Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images With the holidays now just around the corner, everyone is double-checking their lists and figuring out the fastest way to get those gifts in time. Thankfully, many retailers are offering generous shipping policies for their products, with some offering free two-day shipping or even same-day delivery if you pay extra. And just in case the gift you choose isn’t quite right, many retailers are also offering extended return policies so your giftee can get something more to their liking.For your convenience, we’ve collected the current return policies for several major retailers below, highlighting which will give you a little more time to place that order or start a return. Hopefully, knowing more about how much leeway you have will help... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Apple’s June announcement that it would launch the Vision Pro headset “early next year” could be very early. As Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports, things are lining up for the device to launch by February. He says we shouldn’t expect another launch event — which is understandable for a $3,499 device that will probably have a limited supply — but bringing this to market is a major undertaking that means preparing Apple Store employees to guide new users, adjust fitting, and deal with prescription lens options.Launching the first new Apple hardware platform in years includes new software with visionOS, and Gurman is already pointing to its next version, which should arrive later in 2024 along with the usual Mac and iPhone software updates.... Continue reading…

Next-generation Apple CarPlay UI in an Aston Martin. | Image: Aston Martin Apple said we’d get vehicle announcements tied to its “next generation” of wireless CarPlay by the end of 2023, and today, it delivered mock-ups of the dashboard-spanning UI styled for Porsche and Aston Martin. Instead of simply taking over the infotainment center and small segments of the in-dash areas, it seeks to overhaul all displays of the given vehicle. The theme is distinct to each automaker and also gives CarPlay access to the vehicle’s features, like your radio and temperature settings. In the Porsche setup, there’s a three-dial layout with the speedometer on the left and a wallpaper made to match its houndstooth seat pattern.In the Aston Martin layout, there’s a media display in the center, surrounded by the speedometer and... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge Valve announced a new privacy feature for the Steam client today that lets players choose whether certain games they buy and own are visible to others on the platform. According to the update announcement, starting today, Steam beta testers will be able to mark games as private to keep them, well, private.You can mark a game private from three places: your shopping cart; your game list in a web browser; or from the Steam client itself. The new privacy filter is great if you’ve been holding off on buying OnlyCans: Thirst Date for the last two years or so or you really don’t want your friends to know that you’re deeply into oddly specific simulator games. Image: Valve Beta users can now make purchases private... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Warner Bros. Discovery might merge with another entertainment giant: Paramount. Sources tell Axios that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav held talks with Paramount CEO Bob Bakish on Tuesday about a possible merger.The meeting reportedly took place at Paramount’s headquarters in Times Square, with the two CEOs discussing how the companies could complement one another. That could include combining Max and Paramount Plus to compete with streaming rivals like Netflix and Disney Plus. Zaslav also discussed a deal with Shari Redstone — the head of Paramount’s parent company, National Amusements — Axios reports. We still don’t know whether Warner Bros. Discovery would buy Paramount or National Amusements if a merger actually does... Continue reading…

Macs are wonderful for computing, communicating, and entertainment. For a while, the latter didn't include gaming, but these days, playing video games on Mac is easier than ever. There are so many ways to play different games on the latest Macs, with one popular method being through the Steam storefront. The platform has been around for over two decades and has become the primary place to buy and download games to play on your computer, whether you use Windows, Linux, or Mac. It’s easy to download Steam games on a Mac, and many are affordable and often on sale via promotions. So, which are the best games for Mac on Steam? Our team weighed in to provide their picks.

Image: The Verge Elon Musk’s X platform, previously known as Twitter, mostly stopped working for more than an hour. In mobile apps, the timelines wouldn’t refresh, and on the web, a placeholder message proclaimed, “Welcome to X! This is the best place to see what’s happening in your world. Find some people and topics to follow now.” The global internet trackers at Netblocks noted a “significant international outage” that wasn’t linked to any country-level blocks or filtering.At about 1:35AM ET, shortly after this article was published, access to timelines was restored, although we haven’t heard what caused the problem.Oddly, posting to the site still worked, even if the posts disappeared after a refresh, and accounts followed with notifications... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple has lost its bid to delay an import and sales ban on the Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2. In a filing on Wednesday, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) denied Apple’s motion to stay the ban while awaiting an appeal.On Monday, Apple announced its plans to pull the Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 from store shelves in response to an October ruling from the ITC, which said the company’s SpO2 sensors infringed on patents from medical device maker Masimo. The last day to purchase the Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 from Apple stores is December 24th, while the import ban officially goes into effect on December 26th. Apple is already exploring ways it can avoid the ban, including by implementing software changes, according to Bloomberg.... Continue reading…

Belkin’s 3-in-1 charging stand makes for a great StandBy companion, regardless of whether you own an Apple Watch. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge The Qi2-based chargers are certainly coming, but if you can’t wait for them to land next year, Belkin’s BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 Wireless Charger with MagSafe is on sale now at Amazon in black for a new low of $110.99 ($39 off) or in white for just $9 more.To this day, Belkin’s BoostCharge Pro remains our favorite MagSafe 3-in-1 stand for home use. The triple charging solution offers true 15W MagSafe charging speeds, the ability to fast-charge newer Apple Watch models starting with the Series 7, and support for iOS 17’s new StandBy mode, which gives you an easy way to turn your phone into a clock, calendar, or a nifty photo frame for your desk. It’s also outfitted with a 5W charging pad on the bottom, so you can juice a pair of wireless... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The UK Supreme Court ruled that AI cannot get patents, declaring it cannot be named as an inventor of new products because the law considers only humans or companies to be creators. The court unanimously denied a petition from Stephen Thaler, founder of the AI system DABUS, to name his AI as an inventor. The UK’s decision aligns with a similar decision made against Thaler in the US: he previously lost an appeal with the US Patent and Trademark Office, which also denied his petition to claim AI as an inventor. The US Supreme Court declined to hear the case. In the UK, Thaler wanted to register DABUS as the inventor of a food container and a flashing light beacon back in 2019, but the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) rejected the... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge This is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.Hello! Apologies for the late send, I have been buried in Hot Pod Summit prep. I promise it will be worth it! We’re putting together a great lineup for 2024. We’re still working on our invitation list — if you’re interested in attending, let us know here.This is about the time yakky media folks like myself come out with predictions for next year. Nick Quah published takes from people across the industry today for Vulture. Yesterday, The Podglomerate’s Joni Deutsch had a piece for Nieman Lab with her own predictions. I highly recommend checking out both!Today, I don’t have predictions so much as stories on which I am keeping a close... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed new changes to the regulations it currently enforces under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), seeking to further limit the collection and use of children’s data by tech companies, especially when used for targeted advertising. “Kids must be able to play and learn online without being endlessly tracked by companies looking to hoard and monetize their personal data,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in the official announcement. According to Khan, the proposed changes would prevent companies “from outsourcing their responsibilities to parents” when it comes to managing children’s data. According to the FTC, the agency received more than 175,000 public comments in 2019 when it... Continue reading…