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Photo: Lucasfilm / Disney The Mandalorian ’s second season is almost here. And if the trailers and rumors are any indication, it seems like the armor-clad hero’s quest to reunite Baby Yoda (née “The Child”) is going to get even more complicated and tied up in Star Wars lore than ever before. While it may seem odd to think about it this way, after decades of additional lore, background history, TV shows, and movies, the original Star Wars film is extremely accessible. It had to be. No one walking into the theater for the first time had any idea what a lightsaber or an X-wing was or who Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, or Princess Leia were. The Mandalorian has never had that benefit. From the first episode, it expects you to know that the Mandalorian is... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/31PfFsI

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Spotify now has 320 million monthly active users and 144 million paid subscribers, an increase of 29 and 27 percent respectively year-over-year, the company announced in its latest earnings release . User growth was driven by marketing campaigns in India, as well as the service’s launch in Russia and 12 surrounding markets. The company called Russia its “most successful new market launch to date.” The service’s user and subscriber growth puts it comfortably ahead of rivals services from Amazon and Apple. As of January this year, Amazon Music said it had 55 million customers , of which “nearly all” were paying subscribers, according to the Financial Times . Meanwhile, Apple reported last year that it had 60 million paying subscribers , and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3oC9WQS

The light can now adjust its colors automatically. | Image; Eve Eve’s smart light strip can now adjust its colors automatically throughout the course of the day thanks to iOS 14’s new Adaptive Lighting feature, the company announced . The light strip is the first product to support the new Apple HomeKit feature, according to Eve, but first requires a firmware update that owners can perform via the Eve app. Adaptive Lighting is a new HomeKit feature introduced this year which allows compatible smart bulbs to adapt their colors to the time of day, showing warmer hues in the morning and evenings, or cooler ones at midday. Other manufacturers also appear to be working to support the feature, with iphone-ticker reporting (via MacRumors ) earlier this month that Philips Hue beta testers in Germany were able... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/37Q5PKZ

The Beolit 20 features a Qi wireless charging pad for keeping other devices topped up with power. | Image: Bang & Olufsen Bang & Olufsen’s latest portable Bluetooth speaker is the Beolit 20, a lunchbox-sized successor to 2017’s Beolit 17 . The big upgrade this time around is a new Qi wireless charging pad that can be found on top of the speaker, which can charge other devices like phones or earbuds. According to Bang & Olufsen, the Beolit 20 can also play for 30 percent longer than its predecessor. The company says the speaker’s 3,200mAh battery offers 37 hours of listening at low volumes, but this reduces to a little over 8 hours if you’re listening at typical levels, or just under 4 hours at max volume. Image: Bang & Olufsen There’s a USB-C port for charging. Image: Bang & Olufsen Buttons atop the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2JhRjl2

Samsung Electronics has announced quarterly earnings for the July-September 2020 period, making 66.96 trillion won in revenue and 12.35 trillion in operating profit. That’s the highest quarterly revenue figure ever for the Korean electronics giant, which says that it was able to meet a boost in customer demand following COVID-19 disruption. “Even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues around the world, reopening of key economies led to significant increase in consumer demand,” Samsung says in a statement. “Samsung Electronics was able to respond aggressively through flexible global supply chain management, reporting its highest-ever quarterly revenue.” Urgent Huawei orders boost memory business Samsung says that an increase in demand for... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3mxkRcO

Image: Vizio Through Sunday, November 1st, Best Buy is giving shoppers another sliver of time to get in on some deals ahead of Black Friday later in the month. Most of these are repeats from the retailer’s Black Friday kickoff event that went up against Prime Day, though a few are newcomers. We’ll be keeping you posted on all of the latest Black Friday deals throughout the month, no matter where they’re coming from or when they actually drop, so stay tuned. If you’re hunting for a 4K TV with fantastic picture quality and contrast, the highlight deal is on Vizio’s brand-new 65-inch OLED TV. It normally costs $2,000, but it’s $500 off until the sale ends on Sunday. This model should be on your shortlist if you need a new TV that has HDMI 2.1, which... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/31RGYCQ

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Well, we had another hearing with the platform CEOs. The dream with this sort of thing is that Congress shows up with a full command of the issues, and asks the CEOs good-faith questions about matters of policy and law. And then I’d come along at the end of the day to walk you through the more provocative questions and productive answers, and gesture at what likely policy outcomes we could expect from this exercise in representative democracy. But “ Does Section 230’s Sweeping Immunity Enable Big Tech Bad Behavior? ,” a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, was not that kind of exercise. The word “sham” got kicked around a lot, especially by the participants. “Stunt,” too. Some of the Democrats declined... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3jEkVpg