technology
Fortnite blocks creators from selling prize wheel spins
Epic Games is making a big change to the rules for Fortnite creators just days after allowing them to publish experiences with in-game transactions. Beginning January 20th, experiences - which Epic Games calls "islands" - will not be able to offer in-island transactions as "a 'spin' or 'increased luck' for a prize wheel," according to […]
Verizon-owned Visible is offering outage credits, too
Customers of Visible Wireless, which is owned by Verizon, may be getting a $5 credit toward their next bill in response to a Verizon cell service outage earlier this week. Verizon customers were offered a $20 credit after the outage. As spotted by 9to5Google, a message sent to Visible customers explains: "Yesterday we let you […]
Ted Sarandos says Netflix will commit to 45-day theatrical releases
Though Netflix's plan to buy Warner Bros. Discovery has prompted concerns about how the deal might hurt the movie theater business, the streamer's co-CEO says that there is nothing to worry about. In a new interview with The New York Times, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that, should the WBD acquisition go through, the streamer […]
Casting is dead. Long live casting!
This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. Last month, Netflix made the surprising decision to kill off a key feature: With no prior warning, the company removed the ability to cast videos from its mobile apps to […]
Meta has discontinued its metaverse for work, too
Two months before it changed its name to "Meta," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally introduced us to his metaverse for work: Horizon Workrooms, envisioned as a virtual space for workers to collaborate. Today, the company announced it's shutting that space down: "Meta has made the decision to discontinue Workrooms as a standalone app, effective February […]
Grok undressed the mother of one of Elon Musk’s kids — and now she’s suing
Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of X owner Elon Musk's children, is suing his company for enabling its AI to virtually strip her down into a bikini without her consent. St. Clair is one of the many people over the past couple weeks who have found themselves undressed without permission by X's AI […]
Dave Filoni takes charge of Star Wars as new president of Lucasfilm
There's a new name in charge of stewarding Star Wars at Lucasfilm. The studio just announced that Dave Filoni - best-known for his work on The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars - will be taking over as president. Former president Kathleen Kennedy, whose departure had been rumored for some time, will be stepping down and […]
Verizon Offers Customers $20 Account Credit Following Massive Wireless Service Outage
On Wednesday, Verizon suffered "technical issues" that led to a massive service outage lasting hours for thousands of its customers across the country.
The next Subway Surfers game comes out in February
Subway Surfers City, a follow-up to the popular endless runner mobile game / sludge content star Subway Surfers, will be launching on February 26th on iOS and Android, with preregistration open now. "Building upon the original title, Subway Surfers City brings players home from the franchise's World Tour and into the heart of the Subway […]
Verizon will pay you $20 following its nationwide outage — here’s how to get it
Verizon is offering customers a $20 account credit following a massive outage that brought down service across the US on Wednesday. In an update on X, Verizon says you'll receive a text message when the credit is available, which you can redeem by logging into the myVerizon app and accepting it. "Yesterday, we did not […]
X claims it has stopped Grok from undressing people, but of course it hasn’t
Following the proliferation of the nonconsensual sexual deepfakes on X, the platform has detailed changes to the Grok account's ability to edit images of real people. They match the changes reported on Tuesday by The Telegraph, as Grok's responses to prompts like "put her in a bikini" became censored. But in tests of the feature […]
The Stream Deck Plus is back to its lowest price
If you’re looking for a simple way to streamline your workflow, the Elgato Stream Deck Plus is a handy productivity tool for automating everyday tasks. Right now, it’s on sale for $159.99 ($40 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo, which is its best price to date. Like the standard Stream Deck, the Stream […]
