Meta is planning to let people in the EU download apps through Facebook

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Meta is planning to let people in the EU directly download apps through Facebook ads, setting the company up to eventually compete with Google and Apple’s app stores.

The new type of ad is set to start as a pilot with a handful of Android app developers as soon as later this year, I’ve learned. Meta sees an opening to try this thanks to new regulation in the EU called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that is expected to go into effect next spring. It deems Apple and Google as “gatekeepers” and requires that they open up their mobile platforms to alternative methods of downloading apps.

Android technically allows sideloading already, though Google makes it difficult by coupling its in-app billing and licensing with the Play Store, along with...

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YouTube tests disabling videos for people using ad blockers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube is throwing a major wrench into video playback for viewers who are using ad blockers. The company has confirmed to The Verge that it’s currently running “a small experiment globally that urges viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium.”

The statement comes after some people began noticing a new prompt warning that video playback could be cut off if YouTube detects repeated use of ad blocking tools. Android Authority earlier reported on those tests, which prevent viewers from watching more than three videos when an ad blocker is active.

“Ad blocker detection is not new, and other publishers regularly ask viewers to disable ad blockers,” Google spokesperson Oluwa Falodun told The Verge by...

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How to sell or trade in your old Android phone

Samar Haddad; Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

There is a plethora of new and exciting smartphones that have just come onto the market (or are about to), and it wouldn’t be at all surprising to find out that you are planning to upgrade from your current phone. Google recently introduced its new (and expensive) Pixel Fold, along with its midrange Pixel 7A, while Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Plus is at the top of our list of best Android phones.

Whether you want to go with Samsung, Google, or a different manufacturer, trading in your old phone — or selling it — is a smart way to do that, especially since there are those who will decide instead to buy a lightly used phone from an older generation that will suit their needs without breaking the bank.

If you’ve got an older model and are ready...

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Google is dropping local news links in Canada

Illustration: The Verge

Google will be removing links to Canadian news in Search, News, and Discover following the recent passage of the Online News Act in Canada, according to a blog post by Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs. The law, also called Bill C-18, forces big tech companies like Google and Meta to pay news publishers for their content.

“The unprecedented decision to put a price on links (a so-called ‘link tax’) creates uncertainty for our products and exposes us to uncapped financial liability simply for facilitating Canadians’ access to news from Canadian publishers,” Walker wrote. “We have been saying for over a year that this is the wrong approach to supporting journalism in Canada and may result in significant changes to our...

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Stray wanders onto Xbox in August

Image: Annapurna Interactive

The Not-E3 summer of games is winding down, but it is not over yet. Annapurna Interactive was the latest publisher to put on its own showcase, debuting new games and sharing big updates for others. Here are the highlights from the presentation.

Stray

PlayStation’s best play-as-a-cat game is stray-ing to a new platform. Originally launched last year as a PC / PlayStation timed exclusive, Annapurna Interactive has announced that Stray, the cypberpunk cat-sim, is coming to Xbox on August 10th. Annapurna announced the move in the cutest way possible, with the game’s lead gato pawing an Xbox controller off a table, as its concerned owner stares helpless in the face of the cat’s reckless disregard. The only thing that could be more realistic...

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Electrify America is the next big charging network to adopt Tesla’s ‘standard’ EV plug

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

Electrify America is adding support for Tesla’s NACS electric vehicle charging plug, which the company has dubbed the North American Charging Standard. On Thursday, the company said it will work toward bringing the NACS connector to “existing and future” charging stations by 2025.

This doesn’t mean Electrify America is getting rid of the Combined Charging System (CCS), a standard that’s used by EVs from automakers like General Motors, Ford, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, and others. The company says the CCS plug will still be available alongside the NACS connector. It doesn’t mention the aging CHAdeMO connector that it also offers at its stations, however, which is used by the Nissan Leaf.

Still, Electrify America’s planned NACS support is a...

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The Steam Deck’s second sale ever: now, it’s up to $130 off

You can get up to 20 percent off of the Steam Deck. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

The Steam Deck rarely goes on sale, which is why you might want to take advantage of this deal on the portable gaming PC while it’s hot. As a part of the Steam Summer Sale, Valve is taking up to 20 percent off the Steam Deck in the US as well as internationally. You can buy the Steam Deck starting at $359.10 ($40 off) for the base model with 64GB of storage, which matches the price we last saw when the handheld first went on sale in March, and you can save a lot more on the higher-end Decks.

If you require more storage, you might want to consider buying the 256 or 512GB model. As my colleague Sean Hollister pointed out, you can easily upgrade it with a new SSD, but there’s a slight risk of damage if you aren’t careful. What’s more, the...

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Niantic lays off staff and shuts down games as it focuses on Pokémon Go

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge

Niantic is making some major organizational changes, including layoffs, game shutdowns, and the closure of its Los Angeles studio, according to an email from Niantic CEO John Hanke shared on the company’s website. The changes are designed to narrow the company’s focus, especially on developing and maintaining its cash cow, Pokémon Go.

Pokémon Go is nearing its seventh birthday, and it’s still incredibly relevant; according to Sensor Tower data shared in June 2022, the game has earned about $1 billion in revenue per year. But it’s shut down later attempts to recapture lightning in a bottle, including games based on Harry Potter, Catan, and four other titles as part of layoffs last year. Other companies haven’t had much success with the...

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Asus addresses ROG Ally performance gap and SD card failures

Photography by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

On launch day, the Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC mysteriously had worse performance than it did in my original review, something several other reviewers confirmed.

Two weeks later, Asus is publicly saying 1) that’s not normal, 2) you shouldn’t see reduced performance anymore, and 3) if you do — or if your ROG Ally is having issues with SD cards — you should immediately reach out to Asus technical support.

“When fully updated, including with the latest BIOS 319 and the latest AMD graphics drivers 31.0.14058.4001 (downloadable in MyAsus), we are seeing performance on par with the launch BIOS version 317,” writes Asus ROG marketing manager Whitson Gordon, at the company’s official Discord.

(I’m including the full message at the bottom...

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You can now try Windows Copilot and native RAR and 7-Zip support in Windows 11

Windows Copilot is now available to testers. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is making good on its promise of releasing Windows Copilot to testers in June. Today’s Windows Insider Dev Channel build (23493) includes early access to Windows Copilot, native support for RAR and 7-Zip files, a new settings homepage, and even a much better volume mixer.

Microsoft first announced Windows Copilot at build earlier this year, and the version that testers can access today works as a sidebar that’s docked to the right-hand side of Windows 11. “It won’t overlap with your desktop content and will run unobstructed alongside your open app windows, allowing you to interact with Windows Copilot anytime you need,” says the Windows team in a blog post today.

Image: Microsoft

Windows Copilot running...

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The DJI Air 3 could come with a dual-camera system

Image: Roland Quandt via WinFuture

The rumored DJI Air 3 might feature an upgraded camera system. In a set of images provided to WinFuture by leaker Roland Quandt, you can see two camera sensors on the gimble mounted to the front of the device.

That could offer an improvement over the second-gen DJI Air, which features a single half-inch camera sensor that can shoot 4K videos up to 60FPS, as well as 12- and 48-megapixel photos. The addition of a dual camera system could bring the DJI Air 3 more in line with the high-end Mavic 3. While the Mavic 3 similarly sports two camera sensors — one main camera and one telephoto lens — it doesn’t look like its Hasselblad branding will carry over to the DJI Air 3.

The leaked images also suggest that the DJI Air 3 could come with a...

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Dune: Part Two’s new trailer teases Christopher Walken’s emperor

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

There are a lot of returning faces in the latest trailer for Dune: Part Two. Timothée Chalamet’s Paul getting prepared to lead an uprising; Stellan Skarsgård’s terrifying Baron; and Zendaya actually getting to do things in her role as Chani. But perhaps most interesting is what’s new — including our first proper look at Christopher Walken as the intimidating emperor Shaddam IV.

The new movie will pick up right where the last one left off, given that Part One ended very abruptly and only told half of the story from the original novel. Here’s the basic setup:

Dune: Part Two will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family....

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Eufy’s G20 Hybrid robot vacuum is just $129.99

Eufy’s G20 Hybrid’s a terrific budget-friendly robot vacuum that’s cheaper than ever today. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Robot vacuums are handy little gadgets, but many of the best cost a couple of hundred dollars. If you’ve always wanted one but were turned off by the price, you may want to check out today’s deal on Eufy’s G20 Hybrid. Right now, one of our favorite budget-friendly robot vacuums is on sale for just $129.99 ($150 off) at Amazon.

That’s a new all-time low on the robovac, which does a good job of vacuuming and mopping your home for its price. It’s also the quietest and smallest we’ve ever tested, making it particularly ideal if your living quarters are compact or if you need a second bot to quietly clean while in your home office. Plus, the robovac comes with support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, so you can control it with just your...

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This is not Adobe’s new logo

A few small design changes can make all the difference. | Image: Adobe

Adobe has started using some new branding across the most recent promotional videos for its generative AI apps. The new branding combines the current Adobe corporate mark (the triangular “A” logo) with the company’s Adobe Clean typeface (which is used in the software giant’s current logo) to spell out the name Adobe. You’d be forgiven for assuming this was an update to the logo introduced in 2020, but according to Adobe, this “wordmark” isn’t replacing the official logo that the company currently uses.

“It’s not replacing the logo; it’s just a new expression in the way that we are creating the way our brand shows up in the world,” Adobe’s head of brand strategy, Heather Combs, said to Fast Company. ”We’ve had a logo for a long time. A...

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At least one big third-party Reddit iOS app will live on

This is some old hardware. | Image: Narwhal for Reddit

Many Reddit users are mourning the June 30th shutdowns of third-party apps like Apollo for Reddit, rif is fun for Reddit (RIF), and BaconReader, but at least one popular Reddit app will still be around: Narwhal for Reddit.

“Narwhal is not going anywhere on July 1st,” Narwhal developer det0ur wrote in a post on the r/getnarwhal subreddit. “It will continue to operate as it has for many years (except it will not have ads anymore).” A lot of popular apps are shutting down because their developers can’t pay the potentially exorbitant API pricing, won’t be allowed to include ads in their apps, and due to the removal of sexually explicit content.

However, Narwhal will be changing a bit down the line. “Over the next few months,” det0ur will add...

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Bose recalls over 1 million ancient subwoofers due to potential fire hazard

If you’ve got a large Bose bass module like the one above in your home somewhere, pay attention. | Image: Bose

Ordinarily, a recall about products sold way back in the early 2000s probably wouldn’t catch our attention. But this particular recall is about Bose, and people tend to hold onto Bose gear for a long, long time. Plus, we’re dealing with speakers — and good old “dumb” speakers can last for decades. So it’s worth calling attention to the fact that Bose is recalling over 1 million bass modules that were part of the company’s Acoustimass, Lifestyle, and Companion home theater systems.

The recall website says these systems were sold at “Bose stores, Best Buy, Circuit City, Sam’s Club, Sears, and other electronics stores nationwide, and online at Bose.com from January 1994 through April 2007 for between $220 and $2,200.” Circuit City? This...

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Reddit protest updates: news on the apps shutting down and Reddit’s fights with mods

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Changes to the Reddit API are forcing beloved apps like Apollo to shut down, and following the protests, mods are feeling threatened by Reddit.

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FTC v. Microsoft: all the news from the big Xbox courtroom battle

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge

Microsoft is going head-to-head with the FTC starting June 22nd.

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Bing will now surface AI-generated buying guides

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is bringing AI-generated buying guides to Bing, the company announced on Thursday. Now when you search for things like “college supplies,” Bing will surface AI-made guides that offer comparisons between products in the same categories, such as headphones or laptops.

The link to Bing’s buying guide will appear at the very top of the search engine’s results. Clicking into the guide reveals an AI-generated summary about whatever you’re looking for, along with a list of products relevant to your search. Hit the Compare button, and you’ll see a chart that pulls specs from the product manufacturers’ websites and compares them side by side. Microsoft notes that you can access buying guides both through Bing chat and in the Edge...

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How to trade in your MacBook, macOS desktop, iPhone, or iPad

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

If you’re looking to trade in your Apple product — be it a MacBook, iMac, Mac desktop, iPhone, or iPad — you stand to get a pretty good return. Apple’s tech has a reputation on the secondhand market for retaining value long after release. This speaks to build quality but mostly to Apple’s long-lasting software support for its older products. The trend is positive both for buyers, who will end up with a product that could continue to work for years, and sellers, who will make a good percentage of their original purchase price back.

There are plenty of ways of trading in your old Apple products for cash. You can easily net an extra $50 to $100 from a sale if you’ve taken care of your tech, as buyers will pay more for products that look...

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Microsoft and Activision CEOs battle to keep a giant Xbox deal alive

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge

FTC v. Microsoft day four was all about Satya Nadella and Bobby Kotick.

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Squid Game season 2 is adding even more new cast members

Choi Seung-hyun, Lee Jin-uk, Won Ji-an, Park Gyu-young, Kang Ae-sim, Lee David, Jo Yu-ri, Roh Jae-won, the additional cast members of Squid Game season 2. | Netflix

While Squid Game’s upcoming second season still doesn’t have a hard release date just yet, Netflix has just revealed the final eight new cast members set to join the hit series when it returns.

Apropos of Squid Game’s cast and showrunners getting together for their first table read of season 2 scripts, Netflix announced today that the show’s cast will include Park Gyu-young (Sweet Home, Celebrity), former Iz*One member Jo Yu-ri, Kang Ae-sim (Be Melodramatic, Move to Heaven), Lee David (The Fortress, Svaha: The Sixth Finger), Lee Jin-uk (Sweet Home, Miss Granny), Choi Seung-hyun (Tazza: The Hidden Card), Roh Jae-won (Missing Yoon, Ditto), and Won Ji-an (D.P.)

Previously, Netflix announced that season 1 cast members Lee Jung-jae, Wi...

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One of the best reasons to use a Kobo is going away in August

The Kobo Elipsa 2E is the company’s largest e-book reader. It has some cool note-taking features, but this starting summer, it won’t work with Pocket anymore. | Image: Kobo

Kobo ebook readers will be losing their ability to read web articles saved to the Pocket read-later service later this summer. Though Pocket integration has been available on Kobo devices for years, the functionality will stop working after August 15th, 2023, when Pocket will require all of its users to transition to Firefox accounts to log in. Goodereader.com first reported this change earlier this week.

Mozilla, the maker of Firefox and current owner of Pocket, says in a support document that Kobo devices “do not support the specific modern web technologies that Firefox accounts require” and, therefore, will not be able to use Firefox logins when the change is implemented. The company says it is requiring Firefox logins in Pocket in...

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The Asus Zenfone 10 is your best bet for a high-powered, small Android phone

The Asus Zenfone comes in an eye-catching red this year.

Android phones are categorically ginormous, so every summer over the past few years, when a new Asus Zenfone has come around, it’s been kind of a treat for the small phone fans among us. The Zenfone 10 continues the tradition of providing flagship-grade specs in a “small” package — and yes, a 5.9-inch screen is considered small these days. We’re grading on a curve.

This year’s Zenfone comes with wireless charging, which was missing from the previous models. It’s a little tricky to get working with some stand-style chargers because of its small stature — the charging coil on the phone seems to be just out of reach on my Belkin Qi charger, and I can only get it charging on a Pixel Stand (2nd gen) if I press it up against the middle of the...

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Can you win a Senate race without a single tweet?

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google and Facebook alumna Lexi Reese launched her campaign for US Senate in California Thursday — but you won’t see that announcement on Twitter.

Reese, who previously helped lead advertising for both Facebook and Google, said her campaign won’t be using Twitter due to Elon Musk’s leadership at the company. Specifically, Reese cited the platform’s reported rise in hate speech and racial slurs since Musk’s 2022 takeover as the reason her campaign is avoiding it.

“We should all support — as much as possible — people and businesses with whom we share values and motivations,” Reese said in a statement to The Verge Wednesday. “Under Elon Musk’s leadership, Twitter has been increasingly divisive, racist, and sexist. It’s a dumpster fire and...

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Max begins fixing its ‘disrespectful’ Creator credits

The updates should take a week or so to fully roll out across the platform. | Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Warner Bros. Discovery has started fixing the controversial “creator” credits section on its recently relaunched Max streaming platform, over a month following the company apologizing for snubbing the talent behind films and TV shows. According to Deadline, the entertainment giant began revising the credit sections across its various platforms earlier this week — which currently lump together writers, directors, producers, and more as nondescript “creators.”

“This is a credits violation for starters,” Meredith Stiehm, president of Writers Guild of America West, said last month. “But worse, it is disrespectful and insulting to the artists that make the films and TV shows that make their corporation billions.”

The updated credit sections...

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Beats Studio Pro spec sheet appears to leak in full

The existing Beats Solo Pro, which were released in 2019. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Weeks after 9to5Mac revealed some initial details of Beats unannounced Studio Pro headphones, the publication has followed up with what appears to be a complete list of specs for the over-ears. They’re expected to have a premium price tag of $349 and the Apple-owned audio brand could announce them as soon as next month.

Headline specs include a battery life that extends up to 40 hours with active noise cancellation and transparency mode turned off, or 24 hours with either feature turned on. There’s support for Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking when used with compatible Apple devices as well as personalized spatial audio, two features that have previously been available with the true wireless Beats Fit Pro.

I...

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The EU still needs to get its AI Act together

There are still a few hoops to jump through before the EUs AI regulations can take effect. | Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

It’s taken over two years for the European Parliament to approve its artificial intelligence regulations — but AI development hasn’t been idle.

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Meta explains how AI influences what we see on Facebook and Instagram

Meta’s President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg (pictured) affirms the company’s commitment to transparency. | Kristen Radtke / The Verge

Meta has published a deep dive into the company’s social media algorithms in a bid to demystify how content is recommended for Instagram and Facebook users. In a blog post published on Thursday, Meta’s President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said that the info dump on the AI systems behind its algorithms is part of the company’s “wider ethos of openness, transparency, and accountability,” and outlined what Facebook and Instagram users can do to better control what content they see on the platforms.

“With rapid advances taking place with powerful technologies like generative AI, it’s understandable that people are both excited by the possibilities and concerned about the risks,” Clegg said in the blog. “We believe that the best way to...

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The Witcher season 3 sets up an epic finale for Henry Cavill’s Geralt

Image: Netflix

We’ve only had two seasons of The Witcher on Netflix, but the show has already had somewhat of an identity crisis. It started off with a bang, with a big, bloody debut that showed exactly why the books and games before it were so beloved. It was dark yet funny, full of action, sexual tension, and all kinds of cool monsters — plus an excellent Henry Cavill as the gruff and lovable Geralt of Rivia. Season 2, meanwhile, lost some of that personality as it attempted to tell a more grand — and typical — fantasy story while also deviating significantly from the books. Things got even more off-track with the prequel Blood Origin.

Now we have season 3, which is being split into two volumes and which will mark the end of Cavill’s run as Geralt (t...

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