Starlink’s Dishy McFlatface internet now available for Boaty McBoatfaces — just $5,000 per month

Starlink Maritime now available. | Image: Starlink

Starlink’s internet-from-space service continues expanding to new use cases with the launch of Starlink Maritime. What started in the home before expanding to stationary RVs is now available for boats on the move, at a cost of $5,000 a month. SpaceX is targeting merchant vessels, oil rigs, and wealthy owners of superyachts with the service.

Starlink Maritime also requires a one-time $10,000 purchase of two ruggedized high performance Starlink dishes which ship in about two weeks, according to the US order page. By comparison, the hardware for Starlink’s Residential and RV services costs $599 and includes a single (smaller) “Dishy McFlatface” (as the dish is known to fans), with monthly subscriptions of $110 for the home service or $135...

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PlayStation Store removes purchased movies from libraries after service shutdown

Paddington is one of the hundreds of titles affected. | Screenshot: Paddington

Sony is removing access to hundreds of movies and TV shows on its PlayStation Store service next month, meaning users that previously paid for titles such as Paddington and The Hunger Games will no longer be able to watch them. The shutdown affects users in Germany and Austria, according to legal notices posted on the two regional sites, and covers films produced by StudioCanal.

The shutdown will come into force on August 31st, exactly one year after Sony discontinued movie and TV show purchases through its digital store. At the time Sony said that its customers will still be able to access previously purchased content. Notices posted on the PlayStation website blame “evolving license agreements with content providers” (via machine...

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NASA condemns Russian cosmonauts displaying anti-Ukraine propaganda in space

(L to R) Russian cosmonauts Sergey Korsakov, Oleg Artemyev, and Denis Matveev pose with the flag of the Luhansk People’s Republic | Image: Roscosmos Telegram

On Thursday, NASA issued a statement strongly condemning the actions of three Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station, who recently posed with flags considered anti-Ukraine propaganda. In pictures posted by Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos, the cosmonauts are seen holding flags of the Luhansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic — two Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.

“NASA strongly rebukes Russia using the International Space Station for political purposes to support its war against Ukraine, which is fundamentally inconsistent with the station’s primary function among the 15 international participating countries to advance science and develop technology for peaceful...

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The TikTok ‘blackout challenge’ has now allegedly killed seven kids

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

TikTok is facing multiple lawsuits from parents who say their children died of strangulation attempting the “blackout challenge,” after the app showed them videos of other people trying it. One suit filed against the company in June alleges that at least seven specific children died last year while attempting the challenge, which the complaint says “encourages users to choke themselves with belts, purse strings, or anything similar until passing out.” All the children who reportedly died were under 15 years old.

We’re not going to get into the distressing details of the cases, but you can read the full complaint below for more background on some of the children, and how they ended up doing the challenge.

The most recent lawsuit was...

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Red Dead Online won’t get ‘major’ updates as Rockstar shifts to the next mainline GTA game

Red Dead Online. | Image: Rockstar Games

Red Dead Online will no longer receive “major themed content updates” in part because Rockstar Games is pulling resources into the next Grand Theft Auto title, the studio said Thursday. Fans have wondered if Red Dead Online has been abandoned, and while the game isn’t being shut down, Rockstar won’t be making as much content for it moving forward.

“Over the past few years, we have been steadily moving more development resources towards the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series — understanding more than ever the need to exceed players’ expectations and for this next entry to be the best it can possibly be — and as a result, we are in the process of making some changes to how we support Red Dead Online,” Rockstar wrote in a blog post.

...

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GameStop is laying off staff and has fired its CFO

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

GameStop has been on a wild ride ever since it reached meme stock status, and the company has recently been dabbling in Web3 technologies like NFTs and crypto. More recently, it’s also been laying off employees without much explanation. On Thursday, GameStop internally announced an unspecified number of layoffs — reportedly including some from the popular publication Game Informer — and publicly revealed that it has fired its CFO with a terse press release.

GameStop CEO Matt Furlong announced the round of layoffs to staff in a memo obtained by CNBC and Kotaku. It’s completely unclear how many people are affected or in which divisions, though Furlong writes in the memo that “we’re making a number of reductions to help us keep things...

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Web3 projects have lost more than $2 billion to hacks this year

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

In the first six months of 2022, Web3 projects have lost more than $2 billion to hacks and exploits — more than all of 2021 combined.

That’s according to research from blockchain auditing and security company CertiK, which on Thursday released its quarterly Web3 security report covering Q2 of this year. The report paints a sobering picture of a cryptocurrency space still plagued by hacks, scams, and phishing schemes while also facing relatively new threats like flash loan attacks.

CertiK puts particular focus on this last category of threat, which has been created by the invention of flash loans: a decentralized finance mechanism that lets borrowers access extremely large amounts of cryptocurrency for very short periods of time. If used...

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It’s looking more like Elon Musk could bail on buying Twitter

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

The Washington Post reports that Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to buy Twitter is “in peril,” based on three anonymous sources who told the paper that the billionaire’s camp has “stopped engaging in certain discussions around funding” for the agreement. Musk isn’t going it alone in his attempt to buy Twitter, with others like Larry Ellison, the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, the crypto exchange Binance, and the state investment firm of Qatar among those pitching in a few billion as a part of the effort.

The idea that a “drastic” change of direction on the deal is close to happening is supposedly due to concerns that Twitter’s data regarding spam and bots on the platform is not verifiable. The report comes just hours...

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Snap hires the head of US Secret Service

Secret Service Director James Murray is retiring from his post for a new position as Snap’s chief security officer at the end of the month, Snap confirmed to The Verge on Thursday.

Murray’s private sector move was first reported by The Washington Poston Thursday, shortly after the longtime protective service official’s departure from government was announced by the Secret Service in a public statement. Murray will join Snap, Snapchat’s parent company, next month and will report directly to CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Jim Murray to Snap and look forward to him joining our team on August 1st,” Pete Boogaard, Snap spokesperson, said in a statement to The Verge.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Jim Murray to Snap”

I...

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Netflix is reportedly financing Johnny Depp’s next movie about France’s King Louis XV

Actor Johnny Depp appears in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia, on May 27, 2022. | Photo by Steve Helber / AFP / Getty Images

Netflix is reportedly co-producing and plans to stream Johnny Depp’s first film following the actor’s bitter defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard for describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse” in an op-ed.

Bloomberg reports that Netflix is footing some of the bill for French actress / director Maiwenn Le Besco’s La Favorite, a period film centering on France’s King Louis XV (Depp) and Madame Jeanne Bécu du Barry (Le Besco), the king’s third mistress whose association with him ultimately led to her being guillotined during the French Revolution. Though neither Netflix nor Why Not Productions, the French studio behind the project, have announced La Favorite, the film is apparently slated for a 2023...

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The best Sonos speaker and soundbar deals

The Sonos Roam launched last year is now available for just $139 when purchased in refurbished condition from Sonos. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Most would agree that Sonos offers some of the best speakers and soundbars currently on the market. That’s because Sonos makes speakers that — more often than not — boast great sound quality, support for all the major streaming platforms, and simple multi-room functionality. Unfortunately, however, all of those perks often come at a high price. Sonos products aren’t cheap, and, outside of the occasional rogue discount, they rarely go on sale. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to save at least a few dollars on Sonos gear.

If you’re comfortable buying refurbished, for example, you could save a decent amount. We also occasionally see sales on Sonos’ collaborative series with Ikea and discounted bundles that include Sonos...

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Here are the best iPad deals right now

Select iPad models go on sale quite regularly. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

While some of the best iPad deals typically occur around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you can still find plenty of great discounts at all times of the year if you know where to look. Whether you’re after the high-end iPad Pro or the most affordable entry-level iPad, there’s likely a sale going on somewhere you may be interested in. And, with Amazon Prime Day 2022 around the corner, there are sure to be some worthwhile iPad deals coming soon.

Of course, it’s difficult to know exactly where you can find the most notable deals unless you’re scouring the major retailers on a daily basis. But that’s often what our deal hunters at The Verge are doing each and every day, so let us help you out. Below, we’ve listed the best deals you can get...

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The clownfish are back

A snapshot of Apple’s homepage from January 27th, 2007 shows the iconic iPhone clownfish wallpaper. | Screenshot: Umar Shakir / The Verge via Wayback Machine

After 15 years of the iPhone’s existence, the clownfish wallpaper from Apple’s infamous 2007 presentation is finally making its way to the devices — at least for some developers running the latest iOS 16 build. Twitter user Jack Roberts shed light on the wallpaper, sharing a screen capture of the Clownfish option under the Collections section in iOS 16 Beta 3. The tweet then gained large attention after it was retweeted by Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman.

The magical photo of a baby and adult clownfish living in a green anemone is the first image ever presented during Steve Jobs’ reveal of the original iPhone and its glorious-at-the-time 3.5-inch display, but oddly, Apple never shipped it as a built-in wallpaper image. The full version of...

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Two new fatal Tesla crashes are being examined by US investigators

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Two fatal Tesla crashes are being examined by investigators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Reuters reported that NHTSA opened a special investigation into a recent fatal crash in California, in which a Tesla driver killed a pedestrian. And an agency spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that a crash that took place on July 6th in Florida is also under examination.

The crash in Florida took place on Interstate 75, just south of Gainesville, where a Tesla vehicle smashed into the rear of a stationary tractor-trailer that was parked at a truck stop. Two people inside the Tesla, the driver and a passenger, were killed, according to Fox 35. A spokesperson for NHTSA said the agency was aware of the crash and was...

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Bungie is charging $284 just to ship your $185 Nerf Gjallarhorn to Canada

Photo: Bungie

Did you save up a couple hundred bucks for the foam-firing Nerf version of Destiny’s legendary Gjallarhorn rocket launcher that went on preorder today? Hope you don’t live in Canada — because buyers are reporting they’re being asked for more than twice the price just to get it shipped to their door. The company says it’s working on a solution.

Hey @BungieStore - How does shipping the Nerf Gjallarhorn to Canada cost $100 more than the gun itself? pic.twitter.com/KJkIEcdvcu

— Boots (@Boots_Of_Chaos) July 7, 2022

@Bungie @A_dmg04
so as a canadian this costs me $600. seems a little extreme pic.twitter.com/TpjbyDIOaw

— GizmoOG (@GizmoTheOG13) July 7, 2022

When Destiny’s Canadian fans lined up for the $185 USD Nerf Gjallarhorn today,...

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Twitter insists it has bots handled, claims it blocks 1 million spammers every day

Illustration by Michele Doying / The Verge

Twitter told reporters on Thursday that it kicks over 1 million spam accounts off of its platform a day, according to a report from Reuters. That’s double the number CEO Parag Agrawal stated in a May Twitter thread, though the company maintains its long-held position that bots make up less than 5 percent of its active user base. The number of spam accounts and how Twitter deals with them has become a sticking point in recent months, as Elon Musk threatened to back away from his buyout of the company citing concerns the company is downplaying the scale of the problem.

In May, Agrawal tweeted about spam to discuss the situation “with the benefit of data, facts, and context.” In the thread, he said the platform suspends “over half a million...

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Waymo autonomous vehicle attacked by an ‘erratic’ pedestrian in Arizona

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

An “erratic” pedestrian attacked a Waymo autonomous vehicle late Tuesday evening in Tempe, Arizona, smashing the windshield and injuring the safety driver, the company said. It was the latest incident of people in Arizona attacking Waymo vehicles — and occasionally their safety drivers — as the company ramps up its commercial service in the state.

According to the company, a Waymo vehicle was traveling down the street in autonomous mode at 3AM on July 5th when a pedestrian ran out in front of it. The safety driver saw the pedestrian and switched the vehicle into manual mode, bringing it to a full stop before the person leaped onto the hood. The person, whom Waymo spokesperson Nick Smith described as “erratic” then punctured the...

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The best smartphone you can buy for under $500

You can get a great smartphone at this price, whether you want an iPhone, a 90Hz screen, or 5G support

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Sunny Balwani found guilty of defrauding Theranos investors and patients

Sunny Balwani, former Theranos president.

Ramesh Balwani, the former business partner and romantic interest of Elizabeth Holmes, defrauded investors and patients of the blood testing company Theranos, a jury found today.

Balwani, who goes by Sunny, faced 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was found guilty of all counts.

Holmes was convicted of four counts of fraud against investors in January after a months-long trial. She was found not guilty on charges of defrauding patients.

Balwani joined Theranos in 2009. He’d initially met Holmes when she was 18, and they began dating after she’d already started the company. They kept the relationship a secret, and split as the company collapsed.

Theranos promised to upend the medical testing...

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Charlie Cox’s Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin will appear in Disney Plus’ Echo series

Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk in Marvel’s Daredevil. | Disney Plus

The unexpected return of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin in Hawkeyeand Charlie Cox’s Daredevil in Spider-Man: No Way Homewere both highlights in their respective stories that made clear Marvel’s plan to work those characters back into the MCU post-Netflix. While a new Daredevil series is in the works, it turns out that Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk will actually be making their next appearance in Disney Plus’ upcoming Echo show.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, both Cox and D’Onofrio have signed on to reprise their roles as crime-fighting lawyer Matt Murdock / Daredevil and brutal crime lord Wilson Fisk / Kingpin for Echo, the Hawkeye spinoff centering Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox). Hawkeye’s final few episodes gradually revealed that in...

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Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones is real, and it’s coming on November 8th

Ubisoft

After suffering in development hell for the last few years, Skull and Bones — Ubisoft’s live-service pirate game — is finally seeing the light of day. The developer showed off new footage of the game as a part of its Ubisoft Forward event highlighting all the timbers you’ll get to shiver and buckles you’ll get to swash.

_Skull and Bone_s takes place in the waters of the Indian Ocean during what was known as the “golden age of piracy.” Players start off marooned on an island and must work to build their reputation — known as infamy — in order to become the most feared pirate on the high seas. Infamy seems to be at the core of the game. Players can engage in all kinds of activities from looting, hunting other pirates, and treasure hunting to...

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Asus’ leaked Zenfone 9 video shows fun gimmicks like a scroll key and shoulder mount

Gif: SnoopyTech

Asus accidentally leaked a promo video for its apparently upcoming Zenfone 9 on its YouTube channel, and the phone’s got some very interesting quirks and features, to borrow a phrase (via XDA, TechGoing). Perhaps the most interesting (at least for the people who could take or leave a headphone jack) is what Asus has done with the side-mounted fingerprint sensor, which the video labels as the “smart key”: it shows a creepy CGI hand swiping through a webpage by sliding its finger along the side of the phone.

It’s not exactly unusual to have some sort of gesture built into the fingerprint reader — phones like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip / Fold 3 let you bring down the notification shade with a similar swipe. (And those phones are far from the...

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Mining the deep sea for battery materials will be dangerously noisy, study finds

A slideshow of texts are projected onto the side of the Hidden Gem during a demonstration against deep-sea mining. | Photo by Charles M. Vella/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The race is on to figure out how to protect the ocean abyss as deep-sea mining operations look to extract minerals like nickel, cobalt, and copper from the sea floor. But there’s one potential risk to the deep-sea environment that tends to fall under the radar. Not only will mining dredge up the seafloor, but it’ll also create a lot of noise that poses its own problems for marine life, according to a newly published paper in the journal Science.

People have talked about mining the deep sea for minerals for decades, and that future is almost here. Driven by a need for more of the minerals used in everyday gadgets and batteries, the first efforts to raid polymetallic nodules at the bottom of the ocean for these resources could begin in...

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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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Lewis Black sues Pandora for $10 million over copyright infringement

Comedian Lewis Black is the latest comedian to sue streamer Pandora over publishing rights. | Photo by Paula Lobo/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Comedian Lewis Black filed suit against SiriusXM-owned audio streamer Pandora on Thursday, arguing that the company ran recordings of his performances without obtaining the copyright to his written work.

It is the latest escalation in the messy fight between comedians, streamers, and the performing rights organizations that have recently stepped in to standardize spoken-word copyright in the digital age. This suit, along with the several others filed against Pandora, seeks back pay for millions of dollars worth of publishing royalties and to fundamentally change the way copyright for comedy functions. If the comedians win, it could have major ramifications for Pandora, Spotify, and other audio streamers.

Publishing rights for...

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Tesla will open up Superchargers to non-Tesla electric vehicles in the US later this year

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales

Tesla plans to open up its Supercharger network to non-Tesla electric vehicles in the US in late 2022, according to a White House memo.

The company has been allowing non-Tesla EVs to use its Supercharger plugs in several cities in Europe as part of a limited pilot program but has been quiet about when US charging stations would be available to non-Tesla EV owners. A “fact sheet” published by the White House on June 28th and noticed by InsideEVsindicates that those EV owners may be able to use Superchargers as soon as the end of this year.

“Later this year, Tesla will begin production of new Supercharger equipment that will enable non-Tesla EV drivers in North America to use Tesla Superchargers,” the White House states.

“Tesla will...

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Nerf’s Gjallarhorn rocket launcher from Destiny is truly gigantic — preorders are now open

Image: Bungie

If you were worried that the real-life foam firing version of the infamous Gjallarhorn rocket launcher from Destiny would be disappointingly kid-sized, you can put those fears to rest: Bungie has just revealed what an actual blaster looks like — and when fans can get it.

Preorders for the over 4-foot-long, 1:1 scale blaster began July 7th at 10AM PT / 1PM ET, and existing Gjallarhorn owners get dibs. If you’re looking to purchase the prop-grade Nerf LMTD blaster first, you needed to unlock it in-game in the Destiny 2 Bungie 30th Anniversary Pack before July 7th at 9AM PT before you can join the “virtual waiting room” for your purchase. So at the time we originally wrote this post, you had just over a week....

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Dish says SpaceX ‘manipulated’ tests and lied to customers about 5G interference

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Dish says SpaceX has been lying to customers about how a plan to expand the use of certain airwaves for 5G could disrupt its Starlink internet-from-space service. SpaceX sent a “manipulated filing” to the Federal Communications Commission in an attempt to prove the expanded 5G usage would lead to substantial interference, writes Dish and a group of other companies known as the 5G for 12 GHz Coalition. They write that SpaceX is conducting “a public misinformation campaign” against 5G.

“This tactic, which is commonly used by Elon Musk, is not only disingenuous, but it promulgates an anti-5G narrative that is harmful to American consumers who deserve greater competition, connectivity options and innovation,” the Coalition writes in a...

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These Philips Hue deals on outdoor lighting might brighten your day

Philips is discounting bundles of its outdoor lighting tech until July 17th. | Image: Philips

Even with Amazon Prime Day 2022 right around the corner, kicking off on Tuesday, July 12th, there are lots of early Prime Day deals to check out, in and out of Amazon. One of the standouts is on Philips Hue smart lights. There’s a promotion that’ll knock 15 percent off your total when you buy two or more outdoor lights. This includes outdoor lighting strips, accent lighting, as well as other Hue essentials you may want, like the Hue outdoor sensor and Hue Bridge, the latter of which lets you easily control and coordinate your smart lights through an app. This promotion will go lights out after July 17th.

If you’ve been itching to invest in a new wearable to get fit and keep closer track of your notifications, Wellbots is offering Verge...

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Instacart’s rewards program for shoppers includes priority choice of orders before stores open

Delivery service Instacart is rolling out a new Uber Pro-like incentive program for its shoppers called Cart Star. Cart Star’s tiered incentives are available in three categories: gold (for 200 points); platinum (for 1,000 points); and diamond (for 2,000 points). Shoppers earn points based on the number of orders they complete in the preceding three-month span. To maintain their place in the program, shoppers must keep an average customer rating of 4.7.

The company’s highest diamond tier offers more exclusive benefits. Diamond shoppers will be able to have first access to delivery batches before stores open. They will also have access to two days of caregiving for a child, senior, or pet per quarter for the cost of $1 per hour or $10...

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