Technology

Spotify has been piloting Spotify Plus, a new low-cost subscription plan for its music streaming service, consisting of features from premium and free tiers. Spotify Plus is being offered at different price points during the test as quite a few users spotted it advertising from $0.99 USD a month, which is much lower than the $9.99 USD  tier for premium users. The new streaming plan still features ads but you can enjoy on-demand play in choosing specific songs, instead of shuffling in playlists and albums. Besides, users can also skip tracks without limitations, whereas the free tier only offers six skips per hour. Despite this, the package still has ads and does not allow for downloads, and there is no guarantee that the new Spotify Plus feature will launch at its current testing pric...

Facebook is streamlining the settings page on mobile in a new redesign that’s rolling out starting Wednesday. Visually, the new layout looks much less cluttered, and individual settings don’t have descriptions, meaning you’ll see more on the page at a time. Facebook has also changed up the organization of the settings themselves. The company has reduced the number of categories for settings and renamed them, according to a blog post, so now, you’ll see six categories of settings: Account, Preferences, Audience and Visibility, Permissions, Your Information, and Community Standards and Legal Policies. Some settings have also been relocated so that they’re by related ones, Facebook says. You’ll be able to see the new look on Android, iOS, mobile web, and Facebook Lite. You might already have ...

The latest version of Apple’s iOS 15 beta seems to be making subtle improvements to photos by processing out the green lens flares that can show up in outdoor pictures (via 9to5Mac). News of the feature was posted to the iOSBeta subreddit by Reddit user Doubleluckstur, and The Verge was able to see it in action by testing with an iPhone 12 Mini running the public beta. Many iPhone users will be familiar with the green blobs, and while taking a picture it seems like nothing’s changed — the flare still shows up in the viewfinder. But when you go to view the final picture, the flare is nowhere to be seen (in some cases; we’ll get to that in a bit). It does seem to be the result of all the post-processing that’s done to the picture, as the flare shows up in the alternate (and less-processed) f...

Kid Pix, an iconic piece of kid-friendly desktop art software, has been ported to Javascript and HTML by Vikrum Nijjar. The web version of Kid Pix is based one the original 1.0 version released for Macs in 1989 by Craig Hickman. It has the expected tools like paint brushes, rubber stamps, shapes, and letters, all scored by Kid Pix’s highly memorable sound effects. The sounds and Kid Pix’s somewhat inscrutable interface are the real draw here. The program’s inherent playfulness encourages you to explore, even if you’re not a kid anymore. You can see a spokesperson from Kid Pix’s first publisher Broderbund talk through some of the original app’s features below: [embedded content] I didn’t remember using Kid Pix at first, but pulling up the web version of Kid Pix and stamping a random assortm...

Free TikTok has arrived on some of American Airlines’ flights, according to a press release put out by the company (via CNET). Passengers will be able to use the app for up to 30 minutes for free, which gives them time to watch at least ten of the new, longer TikToks. If you don’t have the app already installed, the airline says you’ll be able to download it for free while in the air. The move to make TikTok available to travelers comes as airlines are trying to get attention back on flying, after the number of people traveling by air dropped during the pandemic. One of its competitors, United, has also been adding tech upgrades to its fleet, allowing passengers to pre-order in-flight snacks and adding planes that support bluetooth audio for the in-seat screens. American has recently allow...

People will no longer be able to play the digital version of The New York Times daily crossword puzzle in third-party apps, according to an announcement made by the Times on Monday. Starting August 10th, the crossword will be available digitally only via the NYT site or on its own crossword app. Downloadable PDFs, in addition to the physical newspaper, will still be available for people who want to print and play. Until now, crosswords were available in the Across Lite .puz file format, so anyone with a Times games subscription could download a puzzle and open it in the desktop or mobile app of their choice. The change applies not just to future puzzles but to the archive of puzzles that are currently in the .puz format. Everdeen Mason, editorial director of games at the Times, said on Twi...

On Wednesday, a surreal TikTok ad from an advertiser posing as Amazon confused users into thinking the e-commerce giant was taking a stab at including absurdist internet humor into its online marketing strategy. The ad featured gaming footage from the lego-like title Roblox interspersed with strange clips of a man dancing to Flo Rida and T-Pain’s 2008 hit “Low,” but only the part where T-Pain says “Apple Bottom jeans.” There are also robot voices bullying each other about grandmas and girlfriends overlaid on the ad. The bizarre video was highlighted by Eddy Burback, a popular YouTuber and streamer, on his Twitter feed Wednesday. The ad purported to be purchased by the e-commerce giant Amazon, but Amazon told The Verge Wednesday that the ad was fake. Amazon said that it was investigating th...

One of the most intriguing aspects of Panic’s Playdate — besides its lovely crank — is the unique game delivery method that will bring 24 free games to the device. Panic plans to release a season of games (Season One), two games at a time each week. In a new FAQ released on Wednesday, Panic explains a bit more about how that’ll work and reveals that, due to limited manufacturing capacity, not everyone will be playing new games at the same time. All Playdates will download new games weekly on “New Game Day” as long they’re connected to Wi-Fi, starting with the first two games when you connect your device. The catch is that not everyone will connect their Playdate to the internet on day one due to limited preorders. That means rather than being in sync with the entire Playdate population (wh...

Apple has placed senior engineering program manager Ashley Gjøvik on indefinite administrative leave after she tweeted about sexism in the office. The company is currently investigating claims Gjøvik made about a hostile work environment. “For months, I have been raising concerns with Apple employee relations about years of experiences with sexism, a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, unsafe working conditions, and retaliation,” Gjøvik says in an interview with The Verge. “I asked them to mitigate the hostile work environment while they investigate, and they initially offered me EAP therapy and medical leave. I told them that made no sense, and said they should talk to my leadership and set up oversight and boundaries. I added that if there was no other option they could give me ...

WhatsApp is introducing a new feature that allows users to send disappearing photos and videos. After the recipient opens a photo or video sent in “view once” mode, the media disappears forever, similar to other popular messaging apps like Snapchat. The Facebook-owned company said that the mechanism is “giving users even more control over their privacy.” Photos and videos sent in view once mode appear like regular messages in the chat, marked with a “one-time” icon and viewable with a simple tap. Like other media sent in the app, photos and videos can still be edited, doodled on and captioned. New feature alert! You can now send photos and videos that disappear after they’ve been opened via View Once on WhatsApp, giving you more control over your chats privacy! pic.twitter.com/Ig5BWbX1Ow —...

TikTok, the widely popular short-form video app, might soon be adding 24-hour “stories” to its interface. The social media platform, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, has started a small beta test of TikTok Stories in several countries outside the U.S., though it may not turn into a permanent feature, according to a brand representative via Variety. Similar to “stories” on social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram, TikTok Stories will expire 24 hours after being posted. “We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience,” a TikTok spokesperson told the outlet. “Currently we’re experimenting with ways to give creators additional formats to bring their creative ideas to life for the TikTok community.” Social media consultant M...