Here are the best iPad deals right now

Here are the best iPad deals right now

Select iPad models go on sale quite frequently, but some discounts on aging models are getting harder to find. | Image: Procreate

While the best iPad deals usually land during major sale events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Amazon’s various Prime Days, many of the best iPad deals from the holiday season have persisted into 2024. You can still take advantage of many of those discounts today, particularly on the more affordable iPads. What’s more, prices are likely to drop even further when Apple ushers in a new slate of models, which, according to the latest rumors, could happen as soon as next month.

Forthcoming models aside, it’s difficult to know where exactly you can find the most notable iPad deals unless you’re scouring the major retailers on a daily basis. But that’s often what our deal hunters at The Verge are doing each and every day, so let us help you out. Below, we’ve listed the best deals you can get on each iPad model that is currently available, from the cheapo ninth-gen iPad of 2021 to the latest models equipped with Apple’s powerful M1 and M2 chips.

The best iPad (2021) and iPad (2022) deals

Announced alongside the iPhone 13, the 2021 iPad is Apple’s aging entry-level tablet that still makes a fine device for doing the basics today. The ninth-gen model starts at $329 with 64GB of storage, though the base configuration with Wi-Fi is available at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart right now for around $249 ($80 off), which is just $20 shy of its lowest price to date.

As for the 256GB model that normally retails for $479, Amazon and Walmart are both selling it for $379 ($100 off), which is another second-best price. If you prefer your iPad to include cellular connectivity, the LTE model is also on sale in the 64GB configuration at Amazon and Best Buy for $379.99 ($80 off) instead of $459; you can also grab it in the larger 256GB configuration at Amazon and Best Buy for around $529 ($80 off).

A last-gen model is still worth considering

The last-gen iPad uses an A13 Bionic processor and a 12MP wide-angle camera with Center Stage, a feature designed to keep you framed up and centered while on video calls. The tablet also carries over a number of features from its predecessor, such as the 10.2-inch display, a Touch ID fingerprint sensor built into the home button, and a Smart Connector for connecting a Smart Keyboard.

Although the newer 10th-gen iPad came out in late 2022, the last-gen model is still an excellent tablet — one we consider to be a better value in most instances. The latest iPad modernizes the design with a switch to USB-C, uniform bezels with no home button, a side power button with a fingerprint sensor, and a larger display, but it excises the headphone jack and retails for a much steeper $449. That’s not much of an entry-level price, so hopefully the ninth-gen model sticks around and continues to see moderate discounts.

However, if you do prefer the latest model, the 10th-gen iPad is on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target right now in the 64GB base configuration for around $349 ($100 off). As for the 256GB / Wi-Fi version that normally costs $599, Amazon, Best Buy, and Target are currently offering it starting at $499 ($100 off). These are actually worthwhile deals for the 10th-gen model, which makes it worth considering over the cheaper ninth-gen model if you prefer a more modern design and support for USB-C charging.

The best iPad Mini (2021) deals

The sixth-gen iPad Mini has a larger screen than its predecessor, along with a top-of-the-line processor, support for USB-C, and options for 5G. It has forfeited its 3.5mm headphone jack and dedicated home button in the process, but overall, it’s a solid device that brings a fully refreshed design to Apple’s small tablet form factor.

The changes and refinements to the new iPad Mini come at a heftier price, however, and the new 64GB Wi-Fi model now starts at $499. Electing 256GB of storage brings the price up to $649, while the 5G cellular models are $649 for 64GB and $799 for 256GB. These are some big numbers for a small iPad, and the larger iPad Air might be worth considering if you prefer your dollar to go further with more screen real estate. But if you want the latest and greatest from Apple in a smaller format, this is where the action is.

As of right now, Amazon and B&H Photo are selling the 64GB base model of the iPad Mini for $469 ($30 off). If you need additional storage, Amazon and B&H Photo also have the 256GB / Wi-Fi model for $617 ($32 off). As for the cellular version, you can often find the 64GB model with 5G on sale for $549.99 ($100 off), but no retailers are offering discounts on it as of writing. If you want the step-up 256GB version with LTE, however, it’s on sale at Amazon in pink for $629 (about $170 off).

The best iPad Air (2022) deals

The latest iPad Air usually costs $599, but right now, it’s on sale for around $449 ($150 off) at Best Buy and Walmart, matching its all-time low. The Air is our top iPad recommendation for most people thanks to its speedy M1 processor, modern design, and midrange price. For those who crave more storage, the 256GB variant is also available for $599.99 ($150 off) at Best Buy.

The 2022 iteration of Apple’s lightweight tablet is similar in terms of its capabilities when measured against the previous-gen model but still offers a handful of iterative upgrades. The most pronounced improvement is the M1 processor, which offers better performance, and the front-facing 12MP camera comes equipped with Apple’s Center Stage feature that helps to keep a moving subject centered when recording video or during video calls.

The best iPad Pro (2022) deals

The latest generation of iPad Pros looks a whole lot like the prior model from 2021, as the changes are primarily on the inside. The new Pros still come in 11-inch and 12.9-inch sizes, with the better-looking Mini LED panel once again reserved for the larger model, though both now pack Apple’s newer M2 CPU for even better processing power.

The striking resemblance to the prior generation aside, there are a few reasons to opt for a Pro over something like an Air, such as Face ID unlocking and additional base storage. If display quality is the most important factor in your purchasing decision, the 12.9-inch version is the way to go, as its Mini LED display achieves deeper blacks and better contrast, much like an OLED panel.

Aside from that, as well as a nifty new hover feature that shows where your second-gen Apple Pencil’s tip will land before you touch the screen, they’re very similar to the older models from 2021. The 128GB base models even start at the same price — the 11-inch and 12.9-inch models retail for $799 and $1,099, respectively, and go up from there. As for 5G cellular versions, the 11-inch model starts at $999 and the 12.9-inch model at $1,299.

Sadly, there currently isn’t much in the way of deals on the 11-inch M2 iPad Pro. The best deal you can get is on a Wi-Fi model with 128GB of storage, which is selling for $749 ($50 off) in space gray at B&H Photo. You’ll have to keep checking back if you’re seeking a deal on the larger 12.9-inch model, however, as there are currently no deals available on the larger configuration.

Apple is reportedly working on AI updates to Spotlight and Xcode

Apple is reportedly working on AI updates to Spotlight and Xcode

Illustration: The Verge

A report from Bloomberg says Apple has expanded internal testing of new generative AI features for its Xcode programming software and plans to release them to third-party developers this year. Apple also reportedly looked at potential uses for generative AI in consumer-facing products, like automatic playlist creation in Apple Music, slideshows in Keynote, or AI chatbot-like search features for Spotlight search.

The search upgrade could let iOS and macOS users make natural language requests, like with ChatGPT, to get weather reports or operate features deep within apps.

While other tech giants have been more prominent in releasing AI research and products, in the past few months, Apple released an open-source machine learning framework called MLX that makes it easier to train AI models on Apple silicon chips, a text-to-image editing AI model MGIE, and an AI animator called Keyframer.

Similar to Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot and Amazon’s CodeWhisperer, the programming tool Apple is working on applies a large language model to predict and complete strings of code and potentially write code to test apps.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts that GitHub Copilot had 1 million paying users as of November 2023. Since its launch, GitHub has added more capabilities to Copilot, including a chat feature that guides coders in real time and points out potential code breaks. Microsoft said it will have more news about Copilots and AI for developers at its Build 2024 event in May, and Apple may announce more about its AI plans during the annual WWDC event for developers later this year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s statements about generative AI have been conservative compared to his counterparts at Google and Microsoft, but he confirmed in an investor call this month that more generative AI features will be coming this year. Sources told Bloomberg that executives demonstrated many of the AI features for Xcode to Apple’s board late last year.

The best Presidents Day deals you can already get

The best Presidents Day deals you can already get

More than two dozen great products are already on sale ahead of the holiday, including Google’s Pixel Buds Pro. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Presidents Day has us thinking about the upcoming election season — not to mention the hotly contested debates and the inevitable onslaught of presidential memes, some of which are likely to be dangerously believable. Regardless of how you feel about politics, however, the holiday remains a great time to save, especially since many deals go beyond the furniture and big-name appliances that will dominate most circulars in the run-up to the holiday on Monday, February 19th.

We’re already seeing tech sales pop up at trusted retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, where you can find great deals on the gadgets we’ve tried, tested, and wholeheartedly recommend. We’re seeing great prices on devices like Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max and the Roomba j7 (our favorite robovac) as well as the original Google Pixel Watch and excellent OLED TVs like the 65-inch Samsung S95C and LG’s 48-inch C3. We’ve put together a list highlighting the best deals below, which we plan to update throughout the week as more deals and discounts drop.

Smart home deals

• Amazon’s third-gen Echo Show 8 is down to $89.99 ($60 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. The eight-inch smart display can help you manage your other smart home gadgets, keep you up to speed on the news and weather, and make hands-free video calls using one of Alexa’s many skills. It also has a better speaker array and touchscreen than the previous model and adds essential smart home protocols like Zigbee and Thread. Read our review.
• If you just want a small, affordable smart speaker, the fifth-gen Echo Dot with its integrated LED clock is down to $39.99 ($20 off) at Amazon and Target. You can start even cheaper with the colorful Echo Pop, which is going for $24.99 ($15 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. If you’re anticipating a full smart home buildout, however, we’d recommend starting with the fourth-gen Echo, which has better compatibility with the growing list of Zigbee and Matter devices. It starts at $79.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and The Home Depot.
• You can save up to 43 percent on Blink cameras right now, including the 1080p Blink Mini, which is on sale for $19.99 ($10 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and The Home Depot. You can also pick up the Blink Video Doorbell, which you can use wirelessly or hook into your existing doorbell wiring, for $34.99 ($35 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and The Home Depot. Blink devices are some of our top home security picks for those with tighter budgets, though you’ll need a premium subscription plan ($3 a month) to make the most of them.
• Ring doorbells and cameras are available for up to 40 percent off right now. You can go for the standard battery-powered Ring Video Doorbell that’s only $59.99 ($40 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and The Home Depot or get inside coverage using the second-gen Ring Indoor Cam with an integrated privacy shutter for $39.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and The Home Depot.

Laptop and tablet deals

• The latest Amazon Fire HD 10 is down to $94.99 ($45 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Kohl’s in the 32GB configuration; you can also step up to 64GB of storage for $104.99 ($75 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. Amazon’s inexpensive tablet runs Fire OS, which comes with a shaky app store and lock screen ads that cost extra to remove, but it’s one of the few we’d recommend for around this price if you want a basic tablet for media consumption.
• The HP Pavilion Plus 14, which is currently on sale at Amazon for $799.99 ($500 off), is a nice value for a 2.8K 14-inch OLED laptop with a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia RTX 2050 graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. We reviewed the 12th Gen Intel model favorably, but it lacked dedicated graphics, and we’d have appreciated better battery life and a sturdier build quality.

TV and monitor deals

• You can save up to 38 percent on Fire TV devices, including the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, which is down to $39.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. We feel it’s worth paying slightly more for the Max model over the standard Fire TV Stick 4K, as it has faster performance and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. Read our review.

• Samsung’s 49-inch Odyssey G9 is available for $1,199.99 ($400 off) from Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung. We reviewed the QLED model favorably, and the QHD OLED model is capable of the inky colors and contrast we felt the lesser model should have had to justify Samsung’s original asking price.

• Samsung’s 32-inch M8 Smart Monitor is down to $399.99 ($73 off) in white at Amazon. That price is $300 lower than the original asking cost and more than fair for a solid USB-C monitor that doubles as a 4K smart TV. It has apps that let you stream shows and do work, along with a built-in microphone and webcam for making video calls. Read our review.

Headphones and earbud deals

• The Google Pixel Buds Pro are going for $149.99 ($50 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, which is just over $20 more than their all-time low. We think the Buds Pro are the best earbuds you can buy if you own Pixel devices, as they integrate with Google devices more seamlessly. They support newer features like multipoint and spatial audio, too, and come with solid noise cancellation and great battery life. Read our review.
• Amazon’s second-gen Echo Buds from 2021 are down to $74.99 ($45 off) at Amazon. They’re some of the best earbuds you can buy for the money thanks to their great sound quality, ANC, and passthrough performance. They can be a little thirsty for power, however, which is why you might want to consider picking them up with a wireless charging case at Amazon for $94.99 ($45 off). Read our review.
• Sennheiser’s Momentum 4 headphones are down to around $299.95 ($80 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Adorama. Their 60-hour battery life is more attractive than their dull design, as is their audio quality, which rivals more expensive headphones like Apple’s AirPods Max. They’re also a lot more comfortable than the previous model. Read our review.

• The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, aka the best noise-canceling earbuds you can buy, are down to $249 ($50 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Adorama. They offer up to six hours of battery life, IPX4 water resistance, and Immersive Audio (Bose’s version of spatial audio) but are missing conveniences like multipoint support. If you don’t need spatial audio, the QuietComfort Earbuds II are also a great buy, especially since they’re on sale for $199 ($80 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Adorama.

Gaming deals

• Samsung’s 512GB Evo microSD card is going for $24.99 ($10 off) at Amazon. It works great for bumping up the storage on handheld consoles like the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck as well as smartphones or cameras that use SD card slots. It includes an adapter for the latter, though its V30 speeds aren’t ideal for some advanced 4K recording codecs.
• Newegg is selling an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X for $374.99 (about $415) with coupon code PDSSDPA385. It’s one of the lowest prices we’ve found for the 16-core, 32-thread Zen 3 processor, which is one of the most powerful you can buy for an AM4 motherboard.
• Newegg is currently selling digital copies of Diablo IV Ultimate Edition for the Xbox Series X / S for $59.99 ($40 off). The newest in the series, Diablo IV is a massive sequel to the action RPG series with a sinister new antagonist, more dynamic classes, and a reimagined gear system that makes it easier to stack up critical damage. The ultimate edition of the game includes a mount, mount armor, an emote, and a battle pass accelerator that lets you skip 20 tiers.

Smartwatch and wearable deals

• The Google Pixel Watch is going for $199.99 ($150 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store. The second-gen model — which is also currently on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store for $299.99 ($50 off) — is better in almost every way, but the original Pixel Watch was a good first-gen wearable that reset the tone for what a Wear OS watch should be. Just make sure you keep a charger handy on longer days. Read our review.
• Now through February 19th, eBay is letting you save 20 percent on a refurbished Apple Watch Ultra 2 (or any other item from its Presidents Day sale). That brings Apple’s premium smartwatch down to $583.99 ($146 off) with a one-year warranty when you use offer code PRESIDENT20. Read our review.

Other tech and miscellaneous deals

• The Google Pixel 8 is on sale for $549 ($150 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store, which is a great price for a flagship-level smartphone running Google’s latest Tensor G3 chip. It’s also still one of the best smartphones for snapping photos and video, but the Pixel 8 Pro — currently $799 ($200 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store — is even more impressive thanks to its added telephoto camera. Read our review.
• We like EcoFlow’s portable power stations, and its Delta 1300 model is only $799 ($300 off) at Amazon. It has six 1800W AC outlets, four USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, and a car charging port. It’s also compatible with optional solar panels, such as one with a 60W capacity that’s only $99 at Amazon ($40 off).
• The Sony ZV-1 II is down to around $798 ($100 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Adorama. Designed for content creators, the ZV-1 II is a solid vlog-friendly 4K camera with a fixed 18–50mm zoom lens that can stop down to an f/1.8 aperture, an improved touch user interface, and refined shooting modes that make it easier for beginners to get good shots compared to the original.

Terrorists are allegedly buying blue checks on X

Terrorists are allegedly buying blue checks on X

Illustration: The Verge

A report from the nonprofit Tech Transparency Project (TTP) alleges that X has been selling premium subscriptions to subjects of US sanctions, including leaders of the US-designated terrorist organization Hezbollah. The TTP report identifies 28 accounts that were granted checkmarks under owner Elon Musk’s paid verification plan, evading rules that formally state they’re banned from using it. The allegations raise new questions about how strictly social media platforms should vet users — after the Supreme Court ruled just last year that the platform formerly known as Twitter was not responsible for abetting a terrorist attack.

The TTP report lists the full series of sanctioned entities that got verified on Twitter. The wide range of names includes:

• Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose account has over 93,000 followers and was listed as “ID verified,” meaning the owner provided government-issued identification to X.
• Iran state news outlet Press TV, one of two accounts (alongside Russia’s Tinkoff Bank) TTP found with a gold “verified organization” checkmark, which typically cost $1,000 a month at the time of TTP’s research.
• Al-Saadi Gadhafi, son of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who apparently subscribed to Musk’s posts for a time as well.
• Ansarallah, the Yemeni group more commonly referred to as the Houthis — though their official US designation as a terrorist group doesn’t kick in until later this week.

TTP says most of the accounts were verified after Musk took over Twitter and began requiring paid verification. Ten were paying to keep “legacy” checkmarks they’d been granted earlier.

X didn’t offer a comment to TTP at the time of the report’s publication. But it appears to have removed nearly all the verifications, although the two gold checks still appear on Press TV’s and Tinkoff Bank’s accounts. (TTP notes that it also banned one account on the list, linked with Iran-backed militia Harakat al-Nujaba.)

In a post emailed to The Verge, the X safety account also pushed back on TTP’s claims. “X has a robust and secure approach in place for our monetization features, adhering to legal obligations, along with independent screening by our payments providers,” it reads. “Several of the accounts listed in the Tech Transparency Report are not directly named on sanction lists, while some others may have visible account check marks without receiving any services that would be subject to sanctions.” X stated that it had reviewed the report and would “take action if necessary.”

US businesses are barred from economic transactions with people and organizations on sanctions lists. As TTP points out, X’s own policies ban buying premium subscriptions if you’re sanctioned or otherwise banned from financial dealings in the US. TTP points out that it’s possible, albeit unlikely, that X gifted the blue checkmarks to terrorist groups for free — but the ban covers “contribution” of goods and services, too. It’s also possible some unrelated party duped X’s verification program with impersonation, a widely reported problem on the service, though many of the accounts appear well established and credibly belong to their supposed owners.

Beginning in its pre-Musk days as Twitter, X was the subject of a high-profile legal fight over whether it materially supported terrorists. The surviving family of an Islamic State attack victim sued it for failing to ban accounts linked to the group, taking their case to the Supreme Court in February 2023 as Twitter v. Taamneh. But the court unanimously decided against holding Twitter responsible for “aiding and abetting” the attack. An opinion authored by Justice Clarence Thomas declared that the terrorist group’s relationship with Twitter was comparable to Twitter’s “arm’s length, passive, and largely indifferent relationship with most users.” The court applied the same logic to a similar case involving YouTube, avoiding a potentially explosive fight over online liability laws in general.

The question on the table here is different: did Twitter accept hard digital cash (even if it was only $8 a month) from people it was banned from financial dealings with? It’s an issue that’s becoming more and more relevant for social platforms, which, after years of free access, are increasingly pushing users to pay up.

But the court also made a point of distinguishing conscious collaboration from sometimes failing to enforce a stated policy on a platform with hundreds of millions of users. And X, in its favor, did appear to cull the subscriptions when it was made aware of them. Either way, there’s no legal challenge to X here at the moment — just a bad look for the company’s verification plan.

Tesla’s latest update takes aim at cold weather woes

Tesla’s latest update takes aim at cold weather woes

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Tesla rolled out two changes in its latest vehicle software update — 2024.2.6 — that appear to be aimed squarely at battery issues that immobilized cars during an extreme cold weather event in January. One of those new features will tell Tesla drivers how much time they can expect until their battery is warm enough for DC fast charging, while the other will automatically defrost the charge port.

According to the update’s release notes published by Not a Tesla App, the charge port will start warming automatically when drivers use the car’s navigation feature to get to a charging station. Frozen charge ports could be one of the issues that left drivers stranded during an extreme cold snap in Chicago earlier this year, especially if the drivers forgot to follow Tesla’s recommendations for dealing with extreme cold.

Another issue might have simply been that their car batteries weren’t ready to fast-charge, so having a timer telling you how long it will be until your car is ready to accept a Supercharger would obviously be handy.

Not A Tesla App notes that older Tesla vehicles would adjust battery range estimates depending on external factors, including driving history or outside temperature, but for whatever reason, that hasn’t been part of newer models. But with this update, range estimates will consider the age of the battery. Given Tesla’s issues with its range estimates in the past, that may be a step in the right direction.

Walmart might buy Vizio to win the fight over cheap TVs

Walmart might buy Vizio to win the fight over cheap TVs

Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Walmart is eyeing a $2 billion deal to buy the TV maker Vizio, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The deal would put the retail chain in a better position to compete with the affordable smart TVs from Roku and Amazon than its existing Onn house brand. It would also give Walmart access to the breadth of customer data collected by Vizio’s smart TV platform and the revenue stream created by serving up personalized ads and taking a cut of subscription fees.

After years of putting its Roku operating system on other TVs, Roku finally launched its own line of smart TVs last year and is ramping up its efforts with plans to release more expensive Mini LED TVs this spring. Meanwhile, Amazon is steadily building out its lineup of Fire TVs while also expanding ads on the TV’s OS.

Image: Roku

Walmart might find itself competing against Roku’s smart TVs.

Walmart partnered with an advertising company last year to provide personalized ads on connected TVs and teamed up with Roku to offer shoppable ads on TVs in 2022.

Additionally, as pointed out by the WSJ, Walmart could leverage its ownership of Vizio to sell ads shown on TVs in stores. The company is already doing this with TV brands displayed inside its stores and is even showing ads in self-checkout aisles. Vizio and Walmart declined to comment on the report.

SpaceX to Launch Intuitive Machines Nova-C Moon Lander: How to Watch

SpaceX to Launch Intuitive Machines Nova-C Moon Lander: How to Watch Intuitive Machines of Houston, the latest private company to attempt to carry NASA payloads to the lunar surface, will lift off early on Wednesday.

It’s not just you: Alicia Keys’ Super Bowl halftime show got changed for YouTube

It’s not just you: Alicia Keys’ Super Bowl halftime show got changed for YouTube

Image: NFL

A crane shot slowly sweeps down toward a massive, billowing rose-red cape attached to someone playing an equally red grand piano. As the camera closes in on the figure, you realize it’s Alicia Keys, playing the descending triplets that begin “If I Ain’t Got You,” one of her earliest and biggest hits. Her voice, as smooth as ever, eases in with a shortened version of the hums that begin the original recording, then she starts belting out the chorus lyrics... and her voice cracks immediately.

That’s how Keys’ surprising (and brief) cameo during Usher’s Super Bowl 2024 performance kicked off if you were watching live. But those who didn’t watch wouldn’t know it now without reading social posts about it or news stories like this AV Club one, because there’s no evidence of it in the official video posted by the NFL after the fact.

Last night Alicia Keys’s voice cracked (first video), and fascinatingly, the official NFL YouTube channel appears to be attempting to erase that little moment, having edited it out in their upload (second video). pic.twitter.com/EM4k8rWT8c

— Robert Komaniecki (@Komaniecki_R) February 12, 2024

If it was an intentional edit, it was an easy one — tricks like cutting out bits of audio and lengthening a nearby note to fill the space are trivial. It’s also not all that unusual — AV Club points out that Jennifer Lopez’ raw 2010 Saturday Night Live performance was altered for a later video upload. It happens elsewhere in entertainment, too, like that disappearing coffee cup in Game of Thrones or just so much of the original Star Wars trilogy, right from the beginning.

If you were among the 126.6 million people whom are estimated to have watched the game live — a record, if accurate — just know that as you watch the NFL’s YouTube upload, you aren’t suffering from the Mandela effect. Keys’ voice really did break; they just don’t want you to know about it.

FCC commissioner wants to investigate Apple over Beeper Mini shutdown

FCC commissioner wants to investigate Apple over Beeper Mini shutdown

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to investigate Apple’s response to Beeper Mini — the app that briefly brought iMessage to Android. During the State of the Net Conference on Monday, Carr said the FCC should look into whether Apple’s move “complies with the FCC’s Part 14 rules” about accommodating users with disabilities.

Beeper Mini launched last year, allowing Android users to gain access to iMessage features, including blue message bubbles and the ability to send high-quality photos and videos. However, Apple quickly blocked Beeper Mini users and continued to shut down attempts to make the app work, leading its developers to eventually just give up.

Today, I called for the @FCC to investigate whether Apple violated our Part 14 rules by blocking Beeper Mini - an app that enabled interoperability between iOS & Android messaging.

Beeper bridged the “blue bubble - green bubble” divide that Apple maintains as part of a broader… pic.twitter.com/vxefQZKDXb

— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) February 12, 2024

The FCC’s Part 14 rules lay out requirements that “advanced communications service,” such as iMessage, must follow to ensure they’re accessible. By putting a stop to Beeper Mini, Carr argues Apple may violate the FCC’s rule that says providers “shall not install network features, functions, or capabilities that impede accessibility or usability.” He says that the low contrast on the green bubbles “makes it difficult for people with low vision or difficulty with seeing from picking up those messages.”

“Apple made changes to iMessage to disable the functionality of Beeper Mini,” Carr said. “The FCC should launch an investigation to look at whether Apple’s decision to degrade the Beeper Mini functionality that was being provided, which again, encouraged accessibility and usability, was a step that violated the FCC’s rules.” The Verge reached out to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to see if the agency plans on investigating but didn’t immediately hear back.

It seems like Carr is concerned about more than just the Beeper Mini debacle, though. He also mentioned Apple’s impact on the augmented and virtual reality spaces and criticized the walled garden Apple puts around its products and services. “I think there are potentially negative consequences if Apple perpetuates a world in which it treats its own proprietary technologies one way and degrades the performance of competitive ones,” Carr said.

One of NASA’s new spacesuits passes microgravity test

One of NASA’s new spacesuits passes microgravity test

Collins spacesuit during the test | Collins Aerospace

Collins Aerospace, a private company hired to create spacesuits for use outside the International Space Station (ISS), has tested its suit aboard a commercial microgravity flight, passing a milestone that lets engineers move forward toward critical design review.

NASA outsourced the design of new spacesuits in 2022 after spending 15 years trying to develop new suits on its own. Collins Aerospace said the suit is lighter and has less volume than the “enhanced” Extravehicular Mobility Units that current NASA astronauts use. It can be modified when missions change and fit a much wider range of body types far more easily than the older suits that are based on designs that are decades old.

During the test, the plane executed “roller-coaster-like maneuvers” to induce weightlessness and allow someone wearing a prototype to see if it actually lets someone move around in it under those conditions. As seen in the video below, they tried things like navigating through doors in zero-G.

“The Collins team validated suit performance in a manufactured zero-gravity environment onboard an aircraft, performing a series of demonstrations performed by experienced former NASA astronauts.” - Collins Aerospace

Collins Aerospace’s next test will put the suit in a vacuum chamber to see how it performs in the vacuum of space, while a test under 40 feet of water at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Texas will simulate microgravity for spacewalk training.

The ‘queer.af’ Mastodon instance disappeared because of the Taliban

The ‘queer.af’ Mastodon instance disappeared because of the Taliban

Image: The Verge

Were you aware that the “.af” domain extension is administered by Afghanistan’s government? That’s a truth that the “queer.af” Mastodon instance is now reckoning with as the Taliban, which has controlled the country since 2021, has shut down the domain, according to 404 Media. And it may not be alone, given reports that other .af domains have abruptly gone dark, too.

Erin Shepherd, the administrator of the instance and key ActivityPub developer, told the outlet they were already planning “to shut things down” instead of renewing in April, but that the early termination was a surprise. An email from the Afghanistan Ministry of Communications and IT that Shepherd posted said that the queer.af domain had been suspended and that websites or emails connected with it “will cease working shortly.” The instance had been in place since July 2018, 404 writes, as a place “for those who are queer or queer-adjacent who would like a more pleasant social media experience.”

Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge

Shepherd’s post showing the notification from the Afghanistan Ministry of Communications and IT.

Shepherd said in another post that all .af domains acquired through the Gandi domain registrar had been shutdown, mentioning inet.af as one. We’ve reached out to Gandi to verify and to ask for more information, but at the moment, a message on Gandi.net says that the registrar is no longer registering, renewing, transferring, or restoring .af domain names. Internet Archive captures show the site had already stopped taking new registrations for the domain extension by October 2020 and disabled renewals of it by November of last year.

When country code top-level domains (TLD), or ccTLDs, are used outside of those countries, it can have substantial downstream effects like this or, as 404 notes, can even be a massive source of income for smaller nations like Tuvalu, which made enough money off of its “.tv” ccTLD to fund its entry into the United Nations in 2000.

But there are less cheerful potential ramifications of choosing to use ccTLDs, whether as a gag or some other reason. For example, Ukraine asked the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to disable the Russia-administered “.ru” extension after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. ICANN denied the request, but domain providers like Namecheap ended services for customers using the extension, while Reddit blocked links appended with it.

The safer alternative is to use generic TLDs like “.com” or “.net,” or any of the many others that have no specific association with a country or organization, and of course, most websites on the internet use extensions like those, according to Statista.

Microsoft is working on its own DLSS-like upscaler for Windows 11

Microsoft is working on its own DLSS-like upscaler for Windows 11

Photo by Ashish Vaishnav/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Microsoft appears to be readying its own DLSS-like AI upscaling feature for PC games. X user PhantomOcean3 discovered the feature inside the latest test versions of Windows 11 over the weekend, with Microsoft describing its automatic super resolution as a way to “use AI to make supported games play more smoothly with enhanced details.”

That sounds a lot like Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology, which uses AI to upscale games and improve frame rates and image quality. AMD and Intel also offer their own variants, with FSR and XeSS both growing in popularity in recent PC game releases.

Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge

A new AI super resolution feature has been discovered in Windows 11 test builds.

Microsoft has not yet officially announced this new super resolution feature, so it’s not clear exactly how it will work, nor if it will require any specific hardware. Nvidia’s DLSS leverages the tensor cores that ship on its RTX range of graphics cards, whereas AMD’s FSR and Intel’s XeSS are both powered by their respective GPU hardware.

Microsoft is also working on an improved color management feature for Windows 11, which will be particularly useful for the latest round of OLED monitors that make use of HDR. Windows has lacked a good OS-level color management system for years, leaving PC gamers having to add custom color profiles in a dialog box that looks like it shipped in Windows 95.

With today's Windows Insiders build for Canary and Dev (Build 26052), users will be able to see the new Color Management settings page located under Settings > System > Display > Color management. This new page allows users to add/remove color profiles, set defaults, and more! pic.twitter.com/T05KvasqfO

— DirectX 12 (@DirectX12) February 8, 2024

With the upcoming changes, color management will be integrated into the main display settings area of Windows 11, allowing PC users to set color profiles for sRGB and DCI-P3. There’s also a new feature that will automatically control these various color profiles.

“Auto color management makes sure your apps and other content have accurate colors on this display,” says Microsoft about this color management feature. It’s not clear if this will let Windows 11 users easily change gamma curves, though. Hopefully this means Microsoft is investing more in HDR support on Windows, which can lead to a washed out desktop experience if enabled system wide.

When the Voice You Hear Is Not the Actor You See

When the Voice You Hear Is Not the Actor You See The playwright Lucas Hnath has been making magic with the sound of speech. Now he’s directing a play by Mona Pirnot, his wife, in which a computer speaks her words.

Super Bowl 2024: the best ads and movie trailers

Super Bowl 2024: the best ads and movie trailers

Super Bowl merchandise is ready at the NFL Super Bowl Experience in Las Vegas, Nevada. | Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

These are the best ads we’ve seen from the Super Bowl this year.

It’s Super Bowl time again, which means it’s also time for the Puppy Bowl and Nickelodeon’s slime-filled broadcast. But amid all of that, we’ll have the biggest collection of ads anyone looks forward to watching.

We probably won’t see much in the way of crypto ads, but we probably will see at least some AI ads, and you can bet Apple will be at the ready with a Vision Pro commercial. Of course, companies want to get all the mileage they can out of these frequently big budget commercials, so lots are already out there.

Ahead of the Super Bowl, Microsoft released a Copilot AI ad for “the big game.” Google has one for the Pixel phone’s AI-powered Guided Frame camera accessibility feature. I’m conflicted about Patrick Stewart singing along to Creed’s “Higher,” but Paramount Plus’ Super Bowl commercial is probably a net good.

The Kansas City Chiefs are going up against the San Francisco 49ers this Sunday, February 11th, at 6:30PM ET. It’s been four years since the Chiefs beat the 49ers in 2020’s NFL championship game, and a year since the Chiefs’ victory against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Apple Music-sponsored Usher halftime show should be a big production. Barring any issues with her flight from Tokyo, Taylor Swift will be there watching her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and you can bet many among her legion of fans will tune in as well.

CBS is broadcasting the Super Bowl this year, but you can also catch it on Paramount Plus.

The latest iOS beta makes it easier to use Apple Cash

The latest iOS beta makes it easier to use Apple Cash

Now you can turn your Apple Cash card into a Visa card. | Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge

The iOS 17.4 beta lets iPhone users generate a virtual card number for Apple Cash, reports 9to5Mac, citing user reports on Reddit in the last couple of weeks. With a virtual card number, iPhone users can pay with Apple Cash even when Apple Pay isn’t available, removing one of the big limitations of Apple’s built-in Venmo-like service.

I’m seeing the option in the 17.4 beta as well, but as 9to5Mac notes, its possible it hasn’t been rolled out to every beta user. It’s easy to check if you have it, though. Simply open the Wallet app, tap on your Apple Cash card, and look for a message below your balance invites you to set up a virtual card number — doing so is a simple, two-step procedure.

Screenshots: Wes Davis / The Verge

Setting up the Apple Cash virtual card number is very easy.

Once you’ve created the number, you can tap the three dots menu in the top right to view the newly-generated card information, which includes an expiration date and three-digit security code. Apple Cash still appears to use a separate card number for Apple Pay transactions — that’s now another menu deeper from the card number info screen, when you tap “Additional Card Numbers.” After setting up the feature,

This is a nice change for frequent Apple Cash users since, as widely as Apple Pay has been adopted, there are still plenty of places where it’s not supported. Now, users can auto-fill their Apple Cash card number rather than deal with transferring money to their bank, which costs a small fee when users choose the instant transfer option versus the free 1 – 3 business day alternative.

A crowd destroyed a driverless Waymo car in San Francisco

A crowd destroyed a driverless Waymo car in San Francisco

Firefighters attempt to put out the Waymo car. | Image: FriscoLive415

A person jumped on the hood of a Waymo driverless taxi and smashed its windshield in San Francisco’s Chinatown last night around 9PM PT, generating applause before a crowd formed around the car and covered it in spray paint, breaking its windows, and ultimately set it on fire. The fire department arrived minutes later, according to a report in The Autopian, but by then flames had already fully engulfed the car.

At the moment, no outlets seem to have reported a motive for the attack. Waymo representative Sandy Karp told The Verge via email that the fully autonomous car “was not transporting any riders” when it was attacked and fireworks were tossed inside the car, sparking the flames. Officer Rueca of San Francisco’s police department confirmed in an email to The Verge that police responded at “approximately” 8:50PM PT to find the car already on fire, adding that there were “no reports of injuries.”

A video posted by the FriscoLive415 YouTube channel shows the burnt-out husk of the electric Waymo Jaguar.

Another set of videos posted by software developer Michael Vendi gives a view into the scene as it played out and the fire grew.

happening NOW in SF. Waymo car vandalized & lit on fire @sfchronicle pic.twitter.com/OEZYFiy6mv

— Michael Vandi (@michael_vandi) February 11, 2024

The fire takes place against the backdrop of simmering tension between San Francisco residents and automated vehicle operators. The California DMV suspended Waymo rival Cruise’s robotaxi operations after one of its cars struck and dragged a pedestrian last year, and prior to that, automated taxis had caused chaos in the city, blocking traffic or crashing into a fire truck. Just last week, a Waymo car struck a cyclist who had reportedly been following behind a truck turning across its path.

City officials and residents opposed the cars being given a license for 24/7 operation last year, with some residents rendering them immobile by putting orange cones on the cars’ hoods in protest.

Vandalism and defacement are time-honored parts of the human experience, seen in subway cars in New York City or the walls of the ancient destroyed city of Pompeii. Tech companies have been forced to reckon with this inevitability as they deploy their equipment in public with impunity. Scooters get tossed into lakes, cars are punched by pedestrians, and in some places, dockless bike share bikes are destroyed en masse.

The hottest new(ish) thing in social networks

The hottest new(ish) thing in social networks

Illustration: William Joel / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 25, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been watching Mr. & Mrs. Smith (which is awesome) and Argylle (which is not), reading about the tech vs. media wars, AI-created fake IDs, and multibillion-dollar arenas, debating canceling Amazon Prime, and trying out Crouton for managing recipes and grocery lists.

I also have for you Google’s new AI tools, a new-ish social network, a better take on Google Docs, a new weather app worth checking out, and a bunch more. Let’s dig in.

(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What should everyone else be into right now? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them, and tell them to subscribe here.)

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The Drop

• Bluesky. The cool kids club of social media is now open to everyone! And as every site is required to do, it promptly crashed in a bunch of big and funny ways as people poured in. It’s still a pretty new service, but it has a lot of really smart ideas about social — I love the way it handles custom feeds and usernames in particular.
• Google Gemini. Great news: Google heard your complaints that Installer is too heavy on iOS-only apps and released the new Gemini app exclusively on Android. (In your face, iOS.) Google’s AI chatbot also got a new name this week, and Google also released its new and supposedly much more powerful model, Gemini Ultra, to the public.
• “Why ‘Shot On iPhone’ Commercials Look So Good!” This video moves so fast, I had to check my settings to make sure I wasn’t accidentally on 2x. But it’s a great look at the state of camera gear, a fun interview with an accomplished filmmaker, and a life lesson: understanding your tools is more important than getting “better” tools. Deep!
• The Ring Battery Doorbell Pro. Not the cheapest Ring doorbell out there, nor the most powerful, but this does seem like the Goldilocks model — more accurate sensors, all the features you want, super easy to install. I agree with my colleague Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, though: the basic Ring look needs a redesign.
• Craft. Craft is basically what Google Docs would be, if anyone at Google cared about making Google Docs nice to use. And this lovely little note-taking app just got a bunch of really nice collaboration features, which make it even more useful. Craft is still a little fiddly for my taste, but it’s a really well-made app.
• iCloud for Windows. Big week for iPhone-owning Windows users! The iCloud app got a big update, Apple Music and Apple TV are no longer in “preview” mode, and it’ll all just work better. And the best news? You basically don’t have to use iTunes ever again.
• Tokyo Vice. This is such an underrated show. I didn’t really get it at first, but it has this intense, relentless energy that kept me hooked. Reviewers seem to think season 2 is even bigger and better, and I’m psyched to dive back in.
• The Weather Channel app. You know I love a weather app, and TWC’s new one is a huge upgrade: it’s much nicer-looking, has lots of alerts and personalization (I currently worry a lot about UV index, not so much about air quality), and some nice news integration. iOS-only for now, though, and I do still hate the icon. Gotta fix that icon.
• Physical Media Strikes Back With Tim Simons. From the very good podcast The Big Picture, this is almost 90 minutes of talk about Blu-ray organization, box-set tips, what it means to own a movie, the changing entertainment industry, and much more. As the proud owner of exactly zero DVDs, this made me want to start a collection.
• MGIE. Lest you think Apple is sitting out the generative AI revolution, here’s something cool: a model designed to make image edits just by describing them. “More blues!” “Move that thing over there!” “Make my face less bad!” Not a real product yet, but a really cool idea.

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Screen share

This is the 25th edition of Installer! It’s our silver anniversary. This newsletter can now rent a car. Very soon, Installer will begin its quarter-life crisis.

First of all, thanks to everyone who has read, subscribed, and recommended stuff for these first 25 issues! This has been so much fun, and the Installerverse community has decimated my phone storage and increased my screen time in all the best possible ways.

Second of all, it’s time to do something I plan to do every 25 issues, which is to share my own homescreen! As Installer’s Head Tester of New Stuff, I’m constantly experimenting with new apps, new widgets, and new ways of using technology. So I figure that, every now and then, I should share how it’s going.

So here’s my homescreen, as it looks right now:

The phone: iPhone 15 Pro.

The wallpaper: A picture of my wife and son on the lock screen, same picture blurred on the homescreen. For some reason, having two different pictures just feels aesthetically weird to me, but I also don’t like having a super visible wallpaper obscuring all the icons. So this basically works.

The apps: Google Maps, Day One, Weller, Readwise Reader, Unread, Sofa, Phone, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Camera.

My dock has the four categories of apps I use most, but the apps in there change depending on what I’m testing or pretending will make my life better. Right now, the messaging app is just Apple Messages, the notes app is NotePlan, the calendar is Minical (which I just discovered this week thanks to Christopher Lawley), and the browser is Arc Search.

I’m using an icon pack from Ruffsnap, which I mostly like! It doesn’t cover every app I use, so I’ve had to repurpose some icons onto other apps; you’ll notice that is not the Day One icon, for instance. But I like the custom icons because they look nice and also because these Shortcuts bookmarks can’t have badges on them. The only apps allowed to have badges are the social, chat, and email apps in the Comms folder. (Content is news apps, games — that sort of stuff.)

This has been my homescreen vibe for a few weeks now, and it’s working pretty well! But I’m already looking for a better calendar widget (why does everyone make such ugly calendar widgets?!), and I’m already looking longingly at another notes app. Please send help.

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Crowdsourced

Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email installer@theverge.com or message +1 203-570-8663 with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week.

“If you are looking for a display that can show your calendar, I urge you to take a look at DAKboard. More than a calendar, lots of different things, and cheaper: monitor and Raspberry Pi for under $150. And it’s worth the five bucks a month — fun to build and integrates with so many other services.” – Doug

“Skylight is amazing. For my mom. Because it’s simple. For you, get the largest 720p TV or monitor you can for your space, a Raspberry Pi, and use the DAKboard project. It will change your life.” – Jeremy (Two DAKboard recommendations! Guess what I’m doing this weekend…)

“Griselda! Like every other narc show I’ve watched but the fact that everyone is Colombian and actually speaking in Spanish adds a ton for me.” – Ema

“I’m late, but worth a mention on the ‘how I get my news’ topic: WhatsApp Channels! I discovered this feature about two months ago and have used it daily since. I follow certain channels that I like (NYT, WSJ, sports-themed, even celebrity-themed, etc.), and their top stories make it to the WhatsApp channel that I catch up on as if it were a group chat with my friends.” – Santiago

“I don’t know if this counts, but my friends and I are playing StarCraft II again. It has co-op, and we just noticed.” – Forrest

“Radiant is a really nice, customizable Mastodon client for iOS. It’s free to use but has a reasonable upgrade as well. And Elk is also a great Twitter-looking web app for Mastodon.” – Harvey

“There is a series of apps that are called ‘Not Boring.’ A set of apps that look absolutely beautiful, with wonderful graphics and amazing haptics. I especially love the Weather app because messing around with the icons is awesome.” – Arjun

“I received the Analog Weekly planner from Ugmonk for Christmas, and I’ve been using the heck out of it paired with a Field Notes memo book. I take meeting notes in Field Notes and put key weekly tasks / deadlines on the Analog Weekly planner.” – J

“I’ve been using a free iOS app called ScreenZen to claw back control over my phone usage. Crucially, instead of just informing you about your usage at the end of your day, it helps you kill the compulsion by setting a countdown screen before you open an app. Other app blockers do this, but what’s special here is what it calls Pause Groups, so you can set different rules for different apps, websites, categories, etc. Couple these Pause Groups with Focus Modes and Shortcuts, and you have some pretty powerful stuff.” – Zack

“How about the Libby app? I’ve been using it since 2017. It’s free, one just needs a library card to use it, and I love it for the audiobooks it has.” – Pooja

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Signing off

The Super Bowl is this weekend, which means a hundred million or so Americans and I will be camped in front of the TV for about 14 consecutive hours on Sunday. Here’s a life hack: as always, most of the best Super Bowl ads are already online, so you can peruse them now and then use in-game commercial time for things like naps and beverage refills.

And here’s a fun game to play: when you watch the ads, try to figure out which one will get some celebrity sued the way all those crypto ads did a couple of years ago. Who’s going to court over an AI ad this year? I have some guesses.

See you next week!

Imran Khan Uses A.I. To Give Victory Speech in Pakistan

Imran Khan Uses A.I. To Give Victory Speech in Pakistan It was not the first time the technology had been used in Pakistan’s notably repressive election season, but this time it got the world’s attention.

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace will hit theaters again in May

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace will hit theaters again in May

Image: LucasFilm / Disney

Pod races, trade negotiations, and Darth Maul will be on the big screen once more when Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace comes back to theaters on May 3rd, 2024. The return is meant to celebrate the 1999 movie’s 25th anniversary, reports Empire.

The return to theaters comes during a renaissance for this part of the long-running franchise. In the last few years, Disney has given the prequel era the nod with series like Ahsoka, Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Bad Batch. Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker in the second and third movies, told Empire in an interview that his experience with Star Wars has been “a very heartwarming one,” and that the response to them today “feels like vindication for the work we did.”

Disney and Lucasfilm hired poster artist Matt Furgeson to create a new poster for the films, too.

Every saga has a beginning.

Star Wars The Phantom Menace turns 25 this year!

To celebrate, the film will be back in theaters - May 2024!

I had the distinct pleasure of continuing my series of anniversary one sheet posters & was hired by Disney & Lucasfilm to make this new art. pic.twitter.com/ajMpou0VJL

— Matt Ferguson (@Cakes_Comics) February 10, 2024