The Pixel Watch 2’s switch to pin charging highlights wearable design challenges

There’s contact pin charging now. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Unlike the smooth puck used with the first-gen Pixel Watch, Google’s new Pixel Watch 2 has switched to a charger with pogo pins — a design used by Fitbit on all of its fitness trackers and smartwatches. Complicating matters, it also looks like first-gen Pixel Watch cases aren’t compatible with the new watch, either. All this can be frustrating from a user standpoint, but it highlights why smartwatches and wearables will rely on proprietary accessories for a good long while.

Switching to pogo pin charging might seem like a step back, but it’s a functional choice. With the Pixel Watch 2, Google and Fitbit opted to add a new multipath sensor instead of the single strip of LEDs on the first watch. The upside is the additional sensors will...

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How to use the new Messages features in iOS 17

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

iOS 17 is available now and ready to install if you’ve got an iPhone released in the last five years — and as usual, Apple has added upgrades and new features to its iOS apps as well as to the mobile operating system itself.

Here, we’ll show you what you can now do in Messages using iOS 17 that you couldn’t do before. There are several new features that you’re likely to find useful, while a few existing features have been reorganized and improved upon.

(What we still don’t have yet and are unlikely to get in the near future is RCS messaging. Any of your friends or family members who are on Android are still going to appear as green bubbles and won’t be able to share in a lot of the new iOS 17 features.)

Audio messages are transcribed

If...

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Microsoft launches new web app store for Windows

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Microsoft has launched a new web version of its app store for Windows. It’s designed as a replacement for the existing way to find Windows apps on the web, with links from the site opening in the Microsoft Store client on Windows 10 or Windows 11.

The software giant has ditched its old React codebase from its previous web version of the Microsoft Store and replaced it with a modern web version that uses Shoelace, Lit, Vite, and a C# ASPNET backend.

“The old site was a React codebase built on an obsoleted UI framework,” explains Microsoft engineer Judah Gabriel in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “We created a fresh user experience with a thoughtfully designed interface, easier ways to discover new apps, modern web tech stack. I hope...

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Here are the best Kindle deals right now

The kid-friendly version of Amazon’s latest Kindle Paperwhite is on sale starting at $109.99. | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

When it comes to finding a device to use to read your ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your phone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality.

Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its ever-expanding Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons. The bulk of the devices function as simple ebook readers; however, with the Kindle Scribe, Amazon looks to be moving...

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Yale Assure Lock 2 review: almost perfect

Yale’s latest smart locks offer something for everyone: Apple Home Key, a fingerprint reader, and compatibility with every platform. You just can’t have it all. (And there’s still no support for Thread or Matter.)

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Mark Hamill explains space in new video series for State Department

God bless Mark Hamill and his willingness to still say this after nearly 50 years. | Image: State Department / Screenshot

The first thing we see is the planet Earth, floating in space like the beautiful marble it is before plunging through a wormhole and racing across space. We emerge in a well-lit California living room in front of an older man with a graying goatee and a familiar voice.

“Hello, I’m Mark Hamill,” he says. “The guy who played ‘Luke’ in all those Star Wars movies.”

As if we needed to be reminded. Hamill is lending his famous face and voice to the US State Department for a series of videos about — what else? — space. The six-part series, which is now live on the State Department’s website, touches on a variety of space innovations, such as microbes, astronauts staying fit in space, maintaining muscle mass, advancing robots that track...

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The Verge’s favorite tools to stay organized

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Life these days can be very complicated, and many of us — I’d guess that most of us — are constantly looking for the best method to keep our lives in order. What do you need on your grocery list? When is that work project due, and who is working on it with you? A friend wants to do a movie-watching session, but is that the same day you promised your parents to help clean the garage? Which bills are due, and can you afford to pay them all? Where is that article about which masks to wear? And on and on.

So we’ve asked the staff of The Verge what they use to keep track of all their appointments, tasks, projects, and workflows. And it turns out that they use a variety of different apps or some fairly old-fashioned paper-and-pen solutions —...

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Google’s Pixel 8 launch was a parade of AI

A pile of new Pixel 8 devices. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Google’s latest products are filled with AI. There’s Magic Editor, a photo editing tool powered by generative AI; there’s Conversation Detection, an audio transparency feature powered by AI; there are improved heart rate algorithms, which, yes, are also powered by AI.

Seven years of OS updates? Sounds like a great way to get more AI features from Google. New photography features? All AI. Tensor processor? Designed for AI, baby! “As always, our focus is on making AI more helpful for everyone, in a way that’s both bold and responsible,” Google’s hardware chief Rick Osterloh said in an introduction that, by my count, included the word “AI” over a dozen times. Over the course of the hour-long launch,...

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X is testing new paid membership tiers to compensate for poor ad revenue

The free membership plan may soon be removed entirely. | Illustration: The Verge

X (formerly Twitter) is looking to split its premium subscription service into three membership tiers, allowing the company to vary subscription pricing based on how many ads are shown to the user. According to Bloomberg’s source who attended a Thursday call with X and debt holders that helped Musk finance the acquisition, the company is currently testing Basic, Standard, and Plus variations of the existing premium plan, which currently starts at $8 per month. It remains unclear if a free version will continue to exist.

No pricing information has been announced for the new membership tiers. However, according to details previously discovered in the X app, the entry-level Basic plan will not reduce the number of ads that users see on the...

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Save $65 on Google’s Pixel Buds Pro ahead of their big software updates

The Pixel Buds Pro will be getting software updates with new features over the next few weeks. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

It’s been a week of Google news, both on the announcement stage and even in the courtroom. While the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro may have received much of the attention at the Made by Google keynote, Google also announced a sizable software update coming for its Pixel Buds Pro that includes automated conversation detection and increased voice call bandwidth.

What a perfect time, then, for the Pixel Buds Pro to drop to a new low price. You can get Google’s flagship wireless earbuds for just $134.99 ($65 off) at Wellbots when you use code VERGE65 at checkout until October 11th. The Pixel Buds Pro are some of the best earbuds you can buy today, particularly if you’re a Pixel phone owner and want to take advantage of exclusive features like...

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Google’s Magnifier accessibility app is ready for download to Pixel phones

Magnifier includes some additional accessibility benefits that go beyond simply zooming into distant text. | Image: Google

Google has released its Magnifier app for Pixel phones that’s designed to make small, dimly lit, or distant text easier to read. The new accessibility app debuted on the Pixel 8 series introduced at Google’s Pixel event earlier this week, and allows users to “magnify small text, see object details, or zoom in on faraway text like street signs or restaurant menus behind a service counter,” according to the Magnifier app Play Store listing.

Magnifier is currently supported on Pixel 5 phones or later, though that doesn’t include the Pixel Fold or Pixel Tablet devices according to 9to5Google. The app itself features a fairly simple user interface. The default screen includes large + and - buttons used to control the zoom function, located on...

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Microsoft eyes closing its giant Activision Blizzard deal next week

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft is planning to finalize its $68.7 billion proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard next week. A source familiar with Microsoft’s plans tells The Verge that the company is eyeing up Friday October 13th as the closing date where it announces to the world that the 20-month process to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard is over.

That date will still depend on the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority though, a regulator that blocked Microsoft’s deal earlier this year. Microsoft recently restructured the deal to transfer cloud gaming rights for current and new Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft, and the Xbox maker secured preliminary approval from the CMA late last month as a result.

The CMA has a deadline that expires...

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Silent Hill: Ascension premieres on Halloween

Image: Genvid

Silent Hill: Ascension, the interactive streaming series set in the universe of the classic horror games, will have its “world premiere” on October 31st at 9PM ET, says Jacob Navok, the game’s executive producer and CEO of developer Genvid. If you want to take part you’ll be able to participate through Ascension’s iOS and Android apps, or by visiting Ascension.com.

“I use the phrase ‘world premiere’ intentionally because Silent Hill: Ascension is not a game,” Navok explains. “It is a streaming series where you, the audience, participate live to determine what happens. You, and the rest of the community, will decide the fate of its characters.” That doesn’t mean Ascension is live-action, however. It’s very much a video game-looking...

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Was Sam Bankman-Fried’s bean bag chair a lie too?

Choose your college roommates carefully... | Photo illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Drew Angerer, Getty Images

Two of Bankman-Fried’s MIT roommates make a damning case for the prosecution.

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Canada isn’t trying to silence podcasters

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

The Canadian regulatory body that oversees radio, television, and online streaming services put out a news release last week about a provocative new rule. Any online streaming service that operates in Canada, offers broadcasting content, and earns more than $10 million in annual revenue will need to complete a registration form by November. This includes online services that offer podcasts, the release stated.

The move has drawn some criticism on social media as well as in op-eds in a number of Canadian news outlets, which suggest that the rule is the beginning of an effort by the government to control speech on podcasts. A spokesperson for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) told Hot Pod that that...

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Here are the best Apple Watch deals right now

The Apple Watch Series 9 isn’t a massive step up from the prior model, but it does offer a few new features. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Editor’s note: Amazon’s October Prime Day is set to kick off on October 10th. Luckily, if you’re someone who likes to shop ahead of time, we’ve rounded up the best early Prime Day deals you can already get.

Less than a month ago, Apple launched its latest batch of smartwatches, introducing the Apple Watch Ultra 2 ($799) alongside the new Apple Watch Series 9 ($399). Each wearable has its own pros and cons, as does the second-gen Apple Watch SE ($249), but the introduction of the new wearables also means there are now more Apple Watch models on the market than ever before — and a lot more deals to be had.

But with all of those options, which one should you pick? Generally speaking, you want to buy the newest watch you can afford so that...

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Sony confirms server security breaches that exposed employee data

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge

Sony is sending out notices to some current and former Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) employees warning that their personal information was compromised in a system breach that occurred in May. The letters went out to about 6,800 affected individuals, as reported by Bleeping Computer. The publication also received confirmation from Sony that another breach occurred in September.

A ransomware group known as Cl0p claimed responsibility for breaking into a Sony server in June. The breach occurred via a vulnerability in the file-sending MOVEit Transfer platform that SIE was using. Sony is one of many organizations that have been affected by MOVEit cyberattacks.

Progress Software, the creator of MOVEit Transfer, told its clients...

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Bing’s AI image generator tries to block ‘twin towers’ prompts, but it’s not working

The real World Trade Center in 1980. | Photo by Jack Mecca / Getty Images

After some users of Bing’s DALL-E 3 integration found a loophole in the tool’s guardrails and generated art featuring several beloved animated characters and the Twin Towers, Microsoft seems to have blocked prompts like ‘twin towers’ and ‘world trade center’ — although the generator will still produce the towers with some word changes.

As reported by 404 Media, users of Microsoft’s Bing Chat and its Bing image generator — recently integrated with OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 — used the tools to create photos of SpongeBob SquarePants, Kirby, pilots from Neon Genesis Evangelion, and many others flying a plane into the Twin Towers.

People have been able to create truly unhinged photos using AI image generators, some featuring copyrighted characters....

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Forza Motorsport looks and feels like Forza but with an RPG hiding under the hood

Image: Microsoft

Not long into playing my preview copy of Forza Motorsport, I was intrigued but not that impressed — until I went back and played Forza Motorsport 7 for a while.

Arriving six years after the last entry and as the first game in the series built for the new generation of hardware, this latest Forza doesn’t make the biggest graphical leap in the series’ history. But after about 10 hours of driving in the game’s single and multiplayer events with the game, I felt like everything else you encounter while driving, like the audio, physics, and AI drivers, is noticeably different and better this time around.

The handling model, in particular, is what Forza players are here for, and it delivered exactly what I expected, especially in comparison to...

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Elon Musk is stonewalling the SEC, and now he’s getting sued

Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing Elon Musk over his refusal to testify in an investigation into Musk’s purchase of Twitter stock in 2022.

According to the SEC’s complaint, Musk was scheduled to appear for testimony on September 15th after receiving a subpoena. However, “two days before his scheduled testimony, Musk abruptly notified the SEC staff that he would not appear” and apparently raised “several spurious objections, including an objection to San Francisco as an appropriate testimony location,” the SEC said. The lawsuit was first reported by Bloomberg.

The SEC says it offered to conduct the testimony in Fort Worth, Texas, which is closer to where Musk lives, as well as on multiple dates in October and...

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The iRacing team is making a NASCAR racing sim for consoles

Image: iRacing

iRacing, known for its simulation racing game for PC, has acquired the rights from Motorsport Games to make a NASCAR racing sim for consoles, according to a Thursday press release. NASCAR and iRacing already work together on virtual races within iRacing that have “thousands of people participating daily,” the press release says, and now they’ll partner up for a NASCAR game for PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and Steam that’s expected to come out in 2025.

“Having the ability to build a NASCAR console game is a privilege we promise to execute with the utmost care,” iRacing president Tony Gardner said in a statement. “We look forward to working diligently with NASCAR industry stakeholders to deliver a product that provides an amazing...

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Epic is changing Unreal Engine’s pricing for non-game developers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Fortnite developer Epic Games is changing the way it charges people who use its creation tool Unreal Engine sometime next year — but only for a subset of users, according to CEO Tim Sweeney (via Game From Scratch).

Game developers using Unreal Engine won’t be affected and will continue to pay for a license based on a royalty model. However, users in industries like film or automotive will be moved to per-seat pricing, meaning they’ll be charged for the subscription the same way someone might pay for Photoshop.

In posts on X, Sweeney clarified that educators and students will be able to continue to use Unreal Engine for free, and there will be a minimum revenue threshold for indie filmmakers and others whose commercial projects earn...

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We built the $150 Xbox 360 made of Lego-like Mega bricks

A white Xbox 360 with a hard drive, controller, and a “copy” of Halo 3 — you build them all with bricks. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Have I mentioned recently that I have the best job in the world? This week, I spent three and a half hours building an Xbox 360 out of Mega Bloks, the Lego-like bricks produced by Mattel.

In September, we brought you word that Target would exclusively sell a brick-built $150 Xbox 360 replica, complete with a gamepad, internal Easter eggs, and a “copy” of Halo 3.

Now, ahead of an October 8th debut, I’ve built the thing, snapped some hasty photos, and shot a little basic video:

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A post shared by The Verge (@verge)

It’s a slick set that absolutely captures the essence of the console — even if it might not live up to The Lego Group’s exacting standards when it comes to build...

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Lucid’s under-$80,000 base Air Pure EV is now available to order

Lucid is finally ready to ship a lower-end offering for customers who are interested in the automaker’s electric Air sedan. The new Lucid Air Pure RWD brings the line’s starting price down to $77,400 — the entry price announced by the automaker in 2020 — with 410 miles of range on a single charge when equipped with 19-inch wheels.

With a single rear-wheel motor, the Lucid Air Pure saves customers $5,000 by eschewing the dual motors in the Air Pure AWD, which was Lucid’s lowest-cost offering at $82,400 since it cut prices in August.

The Pure RWD outputs 430 horsepower and accelerates from 0–60 mph in 4.5 seconds, compared to 480 horsepower and 3.8 seconds 0–60 mph for the AWD version — but with no loss in range. Lucid does mention that...

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The best ebook reader to buy right now

Image: Will Joel / The Verge

From reading in the bath to scribbling notes in the margins, from diving into the Amazon ecosystem to avoiding it outright, there’s an e-reader for everyone.

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Samsung is adding support for mobile driver’s licenses to Samsung Wallet

Samsung is going to let customers in Arizona and Iowa add their driver’s licenses to Samsung Wallet beginning later this month, Samsung’s Sally Hyesoon Jeong said onstage at the 2023 Samsung Developer Conference on Thursday. It’s unclear when more states might be supported, but Jeong did say that starting next year, Samsung customers will also “be able to use the Samsung Wallet to authenticate your driver’s license online.”

The new feature brings Samsung on closer footing with Apple and Google, which both also offer the ability to save driver’s licenses from select states in their mobile wallets. Arizona became the first state to officially support Apple’s solution in March 2022, and as tracked by 9to5Mac, Colorado, Maryland, and...

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Here’s the first proof a refreshed Steam Deck is nigh

The Steam Deck, in its bundled carry case. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Think we’re not getting a new Steam Deck just because Valve isn’t ready to upgrade its performance? Think again: Valve already put a new Steam Deck through the FCC’s certification process on August 13th, agency documents reveal.

Image: FCC

Image: FCC

The mystery “Valve 1030” that went through South Korea’s National Radio Research Agency has now been definitively identified as a Steam Deck, and it’s our first proof the hardware’s potentially close enough to release to justify showing it to regulators.

Why are we only learning about this now? Because just like with the original Steam Deck, Valve used its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip vendor to sneak it through. Valve sleuths Brad Lynch and @TVKilledMi...

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Samsung just turned its soundbar into a SmartThings hub

Samsung’s newest soundbar, the HW-Q900C, is now capable of being a SmartThings hub, | Image: Samsung

At its annual developer conference today, Samsung once again put its SmartThings smart home platform front and center, announcing that its newest soundbar, the HW-Q900C, is now capable of being a SmartThings hub, complete with support for Zigbee, Thread, and Matter.

The electronics giant has been pushing SmartThings aggressively over the last couple of years as it works to connect all its appliances, TVs, smartphones, and gadgets from other manufacturers together in a unified IoT-based smart home ecosystem. The addition of the soundbar to its Hub Everywhere program is a continuation of the company’s quest to put its smart home hubs everywhere, with the goal of making it easier for people to get started with the connected home.

The...

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The Verge Guide to Amazon’s October Prime Day event

Illustration by Hugo Herrera for The Verge

For the second year in a row, Amazon is holding a second Prime Day event in the fall. This year’s two-day deal blitz — aka Prime Big Deal Days — will run from Tuesday, October 10th, through Wednesday, October 11th, presenting Amazon Prime members with yet another opportunity to get a head start on their holiday shopping before Black Friday and Cyber Monday arrive.

As you might expect, the best deals will likely land on Amazon’s own devices, including Echo smart speakers and displays, Kindles, Fire tablets, and Amazon’s smart TV lineup. However, we typically see steep discounts on other electronics as well, such as noise-canceling earbuds, robot vacuums, smartwatches, laptops, and various smart home accessories (including video...

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Lego Animal Crossing is official — here’s the teaser and backstory

Tom Nook, Isabelle, Julian, Kapp’n, Marshall, Rosie, and... my wife and I don’t recognize the others right now. | Image: Lego via Jay’s Brick Blog

We still don’t have a Legend of Zelda or Metroid set, but Lego is slowly working its way through Nintendo’s most popular IP — today, it’s announcing that Animal Crossing is officially making its way to bricks.

Welcome to…LEGO Animal Crossing #LEGO #Nintendo pic.twitter.com/A0XRzwVikh

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) October 5, 2023

We don’t have any sets to show you yet, just the teaser you see above that shows off some of the minifigs in animated form. No release dates, either. But Animal Crossing Lego isn’t coming out of left field.

Last month, leaks suggested there would be at least five sets ranging between $14.99 and $74.99 coming next March, topping out at 535 pieces. I’m hoping that’s wrong since those...

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