YouTube TV launches new Spanish-language plans

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube TV is rolling out two new Spanish-language offerings: Spanish Plan and Spanish Plus. While the $34.99 / month standalone Spanish Plan provides access to an all-Spanish lineup of channels on YouTube TV, Spanish Plus is a $14.99 / month add-on for users already subscribed to the YouTube TV Base Plan.

Spanish Plan subscribers gain access to over 28 channels (all of which you can view on this page) including ESPN Deportes, Fox Deportes, CNN Español, and Discovery en Español. The Spanish Plus add-on is advertised as having a slightly more limited selection of over 25 networks, but that’s just because YouTube TV already bundles Univision, UniMás, and Galavisión in its Base Plan.

YouTube TV announced the addition of these three channels...

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Google I/O 2022 keynote live blog

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Join us for all the news and announcements from Google’s developer keynote

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Twitter made a browser game to help explain its privacy settings

You can play Twitter Data Dash right now. | Image: Twitter

Twitter released a new browser game on Wednesday that’s intended to help explain some of its privacy settings. You can play the game, called Twitter Data Dash, right here.

“Welcome to PrivaCity!” reads a description of the game on the site. “Get your dog, Data, safely to the park. Dodge cat ads, swim through a sea of DMs, battle trolls, and learn how to take control of your Twitter experience along the way.”

When you start Twitter Data Dash, which was made by Momo Pixel, you’ll first pick the language you want to play in, and then pick from one of four characters who will accompany Data the dog on a couple of the levels. (That character will otherwise appear in text boxes.) The game itself is a pretty straightforward side-scrolling...

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Aura Strap 2 review: context — you love to see it

Finally, a body composition gadget that won’t tell you to just lose weight

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Volkswagen reportedly will resurrect Scout as an off-road EV brand for the US

The first model, a 1961 Scout 80, in pickup style with removable hardtop. | Dutchtower

Volkswagen is considering resurrecting the SUV pioneer Scout as an off-road electric vehicle brand, according to The Wall Street Journal. The brand would be focused on the US market, where it would likely compete with popular nameplates like the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco.

According to the Journal, VW’s board of directors is set to approve the plan on Wednesday. The plan envisions Scout operating as a subsidiary of VW, much like Audi, Skoda, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Bentley. (A VW spokesperson declined to comment, noting that the report refers to actions taken by Volkswagen Group’s supervisory board.)

VW is one of the largest automakers in the world but only holds a small share of the US market. The plan to bring back Scout as an...

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Google I/O 2022: everything coming out of the online developers conference

Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge

It’s for the developers, but we all know it’s really for Pixel fans

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Airbnb’s Jony Ive redesign arrives for Summer ‘22

Airbnb’s design category. | Image: Airbnb

Airbnb is rolling out a huge app redesign made in collaboration with famed former Apple designer Jony Ive and his firm LoveFrom. The new changes will let users search for stays based on categories and plan trips that include more than one home and are rolling out to users in the US today.

Categories will essentially serve as filters for stays that encompass certain elements, including camping, surfing, amazing views, bed and breakfasts, and countryside. Airbnb is highlighting its design category, which it says features over 20,000 homes “chosen for their iconic architecture and interiors.” This category will feature homes from architects such as Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. Another category, OMG!, sorts stays simply based on how unique...

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Nintendo’s latest wave of Switch indies features Ooblets, Mini Motorways, and TABS

Ooblets.

For its first Indie World Showcase of 2022, Nintendo revealed a colorful and occasionally violent slate of independent games coming to the Switch. The bigger-name titles coming to the console include the farming / Pokémon-style adventure Ooblets and the goofy strategy game TABS (or Totally Accurate Battle Simulator), both of which are slated to hit the Switch sometime this summer. (The Switch release for Ooblets will coincide with the game’s 1.0 launch on PC and Xbox.)

There are also multiple titles launching later today, including the city sim Mini Motorways, rhythm-based dungeon crawler Soundfall, visual novel Opus: Echo of Starsong, and the nature adventure game Gibbon: Beyond the Trees.

Other highlights include: Nama Takahashi’s...

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What Doctor Strange 2’s multitude of cameos could mean for the MCU’s future

Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West and Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange. | Marvel Studios

First comes the multiverse, then come the incursions

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The Nintendo Switch is at a new low price of $259.99 today

Today’s deal is on the standard Switch with neon blue and red Joy-Cons. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

We may be in a bit of a lull for major new game releases, but there’s been no shortage of great sales. Right now, you can get a Nintendo Switch console with neon blue and red Joy-Cons for just $259.99 at Walmart and Amazon. That’s $40 off Nintendo’s standard Switch console. Sure, it’s not the fancier OLED model that came out last year, but this discounted price is $90 less than that model, and it, of course, plays all the same games.

The Nintendo Switch may feel like an aging console these days, as it’s five years old, but it’s still bolstered by excellent first-party Nintendo titles and a wealth of indie games — all of which you can take on the go or play docked on a TV. While many fans are thirsty for some kind of 4K-capable Switch...

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New EU rules would require chat apps to scan private messages for child abuse

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The European Commission has proposed controversial new regulation that would require chat apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to selectively scan users’ private messages for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and “grooming” behavior. The proposal is similar to plans mooted by Apple last year but, say critics, much more invasive.

After a draft of the regulation leaked earlier this week, privacy experts condemned it in the strongest terms. “This document is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen,” tweeted cryptography professor Matthew Green. “It describes the most sophisticated mass surveillance machinery ever deployed outside of China and the USSR. Not an exaggeration.”

Jan Penfrat of digital advocacy group European Digital...

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Zendure’s 100W SuperTank Pro is just $160 at Wellbots

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

One of the most powerful portable battery packs is cheaper than ever. You can get $70 off Zendure’s SuperTank Pro at Wellbots, which has a 26,800mAh capacity, up to 100W charging, and four USB-C ports. Normally $229.99, it costs just $159.99 with the offer code ZENVERGE used at checkout.

This battery pack may be overkill to some in terms of heft and price, but it could be the ideal travel charger for people who like to bring multiple devices on trips. Compared to its predecessor, which I put to the test here, the latest version brings several improvements. Notably, it can deliver its maximum 100W throughput while getting the maximum charging speeds with the other three ports. Also, its OLED display provides more info about how quickly...

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The iPod made the iPhone possible

When announcing the iPhone, Steve Jobs joked about it looking like an iPod with a rotary dial. | Image: Apple, via John Schroter on YouTube

This week, Apple announced that it’s discontinuing the iPod Touch, its last product with the “iPod” name. More than 20 years after the original iPod was announced, and after over a decade in the shadow of the iPhone, it can be hard to remember just how important the device was to Apple. But the music player helped define the company we know today — and was a big factor in bringing it back from the brink of ruin.

The story of Apple’s comeback has been told over and over to the point of becoming mythologized, so I’ll try to keep it brief. The 1990s were not kind to the company, almost leaving it bankrupt. By the turn of the century, though, things were starting to turn around: the iMac G3 was selling well, and Apple’s revenue was starting...

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How to watch Google I/O 2022

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O 2022, is virtually set to kick off today. The conference is a hub for developers looking to network, but the rest of us are watching to see if Google will unveil new product announcements and major updates.

We don’t know exactly what’s going to be announced this year, but we have some good guesses. Some of those guesses include a new Pixel Watch and a midrange Pixel 6A, which could include a new processor and camera sensor and major updates for Android 13, whose beta became available to Pixel owners in April.

What time does Google I/O start?

Google I/O’s main keynote will be streamed today, Wednesday, May 11th, at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. If you think you’re going to miss it, don’t worry —...

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Samsung’s next flagship foldable allegedly leaks

Samsung’s anticipated 2022 flagship foldable — the Galaxy Z Fold 4 — may have just leaked in unofficial renders published by SmartPrix, based on information from the often reliable Onleaks. The renders of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 show a similar overall design to its predecessor, the Z Fold 3, with a 6.2-inch cover display and a 7.6-inch folding inner display, but with a redesigned rear camera configuration inspired by this year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra.

This inner display will reportedly once again have an under-display selfie camera, a feature that disappointed us on last year’s device. This year’s version has reportedly seen performance improvements, which are sorely needed. Around back there are three rear cameras, same as last year, but S...

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Apple will drop iPhone Lightning port in favor of USB-C in 2023, claims analyst

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple is preparing to swap the proprietary Lightning port on its iPhones next year for the nearly universally-embraced USB-C, claims company analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

In a pair of tweets, Kuo said Apple was going to make the change in 2023, basing this claim on an unspecified “survey” (presumably of component manufacturers, from whom Kuo seems to get a lot of his information for predictions about future Apple products).

Kuo said that adopting USB-C “could improve iPhone’s transfer and charging speed in hardware designs, but the final spec details still depend on iOS support.”

(2/2)
It's expected to see existing USB-C-related suppliers of Apple's ecosystem (e.g., IC controller, connector) become the market's focus in the next 1-2 years,...

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Ford F-150 Lightning first drive: quiet storm

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

Ford’s first electric truck is fun, familiar, and checks all the boxes for a great entry-level EV

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Samsung and LG preview the future of weird phone displays

Future foldables could move on from existing single-fold designs to fold twice, use displays that are capable of folding both inwards and outwards, or even use rolling screens to expand outwards. That’s if manufacturers embrace new folding screen technologies being shown off by Samsung Display and LG Display this week in San Jose, California, during the annual Display Week conference.

LG Display is showing off an 8-inch foldable touchscreen which it says can fold both inward and outward, similar to what we saw from TCL’s Ultra Flex concept earlier this year. The design allows a single folding display to serve as both an inner screen (like with the Galaxy Z Fold 3) and an outer screen (like with Huawei’s Mate XS). Devices equipped with...

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Sony’s Xperia 1 IV delivers real zoom for a steep price

The Xperia 1 IV brings a true optical zoom lens to a smartphone for the first time.

Real zoom for a steep price

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Dish’s upcoming wireless plan might let you buy an iPhone with crypto

Dish is teasing a new wireless plan called Boost Infinite to launch this fall. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Dish Network seems to be taking its unconventional approach to building a wireless network all the way to the blockchain. Executives hosting an analyst event in Las Vegas today gave a few hints at their vision of this country’s fourth wireless carrier, and it might involve a future where you can pay for a new iPhone in Bitcoin.

Stephen Stokols, CEO of Dish-owned Boost Mobile, showed off branding for a new postpaid wireless plan coming this fall called “Boost Infinite,” and, well, here’s what he said:

Imagine if there was a wireless carrier that embraced digital acceleration, the web 3.0 trends, to reshape the entire wireless experience. Or imagine if you could turn your unused data into a real digital currency.

Digital currency doesn’t...

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YouTube’s memberships gifting feature launches Wednesday, but in beta to start

A major feature on Twitch is finally coming to YouTube. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube is launching gifted memberships in beta, and they’ll be available for select channels beginning Wednesday. Memberships are YouTube’s take on Twitch’s subscriptions, which viewers can use to show financial support for creators and get access to certain perks like custom emoji. Twitch users have been able to buy gift subscriptions for some time, but if you’ve wanted to buy gift memberships to other fans of a YouTube channel, you haven’t been able to.

The memberships gifting beta will be available to a “small group of creators” to start and will be expanded to more “over the next several months,” YouTube says on a page about the feature. Channels interested in trying the feature can fill out this Google Form, though you’ll need to...

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Tesla recalls 130,000 vehicles to fix touchscreen issues caused by an overheating CPU

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Tesla is recalling 130,000 cars due to an issue causing the CPU in vehicles’ infotainment systems to overheat during fast charging, potentially making the car’s touchscreen malfunction or go completely blank (via The Associated Press). The electric car maker started rolling out an over-the-air update (OTA) on May 3rd to fix the issue on affected vehicles, which include the 2022 Model 3 and Y, as well as the 2021 and 2022 Model X and S.

“During fast-charging or preparation for fast-charging, the infotainment central processing unit (“CPU”) may not cool sufficiently to prevent higher than expected temperatures, which may cause the CPU to slow processing or restart,” the recall notice from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration...

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Josh Hawley wants to punish Disney by taking copyright law back to 1909 and that sucks

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

I have been told to blog about Senator Josh Hawley’s new copyright bill, and I do this with nothing but the greatest reluctance. Normally, I love talking about copyright! I’ll talk about copyright all day long! [Ed note: And she does.] But writing this post is agony, because the thought of giving this absolutely asinine piece of legislation any attention is killing me on the inside.

This is a deeply unserious bill. There is not a line in it that is meant to pass muster. It is knowingly in violation of the Constitution, and an insult to the democratic process.

In brief, the bill is targeted at the Walt Disney Company, also known as,

a person that (i) has a market capitalization of more than $150,000,000,000; and (ii)(I) is classified...

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Google TV’s ambient mode screen saver with sports scores and podcast links is rolling out

Image: Google TV

Last fall, Google announced a key improvement to devices running its Google TV front end with personalized access so that each user in a home could have individual profiles with their own recommendations and Assistant responses. In December, that feature was delayed until “the coming months,” and it’s still nowhere to be found; however, 9to5Googlereports glanceable cards for Google TV’s ambient mode screen saver that were also announced at the same time are starting to roll out.

When they were announced in October, Google showed a version of the UI (the picture above) with large personalized cards scrolling across the middle of the screen. They could display information like weather, sports scores, and news or toss in shortcuts to...

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EV startup Canoo is running out of cash and doubtful about its future

Image: Canoo

Canoo, the struggling electric vehicle startup, thinks it’s about to run out of money. In stark terms, the company reports that it only has enough cash to last another quarter and is unsure whether it will be able to stay afloat beyond that.

“As of the date of this announcement, we are reporting that there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the company states in its first-quarter earnings report.

“there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern”

Canoo was founded in late 2017 when former BMW executive Stefan Krause left then-struggling EV startup Faraday Future. Krause and some of the other executives who co-founded Canoo — which was then called...

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AT&T will now use a device’s GPS location to route 911 calls

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

AT&T says it’s the first carrier to deploy location-based routing for 911 calls across the country, a feature that allows the company to transmit wireless emergency calls to the correct call center based on a device’s GPS location. As announced in a press release, AT&T says the feature should enable the carrier to accurately locate and route 911 calls within 50 meters of where the call was placed.

AT&T previously routed calls based on the location of the cell tower that picked up the call signal, an area that could cover up to a 10-mile radius. This means a call center miles away — or even a whole town over — could receive your call, potentially delaying the time it takes for emergency services to reach your precise location. In theory,...

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Google says Matter is still set to fix the biggest smart home frustrations

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google’s Michele Turner discusses how Matter started and where it will take Google Nest.

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Godzilla and Kong are coming to Call of Duty: Warzone

They’re featured in a new limited time mode that kicks off on May 11th. | Image: Activision

Activision is adding a wild crossover to Call of Duty: Warzone — the giant monsters Godzilla and Kong will appear in a new limited-time mode that kicks off tomorrow, May 11th.

In the new mode, called Operation Monarch, players will compete to be the last team standing as Godzilla and Kong roam the island. While the monsters “usually don’t get too aggressive,” at certain points during a match, they might “become enraged and recklessly attack” in a “Titan Frenzy,” according to a blog post by Activision’s James Mattone.

“After receiving a Titan Frenzy alert, an Operator has two options: tactically withdraw (run away) from these dangerous creatures or attempt to suppress them by dealing direct damage,” Mattone says. If you do enough damage...

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Elon Musk: ‘I guess I would’ reverse Donald Trump’s Twitter ban

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

One of the questions about Elon Musk’s pending purchase of Twitter is what will happen to Donald Trump. The former president’s account was banned on January 8th, 2021, “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” while Jack Dorsey was still the company’s CEO. During an interview conducted remotely during the Financial Times’ Future of the Car conference and livestreamed on YouTube, the current Tesla and SpaceX CEO responded to a direct question about the ban and what will happen when he owns Twitter.

With the caveat that “I don't own Twitter yet, so this is not, like, a thing that will definitely happen,” Musk said, “I guess the answer is that I, I would reverse the permaban,” citing a shared opinion with his text messaging...

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The best deals on true wireless earbuds right now

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

When it comes to true wireless earbuds, there are a ton of brands and products to choose from. Whether you need something with noise cancellation for your daily commute like the Apple AirPods Pro or a fitness-focused pair like the Beats Powerbeats Pro, there’s now a pair of wireless earbuds well suited for nearly every occasion. Some, like the UE Fits, even conform to the shape of your ear to provide a secure fit that’s uniquely yours.

Regardless of the brand or model that speaks to you, however, we’ve scoured the internet to find the best deals currently available on true wireless earbuds. Of course, if you’re still trying to find the right make and model for you, make sure to check out our guide to the best wireless earbuds, which...

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