Spotify brings music-themed islands to Roblox

Spotify’s Roblox debut consists of a series of interactive islands with rotating themes. | Image: Spotify

Spotify has launched its own digital space on Roblox, called Spotify Island, allowing players to make music, play games, and interact with virtual artists, the company announced in a press release. Although it’s called Spotify Island, it’s more like a virtual archipelago — players can hop between other interactive music-themed islands that change throughout the year.

Spotify calls its digital island an “audio oasis,” which features distinct Spotify branding, from the vibrant green color of the landscape to the heart-shaped “Like” icons scattered around the island that players can collect and exchange for virtual merchandise. The more hearts users collect, the higher they climb on the game’s leaderboard.

Pack your bags! This is your...

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Ford did what Tesla won’t

The F-100 Eluminator is a “Restomod”, meaning it is restored and modified.

Last fall, Ford began parading around a fully electric 1978 F-100 pickup truck that could accelerate 0–60 mph in around three seconds. The company brought it to YouTubers, automotive trade shows, Jay Leno, and even us. And we all agreed: we want this truck in our own garages.

But for Ford, this car was far more than a pretty old new truck — it was a way to show off its new electric crate motor, the M-9000-MACHE, or the same electric motor that is in Ford’s all-electric Mustang Mach-E GT.

Becca Farsace / The Verge

Inside the F-100 Eluminator is two M-9000-MACHE electric motors.

A crate motor is an engine sold separately from a vehicle. They have predominately served as a way for car enthusiasts and hobbyists to...

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Wyze takes on Ecobee, Nest with new room sensors for its smart thermostat

The new Wyze Room Sensor costs $24.99 and detects temperature, humidity, and motion. | Image: Wyze

The long-awaited Wyze Room Sensor launches today. Originally promised in 2021, this is a small, wireless device that pairs with the smart home company’s Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat, which launched in December 2020. Designed to optimize comfort in your home and help manage hot and cold spots, the Wyze Room Sensor detects temperature, humidity, and motion. The sensor only works when paired with the thermostat using the Wyze app, so it can’t be used as a standalone temperature monitor.

Each sensor costs $24.99 plus shipping, or $69.99 plus shipping for a three-pack. They can be bought in a bundle with the Wyze Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat ($70.99) for $145.96 (plus shipping).

Room sensors are a popular add-on to smart thermostats to give you greater...

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Samsung will supply software and radios for Dish’s much-delayed 5G network

Dish Network has recruited Samsung to help make its cloud-based 5G a reality. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Dish Network owes us a 5G network — that was the linchpin of the deal that allowed T-Mobile to buy Sprint, bringing our wireless carrier options down to three. With Dish’s first deadline fast approaching, the company has announced a new partner: Samsung. The company joins Dish as a vendor while it attempts to build a 5G network from scratch.

Dish isn’t building just any old 5G network, either. It’s basing the network on a newer, cloud-based technology called O-RAN (Open Radio Access Network) that relies on off-the-shelf (rather than proprietary) hardware. Samsung is supplying vRAN (Virtualized Radio Acc... you get it) software and radio units to help make the whole thing work.

Dish promised the FCC it would cover 20 percent of the...

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Doctor Strange 2 gets lost in a tangle of fan service and half-baked ideas

The Doctor Strange sequel is a bloated comic book event in movie form

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Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G (2022) review: stylus and substance

A Galaxy Note Light

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FIFA 22 cross-play test is coming in ‘near future’

A cross-play widget will appear in the bottom right of the screen when the test is available. | Image: EA

FIFA 22 will see a test of cross-play functionality in the “near future” between players on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Google’s cloud-gaming service Stadia, EA has announced. Cross-play will be limited to Online Seasons and Online Friendlies game modes, the developer says, letting you play against friends on other platforms, or climb Online Seasons Divisions against a cross-platform playerbase.

EA says it’s limiting cross-play to these two modes in an attempt to limit the chance of the feature “introducing new issues into the game.” Cross-play can be enabled or disabled from a menu available in the bottom-right corner of the game’s main menu, and there’s also the option to opt in or out of it in the Matchmaking Options menu....

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Facebook is shutting down its podcast platform after less than a year

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Facebook is shutting down its podcast platform less than a year after it launched. Creators will be unable to upload new shows to the service as of this week, and the platform will close altogether on June 3rd, reports Bloomberg News. Facebook confirmed the closure of the platform to The Verge but not the specific date.

The move is part of a broader re-evaluation of Facebook’s audio products. The company is also shuttering the site’s Soundbites and Audio hubs, and integrating its live-streaming Live Audio Rooms feature (essentially a clone of once-buzzy audio app Clubhouse) into its broader Facebook Live suite.

Facebook spokesperson Adelaide Coronado told The Verge that the changes would “simplify” the company’s audio offerings.

“...

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Lightsabers are returning to Fortnite

Four lightsabers from the franchise will be available. | Image: Epic Games

Various lightsabers from the Star Wars franchise are returning to Fortnite for two weeks starting today, Epic Games has announced. These include the lightsabers wielded by Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren, Obi-Wan, and Mac Windu. The iconic weapons previously appeared in Fortnite in a 2019 event that coincided with the release of Rise of Skywalker. Their return is designed to coincide with May the 4th, aka Star Wars day.

Lightsabers are just part of the Star Wars-ification coming to Fortnite over the next couple of weeks. Players will be able to go through Stormtrooper training to earn an Empire Banner, and the E-11 Blaster Rifle is also returning to the island. Previously available Star Wars-themed outfits, which include versions of Rey and...

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Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire teases electric motorcycle launch for next week

Image: LiveWire

LiveWire, the all-electric motorcycle brand that originated as a division of Harley-Davidson, is teasing the launch of an all new bike next week called the Del Mar. Electrek notes that it’s set to be a middleweight motorcycle, making it a more approachable alternative to last year’s LiveWire One. As well as announcing the date, LiveWire has also released a short teaser trailer, which appears to show the rear of the upcoming bike at the 0:06 mark.

The Del Mar is expected to be a more accessible motorcycle in the company’s lineup, priced below the $21,999 LiveWire One. Motorcycle.com reports that the Del Mar will be built around LiveWire’s Arrow platform, which includes a battery pack, electronics, and motor, in a single unit that the...

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Meta’s VR roadmap reportedly has four new headsets, with both high-end and cheaper Quest units

Last month we took a deep dive into Mark Zuckerberg’s grand metaverse plan, and some of the hardware Meta is working on to deliver it, in the form of Project Nazare augmented reality glasses. Now The Information reports on a roadmap for virtual reality hardware that runs through 2024 with four headsets on the schedule, starting with the previously-teased Project Cambria VR headset we expect to see later this year.

According to its sources, The Information says that Meta plans to release Project Cambria, which is a higher-end device than its current Quest hardware and known internally by the name Arcata, in September, followed by an updated version, currently codenamed Funston, following in 2024.

The sources also indicate that the first...

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Ford says the F-150 Lightning is more powerful than it originally announced

Up to 580 buff horses. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Ford just started shipping its electric F-150 Lightning on April 26th, but it already has a surprise for soon-to-be owners: all versions of the truck will have higher horsepower than it originally announced, and the standard range model will have an even higher payload capacity, according to a press release from the company. While that’s good news for anyone who’s already got a pre-order, it could end up increasing the FOMO for those who don’t, and can’t get one — Ford stopped taking pre-orders for the truck in December, and is currently figuring out how to reach its goal of producing 150,000 Lightnings per year.

When Ford announced its electric pickup in May 2021, the company estimated the standard battery pack version would make 426...

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Google’s Fitbit Ionic recall doesn’t go far enough, lawsuit says

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

In March, Google announced it was voluntarily recalling 1.7 million Fitbit Ionic smartwatches following reports of 78 burns. Now, a recently filed lawsuit says the recall didn’t go far enough, claiming that the same defect affects all of Google’s Fitbit devices.

According to the court documents, all Fitbit smartwatches and fitness trackers share the same defect — a tendency to overheat, thereby causing burns or creating fire hazards. The complaint also accuses Fitbit of trying to deflect blame onto “consumer hygiene” when incidents are reported, and that the recall doesn’t adequately compensate Ionic owners.

“Reasonable consumers,” the complaint reads, “purchase the Products to burn calories — not their skin — and to safely pursue a...

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Remote lockouts reportedly stop Russian troops from using stolen Ukrainian farm equipment

Some of the equipment had built-in GPS trackers. | Photo by Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Russian troops stole almost $5 million worth of farm equipment from a John Deere dealer in the occupied city of Melitopol, Ukraine, only to discover that the machines have been shut down remotely, making them inoperable, according to a report from CNN. Some of the equipment, which comes with a remote locking feature and a built-in GPS, was tracked over 700 miles away in the Zakhan Yurt village of Chechnya.

A source close to the situation told CNN that Russian troops gradually began taking machinery away from the dealer following their occupation of Melitopol in March. It reportedly started with two combine harvesters worth $300,000 each, a tractor, and a seeder, until troops hauled away all 27 pieces of equipment. Some of the equipment...

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Here’s what Twitter’s still-in-development edit button looks like

Twitter’s edit button has been a joke for longer than I can remember, but it’s finally officially becoming a reality — and Jane Manchun Wong, who makes it her mission to find hidden features in companies’ code, has just given us our first real glimpse at what it might look like.

As you’d expect, the editing part is pretty simple: you press a button called “Edit Tweet” in the drop-down context menu, and then you can edit a tweet. Currently, it looks like you’ll get 30 minutes after you publish a tweet to hit that button; it’ll open a window with your entire original content laid out in front of you, and you can publish whatever you like — delete the whole thing and start over if you want. It’s not just for typos.

the current...

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Apple’s third-party payment proposal isn’t enough for Dutch regulators

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (or ACM) has reportedly rejected Apple’s proposed App Store changes that would let dating app developers use third-party payment systems, according to 9to5Mac and the Coalition for App Fairness. The Dutch regulator ordered the change in December and has been going back and forth with the company over how it should be implemented — and charging Apple millions in fines along the way. Now, Apple could face further penalties.

According to a journalist’s tweet translated by 9to5Mac, the regulator says Apple’s most recent proposal for letting developers use third-party payment systems is an “improvement” over its previous ideas, but it’s still “not sufficient to comply with European and Dutch...

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Department of Energy boosts domestic battery supply chain with billions in funding

A Volkswagen employee wires the battery on a line for the VW ID.3 during a press tour of Volkswagen’s Transparent Factory. | Photo by Sebastian Kahnert/picture alliance via Getty Images

The Department of Energy (DOE) opened up billions of dollars in funding today to build up domestic supply chains for batteries. Batteries will be crucial in the Biden administration’s plans to transition the nation to electric vehicles and clean energy.

The DOE says in its announcement that it will give $3.1 billion to companies to boost “the creation of new, retrofitted, and expanded commercial facilities” to process materials, make batteries, and recycle them at the end of their lives. Another $60 million in grants from the DOE will fund efforts to find second uses for old EV batteries. The money comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that passed last year.

The bigger picture: the Biden administration has set pretty big goals...

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Anchor co-founder Michael Mignano to leave Spotify

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Michael Mignano, co-founder of Anchor and Spotify’s podcasting tech chief for the past three years, submitted his resignation last week, the company confirmed Monday. He will depart at the end of June.

The shakeup follows two other high-profile departures in Spotify’s podcasting business. Last month, news broke that head of studios and video Courtney Holt, who cut blockbuster deals with Joe Rogan and the Obamas, will be leaving the company. Also in April, Gimlet Media director Lydia Polgreen announced her departure for The New York Times.

Mignano co-founded DIY podcast distributor Anchor in 2015. Spotify snapped up the company in 2019 for more than $150 million and brought Mignano in as its top podcast tech czar, overseeing the company’s...

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A new Yo! MTV Raps is coming to Paramount Plus

Conceited and DJ Diamond Kuts. | Paramount Plus

Yo! MTV Raps played an instrumental role in turning rap music into one of the most influential art forms of the 20th century and shaping the trajectory of the music industry in ways that are still being felt today. There’s no way another show could recapture the magic that turned the original Yo! MTV Raps into a cultural phenomenon, but Paramount Plus is going to give it a shot with an all-new revival built around some of the biggest names currently in the game.

Today, Paramount Plus announced the upcoming premiere of its new incarnation Yo! MTV Raps, a “comprehensive deep dive into the current state of hip hop” hosted by DJ Diamond Kuts and rapper Conceited. Like the original show, the new Yo! MTV Raps will feature a variety of segments...

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The first 240W USB-C cables just broke cover

It’s been almost a year since we told you how next-gen USB-C cables would nearly double the amount of power they can carry to 240W, enough to let you ditch the proprietary power brick for all but the beefiest gaming laptops. Now, we’re seeing the first signs of life: the first USB-C 2.1 cables have broken cover with up to 240W of power and up to 40Gbps of data. They’re from a Dutch manufacturer named Club3D (via Tom’s Hardware) that doesn’t sell cables on its website, and they don’t yet seem to be in stock at retailers yet either.

Not that you’d necessarily want to buy one yet, of course! There aren’t any gadgets designed to use 240W of USB-C power yet, nor are there any 240W USB-C chargers, so these cables aren’t going to offer you...

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Google’s May Pixel update fixes weak notification vibrations on Pixel 6 phones

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

For multiple lines of Android phones, the shift to Android 12 has been a rough one, including withdrawn updates and occasional bugs. Still, the number of issues we’ve seen for Google’s flagship Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro devices alone has been surprising. Today, Google announced the May 2022 update for Pixel devices is starting to roll out. It fixes a problem people noticed on the Pixel 6 phones after the March update, where the vibration for notifications was suddenly much weaker.

Two fixes apply to all Pixel devices from the Pixel 3a through the 6, resolving issues that could cause the display to wake up without interaction and a problem that could crash the launcher, but one line is only for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro:

Improvements for...

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Rocket Lab will try to catch a falling rocket with a helicopter today

Rocket Lab previously tested catching a dummy booster after dropping it from a second helicopter | Image: Rocket Lab

After nearly three years of preparation, small satellite launch company Rocket Lab will attempt to catch one of its rockets in mid-air today, after launching the vehicle to space from New Zealand. As the rocket falls back to Earth, Rocket Lab will use a helicopter to try to snag the booster just before it hits the ocean. That way, the rocket can potentially be launched again.

This will be the first time that Rocket Lab attempts to catch one of its Electron rockets with a helicopter, part of the company’s plan to recover and reuse its vehicles after launch. Up until now, Electron — designed to launch batches of small satellites into low Earth orbit — has mostly been an expendable rocket. Most of these rockets fall back to Earth after each...

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Amazon Labor Union stumbles as workers vote down union at second NYC facility

The election for the facility was held last week. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon workers at the LDJ5 facility in Staten Island, New York, have voted against organizing with the Amazon Labor Union at a count of 618 nos to 380 yeses. The facility has around 1,600 workers in total, and began its election last week.

It’s been a long road to the election at LDJ5. In October, 2021, the ALU petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (or NLRB) to hold an election at four Staten Island facilities, including the sorting center. However, to make sure it had a sufficient showing of interest, the union refiled its petition to only include the JFK8 facility. In February, the ALU filed a new petition to hold an election for LDJ5, which was approved in March. The ALU pulled off a historic victory the next month, when...

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Roku devices are getting an Apple Music app

It’s been a while coming. | Image: Roku

Roku users can now play songs and videos from Apple Music on their TVs, streaming players, or Roku soundbars. Roku announced on Monday that the “app will be available to download later today.”

It’s taken a while for Apple’s music service to make it to one of the most popular smart TV platforms. It was ported to Amazon’s Fire TV in 2019 and has since made it to at least one game console: the PS5 (though it doesn’t seem to be supported on Xbox or Switch). In my opinion, though, streaming music services make a lot of sense on TVs. If someone has a nice set of speakers, odds are they’re connected to the TV, and having album art displayed on such a large screen is a treat for most of us who usually only see it in thumbnail form.

It may be...

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eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee now includes graded trading cards over $2,000

eBay is expanding its authentication services to include single graded trading cards over $2,000, the company announced today. The company is partnering with third-party trading card authentication and grading service Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) for the expanded service.

eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee already includes sneakers sold for over $100, watches sold for over $2,000, and handbags sold for over $500. In January, eBay announced it was launching authentication services for ungraded trading cards purchased on the platform for over $750.

Grading a trading card involves sending it off to a third-party service that inspects the card’s condition and assigns it a rating. Graded cards often fetch more money because they’ve been...

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Marvel’s Protectors of Wakanda reveals the origins of the Black Panther’s Dora Milaje

Sheeba Maya / Marvel

In both Marvel’s comic books and its movies, the Dora Milaje — an elite outfit of highly trained warrior women — are so much more than just the Black Panther’s bodyguards. They are Wakanda’s spies, diplomats, and a testament to the secretive country’s belief in tradition — tradition that Marvel’s adding new dimension to with Protectors of Wakanda: A History and Training Manual for the Dora Milaje, a new book from writer Karama Horne.

As its title suggests, Protectors of Wakanda delves into important elements of the country’s past as a means of impressing upon young Dora Milaje-in-training what their organization has represented to the nation throughout its history. In addition to refreshers about Wakanda’s existing lore, which has...

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Fitbit and Google Fit metrics are heading to the Nest Hub

The 2nd generation Google Nest Hub introduced sleep tracking in 2021. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

In the leadup to Google I/O, Google has been sprinkling small updates here and there that indicate its big wearables push is well underway. The latest is a new Google support page for an integration that will enable Google Fit and Fitbit users to view their activity metrics on the Nest Hub.

The page, which was first spotted by 9to5Google, offers simple step-by-step instructions on how to link Google Fit or Fitbit accounts to the display via Google Assistant. One thing that’s unclear is whether this applies to all Nest Hub displays or just the second-generation device. The latter introduced sleep tracking last year, thanks to Google’s Soli sensor technology. While the feature had its quirks, we found it to be convenient and reliable in o...

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What a billion square feet of warehouses looks like

An aerial photo of a warehouse next to homes in Bloomington, California. | Photo by Wes Reel for The Verge

California’s Inland Empire, a sprawling region just east of Los Angeles that was once known for orange groves and grape vineyards, is now ground zero of America’s warehouse boom. The rise of online shopping has triggered a dramatic change in the landscape here and across the country — every $1 billion in online sales drums up demand for 1.25 million square feet of warehouse space.

Now, there’s an estimated 1 billion square feet of warehouses in the Inland Empire alone, according to a new analysis by the Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability at Pitzer College. That’s nearly 37 square miles of warehouses.

The austere concrete boxes are relatively new transplants to the region, as an animated map released by...

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Twitter re-suspends two right-wing accounts trying to evade their bans

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter has banned the accounts of two conservative figures — MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Dr. Vladimir “Zev” Zelenko — shortly after both rejoined the platform. Lindell, who was banned in 2021, rejoined Twitter over the weekend and was re-banned a few hours later. Zelenko, who was banned in 2020, also opened an account this weekend.

Twitter confirmed to The Verge this morning that it had been permanently suspended. According to the company, the accounts were suspended for violating platform rules against evading bans.

Twitter’s decision comes as billionaire Elon Musk plans to take control of the company and implement looser content restrictions. Musk has publicly criticized Twitter’s head of moderation for supporting what he dubbed a...

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Amazon Kindles finally support the ebooks everyone else sells, sort of

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

This weekend, a report from Good E-Reader seemed to suggest something truly wild. After 15 years, Amazon was going to finally bow to competition and support the ePub ebook format used by the wide majority of online bookstores, publishers, and competing services. But it turns out Amazon isn’t going to natively support the ePub format. Instead, per an update to Send to Kindle documentation, the Amazon Kindle will soon support using the Send to Kindle function to convert ePub files into an Amazon-specific digital book file format.

We were so close! And it’s wild because we’ve been this close, and also this far, since the Kindle and the ePub file format both launched back in 2007. Sony, Barnes & Noble, and other e-reader makers were quick to...

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