The MacBook Pro 13 (2022) and MacBook Pro (2023) are two of the most powerful Macs released to date. Not only do they offer capable variants of the M2 chip, but they also have a portable design that makes them ideal for working on the go. Though, outdoor environments can be rough sometimes, and accidents happen. That's why we advise you to shield your MacBook Pro with one of the protective cases we've highlighted below.

Image: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 12, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome. I’m so psyched you found us, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been testing the Superlist tasks app, reading about the high-stakes race to crack crypto wallets, rehearsing my case for buying an e-bike, taking voice notes like a boss with Whisper Memos, and avoiding all my problems by watching Between Two Ferns bloopers on YouTube.I also have for you a new pair of AR glasses, a Netflix thriller, all the great sci-fi you could ever need, a great parenting app, a super-deep interview about Windows, a new puzzling platform, and a bunch more.As always, of... Continue reading…

For anybody who uses their computer for more than light internet searching, the last thing that you want is a computer that's lagging and slow. Whether it's with said internet searching, downloading and transferring files, uploading photos, or logging hours of gaming, the faster the better. You rely on your computer for so much and need it to be reliable, especially if you're relying on it for a lot of tasks. That's why the central processing unit, or CPU, is such an important component for a laptop or PC. The best CPUs are ones that boost your computer and handle tasks in an efficient and swift manner.

There are many great ways you can accessorize a Chromebook, just like a Windows laptop. If you use your Chromebook for work or school, you could use it with a docking station or a Thunderbolt dock with an external monitor. Using an external monitor can provide more screen real estate for multitasking, and docking stations can offer additional ports for connecting your favorite accessories.

Google Chrome is not only present on great Chromebooks, but it is also installed on billions of computers. One feature Chrome carries with it across any desktop device it runs on is theme support. Today, we're going to give you a brief rundown of some of the best Google Chrome desktop themes out there. From simple, colored themes all the way up to artistic and landscape themes, you can spruce up your browsing experience as much or as little as you want. The possibilities are endless.

Image: Apple I’m trying to remember the last time a company’s big event came for prime time TV the way Apple’s 8pm ET keynote is trying to lock down our attention tomorrow. The only company I can think of that’s done it successfully lately is Victoria’s Secret with its Fashion Show. While I suspect there’s some overlap in audience between that and an Apple Keynote, I also suspect Bella Hadid is a bigger draw than a new iMac.But Apple is still going for it! Promising a keynote that will air on its website, YouTube, and over Apple TV while things like Monday Night Football airs on broadcast TV. The company is ready to take all the cultural cache its phones, Bluetooth headsets, and computers have earned it and convert that fanbase into a bigger... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge OpenAI is rolling out new beta features for ChatGPT Plus members right now. Subscribers have reported that the update includes the ability to upload files and work with them, as well as multimodal support. Basically, users won’t have to select modes like Browse with Bing from the GPT-4 dropdown — it will instead guess what they want based on context. The new features bring a dash of the office features offered by its ChatGPT Enterprise plan to the standalone individual chatbot subscription. I don’t seem to have the multimodal update on my own Plus plan, but I was able to test out the Advanced Data Analysis feature, which seems to work about as expected. Once the file is fed to ChatGPT, it takes a few moments to digest the file before... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Android apps are about to get better built-in passkey support. Google announced in a developer blog post last week that Credential Manager, a new Android-specific API for storing credentials like username and password combinations and passkeys, is going public on November 1st. Credential Manager, which has been in developer preview for months, houses biometric authentication of passkeys, traditional passwords, and federated identity login under one roof in Android phones.Ultimately, the change should allow apps to offer better authentication support in Android 14. Using Credential Manager, apps can offer users easy biometric logins through passkeys. That should mean a more friction-free sign-in experience since people who use that... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Typical heart rate monitoring in wearable tech, like smart watches or wireless earbuds, relies at least partially on photoplethysmography (PPG), which uses light pulses to measure blood activity. It works generally well, but it has its limitations. Google scientists wrote in a new research blog spotted by 9to5Google yesterday that they had tried a different approach, called audioplethysmography (APG), that uses ultrasound to measure heart rate. And they did it with off-the-shelf active noise-canceling (ANC) earbuds and a software update.The trick works by bouncing a low-intensity ultrasound signal off the inside of the ear canal and using the tiny microphone that helps make ANC work to detect skin surface perturbations as blood pumps... Continue reading…

This year's been a good one for foldable smartphones, especially if you're based in the United States. While Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold takes the top spot per usual as one of the best foldable smartphones in the US, we also saw new entries in the foldable space from the likes of Google and OnePlus.

Image: The Verge YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket streams have been plagued with buffering and pixelation, making afternoon games today unwatchable, according to many, many posts. The @TeamYouTube account acknowledged the issue at 1:53PM ET. The team wrote that they're aware YouTube is having issues and they are working to fix them, but acknowledged that “YouTube TV or NFL Sunday Ticket may also be impacted.”Now that YouTube is the only place to watch NFL Sunday Ticket, that leaves viewers across the country with no options to watch games apart from any available local broadcasts. People have taken to X to complain that streams are freezing up or lagging, or that it’s just like watching illegal streams. And plenty of them point out the money factor. NFL... Continue reading…

Chromebooks support Android apps, downloaded via the Google Play Store. This opens up a wide array of possibilities, with millions of productivity apps and games available. Whether you're looking for familiar social media apps or mobile games, Android apps offer something for everyone. Let's take a look at how to get started with Android apps on ChromeOS, along with some of the best apps to install.