Asus announced its handheld gaming PC in the worst way possible

Asus’ ROG Ally video made the device look pretty real. Turns out, it was! | Image: Asus

Asus’ ROG Ally, a Steam Deck-like handheld gaming PC, is actually real. But because of the messy and ill-informed communications about the device that, of course, involved April Fools’ Day, you’d be forgiven for not knowing that. Companies, take note: please don’t follow Asus’ lead next year.

The confusion started with an announcement at midnight on April 1st “revealing” the handheld. The video felt somewhat tongue-in-cheek, especially during one moment when someone is locked out of their house and happily remembers they have the Ally in their jacket pocket. The tagline felt April Fools’-y — “you’ll never have to stop gaming again” — and the video concluded with somebody using the Ally on a roller coaster and a go-kart.

Introducing...

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The best entertainment of 2023

Resident Evil 4. | Image: Capcom

Right now, we are absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to entertainment. TV shows, movies, and games all come out at such a fast and furious pace that it’s hard to keep up. Not all of them are worth your time, of course — which is where we come in.

Our team spends a lot of time immersed in the various realms of pop culture so that we can handpick our favorites for you. That could mean a hot new indie game you might’ve otherwise missed or the streaming series that will become your new obsession. Either way, if you’re finding it hard to sort through the flood, this is the place to find a curated selection of the best stuff.

And like last year, this page will be updated regularly throughout the year — so make sure to check back in...

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Here are the best Kindle deals right now

The 2021 Kindle Paperwhite is on sale at Amazon and Best Buy starting at just $99.99. | 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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The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the new gold standard for video game films

Mario is his cat form. | Image: Universal

From its cheesy nostalgia plays to its breathtaking and imaginative visuals, Universal’s new Mario movie is everything a video game adaptation should be.

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Call of Duty is the latest to detect and ban XIM cheaters

Image: Activision

Activision is cracking down on third-party hardware cheating in Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. Devices like XIM, Cronus Zen, and ReaSnow S1 have been widely used in Call of Duty to allow mouse and keyboard users to get the benefits of aim assist and reduced recoil from controller mixed with the benefits of movement from mouse and keyboard. Activision has now updated its Ricochet anti-cheat system to detect and eventually suspend or ban players using this third-party hardware.

“These devices act as a passthrough for controllers on PC and console and, when used improperly or maliciously, can provide a player with the ability to gain an unfair gameplay advantage, such as reducing or eliminating recoil,” explains...

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These alcohol counseling companies leaked patient data to advertisers for years

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Online alcohol recovery services Monument and Tempest admitted to sharing private patient information with advertisers for years, as reported earlier by TechCrunch. In a disclosure filed with the California Attorney General, Monument (which acquired Temple in 2022) says the tracking tools used on both services “may have shared” names, birthdates, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, insurance information, and more to advertisers.

Monument and Tempest, which both provide resources for patients struggling with alcohol addiction, say the leak might have also included patients’ responses to self-evaluations about their drinking habits, something Monument clearly says are “protected” and used only by its care teams. The companies...

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Overwatch 2’s new hero Lifeweaver puts down roots in season 4

Blizzard

Overwatch 2 has been releasing new heroes at a pretty good clip, and with the pending arrival of season 4 comes the latest hero: Lifeweaver. Lifeweaver’s addition to the game had been teased by the Overwatch developers in the last few weeks, with them calling the new hero “cute,” leading some in the Overwatch community to speculate that we’d be getting another animal-based hero like the much-desired “jetpack cat.”

But thanks to an unfortunate leak and the slow drip of information ahead of his official launch, we now know the developers should have used “sexy” instead of “cute” because Lifeweaver is a stone-cold fox.

Lifeweaver is about to blossom

Our newest Support Hero will change the game with an ability kit unlike any other when...

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Bob Ross spoof Paint is an SNL sketch stretched out far too long

Owen Wilson in Paint_._ | Image: IFC Films

Bob Ross has become one of those inescapable facets of the internet. The longtime The Joy of Painting host is firmly entrenched in the realm of online kitsch, featured everywhere from Twitch streams and Marvel ads to Magic: The Gathering sets. His distinct and goofy persona makes him a logical subject for a similarly silly biopic — which is exactly what director Brit McAdams tries to do in Paint. Unfortunately, the film never finds enough of a hook to justify being a feature-length movie; you can get the entire joke mostly from watching the trailer. The result is a 90-minute feature that would’ve been better served as a Saturday Night Live sketch.

Now, to be clear, Paint isn’t exactly about Bob Ross. Instead, it centers on a PBS host...

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The best deals on 4K TVs

We’ve got deals on all sorts of TVs, ranging from affordable (yet feature-packed) models to high-end OLED and Mini LEDs that can really wow you. | Image: Chris Welch / The Verge

The future looks bright for those who are looking to nab a great TV in 2023 at a substantial discount. Although a fresh slate of new models was announced at CES 2023, it might be a while until any of those arrive and receive any significant discounts. However, you don’t have to wait to land a great deal on a mid- or high-end TV from LG, TCL, Hisense, or Amazon’s own Fire TV brand, as many of the flagship models from last year are currently selling for hundreds of dollars less than their original list price.

Right now, there are a number of discounted 4K TVs to choose from, spanning a wide variety of prices, size configurations, and feature sets. Whether you want a secondary TV for the bedroom or a high-end OLED that’s built for a...

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The Apple Watch SE and Beats Fit Pro have dropped to their best prices to date

Apple’s entry-level wearable now starts at just $219 ($30 off). | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

As far as entry-level smartwatches go, few can match the experience offered by the latest Apple Watch SE, which is currently matching its all-time low of $219 ($30 off) at Amazon and Best Buy in the 40mm configuration with GPS.

Apple’s second-gen wearable supports most watchOS 9 features — including medication reminders and Apple’s handy low-power mode — as well as newer Apple Watch features like Crash Detection, Apple Pay, and heart-rate monitoring. What you don’t get are an always-on display and some of the more advanced sensors that can be found on the Apple Watch Series 8, though if you can live without a SpO2 sensor and things like cycle tracking, you can pick up the 2022 Apple Watch SE for more than $100 less than the starting...

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Say hi to Barbie in the new Barbie movie trailer

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Once you’re done choosing which Barbie character you are, it’s time to watch the film’s latest trailer.

Following a brief teaser that aped 2001: A Space Odyssey and gave very little away, we now have a second clip that seems to show what Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Barbie movie is actually about. According to the YouTube description, Barbie herself may be going through a “full-on existential crisis,” which may or may not convince her to head out into the real world. Whatever the actual premise is, the movie looks extremely fun, and in less than two minutes, the new teaser manages to pack in quite a bit of innuendo. I’ll never look at a beach the same way again.

It also has a stacked cast. Alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie...

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Pokémon Stadium is coming to Nintendo Switch Online next week — but with a catch

Chilling. | Image: Nintendo

Pokémon Stadium will join Nintendo’s growing roster of Nintendo 64 classics you can play through Nintendo Switch Online starting April 12th. First released in 2000, Stadium is a battle-focused Pokémon game featuring the original 151 pocket monsters.

The thing is, this version of Stadium has a very big catch (no pun intended): you can’t transfer any of your own pokémon to the game. When I was a kid, part of the appeal of the game was bringing over my well-trained Pokémon Red with the N64 Transfer Pak so they could duke it out in glorious N64-era 3D. Without the transfer feature, it seems you’ll have to instead rely on the game’s rental teams, which probably won’t be as satisfying as coaching my own beloved Butterfree to victory.

Nintendo...

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GM-owned BrightDrop to add 4,000 electric vans to Ryder’s fleets

Image: Ryder

BrightDrop, the electric van company owned by General Motors, will provide 4,000 delivery vans to Ryder’s rental fleet through 2025. That includes BrightDrop’s upcoming Zevo 400 model and the Zevo 600 vans, 200 of which Ryder will order this year.

According to Ryder, the company plans on adding the 2023 Zevo 600 vans to its rental fleet in California, Texas, and New York later this year and also expects to deploy the 2024 Zevo 600 and 400 models “as early as summer 2023 and into the first quarter of 2024.” While BrightDrop’s Zevo 600 and Zevo 400 vans both offer up to 250 miles of range on a full charge, the 600 is the larger of the two, supporting a cargo capacity of over 600 cubic feet as opposed to 400 cubic feet.

In addition to...

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Microsoft announces $299.99 Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock that connects via USB-C

The new Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft has just officially unveiled a Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock hours after the device leaked. Priced at $299.99, the new Surface dock will connect over USB-C instead of the proprietary Surface Connect port. Microsoft is planning to keep selling its Surface Dock 2, complete with the Surface Connect port that’s designed for Surface devices that don’t have USB-C or Thunderbolt 4.

This new Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock will support devices other than Surface for the first time. You can connect to it via USB-C, and it supports data transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps and 96W charging thanks to Thunderbolt 4. At the front, there is a single USB-C port alongside a USB-A port but sadly no SD card slot. The rear of the Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock...

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Apple’s Weather app on iPhone is down for many

Image: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple’s Weather app on iPhone is down for many users today. The issues started at around midnight ET and have persisted throughout the morning in many locations. iPhone owners have reported opening the Weather app and finding no data or old cached weather information.

9to5Mac notes that while the main Weather app is broken for many, the Apple Watch version is working fine for people. Apple issued a support notification earlier today noting that “some users are affected” by the lack of Weather data.

For most of this morning, Apple’s support note said that “next-hour precipitation may be unavailable for Alaska due to a data provider outage,” despite an issue that was clearly more widespread. It has since been updated to note an unspecified...

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The live-action Super Mario Bros. movie is even weirder than I remembered

John Leguizamo and Bob Hoskins in Super Mario Bros. | Image: SMB Movie Archive

Nintendo’s first stab at a Super Mario movie was a strange and oh-so-’90s time capsule, a far cry from the safe new animated feature releasing in 2023.

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Disney is in a land war with the state of Florida

Image: Scott Olson/Getty Images

On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered an investigation into a recent move by Walt Disney World’s special planning and tax district to maintain corporate power over the land housing its popular theme parks.

In a Monday letter, DeSantis called on Florida’s chief inspector general to investigate whether Disney and its closely aligned special district broke the law by approving new rules undermining the Republican governor’s proposed takeover. The takeover is widely viewed as retaliation after Disney opposed Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law — one of multiple DeSantis-signed bills limiting speech in both the public and private sectors.

“These collusive and self-dealing arrangements aim to nullify the recently passed legislation,...

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Everybody hates GM’s decision to kill Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its EVs

Image: Amelia Krales

Who should own the screen in your car?

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Watching Silicon Valley Bank melt down from the front row, with Brex CEO Henrique Dubugras

Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge

Everybody hates Concur. Brex wants to replace it.

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This AI clock uses ChatGPT to generate tiny poems that tell the time

The clock uses ChatGPT to generate rhymes to tell the times. | Image: Matt Webb

ChatGPT has been one of the internet’s favorite toys for months now, but people are still finding novel and fun ways to use the AI chatbot. Case in point is this rhyming E Ink clock created by designer and blogger Matt Webb. It uses ChatGPT to create a short two-line rhyme that also tells the time for every minute of the day. It’s incredible and we want one.

Speaking to The Verge over DM, Webb explained that the clock is powered by an old Inky wHAT screen and a Raspberry Pi that he previously had set up as a regular text clock. He’s been playing around with OpenAI’s language models for a while and had the idea of connecting the two.

I made an AI clock for my bookshelves! It composes a new poem every minute using ChatGPT and...

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This is how Titmouse’s animators brought their 5 Second Night short films to life

A scene from Jiangshi: Funky Kung Fu Grandma. | Image: Aaron Anderson

Animation house Titmouse’s artists open up about participating in the studio’s 5 Second Night showcase.

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Peloton machines now work with Samsung’s Wear OS smartwatches, too

The Peloton app integration lets you broadcast your heart rate from the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 or 5 lineups. | Image: Victoria Song / The Verge

Samsung announced today that its Galaxy Watch 4 and 5 smartwatches now automatically integrate with Peloton machines. That includes not only Peloton’s bikes and treadmill but also its rower and Guide strength training system.

The integration rolls out today as part of an update to the Peloton app. Basically, once you open a workout on a Peloton machine, you’ll be prompted to pair your Galaxy Watch 4 or 5 to the device. After you tap the connect button, you’ll then be able to use the smartwatch as a heart rate monitor.

The major benefits here are that you won’t have to shell out for an extra Bluetooth heart rate monitor to use Peloton’s heart rate-based features like its Strive Score. Peloton sells a $90 heart rate band that you strap to...

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Walmart’s redesigned website looks better than Amazon

Image: Walmart

Walmart’s website and app have a new look, and I have to admit that it looks a lot cleaner than Amazon’s. The retail giant swapped out a more cluttered interface for one with bubbly blocks displaying various departments and deals across the store.

When you scroll down on the homepage, you’ll see even more shopping categories, along with specific items tailored to upcoming holidays, events, or the current season. Meanwhile, searching for a product yields several rows of products matching your search that you can scroll through horizontally.

Walmart executive vice president Tom Ward describes the change as “a more engaging way to browse” through Walmart’s inventory, noting that it surfaces “items that matter most to [customers] at any...

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You, me, and UI

Image: Mengxin Li / The Verge

There’s a funny conflict to the idea of user interfaces: a good one tends to go unnoticed, the thoughtful design decisions too subtle to notice; a bad UX or UI is one that makes you want to scream. It’s a tension that designers have to think about every time they conceive a new website, app, or device.

In this special series from The Verge, we explore the small design decisions that have had an outsize impact on our lives. From simple card game browser UIs to deliberately complicated video game setups, all-too-forgotten accessibility options for colorblindness to the curious incentive-driven histories of the shuffle and log out buttons, these stories delve into the ways that user interfaces have driven us forward, or failed, or found an...

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OnePlus’ new Nord includes a 108-megapixel camera and 67W fast charging

The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite alongside the new Nord Buds 2. | Image: OnePlus

OnePlus is introducing a new smartphone to its midrange Nord lineup today, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite. It’s got a terrible name but some interesting specs considering its relatively affordable €329 (£299) price point. It’ll be available for sale in Europe on April 20th and will also be sold in select markets across Asia but not the US.

There’s also a new pair of Nord-branded true wireless earbuds that are going on sale today called the OnePlus Nord Buds 2. They’ll be available in the US in addition to European and Asian markets.

Top of the Nord CE 3 Lite’s list of eye-catching inclusions is the 108-megapixel sensor in its main camera. That’s the same resolution (though not the same exact hardware) as what Samsung included in its...

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The hellish design of the Crusader Kings video games

Image: Mengxin Li / The Verge

Crusader Kings 3 doesn’t have boss fights or puzzles like many other kinds of video games. But I am convinced that it does have one kind of enemy: its user interface.

And yet, it’s one of the rare games that I have stayed up all night playing, even knowing I work the next day. When it gets its hooks into me, they dig in deep. Crusader Kings 3 is a strategy game where you play as a landowner during the Latin holy wars. It’s open-ended, and the goals are driven by the player, but most people play with the intention of creating an empire that’s larger than any other on the map through subterfuge, war, diplomacy, or just buying everyone out.

If that sounds exciting, then I’m here to tell you that most of the game asks players to look at a...

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A poker website that is actually good

Image: Mengxin Li / The Verge

Sites designed to exploit users’ gambling addictions are going to be a little predatory. Poker Now somehow turned out to be different.

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Elon Musk’s obsession with blue checks is a verified problem

Illustration: Laura Normand / The Verge

“Elon [Musk]’s Twitter deal certainly must also rank as the most time-adjusted value-destructive leveraged buyout of all time,” says William Cohan, writing for Puck. While Musk has estimated Twitter’s value as $20 billion in a March 31st email to employees — meaning its value dropped by more than half after the $44 billion acquisition — Twitter’s actual value is even lower than that. The banks still own $13 billion of Twitter’s debt and can’t sell it for more than 50 cents on the dollar, Cohan says. “The destruction of $37.5 billion in value in less than six months must have set some sort of Wall Street record.”

Musk already biffed it with advertisers: revenue has fallen by half since October, Bloomberg reports. Historically, ads were...

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Harry Potter could be rebooted for the small screen

Daniel Radcliffe in the original series of Harry Potter movies. | Image: Harry Potter/Warner Brothers

A new TV series based on the original seven Harry Potter books could be on the way, according to a report from Bloomberg citing two individuals with knowledge of the as-yet-unsigned deal. It’s reportedly hoped that the series will be a cornerstone of Warner Bros. Discovery’s new streaming strategy, which will involve replacing its existing HBO Max and Discovery Plus platforms with a new combined service.

Warner Bros. originally adapted the Harry Potter books into a series of eight films starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint between 2001 and 2011. But according to Bloomberg, turning each book into a whole season of TV will “allow the writers to delve further” into the original stories.

One TV season per book

But since...

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Motorola is getting serious with the Edge 40 Pro

The Edge 40 Pro will be sold in lunar blue and regular ol’ black. | Image: Motorola

Motorola hasn’t had much of a presence in the flagship phone space in the past couple of years, but that might be about to change. The company is unveiling the Edge 40 Pro, which is a global version of the X40 it released in China at the end of last year. It comes with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, a 6.67-inch display with up to 165Hz refresh rate, and an IP68 rating for weather and dust resistance.

In short, it looks like a serious challenger on the Android flagship landscape — at least on paper. It’s coming to European markets “in the coming days” for €899.99 (about $980) and Latin American markets soon after.

Image: Motorola

The Edge 40 Pro features Gorilla Glass on the front and back along with aluminum...

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