Apple and Hey squash another App Store beef

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple has accepted Hey’s new calendar app, according to 37signals co-owner David Heinemeier Hansson (aka DHH), ending a brief but familiar App Store battle between the two companies. Apple rejected the calendar app last week, arguing that it didn’t do anything if you don’t subscribe to a Hey account — which is the same line of argument that led Apple to initially reject Hey’s email app in 2020.

Hey had planned to launch the calendar app on January 2nd, but after learning of the rejection on January 5th, the company scrambled to update the app and resubmit it to better meet Apple’s guidelines. On Monday, DHH said that the revised version of the calendar app would let you look through Apple history on the calendar if you don’t have an...

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Today is the last day to take advantage of Epic Games’ annual winter sale

Alan Wake 2_, Remedy’s latest supernatural thriller, is down to just $26.79 thanks to the latest Epic Games promo._ | Image: Remedy Entertainment

Unsurprisingly, the holidays have always been a terrific opportunity to save on the latest title or revisit the classics you may have missed, often for far less than their usual asking price. But while Steam’s winter sale has come and gone — taking its terrific Diablo IV discount along with it — there’s still time to take advantage of Epic Games’ annual holiday sale, which runs until January 10th at 11AM ET.

The full list of eligible titles is exhaustive, to be honest, but there are a couple of newer PC games worth highlighting. If you’re looking for a very heady third-person shooter with some Twin Peaks vibes that pulls out all the stops when it comes to ray tracing, for instance, Alan Wake 2 is on sale for $39.99 ($10 off) with a...

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Artists are making creative companies apologize for using AI

Artists have noted various inconsistencies with several of the dragon images in Wacom’s recent promotional campaign. | Image: Wacom

Popular drawing tablet manufacturer Wacom is the latest target being slammed by the digital art community after appearing to use AI-generated images in ads. Over the weekend, creatives across X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok noticed that Wacom was promoting its Intuos pen tablet with a dragon illustration that showed telltale marks of AI-generated images — such as questionable scale designs and fur blending unnaturally into other sections of the image.

Wacom deleted the images without explanation, fueling speculation that an industry-standard brand for artists was using tools widely criticized for replacing them. And it wasn’t the only AI controversy this weekend. Wizards of the Coast (WotC), the publisher behind Magic: The Gathering and D...

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The Mandalorian and Grogu are getting a movie

Image: Lucasfilm

After three seasons on Disney Plus, Din Djarin and his adorable protege are heading to the big screen. Today, Lucasfilm announced that a movie based on The Mandalorian was in the works, with production starting in 2024 and series creator Jon Favreau as director. Favreau will also be serving as producer alongside Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and Star Wars mainstay Dave Filoni. The film is called, fittingly, The Mandalorian & Grogu.

That’s about all we have to go on right now. There are no details on when the movie will take place or any hints at a plot. In a statement, Kennedy said simply that “this new story is a perfect fit for the big screen.” Here’s a piece of teaser art to get your Star Wars juices flowing:

I...

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Telly’s free ad-supported TV will use ChatGPT for its voice assistant

Telly’s free ad-supported TV is getting ChatGPT. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Telly, the company giving people free 55-inch 4K TVs as long as they’re willing to live with persistent ads on a second screen, is previewing a “Hey Telly” voice assistant that will be based on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, at least at first. Users will interact with it on the TV’s second (lower) screen, and the company says it “will come to know and recognize the Telly owner” over time and offer personalized recommendations to users. The company didn’t say when the feature will be available.

The existing SoundHound-powered voice assistant is limited to more mundane tasks like setting timers, changing picture modes, or answering simple questions.

Telly also says other household users can opt to have the chatbot personalized to them, offering the...

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Lamborghini will measure your heart rate as you burn rubber around the track

Image: Lamborghini

Lamborghini announced new telemetry features that allow supercar owners to better keep track of their very fast vehicles — and themselves.

The automaker unveiled Telemetry X, its new real-time performance and biometric data-tracking system, at CES in Las Vegas. The system consists of several features, including Remote Garage, Biometric Data, and Digital Co-Pilot, aimed at letting wealthy supercar owners keep better track of their laps.

Photo: Lamborghini

Remote Garage is basically a remote coaching feature, enabling a 5G cellular connection to send real-time footage, images, and data to a coach “anywhere in the world” who can give tips to improve your track time. I can see this being helpful to racing amateurs who...

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Satechi’s new Qi2 charging stands are stylish and storable

Satechi’s 3-in-1 Qi2 charging stand will net you 15 watts of charging power. | Image: Satechi

Our universal, wireless, magnetic, and fast-charging future is here as the first Qi2 chargers start to arrive, and Satechi is showing off its first two compatible products today at CES.

Both devices are folding stands designed to charge a pair of earbuds and a phone — using MagSafe or Qi2 — at the same time, while the higher-end of the devices adds an Apple Watch charger to the back. The company said in its announcement that they’ll be available in the second quarter of the year, costing $79.99 for the 2-in-1 stand and $129.99 for the 3-in-1 version.

Satechi’s new stands fold flat and come with a 45W power supply and two travel adapters for foreign plugs. Satechi even says the 3-in-1 model supports fast charging for the Apple Watches...

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Samsung’s Galaxy phones will soon work as a PC webcam for Microsoft Teams

Image: Samsung

Microsoft and Samsung’s Android partnership will continue in 2024, with new Copilot integration and the ability to use a Galaxy smartphone camera as a webcam on a PC. Samsung revealed both new features during its CES keynote this week, with Copilot set to arrive in March and the webcam feature for Microsoft Teams later this year.

“Starting with our latest flagship smartphones later this year, people will be able to use the fantastic clarity and resolution of their Galaxy smartphone cameras to enhance a meeting on services like Microsoft Teams,” explains Jonathan Gabrio, head of the connected experience center at Samsung. The webcam support will include both the front- and rear-facing cameras, and the ability to apply background blur and...

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How Microsoft found a potential new battery material using AI

Samples of the new solid electrolyte discovered by Microsoft AI and HPC tools. | Photo by Dan DeLong for Microsoft.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and large-scale cloud computing is speeding up the search for new battery materials. An AI-enhanced collaboration between Microsoft and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has already produced one promising new material, which the two are sharing publicly today.

They discovered a new kind of solid-state electrolyte, the kind of material that could lead to a battery that’s less likely to burst into flames than today’s lithium-ion batteries. It also uses less lithium, which is getting harder to come by as demand soars for rechargeable EV batteries.

There’s still a long road ahead to see how viable this material is as an alternative to traditional lithium-ion batteries. What scientists are most...

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The final numbers are in, and the heat in 2023 was record-smashing

Crowds of people swimming at Jinshan City Beach in Shanghai, China, on August 13th, 2023, during a heatwave after the government issued an orange alarm to warn people to take precautions against the heat. | Photo by Ying Tang / NurPhoto via Getty Image

2023 was a record-breaking scorcher, final numbers now show. While many of us felt the heat last year, it’s still mind-blowing to see the data. And it’s about to get hotter.

Officially, last year was the hottest in the books since record-keeping began in 1850. Looking farther back, last year’s temperatures “likely exceed those of any period in at least the last 100,000 years,” according to deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service Samantha Burgess.

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service released data today that confirmed earlier predictions that the heat would be off the charts in 2023. It also made a worrying forecast for the new year, predicting that the world could soon surpass a critical threshold for...

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Microsoft’s second Xbox Developer_Direct on January 18th will feature Indiana Jones

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is holding a second Xbox Developer_Direct event on January 18th. Much like last year’s initial event, Microsoft will detail some of its plans for Xbox this year and provide updates on games that are planned for release. The developers of the Indiana Jones game, MachinesGames, are going to reveal how the title is progressing with “more than 10 minutes of game and developer insights.”

Indiana Jones will be exclusive to Xbox and PC, according to testimony during FTC v. Microsoft case last year. The game was originally announced in 2021, just months before Microsoft finalized its $7.5 billion deal to acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Doom and Fallout studio Bethesda Softworks. The Indiana Jones game is being developed by...

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How Adobe is managing the AI copyright dilemma, with general counsel Dana Rao

Photo illustration: The Verge | Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Adobe’s top lawyer discusses the future of copyright, why the Figma acquisition fell through, and why he’s optimistic AI won’t put creatives out of work.

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You can now jazz up your patio with Nanoleaf’s first dedicated outdoor lights

Nanoleaf’s new Smart Multicolor Permanent Outdoor Lights will be available in the spring. | Image: Nanoleaf

Nanoleaf introduced its first dedicated outdoor lights during CES 2024 in a move that should help the company catch up with rivals like Hue, Govee, and Twinkly. The Smart Multicolor Outdoor String Lights and Smart Multicolor Permanent Outdoor Lights are the latest additions to the company’s Matter Essentials line and will be available this spring.

The new color-changing, addressable outdoor lights make Nanoleaf a more competitive player in the smart lighting world. Last year, Nanoleaf’s Essentials Matter Smart Holiday String Lights made it to our list of the best holiday smart string lights, but the Philips Hue Festavia string lights were ultimately our top choice. That’s in part because of how limited Nanoleaf’s ecosystem was when it...

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TP-Link’s new video door lock unlocks with a tap of your iPhone

You can use the NFC chip on your iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock the DL130. | Image: TP-Link

TP-Link announced a new video door lock, the Tapo DL130, at CES today. The DL130 is HomeKit-compatible, supports seven unlocking methods, and can be controlled through Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri. TP-Link hasn’t announced pricing or a specific release date yet but says more info is coming soon.

The seven unlock methods include a fingerprint scanner, a built-in keypad, and Apple Home Key on the iPhone or Apple Watch. TP-Link says the fingerprint scanner can unlock the device in less than a second and that it also includes a built-in door sensor so you can check if it’s open or not.

The Tapo DL130’s camera films at 2K resolution with a 180-degree field of view. It has a built-in spotlight for color night vision and a speaker that...

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Movano’s smart ring is the rare CES health gadget that will actually ship

The Evie Ring’s charging case comes with 10 full charges. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

There’s always a certain degree of vaporware at CES. It comes with the territory — especially when we’re talking about ambitious health tech that requires regulatory clearance. So it was really neat that after two years, I got to actually hold Movano’s Evie smart ring in my hands ahead of the first wave of units shipping out to customers later this month.

The Evie Ring’s approach to health tracking has a twist. With wearables, women often feel like an afterthought in design. Just look at smartwatches. Usually, companies prioritize bigger sizes to extend battery life at the expense of those with smaller wrists. The Evie Ring, however, is one of the few woman-first wearables, and that clearly shows up in the design.

Holding the ring in...

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X’s Grok chatbot has no reason to exist

Illustration: The Verge

Grok, the AI bot built into the platform formerly known as Twitter, wasn’t supposed to be like other chatbots. Grok was pitched as fun. It was pitched as funny. And it had all of Twitter — errr, X — to tap into for relevant answers. So it was supposed to be useful and responsive, too. But after trying Grok out, I’m left with one basic question: why does it exist?

Technically, of course, Grok exists because Elon Musk wanted an answer to ChatGPT. The service is a paid add-on to X; it rolled out in beta last month to Premium Plus subscribers, who spend $16 a month for it and other perks. For X, it’s supposed to ease a transition away from advertising. For users, it’s supposed to offer the kind of up-to-the-minute information with which...

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Meta will hide suicide and eating disorder content from teens as government pressure mounts

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta is restricting teens from viewing content that deals with topics like suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders, the company announced today. The content, which Meta says may not be “age appropriate” for young people, will not be visible even if it’s shared by someone a teen follows.

If a teen searches for this type of content on Facebook and Instagram, they’ll instead be directed toward “expert resources for help” like the National Alliance on Mental Illness, according to Meta. Teen users also may not know if content in these categories is shared and that they can’t see it. This change is rolling out to users under 18 over the coming months.

In addition to hiding content in sensitive categories, teen accounts will also be defaulted...

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Amazon is trying to fix content casting with an open standard

Amazon is the first to implement Matter casting. | Image: The Verge

Amazon, one of the founders of Matter, is the first to add support for Matter casting, a feature of the Matter smart home standard that allows you to control TVs and streaming devices straight from a connected app. At CES this week, Amazon announced that Matter casting support is coming to its Prime Video app so that you can cast content to Amazon hardware devices.

The feature is available now for the Echo Show 15 — Amazon’s largest smart display that’s also a Fire TV — and Amazon says support is coming soon to Fire TVs, including smart TVs from Panasonic with Fire TV built in. Just open the Prime Video app on your phone or tablet, tap the cast button, and alongside other casting options, you will now see the choice to cast to an Echo...

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Hyperkin has made a handheld Sega Genesis that plays original carts

The Mega 95 is a new gaming handheld from Hyperkin that’s designed to play original Sega Genesis and Mega Drive cartridges. It’s equipped with a five-inch display that has a toggle to switch between 4:3 and 16:9 modes, and a battery that Hyperkin says should last 10 hours per charge.

The handheld looks to be a portable version of Hyperkin’s MegaRetroN HD Gaming Console, the existing Genesis-compatible retro console released in 2018 and which now sells for $59.99. Hyperkin’s press release doesn’t go into detail about how the Mega 95 runs its classic Genesis titles, but the MegaRetroN HD reportedly uses a hardware emulation approach with quality that sits somewhere between a software emulator and the premium FPGA-based system used in A...

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Huion’s new, cheaper drawing tablets take on Wacom’s Cintiq Pro lineup

The $1,999 Huion Kamvas Pro 27 positions itself as a more affordable alternative to the $3,500 Wacom Cintiq Pro 27. | Image: Huion

Huion has showcased the two latest additions to its Kamvas Pro range of display drawing tablets at CES, targeting budget-conscious creatives with professional features like high color accuracy and touchscreen support.

The Huion Kamvas Pro 27 and Kamvas Pro 19 are now available to buy in the US for $1,999 and $1,099, respectively, following their initial launch in China on December 15th, and share some similarities with Wacom’s much pricier Cintiq Pro lineup. The product range from both companies features a 4K resolution and paper-like anti-glare glass display, which has been specially bonded to reduce parallax (that gap between the stylus nib and the cursor), for example.

Image: Huion

Both versions of the new...

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Hyperkin is rereleasing the original Xbox ‘Controller S’ with Hall effect sticks and triggers

An in-development DuchesS, whose design might change before it’s eventually released. | Image: Hyperkin

Accessory maker Hyperkin is bringing back Microsoft’s original Xbox Controller S as a modern gamepad, complete with Hall effect joysticks and triggers. The original Controller S came with the Japanese version of the console, while other markets got the massive “Duke” controller. Eventually, the more compact controller became the default and superseded the Duke. Hyperkin is calling its take on the more compact gamepad the “DuchesS.”

This will be the third retro Xbox controller design that Hyperkin has resurrected. It released its take on the Duke in 2018 and followed it up with a new version of the Xbox 360’s controller called the Xenon last year.

Image: Hyperkin

The controller in white.

Like its previous retro...

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Anker’s new Qi2 chargers deliver MagSafe speed without MagSafe pricing

Three of Anker’s new Qi2 chargers: A folding power bank, 8-in-1 charging orb, and 3-in-1 folding charger.

Anker was one of the first companies to announce Qi2 chargers, in August 2023, and while everyone in the world seems to be launching them now, Anker’s are the first I’ve gotten my hands on.

For iPhone users, Qi2 is an easy sell already: with a compatible iPhone, it’s less expensive than certified MagSafe chargers and just as fast. It’s less compelling so far for Android users or mixed-platform households, though — it’s slower than regular Qi charging on non-certified devices.

I have spent a couple weeks with three Anker Qi2 devices, all of which are available today: the $109.99 MagGo Wireless Charging Station (Foldable 3-in-1), the $69.99 MagGo Power Bank (6,600mAh capacity), and the $99.99 MagGo Magnetic Charging Station (8-in-1),...

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Anker’s flagship power station can charge an EV and make homes energy independent

Charge your EV at 6,000W/240V for a dozen or so extra miles of range in an emergency — or more with expansion packs. | Image: Anker

Anker’s flagship power station, the Solix F3800, is now shipping after raising almost $6 million on Kickstarter. It can be used independently to power a weekend away or scaled for whole-home backup. Prices start at $3,999 with general sales set to begin on January 9th.

The 3.84kWh Solix F3800 power station itself can be expanded to 26.9kWh of energy capacity after adding six of Anker’s 3.84kWh BP3800 LFP expansion batteries. It’s capable of producing up to 6,000W of dual-voltage (120V / 240V) AC output across oodles of jacks — enough to easily power just about any home device, including the air conditioner and water pump. You can even connect two F3800 together for 12,000W of total AC output and up to 53.8kWh of capacity, but now you’re...

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JBL’s Clip 5 can go more places and connect to more speakers with Auracast

JBL

The JBL Clip 5 that’s launching at CES 2024 adds a slightly wider carabiner to clip onto more items and an updated sound system that makes it up to 15 percent louder with 10 percent more bass compared to the previous model. This lightweight, portable speaker will go on sale this year for $79.95 and also supports Bluetooth 5.3 with LE Audio and Auracast, along with the rest of a 2024 lineup that includes the new $379.95 Xtreme 4 that can run for up to 24 hours on a charge, and the cheaper $49.95 Go 4.

Auracast is one of the features of LE Audio, which we’ve described as “Bluetooth audio’s biggest upgrade in years.” Adding the ability to connect multiple audio devices to a single source makes them more capable than many other waterproof,...

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Sony teased a ‘spatial’ VR headset with a smart control ring

Screenshot by Emma Roth / The Verge

Sony is previewing a new “spatial content creation” system designed to let users edit and shape 3D models while wearing a virtual reality headset. The company showed off the headset along with a unique pair of controllers today during a presentation at CES 2024.

The headset, which is powered by the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 platform and outfitted with 4K OLED displays, isn’t primarily for gamers like PlayStation VR. Instead, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said that this new headset is made for professionals who work with 3D, allowing wearers to expand the “creation space by overlaying virtual objects into physical spaces,”

The demo showed users manipulating virtual objects while using two controllers: a ring and a pointer that fits into your...

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Razer’s new light bar is a mullet for your monitor

The Aether Monitor Light Bar is a desk lamp and RGB bias light in one. And it supports Matter, for some reason. | Image: Razer

Razer has already announced a bunch of stuff at CES 2024, including spec upgrades to its Blade gaming laptops, a USB-C dock, an upgraded gaming chair, and so forth. Very happy for them. Personally, I’m psyched about this business-in-the-front, party-in-the-back Aether Monitor Light Bar.

On the front, the Aether has a businesslike CRI 95 temperature-adjustable white light that goes up to 500 lux. By day, it illuminates your desk in high CRI light without creating glare on your monitor or cluttering your desk. It has capacitive touch controls. It’s tasteful. Practical. Utilitarian.

And once you’re off the clock? The back of the light bar is RGB city, baby. Bathe your walls in 16.8 million colors! Chroma RGB integration! Sync it to your...

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Apple’s first Vision Pro ad echoes the original iPhone commercial

Image: Apple

Apple just released the first ad for its Vision Pro headset, and if you’re a longtime follower of Apple, you might notice that it has some similarities to the original commercial for the iPhone.

The Vision Pro ad, titled “Get Ready,” features a bunch of clips from movies and TV shows of characters putting on things like goggles, helmets, and masks. I spotted clips from Up!, an Ant-Man movie, Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope, and an Iron Man movie, to name a few. These clips all make it seem cool to put something on over your eyes, which is something Apple is going to have to do to make the Vision Pro a hit.

The general structure harkens back to the first iPhone ad, titled “Hello,” which features a bunch of clips from movies and TV...

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Asus announces two new 480Hz OLED monitors to cover 1080p and 1440p gaming

Asus’ already announced PG32UCDM OLED monitor. | Image: Asus

OLED monitors are getting exciting at CES this year. Asus has just announced three new OLED monitors, and two of them are capable of hitting 480Hz refresh rates. Much like LG, Asus has a dual-mode 32-inch OLED monitor that can offer 240Hz refresh rates at 4K resolution, or 480Hz at 1080p. Asus is also announcing a 27-inch 1440p OLED monitor that’s capable of 480Hz natively.

The ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDP dual-mode gaming monitor can switch between 4K 240Hz and 1080p 480Hz “at any time,” according to Asus. That means if you want to play something like Overwatch 2 or Valorant at high refresh rates you can switch to the 1080p mode, and keep the 4K 240Hz mode for ray-traced single player titles.

Image: Asus

Asus’ latest...

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MSI Claw hands-on: the Steam Deck rival with Intel inside

MSI just announced the Claw, a handheld Windows gaming PC following the Steam Deck’s lead. It’s destined to challenge the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go at the same starting price of $699 — only this one has an Intel Core Ultra inside, which MSI claims is the clear winner over AMD in performance and battery life.

I just got hands-on at CES 2024, and I can confidently tell you that as of right now, it’s impossible to say whether it’s any good — that depends on performance and battery life, which are not final. MSI is showing off engineering samples here at CES, ones that feel like they need the months of tuning they’ll hopefully get before a first-half 2024 launch.

Here’s the good news: if you like the Asus ROG Ally and wish it were...

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Substack is going to remove five Nazi newsletters

Illustration by The Verge

Just a couple of weeks after Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie defended the company’s decision to continue allowing Nazi content, Platformer reportsthat Substack will now remove “some” publications that express support for Nazis.

McKenzie’s December post was responding to a letter from over 200 Substack authors who cited, among other things, a recent report in The Atlantic that pointed out over a dozen newsletters with overt Nazi imagery, as well as many more with evidence of extremist views. Some newsletters have left Substack over the last couple of weeks for other platforms like Ghost or Beehiiv, and Platformer notes that it has seen many paying customers quit, saying they do not want to contribute to a platform that they see...

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