Twitter will appoint Elon Musk to its board of directors

Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Twitter is appointing Tesla CEO Elon Musk to its board of directors, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk will serve as a class II director until 2024. This is a type of position that can be used as an anti-takeover measure.

“The Company will appoint Mr. Musk to the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) to serve as a Class II director with a term expiring at the Company’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders,” the filing says. “For so long as Mr. Musk is serving on the Board and for 90 days thereafter, Mr. Musk will not, either alone or as a member of a group, become the beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of the Company’s common stock outstanding at such time, including for these purposes economic...

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GM and Honda expanding their partnership to develop ‘millions’ of affordable EVs in 2027

General Motors and Honda announced an expansion of their two-year-old partnership to include “a series of affordable electric vehicles” built on GM’s flexible EV platform with its Ultium-branded improved battery packs. The companies say they will begin production of “millions” of these affordable EVs, including crossover SUVs, in 2027.

The automakers first announced two years ago they would work together to develop two Honda-branded electric vehicles built atop GM’s flexible Ultium powertrain. The Japanese company would design the exteriors and interiors of the new EVs, while the platform will be engineered to support Honda’s specifications. And they will be manufactured at GM’s North American plants, with sales expected to begin in the...

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Turtle Beach’s new wireless headset works with basically everything

The Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max. | Image: Turtle Beach

Turtle Beach’s Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max is a $200 wireless headset that works with everything from the Xbox Series X, to PS5, Nintendo Switch, Windows, and Mac the company has announced. In contrast its predecessor, the $149.95 Stealth 700 Gen 2 (non-Max) was available for either Xbox and PC, or PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, but not in the same model. It also offers Bluetooth connectivity, unlike the Stealth 600 Gen 2 Max, which means it works with devices like phones and tablets.

The new Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max has also received a bump in battery life, with Turtle Beach claiming it should be able to go for over 40 hours on a single charge. That’s compared to 20 hours on the previous, non-Max model. As well as Bluetooth, which can be used...

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Peloton Guide review: a webcam that watches you squat

The camera-based device lets you monitor your form while strength training

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Amazon’s Project Kuiper books up to 83 rockets to launch its internet-beaming satellites

An artistic rendering of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, currently under development | Image: Blue Origin

Project Kuiper — Amazon’s planned internet-from-space initiative — announced today that it has booked dozens of new launches on three different rockets to get its future satellites into orbit. The satellites will fly on powerful rockets currently being developed by European launch provider Arianespace, US-based United Launch Alliance, and Blue Origin — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space company.

The combined flights — up to 83 launches total — are set to take place over a five-year period and will allow Project Kuiper to launch the bulk of its planned constellation of 3,236 satellites. Amazon did not provide details on how much the launch contracts cost, but the company is investing billions of dollars across the three deals, according to...

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Elon Musk, Twitter’s largest shareholder, polls followers for an edit button

Elon Musk at Tesla’s recent factory opening in Germany. | Photo by Christian Marquardt - Pool/Getty Images

Elon Musk has wasted no time making his Twitter feature priorities clear after becoming its biggest shareholder yesterday. The Tesla CEO has polled his 80 million followers about whether they’d like to be able to edit their tweets after posting them. Twitter’s new CEO Parag Agrawal subsequently quote-tweeted Musk’s poll to say that “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.” The phrasing mirrors a similar tweet from Musk about free speech on March 25th, days after he acquired almost 10 percent of the company.

The so-called “edit button” has been one of the most commonly requested features of the social media platform. In an ideal world it would simply allow users to clean up typos after publishing their...

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These are the words Amazon’s planned employee chat app reportedly won’t let you say

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon reportedly plans to add a content filter to an internal messaging app in the making and would ban words that reflect the company’s working conditions or pertain to organizing a union, according to internal documents obtained by The Intercept.

With the filter in place, the app would block or flag messages that include words like “union,” “slave labor,” “grievance,” “living wage,” and more. Oh yeah, it would filter out “restroom,” too (probably to prevent you from telling your coworker you “just went to the restroom in a bottle”).

A source familiar with the situation told The Intercept that Amazon executives met in November 2021 to discuss the creation of a social media platform specifically for employees. Dave Clark, Amazon’s head...

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Her Majesty’s Treasury is working on a new kind of mint: NFTs

It’s unclear what the exact plan for the Royal Mint NFT is. | Image: Her Majesty’s Treasury

The United Kingdom’s treasury minister has tasked the Royal Mint with creating an NFT as “an emblem of the forward-looking approach” Her Majesty’s Treasury says it’ll take toward cryptocurrencies and blockchains. The project was announced in a speech by John Glen, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, who said at a summit that more details on the mint’s mint would be coming “very soon.”

While countries like Ukraine have issued NFTs before, this particular announcement feels a bit different — for one, it’s coming from one of the highest levels of the British government. It’s also supposed to be carried out by the entity in charge of printing the country’s money.

Chancellor @RishiSunak has asked @RoyalMintUK to create an NFT to be...

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Epic’s new RealityScan app can make 3D models from smartphone photos

Image: Epic Games

Epic Games has announced a new smartphone app that can construct 3D models of objects from a series of smartphone photos. The idea is that you’ll be able to use the app, called RealityScan, to scan an object in the real world — say, a chair — and then bring the scan of that object into your game or project.

You can see how it works in the video at the top of this post, which features somebody scanning a brown chair, the result of which looks like a handcrafted 3D model. The app is currently available in a first-come, first-served beta via Apple’s TestFlight platform that will be open to 10,000 users.

I got into the RealityScan beta, and using the app is pretty straightforward. To take a series of photos, you can hold the capture...

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Amazon union workers won in New York — can they win across the country?

What comes after a historic win? | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Amazon Labor Union (ALU) scored a historic victory on April 1st when it became the first-ever union to successfully organize Amazon employees. Christian Smalls, a fired worker motivated by what he viewed as poor treatment, rallied his co-workers through the process and, in January 2022, got just enough votes to qualify for a formal election. On Friday, the workers of Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse voted to unionize, 2,654 to 2,131.

It was a hard-won victory, coming after years of work, and labor activists are already hoping to apply the same tactics to the hundreds of thousands of Amazon warehouse workers across the rest of the country. After the RWDSU’s stumble in the Bessemer election last year, the newly formed Amazon Labor Union is...

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Spotify’s Featured Curator pilot highlights user-made playlists

Spotify is testing a new feature that brings popular user-created playlists to the app’s homepage. If you’re a part of the test, the recommended playlists will appear in their own Featured Curator carousel. Spotify says it’s piloting the feature in “select markets” but doesn’t specify where exactly it’s rolling it out or on which devices.

As Spotify notes, the Featured Curators section doesn’t include playlists from just any users; the platform selected curators based on their followings and playlist popularity as well as whether they tell “unique stories through playlists” or create “authentic connections” with listeners.

Something I’ve come to realize as a Spotify user is that sometimes my fellow listeners are a lot better at figuring...

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The best noise-canceling headphone deals

Microsoft’s excellent Surface Headphones 2 are on sale for $208.99 at Amazon, their best price this year. | The Verge

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, for instance, 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...

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Google’s April Pixel update includes wireless charging fixes for Pixel 6 phones

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

It’s only been a couple of weeks since Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro devices started receiving Google’s March Pixel drop of new features, improvements, and fixes, and now the company has started the rollout of an April update (via 9to5Google).

According to Google, wireless charging updates and camera fixes for the Pixel 6 lineup should improve performance with certain (unspecified) accessories and crush bugs that could zoom in the front-facing camera preview with certain apps or pop up a green screen in the camera preview.

OTA and factory images are available now

Tweaks that apply to all phones receiving the update (from the Pixel 3a to any devices released more recently) can address problems with live wallpapers, crashes during the use of...

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Hackers breached Mailchimp to phish cryptocurrency wallets

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Mailchimp, the veteran email marketing platform, has confirmed that hackers used an internal tool to steal data from more than 100 of its clients — with the data being used to mount phishing attacks on the users of cryptocurrency services.

The breach was confirmed to the press by Mailchimp on Monday, but it had come to light over the weekend when users of the Trezor hardware cryptocurrency wallet reported being targeted by sophisticated phishing emails.

MailChimp have confirmed that their service has been compromised by an insider targeting crypto companies.

We have managed to take the phishing domain offline. We are trying to determine how many email addresses have been affected. 1/

— Trezor (@Trezor) April 3, 2022

In a statement...

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Apple’s AirPods are currently matching their lowest prices ever at Amazon and Walmart

Apple’s second-gen AirPods are down to $99.99 and the AirPods Pro down to $174. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

We’ve got a pair of excellent deals to start things off at _The Verge_this week. If you’ve been holding out for Apple’s true wireless earbuds to drop in price, both the second-gen AirPods and the AirPods Pro have received a sizable discount at Amazon and Walmart.

The second-gen AirPods with the wired charging case usually cost $129.99 but are on sale right now at Amazon and Walmart for $99.99, matching their best price to date. The second-gen model may lack some of the more convenient features found in today’s earbuds, notably wireless charging and multi-point Bluetooth connectivity, but they remain superior to the original AirPods when it comes to battery life and sound quality. Read our review.

Apple’s premium earbuds, the...

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Valve says it’s ‘ramping up’ Steam Deck shipments

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

It’s Monday, and Valve has sent its next weekly batch of Steam Deck order emails to people who have reserved one of the coveted handheld gaming PCs. But if you are still eagerly waiting for your email to come through, there’s good news: Valve says it’s “ramping up” Steam Deck shipments, sending more order emails every week, and “sometimes” plans to send them twice per week.

Welcome to Q2! We've just sent out the first set of order emails to Q2 reservers (in order of reservation time). Starting today we're ramping up Steam Deck shipments, and will be sending more order availability emails every week. Sometimes even twice a week! pic.twitter.com/54TAoCQXfd

— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) April 4, 2022

Valve had alluded to the possibility of a...

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Great Scott! DeLorean sets a date for its electric resurrection (again)

DeLorean Motor Company

The DeLorean is an iconic vehicle — stainless steel body, gull-wing doors — and maybe the most famous movie car of all time. It’s also a brand name that many people have tried to resurrect over the years, with varying degrees of success.

So you’d be remiss if you thought you were traveling back in time (yuk yuk) when you saw a headline claiming the DeLorean was about to be reborn as an electric vehicle and thought to yourself, “Didn’t I read that already?”

Just to recap: The company that owns the branding rights and supplies parts to the several thousand vintage DeLorean sports cars that still exist announced that it will be revealing an electric concept car at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August. It also revealed a teaser...

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How to force Google Messages to use SMS texts when RCS fails

Screenshot: Google

Just this morning, I was sitting in my car waiting for Alternate Side of the Street parking to end (a dance that many car-owning New Yorkers go through) and texted my partner to come take his turn. As normal, I used the Messages app on my Pixel 6 phone to contact him and waited for the usual reply (“On my way!” or “Be there in a few!”), but after about four minutes or so, I realized that I hadn’t had a response. When I checked the app, I saw that the text hadn’t been sent — instead, there was a tiny message saying my partner’s phone was off and asking if I wanted to send an SMS / MMS instead.

What?

I chose to send the SMS and got an immediate reply (proving that the phone was not off). What was the problem? I’m not absolutely sure, but...

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Whistleblower says DeepMind waited months to fire a researcher accused of sexual misconduct

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A former employee at DeepMind, the Google-owned AI research lab, accuses the company’s human resources department of intentionally delaying its response to her complaints about sexual misconduct in the workplace, as first reported by the_Financial Times_.

In an open letter posted to Medium, the former employee (who goes by Julia to protect her identity) says she was sexually harassed by a senior researcher for months while working at the London-based company. During this time, she was allegedly subject to numerous sexual propositions and inappropriate messages, including some that described past sexual violence against women and threats of self-harm.

“Whether it was 10 months or 7, it was far, far too long.”

Julia got in contact with the...

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Hori’s Split Pad Pro Attachment for the Switch costs $20 too much

The pads are still an essential accessory — but the attachment? Not so much

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All hail Elden Ring’s ever-growing map

One of Elden Ring’s most polarizing features is its willingness to withhold information. While it’s less arcane than earlier FromSoftware titles like Dark Souls, the game constantly hands you items, quests, and mechanics with very little explanation. But after 130 hours and counting in the Lands Between, I’m in love with how well it sometimes deploys that obscurity. And there’s no better example than Elden Ring’s map, which has transcended a simple open-world convention to become one of my very favorite pieces of the game.

If you’re still in the early areas of Elden Ring, you might want to skip this post because I’m going to talk about a mechanic that relies on mystery. But if you’ve played a bit of the game, you might know what I’m...

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TikTok-viral Unofficial Bridgerton Musical wins Grammy for best musical theater album

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical took home the Grammy for best musical theater album last night, marking the first Recording Academy win for a project that began on TikTok.

Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow created songs inspired by the Netflix hit series Bridgerton, racking up millions of views on TikTok since early 2021. Writing from the perspective of characters on the show, Bear and Barlow used TikTok to solicit suggestions, interact with fans, and share the songwriting process with viewers. The duo released songs as they were completed and eventually recorded and released a 15-song album in September. Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“A year ago when I asked the internet, ‘What if Bridgerton was a...

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Here are the best AirPods deals you can get right now

Apple’s AirPods Pro wireless earbuds are a go-to pick that’s often on sale. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

If you know where to look, there are often some great discounts available on Apple’s popular — yet oftentimes expensive — AirPods. Since Apple launched the third-gen AirPods in October and unveiled its new lineup, we’ve seen the starting price of the second-gen, entry-level model drop from $159 to $129. What’s more, we’ve seen many retailers starting to heavily discount the second-gen AirPods as well as the more expensive AirPods Pro and Max, which offer noise cancellation and better sound quality than the standard model. We’ve even seen some significant discounts on the third-gen model, despite how recently they launched.

Here, we’ll run through the best deals available on each model, including the entry-level AirPods, the AirPods Pro,...

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Two top Truth Social execs resign from the company

Photo by STR / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Two executives building former President Donald Trump’s alternative social networking platform Truth Social have left the company, according to a new report from Reuters.

Chief technology officer Josh Adams and head of product development Billy Boozer both resigned from their roles less than a year after joining Trump’s social media venture. Their departures come following the Truth Social app’s disastrous debut on February 20th, a launch plagued by technical glitches and a 13-hour outage.

More than a month after launch, the service has shown little improvement. New users are still being put on an ever-expanding million-person or more waitlist to join the app. Trump has only ever posted to the network once.

More than a month after...

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A ‘liveable future’ depends on slashing emissions this decade, major climate report finds

04 April 2022, North Rhine-Westphalia, Jackerath: Wind turbines stand at the Garzweiler opencast lignite mine, with the Neurath lignite-fired power plant in the background. Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change presented a comprehensive overview of how man-made climate change can be limited. | Photo by Federico Gambarini/picture alliance via Getty Images

The world needs to slash greenhouse gas emissions in half this decade, a landmark new United Nations report urges. To reach that goal, the globe needs to make a speedy shift to clean energy, reduce energy use, and deploytechnologies that can trap some of our planet-heating carbon dioxide pollution, the report’s authors say.

“We are at a crossroads. The decisions we make now can secure a liveable future,” Hoesung Lee, chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel Panel on Climate Change, said in a press release. “We have the tools and know-how required to limit warming.”

“We have the tools and know-how”

Hundreds of leading climate scientists participated in the report, which outlineswhat’s needed to avoid all-out climate catastrophe. It boils...

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Ron Gilbert is making a new Monkey Island game, and it will be out this year

Image: Terrible Toybox

Turns out Ron Gilbert’s April Fools’ joke wasn’t a joke at all. He is indeed working on a new entry in the classic Monkey Island adventure game series, titled Return to Monkey Island, and it’s set to release this year. You can watch the first trailer for the game here or at the top of this post.

According to the YouTube trailer’s description, Return to Monkey Island is a “long-awaited follow-up” to The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. Protagonist Guybrush Threepwood is back, and he’ll once again be voiced by Dominic Armato.

The trailer reveals that Return to Monkey Island is being made by Terrible Toybox, the developer of the 2017 old-school adventure game Thimbleweed Park, in collaboration with...

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Amazon and Roku extend their streaming deal without any extra drama

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

In recent years, Roku has had drawn out stalemates with entertainment / internet giants like WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal, and YouTube, as its ambitions shift from simply selling TV streaming hardware to advertising and content. However, the company today announced an extension in its deal with Amazon, ensuring that the Prime Video and IMDb TV apps will maintain a presence on Roku devices without any back-and-forth wrangling, threats, or mudslinging that delayed the rollout of HBO Max and Peacock and caused YouTube TV’s app to disappear for a while.

Roku:

Roku and Amazon have reached a multi-year extension for their distribution agreement. Customers can continue to access the Prime Video and IMDb TV apps on their Roku devices.

There’s no...

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How to use Twitter’s content warnings when sharing sensitive images

An example content warning. | Image: Twitter

As Russia’s war with Ukraine continues, horrific images are starting to emerge of the civilian casualties of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Images of bodies lying in the streets or inside shelled-out homes have been widely shared on Twitter, in addition to being published in major news outlets.

When shared sensitively, such images can shed new light on the horrors of war and galvanize support for the people who need it. They can also provide important contributions toward documenting what’s happening in conflict areas. But as fact-checking and open-source intelligence group Bellingcat notes, repeated exposure to such graphic imagery can contribute to a sense of secondary trauma. Poynter argues these images should be shared with...

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It’s hard to believe Samsung’s new, matte The Frame is actually a TV

A matte finish makes The Frame’s signature trick even more convincing

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I saw Samsung’s first-ever QD-OLED TV, and it’s impressive

QD-OLED isn’t some revelatory improvement, but you can see the difference

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