Starlink satellite internet for moving vehicles launches in December

Image: SpaceX

SpaceX has announced that its Starlink for RVs satellite internet service will be available for moving vehicles starting in December 2022. While you’ve been able to mount one of the satellite dishes onto or outside of a stationary vehicle for a while now, it was intended for use only while parked, like at a campsite or remote cabin (though there were those that tried to make it work on the go). Soon, you won’t have to sacrifice connectivity when you pack up and hit the road, but that ability won’t come cheap.

While the standard Starlink for RV service uses SpaceX’s $599 satellite dish, using it in motion requires a Flat High Performance dish, which will cost a whopping $2,500. (When I visited the order screen, there was also a $50...

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Apple’s new App Store tax on ads is a direct shot at Meta

Illustration by Alex Castro

Just when I thought the relationship between Apple and Meta couldn’t get more hostile, here we are.

On Monday, Apple quietly updated its App Store rules to require that iOS developers use in-app purchases — and thereby give Apple 30 percent — on “sales of ‘boosts’ for posts in a social media app.” This primarily affects Facebook and Instagram, which let people pay to boost the reach of their posts. It’s the first time Apple has directly taxed advertising in iOS apps.

Meta, of course, isn’t happy. Company spokesperson Tom Channick sent The Verge the following statement: “Apple continues to evolve its policies to grow their own business while undercutting others in the digital economy. Apple previously said it didn’t take a share of...

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iOS 16.2 adds a way to report inadvertent Emergency SOS activations

If the feature didn’t trigger at the right time, you’ll be able to report that. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple’s next major iOS update, iOS 16.2, will let you send a report to the company when Emergency SOS has been triggered on accident, according to 9to5Mac. That could be a useful way to share data back to Apple if the feature activates, say, after riding a roller coaster.

The iPhone 14 lineup includes a new crash detection feature that activates Emergency SOS if it believes you have been in a car crash and you don’t respond. Emergency SOS contacts emergency services and can send your location to selected contacts, so having it trigger automatically after a crash could be genuinely helpful. It alerted responders to a crash in Lincoln, Nebraska, earlier this month.

But the feature has been inadvertently triggering for some people on roller...

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The numbers are in: the heat is taking a heavy toll on health and incomes

A person experiencing homelessness sleeps in the sun during a heatwave in Portland, Oregon, on Monday, June 28th, 2021. | Maranie Staab/Bloomberg via Getty Images

We can clearly see how big of a toll heat takes on health and employment around the world, thanks to a comprehensive new climate report from The Lancet medical journal. More people are dying during brutal heat spells. Scorching temperatures are also causing people to lose work.

As our planet runs a fever, hotter summers raise the risk of heat illness and chip away at people’s livelihoods. Some groups of people are more vulnerable because of their age, employment, and housing, as well as a legacy of discriminatory policies that have stacked the cards against them.

Heat-related deaths globally rose 68 percent in the period between 2017 and 2021 compared to 2000–2004 among people older than 65, according to the Lancet report published...

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Here are the best Kindle deals right now

Last year’s terrific Kindle Paperwhite is on sale as part of a discounted bundle starting at $179.99. | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

When it comes to finding a device to use to read your ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your phone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality.

Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its ever-expanding Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons. The bulk of the devices function as simple ebook readers; however, with the forthcoming Kindle Scribe, Amazon looks...

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Microsoft says more than 20 million people have used Xbox Cloud Gaming

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

More than 20 million people have streamed games using Xbox Cloud Gaming, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Tuesday during the company’s first-quarter fiscal 2023 earnings call. That’s double the 10 million figure Microsoft shared earlier this year, just before Epic Games and Microsoft partnered up to bring Fortnite to Xbox Cloud Gaming.

It’s clear that partnership has boosted Xbox Cloud Gaming, particularly because it’s the only game that’s available free via the service and doesn’t require an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

Cloud gaming numbers are still extremely rare

While Xbox Cloud Gaming is growing, it’s not clear how other streaming services are fairing in comparison. Google never broke out Stadia numbers before it...

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James Gunn is DC Studios’ new co-CEO

James Gunn speaks onstage at the Marvel Cinematic Universe Mega-Panel during 2022 Comic-Con International in 2022. | Image: Daniel Knighton / Getty Images

After months of searching for a new leader to head up its answer to Marvel Studios, Warner Bros. Discovery has chosen director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran to lead its recently formed DC Studios division.

Though it at one point seemed as though Warner Bros. Discovery was eyeing Dan Lin to head up DC Studios, company CEO David Zaslav announced today that it ultimately decided on Gunn and Safran, who will serve as both co-chairs and co-CEOS of the division while overseeing all of its various film and television projects. In a statement about the surprising move, Zaslav expressed confidence in Gunn and Safran’s “singular and complementary talents” and excitement at the idea of them shaping the future of WBD’s various superhero...

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Google’s revenue continues to grow as its profits are still shrinking

Illustration: The Verge

Earlier this summer, Google’s parent company Alphabet made it clear that it was trying to get into fighting form as its profits slipped. The company’s earnings report, released on Tuesday, however, shows that it still appears to be on the same path of growing revenue but shrinking profits.

This quarter, the company reports that it earned around $69 billion and made $13.9 billion in profit. That’s compared to its exceptional Q3 2021, when it brought in $65.1 billion in revenue, netting $18.9 billion and making for a fifth straight quarter of record-breaking profits. As another point of comparison, the company earned almost $69.7 billion last quarter, with profits of around $16 billion.

Google’s revenue in Q3

2021: $65.1 billion
2020:...

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Spotify hits 195 million paid subscribers

Illustration Kristen Radtke / The Verge

Spotify now has 195 million paying subscribers, the company announced on Tuesday, an increase of 7 million since last quarter, surpassing guidance by 1 million net adds. The company expects to cross the 200 million mark by the end of the year.

Even with that bright subscription news, Wall Street was not thrilled with the results. The stock is down more than 6 percent in after-hours trading. Spotify’s gross profit margin was 24.7 percent, two points lower than during the same quarter last year and below the company’s prior guidance. The company said this was because of an “unfavorable adjustment to prior period estimates for rights holder liabilities,” which could refer to a recent decision by the Copyright Review Board that streamers...

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Spotify says Apple is ‘choking competition’ and ruining its audiobook store

Nick Barclay / The Verge

Spotify says Apple is making it harder to sell audiobooks, an offering Spotify just introduced last month. The company called Apple practices “anticompetitive” and said it was “choking competition” in a blog post published just before the company revealed its earnings report on Tuesday.

Spotify says Apple’s rules make the process of buying an audiobook on Spotify “far too complicated and confusing,” adding that Apple changes its “rules arbitrarily, making them impossible to interpret.” Apple charges up to a 30 percent commission on purchases made in apps listed on the App Store, and bars certain developers from using or directing users to an external payment processor.

As outlined in a webpage Spotify specifically made to support its...

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Microsoft Q1 2023: profits and Windows down but Xbox and devices up

Alex Castro / The Verge

It’s a new financial year for Microsoft, and the Windows and Xbox maker has just posted the first quarter of its 2023 financial results today. Microsoft made $50.1 billion in revenue and a net income of $17.6 billion during Q1. Revenue is up 11 percent but net income has decreased by 14 percent — meaning profits are down at Microsoft this quarter.

While there were signs of PC declines earlier this year, it’s clear this quarter that the PC is very much in decline, and that has impacted Microsoft’s Windows results. PC shipments experienced another big decline in the recent quarter — 15 percent, according to IDC. Geopolitical tensions, inflation, and continued supply chain challenges are all contributing to PC sales issues, alongside softer...

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Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special seems to be a Kevin Bacon heist in first trailer

Pom Klementieff as Mantis. | Marvel Studios

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3from director James Gunn is still more than a little ways out, but rather than making fans wait until next year to catch up with its ragtag team of alien misfits, the studio’s bringing them home a little bit early this winter with The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.

Set some time after the events of Avengers: Endgame, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special follows Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Drax (Dave Bautista), and the rest of the Guardians as they return to Earth just in time for the Terran holiday season that none of them save for Peter Quill / Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) have much experience with. Though Nebula (Karen Gillan), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Groot don’t entirely...

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Mountain’s keyboards are getting even bigger

Just cover my desk in buttons, y’all.

The Mountain Everest Max is an absolutely massive keyboard that looks like it shakes down 60 percent keyboards for their lunch money. Now, this maximalist keyboard is getting even bigger with the addition of a pair of new peripherals. Mountain is giving you the option of adding an additional 12 buttons to your desk setup with its new MacroPad and DisplayPad.

The MacroPad is exactly what it says on the tin, giving you 12 new buttons that you can bind to individual functions or program macros through Mountain’s Basecamp software. Just like Mountain’s keyboards, the MacroPad features hot-swappable switches and addressable RGB lighting.

Image: Mountain

The Mountain MacroPad, for when 104 keys isn’t enough

The...

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Google finally brings a web view to all its Nest cameras

Google’s new web view for its Nest cameras should arrive this week. | Image: Google

Google is finally giving its Nest smart home cameras one home on the web. In a blog post published today, Google announced the rollout of its long-promised Google Home web view. You should now be able to view all your Nest cameras and doorbells on home.google.com. If it’s not there for you yet, Google says it will be by next week. The ability to start a Google Home Routine when your door unlocks, a light is turned off, or a doorbell is pressed is also showing up for some users (us included).

Here’s the list of supported cameras for the web view:

• Nest Cam (battery) and Nest Cam (wired)
• Nest Cam with floodlight (wired)
• Nest Doorbell (battery)
• Nest Doorbell (wired) aka Nest Hello
• Nest Doorbell (wired, second-gen)
• Nest Cam Indoor and Nest...

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iPadOS 16.2 beta adds external display support for Stage Manager and includes Freeform

Stage Manager’s external display support is only available on iPads with an M1 chip. | Image: Apple

Apple’s getting closer to shipping Stage Manager’s promised external display support on iPadOS 16. As pointed out by 9to5Mac, Apple has included the feature with its release of the iPadOS 16.2 developer beta, which comes one day after the company launched iOS 16.1, iPadOS 16.1, macOS 13 (aka Ventura), and tvOS 16.1.

When Apple first announced Stage Manager at WWDC in June, it initially limited Stage Manager to iPads with an M1 chip, claiming older chips just don’t have enough power. While it later backtracked on this decision after facing criticism from users, it did still reserve support for external displays in Stage Manager for iPads with the M1 chip. The feature lets you hook up your iPad to an external display or Mac, giving you...

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Splatoon 3 might feel faster after its next update

Version 1.2.0 will add a whole swath of tweaks and fixes. | Image: Nintendo

Your Splatoon 3 multiplayer matches and Salmon Run jobs might feel a little bit faster after a big update coming soon. According to the patch notes, data will be transferred between players “about .05 seconds more quickly” than it was previously, which means you should see a reduction in how quickly a player is splatted after they’re damaged or how fast you pick up a golden egg in Salmon Run after first touching it.

The change is just one of many you can look forward to in version 1.2.0, which will be available Tuesday evening, according to Nintendo. The new version includes a huge number of improvements and updates across the board, including bug fixes, weapon adjustments, and some quality-of-life changes. The patch notes are...

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Picture this: Lego’s working on a Polaroid replica

This isn’t necessarily what the final version will look like, but if it’s anything close, it’ll be very charming. | Image: Minibrick Productions

One of Lego’s latest projects will strike at a lot of photographers’ nostalgia: a replica Polaroid OneStep SX-70 instant camera. Currently, there aren’t details about what the kit will actually look like, how much it’ll cost, or when it’ll become available, but it’s another example of a fan-made design officially going into production thanks to Lego’s Ideas platform.

The mock-up was created by Minibrick Productions and features a ton of fun, nerdy touches: it has a working viewfinder, lets you spin a gear that shoots out a “picture” from the film tray, and is “nearly to-scale,” according to the project’s description. It also includes a replica box of film, complete with Polaroid’s beautiful pentachromatic rainbow.

GIF:...

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Age of Empires is coming to a mobile device near you

Image: World’s Edge / Xbox Game Studios

It’s time to get your “wololo” on the go go go. To accompany today’s Age of Empires 25th anniversary broadcast (man, a lot of games are turning 25 this year) World’s Edge and Xbox Game Studios announced Age of Empires is going from PC to iOS and Android.

This is the latest attempt by Microsoft to break into the mobile gaming market, and it’s already got a leg up with its acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, which is slated to complete in 2023. _Age of Empire_s has been brought to mobile before, but this seems to be the most faithful adaption of the game yet. In 2015, Age of Empires: Castle Siege, a tower defense game, and Age of Empires: World Domination, a real-time strategy game, both arrived on mobile. Both games were short-lived,...

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Google is giving Workspace Individual subscribers a big storage bump

You’ll be able to store a lot more stuff in your Workspace account. | Illustration: The Verge

Google is about to give Workspace Individual subscribers a whole lot more storage. Soon, every account will be upgraded from 15GB to 1TB of storage, the company announced on Tuesday, meaning people on that tier will be able to store a lot more than before.

Google launched Workspace Individual in July 2021 as a way for one-person businesses to use some of the company’s more premium Workspace perks without having to pay for higher-priced options designed for larger enterprises. While this increased storage will make it easier to store more documents and assets, it also means individuals might have a lot more stuff to move if they ever want to take things from Google to another platform. That could make it harder to switch, which is...

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The days of cheap music streaming may be numbered

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

I am really bummed that we are likely going to have to wait until 2024 for the next season of House of the Dragon and also kind of ashamed that I know more about Westerosi history than I do about, like, World War I (A Wiki of Ice and Fire is a real bottomless pit). I will also miss my day-after routine of HOTD pods like Talk the Thrones and Boars, Gore, and Swords, so if anyone has some fresh pods to recommend, hmu.

Anyway, in the real world, Apple is hiking its subscription prices, Spotify is reporting earnings, and Taylor Swift is one of the last real music stars.

Apple is raising its subscription prices

Yesterday, 9to5Mac reported that Apple is increasing the prices of its plans for Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, and Apple One. It’s the...

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Gloomwood is my new favorite knocking-guys-out simulator

Gloomwood_’s trusty cane sword._ | Image: New Blood Interactive

I have no idea how most people play stealth games, but for me, the genre is primarily about one thing: knocking guys out. What is my mission in any given Deus Ex or Metal Gear Solid level? Stopping a war? Saving the world? No. It is sneaking around a compound, making people not awake anymore, and stacking them in a little pile before I leave. By this admittedly specific standard, Gloomwood may be one of the best new stealth games around.

Gloomwood launched in early access on Steam last month, and I still haven’t finished it; I’ve spent a couple hours working through the first of (I think) three current areas. The project is heavily inspired by the Looking Glass tradition of games, particularly Thief — its developers, part of a collective...

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Sony is bringing multipoint to its earbuds lineup including the WF-1000XM4

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Sony is bringing multipoint connectivity to its entire current lineup of premium wireless earbuds this fall. Just as with other headphones and earbuds, the feature will let you connect to two Bluetooth audio sources at the same time. So if you’re listening to music on your laptop and a call comes in on your phone, you can answer and switch over to it seamlessly. Sony plans to add multipoint to the LinkBuds and LinkBuds S “by November of 2022.” In a somewhat surprising turn, even the WF-1000XM4s will gain multipoint this winter.

Those have been on the market for well over a year, and Sony never so much as hinted that multipoint was in the cards. Once the update is released, you’ll need to update the firmware for your earbuds through the...

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iMessage is back up and running

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple says that it’s fixed the iMessage and FaceTime outage that was causing “message not delivered” errors on Tuesday for about half an hour starting at 11:48AM ET (8:48AM PT). According to the company’s system status page, the issue affected “some” users, which lines up with our experience; while one Verge staff member did have issues sending messages, a few others were able to do so during the outage.

But there were thousands of reports that the service wasn’t working on Downdetector. That makes sense, as any small outage for a service as widely used as iMessage will affect a lot of people. The big three carriers also got a flood of outage reports, which is also not necessarily surprising. If people can’t send messages, they’re going...

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Age of Empires IV is coming to Xbox Game Pass in 2023

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft announced during a 25th-anniversary celebration of Age of Empires that the latest game, Age of Empires IV, is coming to consoles next year. It will launch on day one on Xbox Game Pass, and it will be playable via Xbox Cloud Gaming for those who prefer to play on portable devices. The game launched in late 2021 for PC, and it has been available since then for PC Game Pass subscribers, but this is a great opportunity for console gamers to check it out.

In case you missed out on the PC release or you’ve just been waiting patiently for news on this port, my colleague Mitchell Clark has some fun coverage from last year on the impressive lengths that Microsoft and World’s Edge (the studio focused on Age of Empires) went to give...

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The people who make your apps go to Stack Overflow for answers. Here’s how it works.

Stack Overflow is basically Reddit for developers. CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar explains how the company moderates its content.

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Uber, DoorDash will deliver Paxlovid from Walgreens for free to vulnerable neighborhoods

Image: Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune / Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Uber and DoorDash will deliver prescriptions for the covid antiviral Paxlovid filled through Walgreens for free to underserved neighborhoods, the companies announced Monday. The partnership is part of new pandemic response efforts from the White House.

“This partnership is yet another way in which Uber’s technology can help Americans recover from the pandemic and make lifesaving healthcare more accessible,” Caitlin Donovan, general manager of Uber Health, said in a statement.

Paxlovid reduces the risk of hospitalization and death from covid. It has to be taken within a few days of symptoms first appearing to be most effective, so getting the pills quickly is important.

This initiative, which will launch in the coming weeks, is...

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Who wants to buy an e-bike made by a car company?

Photo by Nilay Patel / The Verge

Last week, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe confirmed what many of us already knew: the buzzy automaker was exploring the possibility of making its own electric bikes.

If it follows through — and there’s no reason to assume it won’t; an electric mountain bike would fit in nicely with the company’s specific brand of outdoor adventure vehicles — Rivian will face a challenge that many other automakers have also faced, which is how to build a successful micromobility business.

I think there’s no question that Rivian could build a really cool-looking e-bike. The company has certainly made a mark for itself by designing beautifully made and incredibly fun to drive products. But I do think it’s questionable as to whether people would want an e-bike...

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Lucid’s $1,200 at-home EV charger can add up to 80 miles per hour

Lucid Connected Home Charging Station. | Image: Lucid Group

Electric car maker Lucid just announced its first set of accessories, which include an at-home charging station that’s capable of supporting up to 19.2kW of electrical power, which works out at around 80 miles of range per hour of charge. The Lucid Connected Home Charging Station retails for $1,200, and its website says shipments will start on November 30th, but the company says to expect a “limited quantity” available until 2023.

It has a 24-foot cable, comes with Wi-Fi enabled for future updates, and is “hardware ready” for bidirectional power flow for “customers looking to integrate their vehicle into the company’s future energy ecosystem.” According to Emma Lattanzio, a PR contact for Lucid, “Bi-directional charging features for the...

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Sony’s DualSense Edge PS5 controller is available for preorder

The DualSense Edge will be released on January 26th, 2023. | Image: Sony

Sony’s DualSense Edge Wireless Controller for the PS5 is now available for preorder from the PlayStation Direct website ahead of its January 26th release. The controller is loaded with additional features you won’t find on the standard DualSense, like replaceable joysticks and two back buttons. But it costs $199.99, which is nearly three times the cost of a standard DualSense controller.

For that eye-watering price, Sony is including a fair amount of extras to help you customize your DualSense Edge. You’ll get:

• The controller itself
• Two stick caps each of the standard, high dome, and low dome types
• Two back buttons each of the lever type and half-done type
• A braided USB cable that can be locked to the controller
• A carrying case that can...

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How to factory reset your smartwatch

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

There are many reasons why you might want to factory reset your smartwatch. Perhaps an update got borked during download and no amount of troubleshooting has helped. Maybe you want to upgrade to a new model and plan to gift your current watch to a friend. Apple requires you to do it if you happen to forget your passcode. Or, it’s possible that smartwatches just aren’t your thing and you’re ready to sell.

Whatever the reason, it’s important that you wipe the data from your device. Wearables are personal devices and store a ton of sensitive data — especially if you primarily use your smartwatch for health and fitness tracking. As a general reminder, if you’re not totally throwing in the towel on smartwatches, it’s a good idea to back up...

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