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Illustration: The Verge

You might have to pay to access some subreddits in the future. During an earnings call on Tuesday, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman hinted at “new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas.”
“I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said. “But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built.” Huffman said he doesn’t think these gated communities would “cannibalize” the site, which has seen an increase in users over the past few months. The site’s daily active users jumped 51 percent, bringing its total to 91.2 million, while its revenue also increased by 54 percent to $281.2 million.
Based on a statement from Reddit, it appears the “exclusive” areas mentioned by Huffman could have a paywall. “We’ve had versions of premium community features in the past, like r/goldlounge, that users loved, so we’re exploring new ways to empower moderators and communities to try exclusive spaces and content,” Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt tells The Verge. “We’ll let you know when we have more to share.”

Additionally, Huffman mentioned during the call that Reddit has started to “enhance” its search results using first-party and third-party AI models. We first heard about Reddit using AI for search in February, as its AI training deal with Google includes access to Google’s Vertex AI tool that helps companies improve search results.
Reddit took a harder stance on web crawlers last month, with the company blocking search engines, like Microsoft Bing, that haven’t paid for access to its content. In an interview with The Verge, Huffman said it’s “been a real pain in the ass” to block Microsoft and AI companies, like Anthropic and Perplexity, from scraping the site.
This more aggressive approach to business is part of Reddit’s plan to achieve profitability, but it will need to ensure it doesn’t upset users in the process — something we saw with last year’s sitewide protests against Reddit’s API pricing.

Illustration: The Verge

You might have to pay to access some subreddits in the future. During an earnings call on Tuesday, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman hinted at “new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas.”

“I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said. “But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built.” Huffman said he doesn’t think these gated communities would “cannibalize” the site, which has seen an increase in users over the past few months. The site’s daily active users jumped 51 percent, bringing its total to 91.2 million, while its revenue also increased by 54 percent to $281.2 million.

Based on a statement from Reddit, it appears the “exclusive” areas mentioned by Huffman could have a paywall. “We’ve had versions of premium community features in the past, like r/goldlounge, that users loved, so we’re exploring new ways to empower moderators and communities to try exclusive spaces and content,” Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt tells The Verge. “We’ll let you know when we have more to share.”

Additionally, Huffman mentioned during the call that Reddit has started to “enhance” its search results using first-party and third-party AI models. We first heard about Reddit using AI for search in February, as its AI training deal with Google includes access to Google’s Vertex AI tool that helps companies improve search results.

Reddit took a harder stance on web crawlers last month, with the company blocking search engines, like Microsoft Bing, that haven’t paid for access to its content. In an interview with The Verge, Huffman said it’s “been a real pain in the ass” to block Microsoft and AI companies, like Anthropic and Perplexity, from scraping the site.

This more aggressive approach to business is part of Reddit’s plan to achieve profitability, but it will need to ensure it doesn’t upset users in the process — something we saw with last year’s sitewide protests against Reddit’s API pricing.

Read More 

Image: Tim Walz

Vice President Kamala Harris’ pick for running mate is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a former teacher and football coach whose straightforward manner of speaking has endeared him to many and helped launch his name into the public consciousness.
Walz’s public persona has what many would describe as dad energy. He makes unsubtle jokes and regularly posts pictures of his dogs. During a widely shared television appearance, he described Republicans as “weird,” a line of attack that resonated with Democrats. Walz comes off as humble, restrained, and eloquent in an everyman way.
A few weeks ago, I explained “Brat summer” and how the Harris campaign was tapping into a cultural moment that has swept across a certain Millennial and Gen Z demographic. Now, I’m cutting straight to the point: Tim Walz is Midwest Princess.
This became clear on Tuesday night, shortly after Harris and Walz’s first rally in Philadelphia, when the campaign listed for sale a $40 camo-printed hat. Emblazoned with bright orange letters reading “HARRIS WALZ,” it likely wouldn’t have drawn much attention in the pre-meme age. Camo and orange are standard colors for hunting gear and wouldn’t look out of place in the wardrobe of a Midwestern Democrat.
I’m here to tell you, however, that this otherwise benign hat is part of a calculus by the Harris campaign to appeal to a new set of voters.

Image: Red Star Merch

Image: Harris Victory Fund

Last fall, a relatively obscure pop artist named Chappell Roan released her debut album titled, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.” Roan, who was born in Missouri, wears her Midwest roots like armor, often reflecting on her conservative upbringing alongside unabashed lyrics about her sexuality (she identifies as a lesbian).
Roan has seen explosive and sudden career growth this year — not unlike Walz — that has catapulted her into the public eye. Her merch store sells a camo hat with orange letters reading “MIDWEST PRINCESS” that has been popular this summer and come to define her aesthetic.
Roan has seen explosive and sudden career growth this year — not unlike Walz
The Harris/Walz campaign knows this. The product description for the campaign hat reads, “You asked, we answered. The most iconic political hat in America” — a likely reference to memes that were circulating that put Walz’s face on Roan’s body.
The campaign didn’t respond to my questions about the inspiration behind the hat. But it doesn’t really need to. The has already sold out and is now not shipping again until mid October. Teen Vogue reports that more than $1 million worth of these hats have been sold so far.

is this real https://t.co/4HBBEQuo7q— Chappell Roan (@ChappellRoan) August 7, 2024

The camo hat is emblematic of Harris running multiple, niche campaigns on the back of meme culture. A hunting-themed hat could speak to rural dads who want their kids to have access to abortion just as much as it might to a first-time voter who likes sapphic pop music. The former doesn’t need to understand the Chappell Roan reference and the latter need not care about hunting. Everyone else can just move along if they don’t get it.
This approach to campaigning is also visible when you examine how the Harris/Walz camp is approaching different social media platforms. The caption for a video on Instagram showing Walz making a JD Vance couch joke is more restrained with a single couch emoji. On X, the campaign simply quotes Walz next to the clip. On TikTok, that same video has a caption reading “omg Tim Walz WENT THERE,” with several laughing emojis.
It’s nothing new for political campaigns to carefully tailor their messaging depending on who they’re talking to. But it feels like the Harris campaign is taking this approach to a new level. And it’s working: the Harris/Walz ticket has gotten the attention of young people by using a specific color in a few images and now doing a one-off merchandise release.
Anyone who operates online should know that attention is fickle, viral moments die, and adoration can quickly slip into backlash. How long can stunts like these last before they feel tired? The Harris campaign has attention of young people. Now, they need to win and keep their trust.

Image: Tim Walz

Vice President Kamala Harris’ pick for running mate is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a former teacher and football coach whose straightforward manner of speaking has endeared him to many and helped launch his name into the public consciousness.

Walz’s public persona has what many would describe as dad energy. He makes unsubtle jokes and regularly posts pictures of his dogs. During a widely shared television appearance, he described Republicans as “weird,” a line of attack that resonated with Democrats. Walz comes off as humble, restrained, and eloquent in an everyman way.

A few weeks ago, I explained “Brat summer” and how the Harris campaign was tapping into a cultural moment that has swept across a certain Millennial and Gen Z demographic. Now, I’m cutting straight to the point: Tim Walz is Midwest Princess.

This became clear on Tuesday night, shortly after Harris and Walz’s first rally in Philadelphia, when the campaign listed for sale a $40 camo-printed hat. Emblazoned with bright orange letters reading “HARRIS WALZ,” it likely wouldn’t have drawn much attention in the pre-meme age. Camo and orange are standard colors for hunting gear and wouldn’t look out of place in the wardrobe of a Midwestern Democrat.

I’m here to tell you, however, that this otherwise benign hat is part of a calculus by the Harris campaign to appeal to a new set of voters.

Last fall, a relatively obscure pop artist named Chappell Roan released her debut album titled, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.” Roan, who was born in Missouri, wears her Midwest roots like armor, often reflecting on her conservative upbringing alongside unabashed lyrics about her sexuality (she identifies as a lesbian).

Roan has seen explosive and sudden career growth this year — not unlike Walz — that has catapulted her into the public eye. Her merch store sells a camo hat with orange letters reading “MIDWEST PRINCESS” that has been popular this summer and come to define her aesthetic.

The Harris/Walz campaign knows this. The product description for the campaign hat reads, “You asked, we answered. The most iconic political hat in America” — a likely reference to memes that were circulating that put Walz’s face on Roan’s body.

The campaign didn’t respond to my questions about the inspiration behind the hat. But it doesn’t really need to. The has already sold out and is now not shipping again until mid October. Teen Vogue reports that more than $1 million worth of these hats have been sold so far.

The camo hat is emblematic of Harris running multiple, niche campaigns on the back of meme culture. A hunting-themed hat could speak to rural dads who want their kids to have access to abortion just as much as it might to a first-time voter who likes sapphic pop music. The former doesn’t need to understand the Chappell Roan reference and the latter need not care about hunting. Everyone else can just move along if they don’t get it.

This approach to campaigning is also visible when you examine how the Harris/Walz camp is approaching different social media platforms. The caption for a video on Instagram showing Walz making a JD Vance couch joke is more restrained with a single couch emoji. On X, the campaign simply quotes Walz next to the clip. On TikTok, that same video has a caption reading “omg Tim Walz WENT THERE,” with several laughing emojis.

It’s nothing new for political campaigns to carefully tailor their messaging depending on who they’re talking to. But it feels like the Harris campaign is taking this approach to a new level. And it’s working: the Harris/Walz ticket has gotten the attention of young people by using a specific color in a few images and now doing a one-off merchandise release.

Anyone who operates online should know that attention is fickle, viral moments die, and adoration can quickly slip into backlash. How long can stunts like these last before they feel tired? The Harris campaign has attention of young people. Now, they need to win and keep their trust.

Read More 

An Intel Core i9-13900K CPU, one of the first types identified to sometimes crash this way. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

There is no fix for Intel’s crashing 13th and 14th Gen Raptor Lake desktop processors. If your chip isn’t yet damaged, please apply motherboard BIOS updates early and often to prevent issues. If it’s already damaged, your only option is to exchange it.
But what if you didn’t buy a chip — but, rather, an entire PC? Will PC makers have your back? Will they pass along the extra two years of warranty that Intel just theoretically granted them or perhaps try to save money at your expense?

Image: Intel

On Tuesday, Intel confirmed it will extend its warranty by two entire years for 24 different CPUs that may be affected.

We asked over a dozen desktop computer companies that last question. Some agreed to extend their warranty to meet or beat Intel. Some were more vague.
Here’s what they told The Verge.
Acer — would not promise warranty extension
We are currently investigating which models of Acer desktops may have these specific chipsets, but as of today, we haven’t heard of any widespread customer reports of crashes or instability on our Intel-based desktops. Once we complete our investigation, we’ll determine if any modifications will need to be made to our warranty offerings, but this may take us a week to complete.
Asus — two-year warranty extension

We will also offer a two-year extended warranty for affected Desktop CPU. More information can be found here: Warranty Policy for Intel® Boxed and Tray Processors and Additional Warranty Updates on Intel Core 13th/14th Gen Desktop Processors – Intel Community. (Note: the maximum warranty period for affected CPU can be up to five years only. Further details on this will come later.)
ASUS deeply cares about our customers’ satisfaction and we remain committed to providing the highest level of quality and service. If you have any questions, contact your local customer service center. Please stay tuned for further updates.

Dell and Alienware — would not promise warranty extension but “all costs are covered”
Any customers experiencing instability issues with their Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors should reach out to Dell Technical Support. Processors diagnosed with this issue will be replaced and Dell Technologies will work with Intel to ensure that all costs are covered for our impacted customers.
HP — two-year warranty extension
HP is aware of Intel’s recent announcement extending warranties on 13th and 14th Generation desktop processors experiencing microcode instability issues. We will honor Intel’s extended warranty of two years on impacted processors and we are working closely with Intel on how to best manage this process for our customers.
Lenovo — no reply
We received out-of-office messages from two PR contacts and no reply from a third.
MSI — no reply
We received no reply from two PR contacts.
Corsair — four-year total CPU warranty

I’m happy to let you know that Corsair and Origin PC are providing a 4-year CPU warranty on all Intel 13th gen and 14th gen processors from date of purchase for our customers.
If any of our customers have questions or concerns, we encourage them to contact our customer service department; we are more than happy to help.

Digital Storm — five-year CPU warranty
Thank you for reaching out. We’re committed to supporting our customers. All previous and new systems with Intel 13th and 14th Gen CPUs will include an extended 5 year warranty coverage for the processor only.
(Digital Storm did not clarify whether the warranty had been extended by five additional years or is now five years in total, though the latter seems more likely.)
Falcon Northwest — five-year total CPU warranty
Yes. Falcon Northwest passes along manufacturer’s warranties in addition to our own warranty. Intel 13th & 14th Gen desktop processors on Intel’s list will now be covered for a full 5 years. Falcon Northwest has always offered a 3 year warranty on all of our desktops, including the first year with our “Falcon Overnight” service where we pay overnight shipping both ways in the event a major repair is needed. Lifetime technical support is always standard.
Maingear — five-year total CPU warranty
Committed to providing exceptional service and product quality, MAINGEAR, in response to Intel’s recent warranty update, will be extending the processor warranty on all PCs equipped with affected 13th and 14th Gen Intel Core processors to five (5) years from the date of purchase. This extension also applies to systems featuring delidded 14900KS processors.
Also:
In the coming weeks, MAINGEAR will be alerting customers of the processor warranty extension and will proactively guide affected customers through the necessary update procedures.
Origin PC — four-year total CPU warranty

I’m happy to let you know that Corsair and Origin PC are providing a 4-year CPU warranty on all Intel 13th gen and 14th gen processors from date of purchase for our customers.
If any of our customers have questions or concerns, we encourage them to contact our customer service department; we are more than happy to help.

Note: Corsair owns Origin PC and had the same reply for both.
NZXT — would not promise warranty extension

We are aware of the instability reports regarding Intel’s 13th and 14th generation processors. NZXT is committed to delivering a great customer experience and we are currently working with Intel on details to best serve impacted customers. We will share an update as soon as possible.
If any of our customers suspect they are having issues with these affected Intel CPUs, please reach out to NZXT Customer Service for support.

Puget Systems — three-year total CPU warranty
We are extending our warranty on affected CPUs to 3 years for any customer affected by this issue, regardless of warranty purchased. With a Puget Systems PC, you should be able to count on it working for you. If we no longer have supply of 13th or 14th Gen processors, we’ll upgrade you to a more current generation.
CyberPowerPC — no human reply
Emails to CyberPowerPC, which sells prebuilt PCs at Best Buy and elsewhere, were met with an automated response that linked to the company’s standard warranty — which only includes a one-year parts warranty.
iBuyPower — five-year total CPU warranty
Our company has been in close communication with Intel to resolve this issue. We can confirm we will honor Intel’s extended warranty. We are establishing processes for impacted customers to receive assistance from iBUYPOWER on their CPUs and will share details directly with customers and the public soon. We will share this process once it is finalized.
When we asked for clarification, the company added:
The parts warranty for the affected 13th and 14th gen desktop processor models will be extended to 5 years from invoice date.

An Intel Core i9-13900K CPU, one of the first types identified to sometimes crash this way. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

There is no fix for Intel’s crashing 13th and 14th Gen Raptor Lake desktop processors. If your chip isn’t yet damaged, please apply motherboard BIOS updates early and often to prevent issues. If it’s already damaged, your only option is to exchange it.

But what if you didn’t buy a chip — but, rather, an entire PC? Will PC makers have your back? Will they pass along the extra two years of warranty that Intel just theoretically granted them or perhaps try to save money at your expense?

Image: Intel

On Tuesday, Intel confirmed it will extend its warranty by two entire years for 24 different CPUs that may be affected.

We asked over a dozen desktop computer companies that last question. Some agreed to extend their warranty to meet or beat Intel. Some were more vague.

Here’s what they told The Verge.

Acer — would not promise warranty extension

We are currently investigating which models of Acer desktops may have these specific chipsets, but as of today, we haven’t heard of any widespread customer reports of crashes or instability on our Intel-based desktops. Once we complete our investigation, we’ll determine if any modifications will need to be made to our warranty offerings, but this may take us a week to complete.

Asus — two-year warranty extension

We will also offer a two-year extended warranty for affected Desktop CPU. More information can be found here: Warranty Policy for Intel® Boxed and Tray Processors and Additional Warranty Updates on Intel Core 13th/14th Gen Desktop Processors – Intel Community. (Note: the maximum warranty period for affected CPU can be up to five years only. Further details on this will come later.)

ASUS deeply cares about our customers’ satisfaction and we remain committed to providing the highest level of quality and service. If you have any questions, contact your local customer service center. Please stay tuned for further updates.

Dell and Alienware — would not promise warranty extension but “all costs are covered”

Any customers experiencing instability issues with their Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors should reach out to Dell Technical Support. Processors diagnosed with this issue will be replaced and Dell Technologies will work with Intel to ensure that all costs are covered for our impacted customers.

HP — two-year warranty extension

HP is aware of Intel’s recent announcement extending warranties on 13th and 14th Generation desktop processors experiencing microcode instability issues. We will honor Intel’s extended warranty of two years on impacted processors and we are working closely with Intel on how to best manage this process for our customers.

Lenovo — no reply

We received out-of-office messages from two PR contacts and no reply from a third.

MSI — no reply

We received no reply from two PR contacts.

Corsair — four-year total CPU warranty

I’m happy to let you know that Corsair and Origin PC are providing a 4-year CPU warranty on all Intel 13th gen and 14th gen processors from date of purchase for our customers.

If any of our customers have questions or concerns, we encourage them to contact our customer service department; we are more than happy to help.

Digital Storm — five-year CPU warranty

Thank you for reaching out. We’re committed to supporting our customers. All previous and new systems with Intel 13th and 14th Gen CPUs will include an extended 5 year warranty coverage for the processor only.

(Digital Storm did not clarify whether the warranty had been extended by five additional years or is now five years in total, though the latter seems more likely.)

Falcon Northwest — five-year total CPU warranty

Yes. Falcon Northwest passes along manufacturer’s warranties in addition to our own warranty. Intel 13th & 14th Gen desktop processors on Intel’s list will now be covered for a full 5 years. Falcon Northwest has always offered a 3 year warranty on all of our desktops, including the first year with our “Falcon Overnight” service where we pay overnight shipping both ways in the event a major repair is needed. Lifetime technical support is always standard.

Maingear — five-year total CPU warranty

Committed to providing exceptional service and product quality, MAINGEAR, in response to Intel’s recent warranty update, will be extending the processor warranty on all PCs equipped with affected 13th and 14th Gen Intel Core processors to five (5) years from the date of purchase. This extension also applies to systems featuring delidded 14900KS processors.

Also:

In the coming weeks, MAINGEAR will be alerting customers of the processor warranty extension and will proactively guide affected customers through the necessary update procedures.

Origin PC — four-year total CPU warranty

I’m happy to let you know that Corsair and Origin PC are providing a 4-year CPU warranty on all Intel 13th gen and 14th gen processors from date of purchase for our customers.

If any of our customers have questions or concerns, we encourage them to contact our customer service department; we are more than happy to help.

Note: Corsair owns Origin PC and had the same reply for both.

NZXT — would not promise warranty extension

We are aware of the instability reports regarding Intel’s 13th and 14th generation processors. NZXT is committed to delivering a great customer experience and we are currently working with Intel on details to best serve impacted customers. We will share an update as soon as possible.

If any of our customers suspect they are having issues with these affected Intel CPUs, please reach out to NZXT Customer Service for support.

Puget Systems — three-year total CPU warranty

We are extending our warranty on affected CPUs to 3 years for any customer affected by this issue, regardless of warranty purchased. With a Puget Systems PC, you should be able to count on it working for you. If we no longer have supply of 13th or 14th Gen processors, we’ll upgrade you to a more current generation.

CyberPowerPC — no human reply

Emails to CyberPowerPC, which sells prebuilt PCs at Best Buy and elsewhere, were met with an automated response that linked to the company’s standard warranty — which only includes a one-year parts warranty.

iBuyPower — five-year total CPU warranty

Our company has been in close communication with Intel to resolve this issue. We can confirm we will honor Intel’s extended warranty. We are establishing processes for impacted customers to receive assistance from iBUYPOWER on their CPUs and will share details directly with customers and the public soon. We will share this process once it is finalized.

When we asked for clarification, the company added:

The parts warranty for the affected 13th and 14th gen desktop processor models will be extended to 5 years from invoice date.

Read More 

Characters from the Chapter 5: Season 3 battle pass. | Image: Epic Games

Epic Games is making a major change to Fortnite’s battle passes that should remove some angst if you can’t buy or complete a pass before the end of a season.
Fortnite’s battle passes offer a bunch of exclusive in-game rewards that you can only obtain during an individual season, but that means you might miss out on rewards entirely if you can’t level up enough or don’t buy the pass before it expires. To help alleviate that pressure, Epic announced on Wednesday that items from future battle passes might be available for purchase in Fortnite’s item shop at least 18 months after the pass expires.
Epic’s battle pass policy adjustment is intended in part to let people buy outfits featuring licensed crossovers, even if they miss a season’s battle pass, the company writes in its blog post. (Some of the game’s best skins, like Iron Man and the Mandalorian, have only been available to players who bought previous battle passes featuring those characters.)
Every type of item in a battle pass is eligible to show up in the shop, Epic says, including “Outfits, Back Blings, Pickaxes, Emotes, Instruments, Decals, Wraps, Loading Screens, Banner Icons, and more.” However, items from battle passes won’t be guaranteed to show up in the item shop after that 18-month window, so if you see something you want, you should probably get it while the pass is still available.
This change will kick in with the game’s next season, Epic spokesperson Stephanie Thoensen tells The Verge. The current season ends on August 16th. The new season is rumored to be Marvel-themed and could feature Doctor Doom, which would make some sense.

Characters from the Chapter 5: Season 3 battle pass. | Image: Epic Games

Epic Games is making a major change to Fortnite’s battle passes that should remove some angst if you can’t buy or complete a pass before the end of a season.

Fortnite’s battle passes offer a bunch of exclusive in-game rewards that you can only obtain during an individual season, but that means you might miss out on rewards entirely if you can’t level up enough or don’t buy the pass before it expires. To help alleviate that pressure, Epic announced on Wednesday that items from future battle passes might be available for purchase in Fortnite’s item shop at least 18 months after the pass expires.

Epic’s battle pass policy adjustment is intended in part to let people buy outfits featuring licensed crossovers, even if they miss a season’s battle pass, the company writes in its blog post. (Some of the game’s best skins, like Iron Man and the Mandalorian, have only been available to players who bought previous battle passes featuring those characters.)

Every type of item in a battle pass is eligible to show up in the shop, Epic says, including “Outfits, Back Blings, Pickaxes, Emotes, Instruments, Decals, Wraps, Loading Screens, Banner Icons, and more.” However, items from battle passes won’t be guaranteed to show up in the item shop after that 18-month window, so if you see something you want, you should probably get it while the pass is still available.

This change will kick in with the game’s next season, Epic spokesperson Stephanie Thoensen tells The Verge. The current season ends on August 16th. The new season is rumored to be Marvel-themed and could feature Doctor Doom, which would make some sense.

Read More 

A magically green room full of gaming mementos. Jess Weatherbed, news writer for The Verge, started her professional career in a way she describes as “a bit strange for a journalist” — in prosthetics and wig making. However, she was no stranger to tech. For around 16 years, she’s been using drawing tablets to support her design hobbies, everything from digital illustration and animation to 3D sculpting. “I initially learned to build computers to support my nerdier gaming hobbies,” she says, “and my love of tech and gadgets has grown from there.”
We asked Jess to talk about her workspace.
That’s quite a setup. Where in your home is it?
This is technically our second bedroom or “guest room” — though it mostly serves as my permanent home office and gaming den. My partner and I purchased our first apartment a couple of years ago now. It’s super dinky, so there’s not much room for privacy! We wanted to keep our work areas completely separate to avoid distracting each other, so this is the best use of the space we have until we can move somewhere bigger. I’m also fully remote, so having everything set up in here gives me an extra space to frequent besides the bedroom or lounge.

Green gives the home office a restful but nicely gothic atmosphere.

That’s a lot of green.
Would you believe me if I said my favorite color is actually orange? I really love green, though, and I’ve wanted a gloomy, gothic space since I was in my teens. I knew I would be spending a lot of time in here, and after years of renting, I just decided to go all in.
I had two main motivations. First, I wanted to see if I could put together a witch-themed setup that contrasts with the usual pastel palettes I see released for hardware that targets female gamers (which is lovely but isn’t at all my vibe).
The second was that I just find green to be a very calming color. I once read a study that green light can help reduce migraines, and while I wasn’t aware of that at the time of decorating, it’s certainly correlated with my own experience as a chronic sufferer. I have a dimly lit space to hide in when needed, and with all the color-addressable lighting available these days — the ceiling lights being Twinkly’s Strings — I can switch it up if I want a brighter environment.

The entire apartment is, shall we say, “eclectically” decorated, so there’s a lot going on. It certainly isn’t for everyone, but I’m super happy with it. (And my partner has yet to veto any of my decorative choices, so it’s a win-win.)
Tell us about your desk.
This is the Friska Stockholm corner desk, an electric sit-stand option I hoped would encourage me to stand more frequently during the day. Alas, I am a creature of bad habits. It does, however, give me plenty of space to create a sort of split workspace — I sit on the right when using my main two displays for work, while the left-hand “monitor” is actually a Huion Kamvas 24 Pro 4K display drawing tablet. If I want to focus on creative stuff, I can just swivel around.
If I can get around to sorting out the jungle of cables underneath, I’ll start looking for a compact electric treadmill that I can use to get some steps in to make full use of the desk’s sit / stand capabilities.

And your chair?
The chair is a Razer Enki Pro, which was an old review sample I retained a couple of years ago before joining The Verge. It’s taken a beating since then, having moved apartments and been dragged to various LAN events, but it’s holding up well aside from a few scratches. You can see I’ve started concealing them using stickers. The upholstery is still in good condition, though, and I can see this lasting me several years. I certainly wouldn’t advocate spending this much on a gaming-style chair unless you had specific comfort requirements, but I’m happy with it overall. Plus, it’s black and green!

The green lighting is echoed by the mechanical keyboard.

Here’s the big one: tell us about the various tech devices you’re using.
My main monitors are an MSI Optix G271 and a hand-me-down Acer Predator XB271HK 4K — both 27 inches. The PC itself is running an Intel i9-11900K, an MSI RTX 3080 GPU, and 64GB of DDR4 RAM. I’ll upgrade to DDR5 at some point, but for now, this is more than enough to handle both my gaming and creative hobbies.
The keyboard is a Razer Huntsman V2, which is… fine. I really like how plush the wrist rest is, and the built-in audio controllers at the top right feel nice and tactile. The mechanical keys are a tad clunky, though, so I’ll be looking to go the DIY kit route when this eventually bites the dust. The mouse is a Razer Basilisk V3, which is one of the more ergonomic gaming mice I’ve used. I’d opt for a vertical mouse, but I really hate switching my gear around between work and gaming-optimized peripherals, and this hasn’t given me any reason to make the switch.

I’m still recovering from my “RGB in all of the things” phase, so if I’m being honest, I mostly just appreciate that I can synchronize the lighting effects across my Razer Synapse-supported gear (as janky as it is) without messing with third-party apps. Are they the best? Far from it, but they work for me and my black / green theming!
I frequently play D&D online, so a lot of the other equipment supports both that and attending virtual meetings. My webcam is a Logitech Brio, which has been super reliable and still holds up against more specialized “streaming” webcams like Elgato’s facecam series. There’s a Logitech Litra Glow light atop my monitors and an Elgato Key Light to keep me illuminated in the dark environment. I use an old Rode NT1-A XLR microphone for my audio input, which my partner has had knocking around for years, and an Elgato Stream Deck that houses custom profiles for my creative applications and D&D games.
More generally, I have a 3-in-1 Belkin charger on the left to keep my phone and Apple Watch topped up during the day and an Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker. We have several around the flat to control various smart home settings, but having one in my office also keeps me alerted to any deliveries. I even use it as a speaker output for my PC when I can’t be bothered to wear headphones.

You have several interesting figures on your shelves.
The majority were actually gifted! I’d never call myself a hoarder, but I used to have a real issue with accumulating unnecessary stuff that would just pile up around me. I had a cull of figurines and cuddly toys a few years ago, so I’ve been trying to keep on top of it since. The “Sneki” Razer mascot and Cthulhu squishmallow really suit the green theme of the room, and I commissioned the crocheted Gengar plushie from a friend because it’s been my favorite pokémon since Gen 1.

A crocheted Gengar grins from a shelf.

The crow lamp in the corner is named “Dick.”

The crow lamp is affectionately called “Dick,” after both DC’s Nightwing and a real crow I rescued last year who was very unhappy about being rehabilitated for an injured wing. I think my fingers are still recovering from the pecking he gave me.
That’s a really snazzy shelf to the left of your window — it’s almost a work of art in itself.
Thank you! That was actually a very recent purchase from TK Maxx (the UK version of T.J. Maxx). I wanted something to fill that space, and it was a perfect fit. It also gives me more space to display some smaller knickknacks, like the to-scale 3D-printed animal skulls (that I still need to paint gold) and the beautiful beaded fox figurine my parents gifted me for Christmas. There are a lot of moons and stars throughout the space, too, so to quote the Big Lebowski himself, I think it really ties the room together.
I also admire the framed drawing to the left of your monitor (the one with the animal skull) and its motto.
It’s a print by artist Sarah Gordon (aka ScaryGorgon) that I purchased at London’s MCM Comic Con last year. I really vibe with macabre art as a weird kid who was often told my own illustrations were “a bit morbid,” so I love supporting other artists where I can. The gilded crow prints from Katie Whittle were purchased at the same event, and I’d say around 80 percent of the artwork around the apartment generally has been sourced from small online creators. Check out the artist alleys at your own local events where you can; there’s treasure to be found!

The framed drawing of a talking skull is by artist Sarah Gordon.

Is there anything else in your workspace / room that I didn’t call out and should have?
I’m still filling the bookcases behind my desks, but we have a healthy collection of tabletop roleplay and 5e Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks right now. The book collection generally is a bit all over the place and not well organized. I try to keep all my art references and illustration magazines together, but it’s kind of blending with my small collection of comics and graphic novels.
The blanket situation under the desks is also usually where our dog Dylan, an elderly cocker spaniel, spends his day hanging out with me, but it’s too hot for him there at the moment!

Dylan keeps watch over the tech, the books, and Jess.

Photos by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

A magically green room full of gaming mementos.

Jess Weatherbed, news writer for The Verge, started her professional career in a way she describes as “a bit strange for a journalist” — in prosthetics and wig making. However, she was no stranger to tech. For around 16 years, she’s been using drawing tablets to support her design hobbies, everything from digital illustration and animation to 3D sculpting. “I initially learned to build computers to support my nerdier gaming hobbies,” she says, “and my love of tech and gadgets has grown from there.”

We asked Jess to talk about her workspace.

That’s quite a setup. Where in your home is it?

This is technically our second bedroom or “guest room” — though it mostly serves as my permanent home office and gaming den. My partner and I purchased our first apartment a couple of years ago now. It’s super dinky, so there’s not much room for privacy! We wanted to keep our work areas completely separate to avoid distracting each other, so this is the best use of the space we have until we can move somewhere bigger. I’m also fully remote, so having everything set up in here gives me an extra space to frequent besides the bedroom or lounge.

Green gives the home office a restful but nicely gothic atmosphere.

That’s a lot of green.

Would you believe me if I said my favorite color is actually orange? I really love green, though, and I’ve wanted a gloomy, gothic space since I was in my teens. I knew I would be spending a lot of time in here, and after years of renting, I just decided to go all in.

I had two main motivations. First, I wanted to see if I could put together a witch-themed setup that contrasts with the usual pastel palettes I see released for hardware that targets female gamers (which is lovely but isn’t at all my vibe).

The second was that I just find green to be a very calming color. I once read a study that green light can help reduce migraines, and while I wasn’t aware of that at the time of decorating, it’s certainly correlated with my own experience as a chronic sufferer. I have a dimly lit space to hide in when needed, and with all the color-addressable lighting available these days — the ceiling lights being Twinkly’s Strings — I can switch it up if I want a brighter environment.

The entire apartment is, shall we say, “eclectically” decorated, so there’s a lot going on. It certainly isn’t for everyone, but I’m super happy with it. (And my partner has yet to veto any of my decorative choices, so it’s a win-win.)

Tell us about your desk.

This is the Friska Stockholm corner desk, an electric sit-stand option I hoped would encourage me to stand more frequently during the day. Alas, I am a creature of bad habits. It does, however, give me plenty of space to create a sort of split workspace — I sit on the right when using my main two displays for work, while the left-hand “monitor” is actually a Huion Kamvas 24 Pro 4K display drawing tablet. If I want to focus on creative stuff, I can just swivel around.

If I can get around to sorting out the jungle of cables underneath, I’ll start looking for a compact electric treadmill that I can use to get some steps in to make full use of the desk’s sit / stand capabilities.

And your chair?

The chair is a Razer Enki Pro, which was an old review sample I retained a couple of years ago before joining The Verge. It’s taken a beating since then, having moved apartments and been dragged to various LAN events, but it’s holding up well aside from a few scratches. You can see I’ve started concealing them using stickers. The upholstery is still in good condition, though, and I can see this lasting me several years. I certainly wouldn’t advocate spending this much on a gaming-style chair unless you had specific comfort requirements, but I’m happy with it overall. Plus, it’s black and green!

The green lighting is echoed by the mechanical keyboard.

Here’s the big one: tell us about the various tech devices you’re using.

My main monitors are an MSI Optix G271 and a hand-me-down Acer Predator XB271HK 4K — both 27 inches. The PC itself is running an Intel i9-11900K, an MSI RTX 3080 GPU, and 64GB of DDR4 RAM. I’ll upgrade to DDR5 at some point, but for now, this is more than enough to handle both my gaming and creative hobbies.

The keyboard is a Razer Huntsman V2, which is… fine. I really like how plush the wrist rest is, and the built-in audio controllers at the top right feel nice and tactile. The mechanical keys are a tad clunky, though, so I’ll be looking to go the DIY kit route when this eventually bites the dust. The mouse is a Razer Basilisk V3, which is one of the more ergonomic gaming mice I’ve used. I’d opt for a vertical mouse, but I really hate switching my gear around between work and gaming-optimized peripherals, and this hasn’t given me any reason to make the switch.

I’m still recovering from my “RGB in all of the things” phase, so if I’m being honest, I mostly just appreciate that I can synchronize the lighting effects across my Razer Synapse-supported gear (as janky as it is) without messing with third-party apps. Are they the best? Far from it, but they work for me and my black / green theming!

I frequently play D&D online, so a lot of the other equipment supports both that and attending virtual meetings. My webcam is a Logitech Brio, which has been super reliable and still holds up against more specialized “streaming” webcams like Elgato’s facecam series. There’s a Logitech Litra Glow light atop my monitors and an Elgato Key Light to keep me illuminated in the dark environment. I use an old Rode NT1-A XLR microphone for my audio input, which my partner has had knocking around for years, and an Elgato Stream Deck that houses custom profiles for my creative applications and D&D games.

More generally, I have a 3-in-1 Belkin charger on the left to keep my phone and Apple Watch topped up during the day and an Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker. We have several around the flat to control various smart home settings, but having one in my office also keeps me alerted to any deliveries. I even use it as a speaker output for my PC when I can’t be bothered to wear headphones.

You have several interesting figures on your shelves.

The majority were actually gifted! I’d never call myself a hoarder, but I used to have a real issue with accumulating unnecessary stuff that would just pile up around me. I had a cull of figurines and cuddly toys a few years ago, so I’ve been trying to keep on top of it since. The “Sneki” Razer mascot and Cthulhu squishmallow really suit the green theme of the room, and I commissioned the crocheted Gengar plushie from a friend because it’s been my favorite pokémon since Gen 1.

The crow lamp is affectionately called “Dick,” after both DC’s Nightwing and a real crow I rescued last year who was very unhappy about being rehabilitated for an injured wing. I think my fingers are still recovering from the pecking he gave me.

That’s a really snazzy shelf to the left of your window — it’s almost a work of art in itself.

Thank you! That was actually a very recent purchase from TK Maxx (the UK version of T.J. Maxx). I wanted something to fill that space, and it was a perfect fit. It also gives me more space to display some smaller knickknacks, like the to-scale 3D-printed animal skulls (that I still need to paint gold) and the beautiful beaded fox figurine my parents gifted me for Christmas. There are a lot of moons and stars throughout the space, too, so to quote the Big Lebowski himself, I think it really ties the room together.

I also admire the framed drawing to the left of your monitor (the one with the animal skull) and its motto.

It’s a print by artist Sarah Gordon (aka ScaryGorgon) that I purchased at London’s MCM Comic Con last year. I really vibe with macabre art as a weird kid who was often told my own illustrations were “a bit morbid,” so I love supporting other artists where I can. The gilded crow prints from Katie Whittle were purchased at the same event, and I’d say around 80 percent of the artwork around the apartment generally has been sourced from small online creators. Check out the artist alleys at your own local events where you can; there’s treasure to be found!

The framed drawing of a talking skull is by artist Sarah Gordon.

Is there anything else in your workspace / room that I didn’t call out and should have?

I’m still filling the bookcases behind my desks, but we have a healthy collection of tabletop roleplay and 5e Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks right now. The book collection generally is a bit all over the place and not well organized. I try to keep all my art references and illustration magazines together, but it’s kind of blending with my small collection of comics and graphic novels.

The blanket situation under the desks is also usually where our dog Dylan, an elderly cocker spaniel, spends his day hanging out with me, but it’s too hot for him there at the moment!

Dylan keeps watch over the tech, the books, and Jess.

Photos by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

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Image: The Verge / Getty Images

Last year, when Minnesota’s progressive politicians coalesced around a bill to raise the minimum pay for Uber and Lyft drivers in the state, their ostensibly left-of-center governor surprised them all by pulling a move he had yet to use while in office: he vetoed it.
Uber and Lyft were threatening to stop operating in Minnesota if the bill was signed into law, and Governor Tim Walz was worried about losing a mode of transportation that many Minnesotans relied on. But he also didn’t want to ostracize his progressive allies, many of whom have been laboring for years to force the multibillion-dollar ridehail companies to cough up a little more for their beleaguered drivers.
Now that he’s been catapulted to the national stage as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, it’s worth reexamining how Walz navigated a tricky situation with two major tech companies and their progressive opponents — and how the ultimate solution left some major issues around the gig economy unaddressed.
“I think these workers, these drivers in the gig economy — we’re looking at a brand new model of how things are done”
“I think these workers, these drivers in the gig economy — we’re looking at a brand new model of how things are done,” Walz told a local reporter in May 2023 after vetoing the initial legislation. “They’re independent contractors and I think there’s no doubt about it, there’s got to be some protections. There’s gotta be minimum wage, there’s got to be protections on how they get deactivated. So I’m in agreement with them. I don’t believe the vehicle that passed the legislature at the very end was the vehicle to do that.”
Supporters of the bill expressed their disappointment. The Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association said on X (then Twitter), “It is surprising that [Tim Walz] sides with corporates [sic] over poor drivers who campaigned and voted for him like he would be their savior.”
But their disappointment would be short-lived. A year later, Walz signed a bill into law that would raise pay for drivers by an estimated 20 percent while also providing a new type of insurance for injuries incurred on the job and making it harder for Uber and Lyft to deactivate drivers from their respective platforms.

Walz proved deft at handling the issue, signaling to Uber and Lyft that he was willing to compromise while also keeping progressive groups at the table. He formed a working group that was tasked with gathering data on driver pay and corporate profits, among other elements. To be sure, the new law didn’t raise driver pay as much as the original proposal — $1.28 per mile and 31 cents per minute, versus $1.40 per mile and 51 cents per minute.
But it seemed to work. Uber and Lyft backed off their threat to leave the state. And Minnesota gained the distinction as only the second state in the US, after Washington state, to regulate rideshare driver pay through legislation. (New York’s attorney general announced minimum pay rates for drivers as part of a settlement with Uber and Lyft last year.)
Walz used the opportunity to tout his commitment to raising standards for working-class people while keeping transportation prices low for regular Minnesotans. “The idea that if you put in a hard day’s work, you get paid a fair wage for it,” he said at the bill signing ceremony on May 28th. “That at work you should be safe, you should be taken care of, and that we’re providing a service that Minnesotans depend on.”
Minnesota gained the distinction as only the second state to regulate rideshare driver pay through legislation
The new law also requires Uber and Lyft to provide insurance to drivers that goes beyond what’s already covered by their car insurance. (Drivers wanted insurance to cover injuries from assaults from riders, for example.) It also restricts how Uber and Lyft deactivate drivers from their platforms.
But there are also some big pieces missing from the bill, such as anything that would require Uber and Lyft to classify its drivers as employees rather than independent contractors. Driver groups and labor organizers have been pushing states to reclassify drivers as employees so they can qualify for certain legal benefits, like minimum wage, overtime pay, unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, and paid sick leave.
Uber and Lyft are extremely intent on keeping drivers as contractors. And Walz proved unwilling to tackle that particular issue, perhaps realizing that the courts would be the ultimate arbiters.
Several courts have already weighed in on the debate, most notably in California, but Uber and Lyft have successfully beaten back such efforts through ballot initiatives. President Joe Biden’s Labor Department announced a final rule earlier this year that would make it harder to classify workers as independent contractors, effectively rescinding a Trump-era rule that would have relaxed those rules. But if Trump wins in November, those rules could swing back the other way.
But there are also some big pieces missing from the bill
In the end, he got his deal, and Uber and Lyft vowed to stick around in Minnesota, mollifying concerns. It’s unclear whether Walz’s involvement in any way played a role in his selection as the vice presidential nominee. After all, the Harris campaign has its own ties to the ridehail industry. Harris’ brother-in-law and top advisor is Tony West, who is also the general counsel at Uber. And the vice president recently hired David Plouffe, a veteran of the Obama administration and a former vice president of strategy at Uber, to help run her presidential campaign.
The deal won by Walz was not without its critics. Niko LeMieux, cofounder and COO of the Minnesota-based payments startup Easy Labs, criticized Walz for his dismissive attitude toward smaller rideshare companies that wanted to fill the vacuum if Uber and Lyft followed through on their threat to leave the state. Walz called the idea that any new app company could replace the rideshare giants “magical thinking,” but LeMieux argued that he was underselling the state’s entrepreneurial spirit.
But those criticisms were set aside when Harris announced Walz as her pick. Hours after the announcement, LeMieux posted a photo of himself on X with his arm draped around the governor and a big smile on his face. After all, the past was in the past. And Walz was on his way to bigger things.

Image: The Verge / Getty Images

Last year, when Minnesota’s progressive politicians coalesced around a bill to raise the minimum pay for Uber and Lyft drivers in the state, their ostensibly left-of-center governor surprised them all by pulling a move he had yet to use while in office: he vetoed it.

Uber and Lyft were threatening to stop operating in Minnesota if the bill was signed into law, and Governor Tim Walz was worried about losing a mode of transportation that many Minnesotans relied on. But he also didn’t want to ostracize his progressive allies, many of whom have been laboring for years to force the multibillion-dollar ridehail companies to cough up a little more for their beleaguered drivers.

Now that he’s been catapulted to the national stage as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, it’s worth reexamining how Walz navigated a tricky situation with two major tech companies and their progressive opponents — and how the ultimate solution left some major issues around the gig economy unaddressed.

“I think these workers, these drivers in the gig economy — we’re looking at a brand new model of how things are done,” Walz told a local reporter in May 2023 after vetoing the initial legislation. “They’re independent contractors and I think there’s no doubt about it, there’s got to be some protections. There’s gotta be minimum wage, there’s got to be protections on how they get deactivated. So I’m in agreement with them. I don’t believe the vehicle that passed the legislature at the very end was the vehicle to do that.”

Supporters of the bill expressed their disappointment. The Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association said on X (then Twitter), “It is surprising that [Tim Walz] sides with corporates [sic] over poor drivers who campaigned and voted for him like he would be their savior.”

But their disappointment would be short-lived. A year later, Walz signed a bill into law that would raise pay for drivers by an estimated 20 percent while also providing a new type of insurance for injuries incurred on the job and making it harder for Uber and Lyft to deactivate drivers from their respective platforms.

Walz proved deft at handling the issue, signaling to Uber and Lyft that he was willing to compromise while also keeping progressive groups at the table. He formed a working group that was tasked with gathering data on driver pay and corporate profits, among other elements. To be sure, the new law didn’t raise driver pay as much as the original proposal — $1.28 per mile and 31 cents per minute, versus $1.40 per mile and 51 cents per minute.

But it seemed to work. Uber and Lyft backed off their threat to leave the state. And Minnesota gained the distinction as only the second state in the US, after Washington state, to regulate rideshare driver pay through legislation. (New York’s attorney general announced minimum pay rates for drivers as part of a settlement with Uber and Lyft last year.)

Walz used the opportunity to tout his commitment to raising standards for working-class people while keeping transportation prices low for regular Minnesotans. “The idea that if you put in a hard day’s work, you get paid a fair wage for it,” he said at the bill signing ceremony on May 28th. “That at work you should be safe, you should be taken care of, and that we’re providing a service that Minnesotans depend on.”

The new law also requires Uber and Lyft to provide insurance to drivers that goes beyond what’s already covered by their car insurance. (Drivers wanted insurance to cover injuries from assaults from riders, for example.) It also restricts how Uber and Lyft deactivate drivers from their platforms.

But there are also some big pieces missing from the bill, such as anything that would require Uber and Lyft to classify its drivers as employees rather than independent contractors. Driver groups and labor organizers have been pushing states to reclassify drivers as employees so they can qualify for certain legal benefits, like minimum wage, overtime pay, unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, and paid sick leave.

Uber and Lyft are extremely intent on keeping drivers as contractors. And Walz proved unwilling to tackle that particular issue, perhaps realizing that the courts would be the ultimate arbiters.

Several courts have already weighed in on the debate, most notably in California, but Uber and Lyft have successfully beaten back such efforts through ballot initiatives. President Joe Biden’s Labor Department announced a final rule earlier this year that would make it harder to classify workers as independent contractors, effectively rescinding a Trump-era rule that would have relaxed those rules. But if Trump wins in November, those rules could swing back the other way.

In the end, he got his deal, and Uber and Lyft vowed to stick around in Minnesota, mollifying concerns. It’s unclear whether Walz’s involvement in any way played a role in his selection as the vice presidential nominee. After all, the Harris campaign has its own ties to the ridehail industry. Harris’ brother-in-law and top advisor is Tony West, who is also the general counsel at Uber. And the vice president recently hired David Plouffe, a veteran of the Obama administration and a former vice president of strategy at Uber, to help run her presidential campaign.

The deal won by Walz was not without its critics. Niko LeMieux, cofounder and COO of the Minnesota-based payments startup Easy Labs, criticized Walz for his dismissive attitude toward smaller rideshare companies that wanted to fill the vacuum if Uber and Lyft followed through on their threat to leave the state. Walz called the idea that any new app company could replace the rideshare giants “magical thinking,” but LeMieux argued that he was underselling the state’s entrepreneurial spirit.

But those criticisms were set aside when Harris announced Walz as her pick. Hours after the announcement, LeMieux posted a photo of himself on X with his arm draped around the governor and a big smile on his face. After all, the past was in the past. And Walz was on his way to bigger things.

Read More 

A dial can be used to select one of four charging modes on Anker’s new desktop Prime Charger. | Image: Anker

Anker announced several additions to the company’s Prime line of chargers today, including a new desktop version that allows the power output of its six USB ports to be customized through a control dial. As a result, connected devices get exactly as much power as they need.
The new $169.99 Anker Prime Charger shares 250W of power across four USB-C ports and two USB-A ports. The first USB-C port can deliver up to 140W of power, while the other three max out at 100W. The two USB-A ports deliver up to 22.5W each.

Image: Anker
An LCD screen shows the power output of each USB-C port.

The charger offers four different power distribution modes, adjustable through a built-in control dial or Anker’s mobile app.

In the default AI Power Mode, the power requirements of connected devices are detected, and power distribution is adjusted automatically.
Port Priority Mode allows two of the charger’s selected ports to receive precedence over the rest and maintain their full power output, even as other devices are connected.
Dual-Laptop Mode will prioritize power delivery to two connected laptops when they are connected to the charger’s first two USB-C ports.
Low Current Mode reduces the power output on all the ports to help preserve the battery life of regularly charged devices like smartphones.

A 2.26-inch LCD screen shows the power draw of each USB-C port, as well as the total power draw of all connected devices. It also lets the Anker Prime Charger double as a desktop clock, displaying the time and date as a screensaver that activates after a set time. For more detailed data, including the power draw over time, the output can also be monitored through a Bluetooth connection to Anker’s mobile app.

Image: Anker
A beefy power adapter helps the 8-in-1 Anker Prime Charging Station take up less desktop space.

A slightly cheaper (by about $5) alternative is the new 8-in-1 Anker Prime Charging Station. For $164.99, it offers a maximum power output of 240W across four USB-C ports and two USB-A ports and includes a pair of AC outlets that will save you from having to crawl under a desk to plug something in.
The 8-in-1 lacks different charging modes — it automatically detects the power needs of connected devices and distributes it as needed — but it does offer connectivity to Anker’s mobile app, allowing power output to be monitored and scheduled. It also features a very large wall adapter, which means the device that actually sits on your desk is slimmer than Anker’s other desktop offerings.
Both chargers are available starting today through Anker’s online store.

A dial can be used to select one of four charging modes on Anker’s new desktop Prime Charger. | Image: Anker

Anker announced several additions to the company’s Prime line of chargers today, including a new desktop version that allows the power output of its six USB ports to be customized through a control dial. As a result, connected devices get exactly as much power as they need.

The new $169.99 Anker Prime Charger shares 250W of power across four USB-C ports and two USB-A ports. The first USB-C port can deliver up to 140W of power, while the other three max out at 100W. The two USB-A ports deliver up to 22.5W each.

Image: Anker
An LCD screen shows the power output of each USB-C port.

The charger offers four different power distribution modes, adjustable through a built-in control dial or Anker’s mobile app.

In the default AI Power Mode, the power requirements of connected devices are detected, and power distribution is adjusted automatically.
Port Priority Mode allows two of the charger’s selected ports to receive precedence over the rest and maintain their full power output, even as other devices are connected.
Dual-Laptop Mode will prioritize power delivery to two connected laptops when they are connected to the charger’s first two USB-C ports.
Low Current Mode reduces the power output on all the ports to help preserve the battery life of regularly charged devices like smartphones.

A 2.26-inch LCD screen shows the power draw of each USB-C port, as well as the total power draw of all connected devices. It also lets the Anker Prime Charger double as a desktop clock, displaying the time and date as a screensaver that activates after a set time. For more detailed data, including the power draw over time, the output can also be monitored through a Bluetooth connection to Anker’s mobile app.

Image: Anker
A beefy power adapter helps the 8-in-1 Anker Prime Charging Station take up less desktop space.

A slightly cheaper (by about $5) alternative is the new 8-in-1 Anker Prime Charging Station. For $164.99, it offers a maximum power output of 240W across four USB-C ports and two USB-A ports and includes a pair of AC outlets that will save you from having to crawl under a desk to plug something in.

The 8-in-1 lacks different charging modes — it automatically detects the power needs of connected devices and distributes it as needed — but it does offer connectivity to Anker’s mobile app, allowing power output to be monitored and scheduled. It also features a very large wall adapter, which means the device that actually sits on your desk is slimmer than Anker’s other desktop offerings.

Both chargers are available starting today through Anker’s online store.

Read More 

The Chromecast is going away after more than a decade in Google’s hardware portfolio, with the company phasing it out to make room for the new Google TV Streamer. In 2013, the timing was perfect for the Chromecast’s success. Most TVs of that era had rudimentary entertainment apps that were often slow, so beaming content from your phone to a TV made a lot of sense.
But times have changed. With the Chromecast with Google TV in 2020. Google pivoted in the opposite direction with a much more traditional, lean-back entertainment experience. Casting took a backseat to carousels of content recommendations, and native apps returned.
The Google TV Streamer is designed to build on that strategy by infusing Gemini AI smarts into the software. It’ll put smart home controls right on your TV screen. And yes, it’ll be faster than the often-laggy Chromecast. “It is blazingly fast, so it’s a more premium model than what we’ve been releasing before,” says Shalini Govil-Pai, the VP and GM of Google TV. I spoke with her last week to hear more about the thinking behind Google’s $99 device, which goes on sale in late September.

The Chromecast is discontinued, and so is Google’s HDMI dongle era.

“The Google TV Streamer was our response to a lot of our users saying ‘hey, Chromecast is great and really inexpensive. But we can get inexpensive devices from a lot of players now,’’ Govil-Pai said. (Walmart’s Onn brand is filling out the under-$50 zone quite well with multiple Google TV streamers, and Amazon and Roku both sell devices priced in that same impulse-buy territory.)
So Google decided to focus on a higher-end device, and it viewed the Nvidia Shield — long praised as the most performant Android TV streamer — as something to strive towards. “The Nvidia Shield was our gold tier price point as well as gold tier performance, and this is really what it’s going to be with our Google TV Streamer. That’s why we’re very excited about it.”

The Google TV Streamer is a set-top box more akin to the Apple TV 4K and Roku Ultra.

And yet, even right after the announcement, some of our commenters were frustrated that Google had settled for just a 22 percent boost in CPU speed. There’s a good chance this thing will still benchmark underneath the fairly ancient Shield. Why not just drop a Tensor chip into it?

aussimandias
It seems promising, but I would have liked to have the option to pay more for an actually good processor

It comes down to cost and keeping the Streamer at a price that’s acceptable for average consumers. “We don’t know if there’s functionality that would actually convince people to buy pricier price points than this, but the market is generally telling us right now people are probably not ready for it,” Govil-Pai said.
Google isn’t convinced there’s a market for an over-$100 streamer.
And even if there is eventually a higher-priced living room device from Google, it sounds like horsepower won’t be the main justification. “Over time, do we have enough functionality, let’s say from a Gemini perspective, that actually make it worthwhile to spend even more money? Then we will definitely look at it,” she said. “But at this point, I think this is the competitive price point that we want to play at.”

The Google TV Streamer has a built-in gigabit ethernet jack.

Google has doubled the amount of RAM in the Google TV Streamer, which could play as much of a role as the CPU bump when it comes to ensuring smoother day-to-day performance — and keeping it that way after a year or two. The Chromecast with Google TV had a reputation for faring okay right out of the box, but gradually getting laggy over time. Google’s decision to stick with Wi-Fi 5 on a streaming device is unfortunate, but at least there’s a built-in gigabit ethernet jack.
The Google TV Streamer is also relatively future-proofed as a centerpiece of the smart home. The Google Home panel will let you quickly dim lights, view cameras, trigger automations, and so on. There’s Matter support and a Thread border router baked right in, too.

The revamped remote has better volume controls and a remappable button at the bottom right.

As for the new software capabilities, Govil-Pai said Google is trying to address modern trends. You can use Gemini to create generative AI screensavers that are shown when the Google TV Streamer is in ambient mode — kind of like a Frame TV — or ask it to pull up photos from a recent trip. On a related note, I asked Govil-Pai why there’s still no proper Google Photos app for the company’s TV platform. “What we found in our user studies is that most people don’t actually want to open the app on TV. They just want to very quickly get to things, and so that’s why we believe the voice-based interactions — like ‘hey, show me my memories from last year’ — is the more relevant experience.”
On the Google TV Streamer, Gemini will also display overview summaries of shows and movies when you click into their detail pages. The outgoing Chromecast already shows Rotten Tomatoes scores and IMDB ratings, but this will aggregate feedback from more places. “You can see a summary across the web of what people are saying about this show,” Govil-Pai said. “Like, is it amazing? Is it not so amazing, but really good for people who love sci-fi? All of that will be summarized for you.” Google believes LLMs can also produce more fine-tuned recommendations compared to the fairly generic categories that Google TV surfaces right now.
Despite all these forward-facing features, one of Govil-Pai’s favorite new additions is among the simplest: the Google TV Streamer has a remote finder button on the back of the unit. When you press it, the remote emits a beeping sound, making it easier to find on movie night. Your move, Apple, and no… using my phone to find a remote isn’t the answer.
Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge

The Chromecast is going away after more than a decade in Google’s hardware portfolio, with the company phasing it out to make room for the new Google TV Streamer. In 2013, the timing was perfect for the Chromecast’s success. Most TVs of that era had rudimentary entertainment apps that were often slow, so beaming content from your phone to a TV made a lot of sense.

But times have changed. With the Chromecast with Google TV in 2020. Google pivoted in the opposite direction with a much more traditional, lean-back entertainment experience. Casting took a backseat to carousels of content recommendations, and native apps returned.

The Google TV Streamer is designed to build on that strategy by infusing Gemini AI smarts into the software. It’ll put smart home controls right on your TV screen. And yes, it’ll be faster than the often-laggy Chromecast. “It is blazingly fast, so it’s a more premium model than what we’ve been releasing before,” says Shalini Govil-Pai, the VP and GM of Google TV. I spoke with her last week to hear more about the thinking behind Google’s $99 device, which goes on sale in late September.

The Chromecast is discontinued, and so is Google’s HDMI dongle era.

“The Google TV Streamer was our response to a lot of our users saying ‘hey, Chromecast is great and really inexpensive. But we can get inexpensive devices from a lot of players now,’’ Govil-Pai said. (Walmart’s Onn brand is filling out the under-$50 zone quite well with multiple Google TV streamers, and Amazon and Roku both sell devices priced in that same impulse-buy territory.)

So Google decided to focus on a higher-end device, and it viewed the Nvidia Shield — long praised as the most performant Android TV streamer — as something to strive towards. “The Nvidia Shield was our gold tier price point as well as gold tier performance, and this is really what it’s going to be with our Google TV Streamer. That’s why we’re very excited about it.”

The Google TV Streamer is a set-top box more akin to the Apple TV 4K and Roku Ultra.

And yet, even right after the announcement, some of our commenters were frustrated that Google had settled for just a 22 percent boost in CPU speed. There’s a good chance this thing will still benchmark underneath the fairly ancient Shield. Why not just drop a Tensor chip into it?

It comes down to cost and keeping the Streamer at a price that’s acceptable for average consumers. “We don’t know if there’s functionality that would actually convince people to buy pricier price points than this, but the market is generally telling us right now people are probably not ready for it,” Govil-Pai said.

And even if there is eventually a higher-priced living room device from Google, it sounds like horsepower won’t be the main justification. “Over time, do we have enough functionality, let’s say from a Gemini perspective, that actually make it worthwhile to spend even more money? Then we will definitely look at it,” she said. “But at this point, I think this is the competitive price point that we want to play at.”

The Google TV Streamer has a built-in gigabit ethernet jack.

Google has doubled the amount of RAM in the Google TV Streamer, which could play as much of a role as the CPU bump when it comes to ensuring smoother day-to-day performance — and keeping it that way after a year or two. The Chromecast with Google TV had a reputation for faring okay right out of the box, but gradually getting laggy over time. Google’s decision to stick with Wi-Fi 5 on a streaming device is unfortunate, but at least there’s a built-in gigabit ethernet jack.

The Google TV Streamer is also relatively future-proofed as a centerpiece of the smart home. The Google Home panel will let you quickly dim lights, view cameras, trigger automations, and so on. There’s Matter support and a Thread border router baked right in, too.

The revamped remote has better volume controls and a remappable button at the bottom right.

As for the new software capabilities, Govil-Pai said Google is trying to address modern trends. You can use Gemini to create generative AI screensavers that are shown when the Google TV Streamer is in ambient mode — kind of like a Frame TV — or ask it to pull up photos from a recent trip. On a related note, I asked Govil-Pai why there’s still no proper Google Photos app for the company’s TV platform. “What we found in our user studies is that most people don’t actually want to open the app on TV. They just want to very quickly get to things, and so that’s why we believe the voice-based interactions — like ‘hey, show me my memories from last year’ — is the more relevant experience.”

On the Google TV Streamer, Gemini will also display overview summaries of shows and movies when you click into their detail pages. The outgoing Chromecast already shows Rotten Tomatoes scores and IMDB ratings, but this will aggregate feedback from more places. “You can see a summary across the web of what people are saying about this show,” Govil-Pai said. “Like, is it amazing? Is it not so amazing, but really good for people who love sci-fi? All of that will be summarized for you.” Google believes LLMs can also produce more fine-tuned recommendations compared to the fairly generic categories that Google TV surfaces right now.

Despite all these forward-facing features, one of Govil-Pai’s favorite new additions is among the simplest: the Google TV Streamer has a remote finder button on the back of the unit. When you press it, the remote emits a beeping sound, making it easier to find on movie night. Your move, Apple, and no… using my phone to find a remote isn’t the answer.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge

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Bleached coral in the Great Barrier Reef in 2024. | Photo: Ove Hoegh-Guldberg

The Great Barrier Reef and surrounding waters have reached hotter temperatures over the past decade than they have in at least 400 years because of climate change, according to new research published in the journal Nature.
It’s a stark warning. The survival of the Great Barrier Reef is essentially now in human hands. Corals around the world face near extinction if temperatures continue to rise with the world running primarily on fossil fuels.
“The reef is in danger.”
“The reef is in danger, and if we don’t divert from our current course, our generation will likely witness the demise of one of Earth’s great natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef,” Benjamin Henley, lead author of the research and a lecturer at the University of Melbourne and an honorary fellow at the University of Wollongong, said in a Tuesday press briefing.
Corals are animals that secrete calcium carbonate skeletons that form reefs. The skeletons of corals that can grow for centuries allowed Henley and his coauthors to look into the past. As they grow, they form bands that scientists can study like tree rings. They contain chemical signatures that show heat stress in certain years. The ratio of strontium to calcium and the oxygen isotope ratio in particular relate to the temperature of the water at the time the corals were still growing.
There isn’t consistent data on sea surface temperatures from direct measurements prior to 1900. But the researchers were able to combine what data was available from direct measurements with data from skeleton core samples to build a statistical model that they then used to reconstruct temperatures going back to the 1600s. They focused on temperatures between January and March when waters surrounding Australia’s Great Barrier Reef tend to be the hottest.
That’s how they discovered that those periods in 2024, 2020, and 2017 reached the highest temperatures in four centuries. 2024 has been the most remarkable, roughly 1.73 degrees Celsius above the reconstructed average between 1618 and 1899.
Under heat stress, corals will expel the algae that give them nutrients and color. It’s a phenomenon called bleaching, and the corals can die from it over time. If temperatures linger roughly 1 degree Celsius above what’s “normal” for the summer for more than two months, they can trigger mass coral bleaching events, according to a related article on the research published in Nature.
The past year has marked the world’s fourth global coral bleaching event on record — wreaking havoc on reefs around the world and even triggering a race to temporarily relocate coral nurseries to land to try to save them. Global bleaching events also took place in 1998, 2010, and between 2014 and 2017.
Coral skeleton cores the researchers assessed showed hardly any stress bands before 1980, a sign that mass bleaching events were far less likely before then. Using climate models to look at potential outcomes with and without human influence, the authors of the paper conclude that “human influence on the climate system is responsible for the rapid warming in recent decades.”

Inside the wild plan to reengineer coral reefs

Policies currently in place to slash greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels still aren’t enough to stop things from getting much worse. Global average temperatures are still on track to rise between 2 to 3 degrees Celsius higher than they were before the industrial revolution. Previous research has estimated that even a two-degree rise could be enough to wipe out 99 percent of the world’s coral reefs.
The Great Barrier Reef in particular faces the prospect of bleaching every year in the near future, coauthor and professor of marine studies at the University of Queensland Ove Hoegh-Guldberg said in the press briefing. “It’s very, very worrying to know that we’re quite close to [that] point, and I think this will happen in the next 10 years,” Hoegh-Guldberg said. While corals can survive bleaching, reefs generally need one or two decades to recover from severe mass bleaching, according to the related article.
With all of that in mind, every fraction of a degree of global warming that we can avoid by turning more swiftly to clean energy can make a difference for the world’s coral reefs. Some corals may be better at adapting to a warmer world than others, ensuring the survival of the reef even if it’s less biologically diverse than it was in the past.
“We need to believe in it if we’re going to keep it going,” Hoegh-Guldberg said. “It is possible … if we take the right level of action on greenhouse gasses and we seek out and protect corals that have a good chance of surviving this type of scenario, then we will set us up for a future with coral reefs.”

Bleached coral in the Great Barrier Reef in 2024. | Photo: Ove Hoegh-Guldberg

The Great Barrier Reef and surrounding waters have reached hotter temperatures over the past decade than they have in at least 400 years because of climate change, according to new research published in the journal Nature.

It’s a stark warning. The survival of the Great Barrier Reef is essentially now in human hands. Corals around the world face near extinction if temperatures continue to rise with the world running primarily on fossil fuels.

“The reef is in danger, and if we don’t divert from our current course, our generation will likely witness the demise of one of Earth’s great natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef,” Benjamin Henley, lead author of the research and a lecturer at the University of Melbourne and an honorary fellow at the University of Wollongong, said in a Tuesday press briefing.

Corals are animals that secrete calcium carbonate skeletons that form reefs. The skeletons of corals that can grow for centuries allowed Henley and his coauthors to look into the past. As they grow, they form bands that scientists can study like tree rings. They contain chemical signatures that show heat stress in certain years. The ratio of strontium to calcium and the oxygen isotope ratio in particular relate to the temperature of the water at the time the corals were still growing.

There isn’t consistent data on sea surface temperatures from direct measurements prior to 1900. But the researchers were able to combine what data was available from direct measurements with data from skeleton core samples to build a statistical model that they then used to reconstruct temperatures going back to the 1600s. They focused on temperatures between January and March when waters surrounding Australia’s Great Barrier Reef tend to be the hottest.

That’s how they discovered that those periods in 2024, 2020, and 2017 reached the highest temperatures in four centuries. 2024 has been the most remarkable, roughly 1.73 degrees Celsius above the reconstructed average between 1618 and 1899.

Under heat stress, corals will expel the algae that give them nutrients and color. It’s a phenomenon called bleaching, and the corals can die from it over time. If temperatures linger roughly 1 degree Celsius above what’s “normal” for the summer for more than two months, they can trigger mass coral bleaching events, according to a related article on the research published in Nature.

The past year has marked the world’s fourth global coral bleaching event on record — wreaking havoc on reefs around the world and even triggering a race to temporarily relocate coral nurseries to land to try to save them. Global bleaching events also took place in 1998, 2010, and between 2014 and 2017.

Coral skeleton cores the researchers assessed showed hardly any stress bands before 1980, a sign that mass bleaching events were far less likely before then. Using climate models to look at potential outcomes with and without human influence, the authors of the paper conclude that “human influence on the climate system is responsible for the rapid warming in recent decades.”

Policies currently in place to slash greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels still aren’t enough to stop things from getting much worse. Global average temperatures are still on track to rise between 2 to 3 degrees Celsius higher than they were before the industrial revolution. Previous research has estimated that even a two-degree rise could be enough to wipe out 99 percent of the world’s coral reefs.

The Great Barrier Reef in particular faces the prospect of bleaching every year in the near future, coauthor and professor of marine studies at the University of Queensland Ove Hoegh-Guldberg said in the press briefing. “It’s very, very worrying to know that we’re quite close to [that] point, and I think this will happen in the next 10 years,” Hoegh-Guldberg said. While corals can survive bleaching, reefs generally need one or two decades to recover from severe mass bleaching, according to the related article.

With all of that in mind, every fraction of a degree of global warming that we can avoid by turning more swiftly to clean energy can make a difference for the world’s coral reefs. Some corals may be better at adapting to a warmer world than others, ensuring the survival of the reef even if it’s less biologically diverse than it was in the past.

“We need to believe in it if we’re going to keep it going,” Hoegh-Guldberg said. “It is possible … if we take the right level of action on greenhouse gasses and we seek out and protect corals that have a good chance of surviving this type of scenario, then we will set us up for a future with coral reefs.”

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Instagram is making “views” the primary metric across all of its formats, meaning that creators will be able to track the same metric across Reels, Stories, photos, and more. The change will roll out in the coming weeks, according to a post on Instagram’s creators account.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Adam Mosseri (@mosseri)

“Historically we’ve shown different metrics for Reels vs. other posts, but we want to evolve this so it’s easier to understand how your content is doing regardless of the format,” Instagram chief Adam Mosseri writes in a post. A view is different than reach, Mosseri says in an accompanying video, because the same person can view the same piece of content multiple times.
While views might be the new primary metric, Mosseri also recommends that creators keep an eye on sends per reach. Both are “probably the most important metrics for anybody trying to understand how their content is doing on Instagram,” he says.
Meta has also made views an important metric on Threads, too; earlier this year, the company added the ability to tap a Threads post to see its total view count. And since taking over Twitter, now known as X, Elon Musk has put an increased focus on view counts.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Instagram is making “views” the primary metric across all of its formats, meaning that creators will be able to track the same metric across Reels, Stories, photos, and more. The change will roll out in the coming weeks, according to a post on Instagram’s creators account.

“Historically we’ve shown different metrics for Reels vs. other posts, but we want to evolve this so it’s easier to understand how your content is doing regardless of the format,” Instagram chief Adam Mosseri writes in a post. A view is different than reach, Mosseri says in an accompanying video, because the same person can view the same piece of content multiple times.

While views might be the new primary metric, Mosseri also recommends that creators keep an eye on sends per reach. Both are “probably the most important metrics for anybody trying to understand how their content is doing on Instagram,” he says.

Meta has also made views an important metric on Threads, too; earlier this year, the company added the ability to tap a Threads post to see its total view count. And since taking over Twitter, now known as X, Elon Musk has put an increased focus on view counts.

Read More