Technology

LG’s official reveal of its twisting Wing smartphone had a Marvel-esque post-credit scene: a teaser of the next phone in its new “Explorer Project” range, which appears to have an expandable, slide-out display. The clip, as spotted by CNET, doesn’t offer a lot of information, just a brief shot of the side of the phone expanding out and sliding back before it lights up and a “hold your breath” catchphrase appears followed by the LG Explorer Project logo. But the message is clear: LG is at least thinking about a sliding display for a future device. LG’s Explorer Project — which it introduced with the similar wild-looking Wing — is designed to offer a place for the company to explore ways to “breathe new life into what makes a smartphone.” A sliding phone would certainly seem to fit that bill...

Amazon debuted FreeTime back in 2012 as a way for kids to enjoy and experience tech and for parents to easily monitor their kids’ usage. Yet, the name (at least to me) sounds more like a service to help people spend less time on their electronic devices. To fix this, Amazon is renaming FreeTime to “Amazon Kids” and FreeTime Unlimited to “Amazon Kids Plus.” Alongside the updated naming scheme, Amazon is also giving the service a new look. In the next few weeks, Amazon will roll out a new Amazon Kids home screen, recommended for kids ages eight and up, to experience what a “grown-up tablet” feels like by changing the layout to look more like a traditional tablet. The service previously had a simplified interface where kids could swipe between one app at a time. Parents can use the Amazon Par...

General Motors will reveal the all-electric Hummer truck on October 20th, and to help whet your appetite until then, the automaker is confirming a rumored standout feature. GM confirms that the Hummer will come with Crab Mode, allowing it to move across the terrain diagonally like a sand-dwelling crustacean. Crab Mode is enabled by the electric pickup truck’s four-wheel steering capability and is a functionality that is “tailor-made for off-roading customers,” the company says. Crab Mode was teased last week when GMC, the GM brand under which the EV will be sold, tweeted a Hummer badge with a crab graphic. GM scratched the original May 20th reveal of the Hummer EV due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, the automaker has been teasing images and releasing other details in a drip-drip...

Today, Facebook Gaming is set to allow its partnered streamers to play copyrighted, popular music in the background of their live streams — which means they’ve seemingly solved the copyright problem that’s plagued live-streaming (and basically the entire internet) since the beginning. In a press release, a spokesperson for Facebook Gaming put it like this: So, how’s it work? Music played during a gaming broadcast must be a background element, not be the primary focus of the stream. For example, a streamer’s voice and/or gameplay audio should be in the foreground. This also applies to clips made from a livestream, and the VOD version of livestreams, but does not extend to separately edited and uploaded VOD content. To be clear, the licenses Facebook has apparently negotiated do not include ...

Razer accidentally exposed over 100,000 gamers’ personal information for close to a month, according to a new report. Security researcher Volodymyr Diachenko discovered that customer data on Razer’s website was made publicly available on August 18th because of a server misconfiguration. A redacted sample pictured below shows records of orders made on the company’s digital store, exposing personal information including email and mailing addresses, the type of product ordered, and phone numbers. Credit card information was not included. No credit card information, but customers’ email and mailing addresses were compromised.Image: Volodymyr Diachenko After discovering the misconfiguration online, Diachenko says he reached out to Razer several times over the span of three weeks before receivin...

The next-generation of Xbox gaming is a little more complicated than what we’re used to. This past week, Microsoft announced it’s releasing not one but two new consoles: the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S. Not only that, but Microsoft’s initial crop of first-party games will also be playable on its last generation Xbox, the Xbox One, as well as Windows PCs. And that’s before we get into Microsoft’s game streaming service, xCloud, which could mean you won’t need any Xbox hardware at all to play many of the latest games. Each new generation tends to deliver big changes for console gaming, and Microsoft’s successors to the Xbox One are no different. Expect games to look better (thanks to more powerful graphics hardware and built-in support for more realistic lighting technology) and feel...

On Sunday night — just two days before the deadline set by Microsoft — the TikTok deal finally came through. Oracle will be taking over stewardship of TikTok’s US operations, after Chinese parent company ByteDance turned down a more ambitious bid from Microsoft. This morning, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed the deal and said it would be presented to President Trump with a recommendation later this week. But barring a complete catastrophe, TikTok will keep operating in the US. However weird the details are, TikTok’s 1,400 US employees and tens of millions of US users are breathing a sigh of relief this morning. But the last-minute sale is strange in a number of ways — for a start, it’s not a sale at all. After months of insistence that TikTok sever its US operations from Chinese...

Verizon is buying Tracfone in a deal worth more than $6 billion, the company announced Monday. The deal means the largest mobile network virtual operator (MNVO) in the US will become part of the largest wireless provider in the country. Tracfone is the largest reseller of wireless services in the US, with 21 million subscribers, around 850 employees, and a network of more than 90,000 retail locations. It’s owned by Mexico-based América Móvil, and along with the Tracfone brand, operates the Net10 and Straight Talk brands in the US. More than 13 million Tracfone customers already rely on Verizon’s wireless network; Tracfone doesn’t run its own physical network in the US and instead rides on other cellphone carriers’ systems for a fee. The acquisition gives Verizon a bigger foothold in the va...

LG is no stranger to two-screen smartphones in recent years, but the company has just officially announced its boldest foray into a dual-screen device in recent memory: the LG Wing. It’s a wild-looking, swiveling-display smartphone that looks to — quite literally — offer a new spin on what a phone can do. The new phone is inspired by LG’s current trends of dual-screen smartphones like the G8X ThinQ and the Velvet, along with the company’s classic swiveling LG VX9400 feature phone released over a decade ago. The Wing is set to be the first device under LG’s new “Explorer Project” branding, aimed at exploring ways to “breathe new life into what makes a smartphone.” Wing’s most interesting feature, of course, is the two OLED panels. The first is a standard 6.8-inch main screen without any bez...

This story is part of a group of stories called Only the best deals on Verge-approved gadgets get the Verge Deals stamp of approval, so if you’re looking for a deal on your next gadget or gift from major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and more, this is the place to be. Both Amazon and Staples are offering the best price yet on Apple’s AirPods Pro wireless earbuds. They’re normally $250, but you can get $50 off right now. I’ve said in the past that this kind of discount is rare, but that might be changing since two retailers are currently offering the deal. For those who might be unaware, these are Apple’s earbuds that have a noise cancellation feature, along with better sound quality than the less expensive AirPods offer. Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Lenovo’s t...

Microsoft’s new Xbox Series S should offer impressive next-gen performance for its $299 price, but where does that leave the Xbox One X? According to Microsoft, the 4K-targeting Xbox from 2017 will still hold some advantages over the Series S — at least when it comes to running Xbox One X-enhanced current-gen games. “Xbox Series S was designed to be the most affordable next-generation console and play next-generation games at 1440p at 60fps,” Microsoft says in a statement to VGC. “To deliver the highest quality backwards compatible experience consistent with the developer’s original intent, the Xbox Series S runs the Xbox One S version of backward compatible games while applying improved texture filtering, higher and more consistent frame rates, faster load times and Auto HDR.” What this m...

Ikea has started selling colorful accessories for its Sonos-compatible Symfonisk speakers. Owners of the $99 Symfonisk bookshelf speaker can now buy either red or blue fronts, while owners of the $179 Symfonisk lamp speaker can buy new washable fabric sleeves in the same colors. In the UK and the Netherlands, the Tradfri Gateway is currently discounted from £25 to £22, or from €32.95 to €24.95. The Tradfri Gateway is required for Ikea blinds, lights, and speakers to interact, and to control them via scenes, timers, the Home Smart and Sonos apps, or the Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant voice assistants. The Gateway is still priced at $35 in the US. The Symfonisk bookshelf speaker in red or blue.Image: Ikea The Symfonisk speakers were previously only available in white or black. The colorfu...