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Clap on. Clap off. Well, more like, Clap, pause for half a beat but no longer because otherwise it'll stop hearing you, clap again because you waited too long, clap louder and faster, that didn't work, clap two more times, and suddenly: on. The Clapper didn't always work - and even when it did, it might fry your gadgets in the process - but it managed to become a big hit anyway. On this episode of Version History, we tell the story of The Clapper, from its beginnings as The Great American Turn-On to its debut alongside one of the great advertising campaigns of all time. The Verge 's David Pierce and Victoria Song are joined by Allison Marsh , … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/plJCvYE

Grand Theft Auto VI release won’t offer a disc. | Image: Rockstar Games This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on video games and physical media, follow Jay Peters. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started As a kid, I relished trips to Best Buy, GameStop, and the nearby mall so that I could browse video games. I loved sifting through games and chatting with my friends at the store about upcoming releases. On the lucky days I actually got a new game from the store, I treasured reading through every page of the manual on the drive home. Over the years, I built up a collecti … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/hZ4ursY

The 2018 Solar Car Challenge was the last time participants took their designs out on the open road. | Image: Lehman Marks / Solar Car Challenge On July 19th, dozens of teams of high school students will begin a five-day, 630-mile road race from Fort Worth to Fort Stockton in Texas. But this is not your typical contest. The students design and build the cars themselves, using off-the-shelf parts and 3D printed materials. The winner is the team that accumulates the most driven miles. And the only fuel they can use to power their Frankenstein-looking vehicles comes from that mass of incandescent gas that hangs in our sky: the Sun. This year is the 30th anniversary of the annual Solar Car Challenge , a contest that brings together high school students from around the country with the on … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/1Wy5Ome

Facial recognition smart locks are here; now you can unlock your door the same way you unlock your phone. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Hands-free unlocking is the future of smart locks. The best smart home tech removes friction, and having your door unlock for you as you walk up is as frictionless as it gets - no passcodes to remember, no need to have a free hand to wave, press, or poke at the lock. One way to achieve this nirvana is through facial recognition. You already unlock your phone with your face; why not your home? Hands-free unlocking using geofencing has been around for a while, but it can be slow and unreliable, and requires an app running in the background on your phone. Newer innovations - facial recognition and unlocking using an ultrawideband (UWB) radio - … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/81EBvb3

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 136, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope your neighborhood isn't as smoky as mine, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I've been recording the next season of Version History (this season's finale is out on Sunday!), reading about data center heists and Backyard Baseball and the creator of Calvin and Hobbes , canceling my October plans to see Digger 30 or 40 times, taking on the new Knockout Tour routes in Mario Kart World , learning more than I ever intended about Staten Island thanks to Revisionist His … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/OnZvxHX

Trump Media, the company behind Truth Social, is selling Wall Street faster access to the "most market-moving" posts on the US President's social media platform. On Thursday, Trump Media announced plans to launch "Truth API," a licensed real time data feed for businesses that provides "the fastest access to Truth Social's most influential accounts." It goes live on August 1st. Similar APIs are common across other social media networks, but those aren't as fraught with conflicts of interest. While Trump Media hasn't disclosed how much the API service will cost, it stands to benefit the Trump family, with them being the largest shareholder in … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/S230DUI