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It’s been a years-long battle between the company, organizers, and the National Labor Relations Board. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
The latest on organization efforts at one of the world’s largest retailers
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Image: Yetch
Swedish inventor and YouTuber Simone Giertz (aka the “queen of shitty robots”) has revealed her latest creation: a website named after the way her last name is pronounced, “Yetch.”Giertz’s roster of inventions includes things like a toothbrushing helmet and a gnarly vegetable chopping machine. While the website doesn’t feature the “Truckla,” a Tesla Model 3 that Giertz transformed into a pickup truck, or a Lego-built photo booth for cute puppy photos, it does feature some practical accessories and items.
While an all-white puzzle can sound like a pain, this one can be a funny pain for those who lose their puzzle pieces. Yetch’s “Incomplete White Puzzle” consists of 499 pieces out of a 500-piece puzzle, and since it is intentional, it...
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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The verge
A funny thing happened in 2020: AMD won the gaming laptop for the first time ever. Until the Asus Zephyrus G14, we’d never seen a laptop with an AMD CPU and AMD GPU run circles around the competition. Since then, we’ve repeatedly seen that “AMD laptop” no longer means cheap. But now, AMD is setting its sights higher than mid-range gaming machines — it just revealed it’s building a new CPU aimed at the “pinnacle of gaming performance” with the “highest core, thread and cache ever”.
The new CPU line is codenamed “Dragon Range,” and they’ll live exclusively at 55W TDP and up — enough power that they’ll “largely exist in the space where gaming laptops are plugged in the majority of the time,” says AMD director of technical marketing Robert...
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
A few years ago, YouTube added Live Redirects as a way for creators to hold livestreams that ended by pointing viewers to another video on their own channel for premiere events, like BTS engaging fans before showing off a new music video. Now it has adjusted Live Redirects so that live streamers on the service can bounce their audience to another livestream when they go offline. A premiere launch event for the film Top Gun: Maverick on Wednesday will be one of the first big events to take advantage of the new addition.
On Twitch, this behavior is called a raid. On one hand, it’s a good way to help grow audiences and find new content, but it has also been a conduit for harassment on the platform as “hate raids” would target marginalized...
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Image: Anker
If you took one look at the first wave of modular magnetic wireless charging battery humps for the iPhone and thought, “Wake me up when they give us more than one full charge!” — then Anker may have the battery pack for you. The new Anker 633 Magnetic Battery, now available for $80 on Amazon, has twice the capacity at 10,000mAh. That’s enough to charge an iPhone 12 twice or an iPhone 13 Pro up to 1.8 times, according to Anker (via Gizmodo).
Image: Anker
It is not small.
As you can see, attempts at fashion have gone out the window — no chic colors or fancy origami stand from Anker this time. Instead, this utilitarian battery pack boasts a traditional flip-out kickstand and what appears to be an extra USB-A port,...
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After an indefinite delay and months without an update, Ubisoft has announced that it’s moving the development of its highly anticipated Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake to its studio located in Montréal, Canada. The game was originally in the works at Ubisoft’s India-based Mumbai and Pune studios.
“The development of Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time Remake will now be led by Ubisoft Montréal, the very birth place of the epic Sands of Time trilogy,” Ubisoft’s announcement on Twitter reads. “This decision is an important step and the team, building on the work achieved by Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai, will now take the time they need to regroup on the scope of the game to deliver the best experience for this remake of an...
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Employees at a third Apple retail store have announced that they’re trying to organize a vote on whether to unionize, according to a report from The Washington Post. Workers at Apple’s Towson Town Center store in Maryland say that they’ve received signatures from a majority of the employees that would likely be able to join a union, and are planning on filing with the National Labor Relations Board to schedule an election.
In a letter, the organizers say their union is called the “Coalition of Organized Retail Employees” (or AppleCORE), and say they’re not trying to “go against or create conflict with” Apple management. Instead, the workers say they want to gain access to rights they currently don’t have. While they don’t specify which...
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Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al. | Roku
People might not have known what to expect when Roku first announced that it’d tapped Daniel Radcliffe to portray Weird Al Yankovic in its upcoming biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. But following the streamer’s inaugural upfront presentation this week and a new Weird trailer, there’s little question about what sort of energy director Eric Appel’s going for.
At one point in Yankovic’s 1989 feature UHF, Yankovic plays a parody of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky character due to Stallone himself backing out of a planned cameo. In order to approximate Stallone’s physique for the film, Yankovic donned an oiled-up muscle suit that didn’t need to look anywhere near as convincing as it did. Though Weird’s trailer doesn’t mention UHF or Stallone...
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
In a bid to push people to its newer plans, AT&T is raising the price of some of its older Unlimited and Mobile Share plans. Single-line users will see up to a $6 a month increase, and people with family plans could have up to $12 a month added to their bills, according to Bloomberg.
In a statement to The Verge, AT&T spokesperson Seth Bloom said, “we are encouraging our customers to explore our newer plans which offer many additional features, more flexibility for each line on their account and, in many cases, a lower monthly cost.” AT&T also said that affected customers started finding out this week and that the price changes will go into effect starting June 1st.
In 2019, the company increased the prices of its Mobile Share Value data...
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Photo: iOttie
Cars have become bastions of electronic gadgetry — but that doesn’t mean that we can’t add a few of our own. Some of us are simply not content with what came with our vehicles, some of us want to have emergency gear available just in case, and some of us have older cars that need help in order to be able to accommodate modern electronics.
Here are some of the gadgets that staffers at The Verge have used to upgrade their various vehicles.
I’m one of those boring people who has little interest in cars other than as a way to get from point A to point B. As a result, I tend to hold on to a vehicle until it costs more to keep it running than to buy something new. My current car is a 2007 Honda Civic, which,...
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A new Instagram test would make the app look even more like TikTok. According to TechCrunch, Instagram is experimenting with full-screen vertical home feeds. Upon opening the Instagram app, users immediately see vertical content meant to “bring video more front and center.”
An image shared by Instagram shows a home feed taken up by a full-screen post with comments, captions, likes, and other features placed on top of the post instead of below. Though the Stories bar isn’t present at the top of the screen in the image, Seine Kim, a Meta spokesperson, says that view shows the home feed once users start scrolling and that Stories will still be accessible at the top of their screen. Search, Reels, shopping, and a user’s own profile are still...
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Twitter’s pending acquisition hasn’t put a freeze on all product testing, as we’ve seen hints of the upcoming edit tweets feature leak out. And, now, the company has announced a limited test for Twitter Circle. It’s a function that’s similar to Instagram’s Close Friends feature or, if you’ve been around for a while, Google Plus.
Twitter Circle will let users pick up to 150 people to join their Circle, including followers and non-followers alike. Then, when they feel like tweeting without sharing to the masses, they simply pull up the Choose Audience menu while writing a tweet and choose Twitter Circle instead of Everyone (as shown below). According to Twitter, this is different from its Communities, which also hide tweets away in an...
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The Beats Fit Pro are some of the many noise-canceling earbuds currently on sale. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Mother’s Day is less than one week away, and in honor of that fact, several retailers are now discounting a wide range of tech and accessories. We’re seeing some of the lowest prices we’ve seen on a variety of items, ranging from the latest Kindle Paperwhite to the new Echo Show 15, as well as some of the best fitness trackers, streaming sticks, and noise-canceling wireless earbuds you can buy. That means you can still get a great deal on a present for your mom if you haven’t bought one already — or if you simply want to pick up something nice for yourself. (We’re not judging!)
Below, we’ve collected some of the top deals on tech and gadgets so you can save on a great gift ahead of the holiday. Take a look, and be sure to also peruse our...
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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday that it will close to double its cryptocurrency enforcement division, adding another 20 positions to the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit — which has been newly renamed from the “Cyber Unit.” The total number of staff will rise from 30 to 50, increasing the agency’s ability to prosecute securities law violations related to new crypto products.
In a press release, the SEC cited a booming period for crypto markets and a corresponding responsibility to keep investors safe from the growing risk of fraudulent investment schemes.
“Crypto markets have exploded in recent years, with retail investors bearing the brunt of abuses in this space. Meanwhile, cyber-related threats continue...
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Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge
Whether you’re trying to get rid of spam or avoid hearing from a former friend or ex, blocking someone’s phone number is a vital tool for helping to preserve your privacy. We’ve covered various methods of protecting yourself from robocalls, spam, and other daily annoyances. But blocking a number is often the quickest and easiest way of shutting down unwanted digital intrusions.
When you block a number, you’ll no longer receive phone calls, texts, or FaceTime requests that come in from the blocked number. The person at the other end will go straight to voicemail whenever they call you, but this is their only clue that they’ve been blocked. Texts will still appear to go through as normal — even though you don’t have to deal with them.
B...
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1Password 8 for Mac came out of beta and into public release on Tuesday, bringing a more modern redesign and a number of new features to the popular password manager. But there’s one thing about the app that might be a game-changer for Mac users: a new Universal Autofill feature that means you can automatically enter passwords into apps the same as you can in browser tabs.
Previously, like with most password managers, everything was seamless enough in the browser: load the webpage, click the icon, and it fills your password. But if you’re in a native app, you have to open your password manager, search for the account, and copy and paste your info into the app. With Universal Autofill, which 1Password assigns to a global ⌘\ keyboard...
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The Blade 15 will cost you $3,499.99. | Image: Razer
Razer’s new Blade 15 laptop comes with the world’s first OLED QHD 240Hz display and next-gen specs, giving the Blade 15 series a minor refresh. It sports a 12th-gen Intel Core i9-129000H processor and an Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti laptop graphics card that should help you take full advantage of the device’s upgraded display. Razer says the Blade 15 will go on sale in the last quarter of 2022 for $3,499.99.
The laptop’s 15.6-inch display, which covers the entire DCI-P3 color gamut, features a quick 1ms response that should allow for a lag-free gaming experience as well as 400 nits of brightness. It comes with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB SSD, and one additional M.2 slot that you can use to further increase storage space. You’ll also find Thunderbolt...
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The workers have reached an agreement with the company and set a date. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Apple Store employees in Atlanta have reached an agreement with the company to hold a union election on June 2nd, according to a copy of the stipulated election agreement obtained by The Verge. The news is an important step forward in the worker-led effort to organize with the Communications Workers of America.
If the drive is successful, the Cumberland Mall location will be the first unionized Apple retail location in the US. In April, it became the first Apple retail location to file for a union election in the US. Workers at the Grand Central Terminal store in New York have also launched a union drive, as have workers at the Towson Town Center store in Maryland.
Apple pushed to hold the vote in July, according to a source familiar...
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Blizzard
Blizzard has revealed its new Warcraft mobile game, Warcraft Arclight Rumble.
Warcraft Arclight Rumble is a free-to-play action strategy mobile game that seems like a traditional Warcraft strategy game with a cutesy, Hearthstone-looking tower defense twist. In it, players will choose from one of five types of leaders taken from _Warcraf_t lore to command their troops or “minis” in battle. Players will be able to play in PvE and PvP modes, earning gold to deploy more powerful minions to complete objectives like defeating a raid boss.
Warcraft Arclight Rumble was first revealed, buried in Blizzard’s quarterly earnings report back in February. It represents the Blizzard arm of the publisher’s push into making original content for the mobile...
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Netflix is continuing to add to its steadily growing lineup of mobile games with the launch of Relic Hunters: Rebels today. The game, developed by Brazilian developer Rogue Snail, is the latest in the Relic Hunters series of colorful shooters and the first for mobile. The sci-fi RPG has a heavy emphasis on gunplay with a total of 44 different weapons to experiment with, and the studio says it was designed in part to run well on older phones. As with all other Netflix mobile games, Rebels is available for free to subscribers through Netflix’s mobile apps.
Netflix’s foray into gaming kicked off properly late last year, and, since then, the company has added a number of new titles — including its first FPS and a League of Legends spinoff —...
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
In 2014, it was tough to be a keyboard nerd. I was using a 4-year-old keyboard I’d bought from Mattias that used Alp white switches similar to what had been found in old Mac keyboards. I desperately wanted something with the then-fabled Cherry Blue switch, but it was hard to find anything outside of a smattering of hard-to-find Corsair keyboards and imports from Ducky based in Taiwan.
Eight years later people actually can understand everything I just typed above. Okay, maybe not everyone, but the size of the keyboard community has multiplied by many factors in the last eight years and there are more people than ever that know the difference between a Cherry Blue switch and an Alp white switch.
Over the next three weeks, I’m hosting a...
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Image: Paramount Plus
Paramount Plus’ subscriber count has ballooned to almost 40 million with the service gaining 6.8 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2022 alone, Paramount announced in its earnings report on Tuesday. An increase in subscriber count led to more money for the company as well — its direct-to-consumer revenue, which includes Paramount Plus and its free TV streaming service, Pluto TV, increased 82 percent year over year.
While revenue from subscriptions for both Pluto TV and Paramount Plus grew 95 percent year over year, advertising revenue increased 59 percent. The company says Paramount Plus subscribers watched more shows for longer periods of time as well. This, along with a higher subscriber count, was mostly driven by the service...
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Warped Kart Racers.
Later this month Apple is adding a Mario Kart-style racer to its gaming subscription service. Called Warped Kart Racers, the game brings together 20 different characters from 20th Television animated series like American Dad and King of the Hill, with gameplay that looks heavily inspired by Nintendo’s iconic racing series.It’s expected to debut on Apple Arcade on May 20th.
The announcement comes as Apple details its lineup of Arcade games for May. Elsewhere on the service, BadLand Party — a multiplayer twist on the atmospheric platformer — will debut on the 6th; Goat Simulator launches on the 13th; and a 3D darts game closes out the month’s releases on the 27th.
Apple has been quietly updating Arcade with notable games on a nearly...
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The frame-shaped Echo Show 15 is currently down to $200 at multiple retailers. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
If you’re looking to upgrade the shoddy bulletin board in your kitchen, Amazon’s biggest Echo Show yet is currently discounted for the first time ever at Amazon and Best Buy. The Echo Show 15 launched in December for $249.99, but today, the price has dropped to just $199.99 at both retailers. On the surface, the Echo Show 15 looks like a scaled-up version of the Echo Show 10 with slimmer bezels. However, the larger, 15.6-inch screen allows for some additional functionality that you can’t get with any other Echo Show.
The 1080p touchscreen can display multiple blocks of information simultaneously, dividing the home screen with calendars, weather, news, and reminders, among a handful of other useful widgets. While the Echo Show 15 is...
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Spot, the most famous four-legged robot in the world, sometimes seems more like an animatronic entertainer than an industrial machine. But creators Boston Dynamic want to remind the world at large in a new video that this thing can do work, too.
The new Spot spot, titled “No Time To Dance,” shows the quadrupedal bot carrying out a range of tasks in an industrial setting. Spot takes readings from gauges, uses an infrared camera to scan some equipment, and generates work orders for human employees. And, yes, then it does a little dance as well.
Boston Dynamics is very good at making Spot seem cute
It’s a slick video — testimony to Boston Dynamics’ ability to make a robot that has been tested for use with both the military and law...
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Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
The state of Georgia offered Rivian $1.5 billion in tax incentives for the buzzy EV company to build a factory east of Atlanta, according to documents signed by the company and local officials in the state. The factory will cost $5 billion to construct, and eventually produce 400,000 electric vehicles a year. In order to receive the money, Rivian agrees to create 7,500 jobs, with an average wage of $56,000 a year, plus benefits, by the end of 2028.
Georgia officials are portraying the agreement as the largest economic development deal in the state’s history. Rivian has said it will start construction of the $5 billion facility in the summer of 2022 and expects to start making vehicles there in 2024. In addition to its R1T electric...
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The Ford F-100 Eluminator. | Becca Farsace
This 1978 Ford F-100 “Eluminator” pickup truck is the oldest vehicle I’ve ever driven, and also perhaps the newest. That’s because, despite its vintage exterior, everything inside, from the drivetrain to the dash, is less than one year old. Oh, and it’s fully electric.
Turns out what I’m really driving is a 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition, but you couldn’t tell from its gloriously restored 44-year-old truck shell from the outside. It’s a beautifully done restomod with fresh gray and copper accents, an F-100 Custom badge, and slick retro wheels.
A hopeful display of support for smaller shops and tinkerers
Ford Performance, the automaker’s motorsports division, designed and commissioned the F-100 Eluminator and was built by...
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Tables can now be more nicely formatted, and easily set up with rich text. | Image: Google
Google has announced new dropdown and table tools for Google Docs, as it attempts to evolve its word processing software into more of a collaborative productivity tool. The search giant calls small modular features like these “smart chips,” and they’re part of the “smart canvas” initiative it launched last year. The features are rolling out over the course of this month across all Google Account tiers.
The dropdown tool lets you insert a small dropdown menu into a Google Doc, with a list of customizable options to choose from. Meanwhile, there are also new table template options that can be used to quickly add nicely formatted tables into a document. It looks like a huge improvement from Google Docs’ current barebones table creation...
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Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge
Stories and lessons from his new book, Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
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Hello, audiophiles!
I am very excited to bring you my first public edition of Hot Pod. Following the trail blazed by Nick and Ashley, I’ll be in your inbox every Tuesday with scoops, news, analysis, and japes (quality of the latter not guaranteed). And, the closest I will ever get to being in a makeover montage, today I also get to introduce a fresh new look for Hot Pod courtesy of the ace design teams at The Verge and Vox Media. Readers will notice that we have an updated logo and layout with some hotter colors to accompany the Hot Pod name.
So, what’s my deal? Like everyone else in modern media, I hopped around a bit before landing at The Verge. I have done stints at MSNBC, Paramount Plus, and, most relevant to you, covering media and...