technology

/ It may be the first time a jury has decided that cheating software violates a game company’s copyrights. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Bungie A jury found on Friday that Phoenix Digital, which owns the cheat mod site AimJunkies, is guilty of violating Bungie copyrights when it created cheats for Destiny 2, reported Stephen Totilo, who has written about Bungie’s cheating lawsuits for Axios. The landmark decision may be the first time a jury has agreed that a cheat creator violated a gaming company’s copyrights. Yesterday’s jury decision awarded Bungie (PDF) a tidy sum of...

/ You can kick the summer off with new lows on the tech and gadgets we love the most. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge The summer solstice may be when summer officially kicks off, but for many of us, it starts as soon as temperatures begin to rise and the smell of barbecue begins wafting through the air. Memorial Day also serves as the unofficial start to the season, and the deals that are popping up right now are a great indicator that it’s right around the corner. Below, we’ve rounded up the best Memorial Day deals you can get on an array of gad...

We’ve curated a collection of great gifts that should appease any dad, from tabletop games and tools to some of our favorite tech. By Brandon Widder, a senior editor overseeing deals, gift guides, and commerce. He spent six years spearheading buying guides and consumer tech coverage at Digital Trends. It’s true that spending time with dear old dad on Father’s Day is probably the best gift you can give him, but I bet he wouldn’t say no to a Garmin or a fancy-schmancy set of tools come Sunday, June 16th. After all, who can resist the allure of the perfect kit? If you’re stumped on what to give your dad (or any paternal figure) next month, we’ve assembled a medley of tried-and-true gift ideas, each of which comes with a big stamp of approval from a Verge staffer. Our father-friendly rec...

/ “Uh oh!” a]:text-gray-13″>If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Your ICQ number is finally shuffling off to the great beyond. Russian company VK, which has been the service’s steward since 2010, published a message Friday that simply reads, “ICQ will stop working from June 26th,” and implores users to switch to its other chat solutions. ICQ was among the crop of early instant messenger services, like AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger, that allowed for real-time chats. It differed from others by assigning users a number they would use to connect to one another, as opposed to aliases or email addresses. It also had uncommon features like SMS messaging and the ability to message people who were offline. And of course, t...

/ The game’s platforming felt more punishing that it should have been, but I was cleverly rewarded for my initial misery. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Big Mode / Shared Memory About midway through Animal Well, I felt I had been lied to. I read all the glowing reviews of the game and heard the breathless praise heaped upon it on social media. But my expectations did not match my reality… until I beat the game. Now, I’m well on my way to 100 percent completion for a game I was seriously considering abandoning. Spoilers for Animal Well are below. Though I loved Animal...

A mini power plant that turns a standard power outlet into a solar power inlet. By Thomas Ricker, a deputy editor and Verge co-founder with a passion for human-centric cities, e-bikes, and life as a digital nomad. He’s been a tech journalist for almost 20 years. Portable solar generators are so useful that you increasingly see them at the beach, campground, job site, or anywhere without access to grid power. But they’re also an expensive luxury if shoved into storage as soon as you return home. EcoFlow’s $200-ish PowerStream box can help maximize the year-round usefulness of the company’s own solar generators. It’s pitched as a plug-in “balcony solar system” that anyone can install, even if you’re renting an apartment. These DIY systems from EcoFlow, Anker, and others became very popular a...

/ Could Judge Donato actually force Google to give away its apps? a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Photo illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Philip Pacheco, Bloomberg, Getty Images Despite Epic Games’ surprise win at trial, I was skeptical that Judge James Donato would seriously consider forcing Google to let the Epic Games Store live inside its own Google Play Store, and give it access to every app inside Google Play. Those were two of the biggest demands that Epic revealed in April. But Judge Donato is indeed considering them. He’s ordered Google to calculate th...

/ The lawsuit blames both companies for promoting weapons to young men, including the Uvalde gunman. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Activision The families of the victims killed in the Uvalde, Texas school shooting are suing Meta and Call of Duty developer Activision over allegations that they promoted the use of firearms to underage boys. The lawsuit claims both companies “knowingly exposed the Shooter to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as the solution to his problems, and trained him to use it.” It’s the kind of claim we’ve seen unsuccessfully thrown at video game ...

/ Check out this video of an old iPod third-generation prototype with “Stacker,” a Tetris clone made by Apple. a]:text-gray-13″>If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Apple Demo YouTuber Apple Demo has found a prototype third-generation iPod that contains a game called Stacker, which never made it to retail models. In addition to Apple’s own version of Tetris, the engineering sample iPod also came loaded with other unreleased titles, including games called Block0 and Klondike, ...

/ My smart fridge lied to me. a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>A notification on my Samsung Family Hub smart fridge told me my favorite feature was going away. Apparently, it was wrong.

/ The search giant will ‘have to pay some penalties,’ but no decision on remedies is expected until after August. a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>Epic and Google are back in court to argue how Google should be forced to change its Play Store business.