Technology

YouTube is rolling out a new interface for its mobile app’s full-screen player, which should make it easier to like or dislike a video (privately, of course), view comments, and share what you’re watching. The old version hid most of those features behind a swipe-up gesture on the “more videos” section, where the new version puts them front and center, relegating related videos to a button in the corner. The change only shows up when you’re watching in full screen — the app looks largely the same when you’re watching a video in portrait mode. Doing so, however, used to come with the upside of having easy access to the share button and other controls. Now, you’re getting that when watching in landscape view as well. <div class="c-imageslider" data-cid="apps/imageslider-164...

Okay, so here’s the deal. We’re a month into 2022 and the NFT market is still scorching hot. Already this year we’ve had Coachella NFTs, Lamborghini NFTs, NFT profile pics on Twitter, NFT teasers from YouTube and Meta, and the usual raft of ill-advised NFT projects that were announced and then quickly canceled. The NFT projects keep on rolling. It’s pronounced “neft” As a security reporter, I tweeted that I get DM’d about NFT scams more quickly than I can write about them, a state of affairs that (sadly) looks like it’ll keep rolling too. Apparently this year I’m going to be writing “NFT” a lot, you’re going to be reading “NFT” a lot, and before we all get completely sick of it let’s get something straight: It’s pronounced “neft.” Look, it’s not just me deciding. A quorum of at least 10 Ve...

The VPN service that’s included with a Google One Premium subscription is finally available on iPhones after Google’s promise in October 2020 that it would come to iOS. While a Google-run VPN has been available on the platform for months via the Google Fi cell service, today’s update means that anyone who pays for 2TB or more of Google One storage should now also get a VPN for their phone. The VPN is available to people in 18 countries, including the US, UK, Canada, and Mexico. iPhone users may be familiar with the idea of an upgraded storage plan that also comes with a way to keep your IP and internet traffic private — Apple includes its Private Relay service in all of its paid iCloud plans. Google’s VPN doesn’t let Americans watch British Netflix For iPhone owners who are more into Googl...

Wordle is the pandemic game we didn’t know we needed, so there’s understandably some fear that its brand-new owner, The New York Times, will eventually ruin it somehow. But as technologist Aaron Rieke brilliantly explains in a Twitter thread, there’s little chance of that — because Wordle is a webpage, and webpages can be saved. You could download a complete copy of the game right now that contains all the answers, cycles to the proper new puzzle each day, and still comes with the same “Share” button so you can share those all-important little squares with fellow players. So you could save copy of the website right now, *unplug your computer from the internet,* and play Wordle every day for years. 2/x — Aaron Rieke (@aaronkbr) February 1, 2022 I checked real quick on my Windows desktop, an...

More images of Android Auto’s next major redesign have been leaked, and it looks like Google has been taking some notes from Apple CarPlay (via XDA Developers). As seen in images from AndroidWorld and Reddit user u/RegionRat91, the redesign, codenamed “Coolwalk,” could come with several practical changes. The new UI may show the map side-by-side with other panels.Image by AndroidWorld For one, the redesign eliminates the status bar, which contains your phone’s battery life, cell reception, and time and instead places it in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Meanwhile, on the left side is a home screen button that appears to open up retractable widgets when long-pressed. Similar to CarPlay, the new UI may let you view the map alongside other cards instead of having to choose just one ap...

Ford will spend as much as $20 billion to reorganize its business for the electric future, according to Bloomberg. The automaker is also mulling whether to spin off some of its EV business as a special acquisition company (SPAC) in order to attract more investment. Ford has previously stated that it would spend $30 billion on electric and autonomous vehicle development by 2025. Ford is reportedly putting former Apple and Tesla executive Doug Field in charge of the reorganization, which will include converting its factories from gas-powered to electric vehicle production and hiring more engineers. (General Motors, which is reporting its fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday evening, recently announced an initiative to hire 8,000 people to help staff up its EV efforts.) Ford is immeshed in a high-...

It’s an interesting time to talk to someone in the business of helping people get new jobs — we’re still fully in the middle of the pandemic-driven Great Resignation, and a record 4.5 million people quit their jobs in November 2021, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. But that’s exactly what Career Karma and CEO Ruben Harris are doing. Career Karma helps job-seekers identify potential new career paths, then matches them with coding boot camps and other training programs to help them on their way. Ruben and his team just raised $40 million in Series B funding for a total of $52 million, and it’s launching a live audio feature for job seekers to connect and talk about their career paths. So, of course, I wanted to talk to Ruben about what they plan to do with that infusion of cash and ho...

Hazelight Studios, the indie developer behind the action-adventure game It Takes Two, is working with dj2 Entertainment to adapt the title for film and television, according to a report from Variety. Pat Casey and Josh Miller, the screenwriters behind the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, are set to adapt the game, although no studio or network has been attached to the project yet. “The potential is huge for a great adaption to film or television” “Creating the world and story in It Takes Two was so much fun for me and the team,” Hazelight founder Josef Fares told Variety. “Since it has a strong narrative with many crazy characters and just as crazy co-op action moments, the potential is huge for a great adaption to film or television.” Fares, who actually started his career as a filmmaker, was fi...

Hot off the heels of Sony’s Bungie acquisition news, Bungie is in full teaser mode for Destiny 2: The Witch Queen. The latest Destiny 2 expansion launches on February 22nd, and it’s set to include a trio of new exotic weapons. Destiny 2 already has some incredibly unique weapons, but these three look like they will up the ante. First up is the Grand Overture, a slug launcher that charges full auto missiles at enemies. It appears to be similar to what the Scorn enemies use in Destiny 2 and will act like a machine gun with explosive projectiles (think Wardcliff) to wipe out hoards of Hive. It looks like some type of machine gun.Image: Bungie Where things really start to get interesting is the new Parasite weapon: it literally launches worms with increasing damage. The brief spot in the trail...

This story originally ran in Hot Pod, The Verge’s preeminent audio industry newsletter. You can subscribe here for more scoops, analysis, and reporting. Spotify didn’t discover Joe Rogan, and Joe Rogan didn’t create Spotify, but their union portends the future of a closed podcasting ecosystem. Up until September 2020, The Joe Rogan Experience was available through RSS feeds, YouTube, and podcast players. His content bubbled up every so often, but broadly, Rogan did his show, and the various distribution platforms let him do so without having to worry and monitor every episode — if it infringed on a policy, it could be removed, and so it went. This is the world in which Rogan stans and haters can find common ground. Rogan could have been “deplatformed” in the sense that his episodes be dele...

Sonos has acquired the Bluetooth audio startup T2 Software, Protocol reports, adding fuel to rumors that Sonos is developing its own headphones. T2 had been working on implementations of the new Bluetooth LE Audio standard and LC3 codec, which delivers better audio quality at lower bitrates for improved headphone battery life. A recent LinkedIn post from Sonos VP of global marketing and communications Pete Pedersen suggests that a Sonos headphone launch may be imminent. He said the company was looking for a marketing agency to help it launch “a new category” of product, “targeting a new audience/consumer segment.” A spokesperson for Sonos confirmed the acquisition to Protocol. “Occasionally, we will acquire teams, talent, and/or technology that augment our existing and future product roadm...