OtterBox’s MagSafe battery pack outdoes Apple’s

The battery pack can attach to a phone and dock at the same time | Image: Otterbox

When Dieter Bohn reviewed Apple’s MagSafe battery pack, he wasn’t exactly thrilled with its performance. Unfortunately, the relatively small battery pack didn’t have enough juice to top off an iPhone 12 even once. And, like most things from Apple, it came with an unusually high price tag and only worked with a proprietary Lightning cable for charging.

Since then, other manufacturers like Anker have produced MagSafe battery packs with friendlier features and better capacity. Now, the case makers at Otterbox have joined that trend with a pair of wireless MagSafe power banks that cost less than Apple’s model but provide better capacity and features. Otterbox’s lineup includes both a 5,000mAh and 3,000mAh model that cost $69.99 and $49.95,...

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Ukraine internet outages spark concerns of broader blackout

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge

Late Wednesday night, Russian troops invaded Ukrainian territories across the country’s northern, southern, and eastern borders, kicking off the largest troop mobilization in Europe in a generation. As Russian media attempts to cast the invasion as a response to Ukrainian aggression, on-the-ground reporting has played a crucial role in countering the propaganda, with footage coming from both professional journalists and amateurs on social media.

But as the conflict intensifies, many civil society groups are increasingly concerned about the possibility of direct attacks on the country’s internet infrastructure. Russia has previously been linked to DDoS attacks against Ukrainian government sites — but a full blackout would mean going...

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Microsoft announces a new tablet-friendly taskbar for Windows 11

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Microsoft is making the Windows 11 taskbar a little more tablet-friendly soon. The software giant has started testing a new taskbar that’s designed for tablet use, with a smaller collapsed state that only shows critical information like the time and date or network and battery status.

This tablet taskbar looks a lot less cluttered, thanks to app icons, search, Widgets, and the Start button being hidden. A new setting will automatically hide the taskbar when you’re using a device as a tablet, and it will provide more screen space for Windows 11 tablet users. If you wipe up to reveal the full taskbar, the widgets, Start button, search, and app icons are all a lot larger and easier to touch.

Image: Microsoft

Windows...

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The best gaming headset deals you can get right now

Logitech’s budget-friendly G435 boasts color and comfort, as well as a host of solid features. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

A good gaming headset is practically a necessity these days. Clean and precise audio is essential for competitive gaming, allowing you not just to pinpoint your enemies, but communicate effectively with your teammates. Moreover, recent developments in spatial audio and virtual surround sound have allowed headsets to meet — and occasionally surpass — more expensive audio setups, allowing even the most budget-conscious gamer to obtain a competitive edge at a fraction of the price.

While you could always invest in a massive pair of speakers, they’re likely to earn you the dubious distinction of the worst roommate of the decade. Thankfully, the right headset will allow you to keep the running and gunning to yourself, which is why we’ve...

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Tumblr will let you ditch its terrible ads for $4.99 a month

Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Tumblr announced today that users can opt out of ads (on the desktop and in its mobile apps) by paying $4.99 per month or purchasing a year of ad-free browsing at a discount for $39.99.

Image: Tumblr

That means long-time posters can go back to the way things were before Yahoo bought Tumblr in 2013 for $1.1 billion, before Tumblr banned porn and lost a massive chunk of its audience, and before Verizon sold Tumblr to WordPress owner Automattic Inc. for a tiny fraction of its original price.

Founder David Karp was opposed to allowing advertising, and once the company bent on that principle, it’s been plagued by tacky, cheap-looking advertisements that seemed to flood the feed and often make little to no sense. But now,...

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Activision Blizzard’s harassment settlement is one step closer to approval

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A federal judge is allowing plans for a settlement between Activision Blizzard and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to move forward, denying California state regulators’ request for a delay. The decision was filed yesterday in California district court, and it’s the latest setback for the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing’s (DFEH) attempts to intervene in the deal.

The EEOC and Activision Blizzard agreed last year to settle sexual harassment and discrimination claims against the games publisher — which employees have accused of facilitating sexist abuse at the highest levels. The DFEH alleges that the federal settlement would harm its own case by potentially letting Activision Blizzard destroy...

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Dbrand’s limited-edition leather skins are back for good

Dbrand’s leather collection of skins. | Image: Dbrand

Gadget skin-maker Dbrand is announcing that its line of adhesive leather skins for smartphones and laptops are now available for sale once again, and this time, they will remain as a permanent fixture in its online store. The vegetable-tanned genuine leather skins first launched as a limited-edition run back in December and are now back due to popular demand. The 3M adhesive leather skins sell for around $34.95 for smartphones and $69.95 for laptops and are available in black, brown, and tan colorways for over 100 products, including the new Samsung Galaxy S22, iPhones, MacBooks, Google Pixels, and gaming consoles.

Dbrand says that these leather skins are made from full-grain cow leather, and they’re less than 0.5mm thick — though it...

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Acer’s Swift 5 finally has a 16:10 screen

There’s a new Swift in town. | Image: Acer

Acer has announced updates to its Swift consumer line. The big news is that the Swift 5, its consumer flagship, has finally moved from a 16:9 aspect ratio screen to the taller and roomier 16:10. It’s the latest of many premium flagship products to take this jump.

Apart from the aspect ratio, the new 14-inch Swift 5 looks fairly similar to previous Swift 5 models we know and love. It’s gotten a bit heavier (2.65 pounds, to the previous 2.31). It now comes with a 2560 x 1600 display, whereas last year’s model was only available in 1920 x 1080.

Inside, the Swift has been bumped to Intel’s 12th Gen Core processors. It can be configured with up to 16GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. That’s a high amount for such a small device — last year’s...

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Belkin’s new $400 Thunderbolt 4 dock is here to solve your dongle woes — for a price

Belkin is the latest company to get on the Thunderbolt 4 dock train with its new $399 Connect Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock, which replaces the company’s previous Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro, adding more ports and power than the old model.

The Connect Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock has a pretty similar design to the Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro, with a curved aluminum enclosure and glossy plastic. The idea is the same as any Thunderbolt dock: just connect all your screens and accessories to the dock, and then plug the dock into your laptop to use your whole desk setup.

Most of the ports face backward to connect to your various devices, although the SD card slot, 3.5mm combo jack, USB-C 3.1 port, and the upstream Thunderbolt 4 port to connect to your computer...

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US and Russia still tethered by International Space Station during Ukraine conflict

The International Space Station as seen from SpaceX’s Crew Dragon departing the ISS | Image: NASA

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, tensions between the US and Russia are more strained than ever here on Earth, prompting concerns that friction could inevitably spill over into the two countries’ longstanding partnership in space. For now, both NASA and Russia say they are still working together to keep the International Space Station operational, as they’ve done during past international turmoil.

Russia is, by and large, the United States’ biggest working partner in space. NASA and Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, jointly operate the ISS, an orbiting laboratory that has become the primary space destination for astronauts hailing from America, Russia, and other nations across the globe. Roscosmos and NASA have been...

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How to throw a party in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Photo by Jay Peters / The Verge

While people are now venturing out after two years of the pandemic, many are still enjoying Animal Crossing: New Horizons by spending time on the game’s virtual islands and their anthropomorphic animal residents. And the game’s easy-to-use multiplayer mode that lets you host up to seven guests on an island is still a good way to throw real-world events like birthday parties and even weddings.

If you want to host your own party, we’ve put together a guide right here. We’ll offer some ideas on what you can do with your visitors to give you some inspiration and walk through some of the mechanics of hosting the party so that it runs smoothly.

Before the party

Mail out invitations using Dodo Airlines’ postal system

You could invite your...

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PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles are available at 12PM ET today for Walmart Plus subscribers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

It’s time for another round of console restocks, and once again it’s limited to paid subscribers only. This time, Walmart is the retailer that’s scheduled to have consoles available to order, beginning at 12PM ET / 9AM PT today. The superstore will have all three of the hard-to-get consoles available to ship from its site: the standard PlayStation 5 equipped with a disc drive for $499, the disc-less PlayStation 5 Digital Edition for $399, and also the Xbox Series X for $499.

This restock is limited to Walmart Plus subscribers, and it requires a paid account — no free trials will qualify. Walmart Plus costs $12.95 per month or $98 per year, so it’s possible for you to pay for one month to order a console today and then cancel it before...

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UA Flow Velociti Wind 2 review: smarter, faster running shoes

These smart shoes can tell you how to run faster

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The iPad Mini with 256GB of storage is $50 off

The 2021 iPad Mini comes in four color options, including purple. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple’s iPad Mini from 2021 has been difficult to find in stock at times recently, but that hasn’t stopped the model with expanded storage from going on a nice discount. You can pick up an iPad Mini with 256GB of storage for $599 at Walmart in space gray. This Wi-Fi configuration of the latest Mini normally costs $649 with that much storage, but this $50 discount helps make it more affordable. The iPad Mini features a larger 8.3-inch screen than prior models, and a refreshed, flat-sided design with USB-C, and Apple Pencil 2 compatibility for magnetic charging, like the iPad Pro. Read our review.

Wireless audio company Tribit recently announced the follow-up to its StormBox Micro Bluetooth speaker, and it’s already seeing a 10 percent...

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Reddit’s new Discover tab pushes the app into the modern social media era

Image: Reddit

Reddit today introduced a new Discover tab feature for the official Reddit iOS and Android apps. The new feature curates pictures, GIFs, and videos in a scrollable grid to help Reddit users find new content and communities that they may be interested in, in a way that’s reminiscent of Instagram’s explore page or Pinterest.

The Discover tab replaces the Communities / Subscriptions tab in both iOS and Android as the second icon on the bottom, represented by a compass icon. While this means that now you can’t access a list of your subscribed communities from the bottom, fret not — you can still get to your subscribed community list by swiping in a drawer from the left (and yes, r/all is still there). There’s also a new slide-over from the...

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The Motorola Edge Plus aims for full flagship status — with a price to match

The Motorola Edge X30, announced in China at the end of last year, is coming to the US as the Motorola Edge Plus (or the 30 Pro in Europe and other markets). It comes with higher-end specs than 2021’s Motorola Edge offered, starting with the Android flagship chipset-du-jour, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. While Motorola appears to have addressed some of our complaints about that mid-range device, this is also a much more expensive phone at $999, setting the bar that much higher for its feature set.

The Edge Plus checks plenty of boxes for a flagship phone in 2022: there’s a big 6.7-inch 1080p OLED with up to 144Hz refresh rate, sub-6GHz 5G including C-band (a Verizon version of the phone will have mmWave, the unlocked model won’t), a 4,800mAh...

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Motional and Via launch a free robotaxi shuttle in Las Vegas

Motional and Via are teaming up to launch a free robotaxi shuttle service in Las Vegas. The news comes almost a year and a half after the two companies announced their intention to link up to study how autonomous vehicles could interact with public transit networks.

Motional is a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv that has been testing its vehicles in Las Vegas and California. Via is an on-demand shuttle and software company that operates vehicles in New York City and Washington, DC. Together, the two companies say they will launch an autonomous shuttle service in Las Vegas that will be free to use.

As of today, Motional’s robotaxis are available on Via’s smartphone app for passengers in downtown Las Vegas. The service will...

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Saving sites: Pocket’s bookmarking app and its alternatives

It’s hard to keep up with all the interesting, important, or just plain fun things you come across on the web. You may come across something you just don’t have time to read right now or want to save because it will come in handy later. But, as most of us have discovered, creating a bookmark on a browser for each article and site that we want to read later can result in a huge bookmarky mess.

Years ago, I started getting the better of this issue by signing into Pocket, a popular and long-standing app that allows you to save a bookmarked article to a separate server and then retrieve it for reading at your leisure, using either a computer or a mobile device. Pocket has been around since 2007; originally called Read It Later, it started...

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Netflix says its new trivia show might ‘push more people into games’

Image: Netflix | COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Netflix’s latest game is an addictive trivia title from the creators of Bandersnatch — an interactive experience called Cat Burglar where correct choices help move the story forward. More of this hybrid game-based storytelling is on the way, and Netflix thinks it could help push more of its users to think of the service as a place for games.

“You can only do this on Netflix,” Netflix VP of comedy and interactive lead Andy Weil tells The Verge. “You can’t do this on any other platform because we’re a tech company, and that’s in the DNA of Netflix all along. The idea that you can interact with the content is something that we are exploring across all genres, all types of things.”

Cat Burglar is an animated series from Charlie Brooker and...

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Oppo’s Find X5 Pro flagship is finally official

After extensive leaks and teases, Oppo has officially announced the Find X5 Pro, its flagship phone for 2022. It’s a fairly iterative follow-up to last year’s Find X3 Pro, but that was a great phone, and after spending more than a week with a not-yet-final version of its successor I’m expecting the same to hold true.

The Find X5 Pro’s design plays off the curved unibody approach of the X3 Pro. This time around the back panel is ceramic, which when combined with the abstract shape of the camera bump gives the white unit I’ve been testing a futuristic, Star Wars stormtrooper-esque feel. It’s an eye-catching device with impressive build quality — it looks better in person than I expected.

That unusual camera bump has a little less going on...

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EA CEO explains why company may ditch FIFA branding in leaked staff comments

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

In newly-leaked comments, EA CEO Andrew Wilson has explained why the company is considering ending its licensing deal with FIFA. The comments come after EA publicly announced in October it was reviewing its agreement with FIFA, and considering renaming the title of its popular soccer franchise. The comments, which are the CEO’s most candid remarks yet, were made in a company meeting last November and made public in a report from VGCthis week.

Wilson suggested that EA feels its FIFA branding deal is unnecessarily restrictive, while not providing enough value to the company. “Basically, what we get from FIFA in a non-World Cup year is the four letters on the front of the box,” Wilson said. Although its FIFA deal gets EA access to the...

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All of Netflix’s Marvel shows are moving to Disney Plus in Canada

Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Matt Murdock taking the subway together. | Netflix/Marvel

With the rights to all of Netflix’s Marvel cape shows set to revert back to Disney, the big question looming over them all has been whether they would finally make the jump over to Disney Plus to live alongside the rest of the studios' heroes. Unsurprisingly, the answer is “yes,” but with some important caveats.

Following up on Mobile Syrup’s initial report, Engadget has confirmed that Netflix’s Marvel shows will begin streaming on Disney Plus in Canada on March 16th, which gels with previous reports that the series are set to leave Netflix on March 1st. Between Spider-Man: No Way Home and the Hawkeye series, fans of the Defenders have had more than a few reasons to wonder if and when Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and the others...

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Google will no longer require US employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google is no longer requiring its US-based workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to CNBC. The change is one of many the company is reportedly making to its policies as it prepares to have employees return to its offices.

The company originally announced in June that it would be requiring vaccinations to return to the office, and reportedly sent a memo in December telling employees they would risk being forced to take leave or even being fired if they did not prove they were vaccinated (or apply for an exemption). But a Google spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that vaccines were no longer required for US employees, so it appears the company has adjusted its policy.

Google didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

CNBC...

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Pixel 7 Pro renders suggest it might keep the Pixel 6’s signature design

The Pixel 7 Pro sports a similar-looking camera bar as the Pixel 6. | Image by OnLeaks via SmartPrix

Reliable leaker OnLeaks has offered a glimpse at what the Google Pixel 7 Pro might look like in a set of leaked 3D renders, as first reported by SmartPrix (via 9to5Google). So far, the upcoming device appears to share several similarities with its Pixel 6 predecessor, including the same prominent camera bar on the rear of the phone.

Image by OnLeaks via SmartPrix

The Pixel 7 Pro has a hole-punch selfie camera.

The three cameras on the back of the supposed Pixel 7 Pro look oddly large (but just might appear that way in this particular render) and may include a wide-angle camera, periscope telephoto camera, and an ultra-wide camera. On the front of the device, a hole-punch selfie camera sits at the top of its...

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The official Steam Deck dock won’t be available at launch

Valve hasn’t shared many details about the dock just yet. | Image: Valve

The first orders for the Steam Deck, Valve’s handheld gaming PC, will begin on Friday, but the company’s official dock for the device won’t be available at that time.

“We are also looking forward to getting the official Dock for Steam Deck into customers’ hands,” Valve said in a post about the Steam Deck’s launch day. “It won’t be happening as early as we wanted, but we’re excited to talk more about it soon and are planning to make them available in late spring.”

Valve hasn’t shared many details about the dock just yet, though there is a short description on Valve’s Steam Deck website. “The official dock props up your Steam Deck while connecting to external displays, wired networking, USB peripherals, and power,” Valve says. But you...

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1Password now lets you easily store crypto wallet details

1Password can now store details attached to your Phantom wallet. | Image: 1Password

A 1Password update brings a specific item type dedicated to crypto and digital assets to the password manager’s interface. This could make it easier to store details attached to your cryptocurrency wallet, although it’s usually best to store your wallet’s information offline.

Image: 1Password

1Password now has dedicated fields for information related to crypto wallets.

The update brings a “Crypto Wallet” item — or a blank, easy-to-fill-in format — to the password manager. It comes with fields specific to the kind of information you’ll need to input, like your wallet address and recovery phrase.

While you could previously store crypto-related information in 1Password, the process wasn’t always that...

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Firefighting strategies need an extreme makeover, UN warns

A bulldozer sits on the side of Grayback Road in the devastation that left scores of structures destroyed and thousands of acres burned by the Slater fire in Happy Camp, Calif., on Tuesday, September 29, 2020. For millennia, the local Karuk tribe has conducted traditional prescribed burns in the area, and put together a climate change adaptation plan, a big piece of which is returning traditional fire to the landscape. They want Cal Fire to allow California tribal leaders to begin a training program in controlled burning techniques used for centuries by Native Americans until Europeans arrived and halted the practice, leading to overgrown forests.  | Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Nations need to spend more money learning to live with wildfires rather than burning through cash fighting them, says a new United Nations report. The report predicts a dramatic rise in “extreme” fires and warns that there needs to be a “radical” shift in how governments address them.

Globally, extreme wildfires are expected to increase up to 14 percent this decade and 50 percent by the end of the century. Conventional firefighting, which tackles blazes as they happen, won’t be enough to meet the new threats, says the report published today by the United Nations Environment Programme and Norwegian environmental nonprofit GRID-Arendal.

To cope, the report says, two-thirds of government spending on wildfires ought to go towards preparing...

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Twitter accounts sharing video from Ukraine are being suspended when they’re needed most

Illustration by Alex Castro

Twitter says the accounts were removed in error

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BioWare promises Dragon Age 4 is coming along just fine

Production on Dragon Age 4 seems to be coming along nicely, according to an update from BioWare.

In a blog post, studio general manager Gary McKay says:

For the next Dragon Age, we are right in the middle of Production, which is a great feeling. Our blueprint was completed last year, so we’re now focused on building out our vision: creating amazing environments, deep characters, strong gameplay, impactful writing, emotional cinematics – and much more. The blueprint for the game is well understood and the team is focused.

It’s been seven years since the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition and almost four years since the first images from DA4 were teased during The Game Awards. Since then, news on the latest installment of the_Dragon Age..._

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Trump’s Truth Social app can’t beat Twitter, but it doesn’t have to

Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

After months of speculation, tribulation, and hype, former President Donald Trump launched his long-awaited social media platform — Truth Social — on Monday. The app, a shameless Twitter clone, is available for download on the Apple App Store and sits at the top of Apple’s download charts as of publication on Wednesday.

But despite all of this excitement, Truth Social remains totally unusable. Hours after the app’s Presidents’ Day launch, it suffered dozens of technical glitches, from a 13-hour outage to users who were unable to make an account, let alone receive the confirmation email that allows them to start the process of joining. Even if you were able to secure a username, it’s likely you’ve been placed on an over 300,000 person...

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