2023 has been quite a year for desktop PC gaming. AMD's AM5 platform saw increased adoption, Nvidia's RTX 4000 series added more high-end cards, and Intel came out with its "new" 14th Gen processors. However, we also got more games that required extremely demanding hardware. Alan Wake 2 is perhaps the game that comes to your mind, next to Starfield and Hogwarts Legacy, but even the impact of Cyberpunk 2077's path tracing on high-end GPUs shows us where PC gaming might be headed in 2024.

Parker Ortolani / The Verge The Verge, your source for Tesla Cybertruck windshield wiper news, is unreasonably happy to potentially reveal: a Cybertruck windshield wiper replacement may cost as little as $165 for the entire arm and blade assembly, or $75 for just the wiper blade itself. That’s the word from Tesla watcher Nic Cruz Patane, who, like all good windshield wiper enthusiasts, has seemingly been paging through the Tesla parts catalog for the Cybertruck but, unlike the rest of us, seemingly has access to prices for each part. We can see the same page, without prices, and it appears to be one single wiper blade after all. Screenshot via Nic Cruz Patane (Twitter/X) Twitter embeds weren’t working so I took a screenshot. The... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Meta announced in a blog post update yesterday that it will apply an obscure Instagram setting to Threads that lets users control how much fact-checked content they see in their feed. Meta says its fact-checking is intended to address misinformation, so effectively, users will be able to decide how much they want to see controversial topics on the site.The controls have three levels: “Don’t reduce,” “Reduce,” and “Reduce more.” While none of the choices can hide content entirely, they will affect the ranking of posts that are “found to contain false or partly false information, altered content, or missing context.”To get to the setting from Threads, users will need to tap the two lines in the upper-right corner from the profile tab,... Continue reading…

There comes a time when you might have to configure Ubuntu or any other Linux distribution with a static IP address. While you can't change your external static IP address, since it's the one your internet service provider provides, you can change your internal one. This is the IP address used on your network inside your home or office.

Image: The Verge Meta’s Twitter competitor, Threads, is now available in the European Union, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced. “Today we’re opening Threads to more countries in Europe,” Zuckerberg wrote in a post on Threads. The launch follows the service’s debut in the US and over 100 other countries across the world, including the UK, in July 2023. But until now, Threads hasn’t been available to the 448 million people living in the EU, and the company has even blocked EU-based users from accessing the service via VPN.To coincide with today’s launch, Meta is giving users in the region the ability to browse Threads without needing a profile. Actually posting or interacting with content will still require an Instagram account, however. The move was... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge PowerPoint for the web now lets users insert videos with closed captions and subtitles into presentations, reports Windows Central. It should make presentations created in the Microsoft 365 suite more accessible to Deaf people or those hard of hearing, but the feature also offers other benefits.You can add closed captions in multiple languages, allowing users to connect with audiences worldwide, and captions also make it easier to watch videos in loud environments or quietly without disturbing people around you. It’s also become a feature people expect to see as support for subtitling expands in apps like TikTok, Netflix, Zoom, and more.To embed a video and insert captions, users must first create closed caption files in the WebVTT... Continue reading…

Proton Proton has released a desktop version of its Proton Mail app that will give users full access to both Proton Mail and Proton Calendar and (eventually) the ability to view your emails offline. The desktop app is available in beta is optimized for both Windows and macOS, and encrypts sent emails end-to-end just like with the browser version, according to the Swiss company, while offline access to emails will be available “soon.” Technically, it’s been possible to access your Proton emails offline through a desktop email app, but you had to use the Proton Mail Bridge to configure your accounts to work with other IMAP / SMTP email clients like Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, and others. Proton’s desktop app, on the other hand, will let you... Continue reading…

Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Tax prep company H&R Block released a new conversational AI chatbot that answers taxpayer questions. AI Tax Assist, accessed through paid versions of H&R Block’s DIY tax software, lets users ask questions on tax rules, possible exemptions, and other tax-related issues. It also points people to a human tax expert for more personalized advice, though the company said it is working on supporting AI-powered personalized advice as well. In a demo, the company showed how users with complicated tax filing statuses — say a gig worker — can start their tax returns. They can then ask AI Tax Assist for information like, “What can I deduct as business expenses as an Uber driver?” The AI will provide a list of allowed deductions, and the user can... Continue reading…

WhatsApp for Windows has support for the text-to-emoji feature, allowing users to use certain text inputs, which then get replaced by corresponding emojis. However, this is built into WhatsApp for Windows, and you can't turn it off. Luckily, this will change soon, as Meta is testing a new toggle for disabling the text-to-emoji capability.

Image: Beeper Here we go again: After investigating reports that some users aren’t getting iMessages on Beeper Mini and Beeper Cloud, Beeper says that Apple seems to be “deliberately blocking” iMessages from being delivered to about five percent of Beeper Mini users. The company says that uninstalling and reinstalling the app fixes the issue and that it’s working on a broader fix (though that apparently won’t be in place tonight).Apple didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment about Beeper’s new claim, and it hasn’t replied to my original request for comment, either. But given that the company has already blocked Beeper Mini before, it’s not too surprising that it seems to be taking action against the app again.Apple appears to be... Continue reading…

Image: Opera Opera GX now includes a button you can hit when your embarrassing browsing session risks exposure to prying eyes. It’s designed to quickly mute playback from all tabs and switch to a new window of safe content during an, ahem, unexpected drop-in or when your boss catches you watching too much Twitch when you should be glued to Excel.The new panic mode can be activated using the F12 button on a keyboard, so all you 60 percent keyboard lovers will need to bind the one function key nobody (apart from developers) uses right now. Opera lets you pick a website to designate as your safe tab, with pre-installed options for YouTube, Twitch, and Wikipedia. You can press F12 again once the coast is clear to bring back your tabs. I... Continue reading…

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Twitch is updating the way it responds to sexual content. As part of the change, the streaming platform will now allow some previously prohibited content — as long as it has a label to warn viewers.Twitch has long struggled with moderating content containing sexual material and has faced backlash for its uneven handling in the past. While Twitch notably banned Indiefoxx over what the streamer claimed was a wardrobe malfunction, the company chose to warn — not ban — top streamer Pokimane for accidentally showing a Pornhub page. Twitch also recently banned a female creator who appeared to be streaming while topless.The platform will now allow “deliberately highlighted breasts, buttocks or pelvic region” if the stream has a Content... Continue reading…