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Apple’s 42mm flagship is down to just $329 with various bands. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Whether or not you subscribe to them, New Year’s resolutions are a capital-T Thing for many people in the US. Thankfully, if your goals for 2025 revolve around health and fitness, the 42mm Apple Watch Series 10 is on sale at Amazon , Walmart , and Best Buy starting at $329 ($70 off), matching its Black Friday low. You can also pick it up in the 46mm sizing at Amazon , Walmart , and Best Buy starting at $359 ($70 off), which remains the best price we’ve seen on the larger model. While there are certainly better fitness trackers for hardcore athletes, none of them offer the kind of robust third-party support you’ll get with a flagship Apple Watch, nor do they integrate as well with Apple’s larger device ecosystem. The Series 10 is a pretty minor update over the previous model, but it’s still a solid bet for casual athletes, with a terrific wide-angle OLED display, sl...

Image: Verge staff We take a look back at 20 of our favorite projects from 2024. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/sLpkxdi

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge One of the big benefits of buying a “Pro” iPhone is currently that you get a fancy high-refresh rate OLED display, but that may become standard across the iPhone 17 lineup, according to a Weibo leak from Digital Chat Station spotted by MacRumors . The outlet notes that Digital Chat Station leaked accurate details about the iPhone 15 line’s camera sensors and the display panel of the iPhone 12. The rumor is a bit vague , saying only that the base iPhone 17 will have a high refresh rate. But it follows some more specific supply chain whispers we’ve heard in recent months. MacRumors pointed to one in February that suggested Apple will use the same LTPO panel tech, which drives Apple’s variable refresh rate “ProMotion” iPhone 16 Pro displays, for all of next year’s phones. That was later echoed by others , including display supply chain analyst Ross Young in September. The next set of iPhones is also expected to replace the base model...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge PlayStation had a rocky 2024 but still put out some great games. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/GncthuU

An Asus ROG Ally X, running Bazzite. It looks just like SteamOS, because they share an interface. The first time I installed Bazzite on a Windows gaming handheld, I laughed. It looked like such a blatant clone of Valve’s Steam Deck interface. Its many bugs kept me at bay. Now, an Asus ROG Ally X running Bazzite has all but replaced the Steam Deck in my life. For the moment, it may be the best handheld your time and money can buy — because it brings 90 percent of the Deck’s ease of use to the Ally’s more powerful hardware, larger 80 watt-hour battery, and variable refresh rate screen. Depending on the game, it can even offer better performance and battery life than the very same handheld with Windows. I’ve been testing it for five months, and I’ve rarely looked back. This combination won’t be for everyone, because the $800 Ally X costs far more than a Steam Deck, and Bazzite still has annoying quirks. But because Bazzite can so convincingly transform a Windows handheld into a t...

DJI’s new fast car charger connected to a DJI power station. | Image: DJI DJI has quietly introduced a powerful new car charger for its giant portable batteries. The $299 / €269 Power 1kW Super Fast Car Charger can charge the company’s expanding lineup of power stations at up to 1000W from your car’s alternator when the engine is running. This new class of (nearly) do-it-yourself alternator chargers are having a moment now that the most popular makers of solar generators and power stations have embraced DC-to-DC chargers. I wouldn’t have survived without one when remote working from my van last summer. Once the Power 1kW is mounted inside your vehicle and connected to the car’s battery via the included 5m (16 feet 5 inches) fused cable, it then connects to the proprietary SDC port of the dongle-happy DJI Power 1000 power station I recently reviewed . It’ll also charge DJI’s 2048Wh Power 2000 Expansion Batteries when daisy-chained together with SDC cables for up to 11kWh of stac...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge A Reddit user posted a screenshot overnight of a Spotify search that brought a surprise: a pornographic video tucked into suggested results for the rapper M.I.A. Here’s a NSFW link to the thread . The video shown in their screenshot didn’t appear for us, but we found others after scrolling through dozens of results in the “Video” tab. One of the accounts that posted videos we saw has published erotic audio for years but has sprinkled in sexually graphic videos more recently. Another account, which was named with a long string of alphanumeric characters, has been publishing equally nonsensically-titled explicit videos as a podcast account since mid-November. Spotify representative Laura Batey told The Verge in an email that the examples we provided “have been removed due to violation of our policies.” Those policies include forbidding sexually explicit material . We asked Spotify for more information on how the videos made it past its moder...

iOS 18 introduced an “Enhanced Visual Search” toggle for the Photos app. | Screenshot: iOS 18 Settings app Apple occasionally makes choices that tarnish its strong privacy-forward reputation, like when it was secretly collecting users’ Siri interactions . Yesterday, a blog post from developer Jeff Johnson highlighted such a choice: an “Enhanced Visual Search” toggle for the Apple Photos app that is seemingly on by default, giving your device permission to share data from your photos with Apple. Sure enough, when I checked my iPhone 15 Pro this morning, the toggle was switched to on. You can find it for yourself by going to Settings > Photos (or System Settings > Photos on a Mac). Enhanced Visual Search lets you look up landmarks you’ve taken pictures of or search for those images using the names of those landmarks. To see what it enables in the Photos app, swipe up on a picture you’ve taken of a building and select “Look up Landmark,” and a card will appear that ideally id...

Adrien Brody in The Brutalist | A24 Brady Corbet’s 3.5-hour saga is a tale of one man’s journey through architecture and assimilation — and one of the year’s best films. The director tells The Verge how he got away with it. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/238BpCV

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images With rumors of Nvidia entering the CPU market, 2025 might be an even bigger year for Microsoft’s Arm efforts. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rJXkVb7

Illustration by Carlo Cadenas / The Verge A cyberattack campaign inserted malicious code into multiple Chrome browser extensions as far back as mid-December, Reuters reported yesterday . The code appeared designed to steal browser cookies and authentication sessions, targeting “specific social media advertising and AI platforms,” according to a blog post from Cyberhaven, one of the companies that was targeted. Cyberhaven blames a phishing email for the attack, writing in a separate technical analysis post that the code appeared to specifically target Facebook Ads accounts. According to Reuters, s ecurity researcher Jaime Blasco believes the attack was “just random” and not targeting Cyberhaven specifically. He posted on X that he’d found VPN and AI extensions that contained the same malicious code that was inserted into Cyberhaven. Other extensions possibly affected include Internxt VPN, VPNCity, Uvoice, and ParrotTalks, as Bleeping Computer writes . Our team has confirmed...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images We’re all impatiently awaiting Nintendo’s next console, but in the meantime, it’s been quite the sendoff year for the Switch. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/OblLSq1

Amazon’s finally added a key feature to the Scribe, but it has a long way to go before it’s actually useful. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/n4CxajS

Lightning’s days have come to an end in the EU. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple is no longer selling its iPhone SE and iPhone 14 series in Europe — the last phone models with Apple’s proprietary Lightning charging port — as the EU shifts to a common charging solution built around USB-C . EU Directive 2022/2380 goes into force today in an effort to reduce e-waste and solve market fragmentation. A spot check by The Verge shows the iPhone SE, iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, and the Lightning-based Magic Keyboard have been pulled from stores in The Netherlands, France, and Germany. Those same devices are still for sale in the US and other countries outside the EU’s 27 member states. A new iPhone SE with USB-C and other upgrades like an OLED display is rumored for 2025. In addition to requiring a USB-C port on a wide range of devices sold in the EU from December 28th, 2024, the Directive also requires devices that support fast charging to support the USB PD standard, allo...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge After years of of chasing live-service and open-world blockbusters, games like Astro Bot and Balatro showed that old formats could be a solution to modern industry problems. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/8jvEFY0

In late September, Dominik “Domtendo” Neumayer received a troubling email. He had just featured The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom in a series of videos on his YouTube channel. Now, those videos were gone. “Some of your videos have been removed,” YouTube explained matter-of-factly. The email said that Domtendo had now received a pair of copyright strikes. He was now just one copyright strike away from losing his 17-year-old channel and the over 1.5 million subscribers he’d built up. At least, he would have been, if Domtendo hadn’t spotted something fishy about the takedown notice — something YouTube had missed. Domtendo had been a little bit confused right from the start; the strikes didn’t make sense. Like countless other creators, Domtendo specializes in “Let’s Play” videos, a well-established genre where streamers play through the entirety of a game on camera. “The next copyright strike will close your channel” Nintendo has a complicated relationship with the fans who u...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Directive 2022/2380 comes into force on December 28th across the EU. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/eB71VxD

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Here’s what to watch over the holidays in case all those live sports broadcasts don’t work out. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/nTkLAQX

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge As a special holiday treat, on December 25th, the social media app Bluesky announced that it has added a new feature to its mobile app: a list of Trending topics that lets you know what subjects are popular among its users. Screenshot: Bluesky Bluesky now shows you its current Trends below the search bar. The new feature can be found by selecting the search icon (the magnifying glass), which appears at the bottom of the screen on the mobile app and on the left sidebar on the web. Lists of Trending and Recommended subjects now appear below the search bar. Tap on any topic, and you will be able to access the associated posts. When I tried it, choices among the top five included Christmas and Nosferatu (not an unexpected selection of topics but an interesting juxtaposition). If you’d rather not see the list, you can get rid of it via a small “x” in the upper right corner, or go to Settings > Content & Media and toggle off Enable trending...

This Bluetooth speaker’s design is a breath of fresh air, but Bose skimped on some features that are usually standard at this price. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/XMoSn4t

Image: Netflix After years of brand tie-ins and ill-conceived spinoffs, the series is back — and it’s just as tense as ever. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3VDQ5nr

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images These days, podcasts are going video, and there are a number of visual trends we’ve noticed — some good, some not so much. We’ll show you. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ifSL6rl

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images This year showed that a roguelike can be almost anything. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/8rZsB73

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images This year paved the way for a future where earbuds are much more than audio accessories. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/FjIrzxB

Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images American Airlines temporarily grounded all of its flights in the US this morning due to unspecified technical issues, disrupting travel at the start of a busy Christmas Eve. Service has now resumed as of 8AM ET according to a statement American Airlines spokesperson Sarah Jantz provided to CNN . The airline suffered a massive system outage according to multiple travelers on X who are facing delays , which prevented boarding passes from being scanned and flights from departing. A notice published on the Federal Aviation Administration website at 6.50AM ET said that the airline grounded all flights nationwide. An FAA update posted at 7.50AM ET has since announced that the nationwide groundstop has been canceled. The airline hasn’t given any details on what caused the technical issues. “We’re currently experiencing a technical issue with all American Airlines flights,” American Airlines said in a statement on X before flights resumed. “Your sa...

Image: Serene Industries If statement keyboards are your thing and you have some serious cash to burn, you should check out this brutalist flagship offering from Serene Industries. The Icebreaker is a wedge-shaped mechanical keyboard constructed from a single block of CNC-machined aluminum, featuring hot-swappable aluminum keycaps with configurable RGB backlighting. Preorders are available now , with pricing starting at $1,500 for the wired version. A Bluetooth wireless and a wired version with magnetic hall effect switches are also available for $1,600 — the same price as a new 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro . The keyboard base comes in two colors — clear or black — with the latter option costing an additional $500. Serene Industries hasn’t provided an ETA on delivery, but says production will begin when pre-orders close on January 28th. Image: Serene Industries The design is very striking if you like a Cybertruck kinda vibe. Image: Serene Industries The keycaps appear light...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Not even authority, just the signifiers of authority Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6gRbsfW

A hybrid supercar that can run on electricity alone, while still delivering that twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 experience Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/jRshf45

Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images Honda and Nissan have announced plans to merge as the Japanese automakers struggle with competition from rival brands in the electric vehicle market. The two companies confirmed on Monday that they had signed a memorandum of understanding that would create the third largest car maker by sales, behind Toyota and Volkswagen. Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors is also in talks with Honda and Nissan to join the integration, with a decision expected by the end of January. Based on the market capital of all three companies, a finalized merger could result in an entity worth more than 50 billion dollars. Honda will initially lead the management of the merged company according to Honda president, Toshihiro Mibe, with the aim to complete a formal merger agreement by June and finalize the deal by August 2026. “Creation of new mobility value by bringing together the resources including knowledge, talents, and technologies that Honda and Nissa...

The Verge X has substantially raised the price of its top-tier user subscription in multiple regions to help bolster the platform’s creator payouts. The increase for Premium Plus came into effect on December 21st according to X , raising prices in the US from $16 per month to $22, or from $168 to $229 for annual subscriptions. Many European countries like France, Germany, and Spain are impacted by a similar increase, taking monthly prices from €16 to €21. Monthly subscribers in Canada (currently paying $20), Australia ($26) and the UK (£16) will also see pricing increased to $26, $35, and £17 respectively. The higher pricing is immediately applicable to new subscribers, with existing users grandfathered into their current rates until January 20th. X’s basic subscription tier remains unaffected. The pricing changes for US subscribers are the highest increase introduced since Elon Musk purchased the social media platform in 2022. X gave several reasons to justify the price hike, ci...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Our staff writes about the best books they read over the course of the year. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/csnaX1r

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 65, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, get ready to take up all your phone’s storage space, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This is the last Installer of the year! I’m taking a couple of weeks off for the holidays, and I hope you’re getting some relaxation in too. Thank you so much to everyone who has subscribed to this newsletter, emailed me your recommendations, told me I’m a lunatic about to-do lists, and generally been part of the Installerverse this year. Making this newsletter is so much fun, and I’m so thrilled to get to do it with you. Bigger and better next year! This week, I’ve been reading about Spotify’s ghost artists and Formula 1 and Mufasa and the deeply silly New York Jets , watching Hot Frosty (you can judge me, it’s fine) and re-watching 30 Rock , beating Balatro for the very first time, and trying to convince my toddler that...

Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A collection of fun, affordable, and unique gifts fit for everyone on your list. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/KG7H3Zy

A screenshot from TCL’s The Audition. | Screenshot: TCLtv Plus Earlier this year, TCL released a trailer for Next Stop Paris — an AI-animated short film that seems like a Lifetime movie on steroids. The trailer had all the hallmarks of AI: characters that don’t move their mouths when they talk, lifeless expressions, and weird animation that makes it look like scenes are constantly vibrating. I thought this might be the extent of TCL’s experimentation with AI films, given the healthy dose of criticism it received online. But boy, was I wrong. TCL debuted five new AI-generated short films that are also destined for its TCLtv Plus free streaming platform, and after the Next Stop Paris debacle, I just had to see what else it cooked up. Though the new films do look a little better than Next Stop Paris , they serve as yet another reminder that AI-generated videos aren’t quite there yet, something we’ve seen with many of the video generation tools cropping up , like OpenAI’s Sora ....

You’d be hard-pressed to find an OLED TV for less right now. | Image: LG One of the best Black Friday deals has returned — and this time, it’s done so with an added perk. Right now, LG’s B4 Series OLED TV is matching its all-time low at Best Buy, where you can pick it up in the 48-inch configuration for $599.99 ($200 off) with a $50 digital gift card. The larger 55-inch panel , meanwhile, is on sale at Best Buy with a $100 digital gift card for $999.99 ($400 off), its best price yet. Although LG is likely to introduce its 2025 lineup at CES in a few short weeks, the B4 is likely going to remain a bargain, especially at this price. You don’t get the same brightness levels or performance speeds as LG’s flagship C4 or G4 — the B4 lacks the AI-focused a11 processor found in the latter — but it provides all the core benefits you’d expect from an OLED panel. It offers deep blacks and wide viewing angles, along with four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports that are capable of 4K 120Hz ...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Between The Penguin, Dune: Prophecy, and I Saw the TV Glow, Max has you covered when it comes to last-minute streaming options to get you through the holidays. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ICQ47A8

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images In 2024, smart locks got better; in 2025, they’re going to be truly great. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/qfMyiGS

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Happy holidays! ‘Tis the season for trimming trees, hanging lights, baking cookies... and spending two weeks at home trying to figure out why you can’t get the lights to automatically come on at night, and which of those stupid bulbs is causing all the rest to not work. Truly the most wonderful time of the year. Every year on The Vergecast , we like to get into the holiday spirit by getting deep into the weeds on one of the most important specs, protocols, or systems that we all encounter every day. This year, for our annual Holiday Spec-tacular, we’re taking on everyone’s favorite kinda-sorta functional smart home protocol: Matter . Matter is supposed to be the thing that makes the smart home work, that allows everything from your lights to your fridge to your vacuum cleaner to seamlessly connect. In reality, it is, well, not that. But it might be on its way! We begin the show with Nilay, David, and The Verge ’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy talking ab...

Image: Getty A bipartisan group of senators is calling out the auto industry for its “hypocritical, profit-driven” opposition to national right-to-repair legislation, while also selling customer data to insurance companies and other third-party interests. In a letter sent to the CEOs of the top automakers, the trio of legislators — Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Josh Hawley (R-MO) — urge them to better protect customer privacy, while also dropping their opposition to state and national right-to-repair efforts. “Right-to-repair laws support consumer choice and prevent automakers from using restrictive repair laws to their financial advantage,” the senators write. “It is clear that the motivation behind automotive companies’ avoidance of complying with right-to-repair laws is not due to a concern for consumer security or privacy, but instead a hypocritical, profit-driven reaction.” “Right-to-repair laws support consumer choice and prevent automakers from u...

Image: One NZ SpaceX’s satellite-to-cell Starlink service has hit a nationwide coverage milestone in New Zealand — albeit with a few limitations. One NZ says it’s the first telecommunications company globally to power a nationwide satellite text messaging service via Starlink. Starlink has also signed up partners in Canada, Australia, Japan, Peru, Switzerland, and Chile, partnering with T-Mobile in the US. Only four phone models are currently supported: the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and OPPO Find X8 Pro. Eligibility is expected to expand to more devices next year. Most text messages can be sent and received within three minutes during the initial rollout, according One NZ , though that may increase to “10 minutes or longer” during the first few months. “We continue to test the capabilities of One NZ Satellite TXT, and this is an initial service that will get better. For example, text messages will take longer to send but will get q...

Cath Virginia / The Verge The European Union has published several recommendations for Apple to make iOS and iPadOS more interoperable with competitors following two separate DMA proceedings launched in September , sparking concerns about user privacy from the iPhone maker. On Wednesday, the EU Commission submitted draft recommendations to Apple regarding changes that would make the iOS operating system more compatible with third-party devices like smartwatches, earbuds, and headsets. The Commission is also proposing measures to improve how Apple communicates with developers who make interoperability requests for iOS and iPadOS, including increased transparency around internal features and rejections. The EU’s proposed iOS interoperability measures cover interactivity features like automatic audio switching, background activity like maintaining Bluetooth and network connections, and notifications — which could address long-standing complaints from iPhone users who are unable to ...

National climate adviser Ali Zaidi speaks at the daily press briefing at the White House on January 26th, 2024, in Washington, DC. | Photo by Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images The Biden administration set ambitious new goals to slash US greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris climate accord, urging states and local governments to stay on course regardless of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to purposefully ignore climate change. The nearly 200 countries that have joined the Paris agreement face a deadline in February to update their national climate plans. Biden’s team decided to put out its own plan before Trump steps into office, setting a new target today of cutting net emissions by 61–66 percent in 2035 compared to a 2005 baseline. It also sets a specific target of cutting methane emissions by at least 35 percent by the same date. Methane comes from livestock, landfills, and leaking oil and gas infrastructure and is an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Trum...