If you've used Discord, then you definitely know about Discord Nitro. It's a subscription with two tiers, with Nitro Basic costing $3 a month and full Nitro costing $10 a month. For a yearly subscription of both, that's $30 a year and $100 a year respectively. While the cheaper one is easier to justify, I would argue that Discord Nitro is a waste of money for pretty much everyone, and I say that as someone who coughs up the $100 a year for my own personal usage.

Microsoft is always looking for ways to improve Teams for customers. The online collaboration and communication software receives tons of updates each month, which the Redmond tech firm details every four weeks. For the past couple of months, Microsoft has been working on adding support for custom emojis and reactions in Teams, and now, it is ready to roll out this capability for some.

The Killers marked England’s victory against The Netherlands in the Euro 2024 semi-finals with a bright(side) bang. | Image: The Killers The Killers assisted UK fans in celebrating England’s Euro 2024 semifinal victory yesterday by pausing their gig at London’s O2 Arena to project the final moments of the game behind the band. Viral videos across X and Instagram captured the elation that followed as confetti showered the crowd during a rousing rendition of “Mr. Brightside” — and now they’re being taken offline by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).According to an Instagram takedown notice seen by The Verge, UEFA says the removed videos include content that “infringes their copyright.” Many of the impacted videos being pulled, such as a clip posted by photographer Bella Falk, contained mere seconds of the live match and are “transformative” enough to fall... Continue reading…

Image: Frontier Developments Planet Coaster’s sequel isn’t just about building the best theme park anymore: it’s about water parks, too. The sequel, coming this fall, will finally let you construct everything from wave pools and lazy rivers to custom-built waterslides.You’ll also get to outfit your aquatic experience with changing rooms, sunbeds, lifeguards, and more. Planet Coaster 2 builds upon its predecessor with the addition of new building and pathing tools, as well as an advanced event sequencer system that can give your guests new experiences. There are also new rides, scenery pieces, and themes.Another neat feature coming to Planet Coaster 2 is the ability to create shared theme parks with friends — but you can’t all build in the park at the same time. T... Continue reading…

Windows wasn't always the powerhouse we know today, and the initial release wasn't exactly well-received due to plenty of bugs and issues. But Microsoft came back around two years later with Windows 2.0, and this release was a big step forward, delivering more stability and refinements, as well as some brand-new capabilities. Windows 2.0 released on December 9th, 1987, and it was a pretty big step towards what we know today.

Image: Jackson Gibbs for The Verge Uprooting your life and moving hundreds — or thousands — of miles isn’t easy. Here’s how to make sense of it all. Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge As Sonos continues chipping away at fixing bugs and improving the performance of its poorly received mobile app redesign, the company also remains focused on several new hardware products. Among them is an ultrapremium soundbar that will serve as a successor to the current Sonos Arc — at a significantly higher price. Codenamed Lasso, the device is currently in limited beta testing, and today, I can share the first images of it. The exterior of the Lasso soundbar bears a strong resemblance to the Arc, which Sonos introduced over four years ago. But inside, the components and speaker drivers have been completely overhauled and redesigned, and that’s expected to result in a cost upwards of $1,200. Sonos aims to ship Lasso later this year,... Continue reading…

Flip phones are a long way from becoming the norm, but there's no denying their growing popularity. Case in point: two top Android brands, Samsung and Motorola, are releasing new clamshell smartphones this year, with the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Razr+ (2024) being attractive flagship-tier options for fans of these foldables. These two flip phones scratch a similar itch and come in at around the same price, but they have some notable differences. Let's compare them side-by-side and see whether the Galaxy Z Flip 6 or Motorola Razr+ is the better buy.

Stellantis’ idled Belvidere Assembly Plant is one of the factories that will have new life as an EV facility thanks to $334 million in grant money. | Image: Getty The Biden administration announced $1.7 billion to convert endangered or shuttered plants into electric vehicle manufacturing facilities. Eleven auto factories across eight states that are currently closed or at risk of closing will receive the funding in order to retrofit their operations for EV manufacturing, administration officials said in a call with reporters. The types of goods these factories will produce run the gamut from “parts for electric motorcycles and school buses, hybrid powertrains, heavy-duty commercial truck batteries, and electric SUVs,” the White House says. “Building a clean energy economy can and should be a win-win for union autoworkers and automakers,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “This investment... Continue reading…

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images A bipartisan group of senators introduced a new bill to make it easier to authenticate and detect artificial intelligence-generated content and protect journalists and artists from having their work gobbled up by AI models without their permission.The Content Origin Protection and Integrity from Edited and Deepfaked Media Act (COPIED Act) would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to create standards and guidelines that help prove the origin of content and detect synthetic content, like through watermarking. It also directs the agency to create security measures to prevent tampering and requires AI tools for creative or journalistic content to let users attach information about their origin and prohibit that... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge OpenAI has created an internal scale to track the progress its large language models are making toward artificial general intelligence, or AI with human-like intelligence, a spokesperson told Bloomberg.Today’s chatbots, like ChatGPT, are at Level 1. OpenAI claims it is nearing Level 2, defined as a system that can solve basic problems at the level of a person with a PhD. Level 3 refers to AI agents capable of taking actions on a user’s behalf. Level 4 involves AI that can create new innovations. Level 5, the final step to achieving AGI, is AI that can perform the work of entire organizations of people. OpenAI has previously defined AGI as “a highly autonomous system surpassing humans in most economically valuable tasks.” OpenAI’s... Continue reading…

The Starlink Mini can be powered by a portable USB battery. | Image: SpaceX SpaceX’s Starlink Mini dish — which Elon Musk says “will change the world” — is now available to anyone in the US. The diminutive internet-from-space kit neatly integrates the dish and Wi-Fi router into a weatherproof package that’s significantly smaller and uses less power than previous Starlink kits. The laptop-sized all-in-one dish can even be powered directly by a USB-PD power bank capable of 100W (20V/5A). Initially, Starlink Mini was only available as an add-on for current Residential subscribers in the US. Now, just a few weeks since launch, it’s available to a wide spectrum of vanlifers and digital nomads who want to stay connected no matter where they set up shop.The Starlink Mini hardware costs $599 and is available with both... Continue reading…