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Remember Blockbuster?
https://www.theverge.com/c/24243754/blockbuster-video-netflix-streaming-dvd-transition-2000s
Oh, WoW
https://www.theverge.com/c/24235606/world-of-warcraft-legacy-mmorpg-blizzard-2004
This backpack solar generator can help you ignore nature
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/17/24272480/bluetti-handsfree-backpack-power-station-price-specs
Instagram’s ‘social library’ could keep track of that funny video someone sent you
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24271983/instagram-social-library-funny-video-someone-sent-you
JD Vance thinks monarchists have some good ideas
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24266512/jd-vance-curtis-yarvin-influence-rage-project-2025
Apple’s new feature lets brands put their stamp on emails and calls to your iPhone
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24272053/apple-brands-stamp-emails-calls-iphone
The Internet Archive is back as a read-only service after cyberattacks
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/14/24269741/internet-archive-online-read-only-data-breach-outage
RedCap, the 5G for wearables and IoT, will get its first devices soon
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24269370/at-t-t-mobile-redcap-5g-explained-iot-devices-coming-soon
X blocked hacked JD Vance dossier links after the Trump campaign flagged it
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24269234/x-blocked-jd-vance-dossier-after-trump-campaign-request
The Optimus robots at Tesla’s Cybercab event were humans in disguise
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24269131/tesla-optimus-robots-human-controlled-cybercab-we-robot-event
SpaceX’s Starship test completes with a remarkable ‘chopstick’ booster catch
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24269029/spacex-starship-launch-super-heavy-chopstick-launch-tower-return-fifth-flight-test
The Putt-Putt champions of the internet
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24267880/mini-golf-twin-tour-tiktok-sanicki-vergecast
Now we can all wake up like Mario
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24268065/nintendo-alarmo-money-electric-onedrive-mastodon-installer
Starship’s fifth test flight is approved: where to watch the launch
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/12/24268720/spacex-starship-launch-faa-approval-suborbital-flight-test-october
WordPress.org’s latest move involves taking control of a WP Engine plugin
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/12/24268637/wordpress-org-matt-mullenweg-acf-fork-secure-custom-fields-wp-engine
World of Warcraft, or WoW, is like the Red Hot Chili Peppers of the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre: not only is it still going strong (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hot_Chili_Peppers_2022%E2%80%932024_Global_Stadium_Tour) but it’s also somehow even bigger than you thought. World of Warcraft’s current numbers aren’t public, but one recent educated guess (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHDFgZAuJHU) came in at 7 million paying subscribers, which, at $15 / month, would make the game a billion-dollar earner by itself. Its developer, Blizzard, merged with Activision in 2008, and Microsoft gobbled up both companies in 2022, but World of Warcraft remains a load-bearing spine of the newly formed corporate turducken. The game that redefined gold mining for the 21st century is still a 19th-century gold mine for its landlords.
It’s also thriving in a subscription...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/c/24235606/world-of-warcraft-legacy-mmorpg-blizzard-2004)
Hey buddy, maybe take a look around? | Image: Bluetti
Bluetti has taken portable power to absurd levels with its new Handsfree Backpack Power Stations (https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=66960X1514734&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bluettipower.com%2Fpages%2Fnew-arrival&referrer=theverge.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2024%2F10%2F17%2F24272480%2Fbluetti-handsfree-backpack-power-station-price-specs). They’re available in big or bigger versions depending on how long — and how much gear — you want to keep powered in the great outdoors.
They’re primarily aimed at outdoor photographers, but Bluetti also thinks they’ll appeal to hikers, rock climbers, campers, adventurers, bikepackers, and motorcyclists... any nerd that wants to move beyond the cubicle with their gadgets. A side panel in the backpacks provides access to all the inputs and outputs without having to first remove the solar generator. Those ports can also be managed and monitored over Bluetooth from the Bluetti app.
GIF: Bluetti
You can carry a ton of gear...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/17/24272480/bluetti-handsfree-backpack-power-station-price-specs)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge
Instagram appears to be working on a new “Social Library” section in the app where you can easily access things shared in chat threads, your collections, and posts you’ve liked, according to an image shared by (alex193a/post/DBLxVALuL-v" rel="nofollow">https://www.threads.net/@alex193a/post/DBLxVALuL-v) developer and leaker Alessandro Paluzzi.
Judging from the looks of the screenshot from Paluzzi, the section will contain posts, Reels, and other media you’ve shared or received in chat threads as well as content you’ve liked or saved. A magnifying glass in the corner of the screenshot suggests this content will be searchable, too, which could make it a lot easier to quickly find a Reel or post you’re looking for.
Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge
A screenshot of Paluzzi’s Threads post.
It’s not clear...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24271983/instagram-social-library-funny-video-someone-sent-you)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images
JD Vance is, by his own admission, “plugged into a lot of weird right-wing subcultures.” His much-mocked comments about childless cat ladies and unassimilated Italian immigrants were made on a “masculinist” podcast. He doesn’t eat seed oils (https://x.com/metzgov/status/1812927830571033069), a dietary restriction du jour (https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/is-seed-oil-bad-for-you-wellness-influencers-right-wing-debunked-1234809499/) on the extremely online right. When he was nominated to be former President Donald Trump’s running mate, his X following list included (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/jd-vance-twitter-x-following-fyp-trump-b2583022.html) Bronze Age Pervert and Raw Egg Nationalist, two pseudonymous right-wing bodybuilders who often promote eugenics and the “great replacement” conspiracy theory (https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/25/24111405/elon-musk-great-replacement-conspiracy-immigration-don-lemon). But perhaps no one online has shaped Vance’s thinking more than the neoreactionary blogger Curtis Yarvin, a former programmer with ties to Vance’s friend and benefactor Peter Thiel.
...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24266512/jd-vance-curtis-yarvin-influence-rage-project-2025)
Image: Apple
Soon, Apple will let businesses customize how they appear in emails and phone calls on the iPhone. Apple announced on Wednesday (https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/10/apple-expands-tools-to-help-businesses-connect-with-customers/) how companies using its Business Connect tool can add their brand name and logo in ways that will pop up in iPhone apps used for email, phone calls, and payments.
Apple first introduced Business Connect last year (https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/11/23550077/apple-business-connect-maps-listings) as a way for businesses to claim listings across Maps, Messages, Wallet, Siri, and its other apps.
Each registered business can confirm its info is accurate and add additional details like photos or special offers. Collecting verified, up-to-date business information could be useful for Apple if it ever launches its own search engine or inside features for Apple Intelligence instead of sending users...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24272053/apple-brands-stamp-emails-calls-iphone)
Image: the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is back online in a read-only state after a cyberattack brought down the digital library and Wayback Machine last week. A data breach and DDoS attack kicked the site offline (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/9/24266419/internet-archive-ddos-attack-pop-up-message) on October 9th, with a user authentication database containing 31 million unique records also stolen in recent weeks.
The Internet Archive is now back online in a “provisional, read-only manner,” according to founder Brewster Kahle (https://x.com/brewster_kahle/status/1845688309085065571?t=Xasn05WBblDStYCPwF0F1w&s=19). “Safe to resume but might need further maintenance, in which case it will be suspended again.”
While you can access the Wayback Machine to search 916 billion web pages that have been archived over time, you can’t currently capture an existing web page into the archive. Kahle and team have gradually been restoring A... (http://archive.org/)
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/14/24269741/internet-archive-online-read-only-data-breach-outage)
Image: The Verge
Both T-Mobile and AT&T have plans to release their first devices soon that run on RedCap, a 5G specification that is tooled for Internet of Things devices, according to Fierce Wireless.
What is RedCap? Great question! Also called “reduced capability” or NR-Light, RedCap is a low-bandwidth version of 5G that’s expected to make certain devices, like wearables, sensors, or surveillance cameras simpler and more power efficient, according to an Oracle document (https://www.oracle.com/a/ocom/docs/industries/communications/5g-core-red-cap-reduced-capability.pdf). That could mean cheaper cellular-connected smartwatches, XR glasses, or other portable products that don’t need high-powered antennas and fast throughput last longer on a charge.
AT&T, which began testing the spec on its own network early this year, reportedly plans to release its...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24269370/at-t-t-mobile-redcap-5g-explained-iot-devices-coming-soon)
Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge
The Presidential campaign of Donald Trump asked X to stop links to a story containing VP nominee JD Vance’s hacked dossier from circulating before X chose to block them (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/26/24255298/elon-musk-x-blocks-jd-vance-dossier), reports The New York Times. X had cited its “rules on posting unredacted private personal information” as its justification for suspending the reporter who first published the dossier in his story.
That’s a markedly different set of actions than those Musk took two years ago after criticizing Twitter’s decision to suppress a 2020 news story (https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/14/21515972/facebook-new-york-post-hunter-biden-story-fact-checking-reduced-distribution-election-misinformation) about Hunter Biden’s laptop. He called the choice “a violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment” and seeded internal documents related to the decision to certain journalists to report on — which doxxed people in the process (https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/2/23490863/elon-musk-twitter-expose-hunter-biden-flop-doxxed-multiple-people).
T...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24269234/x-blocked-jd-vance-dossier-after-trump-campaign-request)
An Optimus robot at the We, Robot event. | Screenshot: Tesla We, Robot livestream
Tesla made sure its Optimus robots were a big part (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/10/24267225/tesla-robotaxi-optimus-we-robot) of its extravagant, in-person Cybercab reveal (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/10/24267132/tesla-robotaxi-we-robot-autonomous-fsd-elon-musk) last week. The robots mingled with the crowd, served drinks to and played games with guests, and danced inside a gazebo. Seemingly most surprisingly, they could even talk (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/10/24267570/the-optimus-robots-can-talk-apparently). But it was mostly just a show.
It’s obvious when you watch the videos from the event, of course. If Optimus really was a fully autonomous machine that could immediately react to verbal and visual cues while talking, one-on-one, to human beings in a dimly lit crowd, that would be mind-blowing.
Playing charades with the Tesla Optimus robot last night. This is either the single greatest robotics and LLM demo the world has ever seen, or it's MOSTLY remote operated by a...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24269131/tesla-optimus-robots-human-controlled-cybercab-we-robot-event)
Screenshot: SpaceX livestream
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft splashed down in the Indian Ocean a little over an hour after its 8:25AM ET launch from South Texas. Almost seven minutes following liftoff, the Super Heavy booster returned to its launchpad, where the launch tower caught it (https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-5) using arms that SpaceX has nicknamed the “chopsticks.”
The remarkable catch was a first for SpaceX and an important step toward making the Super Heavy booster a fully reusable launch system just like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. The booster completed a similar set of maneuvers to today’s during its previous flight test in June (https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/6/24172689/spacex-starship-fourth-flight-test-launch-success), when it splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, instead.
GIF: SpaceX Starship livestream.
SpaceX’s South Texas launch tower catches the Super...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24269029/spacex-starship-launch-super-heavy-chopstick-launch-tower-return-fifth-flight-test)
Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge
In September of 2023, Danny and Steven Sanicki played a round of minigolf. The Sanickis are twins, are both competitive golfers, and were budding content creators at the time, so of course they filmed the whole round. Danny edited the footage on his phone, recorded a quick commentary track, slapped a scoreboard over top of the video, and posted the tournament as a six-part series on his TikTok channel (dannysanicki" rel="nofollow">https://www.tiktok.com/@dannysanicki). Neither brother really expected anything to happen.
The videos went viral (dannysanicki/video/7275507632117435690?embed_source=121374463%2C121468991%2C121439635%2C121433650%2C121404359%2C121351166%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_blank&refer=embed&referer_url=voxmedia.stories.usechorus.com%2Fcompose%2F58a9b71e-6e83-4c84-81ef-95c4b965ecd4&referer_video_id=7275507632117435690" rel="nofollow">https://www.tiktok.com/@dannysanicki/video/7275507632117435690?embed_source=121374463%2C121468991%2C121439635%2C121433650%2C121404359%2C121351166%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_blank&refer=embed&referer_url=voxmedia.stories.usechorus.com%2Fcompose%2F58a9b71e-6e83-4c84-81ef-95c4b965ecd4&referer_video_id=7275507632117435690). And since then, the Sanicki twins have been posting tournaments every day, bringing new friends into the fold, and building out a Putt-Putt empire all around the web. They built a complex system of tournaments and points, started awarding money to winners, and began...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24267880/mini-golf-twin-tour-tiktok-sanicki-vergecast)
Image: David Pierce / The Verge
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 56, 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 reading about Bill Lawrence’s TV shows and the massively powerful crypto lobby and the wild world of plankton, listening to Ed Helms narrate the excellent Snafu podcast, playing an alarming amount of both Balatro and Retro Goal, trying to get back in the habit of making overnight oats, and taking every single one of my phone calls with the excellent mic on the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
I also have for you the coolest alarm clock I can remember, a splashy new Bitcoin documentary, a new...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24268065/nintendo-alarmo-money-electric-onedrive-mastodon-installer)
Starship preps for its fifth flight test. | Photo: SpaceX
SpaceX plans to launch Starship (https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-5) for the fifth time tomorrow, October 13th, during a 30-minute launch window that opens at 8AM ET. That’s after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) declared today that the company has “met all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements for the suborbital test flight,” reports Reuters.
The company will livestream the launch, starting about 35 minutes before liftoff. You can catch that on SpaceX’s website or its X account (https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1845210284270682178), as well as in the X TV app (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/3/24234834/xs-tv-app-is-out-in-beta).
Watch Starship's fifth flight test https://t.co/LVrCnTv797— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 12, 2024 (https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1845210284270682178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
SpaceX’s goal for tomorrow’s flight (https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-5) is to return the Super Heavy booster to its launch site, which hasn’t happened before. It’s shooting for...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/12/24268720/spacex-starship-launch-faa-approval-suborbital-flight-test-october)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
WordPress.org has taken over a popular WP Engine plugin in order “to remove commercial upsells and fix a security problem,” WordPress cofounder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg announced today (https://wordpress.org/news/2024/10/secure-custom-fields/). This “minimal” update, which he labels a fork of the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin, is now called (https://wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/) “Secure Custom Fields.”
It’s not clear what security problem Mullenweg is referring to in the post. He writes that he’s “invoking point 18 of the plugin directory guidelines,” in which (https://github.com/wordpress/wporg-plugin-guidelines/blob/trunk/guideline-18.md) the WordPress team reserves several rights, including removing a plugin, or changing it “without developer consent.” Mullenweg explains that the move has to do with WP Engine’s recently-filed lawsuit (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/3/24261016/wordpress-wp-engine-lawsuit-automattic-matt-mullenweg) against him and Automattic.
Similar situations have happened...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/12/24268637/wordpress-org-matt-mullenweg-acf-fork-secure-custom-fields-wp-engine)
The Deebot X2 Omni. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
Someone gained access to Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni (https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/1/23854843/robot-vacuum-ecovacs-dreametech-innovation-ifa-2023) robotic vacuums across several US cities earlier this year and used them to chase pets and yell racist slurs at their owners, reported ABC News in Australia this week.
The outlet spoke with multiple Deebot X2 owners who say their Deebot X2s had been hacked in May, including Minnesota lawyer Daniel Swenson, who said he was watching TV with his family when a noise “like a broken-up radio signal or something” started coming from the robot’s speaker. He said after he reset his password and rebooted the robot, it began again, only this time the sound was clearly a voice — he guessed a teenager’s — yelling slurs.
ABC News lists other, similar accounts from owners in El Paso and Los Angeles, the...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/12/24268508/hacked-ecovacs-deebot-x2-racial-slurs-chase-pets)