Image: Kepler Interactive It has some clever ideas but struggles with a lack of polish and repetitive gameplay. Continue reading…

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge With Netflix raking in 8 million more global subscribers over the past few months, the streamer is turning its attention to its ad-supported plan — and for good reason. The budget-friendly tier now accounts for over 45 percent of all new signups in markets where ads are available, according to its second quarter earnings report results released on Thursday.As part of its efforts to nudge subscribers to its ad plan, Netflix started phasing out its cheapest commercial-free plan for existing subscribers in Canada and the UK earlier this month. It plans on discontinuing the plan in the US and France next. Netflix has also started testing pause ads, which appear on your screen whenever you stop what you’re watching.“Our ad revenue is... Continue reading…

A few days ago, there was a huge Google Pixel 9 series leak after the NCC (the Taiwanese version of the FCC) performed tests on the phones. Everything the NCC tested and gathered got out to the public, including battery life, charging rate, and what the phones will look like. Now, presumably because the surprise has already been spoiled, Google has rectified the situation by flat-out confirming that, yes, the Google Pixel 9 series is going to be a part of the Made By Google event on August 13th.

We may have gone digital for a lot of things, but there are still instances when youll need to print out a hard copy of something. Whether youre using one of the latest Macs with macOS Sonoma, or an older model, youll need to set up a printer first to be able to do this. Depending on the printer, you can use a wired or wireless connection; the setup process will also differ based on your printer and network. But the method to get a fresh, crisp printed document, webpage, spreadsheet, or other content from your Mac is generally the same with any model.

Even though Amazon's Prime Day sales event has come to a close, that doesn't mean the deals have to end. The Samsung 990 Pro is one of our favorite SSDs on the market right now as it delivers excellent performance and reliability. This makes it a no-brainer option if you're looking to buy a new SSD, with the only real hurdle being its price.

A little while ago, we came across a curious case where a game publisher called Alderson Games made a huge claim. It stated that Intel was selling defective 13th and 14th-generation processors, with a failure rate of 100%. While at the time it seemed a PC-based issue, the same issue has now appeared within laptops, albeit at a rarer rate.

If you've bought a Windows machine in recent years, there's a good chance you used Edge to download another browser. The problem is, Edge really, really doesn't like it when you use it to download another browser, especially if it's Chrome. While other browsers such as Firefox still trigger some pester boxes, Microsoft has practically declared an all-out war against Chrome. Now, it seems that a future update will dial up the pestering if you dare consider downloading Chrome with Edge - or even if you don't use Edge enough.

A painted woolly bat, or Kerivoula picta, roosts under a leaf in Indonesia. | Image: Abu Hamas / iNaturalist via UC Davis Scientists are sounding the alarm about taxidermied bats commonly sold online in frames, jars, coffins, jewelry, and more. It’s a wild animal trade that has flown under the radar and that poses risks to the bats and potentially to the people who handle them, according to a study recently published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research. While bats of all kinds are showing up for sale online, the study homes in on one particularly appealing species — Kerivoula picta, also called the painted woolly bat. They’re bright orange critters with striking black and orange wings. Their natural vibrancy might be what makes them in demand for Halloween decorations. The term “goth” also popped up in almost 15 percent of Kerivoula picta listings... Continue reading…

In 2024, Cyberpunk 2077 might not be the most demanding game to run, but it's still used by many as an unofficial benchmark to test gaming PC performance. Even without its heavy ray tracing effects, the game is seriously punishing on any hardware. While it's always exciting to talk about the only GPUs you should buy for Cyberpunk 2077's path tracing mode, I thought about indulging in a fun experiment that tackles the other extreme.

Apple finally released the macOS Sequoia public beta this week, and everyone can get early access to the operating system before it officially releases in the fall. However, if you want the absolute newest features, you'll still need to keep an eye out on the developer beta releases. macOS Sequoia developer beta 3 isn't a major update, and Apple didn't share anything of importance in its release notes. Apple Intelligence still isn't here yet, but there are a few hidden features and changes in the latest developer beta. The biggest feature additions include Safari 18 upgrades and a new way to quickly access Apple Passwords.

Building a stable and reliable wireless network at home or in the office usually involves a single access point, the primary router. To improve connectivity in larger buildings or allow multiple clients to connect without a bottleneck, it's recommended to add an access point or two and create a mesh network. EnGenius specializes in such hardware and today we'll be looking at the EnGenius ECW526, a Wi-Fi 7 access point with PoE+, 10Gb bandwidth on the single network port, and one of the best cloud-based management solutions in the business.

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta says it won’t be launching its upcoming multimodal AI model — capable of handling video, audio, images, and text — in the European Union, citing regulatory concerns. The decision will prevent European companies from using the multimodal model despite it being released under an open license.“We will release a multimodal Llama model over the coming months, but not in the EU due to the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment,” Meta spokesperson Kate McLaughlin said to The Verge. Just last week, the EU finalized compliance deadlines for AI companies under its strict new AI Act. Tech companies operating in the EU will generally have until August 2026 to comply with rules around copyright, transparency, and AI uses... Continue reading…