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A small-scale model of a carbon removal facility during a groundbreaking ceremony at the Occidental Petroleum and 1PointFive Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant in Ector County, Texas, on April 28th, 2023.  | Photo: Getty Images

Companies are increasingly turning to newfangled ways to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as a way to hit their sustainability goals. But who’s watching to make sure these tactics are working?
A new project called the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative (CRSI) launched today, with the goal of helping develop standards for efforts to draw down and sequester CO2. It comes as big names in tech scale-up investments in carbon dioxide removal (CDR), even though there are still concerns about whether those technologies will be able to prove themselves at commercial scale.
Who’s watching to make sure these tactics are working?
CDR can look like many different things — building an industrial facility to filter CO2 out of the air or seawater, for instance. While they can sound green on paper, there’s a danger that all the carbon accounting won’t add up enough to help stop climate change. Those new industrial facilities use a lot of energy, for example, and the carbon they capture could potentially be used to produce more oil and gas. There isn’t much oversight yet to make sure new projects are making good on their claims.

Policymakers are still trying to catch up with all these new technologies. The European Union is developing the first certification framework of its kind for carbon removal technologies. In the meantime, industry groups have set up their own initiatives to get the ball rolling on CDR. Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, and McKinsey Sustainability launched one effort called Frontier in 2022 to connect vetted carbon removal projects with companies interested in paying for their services.
Rather than developing its own guidelines for others to follow, CRSI says it’s taking a “bottom-up approach to standardization.” It’s setting out to provide technical assistance to regulators and other organizations working on carbon removal policies. It has already put together a publicly available database of academic papers, industry white papers, and other resources on the emerging landscape.
CRSI wants to set itself apart as a nonprofit that doesn’t accept corporate donations or rely on the sale of credits from carbon removal projects. “As the carbon removal industry grows, there’s a lot of self-regulation,” says Anu Khan, CRSI founder and executive director. “Industry will always be a part of standards development, but industry can’t be the only voice in the room.”

To be sure, CRSI’s initial funders include Bill Gates’ climate investment firm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Microsoft has bet big on carbon removal, making one of the largest purchases yet in July from oil giant Occidental’s carbon removal project in Texas. Microsoft pledged in 2020 to reach negative carbon emissions by the end of the decade, but its carbon footprint has grown by around 30 percent since making that commitment. So, it’s not surprising that some environmental groups are worried that carbon removal could be a red herring, allowing companies to say they’re fighting climate change even though they’re still pumping out lots of pollution that’s making the crisis worse.
Khan says that carbon removal needs to grow beyond being a tool for companies to use to try to make up for their pollution. That means capturing carbon for the climate’s sake, without necessarily having to sell credits to companies that haven’t managed to slash their emissions. They’ll need strong standards in place first.
“I think it’s a really promising conversation,” Khan says. “But for all of these policies, we need to make sure that they are actually measurably, quantifiably drawing down carbon.”

A small-scale model of a carbon removal facility during a groundbreaking ceremony at the Occidental Petroleum and 1PointFive Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant in Ector County, Texas, on April 28th, 2023.  | Photo: Getty Images

Companies are increasingly turning to newfangled ways to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as a way to hit their sustainability goals. But who’s watching to make sure these tactics are working?

A new project called the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative (CRSI) launched today, with the goal of helping develop standards for efforts to draw down and sequester CO2. It comes as big names in tech scale-up investments in carbon dioxide removal (CDR), even though there are still concerns about whether those technologies will be able to prove themselves at commercial scale.

CDR can look like many different things — building an industrial facility to filter CO2 out of the air or seawater, for instance. While they can sound green on paper, there’s a danger that all the carbon accounting won’t add up enough to help stop climate change. Those new industrial facilities use a lot of energy, for example, and the carbon they capture could potentially be used to produce more oil and gas. There isn’t much oversight yet to make sure new projects are making good on their claims.

Policymakers are still trying to catch up with all these new technologies. The European Union is developing the first certification framework of its kind for carbon removal technologies. In the meantime, industry groups have set up their own initiatives to get the ball rolling on CDR. Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, and McKinsey Sustainability launched one effort called Frontier in 2022 to connect vetted carbon removal projects with companies interested in paying for their services.

Rather than developing its own guidelines for others to follow, CRSI says it’s taking a “bottom-up approach to standardization.” It’s setting out to provide technical assistance to regulators and other organizations working on carbon removal policies. It has already put together a publicly available database of academic papers, industry white papers, and other resources on the emerging landscape.

CRSI wants to set itself apart as a nonprofit that doesn’t accept corporate donations or rely on the sale of credits from carbon removal projects. “As the carbon removal industry grows, there’s a lot of self-regulation,” says Anu Khan, CRSI founder and executive director. “Industry will always be a part of standards development, but industry can’t be the only voice in the room.”

To be sure, CRSI’s initial funders include Bill Gates’ climate investment firm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Microsoft has bet big on carbon removal, making one of the largest purchases yet in July from oil giant Occidental’s carbon removal project in Texas. Microsoft pledged in 2020 to reach negative carbon emissions by the end of the decade, but its carbon footprint has grown by around 30 percent since making that commitment. So, it’s not surprising that some environmental groups are worried that carbon removal could be a red herring, allowing companies to say they’re fighting climate change even though they’re still pumping out lots of pollution that’s making the crisis worse.

Khan says that carbon removal needs to grow beyond being a tool for companies to use to try to make up for their pollution. That means capturing carbon for the climate’s sake, without necessarily having to sell credits to companies that haven’t managed to slash their emissions. They’ll need strong standards in place first.

“I think it’s a really promising conversation,” Khan says. “But for all of these policies, we need to make sure that they are actually measurably, quantifiably drawing down carbon.”

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Razer’s wireless V3 Pro packs a 30K DPI sensor, 11 programmable inputs, and all the lighting effects you could want. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Logitech’s new G309 might be one of the most versatile gaming mice in existence, but before that, there was our No. 1 pick for the best gaming mouse: the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro. And now, thanks to a $30 discount, Razer’s claw-shaped peripheral is available at Amazon and Best Buy in black or white for $129.99, its lowest price to date.

Despite having the same shape and layout as the standard V3, the step-up V3 Pro offers Razer’s third-gen optical switches, a more powerful 30K DPI sensor, and 1,000Hz wireless connectivity (or a polling rate of up to 4,000Hz if you add the optional wireless charging dock). The comfortable mouse also features a hyperfast scroll wheel — which can automatically switch to smooth scrolling based on how fast you spin it — along with 11 programmable buttons that can be customized via in-game settings or Razer’s Synapse software. In true Razer fashion, it also comes with 13 RGB lighting zones, giving you plenty of ways to tweak the colors to your liking.

Other deals, discounts, and ways to save

Last week, we wrote about how the Google Pixel 8 Pro had hit its lowest price to date ahead of Google’s next Pixel event. And while that deal is still available, the Pixel 8A is also matching its all-time low of $399 ($100) at Amazon and Best Buy. The new(er) midranger is one of the best phones you can buy for under $500, with a snappy processor, a 120Hz display, and a worry-free seven years of software support. And who doesn’t like color options? Read our review.

Eufy’s versatile SmartTrack Card is matching its all-time low of $16.95 ($13 off) at Amazon and B&H Photo. The iPhone-friendly location tracker can tap into Apple’s extensive Find My network just like an AirTag; however, unlike Apple’s proprietary trackers, the SmartTrack Card can fit in a wallet and prompt your phone to ring while it’s in silent mode. It even comes with a handy metal clip, so you can use it to keep an eye on more than just cards and cash.
They often say the best camera is the one you have with you, which could just as easily apply to drones. Thankfully, HoverAir’s ultra-pocketable X1 is available from HoverAir or Amazon (with a clip-on coupon) for $349 ($80 off). The straightforward selfie drone isn’t as capable as DJI’s models, but it offers great object tracking, six shooting modes, and doesn’t require a license to fly, allowing you to capture 2.7K/30fps video with ease. Read our review.

Razer’s wireless V3 Pro packs a 30K DPI sensor, 11 programmable inputs, and all the lighting effects you could want. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Logitech’s new G309 might be one of the most versatile gaming mice in existence, but before that, there was our No. 1 pick for the best gaming mouse: the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro. And now, thanks to a $30 discount, Razer’s claw-shaped peripheral is available at Amazon and Best Buy in black or white for $129.99, its lowest price to date.

Despite having the same shape and layout as the standard V3, the step-up V3 Pro offers Razer’s third-gen optical switches, a more powerful 30K DPI sensor, and 1,000Hz wireless connectivity (or a polling rate of up to 4,000Hz if you add the optional wireless charging dock). The comfortable mouse also features a hyperfast scroll wheel — which can automatically switch to smooth scrolling based on how fast you spin it — along with 11 programmable buttons that can be customized via in-game settings or Razer’s Synapse software. In true Razer fashion, it also comes with 13 RGB lighting zones, giving you plenty of ways to tweak the colors to your liking.

Other deals, discounts, and ways to save

Last week, we wrote about how the Google Pixel 8 Pro had hit its lowest price to date ahead of Google’s next Pixel event. And while that deal is still available, the Pixel 8A is also matching its all-time low of $399 ($100) at Amazon and Best Buy. The new(er) midranger is one of the best phones you can buy for under $500, with a snappy processor, a 120Hz display, and a worry-free seven years of software support. And who doesn’t like color options? Read our review.

Eufy’s versatile SmartTrack Card is matching its all-time low of $16.95 ($13 off) at Amazon and B&H Photo. The iPhone-friendly location tracker can tap into Apple’s extensive Find My network just like an AirTag; however, unlike Apple’s proprietary trackers, the SmartTrack Card can fit in a wallet and prompt your phone to ring while it’s in silent mode. It even comes with a handy metal clip, so you can use it to keep an eye on more than just cards and cash.
They often say the best camera is the one you have with you, which could just as easily apply to drones. Thankfully, HoverAir’s ultra-pocketable X1 is available from HoverAir or Amazon (with a clip-on coupon) for $349 ($80 off). The straightforward selfie drone isn’t as capable as DJI’s models, but it offers great object tracking, six shooting modes, and doesn’t require a license to fly, allowing you to capture 2.7K/30fps video with ease. Read our review.

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More watchfaces, Garmin Pay, and GoPro are now in the Garmin Connect IQ store. | Image: Garmin

Garmin doesn’t have the best third-party app store, but it’s at least getting a bit better starting today. You’ll now be able to make purchases in the Connect IQ store using Garmin Pay, plus there’s a handful of new watchfaces and a GoPro app.
Previously, downloading apps from the Garmin Connect IQ store could be a real pain, as there wasn’t an easy way to pay for apps that weren’t free. (Even free apps like Spotify could sometimes be a headache to download and install.)
The other problem with Connect IQ is that there simply aren’t a ton of apps compared to Google Play or Apple’s App Store. And while that’s still an issue, today’s announcement does bring some bigger names to Connect IQ. That includes four Disney-themed watchfaces, including characters from Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars. Porsche added three watchfaces, while golf brand TaylorMade has added one. There’s also a number of space-themed watchfaces now too.

Image: Garmin
The new GoPro app lets you control cameras from your wrist.

Perhaps more exciting to the average Garmin user is the new GoPro Camera Control app. With it, you can connect a GoPro camera to your watch and use it to stop and start recordings, as well as take pictures.
According to Garmin, watchfaces and apps will have a suggested retail price of $4.99. It’s not unheard of for apps or watchfaces to cost money, though $5 is pretty steep — especially when there are so many other free options and especially when Google, Samsung, and Apple give a wider variety of watchfaces for free.
In the grand scheme of things, this might seem a tad underwhelming compared to Garmin’s competitors. But outside of Google, Apple, and Samsung, there aren’t many third-party smartwatch makers with any kind of app store. Fitbit had one before it got bought by Google, but it was mostly a repository for third-party watchfaces and experimental features. More importantly, Apple and Samsung have released rugged smartwatches in the past few years and continue to add more advanced fitness tracking features. It only makes sense that Garmin is trying to beef up its app store to better compete. Aside from today’s announcement, Garmin also recently announced it added YouTube Music to the Connect IQ store, shoring up its music playback capabilities.

More watchfaces, Garmin Pay, and GoPro are now in the Garmin Connect IQ store. | Image: Garmin

Garmin doesn’t have the best third-party app store, but it’s at least getting a bit better starting today. You’ll now be able to make purchases in the Connect IQ store using Garmin Pay, plus there’s a handful of new watchfaces and a GoPro app.

Previously, downloading apps from the Garmin Connect IQ store could be a real pain, as there wasn’t an easy way to pay for apps that weren’t free. (Even free apps like Spotify could sometimes be a headache to download and install.)

The other problem with Connect IQ is that there simply aren’t a ton of apps compared to Google Play or Apple’s App Store. And while that’s still an issue, today’s announcement does bring some bigger names to Connect IQ. That includes four Disney-themed watchfaces, including characters from Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars. Porsche added three watchfaces, while golf brand TaylorMade has added one. There’s also a number of space-themed watchfaces now too.

Perhaps more exciting to the average Garmin user is the new GoPro Camera Control app. With it, you can connect a GoPro camera to your watch and use it to stop and start recordings, as well as take pictures.

According to Garmin, watchfaces and apps will have a suggested retail price of $4.99. It’s not unheard of for apps or watchfaces to cost money, though $5 is pretty steep — especially when there are so many other free options and especially when Google, Samsung, and Apple give a wider variety of watchfaces for free.

In the grand scheme of things, this might seem a tad underwhelming compared to Garmin’s competitors. But outside of Google, Apple, and Samsung, there aren’t many third-party smartwatch makers with any kind of app store. Fitbit had one before it got bought by Google, but it was mostly a repository for third-party watchfaces and experimental features. More importantly, Apple and Samsung have released rugged smartwatches in the past few years and continue to add more advanced fitness tracking features. It only makes sense that Garmin is trying to beef up its app store to better compete. Aside from today’s announcement, Garmin also recently announced it added YouTube Music to the Connect IQ store, shoring up its music playback capabilities.

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Cal Kestis returns to his last-gen roots soon. | Image: EA

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is officially available for preorder for the Xbox One and PS4 ahead of a September 17th launch, EA announced today. The game, which arrived on PC and current-gen consoles in April 2023, costs $49.99 on Xbox One and PS4, standard edition only — the deluxe version is still reserved for newer consoles and PCs.
Owners of last-gen consoles may want to hold off on the Jedi: Fallen Order sequel for now, though. Although it’s been generally liked by critics, the game has also been panned for performance issues, particularly the PC port. Things have improved on the Xbox and PS5 side, but players continue to complain about the PC version’s performance.

Still, early issues with the current console versions (and ongoing ones for the PC port) don’t mean the Xbox One and PS4 editions will suffer the same fate, and people who played Fallen Order on those consoles might be in for a treat. As The Verge’s Andrew Webster wrote in his review, there’s no better Star Wars wish fulfillment, even if the sequel doesn’t add much new stuff. As someone who’s still working his way through Fallen Order and really enjoying it, I’ll gladly take more of the same.

Cal Kestis returns to his last-gen roots soon. | Image: EA

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is officially available for preorder for the Xbox One and PS4 ahead of a September 17th launch, EA announced today. The game, which arrived on PC and current-gen consoles in April 2023, costs $49.99 on Xbox One and PS4, standard edition only — the deluxe version is still reserved for newer consoles and PCs.

Owners of last-gen consoles may want to hold off on the Jedi: Fallen Order sequel for now, though. Although it’s been generally liked by critics, the game has also been panned for performance issues, particularly the PC port. Things have improved on the Xbox and PS5 side, but players continue to complain about the PC version’s performance.

Still, early issues with the current console versions (and ongoing ones for the PC port) don’t mean the Xbox One and PS4 editions will suffer the same fate, and people who played Fallen Order on those consoles might be in for a treat. As The Verge’s Andrew Webster wrote in his review, there’s no better Star Wars wish fulfillment, even if the sequel doesn’t add much new stuff. As someone who’s still working his way through Fallen Order and really enjoying it, I’ll gladly take more of the same.

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Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge

A federal judge has ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly in the US. “The market reality is that Google is the only real choice” as the default search engine, Judge Amit Mehta said in his decision, and he determined it had gotten that way unfairly. It’s a ruling that could portend big changes for the company, but we yet don’t know how big, and we might not for years.
Mehta declared on Monday that Google was liable for violating antitrust laws, vindicating the Department of Justice and a coalition of states that sued the tech giant in 2020. The next step — deciding on remedies for its illegal conduct — begins next month. Both parties must submit a proposed schedule for remedy proceedings by September 4th and then appear at a status conference on September 6th.
Google and the plaintiffs will spar over how severe its penalty should be, presenting experts and written testimony before Mehta issues another opinion and order. The exact timeline is unclear, though. William Kovacic, a former Federal Trade Commission chair and a professor at George Washington University, tells The Verge that he expects Judge Amit Mehta to hold a roughly weeklong hearing on remedies this year and believes the overall process could stretch to the end of 2024.
Rebecca Haw Allensworth, an antitrust professor at Vanderbilt University Law School, expects a fight that could take up to a year. “There’s going to be gnashing of teeth over the remedy, and that is going to make it take a long time,” Allensworth says.
A breakup is unlikely
There’s a wide range of potential remedies. The most dramatic would be breaking up Google to reduce its hold on search and online advertising, but it’s also perhaps the most unlikely, says Allensworth. Monday’s ruling was “a really dramatic win for the Biden administration, and it’s a really dramatic loss for Google, but it is not out-there,” Allensworth says. She thinks Mehta’s restraint is one of the “real strengths” of the opinion but that it indicates “I don’t think we would expect the remedy to then be really out-there.”
A milder remedy, which Kovacic finds most likely, is an injunction that “directs Google to cease the conduct that the court found to be improper.” But even that includes changes that could range from trivial to seismic. Mehta could demand Google modify its multibillion-dollar deals with companies like Apple and Mozilla, for instance, which cement it as the default search engine on products like the iPhone.
Allensworth notes another potential remedy would be requiring Google to share data or even some search algorithm information with other companies. “I think that that has the benefits of directly addressing some of the stuff that the judge is concerned about in his opinion,” she says. But Allensworth notes that “courts don’t like, for a variety of reasons, to force sharing between rivals.”
Whatever remedies the court ends up requiring, Google might not make them for a long time. Google has already said it will appeal the ruling. Appellate courts typically evaluate the liability and remedy rulings in the same proceeding, but Google could appeal a loss there to the Supreme Court, and it could seek an injunction to avoid any changes until the case is settled. (Apple got a yearslong reprieve from modifying its App Store rules in an antitrust battle with Epic.)
Kovacic tells The Verge that we could see a Supreme Court decision by the end of 2026. Other schedules are less optimistic; George Hay, a Cornell University law professor, gave The Associated Press a timeline of up to five years.

If one of these higher courts rules in favor of Google, the final outcome could depend on how the next president’s Justice Department responds. Microsoft, for instance, narrowly avoided being split up in the early 2000s — the incoming George W. Bush administration settled its predecessors’ case instead of pushing through an appeals court defeat. But in 2024, Republican nominee Donald Trump has a longtime grudge against Google and mused recently that it could be “shut down,” while VP and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ antitrust record is relatively sparse — but the Biden administration where she’s served has taken an aggressive stance on tech monopolies. Either one could decide to see the case through.
Whatever the outcome, this isn’t the only antitrust case, or even the only antitrust case against Google, on the horizon. Major litigation is pending against Apple, Amazon, and Meta. Google itself will face another trial in September — this time over its ad tech.

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge

A federal judge has ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly in the US. “The market reality is that Google is the only real choice” as the default search engine, Judge Amit Mehta said in his decision, and he determined it had gotten that way unfairly. It’s a ruling that could portend big changes for the company, but we yet don’t know how big, and we might not for years.

Mehta declared on Monday that Google was liable for violating antitrust laws, vindicating the Department of Justice and a coalition of states that sued the tech giant in 2020. The next step — deciding on remedies for its illegal conduct — begins next month. Both parties must submit a proposed schedule for remedy proceedings by September 4th and then appear at a status conference on September 6th.

Google and the plaintiffs will spar over how severe its penalty should be, presenting experts and written testimony before Mehta issues another opinion and order. The exact timeline is unclear, though. William Kovacic, a former Federal Trade Commission chair and a professor at George Washington University, tells The Verge that he expects Judge Amit Mehta to hold a roughly weeklong hearing on remedies this year and believes the overall process could stretch to the end of 2024.

Rebecca Haw Allensworth, an antitrust professor at Vanderbilt University Law School, expects a fight that could take up to a year. “There’s going to be gnashing of teeth over the remedy, and that is going to make it take a long time,” Allensworth says.

There’s a wide range of potential remedies. The most dramatic would be breaking up Google to reduce its hold on search and online advertising, but it’s also perhaps the most unlikely, says Allensworth. Monday’s ruling was “a really dramatic win for the Biden administration, and it’s a really dramatic loss for Google, but it is not out-there,” Allensworth says. She thinks Mehta’s restraint is one of the “real strengths” of the opinion but that it indicates “I don’t think we would expect the remedy to then be really out-there.”

A milder remedy, which Kovacic finds most likely, is an injunction that “directs Google to cease the conduct that the court found to be improper.” But even that includes changes that could range from trivial to seismic. Mehta could demand Google modify its multibillion-dollar deals with companies like Apple and Mozilla, for instance, which cement it as the default search engine on products like the iPhone.

Allensworth notes another potential remedy would be requiring Google to share data or even some search algorithm information with other companies. “I think that that has the benefits of directly addressing some of the stuff that the judge is concerned about in his opinion,” she says. But Allensworth notes that “courts don’t like, for a variety of reasons, to force sharing between rivals.”

Whatever remedies the court ends up requiring, Google might not make them for a long time. Google has already said it will appeal the ruling. Appellate courts typically evaluate the liability and remedy rulings in the same proceeding, but Google could appeal a loss there to the Supreme Court, and it could seek an injunction to avoid any changes until the case is settled. (Apple got a yearslong reprieve from modifying its App Store rules in an antitrust battle with Epic.)

Kovacic tells The Verge that we could see a Supreme Court decision by the end of 2026. Other schedules are less optimistic; George Hay, a Cornell University law professor, gave The Associated Press a timeline of up to five years.

If one of these higher courts rules in favor of Google, the final outcome could depend on how the next president’s Justice Department responds. Microsoft, for instance, narrowly avoided being split up in the early 2000s — the incoming George W. Bush administration settled its predecessors’ case instead of pushing through an appeals court defeat. But in 2024, Republican nominee Donald Trump has a longtime grudge against Google and mused recently that it could be “shut down,” while VP and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ antitrust record is relatively sparse — but the Biden administration where she’s served has taken an aggressive stance on tech monopolies. Either one could decide to see the case through.

Whatever the outcome, this isn’t the only antitrust case, or even the only antitrust case against Google, on the horizon. Major litigation is pending against Apple, Amazon, and Meta. Google itself will face another trial in September — this time over its ad tech.

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Image: Disney

The next phase of Disney’s plan to make its streaming services profitable is another round of price hikes served up with more news and new playlist features.
Disney is rolling out a new wave of price hikes that its subscribers will probably be none too pleased to be hit with. Beginning October 17th, individual monthly and annual plans for Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN are all going up.

Monthly subscriptions to Disney Plus with ads will jump from $8 a month to $10. The monthly Disney Plus ad-free tier will increase from $14 to $16, and annual ad-free plans will rise from their previous $140 price point to $160. Hulu’s ad-supported tier will rise from $8 / month and $80 / year to $10 / month and $100 / year, and monthly ad-free plans will jump from $18 to $19. ESPN Plus’ $11 / month and $110 / year plans will now cost $12 / month and $120 / year, respectively. And people subscribed to Disney’s basic and premium streaming bundles will also see their bills getting a bit more expensive this fall.
Along with the new prices, Disney Plus is also giving subscribers access to ABC News Live and a series of curated playlists serving up content from across the company’s portfolio beginning September 4th. The first playlist to hit the service will be focused on things for preschool-aged audiences, and Disney plans on launching four additional categories — Seasonal, Epic Stories (Marvel and Star Wars fare), Throwbacks (older shows and films), and Real Life (documentaries) — in the near future.
The playlist news tracks with past reports of Disney wanting to get into the FAST channel game to offer subscribers a low-effort way of finding things to watch. And while the price hikes similarly gel with Disney’s continued push for streaming profitability, the move isn’t likely to be a welcome change for viewers when it rolls out.

Image: Disney

The next phase of Disney’s plan to make its streaming services profitable is another round of price hikes served up with more news and new playlist features.

Disney is rolling out a new wave of price hikes that its subscribers will probably be none too pleased to be hit with. Beginning October 17th, individual monthly and annual plans for Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN are all going up.

Monthly subscriptions to Disney Plus with ads will jump from $8 a month to $10. The monthly Disney Plus ad-free tier will increase from $14 to $16, and annual ad-free plans will rise from their previous $140 price point to $160. Hulu’s ad-supported tier will rise from $8 / month and $80 / year to $10 / month and $100 / year, and monthly ad-free plans will jump from $18 to $19. ESPN Plus’ $11 / month and $110 / year plans will now cost $12 / month and $120 / year, respectively. And people subscribed to Disney’s basic and premium streaming bundles will also see their bills getting a bit more expensive this fall.

Along with the new prices, Disney Plus is also giving subscribers access to ABC News Live and a series of curated playlists serving up content from across the company’s portfolio beginning September 4th. The first playlist to hit the service will be focused on things for preschool-aged audiences, and Disney plans on launching four additional categories — Seasonal, Epic Stories (Marvel and Star Wars fare), Throwbacks (older shows and films), and Real Life (documentaries) — in the near future.

The playlist news tracks with past reports of Disney wanting to get into the FAST channel game to offer subscribers a low-effort way of finding things to watch. And while the price hikes similarly gel with Disney’s continued push for streaming profitability, the move isn’t likely to be a welcome change for viewers when it rolls out.

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Photo by Andrej Sokolow / picture alliance via Getty Images

Waymo is spreading out a little more in the two major cities in which it operates.
The robotaxi company announced today that it was growing its service areas in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, as the company seeks to attract more customers to its burgeoning business.
In San Francisco, Waymo’s service area is extending south of the city into the San Francisco Peninsula to cover Daly City, Broadmoor, and Colma — a total of 10 additional square miles for a total of 55 square miles. The company recently got rid of its waiting list in San Francisco, opening up its 24/7 robotaxi service to anyone within the service area who has downloaded the Waymo One app.

In Los Angeles, where the company’s waitlist is still in effect, Waymo is expanding into several new neighborhoods, including Marina del Rey, Mar Vista, and Playa Vista. The company is also adding more of Hollywood, Chinatown, and Westwood to its service area.
Waymo started testing the waters for a Los Angeles robotaxi service in the fall of 2023. The service went live in March 2024, and in April, the company started charging customers for trips. Waymo also operates a waitlisted robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.

The service area growth may seem small by comparison to human-operated ridehail services like Uber and Lyft, which operate in hundreds of cities without any pesky geographic limitations. But it’s significant to Waymo, which aims to prove that it can grow faster in each successive city in which it launches. The fact that it is already growing in LA, despite only launching there a few months ago, is a sign of growing confidence in the company’s driverless vehicles.
Another sign of confidence is the recent $5 billion commitment from parent company Alphabet, which should help the company grow over the next few years. We don’t know exactly how much revenue Waymo brings in for Alphabet, nor how much it loses. Alphabet’s “Other Bets” unit, which includes Waymo, most recently delivered $365 million in quarterly revenue, up from $285 million a year ago. But the unit’s losses widened to $1.13 billion from $813 million in the second quarter of 2023.
Today’s news of expanding service areas in San Francisco and Los Angeles excludes two major sources of revenue: airports. Waymo has been conducting airport trips at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport since late 2022, but it has yet to bring its driverless vehicles to either SFO or LAX. Waymo spokesperson Christopher Bonelli said that the company is in preliminary talks with SFO to begin “non-commercial mapping and driving operations with a human behind the wheel at the airport.”
Airports represent a huge money-making opportunity for robotaxis, with airport trips accounting for an estimated 20 percent of human-driven ridehail car trips. Still, airports can be chaotic environments, especially for cars, and regulators are likely too difficult to convince that driverless vehicles would navigate their roads without hassle.

Photo by Andrej Sokolow / picture alliance via Getty Images

Waymo is spreading out a little more in the two major cities in which it operates.

The robotaxi company announced today that it was growing its service areas in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, as the company seeks to attract more customers to its burgeoning business.

In San Francisco, Waymo’s service area is extending south of the city into the San Francisco Peninsula to cover Daly City, Broadmoor, and Colma — a total of 10 additional square miles for a total of 55 square miles. The company recently got rid of its waiting list in San Francisco, opening up its 24/7 robotaxi service to anyone within the service area who has downloaded the Waymo One app.

In Los Angeles, where the company’s waitlist is still in effect, Waymo is expanding into several new neighborhoods, including Marina del Rey, Mar Vista, and Playa Vista. The company is also adding more of Hollywood, Chinatown, and Westwood to its service area.

Waymo started testing the waters for a Los Angeles robotaxi service in the fall of 2023. The service went live in March 2024, and in April, the company started charging customers for trips. Waymo also operates a waitlisted robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.

The service area growth may seem small by comparison to human-operated ridehail services like Uber and Lyft, which operate in hundreds of cities without any pesky geographic limitations. But it’s significant to Waymo, which aims to prove that it can grow faster in each successive city in which it launches. The fact that it is already growing in LA, despite only launching there a few months ago, is a sign of growing confidence in the company’s driverless vehicles.

Another sign of confidence is the recent $5 billion commitment from parent company Alphabet, which should help the company grow over the next few years. We don’t know exactly how much revenue Waymo brings in for Alphabet, nor how much it loses. Alphabet’s “Other Bets” unit, which includes Waymo, most recently delivered $365 million in quarterly revenue, up from $285 million a year ago. But the unit’s losses widened to $1.13 billion from $813 million in the second quarter of 2023.

Today’s news of expanding service areas in San Francisco and Los Angeles excludes two major sources of revenue: airports. Waymo has been conducting airport trips at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport since late 2022, but it has yet to bring its driverless vehicles to either SFO or LAX. Waymo spokesperson Christopher Bonelli said that the company is in preliminary talks with SFO to begin “non-commercial mapping and driving operations with a human behind the wheel at the airport.”

Airports represent a huge money-making opportunity for robotaxis, with airport trips accounting for an estimated 20 percent of human-driven ridehail car trips. Still, airports can be chaotic environments, especially for cars, and regulators are likely too difficult to convince that driverless vehicles would navigate their roads without hassle.

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Image: The Verge

X is suing a group of major advertisers over accusations that they held an “illegal boycott” against the platform formerly known as Twitter. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, X claims Unilever, Mars, CVS, Ørsted, and dozens of other brands conspired to “collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue” through a World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) industry initiative.
To join the WFA’s initiative, called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), companies must agree to withhold advertising from social platforms that aren’t compliant with the organization’s safety standards. X alleges GARM “organized an advertiser boycott of Twitter” to coerce the company into following the initiative’s safety standards. The lawsuit is being filed despite X announcing that it was “excited” to rejoin GARM last month.
“The evidence and facts are on our side,” X CEO Linda Yaccarino said in a video posted to X. “They conspired to boycott X, which threatens our ability to thrive in the future. That puts your global Town Square — the one place that you can express yourself freely and openly — at long-term risk.”

A Message to X Users pic.twitter.com/6bZOYPhWVa— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) August 6, 2024

A separate post from Elon Musk said he “strongly encourage[s] any company who has been systematically boycotted by advertisers to file a lawsuit,” as there could also be “criminal liability” under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act — a law that aims to crack down on organized crimes.
X’s lawsuit, which you can read in full at the bottom of this story, cites a July 10th report about the WFA from the House Judiciary Committee, which said the WFA and GARM’s “collusive conduct to demonetize disfavored content” was “alarming.” Earlier this month, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent letters to 40 companies involved with GARM to ask why the advertisers “boycotted” right-wing outlets like The Joe Rogan Experience, The Daily Wire, Breitbart, or Fox News. Musk already threatened to sue the advertisers partaking in the alleged boycott.
It’s not clear how well X’s lawsuit will fare in court because, as pointed out by Techdirt, the ability to choose where to advertise is protected under the First Amendment. The ad tech watchdog group Check My Ads similarly states that advertisers have the right “to not send money to a platform that promotes hate and conspiracies.”
X is asking the court to declare the advertisers’ actions illegal and award the company damages that will be determined at trial. This lawsuit is the latest in a string of largely unsuccessful legal actions taken by Musk. While he dropped his lawsuit against OpenAI and its cofounders in June, he sued them again on Monday over claims they “manipulated” Musk into cofounding the nonprofit to build safe and transparent AI.

Image: The Verge

X is suing a group of major advertisers over accusations that they held an “illegal boycott” against the platform formerly known as Twitter. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, X claims Unilever, Mars, CVS, Ørsted, and dozens of other brands conspired to “collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue” through a World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) industry initiative.

To join the WFA’s initiative, called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), companies must agree to withhold advertising from social platforms that aren’t compliant with the organization’s safety standards. X alleges GARM “organized an advertiser boycott of Twitter” to coerce the company into following the initiative’s safety standards. The lawsuit is being filed despite X announcing that it was “excited” to rejoin GARM last month.

“The evidence and facts are on our side,” X CEO Linda Yaccarino said in a video posted to X. “They conspired to boycott X, which threatens our ability to thrive in the future. That puts your global Town Square — the one place that you can express yourself freely and openly — at long-term risk.”

A separate post from Elon Musk said he “strongly encourage[s] any company who has been systematically boycotted by advertisers to file a lawsuit,” as there could also be “criminal liability” under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act — a law that aims to crack down on organized crimes.

X’s lawsuit, which you can read in full at the bottom of this story, cites a July 10th report about the WFA from the House Judiciary Committee, which said the WFA and GARM’s “collusive conduct to demonetize disfavored content” was “alarming.” Earlier this month, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent letters to 40 companies involved with GARM to ask why the advertisers “boycotted” right-wing outlets like The Joe Rogan Experience, The Daily Wire, Breitbart, or Fox News. Musk already threatened to sue the advertisers partaking in the alleged boycott.

It’s not clear how well X’s lawsuit will fare in court because, as pointed out by Techdirt, the ability to choose where to advertise is protected under the First Amendment. The ad tech watchdog group Check My Ads similarly states that advertisers have the right “to not send money to a platform that promotes hate and conspiracies.”

X is asking the court to declare the advertisers’ actions illegal and award the company damages that will be determined at trial. This lawsuit is the latest in a string of largely unsuccessful legal actions taken by Musk. While he dropped his lawsuit against OpenAI and its cofounders in June, he sued them again on Monday over claims they “manipulated” Musk into cofounding the nonprofit to build safe and transparent AI.

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Image: The Verge

Microsoft has responded to Delta Air Lines’ criticism of Windows and CrowdStrike after the giant IT outage last month. Delta CEO Ed Bastian wants compensation from both CrowdStrike and Microsoft for the estimated $500 million Delta lost due to the outage. Now, Microsoft says Delta refused its free help on multiple occasions and even ignored an email from CEO Satya Nadella to Bastian.
“Microsoft empathizes with Delta and its customers regarding the impact of the CrowdStrike incident. But your letter and Delta’s public comments are incomplete, false, misleading, and damaging to Microsoft and its reputation,” says Mark Cheffo, co-chair of Dechert’s global litigation practice, in a letter on behalf of Microsoft to Delta’s lawyers.
The letter, embedded below, aims to paint a very different picture of the incident following Bastian’s comments in an interview with CNBC last week. Bastian called Microsoft fragile and asked, “When was the last time you heard of a big outage at Apple?” He also revealed that more than 40,000 of the company’s servers had been hit by CrowdStrike’s faulty update. Microsoft’s letter suggests that Delta’s problems might run a lot deeper than its Windows server outage, though.
“Even though Microsoft’s software had not caused the CrowdStrike incident, Microsoft immediately jumped in and offered to assist Delta at no charge following the July 19th outage,” says the letter from Cheffo. “Each day that followed from July 19th through July 23rd, Microsoft employees repeated their offers to help Delta. Each time, Delta turned down Microsoft’s offers to help, even though Microsoft would not have charged Delta for this assistance.”

Microsoft also claims that an employee contacted Delta on July 22nd to offer any help the airline needed, but a Delta employee replied that things were “all good” on the same day Delta canceled more than 1,100 flights, followed by 500 more cancellations the day after.
“More senior Microsoft executives also repeatedly reached out to help their counterparts at Delta, again with similar results,” writes Cheffo. “Among others, on Wednesday, July 24th, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella emailed Delta CEO Ed Bastian, who has never replied.”
Bastian may well have missed that email from Nadella because he was busy flying to the Olympic Games in Paris, as Delta is the official airline for Team USA. Among all the flight cancellations after the CrowdStrike outage, Delta had to scramble to fulfill its Team USA obligations to get athletes to Paris on time.
Microsoft thinks Delta refused its free help because it was actually struggling to restore non-Windows systems instead. “It is rapidly becoming apparent that Delta likely refused Microsoft’s help because the IT system it was most having trouble restoring — its crew-tracking and scheduling system — was being serviced by other technology providers, such as IBM, because it runs on those providers’ systems, and not Microsoft Windows or Azure,” says Microsoft’s letter.
That suggests that Delta was hit by the CrowdStrike outage on its Windows systems and that those failures then impacted its IT infrastructure that was serviced by IBM and others. Microsoft says Delta “apparently has not modernized its IT infrastructure,” so it was more impacted by the CrowdStrike outage than rivals like American Airlines or United Airlines.

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Like CrowdStrike, Microsoft is also asking Delta to preserve documents related to the CrowdStrike outage. It also wants the airline to keep anything related to the outage of its crew-tracking and scheduling systems that run on a mixture of IBM, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, Kyndryl, and other technologies. Microsoft says it will “vigorously defend itself in any litigation if Delta chooses to pursue that path.”
Earlier this week, CrowdStrike also claimed it’s not to blame for Delta’s days-long outage and said Delta also declined its on-site assistance. CrowdStrike’s comments now make more sense after Microsoft’s suggestion that the problems at Delta could run a lot deeper than its Windows systems being taken down by the faulty CrowdStrike update. Unlike other airlines, Delta struggled to get systems back online and is currently being investigated by the US Department of Transportation over its handling of recovery efforts.

Image: The Verge

Microsoft has responded to Delta Air Lines’ criticism of Windows and CrowdStrike after the giant IT outage last month. Delta CEO Ed Bastian wants compensation from both CrowdStrike and Microsoft for the estimated $500 million Delta lost due to the outage. Now, Microsoft says Delta refused its free help on multiple occasions and even ignored an email from CEO Satya Nadella to Bastian.

“Microsoft empathizes with Delta and its customers regarding the impact of the CrowdStrike incident. But your letter and Delta’s public comments are incomplete, false, misleading, and damaging to Microsoft and its reputation,” says Mark Cheffo, co-chair of Dechert’s global litigation practice, in a letter on behalf of Microsoft to Delta’s lawyers.

The letter, embedded below, aims to paint a very different picture of the incident following Bastian’s comments in an interview with CNBC last week. Bastian called Microsoft fragile and asked, “When was the last time you heard of a big outage at Apple?” He also revealed that more than 40,000 of the company’s servers had been hit by CrowdStrike’s faulty update. Microsoft’s letter suggests that Delta’s problems might run a lot deeper than its Windows server outage, though.

“Even though Microsoft’s software had not caused the CrowdStrike incident, Microsoft immediately jumped in and offered to assist Delta at no charge following the July 19th outage,” says the letter from Cheffo. “Each day that followed from July 19th through July 23rd, Microsoft employees repeated their offers to help Delta. Each time, Delta turned down Microsoft’s offers to help, even though Microsoft would not have charged Delta for this assistance.”

Microsoft also claims that an employee contacted Delta on July 22nd to offer any help the airline needed, but a Delta employee replied that things were “all good” on the same day Delta canceled more than 1,100 flights, followed by 500 more cancellations the day after.

“More senior Microsoft executives also repeatedly reached out to help their counterparts at Delta, again with similar results,” writes Cheffo. “Among others, on Wednesday, July 24th, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella emailed Delta CEO Ed Bastian, who has never replied.”

Bastian may well have missed that email from Nadella because he was busy flying to the Olympic Games in Paris, as Delta is the official airline for Team USA. Among all the flight cancellations after the CrowdStrike outage, Delta had to scramble to fulfill its Team USA obligations to get athletes to Paris on time.

Microsoft thinks Delta refused its free help because it was actually struggling to restore non-Windows systems instead. “It is rapidly becoming apparent that Delta likely refused Microsoft’s help because the IT system it was most having trouble restoring — its crew-tracking and scheduling system — was being serviced by other technology providers, such as IBM, because it runs on those providers’ systems, and not Microsoft Windows or Azure,” says Microsoft’s letter.

That suggests that Delta was hit by the CrowdStrike outage on its Windows systems and that those failures then impacted its IT infrastructure that was serviced by IBM and others. Microsoft says Delta “apparently has not modernized its IT infrastructure,” so it was more impacted by the CrowdStrike outage than rivals like American Airlines or United Airlines.

Like CrowdStrike, Microsoft is also asking Delta to preserve documents related to the CrowdStrike outage. It also wants the airline to keep anything related to the outage of its crew-tracking and scheduling systems that run on a mixture of IBM, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, Kyndryl, and other technologies. Microsoft says it will “vigorously defend itself in any litigation if Delta chooses to pursue that path.”

Earlier this week, CrowdStrike also claimed it’s not to blame for Delta’s days-long outage and said Delta also declined its on-site assistance. CrowdStrike’s comments now make more sense after Microsoft’s suggestion that the problems at Delta could run a lot deeper than its Windows systems being taken down by the faulty CrowdStrike update. Unlike other airlines, Delta struggled to get systems back online and is currently being investigated by the US Department of Transportation over its handling of recovery efforts.

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Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The Sonos Ace headphones launched with a very convenient trick called TV Audio Swap, which lets you send audio that would normally come out of the Sonos Arc soundbar to the headphones instead. Two months later, the company is enabling TV Audio Swap on its more affordable soundbars — and it’s no longer limited to customers with Apple devices.
The feature now works on both generations of the Sonos Beam as well as the entry-level Sonos Ray. Until now, an iPhone or iPad was required to activate TV Audio Swap, but now Android devices can do so as well. The feature itself uses a direct Wi-Fi connection to send audio from the soundbar to the headphones, but you’ll need the app for setup and to toggle certain settings.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
You press and hold the content key slider to activate TV Audio Swap.

Sonos’ private listening mode supports spatial audio surround sound with head tracking — both features are optional — for a more immersive experience. And it’ll work with any input running into your TV, including game consoles, a feature I’ve found myself taking advantage of a lot in the later evening hours.
You’ll need to install the latest Sonos app update (iOS | Android) to get TV Audio Swap running on the Beam and the Ray. The new build also includes several bug fixes that should lead to smoother day-to-day performance for your Sonos system as the company keeps working to reverse the negative reception to its overhauled mobile app.
Sonos is due to report its quarterly earnings on August 7th. The company’s earnings call will be one of the most interesting in recent memory since CEO Patrick Spence is likely to face questions from analysts on the company’s current predicament. Late last month, he issued an apology for the problems that customers have experienced with the new app and promised improvements every two weeks through the fall.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The Sonos Ace headphones launched with a very convenient trick called TV Audio Swap, which lets you send audio that would normally come out of the Sonos Arc soundbar to the headphones instead. Two months later, the company is enabling TV Audio Swap on its more affordable soundbars — and it’s no longer limited to customers with Apple devices.

The feature now works on both generations of the Sonos Beam as well as the entry-level Sonos Ray. Until now, an iPhone or iPad was required to activate TV Audio Swap, but now Android devices can do so as well. The feature itself uses a direct Wi-Fi connection to send audio from the soundbar to the headphones, but you’ll need the app for setup and to toggle certain settings.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
You press and hold the content key slider to activate TV Audio Swap.

Sonos’ private listening mode supports spatial audio surround sound with head tracking — both features are optional — for a more immersive experience. And it’ll work with any input running into your TV, including game consoles, a feature I’ve found myself taking advantage of a lot in the later evening hours.

You’ll need to install the latest Sonos app update (iOS | Android) to get TV Audio Swap running on the Beam and the Ray. The new build also includes several bug fixes that should lead to smoother day-to-day performance for your Sonos system as the company keeps working to reverse the negative reception to its overhauled mobile app.

Sonos is due to report its quarterly earnings on August 7th. The company’s earnings call will be one of the most interesting in recent memory since CEO Patrick Spence is likely to face questions from analysts on the company’s current predicament. Late last month, he issued an apology for the problems that customers have experienced with the new app and promised improvements every two weeks through the fall.

Read More