Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge Wear OS is much better than it used to be, so there’s never been a better time to consider a smartwatch. Continue reading…

Image: OnLeaks via MySmartPrice The Pixel 8 has only been out for a few months, but that isn’t stopping leakers from getting early images of the forthcoming Pixel 9. Reliable leaker OnLeaks shared a set of renders with MySmartPrice, showing what appears to be Google’s Pixel 9 Pro flagship with completely flat edges framing the phone and giving off iPhone vibes.That’s not the only major design change on this phone — it looks like Google may have also redesigned the rear camera bar. Instead of stretching the camera bar across the entire width of the phone, the renders show the three-camera setup inside of a bulging, oval-shaped island, similar to the Pixel Fold. It also appears to come with a slightly smaller 6.5-inch display (down from 6.7 inches on the Pixel 8 Pro),... Continue reading…

There's a good chance that if you've ever bought a new laptop or an off-the-shelf PC, you may have noticed that when you look in File Explorer, there are two drives listed, even if only one drive is mentioned on the spec sheet. That's because, many times, PC manufacturers create partitions — virtual divisions of a storage drive that act as individual drives themselves. There are valid reasons to want to have partitions on your PC, but for many, having the internal storage split into two drives may not make much sense. If you fall into that latter camp, you can delete a drive partition in Windows 11 so you can make your storage whole again.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge France’s National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) has fined Amazon €32 million, or about $35 million USD, for “excessively intrusive” worker surveillance that the commission says puts “continuous pressure” on employees in Amazon’s warehouses. Amazon called its conclusions, which put the company in violation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), “factually incorrect.”Following an investigation prompted by press reports, CNIL said that Amazon’s systems measuring and restricting scanning speed (including a “stow machine gun” indicator that activates when workers are scanning too fast), along with the company’s data collection and retention practices, were “excessive” and violated several GDPR articles. So did... Continue reading…

LG’s MyView smart monitor | LG Electronics You can now purchase the entire slate of LG’s webOS-powered MyView monitors, which debuted at CES earlier this month, including one with a 31.5-inch 4K IPS panel (model 32SR85U) that starts at $599.99. Sure, gamers can find better value for their money than a monitor that maxes out with 5ms response times and a 60Hz refresh rate, but visual creatives might appreciate a 95 percent DCI-P3 color gamut. And when your office work is done, you can fire up a full suite of entertainment apps or stream directly from another device with AirPlay 2 and Miracast support.It could be an ideal monitor for movie watching at your desk without loud fans (or Slack notifications) ruining the immersion, and it’s easier to fit into your home office than... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge After last year saw over 9,000 layoffs in the video game industry, 2024 is continuing the trend, and League of Legends maker Riot Games is the latest example. On Monday night, the company announced that “we are refocusing on fewer, high-impact projects to move us toward a more sustainable future,” which means eliminating roles for 530 people globally, or about 11 percent of its total workforce. This news arrives just days after the results of a Game Developers Conference (GDC) survey showed 56 percent of respondents felt layoffs were in store for their studios due in large part to a “post-pandemic course correction.”Legends of Runeterra and Riot Forge cuts are part of the ‘adjustments’“Some of the significant investments we’ve made... Continue reading…

The Apple Vision Pro starts shipping to U.S. customers in a few weeks. And as the hype builds up, some reviewers have had the opportunity to spend some more time with it. While plenty of positive remarks have been made about this upcoming spatial computer, some of its flaws are also starting to surface in both the software and hardware departments. Personally, I don't plan on buying Apple's Vision Pro. However, if Apple addresses some of my concerns, I could change my mind down the road.

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) puts another layer between you and the internet at large to help keep your home network safe, but VPNs can also be used to bypass geographic blocks on things like Netflix that have different content for different regions. With a VPN, you can conceal your location by disguising your IP (internet protocol) address and encrypting all the data you send and receive over the internet. Of course, VPNs won't protect you from every threat (for more on that, check out our piece on common VPN misunderstandings), but working in tandem with security software like firewalls included with your router and devices, can help keep you safe online.

Almost all modern-day smartphones out there are made out of metal and glass for a premium look and feel. But that comes at the cost of durability, and they're more prone to scratches or even cracks when you accidentally drop them. The priceand of these phones and their corresponding repairs have all increased over the years, so the last thing you want to do is deal with a broken phone, having to go back and forth with the service centers and prep it for repairs. You can greatly reduce — if not entirely avoid — the chances of breaking your phone's display or the back glass by using a protective case. As a result, for many people, protective cases have become an absolute necessity for smartphones.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Artists on Apple Music will earn a bonus payout of up to 10 percent in royalties for all songs that are also available in spatial audio. That’s according to an update sent to record label partners and seen by 9to5Mac. Quoted by Music Business Worldwide, it says that starting with January’s month-end payout, “pro-rata shares for Spatial Available plays will be calculated using a factor of 1.1 while Non-Spatial Available plays will continue to use a factor of 1.” Pro rata refers to the “one big pot” of pooled subscription money that’s divided based on the number of streams.Bloomberg reported in December that Apple planned to offer financial incentives for musicians and record labels to release songs in the Dolby Atmos-supported format.... Continue reading…

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is finally giving Teams users an easier way to control audio and video features during meetings. The software giant has started testing easily accessible tools for switching cameras, audio sources, speaker output, and much more. These new features are part of an update available for Microsoft Teams Public Preview today.In the current version of Teams, you have to dig through multiple layers of settings to switch which camera you’re using, adjust your background, or move from a built-in speaker to a wired one. The new features allow Teams users to access a downward arrow next to the camera or mic button on the meeting toolbar, which includes simplified audio and video options. Image: Microsoft No more... Continue reading…

Image: ToastedShoes Nintendo has finally come for Palworld... in the form of issuing a takedown for a video of a mod that swapped all the Palworld pals for pokémon. Lol. If you’re not one of the now 6 million players who’ve bought a copy of the game, here’s a quick explainer. Palworld is a multiplayer survival crafting game in which you use cute monsters called pals to harvest resources and build structures. Oh, and there are guns — you can shoot the pals with guns.Days after Palworld’s early access launch and cosmic-level popularity explosion, YouTube creator ToastedShoes posted a short video on X (formerly Twitter) teasing his Pokémon Palworld mod. “Palworld already has a Pokémon mod,” ToastedShoes wrote on X. His claim was a bit misleading: according... Continue reading…