Who gets to regulate crypto anyway?

Who gets to regulate crypto, anyway?

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A brief guide to the politics behind the Binance and Coinbase SEC cases.

I’m sure you’ve read, by now, about the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase. Since they were filed last week, many Objective Journalists have covered them. I would like to get Subjective because I think there’s some interesting politicking going on here: a regulatory land grab for cryptocurrency. Directly or indirectly, these lawsuits will determine how it’s parceled out.

Any reasonably close observation of crypto suggests a lot of petty infighting about which government agencies are in charge of it. This is largely based on a simple question: are crypto tokens securities, commodities, or some secret third thing?

So far, the loudest rumbles have come from the SEC — which, unsurprisingly, considers most of them securities. The agency has already plonked some cards on the table with cases like the insider trading claims at Coinbase. With these two new lawsuits, it’s putting down the rest of them and reaching for the pot.

Because I love this sort of thing, I’ve put together my notes to what I think is happening:

• The Binance case is the most fun. It also suggests there might be a criminal case on the way.
• The Coinbase case is probably more important for setting regulatory policy.
• These two big cases threaten to upend just about everything in cryptocurrency.

“It seems they moved from nudging to a pretty swift kick, or, you might say, a one-two punch.”

These cases are the natural outcome of statements the SEC has been making for years about tokens, according to Joshua Klayman, who leads the law firm Linklaters’ digital asset practice. “I see this as a massive push, a very unsubtle move by the chairman Gensler and the SEC,” Klayman said in an interview with CoinDesk. “They’ve been trying to nudge the industry for a long time to change its practices, and now it seems they moved from nudging to a pretty swift kick, or, you might say, a one-two punch.”

The timing here is significant, and it is the first of several small but important things that are somewhat outside the scope of the actual text of the lawsuits. The crypto industry is correct to say that there are politics afoot.

The Friday before Binance dropped, Rep. Patrick McHenry and Rep. Glenn Thompson introduced a bill for regulating digital assets. The plan would determine which tokens are securities and which are commodities and give tokens that started as securities a path for becoming commodities if the blockchain network is sufficiently decentralized. That puts a lot of power in the hands of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. That’s on top of its existing cases against FTX and Binance that mostly involve derivatives, which the agency plainly already regulates.

The CFTC has been the preferred regulator for certain segments of the crypto community, including the disgraced CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried. He even hired two former CFTC commissioners and met with current CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam several times. Bankman-Fried’s fall from grace was arguably damaging both for the legislation he supported and the CFTC itself.

We are seeing a fight about who gets to play sheriff in the crypto world

Bankman-Fried reportedly also met with SEC Chair Gary Gensler, and Gensler was supposedly less impressed — he’s said he told FTX representatives to “take their slide deck down” on their second presentation slide. But there’s still plenty of embarrassment to go around. There are persistent questions about how many times Gensler met with Bankman-Fried. Additionally, McHenry has been asking questions about Gensler’s timing in the Bankman-Fried arrest and generally pestering him about his approach to cryptocurrency.

Regulatory agencies, like everyone else in DC, ride the waves of politics. So there is one other significant bit of timing: the SEC’s Coinbase suit became public the same day the company’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, was scheduled to testify before House Committee on Agriculture about digital markets. I don’t know if the House Republicans got wind of the SEC cases or if the SEC filed its business as quickly as possible in response to these events. However it happened, I think it’s unlikely to be a coincidence.

“These are two of the biggest enforcement actions in the space ever,” says Josh White, a former financial economist for the SEC who now teaches at Vanderbilt University. “And they’re sandwiched between the bill and the testimony.”

There’s another reason to see all this as infighting: it’s business as usual. The Secret Service handles anti-counterfeiting efforts around the US dollar, for instance, because an entrepreneurial individual named William P. Wood established an anti-counterfeiting force without Congressional approval while running the Old Capitol Prison. Wood was then sworn in as the head of the Secret Service, formalizing the job he’d already been doing.

The cases themselves are about the rules governing cryptocurrency exchanges. But outside of the cases, we are seeing a fight about who gets to play sheriff in the crypto world. And the cowboys aren’t just in the cryptocurrency business; some of them have law degrees and work for the US government.

Binance

In politics, perception can create reality. I suspect that’s why Binance’s lawsuit was filed first, despite being more complicated than the Coinbase case. It sets the tone: “We are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro.” That’s Binance’s chief compliance officer, Samuel Lim. In writing.

“We are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro.”

It does suggest an industry knowingly operating outside the bounds of law, doesn’t it? Other Lim bangers from the earlier CFTC case against Binance include “Like come on. They are here for crime” and “On the surface we cannot be seen to have US users but in reality we should get them through other creative means.” The CFTC case charges Binance, Changpeng Zhao, and Lim with operating an unlicensed derivatives exchange, but it also hints at possible criminal conduct

Similarly, the SEC’s Binance complaint reads like a possible criminal case with some securities violations stapled to it. Some things are familiar from the CFTC case — steering big US customers to use VPNs so they can use Binance, for instance — and some from reporting from Forbes. Binance.US was effectively a front for “the mothership” — as Catherine Coley (aka BAM CEO A) put it.

There are bonus allegations of improper commingling of customer money, a bizarre purchase of an $11 million yacht, and wash trading — which, in the case of one crypto asset, allegedly accounted for 99 percent of the trading volume in the first hour it was available.

There is also an org chart — never a good sign. The org chart suggests that Zhao, CEO of Binance, directly controls several entities that do business with each other. Two of those, Sigma Chain and Merit Peak, were allegedly used to mix customer funds and engage in “manipulative trading.” Sigma Chain allegedly engaged in market manipulation. These allegations are unavoidably FTX-like.

The SEC case strongly suggests these people are pirates

One reason the SEC may have gotten the dirt for this org chart is that Binance made transactions at two banks now controlled by the Feds. Apparently, Binance ran something like $70 billion (!) through Silvergate and Signature Bank. Some of that money was funneled through to an entity controlled by Paxos, which issued BUSD, a stablecoin that the SEC alleges is also a security. If I were Paxos’ lawyers, I’d be limbering up.

Actually, let’s pause on the BUSD thing. The entire point of a stablecoin is that its price doesn’t change. It’s a token that stands in for the dollar. But in the complaint, the SEC claims that buying BUSD is investing “in a common enterprise with each other and with Binance — the BUSD ecosystem through which BUSD holders and Binance could and did earn returns through various forms of capital deployment.” There were some alleged profit-generating schemes associated with BUSD, which Protos deals with in detail — but if these coins are classed as securities, it does make stablecoins seem a little riskier than they used to be, doesn’t it?

The SEC case strongly suggests these people are pirates, and the SEC is more than justified in cracking down. The agency even requested a temporary restraining order that would pointedly let Binance.US customers withdraw their money but ban Zhao from touching it — combined with the yacht thing, it implies Zhao might attempt a more competent version of Do Kwon’s recent adventures as a fugitive. In response, Binance.US has said it will become a crypto-only exchange.

The judge in the case, Amy Berman Jackson, urged the SEC and Binance to make a deal instead of issuing the temporary restraining order. Some of the confusion about whether crypto counted as a security or not spilled over into the court, where Jackson asked the Binance.US attorney if BNB was a commodity. According to CoinDesk, the lawyer replied, “It is a crypto asset.”

One does not typically stop piracy with lawsuits

One does not typically stop piracy with lawsuits. The CFTC and SEC’s civil cases form the clear outline of a criminal case. We also know that Binance has been in the crosshairs of the Justice Department for some time. Binance lawyers have gotten around with their plea deal discussions, Reuters reported last December. Binance is reportedly under investigation for money laundering and sanctions evasion. The CFTC case accuses Zhao of the kind of compliance failures that make money laundering possible.

Binance’s response doesn’t mention the more damning allegations directly, saying only, “All user assets on Binance and Binance affiliate platforms, including Binance.US, are safe and secure, and we will vigorously defend against any allegations to the contrary.” Instead, it’s responding as though it is a paragon of propriety. “Most recently, we have engaged in extensive good-faith discussions to reach a negotiated settlement to resolve their investigations,” the response begins. These people should go into comedy; their talents are wasted in finance.

“The SEC is certainly relishing in the Binance suit and the various comically damning quotes,” crypto lawyer Erich Dylus said in an email. He expects the DOJ will follow at some point.

I agree. At this point, the Justice Department looks incompetent if it does not pursue Binance, which is not something the Justice Department generally enjoys. Should a DOJ case drop — and at this point, it’s odd that it hasn’t — it would then take precedence over the CFTC and SEC proceedings.

The SEC may be happy to see Binance kicked to a criminal court. Binance and Coinbase are huge cases that would demand heavy department resources, points out Yesha Yadav, a law professor at Vanderbilt. Crypto is only a tiny sliver of the SEC’s oversight responsibilities. There’s also one more embarrassing detail: Binance alleges that SEC Chair Gensler offered to serve as an advisor to the company in 2019.

Coinbase

As a practical matter of using limited resources, I think the SEC can really only take one case here, and it’s Coinbase. Coinbase is absolutely going to fight; the suit’s an existential threat.

The SEC’s complaint against Coinbase is — for a crypto lawsuit — bloodless. There are no group chats called “wirefraud” or even any profanity. Imagine the lawyers in their horrible cubicles, sweating into their Brylcreem, as they lay out the case that yes, these tokens are securities, and yes, Coinbase listed them anyway.

“Coinbase spent serious resources and capital meeting with the SEC and even suggesting prospective guidance for their review, only to be ghosted.”

Coinbase has consistently argued that securities laws can’t apply to crypto because crypto didn’t exist when they were written. I’m not a lawyer, and I’m not equipped to evaluate the argument. However, Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine is. “A decent rule of thumb is that all cryptocurrency exchanges are doing crimes, and if you’re lucky your exchange is doing only process crimes,” he wrote in March. More recently, he added: “The view of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, at least, is that every crypto exchange in the US is illegal.” This case will put that view to the test.

The Coinbase perspective here is that they simply want to be good boys, and the mean old SEC won’t tell them how. Remember, Coinbase sued the SEC first, in what Grewel termed a “narrow action” meant to give the company regulatory clarity. That case is ongoing, and most recently, the SEC has replied by saying, “The Commission has not decided what action to take on Coinbase’s rulemaking petition.”

It goes on to say, “As explained in the Commission’s response, agencies regularly enforce existing, applicable law while simultaneously considering whether there are reasonable policy justifications for modifying those regulations going forward.”

Coinbase is more sympathetic than Binance. “Coinbase spent serious resources and capital meeting with the SEC and even suggesting prospective guidance for their review, only to be ghosted” and sued, said Dylus.

Coinbase can win outside court

Because Coinbase is a US public company, the SEC had to send a “no surprises” letter called a Wells notice that informs the target of an investigation that the SEC is thinking of bringing a suit. Coinbase’s response to the Wells notice is a preview of its defense. First of all, the SEC approved its disclosures when it went public and ought to be consistent For The Sake of Our Democracy And Upholding Our Trusted Institutions; second, Coinbase doesn’t list securities.

Coinbase’s position, as presented by its CEO Brian Armstrong, is that the SEC’s tone began to change last year — can’t think what might have led to that. But it’s maybe worth noticing that the SEC overshadowed what appears to be a coordinated action from 10 states that also allege Coinbase is selling unregistered securities. This more narrowly targets staking programs, but if I were an Ethereum booster, I’d be paying close attention; moving to proof-of-stake may be better for the environment, but does it shift the way that Ethereum gets regulated?

Also outside the bounds of the legal arguments is the person who is making the call. The SEC’s Coinbase case is being argued before Jennifer H. Rearden, who placed a hold on Voyager’s sale to Binance.US in March; Binance.US scuttled the deal shortly afterward. She is not the most sympathetic judge Coinbase could have drawn.

The SEC’s current stance appears to be that many, if not all, cryptocurrencies are securities. If that’s true, no new law needs to be made for it to win in court. It’s a little weird that the SEC didn’t come to this conclusion sometime sooner than now, but that’s not really my business.

Coinbase can win outside court. The SEC suit will probably take years. The political process is happening in parallel to the court cases, says Moish Peltz of the law firm Falcon, Rappaport & Berkman. While the Coinbase case drags on, Congress could pass a law that renders it irrelevant — which, I’d imagine, is the ideal outcome for most of the crypto industry. The CFTC seems to be crypto’s preferred regulatory agency in both the McHenry bill and a previous bipartisan bill, so I’d assume that future bills would make the same move.

Splash damage

The suits and players are big enough that there’s a lot of collateral damage already taking place. Crypto.com is quitting its institutional business. Whether we’ll see suits against, say, Gemini and Kraken remains an open question. Robinhood has stopped listing some tokens named in the suits.

If the SEC wins, a lot of cryptocurrencies are unlicensed securities. Molly White, the unavoidable sportscaster of crypto, noticed that between the Binance and Coinbase lawsuits, that’s 22 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap — though, of course, there are questions about how real that market cap actually is.

“It seems like the SEC is saying everything is a security.”

Naturally, if your token’s been deemed a security, you should expect yourself to be in the crosshairs. Does the SEC have the resources to go after all these tokens? Maybe not, but I expect the crypto lawyers to suddenly become busy all the same.

One strategy the industry has adopted is “utility tokens,” which are designed to do specific things in the ecosystem. One of the tokens named in the SEC case as a security, MANA, is the utility token for Decentraland, which is used to buy and sell virtual assets; it also lets holders vote on governance proposals. If so-called utility tokens are actually securities, the wider cryptocurrency universe — and particularly Web3 gaming — has a problem.

“Is a utility token even a thing?” asks Peltz. “It seems like the SEC is saying everything is a security.”

More immediately, there’s been general carnage in the crypto market. Bitcoin liquidity, already shakier following the collapse of two major crypto banks, has gotten worse. BNB token, one of the Schrodinger’s securities named in the Binance suit, is down about 20 percent in response to the suit.

As for the looming possibility of the DOJ case: Binance is the biggest player in crypto right now. If Zhao goes down, goes on the run, or is otherwise In Trouble, that’s trouble for the whole market!

As these two cases currently stand, I’m not sure this is enough to kill off the entire crypto industry. There are a lot of true believers out there, and as long as they keep clapping, Tinkerbell lives. But when I explain my job in any civilian setting (e.g., making friends in yoga class) in 2023, people seem to assume crypto is inherently shady — kind of like Napster. Not a good omen for the trajectory of Number.

Microsoft Teams integration is being removed from Windows 11

Microsoft Teams integration is being removed from Windows 11

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is preparing to remove its built-in Microsoft Teams client in Windows 11 nearly two years after the integration was first announced. The Chat functionality will be replaced with the more flexible free version of Microsoft Teams that’s also available as an app for Windows 10. Microsoft announced the changes in a new Windows 11 test build this week.

“Starting with his build, Chat is now Microsoft Teams – Free,” says Brandon LeBlanc, senior program manager at Microsoft, in a blog post. “Microsoft Teams – Free is pinned by default to the taskbar and can be unpinned like other apps on the taskbar.” We asked Microsoft to comment on why Chat is being removed, but the company hasn’t responded in time for publication.

The original Teams integration in Windows 11, named Chat, was deeply woven into the operating system. Enabled by default, the Chat app was pinned to the taskbar and you’d have to dig into Settings to remove it. Chat offers consumers a way to use Microsoft Teams to contact friends and family. It was weirdly limited to just consumers though, making it useless for the vast majority of Microsoft Teams users that use the work version of the app. Windows 11 users could also end up with two confusing versions of Teams installed to handle work calls and personal ones.

Image: Microsoft

The Chat icon on the Windows 11 taskbar

Up until today, Microsoft had been continually adding new features to Chat inside Windows 11, with improved video calling features in October and Discord-like communities and an AI art tool earlier this month. The built-in Chat functionality in Windows 11 was based on the Microsoft Teams 2.0 client, which served as the foundation for the new Microsoft Teams app that’s rolling out to businesses at the moment.

Microsoft’s decision to axe Windows 11’s built-in Teams client comes just days after the company announced plans to end support for Cortana on Windows 11 later this year. It’s nearly a new financial year for Microsoft and the company is clearly focusing its efforts elsewhere on new projects for Windows, including its AI-powered Windows Copilot tool.

Windows chief Panos Panay previously hinted at the importance of AI for Windows, claiming at CES earlier this year that “AI is going to reinvent how you do everything on Windows.” AI will undoubtedly play a big role in the next major version of Windows, too.

The changes to Teams also comes just months after Microsoft reportedly agree to stop bundling Teams with Office. The Financial Times reported in April that Microsoft will stop forcing Office customers to have to install Teams on their devices, in a move designed to appease EU regulators. Microsoft is trying to avoid a formal antitrust probe by the European Commission, after rival Slack filed a complaint in 2020 about Microsoft’s bundling of Teams.

Pour one out for HDDs because PC games are starting to require SSDs

Pour one out for HDDs because PC games are starting to require SSDs

Are you still hanging on to that giant 8TB spinning HDD for your PC game installs? Well, it’s starting to look like SSDs will become the new minimum spec for modern PC games. While SSDs have shipped as standard in the latest and greatest PC gaming rigs and laptops, we haven’t seen game developers really push for SSDs as a minimum... until this week.

Microsoft held its Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday and revealed that Bethesda’s first new IP in 25 years, Starfield, will require 125GB of SSD storage when it debuts on September 6th. It’s not a recommendation — it’s a minimum spec to play Starfield on a PC.

A single game isn’t a trend, but at the same time CD Projekt Red also revealed that it’s bumping the minimum specs of Cyberpunk 2077 to require an SSD at minimum and phasing out HDD support. While the system requirements change for Cyberpunk 2077 is related to the upcoming Phantom Liberty expansion that won’t ship on older HDD-powered Xbox One and PS4 consoles, the base PC game will be updated soon to this SSD minimum spec.

“One of the changes is the choice to stop supporting HDDs for the minimum requirements – SSDs offer faster loading times, improved streaming, and better overall performance when compared to HDDs,” explains CD Projekt Red in a blog post.

Image: CD Projekt Red

The new Cyberpunk 2077 minimum specs.

Cyberpunk 2077 won’t suddenly stop working on HDDs, but CD Projekt Red will discontinue active support and stop testing the game on HDDs so players could run into performance issues or bugs eventually.

It’s inevitable that we’ll see more PC games require SSDs at minimum as game developers continue to leave behind the Xbox One and PS4 generation of consoles and start to push the limits of the Xbox Series S / X and PS5. Both the Xbox One and PS4 shipped with HDDs and consoles always heavily influence how a cross-platform game is developed.

Now that current gen consoles are all SSD we’re about to see what developers can do with this fast-loading technology now that they’re prepared to leave HDDs in the history books. Hopefully we’ll see more games support DirectStorage too. It will still be a gradual transition where games are unlikely to actually be blocked from running on HDDs, but if you’re still fond of the whirling from a spinning disk then savor the moment because developers are getting ready to move to a world of SSD speed and silence.

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Twitter sued for $250 million by music publishers over massive copyright infringement

Twitter sued for $250 million by music publishers over ‘massive’ copyright infringement

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) is suing Twitter on behalf of 17 music publishers representing the biggest artists in the business. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Tennessee, claims the company "fuels its business with countless infringing copies of musical compositions, violating Publishers' and others' exclusive rights under copyright law."

It also has a list of 1,700 or so songs (included below) that the publishers say have been included in multiple copyright notices to Twitter without the company doing anything about it, asking the court to fine Twitter up to $150,000 for each violation.

The issue predates Musk's $44 billion purchase of Twitter last year. The New York Times cites unnamed employees saying Twitter had cut a music licensing deal because of how much it would cost, which it said could amount to over $100 million per year — the Times also reported in March that licensing deals between three major labels and Twitter stalled after Musk's takeover last fall.

Of course, Musk's tweets — and his enhanced Twitter Blue package with the ability to upload longer videos — came up in the lawsuit too. It doesn't mention the flood of movies uploaded to Twitter in the last few months, like copies of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Avatar: The Way of Water that lasted hours before being taken down. Instead, it cites some of Musk's tweets as examples.

A user complained that their account could be suspended after five copyright notices, which Musk said he was "looking into," and advised they should "consider turning on subscriptions," which the suit says encouraged them to pay Twitter to hide the infringing material so it couldn't be flagged. In another tweet, Elon Musk said the "overzealous DMCA is a plague on humanity." It wasn't included in the lawsuit, but in March, Musk also tweeted that "Accounts engaging in repeated, egregious weaponization of DMCA on Twitter or encouraging weaponization of DMCA will receive temporary suspensions" while claiming that "reasonable media takedown requests are, of course, appropriate and will always be supported."

Image: NMPA Lawsuit / Twitter

Two Elon Musk tweets about copyright and the DMCA

Most of the alleged infringement Twitter has been notified about is due to music videos, videos of live music performances, or other videos synchronized to copyrighted music, and it accuses Twitter of using those videos to enhance its value by increasing the amount of time people spend on its site. The NMPA claims that Twitter has failed to remove infringing content once notified and has "continued to assist known repeat infringers with their infringement" without risk of them losing their accounts.

@elonmusk just announced that a new Twitter CEO will be starting in 6 weeks. First order of business - address the massive amount of unlicensed music on the platform. Songs have value.

— David Israelite (@DavidIsraelite) May 11, 2023

Most other large social networks have cut deals with music publishers and labels, with the lawsuit listing TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat. A fairly short dustup between Amazon-owned Twitch and the music industry that heated up late in 2020 resulted in Twitch announcing an agreement to "work together" with the NMPA by September 2021. Other companies recently deciding to settle with the NMPA over music copyright include Roblox and Peloton.

After Musk announced a new Twitter CEO would be selected soon, NMPA president David Israelite tweeted at Musk that their first order of business should be to "address the massive amount of unlicensed music on the platform," following a similar tweet last spring.

Twitter has not responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit, and since it was filed, Musk has been tweeting about Tucker Carlson and crime in San Francisco, while new CEO Linda Yaccarino has not tweeted since posting the content of her first letter to the company's employees.

Ankers 240W Prime USB-C charger can fast-charge two MacBook Pros simultaneously

Anker’s 240W Prime USB-C charger can fast-charge two MacBook Pros simultaneously

Anker Prime 240W GaN Desktop Charger. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Anker presented its updated lineup of USB-C power adapters as a solution to e-waste during a product reveal event on Tuesday in New York City, betting these versatile chargers can swoop in as smartphone manufacturers stop shipping adapters in the box. After releasing a slew of new gallium nitride (GaN) chargers dubbed GaNPrime over the last year with the third generation of its fast charging tech, many of them will be rereleased as part of its new line, Anker Prime.

Anker’s new Prime desktop 240W charger is due for release in July and supports a max of 140W per device, which we have seen from manufacturers like Hyper and Ugreen.

Image: Anker

However, if you have two of the larger MacBook Pro laptops for some reason, you could fast-charge them simultaneously on this new desktop charger, assuming you’re using Apple’s MagSafe to USB-C cable and that at least one of them is a smaller 14-inch model. This should be able to deliver 140W of charging to a 16-inch MacBook Pro on one port and 96W on the other. For chargers capable of outputting 240W over a single USB port, we’ll have to keep waiting for Power Delivery 3.1 chargers or even the 180W one coming from laptop maker Framework.

There’s also a third USB-C port on the desktop charger, along with one USB-A port, available for whatever else needs power. And like Satechi’s desktop charger, it has a stand to hold it vertically on your desk. Anker’s 240W desktop charger is coming in July, and the price is to be determined.

Anker’s senior PR manager Mary Woodbury introduced the charger by saying, “Today, with USB-C 2.1 standard, we can now safely build a charger capable of 240 watts of power,” and suggested it as a pack-in to power tech like new gaming laptops. But with current laptops typically maxing out at 100W charging over USB, most gamers will want to keep standard chargers around to eke out the most performance possible without draining their batteries.

Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge

Anker’s Prime 250W Battery Bank

Anker’s first product to support 140W charging for a single device was actually last year’s PowerCore 24K battery bank. And now the company is beefing it up a bit by adding a 27,650mAh battery in place of the previous 24,000mAh, with the new 250W Power Bank (so named because it can output up to a total of 250 watts from all of its ports and pull off the same two-laptop fast-charging as the previously mentioned desktop charger). The upgraded bank also has pins on the bottom that lets you drop it on an optional 100W charging dock, which gives the battery a home so you can habitually keep it charged.

The dock for the new Power Bank was marked as $69.99 and has its own 100W charger with two USB-C ports and one USB-A port for other devices you’d like to keep topped up on your desk.

Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge

This dock has a 100W charger built in and lets you situate the Battery Bank on top for easy daily charging.

Image: Anker

Anker Prime Reserve has a pop-out lantern light.

There’s also a new emergency / camping battery called Prime Reserve. It’s got a handle so you can carry it like a lantern, and it even is a lantern since a light can pop out from the top. It’s powered by 60,000mAh LFP batteries, which Anker says have enough power to recharge an iPhone 10 times. Along with its dual USB-C and USB-A (each) ports, the Reserve has an XT60 connector to support add-on solar panels. It’s available now for $169.99.

Anker’s also got an updated power station — the one that has the two pop-out AC ports. This time, the thin power strip that’s married to a DC charger has a power status screen embedded in the area that used to have just a weird circle light (and totally looked like a wireless charging pad but wasn’t). It has two USB-C ports and two USB-A ones as well, all outputting a total of 140 watts of power (up from 100W). You can expect this, and most of the new Anker Prime products, to be available in July.

Image: Chris Welch / The Verge

Anker already sold these as GaN Prime chargers, but they’re now part of Anker Prime.

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Microsoft has been temporarily restrained from buying Activision Blizzard judge rules

Microsoft has been temporarily restrained from buying Activision Blizzard, judge rules

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

A federal court has issued a temporary restraining order that will prevent Microsoft from closing its $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard — at least for now. The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint on Monday seeking to get the restraining order and a preliminary injunction, and the court has agreed to the restraining order while it considers that injunction. If the courts grant the injunction as well, the FTC would have a chance to make its legal case before any deal can be done.

As a result of today’s order, Microsoft and Activision cannot complete the acquisition until “after 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on the fifth business day after the Court rules on the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction” or a date set by the court (whichever is later). The court has also set an evidentiary hearing on the preliminary injunction for June 22nd and 23rd, so it’s extremely unlikely these companies will close the transaction this month.

Microsoft and Activision announced the planned acquisition in January 2022, and in the months since, it has faced enormous regulatory scrutiny. Although EU regulators approved the deal in May, UK regulators blocked the deal in April (a decision that Microsoft has appealed) and the FTC sued in December in another attempt to block the deal.

Technically, the deal is supposed to close before a July 18th deadline. If the deal isn’t renegotiated to extend that deadline, Microsoft is obligated to pay Activision Blizzard a $3 billion breakup fee.

Logitechs CEO is leaving for another job

Logitech’s CEO is leaving for another job

Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge

Logitech’s CEO of 10 years is leaving the company for a new job. Bracken Darrell has resigned and will be “departing the Company to pursue another opportunity,” according to a Logitech press release. Darrell’s resignation is effective Tuesday, but he’ll stay at Logitech “over the coming month to ensure a seamless transition.”

Logitech has long been a well-known name in computer accessories like keyboards, mice, and webcams, but its products became hugely popular at the start of the covid pandemic when many people had to learn or work from home. However, the company has seen falling revenues now that people are returning to schools and offices. Under Darrell’s watch, Logitech has also made some big acquisitions, including Blue Microphones (a brand that the company is axing), gaming headset maker Astro, and streaming software-maker Streamlabs.

Logitech board member Guy Gecht will be stepping in as interim CEO while the company searches for a new leader. Gecht has been on the board since 2019. “After nearly a decade of consistent growth and building market leadership across multiple categories, I feel this is a good point to hand over leadership,” Darrell said in a statement. “I want to thank all the amazing people across Logitech for their work through the years. I will work with Guy and the board to ensure a smooth transition and I will continue to be a customer, shareholder, and enduring fan of Logitech and its products.”

Google is getting a lot worse because of the Reddit blackouts

Google is getting a lot worse because of the Reddit blackouts

Illustration: The Verge

Over 8,000 subreddits have gone dark to protest Reddit’s upcoming API changes, and it’s shown me just how much I rely on Reddit to find useful, human-sounding information in my Google search results.

With Google’s generally poor search results nowadays, appending “reddit” has long been the default way I search for almost anything (and no, I’m not ready to get my info from an AI chatbot, either). But given the sheer volume of subreddits that are currently unavailable — including some of the most-subscribed subreddits — clicking through many Reddit links in search results takes me to a message saying the subreddit is private.

And even if you don’t rely on the Reddit trick like I do, Reddit links often show up at the top of search results anyway, meaning that many people who don’t regularly use the platform have probably found some useful information on the site.

In Tears of the Kingdom, for example, I’m currently on the hunt for a specific piece of armor, but when I searched for tips about it last night, I found that r/TOTK is private. I’ve been having some issues with a pocket door in my home, but I can’t read a promising r/DIY post because I can’t access the community. I’ve been meaning to find some new good music, but r/music and r/spotify went dark.

Sure, Google can provide me answers for any one of those needs. Other sites have great guides for Tears of the Kingdom. Google surfaced some potentially-useful videos for my pocket door problem (on YouTube, of course). And searching “best new music” brought up many lists I could look through.

But none of those have the conversational and community elements that makes Reddit so dang useful. I like perusing the comments below a post to see other recommendations, points of view, and other links to relevant resources, and then seeing other people discuss the merits of those additions to the thread.

There’s often a wealth of information all in one place, and since the best stuff is generally upvoted to the top, I can put trust in what bubbles up based on the community’s response. However, now that many subreddits are planning to stay dark indefinitely, we might be dealing with largely useless links for a lot longer than expected.

Granted, the Reddit trick for Google isn’t completely broken. Many subreddits are functioning like normal, so you might have stumbled upon r/Games when looking for information on Starfield. Some switched to a more restricted format that lets you still read posts, like r/personalfinance. But in my day-to-day internet usage, I’m finding out just how often I used Google to search for things on Reddit, and until something changes, the Reddit trick might not be very useful for a while.

Western Digital NAS drives flash warning after three years even if nothings wrong

Western Digital NAS drives flash ‘warning’ after three years even if nothing’s wrong

A Synology DS920 Plus NAS system that accepts 3.5-inch drives like Western Digital’s. | Image: Sean Hollister / The Verge

If you’ve owned an HP laser printer like I have, you’ve probably replaced a toner cartridge just because the printer warned you it was depleted. But buried in the printer’s settings is a way to override the message and continue printing 100, 200, or even an indefinite number of sheets — because shocker: the toner is actually still good despite the alert.

That “low toner” warning is similar to what owners of some Western Digital storage drives say they’re seeing with its hard drives and diagnostic software. Ars Technica reports many Synology users are dealing with warning alerts that the Western Digital hard disks they’re using in their NAS are bad. The Synology alert is triggered because the Western Digital disks’ WDDA analytics — internal SMART data that reports usage stats and monitors health — seem to be set by the manufacturer to flash a warning after it’s been powered on for three years.

In March, user andrewilley on the Synology-focused forum SynoForum found the warnings happened to two of their drives, both running for approximately 26,400 hours, or a few days after three years. On top of that, the user notes the warranty for the drives also expired at the three-year mark. And last month, YouTuber SpaceRex pointed out that these warnings can get people to miss real issues like reallocated sectors.

Some say that Synology could be at fault for signaling the alarms on its product to react to Western Digital’s timer and hoping users buy that company’s disks instead. But tech YouTuber SpaceRex doesn’t think so. He found that Western Digital’s documentation that’s valid for Synology’s NAS system software DSM 7 or later indicates to flag for drive replacement as a recommended action at the three-year mark.

Being on for an extended period of time alone, much like a printer only counting how many sheets of paper ran through it (and not how much ink was actually used), is at best an arbitrary reason to indicate a drive is in bad health and needs to be replaced. We reached out to Western Digital to learn more about why the drives are set this way but haven’t heard back at the time of publishing.

The Synology subreddit has had discussions about how to disable WDDA and thereby ignore the warning to use all Synology features again. However, right now, the subreddit is part of the Reddit blackout to protest the company’s intense monetization of APIs, marking all threads private.

Western Digital has made some other eyebrow-raising moves before. The company was sued due to sneakily refreshing some of its Red NAS drives with shingled magnetic recording (SMR) ones that can hold more data per disk by overlapping data at the cost of write speed and longevity. Also, SanDisk, which is owned by Western Digital, recently had its Extreme Pro portable SSD go on an erasing spree for some users, and Western Digital’s own NAS devices with cloud services went down earlier this year due to a security breach.

After months of teasing, Nothing’s Phone 2 has a launch date

After months of teasing, Nothing’s Phone 2 has a launch date

Phone 2 will stick with the blinking indicator lights on the back panel. | Image: Nothing

We knew that the Nothing Phone 2 would arrive next month, and now we have a precise date: July 11th, a day shy of the Phone 1’s first birthday. It’ll include a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset and a bigger battery, and it will launch in the US this time. We know all of this because Nothing has said so in a series of spec teasers, a tactic that founder Carl Pei loved to employ at the last company he helped found: OnePlus.

Based on a teaser image accompanying today’s news, the Phone 2 looks like it will continue to offer the “glyph” notification lights featured on the back of the Phone 1. On that device, they’re partly a style flourish and partly practical since they can indicate different types of incoming notifications by flashing in different patterns. Underneath the blinky lights, the Phone 1 was a good midrange phone that only sort of launched in the US.

That’s set to change with the Phone 2, which Pei says will launch here later this year. When it does, Nothing will have its work cut out for it. The US Android market is dominated by Samsung, leaving Google, Motorola, and everyone else to fight over the scraps. Although the Phone 2 will look undeniably different — at least from the back — which could serve as an advantage if it winds up on carriers’ retail shelves next to Galaxy and Pixel phones.

Still, it’s going to need much more than just a light show to compete with those established players, and we’ll find out on July 11th exactly what the Phone 2 will bring to the table. If you want to watch along at home, you can tune in at 11AM ET on nothing.tech to see for yourself.

Windows 11’s Android integration gets long-requested file sharing

Windows 11’s Android integration gets long-requested file sharing

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Microsoft is starting to enable file sharing in its Android feature for Windows 11. An update to the Windows Subsystem for Android is now available for all Windows Insiders to test and includes file sharing, drag and drop support, camera improvements, and the usual bug fixes.

“We’ve been listening to the community, and many of you have been asking us to support sharing files between Windows and the Subsystem,” says the Windows Subsystem for Android team in a blog post. “We are pleased to announce that Windows Subsystem for Android can now share your Windows user folders, like Documents and Pictures, with the Subsystem, so scenarios like uploading a photo to a social media app or editing a video in a creative app work seamlessly.”

Folder sharing has been enabled by default for preview users and Android apps can only view or edit your Windows files with your permission. Android apps have to show a permission request dialog and permissions can be revoked from settings. Microsoft is also scanning all Android apps during install with Microsoft Defender or whatever antivirus software you’re using to prevent malicious apps from being loaded.

Microsoft is also limiting the file sharing support to just Windows user profile folders, including the typical documents, photos, and videos folders. Windows system folders, external drives, or folders like Program Files won’t be supported for file sharing. Certain file types like .exe are also blocked from file sharing.

Given that Microsoft has already rolled this out to all Windows Insider channels, the file sharing support will likely arrive for all Windows 11 users in the coming weeks. Microsoft doesn’t typically release Windows updates to the Release Preview channel until they’re release ready.

In the bid to grow at all costs, Instant Pot is cooking itself

In the bid to grow at all costs, Instant Pot is cooking itself

Photo: Instant Pot

Last week I made a pound of pinto beans in my Instant Pot. They were very good beans and I didn’t have to worry about burning them or leaving them unattended to cook like I do when I cook them on the stove. I didn’t have to worry about them exploding like I did with my mom’s ancient pressure cooker as a kid, either. The Instant Pot cooks the beans very well. It cooks quite a few things very well. It's reliable and affordable, and while it sucks at searing, it really does feel like a multipurpose device.

And right now, Instant Pot, despite making a very good product, is not doing so hot — today, its parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy while saying that a new deal for $132.5 million in financing from its lenders will support the company while it figures out a path forward. In January, the Wall Street Journal reported Instant Pot had hired restructuring advisers, a common tactic to help pull a company out of dire economic straits, and in March, dropped a story about the company’s quest to find another hit product. Which is fair; it might need one. While we don’t have exact numbers for Instant Pot’s decline, we do know sales in the electronic multicooker device category are down 50 percent since 2020. Given Instant Pot makes up the majority of that category, that’s one big reason it’s not doing well.

We also know that in 2021 it canceled $100 million worth of orders from retailers, which might have created some welcome scarcity in the short term, but which likely contributed to the cooling of appetites for Instant Pots from both retailers and consumers.

The Instant Pot cooks the beans very well.

As its sales have waned, its need to continue growing has not. Which has led to things like an Instant-branded air purifier and an Instant-branded convection oven (I hate calling them air fryers), and perhaps today’s bankruptcy announcement.

Part of the need to keep growing is because the company has gone from just the four founders back in 2009 to over 1,900 full-time employees, and payroll needs to be made. A spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that since 2020, the company has laid off nearly 15 percent of its employees.

The other reason it’s absolutely got to keep growing is that there are expectations placed upon it by Cornell Capital, the private equity firm that acquired the Instant from its founder in 2019 and merged it with Corelle Brands, which makes all the Pyrex and CorningWare products you probably heat up leftovers in.

It's not the first company that’s had this happen to it. Too often, a tech-adjacent company gets saddled with the expectations of the tech space. You’ve got to have infinite growth and constantly be finding new categories to wade into rather than simply being just extremely good at a specific thing.

Being extremely good has the benefit of high quality, but it means slow growth, smaller profits, and susceptibility to fluctuations in the market—such as, say, everyone suddenly working from home and having less need for a product that’s really good at cooking things fast and unattended.

Chasing constant growth, even in good times, comes with its own problems. You’re usually saddled with debt you took on to fund your new projects, and end up launching all kinds of projects to see what will stick. When it works out, meet Gmail, iTunes, or Stranger Things. But if you fail, you get things like... Google Wave, Google Stadia, Google Plus, iTunes Ping and uneven remakes like Cowboy Bebop. The difference between the likes of Apple, Netflix, and Google, and this situation with Instant and Cornell, is that Apple, Netflix, and Google are already enormous companies making the bulk of their money in phones, subscriptions, and advertising, respectively.

Instant Pot’s current CEO, Ben Gadbois, certainly understands the situation his company is in. He told the WSJ that the Instant Pot was a “product phenom and product phenom ultimately, eventually they slow down.” This is why he’s encouraged the company to develop and sell new products like an electric Dutch oven, stand mixer, and coffee maker.

He’d rather find a new phenom, chasing the profit to other categories, instead of reinvigorating the one his company popularized. And look, while Instant has promised a redesign for the Instant Pot that Gadbois hopes will encourage people to replace their old ones, the Instant Pot could be improved in ways beyond cosmetic ones. It could, perhaps, not make gummy rice requiring me to own a separate rice cooker. Or it could make a heating element that actually sears meat instead of doing the sad little sizzle of the Instant Pot.

I’m a fan of the device and of its potential. But hearing about an electric Dutch oven (isn’t that just a CrockPot?) and a planned stand mixer that’s unlikely to replace my Kitchen Aid — I’m also wary, and not particular surprised by today’s bankruptcy announcement. Sometimes you don’t have to grow at all costs. You can just be very good at one thing.

The biggest news and trailers from Capcom Showcase 2023

The biggest news and trailers from Capcom Showcase 2023

Dragon’s Dogma 2. | Image: Capcom

If events from Xbox, Ubisoft, and Summer Game Fest over the past few days weren’t enough for you (not to mention the PlayStation Showcase from last month), Capcom also had its own digital showcase today. It’s already been a solid year for the company, with releases like Street Fighter 6 and the Resident Evil 4 remake. And today’s showcase had the usual big names from the company — Mega Man, Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Monster Hunter — but much of the focus was on newer properties like Path of the Goddess, Exoprimal, and Pragmata.

If you couldn’t catch the show live, here are all the major reveals, announcements, and trailers:

Path of the Goddess still looks gross (in a good way)

Things kicked off with a fresh look at Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, which was revealed yesterday at the Xbox Showcase. It’s a dark action-adventure game with lots of creepy hands, body horror monsters, and what looks like some killer sword fighting. It’s coming to Xbox, PS5, and PC — but it doesn’t currently have a release date.

The (near) post-apocalyptic future has been delayed

We haven’t seen much about the sci-fi action game Pragmata since it was first announced, and it looks like it’ll be a while before we can actually play it. It doesn’t currently have a release date. But hey, at least there’s a brief new teaser. It’ll be coming to the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC whenever it does launch.

Ghost Trick gets a demo

The upcoming remaster of the classic spectral detective game Ghost Trick now has a demo — and you can play it right now. The full version launches on June 30th, and your save from the demo will carry over.

A new Ace Attorney collection

In other crime-solving news, a new collection of Ace Attorney titles — which gathers together games 4-6 of the mainline series — is coming to modern consoles sometime next year with a fresh coat of HD paint. Good news for Apollo Justice fans.

Exoprimal continues to be stuff full of dinosaurs

It’s not the Dino Crisis remaster I’ve been dreaming of, but Capcom’s futuristic dino game Exoprimal continues to look surprisingly intense in its latest trailer. The game launches very soon, too: it’s hitting the PC, PlayStation, and Xbox on July 14th.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a much bigger sequel

If you don’t have enough fantasy RPGs in your life, here comes Dragon’s Dogma 2. The show ended with a new trailer for the sequel, which has been a long time coming, as the first game launched in 2012. Actually, it was a slightly old look: the trailer first debuted in 2012. But it’s still a good chance to dig into the game if you missed it. We also got some nice news, though, as it was confirmed the sequel will be a good old-fashioned single-player title. Capcom also says the new game will be four times the size of the original.

How to pick a smart home platform

How to pick a smart home platform

One connected lock does not a smart home make. If you want to get serious with home automation, start with a smart home platform.

When you first get started with home automation, you’ll quickly find that your smart gadgets do even more when they work together. Yes, it’s great that your smart lights can turn on automatically at sunset and your smart lock will lock itself, but what’s even better is saying “Good night” to a voice assistant and having the shades lower, the lights turn off, the door locks lock, and the alarm system arm. For this, you need a smart home platform.

As a smart home reviewer, I am often asked which is the best platform to use. Is it Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, or something else? I tend to tread carefully when making a recommendation. Picking a smart home platform is a commitment. This is something you’re bringing into your home and will live with every day. I know from experience that it will make you both very happy and also drive you up the wall.

So, similar to how a therapist might guide you to the right decision, I’ll help you choose the smart home platform for you by providing the tools you need to make that decision. I’ll go over exactly what a smart home platform is, whether you need a hub, and give you my top tips for how to pick the best smart home platform for you.

What is a smart home platform, and do I need one?

Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Google Home is a smart home platform you can use to control and manage multiple connected devices from a smartphone or tablet.

A smart home platform is a software framework that controls and manages multiple devices from multiple manufacturers, usually through a smartphone or tablet app. Most smart home platforms have a hardware component, such as a hub and / or a smart speaker / display (more on hubs in a bit). Of course, if you have a smartphone, you already have a smart home platform in your hand, although you’ll want to add a hub or smart speaker for the fun stuff.

A smart speaker adds hands-free voice control to your smart home, and the voice assistant you choose will likely dictate the platform you use. A smart display also adds touch controls for smart home devices.

To avoid frustration, my advice is to pick one platform and stick with devices that work with it.

The main advantage of a smart home platform is organization. It allows you to put all your connected devices in one app where you can organize them by groups. This makes controlling things much easier. For example, grouping all the lights in the kitchen into a “Kitchen” group means you can hit a smart button or say, “Turn on the kitchen lights” and have all the lights turn on.

A smart home platform is also essential for creating automations (also known as scenes and routines) that make your home “smart.” These can run devices automatically based on certain triggers, such as time of day, when an action happens (motion in a hallway, a door locking), or a command to a voice assistant. Automations can do one task or many. For example, at 9PM every night, lock the back door; or, when the front door unlocks between 5PM and 8PM, have the smart speaker play a playlist, turn the lights to full brightness, and adjust the thermostat.

You don’t need a platform to use smart home devices. If you have a couple of smart gadgets that largely look after themselves, such as a smart thermostat and a smart door lock, and you don’t mind using a couple of different apps, then don’t sweat it. But if you want to manage all your devices with one app, control them in groups using your voice, and maybe connect them all together into smart home automations, then picking a platform is pretty important.

Many devices can work across multiple ecosystems, but cross-platform compatibility is still complicated

Many devices can work across multiple ecosystems — for example, Nest security cameras work with Alexa smart displays, Ring doorbells work with Samsung smart fridges, and Ecobee thermostats work with every platform. But cross-platform compatibility is still complicated. Despite the new smart home standard Matter that’s designed to fix this (more on this later), we’re sadly still a long way from the point where you can buy any smart device and plug it in, and it will just work with your smart home.

To avoid frustration, my advice is to pick one platform and stick with devices that work with it. I would also consider buying Matter devices when available, which work with all the major platforms. This means if Matter does succeed in making interoperability a nonissue, migrating to another platform will also be easier.

Four things to consider when picking a smart home platform

Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

If you have Amazon’s smart thermostat, then the Alexa smart home platform will be a good choice.

For most people, one of the four mainstream DIY smart home platforms — Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, or Samsung SmartThings — is the best place to start. There are other options — the open-source Home Assistant, professionally installed solutions like Crestron, Savant, and Vivint, and smaller DIY platforms like Hubitat and Homey. But these are largely specialized, and unless you know one of these will fit your needs, I’d recommend starting with one of the generally less expensive, more mainstream options.

To help choose which one will work for you, ask yourself these questions:

Which smartphone do you use?

Your smartphone comes with a smart home platform built in. If you use an iPhone, then Apple Home is an excellent option. Samsung Galaxy users will find SmartThings integrates really well with their devices — the same with Google Pixel and the Google Home platform. While Amazon doesn’t have a phone (its Alexa app works on iOS and Android), if your family uses Amazon’s Fire tablets or already has an Echo Dot, Alexa will fit in well. But keep in mind that while you can easily use Alexa, SmartThings, or Google Home with an iPhone, you can’t use Apple Home with Android.

In short, the more personal computing devices you already have in an ecosystem — smartwatches, tablets, laptops, plus media devices like speakers or streaming sticks — the better that dedicated ecosystem will work for you. If you’re in a household with multiple different smartphone ecosystems, you’ll need a platform or platforms that works with everyone’s devices.

Which devices do you already own?

The next thing to consider is which smart devices you already own. All of the major players have key pieces of hardware that allow their platforms to do more in your home. If you have a smart speaker or streaming device from Apple, Amazon, or Google, you’ve got a good foundation for building your smart home on that platform. These add voice control and can act as a hub for controlling your devices when you’re away from home.

If you already have a smart device like an Amazon smart thermostat or Google Nest video doorbell, you should consider that platform first. Similarly, if you already have some smart lights, a smart lock, or maybe a smart security system, check to see which platforms your existing devices are compatible with before picking your platform. However, remember that many smart devices work across multiple ecosystems, so you aren’t necessarily stuck with the one you started with.

Which is your favorite voice assistant?

Do you love Alexa’s fart jokes? Are you a Google search addict? Do you like your voice assistant to be pretty but not so smart (*cough* Apple)? The three main voice assistants are Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Assistant (sorry, Bixby!), each of which has a distinct “personality.” The one you get along with best will be key to picking the platform you want to use. (Samsung SmartThings works with both Alexa and Google Assistant),

All three work well for smart home management, letting you control connected devices with your voice. “Hey Siri, turn on the lights.” “Hey Google, turn on the TV.” “Alexa, lock the door.” All can be used with a smartphone or tablet, but for smart home control, they work better with a smart speaker or display so that anyone in your house can summon them.

Smart speakers and their screen-toting siblings also have more functions. They can work as home intercoms, listen for things happening in your home when you’re away (such as smoke alarms or glass breaking), and function as a chime for a video doorbell. With a screen, they can also show livestreams from a security camera: “Hey Google, show me who is at the front door.”

Which features do you want?

Along with automating your gadgets, a smart home platform can add new abilities to them. Deciding what you want your smart home to do for you will help you choose which platform will fit your needs. We have deep dives into each platform coming this week, but here are some examples of features each platform does well:

• Apple Home’s HomeKit Secure Video platform provides a secure way to use connected cameras in your home, with all the processing done locally on an Apple TV or HomePod before being securely stored in your iCloud account.
• Samsung’s SmartThings Energy is an energy management system that monitors your home’s energy use (through compatible devices — largely Samsung appliances for now) and provides proactive tips to help you save energy.
• Amazon’s Alexa Hunches feature uses AI to learn your routines and suggest helpful actions — such as reminding you if you’ve left your door unlocked at night.
• Google Home’s presence-sensing feature can automatically adjust your home based on whether there is anyone in it.

What’s a smart home hub, and do you need one?

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The Apple TV 4K Wi-Fi + Ethernet is an Apple Home Hub, a Matter controller, and a Thread border router.

You don’t need a smart home hub to run a smart home, but it can do more with one. A smart home hub is the brains of your smart home platform, managing and controlling your devices in your home. While the smart home app on your phone largely does the same thing, when you leave the house with your phone, your smart home has to rely on the cloud to operate. With a hub in your home, everything on the platform can still run automatically and, in some cases, run locally on your home network. This means your lights will still turn on even if the internet is down.

The traditional smart home hub has been a small plastic box packed with home automation radios that you plug into your router and which acts as a translator for devices that use different smart home protocols, such as Z-Wave, Zigbee, Bluetooth LE, Thread, and Wi-Fi. But the concept of a hub has changed in the last few years, and that type of multi-radio hub is more suited for advanced setups, particularly if you want to use Z-Wave devices. Some options include Hubitat, Homey, and the Aeotec Smart Home Hub.

Today, hubs have become more general-purpose, and all four platforms have variations on the concept. The Apple TV and HomePods are Apple Home Hubs, Samsung SmartThings has hubs built into its TVs and other devices, and Google’s Nest Hubs are smart displays that support Thread. Amazon Alexa’s Echo (fourth-gen) speaker and Echo Show 10 (second-gen) smart display are smart home hubs because they support Zigbee, unlike the company’s other smart speakers and displays. If you use any of these platforms, having one of these hubs will expand the functionality of your smart home.

It’s worth quickly mentioning bridges here, which are sometimes called hubs, just to confuse things further. Generally, a bridge controls one protocol and is manufacturer-specific — such as Philips Hue’s bridge which controls its Zigbee-based smart lighting system, or Aqara hubs which control its smart home devices. Bridges can connect to smart home hubs to add their devices to that platform.

All the major platforms have added Matter controller functionality to their existing hubs, meaning you may already have one in your home. Matter controllers do the same thing as a smart home hub — they connect devices (specifically, Matter devices) to each other and to the internet and allow you to control them through a smart home platform. A key benefit of Matter is that it works locally in your home over Wi-Fi and Thread protocols.

Matter is not a smart home platform, nor is it technically a protocol. Rather, it’s a new communication standard designed to make it easier for smart home devices to work together and with every platform. You can use Matter devices with Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, Home Assistant, and others. This is designed to make it easier to buy connected devices because if something works with Matter, it should work with all of the major smart home platforms.

The smart home can be a daunting prospect, and a smart home platform makes it easier to get started with connected devices and to get the most out of them. Whether you choose Apple Home, Google Home, SmartThings, Amazon Alexa, or another option, picking a platform can take your home from automated to smart.