The Verge
AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE review: $549 competition for Nvidia
AMD’s latest GPU targets Nvidia’s RTX 4070.
The VergeThe VergeHow to manage app permissions on your Android phone or tablet
Image: The Verge
Your phone, your rules: Android gives you a pretty comprehensive toolkit when it comes to managing app permissions on your device, enabling you to control access to parts of the system like the camera, the microphone, and your current location.
Apps will ask for these permissions one by one as they need them, so you’ll typically see a flurry of requests while an app is setting itself up as well as more sporadic requests later on (when an app needs access to your photos and videos, for example).
You can change these permissions at any time, and it’s worth doing regular audits just to make sure apps aren’t overreaching. Do your apps really need all the permissions they’re asking for? In a lot of cases, probably not.
Assessing apps
You can...
The VergeNintendo fans might be waiting at least a year for the next Switch console
Nintendo is also reportedly working on ways to prevent scalpers from snaffling up console stock at launch. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
If you were hoping to get your hands on Nintendo’s highly anticipated Switch 2 console this year then prepare to be disappointed by another rumor pointing to a 2025 release date. According to a new report fromNikkei, Nintendo is anticipated to release its successor to the Nintendo Switch console “as early as March,” in line with the rumored Q1 2025 release date reported by both VGC and Eurogamer earlier this month.
Previous reporting had set an anticipated 2024 release date for Nintendo’s next-gen console, already with the aim of having sufficient stock available to avoid the shortages that the PS5 and Xbox Series S / X experienced at launch. But those same stock concerns as well as giving developers enough time to create new game...
The VergeThe Microlino Lite is here to make urban SUVs look even dumber
Microlino Lite in Geneva. | Image: Micro
Swiss company Micro — maker of the happy little Microlino electric bubble car — just unveiled a production version of its Microlino Lite at the Geneva Motor Show. With a 45km/h (28mph) top speed, it goes half as fast as the standard Microlino but can be driven by anyone with a moped license from the age of 14 in some European countries. An entry-model will cost CHF149 per month (about €156 or $169) to lease starting this summer.
Microcars like the Microlino Lite target urbanites who’d never trade in their full-sized car for an e-bike but are still looking for something more convenient to drive in dense cities with narrow streets. You can fit about three microcars in the same space required to park an SUV and their light weight allows...
The VergeGemini is about to slide into your DMs
More chatbots in more places. | The Verge
Google’s got a round of Android and app updates in time for MWC, starting with a new way to chat with its own chatbot Gemini: right inside Google Messages. There’s also a handful of other small updates touching Android Auto, Google Docs, and a couple of new intelligent accessibility features for visually impaired people.
If you’re just dying to DM your new bestie Gemini, you won’t have to wait long — it’s arriving as an update to the Messages app this week, though you’ll need to be enrolled in Google’s beta testing program to access it for now. The same access rules apply so there’s no Google One subscription required, at least for this version.When I tested Gemini alongside ChatGPT a few weeks ago, Gemini left a lot to be desired as a...
The VergeSamsung has big ambitions for the Galaxy Ring
What goes around. | Image: Samsung
At Galaxy Unpacked last month, Samsung teased a brand new wearable in a new product category with not much more than a splashy video and a name: Galaxy Ring. Now, we have a little more to go on, including the fact that it’s expected to arrive this year.
I got some hands-on time with a prototype ring ahead of Mobile World Congress — it’s very light and comes in three colors, though Samsung emphasizes that the final product is subject to change. But I also got a sense of Samsung’s bigger goals for this new product line, which it sees as not just another wearable — but part of the company’s vision for a future of ambient sensing (more on that in a minute).
The Galaxy Ring prototypes I was able to try out were presented in three colors:...
The VergePeering through Lenovo’s transparent laptop into a sci-fi future
Lenovo’s ThinkBook Transparent Display Laptop.
The ThinkBook Transparent Display Laptop concept even comes with a built-in drawing tablet. Lenovo just needs to find something worth seeing on the other side.
The VergeLenovo worked with iFixit to make some ThinkPads easier to repair
The ThinkPad T14s Gen 5 | Photo: Lenovo
While the ThinkBook Transparent Display laptop Lenovo showed off at MWC 2024 is just a proof of concept, the company also announced refreshed versions of several ThinkPads and ThinkBooks, as well as a few accessories.
That includes three refreshed ThinkPad T-series laptops: the ThinkPad T14 Gen 5, ThinkPad T14s Gen 5, and ThinkPad T16 Gen 3, all with Intel Core Ultra processors (or an AMD Ryzen 8040 option for the T14 Gen 5). All three get Lenovo’s Communication Bar, which extends aportion of the top bezel to house the camera and microphones,giving those laptops slimmer top bezels and taller display ratios. Lenovo previously added this feature to other ThinkPad laptops, like the X1 Carbon and X1 Nano.
Image: Lenovo ...
The VergeFord stops shipping 2024 F-150 Lightnings for ‘quality checks’
Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Ford has halted shipments of the new 2024 F-150 Lightning electric truck as of February 9th while it carries out quality inspections. Several outlets reported the pause on Friday, but none could say what prompted the check. In the meantime, Ford is still manufacturing the Lightning at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, according to Automotive News.
The carmaker reportedly declined to say when the shipments will be resumed. Ford spokesperson Emma Bergg told CNN that the hold isn’t unusual for the company when production moves to a new year. It’s unclear exactly what is causing this freeze, but Automotive News reports a “supplier parts concern” halted production of both the gas and electric versions of the F-150 for a...
The VergeThis 28,000mAh battery has a phone in it
Avenir Telecom’s Energizer Hard Case P28K is an 27.8mm thick smartphone with a 28,000mAh battery in it. | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge
Four years ago, my then-colleague Vlad brought you news of an 18,000mAh battery with a phone in it. Well, I am delighted to inform you that Avenir Telecom is at it again, only now it’s packed a smartphone into a 28,000mAh battery. That, in this industry, is what we call progress.
The device itself is called the Hard Case P28K, and like its predecessor it’ll be sold under the Energizer brand (which Avenir licenses from the battery manufacturer). The company claims the P28K’s battery is substantial enough to last for a whole week regular of usage. The device also has a pretty rugged IP69 rating to survive the kinds of off-the-grid adventures you might want to have while away from a charging point. Talk time is rated at 122 hours (or a...
The VergeApple’s wearable ideas include smart glasses and cameras in your ears
Illustration: The Verge
Apple’s future roadmap for wearables may include AI-powered smart glasses, as well as AirPods with cameras, according to Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg. Both concepts are in the exploratory phase inside Apple, representing more of a look at the company’s future plans than discreet products.
The smart glasses would be angled as AirPods stand-ins, he says, just with more sensors, AI features, and longer-lasting batteries. But even though they’d serve as a cheaper head-worn gadget than the Vision Pro, they wouldn’t be the AR face computer with high-quality transparent displays that Apple is trying to get to. Gurman writes that these glasses would instead be a step in that direction that’s more comparable to Meta...
The VergeThe Xiaomi 14 and 14 Ultra are going global — minus the US
Xiaomi’s basic flagship gets a subtle design tweak this time around.
Xiaomi is using MWC to launch two of its flagships for a global audience — though not including the US, as usual. The Xiaomi 14 and 14 Ultra have already been announced in China, and today they’re on center stage with tweaked designs and camera-forward feature sets. They’re available to order starting today; the 14 Ultra will cost €1,499 (about $1624) and the 14 starts at €999 (about $1082).
The Xiaomi 14 covers the flagship basics, with a smaller 6.36-inch screen — now an LTPO 120Hz panel for smooth scrolling and power efficiency — and comes with more modest camera specs, at least by comparison to the 14 Ultra’s a 6.73-inch, 120Hz 1440p panel and 1-inch-type main camera. Go big or go all out, I guess.
The 14 Ultra was officially u...
The VergeThe smart kitchen is a great idea — and a strange reality
Image: Samar Haddad for The Verge
The idea of a smart kitchen conjures up lots of images. You might think about a fridge with a giant screen telling you what’s inside and what you can cook with it. You might picture a robot in an apron milling around the kitchen, flipping pancakes with expert precision. You might just say, “Who cares?” and order DoorDash.
All of these things and more seem like they ought to be possible. But even as so many companies and industries work to make their devices smarter and more interoperable to make the smart home truly happen, it can sometimes feel like the kitchen is being left behind. Sure, your appliances might be getting smarter: you can start your dishwasher from the other room or see the inside of your oven on your smartphone screen....
The VergeHonor’s Magic 6 Pro launches internationally with AI-powered eye tracking on the way
The new Porsche-themed version of the Magic V2 next to the Magic 6 Pro.
A month and a half after debuting the Magic 6 Pro in China, Honor is announcing global availability of its latest flagship at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Alongside it, the company has also announced pricing for the new Porsche Design Honor Magic V2 RSR, a special edition of the Magic V2 foldable with higher specs and a design themed around the German car brand.
The Magic 6 Pro is set to retail for €1,299 (£1,099.99, around $1,407) with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage and be available from March 1st, while the Porsche Design Magic V2 RSR will cost €2,699 (£2,349.99, around $2,625) with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage and will ship on March 18th. Expect both to be available in European markets, but they’re unlikely to be...
The VergeThe ultra-complex card game that will take over your weekend
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 27, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, hello, you’re awesome, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage. Oh, and send me some recommendations! The more the merrier!)
This week, I’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed Nexuson the Quest 3, reading about obsessive ramen makers and Noah Kahan’s journey to TikTok superstardom, finally watching Duneso I can be ready to see the sequel, also finally watching Patriot, and trying desperately to learn to make crispy Brussels sprouts.
I also have for you a mega-viral new camera, a better way to manage your smart home, a new book about Twitter, and a whole bunch of awesome games to play this...
The VergeHMD is making a Barbie flip phone alongside a smartphone for tinkerers
C’mon Barbie let’s go make some phone calls. | Image: HMD
HMD is crossing its fingers for a second summer of Barbie. The company, which has exclusively sold phones under the Nokia brand name for the past seven years, has announced plans to release a Barbie-branded flip phone this July in partnership with Mattel. It’s one of several devices HMD has on the way for this summer, which also include a new Nokia-branded retro feature phone, and an HMD-branded smartphone. Finally, the company has also announced early plans for a new development platform it’s calling “HMD Fusion.”
No pricing, specs, or features were announced for the as-yet-unnamed Barbie phone, but expect it to be a traditional feature flip phone rather than a smartphone. In an interview, HMD’s global head of insight, proposition, and...
The VergeThe latest ‘Woj bomb’ was just a scam NFT tweet from a hacked account
The fake NBA Top Shot tweet. | Image: X / @wojespn
People who still use NBA Top Shot were the primary targets of a scam tweet posted to ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski’s account on X Saturday evening at about 6:30PM ET. The tweet referred to NBA Top Shot as a “popular” NFT platform, despite the fact that current activity levels are a tiny fraction of what we saw during its peak, and falsely claimed a “free NFT pack is available to all customers.”
The tweet linked visitors to a scam version of the NBA Top Shot website (the link went to a .org address instead of the official site’s .com URL) that could attempt to drain assets from people who give it access to their crypto wallets. About a half hour later, the official Top Shot account posted, saying, “There is NO Free Airdrop happening...
The VergeGoogle co-founder Sergey Brin sued over a plane crash that killed two pilots last year
Sergey Brin at a World Economic Forum session in 2017. | Photo by Fabrice Coffrini / AFP via Getty Images
Google co-founder Sergey Brin is facing a wrongful death lawsuit from the widow of one of two pilots who died in a plane crash off the coast of California in May 2023. It blames a poorly installed modification for the crash and claims his representatives intentionally slowed recovery efforts to destroy evidence, as previously reported by Bloomberg and Fortune.
An updated complaint filed on February 13th in the Santa Clara County Superior Court of California says Lance Maclean and co-pilot Dean Rushfedlt were contracted to bring Brin’s seaplane from California to Fiji for island-hopping with friends. Ferrying the $8 million, twin-engine Viking Air Twin Otter Series 400 that far required an auxiliary fuel system, which the complaint...
The VergeVictrola’s Sonos-ready turntable is down to an unbeatable price
The Stream Onyx is the turntable to start with if you’re running a Sonos-only home. | Image: Victrola
With the ability to stream to practically anything, the Victrola Sapphire is shaping up to be the last turntable you’ll need. It’s not available yet, though, and not everyone will want to spend $1,500 for the privilege of owning one. The Sonos-ready Stream Onyx, while not as ubiquitous, is the cheapest model that will let you stream your record collection to all your Sonos speakers while retaining vinyl’s authenticity and character. We’ve seen it fall to $359.99 in the past, but Amazon is establishing a new all-time low at the moment, dropping it to $341.99 ($258 off).
The Stream Onyx is a more affordable alternative to the Stream Carbon, one that lacks the latter’s premium metallic accented finishings and Ortofon Red 2M cartridge. It...
The VergeThe direct influence of Twin Peaks on Zelda
Image: Nintendo
An interview with Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost reveals a fateful conversation with Nintendo in 1990.
The VergeDavid Lynch’s presence has been haunting video games for decades
Alan Wake 2. | Image: Remedy Entertainment
From Alan Wake to The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, you don’t have to look far to see Lynchian influences.
The VergeA lot of Redditors hate the Reddit IPO
“Short the shit out of it.” | The Verge
If you are a certain kind of cynical, Reddit’s S-1 filing sets off alarm bells. There’s the mention of r/WallStreetBets. (Five mentions in total, actually.) There’s the stockpile it’s amassed of Bitcoin and Ethereum. And there’s the program to give certain power users the option of buying stock before it debuts on the public market.
The S-1 is a document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission before a company goes public. It discloses all sorts of things: revenue figures, risk factors, key data about the business. And it sends certain signals. In this case: I see some meme stock shit.
I can totally imagine corporate insiders figuring, well, Reddit is the place for meme stocks, so yolo, etc. Except here’s the thing:...
The VergeThe future of phones depends on the future of apps
Attendees leaving last year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. | Photo by Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Without looking up any leaks or rumors, I’d bet that you could probably sketch most of the phones rumored to be launching at Mobile World Congress next week. Over the years, smartphones have settled on a relatively consistent design formula of big rectangular touchscreens, small selfie camera cutouts, app-based interfaces, and large camera bumps with an array of different lenses. But more than a decade and a half into the smartphone era, I’m getting more and more curious about what’s going to come next and why existing attempts to reinvent smartphones like foldables have struggled to go mainstream.
To my mind, much of the answer comes back to apps. We barely think about them because it’s so easy to take for granted that all your...
The VergeMWC 2024: all the phones, wearables, and gadgets announced in Barcelona
MWC’s venue, the Fira de Barcelona Grand Via. | Photo by Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Europe’s big smartphone show is here, and big players like Xiaomi, OnePlus, HMD, Honor, and Lenovo have a new generation of devices to show off.
The VergeRing stops selling its Ring Car Cam dash cam
If you wanted a Ring Car Cam you’re too late. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
Ring confirmed to The Verge that it has stopped selling its Ring Car Cam, a dashcam / security camera hybrid that records the road and the driver while in motion and acts as a security camera when a vehicle is parked. The product, which launched at CES 2023, has been hard to come by since going on sale last January, and customers who tried to purchase one in the last few months are finding those orders canceled.
"We've experienced ongoing delays with Car Cam and have decided to stop the sale of the device," Ring spokesperson Andrea McDonald told The Verge in an email. "Customers who purchased a Car Cam will continue to receive software updates and support. We remain excited about opportunities to innovate in the auto space."
McDonald...
The VergeWhen does a journalist become a hacker?
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images
Some laws operate like hidden trap doors — everyone walks across the trap at one point or another, but only a handful of us actually fall through. For the rich, it’s the law against insider trading; for the rest of us plebs, it’s the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
On Thursday, federal law enforcement arrested journalist Tim Burke and arraigned him in court in handcuffs. Twelve of the 14 charges levied against him in the since-unsealed indictment are under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the federal anti-hacking statute.
The story begins with Tucker Carlson’s extremely cursed interview of Kanye West in 2022. Most interviews are edited for clarity; in this case, the interview was cut to exclude a rambling, antisemitic rant. That...
The VergeA former Gizmodo writer changed his name to ‘Slackbot’ and stayed undetected for months
There’s something a bit different about this Slackbot icon... | Image: Tom McKay
Hiding on Slack isn’t all that hard, apparently; you just have to pretend you’re a bot. That’s what IT Brew’s Tom McKay did when he left Gizmodo in 2022, and he went undetected by the site’s management for months.
In a post on X, McKay shared some screenshots of the new “Slackbot” persona he took on after he officially left Gizmodo. He also confirmed to The Verge that this silly prank really happened.
If you’re not glued to Slack for most of the day like I am, then you might not know that Slackbot is the friendly robot that lives in the messaging service. It helps you do things like set reminders, find out your office’s Wi-Fi password, or let you know when you’ve been mentioned in a channel that you’re not a part of.
it's been long...
The VergeThe best tech gifts for under $25
There are plenty of great tech gifts that can light up someone’s life for less than $25, from smart bulbs to everyday essentials. | Image: Nanoleaf
Wanting to treat a friend or a loved one to some tech or a cool gadget while on a very lean budget can feel like an impossible task. Most of the everyday devices we use cost multiple hundreds of dollars, so what do you get when you just want a nice birthday or “just because” kind of gift but can’t break the bank? Sure, you could default to something basic like a pair of socks or a scarf, but that gets boring fast.
Here, we’ve assembled a bunch of cool tech ideas on a budget of just $25 that are worth your money, including a headphone stand ($19.99), a quality USB-C cable ($9.99), a unique Bluetooth speaker, and other essentials. Some of these items might not sound very fun or exciting at first, but they’re all helpful gifts that any...
The VergeFTC cracks down on H&R Block for deleting tax data when users want to downgrade
Photo by Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against tax prep company H&R Block for allegedly wasting consumers’ time and money. The company deceptively marketed its services and made them difficult to downgrade, the FTC claims in an administrative complaint issued Friday.
“H&R Block designed its online products to present an obstacle course of tedious challenges to consumers, pressuring them into overpaying for its products,” FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection director Samuel Levine said in a statement.
The administrative complaint is similar to a lawsuit but results in proceedings before the FTC’s in-house administrative law judge. Findings can ultimately be appealed to a federal court.
The agency alleges that H&R Block steered...
The VergeGoogle explains Gemini’s ‘embarrassing’ AI pictures of diverse Nazis
Illustration: The Verge
Google has issued an explanation for the “embarrassing and wrong” images generated by its Gemini AI tool. In a blog post on Friday, Google says its model produced “inaccurate historical” images due to tuning issues. The Verge and others caught Gemini generating images of racially diverse Nazis and US Founding Fathers earlier this week.
“Our tuning to ensure that Gemini showed a range of people failed to account for cases that should clearly not show a range,” Prabhakar Raghavan, Google’s senior vice president, writes in the post. “And second, over time, the model became way more cautious than we intended and refused to answer certain prompts entirely — wrongly interpreting some very anodyne prompts as sensitive.”
S...