Snapchat brings chatting and video calling to the web

Image: Snap

Snapchat features like snapping, chatting, and video calling are coming to desktop through a new web app, marking the first time the company has made its service available beyond smartphones.

With Snapchat for Web, you can log in with your Snapchat account and send private messages or call friends on desktop. Initially, the web platform will be available exclusively to Snapchat Plus subscribers, and it’s the first major feature launch since Snap announced its paid tier in June. Subscribers in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand will get access first. Snapchat will only be compatible with Google’s Chrome browser and not Apple’s Safari.

Though Snapchat was created as a visual-first messaging app, its head of messaging product,...

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Samsung’s latest foldables will reportedly launch on August 10th

The apparent leaked imagery. | Image: @evleaks

Samsung will reportedly hold its next major “Unpacked” launch event on August 10th, according to a promotional image leaked by Evan Blass. The picture shows the date, alongside what appears to be a blurred image of the unannounced Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 foldable, leaked earlier this month by Blass and 91Mobiles.

The Galaxy Z Flip 4 foldable is expected to be one of a handful of devices being launched at the event. Also rumored is a new Galaxy Fold device called the Galaxy Fold 4, renders for which leaked in May. Between it and the Galaxy Flip 4, it doesn’t look as though Samsung’s foldable lineup is set to receive any major design overhauls this year.

**THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN EDITED TO OBFUSCATE CERTAIN DETAIL**

See what I did there? p...

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Watch the trailer for a new HBO show from the Weeknd and the creator of Euphoria

Lily-Rose Depp and the Weeknd in The Idol. | Image: HBO

HBO has released the first teaser trailer for The Idol, a new show co-created by Sam Levinson, creator and primary director of Euphoria, as well as Abel Tesfaye, better known by his stage name The Weeknd. The Idol stars Tesfaye as a Los Angeles club owner and modern-day cult leader as he embarks upon a “complicated relationship” with a rising pop idol played by Lily-Rose Depp.

As you’d expect from a show that shares its creator with Euphoria, The Idol’s trailer is a debauched affair that promises the series will tell “the sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood.” Levinson is directing each of the show’s six episodes after director Amy Seimetz stepped away from the project in April, Deadline reported at the time. News of the change in...

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Hyundai N’s ‘rolling labs’ imagine performance EVs that aren’t so boring

Image: Hyundai

Hyundai’s attempting to keep car culture alive with its two performance-focused electric vehicle (EV) concepts it calls “rolling labs.” The RN22e features a modified Ioniq 6 body, and the N Vision 74 is modeled after the never-released 1974 Pony Coupe concept — but both feature a refreshing sporty design that doesn’t look like some sort of futuristic pod (or, well... this thing).

The two concepts come from Hyundai’s “N” sub-brand, which focuses on high-performance vehicles. The N Vision 74 is the most striking of the two, and features a design that draws elements from the 2025 Hyundai N Vision Gran Turismo and the 1974 Pony Coupe concept that was originally designed by the iconic Giorgetto Giugiaro — the same man who went on to make the...

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Chris Evans still misses his iPhone 6S and its home button

Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen in The Gray Man | Image: Paul Abell/Netflix

Fans of buttons can count on Captain America for support, as Chris Evans notes that even after a few weeks with a newer phone, he still prefers his old iPhone 6S and its button. The topic came up in an interview with Collider(via iMore)while doing a press tour for Netflix’s $200 million+, Russo brothers-directed spy flick The Gray Man, which he stars in along with Ryan Gosling_._

Evans is far from the only person still stuck on the missing button (he and Donald Trump agree on at least one thing), which Apple swapped for a solid circle with taptic engine feedback on the iPhone 7, and eventually dropped entirely from the iPhone X onward. Evans’ other big complaint is that it’s just too heavy. Like many people who struggle with bulkier...

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Elon Musk says we should see Steam running on Teslas soon

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Tesla’s apparently looking to expand its collection of in-car games... by adding Steam. In a reply to a tweet, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company’s “making progress with Steam integration” and that we can expect a demo “probably next month.”

Tesla already offers a number of games through the built-in Tesla Arcade, like Cuphead and Sonic the Hedgehog 1, but adding Steam’s digital storefront could give users access to a whole lot more. We still don’t know if the integration will go so far as to allow users to make purchases on Steam while sitting in their cars, or if there will be any games Teslas can’t support.

We’re making progress with Steam integration. Demo probably next month.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2022

Musk still...

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Lawmakers push FTC to clean up the VPN industry

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Last week, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote a letter urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address deceptive practices in the Virtual Private Network (VPN) industry. Eshoo and Wyden’s letter comes as people look to hide their digital footprint following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

A VPN allows a user to establish an encrypted connection between their device and a private server, making it harder for third parties to access their online activity. With abortion becoming illegal or restricted in several states, more people are looking to conceal their messages and search history, as police can use this information to prosecute someone seeking the procedure.

In their letter,...

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Google’s now solely relying on developers to provide accurate app data collection information

Image: Google

Earlier this year, the Google Play Store launched a new data privacy section that relies on developers to disclose the information their apps collect. But as pointed out by Esper senior editor Mishaal Rahman (via Ars Technica), this may mean that Google will no longer display a verified list of permissions it automatically gathers from each app, giving developers full control over what they choose (or don’t choose) to disclose to users.

When Google first announced the new data privacy section last year, the company made it clear that its system would rely on information provided by developers. On a support page, Google states that developers have until July 20th to fill out a data privacy form for their apps, noting developers “alone”...

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Arlo Go 2 or Eufy 4G Starlight: which is the best cellular security camera?

We put these two self-sufficient smart home security cameras to the test

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Today I learned Amazon will recycle small electronics for free

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

If you have a flip phone that you haven’t used in over a decade, or maybe even a broken tablet, Amazon will pay for a shipping label that you can use to send it in to get recycled. Apparently, this recycling program has been a thing for a while now, but several of us at The Verge never even knew about it until we saw this tweet from journalist Dave Zatz, and thought it might be a good idea to spread the word.

Amazon’s recycling program lets you ship your small electronics for free from any UPS dropoff point (you just have to provide the packaging). Amazon then transfers the devices it receives to a licensed recycling facility, and notes that it will remove or destroy any “identifying marks or personal information” during the process....

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Intel is setting expectations low for its Arc GPUs

Image: Intel

Intel’s tempering expectations for its upcoming Arc A750 Limited Edition GPU. In a new video that’s just three minutes long, the chipmaker gives us the briefest of glimpses at the card’s pretty average on-paper performance.

Before we dive in, it’s important to note that the A750 is supposed to be one of Intel’s top-of-the-line GPUs, as indicated by the “7” at the front of its name. Intel’s naming conventions have the Arc 5 and Arc 3 sitting below the Arc 7, which are supposed to offer midrange and entry-level performance, respectively.

During the video, Intel’s Ryan Shrout boots up Cyberpunk 2077 on a PC with the A750 chip installed, and instead of giving us a long look at gameplay, Shrout skips straight to performance. With the game set...

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Beyerdynamic Free Byrd earbuds review: soaring sound and long battery life

For a first effort, there’s a lot to like about Beyerdynamic’s $250 buds

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TikTok’s security chief steps down as company moves US data to Oracle servers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

TikTok’s global chief security officer (CSO), Roland Cloutier, is stepping down as the company transitions to using Oracle’s US-based servers to store Americans’ data (via The Wall Street Journal). The company shared an internal memo about the shift in a post on its newsroom, which states Cloutier will assume an advisory role, with TikTok’s head of security risk, vendor, and client assurance, Kim Albarella, taking over temporarily.

“With our recent announcement about data management changes in the US, it’s time for me to transition from my role as Global Chief Security Officer into a strategic advisory role focusing on the business impact of security and trust programs, working directly with Shou, Dingkun and other senior leaders,”...

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Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid review: too much bling, not enough zing

Hybrid analog watches aren’t meant to do everything

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Evo’s general manager is making an event that he would want to go to

Image: Evo

Evo, the shorthand name for the prestigious Evolution Championship Series fighting game tournament, will be an in-person event again for the first time since 2019. Evo was just one of many events that had to do things differently because of COVID-19, and even though the upcoming Evo will be at a convention center once again, general manager Rick Thiher tells The Verge that things are just different now.

“The market is not the same as it was when we went on hiatus in respect to COVID,” Thiher said. “Having COVID not really fully passed at this time, that hiatus has created new concerns, new needs, and has really restructured expectations both for the workforce and even the endemic tournament organizers that we work with to help put Evo...

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JBL’s waterproof Flip 5 speaker is cheaper today than during Prime Day

The waterproof speaker is small enough to throw in a beach bag. | Image: JBL

It’s been a busy week here at The Verge, with the recent reviews of the new M2 MacBook Air and Nothing Phone 1 as well as non-stop coverage of Amazon Prime Day. I’m sure all of us are ready for a relaxing weekend to rest and recoup. But first, more deals!

This first one is actually perfect for R&R time, as it’s a Bluetooth speaker you can take with you to the beach or poolside for some sunbathing. The JBL Flip 5 is on sale for $84.99 at Woot. This discount of about $45 on the waterproof speaker is the best we’ve seen in quite a while, and lower than anything offered during Prime Day. The Flip 5 comes in a variety of colors and offers good sound, with enough volume to fill a room or really annoy the couple sitting under the umbrella next...

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How to change your Apple ID password

How to change your Apple ID password in three different ways. | Image: Apple

Your Apple ID is your key to using the integrated services of Apple’s ecosystem, including the App Store, iCloud, iMessage, FaceTime, and Apple Music. You also need one to set up any new Apple device. As with any password, if you think it may have been compromised, you should change it immediately. It’s also a good idea to change it every few months to help keep it extra secure.

When you do choose a new password, you’ll need to think of one that’s at least eight characters long and uses at least one number, one uppercase letter, and one lowercase letter. You also can’t reuse a password from the last year.

Here are the steps you’ll need to take to change your Apple ID password. Bear in mind that these will only work if you know your...

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Democratic lawmakers ask federal agencies to crack down on crypto mining

Workers install a new row of Bitcoin mining machines at the Whinstone US Bitcoin mining facility in Rockdale, Texas, on October 9, 2021. | Photo by MARK FELIX/AFP /AFP via Getty Images

On Friday, Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to two federal regulators, urging them to take action on the explosion of Bitcoin mining in the US.

Sent to the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy, the letter was spurred by preliminary investigation from lawmakers, which found that just a handful of cryptominers use an enormous amount of energy. In response, the lawmakers ask the agencies to require that crypto-mining companies share data on their energy use and emissions.

Seven of the biggest crypto-mining companies in the US have the collective capacity to use over 1 gigawatt of electricity, according to the letter. That’s the equivalent of two standard coal plants...

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Elon Musk wants Twitter trial to wait until February 2023

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Elon Musk’s legal team has responded to Twitter’s lawsuit against him, saying that the company is demanding an unreasonably fast trial. In response, Musk’s team asks that the case not be heard until next year, according to Bloomberg.

Twitter has pushed for the trial to take place in mid-September, justifying the request to expedite things given that Musk and Twitter’s merger agreement has an October 24th “presumptive drop-dead date.” However, Musk’s team is asking that the trial not be held until February 13th, 2023 trial at the earliest, Bloomberg reports.

Twitter declined to comment on the matter, and pointed to its initial complaint filed Tuesday.

Twitter sued Musk earlier this week after he officially tried to bail on his $44...

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You’re not hearing things — yes, the Twitter app chirps now

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A few of us at The Verge have noticed something new about Twitter’s iOS app: when you pull down to refresh your feed, you might hear a couple of new noises. One is a little windup trill that plays when you first pull the feed, and after your feed is done refreshing, you might hear a short confirmation chirp. (Though the sounds are more robotic than any real-life bird I’ve heard.)

I made a recording so you can hear what I’m hearing. It’s a little different from the short “pop” you might have heard when refreshing before.

Anybody else hearing this when you pull to refresh on Twitter’s iOS app? pic.twitter.com/x0BsxbZF2u

— Jay Peters (@jaypeters) July 15, 2022

We’re not exactly sure when the change kicked in, but we first noticed it...

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We benchmarked the base M2 MacBook Air’s storage and (surprise!) it’s slow

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Previously, a number of reviewers have reported that Apple’s entry-level M2 MacBook Pro’s SSD is significantly slower than that of the M1 MacBook Pro due to the configuration of the storage models in the computer. Apple confirmed to The Verge that the base M2 MacBook Air has the same storage configuration as the Pro, so, naturally, we’ve been wondering if it would suffer from the same issue. Well, we’ve finally gotten our hands on a base model (including 256GB of storage and 8GB of memory) and the answer is: yes, it does.

Going by the results we’re seeing in Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test app, the base model of the M2 MacBook Air has write speeds that are generally 15 to 30 percent slower than those of the 512GB model Apple sent The Verge...

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San Diego Comic-Con 2022: all the best panels, trailers, and news to watch out for

Photo by Araya Doheny/Getty Images

After two years of being canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, San Diego Comic-Con’s coming back this year with a vengeance and a sizable stack of announcements, trailer drops, and early screenings of some of the entertainment industry’s most hyped projects.

While there’s almost no way to see absolutely everything that’s going down during this year’s SDCC, knowing where and when some of the convention’s biggest panels are taking place is a solid way to get the most out of your time if you’re on the con floor (or just following along from home). Here are all of the biggest film and television panels happening at SDCC 2022 that news-hungry fans are going to want to keep an eye on.

Thursday, July 21st

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor...

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Halo Infinite’s network co-op test is now live

The test runs until August 1st. | Image: 343 Industries

Halo Infinite’s network campaign co-op test flight is finally live, developer 343 Industries announced Friday. As part of the test, you’ll be able to play the campaign with up to three of your friends, and the game supports crossplay across Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, and PC. The test also includes a mission replay feature, which wasn’t included with the game at launch.

Before you jump onto Zeta Halo with your friends, you should know that you’ll be starting the campaign from scratch in this test. Any progress you’ve made in the retail build of the game won’t carry over, and anything you accomplish in the test won’t show up in your retail build, either. But if it’s been a while since you played through Halo Infinite’s campaign, starting...

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ESPN Plus is about to get even more expensive

Image: Disney

ESPN is raising the price of its standalone ESPN Plus streaming service from $6.99 per month to $9.99 per month, a nearly 43 percent increase, beginning August 23rd, as reported earlier by Sports Business Journal. The price of the annual plan is also going up from $69.99 to $99.99.

If you get your streaming ESPN service as a part of the Disney bundle, however, which packages Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, and ad-supported Hulu for $13.99 per month (including Hulu without ads takes the price to $19.99 per month), that will remain at the same price as before. The service’s website and support pages haven’t been updated to reflect the increase yet, but a statement sent over by Disney spokesperson Paul Melvin indicates subscribers will be notified...

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The Sims 4 is expanding its sexual orientation options with new update

Image: EA / Maxis

The Sims 4 is making it easier for players to create Sims that better reflect their lived experiences. As a free update coming at the end of the month along with the High School Years expansion, players can now choose their Sims’ sexual orientation and romantic / sexual attraction.

It works like this: within the “Create a Sim” function, you’ll be able to fiddle with how your Sim experiences sex and romance. First, you can choose if your character is attracted to men or women. The Sims 4 team is aware that making this choice based on binary options isn’t ideal.

“I understand that there will be concerns here around the initial options being gender binary,” SimGuruJessica, the design lead on the High School Years expansion wrote in the...

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Amazon’s Prime Air drone delivery tests are coming to Texas, too

Amazon to begin testing drones in College Station, Texas. | Image: Amazon

Amazon’s Prime Air delivery drones will begin testing in Texas soon. The drone delivery tests are happening in College Station, Texas, along with a test area announced last month located in Lockeford, California.

The current MK27-2 design (shown above) has a hexagonal shape that Amazon says increases stability as well as propellers that the company claims will minimize high-frequency soundwaves.

The company originally announced plans to create a 30-minute drone delivery service in 2013 and showed off this now-dated video (embedded above) as a demonstration of what the future might be like. Amazon showed off redesigned drones with hybrid VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) capabilities in 2019 and received approval from the Federal...

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Even the Playdate Simulator can run on Steam Deck

In yet another reminder of just how flexible Valve’s Steam Deck handheld gaming PC can be, an enterprising Redditor has gotten the Playdate Simulator running on their Steam Deck, as shared on Twitter by Valve designer Lawrence Yang.

The Playdate, if you’re not familiar, is Panic’s tiny yellow handheld with a crank, but similar to the long reservation queue for the Steam Deck, Playdate preorders are backed up for months. If you place a Playdate preorder right now, it isn’t expected to ship until 2023. If you already have a Steam Deck and want to mess around with the Playdate’s old-school vibes, though, it looks like it’s possible to do that by installing the free Playdate Simulator.

You can see a video of the simulator running on Steam...

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Bungie is now officially part of Sony

Bungie, the developer of Destiny 2, is now officially a part of Sony. The PlayStation maker had announced its intent to acquire the gaming studio in January, and now, that acquisition is complete. At the initial announcement, Sony said (pdf) the deal was worth $3.6 billion, but in an SEC filing on Friday, it said the deal was worth “approximately” $3.7 billion.

The agreement to acquire Bungie has closed. So now we can officially say… welcome to the PlayStation family, @Bungie! pic.twitter.com/x5jVmelaxl

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) July 15, 2022

Though it’s now under the Sony umbrella, Bungie will “continue to independently publish and creatively develop our games,” Bungie CEO Pete Parsons said in a blog post from the original...

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Why stars look spiky in images from the James Webb Space Telescope

The first full-color image released from the JWST. | Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Stars in the new images from the James Webb Space Telescope look sharper than they did before. And I’m not just talking about the image quality, which is astounding. I’m talking about the fact that many of the bright stars in the images have very distinct Christmas-ornament-looking spikes or, as one of my colleagues put it, “It looks like a J.J. Abrams promo poster, and I love it.”

But this isn’t a case of too much lens flare. Those are diffraction spikes, and if you look closely, you’ll see that all bright objects in the JWST images have the same eight-pointed pattern. The brighter the light, the more prominent the feature. Dimmer objects like nebulae or galaxies don’t tend to see quite as much of this distortion.

This pattern of...

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Here are the best AirPods deals you can get right now

Apple’s AirPods Pro are one of our go-to picks and often on sale at retailers like Amazon and Walmart. | 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 last year 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 heavily discounting 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.

In recent months, 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...

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