iFixit’s Steam Deck fan and battery replacement kits are finally in stock

Some fans are a little louder than others. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

The last time iFixit tried to offer replacement kits for the fans on Valve’s Steam Deck, they sold out so quickly most people didn’t even get a chance to stick a kit in a cart. In June, iFixit had a fan fix kit “drop” limited to just 100 kits. Now they’re back, and they seem like they’re sticking around. Even better, iFixit finally has a solution for replacing your Steam Deck battery.

The Steam Deck is a tinkerer’s dream device. A powerful PC in a tiny design that you can crack open relatively easily when you want to swap out parts. Two days after my Steam Deck arrived, I was replacing the offensively slow 64GB eMMC drive with a 512GB SSD I picked up on eBay.

But I’m also the kind of nerd that has a kit hanging around just to open up...

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Jupiter photos from NASA’s new space telescope are teaser of Solar System images to come

You can see Jupiter, its Great Red Spot, its moon Europa, and Europa’s shadow next to the Great Red Spot | Image: NASA

After dazzling the world with the first images from the powerful James Webb Space Telescope this week, NASA released even more photos from the observatory yesterday, this time pictures from within our own Solar System. The space agency revealed the telescope’s images of the planet Jupiter, as well as an asteroid, used as reference targets when engineering teams were calibrating the observatory’s instruments.

The pictures serve as a small teaser of the images we should be getting from our Solar System in the months and years to come. The James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, may be known for its ability to peer into some of the deepest recesses of the Universe, but scientists will also be using the telescope to study our own cosmic...

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NASA just launched a powerful new instrument to study dust

A dust plume over the eastern Mediterranean, shrouding parts of Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus. The June 2020 image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. NASA’s EMIT mission will help scientists better understand how airborne dust affects climate. | Image: NASA

A payload making its way to the International Space Station could help researchers back on Earth finally solve a climate mystery that’s stymied scientists for years. NASA launched a key instrument for its climate research, called the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft Thursday night from the Kennedy Space Center.

Dust is a surprisingly powerful force up in the atmosphere, which is why NASA is determined to better understand it. The tiny particles waft up from deserts and other arid regions, and depending on many different factors, they can have a cooling or heating effect on our planet. Which scenario is actually playing out across the globe, however, continues to elude scientists.

...

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Apple Music subscribers will get exclusive live performances in spatial audio

Carrie Underwood’s Apple Music Sessions performance is available now. | Image: Apple

This morning Apple announced Apple Music Sessions, a series of live performances that will be available exclusively to subscribers of the company’s music service. Carrie Underwood and Tenille Townes are the first two artists to be featured, and for now, the sessions will mostly be geared toward country.

That’s likely because they’re being recorded from Nashville, Tennessee, in what Apple describes as a “state-of-the-art” studio. The company plans to tap into other genres (and other recording studios around the world) “in the future,” according to today’s press release.

For each session, artists will perform original songs as well as “creative” covers. Carrie Underwood went with Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” with Townes...

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New ‘988’ mental health crisis hotline launches Saturday

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Starting Saturday, people in a mental health crisis will be able to call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline). It’ll connect people with mental health counselors 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Lifeline is a network of over 200 local call centers. If local centers are busy, callers are redirected to a national backup center.

Officials have billed the new number as the “911” for suicide prevention and mental healthcare. It replaces the old National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number — 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). One goal is to reduce the number of mental health crisis calls that go to 911, which often sends people to busy emergency rooms or puts them in...

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The powerful 16-inch MacBook Pro is at an all-time low

The 16-inch MacBook Pro is $2,249. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

If you need something more powerful than the new M2-powered MacBook Air, last year’s 16-inch MacBook Pro is available on Amazon right now for its lowest price to date. Regularly $2,499.00, Amazon is selling the M1-powered model with a 10‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB SSD for $2,249 — a price Best Buy is currently matching. We were very impressed with the 16-inch machine, which offers a Mini LED display that the new MacBook Air lacks and fantastic performance that makes it the most powerful laptop we’ve ever tested for content creation and creative work. The laptop also boasts some of the longest battery life we’ve seen. Plus, the port selection is terrific; whereas the MacBook Air only allows for one external display, you...

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Amazon is giving out invites to buy the Xbox Series X at a discounted price (Update: no longer available)

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Update July 15th, 10:55AM ET: Looks like Amazon has pulled the invite requests at this time. Hopefully this is a sign of more console deal opportunities to come, especially as the Xbox Series X continues being more readily available.

The console restock scene has been slowly improving over the course of a few months, with the Xbox Series S on sale just about anywhere, the Xbox Series X available without nearly as much trouble as in the past, and even the PlayStation 5 getting more reliable restock windows. What’s still rare on those last two are any discounts or savings. But right now, if you act quickly, you may be able to get a deal on the Xbox Series X from Amazon.

During its Prime Day hangover, the e-commerce giant is allowing you...

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Russia ousts boisterous space chief Dmitry Rogozin

Photo by Pavel Pavlov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Dmitry Rogozin, the blustering head of Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, is out of the position following a big shake-up in the Russian government. He is being replaced by Yury Borisov, Russian deputy prime minister of space and defense, bringing an end to Rogozin’s dynamic reign as general director of the country’s space program.

Rogozin has been in charge of Roscosmos since his appointment as director general in 2018, though prior to that, he was deputy prime minister since 2011, overseeing space and defense. He’s been a controversial figure for most of that tenure, resulting in strained relations with NASA — Russia’s largest partner in space. Rogozin was sanctioned by the United States in 2014 and barred from entering the...

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Vergecast: MacBook Air M2 review, Elon vs. Twitter, and Apple beta season

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, editor-at-large David Pierce, and managing editor Alex Cranz discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.

On today’s episode, Nilay, David, and Alex chat with Verge reviews editor Dan Seifert about our review of Apple’s newly designed MacBook Air with the M2 processor. We’ve always considered the MacBook Air the best Apple laptop for most users — is that still true?

Of course, we couldn’t let the week slip by without wading into the latest news in the “Elon Musk buys Twitter” saga. Verge senior reporter Liz Lopatto returns to break it all down and explain what options will be left...

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An experimental horror ARG is testing the boundaries of AI art

Image: Rob Sheridan

Horror is in the AI of the beholder

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Ventje VW campervan review: ‘work from home’ from anywhere

A home office in disguise

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Lego is releasing an incredible set based on The Office

Yup, that’s Dwight’s stapler in jello. | Image: Lego

It will be available for preorder on Friday for $119.99

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Watch the latest trailer for Suzume from the director behind Your Name

Suzume, the next film from director Makoto Shinkai, is only a few months away from theatrical release — and now we finally have a better idea of what to expect from the mysterious project. The movie’s latest trailer has all the bittersweet vibes you’d expect from the director of Your Name and Weathering With You, along with some offbeat additions like an adorable cat with its own Twitter feed and a sentient chair that loves to run. The trailer also introduces Nanoka Hara in the title role, as well as the film’s main theme song. (If you don’t speak Japanese, you can turn on closed captions in the trailer above to see the lyrics.)

If you’re curious about what the actual story is, here’s the basic description:

17-year-old Suzume’s journey...

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How to edit or unsend an iMessage in iOS 16

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

We’ve all done it: sent a text message and then instantly regretted it. Whether it was a text to your parent with a spelling error that they’d never let you live down, a message with a wrong word in it (“I don’t want to come to the party!” instead of “I want to come to the party!”), or a sudden realization that you just sent your message to the wrong person — it can be at the least embarrassing and at the worst disastrous.

While messaging apps like Signal, WhatsApp, and Viber all have some version of “delete for everyone,” until now, there was nothing you could do about it on iMessage except to follow it up with an “I didn’t mean that!” message.

In iOS 16, Apple introduces a feature to its iMessage chat app that allows you to edit or...

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How to make the most of your iPhone’s accessibility features

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Dive down into the menus to tune your iPhone to work for you

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Twitter aims its most powerful weapon at Elon Musk: his own tweets

The face of a man who has decided he won’t defeat the spambots or die trying | Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

So it was a troll after all.

Look, I was willing to believe I’d called it wrong after the merger agreement went through. Maybe Elon Musk was serious for a change! Maybe he really did want to own an also-ran social network! Maybe Musk was really looking forward to giving himself ulcers dealing with content moderation issues! People have done weirder shit for power, and I think we can all agree that Elon Musk is deeply interested in power. Why else would he be busy testing how well Americans enforce their laws?

A quick recap: Musk is attempting to do a runner on the Twitter acquisition, and Twitter isn’t having it. Twitter lawyered up in the rudest possible fashion: with the firm that came up with the poison pill. That firm then filed a...

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Tech journalism’s accessibility problem

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The problem is clear, but the solutions are complicated

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Microsoft could be readying Windows 12 for 2024 in a major shakeup

Microsoft is changing how it releases major versions of Windows again, and it could mean we see a Windows 12 release in 2024. Windows Central reports that Microsoft is shifting back to a three-year release cycle for Windows, which means the next major version of Windows is now due in 2024. It’s another big change to how Microsoft develops Windows.

Microsoft originally moved away from its three-year cycle with the release of Windows 10 in 2015, prioritizing the idea of Windows as a service. Instead of a big release of features every three years in a new Windows release, Windows 10 was updated twice a year with big new features. For years, many Windows watchers thought Windows 10 would be the last big bang release of Windows, after a...

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Intel plans to raise CPU prices this year

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Intel is getting ready to increase the prices of its CPUs and chips. Nikkei reports that the chip maker will raise prices on its flagship CPUs and a wide range of other chips later this year, including Wi-Fi and other connectivity chips. Intel has already informed its customers of the price increases, and it will likely lead to more PC and laptop price increases during the holiday period.

Nikkei reports that pricing hasn’t been finalized, but some chips could go up by 20 percent. Intel already warned earlier this year that it was looking at price increases for certain chips, due to ongoing inflation and the rising costs of materials, shipping, and labor. “On its Q1 earnings call, Intel indicated it would increase pricing in certain...

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Nothing Phone 1 review: something else

A good midrange phone underneath a whole lot of hype

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Dbrand trolls Nothing with Something... decals

This iPhone looks a whole lot like Nothing using Dbrand’s Something skin. | Image: Dbrand

After months of teasing and overhyping, the Nothing Phone 1 is finally here. We got our hands on the device this week and determined it’s mostly just a regular smartphone with a cool translucent rear — so wouldn’t it be cool if you could have that look on the phone you already own?

That’s what device outfitter company Dbrand set out to do, and it wound up making… Something. It’s a collection of skins and cases that match the geometric white and gray style of the Nothing Phone 1’s visible internals, but you’re able to pair them with select iPhones, Pixels, and other devices.

Image: Dbrand

The iPhone 13 Pro Max and Pixel 6 Pro show off their insides like it’s Nothing.

Dbrand CEO Adam Ijaz said that the Nothing...

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Watch this impressive AR demo ‘reset’ a room using latest Apple tech

Gone with a simple swipe. | Image: Russ Maschmeyer

What if you could use the augmented reality features of a LiDAR-equipped iPhone to see how a room might look with all its furniture removed? That’s the idea behind a new AR prototype shown off by Shopify’s Russ Maschmeyer on Twitter. The demo, which he refers to as a “reset button” for a room, puts Ikea’s virtual design tool to shame. But it’s just an internal experiment for now that offers an interesting peek at the kinds of experiences that could be possible with Apple’s latest AR APIs.

In a video, Maschmeyer shows how the prototype is able to seamlessly erase a room’s contents, allowing the iPhone to be used to peer around the empty space in AR. In subsequent tweets, Maschmeyer explains how the technology might one day be useful for...

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Today I learned Amazon has a form so police can get my data without permission or a warrant

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Here is something I didn’t know when I purchased Amazon Ring cameras and Amazon Echo Dots: there is a webpage where law enforcement can fill out a form, say there’s a life-threatening emergency, and get access to your data without your consent, a court order, or any kind of warrant. There’s nothing in the Terms of Service about this, and the company has maintained for years that it helps police get consent first, but it’s happening anyhow.

Over the past seven months alone, Amazon has provided private Ring videos to law enforcement 11 times, the company told Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) in a letter dated July 1st and provided to press this week.

Here are Markey’s questions and Amazon’s answers about that specifically:

(Markey...

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It’s ChromeOS now, not Chrome OS

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Chrome OS, Google’s Linux-based operating system for its Chromebook devices, has been around for more than a decade, but the company has made a small but notable branding change: it’s now called ChromeOS, with no space in between. James Croom, Google’s senior director of marketing for ChromeOS, confirmed the change to The Verge.

You can see the change for yourself all over Google’s ChromeOS dev page (though the official logo at the top appears to have a lowercase c.)

Screenshot from Google’s ChromeOS dev page

That’s three entire spaces saved just in this screenshot. (And four if you count the logo.)

The change hasn’t rolled out everywhere just yet. On this ChromeOS page on Google’s Chromebook site, for example,...

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Hyundai imagines a grim future where metaverse ‘artists’ live in their cars

Image: Hyundai, Screenshot: Umar Shakir / The Verge

New car events are usually pretty cringe, full of pointless pyrotechnics, emotionless futurescapes, shameless pandering to “the youth,” or hapless CEO antics. (Remember Elon Musk’s Cybertruck window smash fail? Simpler times.) So it is with some degree of hesitation that I must point you to this video from Hyundai as the latest exhibit in this ongoing series of “car companies present depressing visions of the future.”

The video, which was released yesterday, was intended to reveal the sleek-looking Ioniq 6, Hyundai’s latest electric vehicle with a 77.4kWh battery and 379 miles of range. Instead we got a smorgasbord of buzzwords — “trashion,” metaverse, NFTs — ideally aimed at appealing to a youthful demographic, but going about it in the...

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Wordle is being turned into a multiplayer board game

Play Wordle with your friends in this new board game. | Image: The New York Times and Hasbro

The hit online puzzle Wordle is being turned into a multiplayer board game. The New York Times, which purchased Wordle earlier this year, is partnering with Hasbro to bring Wordle from the digital world to the physical one as Wordle: The Party Game later this year.

Wordle rose to prominence in large part because, at least for a little while, it seemed like literally everyone was sharing their results on Twitter. But actually solving a Wordle puzzle is generally a solitary endeavor. In Wordle: The Party Game, though, Wordle becomes a group activity.

One player thinks of a five-letter word that other players have to try and guess first. Once people have made their guesses, the word-thinker will slide translucent yellow and green tiles over...

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Giant NFT marketplace OpenSea lays off about 20 percent of its staff

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer revealed this afternoon that the NFT marketplace is laying off about 20 percent of its employees. Finzer did not indicate how many people that represented. A Forbes article in January celebrating Finzer and his co-founder Alex Atallah’s $2.2 billion net worth (each) said the company employed more than 70 people, but an OpenSea spokesperson tells The Verge that 230 people will remain with the company.

When we profiled OpenSea in February, the company had just received an additional $300 million in funding with a valuation of $13.3 billion and was the dominant player in selling the tokens, earning a 2.5 percent commission on trades.

Still, a sustained drop in activity and prices has led to headlines...

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This is an unlisted tweet

Photo by Michele Doying / The Verge

Twitter’s experiment in letting two people tweet together has a weird loophole. It’s now possible to accidentally make an unlisted tweet. It’s not private, but you can only see it if someone sends you a link. Or embeds it in a website.

Here is my unlisted tweet:

This is an unlisted tweet.

Try to find it in my timeline.
Try to search for it.

— Sean Hollister (@StarFire2258) July 14, 2022

These tweets do not appear in your timeline, and they do not appear if you search for them — and yet, they exist. People can even reply to them. And, if they do, those replies will appear in a Twitter search, and people can find the original tweet in a roundabout way.

If a tweet falls in a forest...

Here’s the trick, assuming you have access to...

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Facebook’s new test allows people to have up to five profiles

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Facebook will allow some users to have multiple profiles as part of a test, the company announced today, signaling a major shift as Meta looks for new ways to encourage users to stay on the platform amid increased competition from rivals.

As part of the test, some Facebook users will have the ability to create up to four additional profiles tied to their original account. The idea is that additional profiles can be used for different purposes, like one for friends, one for co-workers, and others for interacting with interest groups and influencers. Users will still have one account but be able to switch between profiles with a few clicks.

Users who create extra profiles won’t need to use their real identity for their display name

P...

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Nissan Leaf, EV pioneer and sales dud, is reportedly on the chopping block

Image: Nissan

The Nissan Leaf, a pioneer electric vehicle and one of the cheapest EVs currently on the market, is nearing the end of its life span. According to a report in Automotive News, Nissan does not plan on introducing a next-generation version of the Leaf and may even discontinue the nameplate altogether.

Production of the current version of the Leaf is set to wind down by mid-decade, the outlet reports, citing three anonymous sources. In the report, a spokesperson for Nissan declined to speculate on the Leaf’s future but did say that the company has noted a “renewed” interest in the Leaf amid high demand for EVs. (A spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

Production of the current version of the Leaf is set to wind down by...

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