V2V, or vehicle-to-vehicle technology, allows cars to receive messages about road conditions and crashes.
Today, the DC circuit court released its decision, siding with the Federal Communications Commission, on its reallocation of part of the 5.9GHz band. It’s a big win for the FCC and a big loss for the auto industry, which has promised to use the airwaves to improve safety through a technology called “vehicle-to-vehicle” (V2V) or “vehicle-to-everything” (V2X) communication.
The problem, as hilariously put by Judge Justin Walker in his opinion, is that this technology has never really existed. It was one of those “just around the corner”-type innovations that has always been promised but never actually delivered. It was a fantasy, and today, the court’s basically said as much.
The problem, as hilariously put by Judge Justin Walker in his...
Samar Haddad; Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
So you’re the proud owner of one of Samsung’s foldables. Look at you, you early adopter! There are obviously a few more ways to use your phone than a typical slab-style phone, and that’s probably why you bought one.
Flex Mode is one of those features. That’s basically just a term for whenever you use the phone’s main screen folded halfway. It’s most useful if you want to set the phone down and use it hands-free, like for video calls, and some apps are optimized by default to take advantage of it.
Here’s how to use Flex Mode with the apps that support it natively — and also how to enable it for apps that don’t. I tested these steps on a Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 running One UI 4.1.1.
To enter...
Image: Ikea / Electrify America
Get ready for your shortest walk-through of an Ikea store yet because Electrify America is bringing its fast charging EV network to more than 25 Ikea locations in the US (via Electrek).
The plan includes installing more than 220 individual fast chargers capable of charging up to 350kW speeds at Ikea stores in 18 different states. The first public chargers will make an appearance by the end of the year and the rest by the end of 2023.
“This collaboration with Electrify America will not only bring ultra-fast public chargers to our stores for the first time but it will also help us take a big leap as we work towards our targets to become circular and climate positive,” said Ikea US CEO Javier Quiñones. Ikea set that climate goal for 2030,...
Hogwarts Legacy | Warner Bros.
Hogwarts Legacy, the Harry Potter prequel game, has been delayed a second time according to a tweet from the game’s official Twitter account.
Hogwarts Legacy will launch on February 10, 2023 for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. The Nintendo Switch launch date will be revealed soon. The team is excited for you to play, but we need a little more time to deliver the best possible game experience. pic.twitter.com/zh0EsOvDb7
— Hogwarts Legacy (@HogwartsLegacy) August 12, 2022
This delay pushes the game from its 2022 launch date to February 10th, 2023. Back in January of last year, developer Portkey Games stated that the delay was to ensure the game received “the time it needs.” Today’s statement echoes that sentiment as the developers are once...
A wind turbine generates electricity at the Block Island Wind Farm on July 7th, 2022, near Block Island, Rhode Island. | Photo by John Moore/Getty Images
California has set a hella ambitious goal to build up its offshore wind industry. The Golden State is aiming to reach 25,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2045, about as much as all of Europe has today.
The target set by the California Energy Commission on Wednesday is the biggest commitment any state has made yet to develop wind farms off of their coasts. The goal is even more monumental considering the US’s fledgling offshore wind industry has really only gained a foothold on the East Coast.
So far, there are two small projects off the coasts of Rhode Island and Virginia capable of generating just 42 megawatts of electricity. The first commercial-scale wind farm, to be built off the coast of Massachusetts, just received f...
Apple wanted a cut of boosted posts. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Apple and Meta may not be the best of friends right now, but at one point, Apple was in discussions with the social media company about how it could make more money from its presence on the App Store, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Apple reportedly argued that it deserved a cut of certain portions of Facebook’s ad revenue. The specific ads in question were boosted posts, which let users pay to have their posts reach more people, the WSJ reports. Apple apparently argued boosted posts are in-app purchases, which it famously takes a portion of; Meta argued that they were ads, from which Apple doesn’t get a share. It seems that Meta won out.
They also discussed a subscription that would remove ads
The two companies also had...
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
In a recent (and very funny) blog post, The Verge’s Liz Lopatto bemoans the ad-ification and TikTok-ification of Instagram and other social media sites. “Can someone just build a simple photo app that isn’t sleazy and let me know where it is so that my friends can join it?” she asks. And she apparently hasn’t been the only one — it’s gotten to the point where Instagram is starting to walk back some of its changes due to user complaints.
The comments section of Liz’s post soon became filled with various suggestions for alternative photo sites where you could post your cat pix and other cute / funny / beautiful photos and have your friends and family be able to admire and discuss them. I took a look at some of them (and some that I found...
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
A proposal to let parents sue over addictive social media features failed in the California legislature this week. The bill, AB 2408, failed to pass out of committee for a full state Senate vote. It at least temporarily ends a controversial push to increase liability for social media in the state — an increasingly common practice among legislators.
AB 2408, or the Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act, was one of numerous state-level social media proposals. It would have authorized civil penalties against social networks whose designs caused a “child user ... to become addicted to the platform,” either by design or in a way the operators should have known was harmful. It would not have applied to social networks that generate less...
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Amazon is everywhere: in the doctor’s office, in people’s homes, in their shopping carts, and now — in their therapist’s office, too.Amazon’s virtual healthcare program, Amazon Care, now includes a partnership with mental health company Ginger, according to an Amazon Care webpage. The new offerings were first reported by Insider.
The webpage outlines the behavioral health options available through Amazon Care. Primary care providers on the platform can respond to some low-grade issues, like mild anxiety. For more serious concerns, patients can be referred to providers outside of Amazon Care. Ginger, a digital mental health platform that gives people 24/7 access to mental health coaches and therapists, will be available as an optional...
Take a deep breath and step away from the car. | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
Dear Tesla fan who wants to run over a kid to prove a point,
Hi, my name’s Andy and I’m a transportation editor. I saw on Twitter — yes, I know, not a great place to see things — that you were going to run over a kid to prove a point. Something about Tesla and Autopilot and some video on Twitter — again, bad place, should avoid — of a test showing a Tesla vehicle running over a kid-sized dummy and you wanting to prove that those tests are bogus and wrong so you were going to try to run over a real kid to prove your point.
It’s 2022, and Teslas still aren’t stopping for children. pic.twitter.com/GGBh6sAYZS
— Taylor Ogan (@TaylorOgan) August 9, 2022
Is there anyone in the Bay Area with a child who can run in front of my car on Full...