Technology

Some TV studio was going to be the first to tie a big NFT project to a major show, and it turns out to be Fox — the company is launching the MaskVerse, an NFT collection / game / thing that ties into The Masked Singer. Fox has shown interest in doing NFT tie-ins before, but this one leans on a community aspect that we’ve seen other NFT projects use (sometimes to great success, other times to disaster). Fox also seems like it wants this project to become more of A Thing than the collectibles released by other TV shows. The company says that the first NFT for the show, which will be free and grant “special access” to the MaskVerse’s Discord, will launch on Wednesday (along with, of course, an episode of The Masked Singer). After that, people can buy packs of NFTs to build collections, and co...

Aurora, the autonomous vehicle company founded by the former lead engineer for Google’s self-driving car project, announced that its autonomous trucks and taxis will be available to customers via subscriptions. Aurora doesn’t expect to roll out its self-driving trucks and ride-hailing vehicles until 2023 and 2024, respectively, but the company is providing more detail about how it plans on putting them into commercial operation. Aurora’s trucking service will be called “Aurora Horizon,” in which the company says it will provide trucking carriers and private fleets “with a reliable and scalable driver supply powered by the Aurora Driver.” The Aurora Driver is the name the company uses to describe the hardware and software it uses to enable a vehicle to drive itself under certain conditions....

Activision is finally cracking down on cheating in Call of Duty: Warzone. A new Ricochet anti-cheat system is arriving in both Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Vanguard. The system will use a combination of a PC kernel-level driver, machine learning algorithms to examine player behavior, and a “team of dedicated professionals” working to investigate cheaters. The PC kernel-level driver has been developed internally for the Call of Duty franchise by Activision, and will launch first for Call of Duty: Warzone with the upcoming Pacific update. PC games are increasingly using kernel-level drivers to detect sophisticated cheating, but since they run at such a high level in Windows, there are always privacy concerns surrounding such an approach. The kernel-level driver will be part of the...

Cell service provider Visible has confirmed customer reports of attackers accessing and changing user accounts, and it has said that the breaches were carried out using usernames and passwords from “outside sources.” In a statement to The Verge (which you can read in full below), the Verizon-owned carrier said that it’s worked to “mitigate the issue” since it became aware of it, though it doesn’t mention exactly what measures it’s put in place to protect customers. Starting earlier this week, customers of Verizon’s lower-cost service were reporting unauthorized charges from Visible on their PayPals or credit card statements, as well as emails telling them that their accounts’ passwords or addresses had been changed. Some customers have been frustrated with a lack of response from the compa...

Facebook announced Wednesday that it would start removing “severe sexualizing content” targeting public figures as part of a new update to its bullying and harassment policies. The policy changes also include coordinated harassment attacks against users. As part of this new policy update, Facebook said that it would remove any profiles, pages, groups, or events dedicated to sexualizing public figures, including celebrities, politicians, and content creators. The new policy bans sexualized photoshops and drawings and any degrading content “in the process of bodily functions,” Antigone Davis, global head of safety at Facebook, said in a blog post on Wednesday. Facebook also said that it would remove “unwanted sexualized commentary” and repetitive attacks harassing an individual sexually. “We...

Another day, another sweet deal on the Apple AirPods Max. This time you can get them in select colorways at Amazon and Walmart for $450. We haven’t seen these headphones drop below this price yet, so this is a perfect time to get your hands on some if you missed out on any of our previous deals. Our reviewer Chris Welch was impressed by the “tremendous build quality and sound” but was a little put off by the price. This sale helps soften the blow of the initial sticker shock and brings them a little closer to competitors from Sony and Bose. These robust cans offer a luxurious fit and finish, pairing them with amazing spatial audio and noise cancellation. Apple AirPods Max $450 $550 19% off Apple’s AirPods Max feature exemplary build quality, sound phenomenal, and keep up with the best at n...

Restaurant delivery platform DoorDash has launched a restaurant disaster relief fund that will offer grants of up to $10,000 to US restaurants affected by natural disasters over the next year, the company said Wednesday. The $1 million fund will be open to eligible restaurant owners beginning November 1st and is a partnership with small business assistance platform Hello Alice. Restaurants affected by Hurricane Ida in August and the ongoing California wildfires are eligible to apply, the company said. To qualify, restaurants must be experiencing hardship due to a state or federally declared natural disaster; have a brick-and-mortar location in the US with three or fewer locations; and have fewer than 50 employees per location. The restaurants have to have revenue of $3 million or less at e...

Hello, Verge friends! It’s almost been 10 years since we launched (can you believe it?), and to celebrate we’re throwing a big party. It’s happening on October 22nd and 23rd in New York City — and we hope you’ll join us. We’re throwing this party at Spring Studios, which has a rich tradition of bringing creative people together to show off the future of tech, art, and culture. The Verge will completely transform the space for two days and fill it with special guests, live performances, interactive art and games, awesome food and drink, and an opening night party. Here’s some of what we’re excited about: A Verge exclusive premiere screening Everyone who attends On The Verge will see the debut of our biggest documentary to date, Springboard: The Secret History of the First Real Smartphone. A...

Anker is joining in on the trend of glasses that pull double duty as music listening devices. Today the company’s Soundcore brand announced the $199.99 Soundcore Frames. That price gets you the glasses’ temples and a frame of your choosing. The frames can be swapped out for any of the 10 different designs, but the chunky side temples always stay the same polished black style. They’re due to start shipping in mid-November and will be available from Anker’s website, Amazon, and Best Buy among other retailers. The temples essentially act as true wireless earbuds, with two speakers in each one. This is a strategy we’ve seen from other companies like Razer. In Anker’s case, it makes it simple to switch the temples to a different frame; polarized, blue-light filtering, and prescription lens opti...

Fujifilm has announced a new mobile printer that uses its larger Instax Wide format film. The Instax Link Wide Smartphone Printer is a similar idea to the existing Instax Mini Link: hook up your phone over Bluetooth and use an app to edit and print your own Polaroid-style snapshots from your camera roll. Instax Wide film is much bigger than Instax Mini — it’s about the size of two credit cards side by side. That means your Link Wide printouts might not be as easy to carry in a wallet as Instax Mini photos, but they should be a lot more viewable and usable for other purposes. The Link Wide printer is also compatible with Fujifilm’s X-S10 mirrorless camera from last year, allowing you to print directly without a phone. Of course, you can print photos taken with other cameras by uploading the...

Bowers & Wilkins has announced a new Zeppelin speaker that updates the eye-catching design with modern connectivity and smarts. The new speaker supports wireless standards like Qualcomm’s AptX Adaptive and Apple’s AirPlay 2 and also has Alexa built-in for voice control of your music. The new Zeppelin is available to order in light or dark grey starting today and is priced at $799 / £699 / €799. The original Zeppelin was one of the most iconic iPod docks available when it launched in 2007, and it’s been updated several times over the years as the way we listen to music has changed. 2011’s Zeppelin Air added support for Apple’s AirPlay standard alongside its existing 30-pin dock, while the 2015 Zeppelin Wireless dropped the dock entirely to focus on wireless connectivity using standards ...

The “next-gen upgrade” for this year’s Quake remaster, which adds support for up to 4K / 120fps gameplay, is now available for the PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. The upgrade is available for free, according to Bethesda, and there’s no time limit to redeem it. The PC version of the game isn’t getting the upgrade, since it already supports 4K / 120fps. As well as the framerate improvements, the upgrade also adds support for the PS5 Dualsense controller’s adaptive triggers and integrated speaker. Meanwhile, Xbox players get Play Anywhere support, a Microsoft technology that means ownership of the game and progress automatically carries over to its PC version. The upgrade process is a little different for the PlayStation and Xbox. Xbox owners should see the upgrade installed automatica...