Technology

The Steam Deck started shipping two months ago today, and it’s gotten quite a bit better since, but this week might be the best yet — because we’re finally addressing the single biggest issue with the $400 portable PC. Yes, I’m talking about the fan. When the Deck launched, it shipped with an extremely noisy fan to cool its AMD Zen 2 and RDNA 2 silicon, and owners like me have been dealing with its volume and constant whine from day one. It ran constantly, even when I wasn’t doing anything with the system, and was always ramping up even in relatively lightweight games like Vampire Survivors. My Steam Deck’s fan, from Delta Electronics.Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Worse, it whines. Or at least some Steam Decks have that issue — the Reddit community discovered that Valve actually ship...

WhatsApp seems to be working on a feature that would let users chat with the same account on multiple phones, or on a phone and a tablet, according to a screen found in a beta version of the app by the site WABetaInfo. The screen gives instructions for registering the device you’re using as a “companion” by scanning a code with your main phone — though currently there doesn’t appear to be an actual code to scan. A screen found in a previous beta showed that devices could be getting the ability to sync recent messages, even though they’re end-to-end encrypted. That screen, combined with the “Register Device as Companion” screen that instructs users on how to use WhatsApp on another device, adds up to compelling evidence that this feature is in the works. WhatsApp users can already link a ph...

Even as it deals with continued supply constraints and consumers wary of inflation, Apple today reported the best March quarter in its history. The company tallied $97.3 billion in revenue in Q2, up 9 percent over the year-ago quarter. That amounted to a profit of $25 billion, with earnings per share of $1.52. Apple set March quarter revenue records for its iPhone, Mac, and Wearables / Home / Accessories divisions. Apple’s various services grew to a new high of 825 million subscribers. And the Mac continues to surge. “The last seven Mac quarters have now been the top seven quarters ever in the history of the Mac,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC. But the second quarter saw a slowdown in iPad sales, which were down slightly year over year. Cook attributed this to “very significant supply const...

In a candid Twitter thread, celebrated video game developer Yuji Naka revealed details about a lawsuit he filed against Square Enix and his struggle to make the ambitious but ultimately atrocious Balan Wonderworld a better game. In the thread, written in Japanese and translated by The Verge, Naka wrote that he was removed as the producer of Balan Wonderworld six months before its release and that he sued Square Enix shortly thereafter. “Improving a game until the very end is what being a game creator is, and it’s strange to make it impossible to do that,” Naka wrote. “I asked my lawyer to try to negotiate even just commenting on the production until the end, but I filed suit because I was refused.” “Improving a game until the very end is what being a game creator is, and it’s strange to ma...

Amazon made a boatload of money during the first quarter of 2022. But investors, having grown used to Amazon’s rocket-like trajectory during the pandemic, haven’t quite adapted to the fact that it’s no longer accelerating quite so fast. Despite notching $116.4 billion in sales from January through March of this year — up nearly 8 billion year over year — Amazon’s stock took a dive in after-hours trading, falling by about 10 percent before stabilizing a bit higher. The problem wasn’t that Amazon had underperformed in Q1, but that Amazon projected a slower Q2 than analysts had hoped for. Analysts wanted to see Amazon projecting $125.5 billion in sales, according to CNBC, but instead, the company only expects sales to come in from $116 billion to $121 billion. “We realized the equivalent of t...

Netflix is laying off some Tudum editorial staff just months after launching the website that publishes news, interviews, and other fan content. Tudum falls under the company’s marketing division and includes people working on entertainment, news, lifestyle, and culture content. Most of the 10-person Tudum culture and trends team was let go, according to one person with knowledge of the situation. They said the staff was given no prior warning of the layoffs, and other workers found out their colleagues were laid off via Twitter. Many of the writers were experienced journalists that Netflix lured from other outlets, the person says. The person also claims news of layoffs on other teams is forthcoming. If you have knowledge of additional layoffs, email us at tips@theverge.com. Netflix did n...

Snapchat on Thursday announced a new feature titled “Dress Up,” which will allow users to engage with new AR shopping experiences in a dedicated destination in the app. The new tool, which can be found in the app’s Lens Explorer, streamlines the process of discovering various brands and retailers that offer AR shopping experiences. Additionally, Snap unveiled new software tools, including its 3D Asset Manager and AR Image Processing technology, that will help businesses create Snap AR content for their product detail pages. In a blog post, the company shared an example of one new lens, which lets users instantly overlay virtual clothing on their body by simply scanning their silhouette. Snap also revealed its new Camera Kit for AR shopping, which will allow retailers and brands to implemen...

On the last day of the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami Beach, comedian Donnell Rawlings starts his routine by noting there are a lot of white people in the audience and then asks if we were involved in storming the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. He’s just warming up. “I’m at a Bitcoin convention, and I don’t even know what the fuck a Bitcoin is,” Rawlings says. “I don’t know nothing about crypto, but I know some of the bangingest parties I’ve been to is some crypto parties.” He goes on: “I know I’m fucked because they paid me in crypto, and I don’t even know how to cash out.” Crypto has to be popular because he can count the number of people sitting in his set, and he knows “I should not be getting the amount of money I am getting paid tonight.” “Listen, we don’t want no crypto-Bitcoin bee...

A huge reason behind Sonos’ success is the company’s adaptability. Whenever a new audio streaming service comes along — and as the industry evolves and pushes new formats like lossless and Dolby Atmos spatial audio — Sonos is always right there trying to support what’s new. For voice assistants, Sonos offers both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant on its smart speakers. And the company also widely supports Apple’s AirPlay 2 across its current product lineup. That’s all on top of the whole-home audio platform that Sonos has built its brand on. But to stay so nimble and adaptable, Sonos constantly needs to be looking forward and have some sense of what’s coming down the technology pike. To help with that, Sonos recently (and very quietly) joined the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the coalit...

Make way for Disney Dreamlight Valley, a new Disney-inspired life-sim that feels as if Disney adults got their hands on the Animal Crossing source code. In combination with yesterday’s formal announcement, I had the opportunity to participate in a hands-off demo to see a bit of the vision the developers at Gameloft have for the game. It’ll be difficult to resist the allure of talking about a brand new Disney game entirely in Disney song lyrics, but I’ll do my best to rein in that impulse. Hey! Clear the way in the old Bazaar. Hey you, let us through, it’s a brand-new star. Oh, come be the first on your block to meet its eye In addition to being a life-sim game, Disney Dreamlight Valley is a Disney adult’s ultimate isekai fantasy. In it, your character is pulled into a world fractured by an...

Last year, Apple added App Tracking Transparency to iOS, and the shift in the flow of data from mobile users was enough to unsettle even Facebook. Now, Google, which relies on targeted advertising for its business model, is preparing its own multi-year adjustment to mobile ad tracking and privacy. Starting today, app developers can get their first look at the new system, as the first developer preview of Privacy Sandbox on Android rolls out, following the path of similar tests in Google’s Chrome browser on the desktop. This new plan is supposed to replace Android’s existing advertising ID, which is a user-resettable ID for each device with a Privacy Sandbox of “new, more private advertising solutions.” Like Apple’s approach, it claims to limit the data shared with third parties and cut out...