EA announces kernel-level anti-cheat system for PC games

EA’s new anti-cheat arrives in FIFA 23 first. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Electronics Arts (EA) is launching a new kernel-level anti-cheat system for its PC games. The EA AntiCheat (EAAC) will debut first in FIFA 23 later this fall and is a custom anti-cheat system developed in-house by EA developers. It’s designed to protect EA games from tampering and cheaters, and EA says it won’t add anti-cheat to every game and treat its implementation on a case-by-case basis.

“PC cheat developers have increasingly moved into the kernel, so we need to have kernel-mode protections to ensure fair play and tackle PC cheat developers on an even playing field,” explains Elise Murphy, senior director of game security and anti-cheat at EA. “As tech-inclined video gamers ourselves, it is important to us to make sure that any...

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla emails are for his eyes only

It’s good to be Technoking. | Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

At SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk has “unrestricted” use of his email accounts for personal stuff, and “no one” at Tesla can get ahold of his emails without his express consent except “to the extent legally necessary.” At SpaceX, absolutely nobody can access Musk’s emails without his permission. This is not true for other employees at SpaceX and Tesla, where company policies make it clear the rank and file have no expectation of privacy. It’s good to be Technoking, I guess.

This came up because Twitter, which is suing Musk for abandoning his joke takeover bid for the company, has been trying to compel Musk to hand over his emails. But Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, the judge overseeing the case, ruled that because of Musk’s special...

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We’re careening into ‘uncharted territory of destruction,’ WMO climate report says

This aerial photograph taken on September 5th, 2022, shows flooded residential areas after heavy monsoon rains in Dera Allah Yar, Balochistan province in Pakistan, following months of record monsoon rains. | Photo by FIDA HUSSAIN / AFP via Getty Images

“The science is unequivocal: we are going in the wrong direction” when it comes to addressing climate change, a new report from theWorld Meteorological Organization says. This year’s planet-heating pollution has risen above pre-pandemic levels.

All over the world, people are already facing dire consequences from the 1.2 degrees of global warming human activity has caused since the industrial revolution. “Heatwaves in Europe. Colossal floods in Pakistan. Prolonged and severe droughts in China, the Horn of Africa and the United States. They are the price of humanity’s fossil fuel addiction,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a press release and accompanying video today.

“There is nothing natural about the new scale of these...

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The best deals on true wireless earbuds right now

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

When it comes to true wireless earbuds, there are a ton of brands and products to choose from. Whether you need something with noise cancellation for your daily commute like the Apple AirPods Pro or a fitness-focused pair like the Beats Powerbeats Pro, there’s now a pair of wireless earbuds well suited for nearly every occasion. Some, like the UE Fits, even conform to the shape of your ear to provide a secure fit that’s uniquely yours.

Regardless of the brand or model that speaks to you, however, we’ve scoured the internet to find the best deals currently available on true wireless earbuds. Of course, if you’re still trying to find the right make and model for you, make sure to check out our guide to the best wireless earbuds, which...

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Facebook and Messenger take a hint from Discord for new Community Chats

A Facebook Group called “Women Who Surf” has multiple new Community Chats for instant engagement with its members. | Image: Meta

Facebook is expanding access to a feature that allows group organizers to create curated live Messenger chat groups. It’s called Community Chats, and it’ll allow you to browse chats organized by announcements, topics, events, and more to connect with group members beyond just feed posts and comments.

Previewed earlier this year as “Community chat channels” in a larger Discord-like rethinking of Facebook Groups and Messenger group chats, the new Community Chats also resemble a casual version of workplace community platforms like Slack, Teams, and Zoom’s upcoming Team Chat. Finding inspiration in other apps is nothing new for Meta, even though progress on challenging TikTok with similar features in Instagram Reels has been unsteady.

The...

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Patreon is laying off 17 percent of its workforce and closing offices

Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Patreon is laying off 80 people, around 17 percent of its workforce, and closing offices in Dublin and Berlin. A post from CEO and co-founder Jack Conte says that the cuts are happening because the company is changing its plans after trying to rapidly grow during the pandemic. It’s reducing the size of its teams in charge of “operations, recruiting, and other internal support functions” as well as its budget for sales and marketing.

The layoffs are hitting Patreon’s go-to-market, operations, finance, and people teams. Workers in the US will receive three months’ severance pay as well as two extra weeks per half year of tenure they have beyond their first year at the company. European workers get a similar deal, with three months of...

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The Verge Partners with Chicago Humanities Festival for a Series of Conversations about Social Media

On November 12, 2022, The Verge will join the Chicago Humanities Festival for a full day of exploring how big tech impacts the public in a series of conversations called “The Social Mind.” The day will end with an interactive afterparty with video games provided by Bit Bash.

The series begins with David Pierce (editor-at-large at The Verge) sitting down with New York Times investigative reporter and author of The Chaos Machine Max Fisher to talk about how Social Media has rewired our brains. Next up, The Verge deputy editor Alex Heath will host a discussion about the future of the feed and how the algorithms that control what we see online impact our real world. The final conversation will explore how social media is affecting the...

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Viral internet documentary series Channel 5 is getting the HBO treatment

Andrew Callaghan is the host of Channel 5 videos. | Image: Channel 5

Internet documentary series Channel 5 has taken viewers to gross pick-up artist conventions, Miami Beach during spring break, and Ukraine shortly after Russia’s invasion of the country.

Now, it’s clear the popular show has gotten the attention of the film industry and executives at more established entities. HBO has acquired Channel 5’s dispatch from the January 6th insurrection, Variety reports, and A24 is producing the documentary. Andrew Callaghan, who’s fashioned himself as a gonzo journalist-type figure while hosting the Channel 5 videos, will serve as director and executive producer of the documentary, along with Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim of Tim & Eric. The film will follow Callaghan’s “wild RV journey through America in the...

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Hot Pod Summit is back at On Air LA Annex 2022!

Image: The Verge

The Verge is pleased to announce that Hot Pod Summit — our invite-only event for creators and leaders in the audio industry — is returning on November 3rd, 2022, at KCRW in Los Angeles. The day-long event will be hosted by Hot Pod lead writer Ariel Shapiro and will feature a rich lineup of programming on the most essential topics of the day in audio, including the booming relationship between podcasts and Hollywood.

If you’re not a subscriber of Hot Pod, what are you waiting for? Sign up now to stay ahead of the curve on the future of audio with industry-leading analysis, exclusive reporting, and more.

We’re proud to partner once again with the amazing team at work x work to produce the event. Hot Pod Summit is part of work x work’s On...

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Here are the biggest announcements from Nintendo’s latest Direct

Goldeneye 007 is coming to the Switch. | Image: Rare

As expected, Nintendo pulled out all the stops for its fall Direct showcase with several Twitter-shattering announcements stuffed between smaller but no less exciting news. As is usually the case, it didn’t announce everything that fans might have been expecting (ahem, any sign of life for Metroid Prime 4 or a remastered Prime trilogy), but it was a decent showing. Here are the best announcements and trailers from Direct.

The sequel to Breath of the Wild has a name

The latest game in The Legend of Zelda franchise will be subtitled Tears of the Kingdom. Nintendo continues to deliver the briefest yet tantalizing trailers for this game. My colleague Jay Peters covered the news, trying to figure out what to make of what little was shown of T...

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Twitter shareholders approve $44 billion Elon Musk buyout

The Twitter logo. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter’s shareholders have voted to approve a proposed $44 billion acquisition by Elon Musk.

Reports yesterday suggested that a wide margin of approval was expected for the vote, with the required majority reportedly locked before the Tuesday meeting. On a call, Twitter confirmed that a preliminary count shows it has enough votes to approve the deal.

Musk proposed a buyout of Twitter in April. Twitter has encouraged investors to accept it since then, even as Musk has filed numerous requests to terminate the agreement. Today’s vote lets Twitter continue with a lawsuit intended to make Musk close the acquisition.

The approval means that Musk and Twitter will proceed to an October trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery. Musk is set to...

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Meghan Markle paused her podcast to mourn the queen, but it’s still a huge hit

Photo by Chris Jackson - WPA Pool / Getty Images

We’ve got a lot on the docket, so I’ll keep it brief. Today: Meghan Markle takes a break from her hit podcast during the royal mourning period, Brookings breaks down the political podcast ecosystem, and some exciting announcements about our upcoming Hot Pod Summit in LA.

Hot Pod Summit LA will feature guests from Spotify, Crooked Media, Team Coco, and more

Hot Pod Summit in LA is less than two months away, and we’ve been putting together a killer lineup. I am really excited about who we have so far, and I hope you will be, too! Summit headliners include:

• Pod Save America host and Crooked Media founder Tommy Vietor
• Spotify’s head of talk studios, Julie McNamara
• Pushkin Industries’ head of TV and film development, Meghna Rao
• A trio...

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Join The Verge at the 2022 Chicago Humanities Festival!

Illustration by Emmett Mottl

We’re excited to announce that The Verge is partnering with the Chicago Humanities Festival for a series of live conversations about the future of social media and how it affects human life. The Verge sessions will take place Saturday, November 12th, at the Steppenwolf theater in Chicago, starting at 2:30PM CT. Then, after the sessions, we’re gathering with attendees to party as the Steppenwolf is transformed by indie gaming collective Bit Bash. It’s going to be a blast.

Our three sessions will include a variety of talks between Verge hosts and experts on some of the most pressing issues in the tech industry. Max Fisher, New York Times investigative reporter and author of The Chaos Machine, will join Verge editor-at-large David Pierce to...

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All the news from Nintendo’s September 2022 Direct

I can’t wait to fly on this stone bird thing in 2023. | Image: Nintendo

There was news about Zelda, Pikmin, Fire Emblem, and more

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There’s a hidden feature in iOS 16 that lets you see only your unread messages

iOS 16 brings lots of features to new and old devices — some more obvious than others. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

If you update your iPhone to iOS 16 this week, you’re going to want to spend a few minutes tweaking your settings. You definitely want to turn on haptic feedback for the keyboard, you might want the battery percentage back in your status bar, and it’s a good idea to spend some time playing around with your Focus modes.

But there’s one setting that’s so useful, and so hidden, that I missed it entirely in my review of iOS 16. (Thanks to everyone who let me know!) It’s called Filter Unknown Senders. If you toggle Filter Unknown Senders on — go to Settings, Messages, and scroll down almost to the bottom to find it — you can now filter your Messages app to show you only the unread threads.

The feature’s been around for a couple of years, and...

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Twitter ‘lacked the ability to hunt for foreign intelligence agents,’ says whistleblower

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter’s lack of internal security controls was such that the company was simply unable to detect agents of foreign intelligence services who had infiltrated the company, former security chief Peiter ‘Mudge’ Zatko says.

Zatko made the claims in testimony given to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, in a hearing on Twitter’s data security practices.

Opening questions from Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) quickly homed in on claims that Twitter faced numerous insider threats, including from employees of the Indian government. Zatko said that the Indian government was not the only national government to embed agents within the company. At least one Chinese spy was employed by Twitter, Zatko said, but the full...

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Hunter Douglas’ new smart shades platform will work with Matter

Hunter Douglas’ new smart shades and blinds will work with the new smart home standard Matter. | Image: Hunter Douglas

Smart shades are a great addition to a smart home; they play well with smart lighting to automatically keep your home bathed in sunlight during the day and warm and cozy at night. But they are expensive, and many manufacturers require pricey, proprietary bridges or hubs to add automation to their window coverings.

With the launch of its new PowerView Gen 3 Automation platform earlier this year, custom shades manufacturer Hunter Douglas made the barrier to entry a little lower by ditching its proprietary hub and switching its entire platform over to Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). This week, it also confirmed the new platform will support Matter, the new smart home interoperability standard. “Matter is definitely something that we plan on...

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And the Emmy goes to...

Lee Jung-jae (left) and Squid Game director Hwang Dong-hyuk (right) posing with their Emmys. | FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

Despite HBO being in a chaotic state of flux as of late, the premium cable channel dominated at this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards — an evening packed with wins that were expected and a handful of speeches that were truly moving.

Mike White’s The White Lotus paved HBO’s way to dominance with a total of 10 wins at this year’s Emmys, including awards to White specifically for directing and limited-series supporting acting awards to Jennifer Coolidge and Murray Bartlett. While The White Lotus brought the statue for Outstanding Limited Series home for HBO and Succession won best drama, Euphoria’s second season emerged as a heavy hitter for the network with six wins, including a best actress in a drama award for Zendaya. Hacks also cleaned up...

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Everyone knows what YouTube is — few know how it really works

Photo illustration by Will Joel / The Verge

Mark Bergen takes us inside the black box

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Proton and DuckDuckGo want Congress to approve tech antitrust reform ‘as soon as possible’

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has yet to call a vote on the American Innovation and Choice Online Act. | Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

More than a dozen smaller tech companies, including Proton and DuckDuckGo are urging lawmakers to pass comprehensive antitrust legislation “as soon as possible.” For them, passing the bill would kill two birds with one stone, allowing lawmakers to address anti-competitive conduct and privacy failures in one go.

In a letter to top congressional leaders on Tuesday, executives from a dozen smaller tech companies called on lawmakers to pass the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, or AICO, a sweeping competition bill that would restrict dominant platforms like Google and Amazon from favoring their own services over those of their competitors. The bill would also provide new funding for antitrust regulators at the Justice Department...

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Honda will introduce at least 10 fully electric motorcycles by 2025

Honda wants its motorcycle business to be carbon neutral by 2040. | Image: Honda

Honda, one of the biggest names in motorcycles, announced that it will release at least 10 new electric models globally within the next three years as part of a larger strategy to become carbon neutral by 2040.

The manufacturer didn’t release any details about specific models but said the aim was to reach annual sales of 1 million units within the next five years and 3.5 million units (approximately 15 percent of total sales) as of 2030.

Honda is considered to be the biggest motorcycle company in the world, having sold over 300 million motorcycles since its inception. That said, shifting to electric powertrains will be no small task.

Honda is considered to be the biggest motorcycle company in the world

The move to electric may mean...

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These working prototypes reveal the Steam Deck’s evolution

A line of Steam Deck prototypes displaying the evolutionary journey of the Valve handheld gaming PC. | Image: Pierre-Loup Griffais

A collection of playable Steam Deck prototypes surface as part of a launch event for the gaming handheld in Asia, documenting how the design has evolved since mid-2019. Snaps of various models documenting the evolution of the handheld were shared on Twitter by Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais, a member of the Steam Deck team, following the portable PCs appearance at the Tokyo Game Show (alongside an additional not-so-portable replica).

While most of the units are visually similar, all featuring dual thumbsticks and sloping front edges, for example, there are some notable differences between them. One model seen in the middle of the lineup has attracted attention thanks to its clean design and circular trackpads, reminiscent of those featured...

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The Verge Launches an Ambitious New Site

Today, The Verge’s co-founder and editor-in-chief Nilay Patel and publisher Helen Havlak unveiled an ambitious new site and design for the 10-year-old technology brand. The Verge is a destination that has sustained a loyal and robust community since its founding, and with its new site, the brand will build for the next 10 years by investing in a direct relationship with its audience. Building on a homepage that’s one of the most-visited daily destinations in technology coverage, The Verge’s new homepage will introduce the Storystream news feed, a new Twitter-like feature that will offer readers a comprehensive, curated rundown of the most important tech stories of the day — featuring expert commentary by Verge journalists; links to the...

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Pikmin 4 is coming in 2023

Image: Nintendo

Nintendo revealed that a new entry in the Pikmin series, Pikmin 4, will be released in 2023.

In a brief trailer, Nintendo showed off a lush environment of a kind that should be familiar to Pikmin fans — it seems you’ll still be playing as a tiny character controlling even tinier Pikmin. (At one point, a bench looms over the camera. It’s comparatively giant.)

While the trailer didn’t show any actual gameplay — just a few Bulborbs running around — Nintendo icon Shigeru Miyamoto did discuss some elements of the game we can look forward to. You’ll be able to play “from the Pikmin’s perspective near the ground,” he said. And Nintendo has made controlling the game simpler to make it easier to concentrate on the core gameplay. “We call it...

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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to Breath of the Wild

Nintendo finally revealed the name and launch date for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s sequel: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. In a trailer, Nintendo revealed the new name and the game’s May 12th, 2023 release date for the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo didn’t show a lot of specifics about what we can expect in the new trailer, but we did get to see some more action shots of Link in the game. We got a further look at a new Sheikah Slate power that appears to reverse time — Link climbs on top of a rock that begins to fall upwards. Like in a previous trailer, Link takes a few great leaps into the sky, but in one shot, he lands on a new bird-shaped glider of some kind. And there is a brief moment of Link climbing on his own,...

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Sony announces development of its first over-the-counter hearing aid for the US

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge

A ruling from the FDA that allows over-the-counter sales of hearing aids is widely expected to make the devices easier to obtain and (hopefully) more affordable for consumers. And now, one of tech’s most influential companies, Sony, has confirmed plans to enter the OTC hearing aid market in the United States. Its first such product is already in development.

According to a press release issued this morning, Sony has formed a partnership with Denmark’s WS Audiology to co-develop hearing aid devices. “Sony and WSA will combine their respective technological and medical expertise to create solutions that will shape this new field,” the companies said. WS Audiology’s website says the company sells 5.5 million hearing aids annually.

“Toward...

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Samsung’s new Z Flip and Z Fold phones just got their first discount

Samsung’s fourth-generation foldables are already getting a discount. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Following Apple’s “Far Out” event, where it had an impressive showing with the iPhone 14 Pro and a bunch of other gadgets, Samsung is countering with a strong right hook, offering the first-ever (and best) discounts on its fourth-generation foldable phones. Available for $999.99 at launch, the 128GB configuration of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 is currently discounted to $899.99 at Amazon.

The larger Z Fold 4 has also received a significant discount, lowering the $1,799.99 launch price of the 256GB model to $1,599.99. You can also find the 512GB configuration discounted to $1,719.99, down from its usual $1,919.99.

It may still be a little gimmicky, but the fourth iteration of the Galaxy Z Flip is actually a pretty decent phone with solid...

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GoldenEye 007 is finally coming to Xbox and Nintendo Switch

GoldeEye 007 is back. | Image: Rare

GoldenEye 007 is finally coming to Nintendo Switch and Xbox. Nintendo announced today that Rare is releasing GoldenEye 007 HD on Nintendo Switch and Xbox soon as a remaster of the legendary Nintendo 64 title that first launched in 1997.

The remastered game includes 4K resolution, smoother frame rates, and even split-screen local multiplayer. Rare says it will even arrive on Xbox Game Pass and Nintendo Switch Online. Nintendo is also adding Pokémon Stadium, Mario Party, Pilotwings 64, 1080° Snowboarding, and Excitebike 64 to Nintendo Switch Online. There is no announced date for the GoldenEye 007 release just yet.

It’s been a long time coming after an HD remaster was supposed to launch on Xbox 360 in 2008, but licensing and rights issues...

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The sound of your voice might diagnose diseases

Voice could be a way to detect disease. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Researchers are building a database of human voices that they’ll use to develop AI-based tools that could eventually diagnose serious diseases; they’re targeting everything from Alzheimer’s to cancer. The National Institutes of Health-funded project, announced Tuesday, is an effort to turn the human voice into something that could be used as a biomarker for disease, like blood or temperature.

“What’s beautiful about voice data is that it’s probably one of the cheapest types of data that you can collect from people,” says Olivier Elemento, a professor at the Institute for Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and one of the lead investigators on the project. “It’s a very accessible type of information you could access from...

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Fire Emblem Engage is the next entry in Nintendo’s brilliant strategy franchise

Nintendo

Nintendo announced Fire Emblem Engage during its latest Direct showcase. The new strategy-based game will release for the Nintendo Switch on January 20th, 2023. It doesn’t seem to be a direct follow-up to Fire Emblem: Three Houses, though Nintendo is capitalizing on its popularity with an adventure that shares some similarities, including lots of battles and a free-roam mode to visit NPCs and buy new gear.

It was a little tough to parse from the trailer, but the big feature in Fire Emblem Engage’s battle system seems to be the ability to equip gear that gives you the strength of past characters from the franchise’s history, which should provide some fan service for those who enjoy seeing more of its iconic characters, like Marth.

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