Dyson eyes robots that can do your household chores

Dyson has shown off a series of prototype robots it’s developing, and announced plans to hire hundreds of engineers over the next five years in order to build robots capable of household chores. The images are designed to show off the fine motor skills of the machines, with arms capable of lifting plates out of a drying rack, vacuuming a sofa, or lifting up a children’s toy.

The company, best known for its range of vacuum cleaners, says that it aims to develop “an autonomous device capable of household chores and other tasks,” with The Guardian noting that such a device could be released by 2030. It comes over half a decade after the company released its first robotic device, the Dyson 360 Eye robot vacuum cleaner, in 2014. Dyson has...

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Apple’s new App Store rule for easier account and data deletion hits June 30th

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

During its WWDC 2021 event, Apple laid down a slew of policy changes for the App Store, adjusting the rules for everything from bounty hunting to whether or not Roblox is a game. Now, with the WWDC 2022 event ready to start on June 6th, Apple is reminding developers that it’s ready to flip the switch on some policy updates that were previously delayed.

Two App Store rule changes that Apple is confirming will take effect as of June 30th: a requirement that apps offering paid online group services use its in-app payment system, and a requirement mandating that developers offer easy account deletions (including stored personal data) within any app that allows users to create an account.

The policy about online group services (like classes...

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Here are the best Amazon Echo deals right now

The Echo Show 5 (left), Echo Show 8 (middle), and the Echo Show (right). | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Amazon’s current Echo lineup offers a broad selection of smart speakers and displays that can fit just about anywhere in your home. Whether you want to place a voice assistant in your living room, replace the bulletin board in your office, or pick up a touchscreen-enabled device to showcase recipes in the kitchen, there's an Echo device for just about every occasion and use case.

Regardless of why you might want one, there’s always a way to save on an Echo device, from the last-gen Dot to Amazon’s latest Echo Show 10. Even when they’re selling at full price, for instance, Amazon offers a 25 percent discount when you trade in select devices, meaning there are still other ways to save money when none of the models are on sale.

Below,...

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Judge rules Tesla can’t hide behind arbitration in sexual harassment case

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A lawsuit that accuses Tesla of fostering a workplace with “rampant” sexual harassment will continue in court after a California judge denied the company’s motion for arbitration, as first reported by Bloomberg. Although the female worker who brought up the case signed an arbitration agreement at Tesla, terminating her rights to sue, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Stephen Kaus still moved forward with the decision on Monday.

Jessica Barraza filed the lawsuit last year, claiming she was subject to catcalling, lewd comments, and inappropriate touching while working as a production associate at Tesla’s Fremont, California factory. At least seven more female workers have since come forward with sexual harassment complaints, with some a...

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Democrats say Google must curb location tracking before Roe repeal

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A group of more than 40 Democratic members of Congress has asked Google to stop collecting and retaining “unnecessary” location data out of fear that it could be used to identify and prosecute people who have obtained abortions.

The request was made in a letter sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday by members of the House and Senate, led by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and including well-known progressive representatives such as Ayanna Pressley, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“We believe that abortion is health care,” the letter states. “We will fight tooth and nail to ensure that it remains recognized as a fundamental right, and that all people in the United States have control over their own bodies....

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Pixel 6 owners aren’t thrilled with Google’s overpriced, yellowing cases

This is supposed to be pink. | Image: u/A_Giant_Baguette on Reddit

Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro users aren’t impressed with Google’s $30 first-party cases. Looking at Reddit and reviews on Amazon, there are dozens of people complaining about the transparent plastic showing extreme yellowing, warping, or just plain not fitting the phone from the factory. Some users have posted some gnarly-looking pictures of their cases, saying that they degraded in anywhere from several months to just two or three weeks. An editor here at The Verge says that their case has also started to look “a bit dingy.”

While there are plenty of positive reviews for the cases, it’s hard to ignore the number of complaints. It also seems unlikely that this is just from a bad batch of cases. There’s a Reddit thread complaining about the...

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The PS5 is available directly from Sony at 4PM ET, and you can start queueing now

Sony has had slightly more frequent restocks of its flagship console lately. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Update May 24th, 4:30PM ET: This console restock from Sony is for new, boxed bundles of the PS5 with Horizon: Forbidden West included. The cost of this bundle with the disc-equipped PS5 is $549.99, which reflects a $20 discount off the $69.99 price of the game.

The latest restock of hard-to-get PlayStation 5 consoles has arrived. Sony has opened a public queue that you can join now for a chance to buy a $499 PlayStation 5 that has a disc drive. We also expect Sony may have the $399 PS5 Digital Edition without a disc drive on offer, as well as your choice of accessories and games. Sony has routinely offered invite-only opportunities to buy a PS5, but recently, it’s also run public ones, allowing anyone with a PSN account to take a crack...

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Walmart is expanding its drone deliveries to reach 4 million households

DroneUp can deliver packages within a mile-and-a-half radius of a Walmart. | Image: Walmart

Walmart announced on Tuesday that it’s planning on expanding the number of stores that offer drone-delivered packages; by the end of the year, it hopes to fly deliveries from 34 sites across Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. The company says the expansion will give up to 4 million households access to the service, which is a significant increase. When the company launched the program in November 2021, it was only available in a single town in Arkansas.

Walmart says that customers who live near drone-capable stores will be able to order items weighing less than 10 pounds in total between 8AM and 8PM. The deliveries, which cost $3.99, are done via a drone operated by a company called DroneUp, which has a partnership...

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Google Assistant on the Galaxy Watch 4 is great except for one thing

At long last.

When Google and Samsung announced Wear OS 3 last year, I had lots of questions about how well Google services would run on Samsung hardware. Of Google’s expansive suite of apps, I was most curious about Google Assistant. The only catch was it wasn’t available when the Galaxy Watch 4 lineup launched — and there were only vague promises as to when it would actually be available. But yesterday, Google Assistant finally arrived on the Galaxy Watch 4, and after a few hours of playing around with it, I’m cautiously optimistic.

Google Assistant was already a feature on older Wear OS 2 watches. It just wasn’t great. Because Wear OS 2 watches struggled with underpowered hardware, Google Assistant was often laggy and never fully lived up to its...

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Stellantis picks Indiana for its $2.5 billion EV battery factory with Samsung

Image: Stellantis

Stellantis, the parent company of Dodge, Jeep, and Chrysler, has selected Kokomo, Indiana, as the site for its next electric vehicle battery factory. The plant will be built in partnership with South Korea’s Samsung SDI, which is a leading EV battery maker. The companies made the announcement Tuesday alongside Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and several other local officials in Kokomo.

The new facility will create 1,400 new jobs and cost $2.5 billion to construct, though Stellantis and Samsung are willing to spend up to $3 billion on the project, Mark Stewart, chief operating officer of Stellantis, said at the press conference. The cost will be split between the two companies.

The new facility will create 1,400 new jobs and cost $2.5...

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The best deals on Nintendo Switch games right now

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity_, a hack-and-slash prequel to_ Breath of the Wild_, is on sale for just $44._

The Nintendo Switch is one of the most popular consoles ever released, one with an ever-expanding library of games to choose from. Odds are if a game is capable of working on the Switch’s hardware, it’s either already available or it will be soon.

Thankfully, a number of games are currently receiving price breaks if you’re looking to expand your collection, including first-gen offerings like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and remasters likeTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2. However, if you want to add some less conventional titles to your collection, the underwater survival sim Subnautica and the pixelated beat’em up Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game are also discounted right now.

Below, we’ve rounded up some of the deals on...

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The ‘800 pound gorilla’ in the Gulf of Mexico that could supercharge hurricanes this season

Trees sway in the wind from Hurricane Ida in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 29th, 2021. | Image: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Forecasters expect a busy 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, with a 65 percent chance of an above-average season. There’s also a wildcard in the mix that raises the risk of more severe storms in the Gulf of Mexico this year.

Between 14 to 21 tropical storms could grow powerful enough to be named this season, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in its season outlook briefing, which was released today. The average Atlantic hurricane season, which starts on June 1st, typically has about 14 named storms. Another prominent forecast from Colorado State University predicted 19 named storms this year.

NOAA expects six to 10 stormsto strengthen into hurricanes. NOAA also forecast between three to six major hurricanes,...

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Niantic moves beyond games with Lightship AR platform and a social network

Niantic

Niantic made a name for itself in the mobile gaming industry through the enduring success of Pokémon Go. Now the company is hoping to become something else: a platform for other developers to build location-aware AR apps on top of.

This plan has been in the works since at least 2018, but it’s taking a big leap forward this week with the long-awaited release of Niantic’s location mapping software for AR, which it calls the Visual Positioning System, or VPS in a nod to GPS. The technology makes it so that AR experiences can be grounded to a physical location, like the front of a building or a park monument, rather than just floating aimlessly through a phone’s camera view.

Developers can now use VPS as the tentpole feature of Niantic’s...

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Netflix’s Exploding Kittens mobile game launches at the end of May

Play the new game beginning May 31st. | Image: Netflix

Netflix’s Exploding Kittens — The Game, a new mobile title based on the popular card game, will be available for free for Netflix subscribers on May 31st, the company announced Tuesday. The new game will be a different version than the one that’s already available on the App Store and Google Play, and at launch, it will have two exclusive cards. Down the line, Netflix plans to add cards based on the upcoming animated series that will be hitting the service in 2023.

Netflix also revealed three additional mobile games that will all be available on Tuesday as part of the service’s growing library of mobile titles: Moonlighter, Townsmen — A Kingdom Rebuilt, and Dragon Up. Once all four of the titles are released, Netflix will count 22 games...

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New partnership links positive COVID-19 cases to antivirals — for a price

The Detect COVID-19 test is an at-home molecular test. | Image: Detect

The at-home molecular COVID-19 testing company Detect is partnering with healthcare provider Carbon Health to givecustomers who testpositive easy access to antiviral treatments, the companies announced today.

The “Test to Treat at Home” program runs directly through the Detect app, which connects people who test positive for COVID-19 with Carbon Health. Then, they can set up appointments for virtual or in-person visits, depending on their location. At that appointment, a provider can prescribe an antiviral like Paxlovid, and patients can pick the drug up the same day — a timesaver for a drug that has to be taken within five days of symptoms starting.

The program is modeled off the Biden administration’s Test to Treat program, which...

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Conan O’Brien makes a $150 million podcast deal

Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic

After bottomless headlines about podcast licensing deals, I guess getting acquired is cool again. Or maybe Conan is just tired. I’m tired, and I didn’t even spend three decades as the “good king” of late night. On that note, I will be out for the next few days, so send all pitches and thoughts to Jake (nice ones, please!!).

SiriusXM acquires Conan O’Brien’s podcast network

So much for sticking to mid-tier deals, SiriusXM (though kudos on the misdirection). On Monday, the audio giant announced it has acquired Conan O’Brien’s production company, Team Coco, and locked the comedian down in a five-year talent contract. At a reported $150 million, the transaction is by no means the industry’s largest, but it’s a callback to the kind of M&A...

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Windows 11 is getting an easy way to restore apps to a new PC

The Microsoft Store for Windows 11. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is finally adding restore apps to the Microsoft Store on Windows 11. The software maker will soon start testing a new feature that allows you to restore apps onto a new Windows 11 PC. The existing Microsoft Store hasn’t offered an automatic way to restore apps, instead forcing Windows users to manually install apps from their library.

“To make it easier for customers to transition to their new PCs quickly and seamlessly, we will soon test a new feature in the Windows Insider channel that helps customers automatically restore their apps, previously installed from the Microsoft Store, to their new Windows device,” explains Giorgio Sardo, general manager of the Microsoft Store. “This will also help developers retain their...

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Waze now supports Apple Music integration

Image: Waze

Waze has finally introduced support for Apple Music on iPhones, allowing you to control your music through the navigation app’s built-in audio player. This should make it easier for you to pause, play, and switch between songs while following the directions to your destination. You’ll also get access to Apple Music’s wide selection of playlists directly through Waze, which means you shouldn’t have to open the Apple Music app at all.

Apple Music joins a host of other audio streaming services that already connect with Waze. The app first rolled out support for Spotify in 2017 and later added Pandora, TuneIn, and Deezer. In addition to other popular music services like Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and iHeartRadio, Waze also supports a...

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Logitech gaming gear is up to 50 percent off at Amazon for today only

The Logitech G435 wireless headset comes in three unique colorways. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Today’s deals kick off with some great prices on Logitech gaming and streaming gear from Amazon’s deal of the day, and just like monkey see, monkey do, Best Buy is following suit and matching many of those prices.

The selection of discounted Logitech products ranges from mice and headsets to steering wheels and a webcam. There’s even a Blue Yeti USB microphone kit with a Compass desk mount for $143.99 (about $46 off compared to buying them separately) that’s ideal for podcasting and streaming — and because Logitech actually owns Blue. A lot of these deals are great, but let’s dive deeper into some of our favorites.

One of our overall top choices for gaming headsets is the Logitech G435 Lightspeed wireless. It currently sits number one in...

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Chrome will soon do Google Lens image searches without leaving a page

The new panel will appear to the right after a Lens search. | Image: Google

Google Lens, the search giant’s powerful image recognition software, is becoming slightly less cumbersome to use within the Chrome browser on desktop. Currently, if you want to use Lens on an image on a website, the browser opens a page of results in a new tab. But in the future, the browser will instead show results in a panel to the right of a webpage. Only when you want to find an image’s source will Chrome open a new browser tab.

The search giant’s image recognition software has long been available on mobile, where it’s accessible via Google’s apps on iOS or the native camera app on some Android phones. But last year, Google Lens came to desktop via the Chrome browser and can be accessed by right-clicking an image and then selecting...

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How Ukraine’s wide use of cryptocurrency is playing out during the war

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge; Photo by Oliyarnyk / CC-BY-SA-4.0

With Michael Chobanian, the president of the Blockchain Association of Ukraine

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The real star of The Gray Man’s first trailer is Chris Evans’ evil ‘trash stache’

Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen. | Netflix

In both the Mark Greaney book, The Gray Man,and Netflix’s forthcoming movie adaptation by the Russo Brothers, one of the CIA’s most highly-trained and valuable agents becomes its number one target after he unearths a dark truth about the agency. The Gray Man’s first trailer introduces you to Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling) as he fights to stay alive with one of the world’s largest bounties looming over his head and a mustachioed psychopath hot on his heels.

Though Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans) and Gentry were once technically colleagues, the two men find themselves at odds in The Gray Man’s first trailer as Hansen’s tapped to lead the worldwide hunt for Gentry’s head. Gentry’s able to hold his own against Hansen to a point, but his survival...

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Microsoft Build 2022: news and updates from Microsoft’s developer conference

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

It’s all about developers

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Microsoft is making native Arm versions of Visual Studio 2022 and VS Code

Microsoft’s Project Volterra device. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is working on native Arm64 versions of Visual Studio 2022 and VS Code. A preview version of an Arm native version of Visual Studio 2022 will be available “in the next few weeks” and is expected to ship fully later this year alongside Arm64 .NET support.

While Arm devices like the Surface Pro X have been able to run Visual Studio through x64 emulation, some features haven’t been supported and performance has suffered, too. Developers will certainly be intrigued to hear more about native Arm support for Visual Studio 2022 and VS Code, and Microsoft is creating what it describes as an “Arm-native toolchain”:

• Full Visual Studio 2022 & VS Code
• Visual C++
• Modern .NET 6 and Java
• Classic .NET Framework
• Windows Terminal
• WSL and WSA...

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Microsoft Teams Live Share takes meetings beyond simple screen sharing

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is adding a new Live Share feature to Microsoft Teams, which will allow participants to start co-editing or co-creating during Teams meetings. Live Share will be available through apps that integrate into Microsoft Teams, offering more interactive meetings that go beyond simple screen sharing.

Developers at Frame.io, Hexagon, Skillsoft, MakeCode, Accenture, Parabol, and Breakthru are all currently experimenting with apps that utilize this new Live Share functionality. Hexagon has created an app prototype that uses Live Share in Microsoft Teams to allow engineers to zoom in, annotate, and edit 3D models in real time during a Teams meeting.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft Teams Live Share in a Hexagon prototype...

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Microsoft Dev Box is a cloud-powered developer workstation

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft put PCs in the cloud with Windows 365 last year, and now, it wants to entice developers to use a cloud-powered developer workstation. Microsoft Dev Box is a new cloud service that includes apps and services designed for developers to quickly access a preconfigured developer workstation.

Microsoft Dev Box is built on top of the foundations of Windows 365, so it’s easy to spin up a new virtual machine and get working. That means Microsoft Dev Box will work on any modern browser, and the machines support any integrated development environment (IDE), software development kit (SDK), or tools that run on top of Windows.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft Dev Box integrates with Windows 365.

Microsoft is pitching...

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Microsoft starts testing new OneNote design overhaul

The new OneNote design. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft has started testing its new OneNote design refresh. The software maker first teased the visual update last year, revealing that it will unify its OneNote and OneNote for Windows 10 apps into a single OneNote app. Beta testers can now get access to some of the new OneNote design changes as part of the traditional desktop version of OneNote.

The design changes allow OneNote to slot in more seamlessly with the rest of the Windows 11 aesthetic. The navigation panes and full-screen mode are being updated, and the page list, section tabs, and notebook dropdown all look different, too. Microsoft is using its Mica effect, which is used in the Windows 11 theme and desktop wallpaper, for the general app window of OneNote.

...

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Microsoft will support third-party Windows 11 widgets later this year

Windows 11 widgets. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is planning to support third-party widgets inside Windows 11 later this year. At its annual Build developer conference today, the software giant says it will open up access to Windows 11 widgets to developers as companions to their win32 or PWA apps.

Currently, the Windows 11 widgets system is restricted to native widgets created by Microsoft, and the selection is rather limited. Microsoft has built widgets for its Outlook and To Do apps, but the rest are largely web-powered ones that present the weather, entertainment feeds, or news in the dedicated widgets panel for Windows 11.

Third-party widgets will need a companion Windows app

“We’re energized by the customer feedback on Widgets to date, people are enjoying the quick...

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Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED review: a dual-screen laptop that works

Finally, form and function in one

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Harley-Davidson’s Serial 1 announces a limited-edition electric mountain bike

Mike Calabro urbancamper.com

Serial 1, the e-bike company spun out of Harley-Davidson nearly two years ago, unveiled another premium model designed to make you open your wallet in helpless surrender. The Bash/Mtn is the company’s first electric mountain bike, and from the look of it, it can absolutely destroy an off-road trail.

A rigid, single-speed eMTB (electric mountain bike), the Bash/Mtn is designed for serious off-roading, while also promising to require less maintenance thanks to its simplified design. But it won’t be cheap, with a suggested retail price of $3,999.

“No fussy suspension to tune, no finicky drivetrain to adjust — just two wheels, one gear, and one purpose, to provide the most direct connection between you and the trail,” the company says.

“...

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