Google plans to test AR prototypes in public starting next month

Google is going to test AR devices in the real world soon. | Image: Google

Google is planning to test augmented reality (AR) prototypes in public beginning next month, the company announced Tuesday. Google has been exploring concepts like AR glasses that show translations in real time, but the company wants to take its ideas from the lab into the real world. The Verge previously reported that Google hopes to ship its “Project Iris” AR headset in 2024.

“This will allow us to better understand how these devices can help people in their everyday lives,” Google’s Juston Payne wrote in a blog post. “And as we develop experiences like AR navigation, it will help us take factors such as weather and busy intersections into account — which can be difficult, sometimes impossible, to fully recreate indoors.”

Prototypes...

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Xbox’s ‘Grounded’ is getting an animated TV adaption

Image: Xbox

Grounded, the survival co-op that combines elements of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and A Bug’s Life, is getting an animated TV adaptation, as first reported by Deadline. Brent Friedman of Star Wars: Clone Wars will write the story, with Halo 4’s Brien Goodrich sitting in the director’s chair.

Grounded was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and launched on Xbox and PC in 2020. The game amassed over 10 million players and follows a group of four friends who shrink down to the size of ants, similar to the premise of the 1989 movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. As they battle their way through a backyard teeming with the now-giant insects, they must gather resources, craft supplies, and build a base to survive.

Waterproof Studios / SC...

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UK heatwave breaks records as Brits roast in 40 C temperatures

Passersby walk towards an LED sign saying “18 -19 July extreme heat only travel if essential.” | Photo by Sebastian Gollnow / picture alliance via Getty Images

The UK recorded temperatures rising above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time in its 350 years of climate records. The searing heatwave is unprecedented in a country that’s used to much cooler summer weather and is a bellwether of more extremes to come.

The heat is so bad that it’s buckled an airport runway, forcing London Luton Airport to temporarily suspend flights on Monday. Rail services across parts of the UK ground to a halt as tracks also buckled or overheated, and overhead cables failed and even caught on fire. Over 48 hours, England and Wales grappled with twice as many wildfires as it did throughout the entire month of July last year. Parched grass turned to tinder, sparking blazes that threatened...

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Panasonic’s $4 billion EV battery plant will land in Kansas

Photo by Christoph Dernbach / picture alliance via Getty Images

Panasonic has picked De Soto, Kansas, to build a new EV battery plant, which projects to bring up to $4 billion in investments for the state, the Kansas governor’s office said in a press release. The press release predicts the plant will create up to 4,000 jobs, plus estimates of 4,000 additional jobs with suppliers and community businesses.

In April, Kansas and Oklahoma were both among the locations reportedly in the running for potential locations for Panasonic’s new battery plant. Oklahoma’s governor notably pushed lawmakers to approve a $700 million rebate package without naming which company it might benefit.

In its press release, Kansas credited the passing of its Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion Act (SB 347), or APEX Act, in...

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A Russian-backed malware group is spoofing pro-Ukraine apps, Google finds

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

“All warfare is based on deception,” Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War. Some 2,500 years later, the maxim applies to the virtual battlefield as well as the physical.

As the war in Ukraine rages on, researchers from Google have discovered malware from a Russian state-backed group disguised as a pro-Ukraine app. The details were revealed in a blog post published by Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG), which specializes in tracking and exposing state-sponsored hacking.

According to TAG, the Cyber Azov app — which invokes Ukraine’s far-right military unit, the Azov Regiment — was actually created by Turla, a Kremlin-backed hacking group known for compromising European and American organizations with malware.

Image: Google...

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Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover trial set to start in October

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Today, a Delaware court ruled that Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk for attempting to back out of his acquisition of the company will be heard in October. This is a win for Twitter, which asked for a shorter timeframe than Musk.

Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion in April but then appeared to get cold feet about the deal. Despite having waived his ability to do “due diligence,” or research on the company he was planning to acquire, he claimed that Twitter had too many bots. He then tried to terminate the agreement. In response, Twitter sued to hold him to the purchase.

During oral arguments before the judge, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, Twitter claimed that Musk’s bot arguments were bad-faith attempts to back out of the...

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How Desus and Mero brought podcast quirkiness to late-night comedy

Photo by Noam Galai / Getty Images for Webby Awards

We’ve got a lot to dig into today, from mergers and acquisitions to breakups, both amicable and acrimonious. But first, I want to give a shout-out to my friend Karishma, who alerted me to the Desus and Mero drama blowing up on Twitter when I just wanted to bury my head in some copyright law. The second you look away is when it all goes down.

How Desus and Mero brought podcast quirkiness to late-night comedy

We learned Monday night that comedy duo Desus Nice and The Kid Mero are officially over, bringing their critically acclaimed talk show on Showtime to an end. Desus & Mero was one of the very few new late-night shows to break through during the streaming era, thanks in part to the pair’s ability to successfully translate the...

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Google’s new Chrome logo could have looked a lot different

Proposed redesigns of the Chrome icon. | Image: Google

Google changed up its Chrome logo earlier this year, for the first time since 2014. The new Chrome logo has some subtle differences from before, thanks to a lack of shadows, slightly different proportions, and brighter colors. Most Chrome users might not have even noticed its introduction in Chrome 100, but Google had experimented with far more radical designs that didn’t make the cut.

Some of the more striking proposals included completely different shapes for the Chrome logo or separating the colors with white borders. “In the exploratory phase, we tried all kinds of ideas; softening corners, different geometries, whether or not to separate the colors with white,” explains Thomas Messenger, a visual designer at Google. “We also tried...

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Tekken will try to make the jump to TV with a new Netflix series on August 18th

Tekken: Bloodline | Image: Netflix

Back in March, Netflix announced its Tekken TV show, and now we have a full trailer as well as a release date: August 18th. Dubbed Tekken: Bloodline, this anime adaptation follows the story of the King of Iron Fist Tournament from the perspective of Jin Kazama, as he’s trained by his grandfather Heihachi Mishima on a quest for revenge.

It wasn’t the most original storyline when the games debuted in the ‘90s, but with a supernatural Ogre, corporate power battles, and genetic traits that promise incredible powers, there’s enough to make something more watchable than movie released in 2010, which had a zero percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Here’s how Netflix summarizes its new show:

“Power is everything.” Jin Kazama learned the family...

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The Xbox Series X is available at multiple retailers right now

Walmart, Microsoft, and Best Buy all have the Series X in stock. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Having a single retailer restock the Xbox Series X is rare enough, but you can currently find the rarefied console at a trio of retailers while supplies last. Anyone still trying to get their hands on Microsoft’s monolithic console can pick one up at Best Buy, Microsoft, or Walmart for the standard retail price of $499.99.

Amazon is also still offering its invite program for anyone that’s willing to wait. In addition to the standalone 1TB console, all of the retailers mentioned here are offering bundles that include games, peripherals, or Xbox Game Pass subscriptions with your purchase. Microsoft, for example, lets you bundle an additional controller with your order for a $10 discount, while Best Buy has a package that includes a...

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YouTube will let creators sell products directly through a Shopify partnership

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube is introducing a slew of new shopping features for creators, including the ability to link storefronts and sell products directly on the platform through a partnership with Shopify.

In a blog post published today, YouTube says its partnership with Shopify will allow creators to display products throughout their channels, like below videos, during livestreams, or at the end of videos. Inventory will sync with Shopify so viewers can see in real time if something is out of stock. YouTube will also give US-based creators the option to enable on-site checkout, meaning viewers can purchase products directly on the platform without leaving YouTube.

In addition to the Shopify integration, YouTube says it will dedicate a section of the...

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Qualcomm launches Snapdragon Wear 5 Plus to give Wear OS 3 watches a boost

Screenshot: Qualcomm

While Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear chips power the vast majority of current Wear OS watches, the platform itself has never really delivered. Thus far, Snapdragon Wear chips have been repurposed mobile processor designs built on outdated tech and are a big reason why Wear OS watches have been so lackluster. But today, Qualcomm is launching an overhauled wearables platform called Snapdragon W5 Plus and W5. And this time, it seems like Qualcomm means business.

For starters, the company is ditching the Snapdragon Wear branding. That might seem irrelevant, butit’s more like a symbolic fresh slate. Instead, the new W5 Plus and W5 chips will be folded under the main Snapdragon umbrella. The W5 Plus is envisioned for premium smartwatches, while...

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Google will let European developers use their own billing systems

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google will start allowing the developers of non-gaming apps in the European Economic Area (EEA) to offer alternate payment systems. In a blog post, Google outlines its plans to comply with the Digital Markets Act (or DMA), a piece of legislation aimed at regulating big tech.

The DMA passed through the European Parliament earlier this month, but it isn’t expected to go into force until spring 2023. But Google is rolling out the changes ahead of time to make sure that its plans “serve the needs” of users.

The legislation requires “gatekeepers,” or companies with a market capitalization of €74 billion or over, to follow a set of rules meant to promote competition among digital platforms. Failing to comply could lead to fines of up to 10...

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Here are the best Kindle deals right now

Amazon’s ad-supported base Kindle from 2019 remains the cheapest Kindle you can buy at $89.99. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

When it comes to finding a device to use to read your ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your smartphone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality.

Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons.

Below, we’ve listed each model currently available. Sometimes, there isn’t a deal for one or any of the products — which is...

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Microsoft is launching a Facebook rip-off inside Teams

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Exactly 10 years ago today, Microsoft completed its $1.2 billion purchase of Yammer, an enterprise-focused social networking platform. Despite a big Yammer overhaul in 2019, Microsoft has been increasingly focused on Teams and its new Viva platform as the hubs of communication in workplaces.

Microsoft is now launching Viva Engage today, a new Facebook-like app inside Teams that encourages social networking at work.

Viva Engage builds on some of the strengths of Yammer, promoting digital communities, conversations, and self-expression in the workplace. While Yammer often feels like an extension of SharePoint and Office, Viva Engage looks like a Facebook replica. It includes a storylines section, which is effectively your Facebook news...

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Microsoft Teams will soon let you collaboratively edit Excel spreadsheets in meetings

Excel Live inside Microsoft Teams. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is bringing Excel directly into Teams meetings. Excel Live is a new way for Teams meeting participants to edit Excel spreadsheets together in real time. It’s part of a trio of new features coming to Teams that continue Microsoft’s focus on hybrid work. Teams is also getting video clips that can be shared in chats and collaborative annotations that allow colleagues to doodle on top of content during Teams meetings.

Excel Live is part of Microsoft’s Live Share functionality in Microsoft Teams that the company detailed earlier this year. “What it does is it allows you in a Teams meeting to edit a workbook live in real time, right in that meeting stage itself,” explains Nicole Herskowitz, vice president of Microsoft Teams, in an...

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Is the metaverse going to suck? A conversation with Matthew Ball

Maybe it won’t be a dystopia?

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Hisense’s 55-inch, HDR-ready U6G is a bargain at $378

The Hisense U6G includes Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and HDR 10 Plus. | Image: Hisense

Prime Day 2022 may be done and dusted, but there are still plenty of deals worth checking out. For instance, Walmart has discounted the 55-inch configuration of the Hisense U6G ULED TV to $378, the lowest price we’ve seen for this model that usually costs $449.99. While it may lack the higher refresh rates found in pricier models, the low-cost U6G has a few impressive features, like Dolby Vision and HDR10 Plus, for a more cinematic, contrast-rich viewing experience. This model also has Google Assistant built in, allowing you to control playback with your voice instead of having to frantically search for the remote for the hundredth time.

For something that won’t cost as much, the second-generation Lenovo Smart Clock is currently...

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Chevy’s first electric Blazer starts at $47K and offers FWD, RWD, or AWD options

Image: Chevy

Chevy is bringing the Blazer to its electric car lineup. The midsize crossover SUV is the latest of the GM brand’s gas cars to feature an all-electric version, joining the Chevy Equinox EV, Silverado EV, and GMC Hummer EV.

Chevy isn’t going light on the options for the Blazer EV: buyers can choose between front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, or all-wheel drive models. Plus, there will be a high-performance Blazer SS model capable of 557 horsepower. It can go from 0 to 60mph in less than four seconds using what the company calls a WOW (wide open watts) mode that recalls other high-performance electric settings like Tesla’s Ludicrous and Plaid options, Lucid Motors’ Launch Mode, or the Unbridled Extend setting on the Mustang Mach-E. Other...

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Nintendo will close the Wii U and 3DS eShops on March 27th, 2023

Nintendo has confirmed that both the Wii U and 3DS digital storefronts will no longer allow new purchases of paid or free content starting March 27th, 2023. Previously, it was broadly targeting March 2023, giving gamers plenty of time to fill out their collections before they no longer have the chance to do so — legally, at least. Now, there’s a final date.

There’s a bit more urgency, however, if you were hoping to purchase a Nintendo eShop card (which are typically available at some sort of small discount) to add funds to your account on Wii U or 3DS. As Nintendo previously shared, the cutoff date to add funds via this method is August 29th, 2022, which is just over one month from the time of publishing. Those funds will be yours to use...

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Nerf’s first gel blaster is coming this November with 10,000 rounds

Image: Hasbro

This is a Nerf blaster unlike any you’ve seen before. It doesn’t shoot reusable foam darts or foam balls, but rather pellets of squishy, water-infused gel. Pellets so small you can fit 800 of them into this blaster, and so cheap it’ll come with 10,000 of them right out of the box. It’ll shoot them fully automatic with an included rechargeable, swappable 7.4V battery you can top up with a USB-C cable — just like a phone.

It’s called the Nerf Pro Gelfire Mythic, it’ll cost $79.99 this November, and it’s wild to see it exists — partly because it’s such a departure from kid-friendly darts, and partly because it feels like Hasbro is finally conceding that it doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel to attract an older audience.

I...

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Alienware put 480Hz refresh rate screens in its latest 17-inch monsters

Image: Alienware

Not content with settling for meeting the industry’s best refresh rates in a laptop at an already high 360Hz, Alienware is going for broke with 480Hz screens (3ms, 300-nit, 100 percent sRGB color gamut) in the M17 R5 and X17 R2. While each model can be configured with up to 4K displays, this new 480Hz model is a 1080p screen edging closer to perfection in terms of delivering smoother animations. And, perhaps more important for Dell’s target audience for these machines, it’ll help to further nix stuttering gameplay. The 480Hz option is but another screen configuration for the already launched Alienware X17 R2 and M17 R5 (costing $300 to upgrade over the base 165Hz panel).

This news coincides with the launch of the AMD Advantage version...

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If you have one of these Thread border routers, your smart home will be Matter-ready

The HomePod Mini is a Thread border router. With the launch of the new Thread specification, border routers from different manufacturers can now be part of a single Thread network. | Photo by Jennifer Tuohy / The Verge

Matter is getting closer. The new smart home standard promising to make setting up a smart home as easy as screwing in a lightbulb took a big step toward that lofty goal this week. Thread, the main wireless protocol Matter will run on alongside Wi-Fi, just dropped a major upgrade. Thread 1.3.0 will enable Thread devices to work with any Thread border router, removing the current manufacturer-specific roadblocks. It also sets the stage for Thread-enabled Matter devices — which should start arriving later this year — to join existing Thread networks using those border routers.

If you have any of these devices in your home today, you are in luck. Once upgraded by the manufacturer, they can become a Thread 1.3.0 border router. This will...

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Iconic Atari 2600 console gets the Lego treatment for company’s 50th anniversary

The Atari 2600 Lego model. | Image: Lego

The Atari 2600 is getting the Lego treatment. The Danish toy company’s latest model is based on the 1980 revision of the iconic console rather than its 1977 debut and consists of a meaty 2,532 pieces (which seems like a missed opportunity to offer 2,600 pieces, but I digress). It’ll be available on August 1st for $239.99 and coincides with the Atari’s 50th anniversary.

The launch of the set comes a little over two years after Lego made a similarly loving recreation of Nintendo’s classic NES console. But while the Lego Nintendo console included both a buildable console itself as well as an accompanying CRT TV, the Atari model is more self-contained; there’s the console itself as well as a controller with a movable joystick....

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Dell’s G16 is its first crack at making a 16-inch, 16:10 gaming laptop

Trust us, 16:10 aspect ratio is just better. | Image: Dell

Dell heard our call in 2021 for more laptops with tall displays and finally answered it a year later. It’s launching the Dell G16 (model 7620) on July 21st, starting at $1,399.99 and going up, and the display seems to be most of the story here. Instead of a 15.6-inch 16:9 aspect ratio display that Dell has traditionally used in its prior models, this is its first crack at a 16-inch model with a taller 16:10 aspect ratio screen. Most everything else is a known quantity from April’s G15 launch, but I’ll go over it again a bit later.

Like displays that we’ve seen before in gaming machines from Lenovo, Acer, and more, this is a QHD Plus display sporting a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, along with a 165Hz refresh rate. Are 160 extra vertical...

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The Duolingo owl wants to teach you even more of Game of Thrones’ High Valyrian

With HBO’s House of the Dragonset to debut just a little over a month from now, you’d be hard-pressed to bone up on your High Valyrian in time for the premiere by trying to watch all of Game of Thrones. Surely, some will try, but for those looking for a less time-consuming way of learning the fictional language or refreshing their skills, Duolingo has an alternative.

Just in time for House of the Dragon’s launch, Duolingo’s expanding its High Valyrian course with 150 new words developed in partnership with David J. Peterson, the fantasy linguist who helped design the language for HBO’s Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. Duolingo’s expanded High Valyrian course also features over 700 new sentences directly related to House of the...

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Slack is increasing its prices and making big changes to its free plan

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Slack is putting its prices up in September, alongside some big changes to its free plan. It’s the first price increase since Slack launched in 2014, but will only affect users of Slack’s “Pro” plan. On September 1st, monthly Pro subscriptions will increase from $8 to $8.75 per user per month, and annual Pro subscriptions will increase from $6.67 to $7.25 per user per month.

The price increases will only impact Pro customers worldwide, and not companies on Slack’s Business Plus or custom enterprise plans. There is a way to avoid the price increases for another year, though. Current annual Pro subscribers can lock in the existing annual rate for another year by renewing their subscription early before September 1st. Monthly Pro...

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Samsung confirms August 10th Unpacked event date with ‘cryptic’ puzzle

These colors combine to spell out the event’s date. | Image: Samsung

In a trio of images posted to its official Twitter account, Samsung Mobile appears to have confirmed the date of its next Unpacked event as August 10th, 2022.

The first image presents a grid of letters, numbers, and symbols, while the second shows the same grid replaced with colored circles. Match the characters to the colors, and you can decode the message on the third image as 081022 — aka August 10th, 2022.

We have a secret to tell you. #SamsungUnpacked

— Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) July 18, 2022

This date lines up with a recent leak from from Evan Blass, who published an image from Samsung that also suggested a launch even on August 10th.

The encoded message (which can be seen at the top of this story) is accompanied by a...

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Vizio’s new TVs and soundbars focus on what the company does best: value

Image: Vizio

Vizio was once the de facto recommendation for TV shoppers looking to spend under $1,000 on a new set. But over the last several years, companies like TCL and Hisense have made their presence felt in the mid-range price segment that was long Vizio’s specialty — and sometimes with better performance.

It didn’t help that Vizio hit some snags with its 2020 TV lineup (particularly in the area of next-gen 4K gaming), requiring multiple firmware updates to get those TVs where they needed to be for the most demanding gamers. So it makes sense that the company took its time with the 2023 models being announced today.

What’s not being refreshed are Vizio’s highest-end sets. The 65- and 75-inch P-Series Quantum, 85-inch P-Series Quantum X, and...

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Amazon targets admins behind thousands of fake review Facebook groups

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon is taking legal action against the admins of over 10,000 Facebook groups that it says facilitate fake reviews for products on its platform by promising money or free products in exchange for positive reviews. The groups are allegedly responsible for fake reviews across Amazon’s sites in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan, the company has announced. Just one such group, called “Amazon Product Review,” reportedly had over 43,000 members.

The e-commerce giant has a well-documented problem with fake reviews, which has grown more pressing as third-party marketplace sellers make up a bigger and bigger proportion of sales on its platform. It officially banned incentivized reviews in October 2016, but four years later in...

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