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22/07/2022

Microsoft is changing how it releases major versions of Windows again, and it could mean we see a Windows 12 release in 2024. Windows Central reports that Microsoft is shifting back to a three-year release cycle for Windows, which means the next major version of Windows is now due in 2024. It’s another big change to how Microsoft develops Windows.

Microsoft originally moved away from its three-year cycle with the release of Windows 10 in 2015, prioritizing the idea of Windows as a service. Instead of a big release of features every three years in a new Windows release, Windows 10 was updated twice a year with big new features. For years, many Windows watchers thought Windows 10 would be the last big bang release of Windows, after a Microsoft employee described Windows 10 as “the last version of Windows.”

Windows is going back to a three-cycle cycle for new versions.

21/07/2022

Wing, the drone delivery company operated by Google parent Alphabet, unveiled a series of new prototype aircraft designed to handle a variety of payloads. The company said the new drones will share the same underlying components with the aircraft currently in use delivering pharmaceuticals and other small packages in the suburbs outside of Dallas-Fort Worth.

According to Wing CEO Adam Woodworth, the aim is to right-size the delivery industry in order to match the appropriate package with a similar sized vehicle. “Just as the ideal vehicle for carrying a ton of gravel would be a dump truck rather than a sedan, the ideal aircraft to carry a bottle of medication is not the same as the best one to deliver a gallon of milk, and neither is suited to deliver a refrigerator,” Woodworth wrote in a blog post.

Prototypes that can handle seven-pound packages.

20/07/2022

I’ve been in the mood for a good puzzle game. No, that’s not accurate enough. If a good puzzle game came to my door and proposed marriage, I would blow up my life and career for it the same way that journalist did for that pharma bro. (But I’d at least have the good sense to take the inevitable L privately.)

I wanted Escape Academy to ruin my life like that, the same way Inscryption did.

And while the escape room puzzle game / visual novel isn’t the equivalent of Tessa Thompson or Tom Hiddleston — or Tessa Thompson and Tom Hiddleston — showing up at my door on bended knee; I can say it’s more like that greasy guy from The Bear cooking an intimate dinner for two in his furniture-less apartment — absolutely incredible but sparse and far too short.

Escape Academy tells the story of a young escape room aficionado and their journey through a clandestine school where the world’s best escape artists hone their skills with a variety of puzzles. Along the way, you get to know the quirky students and professors who call Escape Academy home while solving puzzles to unravel the mysteries of the school.

Short but sweet, challenging but not too tough

19/07/2022

The Nissan Leaf, a pioneer electric vehicle and one of the cheapest EVs currently on the market, is nearing the end of its life span. According to a report in Automotive News, Nissan does not plan on introducing a next-generation version of the Leaf and may even discontinue the nameplate altogether.

Production of the current version of the Leaf is set to wind down by mid-decade, the outlet reports, citing three anonymous sources. A spokesperson for Nissan declined to speculate on the Leaf’s future but did say that the company has noted a “renewed” interest in the Leaf amid high demand for EVs.

“We are seeing renewed interest in LEAF with the increased demand for EVs and its overall value proposition,” Nissan spokesperson Stephen Oldham said in an email to The Verge. “Since its launch, LEAF has consistently delivered strong customer satisfaction and new buyers to Nissan.”

The first mass-market EV has also been a sales dud.

18/07/2022

Facebook will allow some users to have multiple profiles as part of a test, the company announced today, signaling a major shift as Meta looks for new ways to encourage users to stay on the platform amid increased competition from rivals.

As part of the test, some Facebook users will have the ability to create up to four additional profiles tied to their original account. The idea is that additional profiles can be used for different purposes, like one for friends, one for co-workers, and others for interacting with interest groups and influencers. Users will still have one account but be able to switch between profiles with a few clicks.

Meta is testing multiple profiles on Facebook.

17/07/2022

OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer revealed this afternoon that the NFT marketplace is laying off about 20 percent of its employees. Finzer did not indicate how many people that represented. A Forbes article in January celebrating Finzer and his co-founder Alex Atallah’s $2.2 billion net worth (each) said the company employed more than 70 people, but an OpenSea spokesperson tells The Verge that 230 people will remain with the company.

When we profiled OpenSea in February, the company had just received an additional $300 million in funding with a valuation of $13.3 billion and was the dominant player in selling the tokens, earning a 2.5 percent commission on trades.

The line went down.

16/07/2022

New car events are usually pretty cringe, full of pointless pyrotechnics, emotionless futurescapes, shameless pandering to “the youth,” or hapless CEO antics. (Remember Elon Musk’s Cybertruck window smash fail? Simpler times.) So it is with some degree of hesitation that I must point you to this video from Hyundai as the latest exhibit in this ongoing series of “car companies present depressing visions of the future.”

The video, which was released yesterday, was intended to reveal the sleek-looking Ioniq 6, Hyundai’s latest electric vehicle with a 77.4kWh battery and 379 miles of range. Instead we got a smorgasbord of buzzwords — “trashion,” metaverse, NFTs — ideally aimed at appealing to a youthful demographic, but going about it in the worst possible way.

A smorgasbord of bad buzzwords.

15/07/2022

ThereThere was a lot riding on Nothing’s Phone 1 launch this week. For months, the company’s CEO Carl Pei, who rose to prominence as one of the co-founders of OnePlus, has been making big promises about Nothing’s first smartphone. “Consumer tech, how did we let it get so boring?” the CEO asked rhetorically during a livestream back in March. “We’ve all experienced the gap between the future we were promised and the one we’re living in now.”

The implication, then, is that Nothing will be the one to close that gap. Indeed, in its invites for this week’s launch event in London, the company characterized the event as “an invitation to unlearn everything the industry has taught us.” In a recent interview, Pei said Nothing is aiming “to bring people back in time to when they felt more optimistic about gadgets.” No pressure then.

12/07/2022

According to a report by Insider, Elon Musk is the father of twin children with current Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis. Insider shared a court document from this May with Zilis and Musk petitioning for a name change for both children, making “the children’s last name to be their father’s, and for their mother’s last name to be contained in their middle name.” CNN Business obtained a Travis County, Texas, court docket showing the petition was filed in April 2022 and obtained in May.

Seemingly in response to the article, Musk tweeted, “Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far,” followed by “mark my words, they are sadly true.”

Musk responded to the article on Twitter.

11/07/2022

Apple’s 2022 MacBook Air with an updated design, M2 processor, MagSafe charging, and a slightly bigger display will soon be available for preorder, starting at $1,199. Apple says it will open preorders online tomorrow, July 8th, at 8AM ET / 5AM PT, and orders will begin shipping Friday, July 15th. If you have a hard time preordering online for delivery (preorders don’t typically sell out, but ship dates often get pushed back very quickly), here’s a tip: try to order online right at 8AM ET on launch day, July 15th, with your order set as an in-store pickup.

The release of this model follows behind the 2022 MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar, which had the honor of being Apple’s first laptop to debut the M2 chip. In terms of how the M2 performs, my colleague Monica Chin’s review concluded that it’s faster than the M1, and battery life under normal use cases (even while running system-intensive apps) remains impeccable.

Preorders begin Friday, July 8th, at 8AM ET.

10/07/2022

While some of the best iPad deals typically occur around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you can still find plenty of great discounts at all times of the year if you know where to look. Whether you’re after the high-end iPad Pro or the most affordable entry-level iPad, there’s likely a sale going on somewhere you may be interested in. And, with Amazon Prime Day 2022 around the corner, there are sure to be some worthwhile iPad deals coming soon.

Of course, it’s difficult to know exactly where you can find the most notable deals unless you’re scouring the major retailers on a daily basis. But that’s often what our deal hunters at The Verge are doing each and every day, so let us help you out. Below, we’ve listed the best deals you can get on each iPad model that is currently available, including the latest ones equipped with Apple’s powerful M1 chip.

We’re keeping tabs on the biggest iPad discounts around.

09/07/2022

Secret Service Director James Murray is retiring from his post for a new position as Snap’s chief security officer at the end of the month, Snap confirmed to The Verge on Thursday.

Murray’s private sector move was first reported by The Washington Post on Thursday, shortly after the longtime protective service official’s departure from government was announced by the Secret Service in a public statement. Murray will join Snap, Snapchat’s parent company, next month and will report directly to CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Jim Murray to Snap and look forward to him joining our team on August 1st,” Pete Boogaard, Snap spokesperson, said in a statement to The Verge.

“WE’RE THRILLED TO WELCOME JIM MURRAY TO SNAP”
In his new role, Murray will help protect the safety and security of Snap employees and work with law enforcement when necessary, according to Snap.

Director James Murray will run Snap’s internal security.