Elden Ring adds new hairstyles, still forgets the Black ones

Image: From Software

It’s a dangerous endeavor to boot up Elden Ring right now. There’s a short lull in the holiday release season, so it would be very, very easy for me to be lured back to the Lands Between, where I spent over 100 hours mastering katanas and the art of glintstone pebbling things to death from a great distance. In fact, Elden Ring wasted no time reminding me why it will likely be named Game of the Year tomorrow at the Game Awards because the second I loaded in after months of neglect, I almost got myself killed in the dumbest, funniest way. As I was reacclimating myself to the controls, I accidentally aggro’d one of those Ohioan T-rex dogs off-screen and had to quickly remember which button was dodge, then remember the nuances of dodging p...

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Epic adds new for-kids accounts in Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys

A screenshot from Fortnite_._ | Image: Epic Games

Epic Games is introducing a new type of account for kids playing its online multiplayer games. The new accounts, called Cabined Accounts, have some restrictions until a parent or guardian gives their approval for certain features. They’ll start rolling out in Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys, Epic said in a blog post on Wednesday.

If someone tries to make an account and says they are under 13 years old (or below the age of digital consent for their country), that account will be a Cabined Account. Kids using a Cabined Account will be able to play Fortnite, Rocket League, or Fall Guys, but some key features will be disabled, including text and voice chat, buying items with money, and downloading titles from developers that aren’t...

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Your home security system may now be a little smarter

A new feature from Alarm.com knows when to arm and disarm your security system so you don’t have to. | Image: Alarm.com

Millions of smart home security systems are getting a bit smarter this week. A new feature called Smart Arming brings a little flexibility to Alarm.com systems’ arm and disarm settings, making you less likely to trip the alarm by mistake and more likely to actually use it.

Smart Arming is available now on systems powered by Alarm.com, a company that provides both hardware and software to hundreds of local and national home security companies. Instead of a rigid on / off schedule, Smart Arming lets you schedule arm and disarm windows, then uses information from security sensors in your home that you select to determine when to set the alarm or disarm it within those windows. It’s like the difference between a programmable thermostat that...

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DC sues Amazon for ‘stealing’ $60 million in tips from Flex drivers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine has sued Amazon for using drivers’ tips to pay their standard wages, attempting to exact a punishment that federal consumer protection agencies couldn’t.

Amazon settled with the Federal Trade Commission last year after a lawsuit asserted it had withheld more than $60 million (or about one-third of total customer tips) from Amazon Flex drivers over the course of two and a half years. But while the FTC took that money to distribute back to drivers, it had no mechanism to issue greater penalties. “Amazon has thus far escaped any other consequences,” Racine’s complaint says. The new suit asks for a DC court to assess further financial damages, aiming to “hold Amazon to full account for its...

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Rejoice, nerds: you can finally stay in a genuine Hobbit hole through Airbnb

This isn’t some unofficial recreation — overnight bookings are available for the genuine Hobbiton movie set in New Zealand for the first time ever. | Image: Larnie Nicolson / Airbnb

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Tolkien fans can finally book to stay at the genuine Hobbiton Movie Set via Airbnb. The Hobbiton set was initially built by Lord of the Rings director Sir Peter Jackson on Buckland Road in New Zealand in 1999 and features in both of his Middle-earth movie trilogies. While the location has since become an active tourist destination in New Zealand, this announcement marks the first time that guests will be able to stay overnight.

Russell Alexander, whose family owns the farmland on which Hobbiton is built, will host guests on behalf of Airbnb, granting them access to all 44 Hobbit Holes, The Millhouse, and The Green Dragon Inn. “For more than two decades, we’ve...

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Apple’s controversial plan to try to curb child sexual abuse imagery

Apple ‘s plan to scan iOS devices for CSAM imagery has proven controversial | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Why privacy experts are concerned

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Apple claims a new iMessage can alert you if state-sponsored spies are eavesdropping

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple’s new iOS and iCloud security initiative includes a new way for iMessage users to verify that they’re talking to the person they think they’re talking to. The company claims the new iMessage Contact Key Verification will let people who “face extraordinary digital threats,” such as journalists, activists, or politicians, make sure that their conversations aren’t being hijacked or snooped on.

According to a press release on Wednesday, if both people in an iMessage conversation have the feature enabled, they’d get an alert if “an exceptionally advanced adversary, such as a state-sponsored attacker, were ever to succeed breaching cloud servers and inserting their own device to eavesdrop on these encrypted communications.” They’ll also...

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Apple drops controversial plans for child sexual abuse imagery scanning

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple has ended the development of technology intended to detect possible child sexual abuse material (CSAM) while it’s stored on user devices, according to The Wall Street Journal.

That plan was unveiled last fall with an intended rollout for iOS 15, but backlash quickly followed as encryption and consumer privacy experts warned about the danger of creating surveillance systems that work directly from your phone, laptop, or tablet.

And here's his answer on if Apple took into account the impact this would have on law enforcement and investigations https://t.co/X64rwlkMEN pic.twitter.com/lTQvC27da1

— Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern) December 7, 2022

As recently as last December, Apple said its plans on that front hadn’t changed, but...

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The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, one of our favorite gaming laptops, is $450 off

The 2022 ROG Zephyrus G14 is a bit of a looker, not to mention an excellent value. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The days for holiday shopping are slowly ticking away, but thankfully there are still plenty of great deals to take advantage of — including a few Verge faves. First off, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop is on sale at Best Buy for $1,199.99. This is the latest entry-level model of Asus’ 14-inch laptop — which normally runs $1,649.99 — and Best Buy is currently offering a $450 discount until December 9th.

We’ve espoused much praise over the years for the Zephyrus G14, and rightfully so, as it’s a great laptop with solid gaming specs that doesn’t forget about all the other stuff a laptop should do. This entry-level configuration of the latest G14 incarnation packs an AMD Ryzen 9 CPU, Radeon RX 6700S GPU, 1TB SSD, and 16GB of RAM to...

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Apple is adding end-to-end encryption to iCloud backups

Apple announced some big new security features on Wednesday. | Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Apple will finally be adding end-to-end encryption to iCloud backups, the company said as part of a major set of security announcements on Wednesday. Under what it calls Advanced Data Protection, Apple will expand the number of “data categories” protected by end-to-end encryption from 14 to 23, with backups, Notes, and Photos now covered.

Based on a screenshot from Apple, these categories are covered under Advanced Data Protection: device backups, messages backups, iCloud Drive, Notes, Photos, Reminders, Safari bookmarks, Siri Shortcuts, Voice Memos, and Wallet Passes. Apple says the only “major” categories not covered by Advanced Data Protection are iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendar because “of the need to interoperate with the global...

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This is the dock that lets Skydio drones truly fly themselves

The Skydio Dock with a Skydio X2 drone. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Skydio is the only company making drones that can largely fly themselves, able to sense and avoid objects so seamlessly you can hand a toddler the controls. But legally and practically, they need a lot of human oversight. Who’s going to charge the drone, update it, download its footage, and be the oft legally required visual observer to make sure it doesn’t crash into anything nearby?

But for years, Skydio has been working on the gadget that could eliminate pesky humans from the equation. It’s called the Skydio Dock, and it’s a 72-pound motorized box that can let these drones operate completely autonomously. I drove to Skydio’s headquarters in San Mateo, California, this week to check it out, watch it fly an autonomous mission, and used...

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Dwarf Fortress is no longer PC’s most inscrutable game

Dwarf Fortress got a new look for its debut on Steam and Itch. | Image: Kitfox Games

The subterranean settlement sim has been a cult favorite since it was first released in 2006. Now, a graphically updated version of the game is hitting Steam and Itch, the perfect entry point for the ‘Dwarf Fortress curious.’

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The best Fitbit for your fitness and health

Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge

Whether you want a basic fitness band or a full-fledged smartwatch, there’s a Fitbit for everyone — though the best Fitbit smartwatch isn’t technically a Fitbit.

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Stop burning trees for energy, scientists urge ahead of UN Biodiversity Conference

Little remains but stumps and puddles in what was once a bottomland hardwood forest on the banks of the Roanoke River in northeastern North Carolina. The trees were turned into wood pellets for burning in power plants in Europe. | Photo by Joby Warrick / The Washington Post via Getty Images

Forests are more valuable alive than dead, at least according to the more than 670 scientists who signed a letter urging world leaders to quit burning trees for energy. The plea comes as delegates gather for the United Nations Biodiversity Conference that begins today in Montreal.

The scientists want to stop to the industrial burning of wood for electricity and heat, referred to as forest bioenergy. The practice needs to be replaced by wind and solar energy, they write, to protect forests and creatures that make a home there.

“The goal to halt and reverse the global loss of nature could fail due to the growing pressure on forests from this industry,” the letter says.It’s addressed to the heads of government of China, the US, Canada,...

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Xbox brings gaming soundscapes to Calm app for sleeping and meditation

Soundscapes based on the Sea of Thieves and Halo Infinite video games are now available for Calm premium subscribers. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft has announced a partnership between Xbox and Calm, a popular sleep, meditation, and relaxation app, that will bring video game-themed soundscapes to the Calm app for the first time. Available from today, Calm Premium users can access two new soundscapes based on Sea of Thieves and Halo Infinite which can be used as background audio for sleeping, or general relaxation.

According to a press release for the collaboration, Calm premium users can “enjoy the meditative sounds of whirling waves and chattering birds from the ocean expanse of Sea of Thieves and the ambient alien sounds of Zeta Halo from Halo Infinite.”

A Calm Premium subscription typically costs $69.99 per year (or a one-time lifetime membership fee of $399.99), but...

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How to watch The Game Awards 2022

Geoff Keighley is once again hosting The Game Awards. | Photo by JC Olivera / Getty Images

It’s almost time for gaming’s annual end-of-year awards and announcements extravaganza. The 2022 edition of The Game Awards takes place on Thursday, December 8th, and the opening act kicks off at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT. While the show itself takes place live at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, you can stream the event for free on platforms like YouTube and Twitch.

We don’t know exactly how long The Game Awards will be, but host Geoff Keighley said in a Twitch stream that the main show will last about two and a half hours. That’s a good thing, if you ask me; the 2021 Game Awards, including pre-show, was a nearly four-hour event.

Depending on where you watch The Game Awards, you might be able to win some free stuff. If you catch 60...

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Google discovered North Korea exploiting an Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability in October

Google’s Threat Analysis Group discovered that an Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability was used to lure victims using Microsoft Office documents referencing the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush tragedy. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

A new blog post from Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) reveals that an Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability was actively exploited by North Korea in October 2022. The attack targeted South Korean users by embedding malicious malware into documents that reference the recent Itaewon crowd crush tragedy in Seoul.

The Internet Explorer web browser was officially retired back in June earlier this year and has since been replaced by Microsoft Edge. However, as TAG’s technical analysis explains, Office is still using the IE engine to execute the JavaScript that enables the attack, which is why it worked on Windows 7 through 11 and Windows Server 2008 through 2022 machines that haven’t installed new November 2022 security updates.

TAG...

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This year’s roundup of the top Google searches includes super local trends

Google will show the top searches from your part of the US. | Image: Google

Let’s jump straight to the chase: “Wordle” was Google’s most searched term globally in 2022. The stat was revealed as part of Google’s annual Year in Search report, which highlights the top trending search terms in both individual countries as well as globally. This year, Google is offering an even more granular look at searches in the USA with a new hub that lets you type in your city or ZIP code and see what people in your area specifically are searching for.

As you might expect, the year’s top searches were dominated by terms relating to 2022’s big news events, with “Ukraine” and “Queen Elizabeth” both featuring in the top five. But there were also a surprising amount of searches for specifically Indian (and presumably cricket)...

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The Verge’s favorite holiday gifts under $100

Photography by Joel Goldberg for The Verge

If you’re trying to save this season, we’ve pulled together a host of fantastic gifts you can buy for less than $100, ranging from e-readers to Instant Pots.

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The deep inequalities of Facebook’s secretive cross-check moderation program

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Today, let’s talk about a new opinion from Meta’s Oversight Board that attempts to square a tension at the heart of any big social network: on one hand, a desire to treat its users with equality; and on the other, an acknowledgement that in practice some groups of users deserve special treatment.

I.

No company wants to say outright that some of its customers matter more than others. But in practice, on social networks in particular, some customers do — at least when it comes to how their accounts and posts are treated. If the president of a country regularly communicates with their citizens on a platform (particularly a country that might ban or otherwise restrict your business), you want to be extra careful with any steps you take to...

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Companion robot ElliQ can ask users about their childhood to create a digital ‘memoir’

An upgraded version of ElliQ — a robot designed to act as a companion for older adults — is now available for anyone to buy. The bot has been under development by Israeli startup Intuition Robotics for years, but a first version (launched in March) was only built in limited capacity. The new ElliQ 2.0 comes with upgraded features including new conversation prompts, virtual experiences, and an app for family members and carers.

ElliQ consists of a digital display and a light-up “bobble head” that moves and reacts to users’ conversation. Intuition Robotics describes the bot as a way to combat many nations’ “loneliness epidemic,” or the increasing number of older adults living alone. The company says ElliQ can act as a proactive tool to...

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Microsoft Teams adds free communities feature to take on Facebook and Discord

Communities inside Microsoft Teams. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is launching a new communities feature for Microsoft Teams today, designed for consumers to use the best parts of Teams free of charge to create and organize groups. The new community feature will allow groups to use the calendar, meeting, and chat features of Teams.

Features like group chat, calling, and file / photo sharing are all supported, and groups will also be able to use a shared calendar (which includes Google Calendar integration) to organize community events.

This new community integration is really aimed at groups like sports clubs or even virtual community groups for small businesses and simple groups like a carpool for co-workers to organize transportation. Facebook, Reddit, Discord, WhatsApp, Twitter, and many...

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Snapchat’s big new augmented reality feature is letting creators make money

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Augmented reality isn’t really a thing yet. But you know what is? Face lenses. Millions of users across Snapchat, Instagram, Zoom, TikTok, and countless other apps are already used to tapping a button and having dog ears suddenly attached to their skull, rainbows fired out of their mouth, or their makeup subtly — or not so subtly — transformed into a new style. Most users don’t think of this as AR or view these features as evidence of some revolutionary new technology. But whether you call it lenses, filters, or something else, it’s all augmented reality.

At its Lensfest developer event this week, Snap announced that it now has more than 300,000 developers building AR products for its platform and that together, they’ve built more than 3...

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BMW thinks it can turn speed bumps into energy for its EVs

Photo by Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images

A new patent from BMW may unlock the energy-generating potential of one of America’s most defining modern features: a woefully inadequate and underfunded road infrastructure.

Car enthusiast news site CarBuzz unearthed a document from the German national patent office that reveals a new suspension design, which, if developed and put into production, would allow a car to gather electricity generated from bumps in the road.

The patent, which was independently located and verified by The Verge, could represent a new way to charge an electric vehicle’s battery through normal, everyday driving whenever things get bumpy — which, for a lot of us, is basically all of the time.

Image: Audi

Audi had a similar idea that it...

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General Motors is helping its dealers install Level 2 EV chargers with ‘triple the power’

Image: GM

General Motors is working with its dealers to install Level 2 electric vehicle charging stations that have “triple the power” of typical L2 stations, the company said today.

Last year, the automaker announced a new program to help fund the installation of Level 2 chargers in collaboration with Chevy, Cadillac, and GMC dealers. The chargers would be built in the communities in which the dealers operate, casting a positive sheen on both GM’s brands and its dealer network that it needs in order to facilitate the transition to electric vehicles.

Image: GM

Now the company has selected Flo, a Quebec-based EV charging company, as one of its partners in the effort to install 40,000 chargers across the country. Flo will...

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SpaceX launches new Starlink service aimed specifically at governments

SpaceX has quietly announced a new government-focused service on its website — Starshield — which it says offers a “secured satellite network for government entities.” The page, which appeared on the SpaceX website earlier this week, says that while its satellite internet service Starlink is aimed at end users and businesses, “Starshield is designed for government use.”

The announcement of Starshield follows work that SpaceX has already done with the US and other governments around the world. In August SpaceX signed a $2 million deal with the US Air Force to provide satellite internet access, and Starlink has also proved crucial to Ukrainian forces as they defend themselves against Russia’s invasion of the country (though the technology...

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Proton’s encrypted cloud storage gets dedicated mobile apps

Proton Drive is an end-to-end encrypted cloud storage service that can be used to access files and securely share them with others — even if they’re not a Proton customer. | Image: Proton

Proton, a privacy startup best known for its Proton Mail encrypted email service, has just announced that its end-to-end encrypted cloud storage service is available starting today as an Android and iOS app. Proton Drive is available in both free and paid tiers, offering users a way to securely upload, store, and share files directly from their mobile devices.

Proton Drive’s end-to-end encryption ensures that only the user and the people they share with can access files — not even Proton itself can access the data without your permission. Users can send folders and files to anyone via sharing links (including non-Proton users) with options for passwords and expiration dates. Access can be revoked at any time, and metadata is encrypted,...

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Wednesday’s Top Tech News: Chips born in the USA

President Joe Biden at TSMC’s Arizona facility. | Photo: Andy Blye

TSMC prepares to manufacture processors in its new Arizona facility, and Call of Duty returns to Nintendo consoles.

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San Francisco reverses plans to allow police robots to kill suspects

The policy allowed the SFPD to arm bomb disposal robots similar to the one seen here with explosives to incapacitate and even kill suspects. | Photo by Peerapon Boonyakiat/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

San Francisco officials have voted against allowing the police to kill suspects with remote-controlled robots. The city’s board of supervisors reversed the policy it approved last week, following outcry and protests from citizens and civil rights groups. However, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, the new ban is not necessarily permanent, and the issue has been sent “back to a committee for further discussion.”

The board originally approved the policy to let the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) use remote-controlled robots “as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available.”

A spokesperson for the SFPD said that the...

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Robotaxis are now available to hail on the Uber app in Las Vegas

Uber now has robotaxis available for its customers to hail in Las Vegas.

The vehicles are operated by Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, and will feature safety drivers behind the steering wheel, though the vehicles will be operated by Motional’s autonomous driving system. Motional says it intends on launching a public fully driverless service without safety drivers in 2023.

It’s the first time that autonomous vehicles have been made available to customers on Uber’s app. The company signed a 10-year deal with Motional to deploy AVs on its ride-hailing and delivery platforms earlier this year.

It’s the first time that autonomous vehicles have been made available to customers on Uber’s app

The deal isn’t exclusive:...

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