Chris Hemsworth runs an unsettling futuristic prison in Spiderhead’s first trailer

One of the more intriguing titles from Netflix’s upcoming slate of summer movies is Spiderhead, in which Chris Hemsworth stars as a pharmaceutical genius using a futuristic prison as an experimental playground.

Based on a 2010 New Yorker short story by George Saunders, the film is directed by Joseph Kosinski (best-known for Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, and that Gears of War commercial) and also stars Miles Teller and Jurnee Smollett as two inmates who form a connection in the aforementioned prison. If the first trailer is anything to go by, it looks like the movie will be something of a dark comedy, jumping back and forth between goofy and grim. Hemsworth looks particularly manic, even joking about how beautiful he is. Plus, there’s lots of...

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Telehealth startup Cerebral halts controlled substance prescriptions

The Cerebral app. | Image: Cerebral

Mental health startup Cerebral will no longer prescribe most controlled substances, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The embattled company is facing investigations from the US Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration over its prescribing practices, which, until this week, included offering prescriptions for stimulants like Adderall.

Company co-founder Kyle Robertson wrote in an email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that it would stop prescribing most controlled substances to new customers on Friday and transition existing patients off of the drug or out of its care by October. Cerebral will still offer drugs that treat opioid-use disorder, like Suboxone.

Robertson said in the email that the company only started...

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Apple will bring Live Captions to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac and more gesture control on Apple Watch

Image: Apple

On Tuesday morning, Apple announced a new wave of accessibility features for its various computing platforms, which are set to roll out later this year as software updates for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch.

Apple said it will beta test Live Captions that can transcribe any audio content — FaceTime calls, video conferencing apps (with auto attribution to identify the speaker), streaming video, or in-person conversations — in English across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Google’s push for Live Caption features began around the release of Android 10 and are now available in English on the Pixel 2 and later devices, as well as “select” other Android phones and in additional languages for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. So it’s good to see...

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The videos that don’t work on YouTube and the future of the creator business with Nebula CEO Dave Wiskus

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge

Running a creator-owned streaming service

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Harley-Davidson’s updated Serial 1 e-bikes will feature Google Cloud connectivity

Serial 1, the electric bike company spun out of Harley-Davidson, launched its second-generation lineup of premium e-bikes — but the biggest changes will be coming to the company’s app.

The updated bikes will come with a host of new software features provided by Serial 1’s new partnership with Google Cloud. The company says that Google Cloud has selected Serial 1 as its new “strategic eMobility partner,” meaning the e-bike maker will be among the first to integrate Google’s software products into its vehicles.

The software-enabled e-bikes will allow owners to track their trips and collect data

The software-enabled e-bikes will allow owners to track their trips, collect data, and “significantly improve safety and security,” Serial 1...

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How fears of electromagnetic radiation spawned a snake-oil industry

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The products target people who think they have electromagnetic hypersensitivity

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DeviantArt is expanding its system for flagging stolen NFT art

Image: DeviantArt

DeviantArt is expanding its tool for detecting ripped-off crypto art, offering it to artists outside the platform. DeviantArt Protect, which launched last year for art posted on the site, will now be available for work that isn’t hosted there as well. Users can upload copies of art to Protect and have it matched against non-fungible token (or NFT) images minted to one of several public blockchains. If an identical or near-identical match is detected, they’ll receive an alert and can send takedown requests to major NFT markets like OpenSea.

The new version of Protect will let anyone upload 10 images (totaling up to 2GB) and have them monitored for free, or users can sign up for DeviantArt’s $3.95 monthly “Core” service and monitor up to...

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Asus’ ROG Flow X16 is a big, powerful 2-in-1 gaming laptop

The new X16 can sport a Mini LED display with 512 dimming zones. | Image: Asus

Asus has added a 16-inch option to its clever (and generally good) ROG Flow lineup. It’s called the Flow X16, and it seems like a 2-in-1 beast for multimedia and even some high-end gaming. While the 13.4-inch X13 and Z13 tablets could do some gaming, they weren’t capable of playing games smoothly at high settings — at least not without the pricey, powerful XG Mobile external GPU-meets-docking station. The X16, on the other hand, seems like a solid gaming laptop in its own right given that it can be configured with up to AMD’s Ryzen 9 6900HS and Nvidia’s RTX 3070 Ti (100W maximum graphics power). It also supports up to 64GB of fast DDR5 RAM clocked at 4,800MHz.

There’s an option for a Mini LED glass-covered touchscreen that has up to...

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Ecobee’s new thermostats are its best yet

The Premium and Enhanced models add style to Ecobee’s substance

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Asus’ Chromebook Detachable CM3 drops to its lowest price of the year

The CM3 is our favorite detachable Chromebook, one that is currently just $299.99 on Amazon. | Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge

If you’re shopping for a graduation gift, Asus’ Chromebook Detachable CM3 is our favorite detachable Chromebook and one of the best cheap laptops on the market. It functions as both a great tablet and a Chromebook, making it an excellent present for a graduating senior who doesn’t need a lot performance-wise. It’s a good buy that won’t totally break the bank, either, now that it’s selling at its best price of the year. Typically $369.99, the 10.5-inch tablet is on sale at Amazon with a MediaTek 8183 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of eMMC storage for $299.99, which is only $30 shy of the all-time low.

The Chromebook comes with a unique, dual-folding kickstand, meaning your giftee can either fold the CM3 so it stands up like a laptop or...

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How to move your data to a new Android phone

Google

Google officially announced its upcoming Pixel 6A phone on May 11th, 2022, and will be shipping its new line of Pixel 7 phones this coming autumn. You may be planning to upgrade as soon as the new phones are ready, or you may be simply moving from your current Android phone to a more recent model. Either way, you’ll want to be able to move your data over with confidence.

Google makes it pretty simple to move from one phone to another — as soon as you start up your new phone, you will get step-by-step directions on what to do. (Note: if you have a two-factor authentication or 2FA app such as Google Authenticator on your phone, your data won’t be automatically moved — you’ll have to take a few extra steps.) If your older phone is lost or...

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Tesla is ready to take your money for its Semi truck (just don’t ask when you’ll actually get one)

Concept art of the Tesla Semi from 2017. | Image: Tesla

Five years after it was announced, Tesla has opened up reservations for its all-electric Semi truck, scheduled to go into production in 2023. On the company’s website, you can make a reservation by paying $5,000 upfront, then $15,000 within 10 days. (Spotted via InsideEVs.) A word of warning, though: the $5k is refundable, but it seems the $20k ain’t.

Now, you’d be forgiven for having forgotten all about Tesla’s Semi, which was announced in 2017 with futuristic concept art and envious specs. The company says the truck will be powered by four independent motors on the rear axles, go 0-60mph in 20 seconds, and have a battery range of either 300 or 500 miles. Prices start at $150,000, and there have been a number of orders from businesses...

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Cake Ösa electric motorbike review: hungry for more

Hauls your gadgets and tools, then powers them when you arrive

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Apple ‘testing’ foldable with secondary E Ink display, says analyst

E Ink’s recently announced flexible color display. | Image: E Ink

Apple is reportedly testing the use of a color display from E Ink as an external screen for an unannounced foldable device, according to noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. “The color EPD [Electronic Paper Display] has the potential to become a mainstream solution for foldable devices’ must-have cover/second screen thanks to its excellent power-saving,” the analyst wrote in a tweet. He adds that the E Ink display is also being tested in “tablet-like applications.”

Most tablet-style foldables on the market today pair a large folding inner display with a smaller outer display for quickly checking notifications. But existing devices like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 or the Oppo Find N use OLED panels for both. Apple’s use of an E Ink screen would...

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Elon Musk says Twitter deal ‘cannot move forward’ until it proves bot numbers

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Elon Musk has reiterated his claim that fake and spam accounts could make up more than 20 percent of Twitter’s users, saying the deal to acquire the social media company “cannot move forward” until Twitter proves the accuracy of its much lower estimate of less than 5 percent. Musk is currently in the process of buying Twitter and its estimated 226 million monetizable daily active users for $44 billion.

“20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher,” the Tesla CEO tweeted in response to a report from Teslarati. “My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate. Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does.”

20% fake/spam...

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Apple will let your subscription apps charge you more money without asking

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple has updated its App Store rules to make it so subscriptions can auto-renew without your explicit permission, even if the developer has raised the monthly or annual price. Before the rule change, users would have to manually opt-into a subscription renewal if it came with a price bump; now, that won’t necessarily be the case, though you’ll still be notified about the price change before it happens. Apple says it’s making the change to help avoid the situation where users unintentionally lose access to a subscription because they missed an opt-in message.

According to Apple’s Monday evening post, there are specific conditions that developers will have to follow if they want to offer what the company is calling “an auto-renewable...

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Buffalo shooting suspect reportedly shared plans on Discord

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The alleged gunman behind the attack in Buffalo, New York that left 10 dead and three injured on Saturday used Discord to discuss and share plans ahead of the assault, according to Bloomberg.

As far back as December, the suspect is reported to have used a private server on the popular chat service to describe his intentions to carry out an attack. He later shared links to Discord logs describing his attack plan and white supremacist views, according to Bloomberg. The report says that the suspect mentioned the terrorist who attacked a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand more than 30 times and used racist slurs and extremist phrases while in the app.

Discord wanted to ensure “another event like Charlottesville isn’t planned on our...

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MiamiCoin crypto lost 88 percent of its value in less than a year

Miami, host city of the Bitcoin 2022 event we recently visited, doesn’t own or manage the MiamiCoin cryptocurrency, although the coin has enjoyed the support of Mayor Francis Suarez, who at one point suggested it raised “the possibility of being able to run a government without the citizens having to pay taxes.” Now Quartz reports that since launching on August 3rd, MiamiCoin’s value has dropped by as much as 95 percent.

The CityCoin plan requires miners to acquire tokens on the Stacks (STX) blockchain that they can use to bid for MiamiCoin. The winning bidder receives 70 percent of their investment in MiamiCoin, while the city receives the other 30 percent in STX tokens.

I’m so excited to announce that the @CityofMiami has received...

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Meta is testing end-to-end encryption for Quest’s VR Messenger app

The test is included in software update v40. | Image: Meta

Meta has been on a multiyear push with Messenger’s end-to-end encryption (E2EE) features, and it’s now starting to test E2EE messaging with its Quest VR quest headsets. With the new v40 software update, Meta is testing optional E2EE for one-on-one messages and calls in VR, according to a blog post, though it’s unclear how many people are included in the test or how to turn on the feature if you are.

The test arrives alongside a bunch of other notable new features in the v40 update. There are new audio accessibility options, including the ability to tweak the audio balance of the left and right audio channels and a mono audio feature that lets you hear the same audio on the left and right speakers.

You’ll also now be able to lock...

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DJI may be working a new FPV drone that you can fly indoors

The new drone will be made for indoor flight. | Image: @DronesDeal via Twitter

New leaks suggest that DJI is working on a new FPV (first-person view) drone that you can fly indoors (via Gizmodo). Reliable tipsters @DealsDrone and @OsitaLV have come forward with leaked images and details about a smaller, more compact drone that may be arriving between July and August.

The drone, supposedly called Avata, will weigh 500 grams, which means users will have to register it with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) if they choose to fly it outside (drones that weigh more than 250 grams must be registered with the FAA). Renders from @DealsDrone show that the Avata could come with ducted propellers to help prevent any damage to the device when it (inevitably) runs into something during an indoor flight. It features a...

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On Buffalo, Elon Musk’s silence is deafening

Aaron Jordan, of Buffalo, adds to a sidewalk chalk mural depicting the names of the people killed at a mass shooting at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, NY. Sunday, May 15, 2022 in Buffalo, NY. | Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

On May 14th, social media platforms found themselves scrambling to deal with a livestream video of a white supremacist terror attack. Yet the man who has been the nation’s loudest commentator on content moderation had nothing to say.

Under Elon Musk’s view of content moderation, any restriction on speech beyond what the law proscribes is censorship. And by that standard, the video of the attack in Buffalo — however graphic — should have remained on the platform since videos of graphic violence are not illegal speech. In practice, platforms were criticized for being too slow to remove them, and Musk found no need to weigh in on the debate.

The details of the Buffalo, New York shooting are widely known and still painful to report. Ten...

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Google hires former FDA digital health leader

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google hired a former Food and Drug Administration leader as its new senior director of global digital health strategy. Bakul Patel spent over a decade at the FDA and most recently was the chief digital health officer of global strategy and innovation.

“I am looking forward to learning from the teams in health across Google and Alphabet and helping build a unified digital health and regulatory strategy,” he wrote in a Linkedin post Monday announcing the move.

Like all big tech companies, Google has pushed further into health and healthcare over the past few years, with mixed results. Its ambitions range from mining big data for algorithms to developing disease-detecting tools to pumping wearables full of health features. But its...

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Our 14 favorite gadgets and hacks for working at home

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

From mesh networks to lap desks, here’s how The Verge’s staffers create their workspaces

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Now you can order a third round of free test kits from COVIDTests.gov

Double the number of tests from the first two rounds.

The US Postal Service has updated its free at-home COVID-19 test webpage, indicating that citizens can now place an order for a third round of government-provided rapid tests (h / t Alexander Tin and DrAltGov on Twitter). Compared to previous rounds, you’ll be sent double the number of tests — eight instead of four.

The procedure is largely the same as it was when the US launched COVIDTests.gov in January; you go to the site, fill in your name and address, and the tests will show up in your mailbox. According to the USPS, though, because you’re getting eight tests this time, they’ll be shipped in two separate packages. You’ll receive a tracking number for each.

Test often

The order confirmation page notes that if you skipped any of the...

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Sony doesn’t want you to know that it’s donating $100K for reproductive rights

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Insomniac Games, which is part of Sony’s PlayStation Studios, plans to donate $50,000 to the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP), according to an internal email sent on May 13th by its CEO Ted Price, as reported by The Washington Post. Sony itself plans to match the donation for a total of $100,000, and employees of Insomniac can make donations through Sony’s PlayStation Cares program. Additionally, The Washington Post reports that Sony is working on plans to provide financial assistance to employees who may have to travel to other states to receive abortions and other reproductive care.

There’s a major wrinkle to this news, though. The Washington Post reports that neither Insomniac Games nor Sony plans to publicize...

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FDA: fluvoxamine doesn’t treat COVID-19 — and here’s 27 pages why

Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

When the US Food and Drug Administration rejected an antidepressant as a treatment for COVID-19 on Monday, it also released a 27-page memorandum explaining exactly why it wasn’t convinced the drug was effective. It’s an unusual move for the agency, which typically rejects drugs quietly without quite so much publicly available paperwork.

The antidepressant fluvoxamine is a cheap, generic drug that’s been used for decades. Research shows that the drug can also block inflammation in the body. So, some researchers hoped that it could help prevent severe symptoms in patients with COVID-19, some of whom have to cope with inflammation due to overactive immune systems.

Some small and preliminary studies showed that it might be able to reduce...

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Verizon customers’ bills are going up starting in June for... reasons

Verizon is increasing its monthly administrative fee for postpaid customers. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Many Verizon customers are going to see a few extra dollars on their next phone bill. Starting in June, Verizon is raising the administrative fee it charges postpaid customers by $1.35, bringing it up to $3.30 per voice line. The fee increase only applies to voice lines — if you have a data-only line for a tablet, for example, there’s no change.

In an email to The Verge, company spokesperson Adria Tomaszewski didn’t cite a specific reason for the price increase on consumer accounts:

From time to time, we review and make adjustments to fees to defray some of Verizon’s administrative and telco expenses and costs of complying with regulatory requirements. To that end, Verizon Consumer will implement a change beginning in June.

Really clears...

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Nvidia’s monster RTX 4090 GPU tipped to arrive mid-July

This is not a 4090 but, rather, an old promo image for the 3090. | Image: Nvidia

Did you finally find a gaming GPU within your budget now that sanity is returning to the market? Here’s a reason to keep on waiting: the Nvidia RTX 4090 might arrive as soon as mid-July (via VideoCardz).

That’s the word from kopite7kimi, the leaker who correctly predicted the specifications of the RTX 3090 and RTX 3090, among other things.

Mid July.

— kopite7kimi (@kopite7kimi) May 16, 2022

Kopite7kimi’s latest predictions suggest the RTX 4090 will require up to 450W of power all by itself, just like the $1,999 RTX 3090 Ti that Nvidia put on sale in March, but offer quite a few more cores than the last-gen chip: 16,128 of them paired with 24GB of GDDR6X memory at 21Gbps.

And while that’s only around 50 percent more cores than the...

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Fortnite’s shared V-Bucks wallet will soon support PlayStation

The change goes into effect with Fortnite’s v20.40 update. | Image: Epic Games

Any Fortnite V-Bucks purchased on PlayStation will soon be available across every platform where the game is available except Nintendo Switch, developer Epic Games announced Monday. Previously, any V-Bucks you bought on a PlayStation console were locked to Sony’s platforms, but starting with the v20.40 update that will be released on Tuesday, you’ll also be able to access those V-Bucks as part of your “Shared Wallet” when you play Fortnite on Xbox, PC, Android, and cloud gaming services.

Sony has been reticent to play nicely with Epic’s cross-platform ambitions for Fortnite in the past. Cross-play wasn’t available until Sony enabled it in September 2018 despite cross-play being an option for players on Xbox and Switch ahead of that time....

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Amazon’s ad-supported Freevee comes to Apple TV

Watch free movies and TV shows with ads on Freevee_._ | Image: Amazon

Amazon Freevee, the ad-supported streaming service formally known as IMDb TV, now has a dedicated Apple TV app, Amazon announced Monday. Freevee was previously available on Apple TV within the Prime Video app, but now Freevee has its own app that you can download from the App Store for the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD.

Freevee offers access to Amazon Studios shows like Bosch: Legacy and Pretty Hard Cases as well as other free movies and TV like Mad Men and Knives Out. Freevee recently signed a new deal with Disney that will rotate in movies like Deadpool 1 and 2, Logan, and The Post among its selections, and it has over 75 channels streaming, including an exclusive channel that only plays Kim’s Convenience. You won’t be able to pick which...

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