Google’s Nearby Share arrives on Windows to let you transfer files between PC and Android

Google’s Nearby Share app is available for Windows 10 and up. | Image: Google

Google’s AirDrop competitor, Nearby Share, is now available on Windows as a beta app. After announcing plans for Nearby Share on Windows at CES 2022, Google has finally shipped the Windows app as a beta to allow Android users to share photos, documents, files, and links between Android devices and Windows PCs.

The Windows Nearby Share just needs to be installed and configured to start sending and receiving files between Android and Windows devices. Google is supporting Windows 10 and up, but ARM-powered Windows laptops aren’t supported right now. You can setup Nearby Share to allow sharing with everyone, just your contacts, or limit it to your own devices.

“Nearby Share Beta works with your Windows PC whether the app is open on the...

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The Tor Project’s new privacy-focused browser doesn’t use the Tor network

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The Tor Project, the organization behind the anonymous network and browser, is helping launch a privacy-focused browser that’s made to connect to a VPN instead of a decentralized onion network. It’s called the Mullvad browser, named after the Mullvad VPN company it’s partnered with on the project, and it’s available for Windows, Mac, or Linux.

The Mullvad browser’s main goal is to make it harder for advertisers and other companies to track you across the internet. It does this by working to reduce your browser’s “fingerprint,” a term that describes all the metadata that sites can collect to uniquely identify your device. Your fingerprint can be made up of simple things, like what browser and operating system you’re using, to more...

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Twitter had a very messy weekend

Twitter no longer officially distinguishes between legacy verified accounts and Twitter Blue subscribers. | Image: Twitter

April 1st was the day Twitter said it would begin winding down its legacy verified program. But like most things done at the company under Elon Musk’s leadership, the process appeared to be chaotically executed, and subject to the whims of its new CEO.

For starters, with the exception of one major corporate account, legacy verified checkmarks don’t appear to have actually started disappearing for any of the accounts we viewed. What has changed is that Twitter has stopped officially distinguishing between legacy verified users and accounts that pay for Twitter Blue. Click on the verified blue badge for Verge Editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, for example, and you’ll now see a message that reads “This account is verified because it’s subscribed...

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Secret Invasion’s latest trailer is a prelude to Marvel’s next big war

Olivia Colman as Sonya Falsworth. | Courtesy of Marvel Studios

Nick Fury’s kept himself pretty scarce since the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, but in the newest trailer for Disney Plus’ upcoming Secret Invasion series, the man behind the Avengers Initiative is back and preparing for a war that only he can wage.

Though much of Secret Invasion’s new trailer is footage we’ve seen before, a handful of new moments make clear that Nick Fury’s (Samuel L. Jackson) absence hasn’t gone unnoticed on Earth in the years since the Avengers managed to reverse Thanos’ snap. While Fury’s been off-planet hiding, Skrulls loyal to him back on Earth, like Talos (Ben Mendohlson), have watched as the extremist Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) used Fury’s absence to justify their increasingly violent plays for true freedom...

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Huawei’s latest watch is a jab at the Apple Watch Ultra

The Huawei Watch Ultimate doesn’t look like an Apple Watch Ultra, but it’s got almost all the same features. | Image: Huawei

You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out where Huawei got the inspiration for its newly announced Watch Ultimate. It’s clearly Huawei’s not-so-subtle answer to the Apple Watch Ultra, and now, we know that similarity extends to the price tag, too. Starting tomorrow, the Ultimate will retail in the UK and Europe for €749 / £700 for the “expedition black” colorway and €899 / £800 for the voyage blue version.

If you missed news of the Watch Ultimate, it’s likely because the company currently has no plans to launch the device in the US. (That Huawei ban is still kicking in 2023.) While the company once had a decent foothold in the wearable market, the ban has since limited its reach to US audiences for all but the most dedicated of...

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Why can’t more music apps be like Apple Music Classical?

Illustration by Will Joel / The Verge

In 2023, it’s hard to love classical music. Not because of the music itself — it’s just difficult to find it. Searching for George Gershwin is as likely to bring up his own performances as it is to bring up music he composed that’s performed by other artists. The problem is that, in the metadata, classical music doesn’t just rely on the typical stuff like artist, genre, song title, or album title. There are soloists to consider, and composers, and conductors, and pieces performed by an orchestra and a choir. Apple Music Classical, based on the Primephonic app that Apple acquired in 2021, addresses the problem with the metadata and has me wondering why more apps aren’t this rich in the stuff.

I didn’t realize how little classical music...

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The Home Assistant SkyConnect is a great excuse to demolish your smart home and start from scratch

Adding Zigbee and Thread to Home Assistant has never been easier. | Image: Chris Person

For years, I have been waiting for an excuse to make the transition to Home Assistant. With the Home Assistant’s Zigbee and Thread dongle, I had that excuse.

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Cheaper Xbox expandable storage cards are on the way

Western Digital is about to launch a new Xbox storage expansion card. | Image: Best Buy

Microsoft appears to be readying new Xbox expandable storage options from other manufacturers. A new Western Digital 1TB expansion card for Xbox Series S / X consoles has been spotted early on Best Buy, priced at $179.99. It’s the first time we’ve seen Xbox expandable storage that’s not manufactured by Seagate.

Microsoft originally launched Xbox expandable storage cards nearly three years ago with its Xbox Series S / X consoles. The 1TB cards were priced at $219.99 and manufactured exclusively by Seagate. While we’ve seen 512GB and 2TB options appear from Seagate, prices have stubbornly remained high, despite similar storage for PS5 consoles dropping significantly.

Image: Best Buy

Western Digital’s Xbox expandable...

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Framework’s computers aren’t perfect, but they are exciting

The new Framework Laptop 16. | Image: Framework

It’s not often that I get too excited about new laptops these days. Modern laptops are extremely capable devices, with few glaring flaws. They are thin, light, and finely tuned to get the job done. Exciting, they are not.

But Framework’s laptops are exciting. Under the banner of repairability and sustainability, Framework is making computers that seem to be exactly what enthusiasts have been asking for — for literal decades. Nearly every part of a Framework Laptop can be repaired, replaced, or upgraded by its owner. Want a faster CPU or more RAM? Just swap the board and click in some more RAM sticks, and you’re off to the races. The company is even coming out with a gaming-focused laptop that promises the ability to upgrade its GPU down...

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Super73 launches Adventure Series and first e-bike for danger babies

All Adventure Series e-bikes (like this RX) have the battery on the down tube for lower center of gravity and improved handling. | Image: Super73

California’s Super73 now offers more ruggedized models of its Super73 Z, S, and R series of e-bikes and a new K1D electric balance bike for kids — and parents stoked at the thought of putting their four- to eight-year-old on a vehicle that can go over 16mph.

The so-called Adventure Series of e-bikes brings a refreshed design, suspension, gear box, seats, tires, and lights across Super73’s existing Z (entry-level commuter), S (multipurpose cruiser), and R (flagship power) e-bikes. All the electric bikes in the series feature front suspension, while some offer fully adjustable front and rear suspension. S and R models also had their battery moved to the down tube, which should improve handling thanks to a lower center of gravity.

...

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It’s April Fools’ Day, but this Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC might not be a joke

Asus ROG Ally | Image: Asus

Considering the date on the calendar and the lack of a price or other details, the first — and probably correct — response to Asus surprise-announcing a handheld gaming machine is that this must be an April Fools’ Day prank. Still, this Asus ROG Ally launch video is just a little too good to simply shake off.

According to Asus, the Windows 11-powered ROG Ally has a customized Ryzen APU from AMD inside, like the Aerith SOC inside Valve’s Steam Deck, and Asus claims it is the fastest one from AMD yet.

The screen will provide “full HD gaming,” and it promises a quiet dual-fan design along with the visible standard setup of dual analog sticks, left-mounted D-pad, and four face buttons, plus a few smaller buttons around the screen to access...

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April Fools’ Day 2023: the best and cringiest pranks

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge

The holiday we didn’t ask for is back, as brands like Razer and Tesla put on their silly hats for the weekend.

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The newest iPad Mini and Google’s Pixel 6A top our favorite deals of the week

It’s the small one. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Ah. April Fools’ Day. The dreaded day when publishers like The Verge have to second guess every news story or potential tip that lands in our Gmail inbox. Thankfully, when it comes to deals, things are often exactly what they appear to be. Take today’s discount on Apple’s sixth-gen iPad Mini, which is currently matching its all-time low of $399.99 ($100 off) at Amazon in the 64GB configuration with Wi-Fi.

My colleague Dan Seifert recently heralded Apple’s newest iPad Mini as one of the best tablets for reading, but it’s suitable for a lot more than just burning through whatever the latest BookTok craze might be (spoiler: it’s still Colleen Hoover). The revamped tablet is essentially a pint-sized version of the iPad Air but with an...

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When healthcare is decided by algorithms, who wins?

Photo by Daniel Stone / National Cancer Institute

I’m starting this with a personal story. My mother was a New York City public school teacher for many years. When she joined the school system, part of the deal was that, when she retired, many of the costs of her traditional Medicare plans would be subsidized by her union and by the city. So far, so good. However, now the city, in order to save money, is moving all its retirees, including the public school teachers, to a Medicare Advantage plan.

(If you don’t know what Medicare is, or the difference between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage, don’t worry about it — a lot of people don’t. I’ll explain in a moment.)

Image: Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

Retired NYC employees are being...

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Riot made its esports arena transform for new Valorant league

Riot Games Arena in LA. | Image: Riot Games

This weekend is an important one for Valorant esports, with the launch of a new professional league for teams across North America, Latin America, and Brazil. The debut of the VCT Americas league, as it’s known, will also mark the first time Valorant games have taken place live and in person in North America. That meant that Riot had to redesign its Los Angeles studio to be much more high tech and flexible to accommodate the league, which shares the space with League of Legends — the new esports arena can even transform.

The space is formerly known as the LCS Arena, and for years has been home to the top League of Legends league in North America (the LCS). As part of the redesign, the studio space has been christened Riot Games Arena. In...

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How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps (printer companies hate this!)

Why would you region-lock a printer? | Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge

A couple of weeks ago, Nilay wrote about the Brother laser printer everyone else has. It’s cheap, reliable, and the toner lasts a long time. Get a Brother laser printer, he said, and basically never think about your printer again. You know what part of Nilay’s post sounded really nice? This part right here:

It has been connected to our Wi-Fi for like six years straight, and I have never replaced the toner. It prints Amazon return labels from my phone without complaining, and it does not feel like the CEO of Inkjet Supply and Hostage Situations Incorporated is waiting to mug me or enable DRM at the slightest provocation.

I, on the other hand, spent a couple dozen hours between September 2021 and February 2022 trying to defeat the region...

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Quick fixes: When Disney Plus is so dark you can barely see anything

Image: Disney

Issue

You’re watching Disney Plus and it’s too damn dark to see. So damn dark you’re likely to be eaten by a grue. What the heck were these filmmakers thinking?

Quick fix

Turn off Dolby Vision, and maybe turn off HDR, in your set-top box or TV’s settings menu.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

I’m not sure why Disney Plus has an HDR problem, but here’s a quick solution (as shown on Apple TV)

The full story

I love HDR. I think every modern movie, TV show, and game should take advantage of the incredible clarity that the extra dynamic range can deliver — particularly on my OLED TV, where the bright beautiful colors and inky blacks are enough to make an art-lover weep.

However, the Disney Plus streaming...

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This hoverboard is being recalled after a fire that killed two children

The Jetson Rogue. | Image: Jetson

Another hoverboard is being recalled due to fire risk. According to a notice on the US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) website, the 42-volt Jetson Rogue is being recalled because the lithium-ion battery packs in the hoverboards can overheat.

A fire marshal in Pennsylvania determined that a Jetson Rogue was the point of origin for a fire that killed two children, the CPSC’s notice says. The parents of the children are suing Jetson and Target, where they say they purchased the hoverboard, alleging the two companies should have known of the risk of fire-related injuries due to the design of the Jetson Rogue. (The parents originally sued Walmart, but amended their complaint to sue Target.)

The CPSC also says that “there have...

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Marvel’s Secret Invasion series actually sounds kind of fascinating

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. | Image: Marvel Studios

Occasionally, people will (incorrectly) insist that Marvel’s comics and the cinematic stories inspired by them would be better off if they were somehow devoid of any political themes or ideas. But in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Secret Invasion executive producer Jonathan Schwartz likened the series to John le Carré’s classic Cold War-era spy thrillers and pointed to more recent shows, like FX’s The Americans and Showtime’s Homeland, as sources of inspiration.

“We often see Nick Fury doing the right thing,” Schwartz said. “We don’t always see him doing it in a perfectly morally correct way. All of those things have ramifications. Without getting too specific, the things that Nick Fury’s had to do to protect the Earth have costs.”

...

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Twitter’s $1,000 checkmark will be free for the 10,000 most-followed companies

Would your company pay $1,000 for Twitter? Some won’t have to make that decision. | Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

It seems like some companies may not have to pay Twitter $1,000 a month for the privilege of retaining their verified status and checkmarks. Twitter is giving a free pass to the 500 advertisers that spend the most on its platform as well as the top 10,000 organizations by follower count, according to a report from The New York Times.

The decision comes as Twitter is preparing to make major changes to the way verification works on Twitter. It’s said that it’ll start winding down the legacy verified program in April and announced plans for Twitter Verification for Organizations. The latter is meant to let companies that are willing to pay $1,000 a month keep their verification as well as denote specific accounts as “affiliated.”

For...

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The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a new, real, and free game you can play right now

Image: Sega

Oh, Mario went missing once? Big deal — Sonic’s just been murdered!

In a very sudden, very confusing surprise, Sega has shadow dropped a new Sonic the Hedgehog game for PC and Mac. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, as baffling as that sounds, is a free murder mystery game on Steam you can download and play right now. The point-and-click adventure puts you amid the Sonic cast on a murder mystery party aboard the Mirage Express to celebrate Amy Rose’s birthday, but — gasp — the game turns out to be real as Sonic is found keeled over, dead on the floor.

Image: Sega

Our beautiful blue boy? He ded.

I’m no fan of silly April Fools’ gags, but I’m all for lighthearted and weird headcanon experiments. So credit to Sega...

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This is what a plant sounds like when it’s stressed

A gardener facing water shortages checks his tomato plants in southern France in August 2022. | Image: PASCAL GUYOT/AFP via Getty Images

New research challenges assumptions that the plant kingdom is silent. Turns out, plants make a lot of noise when they’re stressed.

Other plants and animals might even be able to interpret those sounds. And the ability to listen in could even help humans get smarter about the way we grow our crops, especially in a world where climate change is increasingly stressing us all out.

“Even in a quiet field, there are actually sounds that we don’t hear, and those sounds carry information,” Lilach Hadany, senior author of the paper and an evolutionary biologist and theoretician at Tel Aviv University, says in a press release.

“Even in a quiet field, there are actually sounds that we don’t hear, and those sounds carry information.”

Tomato and...

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The ‘Truckla’ DIY Tesla pickup truck is still trucking

Simone Giertz pulls up in her freshly detailed and upgraded Truckla. | Image: Simone Giertz

Remember that Tesla Model 3 that was chopped up to make an all-electric pickup truck many years ago? Well, it’s still alive! Inventor and YouTuber Simone Giertz — the self-described “queen of shitty robots” — uploaded a new video on Thursday with an update on how her custom Truckla’s been doing (via Boing Boing).

In the video, Giertz says it’s been four years since the Truckla was built, and since then, she’s been using it as her daily driver. It was never completely finished, though: the custom truck bed was never weather sealed, some trim was still unfinished, and the removable tailgate stopped working.

“She’s a little bit rattle-ly, because the truck bed isn’t welded in,” Giertz explained in the video. She also has to baby the car...

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Twitter takes its algorithm ‘open-source,’ as Elon Musk promised

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter has released the code that chooses which tweets show up on your timeline to GitHub and has put out a blog post explaining the decision. It breaks down what the algorithm looks at when determining which tweets to feature in the For You timeline and how it ranks and filters them.

According to Twitter’s blog post, “the recommendation pipeline is made up of three main stages.” First, it gathers “the best Tweets from different recommendation sources,” then it ranks those tweets with “a machine learning model.” Lastly, it filters out tweets from people you’ve blocked, tweets you’ve already seen, or tweets that are not safe for work, before putting them on your timeline.

The post also further explains each step of the process. For...

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GM is cutting off access to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its future EVs

The 2024 Chevy Blazer EV will be the first GM vehicle to restrict access to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. | Image: GM

General Motors’ electric future doesn’t include Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

The automaker’s upcoming lineup of electric vehicles won’t support the popular smartphone projection systems in favor of a native Google infotainment system. The move, first reported by Reuters, means that owners won’t be able to project their phone’s screen on their vehicle’s dashboard infotainment display.

The decision is intended to provide “seamless access” to the new Google-powered infotainment experience, including native versions of Google Maps, Google Assistant, Audible, Spotify, and more, GM says in a fact sheet explaining the new strategy.

“As a result of this strategic approach, we will be moving beyond phone projection systems, namely Apple...

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Vampire Survivors’ new fantasy-themed expansion launches in April for just $2

Image: Poncle

Vampire Survivors is getting a second expansion, and like the previous one, it will cost $2. The new fantasy-themed DLC, Tides of the Foscari, includes eight new characters, 13 weapons, and a new stage, and it comes out on April 13th.

Developer Poncle is already teasing characters like a mage and a swordsman as well as weapons like a spellbook and a sword named “Eskizzibur.” I can’t wait to try out all of the new additions — I’m sure they’ll all be unbelievably broken in some delightful ways.

The new level looks like a lot of fun, too. Like with the first expansion, Legacy of the Moonspell, it’s a really big map with many separate areas, including the mysterious Lake Foscari taking up a good chunk of one corner. You can check out the new...

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Amazon to adapt Aaron Foley’s Boys Come First as a new series

Boys Come First_’s cover art and a photo of Aaron Foley._ | Image: Belt Publishing / AFP Photo / Jeff Kowalsky

Author Aaron Foley’s debut novel Boys Come Firstonly released last May, but Amazon is already making moves to turn its queer, Black millennial-focused story into a series.

Deadline reports that Amazon’s developing an adaptation of Boys Come First that will be executive produced by Ted Lasso’s Chuck Hayward, who will also write the pilot and is in talks to become the series’ showrunner. Set in Foley’s native Detroit, Boys Come First tells the story of Dominick Gibson, Troy Clements, and Remy Patton — three Black, gay thirty-somethings who are all trying to find themselves and hold onto their friendship at a time when the city they love is rapidly changing.

Mozart in the Jungle executive producer Will Graham and Hailey Wierengo’s...

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Fewer EVs will qualify for the federal $7,500 tax credit under updated rules

Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge

The Biden administration released a long-awaited update to the rules governing which electric vehicles are eligible for a tax credit, and while we still don’t know which vehicles will meet the new standards, one thing is for sure: fewer EVs are going to qualify.

The new rules, which were published by the Treasury Department on Friday, address outstanding issues related to the source of the critical minerals contained within an EV battery. Under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), only electric vehicles with battery materials sourced from the US and its approved trading partners will qualify for the $7,500 credit.

That represents a serious challenge to most automakers — and now for customers interested in buying an EV. Under the current...

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The surprisingly complex business of toys, with Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks

Photo illustration: Alex Parkin / The Verge

Activist investors, unhappy Magic fans, and a D&D licensing battle all at once — oh, and there are Transformers, too.

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Google’s last-gen Pixel 6 Pro is half off right now at Woot

Google’s Pixel 6 Pro is on sale right now for just $469.99, a whopping $429 off the phone’s initial list price. | Image: Google

Sure, if you want a good smartphone that won’t cost a fortune, you could preorder Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy A54, the successor to one of our favorite midrange phones. However, if you’re looking for additional RAM or a bigger display, you may want to check out the current deal on Google’s Pixel 6 Pro. Right now, the last-gen Android phone is on sale at Woot in an unlocked black configuration with 128GB of storage for $469.99. That’s a $429 discount and just $20 more than the starting price of Samsung’s forthcoming A54.

Both phones boast an OLED display with a fast 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling. The Pixel 6 Pro, however, offers a larger 6.7-inch screen as well as 12GB of RAM, which is double that of the base A54. The Pixel 6 Pro...

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