SpaceX successfully launches first all-private crew en route to space station for Axiom Space

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida with the Ax-1 crew on board | Image: SpaceX

This morning, SpaceX successfully launched a new crew of four astronauts to orbit on the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft — a group that includes threecustomers who have reportedly paid millions for their seats. The four private flyers, riding to space with a commercial aerospace company called Axiom Space, are now en route to the International Space Station after launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

When they dock with the ISS tomorrow morning, they’ll become the first entirely private crew of astronauts to visit and live on the orbiting lab. The crew is slated to spend roughly eight days on the ISS, where they’ll conduct a total of 25 science experiments lasting a cumulative 100 hours.

Ax-1 is the first in a series of four missions

...

Continue reading…

Google joins Samsung in working with iFixit on a self-repair program

Google has become the latest manufacturer to partner with DIY repair specialists iFixit to offer spare parts for its devices, the search giant announced today. It’s a deal that should make it far easier for the average customer to get parts to repair their own Pixel smartphone if it breaks. Parts like batteries, displays, and cameras will be available to purchase in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, and other European countries where the phones are sold. Parts will be available to purchase “later this year,” Google says.

Spare parts will be available for an impressive range of Pixel phones, including the latest Pixel 6 devices and going all the way back to 2017’s Pixel 2. That means parts should be available for the kinds of aging...

Continue reading…

eBay seller claims an Essential Home smart speaker prototype can be yours for $900

The unreleased device showing an apparent lock screen. | Image: eBay

An apparent prototype smart speaker from defunct smartphone manufacturer Essential has popped up in an eBay listing spotted by a keen-eyed Redditor. It offers a tantalizing glimpse at what the ambitious-yet-unreleased “Essential Home” device could have been and seems to be partially functional. The listing’s photos show the device’s circular screen illuminated, with elements like its lock screen and settings menus visible. The seller is asking for $900 plus shipping for the prototype.

If you have no memory of the Essential Home then we wouldn’t blame you. The smart speaker was announced in May 2017 alongside the Essential Phone, and the company told Wiredthat it hoped to ship both later that summer. The phone would eventually release...

Continue reading…

Vergecast: Elon Musk joins Twitter’s board, OnePlus 10 Pro review, and this week’s TVs and monitors

Dami Lee

Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where we discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.

This week on The Vergecast, Verge managing editor Alex Cranz takes the reins with deputy editor Dan Seifert, deputy editor Liz Lopatto, and reviewer Allison Johnson to discuss Elon Musk buying a major stake in Twitter, this week’s gadget reviews, and the introduction of QD-OLED TVs and gaming monitors in the market.

It was a wild week for Twitter, from Elon Musk buying 9.2 percent of Twitter and joining its board of directors to the announcement of an upcoming “edit button” for tweets. Liz explains why Elon may have wanted to buy stock in Twitter and what power he...

Continue reading…

Axie Infinity’s financial mess started long before its $600 million hack

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge

Blockchain apps’ great hope is facing a rocky future

Continue reading…

WaterField finally made a great Analogue Pocket case

Once you’ve overcome the not inconsiderable challenge of obtaining an Analogue Pocket, your next task is figuring out how to play the thing outside your home. It’s a beautifully designed system that you’ll want to protect, but there aren’t many case options beyond Analogue’s own, which is an awkward clear plastic box that was seemingly more intended for storage and display than on-the-go use.

The best one I’ve found so far comes from WaterField Designs, the San Francisco company we’ve covered a few times in the past for its leather-clad backpacks and laptop bags. The Analogue Pocket Pouch is a simple, stylish $49 accessory that protects your console and gives you storage for a few Game Boy games.

The pouch latches shut...

Continue reading…

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra review: when bigger isn’t better

Samsung’s supersized tablet comes with big limitations

Continue reading…

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 and S8 Plus review: welcome to the S ecosystem

The tablet for Samsung phone owners

Continue reading…

Tesla officially opens Texas Gigafactory

Elon Musk officially opened Texas Gigafactory on Thursday. | Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images

Tesla opened its Austin, Texas-based Gigafactory on Thursday, a crucial step in the company’s delayed plans to begin production of its electric Cybertruck. To celebrate the opening, Tesla held an event, billed as a “Cyber Rodeo,” to which it invited 15,000 people to listen to live music, eat food, and pay homage to Elon Musk and his company.

“We are really entering a new phase of Tesla’s future,” Musk told the audience. Clad in a black cowboy hat and aviator sunglasses, Musk said he was excited to begin working on Cybertruck production at last. “I can’t wait to see this baby in production, it’s going to be epic.”

Along with a new version of the Cybertruck, Musk also showed off a new Roadster vehicle, which is slated to begin production...

Continue reading…

Severance’s first season is a wonderfully tense workplace horror story

Image: Apple

In the age of binge-watching and television seasons that drop all at once, _Severance_feels unique: it’s a show you definitely don’t want to watch in one go. Despite the veneer of a banal workplace drama, Severance is an incredibly tense sci-fi horror series where that tension only builds over the course of the show’s nine episodes. Each new chapter is a chance to see something more messed up and discover the dark depths that the capitalist machine is willing to sink to. You’re going to want some space in between to let it all soak in and maybe catch your breath a little.

This article contains spoilers for the first season of Severance.

Severance starts out fairly slowly. The show centers on a relatively new procedure called, naturally,...

Continue reading…

Robinhood’s crypto wallet opens up to the 2M people waiting for it

Image: Robinhood

Robinhood’s cryptocurrency wallet, which lets users spend and trade select digital currencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum, is being made available to “all eligible customers’’ on its waitlist, the company has announced. That amounts to over two million people, although the company cautions that the wallet won’t be available in Hawaii, Nevada, or New York due to “local regulations.” The wallet was initially launched as a limited test last year.

Although Robinhood has allowed customers to buy cryptocurrency on its platform, you couldn’t easily spend the cryptocurrency — it just sits in your account as a speculative asset until you decide to sell it. In contrast, Robinhood says its wallet gives customers “full access to their crypto” and...

Continue reading…

I tried the pixel-flavored Coke, and it Bytes

At least I didn’t further my sugar addiction.

Coke recently announced that it was making a limited-edition soda, called Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte. The flavor, according to the company, was “born in the metaverse” and “inspired by the playfulness of pixels, rooted in the experiences that gaming makes possible.” It’s hard to imagine better bait for The Verge, so I asked Coke if it could send me a can. And it delivered.

The can for Coke Byte (as I’ll be calling it for brevity’s sake) is a fun purple color, and has a sort of retro-game aesthetic — it says “recycle me to play again” on the side, and it is adorned with cubes meant to represent pixels. I stuck it in the fridge until my wife Becky got home, and we cracked it open to finally discover what pixels taste like.

...

Continue reading…

Fiido X e-bike recalled due to risk of breaking in half

The Fiido X e-bike is supposed to fold, not break in two. | Photo: Javier (cib)

Fiido, maker of cheap direct-to-consumer electric bikes, has suspended sales of its Fiido X and is preparing a recall after discovering a fault that could cause the folding e-bike to break in two. The company confirmed the issue to The Verge and says it will release more details by April 12th. The recall was first reported by Electrek.

When The Verge reviewed the $999 Fiido D11 e-bike in 2020 we concluded that you get what you pay for. The followup $1,298 Fiido X, though, was an improvement in nearly every way, leaving us optimistic about the late-stage prototype we tested ahead of its launch on Indiegogo. Welp.

Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

The pre-production Fiido X tested by The Verge.

...

Continue reading…

Union files objections to Amazon’s actions in Bessemer, AL election

The union wants the election set aside. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (or RWDSU) has filed objections against Amazon to the National Labor Relations Board, saying that the company has again interfered with its election in Bessemer, Alabama (via CNBC).

In a press release, the union alleges that the company “threatened an employee with plant closure if the Union was voted in,” barred employees from posting pro-union literature, and “engaged in surveillance and / or created the impression of surveillance of employees engaged in protected concerted activities,” among many other things. The union is asking the NLRB to schedule a hearing on its objections to determine whether the results of the second Bessemer election should be set aside and a new election held.

...

Continue reading…

GM’s Chevy Bolt EV and EUV are finally back in production following battery fire recall

2022 Bolt EUV in new TV spot airing today | Image: GM

GM has resumed production of the 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV and now has access to a supply of new battery packs that should be safe from fire hazards. This comes after the Chevrolet Bolt was recalled due to potential battery fires affecting all model years, which led to a complete production freeze on the Bolt EV and EUV vehicles since last August.

“Our goal is to get back to and, quite frankly, exceed business metrics,” said Chevy’s VP of marketing Steve Majoros on a press call yesterday. The comeback plan for the Bolt includes catching up with new 2022 Bolt EV and EUV orders (2023 orders will begin in July), a new TV ad campaign coinciding with the opening day of Major League Baseball, and the “herculean task” of replacing all...

Continue reading…

Snapchat has a new lens to help you learn the American Sign Language alphabet

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Snap is launching a new Snapchat lens that can help you learn American Sign Language (ASL). It’s called ASL Alphabet Lens, and Snapchat is launching it in partnership with SignAll, a company that has built technology that can translate sign language.

“Led entirely by Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing team members here at Snap called the ‘Deafengers’, the ASL Alphabet Lens teaches you to fingerspell your name, practice the ASL Alphabet, and play games that put new skills to the test,” Snap said in a blog post.

Screenshots from the ASL Alphabet Lens app.

You can try the lens from this link, which should open in Snapchat if you have the app on your phone. I played around for it for a few minutes and was pretty impressed. The...

Continue reading…

Amazon plans to object to union victory in New York

The company isn’t letting workers organize without a fight. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon is planning to object to the results of the election where workers at a New York warehouse voted to organize with the Amazon Labor Union, according to a deadline extension request the company filed with the National Labor Relations Board (or NLRB). In the document, which you can read in full below, Amazon says that it’s gathering evidence to show that the union “threatened employees to coerce them into voting yes,” “electioneered and interfered with employees waiting in line to vote,” and “threatened immigrants with the loss of benefits if they did not vote.”

Amazon hasn’t yet filed its final, official objections, according to Kayla Blado, a spokesperson for the NLRB. It will have until 11:59PM ET on Friday to do so, though the...

Continue reading…

Twitter rolls out its ALT badge and improved image descriptions

Twitter rolled out its ALT badge and improved image descriptions | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter said Thursday that its ALT badge and improved image descriptions are now available globally, accessibility features that will make alt text descriptions more prominent for all users. Images that have text descriptions will get a badge that reads “alt,” and clicking on the badge will bring up the description. Twitter first announced changes were coming last month.

“As promised, the ALT badge and exposed image descriptions go global today,” reads a tweet from Twitter’s Accessibility account. “Over the past month, we fixed bugs and gathered feedback from the limited release group. We’re ready. You’re ready. Let’s describe our images!”

As promised, the ALT badge and exposed image descriptions go global today.

Over the past month,...

Continue reading…

Recent Chrome OS updates have broken some Chromebooks’ cameras

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Recent Chrome OS updates have broken the camera on some Chromebooks for some users, as reported by About Chromebooks. Some bug reports found by the publication list differing issues; one said the camera “simply does not work,” while another said the camera is “unable to focus properly.” People also reported problems across a few different updates, with at least one dating back to Chrome 97. (Chrome OS is currently on version 100.)

There have been some reports of camera issues with the following devices, according to About Chromebooks:

• Acer Chromebook 14
• HP Chromebook x2 11
• Lenovo Duet 5 Chromebook 5
• Lenovo 10e Chromebook
• Google Pixelbook Go
• Acer Chromebook Spin 13

In a Reddit thread about recent camera problems with the Duet 5, a...

Continue reading…

Activision Blizzard’s new full-time jobs come with a bit of union busting

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Hours after announcing it would convert over 1,000 temporary and contract QA employees to full time and provide a minimum pay of $20 per hour, Activision Blizzard is stating that Raven Software QA workers will not be part of that deal. According to a report from Bloomberg, the QA testers at Raven Software who recently organized as the Game Workers Alliance will not be able to take advantage of the new pay minimum — something Activision Blizzard failed to mention upfront when it sent the initial news to media outlets. Excluding organizing employees from company-wide benefits seems to be Activision Blizzard’s latest move against the burgeoning labor movement going on at the company.

In a statement to The Verge, Activision Blizzard...

Continue reading…

Watching the r/Place timelapse is like staring into the heart of Reddit

Image: Reddit

Even though you can no longer place tiles on Reddit’s r/Place canvas, which was a revival of an April Fools’ Day experiment, the platform has given us the chance to relive the experience. The company has provided a treasure trove of data, including a recap post that goes over numbers and statistics (things like which country placed the most tiles or which subs talked about r/Place the most), alongside an entire CSV dataset for people to tinker with if they’d like.

But, as someone who watched the chaos unfold by checking in every hour or so (and placed a few tiles of my own), the coolest thing Reddit posted is a three-minute-long timelapse that shows how the canvas was shaped by users over four days.

Watching it evolve is like staring...

Continue reading…

The best Sonos speaker and soundbar deals

The Sonos Roam launched last year is now on sale in refurbished condition at Best Buy. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Most would agree that Sonos offers some of the best speakers and soundbars currently on the market. That’s because Sonos makes speakers that — more often than not — boast great sound quality, support for all the major streaming platforms, and simple multi-room functionality. Unfortunately, however, all of those perks often come at a high price. Sonos products aren’t cheap, and, outside of the occasional rogue discount, they rarely go on sale. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to save at least a few dollars on Sonos gear.

If you’re comfortable buying refurbished, for example, you could save a decent amount. We also occasionally see sales on Sonos’ collaborative series with Ikea and discounted bundles that include Sonos...

Continue reading…

SpaceX poised to send first private crew to the International Space Station for Axiom Space

The crew of Ax-1 have paid their way on board

Continue reading…

The Bluetooth group is fighting the maker of Dodges and Jeeps for not paying twice

The radio in the 2022 Chrysler Pacifica, which includes Bluetooth. | Image: Chrysler

A US appeals court has decided that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (or FCA) has a valid argument in a trademark case brought against it by the standards organization behind Bluetooth. The case being litigated could end up setting a precedent about whether automakers can buy radios that are already certified for Bluetooth or whether they will also have to pay the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) to certify the cars, too, adding cost at a time when car prices are already ballooning.

The Bluetooth SIG sued the automaker — now known as Stellantis after FCA merged with Peugeot — back in 2018. At the time, it said that FCA was improperly using its trademark on cars like the Jeep Wrangler and Dodge Grand Caravan, which Bluetooth SIG hadn’t...

Continue reading…

Twitter says it’s experimenting with ‘unmentioning’

Twitter is experimenting with ‘unmentioning’ | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter is experimenting with an “unmentioning” feature that will allow users to remove themselves from conversations. It’s limited to some users and only on the web version for now but looks like a very useful way to clean up your mentions.

“We’re experimenting with Unmentioning—a way to help you protect your peace and remove yourself from conversations,” the tweet reads. The company posted a short GIF of what the feature will look like to its Twitter Safety account.

How do you say “Don’t @ me,” without saying “Don’t @ me”?

We’re experimenting with Unmentioning—a way to help you protect your peace and remove yourself from conversations—available on Web for some of you now. pic.twitter.com/rlo6lqp34H

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) A...

Continue reading…

HBO Max is getting a better Apple TV app, finally

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

HBO Max is promising a long-overdue fix to its busted tvOS app.

Apple TV users know that HBO Max’s streaming app is subject to frequent crashing and glitches and is often overloaded during important premiere dates. In an overhaul that will continue through next week, the company billed the new app as completely redesigned with some useful new features (although Variety, which earlier reported the news, said the two apps were not too visually dissimilar).

According to the company, the new app will have easier sign-in and sign-up protocols, as well as an “enhanced” homepage with a scrollable hero. The company also says the app will have an editable “My Stuff” experience so that users can better manage their Continue Watching and My List...

Continue reading…

Secret Republican group budgets millions for media and influencer programs

Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images

There’s a new group of affluent conservatives planning to revamp the American right by investing more than $30 million into new legal, policy, and media ventures, including “influencer programs,” according to a recent report from The New York Times.

The coalition, known as The Rockbridge Network, features prominent conservative billionaires like Peter Thiel and Rebekah Mercer. The network aims to “disrupt but advance the Republican agenda” with its new policy and media programs. According to a network brochure obtained by the_Times_, “The Rockbridge Network will replace the current Republican ecosystem” of activist and media organizations with “better action-oriented, more effective people and institutions.”

The brochure doesn’t reveal...

Continue reading…

Spotify Car Thing gets ‘add to queue’ and call answering features

Spotify Car Thing has added new features | Image: Spotify

Spotify announced Thursday it was adding the ability to respond to phone calls and other new features to its Car Thing infotainment system. Owners of the $90 device, which went on sale in February, also will now be able to add songs and podcasts to a queue, control other media, and use voice commands.

Car Thing users will be able to see incoming calls and either answer them or dismiss them right in the Car Thing interface. They’ll also be able to switch between Spotify and other media using presets, voice, or tapping its screen.

Spotify says the new “add to queue” feature is one of its most-requested for Car Thing; you can do it either by voice (using the “hey Spotify” prompt), touch, or the device’s dial. You can also ask Car Thing to...

Continue reading…

Sonic 2 is a family-friendly speedrun through the franchise’s awkward phase

Sonic the hedgehog with his little satchel full of rings.

Sonic’s cinematic franchise is eager to grow up

Continue reading…

Visualizing the scale of the carbon removal problem

The fan and air intake of the direct air capture system stands at the Carbon Engineering Ltd. pilot facility in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada, on Monday, Nov. 4, 2019. | Photo by James MacDonald/Bloomberg via Getty Images

To get climate change under control, experts say,we’re going to have to start sucking a whole lot more planet-heating carbon dioxide out of the air. And we need to start doing it fast.

Over the past decade, climate pollution has continued to grow, heating up the planet. It’s gotten to the point that not one but two major climate reports released over the past week say we’ll have to resort to a still-controversial new technology called Direct Air Capture(DAC)to keep our planet livable. Finding ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is “unavoidable,” a report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says.

Finding ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is “unavoidable”

We already have some...

Continue reading…