Collins spacesuit during the test | Collins Aerospace Collins Aerospace, a private company hired to create spacesuits for use outside the International Space Station (ISS), has tested its suit aboard a commercial microgravity flight, passing a milestone that lets engineers move forward toward critical design review. NASA outsourced the design of new spacesuits in 2022 after spending 15 years trying to develop new suits on its own. Collins Aerospace said the suit is lighter and has less volume than the “enhanced” Extravehicular Mobility Units that current NASA astronauts use. It can be modified when missions change and fit a much wider range of body types far more easily than the older suits that are based on designs that are decades old.During the test, the plane executed... Continue reading…

Image: Microsoft With rumors of some Xbox games coming to PS5 and Switch, Microsoft gets ready to lay out its vision for the future of Xbox. Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge The US government has committed $42 million to further the development of the 5G Open RAN (O-RAN) standard that would allow wireless providers to mix and match cellular hardware and software, opening up a bigger market for third-party equipment that’s cheaper and interoperable. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) grant would establish a Dallas O-RAN testing center to prove the standard’s viability as a way to head off Huawei’s steady cruise toward a global cellular network hardware monopoly. Verizon global network and technology president Joe Russo promoted the funding as a way to achieve “faster innovation in an open environment.” To achieve the standard’s goals, AT&T vice president of RAN technology R... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon has confirmed it’s not a mistake — your Amazon Prime Video subscription no longer includes Dolby Vision HDR or Dolby Atmos surround sound. That’s on top of the ads that Amazon injected into the service on January 29th. Now, when you pay $2.99 a month to remove those ads, you can get Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos back as well. That’s the word from 4KFilme, which discovered that their smart TVs from Sony, LG, and Samsung were now displaying content in HDR10 with Dolby Digital 5.1 as opposed to the higher fidelity options they’d enjoyed previously. Amazon spokesperson Katie Barker confirms to The Verge that it’s a deliberate move: “Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos capabilities are only available on the ad free option, on relevant... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge Were you aware that the “.af” domain extension is administered by Afghanistan’s government? That’s a truth that the “queer.af” Mastodon instance is now reckoning with as the Taliban, which has controlled the country since 2021, has shut down the domain, according to 404 Media. And it may not be alone, given reports that other .af domains have abruptly gone dark, too.Erin Shepherd, the administrator of the instance and key ActivityPub developer, told the outlet they were already planning “to shut things down” instead of renewing in April, but that the early termination was a surprise. An email from the Afghanistan Ministry of Communications and IT that Shepherd posted said that the queer.af domain had been suspended and that websites or... Continue reading…

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures From Dune 2 in February to Sonic 3 in December, and everything else in between. Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In an email sent to users Monday evening, Peloton revealed that starting February 27th, it will start transitioning Apple Watch users from GymKit to Peloton One-Tap tracking. GymKit integration was once marketed by Peloton as an exclusive perk of its more expensive Bike Plus, but it’s become less of a draw in recent years. The company launched an Apple Watch integration in 2022 that brought Apple Watch calorie and heart-rate tracking to any Peloton machine, similar to many other fitness apps.As a result, if you linked your Peloton to an Apple Watch more recently, you may not even notice the change. The company has been directing users to only use GymKit if they haven’t installed the latest software updates on their machines. ... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to investigate Apple’s response to Beeper Mini — the app that briefly brought iMessage to Android. During the State of the Net Conference on Monday, Carr said the FCC should look into whether Apple’s move “complies with the FCC’s Part 14 rules” about accommodating users with disabilities.Beeper Mini launched last year, allowing Android users to gain access to iMessage features, including blue message bubbles and the ability to send high-quality photos and videos. However, Apple quickly blocked Beeper Mini users and continued to shut down attempts to make the app work, leading its developers to eventually just give up.Today, I called for the @FCC... Continue reading…

Google’s first foldable is intriguing, but it was hard to recommend before today’s discount. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge When it first launched, we felt the Google Pixel Fold was a little too expensive ($1,800, whew) compared to other foldables at the time, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and its sequel, which had the same starting cost. If you’ve been waiting for a price drop to experience Google’s infantile take on the form factor, however, today is the day to unfold your wallet. Right now, you can buy an unlocked Pixel Fold with 256GB of storage for $1,399 ($400 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store, which matches the lowest price we’ve seen.We love the Fold’s potential and we’re elated to know Google now has a firm stake in building fold-friendly features into Android’s core. We’re hoping that will eventually convince third-party developers... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge Threads is rolling out a new test in the US that shows a list of popular topics that other users are discussing, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a post on Threads. The list will appear on the search page and in the For You feed, allowing you to browse through posts about a particular topic.In addition to testing a way to save posts, Meta recently said it will add controls to limit political content recommendations on Threads.Instagram head Adam Mosseri says Threads uses machine learning AI systems to determine what goes on the list. It takes into account how many people are talking about a certain topic, as well as how many people have interacted with posts about it. Image: Meta Top topics should hopefully... Continue reading…

Nothing’s last phone, the Phone 2. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Nothing has announced a March 5th launch date for its upcoming Phone 2A in a new video posted today, and has confirmed that it’ll be available in the US as part of a “Developer Program” rather than a widespread, official release. No specs, images, or pricing of the device were revealed — for that we’ll have to wait for the full announcement next month when we’ll also get full details of Nothing’s developer program. The event will take place at 11:30AM GMT (6:30AM ET), the company confirmed on X.The Developer Program sounds like a similar release approach to the one Nothing took with its original Phone 1, which came to the US as part of a “Beta Membership” that saw interested customers pay $299 to “test” the phone. In contrast, last... Continue reading…

Image: NFL A crane shot slowly sweeps down toward a massive, billowing rose-red cape attached to someone playing an equally red grand piano. As the camera closes in on the figure, you realize it’s Alicia Keys, playing the descending triplets that begin “If I Ain’t Got You,” one of her earliest and biggest hits. Her voice, as smooth as ever, eases in with a shortened version of the hums that begin the original recording, then she starts belting out the chorus lyrics... and her voice cracks immediately.That’s how Keys’ surprising (and brief) cameo during Usher’s Super Bowl 2024 performance kicked off if you were watching live. But those who didn’t watch wouldn’t know it now without reading social posts about it or news stories like this AV Club one,... Continue reading…