Technology

Star Wars: Squadrons is getting some major additions in the coming months: a new map and ship parts will roll out in an update on November 25th, while a December update will add two brand-new ships — the fan-favorite B-wing and TIE Defender starfighters — to the game. The B-wing will be classified as a bomber-class ship for the New Republic faction, while the TIE Defender will be a fighter-class craft for the Empire. The two ships won’t just replace the existing Y-wing bomber and TIE Fighter ships, though. Per the announcement, “There’s still going to be good reasons to pick a Y-wing over a B-wing or a TIE fighter over a TIE defender and vice versa. It’ll depend on your playstyle and what the situation calls for.” Both… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money Even When you...

Image: Bandcamp Bandcamp launched a ticketed live stream service for virtual concerts yesterday called Bandcamp Live. The streaming service lets artists make money from live performances online, and may help some of the independent musicians who favor Bandcamp recoup money lost in canceled tours. Artists will be able to set prices for tickets, notify followers when they go on sale, and offer a virtual merch table. There’s also an optional chat for fans while they watch the show. Any time a purchase is made, it will be announced in the chat. Artists have shifted to live streams to recoup lost ticket sales during the pandemic. Bandcamp is using its existing store as a jumping-off point, by making it easier for artists to set up shows someplace they’re… Continue reading… You Dese...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge T-Mobile is shutting down TVision Home, its IPTV cable service that utilized technology from its 2017 acquisition of Layer3. The service will officially shut down on December 30th, 2020 at 3AM ET, according to an FAQ on the T-Mobile website. TVision Home’s shutdown comes shortly after the November 1st launch of the company’s new live TV streaming service — which, confusingly, also uses the TVision brand. The new TVision works via an app that’s available across many platforms and over a $50 4K Android TV dongle that’s sold by T-Mobile — a far more accessible way to access content than the TVision Home, which required a more traditional set-top box. And while a TVision Home subscription cost $90 per month, the new TVision offers a number… Continu...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Starting today, YouTube will begin running ads on some creators’ videos, but it won’t give them a portion of the ad revenue because they’re not big enough to be enrolled in its Partner Program. When advertisements run on YouTube videos, those creators typically receive a portion of the revenue through their role in YouTube’s Partner Program. With the new monetization rules, a creator who is not in the partner program “may see ads on some of your videos,” according to an update to the platform’s Terms of Service. Prior to the update, YouTube says these videos only received ads in limited circumstances, like if they were monetized by a record label as part of a copyright claim. The update will mostly affect smaller creators without a… Continue re...

Google’s Gmail application has been updated for iOS 14 with a new widget — but it’s probably not the kind of Gmail widget you may have been hoping for. Right now, there’s just a single iOS 14 Gmail widget that just does one thing: offer quick links to your inbox, the compose menu, or search. There’s no real preview of your inbox content, no ability to triage mail through archiving or deleting without opening the app, or any way to read an incoming message. The most interactive element is a simple “unread” counter, something that the app icon has already been capable of for years. Part of that is on Google — other email apps, like Spark, have created more robust widgets. But a big part of the blame lies on Apple’s shoulders, with its… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money...

Earlier today, MacRumors reported that it is possible to run any iOS app you have purchased on an M1-based Mac, provided you can get access to the right file. Sure enough, if you’ve purchased or downloaded an app for your iPhone or iPad, it is possible to get it running on an M1-based Mac — I am currently looking at the iOS versions of Dark Sky, Spotify, Slack, Netflix, and Gmail on this MacBook Air. Running some of these apps, it’s fairly clear in some cases why these developers haven’t immediately made them available for the Mac in the Mac App Store. Netflix, for example, is bounded inside a window and can’t be resized or go full screen (but it works, and you can even download videos for offline viewing). Instagram is relatively small… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make M...

One of 2020’s last big blockbusters, Wonder Woman 1984, will simultaneously be released in theaters and on HBO Max on December 25th. Unlike Mulan, Wonder Woman 1984 won’t cost anything extra beyond the monthly subscription fee. HBO Max subscribers will have the opportunity to watch the film directly from home. The streaming service costs $14.99 a month. The move comes as uncertainty grows over whether theaters will remain open as cases surge across the United States. Even if they do remain open, however, it’s uncertain whether people will actually attend screenings. This way, WarnerMedia can boost its HBO Max subscribers and still give people around the world (where HBO Max is not available) the ability to watch it in theaters. “To… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money ...

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge More than 200 content moderators at Facebook have signed an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg demanding better COVID-19 protections. They say management has needlessly put their lives at risk by forcing them back into the office, even as full-time employees work from home until July 2021. On October 12th, content moderators working for the third-party contracting firm Accenture in Austin, Texas were asked to return to the office. The company implemented additional cleaning measures and asked employees to wear masks. Despite these efforts, a contractor tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after returning to work, according to The Intercept. Facebook has been under intense pressure to stop the spread of viral misinformation and take down… Continue ...

Photo by Alexander Kramer for The Verge Saving money on new Apple products is usually out of the question, but the new 13-inch MacBook Pro that has Apple’s powerful M1 silicon is already $50 off at Amazon. Instead of costing $1,299 for the base model with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, you’ll pay $1,250. Yeah, it’s a small discount, and apparently deliveries are currently taking between two to five weeks. Saving $50 might not make it worth the possibly long wait, but this deal’s here in case you want to take advantage of it. You can also save $50 on the upgraded version with 512GB of storage and 8GB of RAM in either the space gray or silver colors. It normally costs $1,499, but you can checkout now for $1,450. There’s currently less of a wait for deliveries of this model…. Continue...

iphone 6s home button stock | Photo: James Vincent/The Verge Apple doesn’t find itself apologizing often, but it’s a big deal when it does — like in 2017, after customers realized the company had been quietly throttling the speed of older iPhones. Apple quickly explained it was designed to protect those phones from aging batteries and offered $29 battery replacements to smooth things over, but lawsuits followed, with the company first agreeing to a $500 million class action settlement earlier this year. Now, the company’s agreed to a second settlement — this time, with 34 US states — that might see the company paying an additional $113 million. The states attorneys general had sued Apple for hiding both the throttling and battery degradation from iPhone owners, arguing that Apple “fully...

Félix “xQcOW” Lengyel — former pro Overwatch player and currently one of the top streamers on Twitch — has been temporarily banned from the site for cheating at Twitch Rivals, a site-sponsored tournament series. Lengyel was playing this summer’s breakout smash Fall Guys, when he stream-sniped an opponent live on air and sent them home early. (Stream-sniping is looking at another player’s stream and intentionally griefing them when you happen to queue into a game together.) Lengyel also forfeit his prize money and has been banned from appearing in a Twitch Rivals event for six months. At GlitchCon our player conduct rules were violated. We require all participants to abide by the same rules in order to play in a tournament. As a… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money Even...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Epic Games and Spotify, united in their fight against Apple, each released statements on Wednesday slamming the iPhone maker following news of its new App Store fee reduction for developers making less than $1 million per year. The cut should apply to an estimated 98 percent of iOS app developers that generated just 5 percent of the App Store’s revenue last year, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower. But those ineligible include Epic, Spotify, and scores of larger app makers that have, in recent months, voiced increasing concern over how Apple manages the App Store and the rules it imposes on developers. Apple announced the cut earlier today as part of a new small business program launching on January 1st, casting the move as a way… Continu...