Image: The Verge The latest turn in the Elon Musk-directed platform X, previously known as Twitter, is that users can now block unverified accounts from replying to their posts. This change arrives about 11 months after Musk launched paid verification for Twitter Blue, apportioning blue checkmark labels to people willing to part with $7.99 per month. It also means it could be harder for those who don’t pay for the service (with the exception of accounts forced into verified status) to refute misinformation, which researchers report has continued to increase. Image: X The new menu for locking replies. There’s an argument that limiting replies to accounts verified by payment, phone number, or perhaps even government ID could... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Google is enabling the ability to stream 1080p-quality webcam feeds during group calls for Workspace subscribers. The company first enabled the high-quality video feature back in April; however, it only worked during one-on-one sessions at the time. Now, the feature is extending to group calls on the web that include three or more participants.To opt in to the new feature, participants who have Full HD (or better) webcams will need to turn it on by accepting a prompt that’ll automatically appear on the join screen. Once enabled, a 1080p icon will appear on the upper right of the video box to confirm it’s on. People in the meeting can view the higher-quality video if the enabled user is pinned or if the viewer has a large enough screen... Continue reading…

Yes, you can even get a smart speaker for less than 25 bucks. | Image: Amazon Amazon’s fall Prime Day event is underway. For more deals we recommend across all categories, check out our full roundup here.There’s arguably no better deal than one that makes a handy, low-cost item drop to a price that falls into impulse-buy territory. While big ticket items like iPads and noise-canceling headphones may be more showy and attention-grabbing than something like a USB-C charger or a simple smart speaker, it’s often those smaller items that get the most use in our day-to-day life.Saving a few bucks on some excellent and affordable tech can go a long way without breaking your budget. And if you’re doing some very early holiday shopping, they can make great stocking stuffers or small gifts for any fall birthdays in your... Continue reading…

Many people use Mac computers due to macOS, which is Apple's proprietary operating system. It looks great and is optimized specifically for Apple's hardware, which means it'll run quickly and smoothly on your Mac. However, there might be times when you need to use Windows. Instead of going out and buying a new computer, you can run Windows on your great Mac by using a virtual machine (VM). We've tried Parallels Desktop 19 for Mac, and we've found it to be our favorite way to virtualize Windows 11 within macOS. You can follow this guide to install Windows on your Mac.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Amazon’s fall Prime Day event is underway. For more deals we recommend across all categories, check out our full roundup here.We’re moving deeper into fall and inching toward the holidays, which means enticing discounts on wireless earbuds and headphones are starting to become more frequent. Amazon’s October Prime Day 2023 is a great opportunity to nab enticing deals on products from Apple, Beats, Bose, Google, Samsung, Sony, and other brands. Whether you’re shopping for noise-canceling buds or something with a semi-open design for outdoor workouts, there’s a nice selection to pick from. We’ll be updating the list of deals over the course of both days to highlight our favorite sales.Apple / Beats headphones and earbudsThe recently... Continue reading…

Amazon Prime Big Deals Day is finally here, and with it comes discounts on some of our favorite televisions and more. This past summer, we saw slashed prices on TV brands like Samsung, TCL, Insignia, and Fire, but if you weren't on your computer or phone during the 48-hour event, you might have missed out on some great deals. Over the next 48 hours, you'll get a second chance. We are kicking things off with two solid deals on two mid-size televisions from LG and Vizio respectively and will continue to update as new discounts and deals roll out. We wish you the best of luck on your journey to snag your favorite discounted TVs as well as any earbuds, monitors, and laptops that you might have your eye on.

Even the updated second-gen AirPods Pro with USB-C are on sale right now. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Amazon’s fall Prime Day event is underway. For more deals we recommend across all categories, check out our full roundup here.Apple rarely discounts its own products, so if you want to score a great deal on a pair of AirPods or a MacBook, it’s best to set your eyes on third parties like Amazon. If you missed out on the Apple discounts we saw during the first Prime Day, however, Amazon’s October Prime Day event has brought some of them back. We’re once again seeing steep discounts on Apple Watches, tablets, and even the new second-gen AirPods Pro with USB-C, which launched less than a month ago.Below, we’ve rounded up the best Apple deals you can currently get at Amazon and other retailers, so even non-Prime members can save.... Continue reading…

Sony’s WF-1000XM5, our favorite pair of wireless earbuds, are on sale. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Amazon’s fall Prime Day event is underway. For more deals we recommend across all categories, check out our full roundup here.Despite what the name might suggest, Amazon’s fall Prime Day event isn’t just a day filled with deals for Prime members. Thanks to competing sales from retailers like Best Buy and Walmart, everybody can take advantage of steep discounts without needing to pay a monthly premium to join in on the fun.In some cases, retailers are matching Amazon’s pricing, meaning you can score the same discounts available to Prime members on items like the Kindle Paperwhite and Echo Pop. There are also terrific deals available on other gadgets, including noise-canceling headphones, tablets, and smartwatches. To make the deal... Continue reading…

If you're trying to build a Ryzen 7000 PC on a budget, getting a good quality AM5 motherboard for a decent price can be a challenge. But on this Prime Day, you won't have any trouble finding good value thanks to seven AM5 motherboard deals, from the cheapest implementations of the B650 chipset to the PCIe 5.0-enabled X670E chipset. You can get up to $70 off, making Ryzen 7000 builds with new GPUs and CPUs much cheaper than ever before.

Amazon’s latest Echo Show 8 is one of many discounted Alexa smart home devices. | Photo by Alex Cranz / The Verge Amazon’s fall Prime Day event is underway. For more deals we recommend across all categories, check out our full roundup here.Aside from Black Friday, there is no better time to buy an Alexa-infused smart device than one of Amazon’s own Prime Day events. Amazon is more than happy to chuck tons of deals your way in an effort to convince you to adopt an Echo smart speaker or smart display and put one (or a dozen) in your home. Yes, it’s kind of a small Trojan horse to ensure you’re hooked on Amazon’s smart home ecosystem, but many of these devices offer some handy utility when it comes to around-the-house helpfulness — like playing music in multiple rooms, getting weather and news alerts, making video calls, and controlling connected... Continue reading…

The Samsung 990 Pro is widely considered one of the best M.2 SSDs, offering excellent read and write speeds with great thermal management, and having an absolute killer design. Of course, when you're looking at the best, you're usually going to be paying a premium for it.

Can’t wait to put a Sparkle Orc into my computer. | Image: Sparkle One YouTuber says it humiliates Nvidia’s RTX 3050! Another says it takes on AMD’s RX 6600. But while both these things are true and it sounds like a decent 1080p card, the new $180 Intel Arc A580 probably isn’t the budget GPU you’ve been waiting for. For one thing, both that Nvidia card and that AMD card weren’t great when they were new! Ars Technica called the RTX 3050 “an overpriced 1080p GPU” over 20 months ago. The AMD RX 6600 is two years old this month. Still, those are the cards in the same price band as the new Intel A580 — since the RX 7600, RTX 3060, and RTX 4060 cost more.The better comparison, and problem for Intel, is that the company’s own Intel Arc A750 is a superior gaming card for just $10-$20 more, as Tom’s Hardware... Continue reading…