There are a lot of different smart glasses on the market, but some of the best are going to be these ones from Viture. While the hardware technology might be similar to other devices that are available, what really sets these apart is the attention to detail when it comes to the software experience. Our own senior editor touted the Viture as having the "best software in consumer grade AR glasses right now."

When you're looking for an excellent smartphone, there are always some top-notch Android phones worth consideration, especially the foldable phones out there. Motorola's Razr+ is an incredibly sleek phone, but you'll want to preserve that beauty with a case.

Google is cracking down on functionally useless Android apps. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is raising its minimum quality requirements for Android apps, and will soon remove those that don’t meet expectations from the Play Store. According to the company’s latest spam policy update, apps that demonstrate “limited functionality and content” — such as text only apps, single wallpaper apps, or those that are literally designed to do nothing at all — will no longer be permitted on the Play Store effective August 31st.These join existing restrictions that barred broken apps that are not responsive, don’t install, crash, or otherwise function abnormally. Google says it’s added the additional requirements to “ensure apps can meet the uplifted standards for the Play catalog and engage users through quality functionality.”G... Continue reading…

Amazon Prime Day may be over, but some of the better deals — including those on Beats Fit Pro — are still kicking. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge I don’t know about you, but I can’t get on board with the AirPods Pro’s tailpipe design. If I’d participated in The Verge’s summer in / out list, they’d go firmly in the “out” column. But the Beats Fit Pro are a great alternative that you can often find on sale for significantly less, especially around events like Prime Day. Right now, for instance, Beats’ gym-friendly earbuds are matching their all-time low of $149.95 ($50 off) at Best Buy, Target, and Amazon (for Prime members).What’s most appealing to me about the Beats Fit Pro are the fins that help the earbuds stay lodged in your ears — I personally can’t get the AirPods Pro to stay put in my canyon-sized canals, even when I’m stationary. Beats’ last-gen earbuds are also rated... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge If you’re trying to play online games on your Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, or even Xbox 360 right now, you might be running into some issues, as Xbox confirmed there was a “major” Xbox Live outage on its status page as of 6:57PM ET.“You may not be able to sign-in to your Xbox profile, may be disconnected while signed in, or have other related problems,” according to a status message. “Features that require sign-in like most games, apps and social activity won’t be available.” For players who could sign into their accounts on consoles, online-connected games couldn’t connect and showed their own Xbox sign-in errors, while other people reported issues with features like remote play.“We are aware that users may be unable to sign in at the... Continue reading…

Computer security has come a long way in the last 15 years, and the days of needing multiple bits of antivirus and anti-spyware software to keep your Windows XP machine secure are largely behind us. Having said that, the information we share with our computers is potentially more damaging than ever, and there could be serious consequences if your device were to be compromised by a malicious attacker. Cybersecurity doesn't have to be hard, and ensuring you're not the easy target is often half the game. That said, here are a few easy to install bits of software that will help ensure your computer is safe and secure online.

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images It’s only been a couple of weeks since the Supreme Court issued its opinion on a pair of social media cases this term, but it’s already making a splash in arguments over other tech laws being challenged by the industry.Lawyers and judges for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California repeatedly referenced the Supreme Court’s opinion in Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton during oral arguments in two different cases on Wednesday. The cases before the Ninth Circuit, NetChoice v. Bonta and X v. Bonta, concern two different California laws regarding kids online safety and tech company disclosures (Rob Bonta is California’s attorney general, charged with enforcing the laws).The arguments gave an early look into how the SCOTUS... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge If you ever used Google’s URL shortening service goo.gl before it was shut down in 2019, be warned — those links will stop working on August 25th, 2025. Google announced in a blog post that “the time has come to turn off the serving portion of Google URL Shortener,” and that any links in the https://goo.gl/* format will respond with a 404 error next year.Ahead of the shutdown, goo.gl links will start showing an interstitial page on August 23rd, 2024, notifying users that “this link will no longer work in the near future.” This message will initially appear for a “percentage of existing links’’ which will increase as the deadline draws closer. Google is encouraging developers to update impacted links as soon as possible, however, as this... Continue reading…

Image: Microsoft Thousands of Windows machines are experiencing a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) issue at boot today, impacting banks, airlines, TV broadcasters, supermarkets, and many more businesses worldwide. A faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike is knocking affected PCs and servers offline, forcing them into a recovery boot loop so machines can’t start properly. CrowdStrike is widely used by many businesses worldwide for managing the security of Windows PCs and servers.Australian banks, airlines, and TV broadcasters first raised the alarm as thousands of machines started to go offline. The issues spread fast as businesses based in Europe started their work day. UK broadcaster Sky News was unable to broadcast its morning news bulletins... Continue reading…

Hundreds of services are out of action worldwide thanks to a Windows BSoD bug that has seen airlines, healthcare providers, banks, and more all go offline. While the true cause of the outage hasn't been discovered, it's thought that a company called CrowdStrike is the cause, with the company blamed for pushing out a faulty update. CrowdStrike is used by many businesses worldwide for Windows PC security management.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has blasted Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass price increases in a filing to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Microsoft revealed last week that it’s increasing PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate prices, and planning to launch a new Game Pass Standard tier soon without day one access to first-party Xbox games.The FTC calls this new Game Pass Standard tier a “degraded product,” because new Game Pass users won’t be able to sign up to the $10.99 Game Pass for Console, which includes day one game access. Instead, Xbox Game Pass Standard will be priced at $14.99 and won’t include day one games, but will include online multiplayer.“Microsoft’s price increases and product degradation — combined... Continue reading…

Unlike SBCs, microcontrollers have a high learning curve, making them a bit complex for most beginners. Once you include the barrage of features offered by advanced boards like the ESP32 family, its easy to see why newcomers may shy away from DIY projects featuring these microcontrollers.