Tech

/ Plus, in this week’s Installer: Tesla’s Cybertruck, Spotify Wrapped, the apps of the year, Wordle, and more. By David Pierce, editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired. Share this story If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Illustration: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 16, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome to our delightful corner of the internet, sorry about all the productivity apps, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)  Hope you all had a great holiday, or at least a great week with one fewer emai...

/ Following The Big Bang Event, Chapter 5: Underground introduces some huge changes to Fortnite’s battle royale. Also, Peter Griffin is there. By Andrew Webster, an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories. Share this story Fortnite is heading underground. Following The Big Bang event on Saturday, which led to the destruction of the Chapter 4 island, some big changes are coming to the battle royale in a new season dubbed “Underground.” That includes a new island, gameplay features like boss battles, Lego skins, and of course more licensed characters like Metal Gear’s Solid Snake and Peter Griffin from Family Guy. Let’s start with the island. In the update — which brings the game...

/ Master Chief’s second season is just around the corner. By Wes Davis, a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020. Share this story Master Chief, the Spartan hero from Halo, will continue his live-action adventures with two episodes of its second season premiering worldwide on February 8th next year. Paramount Plus announced the date, along with a teaser trailer, during CCXP in Brazil. The teaser trailer doesn’t reveal much about the story, of course. But Paramount Plus says in its release that the new season will see Schreiber’s Master Chief trying to prove that the Covenant (the alien antagonists from the show and the games) are preparing to attack Reach — the humans’ military stronghold that f...

/ The brief live event featured Lego, racing, and a rhythm game, all of which are coming to Fortnite soon. By Andrew Webster, an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories. Share this story If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Image: Epic Games Fortnite’s latest virtual concert was more than just Eminem stomping across a destroyed city — it also teased a number of experiences coming to the game in the future. The Big Bang Event, as it was called, lasted around 10 minutes and whisked players through a variety of spaces. At first, everyone was gathered on the Fortnite OG island to witness a few moments from the game’s pas...

/ The experience will be available inside of Fortnite starting on December 7th. By Andrew Webster, an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories. Share this story The next chapter of Fortnite will introduce a new island — but it’s also adding a Lego-themed game experience. Following The Big Bang event, which marked the conclusion of Fortnite OG (and also starred Eminem), developer Epic Games revealed a new in-game experience called Lego Fortnite. It’s described as “a new survival crafting game” that will be available within Fortnite starting on December 7th. Lego Fortnite is the first announcement out of a previously revealed partnership between the two companies. In April of last...

/ It hits all the notes that Fallout fans have come to expect. By Andrew Webster, an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories. Share this story War never changes — and neither do the vibes in Fallout. After a bit of teasing, Amazon just released the first teaser trailer for its live-action adaption of Fallout, and it starts out a lot like the games: a vault dweller leaves the comfort of their home to explore the dangerous postapocalyptic wasteland outside. And boy, are things dangerous. This time around, the vault dweller is named Lucy (Yellowjackets’ Ella Purnell), and she experiences a lot of the series’ key moments in the short trailer. That means horribly mutated animals, sl...

/ It’s not generative AI or photoshop: just good old-fashioned panorama mode By Wes Davis, a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020. Share this story This is decidedly not evidence of the existence of parallel realities.Image: Tessa Coates / Crop: The Verge Depending on how “online” you are, you may have seen a picture floating around socials with a strange quirk: a woman — comedian Tessa Coates — is standing in front of two mirrors in a bridal gown and, somehow, holding three poses at once. Coates insisted in her Instagram post that the picture wasn’t altered; it just came out that way. So what happened? Was it a glitched iOS Live Photo (the iOS feature that takes short videos and picks out the...

/ A device that keeps your drink at the perfect temperature all day? Sounds like heaven. But Ember’s latest travel gear might be a little more tech than we actually need. By David Pierce, editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired. Share this story If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. It’s a good-looking desk accessory — but is it a good mug?Image: Ember My coffee routine is needlessly fussy but fairly predictable. I wander bleary-eyed into the kitchen, add some water to the kettle, and start heating it to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, grind some coffee beans, get out the Chemex, add and rinse a new filter, put the whole thi...

/ “This conduct is a frontal assault on the fair administration of justice.” By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget. Share this story Google chief legal officer Kent Walker.Photo By Alex Zea/Europa Press via Getty Images Judge James Donato is overseeing Epic v. Google, a case that could determine the future of the Android app store — but testimony in this case may have more repercussions for Google too. On Friday, Judge Donato vowed to investigate Google for intentionally and systematically suppressing evidence, calling the company’s conduct “a frontal assault on the fair administration of justice.” We were there in the courtroom for his explanation. “I am go...

/ Leaked info on Samsung’s inevitable new S24 devices also backs rumors of a flattened screen on the Ultra and includes new real-time AI translations in messaging apps. By Umar Shakir, a news writer fond of the electric vehicle lifestyle and things that plug in via USB-C. He spent over 15 years in IT support before joining The Verge. Share this story Leaked images of the new Samsung S24 Ultra and standard S24.Image: Windows Report This is the time of year when Samsung unwillingly has major details of its flagship Galaxy S line of phones leaked out months before they launch. So it will come as no surprise that we’ve now got details on the S24 and S24 Ultra — or at least the phones we assume will carry that name. Today, Windows Report got a hold of new official Samsung images that include th...