him and his electric car company to “endless, unfounded investigations,” first reported by the Wall Street Journal. In a letter to Judge Alison Nathan, the SEC refutes Musk’s allegations that it’s ignoring its commitment to distribute $40 million in fine money to Tesla shareholders, which Musk and Tesla had paid as part of a 2018 settlement.

The SEC is still working on a plan to distribute $40 million to Tesla shareholders

“Given the complexity of the distribution, it has taken time to develop the plan of allocation,” SEC official Steve Buchholz writes in the letter. “That process is nearing completion and, barring any...

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Epic Games is making hundreds of temp testers into full employees with benefits

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Epic Games is hiring its US-based contingent workers full-time and with benefits, Epic confirmed to The Verge. The Fortnite developer is extending the offer to quality assurance (QA) testers, as well as other “eligible” contract-based employees.

The news first surfaced in an employee-facing memo obtained by The Verge. In the memo, the company writes it will “offer full-time at-will employment to eligible US-based contingent workers,” and that “many of those offers will be effective April 4th, 2022.” But it also notes that some workers won’t receive the offer, citing “there are a few exceptions in which it makes sense for both the worker and Epic to maintain contingent worker status.”

“Most but not all” are quality assurance (QA) testers

E...

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Drop’s signature MT3 profile mechanical keycaps are buy one get one free

The MT3 Susuwatari keycap set on an aluminum Epomaker GK68XS. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

I know Saturdays are usually for sleeping in, but I hope you don’t sleep on this round of deals. Drop has a very special sale on its exclusive collection of MT3 profile keycaps for Cherry-style mechanical keyboards. You can buy two base or ortholinear sets of keycaps and get them for the price of one when you use code MT3FREE until Sunday, February 20th. That may sound like a jumble of confusing jargon for the mechanical keyboard uninitiated, but that’s ok, because we’re here to help people learn as well as save.

Drop’s signature MT3 keycaps have a deeply scalloped contour for your fingers to gently rest in as you type. They fit most Cherry MX keyboard switches — the most commonly used type out there — and they’re made of high quality...

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How Facebook twisted Canada’s trucker convoy into an international movement

Photo by Steve Russell / Toronto Star via Getty Images

A labyrinth of Facebook groups and right-wing media

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Slaying monsters in Vampire Survivors is like walking through a casino

Look at all the numbers! | Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

Vampire Survivors is an Early Access roguelike on Steam that has completely sunk its teeth into me.

Each round starts simply: you have just one weapon to take on a few baddies. The weapon autofires, so you only have to worry about moving your character to avoid enemies and scoop up experience gems. But as you level up, get more weapons, and fight more monsters, your screen quickly becomes filled with a smorgasbord of magical weapons and fearsome enemies covering nearly every inch of the screen. Like so:

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

Despite this apparent chaos, I promise you I felt fully in control.

The sensory barrage of colors and sounds can almost feel like being in an arcade or a casino — which is...

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Read exactly how Microsoft’s $68.7 billion deal for Activision Blizzard came together

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Microsoft shocked the tech and gaming world on January 18th when it announced it would acquire Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal, by far the biggest ever in gaming. Activision Blizzard, one of the most storied developers on the planet, had been reeling for months from multiple scandals, including California’s lawsuit accusing the company of creating a culture of “constant sexual harassment,” an explosive Wall Street Journal report suggesting CEO Bobby Kotick was both aware of that harassment and sexually harassed employees himself, and labor protests from Call of Duty workers.

Microsoft’s Phil Spencer, at the time the company’s Xbox chief, reportedly responded to the accusations from the WSJ article two days later in an email...

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Influencers beware: promoting the wrong crypto could mean facing a class-action lawsuit

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The story of BitConnect doesn’t include any rapping _Forbes_bloggers slash money launderers or dubiously-obtained ape JPGs, but this “pyramid-on-Ponzi” case has spawned a court ruling (PDF, embedded below, via @stephendpalley) that should serve as a warning for influencers: they could be held liable for peddling shady crypto investments.

In case you’ve forgotten this particular scam, BitConnect’s promoters told its victims that if they handed over their Bitcoin for a period of time, their crypto would be used by an automated trading bot that would return huge profits. None of that was true, and the operators instead paid off older investors with funds from the new ones, bringing in $10 million per week at its peak. All told, the scam...

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Skype users in the US can now make 911 calls from their computers

Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Skype announced this week that its US users can use it to dial 911 from their home computer, and that its software can share their location with emergency services if needed. The US is the latest addition to the list of regions with Skype emergency service calling; until now it was only available in Australia, Denmark, Finland, and the UK.

Skype’s move to enable 911 calls comes with a few limitations, but could be crucial for users who still have an adequate Internet connection when they lose access to a cellphone or landline in an emergency.

In a “Notice & Disclosures” warning that appears before opting in to location-sharing, Skype cautions that the service doesn’t operate the same as a traditional phone call. Users are encouraged...

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If iMessage is slicing off both ends of your tweets, you’re not alone

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Just yesterday, I wrote that Twitter was having a rough February after experiencing issues for the second time in a week, and now, the company may be dealing with a strange iMessage bug. If you’re on an Apple device and texting a tweet to your buddy on an Apple device, the first and last characters in the tweet might not show up. As reported by 9to5Mac, tweet previews sent via iMessage seem to be missing the first and last characters of the tweet, making them read oddly.

Myself and another Verge writer have experienced this bug as well. Here’s how Apple’s Messages app on my iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch displayed a tweet I wrote yesterday:

Screenshots by Jay Peters / The Verge

Can you guess what letters are...

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Call of Duty now lets you destroy cheaters with your own automatic god mode

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Banning cheaters doesn’t always work because they can usually make another account. So games like Call of Duty are increasingly looking for ways to make it less fun for people to exploit their games — and the latest idea gives honest players a cheat of their own. The new “Damage Shield” in Call of Duty Warzone’s new Ricochet anti-cheat software makes a cheater’s bullets bounce right off you, so you can close in while they hilariously flail around and then destroy them yourself.

You can see YouTuber TimTheTatman show it off right here, roughly a minute and 13 seconds into this video:

In a blog post announcing the feature, Activision says it only activates “when the server detects a cheater is tampering with the game in real-time,” and...

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Lost Ark is a grindy MMO that’s perfect to while away the hours

Debuting only a week ago, Lost Ark has shot to the top of the Steam charts, amassing over 1 million concurrent players making it the most played game on Steam (based on number of concurrents) of all time. Developed by Smilegate RPG, Lost Ark is a Korean MMO that debuted there in 2018 before being localized in English and brought to the west via a partnership with Amazon Games. Though it’s only been around in the US and Europe for a short time, it has over 200,000 viewers on Twitch right now and has beaten games like Dota 2, CS:GO, and PUBG in all-time number of concurrent players on Steam.

So what the hell is a Lost Ark anyway? I spent a week investigating this new gaming hotness, eager to see if it has what it takes to become my newest...

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Carbon capture tech is advancing in the wrong direction

Equipment installed as part of the Petra Nova Carbon Capture Project stands at the NRG Energy Inc. WA Parish generating station in Thompsons, Texas, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017 before it closed in 2020. | Photo by Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Carbon capture tech that’s often sold as a solution for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industry — the most difficult sector to decarbonize — is still far off track from accomplishing that, according to a recent analysis by financial services firm ING.

The pipeline of new carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, which aim to remove CO2 from power plants’ and industrial facilities’ emissions, is growing. But the majority of projects expected to come online this decade don’t tackle industrial pollution. Instead, the biggest growth is expected to be in carbon capture paired with fossil fuel power plants, similar to how the majority of the 40 million metric tons of CCS capacity the world has today is used in natural gas...

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Salesforce employees are reportedly protesting its NFT plans

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Salesforce employees are protesting the company’s reported plans to launch non-fungible token (NFT) services.Thomson Reuters Foundation News reports that around 400 employees signed a letter that’s circulated within the cloud software company’s messaging channels, calling on it to abandon crypto plans it apparently discussed internally last week. The letter cites the negative environmental effects of NFTs as well as their status as “unregulated, highly speculative financial assets.”

CNBC reported last week that Salesforce plans to launch an “NFT cloud” sales platform that could let users create and release token-based content, potentially even competing with the dominant OpenSea NFT marketplace. Salesforce market strategy director...

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