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Musk spoke to Twitter employees today. | Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images
With Twitter staff still reeling from mass layoffs and executive resignations, Musk took questions from employees for nearly an hour. Here’s everything he said.
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As crypto prices have gone up, so have the number of scams. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
The US government’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has put out a warning that it’s seeing a rise in complaints related to cryptocurrencies and assets. As much of a shock as that may be, it’s not just concerned with straight-up fraud and scams, though those are the most common problems the agency hears about — the CFPB also says consumers have been sounding the alarm about issues with transactions going through, lost savings, and more.
The bulletin is a 45-page document that analyzes the crypto-related complaints the CFPB has received from October 2018 to September 2022, showing the increasing frequency of consumers reaching out for help and providing several examples of bad behavior. In that time frame, almost 40 percent of the...
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YouTube wants to help you do Q&As. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
YouTube has a new Live Q&A feature to help you host dedicated question and answer sessions during livestreams.
Here’s how it works: when you start a Q&A as a creator, your prompt shows up as a pinned message at the top of your stream’s chat, and then viewers can submit their questions. When you find a question you want to discuss, you can pin it so that it’s featured and everyone knows what you’re responding to. To move on, you can pin another question, and it will replace what’s at the top of the list. When you’re done with the Q&A session, you can go back to a standard chatroom.
This dedicated Q&A tool could be a useful way for creators to have conversations directly with their audiences. Before now, they’d just have to field...
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GIF: Tiny Circuits
What is this, a television for ants? Basically yes! The TinyTV 2, a Kickstarter project from the company that brought us an even smaller Game Boy, is one of the smallest and cutest video players I’ve ever seen. While it doesn’t have a set of rabbit ears to harness the airwaves, the one-inch 216x135-pixel television is authentic in practically every other way — dials to adjust “channel” and volume, a working speaker and power button, even an infrared receiver for a tiny optional remote control (via Technabob).
There’s a two-hour lithium-ion battery so you can take it on the go and a USB-C port for charging and data. It’s all powered by a Raspberry Pi RP2040 computer. And — get this — it emulates the experience of “changing channels” by...
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A rendered version of the MK30 drone. | Image: Amazon
Amazon is building a better drone that should help chart a course for the company’s Prime Air delivery service after the project was reportedly hampered by multiple malfunctions, crashes, and even fires. The new MK30 drone will go into service in 2024 and is designed to be quieter, go further, and handle the elements better, like high temperatures and light rain.
The new drone has the same function and goal as its predecessor designs: fly vertically hundreds of feet into the air, autonomously maneuver and land, and deliver packages up to five pounds. The MK30 will be lighter and smaller than the current hexagonal MK27-2 drone, and it will be put through “rigorous evaluation by national aerospace authorities like the Federal Aviation...
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Unlike Amazon’s other robots, Sparrow doesn’t need items to be boxed before it can move them. | Image: Amazon
Amazon has announced a new robot, dubbed Sparrow, which the company says is its first warehouse robot that can “detect, select, and handle individual products.” The company says the machine is capable of recognizing and handling “millions of items” and that it will reduce the repetitive tasks its human workers have to do.
The company’s post announcing the robot doesn’t say exactly how it plans to use Sparrow, but it’s not hard to imagine many more applications for something that can lift and move individual products in Amazon’s warehouses.
“In our current research and development efforts, we are working with Sparrow to consolidate inventory before it is packaged for customers,” said Xavier Van Chau, a spokesperson for the company, “but...
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Leica is no stranger to re-badged gadgets. | Image: Leica
Leica’s at it again. As spotted by PetaPixel, the company has announced the new Leitz Phone 2, updating the Leitz Phone 1 with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor and a higher-resolution Type 1 camera sensor. The Phone 2 will only be sold in Japan and will cost 225,360 yen (about $1,588).
Or you can buy basically the same phone — minus the red dot logo — for 189,360 yen, which is about $200 less. That would be the Aquos R7 made by Sharp — the licensee responsible for manufacturing the Leitz Phone 2.
The Phone 2 (like the R7) includes a 6.6-inch OLED, a 5,000mAh battery, and a single rear camera with a massive Type 1 47-megapixel sensor. That’s an impressively large sensor, which Leica proclaims to be the “largest sensor ever in a...
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More execs are leaving the company. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Two other top Twitter executives are leaving the company. Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, and Robin Wheeler, the head of ad sales, are both out. First reported by Platformer’s Zoe Schiffer and Casey Newton, the news was confirmed to The Verge’s Alex Heath by two people familiar with the matter. The two executives resigned, according to Bloomberg’s Kurt Wagner.
Both leaders had taken public-facing roles in these still-early days of Elon Musk’s Twitter ownership. Roth has repeatedly posted on Twitter to try and assuage user fears about falling moderation under Musk’s regime and despite the company’s recent mass layoffs. Wheeler directed a Twitter Space meeting this week with Musk to try and calm advertisers concerned about...
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LG
November is well underway, and we’re getting closer to the big rush of Black Friday deals. Best Buy was one of the first retailers to debut holiday deals at the end of October, giving shoppers an extended window to shop some great deals. It came out swinging with several good deals, though sadly, most of them came to an end — at least, a temporary one. It’ll add more price cuts once actual Black Friday comes around on the day after Thanksgiving in the US. 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...
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You actually get two of these. | Image: Tumblr
Tumblr has been enjoying a resurgence thanks to some recent policy changes and ongoing chaos at Twitter, and that’s drawn a few real-world celebrities like Ryan Reynolds and Lynda Carter to the platform. Unlike most big social networks, though, Tumblr doesn’t verify high-profile accounts’ authenticity. That’s caused a little confusion since, without a link from some known off-platform account, it’s almost impossible to tell if these accounts are real. Fortunately, Tumblr is rolling out a new feature that will do absolutely nothing to change this — and you can buy it for a one-time fee of $7.99.
The Tumblr Important Blue Internet Checkmark is the latest of a few joke items Tumblr sells on its web store, and it does about what you’d...
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Nick Barclay / The Verge
Earlier this year, Google announced a pilot that would allow Spotify (and eventually other apps) to bypass the standard Google Play billing on Android in favor of their own payment systems. Crucially, Google still gets a cut of those payments under this new User Choice Billing initiative, but in Spotify’s words, it still represents progress toward greater “platform fairness and expanded payment options.” And now, the streaming music service has begun actually testing User Choice Billing in select markets.
“Going forward, Android users will soon be able to choose how to pay for their Spotify subscription in the way that best suits them,” Spotify wrote in a newsroom post. “Google has taken a bold step to help level the playing field, but...
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Amazon might be changing how it thinks about Alexa. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
Amazon’s Alexa assistant is under the microscope as part of a major cost-cutting review headed up by CEO Andy Jassy, according to The Wall Street Journal. Alexa has become a major part of Amazon’s devices and smart home strategy, but documents seen by the WSJ indicate that the company’s entire devices unit has had an operating loss exceeding $5 billion in some recent years.
As part of the review, Amazon is looking into whether it should “focus on trying to add new capabilities to Alexa,” the WSJ writes. It’s unclear exactly what that means, but it appears the company is considering lessening its investments in a product that seemingly doesn’t bring in much money on its own.
In a statement, the company voiced support for Alexa but didn’t...
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Legendary comic Chris Rock will host a live comedy special on Netflix in early 2023, the streaming service announced Thursday. This isn’t just a big deal because of who’s involved — it also marks Netflix’s first-ever global livestreamed event.
Image: Netflix
The success of the event could signal a significant new path for Netflix. The company has so far relied on building a massive on-demand catalog of TV shows and movies to keep people subscribed month after month, but this new event could indicate that the company is looking to add live content to its catalog of shows as well. (Perhaps live sports?) Netflix had confirmed it was looking into livestreaming earlier this year.
Netflix has already hosted a live i...
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The Razer Naga V2 Pro (left), and the Naga V2 Hyperspeed (right). | Image: Razer
Today, Razer announced follow-ups to its MMO-centric modular gaming mouse with the Razer Naga V2 Hyperspeed and V2 Pro. Both models share a similar design to Razer’s older models of the Naga lineup but include some interesting changes to the hardware.
Designed as the more budget-friendly option, the $99.99 Razer Naga V2 Hyperspeed still features the 12 macro buttons placed under your right thumb but also has a pair of additional buttons placed in the upper-left periphery of the mouse, directly to the left of your index finger, similar to what we saw with the Razer DeathAdder V2 X. However, unlike the Naga X, the V2 doesn’t have a swappable button panel.
Image: Razer
The Naga V2 Hyperspeed is battery powered and...
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Basically rule number one of what not to do with your customers’ money. | Illustration: The Verge
Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading firm Alameda Research reportedly owes his crypto exchange FTX $10 billion after taking loans funded by deposits from FTX customers, according to The Wall Street Journal.
As economist Frances Coppola pointed out to the Journal, exchanges like FTX shouldn’t be investing customers’ money. “It shouldn’t be doing anything with those assets. They should literally be sitting there so people can use them,” said Coppola. That’s especially true for volatile markets like crypto, where collateral could swing in value from one day to the next.
However, FTX reportedly lent over half of its customer funds to Alameda, which then used them to bet on other cryptocurrencies and help out other crypto firms struggling to weather...
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
FTX is just the latest company facing an uncertain future as cryptocurrency values drop, revealing flaws in risky financial strategies that fueled the recent crypto and NFT boom.
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A new search box in the Task Manager. | Image: Microsoft
Microsoft has started testing a new search and filtering system for the Task Manager on Windows 11. It will allow Windows users to easily search for a misbehaving app and end its process or quickly create a dump file, enable efficiency mode, and more.
“This is the top feature request from our users to filter / search for processes,” explains the Windows Insider team in a blog post. “You can filter either using the binary name, PID or publisher name. The filter algorithm matches the context keyword with all possible matches and displays them on the current page.”
You’ll be able to use the alt + F keyboard shortcut to jump to the filter box in the Task Manager, and results will be filtered into single or groups of processes that you can...
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Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge
Wear OS is much better than it used to be, so there’s never been a better time to consider a smartwatch.
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Whoop’s new study shows changes in heart rate variability ahead of delivery. | Image: Whoop
Monitoring changes in heart rate in pregnant people may be a way to screen for people who will deliver prematurely, according to new data from researchers working at wearable company Whoop.
Preterm birth is risky and can lead to health complications for both the parent and the infant. But it’s hard to predict who might be likely to go into labor early. “Accessible, noninvasive screening options for premature birth can serve as early warning signs for pregnant people, giving them more time to find and administer interventions to improve health outcomes,” said Elizabeth Cherot, chief medical officer of the medical practice Axia Women’s Health, in a statement from Whoop.
The Whoop wearable device calculates users’ heart rate variability,...
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Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge
What if you had access to everything the internet knows about you, and what if you could use it to make your life better? That’s what Mem is trying to figure out.
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Canon’s webcam software supports 42 different camera models, including the G7X Mark III pictured here. | Image: Canon
It felt like companies were offering some goodwill during the pandemic when they released free software that allowed a camera you already own to work as a webcam, but now, Canon’s looking for some of that sweet recurring subscription revenue. A new update to its EOS Webcam Utility software adds a bunch of new features, but only as part of a new Pro tier that costs $5 per month or $50 per year.
Opting to pay gets you new features like streaming up to five cameras at once via USB, wireless single-camera streaming, 60fps support, finer controls for custom scene profiles, watermark insertion, control of your camera settings via the UI, and some further granular tweaks. While much of that sounds nice and may make for a better experience when...
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Image: KFC
Fast food chain KFC sent customers in Germany a message encouraging them to “treat [themselves]” to the restaurant’s food to mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the coordinated anti-Jewish attacks by the Nazi Party many consider to be the beginning of the Holocaust.
BITTE WAS SOLL ICH MIR GÖNNEN? @KFCDeutschland pic.twitter.com/jNVPmbawH8
— Björn (@BjrnHfer) November 9, 2022
Customers in Germany were horrified to receive the push notification from the fast food restaurant yesterday, on the anniversary of the 1938 attacks when Nazis orchestrated and carried out the destruction of thousands of Jewish homes, businesses, and schools, killed dozens, and sent 30,000 people to concentration camps.
The KFC promotion read, “It’s memorial...
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COURTESY OF NETFLIX
Earlier this year, Netflix dropped a _Dragon Age-_shaped bomb on me when it announced that it was producing a new miniseries in collaboration with BioWare taking place in the Dragon Age universe. That miniseries, Dragon Age: Absolution, is almost here, due to hit the streaming service on December 9th, and we have a first look at the newest trailer.
Dragon Age: Absolution is like Ocean’s Eleven, _Dragon Age-_style, wherein a group of misfit warriors, outcasts, and ne’er-do-wells team up to steal a mysterious artifact from a powerful mage. The show features the voice talents of Kimberly Brooks, Matt Mercer, Ashly Burch, and Phil LaMarr. But beyond the phenomenal voice actors and slick animation, I’m singularly concerned with one thing, and one...
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Image: Netflix
Netflix just released the official teaser trailer for The Witcher: Blood Origin, the prequel series starring Michelle Yeoh, and to my surprise, I thought it looked quite good. I only made it through three episodes of the first season of The Witcher before dropping it, so I wasn’t really looking forward to Blood Origin, which takes place 1,200 years before the events of the main Witcher series. But this new trailer might have swayed me to tune in.
It looks like Blood Origin will be an epic and battle-filled fantasy series, and based on a few brief glimpses in the trailer, it seems Yeoh will be playing a critical role in everything going on. (I’m crossing my fingers for some awesome action scenes — I’m still in awe of Yeoh’s performance in...
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If you’re worried that John Wick will finally meet his demise in the upcoming John Wick: Chapter 4, the character has some reassuring words for you: “maybe not.”
After making its debut with a brief teaser at San Diego Comic-Con, we now have the first proper look at the fourth John Wick film. And while it offers plenty of familiar faces and action, the focus of the clip is the new: most notably, the new management, played by Bill Skarsgård. Apparently, he and John (Keanu Reeves) will have to fight to the death in single combat. As the official description explains, John “uncovers a path to defeating the High Table, but before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and...
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Smashed phone screens could eventually be a thing of the past thanks to ultra-flexible stretchy display tech. | Image: LG Display
LG Display has created a new display that can fold, twist, and stretch from 12 to 14 inches.
Announced in a press release on Thursday, the stretchable display has a resolution of 100ppi and is capable of displaying full-color RGB. The prototype was created using micro LEDs with a sub-40μm pixel pitch that were built into a silicon substrate typically used in contact lenses. According to LG Display, this gives it a consistency “similar to that of a rubber band” and allows it to be stretched in any direction by up to 20 percent.
Image: LG Display
Images of the prototype display suggest that it still needs to be connected to less malleable hardware to work.
Other styles of flexible display technology have been...
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President Joe Biden delivers remarks before signing H.R. 5376, the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” Tuesday, August 16th, 2022. | Image: White House
The Biden administration proposed a new rule today that would require federal contractors to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and make efforts to limit their pollution. The rule also calls for companies to disclose financial risks they face as a result of climate change in an effort to “strengthen the resilience of vulnerable Federal supply chains.”
The rule would require federal contractors receiving more than $7.5 million in annual contracts to publicly share how much greenhouse gas pollution they generate from their operations and electricity use. Contractors receiving less than $7.5 million annually would be exempt. Since the new standards apply only to federal contracts, they can be instituted without approval from Congress.
T...
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Illustration by Alex Castro
Twitter’s privacy and security team is in turmoil after Elon Musk’s changes to the service bypassed the company’s standard data governance processes. The company’s chief privacy officer Damien Kieran, chief information security officer Lea Kissner, and chief compliance officer Marianne Fogarty have all resigned, according to two sources and an internal message seen by The Verge. Kissner confirmed their departure in a tweet.
“Elon has shown that his only priority with Twitter users is how to monetize them.”
In a note posted to Twitter’s Slack and viewable to all staff, an attorney on the company’s privacy team wrote that “Elon has shown that his only priority with Twitter users is how to monetize them. I do not believe he cares about the...
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FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried broke his silence on Thursday morning with a lengthy statement taking responsibility for financial irregularities at the exchange and its subsequent collapse.
In a thread on Twitter, the founder gave the fullest explanation yet of the unexpected crisis that has all but destroyed his company.
“I fucked up, and should have done better,” Bankman-Fried said. “I also should have been communicating more very recently.”
In the following explanation, the CEO insisted the problems are limited to FTX’s international arm (which is not subject to US banking regulations). Even within FTX International, Bankman-Fried says total holdings are sufficient to satisfy the company’s debts. However, he acknowledged that...
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FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried broke his silence on Thursday morning with a lengthy statement taking responsibility for financial irregularities at the exchange and its subsequent collapse.
In a thread on Twitter, the founder gave the fullest explanation yet of the unexpected crisis that has all but destroyed his company.
“I fucked up, and should have done better,” Bankman-Fried said. “I also should have been communicating more very recently.”
In the following explanation, the CEO insisted the problems are limited to FTX’s international arm (which is not subject to US banking regulations). Even within FTX International, Bankman-Fried says total holdings are sufficient to satisfy the company’s debts. However, he acknowledged that...