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Apple announced Vision Pro, its long-rumored virtual and augmented reality headset, at WWDC 2023. Here’s a timeline of all the details that have emerged about the device over the years and what we know so far.
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The Steam Deck’s biggest weakness is battery life — and yet somehow, every challenger has failed to raise that bar. The Ayaneo 2 showed us that AMD’s Ryzen 6800U wasn’t ready to compete; the Asus ROG Ally revealed that AMD’s Z1 Extreme couldn’t pull ahead if Asus insisted on matching the Steam Deck’s 40 watt-hour battery pack.
But Ayaneo may has an answer: it’s stuffing a 75 watt-hour pack into a larger, heavier handheld called the Ayaneo Kun that — it now claims — can last nearly three and a quarter hours at 15W TDP. That’s nearly double the battery and runtime you’d expect from a Steam Deck at that wattage, though it appears it wasn’t captured while playing a game, exactly.
Image: Ayaneo
Ayaneo Kun battery...
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The Team Coco Radio logo. | Image: Team Coco
This is Hot Pod_,_ The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.
It’s only Tuesday, and it’s already been a packed week for podcast news. Shortly before hitting publish on this issue of Hot Pod, I got the news that just about every late-night talk show host in America is teaming up with Spotify to launch a limited podcast series about the Hollywood strike. The five hosts: Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver, have all had their shows on pause since May due to the Writers Guild strike. Strike Force Five will launch on Spotify and other platforms on August 30th, and the plan is for the limited series to run for at least 12 episodes.
Notably, the proceeds from the...
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Verizon will offer a new $90 monthly cellphone plan called Unlimited Ultimate, announced in an update to the May blog post that announced its myPlan lineup. It offers 60GB of mobile hotspot data (double what you get with the $80 Unlimited Plus plan), 10GB of unthrottled international data, and includes access to the company’s 5G Ultra Wideband network that's a mix of the company’s C-band wireless signal and its faster mmWave 5G.
T-Mobile similarly just introduced an expensive new "unlimited" data plan to its Go5G line with the $100 per month Go5G Next plan to complement its C-band spectrum. It offers slightly less hotspot data at 50GB but comes with Netflix Basic and Apple TV Plus and the option to upgrade your phone on a yearly...
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Illustration by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
The US government just helped dismantle a massive network of computers infected with one of the world’s most notorious pieces of malware. According to the FBI, a multinational effort led by the US took down Qakbot, a malware that made its way into over 700,000 computers around the globe.
Hackers typically target victims with Qakbot by sending them spam emails containing malicious attachments or links. As soon as a victim downloads the attachment or clicks the link, Qakbot infects their computer, which then becomes part of a botnet — or a network of infected computers controlled remotely by hackers. From there, bad actors can install additional malware on their victims’ devices, such as ransomware.
Today, #FBI Director Christopher Wray...
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The US Copyright Office is opening a public comment period around AI and copyright issues beginning August 30th as the agency figures out how to approach the subject.
As announced in the Federal Register, the agency wants to answer three main questions: how AI models should use copyrighted data in training; whether AI-generated material can be copyrighted even without a human involved; and how copyright liability would work with AI. It also wants comments around AI possibly violating publicity rights but noted these are not technically copyright issues. The Copyright Office said if AI does mimic voices, likenesses, or art styles, it may impact state-mandated rules around publicity and unfair competition laws.
Written comments are due...
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Apple is planning to launch a pair of “updated” AirPods with USB-C during its iPhone 15 event in September, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
Rumors have been circulating for months about the possibility of Apple introducing AirPods with a USB-C-compatible charging case, but we haven’t heard anything this definite until now. However, we still don’t know whether the AirPods Pro will get the USB-C charging case, too, and Gurman doesn’t specify.
In 2022, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that Apple would introduce AirPods with a USB-C charging case sometime this year. It’s also not clear whether Apple will make any significant changes to the AirPods themselves aside from the new case. Kuo said earlier this year that...
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Image: Edie Leong for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Tesla is in trouble with the federal government. Again.
A newly discovered version of Autopilot that allows drivers to operate the advanced driver-assist feature without applying any torque to the steering wheel — a long sought-after feature by Tesla drivers and one used by several other automakers as well — has caught the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In a July 26th letter (first reported by Bloomberg), NHTSA ordered Tesla to respond to a list of questions about the feature or face an escalating series of fines. The company was ordered to respond by August 25th; it’s unclear whether Tesla complied.
NHTSA ordered Tesla to respond to a list of questions about the feature or face an escalating series...
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Today, Panic put on its very first game publisher showcase. The showcase was short but very sweet, featuring some of the most interesting and innovative indie games coming to PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Switch. Here are all the highlights, including a surprise announcement from the makers of Untitled Goose Game.
Arco comes from an international team of developers, artists, and storytellers. It’s a tactical action game that pits regular people against an all-powerful corporate gang. In the reveal trailer, the diverse landscapes exude so much ecological detail rendered in pixel graphics, and the combat seems like a real-time action game. Arco is due on Steam in 2024.
Thank Goodness You’re Here, or TGYH for...
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Legs may soon come to the unwashed virtual masses. | Image: Meta
Meta is adding legs to Quest Avatars in Quest Home — but not Horizon Worlds —in a new beta announced last week in the Meta Community forums (via UploadVR). Community manager Ryanality posted in the forums that the “Public Test Channel (PTC) for Quest v57 is starting to roll out for Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2 soon,” though without specifying any new features. Then, yesterday, a forum user named TomCgcmfc reported their avatar had legs.
A post on X (formerly Twitter) from Brad Lynch shows what the legs will look like. For now, beta users can’t see their legs without looking at an in-game mirror, and from the video, it looks like the avatar won’t crouch when the user does so. Although the legs reportedly don’t make an appearance in H...
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Image: iFixit via YouTube
McDonald’s ice cream machines are so notorious for breaking that it’s become a meme. But now we may have some glimmer of Shamrock Shake-flavored hope: not only has iFixit performed a teardown of McDonald’s machines, but it’s also petitioning the government to let it create the parts required for people to fix them.
As shown in a video posted to YouTube, iFixit purchased the same ice cream machine model used by McDonald’s and spent hours trying to get it up and running. The machine spit out numerous error codes that iFixit says “are nonsensical, counterintuitive, and seemingly random, even if you spent hours reading the manual.”
Despite consisting of “easily replaceable parts,” such as three printed circuit boards, a motor and belt, and a...
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Apple is holding its next big event in September to take the wraps off the iPhone 15, new Apple Watches, and more.
Here, we’ll go over how and when you can watch the event, along with the new product announcements we’re expecting to see from Apple.
The iPhone 15 event will take place on September 12th, 2023, at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. As shown in the invite sent out by Apple, the company has named the event “Wonderlust.” It will take place live from Apple Park in Cupertino, California.
As is the case with past events, Apple will likely stream the iPhone 15 showcase on its website and YouTube channel. Apple hasn’t posted the links to its livestream just yet, but we’ll add them...
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The new WhatsApp native app for macOS. | Image: Meta
WhatsApp has released a redesigned, native WhatsApp app for macOS that brings group calls to Apple’s desktop operating system. The app supports up to eight people in a group video session and as many as 32 in an audio call, both of which will have the same end-to-end encryption featured in its app on other platforms. The app was previously in open beta.
In addition to video calling, users can drag and drop files into chats, and the company says the app also shows more chat history. The design, Meta says, is intended to be “familiar to Mac users,” with a UI that better suits the larger screen of a desktop machine. Indeed, the app borrows a lot more from the macOS built-in Messages than the previous app, as you can see in this screenshot...
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The iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro. | Image: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Apple’s next big product launch is nearly here. The company just sent invitations for an event on September 12th at 1PM ET / 10AM PT, where the company is expected to announce the iPhone 15 lineup and new Apple Watches.
In the invite sent by Apple, the company says its “Wonderlust” event will take place live from Apple Park. The invite also includes the Apple logo in gray, blue, and black, which may tease the color options that the iPhone 15 Pro lineup is rumored to come in.
Image: Apple
Apple’s event invitation.
The iPhone 15 lineup will probably be the star of the event. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are expected to look a lot like the iPhone 14 but with a couple of key differences. The notch at the top of...
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Image: Firaxis Games
It seems like Steam has a new themed sale event every other week, and this week, it’s Strategy Fest. As part of the sale, which started officially yesterday and lasts until 1PM ET on September 4th, you can get deals on a slew of strategy games of all stripes.
Of course, you can expect all the fan favorites to be deeply discounted. Civilization VI is at a “there is no real justification for not buying it” price of $5.99, or 90 percent off, while Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition is half off at $19.99.
But if you’re new to strategy games or strategy game-curious, those titles can be a bit overwhelming as starting points. Fortunately, Steam curated this bundle of games widely to include titles you might not think of as strategy games...
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Image: Specialized
Specialized announced the second e-bike from its resurrected Globe brand, the Haul LT, a long-tailed (the “LT” in the name) cargo bike with fat tires, a sturdy aluminum frame, and a $3,500 price tag.
A quick recap: in 2022, Specialized announced it was bringing back its defunct Globe logo for a lineup of heavy-duty e-bikes that could carry a ton of stuff but wouldn’t break the bank. The first, the Haul ST, went on sale earlier this year and instantly won accolades for its utility, ride quality, and whimsical design.
A Class 3 e-bike with a 700-watt rear-hub motor and 772-watt-hour battery, the Haul LT looks every bit the Haul ST’s successor. Design-wise, the two bikes are nearly indistinguishable, aside from the extended rear rack....
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Image: Samsung
You can’t just stick any regular TV out on the back porch and expect it to survive; there’s a reason outdoor TVs usually sell for a hefty premium. They’re designed to withstand the elements over an extended time while offering enough brightness to overcome direct sunlight. Samsung has a special line of outdoor TVs called The Terrace that’s part of the company’s “lifestyle” series, which also includes The Frame, The Sero, and The Serif. And today, it’s adding the biggest-sized screen to that lineup yet: a new 85-inch Terrace is now available for preorder. And it costs $19,999. Yep, a buck shy of 20 grand.
It’s worth highlighting that Samsung has made some fresh upgrades for this 85-inch model. It now offers “Neo QLED” picture technology...
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Photo illustration by Alex Parkin / The Verge
How do you define what it means to be you in the all-digital 21st century — and how should systems protect that?
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YouTube wants to give content creators who violate its guidelines a second chance. Creators will now get the option to take an “educational training course” when they receive a community guidelines warning, and in exchange, YouTube will lift that warning from their account.
YouTube previously issued a lifetime warning to channels that violated its content guidelines and removed the video in question. The lifetime warning stayed on a YouTuber’s account forever and preceded the strikes that a creator would receive for breaking its rules again.
Under YouTube’s new policies, the platform will still take down the video in violation of its rules, but it will give creators a chance to get rid of YouTube’s warning by having them take a class...
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When the Securities and Exchange Commission denied Grayscale its petition for a Bitcoin ETF, that action was “arbitrary and capricious,” an appeals court ruled today. The SEC ruling has been vacated.
Last year, Grayscale applied for the approval for the fund and was denied. An ETF, or exchange-traded fund, is a pooled investment that is tied to a specific set of assets, which might be an index, a sector, a set of commodities, or something else. Grayscale’s is “something else” — Bitcoin. That could let large investors, such as pension funds, invest in Bitcoin.
The SEC has previously approved ETFs that track Bitcoin futures, but not so-called spot ETFs, which directly track Bitcoin price. Grayscale wanted to convert its Bitcoin trust to...
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Samsung’s smart appliances will work in LG’s ThinQ app. | Image: Samsung
The smart home is all about interoperability these days. First came Matter, making Apple, Amazon, Google, and Samsung play nice, and now large appliance manufacturers LG, Samsung, GE, and Vestel are going all kumbaya.
Today, at the IFA tech show in Berlin, LG and Samsung announced that before the end of 2024, their respective smart home apps will be able to control each other's appliances and TVs. So, LG’s ThinQ app can tell you when you left the door open on your Samsung Family Hub smart fridge, and Samsung’s SmartThings app can set your LG washer to delicate mode. You should also be able to control each company’s TV’s with their competitors’ apps.
This cooperation is the work of the Home Connectivity Alliance, an industry coalition...
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Khabib Nurmagomedov has Conor McGregor in a chokehold. | Photo By Stephen McCarthy / Sportsfile via Getty Images
The NFL, NBA, and UFC are looking to inject some urgency into the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to have the law shut down illegal livestreams sooner. The sports organizations believe that the law needs to define more specifically how quickly a DMCA takedown notice should take effect, according to a letter they sent to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seen by TorrentFreak.
DMCA was signed during the Clinton administration in 1998 and specified that takedown notices be processed “expeditiously,” as written in Section 512 of the act. In the letter sent to the USPTO, dated August 23rd, the NFL, NBA, and UFC urge the government to change the “expeditiously” verbiage to “instantaneously or near-instantaneously.”
When I...
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iOS and web users of Google Photos can conceal sensitive images and videos from their feeds and other apps. | Image: Google
Some updates are rolling out across Google Photos that should make it easier to secure and access your sensitive images across all of your devices. Starting today, the Locked Folder feature — which allows Android users to hide specific photos and videos behind a passcode — is coming to iOS and web users, with a new option to back up Locked Folders to access those encrypted images across multiple devices with the help of Google’s cloud.
The Locked Folder is a neat feature if you have any sensitive (okay, let’s be real here — nude) images or videos you’d rather keep away from prying eyes. Not only do Locked Folders provide a layer of password protection but also protected files won’t appear in your photo feed or other apps, which should...
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The Making of Karateka. | Image: Digital Eclipse
With The Making of Karateka, the studio continues to refine its interactive documentaries, providing a video game-native way of presenting the classics.
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Auracast makes it possible to share high-quality audio with an “unlimited” number of devices, and now, Samsung says it’s bringing Auracast to its Galaxy Buds 2 Pro and its newest Neo QLED 8K and MicroLED TVs with a rollout starting in September. The company doesn’t say if this means an unlimited number of Galaxy Buds can connect to the TVs, but it will certainly be more than the current limit of two.
Samsung reminds you in a footnote in its announcement that range and physical interference will still be factors in determining how many earbuds can connect to the TV — it’s still wireless data transmission, after all.
Bluetooth LE Audio, which is the standard that enables Auracast, was introduced last year, bringing with it a promising...
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Meta took down thousands of accounts in “what appears to be the largest known cross-platform covert influence operation in the world,” the company said in a transparency report published today. The operation targeted more than 50 platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, X (previously Twitter), YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit.
The campaign promoted “positive commentary” about China and Xinjiang province, where the Chinese government has been accused of human rights abuses and forced labor targeting members of the Uyghur ethnic minority. Other posts criticized the US, Western foreign policies, and journalists and researchers seen as “critics” of the Chinese government, according to Meta.
The influence campaign was based in China but targeted...
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As large swaths of gaming history have become endangered, researchers and fans all over the world are fighting to turn back the clock.
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Nintendo Direct: Super Mario Bros. Wonder. | Image: Nintendo
Nintendo’s offering a new in-depth look at Super Mario Bros. Wonder with a Direct showcase slated for this Thursday, August 31st, at 10AM ET. The presentation comes a few weeks after Nintendo announced that Charles Martinet, the iconic voice of Mario, is taking a step back from the role to become Nintendo’s “Mario Ambassador.”
Nintendo confirmed to Polygon that Martinet would not appear as Mario in Wonder, saying, “While Charles is not involved in the game, we’re excited to honor his legacy and contributions, including looking ahead to what he’ll be doing as a Mario Ambassador.”
Wonder, announced back in June, is the first new Mario platformer since the release of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury back in 2021. Despite Wonder being...
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Confusingly, the 4G-only phone seems nicer than the 5G version. | Image: TCL
Is your phone screen just too darn bright and uncomfortable to look at? Do you long for the comforting matte-like finish of a page of paper as you swipe through Tinder? No? Well, TCL went and made a couple of phones to try and remedy these problems anyway. The NXTPAPER 40 and 40 5G include screens with a matte-textured finish that emphasize eye comfort with reduced blue light output, which TCL says gives them a paper-like look and feel. If nothing else, they’re a refreshing departure from the stream of unremarkable budget Android phones the brand has been putting out over the last few years.
Confusingly, the 4G-only NXTPAPER 40 includes a few more high-end touches compared to the 5G version. The NXTPAPER 40 5G uses a newer MediaTek...
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Roborock’s Q Revo, which launched less than three months ago, is already $200 off at multiple retailers. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
Fall is a busy time of the year, especially with kids heading back to school and the holiday season fast approaching. Thankfully, if you’d like to free up some of your precious time by ridding yourself of somework, Roborock is dropping prices on many of its best robot vacuums as part of its anniversary sale, which runs through Saturday, September 2nd.
First up is thenewRoborock Q Revo, which is our favorite midrange model and is currently available for an all-time low of $699.99 ($200 off) from Roborock. The robovac / mop hybrid cleans carpets well but also features two oscillating mops, allowing it to remove stains from hardwood floors with ease. The handsome vacuum can also empty itself, fill up its own mop reservoir, and even...