In the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, a health products company called Xlear began advertising its saline nasal spray to people desperately searching for ways to protect themselves from a new virus. In its marketing, Xlear pointed to studies that it said supported the idea that ingredients in the spray could block viruses from sticking to the nasal cavity. Based on its interpretation of the science, Xlear promoted the product as one part of a "layered defense" against contracting covid.In 2021, the Federal Trade Commission, in a bipartisan vote, decided to sue Xlear for making allegedly "unsupported health claims," saying the company had "grossly misrepresented the purported findings and relevance of several scientific studies" in its advertising. Earlier this year, the Trump Justice Department, on the FTC's behalf, asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed with prejudice, though it didn't explain its reasoning. But Xlear still wanted its day in court. Now, it's suing the FTC because it wants a court to make it harder for the agency to attempt to go after health claims.Xlear is filing the lawsuit at a time where the government's standard operating procedures around both science a …Read the full story at The Verge.

The Tongass National Forest on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, Friday, July 2, 2021. | Photo: Getty Images The Trump administration wants to open up tens of millions of acres of national forest to development. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced yesterday that it’s rescinding a landmark rule that prevents road construction and timber harvesting in the last unfragmented stretches of national forest. The USDA says the move will boost timber production, while helping officials manage wildfire-prone lands. Conservation groups say this is simply an industry-led land grab that could level pristine forests and increase the risk of wildfire.“Make no mistake: this administration will do whatever it takes to sell off the places where we hunt, fish, recreate, and partake in long-standing traditions,” Andy Moderow, senior policy director at Alaska Wilderness League, said in a press statement. “Today’s announcement is a clear attempt to sell off public land for industrial-scale clear-cut logging.” “A clear attempt to sell off public land for industrial-scale clear-cut logging”In a move that’s likely to face legal challenges, the USDA is tossing out the “Roadless Rule” that Bill Clinton enacted back in 2001 and that Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins called “overly restrictive” in a press release. It follows an executive order signed by President Trump in March to expand timber production. Getting rid of the roadless rule will remove protections from nearly 59 million acres of forest, or roughly 30 percent of National Forest System lands, according to the USDA.Some forests will be more affected than others. The rule impacts 92 percent of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, the largest old growth forest still standing in the US. It’s been one of the most contested areas since Trump first rolled back roadless rule protections there in 2020 before the Biden administration restored them a few years later. The USDA also claims that 28 million acres of the land previously protected under the roadless rule are “at high or very high risk of wildfire.” But allowing new roads and logging there won’t lessen wildfire risk — it’ll do the opposite by raising the risk of forest mismanagement, environmental groups contend.“When they say we will open [forests] up for responsible management. I almost laughed out loud when I saw that …  It’s the height of irresponsible management to open them up to roads and logging,” says Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Wildfires are likely to start near roads, she explains — perhaps from a stray cigarette butt or campfire. Loggers also target mature trees that tend to be more resilient to fires rather than smaller saplings that are more likely to burn.“It’s also a very nuanced topic, and it’s completely being exploited by the timber industry and the current administration,” Spivak tells The Verge.There’s an old-school mentality to firefighting that the logging industry has advocated for historically to preserve areas where they harvest timber. The old strategy has been to suppress any kind of forest fire, which has inadvertently exacerbated blazes in certain forests by allowing dry vegetation to build up into loads of tinder. In parts of the western US, fires are a natural part of the landscape that clear out debris that might otherwise turn into fuel for larger infernos. The timber industry has also promoted the idea that thinning forests will lessen fire risk. “Thin is just a euphemism for log, it sounds nicer, but there’s no difference on the ground,” Spivak says. More modern fire-busting tactics emphasize making communities less likely to burn. Climate change has led to more widespread wildfires in the western US, but tackling that problem is another protective measure that the Trump administration has thrown by the wayside. Trees and plants naturally store carbon dioxide, keeping the greenhouse gas from heating our planet. Forests in the US sequester more than 800 million metric tons of carbon each year. But they can only keep doing that if they stay intact.

“Paramount Plus with Showtime” has always been one of the more awkward bits of branding to come out of the streaming era, but soon subscribers will know the tier by another name.This week Paramount informed Paramount Plus subscribers that Paramount Plus with Showtime — the platform’s most expensive tier that features Showtime programming and minimal ads — will now be referred to as “Paramount Plus Premium.” The renamed tier will still cost $12.99 per month or $119.99 per year. Paramount Plus Premium will also still offer Showtime’s series and catalog of films, but it won’t feature the TV network’s name.“Since we recently introduced a sampling of Showtime programming to the Essential plan, the Premium plan name reflects the broad and diverse offerings across both plan tiers,” Paramount said in a support post about the new tier name. “Showtime programming remains an important part of Paramount+, and is still prominently represented on the service!”The clunkiness of the “Paramount Plus with Showtime” branding felt like a reflection of the rockiness that marked Showtime’s integration into Paramount Plus and the subsequent shutdown of Showtime’s standalone streaming service. Paramount executives warned employees about potential layoffs after CEO Bob Bakish first announced plans for a merger with Showtime back in 2023. Several Showtime series were cancelled or halted as a result of the deal, and by the following year, the new service had already gone through two price hikes.As strong as the Showtime brand is, “Paramount Plus Premium” is definitely a better name. That said, coming so soon after Warner Bros. Discovery’s recent decision to pivot back to HBO Max, Paramount’s latest move feels very much like a response to the competition. None of us ever called it “Max, the one to watch,” and WBD was right to stop trying to make that happen. But it’s a little wild to see Paramount downplaying its connection to one of the networks that really helped bring cable TV into its own.

It might look like a BlackBerry Passport, but this keyboard phone runs Android. | Image: Unihertz Despite the demise of the BlackBerry, there’s still a demand for smartphones with physical keyboards, if successful products like the Clicks keyboard case are any indication. Unihertz, a Chinese company best known for its small Android handsets, has announced the Titan 2: a follow-up to its first BlackBerry Passport-inspired smartphone that adds modern upgrades like 5G, a faster processor, and Android 15.The company is making the Titan 2 available through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that has already surpassed its $100,000 funding goal. Full retail pricing for the phone is expected to be around $399, with shipping starting as early as October 2025, but the early backers can preorder one for $269.The Titan 2 is powered by a Dimensity 7300 8-core 2.0-2.6GHz processor paired with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Not only is it more powerful than Unihertz’s original Titan, which launched in 2019, but the Titan 2 is also sleeker. It’s slimmed down from the previous 16.65mm to 10.85mm, and it’s 235 grams, which is about 68 grams lighter than its predecessor. Its slightly smaller 5,050mAh battery supports 33W fast charging but not wireless charging.The 4.5-inch screen on the Titan 2 is slightly smaller than the original’s, but the resolution has been increased from 1,430 x 1,438 pixels to 1,440 x 1,440 pixels. That’s relatively low by today’s screen standards, but the Titan 2 is designed to be a productivity tool first and foremost.Unihertz has also included a second 2-inch screen on the device’s back, with a resolution of 410 x 502 pixels, making it useful for monitoring notifications, using widgets, or framing selfies. The screen is integrated into the Titan 2’s rear camera bump, which includes an 8MP telephoto camera and a 50MP main camera; up front, you’ll find a 32MP selfie camera.The company says the Titan 2’s QWERTY keyboard has been redesigned so that it delivers a “more comfortable, reliable, and versatile tactile typing experience.” Custom long-press and short-press shortcuts can be configured for all of the keyboard’s letter keys, and you can slide your finger across the keys’ surface to scroll.Other upgrades include Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, an infrared port, dual-band GPS, and an FM radio, while features like a fingerprint sensor and a pair of programmable shortcut buttons on the side have been carried forward from the original Titan.

Apple poured some good money into making F1 – a Formula 1 racing movie starring Brad Pitt – and it wants its customers to know that. To that end, many people, including some Verge staffers, noticed an unusual Apple Wallet notification this morning that’s both an advertisement and promotion for the film. The notification prompts users to save on movie tickets via Fandango with a promotional code, reading “Save on 2+ tickets to F1 The Movie with APPLEPAYTEN. Ends 6/29. While supplies last. Terms apply.” It looks like Apple’s trying to juice the film’s opening weekend by tempting users into a deal. This notification was considered an affront to many recipients, as both TechCrunch and 9to5Mac previously noted. Folks are likening it to Apple’s infamous U2 debacle in 2014 when it gifted the band’s then-new album to over 500 million iTunes accounts without a way to delete it, a promotional whoopsie that reportedly cost Apple more than $100 million. Shortly after, it released a tool that let people delete the album from their libraries. More recently, Apple sent unwanted push notifications to promote Carpool Karaoke, one of the company’s first Apple TV Plus hits.Regardless of the film’s quality, or your feelings about notifications that straddle the line of a useful deal and an ad, this is aggressively thirsty. Ads continue to not be Apple’s strongest suit in 2025. The Verge has reached out to Apple to find out more about this notification, and we’ll update this post if we hear back.

The Steam Deck is designed to be easy. It might be built upon Linux, which is notoriously user-unfriendly, and it might run into bugs that your Nintendo Switch would never hope to encounter. But the Steam Deck gives you enough room to play without allowing you to break anything. There are some cases where you need to go outside the boundary set by Valve, though.

Build a Rocket Boy has confirmed previous reports from IGN that it is undergoing layoffs less than a month after the tumultuous release of its first game MindsEye.The Verge reached out to Build a Rocket Boy to confirm the layoffs, but they did not respond. In a statement made to IGN, Build A Rocket Boy wrote:We can confirm that we have had to make the painful decision to notify our hardworking team of some internal changes at Build A Rocket Boy. While we are working to reassign roles for as many of those impacted by these changes as possible, sadly we are initiating a formal consultation process that may result in redundancies. This decision has not been made lightly, and we are committed to handling this process with transparency, fairness, and respect for all employees. We will provide further details to the team over the coming weeks.MindsEye is a new futuristic, single-player narrative action game. It was billed as the starting point in an epic, interconnected universe by its creator, former Rockstar Games producer Leslie Benzies, who’s known for his work on the GTA series. Its release earlier this month was plagued by poor reviews, reports of major glitches, and even sponsored streams being cancelled moments before they were set to start.MindsEye was supposed to be big. Build A Rocket Boy posted an in-depth roadmap filled with lots of new content updates stretched out over the rest of the year. There were also plans to add multiplayer and open-world elements with additional hopes that the game’s community would step up and provide their own labor.  “Hopefully some [players] will create compelling content we can then promote and make that part of our plans to push to other players,” Benzies said in an interview with gameindustry.biz.Build a Rocket Boy has not confirmed the number of employees affected although IGN reporting suggested that around 100 workers would be impacted out of a total headcount of roughly 500. The company said in its statement it remains committed to delivering on its promises for MindsEye. But that will be exceedingly difficult in a climate where any new game with this kind of scope is fighting against forever games like Fortnite and Roblox.

With Amazon’s Prime Day just a few weeks away, we’re already starting to see deals on TVs ahead of the four-day event. If you want to get a head start on your shopping, TCL’s subbrand, iFFALCON, has dropped the price of its 55-inch QLED 4K Mural TV to a new low price at Amazon. It starts at $564.99 ($135 off) when you use an on-page coupon and promo code QU6HI8WP at checkout. Want to go bigger? The 65-inch model is $749 ($250 off) at Amazon once you clip the on-page coupon and enter code 2EZWGX84, while the 75-inch model is $1,129.99 ($269 off) at Amazon after you clip the on-page coupon and enter code QCDO2K3D.iFFALCON is new to the US, though its TVs are available in other markets worldwide, including Japan, France, and Italy. The brand’s Mural TV takes a page out of Samsung’s book by focusing on what the TV looks like when it’s not in use. It boasts thin bezels, a slim 1.1-inch profile, and support for an art mode that showcases classic paintings, AI-generated artworks, and personal photos. The included flush wall-mount system allows it to sit flush against your wall like a standard picture frame.Beyond its design, the iFFALCON Mural TV features a QLED display, 4K resolution, and a gamer-friendly 144Hz refresh rate. It also offers Dolby Atmos support and runs on Google TV, giving you access to your favorite streaming apps right out of the box. If you’ve been looking for a TV that doesn’t look like a TV when it’s not being used, iFFALCON’s Mural TV appears to be a good pick at $135 off for the 55-inch model.More deals to check outThe GameSir G8 Galileo is down to $61.99 ($18 off) at Amazon, matching its all-time low price. The newer mobile gaming controller features a sliding mechanism that allows it to expand and securely attach to almost any smartphone with a USB-C port. It has Hall effect joysticks and triggers, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and supports several popular game-streaming platforms, including Xbox Game Pass, Steam Link, and PS Remote Play.Anker’s 150W 747 Charger is available from Amazon and Anker (with code WS7DV2U1SOUB) for $59.99 ($40 off), which matches its all-time low. The wall adapter can power four devices simultaneously, providing a max output of 150 watts, allowing you to connect a laptop, tablet, phone, and headphones. It helps reduce the number of wall chargers you need to carry, making it an excellent option for travel.The Hatch Restore 2 is currently on clearance at Best Buy, dropping the price to an all-time low of $110.99 ($59 off). It’s an excellent sunrise lamp / smart alarm clock, offering several white noise sounds and other audio content to help you build morning and nighttime routines. It can also wake you up by simulating the light of a sunrise, rather than jolting you awake with a traditional alarm. Read our review.

Pokémon Emerald is a fantastic game, and I'm sure many are hit with a wave of nostalgia thinking about the older Pokémon games in general. These days, those older Pokémon games have an incredibly interesting modding scene, with plenty of fan-made modifications extending their lifespan decades later. However, that modding scene has also made it possible to store a file inside Pokémon Emerald. A file up to 10.8 KB in size, to be precise... and I tried it out.

The Lenovo Legion Go is one of those gaming handhelds that burst onto the scene with so much potential. While it's gotten better, the initial software experience was sorely lacking, leaving many to put this device on the back burner so that it could mature. Luckily, Valve decided to take things into its own hands, making SteamOS available for third-party devices.

Your SSD can overheat just like your CPU or GPU. If it's unable to dissipate enough heat, it'll suffer from reduced performance that you're very likely to notice. While most people can do without an SSD heatsink, there are some signs that might point to your SSD desperately needing one. You can spot them during your day-to-day usage or by using a third-party program to monitor your SSD temperature. And if you've just bought a Gen5 SSD, then you should use a heatsink without giving it a second thought.

From its compatibility with Ceph storage and a dedicated backup utility to native support for LXCs and ZFS pools, Proxmox has several advantages over its rivals. However, Proxmox’s massive community is its most underrated perk, as you’ll find plenty of third-party resources to unleash the full potential of this virtualization platform.