Technology

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...

Amazon will stop accepting payments from Visa credit cards issued in the UK from January 19th, 2022. Customers will still be able to use Visa debit cards issued in the UK, as well as credit cards issued by MasterCard, American Express, and other firms. Amazon is blocking UK credit cards from Visa as part of an ongoing battle over “interchange” fees — levies charged by card issuers to a merchant’s bank for each transaction. Visa’s interchange fees for transactions between the UK and the European Union (where Amazon UK processes payments) were previously capped at 0.3 percent by EU law. But since the UK left the EU, Visa has been able to hike that fee to 1.5 percent. It’s not clear why Visa is being singled out by Amazon However, Visa isn’t the only company to make such a change. MasterCard ...

Fujifilm has announced the Instax Mini Evo, a new digital camera that prints to Instax Mini film. The company describes it as a new Instax flagship that has been “designed with a premium and classical touch;” and it has several retro elements including top-mounted dials and a print control that works like a film advance lever. Like other hybrid Instax cameras, the Mini Evo has an LCD screen to help you frame your digital shots before printing. The Mini Evo includes ten lens effects that can be combined and applied to photos, and Fujifilm says that it has twice the exposure resolution of previous models. Image quality from Fujifilm’s previous hybrid Instax cameras hasn’t been great, so we’ll have to see how this one works out in practice. The Mini Evo also works as an Instax printer, meanin...

The Staples Center, home to Los Angeles sports teams including the Lakers, Clippers, Kings, and Sparks, is getting a new name: “Crypto.com Arena.” Yes, Crypto Dot Com Arena. The cryptocurrency exchange paid more than $700 million for 20-year naming rights, according to the LA Times, making it one of the largest such deals ever. Staples paid $100 million for the rights for 10 years in 1999. The logo will reportedly be revealed on Christmas Day for the Brooklyn Nets’ game with the Lakers, and Staples Center branding should be phased out by June. “In the next few years, people will look back at this moment as the moment when crypto crossed the chasm into the mainstream,” Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek tells the LA Times. “This is just such a brilliant move from the guys at [venue owner] AEG, b...

Beats has announced its new limited-edition Beats Flex Bluetooth earphones in collaboration with Fujiwara Hiroshi‘s fragment design. The release marks the brands’ second year of partnership, following the black-on-black Powerbeats Pros back in January. The limited-edition Beats Flex features a black tonal finish with white “FRGMT” and thunderbolt logo branding on the volume control module and microphone. The Earbuds are magnetic with auto-play/pause, and four ear tip options are offered for a personalized fit. Performance highlights from the Beats Flex include a Flex-Form cable, built-in mic with wind reduction for clarity, 10-minute fast fuel charging for 1.5 hours of playback, connectivity power by the Apple W1  chip, 12 hours of total listening time, Class 1 Bluetooth, a custom aco...

Apple told The Verge last week that it would be rolling out a software update to iPhone 13 devices to make it easier to replace their screens without breaking Face ID, but it didn’t specify when that update might arrive. Fortunately, we may not have to wait long, as repair experts say they have successfully completed the easier screen swaps on iPhone 13 handsets running the iOS 15.2 beta. Before the update, keeping Face ID working after swapping the screens also required moving over a microcontroller from the original phone to the new one. Doing so is a complex process, and having to do it for every iPhone 13 that needs a new screen could make things difficult for indie repair shops. (You can read all about the issue in an article from iFixit.) But on an iPhone 13 loaded with the iOS 15.2 ...