Porsche Taycan Turbo GT sets new lap record at Laguna Seca

Image: Porsche

Porsche likes its lap records, whether at Nürburgring in Germany or Laguna Seca in California. These records mean a lot to the German automaker, so much so that it occasionally makes up new ones just to break them.

The latest record is no fabrication, though. Porsche needed something to boast for its model expansion for the Taycan electric sedan, so it brought the Turbo GT and Turbo GT with Weissach package to the Weathertech Raceway in Laguna Seca to see if they could beat the lap record set by a Tesla Model S Plaid. And of course, they did. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t be writing about it right now.

It only took Porsche development driver Lars Kern one minute, 27.87 seconds, to traverse a full lap at Laguna Seca, besting the...

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Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

Nick Barclay / The Verge

Airbnb will no longer allow hosts to use indoor security cameras, regardless of where they’re placed or what they’re used for. In an update on Monday, Airbnb says the change to “prioritize the privacy” of renters goes into effect on April 30th.

The vacation rental app previously let hosts install security cameras in “common areas” of listings, including hallways, living rooms, and front doors. Airbnb required hosts to disclose the presence of security cameras in their listings and make them clearly visible, and it prohibited hosts from using cameras in bedrooms and bathrooms.

But now, hosts can’t use indoor security cameras at all. The change comes after numerous reports of guests finding hidden cameras within their rental, leading some...

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Mona Chalabi on storytelling, the power of data, and covering Palestine

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Finding the human stories behind the numbers.

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Uber’s posh electric rideshare service is coming to NYC

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Uber is bringing its all-electric luxury rideshare service to its biggest market yet: New York City. The launch will coincide with the rollout of new product features aimed at steering its customers toward greener choices when using Uber.

Uber first launched its Comfort Electric service, in which customers can hail trips in premium priced EVs like Tesla, Polestar, and Ford Mustang Mach-E, in May 2022. And since then, the service has rolled out in 41 cities, the latest now being New York.

The reason Uber hadn’t launched its upscale EV service in the Big Apple before today was that the city imposed a cap on the number of EV ridehail licenses handed out by the Taxi and Limousine Commission. But that cap has now been lifted, essentially...

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How to save culture from the algorithms, with Filterworld author Kyle Chayka

Photo illustration: The Verge

Today, I’m talking to Kyle Chayka, a staff writer for The New Yorker, a regular contributor to The Verge, and author of the new book Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture. Kyle has been writing for years now about how the culture of big social media platforms bleeds into real life, first affecting how things look, and now shaping how and what culture is created and the mechanisms by which that culture spreads all around the world.

Kyle wrote a fantastic feature for The Verge back in 2016 called “Welcome to AirSpace,” which was an early exploration of this idea. At the time, he noted that the aesthetics of physical spaces, like coffee shops and co-working offices, were being heavily influenced by Airbnb and Instagram, flattening...

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Reddit goes public: the latest updates on its IPO

Image: The Verge

The self-styled ‘front page of the internet’ has unplugged third-party apps, spurned defiant mods, and struck AI partnerships in a bid to go public.

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Samsung’s new midrange Galaxy A55 arrives with improved security and materials

Samsung’s Galaxy A55, which reportedly features a metal frame. | Image: Samsung

Samsung’s new Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 are the latest additions to its midrange A-series lineup, which often contain the company’s bestselling phones. Both the new A55 and A35 include Samsung’s Knox Vault, a security feature designed to protect sensitive data like your lock screen credentials and encryption keys from software and hardware attacks by physically isolating them from the phones’ main processors and memory. The company boasts that this is the first time the security feature has appeared on its A-series devices.

The Galaxy A55 specifically also includes a metal frame, Android Police reports, which would be an upgrade over the plastic used in last year’s Galaxy A54.

Samsung has announced European pricing for the two models,...

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Oscars 2024 winners: Oppenheimer and Christopher Nolan lead the way

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Like many of the movies up for Oscars, this year’s Academy Awards ran longer than most viewers probably considered reasonable. But lengthy as the ceremony was, it was marked by enough surprises to make it one one hell of a watch.

Though host Jimmy Kimmel made sure to get a few good jabs in at most of the filmmakers up for Oscars, few of the stars seemed all that phased as they took to the stage to deliver acceptance speeches that spoke to how stiff this year’s competition was. Da’Vine Joy Randolph kicked off the night winning Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in The Holdovers — which was up for five awards total. And while Hayao Miyazaki wasn’t there to accept his award, The Boy and the Herontook home an Oscar for...

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British monarchy rocked by bad Photoshop job

Screenshot by Alex Cranz/The Verge

After months of speculation on the whereabouts of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales and future Queen of England, the Royal Family released an image today that appears to have been edited. It’s so edited that the Associated Press and Reuters issued rare kill notifications for it.

It is incredible in its ineptitude. If the goal was to reassure the public about Middleton’s whereabouts, the image has backfired spectacularly.

The image is unsettling at first glance. Everyone is smiling so brightly they look like a Snapchat filter. Middleton is seated in the image — understandable given she had some sort of undisclosed abdominal procedure in January — but the perspective seems wrong. Are her arms really that long? The more you stare at the...

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Oscars 2024: all the latest from the biggest night in film

Oppenheimer. | Image: Universal Pictures

Keep up to date with all of the winners and the most exciting moments.

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel is coming in 2026

Image: Universal Pictures

The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a huge hit for Nintendo, raking in over $1 billion at the box office, so producing a follow-up movie was an easy decision to make. In a new video, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination Entertainment’s Chris Meledandri shared that the next movie is in development, with a release date set for April 3rd, 2026.

Meledandri says Illumination Studios Paris, which worked on the first film, is storyboarding the movie under the direction, once again, of Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic. He added that animation is starting soon. And after the movie’s April 3rd release in the US “and many other markets globally,” it will come to “select territories” throughout the rest of the month.

Miyamoto says that the...

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How to watch the 2024 Academy Awards

Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars will gather in the Dolby Theatre tonight for the 96th annual Academy Awards. It’s a sign things are starting to get back to normal following last year’s monthslong writers and actors strikes.

In between the award announcements, we’ll also get to see performances from several artists — including Ryan Gosling. If you want to see what this year’s ceremony has to offer, and also find out which film takes away the most Oscars, here’s what you need to know about tuning in.

When do the Oscars start?

The Oscars kick off on Sunday, March 10th, 2024, and will air from 7PM ET / 4PM PT to 10PM ET / 7PM PT.

Where can I watch the Oscars?

If you have cable or satellite, you can watch the Academy Awards on your local...

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The perfect music streaming app does not exist

Image: William Joel / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 29, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, I promise I don’t always complain about music streaming, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been plowing through Shōgunand watching Ricky Stanicky, catching up on all the Oscar-nominated documentaries, reading about the rivalry between Steve Jobs and Adam Osborne and the scary potential of solar storms, watching the story of the US’s nuclear bunkers, staring at the thoroughly fun and weird MacPad that Federico Viticci made, and playing a whole bunch of the new New York Times word game, Strands.

I also have for you a cheap new smartphone, a cheap(er)...

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You can grab a PS5 with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for $399.99 right now

Sony’s latest bundle nets you either the standard or disc-less PS5, along with one of its best exclusives to date. | Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Happy Saturday, dear readers! Just over a week ago, we saw a bundle containing the disc-based PlayStation 5 “slim” and a digital copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 drop to $449 ($50 off) — a deal that’s still readily available at Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop. What’s changed over the past week, however, is that Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop are all now selling the disc-less PS5 Digital Edition with the same Spider-Man sequel for $399.99 ($50 off), an all-time low.

If you’ve been thinking about picking up Sony’s latest console, there’s never been a better time to do so. Sony’s new midcycle refresh isn’t drastically slimmer than the original model that launched in 2020, though it does feature two front-facing USB-C ports — instead of one...

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She Is Conann is a glamorous fever dream about finding beauty in barbarism

A tight shot of a red-headed woman with blood smeared on her face sitting in a car and leaning on the shoulder of a Black woman whose face is accented in silver eyeshadow. | Image: Altered Innocence

Director Bertrand Mandico’s feminist spin on Conan the Barbarian is a heady smorgasbord of gorgeous visuals and meditations on violence.

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Withings ScanWatch 2 and Light review: simple vibes for the tech-fatigued

These watches hit a nice balance between style and function without bombarding you with information.

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Activision QA workers form the largest US video game union yet

The Verge

Around 600 workers in Activision Publishing’s quality assurance department have formed a union. Assisted by the Communications Workers of America, the employees completed their vote with the results certified on Friday, March 8th. With that, Activision Quality Assurance United – CWA becomes the latest union to arise out of Microsoft’s gaming division and the largest video game union in the United States.

In 2022, Microsoft affirmed a labor neutrality agreement with the CWA which eases the organization process at the company and its subsidiaries including Activision Blizzard.

In an interview with The Verge, Tom Shelley, a technical requirements specialist and one of Activision Quality Assurance United’s organizers, said the labor...

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Fortnite has been down all day, and the outage isn’t over

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2: Myths & Mortals | Image: Epic Games

The launch of Fortnite’s Greek mythology-themed Chapter 5: Season 2 has been on hold since early this morning after the usual downtime for maintenance didn’t end on schedule. Epic usually takes the servers down at 3AM ET to prepare for a big update, but then the battle royale game never came back online, with messages saying the work would take a few hours longer than usual.

The most recent message from the Fortnite Status account on X came just after 4PM ET, telling players they could preload the new update “in approximately five hours.” How long will it take until everyone is able to log in and actually play? We don’t know yet, but we’ll update you on the issue as more information comes in.

For now, players will have to try something...

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OpenAI investigation says it was wrong to fire Sam Altman

Sam Altman. | Image: OpenAI

An independent investigation commissioned by OpenAI has found that CEO Sam Altman’s conduct “did not mandate removal” when he was suddenly fired in November. OpenAI says Altman, who was rehired as CEO less than a week later, will now rejoin the organization’s board.

Developing...

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Google fired an employee who protested its contract with the Israeli military

Illustration: The Verge

Google has fired an employee who publicly protested the company’s work for the Israeli military. During a presentation by an executive with Google’s Israel branch on Monday, the now-former Google Cloud engineer stood up and shouted, “I refuse to build technology that powers genocide or surveillance.”

Google confirmed the firing, which was first reported by CNBC, in an email to The Verge. “Earlier this week, an employee disrupted a coworker who was giving a presentation — interfering with an official company-sponsored event,” Google spokesperson Bailey Tomson says in an emailed statement. “This behavior is not okay, regardless of the issue, and the employee was terminated for violating our policies.”

BREAKING—PRO-PALESTINE @googlecloud ...

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Florida teens arrested for creating ‘deepfake’ AI nude images of classmates

Illustration by Haein Jeong / The Verge

Two Florida middle schoolers were arrested in December and charged with third-degree felonies for allegedly creating deepfake nudes of their classmates. A reportby Wiredcites police reports saying two boys, aged 13 and 14, are accused of using an unnamed “artificial intelligence application” to generate the explicit images of other students “between the ages of 12 and 13.” The incident may be the first US instance of criminal charges related to AI-generated nude images.

They were charged with third-degree felonies under a 2022 Florida law that criminalizes the dissemination of deepfake sexually explicit images without the victim’s consent. Both the arrests and the charges appear to be the first of their kind in the nation related to...

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Logitech’s best gaming mouse just got better

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Logitech is rolling out a firmware update for its popular G Pro X Superlight 2 mouse this week that will enable 4kHz response rates. The higher polling rate is designed for high DPI / low in-game sensitivity players who play esports PC games, which is who Logitech markets its Superlight series of mice toward.

A higher polling rate on a mouse essentially means that when a frame is rendered, you get a more recent and accurate cursor position shown on your screen. The time delay between your cursor and where it’s being displayed on your screen is reduced the higher the polling rate.

Firstly, for PRO X Superlight 2 users, we are excited to share a new firmware update for your mouse that will increase your response rate to 4kHz for free....

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How to find (and delete) your TikTok history

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

One of the more frustrating aspects of TikTok used to be the difficulty in finding a video that you really liked and wanted to see again but had accidentally swiped past or watched a day or two ago. Previously, there was a long, complex series of steps you had to follow to find out your watch history on TikTok — making it hardly worth the effort. Now, however, you can easily find your watch history — and, if you want, erase it. All you have to do is:

• Tap your Profile icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
• Select the three-line icon in the top-right corner.
• Tap on Settings and privacy > Activity center.

You should now see a gallery with all of the videos you’ve watched over the last 180 days. Tap on any that you’d like to...

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Warner Bros. is removing Adult Swim Games from console stores and Steam

Image: Adult Swim

Even Warner Bros. Discovery games are subject to the capriciousness of the executive suite. Several developers of games published under Adult Swim Games, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, have said that the company has reached out to inform them that their games will soon be removed from digital storefronts on PC and console.

“It saddens me to announce that we received notice from Warner Bros. Discovery (the owners of Adult Swim Games) that Fist Puncher will be retired and removed from Steam in the next 60 days,” wrote Matt Kain, one of _Fist Punche_r’s developers, on Steam.

Other developers with Adult Swim Games said they received the same message. “Within the next 60 days, Soundodger+ will be removed from Steam,” wrote Studio Bean on X.

S...

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The HomePod and HomePod Mini are both receiving a rare discount

The HomePod Mini isn’t for everyone, but it’s still a solid choice for Apple users. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

With most of the Apple news this week revolving around the new M3 MacBook Air and Apple’s ongoing app store kerfuffles in the EU, it’s not surprising that Best Buy’s current promos on the HomePod Mini and second-gen HomePod have slipped under the radar. That’s a shame, however, given the smart speakers are on sale for $79.99 ($20 off) and $269.99 ($30 off), respectively, which doesn’t happen often.

If you’re deciding between Apple’s latest Siri-based smart speakers, there are a few things to consider. The latest HomePod is essentially a rehash of the original model from 2018, only this time, it comes with support for spatial audio, the new Matter standard, and temperature and humidity sensing. The pint-size HomePod Mini, meanwhile,...

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How to use Alexa’s Drop In feature

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Amazon’s Drop In feature has become a useful tool for contacting people in your household, finding out what your kids are up to (especially when they’re being too quiet), and checking in on elderly relatives. It allows you to literally “drop in” using an Alexa-capable device, either just via audio or with audio and video. But since you don’t want anyone dropping in on you unwanted, it’s a good idea to understand how to set it up and how to use it.

Set up your device for Drop In

In order to allow somebody to drop in on any Alexa-capable device, first you have to enable the Drop In feature on that specific unit.

• Open the Alexa app on your phone and select the Device icon on the bottom of the screen.
• You’ll see a list of your devices....

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TikTok ban: all the news on attempts to ban the video platform

Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge

Here’s a roundup of all the news about politicians pushing to ban TikTok or force it away from ByteDance.

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Epic Games just got unbanned by Apple — again

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Epic Games will be able to open its iOS app store in the European Union after all. The game publisher had its developer license revoked by Apple earlier this week, but Epic Games now says that Apple has reversed its decision following an inquiry from the European Commission.

In an update on its website, Epic Games says Apple has “committed to the European Commission that they will reinstate our developer account.” The company is now “moving forward as planned to launch the Epic Games Store and bring Fortnite back to iOS in Europe.”

Apple confirmed the decision in an email to The Verge. “Following conversations with Epic, they have committed to follow the rules, including our [Digital Markets Act] policies,” said Apple spokesperson Fred...

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One fan spent three years saving a Final Fantasy game before it shut down

Image: Square Enix

It took three years, two terabytes, and over 100 hours of cutscenes to preserve Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia.

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The MSI Claw has arrived to take on the Steam Deck

Image: MSI

The MSI Claw has officially arrived, as the base model of MSI’s Core Ultra-powered handheld gaming machine is now available from MSI’s website for $699.

There are two other higher-specced models, too, but they’re listed as coming on March 12th. Here’s how the three models stack up:

• $699: Core Ultra 5 / 512GB SSD
• $749: Core Ultra 7 / 512GB SSD
• $799: Core Ultra 7 / 1TB SSD

You can also preorder all three MSI Claw models from Newegg, with availability starting March 15th. Preorders on Newegg come with a couple of freebies, including a Skull and Bones standard edition game code and Xbox Game Pass free for one month.

MSI first announced the Claw at CES 2024 in January, joining the Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, and the Lenovo Legion Go in a...

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