Category: The Verge

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Epic Games has just released an update for the iOS version of Fortnite that unlocks a niche-but-cool feature if you have the hardware to support it: a 120 frames per second mode for the latest (2018) iPad Pro. This mode makes the most of the screen’s high refresh rate to deliver ultra-smooth performance. The update also adds support for controller thumbstick buttons.

I checked the 120 fps mode out for a few rounds, and while I’m not sure how many people play competitive Fortnite on an iPad, the difference is noticeable. The frame rate does occasionally drop down into the 100s or 90s, which I’m sure will happen more often if you’re playing for hours on end, but otherwise the game does indeed deliver the advertised 120 fps.

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It can be difficult to find time to finish a video game, especially if you only have a few hours a week to play. In our biweekly column Short Play we suggest video games that can be started and finished in a weekend.

I was really into playing open-world games when the genre was still new. While I didn’t complete everything in those early Assassin’s Creed games, or in the original Crackdown or Infamous, I did spend a lot of time doing pretty much everything the games had to offer. These days, however, I find it pretty difficult to devote enough time to finish the main quest line of an open-world game, never mind the additional stuff. But The Touryst scratches that itch, only in a much shorter time frame.

The Touryst is a platformer /…

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Image: Sony Pictures

With all the noise around how there’ll probably never be a second season of Watchmen this week, I figured I should finally get around to writing about Watchmen since it’s been weeks since it wrapped up.

There was a ton I liked about the series: the show within a show; the oddball, barely explained side characters; the way it reframes some of the graphic novel’s biggest ideas. The Hooded Justice episode, in particular, was worth watching the entire season for. That hour is perhaps a better encapsulation of the show than the entirety of the show, and it feels so true to the book that it hardly seems like it wasn’t in there in the first place.

I did find the series’ structure a little frustrating, though. Very little actually happens during…

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Lenovo hasn’t made the best bets in virtual reality so far, but it seems like the company’s about to try again — according to a new FCC filing for the “Lenovo VR3030S,” which company docs identify as an upcoming standalone VR headset.

Standalone means that like Lenovo’s previous Mirage Solo or the Oculus Quest, it shouldn’t require you to plug in a phone or PC, because the processing power is built right in. But where the ill-fated Mirage Solo relied on Google’s effectively defunct Daydream VR platform, a new headset will presumably run on a different one: perhaps Valve’s Steam VR, Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality, or maybe even Facebook’s Oculus?

Speaking of Lenovo’s unlucky bets in virtual reality, it’s a little-known fact that the…

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Image: Moog

Moog has officially announced a new synth called Subsequent 25 at this year’s NAMM in Anaheim, California. Replacing the adored Sub Phatty synth, Moog’s made several tweaks with the Subsequent 25 that make it capable of delivering even more powerful bass and thicker leads than its predecessor.

The Subsequent 25 is Moog’s most compact keyboard synthesizer, which the company says makes it a fit for both stage and studio. Some will balk at the synth’s teeny size (the entire thing is just over 20 inches long!), but there’s appeal if you’re looking for that classic, beefy Moog sound in a pint-sized footprint.

Building upon the success of the Subsequent 37 and Sub Phatty, the Subsequent 25 is a two-note paraphonic analog synth that comes with…

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For practically as long as the Nintendo Switch and its removable Joy-Con controllers has existed, fans have been mocking up and wishing for Joy-Con-style GameCube controllers to use with the portable console. But hardware mod YouTuber Shank did more than just dream: he spent months turning the idea into reality, combining Joy-Con internals with original GameCube hardware to build the ultimate Switch accessory.

For the best look at the entire modification process, you should check out the full video on the Shank Mod YouTube channel, which gives a detailed and well-explained breakdown of the process.

The basic idea is simple. To start, Shank took original GameCube WaveBird controller shells, and…

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Co Star

Today I am going to get to the bottom of things and take myself out to dinner because I have an Android phone and there is finally an Android version of the popular Co—Star astrology app. The FOMO can now come to an end for Android users who have not been able to get the often snarky, always meme-ready insights from one of the most popular iOS lifestyle apps. The app launched today after much anticipation, adding a huge new audience segment to its loyal following.

“There were over 120,000 of you on the waitlist, and yes, we read every single one of your DMs and emails,” the company said in an announcement of the new Android app. “The truth is, Co–Star is just eleven humans, and we wanted to get it right.”

For the uninitiated, Co—Star is…

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The Pokémon Company has released two ASMR videos to kick off your weekend: one featuring a Charmander peacefully snoozing beside a crackling fire, and one with a Chespin munching away on some macarons. “This is a ASMR video for those who need a gentle Pokémon touch in everything!” the description reads. Headphones are recommended for optimal effect, so you can take in the full sounds of the crunching and crackling.

ASMR and pokémon are really a perfect match, because the tingly sensation I get from listening to soft sounds and voices are one and the same as the warm fuzzies I get from looking at cute pokémon. The 30-minute video of Charmander’s fireside slumber can be found on the official Japanese Pokémon channel. I’m bookmarking this…

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The Vergecast is back in the studio after the holidays and CES. The Verge’s Nilay Patel, Dieter Bohn, and Paul Miller get together to talk about the big takeaways from the Consumer Electronics Show as well as a few announcements in tech this week.

On Wednesday, we saw Microsoft release its new Chromium-based version of Edge across both Windows and macOS. The crew discusses whether this is the dawn of — you guessed it — a new round of the browser wars.

Then on Thursday, NBC hosted an event revealing details of its new streaming service Peacock, aka another participant in — you guessed it — the streaming wars.

All wars aside, these three friends are back together to put on an enjoyable episode of The Vergecast that you can listen to…

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Photo by Stefan Etienne / The Verge

If you’ve been waiting on a deal for Nvidia’s RTX 2060 desktop graphics card, the entry-level model in its lineup of raytracing-capable GPUs, an official price drop has been issued for the company’s Founders’ Edition model (via PC Gamer). It’s now $299 from Nvidia’s store, which is a $50 discount from the original price.

Admittedly, that’s not a huge price cut, and it’s not even the only RTX 2060 at this price point. EVGA makes a model going for this price, too. But the appeal here is that it now costs, at most, a measly $25 or so more than the Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti graphics card. While those cards are fairly comparable (they usually come within 10-20 frames per second of the RTX 2060’s performance in a lot of YouTube comparisons, and are…

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Image: Apple via Apple Archive

A new and completely unofficial archive of all things Apple is attempting to make almost 44 years of the company’s official videos, ads, and imagery available to browse online. 9to5Mac reports that The Apple Archive currently contains just under 1TB of data, comprising over 15,000 files, and it includes everything from print ads, to TV spots, WWDC sessions, internal training videos, and even a collection of macOS and iOS wallpapers.

The whole collection is well worth browsing through, but there are a few particularly interesting inclusions. This unreleased social ad for the long-delayed-then-cancelled AirPower charging pad is fascinating. Not only does it show off how Apple might have marketed its wireless charger had it actually…

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Today, Google shared an updated timeline for when Chrome apps will stop working on all platforms. June 2022 is when they’ll be gone for good, but it depends on which platform you’re on (via 9to5Google). Previously, we knew that Chrome apps someday wouldn’t work on Windows, macOS, and Linux, but today, Google revealed that Chrome apps will eventually stop working on Chrome OS, too.

A Chrome app is a web-based app that you can install in Chrome that looks and functions kind of like an app you’d launch from your desktop. Take this one for the read-it-later app Pocket, for example — when you install it, it opens in a separate window that makes it seem as if Pocket is functioning as its own app.

Y…

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For the last few months, Ryan Jones’ Guess My Word has offered a simple, albeit not always painless, way to breeze through downtime at work. It works in your browser, and it’s pretty simple: guess a word, and the software will tell you if the correct answer falls before or after it. Sounds easy, right?

Haha! Just kidding! It’s actually surprisingly hard and will make you realize how rusty you are at reciting the alphabet in your head. The game offers a “normal” and “hard” word to try every day. You can go until you win, or give up like a quitter and come back the following day for a new word. Once you’re done, you can check out the leaderboards to see where you fall. Like any good word of the day game, it encourages you to keep trying…

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Image: Akai

Akai has announced a new entry to its iconic MPC (Music Production Center) line called the MPC One. The standalone music-making workstation has a more compact form factor and borrows bits from other Akai products to offer an MPC at a more affordable price point.

There are a lot of similarities between the MPC One and its recent(ish) predecessors, the MPC Live and MPC X. They all have the signature square of 16 velocity and pressure-sensitive pads, a multitouch display, network connectivity, MIDI input and output, and are integrated with sample platform Splice, among other things.

When it comes to what sets the MPC One apart, it’s impossible to ignore the price. The MPC One is $699, which is a bargain when you consider the MPC Live is…

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Lucasfilm Ltd.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has officially crossed $1 billion at the box office worldwide, making it Disney’s seventh film in 2019 to hit the 10-figure mark, via Variety. But The Rise of Skywalker has taken longer than its predecessors to hit $1 billion, the latest indication that the ninth Star Wars film just isn’t doing very well at the box office compared to the other sequels.

For nearly any other film, hitting $1 billion at the box office in four weeks would be something to celebrate. But The Rise of Skywalker is a Star Wars film, as well as the closing piece of the resurrected sequel trilogy. It’s taken Rise of Skywalker 28 days to cross the $1 billion mark, when The Force Awakens hit that same mark in 12 days and The Last Jedi…

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Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verg

Today is the first time we’re seeing a price drop on the new Surface Pro X tablet, Microsoft’s reimagining of the stayed Surface Pro design that features a custom Qualcomm processor and supports 4G LTE out of the box. At Best Buy, you can get the base model (featuring 8GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage) for $899.99, which is $100 off of its usual price.

In order to get this deal, you’ll need to be a My Best Buy member, though it’s free to sign up. Once you’re signed in with your account, click the “Apply Offer” box below the price shown on the Surface Pro X’s product page.

Keep in mind that this purchase doesn’t include a Type Cover. If you want one of those, Amazon currently offers them for $109.99 (for fast shipping, select…

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Less than a week after news that Pokémon Sword and Shield will get new content through expansions, The Pokémon Company announced that it’s airing a new series on YouTube called Pokémon: Twilight Wings. The seven-episode animated show is based in Sword and Shield’s Galar region and features familiar faces like champion Leon and Chairman Rose.

Each episode will be about five minutes long, with new episodes airing once a month until summer. The first episode, “Letter,” takes place in a hospital where a boy named John wishes to see Leon in a stadium match. Short and simple, it’s beautifully animated and gives screentime to terrifying sweethearts like Corviknight.

The story arc seems doomed to tragedy, but hey, maybe John is just suffering…

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Image: Bang & Olufsen

Bang & Olufsen has updated its true wireless earbuds, giving them a big boost in battery life as well as a more compact design. The new third-generation Beoplay E8 earbuds now provide a total of 35 hours of listening when used with their charging case, up from the 16 hours you’d get with the second generation, while the buds themselves can now go for seven hours without needing to charge.

This is Bang & Olufsen’s third attempt at a pair of true wireless earbuds, so at this point, it’s got all the basics down nicely. The earbuds’ case can be charged over USB-C and supports wireless charging, which are features that were introduced with last year’s model. New for this year is support for Bluetooth 5.1 and the AptX standard. Bang & Olufsen…

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At this point, there are vanishingly few reasons to hang on to a Wii U. Since the debut of the Switch in 2017, Nintendo has steadily been porting the Wii U’s best games to its hybrid device, titles that originally didn’t reach a massive audience because the console was largely a flop. That includes everything from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze to Mario Kart 8 to New Super Mario Bros. U. So far the strategy has worked. In fact, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the Switch’s bestselling title, moving close to 20 million copies.

This week, one of the last great Wii U games is making its belated debut on the Switch. Tokyo Mirage Sessions may not be a huge Nintendo franchise, but for role-playing game fans, it’s worth checking out. It blends…

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Image: Spotify

Spotify is launching a silly new playlist generator today that promises to create a playlist that both you and your pet will enjoy. The whole thing seems to be designed to go viral, which is one of the ways Spotify has had luck standing out from competitors like Apple Music that have largely the same exact music offering.

To get a playlist for your pet, you have to head over to Spotify’s Pet Playlist website. It then presents you with five pet options — cat, dog, iguana, bird, or hamster — and asks you to define a few personality traits, like whether they’re energetic or relaxed, shy or friendly, and apathetic or curious. You can then add your pet’s name and a photo, and Spotify will spit out a playlist icon with your animal’s name on…

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