Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be the first game to get Nvidia’s new RTX Hair features next month. Instead of using triangles to model hair, Nvidia will use spheres to improve Harrison Ford’s virtual hair in the Indiana Jones game. RTX Hair is designed to improve lighting and shadows, all while maintaining performance … Read more
The Nvidia app is getting improvements to DLSS override, more control panel features, and Project G-Assist changes this week. Nvidia has been gradually improving its new app over the past 18 months since its release, and it’s getting closer to fully migrating all the legacy control panel options. This week’s Nvidia app update will include … Read more
Nvidia’s GeForce Now is getting a big upgrade next month — and it’s also part of an intriguing new experiment. Nvidia, Discord, and Epic Games have teamed up for an early test of instant game demos for Discord servers, which could theoretically let you immediately try a game without buying it, downloading it, or signing … Read more
Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer now known for his science-focused stunts he publishes to more than 70 million subscribers on YouTube, will launch a competition show on Netflix in 2026. Rober will also bring “some of his most beloved, ambitious, and informative experiments to Netflix later this year,” Netflix says. The Wall Street Journal … Read more
Older Nest thermostat users can finally uninstall the older dedicated Nest app. | Image: Google Google has announced that users of the US and UK versions of the 3rd gen Nest Learning Thermostat and the Nest Thermostat E can now schedule temperature adjustments using the Google Home app. Newer versions of the Nest thermostats already … Read more
Two years ago we learned, thanks to the FTC, that Microsoft was working on a separate “dedicated” version of Xbox Cloud Gaming. Microsoft Gaming CFO Tim Stuart then hinted, a few months later, that there could be a free version Xbox Cloud Gaming in exchange for ads. Now, Microsoft is hinting at making Xbox Cloud … Read more
Roblox is updating its policies prohibiting romantic or sexual content to also forbid “content, settings, or behavior that implies sexual activity,” according to a Friday post from chief safety officer Matt Kaufman (emphasis Kaufman’s). The changes follow recent lawsuits against the company, including one from Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill that alleges the platform creates … Read more
Prime Video has released new photos from season two of Fallout. Lucy (Ella Purnell), the Ghoul (Walton Goggins), and Maximus (Aaron Moten) return as a trio of Wasteland Wanderers whose adventures will bring them to the post-apocalyptic playground of New Vegas. Take a look. Kyle MacLachlan, who plays Lucy’s father Hank, also returns to the … Read more
Just two weeks after raising the prices of its cameras by up to $800, Fujifilm is warning customers about another increase for US customers. In a statement provided to DPReview, the Japanese company says it will “further adjust prices” as it contends with “volatile market conditions.” The change will go into effect on August 30th, … Read more
Welcome to Decoder! This is Casey Newton, founder and editor of Platformer and cohost of the Hard Fork podcast. I’ve had a lot of fun guest-hosting a few episodes of Decoder while Nilay is out on parental leave this summer. If you listened to the last couple of Monday shows, you know I’ve been doing … Read more
You can currently get an Apple Watch for $649.99 ($150 off). If you’re interested in a long-lasting smartwatch, and like to stay within Apple’s hardware ecosystem, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the best choice. It’s Apple’s most durable, longest-lasting smartwatch, and it’s currently on sale for $649.99 ($150 off), an all-time low price at … Read more
Anthropic’s Claude AI chatbot can now end conversations deemed “persistently harmful or abusive,” as spotted earlier by TechCrunch. The capability is now available in Opus 4 and 4.1 models, and will allow the chatbot to end conversations as a “last resort” after users repeatedly ask it to generate harmful content despite multiple refusals and attempts … Read more
MSNBC is about to look a lot — and sound — a lot different. The cable news network will soon go by My Source News Opinion World (MS NOW) and drop its peacock logo, according to a report from Deadline. The change comes as Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, plans to spin off its cable business, … Read more
Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 FE. | Image: Samsung The Fan Edition Galaxy Buds 3 have ditched the blob for a stemmed design popularized by Apple and found in Samsung’s higher end Galaxy Buds 3 models launched last year. The Galaxy Buds 3 FE arrive with improved sound, enhanced active noise cancellation, and IP54 resistance to … Read more
Predicted score 78/100. | Image: Grammarly Grammarly is launching several new AI agents for specific writing challenges, from educators trying to detect plagiarism and AI-generated text to students looking to gauge reader reaction to their paper, needing help with citations, and even seeing their predicted grade. The specialized AI agents are available in docs — … Read more
During the last half month, we’ve covered a lot of interesting gadgets and apps and thought we’d highlight a few that caught our attention the most. For example, we have a robovac that can mop the edges of your walls (something that my manual mop usually fails at), a charging cable that with any luck … Read more
Microsoft first introduced a dark mode option in Windows 10 in 2016, but there were still plenty of areas of the operating system that looked like a mish-mash of light and dark modes. Nearly a decade later, the latest preview build of Windows 11 now includes even more darkened UI elements. Windows watcher Phantomofearth spotted … Read more
In a recent episode of Post Games, host Chris Plante explores how video games can help players understand death. He’s interviewing Kaitlin Tremblay, who is working on Ambrosia Sky, a game about death. “What is it about games that is so useful for exploring the topic?” Plante asks. “I think there’s something really lovely about … Read more
How it started I carry a lot of different phones around, and I rarely get questions about them because most people stopped talking about which phone they own around 2017. I could be using an unreleased iPhone 18 Pro Max Air Ultra to pay for my coffee and nobody would raise an eyebrow (present company … Read more
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 94, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, did you hydrate today, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’m visiting LinkedIn way too much because of Mini Sudoku, looking at the … Read more
Some people like to stay on the cutting edge of technology. If that’s you, you already know that Google is going to officially unveil its Pixel 10 phones (including a new Fold) during its August 20th event. But if you’re someone who prefers to use these opportunities to save on last-gen tech, you’ve been rewarded … Read more
Dead Take, the second game from Tales of Kenzera: Zau developer Surgent Studios, is a quiet horror game where the monster is ambition and the lengths a person will go for stardom. Like a lot of horror games, Dead Take relies on jumpscares to get the heart pumping. But playing this game, my deepest, most … Read more
At the end of July, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) convened a three-day public hearing to investigate January’s mid-air collision over Washington, DC that killed 67 people. After the hearing, two conclusions were inescapable. First, the disaster should have been prevented by existing safety rules. And second, the government regulators responsible for air safety … Read more
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – SEPTEMBER 10, 2024: Laura Loomer arrives at Philadelphia International Airport on The Trump Organization’s Boeing 757. | Photo: Getty Images For all the power she wields with the White House’s affairs, Laura Loomer does not have the traditional tools that her rivals in the MAGA influencer industrial complex have – the highest … Read more
The state of Louisiana has filed a lawsuit against Roblox, alleging that the company has “permitted and perpetuated an online environment in which child predators thrive, directly contributing to the widespread victimization of minor children in Louisiana.” Roblox sees more than 111.8 million daily active users, and it’s hugely popular with children, with users under … Read more
There’s a meme currently going around Bluesky where people are posting their first purchases on Steam. Taking a look presents a neat time capsule, offering a glimpse of who we used to be. It also gives us a chance to compare our gaming habits now with what they were 10 or more years ago – … Read more
Now that Congress has passed a bill that will defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS is taking drastic measures to stay alive. In an email sent out to PBS station managers on Wednesday, PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger announced that the organization plans to cut its budget by 21 percent in order to … Read more
If you’ve ever juggled a phone, a smartwatch, and a pair of wireless earbuds, you know the struggle of keeping them all charged. Rather than go through the process of charging them one by one, a quality charging station can help you manage the chaos and reduce cable clutter. The Anker MagGo Wireless Charging Station … Read more
Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, Special Representative for Climate Change, Panama, speaks at a press conference ahead of the final INC-5.2 Negotiation plenary Session, warning negotiators that a weak treaty will fail the world. | Image: © Greenpeace / Marie Jacquemin The nations of the world have been on the precipice of reaching a global agreement … Read more
Anthropic has updated the usage policy for its Claude AI chatbot in response to growing concerns about safety. In addition to introducing stricter cybersecurity rules, Anthropic now specifies some of the most dangerous weapons that people should not develop using Claude. Anthropic doesn’t highlight the tweaks made to its weapons policy in the post summarizing … Read more