Congress is investigating Twitter whistleblower claims

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Congress is investigating new whistleblower claims made by Twitter’s former head of security following two bombshell reports published on Tuesday — and some are calling on top federal law enforcement officials to follow suit.

This morning, The Washington Post and CNN published dual reports into alarming new safety and security allegations raised against Twitter by Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, who was fired as the company’s head of security earlier this year. Zatko alleges that Twitter makes little effort to fight spam accounts and has shockingly insufficient cybersecurity defenses.

Responding to the new reports, several top lawmakers said that their committees and staff were currently investigating Zatko’s accusations. Sen. Richard Durbin...

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Snap agrees to $35 million settlement over privacy lawsuit

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Snapchat users in Illinois who used filters or lenses may be eligible for a payout. Illinois reached a $35 million settlement with Snap this month, according to the Chicago Tribune, in a class action lawsuit over how user data was collected.

The suit alleges that Snapchat’s filters and lenses violated the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting and storing biometric data without users’ consent. Illinois has some of the most stringent laws when it comes to companies collecting residents’ biometric information, including fingerprints, iris and retina scans, and face scans. The state law requires companies to tell people in writing why their biometric data is being collected and how long it will be kept and prohibits...

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Security pros are rallying to defend the Twitter whistleblower

Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, the former Twitter security chief who has alleged that the company covered up negligent security practices and lied to regulators about data management, was a credible, capable, and brutally honest security expert, according to peers and colleagues.

The assessment of Zatko’s work and character — culled from public messages of support and recollections shared directly with The Verge — is at odds with statements made by current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who has claimed that Zatko is presenting a false narrative of the inner workings of the company after being terminated for poor performance in January.

The assessment of Zatko’s work and character is at odds with statements made by current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal

I...

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Sonic Frontiers arrives November 8th

During Gamescom’s Opening Night Live event, Sonic Frontiers got a release date and a new trailer. What was previously announced as winter 2022 now has a firm date of November 8th, making it yet another unfortunate game that has to share a release month with God of War: Ragnarok.

The trailer features Sonic rescuing a cute stone creature that seems reminiscent of the vacant-eyed but adorable Chao from Sonic Adventure. Sonic’s then confronted by a glowing, malevolent-looking child that seems to dislike the hedgehog running all over the place. Though the trailer shows new gameplay footage, there isn’t much new on offer aside from a confirmed release date and a bigger look at the story.

Sonic Frontiers’ developers say this latest entry in...

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Gearbox’s New Tales from the Borderlands launches in October

Three characters from New Tales from the Borderlands_._ | Image: Gearbox via Xbox Wire

Gearbox’s new Tales from the Borderlands game, which is just called New Tales from the Borderlands, will be released on October 21st, the studio announced Tuesday at the Gamescom Opening Night Live event. The game will be available on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The original Tales from the Borderlands is a narrative adventure game that was originally made by Telltale Games. This sequel will have a new storyline and new characters, and some of the team that worked on the first Tales from the Borderlands are back for this entry, Gearbox Entertainment founder Randy Pitchford said onstage at Opening Night Live.

Gearbox had revealed earlier this year that a Tales from the Borderlands follow-up was in the works for sometime in...

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Return to Monkey Island will be released on International Talk Like a Pirate Day

A screenshot from Return to Monkey Island | Image: Terrible Toybox

Return to Monkey Island, the new entry in the popular point-and-click series from Ron Gilbert, will be released on September 19th, which just so happens to be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, according to a trailer shown at the Gamescom Opening Night Live event. The game will be available on PC and Nintendo Switch.

Gilbert first teased the game this year in what appeared to be an April Fools’ joke, but a few days later, it turned out that he actually wasn’t kidding. The new game is a direct follow-up to The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, though, in an interview with The Verge, Gilbert and Dave Grossman hinted the game could include canon from other games in the series.

Those who preorder the game...

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How to use the Windows 11 screen reader

Narrator lives on Windows laptops, such as the Lenovo Yoga 9i. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

There are numerous third-party screen readers available for Windows 11. The most popular ones include Job Access With Speech (JAWS) and NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA). (Microsoft has a full list on its website.)

But Windows also has a free, built-in screen reader called Narrator. Given the wealth of options that are out there, the majority of people don’t use it as their primary screen reader. But if you’re in that majority, it can be useful if you’re borrowing someone else’s device and can be there in a pinch if you can’t use your preferred software for whatever reason.

If you want to turn on Narrator, there are a couple ways to do it.

How to turn on Narrator with the keyboard

Assuming you’re not using a remapped keyboard, you can turn...

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Sony’s new DualSense Edge Wireless Controller takes on the Xbox Elite

Image: Sony

Sony has just announced a new DualSense Edge Wireless Controller. The “high performance” controller is fully customizable, much like the Xbox Elite controller. Sony appears to have the best features from the Scuf and Elite controllers, with removable analog thumbsticks, rear buttons, changeable stick caps, and multiple control profiles.

The DualSense Edge allows owners to change out stick caps for three types: standard, high dome, and low dome. There are also two swappable back buttons (half-dome or lever) that can be mapped to any other buttons, much like typical paddles. You can even replace the stick modules, which is a great advantage over the Xbox Elite. These will be sold separately.

Image: Sony

The two new...

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The Pixel 6A’s durability is apparently a match for its capable hardware and software

The little midrange phone that could. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

We already know that the midrange Pixel 6A has the right stuff on the inside, and based on the results of JerryRigEverything’s6A durability test, it looks like it has an equally solid build quality to match. As the 6A goes under the knife in the video below, you’ll see it stand up well to scratches on the glass screen cover and camera housing, as well as surviving the flex test — not all recent midrange phones have been so fortunate.

Google put its flagship-grade chipset in this affordable $450 device, and not surprisingly, the result is flagship-grade performance. It has excellent software support, too, with its clean Android implementation and monthly security updates that it’s scheduled to receive for five years.

Sure, the screen...

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iPadOS 16 is ‘on its own schedule,’ shipping after iOS 16 this year

The iPad and iPhone are growing apart. | Photo by David Pierce / The Verge

Apple has confirmed that iPadOS 16.0 won’t be getting a public release and that the tablet-centered OS won’t be coming out until after iOS starts hitting phones. In a statement to TechCrunch, attributed only to “the company,” it said: “we have the flexibility to deliver iPadOS on its own schedule. This Fall, iPadOS will ship after iOS, as version 16.1 in a free software update.”

Despite Apple traditionally releasing iPadOS and iOS together, it’s always felt like this decoupling was a possibility ever since Apple split out the iPad’s operating system as a separate entity in 2019. (And indeed, the first version of iPadOS released as 13.1, less than a week after iOS 13’s messy initial rollout.) Still, it’s a pretty big change of pace for...

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Quest VR owners have new Meta logins to use instead of Facebook

Adi Robertson using the Quest 2. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Meta will now allow users of its Quest VR headsets to log in with a new Meta account instead of a Facebook account, the company announced on Tuesday. The company had said in July that this change would be rolling out in August, and it marks a shift from an unpopular policy announced in 2020 that required users to log in to their headsets with a Facebook account instead of a separate Oculus account.

Users can create Meta accounts through the Meta mobile app using an email address, Facebook account, or Instagram account. Once you create a Meta account, you’ll need to set up a linked Meta Horizon social profile that will be used in VR. As with Facebook accounts before, you’ll need one of these accounts to use a Quest headset.

“Our new Meta...

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That’s Gandalf

Image: Amazon

The latest trailer for Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series gives us the best look yet at the mysterious, raggedy dude from the previous teasers. Guess what? That’s Gandalf. That’s Gandalf, ahead of schedule for once, coming to Middle-earth one Age early to hang out with hobbits while the rest of the cast is busy yelling, climbing ice cliffs, swinging swords, forging rings, and getting absolutely bamboozled by hot Sauron. And that’s why the show could be great.

pic.twitter.com/TEXeaa1gVP

— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) August 23, 2022

We already know the showrunners are messing with the timeline in the interest of telling a story that works on TV. I’m fine with that; a foolish adherence to canon...

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Fitbit’s smartwatch event tomorrow will bring back buttons

Image: Fitbit

Fitbit teased a new wearable that it’ll reveal tomorrow during a special product event. The company posted a shadowy close-up of what looks like a new Fitbit Sense or Versa device on Twitter, and lo and behold: there’s a physical button again.

Back in May, a photo of a smartwatch made the rounds online that was purportedly a leaked Fitbit Versa 4. Verge resident wearables tech reviewer Victoria Song laid out why so many athletes and athleisure-wearing workout cosplayers believe it was a mistake on Fitbit’s part to remove the physical buttons on the Sense, Versa 3, Charge 5, and Inspire 2 in favor of confusing touch-sensitive ones. Deputy editor Thomas Ricker had a higher opinion of the Garmin Epix 2’s touchscreen approach, but that...

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The Settlers of Catan will become a holographic AR board game in early 2023

“Not actual gameplay footage,” unfortunately. | Image: Tilt Five

Catan, one of the most critically acclaimed board games ever made and one that averages over a million copies sold per year, is about to leap off the tabletop thanks to a unique augmented reality gaming system that’s been in development for over a decade now. Tilt Five, a startup founded by a former Valve engineer, has just announced that a 3D holographic version of the game, dubbed Catan — Tilt Five AR, will arrive in spring 2023.

Unfortunately, the video below doesn’t really give us a look at the game, but the company says you can play it around a table, solo against “classic AI opponents,” or online with other players around the world. And you’ll be able to “interact with the Catan island in new ways using the Tilt Five Wand and...

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YouTube is consolidating podcast listening with new strikes deal with NPR

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Hello! I am back from my travels and am in New York only for a bit before flying off to Dallas for Podcast Movement (I just got an “on time” notification from American Airlines, but I am not holding my breath). There will be a fair amount of star power at the conference (Mark Cuban! Audie Cornish!), but I am most looking forward to getting some face time with Hot Pod readers. Also, the gossip — you know I live for the gossip.

Today, YouTube is making some podcast moves, and Meghan Markle finally debuts her Spotify podcast.

Exclusive: (another) study shows YouTube is the most-used podcast platform

I am aware I sound like a broken record, but we really need to be keeping an eye on how YouTube could wield its power in the podcasting space....

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Avatar is returning to theaters to remind you what Avatar is about

Image: Disney

Avatar: The Way of Water is set to release this December, but it has a pretty major problem: it’s a sequel to a film that came out 13 years ago. Meanwhile, most of us can barely remember what happened on last week’s episode of She-Hulk— when Avatar 2 hits theaters, there could be a lot of confusion if characters start talking about unobtanium, Toruks, RDA, or the Noble Clyde Boudreaux. (One of those things isn’t actually in the movie — see if you can guess which one.)

James Cameron and crew, however, have come up with a solution: rerelease the first Avatar in theaters. According to a trailer released on Tuesday, the 2009 movie is coming back to theaters for two weeks starting September 23rd and will be shown in “all formats,” including...

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Yelp will flag crisis pregnancy centers listings to avoid misleading abortion seekers

Image: Yelp

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Yelp announced Tuesday that it would add a new consumer notice to crisis pregnancy centers to better distinguish them from clinics that provide abortion services.

Starting today, Yelp’s new notices will appear at the top of faith-based and non-faith-based crisis pregnancy center listings in the app, as first reported by Axios. The new feature prominently displays an alert notifying users that these centers “typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite.”

Since 2018, Yelp says it has recategorized “thousands” of business listings that may mislead abortion seekers searching for care online. Crisis pregnancy centers often...

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Heads Up! — the popular gaming app is coming to Netflix

Heads Up! is arriving on Netflix, with exclusive decks based on shows like Stranger Things. | Image: Netflix

Ellen’s popular mobile charades app Heads Up! is coming to Netflix today as an exclusive version of the game, set to feature 28 new card decks from popular series like Stranger Things, Bridgerton and Squid Game.

More general entertainment decks are also available for genres like anime, true crime, and baking shows, so chances are if you watch any exclusive Netflix content on the regular, you’ll find a category that takes your fancy. The announcement of the new game also states that it will be available to play in 13 new languages on both Android and iOS devices.

“Doubling our catalog to over 50 games by the end of the year”

Today’s news comes a few weeks after it was revealed that Netflix’s games only see 1.7 million daily users, meaning...

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Chamberlain discontinues its HomeKit hub for myQ garage door controllers

The Home Bridge Hub has been discontinued. It was designed to connect Liftmaster and Chamberlain smart garage door openers with myQ technology — such as this Liftmaster Secure View opener — to Apple’s HomeKit platform. | Image: Liftmaster

Chamberlain Group, makers of myQ connected garage door openers, is discontinuing its myQ Home Bridge Hub, a device whose sole purpose was to connect myQ-enabled garage doors to Apple’s HomeKit smart home platform.

myQ is a smart garage door controller technology that is built into a garage door opener or a separate retrofit wireless hub and connects your garage door to Wi-Fi. This lets you open and close it from anywhere using the myQ smartphone app.

The myQ Home Bridge Hub, which extended that control to the Apple Home app, has been out of stock on Chamberlain’s website for a few weeks, and the company confirmed to The Verge that it’s been discontinued.

“As our products continue to evolve, we have decided to discontinue production of...

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Jupiter is glowing in new pictures from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope

Image: NASA

An early look at the view of Jupiter captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, hinted at how precise and detailed our new view of the planet would be. But this week, NASA released another set of photos showing the cloud cover, rings, and moons of Jupiter in remarkable detail — and it was even better than scientists were hoping for.

“We hadn’t really expected it to be this good, to be honest,” said planetary astronomer Imke de Pater, professor emerita of the University of California, Berkeley, in a press release. “It’s really remarkable that we can see details on Jupiter together with its rings, tiny satellites, and even galaxies in one image.”

The telescope uses a camera with three filters that translate infrared light...

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Destiny 2’s Fortnite crossover is official and includes skins, maps, and more

Image: Bungie

Bungie is teaming up with Epic Games for a Destiny 2 crossover with Fortnite and Fall Guys. The collaboration will see Bungie and Epic Games create skins for Destiny 2 and Fortnite, along with gliders, pickaxes, back blings, and even a Destiny-inspired creative map for Fortnite. Destiny skins will also be available in Fall Guys.

Three Fortnite-inspired skins will appear in Destiny 2, and three Destiny-inspired armor ornaments will appear in Fortnite. The Destiny 2 ornaments will be based on Fortnite’s Drift, Oblivion, and Black Knight skins. In Fortnite, players will be able to run around as Zavala, Exo Stranger, or Ikora thanks to new skins.

Image: Bungie

Destiny 2 characters in Fortnite.

The collab goes even...

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Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has finished posting daily Ultimate screenshots

Masahiro Sakurai’s final daily screenshot from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate_._ | Image: Masahiro Sakurai on Twitter

Masahiro Sakurai will no longer be posting a daily screenshot of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Twitter, he announced Monday evening. He’s already teasing another project of some kind, though it apparently won’t be something we’ll see daily.

“This concludes the daily Smash Ultimate screens I’ve been posting since Dec. 2019. Thank you for your support!” he said in a tweet. “However...I’ve been thinking about starting something new. (This time it won’t be daily, though.)” He encourages fans to check back “around this time tomorrow” for more information, so if you want to be the first to learn what’s in the works, you might want to keep an eye on his feed at about 11PM ET.

This concludes the daily Smash Ultimate screens I've been posting...

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Destiny 2 arrives on Epic Games Store with free 30th Anniversary pack

Image: Bungie

Destiny 2 is arriving on the Epic Games Store today. The latest expansion of Bungie’s looter shooter comes just as Epic and Bungie announce a special Destiny 2 and Fortnite crossover that will involve skins, maps, and more. The expansion to the Epic Games Store will also see Destiny 2’s recent 30th Anniversary go free on the Epic Games Store.

Bungie will also make The Witch Queen, Beyond Light, and other DLCs free for a week across all available Destiny 2 platforms. Stadia, Xbox, PlayStation, and PC players will all be able to access previous DLCs for the week to coincide with the Epic Games Store launch.

Bungie’s move to the Epic Games Store is part of a broader expansion for Destiny 2 across digital game stores and platforms. Destiny 2...

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Is it a table? Is it a lamp? Yes, and it’s also LG’s latest air purifier

This LG air purifier doubles as a table and a wireless charger and can switch between eight preset “mood lighting” options. | Image: LG

LG’s latest attempt to make air purifiers more “innovative” and less of an eyesore has come to fruition with its range of Aero Furniture, a collection of tables with an air purifier, mood lighting, and wireless charging for your gadgets shoved inside.

The PuriCare Objet Collection Aero Furniture design features a rounded tower base that houses the air 360-degree purifier and a flat surface atop that contains a wireless charging pad for compatible gadgets such as phones or earbuds. Actual wattage was not provided for the wireless charging, but LG states that fast charging is available for Samsung Galaxy (9-10W) and Apple iPhone (7.5W) phones.

“360-degree air purification and user-friendly features”

This range is not directly advertised as...

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University can’t scan students’ rooms during remote tests, judge rules

Photo by Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Images

An Ohio judge has ruled that a Cleveland State University’s virtual scan of a student’s room prior to an online test was unconstitutional. The ruling marks a victory for digital privacy advocates around the country, who have spoken loudly against the practices of online test proctoring for many years.

Chemistry student Aaron Ogletree sat for an online test in the spring 2021 semester. Ogletree was asked to show the virtual proctor his bedroom through his webcam prior to the beginning of the test. A recording of the room scan as well as the testing process that followed was retained by Honorlock, the university’s third-party vendor.

Ogletree sued the university on the grounds that the practice violated his rights under the Fourth...

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Destiny 2: Lightfall is a battle of light vs. dark in a cyberpunk world

Image: Bungie

Bungie first teased its next major Destiny 2: Lightfall expansion more than two years ago, and since then, players have gained control of the Darkness, fought Savathûn and her undead army, and witnessed... The Witness. Now it’s time to shake things up again with the launch of Destiny 2: Lightfall on February 28th, with its new cyberpunk world, new Strand subclasses, and much more.

It’s also the final battle of the epic light vs. dark saga of Destiny.

At the center of Destiny 2: Lightfall is an unusual new location for Bungie’s franchise that’s heavily cyberpunk. A new hidden Neomuna city on Neptune serves as a dystopian futuristic setting for the continuation of Destiny 2’s storyline, which will see the return of Calus as the main...

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Walmart is restocking PS5 bundles for its paid subscribers at 3PM ET today

Sony’s flagship console is now commonly sold in a bundle with Horizon Forbidden West and is much easier to get. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Sony’s PlayStation 5 has not been nearly as hard to get as it once was. With a mix of increased supply and easing demand, it’s almost easy to get one — even if you don’t yet see rows of them in stock at USA stores. However, Walmart is running another one of its restock events for paying Walmart Plus subscribers. The major retailer will have the standard disc-equipped PlayStation 5 Horizon Forbidden West bundle for $549 today at 3PM ET / 12PM PT.

Since Sony itself has been running frequent restocks of the Horizon bundle several times a week, and with some of them having availability windows stretching into the next day, it feels a little backward to pay Walmart extra money just to get the console. Granted, if you already subscribe to...

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Advertising is everywhere — Wieden+Kennedy CEO Neal Arthur explains how it works

Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge

The brands are at it again

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Binance executive claims scammers made a deepfake of him

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Patrick Hillmann, chief communications officer at the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, claims scammers made a deepfake of him to trick contacts into taking meetings.

Writing in a blog post titled “Scammers Created an AI Hologram of Me to Scam Unsuspecting Projects,” Hillmann claims that a “sophisticated hacking team” used video footage of interviews and TV appearances to create the fake. Says Hillmann: “Other than the 15 pounds that I gained during COVID being noticeably absent, this deep fake was refined enough to fool several highly intelligent crypto community members.”

The only direct evidence Hillmann offers for the claim is a screenshot of a conversation with an anonymous individual who claims to have had a Zoom call with...

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Nothing’s Phone 1 won’t get Android 13 until next year

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

How long does it take a fledgling hardware startup to deliver a major Android update to its first smartphone? In the case of Nothing, we’re looking at several months and a turn of the calendar into 2023. As noted by Android Authority, the company has confirmed that its impressive Phone 1 will receive Android 13 “in the first half of 2023.” That could disappoint at least some buyers who’d hoped the near-stock Android device would get the latest version sometime this year.

“Before releasing, we want to fine tune the software upgrade with Nothing’s hardware,” the company’s statement reads. Android 13 was released for Google’s Pixel lineup last week, with Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola, Sony, Xiaomi, Asus, and other companies planning to roll...

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