The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT launched as a direct competitor to take on the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and AMD was largely successful in its endeavor. The RX 7700 XT is more powerful, yet more expensive, and is capable of some smooth 1440p gameplay. Should you be on the market for the best graphics card for your budget, we'd recommend the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT. However, should you value ray tracing and DLSS support, there's only one choice — Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4060 Ti.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon has officially halted its plans to extract a two percent fee from Prime sellers who don’t use its in-house fulfillment. The company reportedly planned to start collecting the fee on October 1st, on top of the 8-to-15-percent commission it already gathers from merchants. After Bloomberg broke the story today based on information it had seen from inside Amazon, we reached out to the company to verify the decision.Amazon PR manager Jonathan Hillson told The Verge in an email that “the 2% Seller Fulfilled Prime fee was intended to cover our costs,” but added that the company decided not to move forward because it was afraid “seller sentiment related to the fee” could affect participation in the program.Hillson went on to say Amazon... Continue reading…

You can purchase Pixel Fold parts separately or bundled with iFixit’s repair tools. | Image: iFixit The prospect of having to repair your own Pixel Fold just became a lot less daunting thanks to Google’s continuing partnership with device repair specialists iFixit. As spotted by 9to5Google, iFixit’s website now provides multiple repair guides that instruct Pixel Fold owners on how to replace their broken phone components, in addition to stocking the genuine Pixel Fold parts needed to complete the job.Among the parts available is a kit to replace the Pixel Fold’s flexible inner screen. It costs $899.99 (or $909.99 when bundled with iFixit’s Fix Kit toolset) and includes the inner OLED display, a flexible glass panel, batteries, display bezels, side buttons, and fingerprint scanner. You can also buy some of these components separately,... Continue reading…

The old logo (left) vs. the new one (right). You might be able to guess the meme I’m linking to before you click it. | Logos: Meta; Image by Jay Peters / The Verge Meta is updating Facebook’s “identity system,” and that includes a dramatically refreshed logo.Just kidding! It’s basically exactly the same as the last one, except the blue is a darker blue, and the lowercase “f” has a few subtle tweaks. You can see the new logo next to the most recent one in the image at the top of this post.Here’s Meta’s explanation for the changes from a Wednesday blog post:Our intention was to create a refreshed design of the Facebook logo that was bolder, electric and everlasting. Each of the distinctive, new refinements drive greater harmony across the entire design as a key element of the app’s identity. We’ve done this by incorporating a more confident expression of Facebook’s core blue color that is built to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Lille Allen / The Verge Elon Musk said earlier this month that “no monkey has died as a result of a Neuralink implant,” but an alarming new report from Wired seems to contradict Musk’s statement. Public documents obtained by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and seen by Wired indicate that Neuralink’s macaque subjects were euthanized after suffering various complications, including “bloody diarrhea, partial paralysis, and cerebral edema.”Wired writes that the documents show a male monkey was euthanized in March 2020 “after his cranial implant became loose,” with the necropsy revealing “the failure of this implant can be considered purely mechanical and not exacerbated by infection.” On Tuesday, Neuralink announced it’s starting in-human... Continue reading…

Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images Well-connected CNBC anchor David Faber cites people close to negotiations between the major Hollywood studio producers and striking writers, saying the sides “hope” to finalize a new deal tomorrow. The WGA strike began in early May before the actors (SAG-AFTRA) also went on strike in mid-July, marking the first time that has happened in 63 years. They cited some similar issues in trying to protect members’ livelihoods as streaming entertainment grows and as studios begin to use generative AI tools in the entertainment business.After face to face meeting today, writers and producers near agreement to end WGA strike. Met today and hope to finalize deal tomorrow, according to people close to the negotiations, who, while optimistic,... Continue reading…

Image: Fujifilm Polaroid recently tried pushing the envelope with the new Polaroid I-2 instant camera, and now Fujifilm’s taking a stab at it, too. On Wednesday, the company announced it’s releasing a new kind of instant film product geared for kids, the Instax Pal digital camera bundle, for $199.95 in late October. The Instax Pal is essentially a palm-sized, round digital camera that doesn’t print any photos and lacks a built-in viewfinder. Instead, it outputs images using the companion app, and you can then print these photos via the included Instax Mini Link 2 smartphone printer. The price also includes a 10-pack of Instax Mini film, which is a nice extra that Fujifilm’s instant cameras don’t often come with.I’m not going to lie: my first thought... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US government will again offer free at-home covid tests starting September 25th, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Wednesday. The kits are intended for use through the end of 2023; as with previous versions of the free test program, the kits will include four tests along with instructions for verifying extended expiration dates.The government ended its most recent free test kit program on May 31st as cases and hospitalizations dwindled, but hospitalizations have been steadily rising since July, according to The New York Times’ covid tracker.According to the HHS release, the White House has invested $600 million for the new round of free kits, which it will purchase from 12 US manufacturers. The... Continue reading…

A good gaming headset can level up your gaming experience. Whether you are a fan of playing competitive shooters or single-player titles, a good gaming headset can provide an immersive experience by allowing you to hear more sound effects such as footsteps, while also making it easier to communicate in-game with your teammates.

Hyper-V ranks among the top three hypervisors besides VMWare and VirtualBox, and its spot is well earned. In addition to its easy-to-use interface, Hyper-V comes bundled with almost all versions of Windows 11, making it quite accessible as you don’t have to jump through multiple hoops when setting up virtual machines on your system.

Image: TSM Shopify is entering the League of Legends arena. On Wednesday, Shopify announced that its Rebellion esports brand will be acquiring TSM’s spot in the League Championship Series (LCS), the pro circuit for US League of Legends esports.The move marks a major change of the guard in the LCS. TSM, one of the biggest esports organizations in the world, got its start as a scrappy League of Legends team; the TSM acronym stands for Team SoloMid, which references a solo League of Legends player occupying the middle lane of the game’s multi-pronged map. In the mid 2010s, TSM was one of the most successful teams in the LCS, and the organization has entered other esports, signed Twitch streamers, and even bought an esports app.We'll see you at the... Continue reading…

The Surface Laptop Studio is the perfect Surface for versatility. While it's one of the best Surface PCs, it's also quite unique when you look at it against the best laptops. For instance, you can change the angle of the touch screen to match your gaze, turn it into tablet mode, or even transform it into a Studio device that illustrators and designers, in particular, are going to love.