Raise your hand if you never heard of YouTube Premium Lite but now wish it was available in your area. | Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge After YouTube spent two years piloting Premium Lite, a lower-cost subscription plan for ad-free video viewing in select countries, the platform is pulling the plug on the tier. In an email to customers, YouTube announced it will no longer offer Premium Lite after October 25th, 2023.At €6.99 per month, YouTube’s Premium Lite plan first launched in select European countries in 2021, including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. It offers ad-free viewing across YouTube’s spectrum of apps and formats but doesn’t come with Premium’s other features like offline downloads, background playback, or any YouTube Music benefits.But soon, existing Premium Lite subscribers will be left with two options: go... Continue reading…

Amazon’s former hardware boss Dave Limp will take on the role of CEO at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin after announcing his departure from Amazon, according to a report from CNBC. Internal documents obtained by the outlet reveal that Limp will replace outgoing Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith starting on December 4th.In August, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that Limp is retiring from Amazon after an over 13-year career at the company. While at Amazon, he managed products like the company’s Echo smart speakers and its Alexa smart assistant. He also managed Project Kuiper, Amazon’s satellite internet project. Limp will reportedly be replaced at Amazon by Panos Panay, former head of Windows and Surface products who announced his own departure from... Continue reading…

Video by DJI / GIF by The Verge Now that Skydio has exited the consumer drone business and will never sell me the miniature self-flying drone of my dreams, I’m looking to DJI instead. The fancy marketing for its just-announced $759 DJI Mini 4 Pro suggests we’re at least on the way — because it’s the first Mini with omnidirectional obstacle sensing. Video by DJI / GIF by The Verge “Advanced Pilot Assistance Systems (APAS) ensures additional safety by enabling automatic braking and bypassing during flight,” the company’s website reads. 2022’s Mini 3 Pro could already see forwards, backwards, and down, but... we crashed it into a tree pretty fast. The binocular vision in every direction is a potentially huge upgrade if it works well, and the... Continue reading…

After several months of testing, Microsoft finally rolled out the new Outlook for Windows app for consumers a few days ago. With the app came a bunch of new features to help users better manage their emails. And now, with iCloud account support, it's become a lot more potent and certainly more eligible to replace the inbox Mail app that comes pre-installed with Windows 10 and 11.

Google Photos remains one of the best cloud storage for photos in 2023. It no longer offers unlimited free storage, but there's more to it than just the storage space. It packs a ton of useful features that let you easily search through your images, automatically create memories, edit photos and videos, and so much more. That being said, if you don't want to pay for additional storage space for Google Photos or if you simply want to explore some other alternatives, then there are some good options to consider. You may not find an alternative that comes with all the bells and whistles, but there are plenty of solid services. Let's dive in!

The LG Gram Fold in its array of orientations. | Image: LG Following the likes of Lenovo, Asus, and most recently HP, LG has announced a new laptop built around a single large foldable display. The device is called the LG Gram Fold, and it’ll be available to buy online in South Korea for 4.99 million won (around $3,697) from October 4th. An international release is yet to be announced.Like previous foldable laptops, the LG Gram Fold can be used in a variety of different orientations. If you’re after a traditional laptop experience you can fold it upright and place a Bluetooth keyboard on its lower half to use the remaining part of its screen like a 12-inch laptop with a 3:2 aspect ratio. Or, if you ditch the physical keyboard, you can type on a virtual keyboard on the screen itself. Flattening... Continue reading…

Image: Valve Valve built up to virtual reality for a very long time — and never stopped, though it seemed to slow its roll while nurturing the Steam Deck gaming handheld. But for weeks now, Valve sleuth Brad Lynch has been tracking changes to SteamVR that suggest the wheels are turning again — and today, ahead of a rumored standalone VR headset reveal, I’ve received word from Valve that the next version of SteamVR is basically here. Image: Valve SteamVR 2.0. Click for larger image. If you care about Valve’s mystery announcements, you’re probably hanging on every word, so I’m not going to leave any of them out. Here’s the whole email, as bolded by Valve:Greetings! Today we are shipping SteamVR 2.0 in beta. We see this... Continue reading…

New technology and features can make your iPhone better, and that's why some people are choosing to upgrade to the new iPhone 15 series. But another way to get the most out of your iPhone is by pairing it with some great apps. There are some native services that make iPhones some of the best phones out there, like iCloud or iMessage. However, an underrated benefit of choosing an iPhone as your daily driver is to have access to a slew of exclusive applications with fantastic developer support. Developers often prioritize their iOS apps over their Android counterparts and sometimes don't even bother creating an Android version of their apps.

Focus, as you may have guessed, is an advanced Do Not Disturb feature that works across iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma. So whether you have a new Mac, iPad, or iPhone, you'll get to set it up and utilize it across all of your Apple products. Through Focus, you get to silence notifications and calls based on your preferences, and we will be breaking it all down.

Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The Verge An updated road map for combating climate change pours cold water on the idea that unproven technologies can play a major role in averting disaster.Today, the International Energy Agency (IEA) updated its road map for the energy sector to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It doubles down on the need to swiftly switch to renewable energy while minimizing the use of technologies that are still largely in demonstration and prototype phase today, including carbon capture and hydrogen fuels.The IEA, initially created to safeguard the world’s oil supply, debuted its landmark road map in 2021 with a stark forecast for fossil fuels: calling for no more investment in new oil, gas, and coal projects. It laid out steps every... Continue reading…

The Surface Go 3 is one of Microsoft's most affordable hybrid Windows tablets, sitting under its premium high-end Surface PCs. Indeed, that means there's a Surface device for everyone but the secret to staying in love with your brand-new shiny toy is simple — keep it shiny and brand-new-looking. That's where Surface Go 3 cases come to the rescue.

If you're looking for an affordable Windows tablet for business, education, or personal use, you might end up finding Microsoft's new Surface Go 4. It was just announced by Microsoft at a Surface event Sept. 21, and packs some much-needed performance upgrades. This year, Microsoft is tailoring the Surface Go 4 to enterprise users, including corporate and education applications. However, it might show up at retailers like Best Buy or Amazon eventually. Whether you're provided a Surface Go 4 by your work or school, or buy one yourself, you'll want to pair it with some accessories. That includes a charger, and although one is included in the box, it might not be best for every situation.