The Beats Studio Buds Plus are still available at an all-time low

The Beats Studio Buds Plus are still available at an all-time low

The translucent pair of Beats Studio Plus are on sale this weekend, along with other shades. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Technically, Amazon Prime Day ended a couple of days ago, but it appears Amazon and other retailers didn’t get the memo. Quite a few of the best deals are still kicking around, including one on the Beats Studio Buds Plus that’s available to Prime members and non-Prime members alike. Right now, you buy the terrific wireless earbuds at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target for just shy of $150 ($20 off).

In addition to a unique translucent option, the Studio Buds Plus offer better sound and noise cancellation than their predecessor, the Beats Studio Buds. They also offer longer battery life and are designed to be platform-agnostic, so you can use Android features like Fast Pair. Of course, as Beats is an Apple-owned company, they can take advantage of iOS features, too, making them a great pair of earbuds if you’re someone who owns both Android and Apple devices. Just be aware that the Android support comes at the expense of a few iOS capabilities, such as personalized spatial audio.

Read our Beats Studio Buds Plus review.

Smartwatches like the Apple Watch Series 8 may be popular, but they’re also overkill if all you really need is a fitness tracker that can keep tabs on the basics. Instead, a more appropriate fitness tracker might be something like the Fitbit Inspire 3, which is available for $79.95 ($20 off) at Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target.

Despite its low price, the entry-level wearable offers some impressive perks, including a color OLED display. Along with the standard set of health and fitness features, it also boasts advanced sleep tracking and stress management capabilities. Combine that with 10 days of battery life, and it’s easy to see why this is our favorite budget-friendly Fitbit. It offers everything you might need in a basic tracker, provided you don’t require bells and whistles like built-in GPS and support for digital assistants like Alexa.

Read our hands-on impressions of the Fitbit Inspire 3.

If you need a far more capable webcam than the one your laptop offers, the Insta360 Link is currently available for $254.99 ($45 off) at B&H Photo and direct from Insta360. The Link stands out from many of its rivals thanks to the fact it sits on a three-axis gimbal, which allows it to freely move around. That means you’ll be able to stay centered in the frame even while walking around the room to, say, display your work as you live stream. It can also capture 4K resolution at 60fps, making for great picture and video quality once you dial in the webcam’s versatile desktop software.

Read our Insta360 Link review.

If you’re on the hunt for a portable iPad, you can’t go wrong buying the smallest iPad Apple currently makes — the 2021 iPad Mini. And right now, the Wi-Fi-enabled version of the sixth-gen Mini is on sale at Walmart with 64GB of storage in pink for $399.99 ($89 off).

The redesigned iPad Mini is one of the best tablets you can buy for reading thanks to its 8.3-inch screen, which is much easier to hold than a 10-inch iPad display. Plus, unlike the latest entry-level iPad, it works with the second-gen Apple Pencil. Other convenient features include a USB-C port for fast charging and a speedy A15 Bionic chip.

Read our iPad Mini (2021) review.

Just a few more...

• The Google Pixel 7 is still on sale for $499 ($100 off) at Amazon and Best Buy, which makes it just $50 more than the midrange Pixel 7A. The 6.3-inch Android phone comes with Google’s fast second-gen Tensor CPU, along with a more capable camera system and robust waterproofing, rendering it a flagship worthy of the competition. Read our review.
• Amazon is still offering Belkin’s Belkin’s BoostCharge Pro in black for $19.99 ($30 off). The wireless charger can supply up to 15 watts of power to MagSafe-compatible iPhones and can also double as a kickstand, allowing you to prop up your phone. Read our guide to the best magnetic iPhone chargers.
• Microsoft is taking up to 80 percent off both new and classic Xbox titles during its summer Ultimate Game Sale. Notable titles on sale include Elden Ring and the deluxe edition of Hogwarts Legacy, which you can buy for $41.99 ($18 off) and $63.99 ($16 off), respectively.
• Speaking of Xbox, the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 Core is down to $98.52 ($48 off) in red at Walmart and the Microsoft Store. The gamepad features the same adjustable-tension thumbsticks and wraparound rubberized grip as the Xbox Elite 2, however, you’ll have to pay extra for rear paddles, more thumbsticks, and a carrying case.

I almost can’t believe it, but Google Tasks is finally kind of good

I almost can’t believe it, but Google Tasks is finally kind of good

Tasks is still pretty basic — but at least it now has all your tasks! | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Google has spent the last half-decade cruelly teasing me with its to-do list app. Google Tasks first launched as a standalone app in 2018, and Google seemed to have big plans for its task manager tool. And then… nothing. Actually, worse than nothing: Google launched and developed so many disconnected reminder-setting products that it became nearly impossible to figure out where your tasks were, what they are, and how you were supposed to get anything done.

But in the last couple of months, something miraculous happened: Google actually fixed it. The company spent this spring combining all its many Tasks and Reminders products into a single tool that is accessible almost everywhere and via almost any Google product. There are still some holes in the system and still a lot of task management features missing. But Google Tasks also has some unique upsides, and for the first time ever, I’m actually using it and enjoying it.

The big change Google made was to funnel all reminders into Google Tasks. So now if you say to Google Assistant, “Remind me to switch the laundry in an hour,” that goes into Google Tasks. Add a task from your Nest Hub Max, and it shows up in Tasks. If someone assigns you a task in a Google Doc, it’ll appear in your Tasks list with a link to that document. Creating a task in Google Calendar? It shows up in Google Tasks, too. Where there used to be several back-ends, now there is only Google Tasks.

This is an unequivocally better idea than whatever chaos Google had before, not to mention the obviously correct answer — it’s almost bizarre that it took Google this long to make such a simple change. It never made sense that “Remind me to bring in the trash bins tonight” would go anywhere but Tasks. But hey! Now it goes to Tasks.

Google Tasks isn’t remotely close to being a powerful project management tool on par with Todoist or some of the other apps out there. Even Apple’s Reminders app can do more. It’s much closer in spirit to a paper to-do list — just a bunch of things written down that you need to get done.

But Google has one crucial thing going for it: ubiquity. Unlike the piece of paper I scribble my lists on and then lose or the apps I set up and then forget to check for days at a time, Google Tasks is effectively unavoidable if you use Google products. It’s in the sidebar of Gmail, Docs, and other Google products, tasks show up right into Google Calendar, the mobile app is simple but works fine, and I love being able to bring up Google Assistant and just say, “What are my tasks for today?”

Google has one crucial thing going for it: ubiquity

That kind of integration helps make sure you don’t miss stuff on your list, but even more importantly makes it easy to put stuff on the list. I am perpetually swinging between ultra-powerful to-do list apps that turn out to be too complicated and tools that don’t do much but at least make it easy to add to my list. Google Tasks is all the way at the latter end of that spectrum. Plus, opening Assistant and saying, “Remind me in three days to pick up my dry cleaning,” is the best capture tool I’ve ever found. A second later, that task is in my list and on my calendar and right there next to my inbox. I might even remember to do it now.

The only remaining holdout is Google Keep, which is still very weird: you can add a reminder to a note Keep, but it doesn’t show up in Tasks. This integration could be great — Tasks could even grab all the checklist items in your Keep notes, add due dates, and so on — but I can at least live with the idea that I have a notes app and a tasks app, and they’re separate things. Besides, Keep is at the top of the list of “apps I’m not even sure Google remembers it makes,” so I’m not shocked it’s not part of the new setup.

My main ongoing gripe is the same one I have for just about every other Google product: everything’s too complicated if you have more than one Google account. There’s simply no way to see all your tasks in one place if you have multiple accounts, which makes it hard to manage everything. Tasks really ought to have a view akin to the Gmail app’s “All inboxes” feature, but all you get on mobile is quick switching between accounts. I’d also like to have a way to subscribe to Tasks, like I subscribe to things in Google Calendar, which is how I’m currently able to see my work and personal events in one place. But no dice there, either. You’re basically stuck with identical but totally separate to-do lists for each of your accounts.

History says that this is the last time Google will care about Tasks for a while, none of the remaining problems will get fixed for another half-decade, and it’ll never become the true productivity powerhouse it could be. Even if that’s the case, it’s finally an app worth using. It’s not a power-user tool, but it doesn’t need to be. It just needs to be a place you can dump everything without worrying you’ll never find it again. In some ways, having a bunch of reminder tools is actually worse than having none. Google finally just has one.

Well, two. I don’t think I’m ever getting the perfect Keep integration I’ve been waiting for. But I’ll take what I can get.

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Court denies FTC’s last-ditch attempt to stop Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard

Court denies FTC’s last-ditch attempt to stop Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard

Image: Getty Images

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has lost what may be its final attempt to block Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard. It’s the second loss for the FTC after a US federal judge denied its request for a preliminary injunction earlier this week to block Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard until the conclusion of a separate FTC administrative case.

The FTC appealed the decision by Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, and now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied its request for emergency relief to prevent Microsoft from closing the deal until the result of the FTC’s appeal is complete.

Image: US Courts

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals filing.

Microsoft welcomed the denial late on Friday. “We appreciate the Ninth Circuit’s swift response denying the FTC’s motion to further delay the deal. This brings us another step closer to the finish line in this marathon of global regulatory reviews,” says Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, in a statement to The Verge.

This means Microsoft is now free to close its Activision Blizzard deal after a temporary restraining order, part of Judge Corley’s order, expires at 11:59PM PT tonight. Microsoft has until July 18th to close its deal; otherwise, it needs to renegotiate terms with Activision Blizzard or pay $3 billion in breakup fees.

Microsoft might not be able to close the deal immediately, though. There’s still the complicated matter of the deal being blocked in the UK. The Competition and Markets Authority in the UK blocked Microsoft’s deal earlier this year, citing competition fears in the emerging cloud gaming market. Both the CMA and Microsoft have agreed to pause their legal battles to figure out how the transaction might be modified in order to address the CMA’s cloud gaming concerns.

The UK regulator also warned this week that Microsoft’s proposals may “lead to a new merger investigation” and that discussions with Microsoft were at an early stage. The CMA has also issued a notice of extension for its overall investigation into the deal earlier today, moving the date for final undertakings or a final order from July 18th to August 29th.

The CMA’s extension comes hours after Bloomberg reported that Microsoft is considering selling UK cloud-gaming rights to a telecommunications, gaming, or internet company to allow the Activision deal to close in the UK.

Update, July 15th at 8PM ET: Article updated with Microsoft comment.

The Biden administration can talk to social media sites again — for now

The Biden administration can talk to social media sites again — for now

Ten days after a federal judge in Missouri barred the Biden administration from contacting tech companies about posts protected by the First Amendment, the White House is temporarily no longer under that ban. Today, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals paused that judge’s order — at least until the higher court has time to weigh in more fully itself.

Originally, Judge Terry Doughty suggested that the Biden administration may be suppressing “millions of protected free speech postings by American citizens,” writing that the government had already “used its power to silence the opposition” by suppressing speech opposed to covid-19 vaccines and the validity of the 2020 election, among other things.

(It’s true that, for a time, social networks did resist amplifying the spread of major lies.)

The appeals court hasn’t said much on the matter yet — today’s order simply fast-tracks the appeal and grants a “temporary administrative stay...until further orders of the court.” That’s the part which lifts the original ban.

The ban kept quite a few specific agencies from engaging with social media firms, including the CDC, HHS, Census Bureau, FBI, DOJ, CISA, DHS, State Department, and many named officials. It did have exceptions for threats to national security, election security, cybersecurity and public safety, however.

Social Media Restrictions on Biden Officials Are Paused in Appeal

Social Media Restrictions on Biden Officials Are Paused in Appeal A Fifth Circuit panel temporarily lifted a judge’s order that had blocked the administration from contacting platforms about most of their content.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure is real but has nothing to do with South Park

Hello Kitty Island Adventure is real but has nothing to do with South Park

Image: Sanrio / Sunblink

The makers of Hello Kitty Island Adventure want you to know the game has nothing to do with South Park.

Back in 2006, South Park finally made itself relevant to me with its World of Warcraft episode. In the episode, the boys take up the MMO and try to recruit Butters to join them. He refuses, explaining that he has simpler tastes, preferring to play Hello Kitty Island Adventure instead.

It’s a throwaway line, meant to elicit nothing more than a sneer from the gamers watching that Butters would dare admit aloud to playing something so childish. But though the game sounded exactly like a PlayStation 2 Japanese-only launch title or something that was on a CD-ROM for Windows 98, it didn’t actually exist.

That is until now.

Announced late last month, Sanrio, in collaboration with Sunblink, is making an actual factual Hello Kitty Island Adventure game exclusively for the Apple Arcade. But before you leap from your seat to cry, “South Park did it!” be advised that it’s actually just a coincidence.

“Sanrio has no affiliation with South Park,” said Chelsea Howe, chief product officer at Sunblink, during a press preview of the game. “Hello Kitty Island Adventure is basically the perfect title for this multi-player, island centric game that we created. But yeah, no tie-in or affiliation with South Park.”

The answer seems obvious. Of course Sanrio executives wouldn’t want the wholesomeness of Hello Kitty anywhere near South Park, of all things. But it’s definitely worth asking if Hello Kitty Island Adventure is an unintentional way of adding a cute punchline to a joke made 16 years ago.

The game itself seems quite adorable — a mix of Disney Dreamlight Valley and Animal Crossing but with Sanrio characters instead of emotionally unavailable cats.

During the preview event, I saw that you’ll be able to explore a tropical island and make friends with Hello Kitty, Dear Daniel, and more, building your new best friends houses that you can then decorate according to their tastes. If you’re in need of a twee life sim (yes!), Hello Kitty Island Adventure seems like it’ll scratch that itch.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure launches exclusively on Apple Arcade on July 28th.

Republicans defend Elon Musk in FTC’s Twitter probe

Republicans defend Elon Musk in FTC’s Twitter probe

Image: Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

House Republicans came to the defense of Elon Musk Thursday, tearing into Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan over an agency investigation they claim borders on “obsession” with Twitter and its owner.

The blustering support for the billionaire dominated a Thursday House Judiciary Committee hearing overseeing the agency’s work under Khan’s leadership. The committee’s chair, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), set the tone right out of the gate, calling Khan’s leadership a “disaster” and suggesting that the FTC’s Twitter probe was politically motivated.

“Why are you harassing Twitter?” Jordan pressed Khan Thursday. “This wasn’t harassment. It was a shakedown.”

The hearing came hours after Musk asked a federal court to end the FTC’s investigation into Twitter over possible user privacy failures and terminate a settlement it entered into with the agency last year. In the filing, Musk’s X Corp. claimed the probe had “spiraled out of control and become tainted with bias.”

Shortly after Musk took over Twitter last year, the FTC began investigating whether the company had the resources necessary to maintain the privacy of its users. Under a consent decree Twitter entered into with the FTC in 2011 (later expanded in 2022), it’s required to inform the FTC on how it protects consumer data and coordinate regular security audits.

Responding to Republicans’ complaints, Khan noted that the FTC imposed the privacy restrictions Musk cursed more than a decade ago. “Twitter has a history of lax security and privacy policies,” she said.

Republicans also criticized the Khan FTC’s recent court failures to challenge mergers, including a decision this week allowing Microsoft to purchase Activision Blizzard, and suggested it was a ploy to make Congress pass new antitrust rules.

“Are you losing on purpose?” Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) asked of Khan. “You’re losing because you don’t have the authority that you want from Congress.”

Khan denied those motives Thursday, but she’s previously suggested that courtroom losses could force Congress to craft stronger competition regulations, according to The New York Times.

Your LG TV and appliances are about to get more annoying

Your LG TV and appliances are about to get more annoying

LG CEO William Cho (pictured above at CES 2023) has revealed how the company plans to squeeze additional revenue out of its customers. | Photo by David Becker/Getty Images

LG Electronics is looking to squeeze some additional cash from its customers by going all in on advertising and subscription offerings for its home appliances and televisions. It’s part of a plan to increase global annual revenue from the $51 billion reported last year to almost $79 billion by 2030. Part of that growth strategy is to get webOS — the operating system running LG smart TVs — onto more external TV brands and “other product groups.”

On Wednesday, LG CEO William Cho announced the Korean tech giant’s intention to transform itself into a “smart life solution company” by diversifying its current business portfolio and creating a business model that focuses on “customer engagement.” LG’s new growth strategy will introduce a “platform-based service business model that continuously generates profits, such as content and services, subscriptions and solutions” across its product portfolio.

LG is looking to reinvent itself as a “smart life solution company”

“LG will continue to pursue its bold vision to transform and leap forward as a smart life solution company that connects and expands customers’ various spaces and experiences, rather than resting on its current position as the best home appliance brand that provides quality products,” said CEO Cho. “We will establish a brand-new LG by reinventing the way we work and communicate toward this goal.”

LG says that its TV business will be the first to transition to the new business model, with the intent of transforming into a “media and entertainment service provider.” Sometime towards the end of this year, the company is looking to introduce changes to its webOS TV software that will allow LG to expand “content, services and advertisement” across products like LG’s OLED and QNED TVs. According to LG, the webOS platform is already running on over 200 million smart TVs globally. The company also intends to bring its webOS software to external television brands and non-TV hardware in the LG product family at some point in the next five years.

Consumers may soon need to pay a subscription to unlock features on LG ThinQ Up appliances

Subscriptions will also play a prevalent role on LG’s range of household appliances. According to the company’s press release “the goal is to further evolve LG ThinQ UP appliances that upgrade functions customers need even after purchase and evolve into a “Home as a Service platform,” which includes customer personalization options, subscription services, and support for unnamed smart home services. LG introduced its ThinQ UP range of upgradable appliances last year that are designed to be updated with new features via the ThinQ app. We noted at the time that some automakers were using a similar business model to charge customers to unlock features that are already built into their vehicles — it seems LG was paying attention.

It’s hard to imagine these changes will be met with open arms by consumers. As noted by The Register, the sheer number of services adopting subscription models in recent years has sparked concerns over “subscription fatigue” — a term used to describe consumers who are overwhelmed by subscription offerings. It’s prevalent enough that the US Federal Trade Commission has proposed introducing firmer regulations to stamp out some of the industry’s more nefarious practices, like nonconsensual billing and making subscriptions intentionally difficult to cancel.

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Reddit is getting rid of its Gold awards system

Reddit is getting rid of its Gold awards system

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Reddit is sunsetting its current coins and awards systems, meaning you soon won’t be able to thank a kind stranger for giving you Reddit Gold for one of your posts.

Awards are little icons on posts you might have come across while scrolling around Reddit, and they’re given by other users to show appreciation for a post. Perhaps the most commonly-known award is Reddit Gold, which shows up as a gold medal with a star, but there also reaction awards and awards specific to certain communities.

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

See all those icons? Those are awards.

To buy an award, you need to use Reddit Coins, but if you don’t already have some, you aren’t able to get any more of them as of Thursday, according to a post from Reddit admin (employee) venkman01. Awards and existing coins will still be available until September 12th, and the change to the awards and coins systems means that Reddit Premium subscribers won’t get a regular allotment of coins.

“While we saw many of the awards used as a fun way to recognize contributions from your fellow redditors, looking back at those eons, we also saw consistent feedback on awards as a whole,” venkman01 said. “First, many don’t appreciate the clutter from awards (50+ awards right now, but who’s counting?) and all the steps that go into actually awarding content. Second, redditors want awarded content to be more valuable to the recipient.”

“We want to create a system that is simple, easy to use, and easy to understand.”

Reddit does have plans for some kind of award system in the future, but the post only provides vague hints about what that might look like. “Rewarding content and contribution (as well as something golden) will still be a core part of Reddit,” venkman01 said. “In the coming months, we’ll be sharing more about a new direction for awarding that allows redditors to empower one another and create more meaningful ways to reward high-quality contributions on Reddit." In a reply, venkman01 said that “we want to create a system that is simple, easy to use, and easy to understand.”

Many users aren’t happy with Reddit’s decision. “Killing features without replacements ready, yep, sounds like Reddit to me,” wrote one user in a highly-awarded reply. Another, replying to an announcement post in a subreddit for moderator news, expressed unhappiness that Reddit isn’t providing some sort of compensation or transition into the next system. And for users already frustrated at Reddit over new API pricing that forced some popular third-party apps to shut down, the loss of awards like Reddit Gold, arguably one of the most iconic elements of the platform, could sting that much more.

While Reddit hasn’t specified what the new system might look like, Android Authority may have dug up some clues. Based on code in the Reddit’s Android app, Reddit appears to be working on a “contributor program” that would let users cash out gold or karma (basically, points you get for posts, comments, or giving awards) they receive into real money. Reddit didn’t respond to a request for comment sent Wednesday about Android Authority’s article.

Cowboy releases cheeky app to keep VanMoof e-bike riders on the road

Cowboy releases cheeky app to keep VanMoof e-bike riders on the road

Cowboy sends you its love. | Image: Cowboy

Belgian e-bike maker Cowboy has released a free app to keep rival VanMoof owners on the road now that the Dutch company is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

The Bikey app — get it... bike key — can generate and save a VanMoof owner’s unique digital key, which might be needed if the company’s servers are ever taken offline. It also provides basic access to the VanMoof e-bike’s settings. The key can be exported elsewhere for safekeeping.

The app currently only works with S3 and X3 e-bike models, the most common VanMoof e-bikes currently on the road, with support for new S5 and A5 e-bikes on the way. It’s in beta and is iOS only for now, with an Android beta releasing soon. Cowboy says that “nothing is shared outside of the app,” not even your email.

Given its shared similarities with VanMoof, maybe Cowboy shouldn’t get too full of itself?

“Just generate your local key and enjoy peace of mind again,” reads the description in a cheeky little dig at VanMoof’s celebrated Peace of Mind e-bike recovery service. Nevertheless, Cowboy says its intentions are noble. “We believe deeply that every single bike deserves to be on the road and that’s why we decided to build this project.”

Given Cowboy’s shared similarities with VanMoof, both of which are independent e-bike makers that raised millions in capital and rely upon many custom-built parts, maybe Cowboy shouldn’t get too full of itself. It has plenty of its own investors looking to get paid and had its own issues earlier in the year when it had to reorganize and seek additional funding to deal with supply chain issues.

One major difference: Cowboy is on a better path to profitability, unlike VanMoof, which needs court-ordered protection to help pay its bills.

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Telly starts shipping its free ad-supported 55-inch TVs

Telly starts shipping its free ad-supported 55-inch TVs

Image: Telly

The free TV company Telly has started shipping its ad-supported TVs to its first wave of customers. Telly first opened its waitlist in May and plans on shipping 500,000 free TVs to customers by the end of 2023 — and “millions more” in 2024.

Unlike most TVs, beneath Telly’s 55-inch 4K display is a smaller screen separated from the main display by a soundbar. That thinner display is dedicated to showing advertisements, which is the point of its business model.

To even use the thing, you’ll need to commit to having your viewing data sucked up and used by advertisers. If you’re okay with that, you can also use the secondary display to show widgets that surface sports scores, a news sticker, the weather, and more. The TV features a camera (with a privacy shutter) for fitness programs as well, along with a set of built-in games.

Additionally, Telly announced that it’s working with Nielsen to “collect and interpret first-of-its-kind viewership and ad effectiveness insights” for advertisers and TV programmers. It’s also working with Microsoft, Magnite, and MNTN to power the ads on the TV. Microsoft became Netflix’s advertising partner for its new ad-supported tier last year.

It’s not clear how many customers Telly is shipping its TVs out to during this round, but it says those who receive the device will get to participate in the public beta program. That means they’ll also get access to some of the features Telly is making available at launch, including integrations with Spotify, LiveOne, and Zoom. Telly doesn’t come with streaming apps, however, so you’ll have to settle for using a third-party Roku device, Amazon Fire Stick, or Apple TV.

“We are thrilled to begin shipping what is by far the smartest television ever built to consumers,” Telly CEO and founder Ilya Pozin said in a statement. “Our disruptive ad supported business model makes the television completely free to consumers, but the most exciting thing about Telly is the technology that enables our dual-screen television to get better with every update.”

Even though you’ll have to sacrifice a part of your privacy to use Telly, a free TV might be too hard to pass up for some. One month after Telly opened up its waitlist, 250,000 people already signed up, and I’m guessing that number has increased since then.

The best Amazon Prime Day deals you can still get

The best Amazon Prime Day deals you can still get

Illustration by Hugo Herrera for The Verge

We’ve now endured two whole days of Amazon Prime Day, which had us poring over thousands of deals and covering hundreds of the best the tech world had to offer — and yet, we’re not quite done here.

As usual, there are still a bunch of lingering discounts to sift through. So if you didn’t yet blow your entire budget on gadgets like wireless earbuds, tablets, e-readers, video games, or fancy smart home accessories, well, there’s still time to make that happen.

Below are the best remaining Prime Day deals for 2023, the stubborn ones that just won’t go quietly into the night, still vying for your hard-earned money. It’s your final chance to consider that big or small purchase and decide whether you’re pulling the trigger or holding out for something better to come along.

After all, Black Friday is only 133 days away.

Apple deals

• If you prefer a pair of noise-canceling headphones over a set of true wireless earbuds, you can also buy Apple’s AirPods Max for $449.99 ($100 off) at Amazon. Along with a premium build quality and terrific sound, the headphones feature a natural-surrounding transparency mode. Read our review.

Headphones, earbuds, and speakers

• The Beats Powerbeats Pro are still $149.95 (about $100 off) at Amazon a substantial. They may be a little older (released in 2019), but if you want your earbuds to stay in during the most rigorous of workouts it’s hard to deny the stability of the Powerbeats’ ear hooks. Read our review.

Smartwatches and fitness trackers

TVs and streaming devices

Phones

• Google’s Pixel 7 is on sale at Amazon for $499 ($100 off). It’s an exceptional phone for anyone who likes Google’s colorful and customizable software design for Android. Read our review.

• Nomad is still running a site-wide 30 percent off sale on its standard edition in-stock smartphone and wearable accessories — including its Apple Watch straps and MagSafe chargers.
• Casetify’s storefront on Amazon is still offering up to 35 percent off many of its phone cases. For example, you can get the Casetify Essential iPhone 14 case in all manner of colorful patterns for $29.25 (about $16 off) if you’re a Prime subscriber.

Laptops and computing

• Logitech’s StreamCam is now $129.99 ($40 off) at Amazon. It’s a fine 1080p webcam for everything from videoconferencing to Twitch streaming, even if its USB-C cable being permanently attached is slightly annoying. Read our webcam buying guide.
• The Elgato Collapsible Green Screen Chrome Key Panel is on sale at Best Buy and Amazon for $117.99 ($42 off).

• The orb-like Creative Pebble Pro are down to $54.99 ($5 off) on Amazon if you’re looking for a relatively inexpensive alternative to your computer’s built-in speakers. The basic speakers feature Bluetooth, a 3.5mm input, and subtle lighting on the bottom, which you can easily turn off if you’re not a fan of the RGB aesthetic.
• MSI’s 17.3-inch GF Series laptop with a 12th Gen Intel 12700H CPU, RTX 3050 Ti GPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, and 144Hz 1080p display is on sale at Newegg for $799 ($100 off).
• For an all-AMD entry-level gaming laptop from MSI, you can get the 15.6-inch MSI Bravo with Ryzen 7 5800H CPU, Radeon RX6500M GPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, and 144Hz 1080p screen for $699.99 ($200 off) at Best Buy.

Smart home

• The iRobot Roomba j7, our top pick when it comes to robot vacuums, is available in two versions for some of its best pricing to date. Right now, you can get the obstacle-avoiding, auto-mapping bot as a standalone vacuum for $399 ($200 off) or with an auto-emptying station for $649 ($150 off).

Gaming

• You can buy a physical copy of the new Dead Space, the remake of the 2008 sci-fi horror game, for the PlayStation 5 for $34.99 ($35 off) at Target.
• The Last of Us Part I for PlayStation 5 is on sale for $49.99 ($20 off) at Amazon.
• Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut for PS4 and PS5 is $29.99 ($40 off) at Amazon.
• No Man’s Sky is available at Amazon for around $39.99 (about $20 off) for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5.
• The PlayStation 5 version of The Nioh Collection, which contains both of Team Ninja’s challenging Souls-like action-adventure games Nioh and Nioh 2, is on sale for $29.99 ($40 off) at Amazon.
• Microsoft’s standard Xbox Wireless Controller is on sale starting at $46.99 ($13 off) at Amazon. The stock controller of the Xbox Series X / S is great for anyone gaming on Xbox or PC, though if you’re not a fan of its AA batteries, you can also get the Remix special-edition Xbox controller in a unique Earth-themed green colorway with a rechargeable battery pack for $71.63 ($14 off).
• The Nacon Pro Compact controller is on sale for $20.48 (about $28 off) in black at Amazon. It may be a wired controller that’s best fit for slightly smaller hands, but it offers a number of customizable options with lots of software tweaks.
• A $50 Nintendo Switch eShop gift card is $45 ($5 off) at Newegg through today when you use promo code SSCUA322. A Nintendo Switch Online subscriber can use two to buy Nintendo’s $100 digital game vouchers and shave even more off the cost of some full-price games.

Chargers

• Google’s latest Pixel Stand is available for $59 ($20 off) at Amazon for Prime members. The second-gen Qi charger works best when paired with newer Pixel models, which are able to take advantage of speedy wireless charging speeds and a few more unique features — including the ability to act as an impromptu photo frame when docked. Read our review.

• If you don’t mind spending a bit more, the Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 Wireless Charger with MagSafe is available at an all-time low of $127.08 (about $23 off) at Amazon. This funky-looking tree is our favorite 3-in-1 MagSafe charger for home use, as it simultaneously charges a MagSafe iPhone at 15W, a pair of AirPods / a second Qi-compatible phone, and an Apple Watch (with fast charging).

Verge staff favorites and miscellaneous extras

• The Joseph Joseph Garlic Rocker seems like just a simple curved piece of metal with holes in it, but it’s one of the easiest and most effective ways to mince garlic. It’s on sale at Amazon for $19.99 ($4 off).

• The retro-inspired Polaroid Now Plus is down to $93 ($57 off) at Amazon for Prime Day, its all-time low. As mentioned in our guide to the best instant cameras, the Now Plus is tailored toward those who are a fan of the old-fashioned instant-film experience, one that takes a heavy cue from the classic Polaroid 600 of yesteryear.

• If you’re a huge nerd for the iconic (or infamous, if you prefer) brown-and-tan color scheme of Noctua PC fans and coolers, you can get it in an MT3 keycap set for Cherry-compatible mechanical keyboards for a nice $69 ($61 off) at Drop.

Foundation’s showrunner explains why big book adaptations start so dang slow

Foundation’s showrunner explains why big book adaptations start so dang slow

Lou Llobell in season 2 of Foundation. | Image: Apple

Adaptations of big, complex books tend to start slow — and that’s usually because there’s just so much to explain. It was true of Game of Thrones and The Rings of Power, and it was especially true of Foundation on Apple TV Plus, which took Isaac Asimov’s novels and turned them into prestige television. With unusual concepts like psychohistory (a kind of math that can predict the future) and a genetic dynasty (a never-ending line of clone emperors who rule the galaxy), the first few episodes of season 1 were bogged down by exposition.

According to David S. Goyer, showrunner on Foundation, there really wasn’t a way to avoid that. “I felt like the first three episodes of season 1 were so exposition heavy, but — trust me — we tormented ourselves trying to figure out a way around it,” he explains. “We just decided, screw it, we have to explain this stuff and hope the audience is still around.” He believes that might just be a necessary evil of this kind of adaptation, though. “A lot of the really worthwhile shows that I ended up loving took a while to get going,” Goyer says. “Maybe that’s just what one has to do when you’re doing a big ambitious, novelistic show.”

But with season 2, which premieres on July 14th, Goyer says the team didn’t have that same problem. “I just felt like this massive weight had been lifted from our shoulders. We were unburdened by all of this expositional pipe-laying.”

Photo by Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

David S. Goyer.

The goal with this season is to be more approachable. “I was determined to make season 2 more accessible and to hopefully broaden the audience,” Goyer says. That means things like exploring the internal lives of characters like Hari Seldon, having more action (the first episode includes an excellent fight sequence), and even some sex and — gasp — humor. “I wanted to introduce more levity,” Goyer explains. “We had only a few scenes with a little bit of wry humor in season 1, and people were nervous about that. But I felt that was something that even Asimov himself had done in his writing.”

The goal is not to change what Foundation is, he explains, but to present it in a way that makes it easier for new audiences to get into it.

“Humans are messy — so let’s get messy”

“I think there was a perception among some people that Foundation was really beautiful but it was very cerebral,” Goyer explains. “And hopefully it remains cerebral. But I was determined to say, ‘What are the kinds of scenes that people would not expect from Foundation season 1? And do they have a place in this story?’ We didn’t do them just to be gratuitous. But I thought, ‘Why not?’ We’re telling a story about humans and humans are messy — so let’s get messy.’”

It’s still a complicated show, of course, one that spans many years. Season 2 takes place a century after the first — with time jumps, various warring factions, and all of the other complexity inherent in this kind of story. Goyer and his team used various tools to stay on track, ranging from show bibles and flowcharts to copious Post-it notes. But the complexity is exacerbated by the filming process. The episodes aren’t filmed in order, and most of the time, two units are shooting scenes simultaneously. “It is a logistical challenge,” Goyer says.

The trick, he says, is not letting the actors know too much — even if they really want to. “Many of them are frustrated that I won’t tell them where they’re going in future seasons,” Goyer explains. “Sometimes I don’t even tell them where they’re going at the end of the season. Usually, I hold episode 10 back until I absolutely have to, and I’ll redact it. Or if we have to film a scene with one character, I won’t give it to the other actors until I absolutely have to. I don’t like them to play the future — which is ironic given the nature of our show.”

So far, Foundation has only been confirmed for two seasons, but Goyer has much bigger goals — he’s stated before that the outline is for 80 episodes spanning eight seasons in total. It’s an ambitious plan but also one that he says is somewhat malleable. While there are major plot moments that are firmly in place, the way that characters get to those moments can change depending on how things progress during production.

“I’d say we’re about 85 percent adhering to it so far,” he says of the plan versus the reality of the show. “There are definitely things in season 2 that I intended to roll out in season 3, and I just saw an opportunity to move that moment forward. I said, ‘Screw it, let’s go for it.’ That’s something that I learned from working with [Dark Knight director Christopher] Nolan. He used to say that if you’ve got an idea, burn it now — don’t wait for it.”

Now Google’s Bard AI chatbot can talk and respond to visual prompts

Now Google’s Bard AI chatbot can talk and respond to visual prompts

Illustration: The Verge

Google is adding some new features to its Bard AI chatbot, including the ability for Bard to speak its answers to you and for it to respond to prompts that also include images. The chatbot is also now available in much of the world, including the EU.

In a blog post, Google is positioning Bard’s spoken responses as a helpful way to “correct pronunciation of a word or listen to a poem or script.” You’ll be able to hear spoken responses by entering a prompt and selecting the sound icon. Spoken responses will be available in more than 40 languages and are live now, according to Google.

The feature that lets you add images to prompts is something that Google first showed off at its I/O conference in May. In one example, Google suggested you could use this to ask for help writing a funny caption about a picture of two dogs. Google says the feature is now available in English and is expanding to new languages “soon.”

Google is introducing a few other new features, too, including the ability to pin and rename conversations, share responses with your friends, and change the tone and style of the responses you get back from Bard.

Google first opened up access to Bard in March, but at the time, it was available only in the US and the UK. The company has been rolling out the chatbot to many more countries since then, and that now includes “all countries in the EEA [European Economic Area] and Brazil,” Google spokesperson Jennifer Rodstrom tells The Verge. That expansion in Europe is a notable milestone; the company’s planned Bard launch in the EU was delayed due to privacy concerns.

Increasing speed limits can lead to more crashes and deaths, AAA finds

Increasing speed limits can lead to more crashes and deaths, AAA finds

Photo by Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images

Raising speed limits leads to more frequent car crashes, while lowering them leads to fewer crashes, a new analysis by AAA concludes. It’s the kind of conclusion that seems obvious on the surface but still needs to be highlighted given how many states seem convinced that raising speed limits can save drivers time, when all it really does is endanger the lives of pedestrians and cyclists.

The report is the latest in a growing body of evidence that finds that changing speed limits can have a big impact on road safety in the US. AAA analyzed a dozen roadways of varying types in the US in which half raised their speed limits while the other half lowered the limit. The group then did a before-and-after assessment to see what kind of impact the altered speed limits had on traffic safety as well as commute times.

The report is the latest in a growing body of evidence that finds that changing speed limits can have a big impact on road safety

Two of the three highways that increased speed limits experienced increased numbers of crashes, injuries, or deaths. Meanwhile, commute times remained “comparable” to where they were before the limits were raised — dashing the expectation that increasing speeds would lead to faster trips for drivers. A number of other road types that raised speed limits did not see a corresponding increase in crashes, injuries, or deaths, leading AAA to conclude that more research is needed.

Lowering speed limits also had a marginal impact on commute times, which could help dash arguments that altering limits come at the expense of travel time and driver convenience.

Speeding is a critical factor in traffic crashes in the US. Speeding-related fatalities recently reached a 14-year high, making up almost one-third of all traffic deaths, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This is amid an ongoing “crisis” in road deaths in the US, with traffic fatalities peaking in 2021.

AAA recommends that states apply a “holistic approach” to the question of raising or lowering speed limits, including the type of road, surrounding land use, and historical crash data.

“The movement in statehouses to raise speed limits is happening across the country in at least eight states this year,” said Jennifer Ryan, director of state relations for AAA. “But the benefits are overrated, and the risks are understated. Increasing speed limits does not always yield the positive results envisioned by traffic planners.”

FTC is appealing ruling that cleared Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard

FTC is appealing ruling that cleared Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says it is appealing a recent US federal court order that cleared the way for Microsoft to purchase Activision Blizzard. The FTC has filed a notice that it’s appealing Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s decision, but we won’t know the regulator’s arguments until the full appeal is submitted to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Microsoft won a grueling fight with the FTC earlier this week, with a federal judge denying a preliminary injunction request from the US regulator. “The Court finds the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition,” Judge Corley wrote in the ruling. “To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content.”

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

You can read the full notice of appeal here, but the document doesn’t have much more than this.

If the preliminary injunction had been granted, it would have temporarily blocked Microsoft from closing its Activision Blizzard deal until the result of the FTC’s own administrative case against the company. That separate legal challenge is still due to commence on August 2nd.

Now that the FTC is choosing to appeal Judge Corley’s decision, the regulator needs the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to issue an emergency stay to extend the existing temporary restraining order (TRO) that is set to expire at 11:59PM PT on Friday, July 14th. It’s not clear if the appeals court will even rule before the deal deadline on July 18th, potentially leaving the door open for Microsoft to close the Activision Blizzard deal on Monday or Tuesday without a restraining order in place.

Microsoft still needs to resolve the issues of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) with its acquisition before it can close, after the regulator blocked the deal on cloud concerns earlier this year. Both Microsoft and the CMA almost instantly announced they had agreed to pause their legal battles to negotiate after Judge Corley’s ruling on Tuesday.

In a surprise statement on Wednesday, the CMA then warned Microsoft’s opportunity to restructure its deal could “lead to a new merger investigation,” and that talks between the regulator and Microsoft were still at an “early stage.”

A report from CNBC originally claimed Microsoft and the CMA had agreed on a “small divestiture” to address the cloud gaming concerns, but was later corrected to clarify Microsoft has only offered “a small and discrete divestiture” that the CMA hasn’t necessarily accepted. CNBC didn’t expand on what that divestiture could involve, but such a scenario will likely be specific to the UK and could involve changes to Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming services in the region.

EU regulators also had cloud gaming concerns but approved the deal earlier this year thanks to 10-year licensing deals that Microsoft has offered to cloud gaming competitors. The CMA also warns that Microsoft doesn’t “have the opportunity to put forward new remedies” once a final report is issued.

Microsoft’s deal with the EU included a key remedy that involves a free license to consumers in EU countries that would allow them to stream via “any cloud game streaming services of their choice” all current and future Activision Blizzard PC and console games that they have a license for. Cloud providers will also be offered a free license to stream these games.

All eyes now turn to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and Microsoft’s potential deal with the CMA in the UK.

Correction July 12th, 7:33PM ET: Based on a CNBC report, this article originally stated Microsoft and the CMA may have agreed to a “small divestiture.” CNBC has corrected its article, and now says that Microsoft offered the divestiture without saying the change has been accepted.

Democrats call on DOJ to investigate tax sites for sharing financial information with Meta

Democrats call on DOJ to investigate tax sites for sharing financial information with Meta

Photo by Michael A. McCoy / Getty Images

A group of Democratic senators is urging federal law enforcement officials to investigate and prosecute some of the most popular online tax filing companies for allegedly sharing millions of taxpayers’ financial data with Meta and Google.

On Tuesday, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and others asked the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, Treasury Department, and the IRS to investigate whether TaxSlayer, H&R Block, and TaxAct violated taxpayer privacy laws by sharing sensitive user information with the two tech firms.

Senators also released their own report Wednesday detailing the accusations, first raised by The Markup last November. The report alleges that for years, tax preparation companies infused their products with Meta and Google tracking pixels that revealed identifying information — like a user’s full name, address, and date of birth. The senators also suggest that some of the information provided, like the forms a user accessed, could be used to show “whether taxpayers were eligible for certain deductions or exemptions.”

The senators claim that the companies did not receive user consent to share this information, which could violate laws banning tax preparers from sharing tax return information with third parties, especially since much of this data could be used for advertising purposes.

“The findings of this report reveal a shocking breach of taxpayer privacy by tax prep companies and by Big Tech firms that appeared to violate taxpayers’ rights and may have violated taxpayer privacy law,” the senators said in their Tuesday letter.

TaxSlayer, H&R Block, and TaxAct all confirmed that they shared “extensive taxpayer data” through Meta’s pixel in the senators’ report. After The Markup published its November findings, each of the companies said they had “removed or disabled” it from their websites.

‘An Act of War’: Inside America’s Silicon Blockade Against China

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F.T.C.’s Lina Khan Faces Fresh Questions After Microsoft Ruling

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OpenAI’s DALL-E will train on Shutterstock’s library for six more years

OpenAI’s DALL-E will train on Shutterstock’s library for six more years

Image: Shutterstock

Shutterstock is extending its partnership with OpenAI for six more years, allowing the AI company to train its models using Shutterstock’s sprawling library of images, videos, music, and metadata during that time.

The stock image site’s partnership with OpenAI first began in 2021. That’s when Shutterstock started letting the company use its images to train its text-to-image model, DALL-E — a deal OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described as “critical” to the model’s training. Last year, Shutterstock launched a “Contributor Fund” to compensate artists when their work is used to train OpenAI’s models.

At that time, Shutterstock also integrated OpenAI’s image generator directly into its website and banned the sale of AI-generated images that weren’t created using its built-in DALL-E tool. But now, Shutterstock is expanding this integration and says it will give users the ability to “edit and transform any image in the entire Shutterstock library.” Shutterstock also plans to bring AI features to Giphy, the GIF-making platform it acquired from Meta earlier this year.

“We’re pleased to be able to license Shutterstock’s high-quality content library,” Brad Lightcap, the chief operating officer of OpenAI, says in a statement. “This extended collaboration not only enhances the capabilities of our image models but also empowers brands, digital media, and marketing companies to unlock transformative possibilities in content creation and ideation.”

Unlike other image-sharing platforms like Getty Images, Shutterstock is fully embracing AI — and all the consequences that may come with it. Artists have expressed concerns about their work getting scraped to train AI models, which Getty Images has addressed by banning AI-generated content from its platform completely. Getty Images also sued Stability AI, the company behind the AI art tool Stable Diffusion, over allegations that it “unlawfully copied and processed millions of images protected by copyright” on its website.

While Shutterstock may see its library grow through its integration with DALL-E, it might not save the platform from the legal gray area surrounding AI-generated content.