The Witcher continues on Netflix with the Sirens of the Deep animated movie

Image: Netflix

Season 4 of The Witcher may be far off on the horizon, but there’s still plenty more of Geralt of Rivia in store on Netflix. At its Geeked Week event today, the streamer announced The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, an animated movie that takes place right in the middle of season 1 of the live-action show and is based on the short story A Little Sacrifice. Doug Cockle, the voice actor fromThe Witcher 3 video game, will be reprising the role of Geralt.

Here’s the official description:

Geralt of Rivia, a mutated monster hunter, is hired to investigate a series of attacks in a seaside village and finds himself drawn into a centuries-old conflict between humans and merpeople. He must count on friends — old and new — to solve the mystery before...

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The strikes are over — cue the rewatch podcasts

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

After four (!!) months, the SAG-AFTRA strike has ended. There is a lot to unpack about the contract, but I will let the showbiz experts (read: not me) handle that. For our purposes, there are a few key ways podcasting is affected.

The most immediate impact will be on the rewatch podcasts, which can finally resume business as normal. As Amrita Khalid reported this summer, TV rewatch podcasts hosted by shows’ former cast members counted as “promotion” and were therefore struck. After a long lull, we can expect a deluge of rewatch content in the coming weeks. (Christy Carlson Romano, for one, is very excited.)

These shows, many of which regularly rank in the top podcasts on Spotify and Apple, handled the strike in a number of different ways....

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The Verge’s staff tries to survive the holiday season

Photo: FX

Thanksgiving is coming, and after that, December and all of its various holidays. For many of us, this means lots of cooking and traveling and family gatherings, with all that entails. And this year, conversations around the dinner table may be even more fraught than usual.

So we asked the staff of The Verge what tools — hardware, software, physical, or mental — they use to get through the holidays. How do they deal with the demands of the kitchen or the demands of the kids? What gadgets and games make things happier and more interesting?

Here are some of their answers.

Go for a walk

Jay Peters, news editor

I generally love the holiday season; I’m very fortunate to have family that I can happily hang out with for days at a time. Every...

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Warner Bros. Discovery just canned another nearly finished film

Image: Warner Bros. Discovery

Warner Bros. Discovery just canned Coyote vs. Acme, a live-action and animated film featuring John Cena and the classic Looney Tunes hijinks of Wille E. Coyote. Director Dave Green confirmed that the nearly completed film will not be released shortly after Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter broke the news.

Coyote vs. Acme is the third almost finished film that CEO David Zaslav has shelved for financial reasons. Like Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt, Coyote vs. Acme got sent to the vault so Warner Bros. Discovery can get a tax write-off as part of its efforts to cut billions in costs following last year’s megamerger. Coyote vs. Acme film cost around $72 million to make, according to The Hollywood Reporter, making for a $30 million tax...

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Is the Cybertruck’s wiper actually multiple wipers in a row? An investigation

One big wiper, or three wipers in a trench coat? | Image: Parker Ortolani / The Verge

As Vergecast listeners know, I am deeply and forever fascinated by the Tesla Cybertruck’s wiper — it is one of the silliest design compromises in automotive history on a vehicle that is itself a rolling design compromise. I love it so much.

Anyway, I’ve been asking listeners to send in detailed shots of the wiper to confirm a rumor I’ve been hearing — my thanks to the dozens of people who’ve passed along photos. I didn’t have anything worth running until today, though: our own Parker Ortolani spotted a Cybertruck in NYC and took several photos that appear to show that the “single wiper” is actually multiple wiper blades stacked in a row.

The idea, I’ve been told, is apparently to make replacements easier — one assumes sourcing...

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Qualcomm’s satellite SOS for Android feature didn’t make it to launch

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Qualcomm is scrapping plans to offer a satellite SOS feature for Android phones that would have rivaled the one offered by Apple on its latest iPhones. The feature, Snapdragon Satellite, was announced in partnership with the satellite communications company Iridium in January. Now, just 10 months later, the plan is already dead.

Iridium said on Thursday that Qualcomm “elected to terminate” their partnership on the feature because no smartphone maker signed up to use it. The feature had already been “successfully developed and demonstrated,” Iridium writes. But apparently, the interest wasn’t there.

Qualcomm told CNBCthat it’ll continue working with Iridium on “standards-based solutions” to satellite connectivity, even as it scraps the...

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The Nintendo Switch OLED and Xbox Series X are on sale with a $75 Dell gift card

The stylish black-and-white version of the Switch OLED is on sale. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

It’s been a good week for console deals. Earlier this week, the Asus ROG Ally fell to a new all-time low and the PlayStation 5 bundle with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 dropped to $499 ($70 off). Now, Dell’s offering the black-and-white Nintendo Switch OLED console for $349.99 with a $75 Dell gift card, effectively dropping the price tag to $275. You also can use the gift card to pick up various games and accessories, like the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

But that’s not all. If you already own the Switch OLED, Dell is also selling the Xbox Series X for $449.99 ($50 off) and adding the same $75 gift card. That means you can also save on games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor or controllers like Microsoft’s Xbox Elite...

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Apple MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max review: the most power for the most money

This laptop is undoubtedly fast, powerful, and earns the Pro moniker. It’ll also cost you a pretty penny.

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Arlo’s new home security subscription service covers both hardware and monitoring

Some of the Arlo equipment you get with the $49.99 per month Total Security tier. | Image: Arlo

Arlo is launching a new home security subscription service that includes 24/7 monitoring and all the hardware expected from a do-it-yourself package — plus high-quality 2K cameras included in the advanced tier. The offering, which is called Arlo Total Security, is like a hybrid of traditional home security companies (think ADT) that take care of the hardware with monitoring and smart home packages like Nest Secure and SimpliSafe, where you buy and install the equipment but pay for the service separately.

The real meat of Arlo’s offering is the top-tier $49.99 per month hardware and monitoring package that includes very good quality 2K cameras with 12x zoom (although it’s not the top 4K camera option). Competing security cameras from Ring...

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The Verge’s favorite holiday gifts under $100

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

The world can be an expensive place. Fortunately, we’ve assembled 30-odd gifts that are designed to keep your holiday spending (mostly) in check.

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A24 is making an Elon Musk biopic directed by Darren Aronofsky

Photo by Leon Neal / Getty Images

In the grand scheme of history, Elon Musk’s full story feels like it has many more chapters left to go, but that isn’t stopping A24 from making a big, flashy biopic about him with The Whale director Darren Aronofsky helming the camera.

Puck reports that a new Muck biopic based on Walter Isaacson’s recent biography of the South African billionaire is in the works.

Currently, no writer or other members of the movie’s creative team have been announced, but the news comes in the wake of The Whale garnering critical acclaim and Brendan Fraser winning a best actor Oscar for his performance as the film’s central character. Director Danny Boyle’s 2015 Steve Jobs drama, also based on a biography penned by Isaacson, was similarly well received...

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Sony’s new ‘slim’ PlayStation 5 is smaller but also weirder

From some angles, it really feels like an ugly competition.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Sony’s refreshed, slimmed-down consoles ever since the adorable PS One. All the Sony consoles I’ve owned were launch versions that are bigger and goofier-looking than their eventual redesigns — giving me massive FOMO — but I think my love affair for “slim” PlayStations is now at an end with the new PlayStation 5.

If there’s ever been a PlayStation in need of a glow-up, it’s the PS5. Sony’s white-and-black obelisk is a gargantuan console with a design that you learn to live with more than you grow to love. The thought of course-correcting the PS5 design like Sony did with the George Foreman grill-style PlayStation 3 should be a slam dunk, but what we’ve now got with the $499.99 new PlayStation 5 and $449.99...

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Where to order the new PlayStation 5 slim

You’re in luck if you want the new slimmer PS5 — at least, the one with a disc drive. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

The current generation of consoles is getting its first redesign, with Sony’s new PlayStation 5 “slim” now finally landing after its October announcement. The revised PS5 may not be all that small, but it does feature a unique detachable disc drive, two front-facing USB-C ports (instead of one USB-C and one USB-A), and expanded internal storage of 1TB. The new PS5 Digital Edition starts at $449.99 (notably, that’s $50 more than the original PS5 Digital Edition costs), while the standard PS5 with the removable disc drive included runs the same $499.99 as the prior larger model it’s replacing.

The new PS5 consoles are certainly unique, playing the same games as the original models at the same 4K graphical fidelity and offering users the...

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Samsung Galaxy Buds FE review: sometimes the fit is everything

These $100 earbuds offer good sound and impressive noise cancellation for the price, and they bring back the wing tip design of the Galaxy Buds Plus.

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Netflix and Max could be offered together in a $10 Verizon streaming bundle

Cheaper bundles could result in fewer customers canceling their subscriptions when they’re finished watching exclusives like Netflix’s One Piece (pictured). | COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Verizon is planning to offer its customers a discounted bundle of streaming services that includes the ad-supported tiers of both Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery's Max. People “familiar with the situation” told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the bundle will cost $10 a month instead of the roughly $17 per month you’d pay for the services separately.

It’s unusual for two rival streaming services to agree to a bundle, but there are benefits to doing so via distributors like Verizon, Comcast, Apple, and Amazon. Bundles can attract more customers to both streaming services, and reduce the number of people canceling their subscriptions when they are done watching a specific show. Earlier this week, Sowmyanarayan Sampath, chief...

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Disney delays Deadpool 3 and other Marvel films as actors’ strike ends

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine on the set of Deadpool 3. | Image: Marvel Studios

Disney has pushed back the release of Deadpool 3 from May 3rd 2024 to July 26th, Deadline reports, days after a tentative deal was reached to end the actors’ strike. According to The Hollywood Reporter, production will resume on the film in the next couple of weeks in London, where Marvel and Disney have paid to keep the film’s sets intact while production was on hold due.

It’s one of several Marvel Studios films to see their release dates change like falling dominos. Captain America: Brave New World, which had originally been due to release July 26th, 2024, will now instead release on February 14th, 2025, and Blade has been pushed back from that date to November 7th, 2025. Finally, Thunderbolts has been delayed from December 20th, 2024...

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Google offered Netflix a sweetheart deal to pay just 10 percent on Google Play

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Spotify isn't the only one that negotiated with Google for special treatment. Netflix did, too.

In 2017, Google offered Netflix a special discounted rate of 10 percent of its in-app payments on Android — meaning Netflix could keep 90 percent of the money — according to documents and testimony in the Epic v. Google trial.

Today, you can’t subscribe to Netflix from inside the Netflix app on Android, but that wasn’t always the case. Netflix previously paid Google 15 percent to do that, Netflix VP of business development Paul Perryman said in a 2022 video deposition that aired in the courtroom on Thursday.

Once upon a time, when Netflix could offer its own method of payment, it paid closer to three percent, he said. Google eventually cut...

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Sundar Pichai will take the stand in Epic v. Google

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is set to testify on Tuesday in Epic’s lawsuit against Google. Epic plans to call Pichai as a witness as it makes its case alleging that Google Play is an unlawful monopoly.

In court documents, Google has requested to use a podium in the courtroom on Tuesday, which suggests that Pichai may indeed appear to testify; last month, when he testified in US v. Google, Pichai stood behind a podium instead of sitting because of apparent back issues.

Pichai’s appearance isn’t a total surprise, as the CEO appeared as one of 53 witnesses Epic said it may or may not call before the trial kicked off. But what he says might be a big deal, given his decision-making role as chief executive at the company — and also because...

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Steam Deck OLED, ROG Ally, and more: all the news about the handheld PC gaming revolution

Valve’s Steam Deck and its carrying case. | Image: Valve

Catch up on our coverage of PC gaming handhelds, starting with Valve’s category-defining Steam Deck.

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Unity is probably going to do layoffs

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge

In its Q3 earnings report published Thursday, game development software company Unity announced that it will “likely” be implementing layoffs as part of broader cost saving measures.

In the report, the company says it is assessing its product portfolio “to focus on those products that are most valuable to our customers” and is “evaluating the right cost structure that aligns with the more focused portfolio.” It plans to make changes during the fourth quarter, and they will “likely include discontinuing certain product offerings, reducing our workforce, and reducing our office footprint.” The company expects to complete its changes before the end of Q1 2024.

Unity has taken a beating the last few months. In September, it announced a...

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Google won’t say if companies beyond Spotify got secret special app store deals

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge

After Google confirmed yesterday that it gave Spotify a sweetheart deal on Android app store fees, we were curious if dating company Bumble or any of the other 80 or so developers that have joined Google’s “User Choice Billing” program were similarly given an alternative arrangement or other sweeteners.

Google spokesperson Dan Jackson would not answer our question.

Jackson confirmed that “the standard service fee the developer pays is reduced by 4 percent” with User Choice Billing, and he pointed us toward Bumble’s Q4 2022 earnings call, where CFO Anu Subramanian suggests to investors that Bumble, at least, did not have a special rate at the time:

Yeah, on User Choice Billing, you know, we don’t expect that to have any impact on margins....

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Call of Duty anti-cheat update will make cheaters go splat

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Activision is getting set to launch a new, and dare I say fun, system to counter cheaters in Call of Duty: Warzone. As part of an update to the game’s Ricochet anti-cheat system, a new feature called Splat will randomly and without warning plummet detected cheaters straight to the ground after deployment at the start of a match. (Hence the name, Splat.)

Activision has toyed with Call of Duty cheaters in a few different ways as of late. The publisher gifted an automatic god mode and invisibility to players getting shot by detected cheaters and later shamed cheaters by announcing they’ve been booted in the kill feed.

Taking away parachutes isn’t the only mitigation included with Splat. If people are detected as cheating after the start of...

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Apple to pay up to $25 million over hiring discrimination

Illustration: The Verge

Apple has agreed to pay up to $25 million to settle claims that it engaged in hiring discrimination. On Thursday, the Department of Justice announced that $18.25 million will go toward creating a backpay fund for affected victims, while the remaining $6.75 million is in civil penalties.

The DOJ found that Apple violated the Immigration and Nationality Act when recruiting through a permanent labor certification program (PERM), which lets companies hire foreign workers permanently in the US. When recruiting workers for this program, the DOJ says Apple didn’t advertise openings on its website “even though its standard practice was to post other job positions on this website.”

The DOJ also found that Apple only accepted PERM position...

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Ultraman: Rising’s new trailer transforms its titanic hero into a dad

Ultraman’s classic powers make him well-equipped to deal with almost any larger-than-life situation threatening the lives of ordinary people. But in the first teaser for Netflix’s new animated Ultraman: Rising feature from co-directors Shannon Tindle and John Aoshima, none of the hero’s incredible powers can prepare him for the challenges of becoming a father… to a baby kaiju.

Ultraman: Rising tells the story of how Japanese baseballer Ken Sato (Christopher Sean) returns to his home country with the intention of becoming the next Ultraman and Earth’s protector, only to inadvertently find himself saddled with the responsibility of raising a baby kaiju. When an encounter with one of Ultraman’s deadliest monster enemies results in Ken’s...

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Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender series finally has a trailer

Image: Netflix

We’ve seen the announcements, then the actors, the teaser, and now the first official trailer for Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation is finally here.

The trailer was a short but packed affair, offering really good looks at both the main characters and the just-as-beloved side characters. Kyoshi Warrior Suki looks amazing, as does the Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se. Avatar fans, it is looking good.

Yesterday, Netflix teased that the trailer was on its way, giving us another (if a bit blurry) look at the Gaang. Earlier this year, we got our first look at Sokka, Katara, Aang, and Zuko, while Netflix later released photos of Fire Lord Ozai, Uncle Iroh, Azula, and General Zhao. With the principle players assembled, all that was...

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SpaceX found a legal workaround to block the DOJ’s discrimination lawsuit

Laura Normand / The Verge

The Elon Musk-owned SpaceX won a court order preventing the Department of Justice’s hiring discrimination lawsuit from moving forward, as reported earlier by Reuters. In a decision on Wednesday, US District Judge Rolando Olvera ruled that the DOJ’s administrative judges don’t have the authority to review the case.

The DOJ sued SpaceX in August over allegations that the company refused to hire asylum seekers and refugees. The agency, which has been investigating SpaceX’s hiring practices since 2020, accused SpaceX of discouraging refugees and asylum seekers from applying “by wrongly stating that SpaceX can only hire U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.”

SpaceX countersued the DOJ in response, alleging that the administrative law...

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Umbrella Academy’s first season 4 teaser is one big mystery

With Netflix’s Umbrella Academycoming to a close with its upcoming fourth season, it seemed like Netflix planned on giving viewers at least a little peek at what to expect during this week’s Geeked Week showcase. Turns out, that’s not quite the case.

Every member of The Umbrella Academy’s core cast seems quite excited about the new directions the show’s fourth season’s going to take their characters. But you’d be hard pressed to suss out just what, exactly, is going to become of the Hargreeves siblings now that they’re trapped in an alternate timeline following the events of the show’s season 3 finale. Apparently, we can look forward to seeing new villains, though, and it’s going to be very interesting to find out whether season 4...

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Humane’s AI Pin: all the news about the new AI-powered wearable

A promotional image of Humane’s AI Pin. | Image: Humane

Humane has finally shared the details about its new device.

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Tumblr is downscaling after failing to ‘turn around’ the site

Illustration: The Verge

Tumblr is downscaling its ambitions after failing to reach goals for a new audience, aiming to move some staff members to other divisions of parent company Automattic. A leaked memo, which circulated on Tumblr and was confirmed in a Verge comment by Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg, says that “the majority” of Tumblr’s non-support, safety, and moderation staff will “switch to other divisions.” In followup posts on Tumblr, Mullenweg stated that Automattic is planning “a more focused approach in 2024,” including an emphasis on the “core functionality” of the site.

“After 600+ person-years of effort put into Tumblr since the acquisition in 2019, we have not gotten the expected results from our effort, which was to have its revenue and usage...

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Netflix teases Arcane season 2 for November 2024

Image: Netflix

Netflix has offered a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it first look at Arcane season two.

During its Geeked Week celebration of all things animated and nerdy, Netflix finally showed off the tiniest bit of the second season of its award-winning League of Legends adaptation.

Arcane. Season 2. November 2024. #GeekedWeek pic.twitter.com/LmLWrp27v3

— Netflix (@netflix) November 9, 2023

Considering this was just a teaser lasting about as long as an iron-ranked player somewhere in a diamond game, hopefully, we’ll have more to chew on as we get closer to its 2024 release.

Fans have been languishing for two years since Arcane’s debut in November 2021. The story, characters, and animation were well-received, with Arcane winning several Emmys, including...

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