Baseus’ new 20,000mAh power bank also provides a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 10 devices. | Image: Baseus Baseus announced a new power bank at CES 2025 that does double duty as a portable charger and a mobile hotspot. The EnerGeek MiFi Power Bank is expected to be available sometime in April 2025 for $89.99 and will be compatible with 4G networks in over 100 countries including the US, Canada, and Japan.Up to 10 devices can be wirelessly connected to the power bank over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Download speeds are expected to be up to 50Mbps, but that will vary depending on the network it’s connected to and signal strength. Pricing for the mobile data hasn’t been announced, but the company says it will offer “flexible network plans with no monthly fees or usage restrictions” that can be customized through a mobile app.The EnerGeek MiFi Power Bank also includes two USB-C ports, a single USB-A port on top, and a short integrated USB-C charging cable that doubles as a carrying strap. It has a 20,000mAh battery inside but its power output maxes out at 67W, so larger devices, like some laptops, will need to fly solo to get enough power to charge. A display subtly integrated into the side of the power bank provides details on its remaining charge, power output, and wireless connectivity. Image: Baseus Baseus also announced another 20,000mAh power bank with two integrated USB-C cables but no hotspot capabilities. Baseus also debuted a more traditional 20,000mAh power bank today featuring two integrated USB-C charging cables, one of which fully retracts.It also offers USB-C and USB-A ports for connecting your own cables, up to 100W of power delivery for a single device, and a small screen displaying current power output and the power bank’s remaining charge level. It’s expected to be available sometime in April 2025 priced at $99.99.

To many of us, PC building is second nature, but countless first-time PC builders get intimidated by the prospect of picking the right components for a new build. For someone used to shopping on Amazon for everything, relying on the site for PC component recommendations is often the obvious choice. For any search term, Amazon will throw up hundreds of results, with one of them labeled "Overall Pick."

Baseus’ new wall charger includes two retractable USB-C cables and an additional USB-C port. | Image: Baseus Baseus is following Anker’s lead and debuting new charging accessories at CES 2025 that could help ensure you’re never hunting for missing charging cables. The company is expanding its Enercore line with a new $69.99 wall charger, expected as soon as April 2025, featuring a pair of built-in USB-C cables that fully retract and stay out of the way when not in use.The retractable cables on the Baseus Enercore CJ11 are each a little over 32 inches long and work alongside an additional USB-C port so you can also use cables with different connectors. The charger can deliver up to 67W of power with one device connected, allowing you to charge a power-hungry device like a laptop. With two or three of its ports in use, the total power output drops to 65W. Image: Baseus Baseus’ new car charger has two retractable USB-C cables attached to a pivoting head. Baseus also announced a new car charger with more functionality than the one Anker released last November. The Baseus PrimeTrip VR2 Max also features two built-in retractable USB-C cables that are just over 31 inches in length, plus an additional USB-C and USB-A port on its base. Image: Baseus The charger’s retractable USB-C cables work alongside a pair of USB-C ports on its base. It connects to a vehicle’s auxiliary power outlet and delivers a total of 240W of power across all four ports and up to a maximum of 105W to a single port. It’s expected to be available in April 2025 priced at $44.99.

The graphics card on your PC does all the heavy lifting when you play your favorite games. Therefore, it's one of the first components you should consider upgrading to improve your PC's gaming performance. Unlike smartphones, though, most users don't upgrade their PCs every two years or so. In fact, I try to hold on to my graphics card for as long as I can. But how do you know when it's time to get a new one? Look out for these signs.

A fresh Google Pixel 4A from our 2020 review. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Google has announced that it is shipping an unexpected update to Pixel 4A phones this week. According to Ars Technica, the company emailed Pixel 4A owners to tell them the update will address battery performance stability but that their batteries may not last as long after it’s applied.Google repeats that in a new help page titled “Pixel 4a Battery Performance Program,” where it writes that it had noticed issues with “some” Pixel 4A phones.From January 8, 2025, Pixel 4a devices will receive an automatic software update to Android 13. After the software update is downloaded, your device will restart automatically to apply the update. For some devices (“Impacted Devices”), the update includes new battery management features to improve the stability of your battery’s performance, so the battery may last for shorter periods between charges. Users of Impacted Devices may also notice other changes, like reduced charging performance or changes to how the battery-level indicator on your phone shows your battery capacity. We want our customers to have the best possible experience with their products, so users of these Impacted Devices are eligible for an appeasement from Google. Not all Pixel 4a devices are impacted by the reduction in battery capacity and charging performance, therefore if your device is not impacted the battery will perform the same as before, and you will not be eligible for an appeasement. Besides having less runtime, the update could mean “reduced charging performance” or change how the phone shows battery capacity. Google hasn’t been specific about what’s behind the issue, but the circumstances are similar to Apple’s iPhone “batterygate” mess in 2017. Apple said its software slowed down iPhones with aging batteries to prevent accidental shutdowns, but it didn’t inform customers about why their devices had reduced performance and ended up with hundreds of millions in court settlement payments. In this case, Google is also offering owners with affected 4A devices their choice of compensation: They can opt for a free battery swap, a $50 payday, or a $100 credit toward a new Pixel phone from its online store. 4A owners can enter their IMEI number on this page to find out if theirs is affected. Google didn’t immediately respond to our questions about why the 4A, which hasn’t been updated since late 2023, needs this attention now.

That .edu email address is good for more than just retail discounts and a cheaper Amazon Prime subscription. Whether your interest is in software development, content creation, engineering, or anything in between, students have access to a plethora of discounts on powerful software and tools they may not know about.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Meta overhauled its approach to US moderation on Tuesday, ditching fact-checking, announcing a plan to move its trust and safety teams, and perhaps most impactfully, updating its Hateful Conduct policy. As reported by Wired, a lot of text has been updated, added, or removed, but here are some of the changes that jumped out at us.These two sections outlining speech (written or visual) are new additions:We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like “weird.”We do allow content arguing for gender-based limitations of military, law enforcement, and teaching jobs. We also allow the same content based on sexual orientation, when the content is based on religious beliefs.Another section that specifically banned making dehumanizing references to transgender or non-binary people as “it” or referring to women “as household objects or property or objects in general” has been removed entirely.The opening statement about what the policies are “designed to allow room for” that previously listed only health or positive support groups has changed too (new additions marked in bold):People sometimes use sex- or gender-exclusive language when discussing access to spaces often limited by sex or gender, such as access to bathrooms, specific schools, specific military, law enforcement, or teaching roles, and health or support groups. Other times, they call for exclusion or use insulting language in the context of discussing political or religious topics, such as when discussing transgender rights, immigration, or homosexuality. Finally, sometimes people curse at a gender in the context of a romantic break-up. Our policies are designed to allow room for these types of speech.The section that specifically banned targeting people or groups “with claims that they have or spread the novel coronavirus” has also been removed. A link to this 2017 blog post about the “hard questions” Meta faces dealing with hate speech has been removed, and some references to hate speech are now changed to “hateful conduct.”The policy still says that content about denying access to spaces and social services “on the basis of their protected characteristics” is not allowed, but there’s also a new exception (the added text is in bold):...except for sex or gender-based exclusion from spaces commonly limited by sex or gender, such as restrooms, sports and sports leagues, health and support groups, and specific schoolsEven before these changes, the LGBTQ+ media advocacy group GLAAD reported last year that Meta often failed to remove posts violating its hate speech policies. Now, even those guardrails that had been established to protect people from internet harassment are disappearing. “Without these necessary hate speech and other policies, Meta is giving the green light for people to target LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, and other marginalized groups with violence, vitriol, and dehumanizing narratives. With these changes, Meta is continuing to normalize anti-LGBTQ hatred for profit — at the expense of its users and true freedom of expression. Fact-checking and hate speech policies protect free speech.” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement responding to the changes.A note from Meta’s new policy chief Joel Kaplan said, “We’re getting rid of a number of restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity and gender that are the subject of frequent political discourse and debate. It’s not right that things can be said on TV or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms.” Wired also reports that the changes “blindsided” organizations that have been partnering with Meta on its now-discarded moderation efforts, with one unnamed editor at a fact-checking organization saying the effect of the decision “is going to eventually drain us out.”

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The original StanByMe portable TV and the Inspector Gadget-like briefcase follow-up were surprisingly popular, so of course, we’re getting a new one to kick off 2025. I like to imagine LG literally toting the StanbyME 2 to CES by the carrying straps you can affix to it, as the rep did in this video below.The 27-inch 1440p touchscreen on the StanbyME 2 should offer a sharper picture than the original’s 1080p. It also lasts longer with a four-hour battery life, up from three and a half, but LG has not revealed pricing or availability details.You can still mount the TV to a floor stand that holds and charges it, but LG is unashamedly emphasizing its portability with the carrying strap, which you can also use to hang from a wall like a picture frame on a sturdy enough hook. It’s also compatible with a folio cover that protects the display during transport and doubles as a tabletop stand, and you can magnetically attach the remote to the top of the TV. It has two USB-C ports that you can use for charging and peripherals like webcams, plus a traditional HDMI input.These upgrades feel relatively minor, but if you aspire to be a modern-day Radio Raheem with a TV on your shoulder — and, presumably, the matching pill-shaped StanbyME XT7 Bluetooth speaker under your arm — the StanbyME 2 might be the television for you.

Baseus’ new outdoor security camera boosts video quality to 4K. | Image: Baseus Baseus has announced a new version of its solar-powered security camera at CES 2025 that improves video quality from 2K to 4K and extends battery life from 180 to 210 days. But like the previous version, the new Baseus Security S2 camera can potentially run indefinitely using a battery-charging solar panel on top that tilts left and right throughout the day to maximize its exposure to the sun.The company hasn’t announced when the Baseus Security S2 will be available or what it will cost, but the older S1 model currently sells for $129.99 through retailers like Amazon.Without the need for connecting it to power, Baseus says the S2 camera can be installed in about five minutes and in places where running a power line could be difficult or expensive. The only installation limitations are finding a place with enough sun exposure if you’re hoping to completely avoid charging the camera yourself and a spot that’s in range of your Wi-Fi network.The S2 camera doesn’t come with any subscription fees as everything captured by its 4K camera (with a 145-degree field of view and night vision capabilities) is stored locally on the device. Its capacity can be expanded with a microSD card up to 256GB in size, but as with many battery-powered security cameras, the S2 doesn’t support 24/7 continuous recording. Baseus’ camera only records events detected by its passive infrared and radar-based motion sensors. Nothing is uploaded or stored in the cloud, but recordings are remotely accessible through a mobile app. The S2 also features AI-powered object detection with the ability to differentiate people, pets, and vehicles and provide notifications based on what it spotted. Through the app, you can also define activity zones for specific areas you want the camera to focus on, and it includes both Amazon Alexa and Google home compatibility.

This 8BitDo Pro 2 is one of our favorite controllers. Not only does it feel good in the hand, but it also manages to deliver great performance as well. But where it really shines is with its retro look and its versatility, with support for PC, Mac, Android, and iOS devices. While this controller usually has a retail price of $50, it can now be had for much less.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Image Experts warn that Meta’s decision to end its third-party fact-checking program could allow disinformation and hate to fester online and permeate the real world.The company announced today that it’s phasing out a program launched in 2016 where it partners with independent fact-checkers around the world to identify and review misinformation across its social media platforms. Meta is replacing the program with a crowdsourced approach to content moderation similar to X’s Community Notes.Meta is essentially shifting responsibility to users to weed out lies on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, raising fears that it’ll be easier to spread misleading information about climate change, clean energy, public health risks, and communities often targeted with violence.“It’s going to hurt Meta’s users first”“It’s going to hurt Meta’s users first because the program worked well at reducing the virality of hoax content and conspiracy theories,” says Angie Drobnic Holan, director of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter. “A lot of people think Community Notes-style moderation doesn’t work at all and it’s merely window dressing so that platforms can say they’re... Read the full story at The Verge.

Portable SSDs are generally a great investment if you're looking to store your data externally and need lightning-quick access. The only catch is that they usually don't offer tons of storage space, limited to around 8TB if you're looking at consumer-facing products. For most, that's going to be enough, but if you need much more, and are looking to really back everything up, then this Seagate 20TB external HDD is going to be the perfect solution.