Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images The CrowdStrike global IT outage that downed some 8.5 million Windows PCs, halting flights and affecting hospitals, banks and more, is now apparently also a scapegoat for the terrible conditions at the set of a reality game show competition put on by mega-popular YouTuber MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, with $5 million on the line.The New York Times is reporting that after 2,000 contestants arrived at Allegiant Stadium this July, they were barely fed and didn’t receive their prescription medication or clean underwear on time — despite providing it to the organizers themselves. (The 1,000 contestants who make it through can return for the Beast Games Amazon show, but this segment is for Donaldson’s YouTube channel.)The Times’ story is... Continue reading…

Disney After The Way of Water, James Cameron’s Avatar franchise is turning the fire up next December.At this year’s D23 Expo, James Cameron, Zoe Saldana, and Sam Worthington announced that Avatar: Fire and Ash will hit theaters on December 19th, 2025. Disney also revealed a new title card that makes it seem like the film will focus on Pandora being engulfed in flames.Just announced at #D23, our title for the next Avatar film:Avatar: Fire and Ash. Get ready to journey back to Pandora, in theaters December 19, 2025. pic.twitter.com/gZkCCsTl9x— Avatar (@officialavatar) August 10, 2024Along with the title card, Disney showed off concept art of the film’s “Ash People” — a new, volcano-dwelling Na’vi clan Cameron has described as embodying... Continue reading…

When the Apple Watch Ultra came out last year, it was pretty obvious that the company was gunning for Garmins demographic: a loyal bunch of fitness enthusiasts who would want something like the Fenix 7 Pro. And now we have the brand-new Apple Watch Ultra 2, which comes with marginal improvements over its predecessor. Both Garmin and Apple manufacture great smartwatches, but which option is best for you? While they may seem similar on paper, there are a few interesting differences between them that may not be very obvious.

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram has starting testing a new feature that looks a whole lot like Snap Maps.This allows Instagram users to post text and video updates to a map based on where they were taken. The map is shared with friends, whose updates can all appear alongside each other. It is, pretty much, just Snap Maps, which was originally launched in 2017.The difference for now seems to be that Instagram may have much more limited privacy settings. Users have to choose a “specific group of people” to share their location with, such as “Close Friends or only followers they follow back,” Christine Pai, a Meta spokesperson, told The Verge. Snapchat allows public posts to Snap Maps.Instagram’s feature is currently only available as a “small test” in a few... Continue reading…

If you're a tech enthusiast like me, chances are you have an old phone or two lying around unused. While it's not necessarily the best use for it, you can definitely take one of those older devices and use it as a rudimentary NAS for sharing data across all your devices. I recently undertook the very basic project of hosting a media server on an old Android smartphone, and it's really easy for you to do as well.

Once a piece of tech becomes busted or outdated, it's really tempting to chuck it out and get a new one. After all, there's always going to be a similar or better model to what just went kaput, so why keep it around? However, some of the best projects out there stem from taking a broken piece of hardware and giving it a new life. It's cool, inventive, and saves another piece of tech from the landfill - what's not to like?

Nova Launcher, in a very dated screenshot on top of the project’s website. | Image: Nova Launcher Nearly the entire team working on Nova Launcher, one of the biggest names in Android homescreen replacements, has been laid off. The team is now down to just one full time developer: Kevin Barry, the launcher’s founder.Barry said development will continue and that he will remain in charge of the project. But team members who were laid off said work on Nova will have to slow down, and Barry has already posted that he needs to “cut scope” on the next major version of Nova compared to what was initially planned.“Development will undoubtedly slow with less people working on the app, but the current plan is for updates to continue in some form,” Rob Wainwright, one of the laid off developers, wrote in the project’s Discord.Nova has been a... Continue reading…

If you're an IT administrator at an organization, there's a good chance you've heard about RSAT. Short for Remote Server Administration Tools, RSAT offers a suite of features that allows you to manage servers remotely, being critical to maintaining operations. Since it's not something most people will need, RSAT isn't installed installed by default in Windows 11, but you can enable it easily. It's worth noting that RSAT isn't a single tool, but rather a collection of tools that can be installed individually, though we'll also show you a way to install them all at once.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Signal is being blocked in Venezuela and Russia. The app is a popular choice for encrypted messaging and people trying to avoid government censorship, and the blocks appear to be part of a crackdown on internal dissent in both countries.In Venezuela, the blockage follows the disputed results of the country’s presidential election last month, which have led to protests and arrests as president Nicolás Maduro clings to power, according to MSNBC. (The US has recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González as the winner of the election.) Internet monitoring service NetBlocks said Thursday evening that Signal had become “unreachable on multiple internet providers” in the country. Maduro has also ordered a block on X, The Associated Press... Continue reading…

Just look at those eyes. | Image: Sony As expected, Sony’s limited edition Astro Bot DualSense controller for the PS5 is now available for preorder for $79.99. The forthcoming gamepad, which is currently only available through the PlayStation Direct storefront and Antonline, will launch alongside the next Astro Bot game on September 6th, giving those who’ve secretly been wishing their peripherals had more, huh, eyes, another option to consider.This isn’t the first time Sony Interactive Entertainment has released a special edition controller to commemorate an upcoming exclusive — it launched a symbiote-themed controller alongside Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 last year — but its latest collaboration with developer Team Asobi is far cuter. The new PS5 controller features shiny blue... Continue reading…

The 2024 AMD Zen 5 CPU lineup promises a significant performance boost over last-gen hardware, with the Ryzen 7 9700X being a particularly attractive option for high-end PC builders. Although these new processors are more energy-efficient than their Zen 4 counterparts, they still require a good cooling solution. You've got a lot of options, though, so it can become overwhelming to sort through. Worry not though, we've gathered the best CPU coolers for the Ryzen 7 9700X and listed them below. Our picks cover everything from cheap air coolers, to premium liquid-cooling setups, and everything in between. No matter what cooling solution you want for your Ryzen PC build, you'll find it here.

A selfie drone that makes the case for ditching GPS, obstacle avoidance, and controllers. Continue reading…