Technology

Nickelback has created a parody version of its own song “Photograph” for a new Google Photos ad, and it’s a lot more entertaining than you might suspect. In the ad, Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger mercilessly makes fun of himself, fully leaning into the “Photograph” meme and its usefulness in explaining all sorts of graphs and in illustrating framed copies of other memes, as Kroeger instructs viewers to “look at them” in his unmistakable, raspy voice. The ad’s lyrics and photos touch on Kroeger’s “noodle hair” and his passion for photographing dessert. That it manages to both be a nice example of Google Photos’ features and a cute use of the old meme makes it worth a watch. “Photograph” is 15 years old, and the meme connected to it has been around for at least five, so seeing the ad is...

Verizon’s new nationwide 5G network is reportedly slower than its LTE network, to the point that users are apparently better off just disabling 5G entirely unless they’re near a mmWave network. The results come from testing done by PC Magazine’s Sascha Sagan, who points to Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, or DSS, as the culprit. The tech lets carriers run LTE and 5G networks side by side, which is useful if, like Verizon, you don’t yet have enough dedicated 5G spectrum. While the carrier has largely focused on its mmWave network until recently, it also has begun rolling out a mid-band nationwide 5G network, which promises to avoid mmWave’s range issues by using DSS. The only catch is that, with Verizon, it seems like this tech leads to worse performance in most cases for phones running in 5G mode...

OnePlus will finally be making a smartwatch in 2021, CEO Pete Lau has announced on Twitter, marking the first foray into wearable devices for the smartphone company. There’s not many details yet on the upcoming device, including what smartwatch OS it’ll run, a price, or even a firm release date — Lau only notes that it’ll be “released early next year.” The idea of a OnePlus smartwatch isn’t a new one; the company had reportedly designed a Wear OS (then still called Android Wear) smartwatch a few years ago. OnePlus ultimately nixed that product, though” “We had completed the design but we still decided to scrap it,” Lau said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “We have to be focused.” Many of you said you wanted a watch, and as you might have heard over the weekend—we’re mak...

If you’ve ever wondered how profanity actually became profane, Nicolas Cage is here to help you out. The actor is no stranger to swearing, but in Netflix’s upcoming show History of Swear Words he’ll be doing it in a more educational way. Though, if the trailer’s indicative of what the show is going to be like, it’ll still be very entertaining. It opens with Cage standing up and just screaming “fuck,” likely a reference to him doing pretty much the exact same thing in Deadfall. It only gets better from there, explaining that apparently the word is an acronym (standing for Fornication Under Consent of the King), and delving into how swear words are understood by the people using and hearing them. The show will include celebrity interviews and, of course, a lot of swearing As someone who’s al...

Remember this time last year, when everyday didn’t bring with it a new horror and people just wanted to talk about The Witcher? Well, now a new video from Netflix is trying to bring back some of that energy, piecing together lyrics from the show’s breakout song, “Toss a Coin to your Witcher,” all sung in different languages. In the video, the song jumps between languages, starting with English before leading into Polish, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and more. It’s incredibly charming, with all the different Jaskiers coming together to remind various townspeople and locals to toss a coin to their Witcher. It’s the holiday season; not tipping at least 20 percent, especially in areas with heavy snowfall and grotesque monsters that demand a Witcher to slay them, is simply unacceptable...

GameStop reportedly sent a memo to employees telling them to accept returns of Cyberpunk 2077, even in the event the physical game box has already been opened, according to Kotaku and Vice reporter Patrick Klepek. GameStop’s return policy typically doesn’t let you return opened games, but GameStop seems to be making an exception for Cyberpunk 2077 after its buggy launch. You can return PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of game within 30 days of purchase to get a refund, reports Kotaku. GameStop didn’t reply to a request for comment, but employees at GameStops in Chicago and Houston confirmed to The Verge by phone that their stores were accepting returns of the game. Other retailers have also offered refunds of Cyberpunk 2077. Best Buy accepted physical returns of the game until December ...

There’s been an avalanche of new electric vehicles announced in the past year and a half, ranging from the luxurious to the practical to the garish. So you’d be forgiven if you forgot about the Volvo XC40 Recharge, a great compact SUV with a terrible name. I won’t judge Volvo too harshly for its name choice. The Swedish automaker wanted to convey the simple message that this was a familiar vehicle with a new powertrain. And “XC40 Recharge” certainly gets that point across. That said, it’s an uninspiring name for what is arguably a fantastic EV. an uninspiring name for what is arguably a fantastic EV I got a chance to drive Volvo’s first all-electric vehicle around northwestern New Jersey for around two hours on a recent Friday. The roads were freshly plowed, the sky was a cloudless blue, a...

A group of high profile tech companies including Microsoft, Google, Cisco, and VMWare have filed an amicus brief in support of Facebook’s legal action against NSO Group, Microsoft has announced. Facebook-owned WhatsApp sued the spyware vendor last year, alleging that its software was used to hack 1,400 devices via a vulnerability in the messaging service. Other companies listed on the filing include the Internet Association, and Microsoft subsidiaries GitHub and LinkedIn. In response to Facebook’s lawsuit last year, NSO Group has argued it should benefit from “sovereign immunity,” Reuters reports, because it sells its tools to foreign governments. However, in July a judge denied its request to dismiss the lawsuit. Now NSO Group is appealing to overturn the ruling, and it’s this appeal atte...

The year 2020 was when most of us went from going out with loved ones to exchanging recommendations on what type of TV show or movie to stream next. One way to suit everyone’s taste — kids, adults, and sports fans — is to try the Disney Bundle, a streaming pack that consists of Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, and Hulu. Each of these services offers a slew of streaming options, so for a $12.99-a-month price tag, you are getting a ton of bang for your buck. You can also opt just for Disney Plus at a cost of $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year. Here are some of my favorites. We’ve rounded up our favorite and most-used games, apps, and entertainment. Check out our app picks for iPhones, Android phones, PCs, and M1-equipped Macs; our favorite mobile games from Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass; and our top ...

Here’s a big idea that comes with a unique set of problems: replacing meat in the food supply with something that is more sustainable and climate-friendly, yet looks and tastes like the real deal. But that’s what Beyond Meat does — it takes plant protein and turns it into convincing substitutes for chicken, beef, and pork. And on today’s episode, I’m talking with founder and CEO Ethan Brown about how he’s tackling this. I last interviewed Ethan on the Vergecast, before the company IPO’d in 2019 — it’s been quite a ride since then, as the pandemic sharply impacted the stock, restaurants closed, and the entire food world generally turned upside down. But the company has come out of that with a rising stock price, some big deals to supply quick-service restaurants like Pizza Hut and Dunkin, a...

The microwave is a cooking tool designed around precision. Punch in how long you need your food to heat up in a microwave, and that’s what it will do; no more, and no less. But for all the exactitude that governs the microwave — and that the microwave tries to impose on our food and our cooking — the reality is that things can’t be so neatly stuffed into a convenient digital box. Life isn’t binary, so many microwaves feature an “add 30 seconds” button to give us humans the wiggle room we need within the otherwise unbendable numbers of the countdown clock. It’s a button that stands in almost caveman-y opposition to the intended functionality. Instead of calculating the perfect amount of time to reheat or cook your food, it turns out that the best way to actually use a microwave in real life...