Illustration: The Verge Today, Google announced it’s making assigning group work in Google Classroom easier and faster with a new feature called Student Groups. Teachers will now be able to add individual students to predefined groups before creating and assigning group work.Google is entering this school year with a bunch of new updates for the now 10-year-old Classroom platform, like a new Education Navigator, a Read Along feature, and Dark Mode to the mobile app. But teachers have been waiting for something like Student Groups for a long time.Previously, teachers would need to create an assignment first and then individually add students to that assignment if they wanted to assign group work. For occasional group projects, this worked okay, but it was a... Continue reading…

How many of those $5 skirts do these retailers have to sell to pay their lawyers? | Image: The Verge The Shein complaint about Temu kicks off with a bang, accusing Temu of being “an unlawful enterprise built on counterfeiting, theft of trade secrets, infringement of intellectual property rights, and fraud” in just the first sentence. But I guess you have to go big when the lawsuit against you accuses you of using “Mafia-style” intimidation tactics.It gets worse, Shein alleges. Temu isn’t a marketplace at all. “It controls every aspect of its seller’s activity,” the complaint says. “It directs what products they can list and the prices for which they can sell; encourages them to infringe the intellectual property rights of others; and even prevents them from removing their products from Temu’s website after they have admitted to... Continue reading…

Why make do with a static photo frame when you can own one that changes automatically? While there are plenty of digital photo frames out there that can bring your snaps to life, nothing feels better than making your own. One person on Reddit has shown just how cool a DIY photo frame can be, displaying the power of combining a Raspberry Pi, a color eInk display, and Google Photos into one amazing project.

When looking for a new phone, your eye might be drawn to the top iPhones, but there are some exciting Android phones out there, especially foldable phones like the Galaxy Z Flip 6. However, a premium phone will need some serious protection. Naturally, you'll need a good case.

Razer makes some of the best keyboards you can buy in 2024. And while we've seen plenty of great keyboard deals this summer, this one has to be one of our favorites, as it takes a massive 55% off one of the brand's top-end keyboards. The Razer Huntsman not only delivers a typing experience that's great for everyday use, but it's also perfect for gaming too.

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Google will have to face a class action lawsuit that accuses it of collecting users’ data through Chrome without their consent. In a decision on Tuesday, a federal appeals court reversed a December 2022 ruling that dismissed the case, saying the lower court should’ve reviewed Google’s disclosures and determined “whether a reasonable user reading them would think that he or she was consenting to the data collection.”The class action lawsuit, first filed in 2020, alleged that Google collected data from Chrome users — regardless of whether they enabled Chrome sync. This feature saves bookmarks, passwords, open tabs, and other data to your Google account, giving you easy access to this information when signed into Chrome on multiple... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge If you want the old Sonos app back, it’s not coming. In a Reddit AMA response posted Tuesday, Sonos CEO Spence says that he was hopeful “until very recently” that the company could rerelease the app, confirming a report from The Verge that the company was considering doing so. But after testing that option, rereleasing the old app would apparently make things worse, Spence says.Since the new app was released on May 7th, Spence has issued a formal apology and announced in August that the company would be delaying the launch of two products “until our app experience meets the level of quality that we, our customers, and our partners expect from Sonos.”Here’s Spence’s explanation as to why it can’t bring back the old app:The trick of... Continue reading…

It’s great for a desk, bedside table, or just about anywhere around a home. | Image: Noamd Nomad may run its fair share of deals on its various phone cases and Apple Watch bands, but we rarely see steep discounts on its fancy, premium multi-chargers. But right now, the second-gen Base One Max is on sale in black or silver for $119 ($51 off) when you use coupon code VERGEB1M on Nomad’s site. The 30 percent discount is good through August 25th at 11:59PM PT.If you have a MagSafe-compatible iPhone and accompanying accessories like an Apple Watch or a set of AirPods, the Base One Max is a great 3-in-1 home charger that won’t look like an eyesore on your desk or side table. The hefty charger weighs in at 1.7 pounds thanks to its metal and glass slab-style construction, and it can simultaneously fast-charge a compatible Apple... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Google is upgrading its Gemini writing tools in Gmail to help you polish drafts that you’ve already written. Now, among other Gemini-powered “Help me write” options like Formalize and Elaborate, you can tap “Polish” to refine your emails, Google says in a blog post. The company has also added shortcuts that appear in the body of your emails on Android and iOS, making it more obvious that there are AI writing tools to use.The tools are available to people who pay for Google One AI Premium accounts or who have paid for Google’s Gemini add-on for Workspace. If that’s you, when you open an empty draft, you’ll see a “Help me write” shortcut appear that you can tap to have Gemini draft text for you. Once you have 12 or more words in a draft —... Continue reading…

The touchscreen on the JBL Tour Pro 3’s charging case is now 30 percent larger. | Image: JBL JBL has announced an upgraded version of its first wireless earbuds with a touchscreen charging case. The new JBL Tour Pro 3’s case features a larger screen and now works as a transmitter, broadcasting audio to the earbuds from a wired source such as a plane’s in-flight entertainment system. However, that larger screen also comes with a steeper price tag. They’ll sell for $299, which is nearly $50 more than the JBL Tour Pro 2.The 1.57-inch touchscreen on the JBL Tour Pro 3’s charging case is 30 percent larger than the screen on the Tour Pro 2’s, giving it enough room to fit additional info like the name of the song currently playing. That will potentially make it even more useful as an alternative to reaching for your smartphone if you... Continue reading…

Have you grabbed a Windows on Arm device yet? If you have, you'll know that it's taking a little while for developers to adopt the Arm architecture. However, there has been plenty of forward movement, such as Adobe's pledge for Arm devices. Windows on Arm is finally hitting its stride, and to join in the celebrations, the developer of Start11 has made their app work on Arm devices natively.

Image: Firaxis Games For the first time in the game’s 30-year history, leaders and civilizations can be chosen independently of one another. Continue reading…