Technology

YouTube is reportedly offering money to podcasters in a bid to get them to create video versions of their shows, according to a report from Bloomberg. People close to the situation told Bloomberg that YouTube is offering individual shows $50,000 and up to $300,000 for podcast networks, potentially to fund filmed episodes and other video-based content. YouTube has been making small advances towards pleasing listeners on the platform Despite being a platform for video, the Google-owned YouTube hosts a number of popular podcasts, including the H3 Podcast, Full Send Podcast, and the Logan Paul-led Impaulsive. It even helped foster the growth of the controversial Joe Rogan Experience, which Spotify purchased the exclusive rights to in 2020. YouTube has been making small advances towards pleasin...

Activision Blizzard is suspending new sales “of and in” its games in Russia, the game company’s president Daniel Alegre announced in a publicly-shared letter to employees (via Eurogamer). The move bars Russians from any new transactions with the company, which includes both the sales of its games and in-game purchases. The press release doesn’t specify whether the ban includes both digital and physical games. It does, however, highlight some of the contributions the company and its employees made to Ukraine, and also offers resources to workers affected by the war. The crisis in Ukraine comes at a sensitive time in Activision Blizzard’s history — the company continues to face criticism after it was sued for allegedly fostering a toxic workplace culture last year. Activision Blizzard joins ...

Visa and Mastercard are suspending operations in Russia in another major blow to the country’s financial system, according to a report from the Associated Press. In an announcement on Visa’s website, the company says it’s working with partners in Russia to “cease all transactions over the coming days.” A separate press release from Mastercard contains a similar message, noting that it’s suspending services in Russia and that its decision wasn’t taken “lightly.” Both companies explain that any transactions made with Mastercard or Visa cards issued by banks in Russia won’t work outside of Russia, while any cards issued by banks outside of the country won’t work at Russian merchants or ATMs. “We regret the impact this will have” “We regret the impact this will have on our valued colleagues, a...

Cogent Communications, an internet backbone provider that routes data across intercontinental connections, has cut ties with Russian customers over its invasion of Ukraine, as first reported by The Washington Post. The US-based company is one of the world’s largest internet backbone providers and serves customers in 50 countries, including a number of high-profile Russian companies. The shutdown won’t disconnect Russians completely In a letter to Russian customers obtained by The Post, Cogent cited “economic sanctions” and “the increasingly uncertain security situation” as the motives behind its total shutdown in the country. Cogent similarly told The Verge that it “terminated its contracts” with Russian customers in compliance with the European Union’s move to ban Russian state-backed med...

Paramount Plus celebrated its first birthday yesterday. During its first year, the service debuted a SpongeBob movie, added original shows like 1883, and occasionally surprised us with exclusives like the second season of Evil, which was originally a CBS exclusive show. Plus, Paramount Plus managed to swipe the highly anticipated live-action Halo series — set to debut this month — from sister service Showtime. But a year after its launch, Paramount Plus is still suffering an identity crisis: the streaming service has yet to prove why we should care about Paramount Plus beyond its big Star Trek catalog and obsession with Yellowstone. So far, it’s seemed as though Paramount has struggled to find the sweet spot between propping up its existing business arms while also investing in its tentpol...

The days are starting to get longer as we creep ever closer to springtime in the US. And coincidentally, the deals are getting better. Is there a correlation? Let’s go with yes and not think about it too much. The Verge Deals team has been playing the hits this week, with deals so good that they bear repeating for the weekend crowd. Check out some of the best deals below. And if you’re looking slightly toward the future, stay tuned from whatever comes from next Tuesday’s Apple event. We expect the company to announce a new iPhone SE, among other exciting products. If you’re ready to upgrade your phone, there will probably be some good carrier deals and trade-in promos in store. Fully Jarvis standing desks are 15 percent off through March 21st I’ve purchased a lot of things for myself durin...

PayPal is suspending its services in Russia in response to the country’s “violent military aggression in Ukraine,” according to a report from Reuters. Ukraine’s vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted out a letter from PayPal CEO Dan Schulman, confirming the company’s decision to shut down its operations in Russia. We received a letter from @Dan_Schulman, CEO PayPal. So now it’s official: PayPal shuts down its services in Russia citing Ukraine aggression. Thank you @PayPal for your supporting! Hope that soon you will open it in for pic.twitter.com/RaJxEMSLQe — Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 5, 2022 “Under the current circumstances, we are suspending PayPayl services in Russia,” Shulman says in the letter. “We are also doing all that we can to support our staff in the region...

I was floored as soon as I got to the main menu of Vampire Survivors. I knew this hot indie darling sounded up my alley when I heard it described as a reverse-bullet hell blended with a roguelike, but I was not prepared for it to hit so close to home. While the main menu looks low-rent and the Castlevania-inspired aesthetics seems at first like a poor imitation, what stopped me in my tracks was the starting character. Antonio Belpaese: the first in a lineup of four Belpaese family members and a menagerie of other characters with incredibly Italian-sounding names. Even before playing a minute of the game, I was enthralled by my namesake taking the lead. As I struggled through the first few runs and slowly unlocked more characters, I felt like this game represented me and my big Italian-Amer...

iFixit plans to start offering Steam Deck replacement parts this summer, iFixit’s Kevin Purdy tells The Verge. Valve first announced in February that the repair experts at iFixit would be one of the authorized sellers of replacement parts but did not give a specific timeline as to when they would be available. The vast majority of consoles aren’t easily user repairable, so making official Steam Deck replacement parts available, even if they aren’t out just yet, is a good thing for consumers. And hopefully, it will push other hardware makers to do the same in the future. We’ve asked iFixit if it can share information about which parts you’ll be able to get and how much they’ll cost. In Valve’s official Steam Deck teardown video from October, the company said “thumbsticks, SSDs, and possibly...

Tesla’s Gigafactory in Germany won approval from local officials on Friday, but the company still has to meet several requirements before the plant can begin production of vehicles, Reuters reported, including concerns about the plant’s water use. Construction on the factory, which is nearly complete, was delayed several times by complaints from environmental groups in the area who protested the factory’s water use and potential disruption to wildlife. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the Gigafactory will use “relatively little” water and has argued that the forest that was cleared before the plant’s construction was “not a natural forest” since it had only been planted to make cardboard. Musk first announced in 2019 that Tesla would locate its European gigafactory — that he has called a “mach...

Elon Musk — the man whose Tesla and Tesla Solar have basically devoted their existence to competing with gas-guzzling cars, oil, and coal, and which briefly reached a market cap of $1 trillion and delivered nearly 1 million EVs last year — is now publicly in favor of increasing oil and gas production. He tweeted late Friday: Hate to say it, but we need to increase oil & gas output immediately. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures. Obviously, this would negatively affect Tesla, but sustainable energy solutions simply cannot react instantaneously to make up for Russian oil & gas exports. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2022 “Obviously, this would negatively affect Tesla, but sustainable energy solutions simply cannot react instantaneously to make up for Russian oil &...