Category: The Verge

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Slack, the instant messaging app of choice for many companies, has probably become an even bigger part of your life if you’re working from home. And while Slack is usually used for work, it’s also very useful for conversing with friends and family. Slack offers paid plans, but anyone can sign up for the free version and create a workspace, a virtual space where you can set up different conversations and projects.

Each of those conversations and projects on Slack are called channels. These channels function like chat rooms or group chats. While there isn’t a limit to the number of channels you can make or private messages you can send in Slack, the free version will only let you see the last 10,000 messages sent in your workspace.

Slack…

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Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Nikon has made its entire curriculum of online photography classes free until the end of April.

Now through April 30th, all 10 classes available at the Nikon School can be streamed for free. The classes are normally priced anywhere between $15 to $50 each.

Each class is taught by a professional photographer and provides in-depth lessons to help you get better at taking photos. Some courses cover Nikon-specific products, but many of them teach you the fundamentals of photography, such as a course that teaches you how to photograph your children or pets or the basics of making a music video. So even if you don’t own a Nikon camera, many of these classes might still be worth a watch.

If you’re interested in streaming the courses, you can…

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Image: Amazon

The latest addition to Amazon’s Blink lineup of home security cams is the Blink Mini, a compact indoor camera that supports two-way audio. It’s available for preorder through Amazon now for $35 (two of them cost $65, saving you $5), and it will release in a few weeks. Considering the low cost, it seems to hit all of the fundamentals that you might expect from a home security camera, plus some.

The Mini can record in 1080p resolution, supports motion detection, and has a night vision capability via infrared light. The Blink Mini also allows for two-way audio, so you can chat through the speaker with a family member or friend who’s using the Blink app. It even includes a stand that you can use to angle the camera to your liking.

Unlike…

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Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Epic Games has mostly prevailed in a lawsuit over its “Phone It In” Fortnite emote, although saxophonist Leo Pellegrino can continue with a claim of false endorsement. A Pennsylvania judge ruled on the case earlier this week, offering a rare legal exploration of whether you can own a signature dance move — and the results look good for Epic.

Pellegrino sued Epic last year for allegedly misappropriating his likeness with the Fortnite dance. He argued that the “Phone It In” dance was inextricably linked to his musical performances, and Epic was copying it to profit off his fame. District court judge John Padova wasn’t convinced. He dismissed seven of Pellegrino’s eight claims and denied a request to amend and resubmit them, concluding that…

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The Sonos Beam soundbar is $50 off at Amazon and includes a free $20 gift certificate that you can use for future purchases. This model is Wi-Fi-ready, so if you have other Sonos speakers, those can be connected for multiroom audio. It also supports Alexa voice commands. The Verge’s Nilay Patel reviewed it, and he found that it’s easy to set up, and it provides a big boost in sound performance over what your TV speakers can likely produce.

The Beam typically drops in price by $100 around big shopping holidays like Black Friday, though this $50 price cut and a $20 gift card combo comes close to that. In the event that the soundbar that includes the gift card sells out, select “Beam Only” on the Amazon product page, and at least you’ll be…

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Riding on the uptick of people seeking home workout solutions during the pandemic, Peloton has launched an app for Android TV so you no longer have to stream from a mobile app to a Chromecast if you’ve got a TV that runs on the platform. The app is available today on your Android TV’s Google Play Store for access to the company’s live and on-demand fitness classes.

The launch follows a few other updates Peloton’s made for off-bike and off-treadmill streaming. Recently, it added apps for the Apple Watch, Fire TV, and Chromecast support for the iOS app. Peloton also extended its digital membership to a free 90-day trial for access to its yoga, meditation, HIIT, and weight training workouts, along with the standard cycling, walking, and…

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MSI has announced some of the first laptops to include Intel’s new 10th Gen processors from its Comet Lake H series. The company has announced specs and release dates for its GS66 Stealth, GE66 Raider, and Creator 17, all of which were unveiled at CES earlier this year.

The two gaming rigs will feature up to an i9-10980HK, and the Creator 17 will sport up to an i7-10875H. All three will also feature up to Nvidia’s Geforce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q mobile graphics.

Image: MSI

Of the two gaming laptops, the GS66 Stealth has the more subdued design. MSI says it’s ideal for business users who might also enjoy some casual gaming. The GE66 Raider, by contrast, is geared toward gamers who want…

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Intel is announcing the next wave of its Core processors, and it’s finally bringing out the big guns, with its first 10th Gen Comet Lake H-series processors for laptops. They’re Intel’s beefiest, most powerful, and most demanding chips, designed to go in high-end gaming laptops and creative machines for users who need the most power. The new chips have a TDP of 45W, with clock speeds that can boost past 5.0GHz, a first for Intel’s processors.

The star of the show is the new Core i9 model, the Core i9-10980K, with eight cores, 16 threads, and a base clock speed of 2.3GHz that can boost all the way up to 5.3GHz. But Intel will be offering multiple chips that can reach maximum boost speeds of 5.0GHz or more between its i9 and i7 lineup (the…

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The Asus GX701. Some of Asus’s new gaming laptops will include the new RTX chips. | Nvidia

Nvidia has announced its new RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super mobile GPUs. These are the company’s top-of-the-line (and priciest) RTX cards for laptops, offering a performance bump over the company’s standard RTX 2070 and 2080 offerings. They’re based on Nvidia’s Turing architecture, which includes dedicated “RT Core” hardware designed to drive ray tracing. RTX Super cards first arrived for desktop machines last July, and standard RTX mobile GPUs were only made available shortly after CES 2019.

Nvidia will also offer Max-Q configurations (intended for thin gaming laptops), which it says many upcoming notebooks will feature. The company says its Max-Q systems will double the power efficiency of previous designs thanks to a new feature…

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Image: Gigabyte

Gigabyte has introduced three new versions of its Aorus gaming laptops: the Aorus 15G, 17G, and 17X. Each features the newly announced Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake H-series processors, and you’ll be able to choose between the eight-core Intel Core i7-10875H and the high-end Intel Core i9-10980HK. These are also Gigabyte’s first gaming laptops to include Nvidia’s new RTX 20-series Super mobile graphics chips, and they’re configurable to feature the RTX 2080 Super Max-Q chip.

Additionally, each of these machines comes standard with Omron mechanical keyboards and displays with a 240Hz refresh rate. Each of these laptops looks a bit different. While the 15G and 17G look like they might be able to blend in with a pack of sleek ultrabooks, the…

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It’s a big day in the mobile-computing world. Intel has unveiled its new H-series chips, Nvidia has announced its RTX Super GPU lineup for mobile devices, and just about every major laptop manufacturer is introducing new laptops incorporating that hardware. But Asus is releasing something unlike anything else that’s hitting shelves today: the Zephyrus Duo 15.

Asus says that this is the first dual-screen laptop branded specifically for gaming. It’s technically correct, although it discounts past dual-screen laptops — like the company’s own Zenbook Pro Duo and Zenbook Duo — that were fairly competent gaming machines, too.

Here’s how the new laptop works. Like Asus’ past dual-screen laptops, there’s one screen (the main 15.6-inch one) which…

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The Razer Blade 15 (advanced model) | Razer

Razer’s new Blade 15 gaming laptop is a refresh both inside and out, with powerful new specs from Intel and Nvidia, as well as a few small and long-awaited adjustments to the chassis design.

Two models will be available in May: the base model for $1,600 and the upgraded “advanced” model, the latter of which will host Intel’s 10th Gen i7-10875H eight-core CPU (base speed of 2.3GHz, turbo speed of 5.1GHz). On the graphics end, it comes with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super Max-Q graphics chip to start, and you can upgrade further to the RTX 2080 Super Max-Q. The advanced model is clearly meant to be the showcase for next-gen mobile computing performance, so we’re excited to get our hands on it.

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G-Mode, a company that churned out countless Java-based games for Japanese feature phones in the 2000s and beyond, has announced that it will be releasing some of those games on the Nintendo Switch as well. The first game in the new G-Mode Archives series, the 16-bit-ish JRPG Flyhight Cloudia, will come out on April 16th in Japan.

It looks like G-Mode will be releasing new titles weekly — the next three weeks will see bizarre life sim Ai to Roudou no Hibi, puzzle game Kururin Cafe, and beach volleyball title Beach Volley Girl Shizuku hit the Switch in sequence, with more listed as “coming soon”. Each game in the series will sell for 500 yen ($4.65).

Long before modern smartphone app stores took off in the West, Japanese flip phone users…

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Photo: Everybody House Games

Hey Robot, the immensely clever board game from designer Frank Lantz’s Everybody House Games, now has a free digital version on the web for anyone to play. Lantz says he and his collaborators, which include his wife Hilary and his son and daughter-in-law, threw together a “quick & dirty online version of Hey Robot for people to play during quarantine.” It’s available here.

The game is played much like classic Taboo, except with digital assistants and smart speakers. You’re given a word, and you have to try to get Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, or Google Assistant to say it aloud without you saying it first. (Probably best to stick with Amazon or Google on the assistant side, for good measure).

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon’s Prime Video iOS and Apple TV apps now let customers make in-app purchases, including renting and buying films and TV shows. The change marks a huge shift in Amazon’s approach to the App Store, which mandates a 30 percent cut on all in-app purchases. Prior to the change, Amazon would not allow you to rent or buy content on the Prime Video app, instead, directing users to a web browser to avoid the App Store fee.

Now, when users log in to the Prime Video app, there should be a message reading, “Browse, rent, or buy new release movies, popular TV shows, and more — now within the app.” (Big thanks to George Watson, who tipped us off to this change.)

Screenshots by Nick Statt / The Verge

The prices do not…

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple’s native iOS password manager may be getting an overhaul later this year with the presumed release of iOS 14 that will make it more competitive with third-party options like 1Password and LastPass, reports 9to5Mac.

Right now, iCloud Keychain can store your passwords and help autofill them on the iPhone, where copying and pasting long strings of letters and numbers or manually doing so has been a headache since the advent of the mobile touchscreen. But it doesn’t have reminders for changing those passwords like competitors do, and it doesn’t support two-factor authentication (2FA) options. That means users are still stuck using potentially insecure methods like SMS or email in the event that they do have 2FA set up.

According to 9…

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Image: WinFuture

New leaks for the OnePlus 8 Pro reveal that the phone may come in a good-looking deep blue color that might be exclusive to the Pro model of the OnePlus 8, reports WinFuture.

That blue color will apparently be called “ultramarine blue,” according to WinFuture. Here’s another look at the device’s full front and back, thanks to what appear to be leaked marketing renders shared by WinFuture:

Image: WinFuture

The OnePlus 8 Pro may also come in “onyx black” and a seafoam green called “glacial green,” and but it reportedly won’t come in the purple-ish red “interstellar glow” that might be coming to the OnePlus 8. That color is apparently exclusive to the OnePlus 8, reports WinFuture.

The renders shared by WinFuture also…

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Tiger King is one of the strongest contenders for most watchable TV show of the year, and it’s a problem. A documentary miniseries comprising seven quick episodes, each under an hour, you could watch the whole thing in a weekend; given the subject, you’ll probably finish even faster.

The Netflix series follows a man both larger than life and smothered by it: Joe Exotic, the one-time owner of a successful-seeming private zoo with over 200 tigers and other big cats. He’s a man who ran for president of the United States, then governor of Oklahoma, and then sometime after, may have tried to hire someone to kill his nemesis, a woman dedicated to shutting his zoo down. It’s incredibly compelling, and terribly so: Tiger King is almost wholly…

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Image: Apple

Apple recently released iPadOS 13.4 with a big new feature: full trackpad support for iPads. And now, it’s started updating its major productivity apps, including Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and iMovie, to support mouse and trackpad integration.

The new iWork updates are available now for both iOS and iPadOS, and they include a variety of other features like collaborative editing through iCloud Drive folder sharing (another new feature added in iOS and iPadOS 13.4), new themes in Keynote, drop cap support in Pages, and larger tables in Numbers.

Apple’s also added better support for offline editing in its productivity suite — now, if you start editing a shared document when you’re offline, your changes will upload and sync to…

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Image: Twelve South

Y’all, I can’t even. Just look at this thing:

Image: Twelve South

It looks like your typical purse, right? Except…

Image: Twelve South

What we have here is a tiny leather handbag from Twelve South designed for absolutely no other purpose than to carry your AirPods. It’s a limited edition release in honor of (sigh) April Fools’ Day, and there are 671 units left at the time of this writing. It’s called the AirBag, and it’s my absolute favorite thing ever.

“But!” the haters are probably objecting. “Who on earth would actually buy such an impractical and clearly overpriced object?” The answer to that question, haters, is Rihanna. The singer was spotted rocking a $1,000 tiny Delvaux purse last…

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