AMC is working with Zoom to turn some theaters into giant meeting rooms

For when your boss really wants to be on the big screen. | Image: The Verge

File this one under collaborations we didn’t see coming: AMC is working with Zoom to turn some of its movie theaters into massive videoconferencing spaces for 75 to 150 people for when you really need your meeting to leave an impact. AMC will even provide “food and beverage offerings, possible movie viewings, and concierge-style personalized handling of meeting needs,” though for an additional cost, of course.

The theater chain says that when companies are planning a gathering, they can book theaters across the country online, so their employees can have a similar experience on the call. When you book the service, you’ll get a three-hour block at whatever theaters you select, with AMC and Zoom providing “the necessary equipment for a...

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How am I supposed to mark myself as parody if I can’t change my screen name, Elon?

Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

I can’t change my screen name on Twitter. I can change my bio. But not my screen name. So although I was helpfully trying to describe myself as “Elizabeth Lopatto (parody)” that simply wasn’t possible.

TFW Twitter is broken

Now I hear Elon Musk fired about 50 percent of Twitter employees (though apparently he’s trying to hire some of them back). I also hear that lots of people have been changing their screen names to “Elon Musk” in order to get excommunicated. According to David Sacks, an investor in Musk’s deal to take Twitter private, “Twitter’s longstanding policy is that the account name must indicate a parody account.” Unfortunately, I can’t comply.

Anyway Sacks, who is part of a “war room” of advisors helping...

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T-Mobile may be looking to spend big on fiber home internet

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

T-Mobile is reportedly considering building a multibillion-dollar fiber network that it would use to provide home internet service, according to Bloomberg. While the company started testing fiber internet last year, its main home-focused offering connects with 5G instead of other wired infrastructure like DSL or cable.

Bloomberg reports that the carrier has been working with Citigroup to find financial partners for a potential $4 billion joint venture or “commercial partnership.” It seems like early days for the plan, and it’s possible nothing will come of it, but it still feels like a significant step for the wireless carrier, which has traditionally used and managed a very different kind of infrastructure.

The same can’t be said for...

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Activision says the ‘next full premium’ Call of Duty is coming in 2023

A screenshot from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II_._ | Image: Activision Blizzard

Activision Blizzard’s 2023 plans for Call of Duty include the “next full premium release in the blockbuster annual series,” according to the company’s third-quarter earnings published Monday (pdf). While that wouldn’t be particularly notable most years given the regular fall release cycle of Call of Duty, Bloomberg reported in February that Activision Blizzard had planned to delay its planned annual entry for 2023.

According to Bloomberg, Activision Blizzard was going to delay the 2023 title following the poor response to 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard, which failed to meet the company’s projections. And Bloomberg had said in January that the company was considering a change in the annual releases.

At the time, Activision Blizzard...

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Nanoleaf is now for squares

Nanoleaf’s new Lines Squared were released this week. | Image: Nanoleaf

Nanoleaf’s flexible smart LED light bars have a new angle. The $99.99 Nanoleaf Lines Squared is a new take on the Nanoleaf Lines, adding the option of a 90-degree angle to the backlit modular smart lighting product.

Using new square mounting connectors, Nanoleaf Lines Squared can create linear or squared designs, so you can make your lighting designs go around door frames, windows, or any other square-shaped space you want to light up. You can also now create square designs, and mix and match those with the original Lines’ angles. Lines Squared are available to pre-order starting this week at go.nanoleaf.me.

The original Nanoleaf Lines use 60-degree connectors that give you six angles; the new connectors give you four. The connectors...

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Ten-year hunt leads to 50,000 stolen Bitcoin stored in a popcorn tin and underground safe

Nick Barclay / The Verge

The Department of Justice announced it’s seized around 50,676 Bitcoin that a 32-year-old from Georgia fraudulently obtained from The Silk Road — a site on the dark web once called “the Amazon of drugs” — in 2012. After seemingly tipping authorities off to his large cache of Bitcoin a few years ago, James Zhong pleaded guilty to the crime on Friday after authorities found the Bitcoin stored in an underground safe and on a “single-board computer” hidden in a popcorn tin in a bathroom closet, according to a press release from the DOJ.

The government seized the Bitcoin on November 9th, 2021, and says that it was worth over $3.36 billion at the time. Since then, the value has dropped precipitously; it’s now worth just over $1 billion....

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Twitter tells advertisers that user growth is at ‘all-time highs’ under Elon Musk

Lille Allen / The Verge

Twitter’s daily user growth hit “all-time highs” during the first full week of Elon Musk owning the platform, according to a company document obtained by The Verge.

Since Musk’s dramatic takeover, Twitter’s monetizable daily user (mDAU) growth has accelerated to more than 20 percent, while “Twitter’s largest market, the US, is growing even more quickly,” according to an internal FAQ obtained by The Verge that was shared with Twitter’s sales team on Monday to use in conversations with advertisers. Per the FAQ, Twitter has added more than 15 million mDAUs, “crossing the quarter billion mark” since the end of the second quarter, when it stopped reporting financials as a public company.

If those numbers are in line with how Twitter reported...

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Google’s Pixel 7 and 7 Pro get minor November update ahead of new features next month

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Google has released its monthly security update for the Pixel lineup, and as far as bug fixes go, the list for November’s patch is pretty small. The main improvements aim to improve battery life for the Pixel 7 and Pixel 6 devices. The 2022 flagships get “optimizations for display power consumption to improve thermal performance in certain conditions,” while last year’s Pixels are receiving a “fix for issue causing increased power consumption while certain apps installed.” Google doesn’t specify which apps those are.

This monthly patch also resolves bugs that could cause a green display flicker “in certain conditions” on the Pixel 7 devices, and the Photos app should no longer crash on Google’s latest phones “when using certain editing...

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Now Wordle has an editor in charge of picking the next answer

Photo by Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images

Wordle will now have its own dedicated editor to help make the hit guessing game word puzzles, The New York Times announced on Monday. Tracy Bennett will be the editor, and the game will have a word list curated by the NYT and “be programmed and tested” like its crosswords and the Spelling Bee game.

The changes appear to mean that the NYT will be lining up some of its own solutions instead of relying on the long list of answers you could find if you knew where to look. However, it sounds like the game itself won’t be changing.

“Wordle’s gameplay will stay the same, and answers will be drawn from the same basic dictionary of answer words, with some editorial adjustments to ensure that the game stays focused on vocabulary that’s fun,...

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Netflix is making a Gears of War movie and an animated TV series

Insert chainsaw noise here. | Image: Netflix

Netflix is planning a slate of Gears of War adaptations, the streaming service announced on Monday. First up is a “live action feature film,” then “an adult animated series,” and after that, there’s the “potential for more stories to follow,” Netflix said. Netflix will be working with The Coalition, the Vancouver-based Xbox Games Studio that manages the Gears of War franchise, to bring the franchise to the streaming service. There are no details about when the adaptations will be released.

The announcement arrives on the 16th anniversary of the release of the first Gears of War game, which came out in 2006. Since then, the series has had multiple sequels (the latest being 2019’s Gears 5) and a handful of spinoffs, including one themed...

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You can get in line right now to buy a PlayStation 5 from Sony

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

You have an opportunity to buy a PlayStation 5 console ahead of the holidays if you jump into the queue at Sony’s online hardware shop. At the time of publication, it’s offering the $499.99 disc-based PS5 console (the more elusive $399.99 digital edition that lacks a disc drive has already sold out). Both consoles have the same 825GB of usable storage space, and they can be opened to install more fast storage via an M.2 SSD slot.

Picking up a PS5 is a good idea, as it’s the best (and sometimes, only) way to play PlayStation-exclusive games. God of War Ragnorök, for example, releases this week and offers several high frame rate modes that all look spectacular in their own ways compared to the PS4 version. Check out our review, and if...

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iFixit starts selling parts for the Google Pixel 6A

iFixit now stocks genuine parts for all sixth-gen Pixel phones | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Thanks to a partnership with Google, the right-to-repair champions at iFixit have begun stocking parts for Google’s midrange phone, the Pixel 6A. While iFixit has stocked genuine parts for just about all of Google’s Pixel phones since June, replacement parts for the Pixel 6A have only recently become available.

While you can purchase the parts you need piecemeal through its site, iFixit also offers kits that bundle all of the necessary parts and tools you’ll need to solve a specific issue. The most expensive kit, priced at $99.99, is meant to repair the screen, but other kits are also available to replace the battery ($39.99), wide-angle camera ($56.99), and ultrawide camera ($36.99). The tools and other supplies provided can vary...

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Netflix wants more of Ryan Murphy’s Monster anthology

Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer. | Image: Netflix

Spooky season 2022’s firmly behind us at this point, but Netflix’s choice to renew The Watcher and Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story makes it seem like the streamer’s already looking forward to next year’s.

Netflix announced today that it’s ordered more seasons of both The Watcher, Murphy’s series about a family being bedeviled by neighbors who are obsessed with their house, and Monster, Murphy’s serial killer anthology that kicked off with the dramatization of Jeffrey Dahmer’s 13-year-long killing spree. The Watcher has been renewed for a second season, while Netflix has ordered two more installments of Monster, which will delve into the lives of other notoriously monstrous figures. In a press release about the renewals,...

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To see climate risks your home faces, check out two new tools

A flooded house following Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida, on Thursday, September 29th, 2022. | Image: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Two new tools debuted today that allow US residents to see what hazards climate change might bring to their doorsteps in the future.Each online tool assesses harsh conditions that could potentially affect a property or neighborhood in the coming years — ranging from heatwaves to wildfires, floods, and more.

Nonprofit research organization First Street Foundation announced today that a “Pro” edition of its Risk Factor tool is now available to the public. Before today, users could visit riskfactor.com, type in a specific address, and see ratings on how much risk that property faced from floods, severe heat, and wildfires. Now, users who choose to sign up for a free Risk Factor Pro account can unlock additional perks. These include access...

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YouTube Shorts are coming to your TV — and taking over the platform

Vertical video is coming to a TV near you. (Vertical TVs next?) | Image: YouTube

YouTube Shorts is working. That much Todd Sherman knows for sure. Sherman, the product manager behind YouTube’s endless-scrolling short-form TikTok competitor, is quick to quote the numbers: 1.5 billion users a month are watching Shorts, and they’re watching 30 billion videos a month. “And those numbers were back in the beginning of the year,” he says. “Things have grown since then.” Creators are monetizing; viewers are watching; everything seems to be trending in the right direction.

The question really facing YouTube — now that it’s increasingly clear that the TikTok-style vertical scroll is part of the future of video, and now that Shorts seems likely to be part of that future — is how Shorts actually fits in. YouTube is already so...

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HP’s Pavilion Plus 14 is a powerful, confusing OLED machine

It’s a $999 package you’ll have trouble finding elsewhere.

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Now everyone can post their Stories on Signal

Signal is rolling out its new Stories feature to iOS and Android users today, with desktop “coming soon.” | Image: Signal

Stories are now available to everyone on Signal, allowing users of the encrypted instant messaging service to create and share images, videos, and texts that automatically expire after 24 hours.

The feature was first announced last month on the Signal community forum, where it was initially made available to Signal’s beta testers. Now, the feature is rolling out on the latest version of Signal (v6.0) for all Android and iOS users today, with desktop support “coming soon.”

Image: Signal

Custom Stories can be created for situations where you only want to share content with a specific group of people.

Signal users will have the flexibility to dictate who can see their stories by heading into Settings > Stories....

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Star Wars spinoff The Acolyte adds Lee Jung-jae, Carrie-Anne Moss, and more to cast

Carrie-Anne Moss. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Lucasfilm has outlined the main cast for its upcoming Star Wars thriller The Acolyte, and it includes names involved in iconic projects like Squid Game and The Matrix. In addition to previously announced star Amandla Stenberg, the show will also feature Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, Dean-Charles Chapman, and Carrie-Anne Moss.

There’s no info on what roles they’ll actually take on, but the show itself will take place during the High Republic era of Star Wars lore. Here’s the synopsis:

The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites...

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The Verge Holiday Gift Guide 2022

Photography by Joel Goldberg for The Verge

Check out our top gift ideas for the tech-savvy and non-techies alike.

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Glass Onion’s new trailer invites you to an elaborate murder mystery party

Image: Neflix

The latest trailer for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery shows off what might be the most extra murder mystery party in history. It involves a tech billionaire inviting his closest “disruptor” friends to an island getaway before things inevitably turn deadly — forcing detective Benoit Blanc into action.

Mostly it’s just an excuse to see how much fun the cast is having. Knives Out star Daniel Craig is joined by a group including Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista, and everyone looks like they’re having a blast.

Netflix originally announced that it had scooped up the next two Knives Out sequels last year in a very expensive deal and released the first...

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The HakCat WiFi Nugget is a beginner’s guide to wireless mischief

Illustration by Lille Allen / The Verge

I am firmly in the camp that learning about hacking and, by extension, computers generally should be fun. Much of the modern world purposefully attempts to obfuscate how these things work, functionally turning technology into a huge bummer. And if you want to learn more about networking and Wi-Fi, it can be hard to know where to start.

What if technology was fun again? What if it was inviting? What if it had a little kitty cat on it? Enter the HakCat WiFi Nugget.

What is it?

Like the DSTIKE Deauther watch, the WiFi Nugget is an open-source tool that tries to make the process of learning hacking fun and approachable. Designed by Hak5 hosts Kody Kinzie and Alex Lynd, the device has a tiny OLED screen, some buttons, and the face of a cute...

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Fortnite’s new trophy was made by Swarovski

Image: Epic Games

Another major esports event is getting a fashionable trophy. Epic Games has revealed the trophy for the next major Fortnite tournament — the FNCS Invitational in Raleigh, which also happens to be the first in-person competition in years — and it’s a sleek number crafted by Swarovski. It weighs 15 pounds, is 18 inches tall, and naturally, features “bespoke heliotrope crystals.” The whole thing is designed to look like the FNCS shield.

In a typical bout of synergy from Epic, the company says the trophy was designed using the Unreal Engine:

Throughout the trophy development phase, Swarovski created its photorealistic renderings using Unreal Engine, allowing for quick and comprehensive evaluation of the design. Working from Swarovski’s...

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Airbnb will soon let you search by total price to avoid hidden cleaning fees

Airbnb guests can soon filter pricing for accommodations to include all fees before taxes, avoiding any unexpected additional charges on the final price. | Image: Airbnb

Prices on Airbnb are set to get more transparent following a planned update to the platform’s search function.

Guests will soon be able to filter their search results by the total cost of the stay before taxes, which will include additional compulsory charges such as cleaning fees. The appearance of these fees separate from nightly rates has long been criticized for deceptively making accommodations appear more affordable. Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky shared the announcement on Twitter along with a video demonstrating how the planned “display total price” switch can be enabled to display the total cost of nightly rates and fees, with that price displaying on search results, map, price filter, and individual listing pages.

I’ve...

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Buying two games at Target will get you a third one for free

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is one of the many games that Target has included in its buy two, get one free deal. | Image credit: Ubisoft / Nintendo

Target’s promotion that will set you up with three video games for the price of two is something that gamers shouldn’t miss. If you buy two full-priced games, you’ll get a third of equal or lesser value for free. The retailer is including several physical copies of games in the deal, including recent ones like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II for PlayStation or Xbox, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope for the Nintendo Switch, Elden Ring for PlayStation and Xbox, and many more. Sadly, God of War Ragnarök isn’t included in the promotion, but other PlayStation hits are, including Gran Turismo 7 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

As we get closer to Black Friday later this month, don’t let too many of these money-saving opportunities escape you....

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Telegram rolls out video transcription, blames Apple for delaying latest update

Telegram Premium subscribers now have access to voice-to-text transcription for video messages. | Image: Telegram

Telegram has updated its app with new features and visual updates, including the addition of voice-to-text transcription for videos, separate topics in large group chats, and “Collectible Usernames.”

Video messaging transcription can be accessed by tapping the “→A” button on the bottom-right of a video, but won’t be available for everyone — much like Telegram’s existing voice message transcription, the feature is restricted to Telegram Premium users. A Telegram Premium subscription costs $4.99 a month and comes with additional benefits such as faster downloads, no ads, and a larger file upload limit of 4GB.

Image: Telegram

No time to watch videos from your friends? Telegrams' voice-to-text transcription feature...

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Amazon says it has ‘hundreds’ of Rivian electric vans making deliveries in the US

The deadline to deliver 100,000 electric vans has been pushed to 2030.

Amazon’s fleet of Rivian-made electric delivery vans is growing. Since first rolling out earlier this year, the retail giant’s new zero-tailpipe emission vehicles have made more than 5 million deliveries in the US, with its fleet-size exceeding 1,000 EDVs (electric delivery vans).

That’s still only a fraction of the company’s overall transportation fleet, which is comprised 30,000 Amazon-branded delivery vehicles and 20,000 branded trailers. But the electric-portion is growing, with Rivian eventually expecting to deliver 100,000 vans to the company.

That’s still only a fraction of the company’s overall transportation fleet

Starting in July, the EDVs first rolled out in Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Nashville, San Diego, and Seattle....

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Devialet brings its sci-fi design aesthetics to a $790 portable speaker

The speaker maintains the sci-fi aesthetic that Devialet is known for. | Image: Devialet

Devialet, the French audio company best known for its lineup of eye-catching audio gear that looks like Daft Punk helmets, is getting into the portable smart speaker business. Today, it’s announcing the Devialet Mania, a battery-powered speaker that retains the company’s signature sci-fi stylings but in a compact form factor that it says offers 10 hours of battery life at “moderate volumes.”

The Mania includes four full-range drivers and two sub-woofers, which Devialet says offer 360-degree sound. But perhaps more interesting is how the speaker adjusts its sound profile based on measurements of your listening space it takes from its four microphones. Place the speaker up near a wall, for example, and Devialet claims the speaker’s two...

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Elon Musk’s response to fake verified Elon Twitter accounts: a new permanent ban policy for impersonation

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Elon Musk’s Twitter has a new rule for everyone with an account on Twitter to follow, as he announced from his own account: “any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended.” In a follow-up tweet, Musk said “Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning.”

Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022

Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022

It’s an abrupt update from the person who just a...

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The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max will come with ‘longer wait times’ due to factory lockdown

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple says to expect “longer wait times” if you plan on ordering an iPhone 14 Pro or 14 Pro Max. In a press release, the company explains that covid restrictions are affecting its iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, China, which is currently “operating at significantly reduced capacity.”

“We continue to see strong demand for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models,” Apple says. “However, we now expect lower iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments than we previously anticipated and customers will experience longer wait times to receive their new products.”

In October, a report from Reuters revealed that iPhone production could slump by at least 30 percent due to the strict covid restrictions affecting Foxconn, the China-based factory...

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Meta’s reportedly planning to lay off ‘thousands’ of workers this week

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta’s planning major job cuts that could affect “thousands” of workers, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Sources familiar with the situation told the WSJ that the layoffs could begin as soon as Wednesday.

The Facebook and Instagram parent company reported over 87,000 employees at the end of September, but these “large-scale” layoffs are expected to slash a significant portion of staff members. According to the WSJ, the layoffs could hit Meta even harder than the mass job cuts at Twitter, which affected about half of the company’s 7,500-employee workforce.

In June, Meta’s chief product officer Chris Cox warned employees of “serious times,” noting that employees must “execute flawlessly in an environment of slower...

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