Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge TikTok videos about the Hollywood writers strike were temporarily blocked as the platform attempted to moderate QAnon conspiracy theories.Media Matters for America, a nonprofit media research group, reported today that TikTok users were unable to search for content related to the Writers Guild of America strike. “WGA” and “WGA strike” didn’t return any search results on the app despite continuing waves of coverage of the writers and actors strikes. Within a few hours of MMFA’s report being published, the search results were restored and now appear to be working as usual.TikTok confirmed that it accidentally blocked searches for the WGA strike content while attempting to block QAnon conspiracy theories; TikTok spokesperson Ben Rathe... Continue reading…

The nascent smart glass industry is finally picking up some pace now, as we have several new options on the market in 2023. These wearable devices have been in use at an enterprise level for quite some time for various purposes, such as education, communication, entertainment, and productivity, but one of the most exciting applications of smart glasses we're witnessing lately is gaming.

Image: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Internet Archive announced today that it has appealed its loss in a major ebook copyright case. A notice indicates that it’s filed with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Hachette v. Internet Archive, a publishing industry lawsuit over the nonprofit group’s Open Library program. The appeal follows a settlement that saw the Archive limit access to some of its scanned books as well as a second suit filed by music publishers over the Archive’s digitization of vintage records.Hachette and three other publishers — HarperCollins, Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House — sued the Internet Archive in 2020 after it opened a program dubbed the National Emergency Library. The National Emergency Library expanded the Archive’s long-running... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge September and October are some of the most exciting months of the year if you’ve been waiting all year to see the latest and greatest tech, even if that just means meeting the annual new iPhone. Of course, events are also planned for entertainment, cars, and more, and you’ll be able to catch all the latest news on major events and conferences here on The Verge. The IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin kicked off the slate, leading into the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) that runs through September 17th.The schedule truly picks up now with Apple’s iPhone 15 launch event, dubbed “Wonderlust.” Apple’s event is on September 12th at 1PM ET / 10AM PT, and we’ll be stepping into the depths of Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park... Continue reading…

AMD CPUs have evolved a lot over the years to become so much more than just an affordable alternative to Intel CPUs. In fact, they've been stomping on Intel chips for a few generations now in some areas, offering incredible value with an appealing price-to-performance ratio. AMD CPUs are ever-present in the collection of the best CPUs as well as the best gaming CPUs on the market right now.

At one point or another, you might need to find the specifications — or specs — of your Windows 11 PC. It can be useful for troubleshooting if you're having issues, or maybe you just want to know if your laptop is compatible with a certain app or able to run a specific game. If you're more tech-savvy, of course, you probably already purchased your PC based on the specs, but that's not the case for everyone.

If you have a NAS, then chances are you've been using it to store all kinds of important data. Maybe you have a large collection of movies and TV shows, or something like NextCloud set up as a Google Photos alternative. No matter what, though, you'll want to make sure that data is kept safe, which is why you should protect your data by backing up your NAS.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT have similar specifications and performance but are priced in completely different segments. The former officially costs $1,200, and the latter $900 (though, in reality, both GPUs can be found for less). You can also comfortably play games at 4K with ray tracing enabled on both cards. This guide will show you how to choose between the 7900 XT and the 4080.

RIP Lightning. You were proprietary, which was annoying, but you were so easy to plug in. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Lightning connector really only had two jobs: be tiny and be foolproof. Apple developed the new port for the iPhone 5, which at the time was simultaneously the largest, thinnest, and lightest iPhone the company had ever made. That made every millimeter of space and milligram of weight matter. For nearly a decade, Apple’s go-to connector had been the 30-pin Dock Connector, which was positively gigantic — about four times the size of a standard Micro USB plug. The Dock Connector was also fragile and a bit fussy. You had to stick the cable in just so in order to get the little hooks on the end to attach to the port. After a decade of Dock Connector, Apple needed something better.When Apple introduced Lightning at its annual fall event... Continue reading…

Photo by Wan Shanchao / VCG via Getty Images We could soon see more lithium-ion batteries made with recycled materials thanks to a new partnership. BASF, a battery materials producer, has announced that it’s teaming up with Nanotech Energy, a maker of graphene-based energy products, to produce lithium-ion batteries with recycled materials for customers in North America.While BASF will create the cathode active materials using recycled metals from a Battle Creek, Michigan facility, Nanotech will use those materials to create the lithium-ion battery cells. Making the batteries with recycled metals could decrease their CO2 footprint by around 25 percent, according to BASF.Additionally, BASF and Nanotech Energy will also work with the American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) and... Continue reading…

If you are a fan of smaller phones, you may soon run out of the option to buy the iPhone 13 Mini. After two years since its launch, Apple is reportedly planning to discontinue the iPhone 13 Mini following the iPhone 15 announcement event, all set to take place tomorrow, September 12.

A rehoming pound for preloved robot pups. | Image: Sony Sony is launching a new sustainability program to ensure that even robot dogs are for life, and not just for Christmas. Five years after releasing the ERS-1000 Aibo — a reboot of its popular line of “autonomous entertainment” robot dogs from the late 90’s — Sony Japan is now launching an “Aibo foster parent program” to help ERS-1000 owners who have cancelled their Aibo Cloud Plan to donate the gadget to a worthy cause.According to a machine translation of the Japanese press announcement, Sony will test and repair ERS-1000 units donated to the program before providing them to medical facilities, nursing homes, and other organizations that could benefit from emotional support robots like Aibo. Sony says it plans to charge Aibo “foster... Continue reading…