Technology

Cameron Diaz is set to star alongside Jamie Foxx in a new Netflix original film, officially ending Diaz’s retirement (which some of us at The Verge apparently never got the memo on). Foxx teased the new film, titled Back in Action, in a tweet containing an audio call between him, Diaz, and Tom Brady, whose retirement from football notably lasted a whole 40 days. In a press release, Netflix doesn’t reveal much about the upcoming film other than that it’s an action-comedy directed, produced, and written by Seth Gordon, the director behind Horrible Bosses. Beau Bauman of Central Intelligence will serve as a producer, and Neighbors’ Brendan O’Brien is helping out with the script. Netflix says the premise of the film will remain “under wraps” and that production will begin later this year. Diaz...

Niantic, which has been trying to replicate the massive success of Pokémon Go with other mobile AR games, is laying off 8 percent of its workforce and canceling four projects, as reported by Bloomberg. “We recently decided to stop production on some projects and reduce our workforce by about eight percent to focus on our key priorities,” Niantic VP of communications Jonny Thaw said in a statement to The Verge. “We are grateful for the contributions of those leaving Niantic and we are supporting them through this difficult transition. “This means we can focus on our most important priorities, including Pokémon Go and a select set of new experiences, as well as the Lightship platform. This increased focus, as well our strong core business, puts us in a position to weather the broader economi...

One thing I have come to appreciate is that cryptocurrency isn’t really very good at its killer use case: crime. Today’s example comes from North Korea, where the regime’s war chest of stolen cryptocurrency is suddenly worth a lot less than it used to be. Here’s an exceptionally funny sentence from Reuters: Old, unlaundered North Korean crypto holdings monitored by the New York-based blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, which include funds stolen in 49 hacks from 2017 to 2021, have decreased in value from $170 million to $65 million since the beginning of the year, the company told Reuters. That’s a 61 percent loss, overall, for those of you keeping track at home. The crypto from one 2021 heist has lost at least 80 percent of its value, an analyst with TRM Labs told Reuters. North Korea,...

In April, Google announced plans to join the expanding list of tech companies that work with iFixit. The repair mavens distribute parts and tools for people interested in performing DIY electronics repairs, and starting today, iFixit’s store offers genuine Google parts for a number of Pixel phones. You can order what you need to repair everything from the Pixel 2 to the latest Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, as well as the tools to install them and step-by-step guides to walk you through the process. (Aftermarket parts are also available if you’re looking to fix an OG Pixel or Nexus device.) iFixit repair kits for Google Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 5AImage: iFixit Now, if you have a cracked screen or busted charging port, your choices aren’t just finding a repair shop or tossing the device in the trash. i...

Google’s Switch to Android app now supports all Android 12 phones. The free iOS app is designed to make it easy to switch to Android, transferring important data like your iPhone contacts and calendar entries. Google released the app earlier this year, but it was limited to its Pixel devices initially. Support for all Android 12 phones makes this a key app if you’re moving from an iPhone to a new Android device. The Switch to Android app initiates a transfer process by displaying a QR code on the iPhone, which you then scan to start transferring photos, videos, contacts, and calendar events. Data can be transferred wirelessly instead of having to connect two phones with a cable, but the cable option is faster and better suited to transferring large amounts of videos and photos. The app eve...

Celebrate our nation’s birthday the Verge Deals way, by saving on some fun tech in time for the summer instead of, you know, doomscrolling about the state of everything. The Fourth of July holiday means different things to different people, but regardless, we’re about to take you on a journey to see all the best July Fourth deals on a variety of tech from across the internet. Several retailers are celebrating the summer holiday by offering excellent discounts and promotions on their products. For instance, Belkin is offering a sitewide discount on its charging peripherals, and Apple is already offering a pair of promotions for anyone in the market for a new tablet or laptop. There’s a little something for everyone. It’s also worth noting that a lot of these deals will remain in place after...

The chip shortage and supply chain crisis are doing more than just driving up vehicle prices — they’re also affecting quality. JD Power published its Initial Quality Study for 2022 model-year cars this week, in which it found that new vehicle quality has declined 11 percent year over year, the steepest drop ever recorded by the group. Electric vehicle manufacturers in particular are showing big drops in quality, with Polestar ranking dead last. Tesla, meanwhile, ranks seventh from the bottom, continuing its trend of shoddy manufacturing. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are difficult to understand In this year’s survey, JD Power recorded 226 problems per 100 Tesla vehicles. Combining all non-Tesla EVs, the survey says that 240 problems were reported per 100 EVs, a slight drop from 251 last y...

Big-sensor cameras are a bit of a white whale for smartphone imaging engineers. Even the most capable smartphone cameras use relatively puny sensors, and efforts to bring bigger sensors to the mobile form factor have been impractical, niche, or never really materialized. Xiaomi appears to be the latest company to attempt to capture the elusive concept with its upcoming 12S Ultra flagship. According to a post on Weibo spotted by Android Authority, the phone will include a 1-inch-type sensor co-developed with Sony. That’s about 1.7 times more surface area than the 1/1.33-inch-type sensor in the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s main camera module. It’s also the same size sensor that’s in Sony’s $1300 Cyber-shot RX100 VII that’s more or less the compact camera’s ultimate, final-boss form. It’s a big...

Nothing’s debut smartphone, the Phone 1, is powered by Qualcomm’s midrange Snapdragon 778G Plus processor, the company has confirmed to Input Mag. That means the phone is unlikely to have the raw performance of a device equipped with a flagship Qualcomm processor like the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. Nothing founder Carl Pei tells Input Mag that the company went with the lower-specced chip because it believes it offers a better mix of price, performance, heat output, and power consumption. Nothing also says the Plus variant of the 778G supports wireless and reverse wireless charging, features normally reserved for Qualcomm’s flagship chipsets. The Snapdragon 778G Plus also features a marginally faster CPU clock speed than the 778G before it. Although Nothing’s imagery of the Phone 1 has focuse...

The new Bluetooth streaming codec that promises to stream CD-quality audio without any loss of audio detail, aptX Lossless, is coming to its first pair of earbuds. The NuraTrue Pro true wireless earbuds are the work of Australian audio company Nura and are currently being funded on Kickstarter with early bird prices starting at $199 and a regular retail price of $329. “These are the first earbuds to be announced with Snapdragon Sound and aptX Lossless. We’re excited to say that there will be many more Snapdragon Sound powered devices with support for aptX Lossless launching soon,” Qualcomm spokesperson Lauren Miller said in a statement. Snapdragon Sound is the name of Qualcomm’s overall audio platform, of which aptX Lossless is one feature (though, crucially, not all Snapdragon Sound devic...