Southwest cancels thousands of flights, leaving passengers stranded across the US

Southwest Airlines canceled over 2,600 flights on Tuesday. | Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Southwest Airlines has left thousands of travelers stranded at airports throughout the country after a winter storm barreled through most of the US before and during the holiday weekend.

While Southwest canceled over 2,600 of its flights on Tuesday, the trouble’s expected to extend well into this week, with data from Flight Aware indicating that the airline has already called off more than 2,400 flights on Wednesday and over 1,500 on Thursday. Southwest canceled nearly 3,000 flights on Monday. Other airlines with notable flight cancellations didn’t even come close to Southwest’s total, as Spirit canceled 83 flights on Tuesday, while Alaska Airlines called off 75.

According to The New York Times, unlike the June 2021 computer network...

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LG Innotek is ready to put true optical zoom lenses in the next wave of flagship phones

The camera module uses a tiny, precise actuator to move the lens between 4x and 9x telephoto settings. | Image: LG Innotek

LG’s smartphone-making days may be over, but LG Innotek — a major supplier of mobile camera modules — is alive and well. It’s introducing a new telephoto zoom camera module at CES 2023, offering true, continuous optical zoom. The company is partnering with Qualcomm to fast-track adoption of its new tech alongside the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in upcoming flagship Android phones.

While most other long smartphone cameras use image-quality-degrading digital zoom to reach beyond their native focal length, LG’s design uses moving lenses — much like a traditional DSLR camera lens — which preserves image detail. This camera module also uses a folded-optic design, also referred to as a periscope lens, keeping the overall size down. The result is a lens...

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You’ll soon be able to talk to Home Assistant without Google, Siri, or Alexa

Home Assistant’s Conversation integration can already take text commands and could become the basis of its new voice assistant efforts. | Image: Home Assistant

Home Assistant, the open-source smart home platform, is getting its own voice assistant. Its founder, Paulus Schoutsen, posted a blog last week announcing a new project that could localize all voice commands that control smart devices — without the need to connect to a cloud that assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant have. The voice assistant is targeted to be available sometime in 2023.

Schoutsen also runs Nabu Casa, a company that provides what’s effectively first-party cloud services for Home Assistant and also contributes to the development of the free platform. In addition, it’s making the Yellow out-of-box hardware solution that can run Home Assistant in your home without your needing to manually build one on a computer...

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Microsoft’s making Excel’s formulas even easier

It’s only a matter of time before Excel can take over my job. | Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft has announced it’s making Excel’s autocomplete even smarter, at least in the web version that comes with Microsoft 365 (formerly known as Office 365). Last week it announced formula suggestions and formula by example, both of which may help automate some things that you had to do manually.

Formula suggestions are pretty much what they say on the tin: if you type the equal sign into a cell, Excel for web will try to intelligently suggest what type of formula you should be using, given the data that’s around it. For example, if you have a full of quarterly sales numbers and a column at the end labeled “total,” Excel might suggest summing the range of cells. According to a blog post from Microsoft, the feature currently only works...

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AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile could avoid $200 million in fines thanks to FCC deadlock

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Mobile carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, could temporarily avoid paying $200 million in privacy penalties because of the Federal Communications Commission’s partisan split, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Sources familiar with the situation told the WSJ that the FCC, which has two Democratic commissioners and two Republican ones, needs one more vote of approval to levy the fines, and both Republican members haven’t voted yet.

Although Gigi Sohn, the person the Biden administration nominated to fill the FCC’s empty seat over a year ago, could potentially provide the tie-breaking vote to fine the companies, the Senate has yet to vote on her nomination. Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile may be able to avoid...

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Microsoft Edge is actually good

Give Microsoft Edge a try, your RAM will thank you | Image: Microsoft

Google Chrome is the preferred browser for over 65 percent of the internet, according to statcounter.com. But I don’t think you needed me to tell you that; odds are you’re reading this article on some Chrome derivative right now. But why does Chrome have the lion’s share of the market? It's not even the default browser on most desktops, meaning you have to deliberately go out of your way to make Chrome your go-to browser.

Image: Wikimedia

Odds are you were using Internet Explorer 7 in 2007

Chrome doesn’t even have to be good, it just has to be slightly better than the alternative, and for a long time, the only alternative available was Internet Explorer. In its heyday, Google Chrome was faster, prettier, and...

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The forecast for 2023 is hot

A woman takes a photo of the “2023” numerals after the illumination ceremony in Times Square on December 20, 2022 in New York City. | Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/WireImage

2023 is forecast to be a hotter year than 2022, according to the UK’s Met Office weather service. Why? Well,an unusual three-year-long weather pattern that typically has a cooling effect on our planet should finally come to an end next year. On top of that, global average temperatures are expected to rise as greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb.

As a result, the Met Office predicts 2023 will be one of the hottest years on record. That’s no surprise, considering the last eight years are on track to be the eight hottest on the books, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The Met Office predicts 2023 will be one of the hottest years on record.

Next year is expected to mark 10 consecutive years with global...

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

Get informed of major retailer’s return policies before you do your holiday shopping | Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images

Didn’t get exactly what you wanted during the holidays? Well, good news: you still have a chance at getting the gift you really hoped for. That’s because a number of retailers are offering return policies so you can exchange unwanted gifts for something a little more to your liking. Many have extended their return period as well, so there’s no need to worry about rushing out to get a refund before the new year.

For your convenience, we’ve collected the current return policies for a number of major retailers below, highlighting which will give you a little more time to make that refund.

Amazon

Returns: Items shipped by Amazon between October 11th and December 25th can be returned for free until January 31st, 2023. Note that...

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LG’s working with AI startup Asleep on TVs, washers, fridges, and more that can track sleep

Image: LG

LG and Korean AI sleep tech startup Asleep are working on smart home appliances that can detect when a user is asleep and adjust accordingly, according to LG’s Korean site and The Korea Economic Daily.

Asleep’s AI technology lets users track the four sleep stages based on their breathing sounds, using devices that have microphones such as smart TVs and smartphones. LG plans to integrate that tech into other products like TVs, fridges, air conditioners, air purifiers, and washing machines.

With that information, these appliances can turn on or off and optimize settings based on whether or not a user is asleep. For example, LG’s Whisen air conditioner could automatically adjust and optimize the room temperature based on which sleep stage...

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In 2022, cozy games went from niche to video game fixture

Animal Crossing: New Horizons | Image: Nintendo

For as long as I had a GameCube, I don’t think I ever once beat a game.

When my plane first landed on Isle Delfino in Super Mario: Sunshine in 2002, my main priority was finishing the tutorial. It was the one chore needing completion before I was free to wander around the plaza, pretending to buy fruit from island vendors. Similarly, my brother and I would spend countless hours in Kirby Air Ride but never raced one another. Like with dozens of other games, we’d argue over which virtual sky-rise belonged to our color Kirby before treating the game as if it were a life-sim, riding our racers around town, running imaginary errands, and acting out absurdly complex social dramas between our squishy, round characters.

These games were never...

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The Verge’s 2022 New Year’s resolution gift guide

Illustration: Kristen Radtke / The Verge

We’ve assembled a collection of some of our favorite tech to help you commit to improving yourself in the new year.

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The real fantasy in Final Fantasy XIV is owning a damn house

Image: Square Enix

Finding a place to call your own in Eorzea is a bureaucratic nightmare.

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The predatory prison phone call industry is finally about to be fixed

The average price of a 15-minute phone call from jail is around $3. | Photo by Michael Reichel/picture alliance via Getty Images

A new rule allowing the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the rates of prison phone calls is one step closer to becoming law. After it passed through Congress last week, the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022 now awaits President Joe Biden’s signature.

The prison phone call industry has been broken for decades, with telecommunications companies, like Global Tel Link and Pay Tel Communications, charging unfair fees for phone and video calls from inmates. These fees vary by state, but they involve the phone provider offering kickbacks to prisons and local governments using the money they collect from the friends and families of incarcerated people. The result is a $1.4 billion industry built on...

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The Google Nest Hub Max is still matching its best price ever at Best Buy and Target

The Nest Hub Max is a great alternative to Amazon’s larger Echo Show devices | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Just in case Santa didn’t make it to your house this year, we’re bringing you a handful of post-Christmas content. Because unlike the big dude that lives up north, The Verge Deals team works hard all year scouring the internet to make sure its best discounts are all front and center for you to see. The discounts available right now are a bit sparse, but we’ve still managed to wrangle a handful that we think are worth looking into if you’re looking for something to treat yourself.

Currently, Google’s Nest Hub Max is still on sale at Best Buy and Target for $174.99 (normally $229.99). While it may not offer the same, room-filling sound as the Nest Audio, the Max features a gorgeous 10-inch screen with a great camera for making video...

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10 great Windows PC games from 2022

Micha Huigen / The Verge

It’s been a roller-coaster year for video game releases. Early in the year, 2022 felt like it was shot out of a rocket with games like Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West. And then, suddenly, the release schedule fell off a cliff until the fall months. But on the whole, it’s been a solid year across the board for AAA blockbusters, little-known indies that exploded in popularity, and deeply imaginative narrative games.

If you recently built a new desktop PC, were gifted a gaming laptop, or have some Steam gift cards burning a hole in your pocket, we’ve got a helpful list. While there are many great games you can spend your time with, here are 10 absolute bangers across a variety of genres and price points you won’t want to pass up.

V...

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7 great series and movies from 2022 to stream on Disney Plus

Illustration by Micha Huigen / The Verge

Disney Plus is my favorite streaming service. It lets me indulge my Broadway passions (Hamilton, West Side Story), revisit my childhood (Bambi, Snow White), and catch up on the complicated worlds of Star Wars and MCU. It’s also the easiest way for my son to indulge his Jessie and Liv & Maddie habits, thanks to its endless catalog of Disney Channel shows.

But the main reason you’ll have to pry my Disney Plus subscription (which I get free through Verizon) from my cold, dead hands (at least until my kids go to college) is that it’s Disney. It’s the one family-friendly streaming service that actually has anything decent to watch. From the latest Pixar to the newest take on MCU to shorts (so many great shorts) to (another) action-packed S...

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New iPad Mini could be a year away

Apple’s iPad Mini launched at the end of 2021. | Photo: The Verge

Apple is updating its iPad Mini with a new processor, says respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The inbetweener is supposed to begin shipping by the end of 2023 or the first half of 2024.

The iPad Mini received an all new design at the end of 2021 after remaining largely unchanged since it was introduced way back in 2012. The 8.3-inch tablet fits in between Apple’s largest iPhone (the 6.7-inch Pro Max) and 10th-gen iPad (10.9 inch). It runs on an A15 Bionic chip with a USB-C port and an option for 5G connectivity. Kuo says the new processor will be “the main selling point,” so we shouldn’t expect too much else to change.

The iPad Mini will certainly be ready for a chip update after two years, if Kuo’s timeline is correct. That could mean an...

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LG’s new minimalistic appliances are also upgradeable

LG’s new lineup of minimalistic appliances is coming in 2023. | Image: LG

LG Electronics has a new lineup of minimalistic appliances that removes all unnecessary buttons and decorative flourishes in a refreshing “less is more” approach. The fridge, washing machine, dryer, oven, and dishwasher are said to feature improved controls for an “effortless” user experience.

The appliances are also upgradeable via software and hardware as part of a program LG launched in January. “Upgradeability challenges the idea that expensive appliances are designed with planned obsolescence in mind,” said Lyu Jae-cheol, president of LG Electronics home appliances at the time. “We want customers to experience the feeling of getting a new washer or refrigerator throughout the entire lifecycle of an LG appliance, not just the first...

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Some New Year’s resolutions that won’t end up in your pile of shame

Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/WireImage

Oh no, it’s almost January 1st and you forgot to make a resolution! This doesn’t have to be hard. Like, I mean, if you want to do your first marathon, knock yourself out. But I’ve found simpler is better for resolutions. You might consider tending to yourself as though you are a garden: you don’t need to be bulldozed and totally revamped every year, just revitalized a little to let yourself bloom.

You don’t even have to struggle to come up with something — because I have some suggestions right here:

• Get up to pee immediately at night. I’m pretty sure I got this one from the writer Nicole Cliffe, and it’s really good. I know it’s nice and warm in bed and it’s cold outside of bed, especially if you are camping and in a sleeping bag, but…...

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Go read this story about a mood decoder developed by neuroscientists that can measure depression

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Whenever I see news about deep brain stimulation, I perk up. The procedure — which involves implanting electrodes deep into the brain to deliver regular pulses of electricity — is used to treat people like my mom with movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease or epilepsy. Researchers are also exploring whether it can be used to treat depression, but results on that front have been decidedly mixed.

That’s one reason that this story published by MIT Technology Review caught my eye. Neuroscientists have discovered a “mood decoder” — a way to measure a person’s moods by simply looking at their brain activity for the first time — that could improve deep brain stimulation for depression. The research was recently presented at the Society...

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Please don’t film me in 2023

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

In my favorite TikTok video of 2022, an amateur interviewer with a tiny microphone approaches a stranger in an AC/DC T-shirt minding their own business. Pushing the mic in front of the person’s face, the interviewer comes in with the favorite question of gatekeepers from time immemorial:

“Can you name three AC/DC songs?”

Wordlessly, without hesitation, the person in the AC/DC shirt glances down at the mic, back up at the interviewer, and swats away his hand, like how you’d shoo away a fly near your food. It is beautiful, amazing, perfect, and, if we’re all so lucky, will hopefully become way more normalized in the future.

@hot.shame

#stitch with @The9thInning.

♬ Love You So - The King Khan & BBQ Show

The video is from an account...

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10 great games for your Nintendo Switch from 2022

Micha Huigen / The Verge

2022 may have been a slow year for big AAA video game releases, but it was a great year for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo itself released a bunch of excellent games (including two great Pokémon titles), third-party developers ported some phenomenal RPGs, and indies launched some of my sleeper hits of the year.

Yes, it’s a bummer that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was delayed to May 2023. But if you’re looking for some games to play in the meantime, here are some of my favorite Switch games from 2022.

Card Shark

Image: Devolver Digital

Card Shark

I’m an awful liar, but in Card Shark, I can pretend I can cheat at cards. You’ll pull off the tricks themselves in a variety of different ways: some have...

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All I want is one productivity app that can handle everything

There are too many productivity apps out there. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

I’m an organized person. I have to be. Writing is a deadline-oriented job, and I have the working memory of an elderly goldfish. Gone are the days when I could store an entire week’s worth of events, deadlines, and schedules in my head. Now, all of that stuff needs to live somewhere tangible.

The problem is, there isn’t a single app that can handle the majority of my needs. By my count, there are at least 10 productivity apps I use on a daily basis to function — and they all suck.

There’s Airtable for work projects so my editors can see what I’m working on — just one of the project management apps I’ve used in my career. There’s also been Basecamp, Asana, Trello, and in one instance, a rickety Excel sheet maintained by sweat and tears....

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The year’s worst video game writing

Image: 2K Games

When I think of bad video game dialogue, I’m reminded of this tweet: the thinly veiled exposition, the personality quirks as a stand-in for actual characterization, the stilted and strangely paced delivery. Basically, this is the way no person speaks or has ever spoken.

And yet, in most video games, this is how every character comes across, like an alien figuring out how to sound like a human in real time. It’s so pervasive that you learn to live with it — or you press X to skip ahead.

But what gets me are the games where the bad writing is completely unnecessary. This year, I’m thinking of a couple of games specifically: two where I loved actually playing them, until the moments where they forced me to sit and listen to atrocious...

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Pokémon games are getting less weird

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. | Image: Nintendo

The series’ creators have removed features like the Pokérus, which once gave the games their charming mystery.

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Podcasting could be in for a rocky 2023

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

This story originally appeared in Hot Pod Insider, The Verge’s newsletter about the biggest events in audio. You can sign up here.

It feels like 2022 was the year when podcasting came back to earth. After years of go-go growth, podcast hits going mainstream, major corporate investment, and hype about the market to come ($4 billion by 2024!!), optimism about the industry hit the wall of an uncertain economy. M&A took a breather, advertising got tighter, and companies started laying off audio employees after years of frenzied hiring.

What does 2023 have in store? If we have learned anything at all from the decade so far, it is to expect the unexpected. But seeing as I am in as bad a position to predict the future as anyone, I spoke to...

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Yes, I’ve got two watches on — why don’t you?

A mechanical dive watch like this Seiko SKX013 is a classically cool look, especially on a NATO strap, but there’s no reason you can’t pair it with a smartwatch and still look great.

A little over a year ago, I made the conscious decision to wear both a traditional watch on my left wrist and a smartwatch on my right wrist day in and day out. And I’m here to tell you with a straight face that this best-of-both-worlds solution has no downsides. If you’re into watches and tech or even remotely watch-curious, you should consider doing the same.

It’s easy to be a little bit anachronistic, admiring the simplicities of the past while wanting the bleeding-edge intricacies of the future. I find myself bouncing back and forth on these all of the time. I want the latest technology in my digital camera, but part of me feels an itch to go back to shooting film. I like the convenience of streaming music on Spotify, but I spend...

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8 great shows and networks from 2022 to stream on Paramount Plus

Micha Huigen / The Verge

Paramount Plus, the streaming service formerly known as CBS All Access, is probably one of the more underrated streaming platforms available right now. It includes the CBS network’s TV library, combined with NFL on CBS (critically, at no extra cost), the treasure trove of Viacom content (which includes Nickelodeon, MTV, and VH1), and Paramount-produced feature films. This means Paramount Plus can entertain a wide variety of tastes, from wine moms to football uncles and every jaded Millennial, Xennial, and Gen Z teen in between. And at $4.99 per month with ads, the price ain’t too bad, either. If you’re looking to give Paramount Plus a try, here are some shows to get you started.

NFL on CBS

Image: Cleveland Browns / NFL...

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Cadillac Lyriq review: the Cadillac of EVs

Cadillac finally made an electric vehicle, and it’s great.

Cadillac’s first electric vehicle is the Lyriq, a smooth, sumptuous 312-mile range compact SUV for $64,000 with a focus on comfort over sportiness. But what’s with those door handles?

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A love letter for the original Steam Link: I regret taking you for granted

Poor experiences with the Steam Link app and Cloud gaming services have left me yearning for the now-outdated Steam Link dongle. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Back in 2018 I managed to nab a physical Steam Link when Valve was flogging them for £2.50 here in the UK ($2.50 in USD). I was actually buying a Steam Controller for my then-partner and spotted the bargain while browsing through the Steam website, so I purchased the gadget on a whim. That little black puck has since left such a good impression on me that every alternative service has paled in comparison.

The Steam Link is fairly straightforward. It’s a wireless box-shaped dongle that plugs into your TV’s HDMI port, allowing you to stream games directly from your PC over your home internet connection. I had great success using it over Wi-fi, seeing barely any detectable lag, but you could also connect the device directly to your network...

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