Twitter is making DMs encrypted and adding video, voice chat, per Elon Musk

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, has been public about his desire to improve how the social network’s direct messages work. In a meeting with employees today, he spelled out exactly what that looks like. Framed by presentation slides titled “Twitter 2.0” at Twitter’s San Fransisco headquarters on Monday, … Read more

Twitter won’t restart paid verification until ‘significant impersonations’ stop, Elon Musk tells employees

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Elon Musk told Twitter employees on Monday that the company won’t relaunch its paid verification subscription, Twitter Blue, until “we’re confident about significant impersonations not happening,” according to a recording of his remarks obtained by The Verge. Musk said last week that his $8 per month Blue subscription … Read more

Elon Musk says Twitter is done with layoffs and now hiring

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images After purging nearly two-thirds of Twitter’s 7,500-person workforce in three weeks, Elon Musk is hiring again. During an all-hands meeting with employees on Monday, Musk said that Twitter is done with layoffs and actively recruiting for roles in engineering and sales and that employees are encouraged … Read more

Sony and Honda might stick a PS5 in their upcoming autonomous electric car

Sony’s Vision-S concept on display at CES 2020. | Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge Sony and Honda are mulling cramming a PS5 into their upcoming entertainment-focused electric vehicle as they set up to challenge Tesla (via Eurogamer). Speaking to the Financial Times, Izumi Kawanishi, the joint venture’s president, said that it’s “technologically possible” … Read more

Ubisoft is back to releasing games on Steam, including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Key art for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. | Image: Ubisoft Ubisoft is bringing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Anno 1800, and Roller Champions to Steam, arguably its first major releases on Valve’s PC distribution platform since 2019. “We’re constantly evaluating how to bring our games to different audiences wherever they are, while providing a consistent player ecosystem through … Read more

Elon Musk is laying off even more Twitter workers

Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge Elon Musk announced a new wave of layoffs affecting Twitter’s sales teams on Monday, according to a report from Bloomberg. Sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that Musk is cutting more workers to balance out each team, but it’s still not clear how many people lost their … Read more

The latest AirPods Pro are $50 off at multiple retailers

It’s tough to tell the newer second-generation AirPods Pro from the previous model by looks alone. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge In case you missed out on Woot’s recent $50 off deal on the second-generation AirPods Pro (it happened very early Saturday morning, inconveniently), Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart have your back. … Read more

The Verge’s 2022 home tech holiday gift guide

Photography by Joel Goldberg for The Verge The wrong gift for someone’s home can quickly become clutter, which is why we’ve put together a selection of great gift ideas they’ll cherish, appreciate, and — most importantly — put to use. Continue reading…

Time’s up: the leap second is being scrapped

Leap seconds depend entirely on how quickly the Earth spins, which can be a nightmare for managing technology hardware infrastructures. (Pictured: the World Time Clock in Berlin.) | Photo by INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images A global panel of scientists and government representatives have voted to scrap leap seconds by 2035. The ad hoc time … Read more

These vibrating LG Display panels turn car dashboards and headrests into speakers

LG Display’s Thin Actuator Sound Solution is just 30 percent of the weight and 10 percent of the thickness of a conventional car speaker. | Image: LG Display LG Display has developed a new “invisible” speaker technology for vehicles that uses a passport-sized vibrating panel to generate sound. It was developed with an unnamed “global … Read more

Feds arrest Russians allegedly behind ‘world’s largest’ pirated ebook library

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Federal law enforcement arrested and charged two Russian individuals with criminal copyright infringement over their alleged involvement with the pirated ebook Z-Library. Z-Library, which has been around since 2009, billed itself as the “world’s largest ebook library” before the US government shut down the site earlier this … Read more

Elon Musk says he’s letting Donald Trump back on Twitter

Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images Donald Trump is allowed to rejoin Twitter, Elon Musk has announced. Musk justified that decision based on the results of his own personal Twitter poll. The @realDonaldTrump account and its tweets are fully visible again. Shortly after taking control of the social network, Musk said he … Read more

The US government still isn’t sure about Elon Musk’s Twitter

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter hasn’t escaped government scrutiny just yet. According to a report from Bloomberg, the US government is looking into whether Musk’s foreign investment partners have access to users’ private data on the platform. Sources close to the situation told … Read more