Subjecting workers to webcam monitoring violates privacy, Dutch court rules

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A Florida-headquartered company has been ordered to pay about €75,000 (around $73,000) in compensation and other fees after firing a Netherlands-based remote worker who refused to keep their webcam on all day, NL Times reports. The company, Chetu, said the unnamed employee was required to attend a virtual classroom with their webcam turned on for the entire day and their screen remotely monitored.

But when the employee refused, saying that leaving their webcam on for “9 hours a day” made them feel uncomfortable and was an invasion of their privacy, the company dismissed them, citing “refusal to work” and “insubordination.”

The court ruled that the reasons for dismissal were not valid

In a decision published last week, the court ruled...

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Upcoming Call of Duty has annoying phone number verification requirement

Modern Warfare II releases October 28th. | Image: Activision Blizzard

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II will require players to register with a phone number on Battle.net to play the game, in order to make players responsible for their actions. The game is set for release later this month on October 28th.

It’s a repeat of the practice that caused issues for Overwatch 2 players last week, PCGamer reports. A Battle.net support page lists the upcoming CoD shooter as one of its three games that “require that you add a phone number to your Battle.net account” to play, alongside Overwatch 2 and 2019’s Modern Warfare.

The phone verification system, which Activision Blizzard calls SMS Protect, is meant to cut down on toxic behavior from players, preventing them from creating endless new accounts to evade bans or...

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Google’s getting rid of its standalone Driving Mode dashboard

Image: Google

Google’s shutting down Driving Mode, its standalone Assistant-powered dashboard that offers quick access to audio controls, contacts, navigation, and other shortcuts while you’re on the road, according to a report from 9to5Google. The feature, which Google first announced at I / O in 2019, wasn’t officially launched until last year, but now Google’s sunsetting it on November 21st.

The standalone version of Driving Mode isn’t to be confused with the Driving Mode feature built into Google Maps, which automatically boots up once you start navigation. As Esper’s Mishaal Rahman points out, Google added Assistant Driving Mode to Maps before it even released the standalone Driving Mode.

The only difference between the two is that you can access...

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Twitter locks Kanye West out of his account following anti-Semitic post

Ye’s Twitter account is locked after he violated that platform’s policies. | Photo by Edward Berthelot/GC Images

Twitter confirmed that it locked Kanye West, who now goes by “Ye,” out of his account after he posted an anti-Semitic tweet on Saturday (via BuzzFeed News). “The account in question has been locked due to a violation of Twitter’s policies,” Twitter spokesperson Katie Rosborough said in a statement to The Verge.

Twitter has since removed Ye’s tweet, but several users screenshotted the post before Twitter took it down. “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” Ye wrote. “The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”

Twelve hours between these tweets. p...

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The iPhone 14 keeps calling 911 on rollercoasters

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The iPhone 14’s new Crash Detection feature, which is supposed to alert authorities when it detects you’ve been in a car accident, has an unexpected side effect: it dials 911 on rollercoasters. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the feature has had law enforcement sent to amusement parks on numerous occasions after mistaking a thrill ride’s twists, turns, and hard braking for a real emergency.

Apple rolled out Crash Detection with its new iPhone 14, Watch Series 8, SE, and Ultra last month, equipping the devices with a gyroscopic sensor and high-g accelerometer trained on the impact experienced with simulated car crashes. If the sensors detect that you’ve been in an accident, your iPhone will display an alert and call...

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Apple could bring USB-C to AirPods and Mac accessories by 2024

The second-gen AirPods Pro charging case. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Apple’s preparing to adopt USB-C charging across its line of AirPods and Mac accessories within the next couple of years, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The purported shift away from Lightning comes as the European Union looks to mandate USB-C charging on new smartphones, tablets, and headphones released in the region in late 2024. While the legislation still hasn’t yet been signed into law, it received approval from the European Parliament last week.

To comply with the upcoming rules, Gurman believes Apple might bring USB-C to the next-gen AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods by 2024, while Mac accessories, including the Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad could make the switch to USB-C as soon as next...

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The PC market needs another reinvention — is Microsoft’s Surface up for it again?

The future of PCs looks like the Surface Pro X, and Microsoft had better make it work. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

It’s easy to forget now, but Microsoft’s first Surface was a huge risk. By diving into the PC market, Microsoft was competing with its Windows partners. By combining laptop and tablet, it was trying to create an entirely new device category. And by designing new software for Arm-powered Windows computers, it was betting that the mobile era would change the way laptops work and the way people use them.

Microsoft didn’t get it all right, and it took a couple of years for the Surface line to really hit its stride. But a decade in, you can’t argue with the results: the Surface worked. Not only did the whole “attach a keyboard to your tablet and now it’s a laptop” idea become commonplace around the industry, but Surface also became a big...

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DC Universe Infinite launches Ultra tier so you can read new comics sooner

Image: Ivan Reis / DC Comics

DC’s adding a new Ultra tier to its Universe Infinite comic book subscription service that lets you digitally read comics just one month after they hit store shelves (via Gizmodo). The new tier launches on Monday at an introductory price of $99 / year, but this price only lasts until November 28th and DC doesn't specify how much it will cost after that.

Currently, users have to wait six months after a new comic hits DC Universe Infinite. While the new tier could make the service more attractive to diehard comic book fans, it’s considerably more expensive than the $74.99 / year or $7.99 / month standard subscription option.

In addition to a shorter launch window, DC’s throwing in 5,000 exclusive titles from Vertigo, DC Black Label, and...

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Star Trek: Picard's latest teaser reveals some unexpected comebacks

Image: Paramount Plus

Star Trek showed off the latest trailer for the final season of Picard at the New York Comic Con on Saturday, revealing some unexpected reappearances by legacy characters: hologram James Moriarty (Daniel Davis) and Data’s evil counterpart, Lore (Brent Spiner).

The trailer opens with Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) receiving a distress signal from Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), prompting him to band together with old friends from The Next Generation, including William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Geordi La Forge (Levar Burton), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Worf (Michael Dorn). At the heart of the trouble is Vadic, a villain who appears to be played by Pulp Fiction’s Amanda Plummer.

Things get even more exciting at the very...

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Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable hit modern consoles in January

Image: Atlus

The Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable re-releases are scheduled to launch on January 19th, 2023, Persona developer Atlusannounced on Twitter. The two JRPGs will arrive on the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PS5 (via backward compatibility).

While Persona 3 Portable’s making its way to Steam for the first time, Persona 4 Golden has been available on the marketplace since 2020 and became a verified Steam Deck title earlier this year. We first heard that Persona 4 Golden, Persona 3 Portable, and Persona 5 Royal were coming to other platforms back in June.

Special Announcement!

Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden release for modern platforms on January 19, 2023! #P3P #P4G p...

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You can get the Google Pixel Buds Pro for their lowest price ever at Wellbots

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

While everyone is distracted by the recent announcement of the Google Pixel 7 lineup and the Pixel Watch, Wellbots has quietly provided The Verge Deals with an exclusive discount on the charcoal, fog, and lemongrass colorways of the Google Pixel Buds Pro. Normally $199.99, you can grab a pair of the delicious-looking earbuds for just $159.99 when you use the code VERGE40 at checkout — the best price yet. The Pixel Buds Pro are a massive improvement over the standard Pixel Buds, thanks to their enhanced reliability, multipoint Bluetooth support, and improved battery life. While the mic quality could be better and it lacks support for lossless audio, the Pixel Buds Pro remain an excellent choice for noise-canceling earbuds at this price...

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Samsung and AMD’s profit slump suggests industry trouble for chipmakers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The downturn in the chip industry started in the summer months, as crypto crashes caused blockchain miners to flood the market with previously hard-to-find graphics cards. Almost overnight, demand eased up and caused graphics hardware prices to drop by almost half. Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang admitted in August that the company made too many graphics cards that now it has to sell them for less money. But Nvidia isn’t alone in this mess.

Just last year, the only story about chips was that manufacturers couldn’t make enough of them to meet the strong demand for consumer electronics, cars, and other products that require semiconductors. But even as shortages continue for certain types of semiconductors, the story is becoming more nuanced,...

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Fitbit Sense 2 review: it doesn’t make much sense

The fitness tracker has industry-leading stress tracking, but pour one out for the future of Fitbit smartwatches

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Rivian recalls 13,000 EVs over loose fastener that could affect steering

The Rivian R1S is just one of the vehicles affected by the recall. | Photo by Nilay Patel / The Verge

Rivian’s recalling about 13,000 electric vehicles (EVs) over a loose fastener that could affect drivers’ ability to control the car (via CNBC). The recall affects nearly every vehicle Rivian has produced this year, and spans the carmaker’s entire lineup, covering certain 2022 R1T pickup trucks, R1S SUVs, as well as the electric delivery vans (EDVs) it's building for Amazon. Rivian produced a total of 14,317 vehicles in the first three quarters of 2022 and delivered over 12,000.

According to a notice filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the fastener connecting the front upper control arm and steering knuckle may not have been “sufficiently torqued.” This could potentially result in separation, “causing a...

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Blizzard will be taking Overwatch 2 offline again

The downtime will begin at about 9PM ET. | Image: Blizzard

Blizzard will be taking the Overwatch 2 servers offline once again to fix more of the issues that have cropped up during the game’s rocky launch. The company plans to shut the game down at about 9PM ET (6PM PT), and expects the downtime to last for an hour. This downtime will be the third in two days, as Blizzard had to take the game offline twice on Thursday.

Blizzard detailed the fixes in the works and some updates on a few of the bigger issues in a post on its forums. In Friday evening’s downtime, Blizzard plans to fix Watchpoint Packs not appearing as available for players who preordered them, and to address the LC-208 error that is preventing some players from logging in.

In Friday’s post, Blizzard confirmed that the change to its...

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Overwatch 2’s new animated short is a new introduction to Kiriko

Blizzard

Though Kiriko launched along with Overwatch 2 earlier this week, today, at the Twitch Con opening ceremonies, Blizzard debuted a nine-minute cinematic to introduce her properly.

Overwatch animated shorts are experiences unto themselves. The game’s cinematics team is uniquely skilled, knowing exactly what levers to pull and buttons to hit for maximum emotional devastation. I remember sobbing watching Bastion experience PTSD in his cinematic and cheering for Mei as she slogged through the snow in “Rise and Shine.” To celebrate the launch of Overwatch 2, Blizzard released an “Unleash Hope” video, splicing hype Overwatch moments between clips of human achievement and art over a message of hope and love. Exploiting emotion like that is...

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Meta’s making it easier to report bugs in its Horizon VR app

Reporting an issue is as easy as A, B, X, and Y. | Image: Meta

Meta has updated Horizon Worlds, its main virtual reality / “metaverse” app, to make it easier to report bugs. If you see something going wrong while using the app, you can now press and hold the A, B, X, and Y buttons on your controllers to bring up the “report a problem” window, where you can also attach a screenshot showing what went wrong.

If the experience seems familiar, it may be because it’s been in testing for a while; according to Meta spokesperson Kelsi Horn, there were early tests available to “a subset of creators” as far back as April 2021. Since then, according to Horn, Meta has improved the UI and is now rolling it out to everyone. Horn added that “bugs reported through this tool are individually triaged by members of the...

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The best laptop deals you can get right now

The MacBook Air equipped with Apple’s M1 processor is our favorite affordable laptop and is often on sale. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

If you want a great laptop, you’re going to have to fork over a ton of money, right? Not necessarily. There are dozens of good laptops on the market at various price points. While it can feel overwhelming to find the right one for your needs (some are better suited for, say, college students, whereas others are ideal for gamers), that’s why we’ve come up with this list of some of the best laptop deals available right now.

In addition to the latest deals, we’ll share each discounted model’s best features (and downsides) to give you more clarity during your shopping journey. And if you need to do more research, you can also check out our guides to the best laptops on the market and the top cheap laptops as well.

Also, one last thing: the...

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Microsoft’s fall event 2022: all the news from the online Surface event

Microsoft’s invitation for the Fall Event 2022 shows writing that looks to have come from Surface pen. | Image: Microsoft

Will we get new Surface Laptops and an Arm-based Pro 9? All will be revealed on Wednesday, October 12, at 10AM ET

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‘Vote for Holly!’ Meet the cheerleaders of Fat Bear Week

Brown bear (Ursus arctos) or grizzly at Brooks Lake with people on an observation platform in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska, USA. | Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler / LightRocket via Getty Images

Christy NaMee Eriksen discovered Fat Bear Week during her “Summer of Bears.”

There were bear sightings in her neighborhood in Juneau, Alaska, that summer of 2020, including one that took some chocolate from her garage. She didn’t mind. In March, she had lost her father, “who was a very larger-than-life kind of guy,” she says. The bear, in a way, reminded her of her dad. “So I start calling him Pop because he was just always around,” Eriksen tells The Verge. Later that year, she adopted a dog who happened to be named Bear.

“It felt like a poetic invitation”

“And then I came across Fat Bear Week, and I was like, ‘It is my summer of bears’ … it felt like a poetic invitation,” says Eriksen, a writer. Currently, she’s also a “Fat Bear Week...

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What to expect from the Microsoft Surface launch event

A previous generation of the Surface Laptop. The newest one could look very similar. | Image: Microsoft

The Surface Pro 9, Surface Laptop 5, and an update to its all-in-one computer could be unveiled at Microsoft’s big October 12th event

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Chainsaw Man’s first episode hooked me with its gorgeously gory action

Just a boy and his chainsaw dog. | Image: Crunchyroll

For weeks, my social media feeds have been filled with folks who are very excited about an anime series featuring a man with a chainsaw for a face. It’s called Chainsaw Man. Not being familiar with the original manga, written by Tatsuki Fujimoto, I didn’t quite get what the excitement was about, but I was certainly intrigued, especially with anime studio MAPPA involved (that’s the team behind, among other things, Yuri!!! on Ice). And now that I’ve watched one single episode, I totally get it — the adrenaline has me feeling like I just downed a six-pack of Red Bull.

Chainsaw Man is a story about Denji, a poor kid saddled with his father’s inherited debt, who is forced to extreme measures to earn some cash. Sometimes he sells organs —...

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Facebook warns 1 million users whose logins were stolen by scam mobile apps

It found hundreds of malicious apps in the Play Store and App Store. | Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta is warning Facebook users about hundreds of apps on Apple and Google’s app stores that were specifically designed to steal login credentials to the social network app. The company says it’s identified over 400 malicious apps disguised as games, photo editors, and other utilities and that it’s notifying users who “may have unknowingly self-compromised their accounts by downloading these apps and sharing their credentials.” According to Bloomberg, a million users were potentially affected.

In its post, Meta says that the apps tricked people into downloading them with fake reviews and promises of useful functionality (both common tactics for other scam apps that are trying to take your money rather than your login info). But upon...

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Can an artist sue over a virtual tattoo? It’s complicated

Photo by AMER HILABI / AFP via Getty Images

Tattoos are an integral part of many athletes’ images, from singular designs like Mike Tyson’s face tattoo to Kenyon Martin’s or David Beckham’s extensive collections. But as those images get translated into video game form, some artists aren’t happy.

Over the past several years, the creators of two major sports titles have fought protracted lawsuits over their right to use tattoos on avatars of players without paying a fee to the person behind the tattoo. Late last week, one of those suits went to a jury, ending with a payout to the artist. It’s not a clean win for either side, but it does offer a fascinating case of how complicated tattoos and copyright really are.

The athlete here is pro wrestler Randy Orton, a long-running character...

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US issues sweeping restrictions on chip sales to China

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Biden administration announced sweeping new restrictions on the sale of semiconductor chips and manufacturing equipment to China on Friday in a major effort to impair Beijing’s military and technological capabilities, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The new rules require manufacturers, like Intel and Micron, to receive a license from the Commerce Department in order to export semiconductors and chip-making equipment to Chinese companies. In addition, the administration issued several foreign direct product rules, banning international companies from exporting chips built with US technology.

Semiconductor chips are used in a variety of different technology products, from graphics cards and EVs to artificial intelligence projects...

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The best noise-canceling headphone deals

You can currently buy the AirPods Max for around $479 instead of $549. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

With more people working from home than they used to, owning a good pair of noise-canceling headphones has become more appealing than ever. However, they can be expensive and difficult to shop for due to the range of available models, many of which cater to different lifestyles and priorities. Some are better suited for long-haul flights, for instance, while others are ideal for multitasking and marathon listening sessions.

That’s why we’ve curated this list of the best deals on noise-canceling headphones. Here, you’ll find sales on all kinds of on-ear and over-ear headphones, all of which are designed to eliminate outside noise but come with their own strengths and weaknesses. And if you want to do even more research before making a...

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YouTube wants personal health stories to help combat misinformation

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube historically hasn’t been a good place to turn for information about health. Inaccurate or misleading videos are everywhere, research has shown, and the algorithm can push those videos to more people.

To shift that trajectory and give people more reliable health information, the platform launched a team last year to build relationships with medical groups, with the ultimate goal of adding videos with reliable health info to the platform. The team is led by Garth Graham, a cardiologist and former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health. He’s the director and global head of healthcare and public health partnerships at YouTube.

As another arm of those efforts, the YouTube health team last month launched a Personal Stories shelf,...

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The best streaming service deals available right now

You can stream House of the Dragon on HBO Max and save for a limited time only. | Image: HBO

Football is upon us, everything pumpkin spice is here, and the days are slowly — very slowly, this Southern Californian might add — but steadily getting colder. This means a lot of us are beginning to spend more time indoors and will do so even more as fall officially settles in and we begin bingeing spinoffs like Andorand House of the Dragonalong with an abundance of fall programming. And while it’s true that most streaming services don’t cost very much, we all know that those monthly subscription fees have a way of adding up in the long run. Before you know it, you’re spending as much on streaming as you would on cable.

If you’re trying to cut down on your expenses (and who isn’t these days?), you don’t necessarily need to...

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The best Sonos speaker and soundbar deals

The Sonos Roam launched last year is now available in refurbished condition for $139.99. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Most would agree that Sonos offers some of the best speakers and soundbars currently available. That’s because Sonos makes speakers that — more often than not — boast great sound quality, support for all the major streaming platforms, and simple multi-room functionality. Unfortunately, however, those perks often come at a high price. Sonos products aren’t cheap, and, outside of the occasional rogue discount, they rarely go on sale. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t ways to save at least a few dollars on Sonos gear.

If you’re comfortable buying refurbished, for example, you could save a decent amount. We also occasionally see sales on Sonos’ collaborative series with Ikea and discounted bundles that include Sonos...

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The best Chromebook deals you can get right now

Samsung’s vibrant Galaxy Chromebook 2 is on sale for $399.99 now. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

If you’re looking for an affordable laptop alternative, Chromebooks are a great option to consider. Yet there are several kinds on the market these days, and it can be overwhelming to pick the right for you and your needs. Some are better suited for basic work tasks, for example, while some of the higher-end models can even rival some of the best laptops you can buy. Moreover, just because one Chromebook has more features than the other doesn’t mean it’s the right one for you or the best value for your money.

That’s why we’ve curated this comprehensive list of the best Chromebook deals. Each varies in price and comes with its own strengths and weaknesses, but all of them come recommended for one reason or another. And if you’d like to do...

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