Why the US is suffering a widespread drought

Floating homes and boats rest in mud at Riverside Park Marina in Martin Luther King Jr. Riverside Park along the Mississippi River on October 19th, 2022, in Memphis, Tennessee, as the Mississippi River neared record low levels. | Photo by Scott Olson / Getty Images

Huge swathes of the United States are unusually parched. While drought has been a persistent problem in the western US, it’s now spread across other parts of the country that aren’t typically this dry.

Nearly 60 percent of the contiguous US is experiencing drought, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Drought hasn’t been this widespread in the nation in about a decade, and over 80 percent of the country is at least experiencing “abnormally dry” conditions, according to the US Drought Monitor — a first in the drought monitor’s 22-year history.

Dwindling water resources have also outlawed front lawns, left agricultural fields barren, and mangled river shipping routes

Drought has sparked treasure hunts...

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Apple could release a 16-inch iPad next year

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Apple may be readying an iPad with a larger 16-inch display, according to a report from The Information. Sources familiar with the situation told the outlet Apple could release the device in the fourth quarter of 2023, but this is subject to change.

While rumors about an iPad with a 14- to 15-inch screen have been floating around for some time now, this is the first we’ve heard of a 16-inch iPad. Apple tracker Mark Gurman mentioned a 14- to 15-inch iPad back in 2021, and he recently said a larger model could launch in the next year or two. Supply chain analyst Ross Young backed up this prediction in June and said we could see a 14.1-inch iPad Pro with Mini LEDs and a ProMotion display as soon as next year.

Introducing a premium 16-inch...

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Ford is ending production of the Fiesta in Europe

Production line of a Fiesta. | Image: Getty

Ford is ending production of the Fiesta in Europe to make room for electric cars. The automaker’s compact four-door vehicle will be the last combustion engine vehicle to roll off its Cologne, Germany plant, and it’ll instead begin production of a Ford-VW all-electric crossover by next Summer (via Automotive News). Ford plans to invest $2 billion to build new electric vehicles — 1.2 million of them — over the next six years.

Ford Europe’s GM of passenger vehicles, Martin Sander, posted a solemn legacy video on Twitter celebrating the compact car and teasing four-passenger EVs as the ones taking the helm. One is certain to be an all-electric version of the Ford Puma crossover, of which the current combustion version outsold the Focus and...

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Samsung privacy-protecting Maintenance Mode is coming to Galaxy S22s worldwide

It’ll be coming to more devices throughout 2022 and 2023. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Samsung is starting to roll out a “Maintenance Mode” feature for its phones that’s designed to keep your messages, photos, info, and accounts safe when you’re getting your phone repaired. The company’s been testing the feature since July and launched it in China last month, but now it’s launching worldwide for the Galaxy S22, with more phones coming in the next few months.

According to Samsung’s press release, Maintenance Mode basically creates a separate user account that will let someone access “core functions” of the phone without being able to see any of your data. That means a repair tech will still be able to test your phone, but you won’t have to worry about them seeing anything they shouldn’t. Once you get your phone back, you...

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Facebook and Instagram are making it easier for brands to file IP takedowns

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta is introducing new tools for brands reporting potential IP violations on Facebook and Instagram, including some that automate the process of getting posts taken down.

Using Meta’s Brand Rights Protection tool, companies can flag content that they believe runs afoul of their intellectual property, including trademark violations, copyright infringement, fake or counterfeit products, and impersonation.

Some of the new features announced this week mean that companies will get quicker results when they flag something to Instagram and Facebook. “Brands with a demonstrated history of actionable requests,” for example, could be eligible for automatic takedowns when they report content. Typically, brands or a representative flag content to...

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Rian Johnson’s Poker Face looks like it might be Peacock’s first must-see show

Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale. | Peacock

While everyone’s been eagerly waiting for Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion to arrive on Netflix this December, the Knives Out sequel isn’t the director’s only mystery-driven passion project coming to shake up the streaming space. There hasn’t been all that much noise about Johnson and Natasha Lyonne’s upcoming Peacock series Poker Face since it was first announced back in March, but the show’s first trailer definitely makes it seem like it might be one of the first fantastic shows of 2023.

Poker Face tells the tale of Charlie Cale (Lyonne), a genial, naturally curious woman born with the uncanny ability to suss out when people are lying. Whether it’s in the thick of a poker game or when she encounters people with dangerous secrets to hide,...

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Amazon and Bethesda are teasing the Fallout TV show

What appears to be the first official photo from the upcoming Fallout TV show. | Image: Amazon

Amazon and Bethesda have started to share itty bitty teases of the upcoming Fallout TV series for Prime Video. We still don’t know when the show based on the post-apocalyptic RPG series is coming out, but the hints give us just a glimpse of what to expect it’s eventually released.

The Prime Video Twitter account shared an intriguing image from the show in a tweet on Tuesday. Three people are standing in front of a vault door that opens to somewhere that’s very brightly lit, and a silhouette of someone is standing in the vault opening. Mysteriously, there’s also a pair of legs on the floor that are nearly out of sight — perhaps a casualty of some kind of skirmish.

Congratulations and Happy 25th Birthday! We made something special for...

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The X Games has a new owner with plans for esports, YouTube, and Twitch

Tony Hawk’s serving as the X Games’ brand steward. | Image: MSP Sports Capital

The next X Games might add competitive gaming to its roster of extreme sports and may even stream on YouTube and Twitch. In a press release, MSP Sports Capital announced it acquired majority ownership of X Games from ESPN and is bringing aboard CEO Steven Flisler, who once served as Twitch’s vice president of original content and the executive producer of Twitch Rivals.

In a statement to The Verge, Flisler says he can’t “share the plans yet” but that the company’s “excited to integrate competitive gaming into the X Games brand especially at our live events.”

“We can’t wait to interact with ‘chat’ on Twitch and YouTube”

The company is also hinting at a new way to watch the event live online, specifically on Twitch and YouTube, noting it...

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The best Black Friday deals you can already get at Best Buy

$400 off the latest 14-inch MacBook Pro is one of many great deals already happening at Best Buy. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

It’s still October, but we’re already hearing about big Black Friday deals. One of the early offenders is Best Buy, which began marking down a large batch of gadgets earlier this week on October 24th. It’ll add more price cuts once actual Black Friday comes around on the day after Thanksgiving in the US, but barring some items selling out, many of the deals you’ll find below should last through Black Friday.

A few important things to note from Best Buy’s frequently asked questions page: it isn’t offering rain checks on Black Friday deals that sell out, though its great price-matching policy will remain in effect on items until Thursday, November 17th, and won’t be in effect through Cyber Monday, which is November 28th. For items...

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Servant’s fourth and final season is coming to Apple TV Plus in January

Image: Apple

Apple TV Plus’ creepiest series is almost over. Servant, an M. Night Shyamalan-helmed psychological thriller about unsettling baby dolls, will kick off its fourth and final season in January. The first episode of season 4 will start streaming on January 13th, 2023, with the rest of the 10-episode season releasing weekly after that, wrapping up with the finale on March 17th.

The show initially debuted back in 2019, and it stars Rupert Grint, Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, and Nell Tiger Free, all of whom will be back for the final episodes. Here’s the setup for the conclusion, via Apple:

Following its suspenseful season three finale, season four brings the final chapter of the Turner story to an epic and emotional conclusion. Leanne’s war...

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For $1,570, you, too, can get a Naruto smartwatch from Montblanc

That’s capitalism for you, dattebayo. | Image: Montblanc

For the 20th anniversary of the Naruto anime and manga, luxury brand Montblanc is releasing a limited-edition version of its Summit 3 Wear OS 3 smartwatch featuring the titular character. It costs $1,570.

The Montblanc x Naruto Summit 3 smartwatch features “exciting Naruto animations” on the watchface and comes in Naruto-inspired packaging. The watch case also has engraved kunai, Naruto’s weapon of choice, as well as a leather strap embossed with the Konohagakure symbol. The pushers, meanwhile, feature the uzumaki spiral and the kanji for oil, which is featured on the forehead protector of Naruto’s mentor Jiraiya. One could say it’s a smartwatch for the sophisticated anime nerd.

One could say it’s a smartwatch for the sophisticated...

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The Xiaomi 12T Pro has more megapixels than it knows what to do with

Two hundred million pixels is a lot of pixels.

One of the world’s first 200-megapixel smartphone cameras is here. Too bad it’s mostly a gimmick.

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This robotic tentacle gripper is gentle, practical, and terrifying

Hands, man, they’re a tough gig to beat. Four fingers? An opposable thumb? A design classic. But that’s never stopped scientists from trying to surpass what nature perfected. And their latest attempt to out-fing humanity’s fingers is pleasingly terrifying.

The engineers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) that designed this jellyfish-inspired gripper don’t seem to have blessed it with a name. So, in the interest of sticking my nose in where it doesn’t belong, I’m going to call it... Mr. Jelly Hands, without making any real effort to justify that choice.

Mr. Jelly Hands is an attempt to solve the ever-vexing gripper problem in robotics: that is, the challenge of designing something that g...

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Hotline Miami’s ultra-violence has influenced games for a decade

Hotline Miami. | Image: Devolver Digital

A look back on the impact of Dennaton’s indie classic 10 years later

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CD Projekt Red reveals it’s working on a Witcher 1 remake

Image: CD Projekt Red

The Witcher series is returning to its roots. CD Projekt Red announced that one of the many new Witcher projects it’s working on, which includes a brand-new trilogy, is actually a remake of the first game.

Dubbed with the codename “Canis Majoris” — which is in line with CD Projekt Red’s astronomy-based naming convention and also means “big dog,” which is a hilarious and accurate way to describe Geralt of Rivia — The Witcher remake is being rebuilt from the ground up utilizing Unreal Engine 5.

“The Witcher is where it all started for us, for CD Projekt Red,” said studio head Adam Badowski in the announcement. “It was the first game we made, ever, and it was a big moment for us then. Going back to this place and remaking the game for the...

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How do cryptozoologists feel about cryptocurrency?

Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge, Image CryptidCoin

Ever since the word “crypto” became shorthand for cryptocurrency, NFTs, and Web3 stuff sold in Super Bowl ads or discussed in dinner table conversations, it has overshadowed another community living outside of the blockchain world.

Cryptozoologists have been using the word “crypto” to talk about their field of expertise: legendary creatures like Sasquatch, the Loch Ness monster, Mothman, Chupacabra, and others. Cryptozoology, the study of hidden or unknown animals, originated in the early 1960s by author Ivan T. Sanderson in his book Abominable Snowmen, Legend Come to Life.

Though other crypto-prefix fields of study like cryptography have also been around for decades, to some cryptozoologists, crypto is not only just disrupting the...

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How to swap Pixel Watch bands

The Pixel Watch’s bands are easy to swap once you get the hang of it. | Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

The Google Pixel Watch is a nice lookin’ smartwatch that borrows a lot of design cues from the Apple Watch. That includes its proprietary strap mount, where you can slide bands in and out to suit your personal aesthetic. According to Google, it’s meant to mimic the way a camera lens snaps into place. The reality is that it’s over-engineered and not intuitive at a glance.

This isn’t a huge issue if you plan on sticking with the band it came with. But if you want to regularly change up the look, you’ve got to master the strap mechanism. The good news is that once you master it, it’s actually quite simple to swap bands. So simple you might feel a little silly afterward for struggling. (Though, if you do struggle, you’re in good company....

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Apple developers are frustrated with gambling ads appearing across the App Store

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple just launched new ad placements on the App Store, and developers aren’t happy with the types of ads surfacing beneath their apps. As spotted by MacRumors, several app developers have pointed out that ads for gambling have started appearing in the “You Might Also Like” sections beneath their App Store listings, which is just one of the new places Apple has started sticking ads.

Developer Simon B. Støvring posted a screenshot of an ad for an online casino app appearing beneath his text editor Runestone. Støvring says he visited the page for his app 10 times and noticed that ads for gambling apps showed up on three visits. Marco Arment, the developer of the podcast app Overcast, said on Twitter he’s “really not OK with” the gambling...

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Nothing’s new Ear Stick earbuds are a stripped-back alternative to its debut Ear 1

The Nothing Ear Stick earbuds and their cylindrical charging case. | Image: Nothing

A little over a year after Nothing announced its debut pair of true wireless earbuds, the Nothing Ear 1, it’s following them up with the Nothing Ear Stick. The new earbuds are less of a successor and more of a stripped-down alternative, with a couple of absent features and a lower price tag. They are to the Ear 1 what Apple’s AirPods are to its AirPods Pro. The Nothing Ear Stick will be widely available starting November 4th, when they’ll cost $99. As of today, the Ear 1 earbuds cost $149, and they will remain on sale alongside the Ear Stick in Nothing’s lineup.

The big features the Ear Stick buds are missing compared to the Ear 1 are active noise cancellation (ANC) and the silicon ear tips that create an airtight-feeling seal in your...

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Sony’s new A7R V camera uses a dedicated AI processor to identify and track subjects

The Sony A7R V looks a whole lot like other Alpha cameras until you look closer at its rear LCD. | Image: Sony

Sony is trying to reclaim any technological footing it lost last year to the Nikon Z9 and Canon EOS R3 cameras. While Sony was at the forefront for years with advanced features like real-time autofocus and eye tracking, its competitors have recently made huge strides to catch up. Now, Sony is announcing its new $3,899.99 A7R V camera — set to launch in mid-December — and it’s baking in an AI processing unit for the sole purpose of getting back in the lead of the autofocus rat race.

The A7R V maintains the massive 61 megapixels of the prior A7R IV, but the backside-illuminated full-frame sensor and Bionz XR processor are now paired with a dedicated AI processing unit. These new AI smarts allow the autofocus to detect and distinguish...

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Rode has launched a new gaming-focused audio product line

Rode is launching Rode X, a new audio hardware and software sub-brand for gamers and streamers. | Image: Rode

Rode has announced a new division dedicated to audio equipment designed to serve the needs of the gaming and streaming community. The Australian audio company has named this new sub-brand “Rode X,” and the lineup will launch with three products: two new microphones and a virtual mixing solution called Unify designed for streaming and gaming.

The Unify software allows users to route and mix up to four USB microphones and up to six virtual audio sources (including game, chat, music, and browser applications) through a single interface. The software can remove background noise and otherwise improve the quality of your audio with the help of compressors, noise gates, and high-pass filters.

Image: Rode

The Unify...

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The Deauther Watch is the world’s most annoying wearable

Illustration by Lille Allen / The Verge

When I was a kid, I was entranced by commercials for the Talkboy Tape Recorder. They promised you a life of pranks and trickery, a perfect tool for being optimally annoying to siblings and loved ones — as seen in Home Alone 2!

The world has changed a lot since then — and for better or worse, annoying gadgets have become a lot more powerful. For instance, they’re now able to kick someone off of Wi-Fi repeatedly, at will, for as long as you like.

What is it?

The Dstike Deauther Watch (now in version 3) is both utilitarian and simple. At its core, it is just an ESP8266, a cheap simple Wi-Fi chip that is in tons of tech. If you have Wi-Fi light bulbs, you probably have several of these chips in your home right now.

On top of the chip, there...

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Microsoft nearly canceled its Xbox Adaptive Controller

Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft came close to never launching its Xbox Adaptive Controller. In an interview with The Verge, Robin Seiler, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Windows and devices, revealed just how close the accessibility-focused Xbox controller came to not shipping.

“There was a point in time when the Xbox controller that was designed for accessibility was on the cut list,” recounts Seiler. Microsoft was managing budgets, and it was about to be unfunded and never released. “Across teams, Xbox and Surface, we said, ‘No this is actually important for the world. This isn’t about revenue or brand positioning; it’s just important for people to be able to play games if they want to,’” says Seiler.

The Xbox Adaptive Controller originated from a...

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When Will Puerto Rico Have Power?

Miriam Sierra Burgas will never forget the man who walked into her bakery in the small mountain town of Castañer, Puerto Rico, pleading for a days-old fritter. It was five days after Hurricane Maria passed, and Castañer, like the rest of the island, was without power. Supermarkets were out of food, and water had stopped flowing from taps.

“It’s no good; it’s cold,” Burgas said of the fritter. “And the person told me, ‘Miss, you don’t know what’s cold; hunger is cold. That’s food, and food is never cold. It’s never gone bad.’”

After him came people with medications to store in Burgas’ refrigerator, one of the few still running thanks to her generator. Then came residents of the nearby nursing home in search of power for their medical...

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Surface defined 10 years of Windows PCs — can it nail the next 10, too?

Laura Normand / The Verge

Microsoft looks to the future of redefining personal computers once again

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Here’s when your Samsung phone or tablet might get Android 13

The Samsung Galaxy S22 family is expected to recieve the update by the end of October 2022, with additional Samsung devices to follow. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

A One UI 5.0 release schedule has reportedly appeared on the Korean-language version of Samsung’s Members App. It gives us a good indication of when the stable version of the Android 13-based update could arrive for Samsung’s lineup of Galaxy phones and tablets in South Korea and, eventually, the US and Europe.

As reported by Sammobile, the One UI 5.0 update will be landing on most high-end Samsung phones and tablets by November 2022. Mid-range Galaxy devices and some older flagship models will soon follow, getting the update in either December 2022 or January 2023. It’s expected that additional eligible Samsung devices will get the update around Q1 and Q2 of 2023.

Some of Samsung’s latest flagships have already received the update,...

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Hinge plans to add video verification feature as ‘romance scams’ soar

A spread of Hinge’s existing profile features. | Image: Hinge

Match Group dating app Hinge is rolling out a new verification feature next month that will allow users to prove who they say they are by filming a short video selfie, Wired reports. The optional feature will prompt users to record a short clip, which Match Group will then compare against the photos posted on their profiles using a combination of machine learning tools and human moderation. If a user passes the test, their profile gets a “Verified” badge, providing an additional assurance to would-be daters.

The launch of the feature comes as the amount of money lost as part of so-called “romance scams” is soaring. In February, the FTC reported that people lost a record $547 million to these scams in 2021, an increase of 80 percent...

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The OM-5 is the first leftover Olympus camera to be branded OM System, and I get sad looking at it

The new OM-5 is a small body, weighing 366 grams, designed to size up with the Zuiko line of f/4 zooms and compact prime lenses. | Image: OM System

When Olympus sold its camera division and reformed as OM System, it hyped up a push toward computational photography with its new mirrorless cameras — this is not that camera. Today, OM System is announcing the new OM-5, a $1,199.99 mirrorless camera that launches late next month and looks like a zombified husk of Olympus. I’m sure it will be a fine camera, but I can’t help feeling depressed when I look at it.

Sure, the OM-1 was technically OM System’s first camera release, but it was still branded Olympus. Now, with the OM-5, it’s proudly wearing the OM System name on its forehead, something that’s sure to only please a handful of people in a marketing meeting somewhere.

Image: OM System

We’ll have to get used to...

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Apple confirms the iPhone is getting USB-C, but isn’t happy about the reason why

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple has given its most direct confirmation yet that a USB-C-equipped iPhone is coming now that the European Union is mandating that all phones sold in its member countries use the connector if they have a physical charger. When asked by The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern if the company would be replacing Lighting, Apple marketing lead Greg Joswiak answered by saying: “obviously we’ll have to comply, we have no choice.”

Stern brought the law up during a talk with Joswiak and software VP Craig Federighi at the WSJ’s Tech Live conference, and followed up by asking when we could expect to see USB-C on an iPhone. Joswiak replied by saying that “the Europeans are the ones dictating timing for European customers.” Currently, the law...

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Nomad’s bringing back the early 2000s with a transparent charging brick

Please let the future be see-through. | Image: Nomad

Nomad, known for its sleek accessories made from leather and metal, is playing around with a new material: transparent plastic. The company has announced a limited edition version of its 30W USB-C charger with a frosty-grey case that gives you a peek at the intricate electronics inside.

As with a lot of modern electronics, there’s not actually a ton to see. Sure, it uses GaN components to achieve its small size, but that’s not really obvious just by looking at it. To the untrained eye, it mostly seems like a neat collection of capacitors, solder joints, and various other components.

Luckily for Nomad, that makes for an incredibly cool aesthetic (at least in my opinion), especially for people like me who can appreciate electrical...

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