Smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em. | Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Michael M. Santiago, Bloomberg, Klmax, Whyframestudio, Yevgen Romanenko, Pixhook, Peter Dazeley, Jimkruger, Getty Images Mistakes aren’t illegal, but fraud is — and Bankman-Fried’s lawyers never made his defense land. Continue reading…

Chromebooks used to be very cloud-based. If you recently switched to a new Chromebook from a Mac or PC, you might be concerned about what you can do offline. The good news is that you can still perform many common tasks on your laptop without connecting to the internet. In fact, you can accomplish pretty much anything offline on a Chromebook that you can on a Mac or PC.

It's been over a year since Lenovo announced the second-generation ThinkPad X1 Fold, but today, you can finally buy the foldable PC. Better yet, with a starting price of $2,499, it might just be the best deal you can get as far as Windows foldable PCs go.

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Apple no longer offers its $4.99 per month Apple Music Voice Plan, as reported by MacMagazine. The Voice Plan, introduced in 2021, let you access the Apple Music library via Siri across your devices. But as of Wednesday, it’s no longer listed among the Apple Music plans that you can subscribe to on Apple’s website — the grid on the site currently includes the Student, Individual, and Family plans. (The Voice Plan was listed on the website as of Tuesday, according to an archived version of the page on the Wayback Machine.)If you are currently on the Voice Plan, Apple will turn off auto-renew, the company writes in a support page about the plan’s discontinuation. Naturally, Apple says that you can also switch to one of its other Apple... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images This is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.For all of the changes Spotify has gone through over the past year, there is still more to come. Those three-year podcast deals the company struck are coming up for renewal, and what Spotify decides to do with them could have reverberations across the industry. The Joe Rogan Experience — the first, the biggest, and the most consequential — will expire in 2024. Today, after speaking with podcasters, producers, analysts, agents, and executives (mostly on background, though a few brave souls went on the record), I take a look at how the Spotify / Rogan relationship could play out. Let me be clear: this is purely a thought exercise. I... Continue reading…

The 24-inch iMac (M3, 2023) is one of the latest Macs, featuring a sleek, all-in-one form factor and a mighty Apple silicon chip. And while the iMac itself offers a built-in 23.5-inch display, it actually supports an additional monitor. Due to the base M3 chip's limitations, however, you're limited to a single external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz. Nonetheless, an additional monitor still provides an effective way to multitask and have numerous app windows laid out in front of you. To help you find a decent monitor for your 24-inch iMac (M3, 2023), we've listed some of the best options below.

Image: Bethesda Softworks Bethesda is almost ready to officially add Nvidia’s graphics upscaling technology to Starfield, but it will look for help from the PC gaming community first with an opt-in beta test available via Steam. The company says the game’s next update will support DLSS with frame generation (which would mean DLSS 3, if not 3.5) as well as display and HDR controls for supported systems. The RPG’s lack of support for DLSS was an issue before it even launched, with “exclusive PC partner” AMD forced to come out and insist that Bethesda would have its full support if the developers wanted to add support for the Nvidia technology. Once the game was available, modders quickly added unofficial support for the tech, showing how it could improve... Continue reading…

The 24-inch iMac (M3, 2023) is Apple's latest all-in-one computer, packing an upgraded Apple silicon chip in a familiar build. Though, unlike new Mac notebooks, its chassis doesn't offer an integrated trackpad. That's why you will be needing a dedicated mouse to operate the 24-inch iMac (M3, 2023). To help you with the hunt, we've listed some of the best options below.

Bitwarden has added support for the more secure passkey login method. | Image: Bitwarden Bitwarden, one of our top picks for free password managers, is adding support for passkeys in the latest version of its browser extensions. Passkeys can use your device’s pin, face, or fingerprint for authentication, and are a more secure and convenient alternative to traditional passwords that are also more resilient to phishing attacks.Although the company has announced that passkey support is coming in the new 2023.10 release, the update appears to be in the process of rolling out — I’m still seeing the previous 2023.9.2 version listed on the Chrome Web Store as of this writing. But I’ve verified that it’s working on Safari with the latest version of Bitwarden’s Mac app and extension. The rollout of the feature follows support from A... Continue reading…

Photo by Arturo Holmes/WireImage Scarlett Johansson is taking legal action against an AI app developer for using her name and likeness in an online ad, according to a report from Variety. The ad was for an AI image editor, called Lisa AI: 90s Yearbook & Avatar, and featured an AI-generated version of Johansson’s voice.As reported by Variety, the 22-second ad showed Johansson behind the scenes while filming Black Widow, where she actually says “What’s up guys? It’s Scarlett and I want you to come with me.” But then, the ad transitions away from Johansson, while an AI-generated voice meant to sound like the actress states: “It’s not limited to avatars only. You can also create images with texts and even your AI videos. I think you shouldn’t miss it.”At the very bottom... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Starting November 2nd, YouTube will impose restrictions on how often teens receive repeated video recommendations related to sensitive topics like body image, the company announced on Thursday. YouTube says the new safeguards are the result of its partnership with the Youth and Families Advisory Committee, which consists of psychologists, researchers, and other experts in child development, children’s media, and digital learning. For years, the committee has advised YouTube on the potentially harmful mental health effects repeated exposure to certain content online can have on teenagers. “A higher frequency of content that idealizes unhealthy standards or behaviors can emphasize potentially problematic messages—and those messages can... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Disney is buying up Comcast’s stake in Hulu. The entertainment giant announced Wednesday that it “expects it will pay” $8.61 billion to acquire Comcast’s 33 percent stake, giving Disney full ownership of Hulu.But Disney might end up paying more than that. Both Disney and Comcast agreed to an appraisal process that will evaluate Hulu’s equity fair value as of September 30th. If Comcast’s stake is determined “to be greater than the guaranteed floor value,” Disney will have to pay Comcast the difference.Disney says the timing of the appraisal process is “uncertain,” but it expects it to be completed sometime next year. This all stems from the deal Disney made with Comcast to buy its one-third stake in Hulu in 2019. The deal was initially... Continue reading…