Photo by Spencer Platt / Getty Images Infrastructure in the US has always been a sore subject, but when a 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck the New York City region on Friday, many people were rightfully nervous about the structural integrity of the surrounding bridges, tunnels, and buildings.The earthquake’s epicenter was near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, but people in neighboring states, including New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania still felt the short-lasting shake. A 4.8 magnitude earthquake is on the lower end of the Richter scale, and its effects are described as potentially causing windows to break or small objects to fall.But experts say the relatively minor quake is nothing to worry about. “When you look at that, in terms of this scale, it’s a pretty minor... Continue reading…

Image: Universal Dev Patel’s directorial debut surges with enough energy to make its action work, but it stumbles as it veers into social commentary. Continue reading…

Image: Lucasfilm Disney has outlined premiere dates for some of its biggest upcoming films, according to The Hollywood Reporter. For sci-fi fans, that includes Tron: Ares, which will hit theaters on October 10th, 2025, and The Mandalorian & Grogu, a theatrical film that will expand on the streaming series, on May 22nd, 2026. Ares will mark the first Tron film in 15 years, while Mando will be the first Star Wars movie since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019 (and comes at a time when the franchise is struggling to return to theaters). A pair of upcoming sequels / remakes were dated as well: Toy Story 5 releases on June 19th, 2026, while the live-action Moana remake has been pushed back a year to July 10th, 2026. (The animated sequel Moana 2 is still on track... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge In this week’s edition of his Lowpass newsletter, Janko Roettgers covered a Roku patent that seems to telegraph that the company is planning some heavy advertising tactics for those who purchase Roku TV televisions. The patent centers around the idea of displaying ads on these TVs whenever they’re tuned to an HDMI input that’s paused or idle. Theoretically, this would allow Roku to present ads throughout your whole TV experience — and in places where it’s not viable to do so today. Your PS5, Xbox, Apple TV, or Blu-ray player could become yet another canvas for the company to continue growing its already-lucrative advertising business. According to the patent, the company would use a number of different clues to determine when an HDMI... Continue reading…

Anker’s latest offering even doubles as a StandBy-ready stand. | Image: Anker The list of Qi2 smartphones expanded ever so slightly this week, with the iPhone 12 joining the ranks of Qi2-certified phones thanks to a recent update. That means we can safely say that all MagSafe-compatible iPhones — including the iPhone 13, 14, and 15 — are officially Qi2-ready. The timing couldn’t be better, either, as Anker is currently offering 20 percent off its 6,600mAh MagGo Power Bank, bringing your total down to $55.99 (about $14 off) at Amazon and Anker’s online storefront (the latter with code WSCPEW1AZM).We’ve long been fans of Anker’s MagSafe-compatible power banks, but previous models could only charge newer iPhones at the slower 7.5W speed. Anker says the 15W charging coils in the Qi2 version can take an iPhone 15 Pro... Continue reading…

If you use the internet, you probably do so through a router. Routers don’t directly connect to the internet – that's what modems are for – but routers are still a crucial part of many household networks because they act as communication hubs. With any of the best Wi-Fi routers, you can set up your computer anywhere in the house, play multiplayer titles on your Xbox Series X, and turn on lights with your phone. While routers make life far more convenient, like many other modern electronics, you should update their firmware to keep them running smoothly.

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge In a motion Meta filed on Friday to try and get the FTC’s monopoly claims dismissed, it includes details of how much advertising revenue Instagram brought in over the last few years. At $32.4 billion for 2021 alone, that’s even more than YouTube, which pulled in $28.8 billion in the same year. Business Insider previously pointed out the lead it has over Google’s video unit, and mentions that YouTube gives up 55 percent of each advertising dollar it makes to content owners who upload videos while Instagram coughs up a lot less. Image: Composite of filing from District Court, District of Columbia, and Alphabet 2021 Annual Report (PDF) The gap is also there even if you look further back. In 2020 and 2019, Meta lists... Continue reading…

If you have a Steam Deck, you've probably realized that it's basically just a full-fledged computer. It runs Linux, and there's a full desktop that you can access, complete with normal day-to-day applications that you can run. It's super easy to access the Steam Deck's desktop mode, and you can use the Discover application to download and run basically anything.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Xbox executive Kareem Choudhry is leaving Microsoft after more than 26 years at the company. Windows Central reports that Choudhry’s last day is today, and his departure has triggered a shake-up of some teams inside Xbox. Choudhry’s departure comes just six months after a big shake-up of Xbox leadership and amid continued changes to Microsoft’s gaming strategy.Choudhry had been focusing on Microsoft’s AI plans for Xbox in recent months, which include a new Xbox AI chatbot that The Verge exclusively revealed earlier this week. Choudhry was also key to Xbox’s backward compatibility support and helped bring Xbox Cloud Gaming to life as xCloud in 2019.Microsoft is now moving Choudhry’s former team, Xbox Emerging Tech, to the Xbox hardware... Continue reading…

Apple’s not too happy that Masimo’s W1 watch didn’t exist when Masimo filed its complaint. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge There was no question that Apple would appeal when the International Trade Commission banned Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 sales last year. Well, if you’ve got some time, you can now read all 916 pages of Apple’s appeal to the Federal Circuit. A quick recap: the Apple Watch ban centers around whether Apple infringed upon medical device-maker Masimo’s pulse oximetry patents. The ITC sided with Masimo, concluding that Apple had infringed their patents, and that the infringement was harming domestic industry. The ITC is an agency similar to a court that often deals with imported “articles” that may or may not violate intellectual property law. The word “article” matters more than you’d think, since the statute that created the ITC... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is loosening its App Store restrictions and opening the marketplace up to retro game emulators. In an update on Friday, Apple announced that game emulators can come to the App Store globally and offer downloadable games. Apple says those games must comply with “all applicable laws,” though — an indication it will ban apps that provide pirated titles.The move should allow the retro console emulators already on Android — at least those that are left — to bring their apps to the iPhone. Game emulators have long been banned from iOS, leaving iPhone owners in search of workarounds via jailbreaking or other workarounds. They’re also one of the key reasons, so far, that iPhone owners in the European Union might check out third-party app... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla will reveal its long-promised robotaxi on August 8th, Elon Musk just posted on X. The forthcoming autonomous vehicle is said to be built on Tesla’s next-generation vehicle platform. The announcement came on the same day that Reuters reported that the company had canceled its plans to build a more affordably priced electric vehicle, said to be in the range of $25,000. Musk reportedly told employees that instead of building a mass-market EV, he wanted to focus completely on an autonomous vehicle that would make other vehicles obsolete. Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2024Musk has long teased the possibility of a Tesla robotaxi, even showing off a completely covered vehicle during a 2023 event... Continue reading…