The VergeGaming Fortnite has been down for hours as millions of players stare at a black holeThe Verge - Andrew WebsterOne of the biggest games in the world has been unplayable since this afternoon. Ahead of its next season — or possible a completely new chapter — Fortnite has gone down in just about every way imaginable.
The VergeApple How to automatically switch your iPhone from light to dark themeThe Verge - Dan SeifertThe most noticeable new feature with iOS 13 has been its dark theme, which paints a darker hue across the interface and in many apps. It’s a stark difference from the bright white screens that have dominated
The VergeGaming Missed Messages is a powerful romance / horror game about communicatingThe Verge - Michael MooreIt can be difficult to find time to finish a video game, especially if you only have a few hours a week to play. In our biweekly column Short Play we suggest video games that can be started and finished
The VergeBill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill Gates had a closer relationship with Jeffrey Epstein than he admitted, The New York Times reportsThe Verge - Elizabeth LopattoBill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and chairman of its board until 2014, was among the powerful men who spent a meaningful amount of time with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to reporting
The VergeArt Is the world ready for virtual graffiti?The Verge - Adi RobertsonImagine a world that’s filled with invisible graffiti. Open an app, point your phone at a wall, and blank brick or cement becomes a canvas. Create art with digital spraypaint and stencils, and an augmented
The VergeThe Arctic This story about a billion dollar scam to build an undersea Arctic cable is wildThe Verge - Jay PetersLast year, the CEO of Quintillion, an Alaskan company trying to build a trans-Arctic undersea cable, was charged with wire fraud after forging contracts to help raise more than $250 million from investors.
The VergeThe Walking Dead New trailers: Jungle Cruise, Pixar’s Onward, a new Walking Dead spinoff, and moreThe Verge - Jacob KastrenakesI got around to watching The Old Man & the Gun the other week, the newest film from A Ghost Story director David Lowery. The film stars Robert Redford as an older man who can’t stop robbing banks (and
The VergeGoogle Chromebook 101: how to customize your Chromebook’s desktopThe Verge - JR RaphaelChrome OS isn’t the most option-packed operating system around, but there are some things you can do to make your Chromebook’s desktop look and work the way you want. Right-click anywhere on your Chromebook’s
The VergeMacOS Catalina Why macOS Catalina is breaking so many apps, and what to do about itThe Verge - Nick StattApple’s latest Mac update, macOS Catalina, was released earlier this week, and with it came a flurry of complications both minor and major. For one, this update is the first for Apple to drop 32-bit application
The VergeFacebook The reflections in a pop star’s eyes told a selfie stalker exactly how to find herThe Verge - Jay PetersIn September, a Japanese man was arrested for reportedly stalking a pop star and attacking and groping her at her home, according to Japanese news organization NHK. Allegedly, this man found the woman’s
The VergeActivision Blizzard Blizzard breaks its silence on controversial suspension of pro Hong Kong Hearthstone playerThe Verge - Nick StattVideo game developer Blizzard Entertainment has finally broken its silence after banning a professional player of popular virtual card game Hearthstone for voicing support for the Hong Kong protests. a
The VergeApps Telegram must halt sale of its crypto token due to an SEC emergency restraining orderThe Verge - Nick StattThe US Securities and Exchange Commission has formally instructed Telegram Group, the parent company of the Telegram encrypted messaging service, to halt sales of its cryptocurrency Gram. The SEC says
The VergeJesse Pinkman El Camino adds no redemption to Breaking Bad, but ups the insight into Jesse PinkmanThe Verge - Liz Shannon MillerWriter-director Vince Gilligan brings an underlying confidence to nearly every moment of El Camino, the Breaking Bad sequel movie he made for Netflix. The carefully choreographed cinematography, Aaron
The VergeFacebook Why so many companies bailed on Facebook’s Libra project at onceThe Verge - Russell BrandomWhen Libra launched on June 18th, it seemed like an alarming new front in Facebook’s megalomaniacal expansion. Having captured billions of users and tens of billions of dollars in annual profits, the would
The VergeAndy Rubin Andy Rubin has left his own incubator — but he’s still in the buildingThe Verge - Sean HollisterAndy Rubin used to be primarily known as the “father of Android,” but he’s also becoming known for leaving companies amid scandal — in this case Playground Global, the tech incubator he founded after Google
The VergeFacebook Facebook sued over Calibra’s look-alike logoThe Verge - Jay PetersOver the summer, Facebook unveiled its Libra cryptocurrency and the Calibra subsidiary that would help manage it. Facebook also unveiled a logo for Calibra and, well, it looks somewhat similar to the of
The VergeTech Trends Nomad’s Base Station Pro wireless charger looks to succeed where AirPower failedThe Verge - Chaim GartenbergApple’s AirPower wireless charger was one of the company’s most high-profile failures ever, but in the wake of its cancellation, plenty of companies have been trying to swoop in to fill the gap that Apple
The VergeTechnology Facebook’s Libra Association crumbling as Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and others exitThe Verge - Russell BrandomVisa, Mastercard, eBay, Stripe, and Mercado Pago have all withdrawn from the Libra Association, dealing a major blow to Facebook’s plans for a distributed, global cryptocurrency. The withdrawals were reported
The VergeHBO Go This weekend, stream an all-time great Black Mirror episode from Succession’s creatorThe Verge - Noel MurrayThere are so many streaming options available these days, and so many conflicting recommendations, that it’s hard to see through all the crap you could be watching. Each Friday, The Verge’s Cut the Crap
The VergeApple Apple orders new entry in Band of Brothers TV series, stealing a top franchise from HBOThe Verge - Julia AlexanderApple has found the first TV series it’s going to produce in-house for its upcoming TV Plus streaming service: a third entry in Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman’s Band of Brothers franchise.
The VergeAlexa You can now speak to Alexa in SpanishThe Verge - Dami LeeAmazon is rolling out Multilingual mode to Alexa, which lets users in the US speak Spanish to their Alexa devices. Alexa will be able to respond to requests in either English or Spanish, based on the in
The VergeTechnology Riot doesn’t want League of Legends broadcasters discussing ‘sensitive topics’ on the airThe Verge - Makena KellyOn Friday, Riot Games said that League of Legends broadcasters should “refrain” from discussing “sensitive topics” on the air, following a controversial move from Blizzard to ban a Hearthstone player voiced
The VergePaul Allen Stratolaunch, which built the world’s largest plane, is changing ownershipThe Verge - Loren GrushStratolaunch Systems — the aerospace company created by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen — is changing ownership. The company announced today that it is no longer owned by its original holding
The Verge A deep dive into macOS Catalina, iPadOS, and the 2019 iPadThe Verge - Andrew MarinoApple’s macOS Catalina update has arrived. Our review went up this week, and it’s time to talk about it on The Vergecast! On this week’s show, Nilay Patel, Dieter Bohn, and Paul Miller go deep into Apple’s
The VergeGemini Man Ang Lee puts Will Smith through the digital wringer in the dizzying Gemini ManThe Verge - Charles BramescoIt isn’t enough for Ang Lee to just make movies. Not anymore. At this point in his career, he apparently feels he has to push the boundaries of everything the moving picture format can do and be. The director’s
The VergePixel 3A Save $50 on the Google Pixel 3A, Beats Powerbeats Pro, and moreThe Verge - Cameron FaulknerThe Google Pixel 3A is already a great value for $399, but it’s currently $50 less than usual at a bunch of retailers. Google’s Pixel lineup isn’t the easiest to suss out if you’re unfamiliar, and it’s
The VergeTechnology Both of Mixer’s founders have left the companyThe Verge - Julia AlexanderMixer co-founders Matt Salsamendi and James J. Boehm both left the live streaming company over the past two weeks, at a time when the service is undergoing some of its biggest changes to date. Boehm announced
The VergeTechnology The evil-smartphone movie Jexi doesn’t understand why people like technologyThe Verge - Jesse HassengerThe new evil-smartphone comedy Jexi is a desperate mockup of recognizable human behavior, but one key element rings truer than most Hollywood productions: characters are constantly looking at their phones.
The VergeGaming Concrete Genie is a brief, heartwarming adventure with lots of magical paintingThe Verge - Andrew WebsterYou probably haven’t seen a genie like the ones in Concrete Genie, a heartwarming adventure game that just launched on the PS4. The creatures aren’t all-powerful beings that pop out of lamps, and they
