Super Bowl LVII was the most-streamed Super Bowl yet

The quality of the livestreams still needs some work, though. | Photo by Adam Bow / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

This year’s Super Bowl LVII was the most-streamed Super Bowl yet, hitting an average of 7 million streams across the services showing the game. According to data Fox Sports obtained from Adobe Analytics, Super Bowl streams increased 18 percent from last year’s 6 million streams — and 103 percent over 2020, which saw just 3.4 million streams.

The 7 million streams included viewers watching the big game on NFL’s TV and mobile apps, NFL’s website, the NFL Plus streaming service, as well as on Fox’s apps and website. This data doesn’t account for co-viewing, or when multiple people watch a stream on the same device, and still represents a small fraction of the 113 million average viewers the game raked in on traditional TV.

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Bungie can’t promise it won’t accidentally showcase AI-made Destiny fan art again

Bungie claims it will “not knowingly ever feature AI art submissions” for its weekly Artist of the Week spotlight. | Image: Bungie Community Creations

Game studio Bungie spoke out in support of human creatives in a blog post last week after it was revealed that the Destiny 2 developer had unknowingly showcased an AI-generated image during its “Artist of the Week” community highlights (seen via Kotaku).

The image was accused of being created using generative AI by Bungie forum members following the spotlight. The user who posted it didn’t deny the claims, responding that they would remove the image and that they “just thought the picture was really neat.” At the time of writing, the post is still live but can no longer be found on the Community Creations page.

The “Art of the Week” that was picked in the TWAB is confirmed to be generated by an AI. pic.twitter.com/Fwlq5BUNAU

—...

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EU Parliament votes to effectively ban new combustion engine cars by 2035

An electric car being charged at a motorway service station. | Image: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The European Parliament has given its formal approval to new vehicle emissions standards that would effectively ban the widespread sale of combustion engine cars and vans in the 27-country bloc by 2035, the organization announced today. Three hundred forty members voted in favor of the rules, versus 279 against, and 21 abstained. An initial agreement on the new rules was reached last October, which calls for all cars and vans sold in the EU to emit zero CO2 emissions by the middle of next decade.

The rules still have a couple more stages to go through before becoming law. They need to be formally endorsed by the Council of the EU and be published in the EU Official Journal. But Reuters notes that final approval is expected to be given by...

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Discord Stage Channels adds Twitch-like video and screen sharing

Discord’s new video livestreaming features allows smaller content creators to broadcast and screen share directly to their community Discord servers. | Image: Discord

Discord is already a beloved communications platform for YouTube and Twitch’s livestreaming communities, but now the company is taking its own first significant step into the livestreaming industry. Announced today, Discord has updated its Stage Channels feature to support video, screen sharing, and a text chat for viewers to interact with hosts and each other. The update is available now and is supported across all Discord desktop and mobile applications.

Stage Channels were first introduced as a live audio feature in March 2021, enabling users to broadcast conversations between designated speakers and moderators to a room of virtual listeners, much like Twitter Spaces or Clubhouse. Where Stage Channels were initially limited to...

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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is your brain on Kangs

Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. | Image: Marvel Studios

Watching the third Ant-Man film is sort of like being on a Marvel-themed acid trip that’s actually pretty fun until it comes to a confusingly abrupt halt.

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Google launches first Android beta for ad-tracking overhaul

Eligible device owners can opt themselves in or out of the Privacy Sandbox on Android beta at any time in the settings menu. | Image: Google

Around this time last year, Google revealed it was working on a multiyear initiative to improve privacy and remodel ad tracking on Android phones, bringing the mobile platform in line with Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature for iOS. Following the release of an early developer preview last April, Google says the first beta for Privacy Sandbox on Android will start rolling out tomorrow to a limited number of Android 13 devices, allowing users and developers to test the new technology in the real world. Access to the beta will expand “over time,” and devices selected to participate will receive an Android notification informing users of their eligibility.

The Privacy Sandbox on Android is a set of tools that aim to create a new...

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Hyundai and Kia forced to update software on millions of vehicles because of viral TikTok challenge

Hyundai and Kia are offering free software updates for millions of their cars in response to a rash of car thefts inspired by a viral social media challenge on TikTok.

The so-called “Kia Challenge” on the social media platform has led to hundreds of car thefts nationwide, including at least 14 reported crashes and eight fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Thieves known as “the Kia Boyz” would post instructional videos about how to bypass the vehicles’ security system using tools as simple as a USB cable.

The thefts are reportedly easy to pull off because many 2015-2019 Hyundai and Kia vehicles lack electronic immobilizers that prevent thieves from simply breaking in and bypassing the ignition....

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Erase browser history: can AI reset the browser battle?

Photo illustration by Will Joel / The Verge

Mozilla chair Mitchell Baker on competing — and cooperating — with Google, Apple, and the rest of Big Tech.

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Quick fixes: how to make your Chromebook’s screen rotate

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge

Issue

The Chromebook screen doesn’t rotate in tablet mode.

Quick fix

Hit Ctrl > Shift > Refresh, or fix it in Settings.

The full story

One of the nice things about many Chromebooks is that you can fold the keyboard back (or detach it) and use it as a tablet. However, something may occasionally go wrong so that when you try to use it as a tablet and physically rotate it, the screen on your Chromebook won’t make the 90-degree rotation that you need. This can be really irritating — but there are a couple of very easy ways to adjust it.

How to fix it

Your Chromebook’s screen should rotate 90 degrees every time you put it in tablet mode — in other words, when you fold the keyboard back or remove it and hold the device like a tablet. If it’s...

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The best Valentine’s Day sales happening now

The latest Kindle Paperwhite is nearly matching its best price to date at Amazon. | Image: Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

Today is officially Valentine’s Day, which means that, like most holidays, retailers are running up some awesome promotions in honor of the fact. While many involve deals on your typical V-Day gifts — you know, flowers, jewelry, chocolates, etc. — some of them actually involve steep discounts on a range of tech. In fact, we found sales on everything from Amazon’s latest Kindle and the budget-friendly Fitbit Inspire 3 to Apple’s noise-canceling AirPods Max.

For your convenience, we’ve collected some of the best Valentine’s Day tech deals currently available. Oh, and if you’ve yet to buy a Valentine’s Day gift for the loved one in your life (romantic, platonic, or otherwise), we’ve put together a couple of last-minute digital gift ideas.

S...

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Geekbench 6 tests things you actually do with your phone and computer

Image: Primate Labs

Geekbench, the popular cross-platform benchmarking software, is getting a big update. According to its developer, Primate Labs, Geekbench 6 has new and updated tests that are meant to fully test modern hardware and apps using datasets that are more representative of the workloads you’ll see in the real world.

A lot of the changes from Geekbench 5, which was released in 2019, involve testing your computer with more data. Test photos have more megapixels, and there will be more of them for import tests. The maps and PDFs are bigger, and the device being tested will have to compile more code with Clang. The data has gotten some updates too, with the HTML and PDF workloads feature more modern designs.

The benchmark also has new tests meant...

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The first teaser for Ted Lasso season 3 is an arts and crafts project

Image: Apple

The third — and possibly final — season of Ted Lasso will premiere on Apple TV Plus on March 15th. The news was revealed via a brief teaser trailer, which doesn’t reveal much about the upcoming story but does show the main cast crafting their very own “believe” signs. Brett Goldstein still definitely looks like a real human.

Season 3 was previously pegged for a spring debut. It will be 12 episodes long and marks a change of sorts for Apple; while the streamer typically releases new shows on Fridays, Ted Lasso will debut weekly episodes on Wednesdays instead. As for the story, here’s the official premise:

The newly-promoted AFC Richmond faces ridicule as media predictions widely peg them as last in the Premier League and Nate (Nick...

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Gigi Sohn returns to Congress for a third try at securing empty FCC chair

Image: PETE MAROVICH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Gigi Sohn, President Joe Biden’s nominee for the Federal Communications Commission, is set to appear for a third confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee Tuesday.

First nominated in October 2021, Sohn’s confirmation has been held up by a combination of shaky Democratic support and bad-faith Republican attacks on her record. The resulting stalemate has blocked the nation’s top telecommunications regulator from tackling White House priorities like reinstating net neutrality and expanding high-speed broadband nationwide.

In an opening statement viewed by The Verge Monday, Sohn is expected to call out the telecom industry for helping to slow-walk her confirmation.

“I believe deeply that regulated entities should not choose...

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Happy Valentine’s Day: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer divorce is complete

Image: Microsoft

You might be receiving flowers, chocolates, or heart-shaped gifts today, but Microsoft is delivering an arrow straight through the heart of Internet Explorer. The software giant is retiring Internet Explorer today, permanently disabling the browser through a Microsoft Edge update on most versions of Windows 10.

Microsoft officially retired Internet Explorer in June last year, sunsetting it in favor of Microsoft Edge, with support officially withdrawn for IE 11. But today’s update to Microsoft Edge will make sure you can no longer launch Internet Explorer 11 on most client versions of Windows 10. There are some exceptions, including Microsoft’s Long-Term Servicing Channel for Windows 10 and versions like the Windows 10 China Government...

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Microsoft’s Bing AI, like Google’s, also made dumb mistakes during first demo

Image: Microsoft

Google’s AI chatbot isn’t the only one to make factual errors during its first demo. Independent AI researcher Dmitri Brereton has discovered that Microsoft’s first Bing AI demos were full of financial data mistakes.

Microsoft confidently demonstrated its Bing AI capabilities a week ago, with the search engine taking on tasks like providing pros and cons for top selling pet vacuums, planning a 5-day trip to Mexico City, and comparing data in financial reports. But, Bing failed to differentiate between a corded / cordless vacuum, missed relevant details for the bars it references in Mexico City, and mangled financial data — by far the biggest mistake.

In one of the demos, Microsoft’s Bing AI attempts to summarize a Q3 2022 financial...

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Tuesday’s top tech news: A trio of breakages

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

T-Mobile, Twitter, and even Google Photos are experiencing problems.

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T-Mobile suffers major network outage across US

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Thousands of T-Mobile customers in the United States reported significant network problems on Monday night, with many unable to place calls or carry out other basic functions. Issues were reported across the country, with users from California to New York saying that service was up and down or completely unavailable for extended periods.

DownDetector spiked and showed over 80,000 reports of problems. Owners of Apple’s iPhone 14 phones said their signal status showed no cellular connection whatsoever — instead defaulting to the emergency SOS satellite indicator.

By late evening, the carrier seemed to be getting a handle on things, but customers weren’t pleased with the disruption.

Responding to complaints on social media, T-Mobile said it...

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Toyota’s first next-gen EV will be a Lexus

The Lexus RZ 450e SUV is the last electric vehicle announced by parent company Toyota. | Image: Lexus

Toyota’s incoming CEO said the automaker would release “next-generation” electric cars under the Lexus brand by 2026. This is just one part of a new strategy in development to overcome problems linked to a slow and expensive EV manufacturing process.

Toyota will also be expanding its current EV lineup, which currently consists of the bZ4X crossover SUV (which required a recall to make sure its wheels don’t fall off) and the Subaru Solterra EV built on top of Toyota’s e-TNGA flexible EV platform. Lexus has yet to release its RZ 450e SUV that’s based on the same platform.

Koji Sato, who is currently the president of Lexus, will replace Akio Toyoda as president and CEO of Toyota on April 1st. During a press conference on Monday, Sato said...

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If Google Photos is broken for you on iOS, you’re not alone

Illustration: The Verge

Google Photos appears to be broken for many users following Apple’s latest iOS 16.3.1 update. Several Verge staff members, as well as people on Twitter, report that the app crashes on launch, making it impossible to access or manage your Google photo library.

While the problem isn’t universal — a few people, myself included, say they’re able to open Google Photos just fine — the crashing does still appear to be relatively widespread. Other Google apps, such as Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Maps, all seem to be working fine.

It’s currently unclear what could be causing the problem and why it only affects certain people. The iOS update (which may or may not have triggered the issue) is supposedly relatively minor; Apple’s release notes...

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Twitter is just showing everyone all of Elon’s tweets now

The first of several Elon tweets that appear in my For You feed. | Screenshot: Emma Roth / The Verge

For many of us, Twitter’s “For You” is full of tweets and replies to tweets from Elon Musk. Not everyone is getting the Elon-first feed, but on Monday afternoon, more than a few people noticed something was different.

Several of us here at The Verge are seeing more Musk replies than usual, and I personally counted five at the very top of my feed, with many more sprinkled in between tweets from other users. The same is true for some accounts that don’t even follow Elon Musk.

Is everyone else's entire For You page Elon replies

— Zoë Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer) February 13, 2023

This comes just days after Musk complained that his tweets weren’t getting enough views — and even fired an engineer over it.

As reported by Platformer’s Zoë...

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Ram 1500 REV loses the prototype’s gimmicks and looks like an electric Ram

The Ram 1500 REV electric truck looks like a regular Ram truck now. | Image: Stellantis

Stellantis revealed its new Ram 1500 REV electric truck with an ad during the Super Bowl yesterday, and it’s not looking quite like the lean-roofed, futuristic brute concept that the automaker shared last month.

The preproduction Ram 1500 REV now looks very similar to the current gas-powered Ram pickup trucks on the road today. Even the interior, including the infotainment screen, would look wholly familiar to recent Ram owners. Stellantis’ design direction for the REV echoes what Ford did with its F-150 Lighting electric pickup, which looks very similar to its combustion engine counterpart as well.

The Ram 1500 REV will be available starting Q4 2024, according to its website. EV-curious Mopar diehards and others in the market for an...

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Chromebooks might finally get customizable keyboard shortcuts

Image: Framework

Google appears to be testing a feature that would let Chromebook users set custom keyboard shortcuts throughout the OS (via Ars Technica). While it doesn’t currently work, About Chromebooks’ Kevin Tofel found a keyboard shortcut editor in the ChromeOS 111 beta that can be accessed by enabling flags with names like “enable-shortcut-customization-app” and “improved-keyboard-shortcuts.”

The screen, which is accessible through the settings app, shows you the list of shortcuts that are available in different parts of the OS and apps, as well as the default keybindings for them. The experimental version lets you add alternative shortcuts, according to Tofel and Ars Technica, though they unfortunately don’t seem to work — you can set shortcuts,...

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Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 will soon add temperature-based period tracking

The cycle tracking feature has been FDA registered, complies with CE marking, and has been approved by South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. | Image: Samsung, Natural Cycles

With the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 series, the company finally added temperature sensors to its smartwatches. The only thing was that the sensors didn’t really do anything when the smartwatches launched last year. But that’s about to change. Samsung is partnering with fertility app Natural Cycles to bring temperature-based period tracking to the wrist.

Samsung’s press release says the feature will give users “more detailed insight” into their cycles but is a little vague on what those insights are. Advanced period tracking as well as digital fertility features come in several forms. For instance, Apple uses the temperature sensors on its Apple Watch Series 8 and Ultra to give menstruating users retrospective ovulation estimates. However, it...

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Here are the best Amazon Echo deals right now

Like Amazon’s Echo speakers, its various smart displays come in a range of sizes. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Amazon’s current Echo lineup offers a broad selection of smart speakers and displays that can fit just about anywhere in your home. Whether you want to place a voice assistant in your living room, replace the bulletin board in your office, or pick up a touchscreen-enabled device to showcase recipes in the kitchen, there's an Echo device for just about every occasion and use case.

Regardless of why you might want one, there’s always a way to save on Echo devices, from the last-gen Dot to the wall-mounted Echo Show 15. Even when they’re selling at full price, for instance, Amazon offers a 25 percent discount when you trade in select devices, meaning there are still other ways to save money when none of the models are on sale.

Below,...

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An old Sega sports and puzzle game is coming to PlayStation VR2

Concept art for C-Smash VRS. | Image: Sony

Cosmic Smash, a sports and puzzle game from Sega arcade systems and the Dreamcast, is being “reimagine[d]” for the PlayStation VR2, according to a Sony blog post. The new version will be called C-Smash VRS (which apparently “stands for VR and Versus”), and while it doesn’t have a release date yet, Sony has announced that it’ll be releasing a demo for the game on March 23rd.

The trailer shows off what appears to be a space theme and a small slice of gameplay where someone smacks a ball toward an opponent and wall. Sega advertised the original game as a mix of “virtual reality squash” and block-smashing gameplay, similar to titles like Blasterball or Breakout. You can watch some gameplay of the original Cosmic Smash here, which...

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Apple’s once again trying to optimize the iPhone’s Crash Detection feature

Illustration: The Verge

Apple has released iOS 16.3.1, which includes “optimizations” for the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro’s Crash Detection feature that’s been criticized by some search and rescue personnel for setting off false alarms during winter activities like skiing and snowboarding. The update also includes fixes for iCloud settings and Siri requests for Find My, and Apple has released new software for tvOS, HomePods, and the Mac as well.

The Crash Detection feature on new iPhones and Apple Watches is meant to alert emergency services if you’re unresponsive after a “severe car crash” and is on by default. But as people have been hitting the slopes, some officials have said that the feature’s resulted in several false reports that tie up first responders’ time...

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How a wind industry giant plans to solve its plastic waste problem

Turbines in Macarthur, Australia. | Image: Vestas

One of the world’s biggest wind turbine manufacturers says it has a potentially groundbreaking solution for the industry’s enormous plastic waste problem. Last week, Vestas announced that it found a novel way to break the plastic in turbine blades down into virgin-grade material. That way, instead of cluttering landfills, it can be recycled to make new turbines.

Here’s why that’s a tall order — like, literally colossal. Modern turbines with blades longer than the height of the Statue of Liberty are quickly taking over land and sea. They’re super sturdy, built to withstand the elements for decades. But once they’re decommissioned, they typically become waste. Globally by 2050, turbine blades are expected to become 43.4 million tons of...

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Ford’s EVs are getting faster charging and more affordable batteries thanks to new chemistry

Image: Nilay Patel / The Verge

Ford announced a $3.5 billion electric vehicle factory in its home state of Michigan, where it will produce EV batteries with a lithium iron phosphate chemistry that it says are more durable, faster charging, and more affordable than its current lineup of EVs.

Ford will develop the LFP batteries alongside China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), a global producer of EV batteries — though the automaker stressed that it will own and operate the plant outright through its wholly owned subsidiary and that the Chinese company will only provide “knowledge and services.” The construction project will generate 2,500 jobs for the region, with initial production expected to commence in 2026.

Ford claims it is the first...

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Bigscreen VR’s $999 Beyond headset is custom-made to fit your face

The company says its headset is six times lighter than “traditional” VR headgear. | Image: BigScreenVR

Bigscreen VR’s first virtual reality headset is surprisingly small, weighing in at just 127 grams, or around 4.5 ounces. Despite its size, the wired-only and PC-only headset, called Beyond, doesn’t compromise on specs, offering OLED displays with 5120 x 2560 resolution, up to a 90Hz refresh rate, and a range of customization options.

The device comes with pancake lenses, which allow the headset to have a thinner and lighter form factor with “massively improved optical clarity” when compared to other devices that use Fresnel lenses, like the Valve Index. It also features a 90-degree field of view along with built-in SteamVR tracking that’s compatible with SteamVR base stations, controllers, and accessories. The headset fully supports the...

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TikTok is reportedly working on paywalled videos and a revamped creator fund

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

TikTok is working on several new features to boost usage and expand its older audiences in the US, according to a new report by The Information.

Among the features in the works is a paywall, allowing creators to set a price on their content. Viewers would pay $1 — or some other fee chosen by the creator — to watch videos, according to the report. Exclusive content only for paying fans is a tactic other companies like Instagram have tried in an effort to entice creators to use the platform. On Instagram, for example, creators can share subscriber-only posts, Reels, stories, and other content not available to other followers.

TikTok is also testing a revamped creator fund that’s already underway in France and Brazil and could begin to...

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