Photo: Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images This is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Hi, everyone — I’m starting off today with some big news to share: next week will be my last at Hot Pod and The Verge. Before coming here, all I wanted was to cover the podcasting industry, and I still can’t believe I managed to get a job doing just that. Even when the news was bad (which, let’s be real, was often), I was buoyed by the passion and innovation of this community. It’s been a real privilege getting to know so many of you.I’ll have a few more stories coming out before I leave as well as some final thoughts on the state of the industry. My colleague Jake Kastrenakes has a note below with more information about the newsletter moving forward.As... Continue reading…

The PC case has held systems together for decades and has only improved since they first came to market. To get to today, PC case manufacturers have had to innovate. What started as a purely functional means to protect sensitive components, the PC case has transformed into a fashion statement and piece of furniture. We'll look at some ways the popular brands have pushed the PC case forward (and not always for the best). Whether it's improved cable management, a case form factor that has been copied beyond belief, or natural materials, we'll cover it.

Image: Apple Apple announced some Godzilla-sized updates for its streaming service. First up, the spinoff series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which premiered on Apple TV Plus last year, has been renewed for a second season. There aren’t any details on what the new season will entail or when it’ll start streaming, but showrunners and co-creators Chris Black and Matt Fraction will be returning.On top of that, Apple says that it has signed a deal with Legendary for even more projects based in its “monsterverse,” which will include “multiple spinoff series.” It’s not clear yet what those series might be, but here’s hoping we get a deep dive into the Shobijin. The news comes just a few weeks after the latest feature in the franchise, Godzilla x Kong: The... Continue reading…

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Transcription apps — apps that record and make text transcriptions of the conversation — have been an extremely useful way of keeping records for many of us. This doesn’t only pertain to journalists, who, of course, often keep records of their interviews. When you are caring for a family member who is ill, for example, having a recorded and transcribed record of a conversation with the doctor can be very useful. And when you’re dealing with the insurance company rep afterward — well, ’nuff said.There are two types of transcription services available online today: one that uses an AI engine and the other that uses human transcribers. The latter is usually much more accurate but is also considerably more expensive. As a result, most... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Following Paramount’s move to add Showtime programming to certain Paramount Plus streaming plans, the Showtime standalone streaming platform is coming to an end.Variety reports that Showtime streaming subscribers have begun receiving notices that they will no longer be able to access the platform after April 30th. Going forward, subscribers will have to sign up for the $11.99 per month Paramount Plus with Showtime plan. Paramount Global announced its intentions to shutter the Showtime platform last year after also rebranding the traditional Showtime network as ”Paramount Plus with Showtime.”Though this whole renaming process has been awkward, Paramount’s following through on its plan to fully subsume the Showtime brand. And while... Continue reading…

Android smartphones and tablets have hundreds of settings that let you change everything from wallpapers and notifications to sound, system colors, and more. But if you think you've seen and tweaked all the settings, then think again because we're about to look at some more options that are tucked inside the Developer options menu. These hidden Developer options are mostly intended to help with creating Android applications, but some of them can come in handy for other situations too.

Formatting or reformatting an SSD or a hard drive is a simple process which only takes a few minutes. The best SSDs out there from the likes of Samsung, Crucial, etc., come with dedicated utilities for formatting, but you can simply use the built-in tools in the Windows operating system to get it done easily. You don't have to format your SSD frequently, but it may be worth doing it occasionally to restore the drive to a clean state. You can even reformat it to a different file system during this process.

Image: A24 Director Alex Garland’s new dystopian thriller seems like it has something to say about American society, but it doesn’t have the guts to articulate a cohesive, thoughtful point. Continue reading…

Image: Dbrand Dbrand, the phone case company known for its sassy attitude toward users and tech companies, gave $10,000 to a customer as an apology after it made a racist comment about their last name. On Tuesday, Dbrand reposted a complaint from a customer, Bhuwan Chitransh, who said that the skin they purchased for their MacBook changed color after just two months. Dbrand replied with a crude message that rhymed the customer’s name with “rash.” Chitransh later responded, saying Dbrand’s post reflects its racist perspective toward Indian customers.The following day, the company said that it had made a “huge fumble.” Dbrand said it apologized to Chitransh and offered him $10,000 “as a gesture of goodwill.” However, Dbrand didn’t delete the original... Continue reading…

Setting off a high-altitude balloon and tracking its progress around the world sounds like an amazing project, but it sounds like something that would cost hundreds of dollars to set up. Fortunately, our favorite SBC is here to make the project dirt cheap. Someone has released code that lets you turn a Raspberry Pi into a worldwide explorer, and you can even register it on a website where you can track its progress alongside other hobbyists.

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images, The Verge Discord has shut down the Discord servers for the Nintendo Switch emulators Suyu and Sudachi and has completely disabled their lead developers’ accounts — and the company isn’t answering our questions about why it went that far. Both Suyu and Sudachi began as forks of Yuzu, the emulator that Nintendo sued out of existence on March 4th.“Discord responds to and complies with all legal and valid Digital Millennium Copyright Act requests. In this instance, there was also a court ordered injunction for the takedown of these materials, and we took action in a manner consistent with the court order,” reads part of a statement from Discord director of product communications Kellyn Slone to The Verge. The developers of Suyu and Sudachi only... Continue reading…

If you're an avid Dungeons & Dragons player, you've probably heard of Foundry Virtual Tabletop. It's a great piece of software that makes managing your campaign a dream, particularly for those who may run online campaigns rather than in person. Even in-person campaigns can benefit though, thanks to how easy it makes visualizing character movements. The only downside is that Foundry VTT will set you back $50 as a one-time payment, though DMs will all tell you that it's well worth it.