Netflix’s Love is Blind live reunion special was a disaster

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Netflix ran into significant issues with its second-ever live event on Sunday evening. Love is Blind: The Live Reunion failed to start streaming at its planned 8PM showtime, leading to major consternation from the show’s fans across social media. Netflix acknowledged the problem on Twitter soon after and promised to kick off the presentation within 15 minutes.

That didn’t happen, either. More than an hour later, subscribers were still encountering error screens when trying to watch the event. Netflix followed up by saying it’d be “worth the wait.” As the delay stretched on, hosts Vanessa and Nick Lachey posted to Instagram thanking fans (and a live studio audience) for their extended patience.

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Ultra-long YouTube highlight videos are ruining sports — and I’m fine with that

Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

A few months ago, I discovered a new genre of YouTube video. It’s called the “extended highlight,” and it typically takes the form of a video somewhere between eight and 18 minutes long, with rapid-fire jump cuts between all the most important parts of a game.

Since I embraced the glory of the extended highlight, I feel like I’ve watched more sports than ever. I’ve seen every Arsenal goal and almost-goal, every cool Steph Curry shot for the Warriors, every Daniel Jones run for the Giants, every Aaron Judge strikeout or home run for the Yankees. But I rarely, if ever, sit and watch a game. I used to! But why would I now? All the good parts are right there on YouTube a few hours later.

Much has been made over the last decade about how...

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What’s it like to use a $300 Windows laptop for a day?

I spent many hours using HP’s 14, a $289 Windows laptop. You’re all welcome.

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Anker’s bassy Sport X10 earbuds are on sale for less than $60 right now

The sporty pair of wireless earbuds, which are 30 percent off on Amazon, offer more bang for your buck than most models. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Happy Saturday, friends! When it comes to workout-friendly earbuds that are aimed at the gym, we spend a lot of time propping up the Beats Fit Pro. However, if you’re in need of something that’s easier on your wallet, Anker’s Soundcore Sport X10 are on sale in black at Amazon for $55.99 ($24 off), nearly matching their best price to date.

The X10 pack a lot of value into their sub-$60 package. Their flexible, wraparound hooks ensure a secure fit regardless of your activity, and they offer bass-heavy sound that’s well-suited for the kind of beat-driven tracks that often define our gym playlist (err, or at least my gym playlist). They round out said feature set with up to eight hours of playback, a useful transparency mode, and an IPX7...

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Makoto Shinkai wants Suzume to build a bridge of memory between generations

Makoto Shinkai attends the Los Angeles red carpet premiere of Suzume. | Photo by Victoria Sirakova / Getty Images

Suzume director Makoto Shinkai sees his latest film as an invitation to young theatergoers to build relationships with the past.

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Bluesky is my favorite Twitter clone yet

Image: Bluesky

Bluesky is really, really fun.

Yes, the platform is essentially just Twitter but decentralized. And yes, the Jack Dorsey-backed Bluesky is one of many services emulating how Twitter looks right now. But after spending a few hours in Bluesky since getting my beta invite this week, it’s so far the service where I feel the most joy.

Similar to Mastodon, Bluesky is a federated social network, which, at its most basic level, means that users can participate through different providers instead of a huge central one. The easiest comparison is email: if you have Gmail, you can send an email to somebody on Apple’s iCloud, and they can reply back to you.

Bluesky lets you pick from different hosting providers. When I joined the app on Tuesday, I...

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Why I’m using a keyboard phone in 2023

For the past month, I’ve been using the Unihertz Titan Pocket, a phone released in 2021 that rocks a 3.1-inch display above a full Qwerty keyboard. To be clear, it’s been by choice — my editors didn’t assign me to do this as a prank (in fact, some of them have clowned on me for using it), and it’s not like I don’t have other options. I’ve got a perfectly good iPhone 12 Mini that I actively gave up to switch to this phone.

So uh... why?

The first reason is that it can just be kind of fun to try something new. Or, in this case, go back to something old; my first experiences with a smartphone were stealing my dad’s Navy-issued BlackBerry to email my significant other when I was in middle school. But for the past 10 years or so, the phones...

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‘Angry Birds’ company is reportedly about to be sold for $1 billion... to Sega

Image: Rovio

Sega is reportedly close to buying Rovio Entertainment — the company that owns the Angry Birds mobile game franchise — for a whopping $1 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sega may lock in the big deal by early next week, according to people speaking with WSJ.

It’s surprising to think that Sega — specifically, its parent company Sega Sammy Holdings — would want to spend so much on Rovio given the decline in popularity of the Angry Birds games. The original game was a smash success in 2009, but the franchise has seemingly fallen off since its 2014 peak, when Rovio reported falling profits and layoffs.

In 2016, Rovio tried a movie adaptation, The Angry Birds Movie, which was a box office success and is still the seventh highest...

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TikTok ban: all the news on attempts to ban the video platform

Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge

Here’s a roundup of all the news about politicians pushing to ban TikTok in the US and around the world.

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SpaceX’s Starship rocket receives clearance for launch

Image: SpaceX

SpaceX’s Starship rocket has been cleared for launch by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), meaning it could take its first orbital flight test as soon as next week, as reported earlier by CNN.

With the help of SpaceX’s Super Heavy rocket, Starship is the spacecraft that’s designed to ferry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars. SpaceX says it's targeting a Starship launch from the company’s Texas Starbase “as soon as” April 17th.

Targeting as soon as Monday, April 17 for the first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Starbase in Texas → https://t.co/bJFjLCiTbK pic.twitter.com/Ry25Uuvknh

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 14, 2023

The “150-minute test window” opens at 8AM ET, according to S...

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Elon Musk founds new AI company called X.AI

Illustration by Lille Allen / The Verge

Elon Musk has created a new company dedicated to artificial intelligence — and it’s called X.AI, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The company, which a Nevada filing indicates was incorporated last month, currently has Musk as its director and Jared Birchall, the director of Musk’s family office, listed as its secretary. The filing, which The Verge has also obtained, indicates that Musk incorporated the business on March 9th, 2023.

Rumors about Musk starting up an AI company have been floating around for days, with a report from Business Insider revealing that Musk had purchased thousands of graphic processing units (GPUs) to power an upcoming generative AI product. The Financial Times similarly reported that Musk planned to...

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Apple TV 4K is getting multiview for sports streams

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Apple TV 4K is getting a new multiview feature just in time for tonight’s Friday Night Baseball games, as first spotted by Tom’s Guide (via TechCrunch). The feature is still in beta and will reportedly let you watch up to four sports streams at once in a grid format.

Developer Steve Moser first uncovered the multiview feature in Apple’s code last month, and it looks like the company is finally getting ready to roll it out. According to TechCrunch, the feature is available within the tvOS beta 16.5, which you can gain access to by heading to the Settings app and then hitting System > Software Updates > Get Beta Updates.

Once you have the beta, TechCrunch says you can view multiple streams at once by turning on a game and then selecting...

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The best smartphone you can buy for under $500

You can get a great device for less than $500 these days if you know how to pick your priorities. | The Verge

You can’t have absolutely everything, but you can get a great smartphone at this price. Whether you want an iPhone, a 120Hz screen, or water resistance, you’ve got options.

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A bigger MacBook Air may cure Apple’s slumping laptop sales

The 15-inch MacBook Air is expected to match the resolution of the 14-inch MacBook Pro. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple’s betting on a larger MacBook Air with a 15-inch display to help boost slumping laptop sales, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The device, which is expected to arrive this year, could come with the same M2 chip included in the MacBook Air models released last year — not the upgraded M3 chip as previously thought.

As noted by Gurman, the 15-inch MacBook Air may feature the same 3024 x 1964 resolution as the 14-inch MacBook Pro, albeit with a bit less sharpness as it stretches to fill more space. It’s not yet clear when this laptop will come out just yet, but Apple is reportedly testing it with macOS 14, which it plans on revealing at Worldwide Developers Conference this June.

Apple’s laptop sales have slid quite a...

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Tesla blasted for ‘willful disregard’ of privacy after reports of employees sharing footage

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Two Senate Democrats are demanding that Tesla do more to prevent its customer data from being compromised after reports surfaced that employees shared video footage captured by its customers’ vehicles of car crashes, road rage incidents, and other potentially embarrassing clips.

Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) accused the company of showing “willful disregard” for its customers’ privacy, claiming that the recent report from Reuters raised “serious questions about Tesla’s management practices.”

“We urge you to take all necessary actions to ensure that any images or videos consensually collected from Tesla vehicles are subject to strict privacy safeguards,” the senators write in an April 14th letter to Tesla CEO Elon...

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Roblox creators can now make and sell limited-run avatar gear

Image: The Verge

Roblox is now letting creators sell in-game items that are only available in limited quantities, according to a post on its developer forums. That means, for example, that a creator can make a small number of digital sweaters for Roblox avatars in an effort to make that sweater feel more valuable. Users will also be able to resell these limited items, and when that happens, the original creator will get a 10 percent cut of every sale.

Before now, creators could already make and sell digital items (which you may see referred to as “user-generated content,” or UGC). Roblox is calling these new user-made limited items “Limiteds,” and yes, the entire premise of a scarce digital Roblox good feels like it’s straying into the realm of NFTs.

But...

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Instagram is adding TikTok-like Reels updates for editing and discovery

Image: Instagram

Instagram announced a slew of new features for its TikTok competitor Reels today, including a new way to edit videos and find trending content.

The biggest change is in the video editing process. Users will now be able to tweak uploaded video clips, audio, stickers, and text overlays all in the same screen instead of having to do it in separate steps. Stills shared by the company show a timeline editing feature similar to what TikTok has, which helps when lining up audio and video clips and makes transitions smoother.

Instagram users will also have a new way to find trending videos. Trends and challenges that are easy to recreate are part of what made TikTok an incubator for viral content, and until now, there wasn’t a quick way to see...

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Microsoft’s new Xbox Home UI is getting reworked after complaints over ‘crowded’ backgrounds

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft started testing a new Xbox Home UI last year that will be released in 2023, but fans haven’t been impressed with the aging tiled interface that does nothing to show off the dynamic backgrounds and wallpapers available on the console. The new Xbox Home UI started to feel like a giant Xbox Game Pass ad, and now Microsoft is acknowledging that it feels a little crowded.

“We heard from you that the changes to the top of Home did not leave enough space for you to enjoy your backgrounds and that it felt crowded,” says Ivy Krislov, senior product manager lead of Xbox experiences, in a blog post today. “We’re working to balance the experience, accessibility, function, and the needs of our community and bring you a great and refreshed...

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Microsoft Edge tests a sidebar that you can pin to your desktop

Illustration: The Verge

Microsoft Edge is testing a new feature that could make its sidebar even more useful. In Edge Canary version 114.0.1789.0, you detach and mount the browser’s sidebar to your desktop, as spotted earlier by GeekerMag (via Windows Central).

While I didn’t get the chance to try the feature out for myself, GeekerMag’s Viney Dhiman shows how it works in the video embedded below. Simply hit the “Detach from Edge” button at the bottom of the sidebar, and Edge will automatically pin the sidebar to the right side of your desktop.

The sidebar will stay up even when you minimize Edge, allowing you to access Bing’s AI chatbot and other tools without having a webpage open. To reattach the sidebar, simply hit the same button you used to detach it....

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Apple commits to using more recycled cobalt in its devices

Apple’s iphone dissasembly robot, Daisy. | Image: Apple

Apple has new plans to use more recycled metals in its devices. By 2025, the company plans to use 100 percent recycled cobalt in the batteries it designs. By the same date, it says magnets in its devices will contain entirely recycled rare earth elements. And circuit boards Apple designs will also be made with entirely recycled tin soldering and gold plating.

The tech industry has been under scrutiny for years for its hunger for mined materials, which inflicts harm on people and the environment. Apple and other companies have struggled with allegations of human rights violations along their supply chains for cobalt in particular, called “the blood diamond of batteries.”

The tech industry has been under scrutiny for years for its hunger...

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The massive recycling warehouse fire is a stark reminder: plastics are a pollution nightmare

The smoking rubble of a plastics recycling facility in Richmond, Indiana. | Image: Wayne County Emergency Management Agency

A massive blaze at a plastic recycling facility in Richmond, Indiana, is a terrifying reminder that plastics are a pollution nightmare, one that recycling can’t fix. The fire started Tuesday night at a recycling and resale warehouse, which officials described as six buildings filled from floor to ceiling with plastic waste.

“We’re looking at close to 14 acres worth of plastic that’s piled everywhere,” Richmond Fire Department chief Tim Brown said at a press conference on Wednesday. “The entire complex is either burning or has burned.”

A billowing column of black smoke hovered over the burning facility and the surrounding community. Some 2,000 residents within half a mile of the fire were forced to evacuate because the smoke is toxic....

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Our favorite video doorbell for most people is $50 off right now

The wired Nest Doorbell from Google has a simple and sleek look and is available in four colors. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

One of the best video doorbells money can buy costs a whole lot less right now. Google’s latest wired Nest Doorbellis on sale for $129.99 in all four of its colors at Best Buy, Amazon, and direct from Google. That’s a savings of $50 on Google’s small and svelte doorbell, which quickly rose to our top-recommended model shortly after it came out in late 2022. The wired Nest Doorbell is a much-improved follow-up to Google’s slightly disappointing battery-powered model of 2021 because the wired model has speedy performance and response, better video quality, and a smaller size. To take full advantage of its features, like 24/7 recording and recognizing familiar faces, you have to pay a subscription of $3.99 per month, but the Nest Doorbell...

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Spotify abandons Heardle less than a year after buying it

Screenshot: Emma Roth / The Verge

Spotify is shutting down Heardle, the Wordle-inspired music game it acquired in July of last year, as reported earlier by TechCrunch. In a message displayed on Heardle’s website, Spotify says the game is going away for good on May 5th.

“Thanks for playing Heardle, but unfortunately we have to say goodbye,” the message reads. “From May 5th, Heardle will no longer be available.”

Screenshot: Emma Roth / The Verge

Despite taking inspiration from Wordle — the word guessing game that took the internet by storm — Heardle is still pretty unique, serving as a fun way to put your music knowledge to the test. The game gives you six tries to guess the name of a song as you listen to progressively longer snippets of the track.

I...

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Parler goes offline after being sold to a new owner

Illustration: The Verge

Parler, a self-described “unbiased” alternative to mainstream social media networks, is being purchased by a company that will temporarily shut down the platform ahead of a planned relaunch. A statement posted to Parler’s website on Friday reveals that its parent company Parlement Technologies has agreed to sell the platform to digital media company Starboard (previously known as Olympic Media) for an undisclosed sum, with the deal expected to be finalized by “the end of Q2, 2023.”

Starboard disclosed that the platform will be pulled to undergo a “strategic assessment,” and it suggested Parlement had made the right move in pivoting to cloud services last year. “No reasonable person believes that a Twitter clone just for conservatives is...

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Renfield doesn’t deserve Nicolas Cage’s Dracula

Nicolas Cage as Dracula. | Image: Universal

Save for Nicolas Cage’s over-the-top Dracula, almost nothing about Universal’s Renfield really works the way it could.

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Inside the US government’s fight to ban TikTok

For nearly three years, the US government has tried to ban TikTok.

Concerns over the app’s alleged risks to national security have spanned two presidential administrations and forged alliances among Republicans and Democrats. At a time of heightened partisanship, TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, have become the focus of anti-China policy — a convenient villain most lawmakers are prepared to fight.

Last month, that outrage hit a fever pitch. The Biden administration reportedly threatened to ban TikTok if it didn’t find an American owner. House lawmakers brought the company’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, in for an explosive hearing. At the same time, a group of senators introduced the RESTRICT Act, a bill authorizing the...

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Sling TV finally launches on the Amazon Echo Show 8 and 10

Image: Dan Seifert / The Verge

Sling TV is finally making its way to Amazon Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 10 devices — nearly two years after Amazon first promised that it would bring the app to all the Echo Show devices in its lineup.

While Amazon did manage to bring Sling TV to the Echo Show 15 last year, it never came to its other devices until now. The newly added Sling TV app makes it possible to stream live TV and on-demand content straight from the Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 10.

Sling TV has a host of live channels that you can tune in to depending on your subscription plan, including Fox, TBS, ESPN, MLB Network, AMC, Discovery, NBA TV, and more. There’s also a free ad-supported streaming option that you can access called Sling Freestream.

It’s nice that Amazon...

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How two insurgents are taking on Twitter

A screenshot of Artifact, the new news app from Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. | Image: Artifact

Last week, I observed here that journalists have mostly continued to post on Twitter as if everything is normal there. That’s less true today than it was then — good on NPR and PBS for showing some spine and suspending their use of the platform — but there’s no doubt that it continues to be the digital broadcast destination of choice for many or even most reporters.

As I noted in that piece, one reason for Twitter’s stickiness is the sense that none its alternatives have yet to reach critical mass. And while that’s clearly true, it’s also the case that there is probably more talent working on new social networks at this point than at any moment since the early 2010s.

Mastodon, Post, T2, and the Untitled Meta Social Network are just a...

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OpenAI’s CEO confirms the company isn’t training GPT-5 and ‘won’t for some time’

Image: OpenAI

In a discussion about threats posed by AI systems, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO and co-founder, has confirmed that the company is not currently training GPT-5, the presumed successor to its AI language model GPT-4, released this March.

Speaking at an event at MIT, Altman was asked about a recent open letter circulated among the tech world that requested that labs like OpenAI pause development of AI systems “more powerful than GPT-4.” The letter highlighted concerns about the safety of future systems but has been criticized by many in the industry, including a number of signatories. Experts disagree about the nature of the threat posed by AI (is it existential or more mundane?) as well as how the industry might go about “pausing” development...

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Kia EV6 GT review: the attainable, guilt-free supercar

The Kia EV6 GT is a practical, comfortable, and somewhat affordable electric supercar.

Kia’s quick, fun flavor of the EV6 is a huge upgrade at a reasonable premium. But there’s a catch.

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