Labor board decision could force Google to negotiate with YouTube contractors

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Alphabet, Google’s parent company, should be considered a joint employer for a group of YouTube Music contractors. The workers are currently attempting to organize with the Alphabet Worker’s Union, and the NLRB’s decision could mean that the tech giant has to negotiate with them if they vote to unionize in an upcoming election.

The workers are directly employed by a company called Cognizant, which acts as an Alphabet subcontractor. However, the NLRB believes that Google has enough control over their “benefits, hours of work, supervision, and direction of work” that it counts as a partial employer, according to Bloomberg.

“We are proud to win a precedent setting victory not just for...

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Apple’s business-oriented ‘Mac notebook upgrade program’ has been discontinued

Image: @MaxWinebach

Apple partnered with a bank in 2021 to let small businesses lease new M1 Macs for as low as $30 per month, with easy options to upgrade if and when more powerful devices are released. Now that’s no longer being offered, and businesses that had signed up will now have to sign up for a different program from CIT Group, the bank Apple partnered with, or go another route to get their computers.

A business that reached out to The Verge shared an email from CIT Group (aka First Citizens Bank) confirming the Mac Upgrade Program has ended. Now the bank is requesting the business to switch to its FMV lease or continue to lease the equipment at the same monthly rate — though it would run indefinitely with no buyout option. The Verge contacted both...

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Ford’s self-repossessing car patent is a nightmare of the connected-car future

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The electric and digital transformation of the car industry comes with a lot of promises for a better tomorrow. Electric vehicles could dramatically reduce carbon emissions in the transportation sector; connected cars will give us access to services and features we don’t currently enjoy; over-the-air software updates could eliminate high repair costs; and automated vehicles may make driving significantly safer.

But it’s worth remembering that, at the end of the day, car companies are just out to make a buck, not make the world a better place.

This week, it was revealed that Ford applied for a patent on a system that would use connected car technology to better aid in vehicle repossession. News of the patent’s publication was first r...

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Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty gets off to a ridiculously cool start

Image: Team Ninja

The developers are marketing Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty all wrong. I’m sure the fact that it’s a Soulsborne-like released in the midst of the Great Elden Ring DLC winter is no doubt appealing. As is the fact that Team Ninja, the game’s developers, got Masaaki Yamagiwa — a producer on Bloodborne and the Demon’s Souls remake — to work on the game. The combat is also enticing, familiar enough for Soulsborne fans to get a handle on but just different enough to be interesting and exciting. All are excellent points with which to attract players to the game.

But what they should have done was lead with this simple fact:

Zhao Yun — one of the Five Tiger Generals, my absolute No. 1 favorite character from every Dynasty Warriors game, and my brother...

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The best smart locks you can buy right now

Illustration: The Verge

Never get locked out again with a smart lock you can control from your phone, with your voice, or with just a touch of your finger.

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Hey, where’s the Twitter Blue revenue sharing Elon Musk promised a month ago?

Where are the money birds? | Illustration: Laura Normand / The Verge

On February 3rd, Elon Musk made a big announcement. “Starting today, Twitter will share ad revenue with creators for ads that appear in their reply threads,” he said, later adding that you’d have to be subscribed to Twitter Blue Verified to get your cut. We here at The Verge spent the rest of the day waiting for more information about the program or for official support documents going more in-depth on how the whole thing would work.

After a month, it hasn’t appeared. Both the Twitter Blue and Twitter Creators accounts have been silent about the feature, it’s not mentioned on the Twitter Blue signup page, and Musk doesn’t appear to have brought it up since his initial announcement. I also wasn’t able to find anybody claiming that they’ve...

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How an insect using its butt to flick pee droplets could keep your smartwatch dry

Sharpshooter insect with pee droplet excreta on the anal stylus. | Image: Bhamla Lab, Georgia Tech

The glassy-winged sharpshooter is an insect so impressive when it pees it could inspire more efficient designs for water-resistant devices.

Saad Bhamla was in his vegetable garden in Atlanta, Georgia, when he first noticed the feat. The sharpshooter forms neat, round pee droplets that it flicks away with lightning speed. Bhamla, a Georgia Tech assistant professor of biomolecular engineering, whipped out his iPhone to take some slow-motion videos.

“The more I zoomed in, the more I realized that it was doing something interesting,” Bhamla tells The Verge.

“The more I zoomed in, the more I realized that it was doing something interesting”

It turns out the sharpshooter accomplishes something with its urine that hasn’t been documented in a...

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Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon on the Wii U go offline due to vulnerability

Image: Nintendo

Nintendo has taken down the online features of the Wii U versions of Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon today due to an unspecified security vulnerability. VGC reports that the games were taken offline at 11:30PM ET last night and that the company suggests the fix could take days (via IGN). The Nintendo Switch versions of the games are not affected.

At time of writing, Nintendo’s server operational status page currently has this message posted:

Splatoon , Mario Kart 8 — This network service is currently unavailable due to urgent maintenance required to fix a vulnerability related to online play. We do not yet have information on when network services can be restored. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. (Error Code: 106-0811)

As VGC notes,...

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The new Pokémon Scarlet and Violet anime looks like a Paldean blast in its first trailer

With Ash Ketchum having finally managed to become a Pokémon champion, the Pokémon anime’s gearing up to introduce a new generation of young trainers whose adventures will take them to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Paldea region and beyond. Though we’ve seen some of the new protagonists and their partner pokémon, a new trailer for the upcoming series gives them each a proper introduction and hints at what all they’re doing to discover as they set out to explore the world together.

Though Liko, the new anime’s protagonist, originally hails from Paldea, where she’s a student, her journey with another young trainer named Roy and Friede, a pokémon professor partnered with a Pikachu, will span the entire pokémon world as the trio catch various...

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Abortion websites would be blocked in Texas under new bill

Photo by Mark Felix / AFP via Getty Images

A new bill in Texas would require internet service providers inside the state to block sites that provide abortion information, as well making it illegal to host or even provide domain registration for sites that help people in Texas obtain or pay for abortions.

The bill, filed February 23rd by representative Steve Toth, attempts to crush access to services that ship the pregnancy-terminating drugs mifepristone and misoprostol, as well as aid funds that raise money to cover the cost of abortion-related expenses. Under the new bill’s rules, it would be unlawful to “create, edit, upload, publish, host, maintain, or register a domain name for an internet website, platform, or other interactive computer service that assists or facilitates a...

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Ford is boosting Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning production to cement status as No. 2 EV seller

Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Ford is enjoying its newfound status as the No. 2 seller of electric vehicles in the US. In the interest of maintaining it, the automaker is boosting production of its lineup of plug-in vehicles, including the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning, and E-Transit.

Ford started accelerating production of Mustang Mach-Es this week, making changes at its factory that will enable it to double its hourly assembly and bring its annual manufacturing run rate to a targeted 210,000 units by the end of 2023. Ford also announced it would slash prices on the Mustang Mach-E after the No. 1 EV seller, Tesla, also reduced its prices.

This represents the second time that Ford has said it would boost production of the Mustang Mach-E this year. Last January,...

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Stable Diffusion AI art generator now has an official Blender plug-in

Image: Stability AI / Blender

A popular app for 3D artists just received an accessible way to experiment with generative AI: Stability AI has released Stability for Blender, an official Stable Diffusion plug-in that introduces a suite of generative AI tools to Blender’s free 3D modeling software. Third-party plug-ins offer similar functionality, but Stability AI’s own implementation will likely be more polished, and the company is promising regular updates.

The add-on allows Blender artists to create images using text descriptions directly within the software — just like the Stable Diffusion text-to-image generator. You can also create images using existing renders, allowing you to experiment with various styles for a project without having to completely remodel the...

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Sennheiser’s Ambeo Soundbar Plus is a sonic marvel with compromises

It’s a luxury purchase through and through, but Sennheiser’s new soundbar carries forward many of the original Ambeo’s strengths. Unfortunately, it also suffers from short-sighted missteps.

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Sonos is hosting another refurbished soundbar and speaker sale

You can save $170 on the mic-less version of the Sonos Arc when you buy it refurbished today. | Image: Chris Welch / The Verge

Sonos makes some of the best speakers and soundbars you can buy, but they come at a high price and are typically only on sale during major shopping holidays. Thankfully, Sonos is currently running a sale on a range of refurbished goods, making today a great opportunity to snag speakers like the Sonos One SL for cheap before the forthcoming Sonos Era 300 and 100 hit shelves, presumingly later this month.

If you’re new to buying refurbished electronics, know that Sonos cleans and tests each product and that they come with a one-year warranty in case anything breaks. Sonos offers a 45-day money-back guarantee if you’re unhappy with your purchase as well, in addition to free shipping and the same accessories you’d get if you’d purchased the...

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Two of Apple’s best laptops for creators and power users are up to $500 off

Get your laptop with actual ports, and get a great deal. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Ever since the release of the M2 generation of the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, we’ve been waiting for some huge discounts on the previous-gen M1 models from 2021. That day is here now and in two flavors. The M1 Pro-powered 14-inch MacBook Pro with expanded 1TB SSD is on sale for $1,999.97 ($500 off) in space gray at Amazon. Or, if you prefer more screen real estate, the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and base 512GB of storage is $1,999 (another $500 off) at Best Buy.

While two grand is no small amount for a laptop, these are the best discounts to date on these excellent computers. You’d be hard-pressed to find other offerings with this much performance at these prices. The newer M2 generation chips may offer some refinements to both...

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After Dobbs, Democrats roll out health and location data protections

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Democrats introduced a bill Thursday to protect sensitive health and location data from being sold to online advertisers.

The Upholding Protections for Health and Online Location Data (UPHOLD) Privacy Act aims to resolve lingering concerns over the online safety of abortion-seeking patients. Introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the bill would ban the use of personally identifiable health data from being used for targeted advertising and bar the sale of precision location data to data brokerages.

“For too long companies have profited off of Americans’ online data while consumers have been left in the dark, which is especially concerning in light of reports that some social media...

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Ring is requiring a subscription for more camera and alarm features

On March 29th, new owners of a Ring Alarm security system will have to pay for a subscription to control it when they’re not home. | Image: Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Yet another company will charge its customers more money for using existing features as the subscription-based smart home becomes the norm. Amazon-owned Ring is making several free features part of its paid subscription program starting on March 29th. As of that date, if you have a Ring video doorbell or camera, you will no longer have access to Home and Away Modes in the app without a paid subscription. This was a simple way to tell all your cameras to stop detecting motion when you’re home and start when you leave.

Additionally, all new users of the Ring Alarm system on or after March 29th will have to pay for a Ring Protect plan to arm and disarm the system from the app, use the Modes feature, receive notifications, and control it...

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The Quest Pro and 256GB Quest 2 are getting significant price cuts

Image: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the Meta Quest Pro, the company’s mixed and virtual reality headset focused on business users, will be getting a substantial price cut, going from $1,499.99 to $999.99. Likewise, the 256GB version of the Quest 2 will be going from $499.99 to $429.99.

Meta says its goal is to “create hardware that’s affordable for as many people as possible” and that it’s lowering the Pro’s price to make its tech “available to even more businesses and professionals around the world.”

According to the company’s hardware roadmap, which was published by The Verge earlier this week, it doesn’t seem like the high-end VR headset is getting a follow-up for at least a few years. Given that context, a price drop of this...

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How a group of amateur astronomers captured a NASA spacecraft crashing into an asteroid

Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Last September, the world watched in delight as NASA deliberately crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in a test of planetary defense. The idea of the DART mission was to see whether an impact from a spacecraft could change the trajectory of an incoming asteroid in case such a looming disaster ever threatened the Earth.

The impact and its aftermath were observed by telescopes all across the planet and by several in space, including the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, and preliminary data showed that the test had been successful in changing the orbit of this asteroid. Then scientists got to work analyzing all the data they had collected for more insights.

This week, five new papers in the journal Nature reveal more about what...

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NASA’s DART mission proves it can save the planet from killer asteroids

A close-up of asteroid Dimorphos with a digital chalk outline of where DART crashed into it. | Image: NASA / Johns Hopkins APL

Remember last September when NASA crashed a spaceship into an asteroid to see what would happen? Well, an investigation team led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) released a paper confirming that the successful Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission wasn’t just for fun; it proves that humanity can deflect asteroids and also actually save the planet.

NASA outlined the conclusion in a new blog post on Wednesday, explaining that the “kinetic impactor” technique, which APL writer Ajai Raj jokingly defines as “smashing a thing into another thing,” could indeed be used as an effective means of planetary defense.

“These findings add to our fundamental understanding of asteroids and build a foundation for how humanity can...

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Who’s actually getting rich off of AI?

Illustration: The Verge

Today, let’s talk about a subject that crosses my mind with every generative-AI startup pitch that lands in my inbox: who’s going to make the real money off artificial intelligence?

Last week the productivity startup Notion announced that Notion AI, a suite of tools based on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, had entered general availability. For $10 per user per month, Notion can now summarize meeting notes, generate lists of pros and cons, and draft emails.

Notion AI is among the first in a wave of companies that are racing to capitalize on growing interest in generative AI. This week Snapchat made available a ChatGPT-based chatbot called My AI for subscribers to its $4-a-month Snapchat Plus offering. The educational app Quizlet announced a...

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Microsoft is now openly testing a better Windows 11 volume mixer

There’s even a new windows shortcut to directly open the audio menu without clicking the taskbar. | Image: The Verge

A new enhanced audio mixer is coming to Windows 11 that allows users to make individual volume and audio output adjustments directly from the taskbar. The updated volume mixer was officially revealed as part of the new Preview Build 25309 which is being rolled out to testers in the Windows 11 Insider Dev channel.

When released, the updated mixer will be located inside the Quick Settings panel on the Windows taskbar, which can be accessed by clicking on the volume icon. Microsoft has also added a new Windows keyboard shortcut (Win + Ctrl + V) to open the mixer directly. The mixer allows users to quickly switch between audio outputs (i.e. headphones, speakers, etc), as well as adjust the volume of individual apps and toggle spatial audio...

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Sony might be forced to reveal how much it pays to keep games off Xbox Game Pass

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Sony might be forced to detail its PlayStation exclusivity deals and how much it pays for “blocking rights” to keep games off rival services like Xbox Game Pass. The FTC has sued to try and block Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition and kicked off a legal discovery process with Microsoft sending subpoenas to Sony to force it to reveal records, internal documentation, and emails from the company’s PlayStation unit.

Kotaku spotted that the FTC’s chief administrative judge D. Michael Chappell has now sided with Microsoft’s request for details of Sony’s PlayStation exclusivity deals. The request cover deals made after January 1st, 2019, including fees or agreements that prevented publishers from placing games on Xbox Game Pass. The...

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Metroid Fusion is coming to Nintendo Switch Online next week

Metroid Fusion. | Image: Nintendo

Now that Game Boy and GBA titles are part of the Nintendo Switch Online subscription, Nintendo is starting to roll out some classics: and next week that will include Metroid Fusion. It’ll be available to subscribers starting on March 8th.

The side-scrolling adventure originally hit the GBA back in 2002, and it represented an interesting evolution of Super Metroid’s 2D design. Here’s the basic set-up:

In Metroid Fusion, interstellar bounty hunter Samus Aran is attacked by an X parasite while exploring the mysterious planet SR388. This organism is not only deadly, but it can mimic the abilities of any creature it infects — including Samus herself! Saved from the brink thanks to an infusion of Metroid DNA, the X parasite’s only natural...

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CNET editor-in-chief Connie Guglielmo will step down to work on AI-generated content

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Following monthslong questions about how CNET uses artificial intelligence tools, longtime CNET editor-in-chief Connie Guglielmo will step down from her role and take on a new job: senior vice president of AI content strategy and editor-at-large, according to an internal draft memo circulated today, a copy of which was obtained by The Verge.

In her new role, Guglielmo will work on machine learning strategy at Red Ventures, the private equity-backed media company that acquired the tech news site in 2020. Adam Auriemma, the former editor-in-chief of a different Red Ventures outlet, NextAdvisor, will become editor-in-chief. NextAdvisor, a personal finance outlet, appears to no longer be active — the site’s Twitter account hasn’t posted...

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Here are the best Kindle deals right now

The 2021 Kindle Paperwhite Kids is on sale at Amazon and Best Buy starting at just $104.99. | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

When it comes to finding a device to use to read your ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your phone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality.

Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its ever-expanding Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons. The bulk of the devices function as simple ebook readers; however, with the Kindle Scribe, Amazon looks to be moving...

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Star Trek: Discovery’s upcoming fifth season will be its final voyage

Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham. | Image: Paramount Plus

Star Trek: Discoveryboth carved out a foothold for the franchise in the streaming space and gave people a compelling reason to sign up for Paramount Plus back when it was still CBS All Access. But with its upcoming fifth season, the serieswill be coming to an end.

This evening, CBS Studios announced that Star Trek: Discovery’s fifth season, due out sometime in “early 2024,” will be its final one and that the show’s cast and crew are gearing up for a year of “celebrations and appearances at key events in markets around the world” in the build-up to the season’s premiere. In a statement about bittersweet news, executive producers and co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise expressed their gratitude to _Discovery’_s fans and said...

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Samsung’s new foldable hinge might look nicer, but it probably won’t have a longer life span

The Galaxy Z Fold 4’s U-shaped hinge might make way for a new shape this year. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

We have good reason to believe that Samsung will put a new kind of hinge in its next flagship foldable, and a South Korean trade publication has just supplied more confirmation. Spotted by 9to5Google, The Elec reports that Samsung has started reliability testing a new water drop-style hinge for the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 5.

The new hinge design would make the folded phone thinner and help reduce the appearance of a crease with the main screen unfolded. But according to this report, Samsung is testing the hinge to withstand 200,000 folds like the last one, which falls short of longevity claims from recent competitors like the Honor Magic VS and Oppo Find N2 — both rated to 400,000 folds.

The Elec’s report does mention that the hinge...

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Alienware’s 500Hz gaming monitor will cost you $830

It’s expensive, yes, but not unreasonably so for the world’s fastest gaming display. | Image: Dell / Alienware

Time to ready your bank account — Dell has just revealed the price of its 500Hz Alienware gaming monitor. The Alienware AW2524H will launch in North America on March 21st for $829.99 (or $1,099.99 CA), making this the fastest gaming monitor in the world that you can actually buy… at least for now.

The 24.5-inch Alienware AW2524H technically has a native refresh rate of 480Hz (which is still blisteringly fast), but this has been overclocked to hit 500Hz. That speed comes with a few caveats — namely that it’s limited to a 1080p resolution, though that’s to be expected, as most high refresh rate screens are similarly capped because of bandwidth limitations. And speaking of screens, this comes equipped with an anti-glare IPS screen rather...

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BetterHelp sold customer data while promising it was private, says FTC

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Online counseling company BetterHelp has agreed to pay $7.8 million to settle charges from the Federal Trade Commission that it improperly shared customers’ sensitive data with companies like Facebook and Snapchat, even after promising to keep it private. The proposed order, announced by the FTC on Thursday, would ban the same behavior in the future and require BetterHelp to make some changes to how it handles customer data.

According to the regulator, the sign-up process for the company’s service “promised consumers that it would not use or disclose their personal health data except for limited purposes.” However, the FTC alleges that the company instead “used and revealed consumers’ email addresses, IP addresses, and health...

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