Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On December 11th, a jury decided that Google has an illegal monopoly with its Google Play app store, handing Epic Games a win. But Epic wasn’t the only one fighting an antitrust case. All 50 state attorneys general settled a similar lawsuit in September, and we’ve just now learned what Google agreed to give up as a result: $700 million and a handful of minor concessions in the way that Google runs its store in the United States.The biggest change: Google will need to let developers steer consumers away from the Google Play Store for several years, if this settlement is approved.You can read the full 68-page settlement for yourself at the bottom of this story, but here’s the TL;DR about what it includes:$700,000,000 from Google in... Continue reading…

Smartwatches have become a popular tool for empowering seniors to live independently. These high-tech wearables offer easy access to practical features like emergency assistance, medication reminders, and location services. They also have a suite of biometric tools to monitor fitness, sleep, and vitals. Together, these features allow seniors to proactively manage their well-being in a way that doesn’t require the same technical expertise as using a smartphone.

Photo Illustration by Amelia Holowaty Krales and Cath Virginia / The Verge Whether you need a stocking stuffer or a white elephant present, we’ve got an inexpensive gift idea for nearly every occasion. Continue reading…

The ThinkPad E14 (Gen 5) saw a fairly significant upgrade over the fourth-generation model, notably bringing Dolby Atmos and Voice support, taller 16:10 display aspect ratio, larger touchpad, and an extra USB-C 3.2 (Gen 2) port. It's one of the best business laptops if you're shopping on a tight budget.

When discussing how large language models (LLM) can be useful, I've mentioned several times that they have a lot of practical, real-world uses. They can be used to help write emails, make an exercise plan, or make a meal plan. In my case, I decided to put my money where my mouth is (somewhat literally) and actually asked Google Bard with Gemini to plan my next three meals. That means Bard planned a breakfast, a lunch, and a dinner for me, with a combination of ingredients I had in my cupboard and fridge and what was available to me at Lidl.

Officially released artwork of Insomniac’s Wolverine. | Image: Insomniac Games Footage of Insomniac’s upcoming Wolverine game has started widely circulating on X after hackers published troves of internal data from its developer. Cyber Daily reports that a total of 1.67 terabytes of data comprising over 1.3 million files has been released by the Ryhsida ransomware gang, which announced that it had stolen the data in a hack on December 12th. At the time, the group announced an auction price for the data starting at 50 bitcoins, roughly $2 million, and a seven day deadline to pay.Alongside level design and character materials from Wolverine, the leak seemingly includes several internal company presentations containing details on unannounced Insomniac and Sony games, screenshots of internal spreadsheets, and details... Continue reading…

Alongside Intel's new Core Ultra series processors, many companies launched new laptops featuring said processors, with Acer at the forefront. The 2024 Acer Swift Go 14 is one of the first laptops to feature Intel Core Ultra processors, and if you're on the hunt for a midrange laptop, this might be the one for you.

Windows 11 brought many major changes but at the cost of older software. Video games and apps that worked on previous versions of Windows may not run as expected on Windows 11. Most applications designed for Windows 10 work just fine on a Windows 11 computer, but there are a staggering number of programs from Windows 8 and earlier that simply won't work.

Gusto will launch from Antarctica. | Image: Geoffrey Palo / GUSTO Team NASA is preparing to begin an experiment named GUSTO — short for Galactic / Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory — to gather data that will be used to create a 3D map of a portion of the Milky Way Galaxy. The GUSTO experiment involves a telescope that will float 120,000 feet over Antarctica on a high-altitude balloon for at least 55 days, soaking up high-frequency radio waves percolating through the cosmic interstellar medium — a term that refers to the gases, dust, radiation, and other materials that make up the space between stars. NASA has a fun guide to its scientific balloons that explains the zero-pressure and super-pressure balloons it uses for missions like this. Image: José Silva / GUSTO Team... Continue reading…

Windows 11 received another major update in 2023 with version 23H2, and it added a lot of new features. Among them is the ability to create a Dev Drive, a specialized virtual drive on your PC that's designed to be faster for your development projects.

Most modern laptops offer a ton of power under the hood, while delivering a more streamlined experience thanks to a relatively compact design. Of course, with this, there are sacrifices, with the most common one being the lack of ports found on a laptop. Of course, there are solutions for this like USB hubs, but if you're looking for a more permanent solution, docking stations are the way to go.

Microsoft Store in Windows 11 has recently been updated with a nifty new feature that will try to stop you from getting apps and games you have already downloaded and installed on your PCs. However, this is available for you only if you're running Windows 11 Insider builds, as it's currently in the beta testing phase.