The YouTube app on Quest will let you co-watch videos with friends in VR

Image: Meta

The YouTube app on Meta Quest is getting a nice upgrade: instead of only being a way to watch videos by yourself, the app will now let you co-watch videos with up to seven other people.

To turn on the feature, which is launching in beta, make sure you have the latest version of the YouTube app and look for the “Co-watch” icon at the top of the screen (it looks like three people grouped together). Select that, and then in the window that pops up, select “Invite people” and then you can invite people from your followers list to watch things with you. (The people you invite will also have to follow you back.)

There are a few limitations. You can only co-watch 2D content, for example. And if you want to watch paid content like a movie, every...

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Can the US triple its nuclear energy capacity?

Vogtle, a nuclear power plant located in Burke County, near Waynesboro, Georgia. | Photo: Getty Images

The US has a new roadmap for massively ramping up how much electricity it gets from nuclear reactors.

The Biden administration released the document on Tuesday, but with President-elect Donald Trump heading back into the White House, there’s no telling whether the plan will ever become a reality. That said, the nuclear industry has gained a fair amount of bipartisan support — not to mention buy-in from big tech.

For now, nuclear energy makes up nearly 20 percent of the US’s electricity mix. That’s roughly the same amount of electricity the US gets from renewables like wind and solar. The rest — 60 percent of electricity in the US — comes from fossil fuels. Another way to think of it is that nuclear reactors generate nearly half of the...

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Meta must face FTC trial that could separate Instagram and WhatsApp

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta must face the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit that accuses the company of dominating the social media industry through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, a DC District Court Judge ruled on Wednesday.

The FTC filed a lawsuit against Meta in 2020, alleging the company bought up rivals — Instagram and WhatsApp — in an attempt to stifle competition. Judge James Boasberg initially dismissed the FTC’s lawsuit in 2021, but the agency filed an amended complaint, which he ultimately let proceed.

Meta once again asked the court to dismiss the FTC’s case in April. Boasberg has now ruled largely in favor of the FTC, though he dismissed a claim that Meta acted anticompetitively by preventing developers from accessing its...

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The Lightfoot electric scooter is wrapped in solar panels to address range anxiety

The Lightfoot scooter’s 120W solar panels can extend its range by up to 20 miles in the Summer, its creators claim. | Image: Otherlab

Otherlab has announced a new electric scooter called the Lightfoot that can extend its range not by fast charging or quick battery swaps, but by soaking up the sun. The scooter is shrouded in two large solar panels that Otherlab says can extend its range by an extra three miles for every hour it’s left in the sun.

The company, which describes itself as an “independent research & design lab” bringing “new solutions in renewable energy,” is planning to make the Lightfoot available for preorder starting today. It will sell for $4,995 and delivery is expected as early as January, 2025.

The Lightfoot is powered by a pair of 750W brushless DC motors paired with a 48-volt, 1.1kWh battery that provides a range of up to 37 miles on a full charge...

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Amazon’s new $20 and under store is here to challenge Shein and Temu

Image: Amazon

Amazon has launched a store where every product costs $20 or less in a bid to take on popular low-cost shopping apps like Temu and Shein. The new “Amazon Haul” service is available in the US via Amazon’s app or mobile website, and offers a wide range of similar fashion, home, lifestyle, and electronics products that you’d expect to find on the rival Chinese platforms.

“Finding great products at very low prices is important to customers, and we continue to explore ways that we can work with our selling partners so they can offer products at ultra-low prices,” Amazon’s vice president of worldwide selling partner services, Dharmesh Mehta, said in Amazon’s announcement.

The Haul storefront has a visually similar layout to Temu and Shein,...

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Workers at Bethesda parent company strike over remote work policies

Image: Bethesda Softworks

The members of ZeniMax Workers United-CWA, one of the largest video game unions in the United States, have gone on strike. The action involves workers in ZeniMax offices in Texas and Maryland, who do quality assurance work for games including Fallout and Elder Scrolls. Workers are striking over claims that ZeniMax leadership has failed to address employee issues regarding remote work and outsourcing.

“Today, we are on strike,” ZeniMax Workers United posted on X. “We are not afraid to do what’s necessary to make sure that Microsoft meets us at the bargaining table over key issues like remote work options and outsourcing.”

Today, we are on strike.

We are not afraid to do what's necessary to make sure that Microsoft meets us at the...

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These are the passwords you definitely shouldn’t be using

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images

The password manager NordPass has once again released its annual list of the world’s most popular passwords — and the lack of creativity is just a little disheartening. For the second year in a row, “123456” has been crowned the most common password.

The same numbers topped the chart five out of the six times NordPass has compiled its lists, only to be usurped by the famed “password” in 2022. But once you get past all the QWERTYs, ABCs, and 123s, we get a little insight into what humanity thinks about when creating the line of text that protects their most personal information.

Image: NordPass

There are those who choose “iloveyou” and those who opt for “fuckyou.” Others have distinct interests, like “pokemon,”...

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The rarely discounted PlayStation Pulse Elite headset hits a record low price

Sony designed its flagship headset to pair perfectly with a PlayStation household. | Image: Sony

It’s inordinately rare to find the PlayStation Pulse Elite on sale, but Black Friday season is always a good opportunity for retailers to break the rules. Sony’s flagship wireless headset is discounted to $129.99 ($20 off) at Walmart right now as part of its early Black Friday sale. Although the discount doesn’t appear massive, that still represents the lowest price we’ve seen so far.

The Pulse Elite launched in late 2023 alongside a slate of other mid-cycle PlayStation 5 accessories, including the $199.99 Pulse Explore earbuds and the once-elusive PlayStation Portal handheld companion.

While many third-party wireless headsets support 3D Audio (PlayStation’s take on simulated spatial audio), Pulse Elite supports what Sony considers the...

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Silo’s mysteries only deepen in season 2

Image: Apple

The first season of Silo ended on a truly great cliffhanger. The Apple TV Plus series, an adaptation of Hugh Howey’s trilogy of postapocalyptic novels, tells the story of the remnants of humanity, who live deep underground in silos designed to protect them from a poisoned planet. Season 1 had the feeling of a small-town mystery, as mechanic-turned-sheriff Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) stumbled upon a secret that completely upended her worldview. Her quest to uncover that mystery ultimately led her outside of the silo’s protective walls, which is right where the season ended. Silo’s second season picks up in the aftermath and ramps things up by both raising the stakes and raising a big heap of new mysteries to obsess over.

This piece...

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Tesla Cybertruck hit with sixth recall this year, this time over a bad inverter

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled for the sixth time this year — and the fix won’t involve an easy software update.

Tesla voluntarily issued a recall for approximately 2,431 Cybertrucks manufactured between November 6, 2023 and July 30, 2024. The issue is related to something called the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors, or MOSFET, in which the inverter has the potential to stop creating torque, resulting in a loss of propulsion for the truck.

A loss of propulsion

There isn’t any warning prior to the loss of propulsion, but a visual alert will appear on the center touchscreen instructing the driver to pull the truck over to the side of the road. Tesla is sending notices out to affected Cybertruck owners and plans to...

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Final Fantasy games are coming to Apple Arcade

Image: Apple

Apple Arcade is getting a dose of Final Fantasy. Apple just announced the next batch of games coming to its subscription service, and Square Enix’s long-running RPG series is the highlight. First up is the 3D remake of Final Fantasy IV, which will be launching on December 9th, alongside its direct sequel The After Years. Then, the original Final Fantasy and Trials of Mana (another Square Enix RPG) will hit the service on January 9th.

Those are the most notable offerings, but all told Apple revealed 15 titles coming to Arcade in the coming weeks. Other highlights include Skate City: New York (January 9th), Pac-Man 256 (December 5th), and a pair of Apple Vision Pro games in Little Cities: Diorama (December 5th) and Gears & Goo (January...

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The tiny tweak that could change YouTube forever

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

In the last couple of months, some people have started watching YouTube on their phones to find something a little different: an endless, TikTok-like feed of videos underneath. These weren’t Shorts, but full-length videos, the ones YouTube tends to refer to as “longform.” If you swiped up, instead of returning you to the homepage, another video would start playing. Swipe again: another video.

So far, this is just a small test of a possible feature, the kind YouTube runs all the time. This one has been live since August and is one of several ongoing tests of new ways for users to find content on YouTube. “If you’re a viewer in the experiment,” a forum post describing the test says, “these new discovery experiences could include a mix of...

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Google is testing the ‘impact’ of removing EU news from search results

Illustration: The Verge

As Google continues to navigate its relationship with publishers, regulators, and news readers, the company is starting a pretty drastic test: it will remove news articles from European Union-based publishers from Search.

While the “test” is supposed to determine how it will impact traffic and the overall search experience, it won’t show up for everyone. Google will only remove EU news articles from search results, Google News, and Discover for one percent of users in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain.

Google says it’s running the “time-limited” test because EU regulators and publishers “have asked for additional data about the effect of news content in Search.” The company says it will...

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Just Eat is selling Grubhub to Marc Lore’s Wonder for $650M

Image: Wonder / Grubhub

Just Eat is selling off Grubhub to fancy food hall delivery startup Wonder in a deal worth $650 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory approvals. Wonder is owned by businessman Marc Lore, the former Walmart e-commerce CEO and part-owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Wonder started as a multi-restaurant food truck service delivering fine dining and evolved into food hall hubs where staff quickly cook pre-prepared foods crafted by big-name chefs like Bobby Flay. Customers can order from “upwards of 30 restaurants” from the Wonder app, combining them into one delivery.

With Grubhub coming under Wonder’s belt, the company plans to integrate the delivery app into its platform. In a...

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Bluesky crosses the 15 million user mark

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Short-form posting platform Bluesky crossed the 15 million user mark today amid a recent surge of user signups in the wake of the US presidential election. That’s according to a stat-tracking site put together by Bluesky developer Jaz, using the Bluesky API.

The platform, which rests on the decentralized AT Protocol, added about a million new users in the last week. Bluesky COO Rose Wang recently told The Verge that the “majority” of new users flocking to the platform have been from the US. The Bluesky app is currently at number one in the iOS app store, followed by Threads, ChatGPT, and the Google app.

Screenshot: iOS App Store

Bluesky is the number one free iOS app this morning.

Meta’s Threads is still...

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Belkin’s Vision Pro strap should just come with the headset

Photo: Wes Davis / The Verge

The Vision Pro VR headset is such an Apple product — meticulously designed and packed with incredible tech, but designed to be used Apple’s way, whether you like it or not. For many, that means the headset is aggressively uncomfortable to wear due to its weight distribution. For the last several days, though, I’ve been testing a solution Apple now sells that’s so simple, so obvious, that I’m actually miffed at Apple for not including something like it from the very beginning: the Belkin Head Strap.

Belkin’s strap works in tandem with Apple’s Solo Knit Band. The Solo Knit Band wraps around your head with an elastic cushion, clamping the headset to your face but putting a lot of strain on your neck. Belkin’s strap gives you more support...

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Patreon introduces subscription gifting and discounts

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Subscriptions are the main way creators on Patreon make money, as they must build an audience willing to shell out a few dollars a month to access their writing, podcasts, or videos. The company announced today that creators and their fans can now give away gift memberships, which could be a powerful way for creators to grow their subscriber base.

Patreon said earlier this year it was working on a gifting subscription feature similar to what already existed on other subscription-powered platforms like Substack (which, incidentally, has been pushing deeper into the creator space beyond newsletters). Gifting is also a core part of Twitch’s streaming platform, where fans and streamers often give away subscriptions based on specific goals...

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The Polestar 3 with rear-wheel drive and 350 miles of range will start at $68,900

Polestar revealed new pricing and range details for the rear-wheel drive version of its Polestar 3 SUV, which began reaching customers earlier this month.

The single-motor RWD Polestar 3 will be the most affordable and longest range version of the EV, starting at $68,900 (including a $1,400 destination charge) and getting an EPA-rated range of 350 miles. The long-range single motor EV will be built alongside the dual-motor, all-wheel drive version of the Polestar 3 at its factory in South Carolina.

With that starting price, and its North American manufacturing bonafides, the RWD Polestar 3 should qualify for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit — at least as long as it still exists. (President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to kill the tax...

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Monster Hunter is getting an open-world RPG spinoff for mobile

Image: Capcom

The Monster Hunter franchise is bringing, well, monster hunting to your smartphone. Capcom has announced that it’s teaming up with TiMi — the studio behind games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Pokémon Unite — for a spinoff called Monster Hunter Outlanders. It’s described as an “open-world survival game” that’s playable either solo or co-op with up to four players. It sounds like Outlanders will feature the core aspects of a MonHun experience (namely, the exploring, hunting, and crafting) but with live service and social elements typical of a mobile game.

MonHun has become a huge global franchise since the launch of Monster Hunter World in 2018, which went on to become Capcom’s bestselling game. Since then, there’s been a live-action movie,...

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Trump says Elon Musk will lead ‘DOGE’ office to cut ‘wasteful’ government spending

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by STR / NurPhoto, Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead what he calls the Department of Government Efficiency — yes, the acronym is DOGE — to “pave the way” for his administration to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”

The department will somehow operate “outside of Government” and work with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget, according to the statement posted on Truth Social. Musk and Ramaswamy have until July 4th, 2026, to complete their work, the statement says.

Trump had said during his presidential campaign that he would appoint Musk to head up a government efficiency commission if he was elected....

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Amazon is shutting down Freevee

Image: Freevee

Amazon is going to shut down Freevee, its free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service. The service’s content has already been migrated over to Prime Video and new episodes of Freevee shows will be available to people who don’t pay for Prime, Deadline reports. The brand will be phased out “over the coming weeks,” Deadline says.

Freevee originally launched out of Amazon-owned IMDb in 2019 as IMDb Freedive and was rebranded a few months after launch to IMDb TV and then to Freevee in 2022. The service had some of its own original content, like Bosch: Legacy and Jury Duty, Amazon also added some Prime Video content to the service starting in 2023.

But Adweek reported in February that Amazon was planning to sunset the brand —...

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Here are the best Black Friday deals you can already get

Google’s new Pixel Buds Pro 2 have already fallen to $179 ahead of the holiday. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Can’t wait until Black Friday to start your holiday shop or score a killer deal on a gadget you’ve been eyeing? You may not have to. Although Black Friday isn’t until November 29th, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target have begun rolling out their holiday discounts, many of which are available elsewhere. Some retailers will even refund you the difference if an item drops further in price later this year, meaning you don’t necessarily have to worry about shopping ahead of time.

New deals are popping up weekly, so we’ve rounded up the cream of the crop below to make sorting through them easier. Current promos include steep discounts on a range of our favorite tech, too, from the Beats Solo Pro headphones and Apple’s AirTags to some of our...

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National Guard Discord leaker sentenced to 15 years in prison

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

After pleading guilty in March to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act, former Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for posting “hundreds of pages” of classified military documents on Discord.

Some of the leaked information included sensitive details about troop movements in Ukraine and previously unknown information about US intelligence gathering on other countries like China, Russia, and South Korea.

While stationed at an air base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Teixeira was granted a Top-Secret//Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance necessary for “maintaining and troubleshooting” classified workstations in the...

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The hunt for the next Twitter: all the news about alternative social media platforms

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Where will we all hang out next?

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MKBHD got himself in trouble again

A screen grab of the video titled “How My Video Gear is Changing!” | Image: MKBHD

Marques Brownlee is dealing with another commenter backlash. Fans of Brownlee are furious that his latest video, titled “How My Video Gear is Changing!” on the MKBHD YouTube channel, is a fully sponsored segment for DJI, rather than an editorially independent review. The video also contained a clip of Brownlee driving a sports car way over the speed limit on a suburban road.

Commenters have flooded the video with criticism, calling out Brownlee for running the sponsored segment. “This can’t even be considered a sponsored video anymore. It’s literally just a ten minute advertisement,” reads one comment with more than 12,000 likes.

In response, Brownlee edited the video to remove the clip of him speeding. It had originally shown him...

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Apple’s rumored six-inch ‘AI wall tablet’ could control your smart home by March 2025

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

For months now, there have been rumors about a smart home display Apple is supposedly working on. Now Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says the display will be wall-mounted and control smart home devices, attend video calls, and more, similar to the Amazon Echo Hub, and works on its own but requires an iPhone to complete the initial setup.

The iPad-like device, which will reportedly be available as soon as next March, has a six-inch display with thick edges, a built-in camera, a rechargeable battery, and speakers, according to Gurman. The plan is to have Siri and Apple Intelligence voice control support as well.

If the rumors are true, the smart display will offer a centralized way to control HomeKit-compatible lights, security cameras, sensors,...

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SBF to get the Girls treatment in Going Infinite film adaptation

Image: The Verge

Apple and A24 are working on a new movie about imprisoned crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried based on The Big Short writer Michael Lewis's book Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon. Variety reported their arrangement and that Girls creator and star Lena Dunham is set to write the film.

Going Infinite is Lewis’s chronicle of the rise, spectacular implosion, and eventual conviction of Bankman-Fried and his crypto exchange FTX.

Lewis was working on the book already and embedded with Bankman-Fried when FTX collapsed in 2022. SBF was ultimately found guilty of several criminal fraud and conspiracy charges and given a 25-year prison sentence. He’s appealing his conviction, even as his fellow FTX executives are being sentenced and...

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YouTube is testing music remixes made by AI

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube is testing a new feature that will let creators use AI to “restyle” licensed songs for their shorts. The small group of creators with access can enter a prompt to change up different elements in a song, such as its mood or genre, and the expansion of YouTube’s Dream Track AI feature will generate a reworked 30-second soundtrack.

YouTube:

If you’re a creator in the experiment group, you can select an eligible song > describe how you want to restyle it > then generate a unique 30-second soundtrack to use in your Short.

These restyled soundtracks will have clear attribution to the original song through the Short itself and the Shorts audio pivot page, and will also clearly indicate that the track was restyled with AI

YouTube has...

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Eufy’s new floodlight cam will watch over your backyard in HD for $150

Eufy’s new hardwired floodlight camera can record all day long. | Image: Eufy

Eufy’s new Floodlight Camera E30 attaches a 2K camera that can tilt and pan 360 degrees to a pair of 2,000-lumen LED floodlights and throws in local video capture without subscription fees. Although Eufy, the smart home brand of Anker, sells similar products with batteries and solar panels offering more flexibility on where they can be mounted, most homes already have a floodlight. That makes the hardwired E30 an easy replacement that is available now through the company’s website and Amazon for $149.99,

There are alternatives we currently recommend in our floodlight camera buyer’s guide, but for $150, the Eufy E30 offers several premium features without requiring ongoing fees to actually use them.

Being hardwired also means the E30,...

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VW and Rivian officially kick off $5.8 billion joint venture, announce leadership

Image: Rivian

Volkswagen and Rivian have crossed all their T’s and dotted all their I’s in their new $5.8 billion joint venture, which officially kicks off its work on November 13th, the companies announced today.

Last June, VW said it would invest $5 billion in Rivian as part of a new joint venture that’s focused on developing a new electrical architecture and vehicle software for future models, including subcompact cars, with the first planned for 2027. The investment size has now increased to $5.8 billion.

“Rivian and VW Group Technology, LLC”

The new joint venture, dryly named “Rivian and VW Group Technology, LLC,” will be led by Rivian software chief Wassym Bensaid and VW Group chief technology engineer Carsten Helbing. Teams will be based in...

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