Wind turbines and power lines can be seen against the evening sky near Leuna, Germany on October 4th, 2022. | Photo by Jan Woitas/picture alliance via Getty Images The European Union saw a record drop in pollution from fossil fuel power plants last year, according to a new report. Ember, an energy think tank that crunched the numbers, calls it “an unprecedented collapse in coal and gas electricity generation.” Renewable energy is finally starting to take over the power grid.Fossil fuels dropped to their lowest point since reliable record-keeping started in 1990, making up less than a third of EU’s electricity generation in 2023. Carbon-pollution-free power generation — which includes renewables and nuclear energy — made up more than two-thirds of the electricity mix, and twice as much as fossil fuels.“An unprecedented collapse in coal and gas electricity generation.” “What’s encouraging is it’s... Continue reading…

Faraday Technology Corporation, a Taiwanese tech firm that specializes in semiconductor solutions, has announced that it'll collaborate with Intel and Arm for the development of a 64-core System-on-Chip (SoC). The SoC will be integrated with Arm Neoverse Compute Subsystems (CSS) and will utilize Intel's most advanced node, Intel 18A, for enhanced data center infrastructure, advanced 5G networks, and infrastructure edge.

A heat pump is installed on the first floor among many AC units at the New York City Housing Authority’s Woodside Houses in Queens, New York. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Nine states inked an agreement today to promote heat pump sales. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) sets a 2030 target for heat pumps to make up 65 of residential heating, cooling, and water heating equipment sales. By 2040, the goal is for heat pumps to account for 90 percent of the HVAC and water heating market. Heat pumps are more energy efficient alternatives to traditional heating and cooling systems. And because they’re electric, they can feasibly run on renewables like wind and solar once there’s more clean energy coursing through power grids. The states on board with the agreement include: California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island. The MOU isn’t legally binding, so... Continue reading…

It's 2024, and almost everyone should use a password manager. It's the best thing you can do to protect your online accounts — along with enabling two-factor authentication, of course. Using a password manager is better than forgetting a password and spending time resetting it or creating a simple password and using the same for all your accounts. The best password managers out there can generate and store complex passwords for all your online accounts and even save you the hassle by automatically entering those passwords in all the online forms. It's a no-brainer to use one and secure all your passwords, especially if you have a bunch of online accounts.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony has started testing a new PS5 beta update that will improve the speakers and microphone on the DualSense controller, alongside adding pointers and emoji reactions to the Share Screen feature. The update is available to testers today via an email invite, and it also includes the ability to dim the brightness of the PS5 power indicator.The firmware for both the DualSense and DualSense Edge wireless controllers has been updated with this PS5 beta to improve the volume of the speakers that output in-game sounds and voice chat. Sony is also improving the microphone capabilities of both of the DualSense controllers to better deal with noise.“The mic input quality on these controllers has been improved, courtesy of a new AI machine... Continue reading…

Cosmo Canyon. Nibelheim. Dolphin racing. Vincent Valentine. A one-winged Sephiroth. Marlene’s dad Dyne. Mini-game after mini-game after mini-game to play. “The world will be saved, but will you?” asks the game’s trailer, with almost zero subtlety that the events of this game will determine Aerith’s infamous fate. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is coming February 29th, and both Sony and Square Enix want to make damn sure that fans know this game is a can’t-miss event — even though it’s not the conclusion to the remake of Final Fantasy VII and will have another game following it. But as a huge fan of the original PS1 title who initially held out on playing the first part of Remake for that reason, I’ve gotta say the twelve-plus minutes of... Continue reading…

Image: Porsche Porsche’s inaugural electric car is getting a facelift to dramatically improve its driving range, performance, and fast-charging abilities. As rival EVs get bigger batteries and improved charging architectures, Porsche is intent on remaining top of the heap with the refreshed Taycan sport sedan. The 2025 Taycan comes in two body styles — the sports sedan and the Cross Turismo wagon — each with four powertrain options as well as rear- and all-wheel drive variants. The sedans, which range in price from $101,395 to $210,995, will be available this fall. The Cross Turismo models, available later this fall, start at $113,095 and climb all the way to $213,695.The 2023 Taycan came in two battery configurations: 79kWh and 93kWh. For the 2025... Continue reading…

Image: Cook and Becker Tencent is reportedly working on a free-to-play mobile version of FromSoftware’s 2022 smash hit title Elden Ring. That’s according to Reuters, which cites three people familiar with the company’s plans. The Chinese tech giant apparently has a team of “a few dozen people” who’ve been working on the title after Tencent Holdings acquired a stake of a little over 16 percent of FromSoftware in August 2022. Tencent did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.If the report is accurate, Elden Ring would be the latest in a long line of major game IPs licensed by Tencent to create mobile free-to-play versions. Among the most successful of these have been PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty: Mobile, but Tencent and its subsidiaries are... Continue reading…

It's a rarity that we see a company announcing features for its new products and then backtracking on the promise later on. But this is what AMD did with its new Ryzen 8000G APUs (Accelerated Processing Unit). After confirming support for ECC (Error-Correcting Code) memory in the Ryzen 8000G APUs at launch, the company has now taken a sharp U-turn and removed ECC RAM support from the APUs' specs page.

Spotify’s growing userbase. | Image: Spotify Spotify now boasts 236 million Premium subscribers, a 4 percent increase over last quarter, while its total number of monthly active users rose 5 percent to 602 million. The announcement came as part of its fourth quarter earnings release, which covers the three months ending on December 31st. Over the course of 2023, Spotify’s userbase and premium subscribers grew by 113 and 31 million, respectively, setting records for the company.The results cap off a year that included both cost-cutting and price increases for the world’s largest audio streaming service. Last December the company announced it would be laying off 17 percent of its workforce, or over 1,500 people, in what was its third major round of layoffs in 2023. Spotify also... Continue reading…

Memes are pretty much the universal language of the internet, though it's hard to define what they actually are. These days, a simple screenshot of an embarrassing or funny moment can become a meme if it becomes popular and gets reused multiple times all over the internet.

Fans of the Microsoft Surface lineup are anxiously awaiting a next-generation device. Windows on Arm is finally maturing into not only a realistic option but also a really good one. That's true, thanks to things like Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X Elite chipset and Google's growing support for the platform. As we wait for a new Surface computer, it's worth wondering whether the Surface Pro 9 is worth buying in 2024. It depends on what you're looking for, but people eyeing a tablet or dual-purpose device might still want to go with a Surface Pro 9 over alternatives. Here are four reasons why the current Surface Pro device is better than the best iPad or Android tablets, even in 2024.