Technology

It’s March, which means Nintendo will soon pull a handful of games released specifically for anniversary celebrations. Switch owners have until the end of this month, March 31st, to grab games before the developer pulls them off the eShop. That includes Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Super Mario Bros. 35, Game & Watch Super Mario Bros., and Super Mario 3D All-Stars. Similar to Disney’s infamous “vault” tactic — offering films for a limited time before they’re stuffed back into a metaphorical vault and become impossible to get — Nintendo announced last year that it would only offer certain games until this year. It’s unclear if the developer will rerelease these games further down the road or if they’ll remain unavailable indefinitely. Nintendo continues to celebrate...

Twitter announced Monday that it will start labeling tweets that share misleading information about COVID-19 vaccines. The labels will include links to relevant information from official bodies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Twitter plans to enforce a five-strike system for repeat offenders that can lead to locked accounts and permanent suspension. The new labels are similar to Facebook’s anti-misinformation banners or the labels Twitter began deploying early in the pandemic. They appear as text underneath misleading tweets, with links to information from official sources or Twitter’s rules. Twitter says it applies these labels through a combination of human and automated review systems and is starting its rollout with English-language content first. An example of...

Volvo XC40 Recharge electric SUVs are currently being held at US ports because the company is waiting to ship a crucial software update before releasing them to customers and dealers, The Verge has learned. The problem appears to be that these XC40 Recharge SUVs — which is Volvo’s first all-electric vehicle — left the company’s factory without the Volvo On Call software activated. Volvo On Call is a subscription service that connects Volvo cars to an owner’s smartphone, allowing them to remotely turn the vehicle on and off, lock or unlock the doors, and access diagnostic information. One customer, who was supposed to take delivery of his XC40 Recharge at the end of February, tells The Verge his dealer’s best guess is that his SUV may not make it out of the port in Newark, New Jersey until ...

Next year’s Atlantic hurricane season could begin on May 15th if officials decide this year to move its formal start date up by two weeks. The decision will likely be made this spring, during meetings held by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 2022 is the earliest that the start date can be officially changed, a spokesperson for NOAA’s National Hurricane Center told The Verge in an email. But come May 15th of this year, the agency will start issuing its Tropical Weather Outlooks, which are routine forecasts that it typically doesn’t start releasing until hurricane season starts on June 1st. The proposed changes come as climate change makes hurricane season more unpredictable and more advanced technology makes it easier to...

Google’s latest feature drop for Pixel phones makes it easier to share audio recordings, adds better integration for an underwater housing accessory, and wraps up a couple of other updates into a neat little package for Pixel owners. The update is available starting today for some owners of Pixel 3 phones and newer, and it will continue to reach others over the next two weeks. First up, recordings made via the Recorder app will now be backed up at recorder.google.com where they can be shared with anyone. The site, discovered last week by 9to5Google, offers the same transcription and search features included in the app itself. It’s somewhat similar to Otter.ai, a tool for transcribing Zoom meetings. The update also includes better support for an underwater phone housing sold by Kraken Sport...

The Medium Workers Union is pausing organizing efforts after it failed to win a simple majority of support in an online vote last Friday. “This election did not have the outcome we hoped for, but we’re not going anywhere,” the union said in a statement. “The vote was never to decide whether our union exists, but whether management would recognize us as a bargaining unit.” The final tally was 75 yes votes, 68 votes for no, and seven abstentions, putting the organizers just one vote short of the previously agreed threshold of 76 yes votes. Notably, organizers believe these same votes would allow them to win recognition in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election due to abstention rules, which would give them 52 percent of the total votes cast. However, the union is abiding by its pre...

If you are having a hard time finding an Xbox Series X or Series S, you have another chance to buy one. Microsoft’s direct website has restocked both of its next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and Series S. Like some other gaming gadgets released late last year, these consoles are extremely difficult to buy, but if you move quickly, you can grab one right now. Xbox Series X / S Prices taken at time of publishing. The Xbox Series X is Microsoft’s flagship console, serving as its most powerful (and biggest) option that costs $499.99. While the $299.99 Series S is aimed at smooth 1440p performance, the Series X is focused on fast 4K gameplay. If you are new to the Xbox console family, Antonline has a compelling bundle for the Series S. For $405, you get the Series S console, an extra control...

OnePlus CEO Pete Lau is teasing a “moonshot” announcement on March 8th, when the company expected to reveal details about its next flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 9. “Something new is on the horizon” a teaser site reads, alongside a photograph that looks an awful lot like the famous “Earthrise” photograph from the Apollo 8 mission. That photo was taken with a Hasselblad camera, the 180-year-old Swedish company rumored to be partnering with OnePlus on its upcoming phones. In the past, manufacturers have also used photographs of the Moon to advertise the capabilities of their phones’ zoom cameras for astrophotography, indicating that this could be a key feature of the OnePlus 9 lineup. The tease comes days after tipster Ishan Agarwal told 91Mobiles that the company would be announcing three...

In Monster Hunter, Milla Jovovich plays an outsider. Her character, a US Army ranger named Artemis, is mysteriously transported from our world to a fantastical realm filled with giant and dangerous monsters. American soldiers aren’t something you’ll find in any of Capcom’s Monster Hunter games. But Jovovich believes Artemis helped provide an important perspective — almost serving as a stand-in for a player jumping into their first experience with a Monster Hunter game. “When my character gets transported into the Monster Hunter world I was able to see it with the same eyes as when I first saw the game,” she tells The Verge. “I was just like ‘Whoa, it’s so beautiful.’ We really wanted people to feel like that when they watch the movie, like they were playing the game for the first time.” Jo...

I’ll spare you the suspense: the battery life is good. It’s not incredible. The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is far from the longest-lasting Chromebook I’ve ever tested. But after last year’s Samsung Galaxy Chromebook couldn’t even make it five hours on a charge, my expectations were on the floor. I performed my first battery test on this year’s sequel in an optimistic but nervous state. Finally, several months after the Chromebook 2 was announced, I’m breathing a sigh of relief. To repeat: the battery life is not a disaster, folks. The battery life is fine. That’s sort of the theme of this machine. There are a couple of standout features, and the rest of it is fine. And I’m very happy with that. Verge Score 8 out of 10 Good Stuff Bright, vibrant design Good QLED display Acceptable battery ...

One of the most frustrating tasks for many of us these days is finding how and where to get an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccination. It can be a real exercise in exasperation: the websites are often difficult to navigate and prone to frequent crashes; in addition, after finding an open appointment slot and filling out multiple pages of questions, you are often told that the opening has disappeared. In view of all this, we’ve tried to gather as much helpful information as we can about ways to research and snag vaccination appointments for yourself and others. We’ll update this as more information presents itself. Research the vaccination qualifications in your state To begin with, it’s a good idea to try to pin down if you or the person you are assisting is currently qualified for the COV...

The first electric power sports vehicle to emerge from the new collaboration between Polaris and Zero Motorcycles will be a battery-powered Ranger utility side-by-side. The companies didn’t provide any details about the vehicle’s range, battery pack, or price, but they did say that production on the new UTV (or utility terrain vehicle) was expected to start in December 2021. Ranger is the number one-selling brand in the Minnesota-based Polaris’ lineup of utility vehicles. More details are forthcoming, a spokesperson said, but the goal is to “build a better Ranger with more torque, more power, more hauling, the capabilities needed to give customers the advantage. Electric allows Polaris to do this.” Polaris and Zero Motorcycles signed a 10-year agreement last year Polaris and Zero Motorcycl...