Set in the immediate aftermath of World War II at a time when Japan had been left hobbled by the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Godzilla Minus One tells the story of how the country plunged even further into turmoil and chaos when the titular kaiju is awakened for the very first time. Between ongoing efforts to rebuild destroyed neighborhoods and tend to the countless people left injured by the war, resources are already stretched in the new trailer as Godzilla emerges from the sea, and starts trampling people while rampaging through a city center. Interestingly, there’s a brief flash of a document from the US Department of War that likely contains intelligence about Godzilla and his origins.
But the trailer makes it seem as if the Japanese government’s going to be left on its own to deal with the creature, and with the country’s military forces so depleted, it makes it that much more of a one-sided battle when Godzilla starts to unleash his fury. As terrifying as shots of flying train cars are, what really stands out in the trailer is just how much of an emphasis Godzilla Minus One is going to put on the iconography of nuclear destruction with sprawling mushroom clouds and closeups of Godzilla’s mutilated flesh.
It’s chilling, gruesome, and anything but subtle, which will probably make Godzilla Minus One one of the franchise’s more memorable entries when it hits Japanese theaters on November 3rd and US theaters on December 1st.
A first look at Atmos FlexConnect, Dolby’s latest attempt to fix bad TV audio
A Dolby graphic showing a TV connecting to two asymmetrical speakers. | Image: Dolby
The best bit of attending Berlin’s IFA trade show is when companies use it to offer an early look at tech that’ll get a “proper” launch later. That’s what I experienced with a demonstration of Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, a new technology to let you wirelessly connect compatible external speakers to your TV and create an Atmos-enabled spatial audio setup.
The most interesting part of Dolby’s pitch for the technology is that it’s supposedly far more forgiving about where you can place these specialized external speakers. They don’t need to be perfectly symmetrical, like the press shots show DTS’s similar wireless Play-Fi Home Theater standard. With Atmos FlexConnect, the idea is you can place your external speakers anywhere in the room with your TV, making them fit into your existing living space rather than asking you to move your furniture or mount speakers onto walls. Maybe one speaker goes on a bookshelf to the left of your TV, while a second sits on a side table to the right of your couch — the system is designed to be able to handle the asymmetry.
My demonstration of the technology took place at TCL’s booth at IFA. TCL is serving as Dolby’s launch partner for Atmos FlexConnect, and will be first to offer the technology on its 2024 TV lineup (so expect more mentions of the technology at CES next year). Dolby’s ambition is to eventually offer the technology on a wider range of TVs and speakers, but initially it’ll just be TCL.
The demo started with a calibration process, during which the two Atmos FlexConnect speakers being paired played a series of test tones that the TV’s microphones picked up and used to determine the speakers’ locations, as well as the acoustics of the demo room itself. From a technical perspective, the Atmos FlexConnect standard can simultaneously connect to dozens of speakers, but manufacturers will be more limited by the specific hardware inside their TVs. TCL is currently planning for two to be the maximum number of speakers that you’ll be able to pair with its 2024 TV lineup, though more affordable midrange models may be limited to just a single external Atmos FlexConnect speaker.
The calibration screen, showing that it’s identified the two speakers.
One of the speakers used in the demonstration, though TCL says it’s a prototype and that specs may change.
For our first demonstration, TCL and Dolby showed off the system working with a more-or-less stereo arrangement of speakers. One was placed front-left and one was front-right, although they weren’t placed with the exact symmetry you’d normally want for a stereo setup. The calibration process took a little over 12 seconds, and afterwards the TV showed off the locations of the two speakers in the room. These two “Tutti Choral Speakers” were equipped with five drivers apiece, including two that are upfiring to create the impression of sounds coming from overhead. But everything about these prototype speakers, from their branding to their design and driver configuration, is still in flux ahead of their release next year.
To show off what the system is capable of, we were played one of Dolby’s standard Atmos demo reels featuring plenty of height noise, including forest sounds, rain, and of course some rumbling thunder. As you’d expect, the addition of a pair of dedicated speakers resulted in a big step up over what you’d get out of a TV alone, particularly when it comes to bass. The audio sounded a lot more spacious than what you’d expect from a standard stereo arrangement.
Unlike a traditional soundbar setup, where a TV turns off its inbuilt drivers and relies entirely on the external speakers for sound, Dolby’s Atmos FlexConnect is designed for internal and external speakers to work together. That could explain why the setup didn’t sound off-center despite the slightly asymmetrical speaker arrangement, because the TV’s speakers were still handling the audio that’s supposed to sound like it’s coming from in front of you. Meanwhile the two external speakers added the most impact in the lower frequencies, which are both less directional (ie, it’s harder to tell where sound is coming from), and also exactly the kind of sound that’s most challenging for a TV’s diminutive in-built speakers to create.
The second speaker, placed to the back-left of the room.
After calibration, the interface shows where it thinks the two speakers are. One speaker can be seen on the right of the frame, the second was placed behind me. I was standing between the two speakers when I took the photo.
Next, one of the external speakers was moved from the front-left of the room to the back-left, to show off how the system would handle a totally asymmetrical setup. Once again the calibration process was run, and the TV’s interface updated to show that one of the speakers was behind us and to the left.
In practice, however, the spatial audio presentation was very similar, despite us now using a speaker arrangement that would cause a traditional 5.1 speaker installer to break out in hives. Listening for the midrange and treble frequencies specifically and it becomes more obvious where the speakers in the room are located, but the virtualization technology smoothed over the roughest edges.
My time with Dolby Atmos FlexConnect was far too limited to give any conclusive thoughts on how it performs versus more traditional alternatives like a home cinema amplifier wired into five or more separate speakers placed symmetrically around the listener, an Atmos soundbar equipped with upward firing drivers, or even an Atmos soundbar that relies entirely on virtualization to create height. But the sense I get is that Atmos FlexConnect isn’t really in direct competition with these other options. It’s a solution for people who have to (or want to) make compromises about how much they let their TV setup take over their living room. TCL and Dolby’s pitch is that you can just place your extra speakers where you have space for them, and let their virtualization technology work out the rest.
TCL wasn’t ready to talk pricing for its Atmos FlexConnect-enabled TVs or speakers at IFA, but expect more information to be announced when it details its 2024 TV lineup.
A first look at the 1TB black Xbox Series S
Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge
Microsoft has started selling a new black version of the Xbox Series S with 1TB of built-in storage. The only changes over the original white Xbox Series S are a black paint job on the exterior and more storage inside. Priced at $349, it’s still one of the most affordable ways to play Bethesda’s new Starfield game, which launches on Xbox Series S / X and PC this week.
The carbon black exterior now matches the larger Xbox Series X, with the $299 white Xbox Series S still available with its regular 512GB of storage. The increase to 1TB on this black model will allow you to install a modern Call of Duty game and not have to worry too much about how much storage is left over.
You’re essentially paying an extra $50 for 512GB of additional storage here, rather than the more than $100 pricing for the Seagate 512GB Xbox expansion card. This bump to storage is super important, as on the old Xbox Series S model you’d only get 364GB of usable storage. You now more than double that with 800GB of usable storage on the black model.
There are no changes to the ports on this model, so at the rear there are two USB ports, an Ethernet port, the storage expansion slot, and HDMI 2.1 out. At the front, there’s a single USB port and no disc drive. The black Xbox Series S also ships with a black controller, just like the Xbox Series X.
Microsoft has continued with the black coating on the speaker-like circle at the top, rather than swapping to a white coating. It’s the main fan for the Xbox Series S, where heat exhausts out of the console. It keeps the entire Xbox Series S uniformly black, unlike the black coating on this fan area found on the “robot white” 512GB model.
There could be some minor additional changes inside, but we’ll need to wait on a full teardown to see if that’s the case. The 1TB Xbox Series S in black is available now priced at $349.99.
Final Fantasy XVI is getting a PC port and two DLC expansions
Hopefully, it won’t be too long before PC gamers can also give Torgal a well-deserved scratch. | Image: Square Enix
The weekend bore some good news for PC gamers wanting to get in on the Playstation 5 exclusive Final Fantasy XVI JRPG. During the “Voices From Valisthea” panel at PAX West on Sunday, Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida announced that a PC port is currently in development for the latest addition to the Final Fantasy video game franchise, alongside two paid DLC expansions.
No details have been provided regarding a potential release date for the port or DLC, though at least one of the planned expansions will seemingly be set in Valisthea — the regional setting for Final Fantasy XVI. “I hope to be able to give you more information on both the upcoming DLC and the PC version before the end of the year, so please stay tuned,” said Yoshida in a video message during the panel.
Yoshida also announced that a free update is now available to download that adds several new cosmetic items to game like character costumes and weapon skins, alongside some minor bug fixes. You can read the full release patch notes for the update here if you want further details.
With a PC port now confirmed to be in the works, there’s a chance that we could eventually see Final Fantasy XVI released for the Xbox Series X|S platform. Sure, it’s currently being pitched as a PS5 exclusive, but according to an ad for the console (seen via IGN), that deal may only be limited to six months. Older titles like Final Fantasy XV have already been released on Xbox consoles, with the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV finally expected to join them sometime in Spring 2024. Square Enix and Microsoft’s Phil Spencer have previously claimed they want to bring more Square Enix games to the Xbox platform, so there’s certainly a case for it — even if nothing official has been confirmed yet.
Disney blames Charter for the ESPN blackout
The Verge
Last week, Disney blocked Charter’s Spectrum cable from accessing channels like ABC and ESPN over a disagreement between the two companies over new financial terms. Today, Disney says in a blog post that although Charter “claims to value Disney’s direct-to-consumer services,” it is “demanding these different services for free.”
With cable gradually losing customers and Disney openly musing about selling ESPN on its own as a streaming channel, Charter wanted to include Disney’s streaming apps with its subscriptions. The blackout comes during a weekend when high-profile sports events like the US Open and big college football games are happening (not to mention the first NFL games start next weekend).
Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge
Charter says Disney only has itself to blame for a video ecosystem that doesn’t work, driving up the prices for streaming and pulling content from cable.
Other cable companies have taken a different path in dealing with cable’s decline. Frontier and WOW!, for instance, both said to heck with it this year and essentially became YouTube TV vendors.
Qué son los deepfakes de voz, la nueva estafa bancaria Los estafadores tienen una nueva y potente arma de inteligencia artificial con la que intentan despojar a las personas de su dinero con engaños.
Roborock launches two midrange robovacs with high-end features
The Q8 Max is one of two new robot vacuums from Roborock. It features dual roller brushes, obstacle avoidance, and smart mapping features. | Image: Roborock
Robot vacuum manufacturer Roborock announced three new vacuum products at IFA 2023, the global tech show taking place in Berlin this week: the Q5 Pro robot vac; the Q8 Max robot vac; and the Dyad Pro Combo wet / dry stick vacuum. The new lidar-powered robot vacuums add more than double the suction power of previous models, a new and more advanced DuoRoller brush system, and more app features for a lower price. The Dyad Pro is a multifunctional upright vacuum that can convert to a stick vacuum.
Part of the company’s more affordable Q line, the Q5 Pro costs $429.99 standalone or $699.99 for the Q5 Pro Plus with an auto-empty charging dock. The Q8 Max costs $599.99 standalone or $819.99 for the Q8 Max Plus. Both are slated to go on sale in October.
Image: Roborock
The Roborock Q5 Pro and Q5 Pro Plus have dual roller brushes, mopping, and smart mapping features but can’t avoid objects the way the Q8 Max can.
The Q5 Pro is an upgrade to the Q5 and, along with the Q8 Max, is the first Roborock outside of the top-of-the-line S range to adopt the new DuoRoller brush system, which the company introduced earlier this year. This adds two rubber brushes that move in opposite directions to get dirt up more effectively.
The Q5 Pro adds mopping, plus 5,500pa of suction power and a 770ml extra-large onboard dustbin. It works with the Roborock app to schedule the robot’s cleaning, create a map of your home, and add no-go zones to help the robot clean more effectively. A new feature can also flag areas where it gets into trouble and auto-suggest you set up no-go zones in the map.
A new fast cleaning option in the app lets you run the robot 30 percent faster, and you can now set a specific direction to clean along the floor so your robot will head out in the direction of the floor seams on wood or floor tiles.
Image: Roborock
Roborock introduced a new cleaning feature to its app that allows the vacuums to clean in line with the seams of hardwood or tile floors.
The new Q8 Max is a step up from the Q5 Pro, adding Reactive Tech Obstacle Avoidance system, so it’s less likely to get stuck. It also has mopping, with a larger, 350ml water tank than the Q5 Pro (350ml), but without the advanced mopping features of some of Roborock’s models (such as the oscillating spinning mop heads on the Q Revo or the ability to lift its mops when it goes over carpet as found on the S8).
As someone who is less than sold on robot mops, I’m quite interested in this model. With 5,500pa suction power, dual roller brushes, and a basic mop, it’s the first midrange option with Roborock’s Reactivate Tech avoidance — which is not as good as its AI-powered avoidance but should help with avoiding socks and larger clutter.
Roborock’s S7 Max V has that more advanced obstacle avoidance — Reactive AI 2.0, which uses 3D structured light and a full-color (RGB) camera to navigate potential pathway problems. Roborock’s newer high-end models (the S8 series) use the Reactive Tech 3D system, which relies on 3D imaging instead of a full-color camera. An infrared sensor and a black-and-white camera help it navigate around things, and while it can see and avoid objects, it won’t know what obstacle it’s avoiding. Marcus Lai of Roborock tells me that this “performs as well as the Reactive AI 2.0.” I am skeptical.
Image: Roborock
The Dyad Pro Combo is five vacuums in one.
Image: Roborock
The wet / dry vacuum converts to a stick vacuum for multisurface cleaning.
The Dyad Pro Combo is a 5-in-1 wet / dry vacuum that can be converted into a stick vac. “It’s an all-in-one manual cleaning device for every surface,” says Lai. It features 17,000pa of suction, a multisurface brush, various attachments, and a pivotal head that makes it easy to maneuver. “It can suck up an entire bowl of cereal,” says Lai.
A smart sensor can detect how dirty the floor is and adjust the power level, and when you dock it, the vacuum will clean and dry itself. It has 60 minutes of runtime, costs $659.99, and also launches in October.
Correction, Sunday, September 3rd, 9:30AM:A previous version of this article gave the price of the Dyad Pro Combo as $550. Roborock reached out after publication to say the price is $659.99.
A super-simple way to organize your internet
Image: William Joel / The Verge
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 4, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, first of all, hi hello welcome, and second of all, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
Also this week, I have for you a bunch of cool stuff about old video games, another step toward ultra-repairable smartphones, the smart speaker that might just make assistants work, a way to keep your online life organized with basically no work, and Victoria Song’s homescreen. Let’s get to it.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to know more about? What awesome tricks do you know that everyone else should? What app should everyone be using? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com.)
The Drop
Starfield. A big, huge, epic, giant, massive sci-fi game that actually seems to live up to the hype. This is more of an “explore the universe” kind of game than a “shoot the bad guy” game, but that’s all the more reason you might find yourself spending way too many hours playing. Early access is already underway, and the game launches for real on Wednesday.
Can You Start a YouTube channel in 2023? I could watch Marques Brownlee and Cleo Abram talk about the mechanics of running and growing a YouTube channel for hours. MKBHD and Huge If True are two excellent channels, obviously, and it’s fun to hear them talk about storytelling, fighting with algorithms, and not getting stuck.
Obscura 4. I’ve always been kind of dubious of custom iPhone camera apps — the built-in one is good and so much easier to access and more reliable — but the new Obscura has me reconsidering. (MacStories has a good breakdown of everything that’s new.) All the gestures and dials do take some getting used to, but they put a million controls right in front of you as you shoot. Plus, the app is just lovely to look at.
The Big Flop: Quibi Bites the Dust. It’s so perfect and funny that you can tell the whole story of Quibi in one 37-minute podcast episode that is actually mostly just jokes about Quibi’s bad shows. But this is actually a pretty good recap and — call me crazy! — sort of convinced me that Quibi didn’t miss by too much. Other than the name. Good lord, the name.
One Piece on Netflix. The long-awaited live-action remake of One Piece, a popular manga and anime series, now has its full first season streaming on Netflix. The Verge’s Charles Pulliam-Moore says it’s one of the best anime adaptations yet, and I saw another review that called it a cross between Pirates of the Caribbean and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Sold and sold.
Aboard. A new app from Rich Ziade and Paul Ford, two people who tend to make good apps. The best way I can describe this one is “Trello meets Pinterest meets Google Sheets” — you can just dump in URLs, notes, images, spreadsheets, whatever, and organize it all in one place, alone or with others. The app is fairly barebones but already really nice to use.
The Making of Karateka. It’s a documentary, and also a video game, about the making of a video game. (The Verge’s Andrew Webster wrote a great story about it this week.) It’s like a choose-your-own-adventure movie, in which you can pick the parts you care about or just watch the story through — and then play the game at the end. It rules! I’d never even heard of this game, and I loved the doc just the same.
Ollie’s Arcade. Big week for old video games! This new iOS app is just a simple store for some simple retro games — so far, Snake, Ollie Soars (a Flappy Bird-style game), and a space-explorer game called Tranquility Touchdown. No ads, no sneaky subscriptions, just fun games for a couple bucks. If only all mobile games worked like this.
The Analog Weekly planner. I’ve been a fan of Jeff Sheldon and Ugmonk for a long time, and the standard Analog productivity system is one of those ridiculously luxurious things — it’s just paper and a paper holder, and it’s expensive! — that feels totally worth it. This new weekly planner looks great, and planning my life like this always makes my brain feel better.
Weekend project
I’ve gotten a lot of emails, posts, and messages the last few weeks all around a similar topic, which happens to be a thing I am personally fascinated by! So let’s do a slightly different thing in this space this week: instead of tips from the super experts, here’s a thing you can do this weekend that’ll make your online life better. We’ll do this from time to time, so if you have ideas, let me know!
All those messages I’ve gotten have been about what you might call “bookmarking apps.” I prefer to think of them as “link bucket apps,” just a place to put all the URLs you’re going to need at some point again later. Everybody just needs a place to put stuff, you know? You can technically use your browser’s bookmarks, but it’s a terrible UI, hard to search, just a bad system.
My favorite personal example is this: My nephew plays high school volleyball, and his team’s schedule is posted in some hard-to-find part of his school’s website. I don’t want to have to Google it again to find it or dig back through my texts for it, but I also don’t want it in my bookmarks bar when I’m only ever going to need it three more times. I have a million things like this, and I suspect most people do. And I have solutions!
I use an app called Raindrop.io, which works on basically every platform, integrates really easily with other apps, and makes saving super easy. I’ll dump a URL in there, rename the weird page title to “Kaiden’s volleyball schedule,” and it’s right there next time I need it.
There are a bunch of ultra-visual apps for this now, too. I mentioned Aboard above, and it does this job nicely. MyMind also falls into the “private Pinterest” category, as does Fabric. I haven’t tried Milanote yet, but I hear good things.
If you’re an Apple user looking for something a little sleeker (Raindrop is… not the best-looking app), you can use apps like Anybox or GoodLinks. GoodLinks is better if you’re also going to use it as a place to store and read articles, but Anybox is the more powerful organizer.
You can use a lot of note-taking apps as link buckets: Evernote, OneNote, and Notion all have good web clippers and good search, and you can have everything from Obsidian to Bear to Amplenote grab the full text of a page and save it for later. This strikes me as total overkill for this purpose, but it does work!
Read-later apps also fall into the not-exactly-right-but-does-work category. I don’t love Pocket as a reading app anymore, but as a place to save links and search through them later, it does fine; so does Instapaper. Anything with full-text search should do the job.
If you don’t want to think about this, my recommendation is just to use Raindrop. (There have been some security questions about the app over the years, both in terms of the permissions the app asks for and where the developer is located, but I haven’t found any reason not to trust Raindrop as much as any other online service.) It works everywhere, it’s super easy, and it saves me about a hundred re-Googles a day.
Oh, and related: I found this incredible list of single-purpose websites that do everything from complicated conversions to YouTube thumbnail downloads to just making your screen black so you can clean it, and like 40 of them are now saved to my link bucket for future use. I am going to be unstoppable.
Do you use a link bucket app? Did I skip it here? Tell me about it! Email installer@theverge.com (or just reply to this message if you’re seeing it in your inbox), and I’ll do some follow-up next week.
Screen share
A thing you should know about The Verge’s Victoria Song is that she is always wearing between two and 12 watches. As far as I can tell, she spends most of her time reviewing wearables, training for marathons, being sad about the demise of Fitbit, and trying to get everyone deep into K-pop. So of course I had to know what’s on her homescreen, right?
Here’s what she sent over, plus some info on the apps she uses and why:
The phone: iPhone 14 Pro Max that’s not purple enough, and I’m still mad ‘bout it
The apps: Calendar widget, Instagram, Photos, Camera, TikTok, Tody, Planta, Manta, Libby, Amazon, Co-Star, Google Maps, and Focus To-Do widget. In a cursed folder, I have the rest of my social media and chat apps: KakaoTalk (if you’re Korean, this is how your family will yell at you to call more), Signal, the app formerly known as Twitter, Ivory, Discord, Threads, Telegram, and Bluesky.
I’ve actually written about why I use Tody, Libby, and Focus To-Do for the site. In a nutshell, these are the holy trinity apps that kept me sane and functional when I was going through it. If Planta’s not on the homescreen, my plants will die. Manta is my guilty pleasure webtoon app where I read manhwa. And Co-Star is there so a brutally savage AI can roast me daily while delivering my horoscope.
The wallpaper: It’s a fanart of a person’s desk featuring subtle nods to my all-time favorite K-pop group EXO’s discography.
As always, I also asked Victoria to share a few things she’s into right now. Here’s what she said:
EXIST is EXO’s newly released seventh album. It’s a groovy summery album, and the title track, “Cream Soda,” is a bop. (The B-sides “Hear Me Out” and “Let Me In” are also great.) Why else do you think I have an EXO wallpaper at the moment?
This two-partotamatone rendition of Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life” lives rent-free in my head. I’ve since fallen down the otamatone TikTok rabbit hole. I don’t know what it says about me that the TikTok algorithm decided this was for me… but it was right.
Junk journaling. This is another hobby served up by the TikTok algorithm. Junk journaling videos are so oddly soothing and satisfying. I’ve been doing it for a while, and it’s a nice way to practice calligraphy (my other hobby) and use up my boxes of washi tape / paper scraps / stickers sitting in my closet.
Crowdsourced
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Emailinstaller@theverge.comwith your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week.
“The default fitness app for iOS has the ring system, but more than motivation, it can feel like a punishment. Say, if I am sick one day and I need a rest, there is no way I can pause the ring. Gentler Streak takes a new approach to workouts with intervals in between to rest. The app is beautiful and helpful.” — Utkarsh
“Voyager for Lemmy: If you were a Reddit user using Apollo, this app makes Lemmy feel right at home. What I like about this is because it’s a web app, I can use it on all my devices for a consistent experience. It has an Android UI theme in settings, so if Android users don’t like the Apple-centric design, they can change it to follow material design.” — Travis
“Thank you so much for recommending Beeper. I’ve been following Matrix for a while now — from what I can tell, ActivityPub has the apps, but Matrix’s source code has more potential. If you want a more traditional Matrix client, I’d recommend Cinny; it has the best UI and customization of all the apps I’ve tested (not including Beeper). I got it set up so that it feels like a minimalist Discord skin, which is really fun. I even used the t2bot.io Discord bridge bot to clone one of my personal servers.” — Dallin
“Loved the Zen Magsafe stand, but I feel like my favorite version of this (which is about to get very important given the new ‘StandBy mode’ coming to iOS 17) is the Forté by Twelve South. It’s so clean and elegant that Apple actually used it in its own promotional stuff. It’s also significantly cheaper than the Zen one!” — Peter
“I’ve been trying our Reeder. I know it’s not a new app, but I’m trying to fill the news void I have since leaving Twitter with RSS.” — Zeublon
“Capacities! I found a great recommendation from a thread by Casey Newton related to the tinkerpaloozaas that are most personal knowledge managers. Capacities has a fresh approach. Fun and free to try!”— Nathan
“I’m losing my mind over the fact that Analogue is releasing a glow-in-the-dark Pocket. Even though I already own one, I’m tempted to buy this version just because glow-in-the-dark is way cooler than the clear plastic trend that’s currently making a comeback.” — Matthew
“Molecano is a cute little mobile game that has elements of both the NYT Spelling Bee and Scrabble. I’ve now played an ungodly number of levels.” — Jared
“Obsessively into Siri Shortcuts automations: Open Instagram, lowers my media volume (no more autoplay scares); Open YouTube/daycare livestream, turns off orientation lock (and vice versa); Battery percentages trigger low power (30%) or normal power mode (80%); 10:00pm triggers grayscale color filter on my phone.” — Johnson
Signing off
Like I said earlier, I’ve spent a lot of time on the couch this week watching comfort TV, and one of the things I discovered was that Peacock has a whole series of “Superfan episodes” ofThe Office, which are basically slightly longer cuts of each episode with new footage. I’ve probably seen every episode of the show 25 times at this point, so to suddenly have a bunch of new scenes feels deeply bizarre. I like it, but I also hate it? It feels like someone came into my house and just subtly moved everything around; it’s not worse, necessarily, but it makes me kind of uncomfortable. In a world where everything is always being re-cut and remixed, I was surprised at how odd it felt to see new stuff in my favorite show. But it has at least given me a good reason to watch the entire show again, so I guess that counts for something.
Microsoft is removing WordPad from Windows after nearly 30 years
Illustration: The Verge
Microsoft is no longer updating WordPad and plans to remove the word processor from a future release of Windows. The software giant will instead recommend Microsoft Word, its paid word processor that has always been far more feature rich than the basic WordPad app that has shipped as part of Windows since Windows 95.
“WordPad is no longer being updated and will be removed in a future release of Windows,” reads a support note published by Microsoft on Friday. “We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like .txt.”
Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge
WordPad hasn’t been updated significantly since Windows 8.
News of the WordPad removal comes just a day after Microsoft revealed it’s upgrading Notepad with features like autosave and automatic restoral of tabs. Microsoft updated its Windows Notepad app in 2018 for the first time in years and went on to add tabs to the Windows 11 version.
WordPad hasn’t had the same amount of attention, though. The word processor was updated with Windows 7’s Ribbon UI, but after a slight Windows 8 redesign it hasn’t had any major additions. Microsoft will now remove WordPad entirely in a “future release of Windows,” which will most likely be the Windows 12 version we’re expecting to see in 2024 with plenty of AI-powered features.
Qué son los deepfakes de voz, la n ueva estafa bancaria Los estafadores tienen una nueva y potente arma de inteligencia artificial con la que intentan despojar a las personas de su dinero con engaños.
Saudi Dissident’s Brother Is Sentenced to Death for Social Media Posts on Royals Under a crackdown on dissent by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, prosecutors accused a retired teacher of treason after he criticized the ruling family.
Driverless Taxis Blocked Ambulance and Patient Later Died, San Francisco Fire Dept. Says Two Cruise taxis delayed an ambulance carrying a car accident victim to a hospital, a department report said. The company said it was not at fault.
Burning Man access is closed as heavy rains muddy the playa
A picture from Burning Man in 2009. | Photo by Frederic Larson/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Nobody can go in or out of Burning Man after heavy rainfall on Friday turned the desert floor of the playa into impassible, sticky mud, prompting the Festival’s organizers late last night to ask as many as 70,000 attendees to shelter in place (via SFGate). Organizers reposted a similar message to the Burning Man Traffic account on X (formerly Twitter) around 12PM ET today.
An estimated 6 inches of rain soaked the festival Friday, according to The Associated Press, citing the National Weather Service in Reno, and another quarter of a foot of rain could fall this evening into Sunday.
The Bureau of Land Management released a statement on Saturday saying festival officials and the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office “have closed ingress to the Burning Man event effective immediately and for the remainder of the event,” as quoted in the Reno Gazette Journal, and the bureau added that “more rain is expected over the next few days,” saying conditions weren’t expected to improve enough to allow for driving on the playa.
Journalist Scott Budman, who reports for NBC in the San Francisco Bay Area, posted a video filmed by Josh Keppel at Burning Man, showing the still-wet and muddy grounds and people walking through it:
Burning Man hit by heavy rains, now mud soaked.
People there told to conserve food and water as they shelter in place.
(Video: Josh Keppel) pic.twitter.com/DuBj0Ejtb8
Mini’s new Cooper EV centers a giant circular OLED on the dash
The 2025 Mini Cooper EV’s interior. | Image: Mini
The 2025 Mini Cooper EV reveal is showing off a facelift, increased range, and a giant, round OLED screen floating in front of the dashboard. The company says the Cooper E and Cooper SE — the two EV variants — have 190 miles and 250 miles of range, respectively, as calculated using the European EV test cycle. (Those numbers could drop to around 175 miles and 215 miles each when the EPA test cycle is applied, per Ars Technica.)
But about that big OLED touchscreen that now floats in front of the center of the dashboard instead of the embedded rectangle in past models. The company teased the Cooper’s redesigned interior earlier this year with videos showing the screen’s animations and followed that up with another release with more detail about its capabilities. The screen is also used to show Spike, a CG dog that represents the “fully-fledged voice assistant” the company announced a few months ago. (If you don’t like the dog, there’s also a “stylized representation of a Mini” option.)
When you cycle through the “Mini Experience Modes,” which change the car’s handling and responsiveness, Mini says the interior lights, instrument cluster, and OLED screen will all take on colors to match the vibe of the mode.
Voice control can be activated by saying “Hey Mini,” and it’s used, as you might guess, for navigation, phone calls, in-car entertainment, and “numerous other vehicle functions.” The company also says the car will learn from your routine when you take the same routes regularly and can learn to automatically roll down the window in the same place, for example. The display runs the Android-based Mini Operating System 9.
Mini says the 184hp Cooper E can reach 60mph from a stop in 7.3 seconds and has 214lb-ft of torque, while the more powerful 218hp Cooper SE variant, which offers 243 lb-ft of torque, can do it in 6.7 seconds. The Cooper E uses a 40.7kWh battery, and the Cooper SE’s has a 54.2 kWh capacity.
Finally, although the body style is still generally in keeping with past designs, there are some changes. The oval-shaped headlights’ LED surrounds now have coordinated “welcome and goodbye animation” and “three adjustable light signatures,” while the car’s rear has been switched up with angular lights that can also be personalized, as you can see in the TikTok video above.
Crop and Lock, available for both Windows 11 and Windows 10 v2004 (19041) or newer, has two modes — a non-interactive Thumbnail crop that’s essentially a live feed of the area you select that updates with the page, and a “Reparent” mode that Microsoft writes is more interactive, but could have compatibility issues with some apps.
You’ll need to make sure the window you want to crop is selected before you enter the shortcut — you can’t just grab any old app window on your screen.
Image: Microsoft
Crop and Lock in action.
Our own Sean Hollister gave the feature a spin, making a thumbnail crop of his Steam downloads and another crop of his office lights from Home Assistant, so he could keep a small window of only those controls. He found that creating a micro web browser with the Reparent mode was nice, but only allowed for vertical scrolling.
Screenshot: Sean Hollister / The Verge
Steam in a thumbnail crop.
Sean noted that when you close out of the cropped app window, the former, full window reappears.
Microsoft lists a few known issues:
Cropping maximized or full-screen windows in “Reparent” mode might not work. It’s recommended to resize the window to fill the screen corners instead.
Some UWP apps won’t react well to being cropped in “Reparent” mode. The Windows Calculator is a notable example of this.
Applications that use sub-windows or tabs can also react poorly to being cropped in “Reparent” mode. Notepad and OneNote are notable examples of applications that react poorly.
Crop and Lock was added to PowerToys version 0.73.0, which GitHub shows was released two days ago for both X64 and Arm64 architectures.
Mophie has three Qi2 magnetic wireless chargers on the way
Mophie’s new magnetic stands and mounts. | Image: Mophie
Mophie just announced at IFA that it’s releasing three Qi2-compatible, 15W wireless smartphone chargers — the Snap Plus Powerstation Mini Stand ($69.95), the Snap Plus 3-in-1 stand ($129.95), and the Snap Plus wireless charging vent mount ($69.95) — starting later this year.
The Snap Plus Powerstation Mini Stand is a 5,000mAh portable battery with an aluminum kickstand and a USB-C port on the side. The company says it can do “true 15W” charging for a Qi2-compatible device, similar to Anker’s new MagGo battery pack. The Snap Plus 3-in-1 stand also offers 15-watt charging, and Mophie says it can simultaneously fast charge your smartphone, AirPods, and Apple Watch.
The new Snap Plus wireless charging vent mount looks like an updated version of one Mophie already makes, just with Qi2 charging and a higher price tag. The company is also releasing a simple magnetic Snap vent mount for $29.95 later this year with the same form factor, but without charging. Both use a ratcheting hook to attach to your car’s air vents.
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The concern that 5G signals could cause massive flight delays appears to finally be over now that Delta has upgraded its airplanes to avoid interference.
Reuters reported the airline has finished updating the radio altimeters in its currently in-service fleet. Other aircraft out for planned maintenance will also be outfitted with the new altimeters. Delta told the Associated Press the update “means no Delta aircraft will be subject to additional weather-driven constraints.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had said certain 5G signals could impact the altimeters pilots use to measure how far they are from the ground during low visibility situations. Although altimeters and 5G cell towers don’t really share the same spectrum, the FAA believed some aircraft altimeters may have a problem distinguishing the radio signals. Thus began a fight between telecommunications companies and the FAA over where 5G signals could be turned on and with how much signal power.
Carriers were eventually able to turn on their 5G signals in most locations, but they continued to block off areas around airports while airlines installed updated altimeters.
Starting in July, airlines were prohibited from landing planes in certain low-visibility situations if their altimeters weren’t updated, leading US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to warn of potential flight delays and cancellations. Nearly all domestic aircraft were, with Delta being the major exception — the airline had 190 aircraft without the updated altimeters.
With those aircraft update, the 5G–airline crisis may finally be over.
Google raises Nest Aware subscription prices up to $30 per year
Nest’s wired indoor camera. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Google is increasing the price of its Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus subscriptions, which are required to get more than a few hours of footage history from Nest security cameras.
Nest Aware prices have increased to $8 a month or $80 per year, up from $6/month or $60/year, as first reported by 9to5Google. This is the first price hike for the video recording plan since 2020. Users still get 30 days of event video history, which records when the camera detects something.
Nest Aware Plus, the higher tier subscription, now costs $15/month or $150/year, up from $12/month or $120/year. Users still get the same 60 days of event history and 10 days of 24/7 video history.
9to5Google said the price hike is effective beginning September 1st for new customers. Existing US users will see the price hike on November 6th. Other countries will be informed at least a month before any price increases.
Honor’s V Purse is a fashion-inspired foldable concept phone
The concept phone is designed to have a range of purse straps attached to it. | Image: Honor
The V Purse is a new concept phone from Honor that asks “what if foldables were more like fashion accessories?” The company showed off the device during a presentation at IFA 2023 alongside the Honor Magic V2, its latest foldable phone announced in China earlier this year.
The V Purse is a demonstration of what’s possible for folding devices, and Honor hasn’t said if it’ll ever be released it as a product. Conversely, the company says it plans to release the Magic V2 globally no later than Q1 next year, CNBC reports, but has yet to officially announce pricing outside China.
There are two key elements to the V Purse’s design. First is a series of interchangeable straps and chains that clip on to the foldable and allow it to be carried like a purse or handbag. The second is the way it uses its outward-facing display to show a series of wallpapers designed to mimic different purse styles. It’s basically the opposite approach to what Louis Vuitton did in 2019.
Image: Honor
The purse designs can react to touch and motion.
Image: Honor
Honor showed off a range of different straps for the phone.
I will say that I think the attachable straps aren’t a terrible idea. Accessory manufacturers like Bandolier have proven that plenty of people are interested in attaching them to their existing phones as a convenient way to carry them around — without needing to buy an entirely new phone.
Having the V Purse’s foldable display on the unprotected outside rather than the inside of the device is a bold choice. Obviously the fact that you can see the screen at all times is the whole point of the device; Honor wants to use it to show off its always-on display designs. The company says it’s worked with a series of fashion designers and artists to contribute different themes for the device, and has said it wants to open up an API in the future to allow anyone to make their own. These designs can react to your touch as well as the movement of the phone.
The V Purse has a small button to unclip and unfold the display, and Honor says the device is less than 9mm thick when folded.
Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge
Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge
Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge
Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge
A nature-themed display animation.
But an outward-facing display comes with obvious durability trade-offs. Folding phone screens are soft and fragile, which is why they’re normally hidden safely inside the devices. Honor’s former parent company Huawei put its foldable screens on the outside for its earlyfoldable phones, but pretty soon it started putting them on the inside like everyone else. The risk of scratching or scuffing the delicate display is high, even if Honor says the V Purse’s hinge is rated to survive the same 400,000 folds as the Magic V2.
That said, these concerns are academic until Honor says it’s actually going to sell the V Purse publicly. Given our experience with previous concept devices like this, we might be waiting a very long time.
Tesla’s upgraded Model 3 has a new design, rear touchscreen, and range improvements
Image: Tesla
Tesla has announced an upgraded and redesigned Model 3 in Europe, known previously as the Highland. The new design includes changes to the front and rear, a new screen for rear passengers, a redesigned interior, and improvements to aerodynamics and range.
The most obvious exterior changes can be found at the front of the Model 3. The bump at the front has been removed in favor of a sleeker design with a single central vent. The headlights also look a lot slimmer with an Audi-like look for the LED daytime running lights.
Upgraded Model 3 launching today
Built for distance
Go up to 629km on a single charge with updated exterior styling optimized for max aerodynamics
Improved ride comfort
More refined & relaxed ride quality, thanks to a combination of stiffer body & updated suspension tuning.… pic.twitter.com/s8vJkd7h0r
Tesla hasn’t changed much on the sides of the car, but there are some new alloy wheel designs available — with 18- and 19-inch options. At the rear Tesla has swapped up the taillights so they’re not split like the previous model. The bumper has also been redesigned, with the fog lights integrated. There are also two new paint schemes: a red that looks similar to the Model S and a “stealth grey” option.
All the exterior styling changes also improve the Model 3’s aerodynamics, according to Tesla. This adds up to more than 10 percent of reported range improvements, so that’s 344 miles WLTP for the rear-wheel drive version, and 421 miles WLTP for the long range model.
The ride quality should also be improved with updated suspension tuning and a stiffer body. Tesla is also aiming to reduce the amount of noise inside the Model 3, with acoustic glass extended to the rear windows and back window.
Image: Tesla
The interior changes on the Model 3.
Even the inside is getting some significant changes. There’s a new dash design with LED lighting, a customizable panel, and changes to the steering wheel so the indicators are now a button rather than on a stalk.
The infotainment system has also been upgraded with a brighter and more responsive screen, the ability to toggle the passenger air system, and improvements to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. Tesla has also upgraded the stereo system to 17 speakers over the 14 found on the previous model.
Image: Tesla
The Model 3 rear screen for passengers is mounted on the back of the center console.
If you’ve got kids, friends, or family members that sit in the rear seats then they’ll now get their own screen to play with alongside more comfortable seats. The new 8-inch screen includes access to adjustable climate controls, music, or even entertainment apps like Netflix, YouTube, and Disney Plus.
Deliveries will start in October in select European countries and the Middle East, but Electrek reports that Tesla hasn’t announced availability in North America or the UK yet. The upgraded Model 3 starts at €42,990 for the rear-wheel drive model and €50,990 for the long range version.
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Yale launches a new home security system for Europe
The Yale Smart Outdoor Camera looks on even as the Smart Video Doorbell records a delivery. | Image: Yale
Yale has launched a new line of its home security products specifically for the European market. In addition to a new video doorbell, the company revealed the next-gen of its smart alarm system, plus new indoor and outdoor smart cameras — all of which integrate with its line of smart locks.
Using the Yale Smart Video Doorbell, you can keep tabs on your doorstep with 1080p footage and a 154-degree field of view. The device comes in wired and wireless options, offering two-way audio talk, live viewing, and night vision. You’ll receive a notification when the doorbell detects motion and when someone rings the doorbell. The Smart Video Doorbell itself costs £119.99 / €159.99.
Image: Yale
The Yale Smart Video Doorbell.
Meanwhile, the Smart Indoor Camera offers 1080p footage, a 110-degree field of view, night vision, and motion-triggered recordings. You can program the camera to enter a privacy mode whenever your door is unlocked, stopping it from recording while you’re at home. The device also offers customizable coverage zones, AI-powered human detection, and motion scheduling “to exclude notification triggers from regular occurrences.” It’s priced at £59.99 / €59.99.
Image: Yale
The Smart Alarm next to the Smart Indoor Camera.
Additionally, Yale is releasing wired and wireless versions of a new Smart Outdoor Camera with 1080p footage and a 154-degree field of view. For a price of £119.99 / €129.99, the device comes with a spotlight that turns on when it detects movement, motion-triggered recordings, and “enhanced” color night vision.
Image: Yale
Yale Smart Outdoor Camera.
You can link both of these cameras (and Yale’s other products) with Yale’s new Smart Alarm, which you can use to secure the inside and outside of your home. Like Yale’s other products, the Smart Alarm integrates with the Yale Home app, allowing you to remotely arm and disarm the device, as well as receive real-time notifications whenever its alarm sensors are triggered. You can use the Smart Alarm to control up to four areas of your property independently, but Yale notes that “each property requires its own individual alarm kit.”
The Yale Smart Alarm works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Philips Hue. You can also purchase a subscription to access additional features, such as cloud storage and cellular service that ensures your system is connected when your Wi-Fi goes down. While Yale also offers professional monitoring at an added cost, it’s not clear how much this — and the company’s subscription service — costs. The Verge reached out to Yale for more information but didn’t immediately hear back. The Smart Alarm is available as part of a kit starting at €349.99 / £349.99.
Image: Yale
The Yale ecosystem of products.
While companies such as Ring and Nest offer similar smart home security products — in Europe and the UK, Yale’s has the advantage of a tight integration with its line of door locks.
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