Chrome’s new sidebar lets you blast through search results

The side panel is getting an upgrade. | Image: Google

Google Chrome has a new sidebar that should make it faster and easier to check out a bunch of search results in a row without having to bounce back and forth between the search page and whatever websites it links to. Google also says that it’s bringing its price tracking feature to desktop after a few months of it being available on mobile versions of the browser.

Google’s blog post explains how to access the new sidebar: after you click on a search result, you’ll be taken to the webpage, and a little Google logo will pop up in your address bar. Clicking that button opens the sidebar that shows you results for the search you did to get to the page (though you can search for something new if you like). From there, you can click on...

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Nibel is leaving Twitter, and you can (partially) blame Elon Musk

Outside of stellar game industry coverage, Nibel was best recognized for their Mob Psycho avatar, which displays the titular character Mob against a yellow backdrop. | Image: One / Dark Horse Comics

Nibel (@Nibellion) has left the building. The popular Twitter user best known for their steady, reliable stream of gaming industry news and recognizable Mob Psycho avatar announced today that they would be leaving the platform, citing a lack of financial support and concerns over Elon Musk’s leadership.

A final message was posted to the now-locked account announcing the departure, definitively saying, “After some introspection, I’ve made the decision to focus my time and energy elsewhere and move on from Twitter. This marks the end of my video games coverage and my active participation in this platform.” Nibel posted a more detailed message to their Patreon subscribers, confirming that the month-old Patreon account would also be...

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Severance adds Gwendoline Christie, Alia Shawkat, and more for season 2

Gwendoline Christie | Photo by Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images for BFI

The second season of Severance has just started filming, and to mark the milestone, we have some new details on the cast. As Deadline reports, there are quite a few fresh faces joining the offices of Lumon Industries for season 2. That includes: Gwendoline Christie, Bob Balaban, Merritt Wever, Alia Shawkat, Robby Benson, Stefano Carannante, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, and John Noble. That’s a lot of handshakes (available upon request).

It’s still not clear when the next season of Severance is due to hit Apple TV Plus; it was first announced in April, just ahead of the season 1 finale. We also have essentially no details on what to expect in season 2, though today, Apple did release this photo of star Adam Scott’s face on Twitter:

Every time...

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George Hotz, iPhone hacker and Elon Musk antagonist, is leaving Comma AI

Photo by Michael Zelenko / The Verge

George Hotz is stepping down from Comma AI. The 32-year-old CEO, who rose to fame under his “geohot” hacker alias when just a teenager, made the announcement on his GitHub page, admitting that he doesn’t feel “capable” to continue running the driver assistance technology company he founded seven years ago.

At age 17, Hotz made a name for himself in hacker circles as the first person to carrier unlock the iPhone. A few years later, he got in trouble with Sony for hacking the PlayStation 3 (the company sued and then later settled out of court). In 2015, he got in a fight with Elon Musk, after Musk allegedly tried to hire him, for claiming he could make a better version of Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving software Autopilot. Tesla called...

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Microsoft promises to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for as long as PlayStation exists

Image: Activision

“We’re not taking Call of Duty from PlayStation” is the message from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer this week. Spencer has recently been discussing the future of Call of Duty if the Activision acquisition clears, and he’s made his clearest comments yet in a new podcast interview with YouTubers Justine and Jenna Ezarik.

“As long as there’s a PlayStation out there to ship to, our intent is that we continue to ship Call of Duty on PlayStation,” says Spencer on the Same Brain podcast. “Similar to what we’ve done with Minecraft, since we’ve owned that, we’ve expanded the places people can play Minecraft. We haven’t reduced the places, and it’s been good for the Minecraft community in my opinion, and I want to do the same as we think about...

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EA is teaming up with Marvel for ‘at least’ three new games

EA and Marvel... assemble? | Image: EA

EA and Marvel will be working together on “at least three” new action adventure games for console and PC. The first game in development is the already-announced Iron Man title from Motive Studio.

“Each of these games will be their own original stories set in the Marvel universe,” EA wrote in a blog post about the collaboration. But we don’t know much about the games beyond that, as EA and Marvel didn’t share details like what other superheroes might be featured or even release windows.

We might be waiting quite a while for any concrete news about the games. In a statement, Marvel Games executive vice president Jay Ong noted that the Motive team is “getting started” on the Iron Man game and that “we can’t wait for players to learn more...

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Know the holiday shipping and return policies for Amazon, Target, Walmart, and others

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

With the holiday season right around the corner, everyone is double-checking their lists and figuring out the best places to fulfill those orders. Thankfully, there are often a number of options when it comes to retailers that have what you want. Because of this, online retailers aren’t just dropping prices to compete with each other, but offering more generous shipping and return policies for their products.

Online shopping continues to be the default method for most during the holidays, largely due to convenience and the fact that many retailers offer free shipping when you spend above a certain dollar amount. However, the sudden surge in online shopping during the holidays also increases the possibility of delays as online retailers...

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Ralph Lauren redesigned its iconic logo for a Fortnite collab

Image: Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren is hopping on the battle bus. The brand is the latest fashion house to partner with Fortnite — and as part of the deal, the company’s iconic horse logo has been redesigned with a cartoon llama.

There are two sides to the announcement. First, there’s the digital part, with two Lauren-designed in-game outfits that’ll be available in the Fortnite item shop starting on November 5th. You can check them out below:

Image: Ralph Lauren

There’s also a physical component with a capsule collection of IRL clothes that will be available starting on November 2nd. This will include hats, hoodies, and — of course — polo shirts. The company also says it’s working on a physical version of the boot the in-game characters...

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Senator calls for investigation into Saudi stake in Elon’s Twitter buyout

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) is demanding a national security review of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and the nearly $2 billion in Saudi funding for the deal.

In a statement on Monday, Murphy called on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) to open an investigation into Saudi investment in Twitter. Musk’s deal, totaling $44 billion, includes billions in foreign funding from both Saudi Arabia and Chinese investors. Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Company and the private office of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal claimed to be Twitter’s “second largest investors,” with a combined stake worth $1.89 billion.

“We should be concerned that the Saudis, who have a clear interest in repressing political speech and impacting U.S. politics, are...

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The best thing about the new AirPods Pro is the extra small eartips

The new eartips make my favorite pair of earbuds even better. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

My favorite change to the new AirPods Pro is perhaps the smallest one. Apple’s second-generation AirPods Pro come with a new extra small eartip size, and they finally make Apple’s pro wireless earbuds a near-perfect fit for me.

I loved the first-generation AirPods Pro, but they frequently fell out of my ears when I was doing anything but sitting perfectly still, even with the smallest eartip (at the time). On Zoom calls, I’d be constantly adjusting my earbuds while talking. When eating, the older AirPods Pro would eventually slip out while I was chewing. On runs, I’d have to constantly wiggle them back into my ears.

The problem wasn’t bad enough to be a dealbreaker. I still wore my AirPods Pro all the time. The adjustments just became a...

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SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is scheduled to launch again after three years

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying satellites for the US Air Force ahead of a launch scheduled for June 24th, 2019, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. | Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images

On November 1st, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is scheduled tolaunch into space for the first time since 2019. The giant rocket is slatedto sendpayloads into orbit for the US Space Force tomorrow in a mission called USSF-44.

The mission is the first National Security Space Launch for the Falcon Heavy, the Space Force said in an emailed press statement. As with all national security launches, details are sparse. The Falcon Heavy is supposed to send a microsatellite called TETRA-1 into geosynchronous orbit,according to launch details posted on the Kennedy Space Center website.Other than that, not much is known about the satellites that are going up.

As with all national security launches, details are sparse

Falcon Heavy is scheduled to lift...

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TuSimple reportedly under investigation for ties to Chinese firm

TuSimple may have defrauded investors by failing to disclose its ties to a Chinese firm. | Photo by Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty Images

Autonomous trucking company TuSimple is under investigation for its ties to a Chinese company, The Wall Street Journal reports. The FBI and SEC are said to be looking into whether the San Diego-based company defrauded investors by financing and transferring technology to Hydron, a company led by one of TuSimple’s founders.

It was the latest sign of the hard road ahead for many AV companies, as the industry shrinks, capital dries up, timelines are pushed out, and regulators spot cracks in the system. TuSimple, a leading supplier of autonomous truck technology, is already under scrutiny from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for a crash involving one of its trucks earlier this year.

It was the latest sign of the hard road...

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In defense of the voice message

Billions of voice messages are sent every day. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Over the past few months of peak TV, the voice message has emerged as one of my favorite ways to talk about what I’m watching. I’ll finish this week’s episode of Andor, mute the show’s credits, and immediately start recording a voice message of my thoughts to send to a friend.

The main reason we use voice messages (or voice notes, depending on where you are in the world) is their asynchronicity — we don’t have to both be free at the same time to communicate. Sometimes, he’s managed to watch the episode hours or even days before me and has already sent a message for me to listen to, while other times, I’ll be the first one to share my thoughts. But every week, the format is the same. The recording starts with a spoiler warning, and then...

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Instagram outage tells millions their accounts are suspended

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

An Instagram outage that started Monday morning is locking users out and telling many of them that “we suspended your account on October 31, 2022.”

The platform confirmed the issue on Twitter, stating, “We’re aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account. We’re looking into it and apologize for the inconvenience.”

We're aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account. We're looking into it and apologize for the inconvenience. #instagramdown

— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) October 31, 2022

This morning, many users, including some of us here at The Verge, received notifications saying they’re suspended from the platform. Reports of the issue seem concentrated among iPhone...

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The new Fitbit Sense 2 is already 74 percent off at Amazon

The Sense 2 that’s $80 at Amazon in the black colorway. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

The black color scheme of Fitbit’s brand-new Sense 2 ~~smartwatch~~ “premium fitness tracker” is selling for just $79.95 at Amazon. Other colors are priced at $199.99, which itself is a $100 price cut. The Verge’s Victoria Song reviewed this model just a handful of weeks ago, so it’s strange but very cool to see it so discounted already.

It has industry-leading stress tracking, improved comfort over the first-gen Sense model, and a redesigned user interface. If you need a well-built, well-designed fitness tracker, this deal might have your name on it. As for its flaws, well, they aren’t as damning when the Sense 2 is just $80. At full price, it’s tough to recommend over the Google Pixel Watch, which is a lot smarter thanks to its Google...

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The Hunter Cat is a bodyguard for your credit card

Illustration by Lille Allen / The Verge

See if this sounds familiar: You are in a weird part of town and get cash from a sketchy ATM. The next day, you pay for gas at a pump-side terminal that doesn’t look quite right.

A few days after that, you get a call from your bank saying someone’s using your card in a nightclub across town. It’s not a disaster, but you have to spend some time going through your recent charges, and you also have to wait a few days for the replacement card to come, all while you’re wondering which ATM was the one that skimmed your card number.

Against such a common problem, what are your options? For the particularly paranoid, enter the Hunter Cat.

What is it?

The Hunter Cat is a small device powered by a coin battery and roughly the size and dimensions...

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Amazon Fire TV Cube (2022) review: a streaming box with no equal

The fastest Fire TV yet offers extensive hands-free voice controls that you can’t get from any other streaming player, but it still puts too many ads in your face

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Why one web pioneer thinks it’s time to reinvent the browser

Darin Fisher has been building browsers for decades. | Image: Darin Fisher

Darin Fisher has built a lot of web browsers. A lot of web browsers. He was a software engineer at Netscape early in his career, working on Navigator and then helping turn that app into Firefox with Mozilla. Then, he went to Google and spent 16 years building Chrome and ChromeOS into massively successful products. Last year, he left Google for Neeva, where he worked on ways to build a browser around the startup’s search engine. And now, he’s leaving Neeva to join The Browser Company and work on Arc, one of the hottest new browsers on the market.

Arc, which has been in an invite-only beta for more than a year, is trying to rethink the whole browser UI. It has a sidebar instead of a row of tabs, offers a lot of personalization options, and...

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Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Now that he owns Twitter, Elon Musk has given employees their first ultimatum: Meet his deadline to introduce paid verification on Twitter or pack up and leave.

The directive is to change Twitter Blue, the company’s optional, $4.99 a month subscription that unlocks additional features, into a more expensive subscription that also verifies users, according to people familiar with the matter and internal correspondence seen by The Verge. Twitter is planning to charge $19.99 for the new Twitter Blue subscription, though that price is subject to change. Employees working on the project were told on Sunday that they need to meet a deadline of November 7th to launch the feature or they will be fired.

Musk has been clear in the months leading...

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Twitter battles hateful trolling campaign following Elon Musk's takeover

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter’s combatting an increase in hateful tweets after Elon Musk officially acquired the company on Friday. Yoel Roth, the platform’s head of safety and integrity, said on Twitter that the company’s taking action against an “organized effort” to spread hate speech on the platform.

According to Roth, a “small number” of accounts posted a rash of tweets containing “slurs and other derogatory terms” over the past two days, with the goal of making users think Twitter’s policies surrounding content moderation have changed. Roth says that just 300 accounts sent out over 50,000 tweets using a “particular slur,” and that almost all of the accounts in question are inauthentic.

Over the last 48 hours, we’ve seen a small number of accounts...

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Elon Musk wastes no time changing Twitter

Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge, photo by Christian Marquardt / Getty Images

On his first day, Twitter’s new ‘Chief Twit’ quietly changed the homepage to send a message.

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Telegram pulls paywalled posts from iOS app due to App Store rules

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Telegram removed the ability for users on iOS to create pay-to-view posts due to Apple’s strict App Store guidelines (via 9to5Mac). In a post on Telegram, CEO Pavel Durov says creators on the platform have been using third-party payment or donation bots to sell access to certain posts on their channels, but that Apple was “not happy with content creators monetizing their efforts without paying a 30% tax to Apple.”

Apple doesn’t allow developers to use third-party payment processors in their apps and charges up to a 30 percent commission on any in-app purchases. As noted by 9to5Mac, Telegram initially appeared to have been testing a paid posts feature, as spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra. However, Telegram said in a...

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Apple’s 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros might not arrive until next March

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales

Apple’s new M2-equipped 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros may not arrive until early next year, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. While previous rumors suggested Apple could release the upgraded devices by the end of this year, now Gurman believes they’ll launch in the first half of March.

As noted by Gurman, this release window would allow Apple to launch the new MacBooks around the same the macOS Ventura 13.3 and iOS 16.3 updates come out, which are expected sometime between early February and March. This prediction aligns with Ming-Chi Kuo's tweet from August that suggests Apple could release the new MacBook Pros early next year, as well as a recent rumor from Korean leaker Lanzuk (yeux1122), which also indicates the new...

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The Libby app put a refuge in my pocket when I needed it most

The Libby app puts thousands of books into your pocket for free. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

I wanted the convenience of ebooks, the curation of a local bookstore, and the affordability of a library. This is how I got it.

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Acer’s Chromebook Spin 714 is worse than its predecessor

The Spin 714 isn’t terrible, but it’s not the champion the 713 was

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Elon Musk reportedly ordered company-wide layoffs at Twitter

Laura Normand / The Verge

Elon Musk ordered company-wide layoffs at Twitter on Saturday, according to a report from The New York Times. It’s unclear how many workers will be affected by the purported job cuts, but sources tell the NYT that some departments will be affected more than others.

Previous reports indicate Musk wants to cut down on Twitter’s workforce by 75 percent, although he reportedly told employees otherwise when he arrived at the company’s headquarters carrying an actual sink on Wednesday. Twitter currently has about 7,500 staff members, and as noted by the Times, some managers have been asked to come up with lists of employees to let go.

The layoffs could occur before November 1st — the same day when employees are supposed to receive their...

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Liam Hemsworth will play Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher’s fourth season

Season 3 of The Witcher hasn’t even premiered yet. | Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

Although season 3 of The Witcher hasn’t premiered yet, Netflix just announced a major change coming to season 4: Liam Hemsworth is replacing Henry Cavill as the titular Geralt of Rivia. Both actors posted about the change on Instagram, with Liam Hemsworth saying he’s “over the moon about the opportunity to play Geralt of Rivia.” Netflix nor Cavill provided a reason for the casting change.

“My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for Season 4,” Cavill said on Instagram. “In my stead, the fantastic Mr Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence...

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The sequel to PC Building Simulator feels like it’s still under construction

The customization options let you take things in some wild new directions with your builds | Image: Alice Newcome-Beill

A host of bugs and undercooked features keep the addictive building simulator from reaching its full potential

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iPhone 15 Pro models could ditch mechanical volume and power buttons

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max could swap mechanical volume and power buttons for solid-state toggles that use haptic feedback instead. That’s according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says the buttons could function like the solid-state home button first released on the iPhone 7 that you can’t physically press down but vibrates in response to touch.

The iPhone 8, as well as the second and third-generation models of the budget-friendly iPhone SE also feature a solid-state home button, which is powered by Apple’s Taptic Engine. Apple utilizes this same technology to enable haptic keyboard presses in iOS 16, as well as with the Force Touch trackpads it uses on its MacBooks.

(1/6)
My latest survey indicates that the volume button and...

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Google’s versatile Nest Audio and Nest Hub Max are up to 50 percent off today

The 10-inch display on the Google Next Hub Max features a terrific camera and can provide personalized info at a glance. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

This weekend we’re talking about Google devices, specifically Google’s Nest Audio and Nest Hub Max, along with a number of other excellent discounts you might want to take advantage of while you still can.

First up we have Google’s compact Nest Audio, which is on sale for $49.99 at Best Buy, Target, and the Google Store, saving you $50 on the smart speaker’s regular price. The compact speaker offers excellent sound quality and can even pair with another Nest Audio to provide stereo sound. While the reliability of its voice controls can be a bit hit or miss, the Nest Audio provides a solid listening experience in an attractive and affordable package. Read our review.

You can also find the Google Nest Hub Max on sale at Wellbots, Target,...

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