Technology

The Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of Belarus (GUBOPiK) has detained prominent Wikipedia editor Mark Bernstein, according to the Belarusian publication Zerkalo. The arrest comes after Bernstein’s personal information was shared on GOBUPiK’s public Telegram channel. Bernstein is one of the top 50 editors of Russian Wikipedia. The Verge was able to confirm that Bernstein’s information — including his social media, Wikipedia handle, and place of work — had been shared in GUBOPik’s channel on the messaging app. A video of Bernstein’s arrest was also posted alongside his photo and personal details. In the photo itself, Bernstein is accused of “distributing fake anti-Russian information.” The channel has since been made private. Zerkalo also reports that Berstein h...

Yuga Labs, the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, announced today that it had acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs. CryptoPunks is one of the oldest and most valuable brands in the NFT world, and Meebits quickly joined the list of most valuable NFT collections after launching last May. Yuga Labs hopes to foster a “community of builders” creating derivative works around the two projects. To do that, it plans to grant intellectual property and commercialization rights to CryptoPunks and Meebits owners, allowing them to create works and products based off their NFTs the same way that Bored Ape owners have. “Everybody knows CryptoPunks, everybody loves CryptoPunks,” Greg Solano, a Bored Ape Yacht Club co-founder who goes by the pseudonym Gargamel, tells The Verge. “It’s just iconic, ...

Google has once again prevailed in an ongoing legal battle with song lyrics website Genius, which claimed that Google was using its transcribed lyrics without permission in search results. Genius sued Google in 2019, arguing that Google was scraping lyrics from its website in violation of Genius’ copyright. Genius has a large database of song lyrics, and bills itself as “the world’s biggest music encyclopedia.” It tried to demonstrate that Google was scraping info from its website by putting watermarks on its lyrics, which it said then appeared in Google searches but without any link back or attribution to Genius. Google said in a blog post at the time that it did not “crawl or scrape websites to source” song lyrics. Canadian lyrics licensing site LyricFind, also a defendant in the Genius ...

EA announced an early 2023 “arrival window” for the next-gen remake of its survival horror hit Dead Space on Friday. The announcement was made as part of a developer livestream focused largely on the game’s audio. EA first announced the remake in July, but at the time, didn’t say when it might be released. However, it did share that the game would be “rebuilt from the ground up” and developed by Motive, who might be best known for its work developing Star Wars: Squadrons. Motive shared a few more details in a livestream last year, including that actor Gunner Wright will return to voice protagonist Isaac Clarke (even though Clarke was a silent protagonist in the original game) and that there will be no microtransactions. It seems we still have a long time to wait until we can play the Dead ...

A new trademark application by Samsung in the UK suggests the company may be working on fashionable skins for its phones, as reported by Android Headlines and Let’s Go Digital. The UK Intellectual Property Office application describes “protective and decorative films adapted for smartphones,” using the name “Fashion Film.” This doesn’t confirm that an actual product will follow (you can see other trademarks Samsung’s registered to find out how many are never used). Still, any sign the company is taking a step to enter the skin accessory market is notable. Currently, the space is mainly taken over by smaller companies like Dbrand, which has even had its product featured in Samsung’s stores. And while the trademark application doesn’t specify a particular phone these skins would be compatibl...

Uber is adding a “temporary fuel surcharge” to fares to help drivers pay for record-high gas prices around the country, the company announced Friday. “Rides customers will pay a surcharge of either $0.45 or $0.55 on each Uber trip, and Eats customers will pay either $0.35 or $0.45 on each Uber Eats order, depending on their location,” Uber’s head of driver operations in US and Canada, Liza Winship, said in a blog post. The entirety of the surcharge will be passed on to drivers, and the plan is for the surcharge to be in place for the next 60 days. However, Winship cautions that “we will continue to monitor gas prices and may make additional changes.” And this temporary fuel surcharge will even be in place for rides or deliveries done in an EV, “which we hope will serve as additional incent...

One week after placing a ban on Facebook in Russia, the country’s communications agency Roskomnadzor announced it will ban Instagram, too. While the Facebook ban cited “discrimination against Russian media,” this time, the government claims it’s happening because of a decision by parent company Meta directing moderators to allow posts calling for violence against Russian soldiers if they originate from certain countries, including Ukraine. The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said in a tweet that “This decision will cut 80 million in Russia off from one another, and from the rest of the world as ~80% of people in Russia follow an Instagram account outside their country. This is wrong.” On Monday, Instagram will be blocked in Russia. This decision will cut 80 million in Russia off from one ...

Ubisoft experienced a “cyber security incident” last week that temporarily disrupted some games, systems, and services, the company reported Thursday. Ubisoft hasn’t said who might be responsible, but on Friday evening, the group who purportedly hacked Nvidia took credit. Ubisoft said it believes that “at this time there is no evidence any player personal information was accessed or exposed as a by-product of this incident” and says that games and services are now “functioning normally.” Out of caution, the company also “initiated a company-wide password reset.” When asked for comment, Ubisoft spokesperson Jessica Roache said the company had no additional details to share. News of the incident arrives amid a recent wave of high-profile hacks. Nvidia confirmed on March 1st that it was hacke...

In Elden Ring, it’s killed or be killed — brutally. The game is designed to put you ever on the defensive, ready to lash out before you yourself can be lashed. But that shoot first, ask questions later mindset led to an event I truly and deeply regret. I killed a dragon, and I feel really awful about it. In Elden Ring, even the damn flowers are dangerous, but contrary to the game’s reputation, not everything in the Lands Between wants to kill you. There are those cute rodents that scurry about and delightful little donut-rolling sheep that exist only to bleat at you as you zip by them on Torrent. I’ve had so many peaceful moments sitting on the edge of a cliff, gazing in wondrous awe at the golden Erdtree with a convocation of eagles for company. I’d never think to kill any of these creatu...

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service that offers on-demand access to dozens of games. It’s a great value if you like to play and discover new games, and now that it’s on PC instead of solely being a console experience, your subscription can follow you from your Xbox console to your Windows desktop. However, the expansion to Windows PCs hasn’t been seamless. While an Xbox lets you easily access your Game Pass right on the home dashboard, finding Game Pass games on a PC is a whole other story. There are two ways to find Game Pass games on PC. The first and easiest requires you to download a free app, though I think it will be worth the effort. The second method doesn’t require any additional installations, but finding compatible Game Pass games is more cumbersome. First, get ...

With gas prices soaring above $4 a gallon, electric vehicles are starting to look a lot more attractive to car buyers. But a combination of supply chain constraints, the global chip shortage, higher-than-average prices, and low inventory at dealerships will conspire to keep EVs out of reach for most people. Interest in switching from gas to electric is at an all-time high. Car shopping site Edmunds reports the number of people searching for hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or electric vehicles jumped 39 percent from February to March and 18 percent over the last week. Following through on that purchase is going to be tough for most people, given the scarcity of new EVs on the market. The EVs that are available are more expensive than their gas equivalent, and inventory is extremely low. The same go...