Image: The Verge Apple will reportedly have to pay around €500 million (about $539 million USD) in the EU for stifling competition against Apple Music on the iPhone. Financial Times reported this morning that the fine comes after regulators in Brussels, Belgium investigated a Spotify complaint that Apple prevented apps from telling users about cheaper alternatives to Apple’s music service. The issue comes down to Apple’s efforts to keep apps and users corraled inside its App Store payments system. Spotify complained in 2019 that Apple’s policies muted competition against Apple Music, kicking off an EU investigation the next year. The EU whittled its objections down to oppose Apple’s refusal to let developers even link out to their own subscription... Continue reading…

Not today. It appears that Apple Pay is down, particularly for Chase customers — Verge staffers have had their cards declined while trying to pay with Chase cards using Apple Pay, while using the same physical card works just fine. Several people on Threads confirmed the same issue when I asked — although people with non-Chase banks like Citi appear to be using Apple Pay just fine. Apple’s system status page says that Apple Pay and Wallet have a maintenance in progress which started at 12PM — which is a pretty weird time to start a maintenance that disrupts payments. The page also says that “Some Maryland Users may have issues,” but we’ve had reports in both New York and LA, so it appears we’re all into crab cakes and football today. ... Continue reading…

With web browsers acting as the portal between yourself and the internet, it must come with defense mechanisms to prevent hackers from gaining a foothold on your computer or network. As such, Google is stepping up its game by making Chrome even more secure. In an upcoming update, Google Chrome will be able to detect and block hacking attempts where a malicious agent tries to gain a foothold on the target's network and infect other devices.

Choosing system memory for your PC involves checking what is supported by your processor and motherboard. G.Skill makes numerous modules for different applications. Whether you need some budget-friendly memory for a low-power system or RGB-infused modules with impressive performance for more intensive tasks, G.Skill likely has a RAM kit for you. The Trident Z5 Neo RGB is a gaming series of RAM with a flashy design, solid, reliable performance, and great value compared to more expensive options.

Lenovo is undoubtedly making some of the best laptops you can buy right now, and its area of dominance encompasses consumer, business, and gaming PCs. The Yoga brand is arguably in its best shape ever with a smart range of budget, mid-range, and high-end hardware, ThinkPad maintains its legendary legacy in the professional world, and Legion gaming laptops are easy to recommend thanks to intelligent cooling, modern design, and robust performance.

Building your PC over opting for prebuilts off the shelf is often recommended due to the better value for money, more tailored specifications, and, frankly, the sheer joy of the process. However, diving into your first build can be a minefield of potential mistakes. From choosing an incompatible mix of components to overlooking the need for thermal paste, the devil is in the details. This guide aims to guide you through common mistakes, ensuring your journey from parts selection to the final boot is as smooth as possible.

I use AirDrop almost daily between my iPhone and MacBook Pro. It’s such a simple way to get photos, videos, and other content from the mobile device to my computer for editing or adding to a presentation, article, or gallery. Chances are you might want to use it, too, either between your own devices or to AirDrop something, like contact information, to someone else’s device. It’s a fairly foolproof feature, but sometimes, you might run into an issue where AirDrop doesn’t work. Chances are, there’s an easy fix.

Illustration: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 26, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome. So psyched you found us, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been playing with the redesigned You.com for AI research, trying out the Phanpy Mastodon client, getting back into Zombies, Run after reading Vee Song’s great story about Fantasy Hike, and reading the new “lost chapter” of The Martian before probably just rereading The Martian again.I also have for you some non-earbud earbuds, a nerdy video about nerdy stuff, a new to-do list app, a new thing in ChatGPT, and much more. Let’s do it.(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What... Continue reading…

Computers have been getting smaller and smaller for years now, but they've truly reached an impressive point in 2024. We now have mini PCs and PC gaming handhelds that pack the power of a laptop or full-size PC in an incredibly tiny form factor. That opens up a lot of new possibilities for computing. You can play full AAA gaming titles on a device that can be taken just about anywhere, whether it be a gaming handheld or a mini PC. Theoretically, there's no reason why a great mini PC can't replace every other computer in your life. So, I did the unthinkable: I took an Ayaneo Retro Mini PC AM02 with me on the go and found out if it could replace my laptop.

A charging station outside of a Toyota Store in Blauvelt, New York, on February 5th, 2024. | Image: Kena Betancur / VIEWpress / Getty President Biden’s administration plans to pull back on strict new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that would have forced US automakers to turn EVs into their main business by 2032. That’s according to The New York Times, which wrote yesterday that industry players had moved the administration to give them more time to bring down EV costs, and for a nationwide charging infrastructure to be more fully built out.The Times writes that labor leaders pressured Biden to give them more time to extend union membership to those working in new US EV plants. As the article notes, labor union support is crucial as Biden faces re-election where he’s straddling a dire climate situation and attacks from candidate and former President Donald... Continue reading…

To understand how a graphics card works, it's essential to dive deep into the components and processes that enable these devices to render images, videos, and animations on our screens. A graphics card, often referred to as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), is specialized hardware designed to accelerate the creation and rendering of images, videos, and animations. It works differently from the CPU (Central Processing Unit), excelling at parallel processing. This is key for tasks like graphics rendering and other computations that require handling many operations at once.

Buying a new monitor for your work or gaming setup is a pretty big purchase. Not only are they crucial for the setup and something you'll likely be starring at for the better of your day, but they're also quite expensive, which means you can't replace them very frequently. Choosing the right monitor for your setup is extremely important, and it all starts with the size of the panel, its type, and lastly, its resolution. Assuming you have already decided on a size and the type of panel, it's time to consider the resolution. You have plenty of options when it comes to the size of the monitor, but you'll mostly be picking between 1080p, 1440p, or 4K.