Here are the best AirPods deals you can get right now

Apple’s first-gen AirPods Pro are one of our go-to picks and are often on sale. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

If you know where to look, there are often some great discounts available on Apple’s popular — yet oftentimes expensive — AirPods. Since Apple launched the third-gen AirPods last year, we’ve seen the starting price of the second-gen, entry-level model drop from $159 to $129. And now that you can buy the second-gen AirPods Pro, we’ll likely start seeing even better discounts on the last-gen Pro and other models.

If you can’t wait until then, though, fret not: we’re already beginning to see some good discounts ahead of the holiday season and with the arrival of the second-gen AirPods Pro. Below, we’ve curated the best deals currently available on each model, including the entry-level AirPods, the AirPods Pro, the third-gen AirPods, and the...

Continue reading…

Twitter trial is still on, and Elon Musk probably deleted some Signal messages, judge says

Lille Allen / The Verge

The Twitter trial is still on, says Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick in a new legal filing this morning. The judge — who is supervising the bench trial where Twitter is attempting to force Elon Musk to buy the company for $44 billion, as he agreed to do in April — says she has not received any filings for a stay, and so the lawyers should press full-steam ahead.

Musk’s deposition is scheduled for tomorrow. One of the contentious issues in the case is whether Musk has turned over all records in his possession. In particular, Musk’s advocacy for privacy-focused messaging service Signal has led Twitter’s lawyers to suggest there are messages he should have turned over and didn’t.

In McCormick’s letter today, she says she believes Musk did...

Continue reading…

You shouldn’t need multiple apps to control a smartwatch

You’ll need at least the Google Pixel Watch app and the Fitbit app to get the most use out of the forthcoming Pixel Watch. | Image: Google

It’s an unfortunate truth that getting a smartwatch usually means needing multiple apps to control one device. And it looks like the Pixel Watch won’t be an exception. As spotted by Android Police, you can already find the Pixel Watch as an available device in the Fitbit app’s menus. Selecting the Pixel Watch then prompts users to download the Google Pixel Watch app from the Play Store.

So as far as we currently know, you’ll need to download at least two apps to even use the Pixel Watch as intended — regardless of what your preference may be.

Based on other smartwatches, the Google Pixel Watch app will probably be where you futz with settings, select watchfaces, and manage watch apps. Being able to add the Pixel Watch to the Fitbit app...

Continue reading…

The best mechanical keyboards to buy right now

A selection of the keyboards we tested for this guide | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge

Whether it’s wired, wireless, or low profile, here are our picks for the best readily available boards

Continue reading…

Elon’s biggest Twitter free speech question is in the courts, not on the platform

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Back in April, Elon Musk wanted to buy Twitter to save free speech. Now, he’s apparently buying Twitter again, and it’s revived questions about what exactly he meant.

A lot of this attention has focused on Twitter’s moderation policies, particularly whether he’d let people like former President Donald Trump back on the platform. But some of Twitter’s most consistent contributions in that field don’t show up on the platform itself, instead taking place in ongoing court battles over privacy, anonymity, and liability. And just before Musk made his latest offer, Twitter raised the stakes on one of those battles dramatically.

I really don’t know what Elon plans to do with Twitter’s on-site moderation policy. On the one hand, he hates banning...

Continue reading…

Now Instagram’s bringing ads to profiles and the Explore page, too

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Now seems like the worst time to announce that more ads are coming to Instagram considering the backlash the platform has experienced over its increased focus on video content (via TechCrunch). But Instagram’s doing it anyway, which means we’re going to start seeing ads on the Explore tab and in profiles.

We already get ads when scrolling through feeds on the Explore page, but now, Instagram says businesses can put ads on the Explorehomepage as well, which is the grid of photos and videos you land on when first opening the tab. If you’re curious as to what this might look like, Instagram provided an example that shows a large ad taking up a pretty big portion of the Explore grid.

Image: Instagram

Ads could show...

Continue reading…

Google will pay $85M settlement to Arizona to end user-tracking suit

Google will pay an $85 million settlement to the state of Arizona over claims that the company illegally tracked the location of Android device users. | Illustration: The Verge

Google will pay an $85 million settlement to the state of Arizona in order to resolve claims that the company illegally tracked the location of Android device users.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued Google in May 2020, claiming that “dark patterns” (design tactics that can manipulate user behavior) were built into its software on Android phones and apps. The suit argued that Google kept location tracking running in the background to collect advertising data, even after users had turned off location sharing, and made privacy settings to keep location information private needlessly difficult to find. This follows a 2018 report from The Associated Press that found Google tracks users through services like Google maps, weather...

Continue reading…

You can now sign up for Sony’s PlayStation Stars loyalty program in the US

Complete “campaigns” to earn rewards. | Image: Sony

PlayStation Stars, Sony’s new loyalty program for PlayStation customers, is now live in the Americas, including the US. You can sign up for the program for free on the PlayStation Stars website or the PlayStation app as long as you have an adult account for the PlayStation Network. The website warns that you might be put on a waitlist for up to two months, but that wasn’t the case for me when I signed up a few hours ago.

Once you’ve joined Stars, you’ll see a new icon near your profile avatar and name in the leftmost tab of the PlayStation app. Tap that icon to see your level as well as what campaigns and rewards are available and what collectibles you already have.

When I first checked out the program, I could participate in four...

Continue reading…

Seattle hacker gets probation for $250M Capital One data breach

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

A former Amazon employee based in Seattle has been sentenced for her role in a huge data breach that saw Capital One bank pay out more than $250 million to affected customers.

Paige Thompson, known online by her handle “erratic,” was convicted in June for the 2019 hack in which more than 100 million people in the US and Canada had their personal information stolen. On Tuesday, a US District Court in Seattle found Thompson guilty of seven counts of computer and wire fraud — punishable by up to 20 years in prison — but the software engineer received a sentence of time served plus five years of probation, to include computer monitoring.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ), US District Judge Robert S. Lasnik...

Continue reading…

Victrix’s Pro BFG controller for PS5 can transform into a portable fight stick

The Pro BFG is quite a sight to behold. It’s not as easy on the eyes as Sony’s DualSense, but it offers far more features that serious gamers will likely enjoy tinkering with. | Image: PDP

A company beat Sony’s DualSense Edge controller to the quarter-circle punch. PDP’s Victrix sub-brand announced the Pro BFG, a wireless PS5, PS4, and PC (X-Input) controller aimed at fighting game enthusiasts and officially licensed by Sony. The Pro BFG delivers more than just swappable analog sticks and directional pads. The highlight feature is its modular plates that let you remix the layout of the controller. It costs $179.99 to preorder, and it’s launching in December.

The default layout of the Pro BFG is similar to the default PS5 controller, with analog sticks near each other underneath the touchpad. You can keep it that way, or you can use the included hex screwdriver to flip it around so that it’s more like an Xbox-style...

Continue reading…

Vergecast: Kindle Scribe feelings, printer problems, and earbuds on a bike

Image by Jess Weatherbed / 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 Wednesdays, editor-at-large David Pierce leads a selection of The Verge’s expert staffers in an exploration of how gadgets and software affect our lives — and which ones you should bring into your home.

Today’s episode is a true variety show: from a chat with Dave Limp, SVP of devices and services at Amazon, to an investigation into why printers make you feel bad and a field test of the latest wireless earbuds.

David kicks off the show with managing editor Alex Cranz to chat about the new Kindle Scribe, an E Ink tablet with a stylus that you can write with. This is a first...

Continue reading…

‘Maximum amazing’: here’s what we think we know about Elon Musk’s plan for Twitter

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Elon Musk has big plans for Twitter, and they include people paying money to tweet, bots getting the boot, and a social media network that doesn’t care what you say as long as it’s legal.

Continue reading…

Facebook adds ‘show more’ and ‘show less’ controls to adjust what you see on your Feed

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta is rolling out updates to the Facebook Feed that give users additional ways to tell the company what kind of content they want to see.

“Show more” and “show less” buttons will begin appearing below posts from friends and recommended content on users’ news feeds, Meta announced today in a blog post. Clicking the options temporarily increases or decreases how similar content is ranked, resulting in a more fine-tuned feed of content users actually want to see so they spend more time on the platform.

Image: Meta

“Show more” and “show less” buttons will appear below posts and in the three-dot menu.

“By offering more ways to incorporate direct feedback into Feed ranking, we’re making our artificial intelligence...

Continue reading…

Samsung’s latest foldables are matching their lowest price ever

Amazon and Samsung have knocked $100 off the Z Flip 4. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Both of Samsung’s foldable phones are currently matching their best prices ever. Available for $999.99 at launch, the 128GB configuration of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 is currently discounted to $899.99 at Amazon and Samsung — matching its lowest price yet. The unconventional design isn’t for everyone, but the fourth iteration of the Galaxy Z Flip is actually a pretty decent phone with solid battery life that easily compresses into a roughly 3 x 2-inch block that can actually fit in your pocket. The photo capabilities are slightly lacking compared to the Z Fold 4, but the Flip 4 is an excellent choice for something reminiscent of a flip phone. Read our review.

If you’re more about living that big phone life, you might want to check out...

Continue reading…

Gotham Knights brings the Arkham flavor with a new cast of heroes

Image: WB Montreal

The streets have not had a proper Batman: Arkham game since 2015, and Gotham Knights aims to remedy that. I got to try my hand at being a caped crusader in an extensive, hands-on preview event, and if you were aching for another Batman game, clear your schedule because this one seems like a doozy.

In Gotham Knights, instead of playing as the taciturn Batman, you’re given the choice to fight crime as one of his four protégés: Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, or Robin. Each of them comes with their own unique abilities, fighting style, and gadgets, offering a refreshing bit of variety to gameplay or the ability to find what suits you and stick with it. I tried them all, and each character felt suitably different.

WB Montreal...

Continue reading…

Peacock adds 2 million paid subscribers following months-long drought

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Peacock now has a total of 15 million paid subscribers, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said during an interview with CNBC (via Variety). This means the service added 2 million paid subscribers in the third quarter of 2022 alone, as Peacock’s paid subscriber count stayed flat at 13 million during the first half of the year.

Shell says the growth was “driven by content,” citing the end of NBC’s content-sharing deal with Hulu in September, which brought next-day streaming of shows like Saturday Night Live, Law & Order, and One Chicago exclusively to Peacock. Shell also highlights the prevalence of sports on the platform, stating the platform “has the best sports offering of any streaming service” with programs like Sunday Night Football,...

Continue reading…

Watch the Crew-5 mission blast off on a SpaceX rocket

The four members of the SpaceX Crew-5 mission. From left are, Mission Specialist Anna Kikina from Roscosmos; Pilot Josh Cassada and Commander Nicole Aunapu Mann, both from NASA; and Mission Specialist Koichi Wakata from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). | SpaceX

The history-making Crew-5 mission is about to take off today from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX’s Dragon Endurance spacecraft is set to launch with four astronauts on board, two of whom will usher in firsts for space flight.

The crew includes NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada. Mann will make history as the first indigenous woman from NASA to launch into space. She also will be the first female commander of the Dragon crew capsule. Roscosmos’ Anna Kikina will be the first Russian cosmonaut on the SpaceX Crew Dragon. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata will also join the flight.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Seeker by The Verge...

Continue reading…

Corsair’s new keyboard is so thin I almost thought it wasn’t mechanical

Corsair has just released its thinnest gaming keyboard yet: the K100 Air Wireless mechanical gaming keyboard. First announced a month ago without any pricing information in sight, the keyboard finally went on sale this week with a $279.99 price tag, making it the single most expensive keyboard currently listed as part of Corsair’s range. At its thinnest point, it’s just 11mm thick, rising to 17mm at its thickest.

That premium price could have something to do with the keyboard’s mechanical switches, which are Cherry MX Ultra Low Profile tactile switches. Forget the merely low-profile switches that Cherry debuted in 2018 that were 11.9mm thick (compared to 18.5mm for a standard MX switch); these ultra low-profile switches are just 3.5mm...

Continue reading…

Intel Arc A750 and A770 review: new budget PC gaming contenders

Intel’s GPU effort is impressive but early

Continue reading…

Hulu’s Hellraiser is a shock to the system that gets a little lost in its grotesque excess

Jamie Clayton as Pinhead. | Image: Hulu

David Bruckner’s new Hellraiser is a high-fashion nightmare that gets surprisingly preachy and almost too gruesome at times

Continue reading…

Stadia fans are finding ways to use its controller wirelessly with other platforms

Stadia fans are refusing to let its controller die with the streaming service. | Image: Google

Following the recent news that Google is shutting down Stadia in January, fans of the service are finding ways to save its controller from an e-waste fate by connecting it wirelessly to other systems. While the Stadia controller can already be used with PC, Mac, and smartphones via a wired connection, a wireless connection via Bluetooth is currently restricted to the soon-to-be-defunct Stadia platform. That hasn’t stopped fans developing workarounds.

One method involves using an Android device as a transmitter. Last year, YouTube creator LateStageTech demonstrated how his app, Wiredless Pro, lets users connect wired controllers to an Android device, which then sends the signal wirelessly to a PC. Then, this October, YouTuber Benjaninja...

Continue reading…

Tesla ditches ultrasonic sensors from new cars as it bets on camera-only driver assistance

The changes will initially affect the Model Y (pictured) and the Model 3 | Mark Leong for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Tesla has announced it’s phasing out its cars’ use of ultrasonic sensors (USS) to sense objects in the world around them. It’s part of the company’s shift towards its camera-only Tesla Vision driver-assist tech, which stands in contrast to the rest of the industry’s reliance on a mix of LIDAR, radar, and cameras. Electrek reports that the ultrasonic sensors in Tesla’s cars are mainly used for short-range detection to help with parking and collision warnings.

The sensors will initially disappear this month from new Model 3 and Model Y vehicles sold in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Taiwan, before expanding globally, Tesla’s notice reads. It plans to stop including the sensors in Model S and Model X cars next year.

Tesla...

Continue reading…

Behold the fat bezel on the new Pixel Watch

What is that, like 10mm? | Image: Roland Quandt (Twitter)

There have been rumors its bezel would be thick, and this leaked image of Google’s new Pixel Watch has given us our clearest look yet. It looks like it takes up almost 10mm of the case’s rumored 41mm diameter. For the most part, Wear OS 3 does a good job at obscuring the black ring, making it seem like part of the display. But this particular menu makes it very obvious. The image is part of a larger leak fueled by Japanese retailer Joshin and shared by WinFuture’s Roland Quandt on Twitter.

Following its announcement at I/O in May, specs, images, features, and details of the Pixel Watch’s swappable bands have steadily leaked ahead of the wearable’s full reveal at Thursday’s Pixel event. All that’s left for Google to do now is officially...

Continue reading…

The NLRB alleges that Apple “discriminated against employees” trying to unionize

The company may have to attend a hearing in December if it doesn’t settle with workers. | Nick Barclay / The Verge

The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against Apple, alleging that the company “discriminated against employees” at its World Trade Center store, according to Kayla Blado, a spokesperson for the regulator. The NLRB’s investigation was spurred by charges filed in May by the Communications Workers of America, the union working with organizers at Apple retail stores in New York, Atlanta, and Oklahoma. The later store is preparing to hold a vote later this month on whether to become the second US location to unionize.

According to Blado, the NLRB’s complaint alleges that Apple wouldn’t let workers put union fliers on a breakroom table, even though it allowed other solicitations and notices there. She also told The Verge...

Continue reading…

How Twitter employees are reacting to today’s Elon Musk news

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Elon Musk is back, and now he wants to own Twitter again! Delightful.

Today let’s talk about the backdrop against which he made this decision, whether it’s somehow an incredibly elaborate effort to get out of the deal, and what Twitter’s beleaguered employees are saying about it internally.

I.

Did the news come as a surprise? Sure, I suppose. The billionaire Tesla CEO has for months now remained uncharacteristically on message, holding fast to his assertion that the amount of bots and spam on the platform ought to be reason enough for him to abandon his deal. His legal team seemed buoyed by the late-breaking appearance of a whistleblower willing to assert that present-day Twitter poses a threat to national security, and amended its...

Continue reading…

Everything we know about Elon Musk’s messy new Twitter offer

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Elon Musk has changed his mind again: he does want to buy Twitter, actually. This, after months of drama! He signaled his intent in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission — but there’s a catch: Twitter has to drop its lawsuit.

We understand if you have questions about the whole situation; honestly, we do too. So we talked to some legal experts in hopes that would give us at least a fighting chance at providing some answers. Let’s get into it.

First of all, how did we get here?

Sigh. This all started after Musk announced that he purchased a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter in April 2022. Twitter promptly offered Musk a seat on the company’s board of directors, an offer Musk initially accepted before changing his mind about a...

Continue reading…

Amazon gives up on the Glow, its kid-focused video calling device

It’s no longer available on Amazon’s website. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Amazon is discontinuing the Amazon Glow, its video calling / interactive gaming device designed to let families interact remotely with each other, as reported by Bloomberg. The device is already unavailable on Amazon’s website.

“At Amazon we think big, experiment, and invest in new ideas to delight customers,” Amazon spokesperson Tim Gillman said in a statement to The Verge. “We also continually evaluate the progress and potential of our products to deliver customer value, and we regularly make adjustments based on those assessments. We will be sharing updates and guidance with Glow customers soon.” Gillman declined to share further details.

The actual Amazon Glow hardware consisted of a teleconferencing device with a built-in tabletop...

Continue reading…

Blizzard president blames ‘mass DDOS attack’ for keeping you from playing Overwatch 2

Mercy in Overwatch 2_._ | Image: Blizzard

Overwatch 2 launched today — in theory, at least. The game’s servers clicked on this afternoon, but for the last few hours, many people trying to check out its removed 5v5 team shooter action are seeing nothing but this screen.

Image: Richard Lawler

Overwatch 2 “server connection failed...retrying” error screen

At least some of the issues can likely be chalked up to a “mass DDoS attack” targeted at Blizzard’s servers. “Teams are working hard to mitigate/manage,” Blizzard president Mike Ybarra said on Twitter. “This is causing a lot of drop/connection issues.” Ybarra hasn’t shared an estimate for when the problems may be resolved.

Unfortunately we are experiencing a mass DDoS attack on our servers. Teams are...

Continue reading…

Amazon curbs corporate retail hiring for the rest of 2022

Image: The Verge

According to a report by Karen Weise of The New York Times, Amazon is freezing corporate hiring for its retail business for the remainder of 2022 in an effort to hedge its bets against a rough economic forecast.

The hiring freeze includes all corporate and technology positions for Amazon’s retail and operations, which account for the bulk of Amazon sales. However, Amazon’s more profitable cloud computing division won’t be affected. Student hiring and field positions are also exempt from the pause, and Bloomberg notes the warehouse network will not be affected, either.

The announcement comes from an internal memo sent to Amazon recruiters, who were instructed to tell potential candidates that Amazon was not in a hiring freeze and that any...

Continue reading…

Rivian has good news about its EVs and some not-so-good news about its factory plans

Rivian’s positive production report could be overshadowed by a bad court ruling in Georgia. | Image: Rivian

Rivian made over 7,000 electric vehicles over the last three months and reaffirmed its goal to produce 25,000 vehicles by the end of the year. It was a sign that the company is continuing to rise above its early stumbles as it seeks to dominate the EV market with its beautifully designed emissions-free, adventure-themed trucks and SUVs.

The positive production report came on the heels of a less-than-positive update about the buzzy EV startup’s plans to build a $5 billion factory in Georgia. A judge ruled last week that the state’s economic development authority failed to justify the use of taxpayer-funded money to subsidize the project, throwing the whole project into question.

A judge blocked a $1.5 billion tax subsidy plan for Rivian

...

Continue reading…