Jennifer Lopez is a reformed assassin in the trailer for The Mother

Ana Carballosa/Netflix

Jennifer Lopez has figured out how we should all be spending our Mother’s Day, and it’s apparently watching her former assassin character protect her kid and deal with lots of bad guys from her past. That’s when her new film The Mother premieres on Netflix.

The film comes from writer Misha Green, who also wrote the exceptional Lovecraft Country and Underground. Joseph Fiennes and Gael García Bernal are playing the bad guys J.Lo needs to deal with, while Omari Hardwick plays the dreamy old friend who just really gets her, and Edie Falco plays the cops.

Image: Ana Carballosa/Netflix

Sometimes, when you’re a reformed assassin saving your kid, you need a dreamy friend who lost his shirt to help.

As action films go,...

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FTC cracks down on Amazon ‘review hijacking’ with $600,000 fine

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

The Federal Trade Commission has levied its first fine against a company for “review hijacking” on Amazon, or the act of repurposing reviews from another product in order to deceive users. The Bountiful Company, which makes Nature’s Bounty vitamins and other supplements, is accused of artificially inflating the number of reviews and ratings its products received on Amazon.

The agency claims Bountiful abused Amazon’s variations feature, which lets sellers merge products into a single listing when offering different colors, sizes, or quantities of the same item. Since these product variations share the same listing, this also means they share the same reviews and labels applied by Amazon, such as the “#1 Best Seller” or “Amazon’s Choice”...

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Uber will fund an e-bike buy-back program to help combat battery fires

Photo by Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Uber says it will fund an e-bike buy-back program for delivery workers in New York City in a bid to get fire-prone batteries off the streets. The company also said it would support an additional fee on food deliveries to help workers afford safer options.

The announcement comes amid a worrisome rise in e-bike fires in New York City that have resulted in at least a dozen deaths. Two children were killed last night in Astoria, Queens, in a fire that authorities say was the result of an exploding lithium-ion battery, according to multiple news outlets.

The New York City Council recently passed legislation prohibiting the sale of uncertified e-bikes and other micromobility devices, while Mayor Eric Adams has called on the private companies...

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Substack launches its Twitter-like Notes just days after Twitter throttled Substack links

Yep, that looks like Twitter. | Image: Substack

Substack’s Twitter-like feature for shorter posts, called Notes, is launching for everyone on Tuesday. Notes could prove to be a worthy Twitter alternative for some, especially for Substack writers who have already built audiences on the platform and are looking for a new place to post after Twitter throttled Substack links and marked them as unsafe.

Substack’s Notes will appear in their own separate tab, meaning they’ll be separate from the full newsletters you can read in the Inbox tab or the threads you can read in the Chat tab, where you can read newsletters. In a blog post, Substack suggests using Notes to share things like “posts, quotes, comments, images, and links,” and there is no character limit, Substack spokesperson Helen...

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Support for PS4 game creation tool Dreams is ending in September

Image: Media Molecule

Today, Media Molecule has announced it’s terminating live support for its game creation engine, Dreams.

“As we continue to evaluate and evolve our priorities for the studio and Dreams_,_ we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue live support for Dreams after 1st September, 2023,” the announcement read.

Dreams isn’t shutting down entirely, so players will still be able to create things like this rendering of an English breakfast that is so realistic that it actually makes the meal look appetizing. But there won’t be any more updates to the game nor will Media Molecule continue to host community-centered events like DreamsCom or the Impy Awards.

The shutdown unfortunately answers one of the questions the Dreams community has long...

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Microsoft’s PC Game Pass launches in 40 new countries

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is launching its PC Game Pass service in 40 new countries today, including many European markets. After previewing the service in these countries over the past two months, PC Game Pass is officially available in countries across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, including Croatia, Iceland, Libya, Qatar, and Ukraine.

This expansion means that 86 countries will now have access to Game Pass as Microsoft seeks to grow its subscription service beyond console. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer warned of growth slowing down on the console side of Xbox Game Pass last year,] but noted that the company was “seeing incredible growth on PC.” Microsoft said in October that PC Game Pass subscriptions had increased by 159 percent...

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Talk to Me’s first trailer is a demonic dare

Image: Sundance Institute

One of the most shocking movies out of this year’s Sundance was Talk to Me — and now, you can finally get a glimpse of the horror flick in its first trailer. The film, which is the directorial debut of YouTubers Danny and Michael Philippou, is a brutal and unrelenting take on teen horror, telling the story of an embalmed hand that lets people become inhabited by spirits after they perform a very specific ritual. The process becomes a viral phenomenon and, well, let’s just say that things don’t go so well.

In my review from Sundance, I described Talk to Me as “a shockingly competent debut — and not at all what I expected from a horror movie made by YouTube stars. It may be a movie about viral videos — but the film itself is much more...

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After 100 games, indie collective Sokpop wants to make 100 more

Berry People. | Image: Sokpop Collective

The experimental video game boy band talks about Patreon, milestones, and the future.

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Belkin’s 2-in-1 MagSafe charger has hit a new all-time low price

Belkin’s BoostCharge Pro 2-in-1 Wireless Charger with MagSafe juices up your iPhone and your AirPods at the same time. | Image: Belkin

Yes, Belkin’s BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 Wireless Charger with MagSafe is one of our favorite models, but it may not be right for you. True, it can juice up your iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch, but if you don’t own an Apple smartwatch, it may not be worth forking out nearly $150. Instead, Belkin’s BoostCharge Pro 2-in-1 Wireless Charger with MagSafemight be a better buy, especially because it’s hit a new all-time low. Right now, you can buy it for $69.99 ($30 off) at Amazon and Best Buy, which is half the price of the 3-in-1 model.

The2-in-1 version of Belkin’s BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 Wireless Charger can’t charge Apple’s latest smartwatches, but it’s otherwise identical and offers good value for your money. It delivers 15W MagSafe...

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E3 is canceled, but Nintendo Live is coming to the US in September

Nintendo Live 2023. | Image: Nintendo

Nintendo Live is coming to the US. The game maker announced Tuesday that it will hold Nintendo Live 2023 in Seattle, Washington, this September.

Like its Live event this past fall in Japan, this year’s in-person event will feature gameplay from Nintendo games, live stage performances, game tournaments, Nintendo-themed activities, and more. There isn’t any information about when exactly the event will take place this summer, but Nintendo says to stay tuned for more details.

Announcing #NintendoLive 2023, an in-person event for fans of all ages that will take place in Seattle this September! Experience Nintendo Switch gameplay, live stage performances, tournaments, photo ops, and more.

Stay tuned for more details: https://t.co/0uePw3LHqS p...

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All the rumors about this year’s iPhone 15 lineup

Last year’s iPhone 14 Pro Max and Pro. | Image: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

From USB-C to Dynamic Island, here are the rumored features for this year’s iPhones.

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The Marvels’ first trailer is a cosmic game of musical chairs

Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau in WandaVision. | Marvel Studios

Captain Marvel’s surprise appearance at the end of Ms. Marvelwas a reminder that the MCU’s strongest pinch hitter only ever comes down to Earth either by accident or when things are truly out of order because the universe is a massive place full of far more pressing matters that require her attention. While Carol Danvers has never really slowed down long enough to explain just what it is that she’s been getting up to out there in the depths of space, it seems very much like that’s exactly what The Marvels from director Nia DaCosta is going to do.

While it’s not all that clear where in the universe Carol (Brie Larson) is, the new trailer does seem to suggest that her powers have somehow become entangled with Kamala Khan’s (Iman Vellani)...

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NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube starts at $249 for the 2023 season

The NFL is coming soon to a YouTube app near you. | Image: Adam Bow/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Football fans, start saving those pennies. YouTube just announced pricing for its new Sunday Ticket package, and access to this season’s games will cost anywhere from $249 to $489.

The pricing structure is... confusing. So let’s just quickly run it down.

If you’re a YouTube TV subscriber, you’ll pay:

• $249 for the basic season-long package of out-of-market games if you sign up during the presale that starts today and ends June 6th.
• $289 if you also want the RedZone channel. (Which you should. RedZone is awesome.)
• $349 for the basic package if you miss the presale.
• $389 for the package including RedZone if you miss the presale.
• You can also get just RedZone through YouTube TV by purchasing the Sports Plus add-on for $10.99 a month.

If...

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Finally, it’s easier to navigate national parks using Google Maps

View of hazy mountain ridges at sunrise from the Oconaluftee Valley Overlook in North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park. | Image: Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images

Good news, nature lovers! Google Earth is making it easier to explore national parks with Google Maps. The updates will start to roll out this month ahead of National Park Week starting on April 22nd, the day entrance fees are waived.

Until now, finding directions to a trailhead has been a crapshoot on the app. Navigating the trail itself can be even harder without a preview of the route on Maps. For national parks at least, that should start to change.

The updates will start to roll out this month ahead of National Park Week starting on April 22nd, the day entrance fees are waived

With this update, when users search for a particular trail within a national park in the US, Google Maps will show the entire route of the trail instead of...

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The Fitbit-to-Google account migration will start this summer

The Fitbit-to-Google migration starts in earnest this summer. | The Verge

The way you log onto Fitbit is about to change. Starting this summer, existing Fitbit users can choose to start logging in using a Google account. Meanwhile, those who don’t already have a Fitbit account will be required to use a Google Account when setting up any new devices.

The news isn’t exactly a surprise. Google announced last fall that all Fitbit users would eventually have to migrate to Google accounts and that the switchover would start on a gradual, optional basis sometime in 2023. If anything, this is simply a sign that the migration process is on schedule.

Google also reiterated that existing Fitbit users don’t have to make the switch immediately, just that it’ll be required “by 2025.” For users who want to get a jump...

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The Steve Jobs Archive releases free ebook collecting Jobs’ speeches and photos

Image: The Steve Jobs Archive

The Steve Jobs Archive has published Make Something Wonderful: Steve Jobs in his own words — a new free ebook containing a curated collection of photographs, emails, speeches, and interviews from the Apple co-founder, some of which have never previously been seen by the public.

Make Something Wonderful is available to read now on the Archive’s website via a custom page designed by Jony Ive’s creative agency LoveFrom and is even set in LoveFrom’s custom typeface. The website allows readers to navigate through the book’s table of contents using a scroll bar labeled with subsections. An ebook version is also available on Apple Books, from participating libraries via the Libby app, or through a direct download from the Steve Jobs Archive.

...

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Is Microsoft getting ready to add PC games to Xbox Cloud Gaming?

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft and British mobile network EE announced an expanded partnership today that will see the software giant commit to a 10-year deal to bring Xbox PC games to EE customers. It’s part of Microsoft’s series of cloud gaming deals, but this one is different and could hint at PC games coming to Xbox Cloud Gaming.

“Microsoft and EE are expanding our partnership with a 10-year commitment in cloud gaming to bring PC games built by Activision Blizzard, following the acquisition, and Xbox to EE customers,” says Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in a tweet this morning. While Microsoft’s cloud gaming deals with Nvidia, Ubitus, and Boosteroid have all involved putting Xbox PC games on a rival cloud gaming service, EE doesn’t offer its own...

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Android devices can now automatically archive little-used apps

Android is rolling out automated app-archiving almost a year after Google first teased the new feature. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google has started to roll out its new auto-archive tool for Android devices, designed to free up storage space without completely uninstalling applications from user devices. First teased in May last year, Google claims that the auto-archiving feature can automatically reduce the storage taken up by infrequently used apps by almost 60 percent without entirely removing the application or its associated data from a user’s device.

Archived applications can be distinguished by a cloud icon overlaid on the app icon. Tapping the archived apps will re-download and fully restore them, provided the app is still available on Google Play. The feature should come in handy for those using Android devices that lack expandable storage or users who are...

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Mini’s cars are getting an ‘intelligent personal assistant’ named Spike

Spike on the Mini Concept Aceman’s central OLED display. | Image: BMW / Mini

Mini, the British car brand owned by German automaker BMW, has announced a new “intelligent personal assistant” called Spike, based on the English Bulldog that’s appeared in some past Mini ads. Spike will make his first major appearance at the Shanghai auto show later this month where he’ll be integrated into the cockpit of the Mini Concept Aceman. We can’t help but agree with Jalopnik, whichpoints out that the whole announcement has very “Microsoft Clippy” vibes, or maybe LG’s Bean Bird?

The plan is to eventually have Spike appear in future production cars. Carscoops reports that these future models will include the 2023 Mini Countryman, the 2024 Mini Cooper, and the Aceman Crossover SUV in 2025. It’s less clear exactly what Spike will...

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Fortnite’s new update adds Attack on Titan gear

Image: Epic Games

Fortnite just keeps speeding along. As part of its most recent update, the battle royale game is adding gear from Attack on Titan that lets players zip around the island.

The update, which brings the game to version 24.40, was first hinted at when the current Fortnite season debuted in March. It includes two pieces of Attack on Titan equipment: the omni-directional mobility gear, or ODM, which “will give you the ability to grapple in the air and strike opponents below,” and “arm-launched rockets” called Thunder Spears. The additions seem like they’ll be a good fit for the faster gameplay of the current season, which includes motorcycles and grindable rails.

Image: Epic Games

Eren Jaeger in Fortnite_._

Outside...

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Microsoft Teams now has Snapchat’s Lenses for video calls

Snapchat Lenses inside Microsoft Teams | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft has teamed up with Snap to add Snapchat Lenses to Microsoft Teams. More than 20 Snapchat Lenses are now part of the Microsoft Teams app, including ones that will place a cat on your head, a sloth on your shoulder, or virtual sunglasses on your face during video calls.

Teams users don’t need to download a separate app or add-on, as Microsoft has integrated Snapchat’s AR Lenses directly into the video effects section of the Teams client. Microsoft has leveraged Snap’s Camera Kit SDK to bring these Snapchat Lenses to Teams.

While Microsoft also uses Snap’s Camera Kit for its Flip education platform to add Snapchat Lenses to videos, this new Teams feature will be limited to Teams for Work users only. If you’re using the personal or...

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PC shipments fell sharply last quarter, with Apple among hardest hit

Apple’s 2023 MacBook Pro 16. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The PC market had a rough first quarter, with both IDC and Canalys reporting that worldwide shipments of desktops and laptops suffered a drop of around 30 percent in the first quarter of 2023 versus the same quarter in 2022. IDC reports a drop of 29 percent to 56.9 million units, while Canalys reports a drop of 32.6 percent to 54 million units.

Although all five of the biggest manufacturers suffered double digit declines, Apple appears to have been hardest hit. IDC reports that its shipments dropped by 40.5 percent, while Canalys is reporting a drop of 45.5 percent. Both research houses suggest the Mac manufacturer’s market share has also dropped by between one and two percentage points.

Image: Canalys

A chart...

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Beau Is Afraid is an exercise in laughing to keep from screaming

Joaquin Phoenix as Beau Wassermann. | Image: A24

Director Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid amps up the comedic absurdity to tell a haunting story about coping with anxiety.

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Elon Musk tweets, then deletes DMs from Matt Taibbi over his Substack snit

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Elon Musk and one of his “Twitter Files” writers, Matt Taibbi, don’t seem to be on great terms right now, and that situation probably isn’t getting any better after Musk posted then deleted a DM conversation between the two of them.

Let me try to recap how we got to this point. I’m warning you now that it’s a bit of a mess.

• Taibbi, given access to Twitter information from Musk, published the first of many editions of the so-called “Twitter Files” that Musk believed would be a shocking exposé of former leadership.
• Taibbi also publishes Racket News, a Substack-based publication with more than 362,000 subscribers.
• On Wednesday, Substack announced a Twitter-like product called “Notes.”
• Late in the week, Twitter started restricting tweets...

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Here are the best noise-canceling headphone deals we could find

Apple’s AirPods Max are on sale for $479.99 at Amazon and other retailers. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

With more people working from home than they used to, owning a good pair of noise-canceling headphones has become more appealing than ever. However, they can be expensive and difficult to shop for due to the range of available models, many of which cater to different lifestyles and priorities. Some are better suited for long-haul flights, for instance, while others are ideal for multitasking and marathon listening sessions.

That’s why we’ve curated this list of the best deals on noise-canceling headphones. Here, you’ll find sales on all kinds of on-ear and over-ear headphones, all of which are designed to eliminate outside noise but come with their own strengths and weaknesses. And if you want to do even more research before making a...

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Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft is ready to launch soon

SpaceX’s Starship stacked on top of the Super Heavy rocket booster. | Image: SpaceX

Last week, SpaceX announced it’s poised to launch the fully stacked Starship spacecraft for a first orbital flight test following a launch rehearsal this week and pending regulatory approval. Now SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is confirming it’s ready, with launch “trending towards near the end of third week of April,” Musk wrote in a tweet on Monday.

Starship is SpaceX’s long-awaited flagship spacecraft that’s designed to take astronauts and payloads to deep space — including the Moon and, of course, Mars. Most importantly, the parts are designed to be reusable, and it is paired with a massive booster known as the Super Heavy to get it off the Earth’s surface.

Starship launch trending towards near the end of third week of April

— Harry Bōlz...

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Star Wars: The Bad Batch will return for a third and final season in 2024

Image: Disney

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is coming to an end. During this year’s Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm announced that the animated series has been renewed for a third and final season that will arrive on Disney Plus in 2024.

The Clone Wars spinoff follows a group of experimental clone troopers, known collectively as Clone Force 99, who became fugitives after resisting the Order 66 command that brainwashed their counterparts into viewing Jedi as traitors. The show’s second season just wrapped up last month, and the fans at the Star Wars Celebration got a first look at what’s to come with an in-room teaser trailer.

Just announced at #StarWarsCelebration: #TheBadBatch returns for a third and final season: https://t.co/j3u8rODm7Z p...

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Florida Mayhem won the first Overwatch League pro-am tournament, but the amateurs were the bigger winners

Image: Blizzard

Yesterday, the first round of Overwatch League play in 2023 concluded with the league’s first-ever pro-am tournament. Seven amateur teams from the North American and EMEA regions qualified for the right to play against the professional Overwatch teams of the west.

I love me some Tier 2 Overwatch (better known as Overwatch Contenders). Some of the most exciting games in all of competitive Overwatch’s history have been Contenders matches. For years now, the competitive Overwatch community has been asking for more recognition and support for the teams and the league that act as the foundation for the Overwatch League proper.

Most Contenders teams are sorely under-resourced. They’re usually made up of teens and young adults who practice and...

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Bitcoin’s insatiable appetite for energy is driving up pollution and costs for Americans, report finds

A row of Bitcoin mining machines at the Whinstone US Bitcoin mining facility in Rockdale, Texas, on October 9th, 2021. | Image: MARK FELIX/AFP /AFP via Getty Images

Bitcoin mines in the US have had a tremendous impact on power grids, a New York Times investigation reveals. The mines — which are giant data farms — use vastly more electricity than the communities surrounding them, driving up pollution from coal and gas power plants. The crypto mines also make electricity bills more expensive for their neighbors, even as the companies profit off incentives that grid operators offer to prevent blackouts during an energy crunch.

This is the most comprehensive analysis yet of Bitcoin’s impact on the environment and energy system in the US. And it comes as Democratic lawmakers press federal agencies to require crypto companies to divulge information about their operations. The Times has startling numbers...

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The best wireless earbuds to buy right now

The current earbuds lineup is the strongest to date.

The best from Apple, Bose, Samsung, Sony, Beats, Google, and more

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