YouTube pages are getting a TikTok-like For You feed

The new For You section gives each channel its own algorithmic feed. | Screenshot: The Verge

YouTube is debuting a new For You section for creators’ channels, personalized to whoever opens the page. It will start showing up on November 20th, according to a post from YouTube’s support account, which says the section will recommend “a mix of content from your channel to viewers based on their watch history.”

Creators can turn the feature on or off in the customization menu under channel settings. Alternatively, clicking “more settings” under the “recommendations for your viewers” section pops up more controls for the new section. Creators can then decide if they want only shorts, livestreams, or full videos there — or all of those or a mix of two. There are also options to include all content or just recent material.

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Where to preorder the PlayStation Portal ahead of its launch next week

Sony’s $200 gaming device is just around the corner. | Image: Sony

For months, rumors had been circulating about the release date for Sony’s upcoming handheld, the PlayStation Portal. In August, Sony finally gave us an answer: the PlayStation Portal will launch on November 15th. The portable device, which will be able to stream PlayStation 5 games over Wi-Fi, will retail for $199.99.

There is a chance the PlayStation Portal will sell out as quickly as the PlayStation 5 did when it was first released, which is perhaps why Sony is currently limiting orders to one device per customer. We have yet to test the Portal — stay tuned to The Verge dot com on that front — but if you’re someone who wants to secure a unit at launch, rest assured it’s still available for preorder at multiple retailers in the US and...

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Apple’s second-gen AirPods are nearly half off for Black Friday

You can buy the second-generation AirPods for just $69. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Black Friday may not be for another two weeks, but it doesn’t seem like most retailers care about that. Amazon and Walmart are both currently selling the second-generation AirPods for $69 ($60 off), the lowest price we’ve ever seen on what is already Apple’s cheapest pair of earbuds. Note, however, that the Walmart deal at the moment is only available to its paying Walmart Plus members.

Though they’re an old pair of earbuds, the second-generation AirPods have stood the test of time. They continue to offer terrific sound quality along with excellent wireless performance and long battery life, while integrating well with other iOS devices. They don’t offer IPX4 water resistance and MagSafe charging compatibilities like the third-gen...

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Reports of The Marvels being good have not been greatly exaggerated

Brie Larson as Carol Danvers. | Image: Marvel Studios

Nia DaCosta’s Captain Marvel sequel stands head and shoulders above its predecessor, with a bighearted story and a trio of performances that’ll remind you how much fun comic book storytelling can be.

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Google is bringing its AI-powered search to more than 120 new countries and territories

Illustration: The Verge

Google is bringing its Search Generative Experience (SGE) to more than 120 new countries, including Mexico, Brazil, South Korea, Indonesia, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, according to a blog post from Google’s Hema Budaraju. SGE will also support four new languages, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, and Indonesian, which add to its current support for English, Hindi, and Japanese.

The expansion means that a lot more people can choose to mess around with SGE. You’ll still need to jump through some hoops to try it: you have to opt in via Google’s Search Labs program, and once you have, you can only use SGE on Chrome on desktop or the Google app on Android and iOS. (In the newly added countries, SGE is accessible on Chrome on desktop...

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Kevin Feige’s Star Wars film is no longer happening

Kevin Feige at the Hawkeye premiere in Los Angeles, November 17, 2021. | Photo: Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images

Longtime Marvel boss Kevin Feige says the Star Wars movie he was supposed to make is no more. Entertainment Tonight asked Feige about it during the Las Vegas premiere of The Marvels, and he gave a definitively terse “no.”

It’s been four years since a Feige Star Wars film was confirmed, but apart from the fact that he was writing a script for the movie, no details have ever really emerged. Then, in March, Variety reported both his and Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars movies had been shelved.

We are talking to Kevin Feige at 'The Marvels' premiere in Las Vegas and all of our questions we answered! pic.twitter.com/BPSPSGDwlS

— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) November 8, 2023

That leaves three — or maybe six —...

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SiriusXM has a new app, a new logo, and new audience to conquer

SiriusXM’s new logo and app icon. | Image: SiriusXM

SiriusXM debuted a revamped version of its app on Wednesday, designed to integrate the company’s three business: its flagship satellite service SiriusXM, the music streamer Pandora, and its growing network of podcasts. The app will launch on mobile on December 14th, then start coming to cars next year.

As younger audiences have moved away from traditional and satellite radio, SiriusXM has worked to build up its offerings beyond its flagship service. The company acquired Pandora and Stitcher over the past five years, but it largely kept them as distinct entities. The new app represents the most significant attempt SiriusXM has made in integrating its different offerings.

“We want you to find and listen to the content, whether it is live,...

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How to watch the third Republican debate

Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images

The third Republican debate ahead of the 2024 presidential election is set to take place tonight in Miami, Florida. The field has narrowed down to five candidates who will likely spar on issues like the Israel-Hamas war, especially as Congress prepares a new funding package for Israel. Front-runner Donald Trump is, yet again, not among them.

If you’re interested in tuning in, here’s what you need to know.

What time does the Republican debate start?

The third GOP debate takes place on Wednesday, November 8th, at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT and is expected to last two hours.

How do I watch the third Republican debate?

NBC News is hosting this debate, and it will air live on the network’s television channel, streaming platforms, and website...

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Lego’s three-foot-tall Avengers Tower comes packed with Marvel minifigs

Image: Lego

Lego’s latest Marvel set is a big one. Standing nearly three feet tall and made up of 5,201 pieces, Lego’s $499.99 Avengers Tower (76269) comes with a total of 31 mini figures — more than nearly every other Lego set.

The set includes some of Marvel’s most well-known heroes, villains, and supporting characters, such as Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, War Machine, Ultron, Loki, Pepper Potts, Nick Fury, War Machine, and more. There’s even a minifig of Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. You can check out the full list here.

While the Avengers Tower may have more minifigs than all of Lego’s modern sets, there are still some older models that top it. That includes the 1970s-era Lego Fabuland 3695 Figure collection,...

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You can now get a PlayStation 5 with Spider-Man 2 thrown in free

Prices are dropping like Miles in a cool pose. | Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment

The smaller PlayStation 5 with a detachable disc drive is expected to land soon, but why wait and pay full price when you can get the current console with one of its best new games thrown in for free?

As part of an early Black Friday promo, retailers are discounting the standard disc-compatible PlayStation 5 console in a bundle with a digital copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 — marking the combo down to $499.99 (about $70 off, which is the cost of the included title). This deal is widely available now at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and soon, Walmart.

While the PS5 is nearly three years old, Spider-Man 2 does an excellent job of showing what the console is capable of. The action-adventure game starring both Miles Morales and Peter Parker uses...

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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s first trailer has too much chill

Image: Sony Pictures

Things are going to get a little frigid in New York City — at least in the Ghostbusters universe. The first teaser trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire centers on a (literally) killer storm that descends on the city, which apparently carries something known as the “death chill.” Good thing we all know who to call.

Frozen Empire follows the story of 2021’s Afterlife, which was a direct sequel to the original films with a (mostly) new cast. The new movie is directed by Gil Kenan, who served as writer on Afterlife; he’s also penning the script alongside Jason Reitman. Much of the cast from Afterlife is returning here as well, including Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Logan Kim, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Annie...

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Airbnb is finally adding support for smart locks to its app

Hosts can soon integrate smart locks to Airbnb, and guests will get clearer-than-ever instructions. | Image: Airbnb

Airbnb launched a new software update that enables the integration of smart locks so hosts don’t need to worry about issuing new door codes and guests can find them without hassle. The update could alleviate some stressors when renting an Airbnb, as guests could get lost looking for smart door code messages, and hosts could miscommunicate the information.

Smart lock integration will work with certain hardware by companies August, Schlage, and Yale (specific models were not named). Airbnb says it can automatically generate the code, and guests can view it in the Airbnb app, via email, and get a notification before they arrive. The code will deactivate after the guest checks out.

GIF: Airbnb

Adding a smart lock to...

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Captain Laserhawk’s Adi Shankar on multiverses, AI, and Rayman propaganda

Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Dominique Charriau, Getty Images

As wild as the world of Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix might seem, it all makes perfect sense in creator Adi Shankar’s mind.

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Ikea launches its first smart LED strip at the right price

The Ormanäs RGB LED smart light strip looks like it has the right balance of features. | Images: Ikea

Ikea launched the Ormanäs, its first smart RGB LED light strip, in the Netherlands. The news comes by way ofDutch tech site Tweakers,which notes that the Ormanäs is a four-meter, or roughly 13-foot, dimmable Zigbee affair for €29.99 (about $32) that works with the company’s Dirigera smart hub. The light strip is only available in the Netherlands for now, but Ikea typically starts its rollouts there before bringing products to the US and beyond.

The strip is simple and, judging from the images on Ikea’s site, won’t have individually addressable LEDs like some of the fancier strips on the market — which means the whole strip will show only a single color at a time. Still, it supports multiple control methods like the Ikea Home app and...

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WhatsApp can now hide your IP address during calls for added security

Image: WhatsApp

Calls on WhatsApp are (optionally) getting even more secure for the app’s most privacy-minded users. As outlined in this blog post, WhatsApp just added a new “protect IP address in calls” toggle to its settings that shields your IP from whoever’s on the other side of a call. When activated, calls will be relayed through Meta / WhatsApp servers, thus concealing your true IP address.

“Most calling products people use today have peer-to-peer connections between participants. This direct connection allows for faster data transfers and better call quality, but it also means that participants need to know each other’s IP addresses,” WhatsApp’s Daniel Sommermann, Sebastian Messmer, and Attaullah Baig wrote in the post. “IP addresses may contain...

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The Verge’s 2023 home tech holiday gift guide

Photo Illustration by Amelia Holowaty Krales and Cath Virginia / The Verge

From color-changing lights to gadgets that’ll take care of dinner for you and your pets, here are some of our favorite smart home gifts.

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Apple iMac M3 review: searching for a purpose

The latest version of Apple’s venerable all-in-one desktop is an excellent and beautiful computer. It just doesn’t fit most modern computing needs.

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ChatGPT is currently down in a ‘major’ OpenAI outage

Illustration: The Verge

OpenAI’s ChatGPT service is currently down and inaccessible for its 100 million weekly active users. ChatGPT went down shortly before 9AM ET / 6AM PT and has remained inaccessible for nearly an hour now. OpenAI says it’s experiencing a major outage that’s also impacting the company’s API services. ChatGPT users are being greeted with a “ChatGPT is at capacity right now” message.

OpenAI says it has “identified an issue resulting in high error rates across the API and ChatGPT, and we are working on remediation.”

This latest outage comes a day after a partial outage affected both ChatGPT and API services for a few hours last night. ChatGPT hasn’t had any significant problems for months now, with the AI-powered service continuing to be one...

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Cruise is recalling 950 driverless cars after one of its vehicles ran over a pedestrian

Photo by Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu via Getty Images

Cruise, the self-driving car subsidiary of General Motors, says it is recalling 950 of its driverless vehicles in response to an October incident in which one of its robotaxis ran over a pedestrian.

The recall, which was initiated by the company, will take the form of an over-the-air software update to the collision detection subsystem so the vehicle remains stationary during certain crash incidents, rather than pulling over to the side of the road.

On October 2nd, a pedestrian was struck by a hit-and-run driver in San Francisco, throwing her in the path of a nearby Cruise vehicle. The driverless car then attempted to pull over to the side of the road, dragging the pedestrian 20 feet and seriously injuring her.

In the recall notice,...

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Amazon’s latest Prime perk is a $100 discount on One Medical

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon announced that Prime subscribers can now join One Medical, the primary care service that Amazon acquired for $3.9 billion, at a steep discount. A membership normally costs $199 per year, but the company has dropped that price to $99 annually (or $9 monthly) for its Prime customers. The discount is effective immediately and available beginning today at this link.

This gives Prime members an easy and much faster way of seeing a primary care doctor without waiting weeks or months, as can often be the case with the US healthcare system. Up to five additional family members can be added to a One Medical plan for $6 / month per person. It’s the most significant move Amazon has made yet with One Medical after offering smaller discounts...

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Grand Theft Auto VI’s first trailer will debut in December

Image: Rockstar

It’s finally happening: Rockstar Games has officially revealed that the next chapter of the Grand Theft Auto franchise will get a trailer next month. Likely to be called GTA VI, the new game is expected to feature the series’ first female protagonist, influenced by Bonnie and Clyde. GTA VI will also reportedly be set in a fictionalized version of Miami, just like 2002’s GTA: Vice City.

After reports of a GTA VI reveal this week, Rockstar Games took to X (formerly Twitter) today to officially announce that a trailer “for the next Grand Theft Auto” is coming in early December.

It has been a long time coming for GTA fans. Grand Theft Auto V launched a decade ago in 2013 and, since then, has been ported to successive generations of hardware...

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Spotify’s free audiobook perk is now live for US Premium subscribers

Premium subscribers in the US can now access Spotify’s catalog of 200,000 audiobooks. | Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Spotify Premium subscribers in the US can now access the streaming platform’s on-demand catalog of over 200,000 audiobooks, alongside 15 hours of listening each month for free. Ten hours of additional listening can be purchased for $10.99 if you need a top-up between billing cycles. Premium subscriptions start at $10.99 per month.

Audiobooks will appear on the Spotify home feed, and specific titles can be searched for just like music tracks. Spotify has also curated a selection of nine suggested audiobook titles if you need some recommendations on where to start. Audiobook access has already rolled out to paid Spotify subscribers in the UK and Australia.

Image: Spotify

Do your own math, obviously, but shorter...

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GM is attracted to these new non-rare earth magnets for its EV motors

A Niron Magnetics employee takes quality measurements | Image: Sara Rubinstein for General Motors

General Motors is eyeing a new type of magnet for its EV motors that’s less dependent on rare earth minerals from China.

The automaker is forming a “strategic partnership” with Niron Magnetics, a Minnesota-based company that is developing magnetic technology based in iron nitride. GM’s venture arm is also investing an undisclosed sum into the company as it seeks to incorporate new technologies into its EV production.

The hope is that Niron’s magnets can eventually be used in the motors for the company’s electric vehicles, most of which currently use permanent magnets made from rare earth and heavy earth minerals from China. In contrast, Niron’s magnets purport to use iron nitride, which is comprised of the much more common elements of...

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Samsung Galaxy S23 FE review: parts bin revisited

There’s nothing wrong with the Galaxy S23 FE, but it feels like an uninspired collection of surplus components rather than one for the fans.

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Microsoft offers politicians protection against deepfakes

Julia Nikhinson/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

Amid growing concern that AI can make it easier to spread misinformation, Microsoft is offering its services, including a digital watermark identifying AI content, to help crack down on deepfakes and enhance cybersecurity ahead of several worldwide elections.

In a blog post co-authored by Microsoft president Brad Smith and Microsoft’s corporate vice president, Technology for Fundamental Rights Teresa Hutson, the company said it will offer several services to protect election integrity, including the launch of a new tool that harnesses the Content Credentials watermarking system developed by the Coalition for Content Provenance Authenticity’s (C2PA). The goal of the service is to help candidates protect the use of their content and...

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Meta to require political advertisers disclose AI-generated content

Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta announced Wednesday that it would require advertisers to disclose when potentially misleading AI-generated or altered content is featured in political, electoral, or social issue ads.

The new rule applies to advertisements on Facebook and Instagram that contain “realistic” images, videos, or audio falsely showing someone doing something they never did or imagining a real event playing out differently than it did in reality. Content depicting realistic-looking fake people or events would also need to be disclosed. The policy is expected to go into effect next year.

“In the New Year, advertisers who run ads about social issues, elections & politics with Meta will have to disclose if image or sound has been created or altered...

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Google turns to regulators to make Apple open up iMessage

Green bubbles in Apple’s Messages app. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

iMessage serves as “an important gateway between business users and their customers” and should be regulated as a “core” service under the EU’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA), said Google and a group of major European telcos in a letter sent to the European Commission, and seen by The Financial Times. Being designated as a “core platform service” would be significant for iMessage, as it could compel Apple to make it interoperable with other messaging services.

The letter arrives as the European Commission investigates whether iMessage meets the requirements to be regulated under the bloc’s strict DMA rules.

Google has been very vocal about its desire for Apple to adopt RCS, the cross-platform messaging standard pitched as the successor...

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Samsung’s Galaxy S24 will likely include on-device generative AI called Samsung Gauss

Image: JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images

Samsung has started to detail its own generative AI model, Samsung Gauss, that can run locally on devices. Korea Times reports that Gauss will be integrated into the next Galaxy S24 handset, expected in early 2024. Samsung showcased Gauss during its own AI forum this week, revealing how the AI model can generate and edit images, compose emails, summarize documents, and even operate as a coding assistant.

Parts of Samsung’s Gauss model can run locally on the device, and Samsung executives teased last month that the company will start adding generative AI to “core functions” of mobile devices starting in 2024. That comment followed reports of an AI focus for Samsung’s Galaxy S24, which is widely expected to be announced in early 2024.

S...

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Grand Theft Auto 6 reveal reportedly happening this week, with trailer dropping in December

Grand Theft Auto V was a huge hit. | Image: Getty

Rockstar Games reportedly plans to reveal Grand Theft Auto VI, the next installment in the hugely popular open-world franchise,as early as this week. Bloomberg reports that an announcement could come this week, with a trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI set to drop in December to mark 25 years of Rockstar Games.

Rockstar first confirmed it was working on the next Grand Theft Auto in February 2022, and that active development for the unnamed title was “well underway.” Since then a report from Bloomberg claimed that Grand Theft Auto VI will feature the series’ first female protagonist, influenced by Bonnie and Clyde. Grand Theft Auto VI will also reportedly be set in a fictionalized version of Miami, similar to the location used for 2022’s G...

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LG’s new ultrawide monitors are a little smaller and a little cheaper

It’s wide. | LG

LG has a pair of new 45-inch ultrawide gaming monitors. That sounds very wide to me, though LG says it’s the equivalent of two 24-inch monitors, which sounds almost compact compared to the 49-inchers from Samsung and LG, or the gargantuan Samsung Odyssey Ark we tested last year.

The UltraGear 45GR65DC ($799) and 45GR75DC ($899) are slightly smaller and a few hundred bucks cheaper than the 49-inch 49GR85DC, which we wisely just called the 49-inch UltraGear when we wrote about it earlier in the year. I can’t do that with these since there are two of them, but they’re basically the same except that the 45GR75DC has USB-C with 90W power delivery and the 45GR65DC doesn’t. If you preorder the fancier one before the 19th, LG will throw in a...

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