Technology

I have some terrible news: Disney has confirmed you’ll never get to try the “real” retractable lightsaber whose very existence, subsequent reveal, and patented design made us giddy back in April and May of this year. While the incredible disappearing lightsaber replica will indeed feature at Disney’s new Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel — a Westworld-esque experience for the very wealthy where stays cost upwards of $4,800 and yet is already sold out for its first four months — GameSpot and IGN report that Disney won’t be letting you touch that lightsaber for yourself. “Unfortunately, that lightsaber isn’t for guests to use or purchase. It’s strictly for use by the performers,” writes IGN. “Trowbridge confirmed in a group interview that guests will never actually use that lightsaber, b...

Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced Wednesday that the social media platform has added two new features: “rage shake” and carousel deletion. The former allows users to report an issue by simply shaking their phone while the app is open. A pop-up prompt will then appear, asking, “Did something go wrong?” with a designated space for the user to report their problem. The feature will aid Instagram in improving its user experience by prioritizing bug fixes, according to Mosseri. “You can explain exactly what happened, how you ended up in that place, and all of the emotions and feels that you’ve got going on, and we’ll have someone take a look at it,” he said. Covering ✌️ this week:– Carousel Deletion (finally!)– Rage Shake Did you know about these ?s? Any other feat...

EV startup Fisker Inc. has revealed the production version of its first electric vehicle, the Ocean SUV, at the 2021 LA Auto Show. It’s largely similar to the first prototype that debuted at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show, though there are a few new standout features — including a 17.1-inch touchscreen that rotates from portrait to landscape orientation. “When you use your phone and type on it, you hold it like this, and when you take a picture or if you want to watch a movie, you turn the phone around,” Fisker Inc. founder and CEO Henrik Fisker said while miming a phone during a livestream of Wednesday’s event. “In our vehicle we have a screen, on a push of a button, it changes from portrait mode to landscape mode. It just rotates. That is a really cool feature.” Fisker didn’t elabora...

Instagram’s standalone messaging service Threads will cease to exist by the end of 2021, Meta has confirmed to TechCrunch. The app will display a notice prompting users to return to Instagram starting November 23rd. Threads was a similar idea to Facebook Messenger — it allowed users to send and receive Instagram DMs in a dedicated messaging interface outside of the main app. It had a collection of quirky features, including automatic statuses that the app could set for you based on what your phone was doing. All of those tools will be available in Instagram itself by the time Threads shuts down, the company said in a statement to TechCrunch. “We’re bringing the fun and unique features we had on Threads to the main Instagram app.” Meta is also in the process of consolidating its many messag...

Wyze has built a reputation for astonishingly affordable gadgets. Sure, they don’t always knock it out of the park: while the company’s $20 security cam put an entire industry on notice, we ultimately decided the barebones $20 Wyze Watch was too much a work-in-progress to give it a review. But this May, I took a chance on the new Wyze Buds Pro, a $74 pair of wireless earbuds, and couldn’t believe how good they are. They offer true active noise cancellation and wireless charging at a previously unheard-of price while also punching way above their weight in audio quality. I put them head-to-head against the $80 Jabra Elite 3, which we recently praised for nailing the essentials. It wasn’t even a competition: I’d pick the Wyze Buds Pro every time. Well, except for exercise. Verge Score 8 out ...

PlayStation leadership has asked Activision Blizzard how it will address the allegations in the shocking Wall Street Journal report about the embattled studio, according to Bloomberg. PlayStation boss Jim Ryan reportedly informed employees of the action in an email. “We outreached to Activision immediately after the article was published to express our deep concern and to ask how they plan to address the claims made in the article,” Ryan wrote, reports Bloomberg. “We do not believe their statements of response properly address the situation.” Activision Blizzard and Sony didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. We’ve asked Microsoft and Nintendo if they have communicated concerns to Activision Blizzard. The WSJ alleges Kotick has been aware of sexual misconduct allegations at the...

Verizon’s new Number Share Home plan gives you the ability you make and receive calls from your Echo Show, Echo Dot, and Echo using your existing phone number, as noted in a post on Verizon’s website. The feature costs an extra $5 / month, but Verizon will waive the fee for three months if you purchase an Alexa-enabled device through them. And if you already have an Alexa device that you’d like to use, Verizon will only give you one month for free. Once enabled, you make hands-free calls in the same way that you’re probably already familiar with. Say, “Alexa, call [name],” or “Alexa, dial [phone number]” to make a call, and then say, “Alexa, answer,” when a call comes in. You can also use your device to contact emergency services with the “Alexa, dial 911” command. When you place a call th...

Apple will be helping customers to complete their own device repairs with a new program. Self Service Repair will give customers access to instructions and the tools necessary to fix hardware issues at home. Set to debut first for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups, the program will launch in the United States early next year, with plans to reach additional countries throughout 2022. It will initially focus on core hardware repairs such as the display, battery and camera. Customers seeking repairs will be directed to review Apple’s Repair Manual and order the necessary tools and parts from the company’s online repair store, which will offer more than 200 individual items. After the repair is complete, customers can return their used parts in exchange for credit toward their purchase. “Cre...

Microsoft is beginning to roll out the ability to play games via Xbox Cloud Gaming on Xbox One or Xbox Series X / S consoles, Microsoft announced Wednesday. The feature requires a Game Pass Ultimate subscription and will be available in 25 regions “with Brazil coming soon,” according to Microsoft. But you might not have access to the feature right away, as Microsoft says it will roll out first “with our November release to a subset of Xbox gamers” and to everyone in supported markets “over the coming weeks.” Cloud gaming on Xbox consoles could have a number of useful applications. You can use it to try or demo games available on Game Pass without having to fully download them. If a friend sends you a multiplayer invite for a game you don’t have installed, Xbox Cloud Gaming will let you str...

Each and every day we get closer to Black Friday, the deals keep heating up. There are already a lot of great early Black Friday sales to pore over, and we’ve even gathered retailer-specific deals from the likes of Amazon, Walmart, and Target. The Verge has its own deals going on, in a way, with exclusives offered below, along with our very own giveaway. It’s certainly the season of tech deals, and kicking off today’s sales are discounts on the hottest laptops that just hit the market. When Apple announced its new MacBook Pro laptops, its own site broke under the weight of people placing orders. But not only can you get one now, you can save a little off the total. The 14-inch MacBook Pro is up to $100 off at B&H Photo. You can get a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an eight-core M1 Pro proces...

If you’ve made the decision to delete Instagram, whether because you’ve outgrown the need for a certain finsta or because its parent company Meta is courting controversy again, doing so isn’t as quick or easy as it should be. It can’t even be done from within the Instagram app. Go ahead and take a moment to make an obligatory “I’m deleting Instagram” post if you’d like, and then follow these steps to ditch your account — they can be followed using either a computer or phone, as long as you’re using a browser. First, you’ll have to go to Instagram’s special account removal request page, which can be found here, or by following the link in Instagram’s account deletion help article. If you’re not logged into Instagram for the web (most people won’t be), you’ll have to enter your credent...

Sonos’ latest update contains big news for surround sound fans: the addition of DTS audio support for its home theater speakers. These include not just newer speakers like the second-generation Beam and Arc, but also older devices like the first-gen Beam, the Playbase, and even the Playbar that originally launched in 2013. Even the Sonos Amp is getting in on the DTS action. For those unfamiliar with the technical nightmare that is home cinema audio, DTS is a rival surround sound format to Dolby Digital. So DTS support means that Sonos users can benefit from surround sound across more sources, like Blu-ray discs that use the DTS format. The release of the update comes a week after Disney announced that DTS audio support will be coming to its Disney Plus streaming service in the future. A “D...