Technology

Waze has added broad nostalgic vibes of the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s to its navigation app. You can now choose new “moods” to look like a groovy lava lamp on the map for other drivers and match yourself with a peace-loving flower power van on your own screen — all while getting directions from a smooth operator ‘70s DJ voice. You can also mix and match the eras, too. You know, just in case you’ve lived them all. For instance, you could switch to “dialed up,” which makes you a beige all-in-one PC from the ‘90s while riding in an ‘80s “Rad Racer” sports coupe (like in the 1987 NES game) and still get the ‘70s DJ navigator. <div class="c-imageslider" data-cid="apps/imageslider-1650048833_7085_47741" data-cdata="{"caption":"I had to go with the “Rad Racer...

If you’re in the market for a pair of true wireless buds that offer the best fit possible, look no further than the UE Fits. After all, there’s a reason the word “fit” is literally in their name: the unique buds permanently mold to the shape of your ear in 60 seconds during setup, which makes their ear tips some of the most comfortable we’ve ever tested. The Bluetooth earbuds also offer a host of other praiseworthy features, including good sound quality, a compact charging case, and lengthy, eight-hour battery life. If you don’t mind that they lack active noise cancellation and feature mediocre sweat resistance, they’re a great option to consider, especially now that they’re on sale for their lowest price to date. Now through 11:59PM PT / 2:59AM ET tonight, Ultimate Ears is selling the UE ...

Fortnite’s latest season kicked off a big shakeup: developer Epic Games removed building, perhaps the game’s most iconic feature, from the core battle royale modes. It was a risky move that had the potential to lessen interest in the game. Instead, it appears to have had the opposite effect — especially for some big streamers. Not everyone was on board with what Epic now calls Zero Build mode right away. “Initially, I hated it and I was absolutely furious,” Michael “The Fierce Diva” Reynolds, a Facebook Gaming streamer, told me in an interview. “Since I play the game so much, the way people would assess my skill is due to how I build and edit and things of that nature. But my movement and all that stuff, I’m not so good at it.” “I thought I was initially going to hate it.” Reynolds wasn’t ...

Core, a free PC-based app built on Unreal Engine that lets you create and play games, is expanding to iOS and Mac this summer, developer Manticore Games announced Friday. The app is currently available only on Windows from the Epic Games Store, so the move to Apple’s platforms could mark a significant expansion for Core. Friday marks Core’s one-year anniversary of availability on the Epic Games Store (where it is in Early Access), and there are already more than 50,000 playable “games, worlds, and events” to check out, according to a press release. Crossplay will be enabled between the iOS, macOS, and Windows versions of Core, and developers who want to get a jump on preparing their experiences for mobile can begin working with a “suite” of iOS optimization tools beginning Friday. Core isn...

For many people, Our Flag Means Death was an unexpected history lesson about the adventures of Stede Bonnet, the real 18th-century pirate who loved the high seas almost as much as he loathed the “discomforts” of married life with his wife. Our Flag Means Death’s first season often leaned into the absurd as it followed Rhys Darby’s interpretation of Bonnet putting together a crew of vagabonds willing to serve under a soft and inexperienced member of the landed gentry playing a pirate. But what makes the show’s story work — aside from how much of it really does borrow elements from the real Bonnet’s life — is how it’s really only about piracy in the most roundabout sense. Surprised as many viewers were to learn that the real Stede and Blackbeard did spend a significant amount of time traveli...

Tech giant, Xiaomi recently dropped its latest flagship smartphone range, the 12 Series. To commemorate the new release, the brand has tapped a range of global creatives to explore the impact of technology on their creativity. In this episode, Xiaomi spoke to the Los Angeles-based artist Sunni Colón ahead of his newly released album JúJú & The Flowerbug. Describing the steps of his tireless creative process, the artist says, “[It] starts and usually ends with a lot of me — whether it’s in my room or in my living room or outside somewhere and by the beach. I would just set up right there.” As well as being mounted with three cameras for the perfect shot, the new Xiaomi 12 Series is complete with a pro-grade audio system. Built with SOUND BY Harman Kardon, the phone creates an immersive ...

It’s been a decade since Razer shipped its first Blade laptop, and they’ve all come with Windows. That isn’t quite changing today — but a company called Lambda is now putting Ubuntu on a souped-up version of last year’s Razer Blade 15 Advanced with Razer’s full blessing, with the aim of selling it to machine learning and artificial intelligence researchers. It’s called the Razer x Lambda Tensorbook, and the $3,500 machine is absolutely identical to a high-end version of last year’s laptop in most ways. It’s got an 11th-gen Intel Core i7 CPU, Nvidia RTX 3080 Max-Q graphics and 64GB of RAM underneath a 15.6-inch 165Hz 1440p display, all powered by a 80Wh battery inside an identically sized and shaped 4.45-pound chassis. It’s also got the same speedy I/O, including two Thunderbolt 4 ports, th...

Sometimes you come across a DIY project and immediately start figuring out ways you could use it in your life. That’s what happened to us here at The Verge when someone dropped the SmartKnob View, a proof-of-concept project by engineer Scott Bezek, into our Slack chat. While it doesn’t seem like it’s the type of project most people could go out and build themselves at the moment (more on that later), it’s easy to imagine a future where it’s available as a kit, or where somebody turns it into an actual product. The smart knob kind of looks like a mini Nest Thermostat, but Bezek’s programmed it to have loads of modes. Of course, it can just act as a spinning dial, but you could also program its motor to provide haptic feedback and resistance, giving you the feeling of reaching an endpoint wh...

Apple is reportedly working on nine new Macs featuring its upcoming M2 processors, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. These rumors come hot on the heels of Apple releasing the Mac Studio, and its announcement that the the M1 Ultra would be the last chip in its current-gen lineup. Bloomberg isn’t predicting a replacement for the Studio yet, but it reports that most other Mac models will be getting an upgrade. Gurman says he’s seen evidence of an M2-powered MacBook Air with a 10-core GPU — contrary to previous predictions that a redesigned Air would still have an M1 — as well as an entry-level M2 MacBook Pro with the same specs. The 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros also make an appearance, along with a new Mac Mini and Mac Pro, all rocking next-gen Apple silicon. A Mac Mini with the current-ge...

Andy Jassy, who became Amazon’s CEO last year, has released his first annual letter to shareholders, which acts as a recap of how the company did in 2021 and outlines its goals for the future. The letter starts by extolling Amazon Web Services’ role in helping businesses during the pandemic — familiar subject matter for Jassy, whose previous role was as CEO of AWS. The letter also discusses familiar subjects like supply chain disruption, labor shortages, and Amazon’s focus on getting out more Prime packages faster. Labor is a hot-button topic for Amazon right now. Beyond the difficulty of getting new employees, Jassy does address reports that the company has significantly higher injury rates than the industry average for warehouse workers by saying that it’s working to systematically solve...

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal told employees Thursday that the company was still evaluating a $43 billion offer by Elon Musk to buy the company and take it private, setting the stage for a potentially drawn-out feud with the world’s richest person. After clips of the songs “I Say A Little Prayer” and “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys played, Agrawal launched into a 25-minute Q&A session with employees Thursday, according to a person in attendance. He didn’t say when the board would have an answer to Musk’s offer or which way it was leaning, frustrating some who expected a more detailed explanation. The board would follow a “rigorous process” and make a decision “in the best interest of our shareholders,” he said. Agrawal, who took over as CEO of Twitter last November for Jack Dor...