Technology

At its E3 2021 Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo revealed a new entry in the Metroid series: Metroid Dread. It’s set to release on October 8th of this year. In a short but action-packed trailer, protagonist Samus Aran faced off against a giant and terrifying white robot that chased her throughout the level. The game looked to play similarly to the 3DS game Metroid: Samus Returns. You can catch the Metroid Dread trailer in the tweet below. Nintendo also shared that the company is still at work on Metroid Prime 4, which was first revealed for Nintendo Switch in a brief video in June 2017 — yes, four years ago. That game is likely still a ways out from release, as it was rebooted in January 2019. As part of that announcement, Nintendo said that it had put Retro Studios, the developers of...

The Senate confirmed Lina Khan as commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday, by a vote of 69-28. First nominated in March, Khan will give Democrats a majority on the commission, filling a vacancy left by Republican appointee Joseph Simons who resigned in January. Khan’s appointment signals an increased focus on antitrust regulation against major tech companies, which has been a focus of her legal scholarship. Khan rose to prominence after a 2017 paper, titled “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” arguing that new antitrust statutes were necessary to prevent anti-competitive behavior from online platforms like Amazon. More recently, Khan played a significant staff role in assembling the House Antitrust report on competition in digital markets. Khan’s confirmation comes at a time when Con...

Have you ever tried using your Apple Watch as a bedside clock, but given up because the screen is just too dang small? Well, boy do we have a $49.99 dock for you. The NightWatch is combination charging dock, magnifying glass, and acoustic amplifier, bringing together these functions to turn the Apple Watch’s nightstand mode into a bona fide bedside alarm, complete with a tap-to-wake feature to show you the time. We’ve previously covered novelty docks that turn the Apple Watch into a miniature Macintosh replica or an iPod. But the NightWatch attempts to make the Apple Watch work better in nightstand mode, by making its screen bigger and easier to read and using “integrated sound channels’ to amplify the sound of your alarm. You slot in your existing charging puck behind the watch.Image: Nig...

Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition card went on sale last week, but buyers looking for the $599 GPU have found it impossible to find. While we’re used to seeing extremely low stock of new GPUs, none of Nvidia’s own RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition models appear to have gone on sale in the US or UK — and Nvidia won’t say why not. Nvidia has partnered with Scan Computers in the UK to sell its Founders Edition cards, and with Best Buy in the US. While Scan had a reasonable amount of stock of the RTX 3080 Ti earlier this month, the RTX 3070 Ti was non-existent. Scan has not responded to a request for comment by The Verge, and the company has been telling people on Twitter that “all Founders Edition cards are released direct through the Nvidia website.” But that website never included a ...

Smart lock company Level is announcing a new model in its lineup today, simply named the Level Lock. The new Level Lock is very similar to the model introduced last year (now known as the Level Lock Touch) but without the touch controls. It sits in the middle of Level’s lineup and is available starting today in matte black, satin nickel, satin chrome, or polished brass for $249. Like the $329 Level Lock Touch, the Level Lock uses the core technology that first debuted in the Level Bolt to completely hide all of the smart lock’s electronics and battery in the bolt of the lock itself. This allows the design of the lock to be very discreet and modern — you wouldn’t know it’s a smart lock just by looking at it. Level says the single CR2 battery in the bolt can power the lock for up to a year. ...

Digit is building on its automated savings know-how with a new $9.99 per month banking feature called Direct that will launch later this year. With the new service, you’ll have access to “spending” and “bills” accounts, a debit card (with access to ATMs), and all of the usual AI-enabled savings tools Digit’s gained over the years, but with no waiting for bank transfers and theoretically even easier saving. Along with the banking basics offered by Digit’s partner for the service, MetaBank, Digit Direct includes a redesign of the Digit app. Digit’s original app put savings goals front and center. Goals are still part of Digit in Direct, but the emphasis now is on the two new accounts the service adds to the mix. The new Digit app with a focus on spending, bills, and goals.Image: Digit At the...

Tuca & Bertie is back on the air thanks to Adult Swim, and you can watch the entire first episode of season 2 for free on Adult Swim’s YouTube channel right now. Tuca & Bertie is an animated show from BoJack Horseman producer and artist Lisa Hanawalt starring Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong as two best friends navigating their adult lives. The show first premiered on Netflix in 2019 and debuted to rave reviews, but the streaming service canceled it after just one season. In 2020, though, Adult Swim picked up a 10-episode order of the show. The first episode of that new season premiered Sunday night, and if you missed the debut or just want to check out the show for yourself, you can catch it on YouTube. If you watch this first episode and want to catch up on the series, you’ll have to...

Gaming peripheral company Turtle Beach announced at E3 2021 that it’s getting into a new product category: flight sim hardware. The company is launching the VelocityOne Flight system for $350, and it’s compatible with PC and Xbox consoles via USB. And, for a first effort in this competitive space, it seems like a very comprehensive offering and a decent value if you’re into playing Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. The VelocityOne Flight was made in collaboration with aeronautical engineers and pilots to provide a realistic flight experience. It has a 180-degree yoke handle with rear rudder controls for easy access. To its right, there’s a modular throttle quadrant with an integrated trim wheel, as well as both vernier-style and lever controls (with swappable tops for prop and jet planes). ...

“Can it run Doom?” is a question nearly as old as Doom itself, as creative hardware hackers and software savants across the internet work to try and get the 1993 classic shooter to run on virtually anything that has a microprocessor. The latest absurd entry: an Ikea Trådfri GU10 345 RGB LED bulb, which Next-Hack has managed to hack into running a modified version of Doom. The actual hack is a bit of a cheat, given the fact that unlike past Doom hack candidates, like the Nintendo Game & Watch, the MacBook Pro Touch Bar, or a TI calculator, the Trådfri bulb doesn’t have any buttons or a display. Next-Hack had to add those, using the MGM210L RF board that powers the “smart” part of the bulb, and modifying a copy of Doom to run on its paltry 108kB of RAM. Photo: Next-Hack And even then, th...

Capcom has announced that Resident Evil Village will be getting downloadable content. The news was revealed during an E3 2021 Showcase that was short of new announcements. A quick message during the livestream confirmed that DLC has entered production “by popular demand.” While there were no more details beyond this, the implication is that we could be getting more content featuring the game’s most popular character, Lady Dimitrescu. Another possibility could be the return of fan-favorite Ada Wong, who was originally planned to feature in Resident Evil Village, as revealed via early concept art that can be unlocked in the game. Of course, it could be a while before this additional DLC comes out, as it appears there had been no plans ahead of the game’s release, whereas Resident Evil 7 alre...

Razer has refreshed its minimalist Raptor 27 gaming monitor with FreeSync Premium support with low frame rate compensation for smoother gameplay; a slightly faster 165Hz refresh rate (the previous model topped out at 144Hz); and THX certification claiming to deliver great color, tone, and image accuracy. Like the 2019 version, this one has Nvidia G-Sync compatibility, and its matte 27-inch QHD IPS panel covers 95 percent of the DCI-P3 color space. This monitor will cost $799.99 when it releases in Q3 2021, which is $100 more than the previous version. The improvements make it at least worth considering if you want to game on PC with enhanced variable refresh rate tech. That, and Razer’s Raptor 27 is tough to beat when it comes to design, with its sturdy aluminum base that lets the monitor ...

Razer has refreshed its minimalist Raptor 27 gaming monitor with FreeSync Premium support with low frame rate compensation for smoother gameplay; a slightly faster 165Hz refresh rate (the previous model topped out at 144Hz); and THX certification claiming to deliver great color, tone, and image accuracy. Like the 2019 version, this one has Nvidia G-Sync compatibility, and its matte 27-inch QHD IPS panel covers 95 percent of the DCI-P3 color space. This monitor will cost $799.99 when it releases in Q3 2021, which is $100 more than the previous version. The improvements make it at least worth considering if you want to game on PC with enhanced variable refresh rate tech. That, and Razer’s Raptor 27 is tough to beat when it comes to design, with its sturdy aluminum base that lets the monitor ...