Technology

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries is finally going to kick off a public test of its long-awaited network campaign co-op mode in July, the developer announced Thursday (via Polygon). The studio is also planning to test the ability to replay campaign missions, which wasn’t in the game at launch. The beta for both features is targeted to take place from July 11th to July 22nd, according to a press email sent to The Verge. If you own the campaign portion of Halo Infinite or are an active Xbox Game Pass member, you can participate by signing up as a Halo Insider. On Xbox, you’ll also need the Xbox Insider app. You’ll be starting the campaign from the beginning If you’ve already played Halo Infinite’s campaign, anything you’ve accomplished won’t transfer over. For this test, you’ll be downl...

The first passenger station in the “Vegas Loop” network of vehicle tunnels that’s being built by Elon Musk’s Boring Company was revealed Thursday. The station is situated underneath Resorts World Las Vegas, the first in what is expected to be 55 stops along 29 miles of tunnels. The Boring Company already operates a small version of this “Teslas in Tunnels” system underneath the Las Vegas Convention Center, which opened in early 2021 and involves two 0.8-mile tunnels. Afterward, Musk’s startup proposed a massive citywide expansion that was eventually approved by Clark County officials last year. The system uses human-controlled Model X and Y vehicles to transport passengers, despite Musk’s previous statements about using sleds to carry cars through the tunnels. Dubbed the Vegas Loop, the sy...

Meta is warning of “serious times” and preparing for a leaner second half of 2022, according to an internal memo circulated to employees this week. The note comes from chief product officer Chris Cox and outlines the company’s priorities and challenges to its business going forward. “I have to underscore that we are in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce,” Cox wrote in the memo obtained by The Verge and published in full below. “We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets.” The biggest revenue challenge comes from privacy changes affecting Meta’s ad business and macroeconomic pressures, Cox says in the memo, which was first reported by Reuters. Cox says monetizing Reels, the company’s...

Ahead of the July Fourth weekend, airlines are facing a wave of concern over flight cancellations — and new pressure from Washington to make sure they’re not leaving travelers in the lurch. Wednesday saw more than 2,000 cancellations in a single day, according to FlightAware data, with uncertainty continuing into the holiday travel season. The surge in canceled flights is particularly bad because it’s happening across all airlines, straining the system’s capacity and leaving many travelers unable to reach their destinations. A Washington Post report on Tuesday detailed the human cost of those cancellations, with travelers sleeping on airport floors or canceling trips altogether. A deeper look at the data shows cancellations really have increased in recent months, peaking in January with mo...

Google is updating its built-in password manager for Chrome and Android as it attempts to position it as an alternative to standalone services offered by 1Password and Bitwarden, the company announced today. Most significant is the ability to manually add passwords to the service, rather than simply relying on Chrome’s offer to save credentials when you use them. There had previously been signs of this feature on Chrome on desktop, but now Google says it’s making it available across “all platforms.” The search giant also says it’s working to unify the design of the password manager between Chrome and Android with “a simplified and unified management experience” and says this includes a feature that will automatically group multiple passwords used on the same site. On Android, Google says a...

As early as this week, President Joe Biden plans to ask the Federal Trade Commission to protect consumer data privacy following the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a new report from Axios. Biden’s request is expected to come by way of a letter to the FTC, asking the agency to protect the privacy of women and birthing parents online. Specifically, Axios reported that Biden “will say the FTC should not tolerate unfair or deceptive practices related to reporting, surveillance, sharing or sale of personal information — including sensitive health-related information — in any state.” Soon after the Supreme Court released its ruling last week, privacy advocates and lawmakers warned that data obtained from period-tracking apps and other online services could p...

Over the years Persona has seen a steady rise from a niche RPG series to a bonafide hit — so the next natural step is a live-action adaptation. While there’s nothing officially in the works just yet, Toru Nakahara, producer on the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movies, says that it’s something that Sega is exploring. “Atlus’ worlds are filled with high drama, cutting-edge style and compelling characters,” Nakahara told IGN. “Stories like those from the Persona franchise really resonate with our fans and we see an opportunity to expand the lore like no one has seen — or played — before.” More directly, he said that “together, Sega and Atlus, are working to bring these stories and worlds to life through new mediums and for new audiences.” The news comes at a time when seemingly every popular...

Developers of apps released in Apple’s South Korean App Store no longer have to use the company’s own in-app payment system, the iPhone maker has announced in a developer update. Instead, developers will be able to take payments using the third-party service providers pre-approved by Apple. The change comes in response to an amendment to South Korea’s Telecommunications Business Act passed last year, which prevents large platform holders like Apple and Google from forcing developers to use their first-party in-app payment systems. Both Apple and Google opposed the legislation, with Apple arguing that it would make it harder for its users to manage their purchases, undermine their privacy protections, and put them at risk of fraud. Developers will need to provide a separate app binary for S...

Amazon has restricted search results and inventory related to LGBTQ topics in the United Arab Emirates after being pressured to do so by the government, reports The New York Times. Same-sex relationships and sex acts are illegal in the UAE, and are punishable by fines and imprisonment. A number of books related to LGBTQ topics were removed from sale in the UAE (including Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist and Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir), and search results have been hidden for more than 150 keywords. These include broad search terms like “lgbtq” and “pride,” as well as targeted queries like “transgender flag” and “chest binder for lesbians.” The Times notes that it’s not clear what penalties Amazon was threatened with by the UAE government before it introduced these restrictions. “we must...

Annemarie Rose is bent over a sheet of glass, hair tucked into a messy half ponytail, tracing the outline of a heart into its glossy surface. She breaks it apart, sands the edges, and etches a simple message across its smooth surface: spit in my mouth. “Something hot for Valentine’s Day,” the description reads on her TikTok video. Commenters go wild, a chorus of desire filling the section. “WHERE CAN I BUY,” writes one enthusiastic viewer with a grip on their caps lock. Another helpfully adds a backstory: “I NEED THIS because I got blocked for telling my crush to spit in my mouth and pull my hair so sad.” Back in the real world, a dumbfounded Annemarie watches as the numbers on her video skyrocket. Refresh. 100 new followers. Refresh. 500 more. As of late June, the video is sitting around ...

The team at indie games studio RNG Party has always loved handheld gaming, particularly Nintendo’s quirky portable devices. So when they noticed a new handheld making waves on Twitter, one that looked a lot like a tiny yellow Game Boy, they knew they had to be a part of it. “With pretty much every major console maker now gone from this space, unless you count the Nintendo Switch, this kind of thing might only ever be possible for us once,” explains RNG’s Ben Busche. “And we didn’t want to miss out.” That device was the Playdate, a handheld from longtime Mac software developer Panic, which is defined both by its miniature stature and the crank sticking out of its side. It finally released earlier this year, and those who purchased one received access to a “season” of games; two new titles w...