The Nintendo Switch OLED is nearly $50 off for President’s Day

Unlike the standard Nintendo Switch, the latest model features a crisp, 7-inch OLED display on the front. | Image: Nintendo

Hey, y’all. President’s Day weekend has arrived, and with it comes a slew of phenomenal deals on everything from smart displays and robovacs to some of our favorite pairs of wireless earbuds. We’ve rounded up a smattering of the steepest discounts in our guide to the best President’s Day sales, however, today’s deal roundup will fixate on a few highlights we didn’t include — well, at least not yet.

First up is a time-sensitive discount on the Nintendo Switch OLED, which will be available through Tuesday, February 21st. Nintendo discounts are pretty rare, however, right now you can get theOLED Model in white for $303.20 ($46.79 off) on eBay when you use promo code PRESDAY20. Yes, the Nationwide Distributors listing has an above-MSRP...

Continue reading…

Official: Twitter will now charge for SMS two-factor authentication

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Four hours ago, Platformer’s Zoe Schiffer tweeted a scoop: Twitter would begin charging for SMS two-factor authentication.

Now, it’s official: You have to pay for the privilege of using Twitter’s worst form of authentication. In fact, if you don’t start paying for Twitter Blue ($8 a month on Android; $11 a month on iOS) or switch your account to use a far more reliable authenticator app or physical security key, Twitter will simply turn off your 2FA after March 20th.

I know which one I would choose.

Good riddance to SMS is my feeling, given how common SIM swap hacks are these days. Heck, Twitter’s own Jack Dorsey was successfully targeted by the technique four years ago. You don’t want someone to get access to your accounts by proving...

Continue reading…

Microsoft will limit Bing chat to five replies to stop the AI from getting real weird

Illustration: The Verge

Microsoft says it’s implementing some conversation limits to its Bing AI just days after the chatbot went off the rails multiple times for users. Bing chats will now be capped at 50 questions per day and five per session after the search engine was seen insulting users, lying to them, and emotionally manipulating people.

“Our data has shown that the vast majority of people find the answers they’re looking for within 5 turns and that only around 1 percent of chat conversations have 50+ messages,” says the Bing team in a blog post. If users hit the five-per-session limit, Bing will prompt them to start a new topic to avoid long back-and-forth chat sessions.

Microsoft warned earlier this week that these longer chat sessions, with 15 or more...

Continue reading…

The NBA app is going to let you digitally possess a live player

Photo by Amanda Loman / Getty Images

The NBA app is getting a way to overlay yourself on another player in a live game so that it looks like _you are that playe_r. Yes, it’s as strange as it sounds.

Here’s how it works — at least, as shown in an on-stage demo with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Ahmad Rashad. With the NBA app, you’ll be able to scan the person you want to drop into an NBA game by walking around that person and pointing your camera at them. (It seems as if the scanning works like Epic Games’ RealityScan app, but for people.) Then, from a menu, you can pick which player to inhabit, and when you do, your scan will be overlaid on top of that player as they move around the court.

Okay, this still sounds strange. I’d recommend just watching the full...

Continue reading…

Amazon’s Alexa app gets more Sonos-y with new multiroom audio controls

Image: Dan Seifert / The Verge

Amazon is making its multiroom audio platform more convenient to control with your phone. A recent update to the Alexa mobile app introduced a new capability that lets users manage and move their music between Echo devices (or groups of multiple speakers) within the app itself. (Previously, you needed to use voice commands to perform some of those actions.)

Now, it’s all doable through a menu that lets you move music to any group or Alexa device with a couple of taps — no talking necessary. In our brief time trying it so far, it’s pretty intuitive, and anyone that’s controlled music via AirPlay or Spotify Connect shouldn’t have much trouble figuring this out. Amazon’s current lineup of Echo speakers includes the standard Echo, Echo Dot,...

Continue reading…

Best gaming laptop in 2023: seven laptops to get your game on

The best gaming laptop is the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales/ The Verge

All the best gaming laptops at every size and price

Continue reading…

Google’s long-awaited Tasks and Reminders consolidation starts in March

Illustration: The Verge

Putting a timetable on the move it announced in September, Google says users will be able to manage all tasks created across various Google apps from Google Tasks starting in March. Beginning May 22nd, Google will automatically move reminders created in the Google Assistant and Calendar apps to Tasks, though users can voluntarily start doing so ahead of time.

Once the process is complete, users will also be able to access and create tasks from Google Workspace web apps like Gmail, Docs, Chat, and Calendar.

Now, you won’t have to switch tabs to remind yourself to get to an email later so you can reply to an urgent one right now. You can simply hit a button to add it to your list of tasks.

Image: Google

Google...

Continue reading…

Apple’s first iOS 16.4 public beta has new emoji and push notifications from web apps

Image: The Verge

Apple has let loose public beta versions of iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, and macOS Ventura 13.3 equipped with new emoji, web app push notifications on the mobile operating systems, and more. The release comes a day after developers were given access to the new software.

New Apple software releases are some of the first places to try the latest emoji sets before all other devices adopt them, and iOS 16.4 is no exception. You’re getting new ones from Unicode 15.0, including the “stop right there”-looking hand and a ginger root, so you can finally ask for a juice blend at the gym cafe using only emoji.

Other features it’s testing include transliteration support for South Asian languages Urdu, Punjabi, and Gujarati, 5G standalone support,...

Continue reading…

The best Chromebook for 2023

Acer’s Chromebook Spin 713 | Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge

The best Chromebook for anyone who wants Chrome OS on their laptop

Continue reading…

Ford can’t afford to miss on quality in the EV revolution

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

With the F-150 Lightning under a stop production and shipment order, Ford is facing a familiar problem. A decade of expensive recalls and new-car issues leaves the Blue Oval in a tough spot as it builds its EV lineup.

Continue reading…

The best laptop you can buy in 2023

Image: William Joel/The Verge

The best laptops for you, from ultraportables to high-powered editing machines

Continue reading…

Twitch now lets streamers tag channels in stream titles

Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge

Twitch will now let streamers tag other channels in their stream titles, according to a Friday tweet from Twitch’s support account. It’s a small feature, but one that could be a really useful way for streamers to direct fans to interesting channels — and importantly, it’s a user-controlled tool.

With the new feature, streamers can enter “@[channel]” into a stream title to create a link. If you, as a viewer, hover over one of those links, you’ll see a small card that lets you visit that person’s stream, follow them, or check out their social networks they’ve opted to highlight.

Image: Jay Peters / The Verge

Here’s what the new links look like.

I could see a few different uses for this feature. It makes a lot of...

Continue reading…

Fortnite now has a Bandcamp radio station

All 11 of the featured tunes are streamer-friendly if you wanted to vibe out with an audience on Twitch. | Image: Epic Games

Eleven months after Epic Games acquired Bandcamp, it’s getting its first major integration into Fortnite. Fortnite’s new “Radio Underground” station is a collection of songs curated by Bandcamp editors that you can blast while, well, blasting your way around the popular battle royale. The in-game radio station features tunes from independent artists around the world and covers a variety of genres, from pop-punk and indie to ’80s synthwave and smooth soul.

Fortnite’s Radio Underground station is already live and will be available until the end of Battle Royale Chapter 4 Season 1 on March 8th. As with the other in-game radio channels, you’ll need to jump into a car or truck during a match to start listening to the new station. A...

Continue reading…

Tile Anti-Theft Mode makes its trackers ‘invisible,’ with a $1 million fine for misuse

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Tile says a new anti-theft feature, rolling out starting today, makes its Bluetooth trackers invisible to anti-stalking detection like the Scan and Secure feature in the app. By disabling detection abilities, it could be more effective in recovering something very important: like a briefcase containing a million dollars in cash or a gaming carry case that has a PS4 with P.T. preinstalled.

But that also makes it invisible to everyone, so Tile will require users who want to enable the feature to register their photo ID, consent to Tile working with law enforcement without a subpoena, and agree to get slammed by a $1 million fine if convicted for misusing the tracker criminally.

This blog post from Tile explains how it works and outlines a...

Continue reading…

M3gan’s unrated cut is coming to Peacock

M3gan, the doll. | Image: Universal

The theatrical version of Universal’s M3gan was already a delightfully deranged romp as is, but Peacock’s just called dibs on an unrated cut that might just make you want to check the movie out again just to see how much wilder it could be.

Universal announced today that both the original version of M3gan and an all-new unrated version with never-before-seen footage are heading to Peacock on February 24th, yet another move that feels like the studio’s trying to get serious about making the streaming platform take off. Back in January, M3gan’s screenwriter Akela Cooper told the Los Angeles Times that her original script was much more gory and featured a higher body count, but once the film’s first trailer became a viral hit that appealed...

Continue reading…

What’s the best student laptop? We asked students

The Dell XPS 13 is one of the best laptops for high school and college students. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Shopping for a laptop can be stressful — doubly stressful if you or your children will be learning online for the first time. Kids of different ages have a range of different laptop use cases and different needs. And as the choices for best laptop and best Chromebook evolve, so do students’ needs. So I spoke to some experts on the subject: students themselves.

My recommendations here are meant to accommodate a variety of preferences and price ranges. But they’re a jumping-off point rather than an exhaustive list: every student is different. Before making a decision, you’ll want to make sure you read reviews and try out devices yourself if you can. I’ll do my best to keep this article up to date with items that are in stock.

Best laptop...

Continue reading…

Amazon is the latest company to bring staff back to the office three days a week

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon employees will be expected to work from the office at least three days per week starting May 1st, according to an email CEO Andy Jassy sent to staff posted on the company’s blog. Previously, it was up to individual teams to decide their in-office policies.

Jassy says the company’s leadership team decided to change the policy after observing that it’s easier to strengthen Amazon’s culture, collaborate on ideas, and learn from others in person. He acknowledges that some roles will be some exceptions to the policy, like some salespeople and customer support, but “that will be a small minority.”

“It’s not simple to bring many thousands of employees back to our offices around the world, so we’re going to give the teams that need to do...

Continue reading…

The Marvels is being pushed back to November

Brie Larson as Carol Danvers in Ms. Marvel. | Image: Disney Plus / Marvel

The Marvels — director Nia DaCosta’s follow-up to the first Captain Marvel— was originally slated to touch down right in the thick of summer blockbuster season. Those plans are changing, but Marvel’s released a promising new look at the movie to tide folks over.

The Marvels, starring Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, WandaVision’s Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Ms. Marvel’s Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan, will now hit theaters on November 10th, rather than July 28th as was previously announced. Along with the new release date, Marvel Studios also released a new poster for the upcoming film featuring its three leads “together” for the first time and highlighting the new duds Kamala and Monica will be sporting during their upcoming...

Continue reading…

Roblox is working on generative AI tools

Image: Roblox

Roblox (the company) is working on generative AI tools to help developers who build experiences on Roblox more easily create games and assets. The first two tests of the tools will roll out in the coming weeks: a tool to make “generative AI materials from a text prompt” and a tool for generative AI to complete code, according to a blog post from Daniel Sturman, Roblox’s chief technology officer.

You can get an idea of how they’ll work in this short video, which I’ve also embedded at the top of this post. In one example, somebody types in different descriptions of materials for a car, and those patterns are applied right away. In others, you can see how autocompleting code might work for things like turning on the car’s lights and making...

Continue reading…

The best tech gifts for under $50

The JBL Go 3 is a compact waterproof speaker that makes for a fun gift. | Image: JBL

If “budget-friendly” and “high-quality” sound like oxymorons to you, you’re in for a surprise. As it turns out, youcan buy a number of great gifts without completely draining your savings account, which makes it easy to pick up a present for your anniversary, a birthday party, or one of the many other gift-giving occasions strewn throughout the year.

Finding the right gift can still be tough, however, even when there is a sea of budget-friendly items for under $50 to choose from. That’s why we’ve put together a selection of techy gift ideas, all of which we’ve personally tested or have received as gifts ourselves. These range from entertaining picks like disposable cameras and wireless earbuds to more practical gifts like video...

Continue reading…

Here are the best AirPods deals you can get right now

Apple’s second-gen AirPods Pro are $50 off at multiple retailers, matching their all-time low.

If you know where to look, there are often some great discounts available on Apple’s ever-popular AirPods. Since Apple launched the third-gen AirPods at the end of 2021, we’ve seen the starting price of the second-gen, entry-level model slowly dip to around $100. And now that you can buy the second-gen AirPods Pro, we’re seeing even better discounts on the last-gen Pro and other models.

For your convenience, we’ve curated the best deals currently available on each model, including the entry-level AirPods, the AirPods Pro, the third-gen AirPods, and the AirPods Max.

The best entry-level AirPods (second-gen) deals

In 2021, Apple lowered the list price of the second-gen AirPods — now the entry-level model — from $159 to $129. It now only...

Continue reading…

Introducing the AI Mirror Test, which very smart people keep failing

Who’s that in the mirror? | Image: DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP via Getty Images

AI chatbots like Bing and ChatGPT are entrancing users, but they’re just autocomplete systems trained on our own stories about superintelligent AI. That makes them software — not sentient.

Continue reading…

A new mainline Civilization game is in development at Firaxis

The last mainline entry in the series — Civilization VI_._ | Image: Firaxis

A new Civilization game, likely to be called Civilization VII, is in development at Firaxis Games, incoming studio head Heather Hazen has announced.

“I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to carry on the studio’s storied legacy, beginning with the announcement that Firaxis is in development on the next iteration of the legendary Civilization franchise,” Hazen said in a press release. “I’m lucky to be working with some of the best developers in our industry, and we have plans to take the Civilization franchise to exciting new heights for our millions of players around the world.”

The announcement that a new Civilization game is in development comes more than six years after the release of the last new mainline entry in the series, C...

Continue reading…

The best Presidents Day sales happening now

The second-gen AirPods Pro and Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II are both $50 off for Presidents Day. | Photo: Chris Welch / The Verge

Now that the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day are behind us, the next holiday on deck that’s inexplicably linked to major sales promotions is Presidents Day. While this US holiday is meant to honor the historic legacy of our highest office, capitalism dictates that it’s now just about deals on stuff like TVs and maybe a day off (if you’re lucky).

Well, thankfully, there are some worthwhile sales going on — and not just on mattresses or whatever your local small businesses are hawking. This Presidents Day weekend is offering a variety of deals, like saving $50 on the second-gen AirPods Pro and Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II (two of the best wireless earbuds in the game) or Samsung’s 65-inch S95B OLED TV for half off its MSRP. There are even...

Continue reading…

The Verge’s favorite media obsessions

The Verge

It’s hard to admit, but it’s all too easy to get caught up in obsessive behavior occasionally, especially when it comes to entertainment. It can be a TV series, a game, a series of novels, a comic book universe... It’s the kind of thing where you look up and suddenly realize that it’s 2AM and you have to get up early for work, and then you think, “Well, one more episode won’t hurt,” or, “If I try one more time, I can survive into the next round.”

We asked the staff of The Verge what their current media obsessions were. Here are the answers we got, divided into four categories: games, TV series, books, and music. Maybe you even share the enthusiasm they have for some of these.

Games

Hades

Image: Supergiant Games

H...

Continue reading…

Fitbit adventures, challenges, and open groups are headed to Google’s graveyard

The Google-fication of Fitbit continues. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Fitbit users: better one-up your friends in challenges while you still can. Starting March 27th, Fitbit will remove all adventures, challenges, and open groups from its app.

It’s a striking move. Before 2019’s Google acquisition (and closure in 2021), Fitbit frequently touted its community and social features as a major strength. Its challenges — competitions between Fitbit users — have been part of Fitbit’s platform for over 10 years and copied by nearly every other smartwatch and fitness-tracking platform. Adventures were introduced later as a type of immersive challenge, where users could take virtual tours of places like Yosemite National Park while hitting step goals. Meanwhile, open groups are exactly as they sound: groups where...

Continue reading…

Ikea’s new air quality monitor lets you keep an eye on pollutants in your home

Ikea’s new Vindstyrka indoor air quality monitor is coming in April. | Image: Ikea

Keeping track of air pollutants in your home just got easier thanks to Ikea’s new Vindstyrka indoor air quality sensor arriving in April. The tabletop device features a large display so you can see in real time the particulate matter levels (PM2.5), humidity, temperature, and total volatile organic compounds (VOC) of your home’s air. No pricing has been announced yet, but knowing Ikea, it’s likely to be competitive.

The Vindstyrka (which translates to wind force) can work as a standalone air quality monitor or connect to Ikea’s new Dirigera hub ($69) to view readings in the Home smart app and control Ikea’s air purifier line, Starkvind, to help improve air quality.

Image: Ikea

The Vindstyrka indoor air quality...

Continue reading…

Samsung has created a zero-click antivirus for messages

Message Guard will first be available on the Samsung Galaxy S23 series before rolling out to other Galaxy devices later this year. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Samsung has introduced a new Message Guard security feature for its Galaxy range of smartphones and tablets that can better protect users against “zero-click” cyberattacks disguised as image attachments in messages. Zero-click attacks — which install spyware and other malicious code onto devices without any interaction from the owner — have become increasingly common over the last few years.

One of the most notable examples of zero-click attacks was discovered by Citizen Lab in 2020, after a known iOS / iMessage zero-click security flaw was exploited to install NSO’s Pegasus spyware onto the phones of journalists, politicians, and activists between 2017 and 2020.

Zero-click attacks often leave little trace and victims may be completely...

Continue reading…

As conservatives criticize ‘woke AI,’ here are ChatGPT’s rules for answering culture war queries

Illustration: The Verge

OpenAI has shared some of the internal rules it uses to help shape ChatGPT’s responses to controversial “culture war” questions.

The company, whose AI technology underpins Microsoft products like the new Bing, shared the rules in a blog post in an apparent response to increasing criticism from right-wing commentators that ChatGPT has “gone woke.” The company also noted that it’s working on an upgrade to the chatbot that will “allow users to easily customize its behavior” and let the AI chatbot produce “system outputs that other people (ourselves included) may strongly disagree with.”

OpenAI describes these rules in a post titled “How should AI systems behave, and who should decide?” It offers a broad outline of how ChatGPT is created...

Continue reading…

Friday’s top tech news: new iOS emoji just dropped

Apple’s new emoji designs. | Image: Apple / Emojipedia

Plus, the SEC charges Terra founder Do Kwan with fraud, and Android 13 gets a stable release on the Nothing Phone 1.

Continue reading…