Riot delays two League of Legends spinoffs

Song of Nunu will now be launching sometime in 2023. | Image: Riot Forge

Riot Games is delaying two League of Legends spinoffs from its Riot Forge publishing label to 2023. 2D action-platformer Convergence (styled Conv/rgence) and the single-player adventure game Song of Nunu were set to release in 2022, but now they’re being pushed to next year. With the delay, the development teams can have “a little more time to put on some finishing touches,” Riot wrote on the Forge Twitter account on Monday.

Riot announced the Riot Forge label in 2019, which works with outside studios to create games in the League of Legends universe. Convergence is being developed by Double Stallion Games, while Song of Nunu is being made by Tequila Works.

An update from Riot Forge. pic.twitter.com/Og2kdumWOL

— Riot Forge (@RiotForge)...

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Henry Cavill is reassuring fans he’s still Superman

(Henry Cavill’s) Superman returns. | Image: Henry Cavill on Instagram

Henry Cavill is letting people know that he’s not done playing Superman (via The Hollywood Reporter). In an Instagram post on Monday, he posted a promotional image of himself as the superhero, along with a video where he says, “I am back as Superman.” His announcement comes after he made a cameo appearance in Black Adam, DC’s latest movie, and as we’re starting to hear reports that a sequel to 2013’s Man of Steel is in the works.

In his video, Cavill calls the image and his appearance in Black Adam “just a very small taste of what’s to come.” The caption also references “the dawn of hope renewed” and says that people’s patience will be rewarded.

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A post shared by Henry Cavill...

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Plastic packaging isn’t really ‘recyclable’ in the US, Greenpeace report says

Plastic, Styrofoam, and other trash drain down from storm channels and wash up along the banks of Ballona Creek after the first major rain of the season in Los Angeles, California. | Photo by: Citizen of the Planet / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images

We’ve known for years that plastic recycling rates are low, but they’ve managed to get even worse. The state of plastic recycling in the US is so abysmal that no plastic packaging can even be considered recyclable, according to a new report published today by environmental group Greenpeace.

Households in the US tossed out 51 million tons of plastic waste in 2021, says the new report. Just 2.4 million tons of that plastic was recycled, or just under 5 percent — compared to 8.7 percent in 2018.

With so little of the waste recycled, no type of plastic used in the US meets an industry-backed standard for what’s considered “recyclable,” says Greenpeace

With so little of the waste recycled, no type of plastic packaging used in the US meets an...

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Vergecast: Short passwords, baby cybersecurity, and choosing a VPN

Vincent Kilbride / The Verge

Have you ever wondered where your “random” password came from? Is there such a thing as a not-random-enough password, or maybe a too-random password? How long should that password be, anyway, and why won’t some platforms let it be longer? Oh, and which VPN should you use, and how should you know? And really, what’s the worst a compromised website can do to you?

These are the kinds of cybersecurity questions we all encounter every day. By now, you probably know the basics: use multi-factor authentication whenever you can, have a password manager with different passwords for every service, and if you ever catch yourself telling someone your credit card number over the phone, hang up immediately. But so many other questions come up all the...

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Slow microSD download speeds on your Steam Deck? There’s a fix for that

The microSD card slot is located on the bottom of the Steam Deck, beneath the right speaker. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

If you get a Steam Deck, slide in a microSD card, format it, and begin installing a game, you might notice something: incredibly slow download speeds. Like “Is my internet broken?” speeds. There seems to be something happening for some Deck owners, including myself, that prevents your removable microSD storage from being able to operate at full speed.

There is a fix for it that doesn’t take too long, but note that you’ll need to reformat your microSD card during this process, so you will lose your game installs and anything else you have stored on your card.

But first, a disclaimer that it’s possible that your microSD card is, in fact, what’s slowing things down. My colleague Alice Newcome-Beill tells me that you should buy one that has...

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TikTok is increasingly becoming a news source

Nick Barclay / The Verge

More and more Americans are getting their news from TikTok, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

The percentage of people getting news from TikTok has tripled since 2020; around 10 percent of all US adults now regularly get news on the app. For adults under 30, that number jumps to 26 percent.

People already on TikTok are also shifting how they use the app, in this case increasingly as a source of news. One-third of adult users on the app say they get their news on the platform, up from 22 percent in 2020. TikTok becoming more of a news app is in contrast with other platforms, where Pew found that news consumption was stagnant or trending downward. On Facebook, for example, 54 percent of adults on the platform said they were...

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Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’s first trailer introduces Kang the Conqueror

Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror. | Marvel Studios

Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’s first trailer makes it clear that the movie’s going to be a family affair that brings back all of Scott Lang’s loved ones for an adventure that looks more than a bit like whatever’s going on in Strange World. But the trailer also reveals something rather interesting about how the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next big Avengers-level villain, Kang the Conqueror, is stepping onto the scene and setting the stage for what’s to come.

Director Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania will tell the story of how Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), and Hope’s mother Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), all end up getting transported to the Quantum Realm after Scott’s daughter Cassie (Kathryn...

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Apple releases macOS Ventura, with Stage Manager, Continuity Camera, and more

Image: Apple

Apple has released macOS 13, also known as Ventura, the latest version of its desktop operating system. It includes features like the Stage Manager window management system, the ability to edit and unsend iMessages like you can in iOS 16, and the Continuity Camera feature that turns your iPhone into a webcam.

Ventura, announced earlier this year at Apple’s WWDC conference, also includes a variety of improvements to stock apps and utilities. Mail, for instance, will let you schedule emails and undo sending one, and the Spotlight search system is now able to take actions like setting alarms and running shortcuts. Safari is also getting the ability to login to websites using PassKeys, a standard being pushed by Apple, Google, Microsoft, and...

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iOS and iPadOS 16.1 are now available

iPadOS 16 is finally here. | Photo by David Pierce / The Verge

Apple has officially released iOS and iPadOS 16.1, along with macOS Ventura. For iPad, it means that Apple’s tablet platform will finally be getting iOS 16 features like iMessage editing and undo send in Mail. But it also marks the official release of the Stage Manager multitasking tool, which has been unpopular and buggy throughout the iPadOS betas.

My colleague David Pierce didn’t mince words in July: “I hate Stage Manager,” he wrote in his preview. Three months on, it still has some big issues, David noted in today’s review that “Stage Manager might be shipping, and it has gotten better since its first nonsensical beta, but it’s definitely not done.”

Now third-party apps can use Live Activities

Apple did delay iPadOS 16 from its...

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Apple Watch Ultra strap review: choose your fighter

You can pick between the Trail Loop, Alpine Loop, and Ocean Band based on the type of athlete you are, but it’s got to fit your daily life, too

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Microsoft’s new $599 Mac Mini-like PC is designed to improve Windows on Arm

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is launching its own version of the Mac Mini today with a $599 PC that’s designed for developers to build native Arm apps for Windows 11. Known previously as Project Volterra, the Windows Dev Kit 2023 (what a name) will be available today in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the US. Developers will be able to purchase the device, but really anyone wanting a miniature Windows on Arm machine can buy one, too.

The Windows Dev Kit 2023 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 platform with 32GB of RAM and 512GB of NVMe storage. There are also two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports at the side and three USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports at the rear, alongside an Ethernet port and Mini DisplayPort.

There’s also a...

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AI-generated selfies could be the next Snapchat filters

A series of AI-generated selfies created using the Facetune app, with the prompt used to create the selfie written below. From left to right, the images are in the style of M.C. Escher, the Top Gun movie, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. | Image: The Verge

Like any novel technological development, text-to-image AI models are slowly moving from the R&D stage to the phase of “making weird stuff for social media.”

Case in point is the phenomenon of the AI-generated selfie, which splices your likeness with different artistic styles and themes using machine learning. Think of it like the next Snapchat filter: a quick way to make your face look goofier than normal. Or goofy in a different way.

There are a few methods to make your own AI-generated portrait right now, like the free web tool DrawAnyone. Just head to the site and upload some selfies, let the system process your likeness, and then pick an output style for your new portrait. A fair warning: you’ll probably have to wait a few hours...

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Kids who play video games score higher on brain function tests

Gamers are better at attention and memory tasks. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

Kids who play video games have better memory and better control over their motor skills than kids who don’t, according to a new study looking at adolescent brain function.

Video games might not be responsible for those differences — the study can’t say what the causes are — but the findings add to a bigger body of work showing gamers have better performance on some tests of brain function. That lends support to efforts to develop games that can treat cognitive problems.

“This study adds to our growing understanding of the associations between playing video games and brain development,” said Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in a statement.

The study used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development...

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Apple raises prices on Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, and Apple One

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple is increasing the prices across its services, including Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, and its overarching Apple One subscription, according to a report from 9to5Mac. This marks the first time the company has raised the prices of these services in the US.

Here’s a breakdown of the new pricing:

Apple Music for individuals will increase by $1 a month to $10.99, or by $10 for the annual plan, which will now cost $109 a year. Apple Music for families is going up by $2 a month to $16.99.

Apple TV is going up by $2 a month to $6.99 or $20 annually to $69.

“The subscription prices for Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple One will increase beginning today,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement to 9to5Mac — the new prices are already live...

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The latest version of Amazon’s orb-like Echo smart speaker is just $49.99 right now

Spooky season is also savings season. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Spooky season may soon be coming to a close, but deals season is still in full swing. First off, you can buy the latest version of the Amazon Echo smart speaker for just $49.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, or Target. This $50 discount is the lowest price for the fourth generation of Amazon’s smart speaker. While it came out in 2020, and the smaller Echo Dot just got a fifth-gen release, the ponderous Echo just got a handy new feature added via firmware update. Now, if you have an Eero mesh Wi-Fi router you can use the fourth-gen Echo to extend its network.

But the Echo does a lot more than extend a Wi-Fi network, as it’s actually got a pretty formidable sound output for a small speaker. It can fill most rooms with music, and it even has some...

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Fallout 4 to get next-gen update

Image: Bethesda Game Studios

Unlike Skyrim, which has seen a launch on just about every console generation three times over, Fallout 4 has been, until now, contained to one console generation. But today, Bethesda announced Fallout 4 will be getting a next-gen refresh. According to the announcement on Fallout’s website, the update is due for release in 2023 and will feature a high-performance mode, bug fixes, and bonus content.

Accompanying the next-gen news was also a wealth of updates forFallout 76. There’s a Halloween event going on from now till November 8th, and starting on October 25th, _Fallout 76_ers will be able to pick up one free item per day that celebrates the series’ 25th anniversary. Since the Fallout series is apparently old enough to rent a car,...

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Galaxy S22 phones are starting to get their Android 13 update

The One UI 5 update has landed on some Samsung Galaxy S22 series phones across Europe. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Reports are emerging from Galaxy S22 series owners that the stable version of Android 13 is now available to download following weeks of beta updates. As reported by Android Authority and Sammobile, European Galaxy S22 users have taken to Twitter and Reddit to confirm the One UI 5 update, which doesn’t appear to be available to the US market at this time.

Samsung hasn’t explicitly mentioned a release date for One UI 5; however, it does appear that the tech giant intended to start rolling out the update today if a freshly dropped tweet and video introduction are anything to go by. Android Authority also confirmed that the update landed on its UK-based review unit. The update is almost 3GB for users who aren’t already using the beta...

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PayPal is getting more secure passkey logins

PayPal is introducing passkeys as a means for its users to quickly and securely log in to the payment service. | Image: PayPal

PayPal has announced today that passkeys are being added as a new, password-less login method to secure PayPal accounts for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users on PayPal.com, with plans to expand passkeys to other platforms as they add support. PayPal passkeys are rolling out to US customers today and will be available to “additional countries” in early 2023.

Passkeys are a new type of login credential that replaces passwords with cryptographic key pairs. They are resistant to phishing attempts and are designed to avoid sharing passkey data between platforms, addressing the weakness of current password-based authentication. Passkeys are supported by Apple, Google, and Microsoft, who have pledged to bring the FIDO Alliance standard to their...

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iPadOS 16’s Stage Manager is not the future of multitasking you were hoping for

I do love my Stage Manager messaging command center. But even that would be better with better multitasking. | Image: Apple / David Pierce

There is really only one big idea inside of iPadOS 16. The new operating system comes with plenty of improvements and upgrades, of course — editable messages, a Weather app (finally), improvements to most of Apple’s built-in apps, and some extremely clever new Live Text features — but most of that is already available on the iPhone through iOS 16. There’s nothing wrong with an iterative update, of course, and by the time you hit version 16 of anything, you’re not likely to be breaking much new ground.

Stage Manager, though, is an almost entirely new thing. It’s the one feature in iPadOS 16 that has the actual potential to change the way you use your iPad (provided you have a compatible model — third-gen iPad Pro or newer, fifth-gen iPad...

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Resident Evil Village’s expansion is worth it for one terrifying sequence

Rose Winters can use her magic powers to help fend off zombies. | Image: Capcom

Resident Evil Village’s DLC made me scared of the doorways in my own home. It happened after an intense sequence in Shadows of Rose, the story campaign included with the new Winters’ Expansion. I figured there was no way Capcom could top the horrifying baby monster from Village, but here we are.

Note: light spoilers about the premise of Shadows of Rose and a vague description of one moment follow.

In Shadows of Rose, you play as Rose Winters, the daughter of protagonist Ethan Winters from Resident Evil 7 and Village. Unlike those two games, Shadows of Rose features a third-person perspective, which was a bigger change than I expected. In Village’s standard first-person view, I was laser-focused on what was in front of me and fearful of...

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YouTube’s new design makes it easier to fast-forward or rewind to the right part

YouTube’s redesigned UI shown on TV, laptop, and phone | Image: YouTube

YouTube announced some new design changes that are rolling out now, including pinch-to-zoom for everyone and precise seeking with a more usable preview to help you find the section of the video you’re looking for.

YouTube’s new pinch-to-zoom feature lets you zoom in on videos the same way you do on photos. If this sounds familiar, it’s because YouTube started testing the feature with YouTube Premium subscribers in August. It’s (finally) getting precise seeking as well, which should help you rewind (or fast-forward) videos to an exact location. When scrolling through a video, YouTube will open up a frame-by-frame view, making it a lot easier to find and watch a certain section.

Image: YouTube

This will make it a...

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Wyze’s new outdoor camera adds 2K resolution and faster person detection

The new Wyze Cam v3 Pro adds 2K resolution and local processing for person detection. | Image: Wyze

Smart home company Wyze has released the latest generation of its popular budget security camera. The $49.99 Wyze Cam v3 Pro adds 2K resolution and on-device AI for faster processing of smart alerts for person detection. Wyze also says the Pro camera has a faster CPU, an improved speaker and microphone, and a better Wi-Fi connection with two antennas compared to the $29.99 Wyze Cam V3. Although it still only works over 2.4 GHz networks.

Another new feature is Smart Focus. Part of a new app interface for Wyze’s cameras, Smart Focus adds a smaller view of the livestream while the main view focuses on the person detected, giving you more information in a single glance.

Image: Wyze

The new Wyze Cam has the same look...

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The ChameleonMini is a skeleton key for RFID

Lille Allen / The Verge

I’ve always wanted a skeleton key — not a real one, but the kind you would see in a cartoon that opens any door immediately. The idea of just being able to slip in anywhere, smoothly and discreetly, has always been a secret dream for me.

Of course, time changes and so do keys. Your front door might still use a metal key, but offices and industrial facilities are more likely to use some kind of wireless keycard, whether it’s NFC, RFID, or some other radio signal. So what does a tappable skeleton key look like?

What is it?

The ChameleonMini is a tool that allows you to emulate and clone high-frequency contactless cards and read RFID tags. It functions as an NFC emulator and RFID reader and can sniff and log radio frequency (RF) data. From...

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OnePlus’ fast-charging Nord N300 5G is coming to T-Mobile for $228

Bravo to OnePlus for dropping the gimmicky macro camera. | Image: OnePlus

OnePlus is bringing its signature fast charging feature to a lower price bracket in the Nord N300 5G. It includes 33W wired charging (with a charger in the box!) and will sell for $228 — an appealing proposition since most flagship phones don’t even include charging that fast. The N300 also bears a striking resemblance to parent company Oppo’s K10 5G, released in India earlier this year. It makes a few tradeoffs to hit its low price point, and we’ll be curious to see how they pan out.

The Nord N300 uses a midrange MediaTek Dimensity 810 chipset with 4GB of RAM, which is a shift from the Snapdragon processors used in its previous Nord devices sold in North America. The N300 also breaks away from previous budget OnePlus devices by opting...

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Angry Miao’s new anime-inspired keyboard has an amazing design and an irritating flaw

The multi-color anodized and sandblasted finish on this keyboard is quite a sight to behold in person.

Angry Miao’s new anime-inspired keyboard with user-adjustable stiffness is made by sickos, for sickos, and it instantly made me want to bust out my Master Grade Gundam model kits from the early aughts and get painting. But sometimes, I did feel like this keyboard was better to look at than to use.

The Angry Miao Adjustable Flex Alice (AM AFA) is the company’s first Alice layout keyboard (a newer ergonomic style with contoured keys, a gap in the middle, and a split space bar). It’s also another over-the-top science fiction-inspired design — this time drawing a likeness from the transforming VF-19 Advance fighter jet of Macross. It’s very on-brand in its over-engineering and obscene price, being machined from a 4.4-pound block of solid...

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Apple iPad (10th gen) review: stuck in the middle

Apple’s latest base-model iPad cribs a lot of features from the more expensive iPad Air. But it also is considerably more expensive than before, making it a tough sell.

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U2’s Bono sheds new light on infamous iTunes giveaway in upcoming memoir

Apple’s collaboration with U2 included special edition iPods. | Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

In a new memoir, U2 frontman Bono has spilled the beans on the internal discussions that lead to two of the band’s high-profile collaborations with Apple. The first saw the band star in one of the company’s iconic iPod ads, while the second is much less fondly remembered, and involved Apple pushing the band’s newly released album into the hands of everyone with an iTunes account. The anecdotes appear in Bono’s upcoming book, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, extracts of which have been published by The Guardian.

According to Bono, the Vertigo music video came about after members of the band met with then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs in October 2004 to pitch its upcoming song “Vertigo” as the soundtrack to one of the iPod’s silhouette commercials....

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Netflix’s Cabinet of Curiosities is much more than a del Toro anthology

Rupert Grint in “Dreams in the Witch House.” | Image: Neflix

An eclectic mix of eight short stories from some of the best directors in horror

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Don’t expect your car’s safety technology to save you

Thomas Hedger / The Verge

Automakers tout advanced driver-assistance systems like adaptive cruise control and emergency braking as a solution to the epidemic of traffic fatalities. But what if they’re just convenience features?

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Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof is latest filmmaker said to be developing new Star Wars film

Lindelof at the 2020 Writers Guild Awards. | Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for WGAW

You can add another name to your list of filmmakers attempting to develop the next Star Wars film: Damon Lindelof. Deadline reports that Lindelof, who rose to prominence as the co-creator of Lost and more recently won multiple Emmys for his work on HBO’s TV adaptation of Watchmen, is developing and co-writing the film, although it’s unclear who his writing partner could be. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who worked on several episodes of Ms. Marvel, is reportedly in talks to direct.

The Star Wars franchise has been absent from the big screen since 2019’s Rise of Skywalker, with various in-development efforts coming to nothing (so far). Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has been working since 2017 to create a new trilogy of new Star Wars movies...

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