The best deals on 4K TVs

LG’s fantastic C1 OLED is on sale in the 55-inch configuration for around $1,197, its lowest price to date. | Image: LG

With CES 2022 having wrapped earlier this year, the future looks bright for those who are looking to nab a great TV at a substantial discount. Many manufacturers — including LG and Samsung — announced new versions of some of their most popular models during the event, ranging from The Frame to LG’s new C2 lineup. And now that manufacturers like Samsung and LG have announced official pricing details and are starting to launch their new TVs, we’re noticing prices beginning to fall on the last-gen, 2021 models.

However, if you’re looking to pick up a solid deal before the new models arrive, fret not, as there are already some great discounts available. There are currently a number of discounted 4K TVs to choose from, spanning a wide variety...

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Analyst suggests the iPhone 14 will have an autofocus front camera

And it may not be in a notch. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple’s next iPhones could have an improved selfie camera, with autofocus capabilities and a wider aperture, according to a prediction by well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Unlike Apple’s current fixed-focus design, an autofocus-enabled front-facing camera could let the iPhone 14 take clearer pictures even if you’re closer or further away from the camera. A wider aperture — Kuo predicts f/1.9 vs. the iPhone 13’s f/2.2 — would add a touch of background blur and let in more light, making it slightly better for nighttime selfies or FaceTime portrait mode.

Kuo and others have predicted that Apple will be getting rid of the notch on the iPhone 14 Pro, instead opting for a hole-punch design. While that does mean that Apple would have to fit the...

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Netflix CEO now says he’s open to a cheaper, ad-supported plan

Ads could be coming to Netflix in the next few years. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

After years of rejecting calls for an ad-supported streaming tier, Netflix co-founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings said on Tuesday’s earnings call that the company is “quite open to offering even lower prices with advertising, as a consumer choice.”

Apparently, the company is now looking into the option and “trying to figure out over the next year or two.” Hastings admits that introducing an ad-supported tier would be a big change in thinking for the company, saying that he’s historically been “against the complexity of advertising and a big fan of the simplicity of subscription.”

Hastings now pitches the idea of an ad-supported tier as something that “makes a lot of sense” for “consumers who would like to have a lower price and are...

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‘Glorious PC Gaming Race’ is rebranding to ‘Glorious’ out of belated shame

In 2008, the fast-talking expletive-spewing video game reviewer Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation coined the phrase “The Glorious PC Gaming Master Race,” joking about how snobbish PC gamers allegedly looked down upon their “dirty console playing peasant” counterparts. (I remember it being quite funny at the time.)

Then, something unfortunate happened: the PC gaming community decided to brand itself that way. “PC Gaming Master Race” became the community’s biggest subreddit, and in 2014, some guy also decided he’d use it to sell mousepads, mice, and keyboards to people, Nazi-era connotations be damned.

Some guy has now realized the error of his ways — and so his company, “Glorious PC Gaming Race,” is ditching the name. It’s just “Glorious” now;...

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Oklahoma governor pushes for $700 million rebate package to lure a company he can’t name

Governor Kevin Stitt is bound by a non-disclosure agreement, preventing him from revealing the company’s name. | Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma called on lawmakers to approve an enormous financial incentives package that’s supposed to coax an unnamed company with ties to the electric vehicle (EV) industry to the state, according to a report from Fortune and local media outlet News 9. A non-disclosure agreement barred Governor Stitt from revealing the name of the company and the amount of money pledged to the package — but there’s good reason to believe that this company may be Panasonic.

“Tens of billions of dollars are going to be invested over the next five to seven years in this space, and we want Oklahoma to be the spot that these folks land,” Governor Stitt said in a press conference. “But I’ll tell you this, if I don’t get it passed, it’s...

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Brave is bypassing Google AMP pages because they’re ‘harmful to users’

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Brave announced a new feature for its browser on Tuesday: De-AMP, which automatically jumps past any page rendered with Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages framework and instead takes users straight to the original website. “Where possible, De-AMP will rewrite links and URLs to prevent users from visiting AMP pages altogether,” Brave said in a blog post. “And in cases where that is not possible, Brave will watch as pages are being fetched and redirect users away from AMP pages before the page is even rendered, preventing AMP / Google code from being loaded and executed.”

Brave framed De-AMP as a privacy feature and didn’t mince words about its stance toward Google’s version of the web. “In practice, AMP is harmful to users and to the Web...

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Chris Novak, Xbox’s head of research and design, is leaving after nearly 20 years

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Chris Novak, Xbox’s head of research and design who has been at Microsoft for nearly 20 years, is leaving the company, he announced Tuesday on LinkedIn. In his current role, which he’s had for more than five years, he led the user experience for things like Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Live, according to his LinkedIn. At Microsoft, he also held the roles of design architect and design director.

“I have loved my time with Xbox,” Novak said in a post on LinkedIn. “Building end-to-end experiences for gamers is a privilege. There are very few things one gets to work on in life which evoke such passion in people around the world. I adore listening to gamers and envisioning that next moment of unexpected delight. Gaming is...

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FDA warns that some prenatal blood tests could have false results

Photo by Rolf Vennenbernd/picture alliance via Getty Images

Blood tests that screen pregnant people for signs of genetic abnormalities run the risk of giving people false or misleading information, the Food and Drug Administration warned Tuesday. The agency put out a safety communication stressing that the widely used tests, often called noninvasive prenatal tests (NIPTs), aren’t cleared or approved by a regulatory body.

These tests often screen for rare genetic conditions in developing fetuses. But they’re just screening tests, the FDA said in a statement, and a positive result does not guarantee a fetus has a genetic condition. “We strongly urge patients to discuss the benefits and risks of these tests with a genetic counselor or other health care provider prior to making decisions based on...

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Google’s AirDrop competitor is reportedly getting a big upgrade

When Google launched Nearby Share in 2020, Android users everywhere rejoiced. They finally had a tool to rival Apple’s AirDrop, a simple way to move files between devices without having to attach them to an email or upload them to Google Drive just to download them again on a new device.

Now, ahead of Google I/O, a few users have noticed an upgrade lurking in Google Play Services that makes Nearby Share even easier. The new “self-share” mode, as spotted by Esper’s Mishaal Rahman (via Android Police), appears to let you send files between your own devices with a single tap. The feature has been rumored for months but now appears to be much closer to being ready.

Nearby Share's "self-share" mode will let you quickly share files to other...

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Tesla blames ‘turf war’ for overlapping investigations into racial bias at its factory

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Tesla is asking a judge to delay a lawsuit filed by California’s civil rights agency that accuses the company of racial discrimination and harassment at its factory in Fremont, California.

In a filing in state court in Oakland, Tesla revealed that it is also being investigated by a different civil rights agency into similar allegations, accusing both agencies of conducting a “turf war.” The news was first reported by Reuters.

Last February, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a lawsuit against Tesla in which it accuses the company of operating a “racially segregated” workplace.

Tesla revealed it is also being investigated by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

In its court filing this week,...

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The writing may be on the wall for sharing Netflix accounts

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Netflix announced in March that it plans to crack down on password sharing, and in its first quarter earnings letter to shareholders (pdf), it gave a big clue as to why.

First, it’s increasingly clear that the pace of growth into our underlying addressable market (broadband homes) is partly dependent on factors we don’t directly control, like the uptake of connected TVs (since the majority of our viewing is on TVs), the adoption of on-demand entertainment, and data costs. We believe these factors will keep improving over time, so that all broadband households will be potential Netflix customers. Second, in addition to our 222m paying households, we estimate that Netflix is being shared with over 100m additional households, including...

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NYC Apple retail workers want a $30 minimum wage

Fruit Stand Workers United is organizing at Apple’s Grand Central Terminal location. | Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Fruit Stand Workers United, the union attempting to organize Apple’s Grand Central Terminal store, says that if its drive succeeds it plans on pushing for a $30 an hour minimum wage for the location’s employees (via CNBC). The union updated its website on Monday with its goals, including the wage increase, health and safety research, and better education and retirement benefits.

A $30 minimum wage means that a full-time employee would start off making roughly $62,000 a year. The union also wants pay calculated using a “matrix based on role, tenure, and performance.”

Fruit Stand Workers United says it also wants to negotiate for increases in vacation time accrual, 401(k) matching rates, and tuition reimbursement as well as more options...

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Netflix lost subscribers for the first time in a decade last quarter

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Netflix’s struggle to boost its subscriber count took a dire turn in the first quarter of 2022. The company reported a loss of 200,000 subscribers globally compared to Q4, and it’s forecasting even bigger losses to come. Netflix estimates it could lose up to 2 million subscribers in the second quarter.

“Our revenue growth has slowed considerably,” Netflix acknowledged in its letter to shareholders. “Covid clouded the picture by significantly increasing our growth in 2020, leading us to believe that most of our slowing growth in 2021 was due to the Covid pull forward.”

In January, Netflix announced its first monthly subscription increase in two years. Today’s report contains the aftermath: Netflix says it lost 600,000 customers across...

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The Pokémon Company has acquired the company that prints the trading card game

Photo by John Keeble/Getty Images

The Pokémon Company has acquired Millennium Print Group, a company that prints cards for the hugely popular Pokémon Trading Card Game. Millennium Print Group has been working with The Pokémon Company since 2015.

“With this acquisition, The Pokémon Company International aims to further develop Millennium Print Group’s capabilities, infrastructure, and scale to become a premier printer of trading cards, serving the broader industry,” The Pokémon Company said in a press release. “Millennium Print Group will continue to operate as a separate, autonomous organization, but will gain both investment and industry expertise from The Pokémon Company International.”

Pokémon cards have been very popular during the pandemic, with The Pokémon Company...

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World of Warcraft brings back dragons in new expansion

Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft is bringing back the dragons. In a livestream, World of Warcraft developers announced Dragonflight, _WoW’_s ninth expansion in 18 years.

Dragonflight will focus on the return of the Dragon Aspects, the magical guardians of Azeroth who disappeared after the events of the Cataclysm expansion 12 years ago. Players will journey to the mysterious and heretofore hidden Dragon Isles to explore five zones, each themed after one of the five dragon aspects. Dragonflight will also add a new race / class combo called Dracthyr Evokers, a race of draconic humanoids (think the Worgen from Wrath of the Lich King) with ranged damage and healing powers related to the Dragon Aspects. Unlike the Worgen, however, Dracthyr can only be the...

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How to upgrade to the latest version of Windows 10

I didn’t want to get rid of this handy left-hand search bar either. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

If you’re like me and are using an old-school desktop PC, you probably haven’t been able to install Windows 11. You may also still be running Windows 10 if you’re a business user with a workflow still optimized for Windows 10 or a leisure user who just prefers it. Motives aside, there are a lot of us. And, fortunately, we now have an update available.

Windows 10 version 21H2 is now available for broad deployment according to Microsoft (first spotted by Neowin). If you’re not an IT administrator, the changes in this update likely won’t be too interesting to you. It’s stuff like “GPU compute support for the Windows subsystem for Linux (WSL)” and “Wi-Fi WPA3-Personal H2E support.” If you are an IT administrator, Microsoft has an article...

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How to measure your SpO2 on your smartwatch

Apple introduced blood oxygen readings on the Series 6. | Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

If you’ve been hunting for a new smartwatch, you’ve probably come across the terms SpO2 sensors, pulse ox, or blood oxygen levels. SpO2 sensors measure your blood oxygen saturation — or, put more simply, the amount of oxygen you have in your blood. In fact, these sensors and metrics are included in most modern smartwatches and fitness trackers. The only issue is that not every wearables maker uses these sensors in the same way.

Some smartwatches measure your SpO2 passively as you sleep while others will let you take a direct measurement. But don’t worry, we’ll get into what SpO2 sensors are, how they work, and their limitations. We’ll also dive into how to set up SpO2 measurements on some of the more popular wearables that support this...

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Assassin’s Creed Origins is coming to Xbox Game Pass

Assassin’s Creed Origins is set in Ancient Egypt. | Image: Ubisoft

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Origins (the one set in Ancient Egypt) is headed to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s Megan Spurr said in a blog post on Tuesday. Spurr said the game will arrive sometime “in the next two months” and will be available to play on console, over cloud streaming, and on PC via the Ubisoft Connect app. We’ve asked Microsoft and Ubisoft if they can share a more specific date for when we might expect the game.

Ubisoft has a few other games on Game Pass already, including Rainbow Six: Extraction, which was available on Game Pass the same day the game was released in January. Ubisoft also plans to bring its Ubisoft Plus subscription service to Xbox at some point in the future. Ubisoft Plus will let you play more than 100...

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Meta’s Quest hand tracking can now detect high-fives and clapping

Meta

Meta is updating its mixed reality hand tracking system with support for more types of motion, including gestures like clapping. A new version of its Presence Platform API is launching for everyone after a limited preview with a few developers, promising more sophisticated and reliable interactions on the Meta (formerly Oculus) Quest headset.

The Presence Platform update is designed to improve Quest hand tracking — which uses cameras mounted in the headset to replace the default hardware controllers — across the board. In addition to general reliability updates, it focuses on recognizing movement when part of your hand is blocked from the camera’s view. It’s now supposed to catch clapping, high-fives, crossed hands, and other gestures...

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Delta confirms ‘exploratory’ Starlink tests

Photo by Camilo Freedman/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the airline has tested out SpaceX’s Starlink technology, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The report calls the tests “exploratory” and says there weren’t any further details, but it does seem like one of the major US airlines is at least interested in Elon Musk’s satellite internet service.

In July last year, SpaceX said it was “in talks with several” airlines and that it was trying to “get that product finalized to be put on aircraft in the very near future.” A few months before that, the company sought FCC approval to provide service to moving vehicles such as planes, boats, and trucks. (CEO Elon Musk has said the equipment is currently too big to put on passenger cars, though that hasn’t...

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CDC launches new infectious disease forecasting center

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially launched a new center that will forecast infectious disease outbreaks. The Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics is “the equivalent of the National Weather Service for infectious diseases,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday.

Along with experts in data analytics and disease modeling, the center will also have communications specialists on staff to interpret the information for the public.

Planning for the center began last August. It attempts to correct some of the major deficiencies the COVID-19 pandemic revealed in the United States’ public health infrastructure. The CDC has never had a dedicated infectious disease forecasting program, and it has spent the...

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Apple says it’s using more recycled materials than ever before

At the Material Recovery Lab in Austin, Texas, engineers and experts use a pilot-scale industrial electronics shredder for research and development. Apple’s newest recycling machine, Taz, was developed out of this process, designed to help conventional bulk electronics recyclers recover more precious materials. | Image: Apple

Apple products contained almost 20 percent recycled materials in 2021, the highest percentagethe company has achieved to date. Apple shared new details on its recycling programs today, along with some new features it’s offering customers ahead of Earth Day on April 22nd.

In a first for any Apple device, recycled gold was used in the plating of the main logic board in the iPhone 13 and iPhone13 Pro, as well as in wire in the device’s front camera and rear cameras. That “milestone,” Apple says, was the result of the company “pioneer[ing] industry-leading levels of traceability to build a gold supply chain of exclusively recycled content.”

A first for any Apple device

That builds on the company’s previous efforts to retrieve gold from...

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The best wireless earbuds to buy right now

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The best from Apple, Samsung, Sony, Beats, and more

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Amy Hennig’s new studio is making a Star Wars game

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for BAFTA LA

Amy Hennig’s new video game studio is working on a Star Wars game. In a press release, Skydance New Media wrote it is working in “collaboration with Lucasfilm Games to develop and produce a richly cinematic action-adventure game featuring an original story inthe legendary Star Wars galaxy.”

Skydance New Media, a video game offshoot of the Skydance movie production company, was formed in 2018 with former EA and Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig as its president. Ironically, Hennig was already working on a Star Wars title at EA before leaving the company in 2018.

“I’m not doing anything Star Wars,” Hennig told Eurogamerin an interview about her departure from EA.

It is not yet known if this game is the same as the one Hennig was...

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Spotify quietly shuts down Greenroom creator fund

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Spotify is shutting down its live audio app creator fund without much fanfare, the company told applicants in an email on Monday. Greenroom (now called Spotify Live) launched last June as a Clubhouse competitor, where users stream live conversations with celebrities, influencers, and other creators. The fund, announced in tandem with the live audio app, was meant to lure in creators through weekly payouts based on performance.

In an email obtained by The Verge, Spotify tells people who had registered to the fund that the program would not be moving forward. “We plan to shift toward other initiatives for live creators,” the company writes. Spotify didn’t offer an explanation for the change in plans and did not immediately respond on the...

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Sending a probe to Uranus labeled as top priority by space science community

The planet Uranus, seen from Voyager 2. | Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The space science community thinks the time is ripe to study Uranus in depth — and they’re being serious. A new report compiled by planetary scientists from across the United States says that sending an interplanetary probe to study the ice giant planet should be considered the top priority for planetary exploration over the next decade.

Specifically, scientists are calling on NASA to create the Uranus Orbiter and Probe, or UOP. The mission concept would send a spacecraft into orbit around Uranus, along with a probe that would plunge into the planet’s atmosphere. Scientists envision such a mission launching sometime in the early 2030s as long as engineers get started on it as soon as next year.

If it works, the UOP mission could provide...

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A camera battery with a USB-C port is a gadget whose time has come

Nitecore’s UFZ100 is compatible with an array of Sony cameras. | Image: Nitecore

The Nitecore UFZ100 camera battery is here to release photographers from Sony’s proprietary grasp — a built-in USB-C charging port lets you power it up using the same hardware as many of your other devices (via Gizmodo). It hasn't been officially released yet, but you can use the battery with the Sony A7 III, A7R III, A7R IV, A7S III, A9 (ILCE-9), A9 II, A6600, A7C, A1, FX3, and A7 IV, saving you from lugging around a separate charger if you want to bring along (and charge) an extra battery on a shoot.

As Gizmodo points out, the battery has a slightly smaller capacity than its proprietary equivalent, with the Sony NP-FZ100 coming with a 2,280mAh capacity and the Nitecore UFZ100 featuring 2,250mAh. In terms of charging times, Nitecore’s...

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A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin

Photo Illustration by The Verge

A plan to revive US manufacturing gone wrong

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Uber, Amtrak, airlines drop mask requirements after judge strikes down rule

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A number of transportation providers, including Uber, Amtrak, and all three major airlines, said they wouldn’t require employees or customers to wear masks anymore after a federal judge struck down the Biden administration’s mask mandate.

On Monday, US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not have the authority to introduce a mask mandate and did not follow the proper rules to implement a mandate. The Biden administration said it was weighing whether to appeal the ruling. (The mask mandate for air travel and public transportation was set to expire April 18th but was recently extended to May 3rd.)

many private transportation providers aren’t waiting for the White House’s...

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Hustler at the end of the world

Illustrations by Emily Lopez for The Verge

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As the world shut down in March 2020, anxious knowledge workers barricaded themselves at home, scrubbing produce with soap. Fear sometimes manifested as altruism: checking on neighbors, organizing mutual aid. But the crisis also prompted cynics to root around for new loopholes to exploit, for ways to raise prices, feign hardship, get a rent reduction, slack off. For every person who spent that spring self-soothing with Animal Crossing or struggling to manage small children_,_ there was someone else out there thinking, “How can I take advantage of the chaos?” This is a story about one of those people.

You see, freaking out was for normies. In the early days of the...

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