You’ll need to remove an AirTag’s battery door to install it inside the TimeCapsule. | Image: Elevation Lab Elevation Lab’s new TimeCapsule is a protective case for an Apple AirTag that turns it into a waterproof, dustproof tracker with a ten-year battery life. It’s available now for $19.99, but you can also get a pair for $29.99, or a heavily-discounted four-pack for $39.99.The TimeCapsule is a candy bar-sized enclosure that replaces an AirTag’s CR2032 coin cell battery with an electrical contact and slots for a pair of AA batteries. It’s made of “fiber reinforced polycarbonate” that won’t block or reduce the range of Bluetooth or UWB signals, according to Elevation Lab’s Casey Hopkins. The case also has an IP69 rating, which offers the highest protection against water, dust, and dirt ingress. No point in a ten-year tracker that can’t handle a puddle. Image: Elevation Lab The TimeCapsule can also help camouflage an AirTag, making it look more like an external storage drive instead of a tracking device. There are tradeoffs, of course. The TimeCapsule weighs 3.5 ounces with the batteries installed, compared to .39 ounces for a regulation AirTag. And the case does muffle the volume of the AirTag’s chirps by about a third, potentially making it harder to locate by ear. But for situations where you really don’t want to be replacing your AirTag’s battery every year, that seems like a small price to pay. The company recommends using Energizer Ultimate Lithium AAs to maximize battery life and avoid the leaks and corrosion that alkaline batteries are known for. You can also use nickel–metal hydride batteries, but they won’t quite last as long before needing to be recharged.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images So far, possible answers include aliens, an international conspiracy, secret military tests, or just planes. 2024’s drone hysteria has gone on for weeks across the East Coast, and we still have far more questions than answers. The sightings may have started in New Jersey, but reports of possible drone sightings have continued to spread. The usual authorities haven’t helped much, with bland statements like “There continues to be no known threat to public safety,” failing to tamp down anxiety and interest. What we do know so far is that this is a perfect storm for clout-chasing politicians and that our phone cameras aren’t really up to the task of taking pictures of stuff flying around in the sky.Meanwhile, social media-fueled misinformation has rushed to fill the information vacuum about what people are seeing. Even if, in many cases, what they’ve seen are planes, stars, meteors, or drones sent up by drone hunters to try to find the mystery drones.We’ll keep track of the best information we can pull together right here.

Building a PC is just one part, albeit a major one, of the desk setup puzzle. Next comes picking a monitor, peripherals, desk, chair, speakers, accessories, lighting, and more to complete your ideal PC setup. Without the right tools on your desk, you can't expect to enjoy your work or achieve optimal productivity.

Not a Switch 2. Think bigger. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Last Friday, we brought you leaked dimensions of the next Nintendo Switch from the most likely source yet: a “3D scan of the actual hardware” obtained by case manufacturer Dbrand. But case manufacturers aren’t the only source of leaks.A Redditor named “NextHandheld” claims to have seen and touched an actual final retail unit of the Nintendo Switch 2. I spoke with them, and I’ve now heard and seen enough to think they might be legit.In particular, I’ve seen two photos of a possible Nintendo Switch 2 dock, and one photo of the inside of a possible Switch 2 controller rail, covered in certification logos and with copper contacts exposed, which also shows its metal kickstand hinge open at an angle. Notably, the dock was not included in the 3D scan that’s circulating among case manufacturers.If NextHandheld is telling the truth, we now know a good bit more about Nintendo’s next console. For example: as much as we’d love it to be called the “Super Nintendo Switch,” it’ll likely be introduced as the Nintendo Switch 2. Name and dateOfficially, Nintendo has only called it “the successor to Nintendo Switch,” promised to formally announce the new console by March 31st, 2025, and revealed that it will be backward compatible with original Switch games.Unofficially, NextHandheld’s source has heard it might be announced as soon as January — and shared what they claim is first-hand evidence with The Verge that it is the Nintendo Switch 2. I saw a picture of a dock, with the same logo as as the original Nintendo Switch, only with a 2 attached. It wasn’t far off from this Redditor’s guess: Image: u/DjuncleMC And while NextHandheld says they’re “disappointed” that the dock doesn’t seem to have any more ports than the original — two USB-A, one HDMI, one ethernet, and one USB-C likely used for its power brick — it may have a different trick up its sleeve.Magnetic controllers — finally with drift-resistant joysticksIn April, Spanish pub Vandal (which correctly reported minor details of the Switch OLED before launch) reported that, incredibly, Nintendo might replace the Switch’s controller rails with magnets so your Joy-Cons can magically snap into place. Today, it no longer seems incredible, because the photo I saw of a joystick rail region contains no rail: it’s just a long, rounded, hollow area, with a 13-pin connector that sticks out so it can slot into the Joy-Con. NextHandheld says there’s a physical magnetic click when you attach them, and that you’ll press a much larger button on the controller, one that’s physically connected to a magnet, to release. (You can see mockups of such buttons in our Dbrand story.)More importantly, the Nintendo Switch 2 might finally get rid of the infamous “Joy-Con Drift” that plagues its controllers to this day. NextHandheld claims the controllers will have magnetic Hall effect joysticks, which don’t contain the same deteriorating sensor material and can be recalibrated easily. A U-shaped kickstandThe original Nintendo Switch had a tiny, easy-to-topple gumstick of a kickstand, and the Switch OLED had a wide, flat plate. But the Nintendo Switch 2 will feature a U-shaped rail of a kickstand, according to a photo that NextHandheld shared with me. I understand that the 3D CAD file shows the U-shape, too — and case manufacturers have begun sharing images of similar U-shaped kickstands, too. But it looks like it could be beefier than some of the mockups floating around:Nintendo Switch 2 New Photos ⚠️✅️ U Shaped Kickstand✅️ Console - 118.5mm x 273mm✅️ Switch 2 Lighter than Steam Deck✅️ Larger ZL/ZR Buttons than Switch 1✅️ Magnet Joycons make a "Click" Sound✅️ 2 Joycon Back Release Buttons pic.twitter.com/Ay5xUQAMg3— Deck Wizard (@deckwizardyt) December 15, 2024Extra power when docked?Once upon a time, Nintendo was reportedly planning to release a Nintendo Switch Pro, one that would output 4K graphics when docked to your TV, at least partly thanks to Nvidia’s DLSS AI upscaling. That didn’t happen, but the Nintendo Switch 2’s dock might be designed to let the handheld run a bit faster. On Reddit, NextHandheld cryptically teased that asking if the dock had a fan was “the right question,” and in a picture shared with The Verge, I can see the alleged dock has big feet around back, ones positioned so it can lie down horizontally without blocking a set of vents. While I don’t imagine you’d intentionally put it on its back, as the handheld might fall out of the completely open slot up top, I can imagine Nintendo wanting to make sure the console doesn’t overheat if you accidentally knock it over. Intriguingly, NextHandheld says the dock is rated for 60W, while the Switch 2 is rated for 45W, both of which would be substantially higher than the original if true. The original Switch had an unusual 39W charger for both docked and handheld modes, which only provided up to 18W for the handheld.The many things we still don’t knowYou can dig through NextHandheld’s Reddit comments or read this early summary for a lot more possible details about the new console. But the Redditor is upfront that they never got to turn the handheld on, or play any games. They don’t know whether a Switch 2 can play original Switch cartridges, or only digital Switch 1 games. They don’t know if it has a microphone, or a camera, or how much storage space it has, or its performance, or anything about its reportedly 8-inch screen, or its launch titles.They do say it will launch in dark grey, however, like the original Nintendo Switch, and that it will be followed by a white model, and one themed with a Nintendo game that hasn’t received a themed Switch yet. And, they’re the latest to possibly corroborate a new second USB-C port on the top, though that was obviously revealed in the 3D scan.If it’s true that Nintendo will announce the Switch 2 in January, though, you won’t have to wait long for more answers — or to find out if these ones are true.

Have you scored yourself an Arrow Lake chip recently? If you have, you may have noticed it hasn't performed as well as Intel claimed it would. People have taken to social media, complaining that the CPU doesn't hold up when performing heavy-duty tasks like gaming. Fortunately, Intel has been working away on fixes, and it's ready to squash the majority of the issues with a brand new patch with another update coming soon.

As long as I can remember, Microsoft Office has been a behemoth in the world of productivity tools. These days, many people do use things like Google Docs, but it's really not the same, and I'll always see Microsoft Office as the more mature and more capable option.

Hey, remember that one time Apple announced its hardware subscription service? If not, you're totally forgiven; the last time we heard about it was back in March 2022. The idea was simple; instead of selling brand-new hardware, Apple would offer a plan that gave them a new device every so often. If this sounds like a great idea to you, I have some bad news; the feature has reportedly been scrapped before it could even see the light of day.

While Copilot+ comes with a ton of different AI tools, not all of them are inherently useful. You could easily use a Copilot+ PC without touching the pre-installed AI tools and still have a good time. However, using AI to understand people speaking other languages is really useful. Regardless of if you're just trying to watch a foreign movie or discuss something with a workmate from around the world, Copilot+'s live translation feature makes it easier to understand people no matter what app you're using. Now, Microsoft is working on rolling out this handy feature to Intel and AMD chips alongside its live captioning feature.

Image: Intel Intel’s new Arrow Lake CPUs came out in October promising high performance at lower power levels, but reviews, including ours, noted surprisingly lackluster gaming performance. Tom Warren said of the Core Ultra 9 285K, “...in many titles, it provides worse performance than the 14th Gen chips it was designed to replace.”Now, the troubled chipmaker says it has been gradually releasing updates that fixed most of the issues it identified, as reported earlier by Tom’s Hardware.“At the end of the day, there were four root issues that we needed to address, and fixes for those are actually already in the field right now,” Robert Hallock, Intel’s VP and GM of client AI and technical marketing said during an interview with HotHardware. “They’ve been coming out over the last two weeks or so in drips and drabs, as update schedules allow.”One issue stemmed from a “mistimed” update that was supposed to optimize Windows’ processor power management (PPM) system for Intel’s Core Ultra 200S-series processors. (PPM adjusts the performance of a CPU based on the current power plan, such as Balanced, High Performance, Power Saver, etc). Instead of releasing the PPM update before reviewers got their hands on the processors, Intel says it scheduled the update to go out when it became widely available, which may have caused reviewers to see worse-than-expected performance. Due to the missing PPM update, Intel’s performance-boosting Application Performance Optimizer (APO) also couldn’t take effect in games, while “misconfigured” performance settings also had a negative impact on reviewers’ benchmarks. Image: Intel A fix was already applied for these issues in Windows 11 build 26100.2161. Intel also says Epic Games resolved a driver compatibility issue causing the blue screen of death when running games with Easy Anti-Cheat, such as Star Wars Outlaws.Intel is planning to release another set of performance upgrades for Arrow Lake CPUs in January, and it will “provide a comprehensive performance update” at CES. For now, Intel recommends updating Windows and applying the latest BIOS update to your motherboard if you haven’t already. Otherwise, you can wait until the “final” performance update next year.

Windows Command Prompt is a powerful tool commonly used for system management, folder management, network configuration, troubleshooting, and more. But did you know you can also convert your media files to another format with it?

If your laptop or PC lacks ports at home or in the office, it may be time to expand with a USB-C hub or docking station. While the former is usually the more affordable option, this deal brings a docking station down to a price that simply can't be ignored.

Image: Honda Honda teased the reveal of the first two Honda Zero prototypes, which will be making their official debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. The company also said it would have a new proprietary operating system for the global electric vehicle series to show off.Honda announced Honda Zero at CES 2024, describing it as a new “global EV series” that would be “lighter” and more space-age than the current crop of heavy, boxy electric SUVs and trucks. The three defining principles of Honda Zero were “thin,” “light,” and “wise.” And the company would use its learnings from F1 and its robotics work to introduce a new lineup of vehicles that were distinctly of the future. At the upcoming CES, Honda says it will expand on its “wise” principle by releasing more details about its new OS, automated driving technologies, and an overview of its system-on-a-chip that will support its Honda Zero vehicles. The teaser image features rear profiles of the two concept vehicles first revealed earlier this year: the Saloon and the Space-Hub. The Saloon has a sloping fastback shape with unique rectangular lights in the front and rear that resemble a vintage Black & Decker Dustbuster. The Space-Hub resembles a minivan with minimal overhangs and a rear light that has a similar look to Rivian’s electric delivery vans for Amazon.Honda says it will expand on its “wise” principleEarlier this year, Verge contributor Abigail Bassett flew out to Japan to get up close with Honda’s new global EV series. She drove a prototype CR-V equipped with Honda Zero tech and found it to be lighter and more nimble than a Honda Prologue. The new Honda Zero platform feels similar to other EV platforms on the market in terms of acceleration and handling. Because the weight is low in the floor, the prototype CR-V cornered quickly and flat as you approached the limit. The powertrain is quick and responsive, and on the short, front straight that the engineers set up for our test laps, I hit 110km (just shy of 70mph) in a relatively short distance. It will be interesting to see more production-ready versions of the Saloon and Space-Hub in the flesh, especially with all the chatter about Honda in the background (working on solid-state batteries, collaborating with Sony on the Afeela EV, potentially merging with Nissan).