How to delete your Facebook account

illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

If you’ve finally given up on the world’s most popular social media network, it’s not too complicated to remove yourself from the service. But before you delete all of those pictures, posts, and likes, you should download your personal information from Facebook.

Your Facebook archives contain just about all of the pertinent information related to your account, including your photos, active sessions, chat history, IP addresses, facial recognition data, and which ads you clicked, just to name a few. That’s a ton of personal information that you should probably maintain access to.

To download your archive using the web:

• Click on the down arrow in the upper-right corner.
• Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings.
• In the left-hand column, click...

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SteelSeries Nova Pro Wireless review: it nearly does it all

The standard Nova Pro is a compelling wired option, too

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Mr. Boop, the psychosexual webcomic that is a scathing critique of copyright

You can’t summarize the webcomic Mr. Boop better than its first panel, which emerged out of what felt like the raging id of the internet on February 28, 2020. “My wife Betty Boop is really hot,” says Alec, the strip’s spectacled, grinning protagonist, a cartoon avatar for actual writer and artist Alec Robbins.

His wife, you see, is Betty Boop. She’s really hot.

At first blush, Mr. Boop might not seem all that different from the webcomics that largely defined the genre’s boom a decade or so ago: imperfectly drawn panels, constant flirtation with copyright violation, and a horny, endlessly self-indulgent hero based directly on the author.

But Robbins isn’t just channeling the tropes of a largely bygone era of fanfiction; he’s weaponizing...

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HP’s Pavilion x360 14 will be one of the most affordable 5G laptops

Remember, the x360s are the flippy ones. | Image: HP

HP’s newest budget laptop, the Pavilion x360 14, will be available this summer for a starting price of $599, the company has announced. The clamshell, higher-end Pavilion Plus 14 — HP’s thinnest ever Pavilion model at 0.65 inches — is another addition to the line, available now for a starting price of $799.

The new x360 14 also has optional 5G support via Intel’s 5G Solution 5000. While we don’t know exactly how much the 5G-enabled model will cost, the $599 base price makes it likely that this will be one of the most affordable ways to get 5G on a laptop this year (many other 5G-enabled models cost well over $1,000).

The Pavilion x360 14 will also be HP’s first consumer laptop to include a manual camera shutter — another feature...

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All these images were generated by Google’s latest text-to-image AI

Sample images from Google’s new text-to-image AI. | Image: Google (collage by The Verge)

Imagen what else this thing can do

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How to watch Microsoft’s Build 2022 conference

Microsoft’s Build social media profile template has a cute cat as a placeholder. You can download it here (warning: 75MB zip file) along with themed wallpapers and Teams backgrounds. | Screenshot: Umar Shakir / The Verge

Microsoft’s yearly developer conference is kicking off Tuesday, May 24th and running through Thursday, May 26th. The conference, historically attended by IT professionals, engineers, and students, moved online in 2020 due to the pandemic and also became an entirely free event.

Microsoft is continuing this trend in 2022 and keeping its sessions open to anyone interested in learning the latest on what the company is cooking up. So if you’re into checking out the latest Windows and Edge browser updates, understanding the difference between a product and a platform, and learning from other people that work heavily in Microsoft land, check out the links below!

How to watch MS Build 2022 Keynote and Sessions

If you want to attend any sessions,...

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Asus announces world’s first 500Hz Nvidia G-Sync gaming display

Asus’ ROG Swift 500Hz monitor | Image: Asus

Nvidia and Asus are announcing the world’s first 500Hz G-Sync display at Computex 2022 today. While we saw a prototype 500Hz gaming monitor earlier this year, Asus is promising a shipping 24-inch 500Hz TN panel that’s designed for esports titles running at 1080p. Asus has not yet announced pricing or a release date for its new ROG Swift 500Hz monitor, though.

The announcement comes just over two years since Nvidia and Asus teamed up to introduce 360Hz gaming monitors for esports at CES 2020. PC gamers have typically purchased 144Hz gaming monitors, and even 240Hz panels still aren’t particularly common. So 500Hz might sound like overkill, but Nvidia claims it will make a difference for competitive gamers who want the best of the best.

N...

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On-demand grocery app Gorillas lays off half its office workforce

Photo by Annette Riedl/picture alliance via Getty Images

Grocery app Gorillas, which promises to deliver goods in as quickly as 10 minutes, is laying off half of its office staff. In a press release, the company said it was letting go 300 employees from an estimated 600 “global office workforce.” (This workforce also includes roughly 14,400 staff working in warehouse and as delivery drivers.)

The company is also planning to tighten its focus on five markets that account for 90 percent of its revenue: the UK, US, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. The company also operates in four other European markets — Spain, Denmark, Italy, and Belgium — where it says it is “looking at all possible strategic options for the Gorillas brand.” That might mean pulling out of these markets, but Gorillas tells...

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Motorola teases phone with 200-megapixel camera as Razr rumors mount

Leaked renders of Motorola’s rumored smartphone. | Image: WinFuture

Motorola could have not one, but two very interesting smartphones launching in China next month. The company has teased the first in a Weibo post, which promises to be one of the first phones in the world with a 200-megapixel camera. It could be joined by a third-generation foldable Razr, too. Motorola’s general manager Shen Jin recently posted a cryptic teaser for the new foldable on Weibo, which appeared to show a silhouette of a device unfolding.

The smartphone with the 200-megapixel camera has reportedly been developed under the codename “Frontier,” and has leaked a couple of times in recent months. In January, WinFuture posted several renders of the device along with a more-or-less complete set of specs. The phone’s all-important...

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Logitech’s new mouse and keyboard offer a quieter click and more clack, respectively

Logitech’s latest computer accessories offer a quieter or more tactile way to use your computer, depending on your preferences. The new MX Master 3S is a minor update to the existing MX Master 3 mouse with a quieter mouse click and a more sensitive sensor. Meanwhile, the MX Mechanical and MX Mechanical Mini are a pair of keyboards whose mechanical switches should make them a more tactile (if slightly louder) counterpart to its existing MX Keys devices. The MX Mechanical, MX Mechanical Mini, and MX Master 3S will ship this month for $169.99, $149.99, and $99, respectively.

The MX Master 3S is a very similar-looking device to the MX Master 3 that it’s replacing in Logitech’s lineup. It’s got an aggressively sculpted right-handed design, a...

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Google Maps’ historical Street View imagery comes to mobile

See how a location has changed over time. | Image: Google

Google Maps’ Street View feature is getting a couple of upgrades to celebrate the service’s 15th anniversary, the search giant announced today. The first is a new feature coming to its iOS and Android apps that’ll display historical Street View imagery on your phone. The second is a new, more portable camera that Google hopes will make it easier for it to capture Street View imagery in the future.

Since 2014, it’s been possible to use Street View to see how a place has changed over the years via the desktop version of Google Maps. But now, the service’s iOS and Android apps will have the same ability. You access it by tapping anywhere on the screen while in Street View mode, and then select “see more dates” to access a location’s...

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Nvidia turns to liquid cooling to reduce big tech’s energy use

A rack full of these could hold so much liquid (and computing power). | Image: Nvidia

Nvidia has announced its new plan for reducing the energy use of data centers crunching massive amounts of data or training AI models: liquid-cooled graphics cards. The company announced at Computex that it’s introducing a liquid-cooled version of its A100 compute card, and says that it consumes 30 percent less power than the air-cooled version. Nvidia’s also pledging that this isn’t just a one-off, it’s already got more liquid-cooled server cards on its roadmap, and hints at bringing the tech to other applications like in-car systems that need to keep cool in enclosed spaces. Of course, Tesla’s recent recall for overheating chips shows how tricky that can be, even with liquid cooling.

According to Nvidia, reducing the energy needed to...

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Zeus flicks too hard in latest Thor trailer

Thor: Love and Thunder | Image: Marvel

The first full trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder has arrived, and somehow found a new angle on the journey of Chris Hemsworth’s titular hero. This time around we’re also getting a solid look at Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher, a galactic killer “who seeks the extinction of the gods.”

There are also more shots of Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), playing up some interactions she’ll have with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who, as we saw in the teaser trailer, is wielding Mjolnir, and even a quick flash of some Guardians of the Galaxy friends.

Image: Marvel

Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher.

So, who is holding the title of Mighty Thor, and what has Jane been doing for the last eight years, seven months,...

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Starlink’s new RV plan lets buyers skip the line if they pay more for worse service

Image: Starlink

SpaceX’s Starlink is still scaling up its constellation of internet satellites, and the service is only intended for use at the specific location where the user is registered. But as we noted earlier this month, for an additional $25 per month, it will let users take their dish somewhere else every now and then with the service’s new “portability” feature.

For that package with portability, you still need to have at-home service first, and it warns users they’ll be de-prioritized while away from home. But if you’re a vanlifer or RV enthusiast who is willing to buy a dish without having a “home” address with prioritized service, now Starlink for RVs will let you sign up and grab a dish for access right now. There’s no waiting required,...

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The Rodecaster Pro II is a slimmer, more customizable audio mixer

Image: Rode

Rode is introducing a new version of its portable audio mixer console, the Rodecaster Pro, with upgraded hardware, new preamps, a load of new software features, and a subtly sleeker design. The Rodecaster Pro II is meant to pack the key parts of an audio control room for livestreams, podcasts, and other audio productions in a desktop console for amateurs and professionals alike.

At first glance, the Rodecaster Pro II looks like a slightly more compact version of its predecessor, with six physical faders instead of eight, slimming it down from 14 inches wide to 12 inches wide. But the console comes with some much bigger updates on the inside. The console is now powered via USB-C and has the ability to connect to two computers or mobile...

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The best noise-canceling headphone deals

You can save $70 on the AirPods Max. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

With more people working from home than they used to, owning a good pair of noise-canceling headphones has become more appealing than ever. However, they can be expensive and difficult to shop for due to the range of available models, many of which cater to different lifestyles and priorities. Some are better suited for long-haul flights, for instance, while others are ideal for multitasking and marathon listening sessions.

That’s why we’ve curated this list of the best deals on noise-canceling headphones. Here, you’ll find sales on all kinds of on-ear and over-ear headphones, all of which are designed to eliminate outside noise but come with their own strengths and weaknesses. And if you want to do even more research before making a...

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Klarna used a prerecorded video message to lay off 10 percent of employees

Klarna lost about one-third of its valuation since last year. | Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

Klarna, the Swedish “buy now, pay later” service (BNPL), announced that it’s laying off 10 percent of its global workforce in a prerecorded video message, according to reports from Protocol and TechCrunch. The company currently has about 7,000 employees, and a 10 percent cutback puts the number of affected workers somewhere around 700.

BNPL services like Klarna, Affirm, and Afterpay allows users to purchase a product for nothing or a small fraction of its full price. Customers can then make incremental payments over a set period of time but will face a typically interest-free fee for any late payments. BNPL businesses soared at the height of the pandemic when many people were strapped for cash and had nothing else better to do than shop...

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SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell defends Elon Musk to employees after allegations of sexual misconduct

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell sent a company-wide email last week responding to a report of allegations of sexual assault against CEO Elon Musk, claiming she doesn’t believe the allegations to be true. The email, first reported by CNBC and reviewed by The Verge, also reiterated that SpaceX has a “ZERO tolerance” policy for harassment.

“Personally, I believe the allegations to be false; not because I work for Elon, but because I have worked closely with him for 20 years and never seen nor heard anything resembling these allegations,” Shotwell wrote in the email. “Anyone who knows Elon like I do, knows he would never conduct or condone this alleged inappropriate behavior.”

Last week, Business Insider published a report alleging that...

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TikTok’s launching Twitch-like subscriptions in beta on Thursday

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

TikTok has announced a program that lets viewers pay to subscribe to specific live streamers they want to support. Dubbed Live Subscription, it gives fans access to perks like a subscriber-only chat, creator-specific emotes, and badges that differentiate them from non-subscribers (via TechCrunch). It’s launching in beta on May 26th, according to an announcement video posted on the TikTok Live Creator page.

That page has also posted videos from several creators announcing that they’re part of the program and announcing the potential benefits to their followers. While custom stickers for livestream chats and the opportunity to take part in subscriber-only chats are likely the biggest draw for viewers, a few creators have noted that they’re...

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Google TV’s individual profiles are arriving after being delayed for a few months

Google TV profiles are now available to all users — including kids | Image: Google TV

After being delayed for months, Google is finally rolling out its personalized profiles for Google TV “over the next few weeks.”

Announced in October, Google TV profiles will make it simpler for multi-watcher households to navigate content by giving people access to individualized recommendations, watchlists, and Google Assistant responses.

Google has been expanding Google TV to make it less of a single-storefront experience for household members who prefer different content. Just last year, Google TV launched kids profiles, where parents can pick which apps are available and set watch time limits. Earlier this month, the team began rolling out an ambient mode screensaver with personalized cards that will show things like weather,...

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Snap plans to slow hiring, warns that revenue will grow slower than expected

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel told employees Monday that the company would significantly slow hiring for the rest of the year after warning investors that its revenue wouldn’t grow as fast as expected.

“Like many companies, we continue to face rising inflation and interest rates, supply chain shortages and labor disruptions, platform policy changes, the impact of the war in Ukraine, and more,” Spiegel wrote in a memo to employees obtained by The Verge. He went on to say that Snap expects to report revenue below the low-end of the guidance it gave investors for the current quarter. That news was also disclosed in a filing with the SEC that sent Snap’s stock price cratering to a low it hasn’t seen since mid-2020.

Like its larger competitor in...

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Here are the best AirPods deals you can get right now

Apple’s AirPods Pro wireless earbuds are a go-to pick that’s often on sale. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

If you know where to look, there are often some great discounts available on Apple’s popular — yet oftentimes expensive — AirPods. Since Apple launched the third-gen AirPods in October and unveiled its new lineup, we’ve seen the starting price of the second-gen, entry-level model drop from $159 to $129. What’s more, we’ve seen many retailers starting to heavily discount the second-gen AirPods as well as the more expensive AirPods Pro and Max, which offer noise cancellation and better sound quality than the standard model. We’ve even seen some significant discounts on the third-gen model that, despite lacking the “Pro” moniker, resembles the AirPods Pro more than the long-stemmed original model.

Here, we’ll run through the best deals...

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Florida’s social media moderation ban is probably unconstitutional, says court

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

A US appeals court says Florida’s ban on much social media moderation likely violates the First Amendment, setting up a legal showdown over social networks’ speech rights. Today, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld most of an earlier court order blocking Florida’s SB 7072 while a lawsuit proceeds. It directly contradicts a recent ruling over Texas’ similar moderation ban, setting up a split that the Supreme Court could step in to resolve.

The Eleventh Circuit ruling focuses on whether Florida’s law — which heavily restricts suspensions, fact-checking, and content removal involving political candidates and media enterprises — plausibly violates the First Amendment. Florida’s defense of the law characterizes web platforms as...

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The best early Memorial Day deals happening now

The Sony SRS-XB43 is one of many tech deals worth taking advantage of for this summer kickoff holiday. | Image: Chris Welch / The Verge

Memorial Day marks the unofficial start to summer in the US. In addition to using the long weekend of this national holiday for travel and taking some well-earned rest and relaxation, it usually kick-starts lots of outdoor activities — like backyard cookouts, road trips to the beach, and camping trips. It’s also another shopping holiday, with discounts on offer for all kinds of home goods and some great tech, gadgets, and gear.

There are plenty of deals on cool outdoorsy gear to take advantage of leading up to the holiday — like BioLite’s current discount on the FirePit Plus. But there are also great sales happening on indoor toys as well, like a range of HiSense TVs that are now available for up to $590 off. And let’s not forget travel...

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The best free apps for video calling

Illustration by Samar Haddad / Photo by Becca Farsace

It’s been over two years since COVID-19 made its way around the world, and while the state of emergency has let up somewhat, many of us are still relying on video calls to keep in touch with work colleagues, family, and friends. Zoom continues to top the list of videoconferencing apps, but there are a bunch of other free applications out there that will allow you to meet others online. So, in order to help you choose which you’d like to use, we’ve listed a few of the best videoconferencing apps along with a couple of popular text chat apps that include video calling features.

There are a number of apps we have not included, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and FaceTime, that allow you to do video chats. We’ve left them out because they...

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Researchers are using Google’s app to study the effect of phones on mental health

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The University of Oregon is doing a study on the effect phones have on mental health, using Google’s Health Studies app. The goal of the study is to see how people are actually using their phones andhow that affects their well-being. A post on the company blog written by one of the lead researchers on the projectsays thatthe aim of the research will ultimately be able to help companies design better products and even shape policy and education in the future.

According to the blog post, researchers are using the app because it can help them get a better picture of how people actually use their phones,as opposed to other studies when people are asked totrack and report their ownusage of apps — a method that can be less accurate than...

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LG’s brilliant C1 OLED just hit its lowest price ever on Amazon

The LG C1 pairs 4K resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate with FreeSync and G-Sync for an amazing gaming experience. | Image: LG

Our inaugural deals post this week is full of amazing deals, many of which are currently matching their best prices to date. Both the 65-inch and 77-inch models of LG’s C1 OLED are on sale for their lowest prices ever at Amazon, for instance, with the 65-inch panel going for $1,596.99 instead of $2,499.99. Other sizes are available for a discount as well, but you’ll want to direct your attention to either the 65- or 77-inch models for the best value.

While we’ve never reviewed the C1_,_ several staff members own the 2021 model and can’t seem to shut up about it — not just because it offers excellent visual fidelity but also because of its list of excellent, gamer-centric features. In addition to 4K resolution and support for Dolby Vision —...

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Activision Blizzard employees win their union vote

Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The Game Workers Alliance, the union of quality assurance workers at Activision subsidiary studio Raven Software, has won their union vote. The votes were tallied today and the union passed with 19 out of 22 votes with two challenged ballots. The election makes the Game Workers Alliance (GWA) the first union for Activision Blizzard and only the second formal union in US video game industry.

Happy union day! We won! pic.twitter.com/nzJ4A3J3RB

— Game Workers Alliance #WeAreGWA (@WeAreGWA) May 23, 2022

The vote is the culmination of months of organizing and a seeming concerted effort of union-busting on behalf of Activision Blizzard. In December, after 12 QA employees were informed they would be laid off in January, QA workers staged...

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AT&T gives mobile subscribers Control

AT&T subscribers can try a cloud-streamed version of Control Ultimate Edition_._ | Image: AT&T

AT&T customers can now play a cloud-streamed version of Control Ultimate Edition in their browser that uses the white-label version of Google’s Stadia technology. Customers on an AT&T postpaid plan can check out the game by visiting this link on a computer or mobile device and entering their phone number and billing zip code to jump in.

Control is the second experience AT&T offers using Stadia’s tech, which Google offers under the brand Immersive Stream for Games. The first was a demo of Batman: Arkham Knight, which launched for AT&T subscribers last year, though that works only on a computer. But AT&T’s Control offering isn’t a demo — it’s the full game, the company confirmed to The Verge. And since it’s the Ultimate Edition, that means...

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How to use the helpful Speak to Chat feature on Sony headphones and earbuds

Speak to Chat works with many of Sony’s high-end headphones and earbuds. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Sony’s best headphones and earbuds come with a wide mix of software features. Aside from helpful tricks like adaptive sound control and EQ customization, a more recent addition has been Speak to Chat. It first debuted with the W-1000XM4 in 2020 and has since come to newer Sony products as well.

Since it’s turned off by default, there’s a good chance you haven’t yet tried Speak to Chat. But it’s a very convenient feature that can help you communicate with others without having to fully disconnect from your music.

What is Speak to Chat?

Speak to Chat is a software feature that’s designed to help you talk to people and have brief interactions without worrying about finding and pressing buttons to activate ambient / transparency sound mode....

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