Technology news

You might be affected by one of the biggest data breaches ever and not even know it.A recent class action lawsuit filed against Jerico Pictures Inc., a background check company that does business under the name National Public Data, claims that the company was breached by hackers earlier this year.As a result, the lawsuit says, confidential data for 2.9 billion was exposed and stolen by a hacker group known as USDoD. SEE ALSO:Microsoft says CrowdStrike outage affected many more devices than

Image: Boeing During a press conference today, NASA representatives confirmed they have a contingency plan to bring astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams home from the International Space Station (ISS) early next year.If they’re unable to leave sooner aboard the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that brought them there, the backup plan would rely on SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, which has had its launch delayed while officials figure out what to do next.
After a successful crewed launch

Image: Visit Jackson Hole Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Travel & Tourism Board has created an open-source Instagram filter to help visitors gauge if they’re at a safe distance from wildlife to take photos. The board hopes the tool will help better protect tourists visiting wildlife destinations — and the animals they’re watching — during the busy summer travel season.
To use the filter, visitors to the valley and wilderness recreation area need to open up the Selfie Co

The days of grinding to complete those Fortnite Battle Pass quests to unlock exclusive items may soon be coming to an end.On Wednesday, Epic Games announced a major change to Fortnite and its Battle Pass, the paid tier of the hit free-to-play online video game."Items in future Fortnite Battle Passes might be offered for purchase in the Fortnite Shop after 18 or more months from the Battle Pass’ expiration," reads a statement posted on Fortnite's official website.This means that Emotes, Pic

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said the new Ace headphones helped spur “year over year revenue growth” that slightly exceeded the company’s expectations as part of its third quarter earnings on Wednesday afternoon. But that success was immediately “overshadowed” by ongoing woes with the redesigned Sonos app. The company is now delaying hardware releases that were originally penciled in for later this year as it deploys an all-hands-on-deck

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said the new Ace headphones helped spur “year over year revenue growth” that slightly exceeded the company’s expectations as part of its third quarter earnings on Wednesday afternoon. But Spence quickly moved on to address the company’s ongoing app woes, which will have a negative impact on Sonos’ fiscal guidance for the remainder of 2024.
“This was overshadowed by the problems that our customers and pa

The Verge You might have to pay to access some subreddits in the future. During an earnings call on Tuesday, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman hinted at “new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas.”
“I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said. “But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built.&

Image: Tim Walz Vice President Kamala Harris’ pick for running mate is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a former teacher and football coach whose straightforward manner of speaking has endeared him to many and helped launch his name into the public consciousness.
Walz’s public persona has what many would describe as dad energy. He makes unsubtle jokes and regularly posts pictures of his dogs. During a widely shared television appearance, he described Republicans as “weird,” a

An Intel Core i9-13900K CPU, one of the first types identified to sometimes crash this way. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge There is no fix for Intel’s crashing 13th and 14th Gen Raptor Lake desktop processors. If your chip isn’t yet damaged, please apply motherboard BIOS updates early and often to prevent issues. If it’s already damaged, your only option is to exchange it.But what if you didn’t buy a chip — but, rather, an entire PC? Will PC makers have your back

 Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast — the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of the most interesting people in the industry. In today’s episode, Linnea and Ioanna talk about the entry into force of the EU’s AI Act and what it means for companies, futuristic robotic surgery, meteor showers, and enter the sci-fi fandom realm with some Douglas Adams trivia. You’ll also hear a

A seemingly-innocuous photo of strawberries in a garden posted by Sam Altman has AI enthusiasts freaking out. On Wednesday, the OpenAI CEO shared the photo accompanied by a cryptic comment that said, "i love summer in the garden." But Altman wasn't just musing about his appreciation for the late summer crop. He was teasing a secretive OpenAI technology dubbed "Project Strawberry." Tweet may have been deletedAccording to a Reuters report last month about the project, the ChatGPT-maker is working

Characters from the Chapter 5: Season 3 battle pass. | Image: Epic Games Epic Games is making a major change to Fortnite’s battle passes that should remove some angst if you can’t buy or complete a pass before the end of a season.
Fortnite’s battle passes offer a bunch of exclusive in-game rewards that you can only obtain during an individual season, but that means you might miss out on rewards entirely if you can’t level up enough or don’t buy the pass before it ex

Image: The Verge / Getty Images Last year, when Minnesota’s progressive politicians coalesced around a bill to raise the minimum pay for Uber and Lyft drivers in the state, their ostensibly left-of-center governor surprised them all by pulling a move he had yet to use while in office: he vetoed it.Uber and Lyft were threatening to stop operating in Minnesota if the bill was signed into law, and Governor Tim Walz was worried about losing a mode of transportation that many Minnesotans relied

Image: The Verge / Getty Images Last year, when Minnesota’s progressive politicians coalesced around a bill to raise the minimum pay for Uber and Lyft drivers in the state, their ostensibly left-of-center governor surprised them all by pulling a move he had yet to use while in office: he vetoed it.Uber and Lyft were threatening to stop operating in Minnesota if the bill was signed into law, and Governor Tim Walz was worried about losing a mode of transportation that many Minnesotans relied

PRE-ORDER NOW: The new Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) is now available for preorder at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store for $279.99. It will start shipping on Aug. 20.Quick links:AmazonGoogle Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen)$279.99Pre-order NowBest BuyGoogle Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen)$279.99Pre-order NowGoogle StoreGoogle Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen)$279.99Pre-order Now
Google is refreshing its smartest thermostat for the first time since the Obama administration

A dial can be used to select one of four charging modes on Anker’s new desktop Prime Charger. | Image: Anker Anker announced several additions to the company’s Prime line of chargers today, including a new desktop version that allows the power output of its six USB ports to be customized through a control dial. As a result, connected devices get exactly as much power as they need.
The new $169.99 Anker Prime Charger shares 250W of power across four USB-C ports and two USB-A ports. Th

The Chromecast is going away after more than a decade in Google’s hardware portfolio, with the company phasing it out to make room for the new Google TV Streamer. In 2013, the timing was perfect for the Chromecast’s success. Most TVs of that era had rudimentary entertainment apps that were often slow, so beaming content from your phone to a TV made a lot of sense.
But times have changed. With the Chromecast with Google TV in 2020. Google pivoted in the opposite direction with a much

Bleached coral in the Great Barrier Reef in 2024. | Photo: Ove Hoegh-Guldberg The Great Barrier Reef and surrounding waters have reached hotter temperatures over the past decade than they have in at least 400 years because of climate change, according to new research published in the journal Nature.It’s a stark warning. The survival of the Great Barrier Reef is essentially now in human hands. Corals around the world face near extinction if temperatures continue to rise with the world runni

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Shortly after Humane released its $699 AI Pin in April, the returns started flowing in.
Between May and August, more AI Pins were returned than purchased, according to internal sales data obtained by The Verge. By June, only around 8,000 units hadn’t been returned, a source with direct knowledge of sales and return data told me. As of today, the number of units still in customer hands had fallen closer to 7,000, a source with direct knowledge sai

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram is making “views” the primary metric across all of its formats, meaning that creators will be able to track the same metric across Reels, Stories, photos, and more. The change will roll out in the coming weeks, according to a post on Instagram’s creators account.View this post on InstagramA post shared by Adam Mosseri (@mosseri)“Historically we’ve shown different metrics for Reels vs. other posts, but we want to evol

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A new joint venture between three streaming leaders could create a monopoly problem in sports television, three lawmakers warn US regulators in a letter first reported by The Athletic.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) are asking law enforcers to investigate the joint venture between Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. to create a new service, Venu Sports. The streaming service is expected to include sports networks from across the three companies&rs

If House of the Dragon's Season 2 finale left you wondering, "Wait, what comes next?" you're in the right place.The finale, titled "The Queen Who Ever Was," set a lot of pivotal storylines in motion without much payoff, leading to a fairly frustrating outcome (that definitely could have benefitted from two more episodes). Luckily, House of the Dragon's source material, George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, gives us a pretty good roadmap for what we can expect next.SEE ALSO:The 'House of the Dra

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Some subreddits might be paywalled as part of Reddit's revenue-boosting strategy since going public earlier this year. In its second earnings call as a public company on Tuesday, CEO Steve Huffman teased this and other changes for Reddit.SEE ALSO:Reddit's traffic is way up – but why? It's Google.
Inside Reddit's new money-making strategyThe platform has stayed notably consistent over the years and hasn't been monetized into oblivion like other social media sites. However, all that may chan

SAVE $100: As of August 7, you can get an Apple iPad (9th gen) at Amazon for just $229, down from $329. That's a $100 discount.Opens in a new windowCredit: AppleApple iPad, 9th generation (64 GB, WiFi)$229.00 at Amazon $329.00 Save $100.00Get DealIf you weren’t able to get your hands on an iPad during the chaos of Prime Day, Amazon’s gifting us another chance to snag one at a super low price. As of August 7, you can score an Apple iPad (9th gen) at Amazon for just 229, down from 329.

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Go ahead and park yourself in front of that air conditioner: The dog days of summer have ushered in

Illustration by Erik Carter Thousands of families have witnessed fake obituaries of loved ones crowd Google search results. As The Verge reported in February, the obituaries — which often appear to be AI-generated — target everyday people, not just celebrities, and are written to extract clicks and subsequent ad revenue from readers.
A new report by watchdog organization Check My Ads traced some of the middlemen profiting from obituary spam: ad exchanges, or the companies that connec

PREORDER: The Google TV Streamer is now available for preorder for $99.99 at Amazon and the Google Store before its September 24 release date.Opens in a new windowCredit: Google Google TV Streamer $99.99 at GoogleAvailable for preorderPre-Order HereGoogle just dropped a brand-new streaming device called the Google TV Streamer, and you can pre-order it now for just $99.99. This new tech is meant to replace Chromecast as Google's go-to streaming option and acts as a central hub for your Google Hom

Balatro, the delightful poker roguelike that’s one of my favorite video games of this year, will be getting a free “major gameplay update” in 2025, according to developer LocalThunk. The update will “bring new ideas and strategies to the game” and will be released for all platforms (it’s available on Steam, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox), LocalThunk says.
Balatro launched earlier this year, and it’s since become a smash hit thanks to its compel

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If you don't feel like waiting until October for the next Prime event, we've rounded up a few

Anker included thicker prongs and an improved center of gravity on its new 100W wall charger. | Image: Anker The most notable upgrade on Anker’s new Prime Charger isn’t how much power it can deliver: it’s the redesigned folding plug that now has thicker prongs with a “frosted finish” that the company claims will help the six ounce charger actually stay plugged into a wall outlet.
Being able to charge multiple devices from a single wall charger, including laptops, is

Lenovo may have a new version of the Legion Go in the works.As spotted by Reddit user methylmorphia, and further reported on by VideoCardz, Lenovo may have let slip that a smaller version (or two) of the Legion Go handheld gaming PC is coming soon. An FAQ section of the Legion Go page on Lenovo's website was updated at some point to reference a version of the device with a 7-inch display, two fans, and an HDMI port.SEE ALSO:Asus ROG Ally X review: 3 ways it beats the Steam Deck
The reason this i

Earlier this summer, Tinder announced Photo Selector, an AI tool to help pick out the best pictures for your dating app profile. But privacy experts warn that there may be risks associated with the tool.Photo Selector works by taking a photo of yourself for facial recognition and allowing Tinder to see your photo roll. If you consent to this feature, Tinder gets access to your biometric data (unique physical characteristics in the selfie), and access to your on-device photos. What happens next?S

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Fitbit’s rolling out Tap to Pay in time for the new school year. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge It’s officially back-to-school season, so Fitbit’s updating its kids-focused Ace LTE smartwatch with some helpful features for parents and children. Namely, it’s adding a Tap to Pay feature, launching two new games, and later this year, will allow users to add siblings as contacts in the Fitbit Ace app.
Tap to Pay was mentioned as “coming soon” when the Ace LT

Elgato’s Stream Deck Neo is designed to be accessible to everybody, not just streamers. | Image: Elgato Here at The Verge, we’re big Stream Deck fans. However, Elgato’s programmable macro controllers can be pricey, with the Stream Deck XL and Deck Plus retailing for $249.99 and $199.99, respectively. If you want something more affordable for streamlining your workflow, the Elgato Stream Deck Neo is currently matching its all-time low of $84.99 ($15 off) at Best Buy, Target, and

Elgato’s Stream Deck Neo is designed to be accessible to everybody, not just streamers. | Image: Elgato Here at The Verge, we’re big Stream Deck fans. However, Elgato’s programmable macro controllers can be pricey, with the Stream Deck XL and Deck Plus retailing for $249.99 and $199.99, respectively. If you want something more affordable for streamlining your workflow, the Elgato Stream Deck Neo is currently matching its all-time low of $84.99 ($15 off) at Best Buy, Target, and

Imec, a leading semiconductor research company based in Belgium, today announced a series of chipmaking breakthroughs at its joint lab with ASML. The lab opened its doors in June with the aim to provide ecosystem partners with early access to the High NA EUV prototype scanner. The High NA machine represents the latest advancement in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems, which use light to draw chip patterns on silicon wafers. It’s ASML’s most high-end tool to date. Now, ime