One of the first laptops I ever bought for myself was an HP Pavilion with (if I recall correctly) a low-end Nvidia GeForce Go discrete GPU. This was about 17 years ago, and the laptop was chunky and prone to overheating to the point where I'd put ice packs beneath it to cool it down. As far as my parents were concerned, I bought the laptop for school work, but it ended up seeing a lot more Diablo II and Counter-Strike than essays and research.

Illustration: The Verge Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced Friday that his company has logged 100 million subscriptions to Google One, its all-in-one subscription service that opens up additional storage for free services like Gmail, Drive, and Photos, as well as access to more features. Hitting the milestone highlights the company’s efforts to move people away from its free plans, such as discontinuing unlimited Google Drive storage for photos. Google’s YouTube Premium service took nine years to get there, but it, too, recently hit 100 million subscribers, thanks to ad removal and extra features like music or high-quality streaming (and at the same time as YouTube made changes to crackdown on ad blockers).We just crossed 100M Google One subscribers!... Continue reading…

Photo: Adrienn Szabo / Paramount Plus From the first trailer alone, I could tell Halo season 2 would go in a different direction than the first. Where season 1 was bogged down in strange storytelling choices that didn’t leave much room for its characters — namely, the Spartans — to do what they do best — namely, kick Covenant ass — season 2 feels more in line with what a Halo show should be about.According to Pablo Schreiber, the difference mostly comes down to tone. “The biggest place where we succeed on a level that we didn’t quite reach in season 1 is that I think the tone of this season feels darker,” he said in an interview with The Verge.Schreiber, who plays Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, thinks the action has gotten better, too — I agree — and attributes these... Continue reading…

Lenovo's ThinkPad Z16 (Gen 2), along with its smaller Z13 sibling, launched in 2023 and have been going strong as solid options for ThinkPad fans who want a more futuristic design and AMD Ryzen performance. The laptops feature a slim aluminum body that helps set them apart from other more traditional ThinkPads.

Pod races, trade negotiations, and Darth Maul will be on the big screen once more when Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace comes back to theaters on May 3rd, 2024. The return is meant to celebrate the 1999 movie’s 25th anniversary, reports Empire. The return to theaters comes during a renaissance for this part of the long-running franchise. In the last few years, Disney has given the prequel era the nod with series like Ahsoka, Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Bad Batch. Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker in the second and third movies, told Empire in an interview that his experience with Star Wars has been “a very heartwarming one,” and that the response to them today “feels like vindication for the work we did.”Disney and... Continue reading…

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge TikTok’s attempt to stall the EU from designating it as a “gatekeeper” — companies with platforms powerful enough that they must follow strict Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust rules — has been rejected by a court. Bloomberg reports that the EU’s General Court has dismissed owner ByteDance’s request for an interim measure that would effectively would buy TikTok some more time to implement the regulations, finding that the company “failed to demonstrate the urgency” required. Although TikTok is appealing the EU’s gatekeeper designation, the bloc still hasn’t reached a final decision yet on the appeal. ByteDance asked for an interim measure in December so it wouldn’t have to comply with the regulations before the EU decided the outcome... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Tesla app now supports ultra wideband (UWB) in the 2024.2.3 version of the app for iPhones. Spotted by Not a Tesla App, it promises more reliable and secure use of phones as digital keys than Bluetooth does because UWB’s precision tracking lets the car know exactly where the key is, which also helps protect against replay spoofing attacks. The article says this even comes down to knowing which user is on the driver’s side of the car in the event that two people who have phone keys for the car are getting into it. It’s the same type of precision tracking that lets you accurately locate Apple’s AirTags even when the thing they’re attached to is lost in the cushions of your couch.The change isn’t available for Android users yet, but... Continue reading…

When building your PC, one of the most important components is the motherboard. Sure, you're going to need a powerful CPU and the fastest graphics card, but it's the motherboard that brings everything together. The choice of motherboard will determine what other components can be used inside your PC, including processor, storage, and even the chassis form factor. We've rounded up the best motherboards right here for Intel and AMD systems to help you make the right decision.

Microsoft teased last month that new features would be coming to Sticky Notes and that it'd soon make "biggest announcements" regarding the note-taking app. Well, it looks like part of Microsoft's effort to give the Sticky Notes app a new life is not only about adding new features but also involves revamping the UI.

Sony’s adorable SRS-XB100 speaker is a pint-sized gift with plenty going for it (including a built-in strap). | Image: Sony It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Christmas, and now we’re shifting through scores of Super Bowl TV deals ahead of the big game. Valentine’s Day is also nearly here, though there’s no need to panic (yet) if you haven’t found the perfect gift for your significant other. After all, the deals team at The Verge has your back.We published our Valentine’s Day gift guide a few weeks ago, but as the holiday draws closer, we’re aware that not all of our recommendations will arrive in time. That’s why we’ve put together a list of a few gifts that will. Some, like Apple’s latest AirPods Pro with USB-C, are discounted highlights culled straight from our gift guide, while picks like the Google Pixel Watch 2 are entirely new... Continue reading…

The Samsung Galaxy S24 series is the first set of flagship Android phones to launch in the United States in 2024, and there's naturally a lot of buzz around it. Galaxy AI is the big talking point on the new phones, and we'll undoubtedly be seeing AI in one form or another in nearly every tech product this year. If you have already found the best case for the Galaxy S24, it's time to look at screen protectors. The Gorilla Glass over the S24's display should offer a good level of scratch protection, but if you think your usage is rougher than usual (or you're simply clumsy), then it's best to protect that display from dings and scratches with a quality screen guard. There are many to choose from, but here are some of the best we've found for the S24.

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge You’ve no doubt allowed dozens (or even hundreds) of apps to live on your smartphone, and it’s important that you know what these apps are up to. Part of that is keeping tabs on how much communicating each app is doing with the outside world. We’ve previously written about how to check data usage on an Android device, and here, we’re going to focus on iPhones.There are a couple of reasons to watch how much data your phone is using. First, while unlimited data plans are much more widespread than they used to be, bear in mind that these plans often apply speed restrictions when you go over a certain point every month. And if you’re using a limited plan and apps go over your data allowance while you’re away from Wi-Fi, it could start... Continue reading…