Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The onslaught of summer gaming news might finally be at an end — but not before Nintendo has its say. Following events from PlayStation and Xbox, along with Summer Game Fest and presentations focused on Ubisoft and EA games, Nintendo has announced its latest Direct presentation. It’s slated to last around 40 minutes and will be “focused on Nintendo Switch games coming in the second half of 2024,” according to the company. (There won’t be any news about the next Switch, however, Nintendo says.)As always with Nintendo, it’s tough to predict what to expect, though it’s possible we’ll see a number of rereleases of classic games and, just maybe, finally get a glimpse of Metroid Prime 4. You’ll definitely have to tune in to see what the... Continue reading…

Hue’s new Twilight bedside lamp costs $280. | Image: Philips Hue Following leaks last week, smart lighting company Philips Hue has confirmed it has a new sunrise lamp called Twilight. The company also announced several other new products, including a less expensive light strip, new decorative Lightguide bulbs, and the Datura ceiling light. The new products are available now, except the ceiling light, which is coming on September 10th.The Philips Hue Twilight ($279.99 / €279.99) is the company’s first dedicated smart sunrise lamp — a light designed to help with falling asleep and waking up more naturally. At $280, it’s even more expensive than the very expensive Hatch Restore 2 (although it doesn’t require a subscription). It’s surprising that Hue hasn’t had a solid offering in this space to date.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images Don’t hold your breath for a resurgence of government internet subsidies. Republicans and Democrats can’t seem to agree on a way forward to fund the program, and passing such bills will only get more difficult as Election Day inches closer.Democrats and Republicans have introduced dueling bills to reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission’s spectrum auctions, where the agency doles out access to frequencies that can be used to carry wireless signals. But the Democratic bill that has been repeatedly delayed in committee specifically seeks to fund a now-defunct internet subsidy program, while the Republican version does not. While some Republicans supported earlier efforts to extend the subsidy program, those efforts did not go... Continue reading…

Logitech, known for its excellent computing accessories like keyboards and mice, is now unveiling something new for the Meta Quest. For the first time, Quest owners will be able to interact with their virtual worlds like never before, using the power of the newly introduced MX Ink.

Microsoft Defender has become an increasingly integral part of Windows over the years. It used to be Windows Defender, and for a long time, it was mostly known as a firewall, but Microsoft has been adding capabilities for over 10 years, and it now offers pretty solid baseline protection. However, sometimes you want to disable Microsoft Defender antivirus for one reason or another, and Windows 11 doesn't make it easy.

Image: Paradox Interactive Life by You, Paradox Interactive’s in-development competitor to The Sims, has been canceled, the company announced on Monday.The game, which was first revealed in 2023, sounded impressive: it was designed to allow for the entire town to be simulated in real-time and have no loading screens. However, based on a forum post by Paradox’s deputy CEO Mattias Lilja, the game had some issues that may not have been easily fixable even with additional time for development.“A few weeks back, we decided to hold off on an Early Access release in order to re-evaluate Life by You, as we still felt that the game was lacking in some key areas,” Lilja says. “Though a time extension was an option, once we took that pause to get a wider view of the game,... Continue reading…

Image: WhatsApp Four members of ABC’s Modern Family cast have returned to their roles to star in a new commercial for WhatsApp. The ad is designed to promote WhatsApp to families that use a mix of iPhones and Android devices, so they can avoid green bubbles and the limitations of Apple’s group chat MMS solution.If you’re an iPhone user in the US you probably already avoid inviting Android friends into group chats, as it switches from iMessage to MMS and the regular Messages functionality like read receipts, encryption, and full resolution images are all disabled. WhatsApp hits on this directly in its commercial, with Julie Bowen (Claire Dunphy) explaining to Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell Pritchett) that “blurry photos” and “weird likes” are why he... Continue reading…

If you're a fan of Apple products, then you were probably watching the company's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in excitement for what was to come. iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia updates were a big part of the show, but one particular announcement was one that had been leaked months prior. Siri was getting some big upgrades, and one of those big upgrades came in the form of native ChatGPT support on your Mac and iPhone.

If you need power on the go for your smartphone, then a power bank is going to be a great solution. But if you need a power bank that can charge all your devices while you're on the go, then this Anker power bank is going to be the only solution. Not only do you get a massive power bank that comes in at 27,560mAh, you're also getting a ton of power at up 250W total.

South Korea’s LG Electronics is teaming up with ChargePoint to install more electric vehicle charging stations in the US, the companies announced today. As part of the deal, ChargePoint will provide software to operate LG’s EV chargers, and LG will supply ChargePoint with hardware to bolster its network of 306,000 charge ports. The companies say they plan coming together to jointly install “commercial charging solutions,” with the first deliveries expected later this summer. Other possibilities include ChargePoint tapping into LG’s energy storage installations, as well as connecting LG’s ThinQ smart home system with ChargePoint’s Home Flex residential charger. LG Electronics, which makes TVs and home appliances, opened its first EV... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge The Threads API is now available, meeting a promised launch by the end of June. The free API will allow developers to build “unique integrations” into Threads, and potentially even result in third-party apps for Meta’s competitor to what was previously known as Twitter.“People can now publish posts via the API, fetch their own content, and leverage our reply management capabilities to set reply and quote controls, retrieve replies to their posts, hide, unhide or respond to specific replies,” explains Jesse Chen, director of engineering at Threads.Chen says that insights into Threads posts are “one of our top requested features for the API,” so Meta is allowing developers to see the number of views, likes, replies, reposts, and... Continue reading…

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X is a powerful processor, requiring the AM5 socket and DDR5 system memory. The question of which RAM kit is best for this processor depends on how much memory your PC requires. Using more resource-intensive software and games will eat up more RAM, whereas simply watching some videos and typing up documents won't use much. Windows 11 requires 4GB, though I recommend at least 8GB for normal desktop PCs and 16GB for gaming and creator systems. Here are some of my favorite RAM kits.