Threads will finally let you set the following feed as your default

Illustration: The Verge

Threads will now let users decide what feed they want as their default when opening the app. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the news in a post, saying that you’ll be able to choose between For You, Following, or any custom feed that you’ve set up. Zuckerberg’s post notes that Threads is “testing” this option and will make the choice “more visible” in the app.

It took over a year to get here, but Threads is finally doing the obvious thing and allowing people to use the app however they prefer. To set your default feed, open the Threads app and tap and hold on any feed at the top. From there, choose “edit feeds,” and that’s where you’ll be able to reorder them. Whichever feed you put in the first slot will appear whenever you open...

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Cars are polluting less — but for how long?

Photo by Kevin Carter / Getty Images

Cars are getting more efficient and less polluting, resulting in better air quality for everyone, according to a new report from the Environmental Protection Agency. But with a new administration coming in that has made climate change and air pollution less of a priority — and drilling for more fossil fuels more of one — it’s unclear how sustainable this trend will be.

In the US, new model cars are traveling further on less gas, the EPA reports. Real-world fuel economy improved by 1.1 miles per gallon of gasoline to a “record high” of 27.1 mpg for model year 2023 vehicles. That’s an improvement of 13.1mpg since 1975, when the EPA first began gathering fuel economy data.

These gains in fuel economy do not take into account the EPA’s...

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Nvidia claims a new AI audio generator can make sounds never heard before

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images

Nvidia says its new AI music editor can create “sounds never heard before” — like a trumpet that meows. The tool, called Fugatto, is capable of generating music, sounds, and speech using text and audio inputs it’s never been trained on.

As shown in this video embedded below, this allows Fugatto to put together songs based on wild prompts, like “Create a saxophone howling, barking then electronic music with dogs barking.”

Some other examples shared by the company include the ability to produce unique sound effects based on a description, like “Deep, rumbling bass pulses paired with intermittent, high-pitched digital chirps, like the sound of a massive sentient machine waking up.”

It can even transform the sound of someone’s voice,...

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Instagram DMs add live location sharing and nicknames

Instagram added new stickers and is letting you give friends nicknames and your location. | Image: Instagram

Instagram is adding the ability to share your live location with friends in your DMs for up to one hour at a time so you can find each other when arriving at concerts, outings, and other gatherings. The feature works within Instagram’s direct messages, which also gets a few other new features, including sticker packs and nicknames.

Instagram says you can share your location privately with others through DMs, either one-to-one or within group chats, and the feature is off by default. It’s similar to the location-sharing features in Snapchat’s SnapMap, which includes the ability to share pictures with friends on a map. For now, these features are only available in “select countries” (Instagram does not list where.)

Image:...

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Bluesky is breaking the rules in the EU

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

The European Union says Twitter alternative Bluesky violates the EU Digital Services Act rules around information disclosure, reports Reuters. But since Bluesky isn’t yet big enough to be considered a “very large online platform” under the DSA, the regulator says it can’t regulate Bluesky the way it does X or Threads.

The Financial Times quotes European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier, who told reporters about the violation during a Monday press briefing:

“All platforms in the EU . . . have to have a dedicated page on their website where it says how many users they have in the EU and where they are legally established,” said commission spokesman Thomas Regnier. “This is not the case for Bluesky as of today. This is not followed.”

...

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GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani on the enduring power of the website

Photo illustration by The Verge / Photo: GoDaddy

Despite everything, websites are still a pretty neat idea — but what if AI builds them?

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Google to face massive UK class action lawsuit over search dominance

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Google must face a £7 billion (around $8.8 billion) class action lawsuit in the UK that accuses the company of harming consumers by abusing its dominance in search. On Friday, the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruled that the case can move forward, adding to the growing number of legal conflicts Google has to confront worldwide.

The class action case was initially filed in September 2023 by consumer rights advocate Nikki Stopford. It alleges that Google’s anticompetitive practices made it more expensive for companies to advertise on the platform, leading to higher prices for millions of consumers across the UK.

The lawsuit argues that Google “forced” Android phone makers to ship their phones with Google Search and Google Chrome,...

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Raspberry Pi announces a $7 Pico 2 with built-in Wi-Fi

The Raspberry Pi Pico 2 now comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. | Image: Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi has announced an updated version of the Pico 2 microcontroller board with an onboard Wi-Fi chip. Called the Pico 2 W, it’s powered by RP2350 microcontroller, which you can find in all manner of nerdy DIY gadgets and fun devices like the minuscule Thumby Color GBA clone. Best of all, it costs $7, up just two bucks from the $5 Pico 2.

The Pico 2 W’s Wi-Fi chip adds a 2.4GHz signal using the Wi-Fi 4 (aka 802.11n) standard and brings Bluetooth 5.2 along for the ride. Wi-Fi 4 is an older, low-bandwidth standard that’s still used in a lot of smart home products today, from basic sensors to security cameras to smart speakers like the HomePod Mini.

The Pico 2 W also features a single USB 1.1 port. Tom’s Hardware notes in its...

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The Chao Garden lives in Sonic 3’s new trailer

Paramount

There are a handful of details Parmount’s third Sonicfeature needs to get right in order for it to feel like a proper adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, and the movie’s latest trailer makes it look like it has the Chao Garden (arguably the best part of the game) on lock.

Though it features a few more shots of the Robotniks (Jim Carey) and Shadow the Hedgehog (Keanu Reeves) plotting to obliterate the earth, the highlight of Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s new trailer are its new shots of the Chao Garden. While Sonic Adventure 2’s Chao Garden was basically a daycare to raise magical little creatures, the movie reimagines it as a Chuck E. Cheese-like restaurant where Sonic (Ben Schwartz) and his crew like to hang out as Chao mascots dance around on...

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California is ready to pick a fight with Trump if he kills the federal EV tax credit

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

California Governor Gavin Newsom vowed to bring back the state’s rebate for new electric vehicle purchases if President-elect Donald Trump follow through on his threat to kill the federal tax credit.

During the campaign, Trump vowed to eliminate President Joe Biden’s “EV mandate” on “day one” of his presidency. And now with this transition underway, his advisors have already discussed including a measure to kill the $7,500 tax credit for new EV purchases as part of a broader tax reform package.

If Trump succeeds, Newsom says he’ll step up and revive the state’s recently phased out Clean Vehicle Program, which offered rebates from $1,000 to $7,500 for the purchase or lease of new, eligible zero-emission vehicles, including electric,...

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Build your next PC like it’s 1999

Silverstone’s new FLP01 PC case looks like a relic from the late ‘90s. | Screenshot: X

SilverStone’s new FLP01 PC case looks it was created in a time when desktop computers had turbo buttons and bragging rights were earned by having a Pentium chip inside.In reality, the retro beige box is launching next year for all your modern PC-building needs, doubling as a stand for a monitor that’s probably not a 30-pound CRT.

The Japanese company SilverStone has been making PC components and cases since it launched in 2003, and last year, during its 20th anniversary, it shared the first details and images of the FLP01 on X timed to coincide with April Fools’ Day.

明日の準備中…
いつもの場所でお待ちしております。#SILVERSTONEEXPO2024~LEGACY~ pic.twitter.com/S5E9ONrUmG

— SilverStone JP (@SilverStoneJP) November 15, 2024

Over a year later, at an expo...

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Roku is building its content into Google TVs

The Verge

Roku is making it easier to find and watch its programming on Google TV without jumping between apps. Users can soon search for content from The Roku Channel — Roku’s free streaming app — directly on Google TV, providing quick access to Roku’s library of over 80,000 movies and TV shows.

New category tabs are coming to the Google TV home screen that will suggest recommended Roku content, alongside the ability to jump back into unfinished TV shows and movies from The Roku Channel. The integration will also bring more than 500 of Roku’s FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) channels to the “live” tab on Google TV. According to Roku, these channels will include free programming across “news, sports, cooking, DIY, music, and more.”

...

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How to watch a baby

Kristen Radtke / The Verge

Parenthood is abrupt and total.

When I went to the hospital, I understood that I’d be sent home with a vulnerable being who would require constant care, but it was impossible to prepare for what that actually felt like.

I’d loved being in the maternity ward, a leisurely four nights thanks to a C-section and a few complications, where I was surrounded by perky and competent nurses who took care of me and my baby, checking my bandages and bringing me ice and answering my questions.

(I had a lot of questions.)

“If she doesn’t want to eat, is that okay?”

“What does that raspy noise mean?”

“Her lower lip keeps quivering, is that okay?”

“Does she need to keep the hat on all the time?”

“How often should I change her diaper?”

When we were...

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Google’s empire is under siege

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

An onslaught of antitrust lawsuits could drastically change what Google looks like and how it operates — even if they don’t succeed.

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Amazon Kindle Colorsoft review: good color is a good start

The Colorsoft is essentially a Paperwhite with a color screen. It might be worth waiting for a color Kindle Scribe instead.

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Corning offers Gorilla Glass concessions to settle EU’s antitrust case

Gorilla Glass is used in many of the most popular smartphone offerings, such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 (pictured). | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Gorilla Glass producer Corning has proposed several commitments in an attempt to settle an antitrust investigation initiated by the European Union. The bloc launched a probe into Corning on November 6th over concerns the New York-based company used exclusivity contracts to push out rival glass makers from the phone industry, allowing it to dominate the worldwide market for break-resistant Alkali-AS Glass.

According to the EU Commission’s press release, the remedies proposed by Corning include waiving all exclusivity clauses in its current agreements with phone companies and glass finishers, promising not to use such clauses again in future, and not forcing its customers to buy specific quantities of stock from Corning. Corning also...

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Sony’s making a handheld console to compete with Nintendo and Microsoft

The new console will build on the Playstation Portal (pictured) which was reportedly originally intended to work as a standalone device. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Sony is currently making a new handheld gaming console that allows users to play PlayStation 5 games anywhere. According to Bloomberg, the console is being developed to compete against Nintendo and Microsoft in the portable gaming market, and is likely “years away from launch” — if Sony decides to release it at all.

Nintendo is a leading figure in the handheld gaming industry, with a next-generation successor to its popular Switch console expected to arrive next year. Microsoft is also developing its own handheld Xbox prototype, though Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has recently cautioned that the device is “a few years out.” The handheld gaming category has also benefitted from a PC-platform expansion in recent years thanks to new...

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Trailers of the week: Minecraft, Elio, and Alien: Earth

A still from the latest A Minecraft Movie trailer. | Screenshot: YouTube

This week, I went to a theater to watch a showing of the black-and-white version of Johnny Mnemonic, starring Keanu Reeves. Old-heads like me may recall it as a bad mid-90s cyberpunk film (written by William Gibson!) about a data courier whose brain is the storage medium, but who had to have his childhood memories erased to make space for the work.

I hadn’t seen it since I was a kid, and you know what? It’s still not a good movie. But if you ignore the plot holes, mostly awful acting, and terrible pacing, it’s at least very cool to look at. Also, I had totally forgotten about Ice T’s turn as J-Bone, leader of the Lo-Tek underground. It was fun enough, but it was weird to hear the theater audience erupt with applause at the end, though,...

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Tech CEOs want to replicate Tim Cook’s Donald Trump playbook

Tim Cook and then-President Donald Trump, speaking to the Press in Austin, Texas in 2019. | Photo: Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images

Apple CEO Tim Cook managed to forge a personal relationship with Donald Trump during his first Presidential term that other tech firms struggled to replicate. Now, others are trying to follow his template, says a Wall Street Journal report today.

Cook used direct appeals to influence Trump’s 2017 tax policy and to get him to dial back his 2019 tariffs in ways that benefitted Apple. In exchange, Trump got to look good; as the Journal points out, Cook didn’t correct Trump when claimed responsibility for Apple opening an Austin manufacturing plant that had already been around for years and wasn’t even owned by Apple.

Part of Cook’s strategy was keeping things simple, according to the Journal:

Instead of sending government relations...

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Apple’s movie theater beef with Hollywood is getting worse

Image: Apple

Wolfs director Jon Watts told Collideron Friday that he didn’t think a sequel to the George Clooney and Brad Pitt movie, which Apple had already greenlit, would be happening. Yesterday, he revealed to Deadline that he had backed out of the project because he “no longer trusted [Apple] as a creative partner” after the company made a u-turn on its wide theatrical release.

The New York Times reported in August that Apple pulled the theatrical run for Wolfs because it was concerned it was spending too much on films after suffering multiple high-profile box office disappointments. At the same time, its limited-run approach worked out for Doug Liman’s The Instigators, which analysts cited by the Times said was the most-watched streaming movie...

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Nintendo’s terrific Switch Pro Controller is $20 off through Black Friday

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Nintendo recently announced a batch of Black Friday deals, all of which run through November 30th. This includes a steep discount on the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, which drops it to an all-time low of $49.99 ($20 off) at Best Buy, GameStop, and Target. This is one of the more notable Black Friday discounts from Nintendo this year — that is, aside from the current promo on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Nintendo’s latest Switch OLED bundle — namely because the Pro Controller rarely goes on sale, even today.

Although there are many great third-party gamepads available, the Switch Pro Controller remains the best all-around controller for Nintendo’s aging console. It’s much more comfortable to use a full-size controller...

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Boox Palma 2 review: ain’t broke, not fixed

There are so many things about the Palma 2 that could be better. But it’s still great at what it does.

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Two new tech documentaries you really need to see

Image: David Pierce / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 61, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, happy Hallmark season, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

I missed you all last week — thanks to everyone who told me you missed Installer, too! Warms my heart, and also makes me feel terrible for not being there, but mostly warms my heart. Let’s get back at it. This week, I’ve been reading about venom and deadly car races and hockey phenoms, setting up the new Mac Mini I finally caved and bought, watching The Day of the Jackal (which is spectacular) and Wolfs(which is fine), devouring the Dark Matterand Say Nothingbooks before I watch the shows**,** seeing if Google’s...

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Microsoft pauses Windows 11 updates for PCs with some Ubisoft games installed

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft has stopped offering updates to Windows 11 version 24H2 on PCs that have certain Ubisoft games installed, Bleeping Computer reports. The company made the move after complaints that Star Wars Outlaws and games in the Assassin’s Creed series were crashing after installing the new Windows update.

Microsoft confirmed the “compatibility hold” in a status update yesterday evening, and says it’s working with Ubisoft to find a fix. In the meantime, the company recommends against installing the Windows 11 24H2 update manually.

Here is Microsoft’s description of the issue and games affected:

After installing Windows 11, version 24H2, you might encounter issues with some Ubisoft games. These games might become unresponsive while...

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A fully electric Chrysler Pacifica is in the works

The Chrysler Pacifica could come as a fully-electric minivan in a few years. | Image: Chrysler

Chrysler is working on a fully electric version of the Chrysler Pacifica minivan, according to Green Car Reports. The EV version reportedly would “likely” come a year after the company debuts a Pacifica design refresh that features elements of the Halcyon concept that Stellantis showed off earlier this year.

At the moment, the Pacifica lineup includes a standard gas-powered minivan and a plug-in hybrid with an estimated 32-mile electric-only driving range before it switches over to gas. Chrysler CEO Christine Feuell, who confirmed the plans to Green Car Reports during the LA Auto Show on Thursday, wouldn’t say whether the company will keep the plug-in hybrid alongside the all-electric model.

Image: Stellantis

The...

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You can save $10 on Google’s 4K-ready Chromecast before it’s gone for good

Yes, the dongle dangles from your TV’s HDMI port. No, it’s not that big of a deal. | Image: The Verge

It’s clear the world is ready to go all in on streaming for premier live events. That’s evidenced most recently by massive deals brokered by the likes of Netflix, which will exclusively broadcast two NFL games on Christmas Day and weekly episodes of WWE’s Monday Night Raw.

If you aren’t already set up with a capable streamer to enjoy it all, the Chromecast with Google TV (4K) is on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store for $39.99 ($10 off), which is less than $2 shy of its all-time low. There’s a bit of urgency here, too, because we may be in the final proverbial hours of the Chromecast’s existence. Google recently confirmed it’s discontinuing the line in favor of the Google TV Streamer 4K, so if you want one — even if it’s...

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Microsoft is testing a new in-game browser

Microsoft’s new Game Assist browser overlay can automatically surface tips and tricks for you. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft has announced that Microsoft Edge Game Assist, a new Edge-powered in-game browser overlay, is available for beta testing in Windows 11. The “game-aware” overlay lives in the Microsoft Game Bar and is designed to automatically find and show you links to tips and guides for the game you’re playing, using the Edge browser.

Game Assist uses the profile you’re logged into in Edge, so it’ll give you access to your data, like cookies, autofill, and favorites, so “you don’t need to log into sites again.” Like other Game Bar widgets, you can pin it above your game as you play. Game Assist is currently available in English, and you’ll need to opt into the preview and set Microsoft Edge Beta 132 as your default browser to use it.

Here’s a...

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The iMac M4 wasn’t built for this world

Still beautiful. Still good. Still the wrong form factor for basically everybody.

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What’s on your desk, Kylie Robison?

A cozy workspace full of character and characters — and a cat.

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Twitter’s heir apparent isn’t X or Threads — it’s Bluesky

Kristen Radtke / The Verge

Bluesky feels like the big winner right now.

I’ve been covering Bluesky ever since I got my invite in April 2023. I’ve felt the platform has always had promise, especially with features like feeds with custom algorithms and the ability to let users pick their own moderation filters. But for a long while, it didn’t have the critical mass of users that I could follow to make it the first social network I load up every day.

Over the course of this month, that’s changed. It added 700,000 new users in a week. Then, it crossed the 15 million-user mark. This week, CEO Jay Graber said it crossed more than 20 million users and had been adding more than a million users per day.

Part of the interest in Bluesky is that it looks and feels like a...

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