Intel Arc B570 GPU specs leak just days before launch

Image: Intel

Intel is expected to release a pair of entry-level Battlemage GPUs this week, and now marketing materials posted by reliable leaker Roland Quandt show what we might see from the lower-specced Arc B570. The leaked materials, which have details for a dual-fan ASRock Arc B570 Challenger OC GPU, suggest that the new chip may feature 18 Xe2 cores and 10GB of GDDR6 VRAM on a 160-bit memory bus.

The leak also indicates that Intel’s Arc B570 chip could come with the 8-pin PCIe power connector and a 2.6GHz GPU clock, along with support for HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1.

Intel Arc B570

— Roland Quandt (@rquandt.bsky.social) 2024-11-30T23:40:03.305Z

The rumored specs for the Arc B570’s slightly more powerful counterpart — the Arc B580 — have...

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The 2024 Installer gift guide, part one

Image: David Pierce / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 62, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, happy Post-Thanksgiving Chill Weekend, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been reading about junk food and Madden 2004 and Anthony Jeselnik, watching Wickedand immediately making sure to hold space for the lyrics of “Defying Gravity,” exploring the back catalog of 60 Second Docs (which I found thanks to Jason Kottke), watching a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine with my toddler, marveling at how complicated it is just to shop for pizza stones, and listening to the first episodes of The Rest is Classified.

I also have for you a productivity app that I truly...

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Elon Musk targets OpenAI’s for-profit transition in a new filing

Illustration: Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Image: Getty Images

In a new motion filed late Friday in his lawsuit against OpenAI, Elon Musk’s attorneys have asked for a preliminary injunction to stop OpenAI from transitioning to a for-profit enterprise, reports TechCrunch. They also asked the judge to forbid the company from continuing alleged practices that they say violate US antitrust laws.

Musk’s lawyers claim that because of CEO Sam Altman’s alleged self-dealing, OpenAI “will likely lack sufficient funds to pay damages” if Musk wins the suit. The motion follows reports of OpenAI’s intent to become a for-profit business and that it recently began early talks with regulators to move its structural change forward.

As for antitrust claims, the lawyers say OpenAI and Microsoft “told investors not to...

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This high-powered portable power bank is down to just $74 right now

This beefy battery from Anker, which can keep all your gadgets charged while traveling, is on sale for its lowest price to date. | Image: Anker

As a power-hungry tech journalist, I’m constantly on the lookout for good bargains on portable power to keep my devices charged while I’m traveling for work. So, I snapped up Anker’s 24,000mAh 737 Power Bank when I saw it on sale at Amazon for $73.99 — which is more than 50 percent off the original retail price. It’s also available directly from Anker for the same Black Friday low when you use promo code WS24SJHXE0JN at checkout.

I’ve been looking for a good power bank that could simultaneously charge my MacBook Pro, iPhone, and headphones while on the go, and I’ve had my eye on the Anker 737 for a while. Its whopping 24,000 mAh battery means I can ditch my other less powerful power banks and seriously streamline my go-bag (although at...

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Fortnite’s latest concert turned pop stars into kaiju

Image: Epic Games

Fortnite’s most recent virtual concert was supersized in multiple ways. Unlike previous events, which focused on specific artists like Ariana Grande or Metallica, this one featured a cast of four different artists: Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Ice Spice, and the late Juice WRLD. And it turned each one of the large lineup into a kaiju-sized performer, while also integrating deep cuts of Fortnite lore and providing a tease of what’s next for the game.

Things started out at Snoop Dogg’s compound, which has been at the center of the battle royale map since the beginning of November. From there, a gigantic version of the rapper performed, before whisking players away into space for another song. In fact, the event constantly moved around: up next was...

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Marvel Rivals gets Wolverine, Black Widow, and more in the latest trailer

With a new Marvel Rivals trailer, Marvel has revealed that Wolverine, Black Widow, Iron Fist, Squirrel Girl, and Cloak and Dagger will all be part of its upcoming 6 v 6 hero shooter_._ The company says in an announcement that each of them will be “fully revealed” in one trailer per day leading up to its December 6th launch.

The trailer hints at some of the attacks the characters will have, including a Hulk / Wolverine team-up that involves the big green guy flinging Marvel’s furry short king at their adversaries. Some other paired attacks show up, like Squirrel Girl catching a Spider-Man web ball and apparently turning it into an exploding slingshot projectile, or Black Window and Hawkeye firing side-by-side.

Marvel also took the wraps...

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The best Black Friday deals you can still get today

Image: Elen Winata for The Verge

Just because it’s Saturday doesn’t mean the deluge of deals on laptops, headphones, and other Verge-approved gadgets is letting up.

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You can still score a PlayStation 5 for as low as $374 for Black Friday

If white isn’t your style, Sony is also discounting some of its colorful console covers. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Sony and other game makers are running all kinds of Black Friday sales right now, allowing you to save on games, consoles, and plenty of accessories. However, one of the better offers still available is on the latest PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, which is on sale at Walmart, Best Buy, and Sony’s PlayStation Direct storefront for an all-time low of $374 ($75 off). It’s also available at Amazon as part of a Fortnite bundle that includes some in-game cosmetics and other freebies.

Alternatively, if you prefer your console to come with its disc drive (instead of having to potentially add one later), you can get a disc-ready PS5 for $424 (regularly $499) at Best Buy, Walmart, PlayStation Direct, and Amazon (in that same Fortnite bundle). A...

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How to watch Fortnite’s big Juice WRLD, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Ice Spice concert

Image: Epic Games

If it feels like Fortnite just had a major concert, that’s because it did — the beginning of November saw a live performance from Snoop Dogg and Ice Spice in New York that also aired in game. That event was used to kick off a mini season that remixed the battle royale’s second chapter. Now here we are with another virtual concert, albeit one that looks like it will more closely resemble musical events from Fortnite’s past, like those featuring Ariana Grande and Travis Scott.

It’s called Remix: The Finale, and the big difference appears to be scale. Instead of one artist, the event will feature four: Snoop, Ice Spice, Eminem, and Juice WRLD. All of them have been featured in the game’s current season (Eminem also had his own solo event a...

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You can pick up an Apple Watch starting at just $149 right now

The second-gen Apple Watch SE is a bargain at $149, so long as you don’t need the latest sensors, | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

If you’re an iPhone owner on a budget looking for a good fitness tracker right now, the latest Apple Watch SE is a great option. That’s especially true today, now that Apple’s most affordable smartwatch is available at Amazon and Walmart in the 40mm, GPS-enabled configuration starting at just $149 ($100 off), an all-time low.

Apple’s entry-level wearable offers all the essentials most people look for in a fitness tracker, allowing you to monitor your sleep quality, heart rate, and other basic workout metrics. Apple also threw in a few extras, including fall detection and emergency calling, along with support for Apple Pay, Family Setup, and even safety features like crash detection. It has the same processor as the Apple Watch Series 8...

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The 100 best Black Friday deals under $100

Twinkly’s discounted string lights can display more than 16 million colors, allowing for a wide range of dazzling effects. | Image: Twinkly

Gadgets make for expensive gifts, but that’s the beauty of Black Friday. As noted in our roundup of the absolute best Black Friday deals, this year’s shopping event has brought steep discounts on Apple devices, TVs, and plenty of other pricey tech. However, unless you’re planning on spending a couple hundred dollars on yourself or someone else, many of the more expensive items might not be in your budget.

We get it, which is why we’ve curated this guide to our favorite deals under $100. We’ve included gift-worthy gadgets like the Fitbit Charge 6 and Backbone One controller, along with headphones like the Beats Solo 4, e-readers like Amazon’s latest Kindle, and streaming services such as Hulu and Max. There are even a few of our...

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The Verge’s guide to Black Friday 2024

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

These days, Black Friday isn’t so much a single-day shopping holiday as it is an ever-expanding, monthslong event that often begins as early as October. The 24-hour deal blitz that once was the focus of newspaper headlines and mobs outside of stores is no more, which makes knowing when and where you should be spending your cash all the more confusing.

Luckily, we’re here to help. We’ve been poring through thousands upon thousands of deals over the last few weeks to separate the real discounts from the unexciting, made-up bargains every retailer seems to hawk around the holidays. We’ve put together tips on how to find the best deals and when to shop, and we’ll continue to flag the most compelling sales throughout the remainder of November...

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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has dropped to $30 for the first time

If you thought Breath of the Wild was big, wait until you experience Tears of the Kingdom_._ | Image: Nintendo

Significant discounts on first-party Nintendo Switch games can be notoriously difficult to come by, particularly on landmark titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. However, that trend seems to be shifting with Black Friday, as last year’s Game of the Year contender has dropped to just $30 ($40 off) at Walmart for a limited time, beating its previous low by $10.

Nintendo’s action-adventure RPG presents a familiar premise: you’re ultimately chasing after the malevolent Ganon in hopes of saving Princess Zelda and protecting the kingdom of Hyrule. But wait, didn’t we do that in the last game and many before it? How could she possibly fall into that predicament yet again? I’ll leave you to uncover the details, but let’s just...

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Leak: Intel’s Battlemage desktop GPUs are just days away

An older image of an Intel discrete GPU. | Image: Intel

Under financial pressures, Intel’s desktop gaming graphics business may be on the chopping block — but it seems that a pair of Battlemages will escape unscathed. Videocardz is reporting that Intel will announce the Arc B580 and B570 graphics cards just days from now on December 3rd, and launch them on December 12th alongside media reviews.

You shouldn’t expect these card to compete at the high-end. Far from it, based on leaked specs that suggest they have fewer cores, less memory, and less memory bandwidth than some of their Intel predecessors.

But they could also be a value leader. Retailer leaks spotted by Momomo_us suggest Intel’s own “Limited Edition” Arc B580 could cost just $250.

pic.twitter.com/M5ALLvkjex

— 188号 (@momomo_us) N...

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You can take a selfie with the Earth using this YouTuber’s satellite

A mockup of the Earth selfie from YouTuber Mark Rober. | Screenshot: Mark Rober

The stunt escalation on YouTube may have reached new heights with Mark Rober’s offer to snap anyone’s selfie with the planet Earth using a satellite he’s launching into orbit with the help of Google and T-Mobile.

Rober is a former NASA engineer who made a name for himself on YouTube by glitter bombing porch pirates, creating the world’s largest Super Soaker, and building an obstacle course for squirrels. Now he’s merging his interests with the launch of a satellite that can take photos of anyone’s portrait displayed on a Google Pixel with the Earth — yes, Planet Earth — in the background.

If you tell Rober where you live, he claims that he’ll take the selfie while the satellite is located over your city, and he’ll tell you exactly when...

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The best Black Friday deals you may want to get before Trump’s tariffs

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

There’s no telling exactly what the new year and new administration in the US will bring. But there are likely big changes afoot in the world of tech, especially if President-elect Donald Trump enacts all the tariffs he threatened on the campaign trail. We don’t have a crystal ball that tells us exactly what may get pricier or by how much, but there are several categories of big-ticket products that are at serious risk of being priced out of reach for many folks.

Trump said on Monday that he’d put “an additional 10 percent tariff above any additional tariffs” on all products coming in from China, after campaigning on the pledge to implement 60 percent tariffs on Chinese imports. A lot of tech products are imported from China, including...

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OpenAI sued by Canada’s biggest media outlets

Illustration: The Verge

A host of Canadian media companies filed a lawsuit against OpenAI today, alleging “inappropriate and illegal” use of their journalism to power the company’s GPT model, Reuters reports. It’s the latest salvo fired by the media in its fight against AI companies that have scraped large swaths of the open web to train their large-language models.

The suit was filed by several leading Canadian media companies, including the owners of the National Post and Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press, and CBC/Radio-Canada. The group alleges that OpenAI infringed on its copyrights when training its models, like ChatGPT, without seeking permission or offering compensation.

“OpenAI’s public statements that it is somehow fair or in the...

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Hyundai Ioniq 5 N review: fake shifting, real fun

Image: Hyundai

Even die-hard car enthusiasts have to smile at what Hyundai’s N Performance Division has done with the Ioniq 5.

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The best wireless earbuds to buy right now

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

The best from Apple, Bose, Samsung, Sony, Beats, Google, and more.

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The best fitness trackers to buy right now

Photo illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

From simple fitness bands and rugged sports watches to rings, these are the best trackers you can get.

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The best smartwatches for Android

Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge

Wear OS is much better than it used to be, so there’s never been a better time to consider a smartwatch.

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The best budget robot vacuums

Illustration: The Verge

You don’t have to spend a fortune to have a robot clean your floors. Here’s our pick of the most cost-effective bots you can buy right now.

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The best Black Friday headphone and earbud deals

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

There’s no better time than the holidays to treat yourself (or someone you care about) to an overdue upgrade and pick up a fresh pair of earbuds or headphones. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are a great opportunity to save big on the latest products from Apple, Bose, Google, Samsung, Sony, Sennheiser, and countless other brands. Plus, the extended return period at many retailers gives you ample time to test out whatever you buy and make sure it’s the ideal choice.

While you browse through the 2024 Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, be sure to reference our buying guides for the best wireless earbuds and best noise-canceling headphones, which break down the strengths and weaknesses of many of the products featured below.

Quick gifts...

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The best robot vacuums

Image: The Verge

Floor-sweeping robots are only getting better, with new mopping skills, better navigation chops, and more automation, meaning less work for you. We picked the best bots you can buy right now.

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Renovating your house? Black Friday is a surprisingly good time to buy light fixtures

Last fall I was in the thick of a home renovation project, doom scrolling thousands of light fixtures in search of clean, modern designs I didn’t hate. While I would normally consult my Verge colleagues for the best Black Friday TV and laptop deals, it did not initially occur to me to check for seasonal deals on the more contractor-oriented category of hardwired LED light fixtures. In fact, a lot of big lighting companies run meaningful Black Friday sales.

Fortunately, I happened to finalize our lighting selections just before Black Friday 2023 – and then saved hundreds of dollars by ordering pretty much every pendant, flush mount, outdoor sconce, and track light we needed by the end of Cyber Monday. If you are embarking on a home...

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Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses come with a $90 credit on top of new all-time low price

Unlike many before it, Ray-Ban’s smart glasses are actually trendy and inconspicuous. | Photo by Amanda Lopez for The Verge

If you’re in the market for a new pair of glasses (as I am), the Black Friday deals currently going on Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses are tempting. You can get several colors and sizes of the Wayfarer frames starting at $239.20 (about $61 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target right now. If that all-time low price isn’t enough, you’ll even get a $90 digital gift card or credit when purchasing them from Amazon and Target. You can use it toward anything in their respective stores.

If you need a prescription, note that you can only get lenses with a strength between -6 and +4. You can’t get prescription lenses with your frames at the above retailers, but you can get them when ordering through Ray-Ban, which is offering the same Black Friday...

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Our biggest stories and favorite things of 2024

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge

2024 is almost over, and it has been a year. The tech world has been shaken up a hundred times over, it seems: there was the splashy Vision Pro launch, Google being declared a monopoly, endless AI hype, a hugely consequential US election, the ongoing political ascendance of Elon Musk, and another generation of gadgets trying and failing to replace your smartphone. The industry looks different than it did in January; so does our relationship with technology.

There’s still a month to go, and we’re not remotely ready to declare this year’s tech news dead and gone, but given that it’s a holiday weekend in the US we figured it might be time for a look back. (Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, by the way!)

So on this episode of The Vergecast,...

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Meta is building the ‘mother of all’ subsea cables

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta is reportedly planning to build a world-spanning fiber-optic subsea cable for its own exclusive use. According to TechCrunch, the $10 billion project will create a new 40,000+ kilometer (about 24,850 miles) cable network around the world that avoids “areas of geopolitical tension” where subsea cables have been sabotaged, such as the Red Sea, the South China Sea, Egypt, Marseilles, the Straits of Malacca, and Singapore.

While Meta is already a part-owner of 16 existing networks, this new cable project would be entirely owned by the company — allowing it full control to prioritize traffic to its own products and services. That would bring Meta in line with Google’s efforts, which privately owns a handful of cable routes and has...

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Best deals on smart home gear this Black Friday

The new Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen) is on sale this Black Friday. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

‘Tis the season to stock up on smart home gear. Whether you are looking to expand your own setup or searching for a good gift for a smart home newbie, there are some great discounts right now on smart speakers, locks, lights, and even smart trash cans.

Here, I’ve rounded up some of my top picks for gadgets I love that are seeing some serious discounts. I will keep this post updated throughout the holiday shopping weekend, so check back often.

The best smart displays and smart speaker deals

• As always, Amazon is heavily discounting its Echo line of speakers and displays. These are great for popping around the house, so you can ask Alexa to add things to your shopping list from every room or enjoy multi-room audio for a fraction of the...

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Staff home favorites that are on sale for Black Friday right now

Screenshot: Twinkly

Whenever Verge staff is asked to describe their favorite games, smart tech, desktop accessories, or whatever, they are free to talk about things they recently bought, things they picked up 10 years ago, or things they’ve had sitting around their house for decades. Inevitably, though, some of the items have popped up in Black Friday sales. We thought we’d offer a curated list of a few of them.

Strategy board game

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, reviewer

Finding a board game that will entertain a 13-year-old girl, a 16-year-old boy, my partner, and me is a challenge. We’ve cycled through all the classics as well as newer options — Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Catan, and more. While these are all great, inevitably one of the group develops a...

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