Ubisoft announces new Assassin’s Creed games set in Baghdad, Japan, and more

Assassin’s Creed Mirage. | Image: Ubisoft

After a string of leaks, Ubisoft has officially unveiled the next major Assassin’s Creed game. As expected, it’s called Mirage and will shift the time-traveling series to 9th-century Baghdad, where players will take on the role of a budding assassin named Basim. (Fans might remember that name from an appearance in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla; Mirage takes place two decades before that game.)

Notably, Ubisoft says that the game will get back to the action-adventure roots of the series, which means that the RPG mechanics from more recent games will not be present. Mirage is expected to launch sometime in 2023. Also of note: in an inspired bit of casting, Shohreh Aghdashloo will be voicing the role of Basim’s assassination mentor.

But that’s...

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Every Marvel and Lucasfilm trailer Disney released today

Samuel L. Jackson in Secret Invasion | Image: Marvel

Disney held its semiannual D23 event this weekend, where it showed off a whole lot of trailers, teasers, and brief scenes from all the Disney stuff coming this year and next. Particular attention was paid to shows and films coming to Disney Plus, and new entries in its Star Wars and Marvel franchises.

A ticket and in-person attendance were required to see some of the coolest sneak previews, which means you’ll probably have to wait to get your first look at Ironheart, Indiana Jones,or Ant-Man and Wasp: Quantumania. But the company still took the time to drop a few teasers and trailers for the rest of us.

Willow

The sequel to the 1988 film about a wizard who few believe in, yet who saves the world from an evil sorceress with the help of...

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The Mandalorian season three teaser trailer collects all of our old friends

The Mandalorian S3 teaser trailer | Image: Disney / Lucasfilm

Disney showed off a teaser trailer for the third season of The Mandalorian at its D23 event on Saturday. While we don’t have an exact date for when the series will arrive on Disney Plus, the streamer previously said it will premiere in February 2023.

This is our first glimpse at the show’s upcoming third season and showed off not only Pedro Pascal’s title character, The Mandalorian, and his Force-using charge, but other familiar characters like Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan, Carl Weathers as Greef Karga, Omid Abtahi as Dr. Pershing, Emily Swallow as The Armorer, and Amy Sedaris as Peli Motto.

Disney released season two back in 2020, which has left those of us who already completed the first two seasons waiting a whole two years to see more...

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Latest Andor trailer gives us a glimpse at the Star Wars spinoff ahead of its premiere

During the D23 Expo on Saturday, Lucasfilm revealed the final trailer for the Star Wars: Andor series that takes place before the events of the 2016 Rogue One film. Diego Luna will once again take on the role of the titular Cassian Andor, with the show set to follow his journey from a thief to a rebel.

Andor arrives on Disney Plus with a three-episode premiere on September 21st. Its first season is supposed to have 12 episodes in total, but we don’t know the release schedule for these episodes just yet.

Lucasfilm also teased its animated series of shorts, Tales of the Jedi, which debuts on Disney Plus on October 23rd. It also announced a January 4th, 2023 release date for the second season of its Clone Wars spinoff, The Bad Batch.

D...

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Here’s how the new AirPods Pro compare to the rest of Apple’s AirPods lineup

The second-gen AirPods (left), second-gen AirPods Pro (middle), and third-gen AirPods (right). | Image: Apple

At its “Far Out” event on Wednesday, Apple introduced a new pair of AirPods Pro alongside the upcoming iPhone 14 lineup and long-rumored Apple Watch Ultra. The second-gen AirPods Pro are set to arrive on September 23rd, bringing with them a new H2 chip that Apple claims should cancel “up to twice as much noise” as its predecessor, as well as swipe-based controls and a number of other features.

This means that, as of this week, the official AirPods lineup consists of the following models: the second-gen AirPods, the third-gen AirPods, the second-gen AirPods Pro, and the AirPods Max. Also, while Apple no longer sells them, you can also still buy the first-gen AirPods Pro from a number of retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, and Target.

T...

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Apple’s latest iPad Mini is $100 off right now at Amazon and Best Buy

The 2021 iPad Mini might be considered the middle child, but it’s still plenty capable. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple’s new iPhone lineup may have grabbed everyone's attention, but our weekend deals post is fixed on everything Apple ignored during its “Far Out” event earlier this week. For starters, Apple’s 64GB iPad Mini with Wi-Fi is currently matching its best price ever at Amazon and Best Buy, where you can pick it up for $399.99 ($100 off). If you need more storage, you can also find the 256GB model with Wi-Fi discounted to $549.99 at Amazon and Best Buy, down from its usual price of $799.99.

The 2021 iPad Mini brings several welcome changes to Apple’s smallest tablet, including a larger screen that ditches the home button and replaces Apple’s Lightning connector with a USB-C port. In addition, the Mini features an 8.3-inch display, 2266 x...

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Google Pixel foldable and a ‘Pro’ tablet hinted at in Android 13 code

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google has just rolled out the first Android 13 quarterly platform release beta, and developers have already uncovered code that hints at a pair of upcoming devices: the rumored Pixel foldable and a new “Pro” tablet (via Android Police).

In a thread on Twitter, developer Kuba Wojciechowski shares screencaps of code that refers to the unfolded and folded states of a device called “Felix.” It mentions the cameras that the device uses as well, which may include a 64-megapixel (MP) Sony IMX787 primary sensor and a 10.8MP Samsung S5K3J1 telephoto lens on the back of the phone. The device could also house an 8MP Sony IMX355 sensor (the same one used by the Pixel 6A) on the inside and another Samsung S5K3J1 around the front.

According to the...

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Brand new iPhone features that Android already has

The always-on display is a great addition to iPhone’s arsenal of features. But it’s not new. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

For some reason, people like to take sides on things that really don’t need to have sides at all. You’re a fan of iPhones? Cool. You’re more comfortable with Android phones? Use it in good health.

But we live in a competitive society, and so the one company that produces iOS-based phones and the myriad brands that make Android-based phones always feel that they need to explain why their product is more spectacular, more flexible, more secure, more fun, and more whatever than the ones powered by the other OS. As a result, whenever a company introduces a feature that’s new to its OS, it proclaims it as innovative, wonderful, and never seen before. Anyone who has attended or watched a product introduction — from Apple, Google, or Samsung —...

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WALL-E is rolling his way into the Criterion Collection

My favorite garbage-bot. | Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge

WALL-E, Pixar’s 2008 masterpiece, is being added to the Criterion Collection, a curated list of movies that are deemed to be “important classic and contemporary films.” Its induction means that the movie is getting a special-edition 4K Blu-ray release, which comes with a bunch of extras.

It’s not the first time the film’s been available in 4K, but — and I’m sorry for being this person — the box art for the Criterion version is just so much better than the standard 4K Blu-ray’s, in my opinion. It may also have a slightly better HDR master (it comes with Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10 Plus versions, vs standard HDR10 for the regular release), and its three-disc set includes things like a student film made by director Andrew Stanton, a d...

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Let me watch TV on the Apple Watch Ultra

A screenshot of a Yankees game in my camera roll. But here’s what the TV experience could look like. | Image: Andrew Marino

Apple introduced the rugged Apple Watch Ultra this week — with a bigger, brighter 49mm screen, an additional hardware button, a bigger battery, and better speakers — made for more extreme outdoor conditions. But I believe the $800 smartwatch can be used another way: to watch TV.

Wait, wait, wait, hear me out; it’s not a new idea. In 1982, Japanese watchmaker Seiko debuted a wristwatch that could receive UHF and VHF channels, albeit the actual receiver was in a huge belt pack you had to connect to the LCD screen on your wrist. The idea never really caught on (besides in the James Bond film Octopussy), but it introduced an exciting and futuristic television experience we still haven’t nailed yet.

Image: Seiko

The...

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EcoFlow Delta Pro battery review: maximum solar power for an uncertain world

Six charging methods with a seventh in the works

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Elon Musk sends yet another notice trying to terminate the Twitter deal

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Elon Musk has sent a third letter to Twitter attempting to terminate his $44 billion acquisition of the company. Musk’s legal team cited Twitter’s multimillion dollar severance payment to former security chief and whistleblower Peiter Zatko as a violation of the merger agreement and a reason to end the deal. The letter, dated September 9th, was sent to Twitter’s chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, and was included in a filing Twitter made with the SEC on Friday (which you can read at the bottom of this article).

Last month, Zatko made headlines by accusing Twitter of misleading investors about the number of bots on the service, failing to delete users’ data, and having poor security practices, among other things. Musk jumped on the...

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Valve now has repair centers that can fix your Steam Deck

If you don’t want to take apart your own Steam Deck, Valve’s new repair centers can do it for you. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

If something’s broken with your Steam Deck and you don’t want to try to fix it yourself, Valve now has a new option for you: you can send your handheld gaming PC to one of the company’s new repair centers to get it fixed.

Repairs for anything that’s covered by the Steam Deck’s warranty (which is one year in the US) will be free, Valve says. If your device is out of warranty, the company will offer to fix it up for a cost. If you don’t want to pay that fee, you can decline the repair and ask to have your Steam Deck sent back.

This out of warranty paid repair service is completely optional, and if you want to repair your Deck yourself (via @iFixit parts and guides, for instance), that's up to you! More details here: h...

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iCloud Shared Photo Library won’t launch with iOS 16

Joining iPadOS in being pushed back | Image: Apple

Apple is delaying the release of iOS 16’s iCloud Shared Photo Library feature, saying it’s “coming later this year” instead of when the mobile operating system refresh launches on September 12th (via AppleInsider). An archived version of the iOS 16 webpage shows the notice about the delay was added sometime this week.

When it does launch, the feature will let you and up to five other people automatically share a collection of photos, with the option of including all the photos in your personal library, photos from after a specific date, or that include specific people.

It’s not particularly unusual for Apple to withhold features from the initial release — last year, iOS 15 launched without SharePlay, Universal Control, and better Find...

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The biggest announcements and trailers from Disney and Marvel’s games showcase

This new game with Captain America and Black Panther doesn’t yet have a name, but I definitely want to play it. | Image: Skydance

Disney just wrapped up its Disney and Marvel Games Showcase at D23, and the event was packed with news and announcements about games from the entertainment company’s many franchises. The show was a lightning-fast deluge of trailers for a wide variety of games, including titles that are out right now, like Disney Dreamlight Valley, and ones that are a bit farther off.

Here’s a rundown of some of the biggest news from the show. And if you want to watch the 23-minute showcase in full, you can catch it on Marvel’s YouTube channel.

Tron Identity is a new visual novel from the maker of Thomas Was Alone

Image: Bithell Games

I didn’t know I wanted a Tron visual novel, but now I REALLY want it.

Disney revealed a...

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Vergecast: iPhone 14 event and our first impressions

iPhone 14 Pro trades the notch for a Dynamic Island | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Every Wednesday and Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where our editors make sense of the week’s most important technology news. On Fridays, 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.

This week, Apple held its annual hardware event at the Steve Jobs Theater, debuting new iPhones, new Apple Watches, and new AirPods Pro. Nilay and David were able to attend the event in person and get a hands-on look at the new products. The crew discussed everything that happened at the event, first impressions of the phones and watches, and their expectations for Apple’s features in...

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Instagram begins testing ‘reposts’

Instagram users would reshare posts onto their feeds. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

If you can believe it, Instagram is testing a new feature that mimics other social networks. TechCrunch reports Instagram confirmed tests of “reposts” to bring someone else’s content onto your own timeline. It’s similar to Twitter’s retweets or the kind of reshares that are common on Tumblr and Facebook and are also in testing on TikTok.

TechCrunch writes the “repost” feature was spotted by Matt Navarra, a social media consultant who posted images in a Twitter thread on Wednesday. However, Alessandro Paluzzi noticed it in development back in May, showing Instagram has been working on it for a while.

This is what the new instagram repost feature intro screen looks like

h/t @alex193a pic.twitter.com/ldOX5PO4Eg

— Matt Navarra...

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Apple’s personalized spatial audio trick is really a Sony idea

Image: Apple

One of the new features of iOS 16, and something that was again highlighted during Apple’s event on Wednesday, is personalized spatial audio. Once you’ve installed the latest iOS release on your iPhone beginning September 12th, you’ll be able to create a custom sound profile that should improve the sense of immersion and overall spatial audio experience you get from AirPods.

To produce this personalized tuning, Apple uses the iPhone’s front-facing TrueDepth camera to scan your ears. The process, which involves holding your iPhone about 10 to 20 centimeters from the side of your head, takes under a minute, and the resulting data is then used to optimize spatial audio for your unique ear shape. “The way we all perceive sound is unique,...

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President Joe Biden speaks after groundbreaking for Intel’s $20 billion semiconductor plant

President Biden speaks in Ohio following the groundbreaking ceremony for Intel’s new $20 billion semiconductor plant. | Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

President Joe Biden traveled to Ohio on Friday to celebrate the groundbreaking of Intel’s new $20 billion semiconductor plant, one of the first domestic chip-making facilities to come out of the recently passed CHIPS and Science Act.

Intel’s Friday groundbreaking ceremony kicked off construction of what the company has called the “largest silicon manufacturing location on the planet.” It’s part of Intel’s plans to invest $100 billion in Ohio over the next 10 years. The company has said that the project could take more than 7,000 workers to build the facility that is expected to house two separate factories and, once finished, employ 3,000 workers.

“We need to make these chips right here in America to bring down everyday costs and create...

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Check out Interview with the Vampire’s newest trailer

Lestat and Louis are the masters but Claudia runs the show. | AMC

On October 2nd, the TV adaptation of Interview with the Vampire will debut on AMC Plus, and it’s got a new trailer. It further highlights the big departures from the source material and features the exquisite torment of the show’s protagonist, vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac.

This is the second trailer for Interview, and it presents a luxurious and sumptuous tale centered on desire, seduction, and, ultimately, betrayal.

In this adaptation, Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) is a Black entrepreneur in 1910s New Orleans. The trailer hops between Louis’ memories of the past and the present day, in which he spills his guts to Daniel Molloy, a journalist played by Eric Bogosian. Louis tells Daniel his tale about being hunted by the...

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Google’s HD Chromecast will probably look a lot like the 4K one

It’s a familiar look. | Image: Tecnoblog

It seems increasingly likely that Google’s going to be announcing a budget Chromecast at its hardware event on October 6th, and Brazilian site Tecnoblog has posted purported pictures of the device, which the publication says showed up in documents from the National Telecommunications Agency. The device looks pretty much identical to the white model of Google’s current Chromecast with Google TV, but leaks from earlier this week suggest it’ll only be able to stream in 1080p instead of 4K and that it’ll be around 40 percent cheaper than the current model (which is normally $50 but is currently on sale in the US for $40).

The images posted by Tecnoblog show the device with a label saying “Model G454V.” That’s the same name that showed up in...

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How to connect Philips Hue with Apple HomeKit

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Controlling smart lighting with your voice is one of the most useful features of a smart home. Saying, “Hey Siri, turn off the lights” from the comfort of your bed or the couch without having to get up or pull out your phone is really a great experience. And, if you have some Philips Hue smart light bulbs and an iPhone, it's really easy to connect them to Apple’s HomeKit smart home platform to put Apple’s Siri voice assistant to work for you.

With this set up you can also sync your smart lighting to other connected devices in your home. This lets you create automations that do things like have your lights turn on and your music start playing in the morning when a motion sensor is triggered or set a Movie Time scene that adjusts your...

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Roblox is ready to grow up

In-game Roblox High School. | Image: Roblox

Roblox rode a wave of pandemic-era growth to a seven-fold value increase, an exploding user base, and a wildly popular Lil Nas X concert with tens of millions of attendees. That success largely all came thanks to Roblox’s core user base of young and highly engaged players.

Now, those kids are getting older, and Roblox is trying to grow up, too. The all-ages, user-generated gaming platform is announcing plans today to add age guidelines to its games and significantly expand its advertising business as it works to court an older demographic, expand its revenue streams, and still support the needs of its millions of young players.

The changes are a major step in how Roblox thinks of its users and how the company approaches advertising....

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Intel reveals the specs of its new Arc graphics cards

Intel slowly reveals what to expect with its Arc graphics cards | Image: Intel

The release date for Intel’s new Arc A-series desktop graphics cards is still unknown, but Intel is sharing the specs of its upcoming GPUs. Unfortunately, just like its processors, the naming conventions for the A-series are somewhat confusing. The short version is that there will eventually be four different cards available aimed at different tiers of gaming or creative applications: the A380, A580, A750, and A770.

The entry-level model, the A380, with its 6GB of GDDR6 memory, 2000MHz clock speed, and 8 processing cores, most closely resembles the Nvidia GTX 1660 Super.

The midtier option, the A580, ups the ante considerably, with 24 processing cores, 8GB of VRAM, and a memory clock speed of 1700MHz. On paper, the A580 most closely...

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Quentin Tarantino settles NFT lawsuit with Miramax

Quentin Tarantino’s NFT page.

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and studio Miramax have settled a lawsuit over non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, based on Pulp Fiction. A new court filing indicates the sides will request to dismiss the suit in the coming weeks, and they offered a joint statement, as reported by Deadline. “The parties have agreed to put this matter behind them and look forward to collaborating with each other on future projects, including possible NFTs,” they said. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Tarantino introduced his NFT lineup last year at the height of NFT mania, promising each one would unlock a “secret” about his 1994 film. Tarantino said the NFTs were linked with media from the screenplay, which he retained rights to, but Miramax sued on...

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Acer’s Vero 514 brings its ‘eco-conscious’ concept to a Chromebook

So green. | Image: Acer

Acer is adding a Chromebook to its Vero lineup, which it says is meant to offer laptop buyers an “eco-conscious” option. Like the (rather disappointing) Windows laptop that came before it, the Chromebook Vero 514 is made using recycled plastics, has a chassis that’s 99 percent recyclable, and comes in packaging that’s 90 percent recycled paper, according to the company. Acer’s press release even suggests that part of the Chromebook’s packaging can be “transformed into a multi-purpose triangular laptop stand,” if you’re loathe to throw anything away.

Before we go over the recyclability, though, let’s quickly go through the specs — it weighs in at just a hair over 3 pounds, which is reasonable for a laptop with a 14-inch screen, and is...

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Call of Duty Next event will showcase the future of the franchise

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | Image: Activision Blizzard

Activision has announced a showcase that it says will reveal the future of the Call of Duty franchise. Dubbed Call of Duty Next, the showcase will take place at 1PM ET on September 15th, broadcast on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

According to the press release, the showcase will focus on the upcoming sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare as well as what it’s calling Warzone 2.0 and the new Warzone mobile experience.

Though it’s the premier jewel in Activision’s crown, Call of Duty has been underperforming lately. Activision Blizzard’s proposal for a $68.7 billion acquisition by Microsoft revealed Call of Duty: Vanguard badly underperformed and did not meet its Q4 expectations. As a result, according to a report by Bloomberg, next...

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LA school district was warned of ransomware threat before recent shutdown

Illustration by Carlo Cadenas / The Verge

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is now slowly moving back to capacity after a ransomware attack launched over Labor Day weekend, which prompted an unprecedented shutdown of computer systems in an attempt to contain the effects of the malicious software. The attack on LAUSD, the second-largest school district in the US, put officials on high alert, with fears over lockouts from school management systems and unauthorized access to student data triggering a response from federal, state, and local partners.

But it’s not the first time LAUSD systems have been exposed to ransomware — and not the first warning the district has received about ransomware. The same systems narrowly avoided being hit with another similar attack in...

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In Apple’s world, you’ll die without its watch

The new Apple Watch Series 8 | Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Wednesday’s Apple event opened with a warning. The video montage at the start of the event highlighted times when people in emergency situations had their lives saved by the Apple Watch. They used it to call 911 and make phone calls. It flagged dangerous heart conditions. Without the watch, they might not have made it out alive. The implication being: without a watch, you might not make it out alive.

Apple has been inching toward that sort of messaging from the very beginning. At the first launch in 2014, Tim Cook called the Apple Watch a health device. In 2018, when Apple introduced the feature that could detect irregular heart rate, Cook called the watch lifesaving. Now, instead of pitching the watch as something that could save a...

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How to uninstall apps from a Chromebook

It’s one of the easiest things you can do on a Chromebook. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Sometimes you download an Android app to your Chromebook and learn that it simply doesn’t work. Other times your storage is full and you need to clear it up. Or maybe one of your favorite apps just got a PWA equivalent and you want that Android version out of your life.

Regardless of the situation, deleting apps from a Chromebook is an essential skill for any ChromeOS user. And it’s easy. Frankly, it’s much less of a pain than it is on Windows.

Here’s how to uninstall apps from a Chromebook.

How to uninstall apps from a Chromebook

• Click the little circle on the bottom-left corner of your screen to pull up the Launcher.
• Right-click the app and select Uninstall.
• A window will pop up prompting you to confirm your choice....

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