Tech Talk

Password manager firm 1Password has released a new solution it claims will help firms improve their overall security posture. Insights from 1Password contains tools to help firms monitor data breaches, password vulnerabilities, and team usage within shared vaults, while also providing suggested next steps and allowing businesses to notify employees of data breaches. The news comes as fatigue regarding password security remains high among the workforce, 20% of burned-out workers feel their company’s security policies “aren’t worth the hassle” according to 1Password’s own research, not a glowing recommendation of the current crop of business password managers. What can the solution do? Insights from 1Password can monitor how data breaches affect existing team members and identify the type of data exposed. As part of the product’s suite of ID management tools, it can also identify business email addresses exposed in data breaches among employees who have yet to register for a 1Pa

The faster you turn the Philips Hue Tap dial switch the faster your lights brighten or dim. | Image: Signify Signify just announced a new Philips Hue Tap dial switch, portable Hue Go lamp, and fully customizable track lighting in a range of smart lighting updates today . The Hue Tap dial switch (€49/$49) is available in matte black or white and adjusts lights with a turn of the dial. The faster you turn it the faster your lights brighten or dim. It features four buttons than can control scenes in up to three rooms or zones in the home. The magnetic base allows the Tap dial to be used as a remote control. The Philips Hue Perifo track lighting is made of individual rails that let you choose the length the of track. It can be attached to the wall or ceiling, connected to internal wiring or a standard outlet, and be fitted with your choice of Hue spotlights, pendants, light bars, and light tubes. Image: Signify Philips Hue Perifo track lighting is fully customizable. There’s als

A screenshot of Downdetector showing problems across numerous services. | Screenshot: Downdetector.com Cloudflare is currently experiencing an outage, according to its status page . Cloudflare’s technology powers numerous other sites and services across the internet, and the outage appears to be affecting a range of different sites, including Discord, Shopify, Grindr, Fitbit, and Peleton, according to Downdetector . The problems appear to have started at around 2:30AM ET. As of 3:20AM ET Cloudflare reports that “a fix is being implemented.” The issues are most problematic if you’re a user of Cloudflare’s own DNS lookup service . Multiple Verge staff members found they were unable to access any websites at all during the outage as a result of using Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 DNS service. Thankfully, the fix here is simple: change your DNS configuration. I found that simply switching back to using my ISP’s default DNS settings resolved most of my issues. The issue has been identified

Apple has been making its own ARM-based processors to put inside Macs for over a year and a half, and according to a new report, the company now dominates the PC market for ARM-powered silicon. That report from analyst firm Strategy Analytics, flagged up by Tom’s Hardware , shows just how dominant Apple has become for ARM chips in PCs, with the company snagging almost 90% of the revenue from this market in 2021. In total, when it comes to the global PC market, Strategy Analytics estimates that ARM-based machines now represent 9% of the hardware out there. What are the main competitors in this space for Apple? There are Chromebooks with ARM chips inside, and also a number of Windows on ARM laptops (with Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs) which have been around for a few years now , although not in much quantity. Sravan Kundojjala, Director of Handset Component Technologies service at Strategy Analytics, and author of the report, observed: “Apple’s M-series family of processors set the be

The release of Diablo Immortal in China has been postponed only days before its scheduled launch, and less than a week after the RPG’s official Weibo account was banned for making derisive comments about the country’s leadership. Diablo Immortal ’s delay was announced by Blizzard in a blog post . The publisher gave no specific reason why the RPG’s launch has been postponed from July 23, nor suggested when it expects the game will be released in China.  It will be using the time to make “a number of optimization adjustments to the game: support for a wider range of models and devices, the highest quality rendering on more models, a lot of experience, network and performance optimizations, and more”, according to the blog post, (translated using Google Translate).  “We believe that the game experience in the official online version will become smoother and bring better game content to everyone.” However, the delay of Diablo Immortal comes days after the game’s official account on We

Image: Matt Kennedy / Lucasfilm Ltd. There’s a lot of big shared universes that should be easier to binge I’ve been binge-watching TV shows and movies since the 90s. First, it was churning through my sister’s old VHS recordings of Doctor Who and X-Files , then there was collecting and watching whole series of anime piecemeal from places like Sam Goody and Suncoast. By the early 2000s, companies began releasing series by the season instead of by the episode (for actually affordable prices) and that made binge-watching shows a lot easier. Just popping to the library to pick up a season of The Sopranos was a heckuva lot easier than asking to borrow someone’s VHS recordings. Now, binge-watching a show is simpler than ever, but the biggest complaint is that people have to binge for fear of spoilers and wish they could savor a show distributed episodically. I don’t care about that. Spoilers are rarely a barrier to enjoyment for me and I learned a long time ago how to space watching a

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge There’s good news for people who find bad news about crypto to be good. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be able to buy an exchange-traded fund based on shorting Bitcoin. The financial firm ProShares will debut the first ETF to let you bet against Bitcoin, and it’s set to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange when the bell opens tomorrow, June 21, under the ticker BITI. The SEC previously approved a futures Bitcoin ETF, also from ProShares, in October. It debuted alongside some of the biggest growth Bitcoin has seen. Now, cryptocurrencies have been severely struggling , with Bitcoin , Ethereum, and even stablecoins all suffering major losses. What’s funny about the SEC’s approval of an ETF that can be used to short Bitcoin is that it has not yet approved an ETF that actually allows you to trade Bitcoin itself. According to the SEC, you can bet on Bitcoin’s future, bet against it, or... that’s about it. On the podcast Crypto Critics’ Corner Blo

The PS5 is undoubtedly one of Sony's largest ever consoles, so it's little surprise to see one YouTuber taking his own steps to create a slim model.  While we're waiting for official news on a PS5 Slim , YouTuber Matthew 'DIY Perks' Perks has taken up the challenge. Well known for taking on tech-related builds, his latest YouTube video sees him creating a working PS5 model that's only 2cm tall. Basically, that's only slightly larger than your standard 15mm DVD case. To achieve this, he dismantles the console and adjusts its components to fit the much smaller copper shell. It's an impressive effort, though there's one major catch. To fit this all in, Perks essentially built a new cooling system, which is juiced up via a large power brick that's meant to be tucked away out of sight. It's a cheeky workaround, though this is still a commendable effort. Sadly, it nearly ends in disaster for Perks following a cooling unit issue, which bricks

Will Metal Gear Solid 6 ever become a reality? We're hoping so, despite the fact that it's been seven years since the release of Metal Gear Solid 5 and publisher Konami still hasn't announced that a new entry in its stealth series is in the works. The Metal Gear series is certainly in a strange place, though. Its creator, Hideo Kojima, no longer works at Konami, but the publisher still owns the rights to the series. Since Kojima's departure in 2015, Konami hasn't done a whole lot with the Metal Gear series. The only game it's released since the auteur's departure was 2018's Metal Gear Survive, a spin-off a co-op zombie survival game that was poorly received. Since then, Konami hasn't shared its plans for the series but a report by VGC claims that the publisher plans to revive some of its biggest franchises, including Metal Gear. While it sounds like a few remasters are on the cards, a "larger project" is apparently in the works too. Whe

If you’re keen on getting the new MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022) , Apple’s first laptop with its M2 chip , you may have a wait on your hands, as it looks like some models won’t ship until August. As Mac Rumors reports , the shipping delays are hitting custom configurations of the new MacBook Pro 13-inch, so if you configure it to come with 24GB of memory, you’re currently looking at a delivery in the US from between August 3 to August 10. If you buy the set configurations from Apple, however, you should be able to get it pretty swiftly, with delivery starting on June 24, which is the official launch day of the new laptop. It’s the same story in the UK, where the base models are available on June 24. However, configuring the memory to 16GB sees the delivery date slip to July 4 – July 6, and upping it to 24GB moves the delivery estimate to August 2 – August 9. Changing the amount of storage can also impact the delivery date. In Australia, picking 24GB of memory means the new MacBook

Snowpiercer will end after the conclusion of its fourth season, it was confirmed over the weekend.  The show was produced by US network TNT, but shown internationally on Netflix in every territory apart from the US and China.  Snowpiercer is based on Parasite director Bong Joon-ho’s 2013 movie of the same name, which itself was adapted from the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette.  Set in a post-apocalyptic future where the world has become a frozen wasteland, Snowpiercer follows the passengers on board a train of the same name, a huge, perpetually moving train that continues to circle the globe carrying the remnants of humanity.  Designed and built by an eccentric billionaire named Mr. Wilford , the train has over 1,000 carriages, some are the height of luxury, others are barely held together, leading to constant strife and tension among the characters with class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survi

Cheaters in Warzone and Vanguard are in for a rude awakening, as developer Activision rolls out a new update to the games’ anti-cheat software. Anyone who’s caught cheating in Warzone or Call of Duty: Vanguard will now face the wrath of Activision’s latest ironic anti-cheating mitigation tactic, Disarm. As described in a blog post , the new system does exactly what its name suggests: removing cheaters’ weapons mid-match to leave them totally defenseless. (Image credit: Activision) Cheaters won’t even be able to punch with their fists, as Activision says removing all their offensive capabilities it’s an effective way of putting them “in time out”. By letting cheaters remain in the match but making it virtually unplayable for them, the pesky hackers are given a taste of their own bitter medicine. It also makes unscrupulous players easy targets for legitimate players, who can pick up an easy kill while the cheaters are running around confused and helpless. If you spot an ene

Cisco has advised customers to trade in old Small Business RV VPN routers for newer models, as the old ones have high-severity vulnerabilities that it won’t be patching. As reported by BleepingComputer , the company recently discovered a vulnerability revolving around insufficient user input validation of incoming HPPT packets. By sending a “specially crafted request” to the web-based management interface of these devices, an attacker could end up with root-level privileges. Essentially, they’d be getting free access to the endpoint . Tracked as CVE-2022-20825, the flaw has a severity score of 9.8, so it’s pretty dangerous. It was found in four models: the RV110W Wireless-N VPN Firewall, the RV130 VPN Router, the RV130W Wireless-N Multifunction VPN Router, and the RV215W Wireless-N VPN Router. Share your thoughts on Cybersecurity and get a free copy of the Hacker's Manual 2022 . Help us find how businesses are preparing for the post-Covid world and the implications o

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 both have an eSIM (embedded-SIM), yet in the US they so far haven’t been able to make use of it. That’s changing now, though. In a new software update, eSIM support is being added, meaning you’ll be able to use the phone without a removable SIM card. More usefully, this also brings support for Dual SIM, Dual Standby (DSDS), which means you can use both a standard, removable SIM, and the eSIM running at the same time, so you can have two different numbers on the phone. This could be handy if, for example, you want both a work and personal number on the same device. The update also adds camera improvements, including higher quality pictures when shooting with third-party social or camera apps, an ‘Auto framing’ feature for video mode and some video call apps, and – in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 – there’s also now support for the telephoto lens in Pro mode, and improvements to the night portrait feature. Plus,

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After announcing Telegram Premium earlier this month , the messaging app has finally rolled out the paid tier, which gives users access to extra features for $4.99 / month (via TechCrunch ). All the features are outlined in a post on Telegram’s blog , with some of its bigger draws including faster downloads and a larger maximum file upload size of 4GB (rather than the standard 2GB). Premium subscribers will also get double the limits imposed on standard users. Instead of joining up to 500 channels, subscribers are capped at 1,000 channels. The same goes for other features on Telegram — subscribers can create 20 chat folders with 200 chats each, save up to 10 stickers, pin up to 10 chats, and add a total of four accounts to Telegram instead of three. Premium users also get to have longer bios with a link. Image: Telegram Telegram Premium subscribers get increased limits on the number of channels they can join and more. Some other perks in

Deep blacks and super smooth motion look set to be on tap with JVC’s just-announced new line of 4K OLED TVs. Coming in 55-inch and 65-inch options, the new 9200 series TV’s are set to offer refresh rates up to 120Hz and feature HDMI 2.1 connectivity to rival the best 120Hz TVs available today. Alongside an Auto Low Latency mode (ALLM) which automatically switches to the TVs’ lowest latency setting (a key feature of the best gaming TVs ), there’s also support for Dolby Vision with the TVs running the latest version of Google’s Android TV operating system. A new SuperResolution feature, meanwhile claims to refine and upscale sub-4K images, using JVC’s Micro Dimming algorithm to further enhance dynamic contrast ratio.  Alongside those promising picture features, the 9200 also looks like having a solid audio support, with built-in support for Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual, while the HDMI ports will feature eARC, which will please anyone looking to rig the TV up to the best soundbars .

While some people have zero trouble falling asleep in a dark, quiet room, the rest of us need a little help. Sleep podcasts are popular here, and a new study by retailer Sleepseeker has revealed the best podcasts to help you fall asleep more easily. The study used a variety of metrics to create its Top 35 sleep podcasts, including rank and podcast score. The Sleep With Me podcast came out on top with a podcast score of 8.77, closely followed by the Nothing Much Happens sleep podcast, with a score of 8.35. Rounding out the top three is the Get Sleepy podcast, with a score of 8.23. The study also looked at which sleep podcasts had the most subscribers. Sleep With Me ranked number one with over 200,000 Castbox subscribers, followed by Tracks to Relax with over 50,000 subscribers and the Deep Energy Podcast with over 33,000. Here are the Top 10 podcasts for better sleep, according to the study: Sleep With Me Nothing Much Happens Get Sleepy Sleepy Snoozecast Sleep Cove Deep En

AppleCORE filed a petition to hold the vote in May. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Workers at Apple’s Towson Town Center store in Maryland have voted to unionize, with 65 yeses and 33 nos. Around 110 employees were eligible to vote in the election. The store is the first Apple retail location in the US to hold a union election, after organizers in Atlanta withdrew their petition to hold a union vote , which had been scheduled to take place in early May. Organizing at the Towson store has been done by a group of employees that called themselves AppleCORE (an acronym for Coalition of Organized Retail Employees). The workers have said they want to expand their rights, specifically asking for a say when it came to pay, hours, and safety. AppleCORE is associated with a larger, established union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Apple hasn’t welcomed the multiple unionization campaigns at its stores with open arms. The company hired ant

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge WhatsApp has rolled out several new features this past week, including the ability to mute people during group calls (via Android Central ). This sanity-saving feature seems helpful not just for muting people who forget to do it themselves, but also if you’re in the same room as someone who’s also on the call and don’t want to hear an echo of what they say. While some conferencing apps, like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, let hosts mute all participants (or specific ones), they typically don’t offer a way for individual users to mute whoever they want during a call. This feature offers a new level of control that’s probably best saved for chaotic meetings that involve up to the maximum of eight people on video calls — or up to 32 on voice calls . Some new features for group calls on @WhatsApp : You can now mute or message specific people on a call (great if someone forgets to mute themselves!), and we've added a helpful indicator so you c

If you’ve ever thought, “I would like my digital avatar to wear poorly rendered designer clothing,” I have excellent news for you. Meta is launching an online store where Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger users can purchase digital clothing for their avatar. The first brands on the store are Prada, Balenciaga, and Thom Browne, and clothes include a motocross outfit, a logo hoodie, and suits. In a Facebook post, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said more brands would be added soon. “Digital goods will be an important way to express yourself in the metaverse and a big driver of the creative economy,” he says. Luxury fashion houses are increasingly partnering with technology companies to create branded digital garments. Last year, Fortnite introduced Balenciaga skins so players could purchase garments like a branded hoodie for their in-game characters. In Roblox , players can visit Gucci Town , complete with a garden featuring the brand’s logo and a virtual store. Despite the big nam