Technology

The Batman debuted a brand new trailer at DC FanDome on Saturday, showing off the best look yet at Robert Pattinson’s take on the Dark Knight and promising an even darker, grittier version of Gotham’s Caped Crusader than any that have hit film before. Set just a few years in Batman’s career as a superhero, The Batman promises to show not just a look at the early days of Batman but numerous other proto-villains and allies, including Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred, and Colin Farrell as The Penguin. The new trailer also gives the first real look at Paul Dano’s take on the iconic Batman villain the Riddler, who appears to be going for a far creepier, serial killer-esque style version of the character (as opposed to the campier, trickster that mos...

DC Comics and Warner Bros. held their second annual Fandome [embedded content] The Batman shows off Robert Pattinson’s gritty hero We got a second trailer for The Batman, at last (and FanDome saved the reveal for the very end of the day). We’re not even sure if he thinks he is a hero, but Pattison’s Batman is definitely Going Through Some Stuff. We didn’t learn a heck of a lot more about the characters in Matt Reeves’ interpretation of the Dark Knight’s saga. But the trailer showed off a Selina Kyle/Catwoman who seemed to be a master of disguises, and a Riddler with a much scarier vibe than we’ve seen in previous iterations. After several pandemic-related delays, The Batman comes to theaters on March 4th, 2022. [embedded content] An early look at Dwayne Johnson as Shazam antihero Black Ada...

This slim soundbar from Samsung is currently available for its lowest price ever at Newegg, down to just $298. This 38-inch soundbar comes packed with 9 forward-firing speakers and a wireless subwoofer for a soundbar that punches well above its weight. There are a couple of things to keep in mind, however. This soundbar only comes equipped with a single HDMI input and output port, so you’ll need to rely on a switcher, or utilize the built-in Bluetooth connectivity if you’re using this soundbar for multiple devices. Another small drawback is the lack of additional rear-channel speakers, which shouldn’t be an issue for smaller rooms, but if you have a particularly large living room, you may want to invest in a pair of tertiary speakers. Samsung HW-Q60T Soundbar $298 $450 34% off This 5.1 Sou...

Some Instacart shoppers are striking on Saturday, to protest the company’s pay structure and failure to communicate directly with workers. The Gig Workers Collective (GWC), which represent some of the company’s shoppers, want the Instacart to address five of its policies. The group is calling for Instacart to pay shoppers by order instead of by batch, reintroduce its item commissions, fix fraud issues with its rating system, provide occupational death benefits, and raise the default tip for shoppers on the platform from 5 percent to 10 percent. The group said the company ignored its demands, which led to the decision to walk off the job on Saturday. “Instacart has refused to finally address these fixes that workers have been begging the company for, in discussions both private and public,”...

NASA’s Lucy space probe launched successfully from Cape Canaveral in Florida early Saturday, the beginning of a 12-year mission to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. The uncrewed spacecraft lifted off at 5:34AM ET aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Lucy sent its first signal to Earth from its own antenna to NASA’s Deep Space Network at 6:40AM ET. Scientists believe the Trojan asteroids, which orbit the Sun along the same path as Jupiter, may hold clues about the formation of our solar system. It’s NASA’s first-ever single-spacecraft mission to explore so many different asteroids, the agency said. Lucy is named for the fossilized human skeleton discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, which provided key insights into human evolution. The fossil got her name from the Beatles song “Lucy in...

On October 14th, Apple fired a leader of the #AppleToo movement for allegedly failing to comply with an internal investigation. The employee, Janneke Parrish, has been working behind the scenes for months to organize fellow employees who’ve faced harassment and discrimination. Now, Apple appears to be cracking down on those efforts — under the guise of trying to stop internal information from leaking to the press. In September, Apple fired Ashley Gjøvik for allegedly violating her confidentiality agreement. Then, it placed software engineer Cher Scarlett on medical leave. Both Gjøvik and Scarlett have filed claims with the NLRB. Parrish’s lawyer, Vincent P. White of White, Hilferty and Albanese, tells The Verge that Parrish plans to sue for wrongful termination and will also be filing a ch...

The International Space Station was unexpectedly tilted on Friday after a test firing of thrusters on Russia’s Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft continued longer than expected. First reported by the New York Times, the personnel aboard the ISS were never in danger according to a statement from Russia’s Roscosmos space agency. Ground teams for NASA and Roscosmos were able to regain control of the station about 30 minutes after it lost positioning control at 5:13AM ET. But it’s the second such incident aboard the ISS within the past year, and it occurred with a craft that is supposed to return to Earth early Sunday morning. The incident started when cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky was testing the engines aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, which is docked with the station. A NASA spokesperson told the Times tha...

There’s still no firm release date for the delayed Analogue Pocket (outside of the broader “December 2021” window that the company last provided in September), but Analogue is looking to whet players’ appetites with the next best thing: a deep look at AnalogueOS, the new custom software that will power the Pocket whenever it does actually arrive. As one might expect for a retro gaming device, AnalogueOS features a minimal, pixel-art style design that’s meant to get you into games as easily as possible. But Analogue is taking its goal of making the ultimate retro gaming device seriously. There’s a new “Library” feature, with a massive database that the company has built from the ground up with the goal of serving as a comprehensive historical archive for retro gaming. Players will be able t...

Earlier this year, Dbrand started selling matte black PS5 side plates that it called Darkplates, and when it did, it baited Sony right on the product’s info page to “Go ahead, sue us.” We got our hands on some, and they look exactly like you expect, making the sides of your PS5 black instead of white. They even have their own tongue-in-cheek take on the PlayStation icon microtexture. As of Saturday, though, you can’t buy Darkplates anymore, as Dbrand has removed them from sale after (perhaps unsurprisingly) receiving a cease and desist letter from Sony. (If you visit the Darkplates site right now, it just shows a list of news articles, including ones from The Verge). Dbrand shared the letter with The Verge, which we’ve included at the bottom of the article. Sony raises a few grievances in ...

You can’t always take Busta Rhymes literally, and sometimes you shouldn’t take his questions seriously at all, but a tweet from this morning about NFTs is solidly in line with the disturbing reality of 2021. SHOULD I BUY A HOUSE… or.. A LINK TO A PICTURE OF A PIXELATED MONKEY — Busta Rhymes (@BustaRhymes) October 15, 2021 I won’t give you, or Busta, any help with your investment or trading decisions. However, understanding that some NFTs are a link to a picture on a server that could change or disappear is information worth knowing before you spend your hard-earned cryptocurrency on a digital collectible. And yes, Busta Rhymes is talking about crypto and NFTs for the same reason almost anyone else is. Just like every TV network, sports league, and comic book publisher, he has a few of them...

Moscow launched “Face Pay” on Friday, a facial recognition payment system implemented in more than 240 Mosmetro stations, “the largest use of facial recognition technology in the world,” officials claim (via The Guardian). The service relies on stored photographs to validate metro payments, an obvious privacy concern given the previous uses of facial recognition technology by the Russian capital’s law enforcement. Face Pay requires metro riders to upload a photo and connect their bank and metro cards to the Mosmetro mobile app. With everything uploaded, all you need to do is look at the camera posted above the turnstiles to make it in time for your next train. Moscow authorities expect 10 to 15 percent of riders to use Face Pay “regularly” in the next two to three years, the hope being les...