Alienware’s 2022 gaming laptops are going big on AMD

Similar speckled design but with new internal hardware.

Alienware has announced a release date and pricing info for its latest batch of gaming laptops. Today’s big news is that the new Dell G15, the Alienware M15 R7, and the Alienware M17 R5 are available now. Notably, each of the configurations will come equipped with AMD’s 6000-series processors (paired with Nvidia’s RTX 30-series graphics cards by default) and fast DDR5 RAM, among other impressive specs. Intel-based versions will likely release later in 2022.

The most affordable option in the lineup is a 2022 iteration of the Dell G15 (pictured above), which is back in its speckled, Alienware-esque design. It starts at $899.99, equipped with a 1080p display that has a 120Hz refresh rate, AMD’s Ryzen 5 6600H six-core processor, a Nvidia RTX...

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Google gives Europe a ‘reject all’ button for tracking cookies after fines from watchdogs

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google is introducing new options to reject tracking cookies in Europe after its existing dialog boxes were found to be in violation of EU data laws.

Earlier this year, France’s data protection agency CNIL fined Google €150 million ($170 million) for deploying confusing language in cookie banners. Previously, Google allowed users to accept all tracking cookies with a single click, but forced people to click through various menus to reject them all. This asymmetry was unlawful, said CNIL, steering users into accepting cookies to the ultimate benefit of Google’s advertising business.

To remedy this, Google’s new cookie banners give clear, balanced choices: “reject all,” “accept all,” or “more options” (to exercise more granular control)....

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Spotify opens up video podcasting to everyone in the US and select markets

Video podcasts are now open to all in five markets. | Image: Spotify

All creators in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand can now upload video podcasts to Spotify, the streaming service has announced. Video can be uploaded through Anchor, the podcast creation tool Spotify purchased in 2019. Video podcasts are compatible with Spotify’s podcast subscriptions feature and work with embeds. The company is also offering video-specific analytics for creators.

Spotify has been gradually rolling out support for video podcasts since mid-2020, around the same time it acquired Joe Rogan’s podcast — which had long been available in video form on YouTube. Since then, Spotify has been slowly expanding the number of podcasters who are able to post their shows as videos to its service. Now, all creators in...

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Wu-Tang Clan gear is coming to Fortnite

It may not be a sequel to Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style, but it’s something: the Wu-Tang Clan is coming to Fortnite with a new clothing collection. The iconic members of the hip-hop supergroup aren’t coming to the game themselves; instead, players will be able to buy Wu-Wear gear in the Fortnite item shop starting April 23rd at 8PM ET. There will be two different outfits available, along with some Wu-Tang accessories like reactive backpacks and, naturally, a Wu-Tang hands emote.

You can check out the entire offering in the gallery below:

Music has steadily been infiltrating Fortnite’s battle royale in different ways, from a crossover with Coachella to in-game concerts from the likes of Ariana Grande and Travis Scott. Meanwhile, real-world...

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Netflix will start highlighting more of your favorite genres and categories

Netflix’s new Category Hub menu for smart TV interfaces | Image: Netflix

Netflix is giving its TV interface a small refresh, refashioning its old row of categories into a “Category Hub” menu on the left rail that highlights genre recommendations tailored to your viewing habits.

Although Netflix’s UI often seems to change every time you load it, the Categories menu generally appeared below the Popular, Trending, and Continue Watching rows. As well as listing basic genres like comedy, action, horror, and so on, it also highlights collections based on the odd holiday (like Earth Day). Now, instead of just listing these categories in the same order for everyone, the top three choices will be customized to individual users.

Image: Netflix

Netflix’s old Category row. Now these sections are...

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Elon Musk lays out funding for ambitious Twitter takeover

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Elon Musk has lined up the funding he needs for his proposed takeover of Twitter. In a new filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Musk laid out his plan for the $46.5 billion worth of loans that will allow him to finance the buyout offer made on April 14th.

The funding is provided through two debt commitment letters from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, in which the bank commits to offering a series of loans worth $25.5 billion. The remaining $21 billion will be covered by Musk himself.

Notably, the filing does not list any equity partners to share the cash burden with Musk. The Tesla CEO already owns a 9 percent stake in Twitter, valued at roughly $2.9 billion.

“The Reporting Person is seeking to negotiate a...

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The warehouse next door

Illustration by Melissa Mathieson / The Verge

Joaquin Castillejos remembers walking past goats and alpacas in a neighbor’s yard to get to his elementary school in the 2000s. That home, the goats, and alpacas are gone now. In their place is a massive warehouse.

Joaquin Castillejos in his family home. Joaquin is a community organizer at the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice.

From above, you can see those concrete boxes closing in on Castillejos’ hometown of Bloomington, California. It’s a community that’s been a haven for many families like Castillejos’ who wanted to escape Los Angeles’ urban sprawl. In Bloomington, they found open space — plots big enough for a home, horses, and gardens to grow squash, corn, beans, chilis, and tomatoes.

...

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The new Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G has a bunch of upgrades... and a higher price

The 2022 Moto G Stylus 5G gets a spec and price bump this time around. | Image: Motorola

Motorola is introducing a new version of its Moto G Stylus 5G with a couple of nice upgrades for 2022 — and, as a result, a higher $499 price tag. The 2022 edition of the G Stylus 5G includes a 6.8-inch screen with a super smooth 120Hz refresh rate, a more powerful 600-series Snapdragon processor, a stabilized main camera, and a bunch of built-in storage. The company is also debuting its $399, budget-oriented Moto G 5G in North America. (It was introduced in Europe earlier this year.)

The most noticeable update on the 2022 G Stylus 5G — not to be confused with the 4G-only Moto G Stylus — is that 120Hz display for smooth animations and scrolling. It’s a 1080p LCD panel, and it houses a 16-megapixel front-facing camera. On the back,...

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When the virtual city of Cybertown went dark, its citizens rebuilt it

Illustration by Melissa Mathieson / The Verge

Coming back to your hometown can be an alienating experience, especially when all you find is a dead link to a long-deserted website.

For nearly a decade, that was the experience of Cytonians — members of an early virtual world called Cybertown, which operated between 1995 and 2012. But since 2019, a group of former citizens has dedicated itself to resurrecting their old home. Cybertown Revival, or CTR, successfully launched a pre-alpha version of a new Cybertown earlier this year. It’s the result of hundreds of former residents rallying to rebuild the digital city, drawing on everything from former users’ blog posts to the contents of their hard drives.

The original Cybertown was launched during the early days of massively multiplayer...

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How to reset your Windows 11 system

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

When you’re running a Windows system, sometimes things just go wrong. A couple of years ago, I made the mistake of not checking to make sure my laptop was securely plugged in while Windows was undergoing a major update. The battery ran out in the middle of the update and voila! I was stuck with what I was sure was now a very expensive brick. Another time, a Windows 10 system decided that it didn’t like the latest update and began misbehaving. (It would stop responding to input one minute after it booted.)

In both cases, I was able to save an otherwise unusable PC by doing a reset, which removes all (or most) of the files and apps on the hard drive and reinstalls Windows.

(By the way, you have backed up your computer, right?)

Resets are...

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Amazon will let merchants sell goods with Prime benefits on their own sites

Amazon’s Buy With Prime initiative lets merchants offer Prime shipping benefits on their own stores. | Image: Amazon

Amazon has announced a new initiative named Buy With Prime that extends the purview of its Prime subscription service beyond the bounds of Amazon.com — a significant change to its business strategy that could help it compete with fast-growing rival Shopify.

Merchants who ship products using Amazon’s warehouse and delivery services (known as Fulfillment by Amazon) will be able to add Buy With Prime buttons to their sites. This will let Prime subscribers buy from these stores directly while retaining the benefits of Amazon’s subscription service. Namely: free shipping, next-day delivery, and free returns.

Buy With Prime will offer extra convenience and value to Prime subscribers, but its importance to Amazon is about more than bringing...

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Apple’s nudity-blurring Messages feature gets international release

Warning messages shown to a child when sexually explicit imagery is detected. | Image: Apple

Apple’s “communication safety in Messages” feature, which is designed to automatically blur images containing nudity sent to children using the company’s messaging service, is now rolling out to additional countries. After launching in the US last year, the feature is now coming to the Messages apps on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS for users in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Exact timings are unclear, but The Guardian reports that the feature is coming to the UK “soon.”

Scanning happens on-device, and does not impact the end-to-end encryption of messages. Instructions on how to enable the feature, which is integrated with Apple’s existing Family Sharing system, can be found here.

The opt-in feature scans incoming and outgoing...

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Boring Company raises additional $675 million as investors chuck money into holes in the ground

The Boring Company’s plan to revolutionize transport is best summarized as “Teslas in tunnels.” | Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

The Boring Company has raised a new round of funding worth $675 million, with Elon Musk’s grand plan to “solve traffic” with tunnels now valued at $5.675 billion.

In a blog post announcing the news, the company reiterated its goals and achievements so far, drawing particular attention to its “next generation” of Prufrock tunnel-boring machines (TBMs).

“Unlike traditional TBMs which require upwards of a dozen or more people to operate, Prufrock is designed to be capable of operating completely remotely and autonomously via computerized systems and requires zero people in the tunnel to operate,” said the company. “The current iteration of Prufrock, called Prufrock-2, is designed to mine at up to 1 mile/week, meaning a tunnel the length of...

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Spider-Verse sequel delayed to June 2023

Image: Sony

Sony has pushed back the release date of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse’s sequel, the films’ official Twitter account has confirmed. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now scheduled for release on June 2nd, 2023, rather than October 7th this year. Sony originally said its Spider-verse sequel would arrive on April 8th 2022.

It’s not immediately clear what’s caused the most recent delay, but Across the Spider-Verse’s writer and producer Christopher Miller tweeted that it has offered the team “More time to make it great.”

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the first of two sequels Sony is planning in its animated Spider-Man film series, with the second part planned for release on March 29th, 2024. Additionally, Spider-Man...

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Google’s iPhone app for wirelessly switching to Android will be ready for Pixel owners in a few weeks

Image: Google

Anyone switching from an iPhone to an Android device has more to worry about than just green bubbles, they also want to bring along as much of the data from their phone as they can. While backing things up to Google Drive or plugging in a cable are solutions that Google can walk you through, now we know Google built an iOS app called Switch to Android to get the job done wirelessly.

Switch to Android popped up in the App Store last week, but it’s unlisted so you’d need the link to dig it up. As TechCrunch reported, Google is starting to roll the app out to the public, but it may be a little while before you can actually use it. Google spokesperson Ivy Hunt confirmed to The Verge that the rollout should be complete in a few weeks. What...

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Lincoln’s new electric concept car uses lo-fi beats and ‘fragrances’ to elevate your state of mind

Lincoln, Ford’s luxury brand, says it will release four new electric vehicles by 2026, by which point 50 percent of its global sales will be EVs. The company also revealed its Lincoln Star Concept as a way to introduce the new design language that will come to define its upcoming electrified lineup.

And what a concept it is! Carriage doors, a frunk that extends out like a drawer for added storage, a full-suite of sensory interior moods, and a sleek, aerodynamic profile that feels more Faraday Future than Ford. The Lincoln Star Concept is designed to be “the ultimate sanctuary” for wealthy elites who prefer to be chauffeured through the teaming megalopolises of the future.

Lincoln has been mulling plans to electrify its portfolio for...

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The Obamas are leaving Spotify for a new multiplatform podcast deal

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Barack and Michelle Obama won’t be signing a new podcast deal with Spotify, Bloomberg reports, marking a major departure for the Obamas’ production company, Higher Ground Productions. “The company is instead talking to other distributors about a deal worth tens of millions of dollars, among the most-lucrative in the podcasting business,” according to the report.

Amazon’s Audible and iHeartMedia are among the “several” companies Higher Ground is in negotiations with for a new deal. Higher Ground had talked to Spotify as well, but it “declined to make an offer,” Bloomberg says. Higher Ground apparently wants to be able to make multiple shows and release them on platforms simultaneously, which would go against Spotify’s typical...

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Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack can charge iPhones faster with a new firmware update

Dieter Bohn / The Verge

My favorite kind of software update is the kind that unlocks secret hardware features, and the Apple MagSafe Battery Pack is the latest surprise — you’ll be able to cordlessly charge an iPhone at a faster 7.5 watts instead of the original 5 watts, once you apply firmware update 2.7 (via9to5Mac).

You can wait for an update over the air, or plug a Lightning to USB cable from the pack to a connected Mac or iPad to get the fix, and then you’re off to the races, as they say.

But if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t install the update quite yet — I might wait until we hear back from Apple (or reviewers) on whether it’ll affect how warm the battery gets.

You see, I bought a MagSafe Battery Pack myself last year for my iPhone mini, but I returned...

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Lexus finally reveals its all-electric RZ 450e SUV

Lexus’ first ever electric vehicle is the RZ 450e SUV. | Image: Lexus

Lexus gave us a glimpse at the 2023 RZ 450e today: an all-electric SUV with an estimated 225-mile range and a 71.4kWh battery. The company’s first-ever electric vehicle (EV) will also come with Direct4. That’s its new all-wheel-drive system that automatically calibrates weight distribution on all four wheels, leading to “improved start-up acceleration, handling stability and low power consumption.”

On the inside of the vehicle is a sleek interior with a 14-inch touchscreen and a panoramic sunroof that extends from the front seats to the back. As for a steering yoke, which my colleague Andrew Hawkins lamented about in a previous post, that’s optional.

Image: Lexus

The steering yoke will be optional.

Lexus...

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Coinbase launches social NFT marketplace in limited beta, just as NFT sales dive

Image: Coinbase

Coinbase announced on Wednesday that its NFT marketplace is now in beta and accessible to “a small set of beta testers who’ll be invited based on their position” on its waitlist. The company is looking to take on established players in the space by adding social features, like a comment system (with upvotes and downvotes) and an algorithmic feed.

Visually speaking, the screenshots Coinbase includes in its blog post look like a cross between Instagram and OpenSea, one of the largest NFT marketplaces. There are profiles where users can show off their collections (and which other people can follow) as well as a discover feed that Coinbase says will recommend NFTs to you “based on what you buy, what’s trending, who you follow, and more.” The...

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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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Google Assistant is not rolling out to the Galaxy Watch 4 today

The Google Play Store was a big reason why Samsung made the switch to Wear OS. | Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge

There was one notable omission when the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 lineup launched last year: Google Assistant. As for when it would arrive, Google and Samsung have avoided giving firm dates, but there was reason to hope the digital assistant might arrive sooner than expected. Earlier today, Verizon update logs for both the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic indicated Google had arrived in an update. However, Google has told The Verge that this is not the case.

“To confirm, Assistant is not rolling out to Galaxy Watch 4 and we don’t have an update on timing,” Google spokesperson Ivy Hunt told The Verge in an email.

The Verizon update logs, which were first spotted by 9to5Google, refer to a software update released today. As for...

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Instagram is begging you to stop reposting TikToks to Reels

Image: Instagram

Instagram is making a few new creator-focused changes to its platform, which Instagram head Adam Mosseri said are meant to “make sure that credit is going to those who deserve it.”

The new stuff is made up of three changes: product tags are now available to everyone, so you can tag a product in your post; you can assign yourself to a category like “Photographer” or “Rapper” and have that category show up every time you’re tagged in a post; and Instagram is going to start more heavily promoting original content on the platform.

“If you create something from scratch,” Mosseri said in a video explaining the new features, “you should get more credit than if you are re-sharing something that you found from someone else. We’re going to try...

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Tesla earned over $3 billion in profit this quarter

Photo by Suzanne Cordeiro / AFP via Getty Images

Amid supply chain constraints and production delays in China, Tesla reported that it earned a $3.3 billion profit in the first quarter of 2022. Tesla turned that profit on just over $18.7billion in revenue, the company announced. That represents an 81 percent increase year over year, compared to $10.4 billion in revenue in Q1 2021.

The company logged $679 million in emission credit sales to other automakers, compared to $314 million in credit sales in Q4 2021. The company generates this revenue by selling these credits to automakers that make fewer “clean” vehicles than are required by the US government and the European Union.

The credit sales have come in handy in past years, helping Tesla eke out a profit while its car-making...

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Okta ends Lapsus$ hack investigation, says breach lasted just 25 minutes

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Three months after authentication platform Okta was breached by hacking group Lapsus$, the company has concluded its internal investigation after finding that the impact was less serious than initially believed.

In a blog post published Tuesday, Okta’s chief security officer David Bradbury noted that the company had been transparent by sharing details of the hack soon after it was discovered but that further analysis had downgraded early assessments of the potential scope.

“As a result of the thorough investigation of our internal security experts, as well as a globally recognized cybersecurity firm whom we engaged to produce a forensic report, we are now able to conclude that the impact of the incident was significantly less than the...

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Former Nintendo employee says they were fired for union activity

Illustrations by Alex Castro / The Verge

Nintendo is the latest video game developer hit with allegations of union busting. In a report from Axios, a former employee alleges that Nintendo and its staffing and recruiting partner Aston Carter fired them after engaging in protected organizing activities.

In a filing with the National Labor Relations Board, a summary of the charges against Nintendo include:

• Engaging in surveillance or creating the impression of surveillance of employees’ union activities
• Discharging an employee for engaging in protected activities such as discussing wages and other terms and conditions of employment
• Discharging an employee because they joined or supported labor organization

Nintendo isn’t the only video game company contending with the NLRB....

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Brave Search no longer requires you to append ‘Reddit’ to your searches

Brave’s “Discussions” shows results from Reddit and StackExchange with more forums to come in the future. | Image: Brave

Brave Search has rolled out a new feature that makes it easier to find conversations from forums like Reddit in your search results. This means you’ll no longer have to add “Reddit” to your searches when you’re looking for thoughts from actual humans, not empty answers from websites just trying to get clicks.

You don’t have to do anything in order to start getting these results. If your inquiry has sparked conversation on the web, you’ll see results underneath a new, more prominent “Discussions” section. Brave says it chooses posts to display based on their recency, popularity, relevancy, and how many likes or upvotes posts receive. Right now, Brave only displays results from Reddit and StackExchange but says it will add more sites “in...

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Astrobotic unveils private robotic lunar lander it aims to launch to the Moon this year

Astrobotic CEO John Thornton unveiling the Peregrine lander | Image: Astrobotic

This afternoon, commercial space company Astrobotic unveiled its nearly complete robotic lunar lander, designed to take payloads for paying customers like NASA to the surface of the Moon. It marks the first time the company has shown the mostly finished flight hardware for the lander ahead of its launch, tentatively scheduled for late this year.

Called the Peregrine Lunar Lander, the spacecraft is roughly the size of a squat refrigerator, standing just over six feet tall. Five main engines mounted on the lander’s base will help navigate the vehicle through space and eventually allow the vehicle to touch down on the surface of the Moon. The vehicle has various locations it can store mounted payloads for experiments designed to take...

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Ebook service Hoopla brings anti-vax, Holocaust denial, and pro-LGBTQ conversion books to libraries

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

An ebook subscription platform used by thousands of public libraries in the US and elsewhere is offering Holocaust denial, COVID disinformation, LGBTQ conversion therapy, and other conspiracy theory books, according to a report by Motherboard.

Hoopla — a Netflix-like subscription service that libraries use for audiobooks, ebooks, and movies — serves more than 8,500 public libraries in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Titles on Hoopla included antisemitic books like Debating The Holocaust and A New Nobility of Blood and Soil. Unlike physical books, which libraries can order individually, Hoopla sells libraries a subscription to its service, meaning librarians don’t always have control over what is being offered. OverDrive,...

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Google rolls out new badges to help people avoid bad Chrome extensions

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google is trying to make it easier for Chrome users to install useful extensions without having to scrutinize where they come from. The company says it has begun applying two new badges to extensions. The first, Featured, looks like a prize ribbon and will be displayed on extensions that “follow our technical best practices and meet a high standard of user experience and design.”

Google says this is a manual process that involves evaluating extensions for an “enjoyable and intuitive experience,” making sure developers use the latest APIs, and keeping an eye on each extension’s privacy practices and requested permissions. To receive the Featured label, extensions must also have a detailed store page that clearly outlines their purpose....

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