Technology

The Rotom Phone is getting a big upgrade. Following its introduction in the Galar region three years ago, the updated version of the smartphone-that’s-inhabited-by-a-Pokémon is finally making the jump from one back camera to two. The handset will soon be available in the new Paldea region as well. It’s difficult to tell exactly what kind the second lens is for — all I can really see is that the main lens remains blue while the new second lens is black. I don’t think that’s enough information to make an informed guess about whether this new lens is a telephoto, an ultrawide, or something else, though I’m hoping I’ll be able to use that second camera to take pictures of the new best boy Fidough. Beyond that, it seems like this new Rotom Phone is a largely iterative upgrade from the previous ...

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered swings onto PC next week, and developer Insomniac Games just announced that the game has been verified for Steam Deck. Games that are verified should play great on the handheld gaming PC without having to make any major tweaks, meaning that you’ll likely be able to jump right into the action when Spider-Man Remastered is released. Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered is Steam Deck Verified! ✅ — Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) August 3, 2022 Spider-Man Remastered launches for PC on August 12th, 2022, though it’s not a Steam exclusive — if you prefer the Epic Games Store, you can buy the game there, too. And Insomniac has also confirmed that Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will be coming to PC sometime this fall. Given that Remastered has been verif...

Here’s how a research study to test for antibodies might normally go: participants who sign up go to a medical office and get their blood drawn. Depending on the type of study, they might have to go back and forth multiple times over a few months. It takes logistics, scheduling, and too much time in probably too cold waiting rooms. But a new COVID-19 vaccine booster study tried a new — and more badass and / or gross, depending on how squeamish you are — approach. The study didn’t ask anyone to take time out of their day to go to a doctor’s office to test their blood for antibodies. Instead, the process was DIY: people drew their own blood at home. The study, done by Moderna researchers, was checking the antibody levels of people who received three Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses (the regula...

Luxury electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors is slashing its production forecast for 2022 for the second time this year. The Newark, California-based company announced it was revising its production expectations to between 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles. Lucid originally said it would make 20,000 vehicles in 2022, but that number was revised in February to 12,000–14,000 vehicles. It was another disappointing turn for the EV maker, which is strongly angling to capture some of Tesla’s market share with its ultra-premium, ultra-long-range Lucid Air sedan. Last quarter, Lucid announced a 10 percent price increase for the single model it has in production. “We’ve identified the primary bottlenecks” “Our revised production guidance reflects the extraordinary supply chain and logistics challenges we enco...

As Europe grapples with a scorching summer and skyrocketing energy prices, Spain has become the latest government to tell its citizens to turn down the AC. A decree published on Tuesday morning in the official state gazette and scheduled to go into effect next week mandates that air conditioning in public places be set at or above 27 degrees Celsius (about 80 degrees Fahrenheit) and that doors of those buildings remain closed to save energy. Those public places include offices, shops, bars, theaters, airports, and train stations. The decree is being extended as a recommendation to all Spanish households. The rules include maintaining heating at or below 19 degrees Celsius (about 66 degrees Fahrenheit) in the winter and will remain in place at least through November 2023. “I’ve asked minist...

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will now be debuting one day later than previously expected and is shifting to Thursday airdates instead of the typical Wednesday premieres for Disney Plus shows. She-Hulk, starring Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters, will begin streaming on August 18th, and new episodes will stream on Thursdays, Disney announced. Disney Plus shows originally aired on Fridays, but the company moved Loki to Wednesdays and, soon after, said other original series would premiere on Wednesdays as well. But She-Hulk’s shift isn’t the first time Disney has moved things around; the company changed Obi-Wan Kenobi’s premiere to a Friday but aired subsequent episodes on Wednesdays. And next month, Disney plans to debut Growing Up and Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory on Thursday, Septembe...

Robinhood is trading just above $10 a share as of this publication, which is about a 73 percent decrease from its price at IPO, $38. The market cap is now under $10 billion. Friends, it’s possible. The more the shares fall, the easier it is for the memestonkers to snatch. How would a bunch of retail investors seize Robinhood? Why not use a DAO? It’s time to seize the means of investing There’s been a lot of speculation this year — especially after the first round of layoffs, when Robinhood cut 9 percent of its staff — that the app-based trading service is an attractive takeover target. Yesterday, Robinhood cut further: almost a quarter of its remaining staff, including its showy chief product officer hire they got from Google. It also released its earnings a day early, showing dips in reve...

Apple is making big changes to multitasking and collaboration in iPadOS 16, asking users and developers to get used to its ambitious new Stage Manager user interface. Now, based on anonymous sources, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that, unlike in previous years when new versions of iOS and iPadOS have come out at the same time, the company will delay the launch of iPadOS 16. That would mean we can expect new iPhone software in September as usual, followed by an iPadOS update in October. Gurman said the delay is due in part to Stage Manager, which, in our preview of iPadOS 16, The Verge’s David Pierce didn’t like very much: We’ll reserve full judgment for our review this fall, but so far, I hate Stage Manager. The piles take up too much room on the screen, and it takes way too much work to...

Performers can reach some fans even more directly now that Ticketmaster is selling tickets inside the TikTok app. The partnership means Ticketmaster can take advantage of TikTok’s recommendation feed that helps get artists — and now their event tickets — in front of fans. Bringing Ticketmaster to TikTok makes sense, based solely on how big a role music plays on the app, but it could also indicate broader plans to delve into the industry. Last month, a report from Insider revealed that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, filed a trademark for “TikTok Music.” The filing describes it as a platform that would allow users to purchase, play, share, and download music. Image: TikTok / Ticketmaster Only “select” creators will get access to the feature at launch, but it’s set to expand to more user...

Hackers have targeted the Solana ecosystem, draining crypto funds from thousands of “hot” wallets connected to the internet. Such attacks are common among blockchain platforms, but the news is still significant given the praise Solana has attracted as one of the faster and cheaper ecosystems for trading digital assets. It seems hackers have been able to steal both Solana’s own cryptocurrency (SOL) and some compatible with the Solana blockchain, like the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC). As the attack is ongoing, the value of the assets stolen is not clear, but reports from independent analysts and security firms like PeckShield estimate the losses are worth as much as $8 million. Solana has struggled with security incidents in the past, including bot spam and reported DDOS attacks. Meanwhile, it...

Small instant photo printers can offer a unique and fun way to capture memories while traveling. Sure, they may not have the retro charm of an instant camera, but there’s some charm in being able to quickly print credit card-sized pictures while you’re on the go — you’ll just need to capture them using your smartphone. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however. After testing several instant cameras myself, I found that, unless you’ve got some photography skills and experience, it’s often easier to take sharper photos with a camera you’re familiar with (even if it’s a phone). As a result, mobile photo printers might be what you’re looking for if you want to print photos that look even better. That’s especially true of Polaroid’s Hi-Print, which my colleague Allison Johnson recently dubbed...

Martin Scorsese’s vision of America plays out as a country of cops and robbers. Living in the US, you find yourself on one side or the other. Or, in the logic of his 2006 movie The Departed, “when you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?” The difference, in Scorsese’s self-consciously post-9/11 gangster flick, is the movie’s obsession with the surveillance state. The Departed cribs the ludicrous setup of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs: the police have a mole in the mafia (Leonardo DiCaprio), and the mafia has a mole in the police (Matt Damon). Narrative destiny tasks them with finding the identity of their counterpart, a conceit that sets off a converging mouse hunt — or maybe, in this case, a rat hunt. Outside of being a showcase of varying degrees of convincing Boston acce...