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Illustration: The Verge

A year and a half ago, Threads was but a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye.
Now, the rival to Elon Musk’s X has reached more than 175 million monthly active users, the Meta CEO announced on Wednesday.
His announcement comes as Threads is about to hit its one-year anniversary. Back when it arrived in the App Store on July 5th, 2023, Musk was taking a wrecking ball to the service formerly called Twitter and goading Zuckerberg into a literal cage match that never happened. A year later, Threads is still growing at a steady clip — albeit not as quickly as its huge launch — while Musk hasn’t shared comparable metrics for X since he took over.

As with any social network, and especially for Threads, monthly users only tell part of the growth story. It’s telling that, unlike Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, Meta hasn’t shared daily user numbers yet. That omission suggests Threads is still getting a lot of flyby traffic from people who have yet to become regular users.
I’ve heard from Meta employees in recent months that much of the app’s growth is still coming from it being promoted inside Instagram. Both apps share the same account system, which isn’t expected to change.
Even still, 175 million monthly users for a one-year app is nothing to turn your nose up at, especially given Meta’s spotty track record of launching standalone app experiments over the years. Zuckerberg has been open to me and others that he thinks Threads has a real shot at being the company’s next billion-user app. To keep the growth story going, I’m told, Meta is focused on markets where it thinks there’s an opening to take more market share from X — Japan, for example.
For now, Threads is still a loss leader for Meta financially, though it can certainly afford to fund it indefinitely. Internally, I’m told execs are thinking about turning on ads in Threads sometime next year, though the exact plan is still up in the air. It’s easy to see how Threads could plug into Instagram’s existing ads system. And given Meta’s intentional decision to deprioritize politics and encourage lighthearted content, it could be a compelling place for advertisers looking for a more brand-safe alternative to X.
“It would be great if it gets really, really big, but I’m actually more interested in if it becomes culturally relevant and if it gets hundreds of millions of users,” the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, told me when Threads first launched. A year later, the app definitely has more progress to make on the cultural front. But the fact that it’s still growing means Meta has the runway to make that happen.

Illustration: The Verge

A year and a half ago, Threads was but a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye.

Now, the rival to Elon Musk’s X has reached more than 175 million monthly active users, the Meta CEO announced on Wednesday.

His announcement comes as Threads is about to hit its one-year anniversary. Back when it arrived in the App Store on July 5th, 2023, Musk was taking a wrecking ball to the service formerly called Twitter and goading Zuckerberg into a literal cage match that never happened. A year later, Threads is still growing at a steady clip — albeit not as quickly as its huge launch — while Musk hasn’t shared comparable metrics for X since he took over.

As with any social network, and especially for Threads, monthly users only tell part of the growth story. It’s telling that, unlike Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, Meta hasn’t shared daily user numbers yet. That omission suggests Threads is still getting a lot of flyby traffic from people who have yet to become regular users.

I’ve heard from Meta employees in recent months that much of the app’s growth is still coming from it being promoted inside Instagram. Both apps share the same account system, which isn’t expected to change.

Even still, 175 million monthly users for a one-year app is nothing to turn your nose up at, especially given Meta’s spotty track record of launching standalone app experiments over the years. Zuckerberg has been open to me and others that he thinks Threads has a real shot at being the company’s next billion-user app. To keep the growth story going, I’m told, Meta is focused on markets where it thinks there’s an opening to take more market share from X — Japan, for example.

For now, Threads is still a loss leader for Meta financially, though it can certainly afford to fund it indefinitely. Internally, I’m told execs are thinking about turning on ads in Threads sometime next year, though the exact plan is still up in the air. It’s easy to see how Threads could plug into Instagram’s existing ads system. And given Meta’s intentional decision to deprioritize politics and encourage lighthearted content, it could be a compelling place for advertisers looking for a more brand-safe alternative to X.

“It would be great if it gets really, really big, but I’m actually more interested in if it becomes culturally relevant and if it gets hundreds of millions of users,” the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, told me when Threads first launched. A year later, the app definitely has more progress to make on the cultural front. But the fact that it’s still growing means Meta has the runway to make that happen.

Read More 

Illustration: The Verge

Perplexity has launched a major upgrade to its Pro Search AI tool, which it says “understands when a question requires planning, works through goals step-by-step, and synthesizes in-depth answers with greater efficiency.”
Examples on Perplexity’s website of what Pro Search can do include a query asking the best time to see the northern lights in Iceland or Finland. It breaks down its research process into three searches: the best times to see the northern lights in Iceland and Finland; the top viewing locations in Iceland; and the top viewing locations in Finland. It then provides a detailed answer addressing all aspects of the question, including when to view the northern lights in either country and where.

GIF: Perplexity
Perplexity’s upgraded tool can break down complex queries.

Perplexity’s AI search tool can also generate a detailed report based on a prompt with a feature called Pages. But recent reports from Wired and Forbes have accused Perplexity of committing plagiarism, with a report from Wired calling the self-proclaimed “answer engine” a “Bullshit Machine,” with animations that misrepresent what it’s doing and data scrapers that bypass rules in robots.txt files.
Aside from conducting more thorough research, Perplexity says Search Pro now comes with more advanced math and programming capabilities that improve its ability to analyze data, debug code, and generate content. If you want to try it out for yourself, you can get five searches per day with a free account. Perplexity also offers 600 Pro searches per day with its $20 per month subscription.

Illustration: The Verge

Perplexity has launched a major upgrade to its Pro Search AI tool, which it says “understands when a question requires planning, works through goals step-by-step, and synthesizes in-depth answers with greater efficiency.”

Examples on Perplexity’s website of what Pro Search can do include a query asking the best time to see the northern lights in Iceland or Finland. It breaks down its research process into three searches: the best times to see the northern lights in Iceland and Finland; the top viewing locations in Iceland; and the top viewing locations in Finland. It then provides a detailed answer addressing all aspects of the question, including when to view the northern lights in either country and where.

GIF: Perplexity
Perplexity’s upgraded tool can break down complex queries.

Perplexity’s AI search tool can also generate a detailed report based on a prompt with a feature called Pages. But recent reports from Wired and Forbes have accused Perplexity of committing plagiarism, with a report from Wired calling the self-proclaimed “answer engine” a “Bullshit Machine,” with animations that misrepresent what it’s doing and data scrapers that bypass rules in robots.txt files.

Aside from conducting more thorough research, Perplexity says Search Pro now comes with more advanced math and programming capabilities that improve its ability to analyze data, debug code, and generate content. If you want to try it out for yourself, you can get five searches per day with a free account. Perplexity also offers 600 Pro searches per day with its $20 per month subscription.

Read More 

Screenshot: Steam

Play is important — in fact, it can be as important to a grown-up as it is to a child. If you’ve spent the day concentrating on work, doing your taxes, cleaning your home, or caring for others, it’s not a bad idea to also take a little time for yourself to escape from your adult responsibilities.
These days, play can take a lot of different forms — whether it’s assembling the latest monster Lego project, getting together for a marathon board game, or staying up later than you should with your favorite virtual city builder. On a screen or on a tabletop, virtual or touchable, played alone or with friends — games are a way we can keep ourselves centered.
We asked the staff of The Verge what games they play in order to give their busy brains a rest — and these are some of the answers we got.
Tabletop games

Splendor board game
Becca Farsace, senior video producer

The best part about the game Splendor is taking a moment to look around and watch your friends thinking really, really hard. This is a board game that has no board, just cards and chips, where the objective is to collect gems and acquire capital and property. It is best played with three to five people on a large table. And it involves a whole lot of strategizing, thinking, and endlessly scanning cards. This makes for great thinking faces!
I ditched the box for a small pouch and now bring this game to most bar hangs. And when I’m at home, I find it best when paired with a long playlist that you won’t have to spend any extra mental strength thinking about.
Loop strategy game
Joanna Nelius, reviewer

Screenshot: Pandasaurus Games
The Loop strategy game is, unfortunately, hard to find.

Over the last year, I’ve made a purposeful effort to engage in more screen-free entertainment, and now my shelf is overflowing with fantastic indie board and card games. It’s hard to choose a favorite, but Loop by Pandasaurus Games is so far the best co-op board game I have ever played. The basic premise is to stop the evil Dr. Faux from creating riffs in the space-time continuum across seven different eras while destroying his clones. If an era gains too many rifts, Dr. Faux creates a time vortex, and if he creates too many he destroys the world.
It sounds simple, but there is a surprising amount of strategy involved, almost like a chess match. You have to think several moves ahead, and not just about what you will do but also how that will affect your teammates when it’s their turn. It encourages players to communicate and plan effectively, yet doesn’t slow down the game’s pace with crunchy mechanics. You don’t have to mess around with dice, stacks of cards, or tons of game pieces, and every playthrough is completely different.
You’ll probably lose a lot (I did), but that frustration kept me coming back to kick Dr. Faux’s butt — and when my team and I finally did, we cheered and high-fived. It was such a cool feeling!
Unfortunately, Loop is no longer available at most stores, but you may be able to pick up a copy at eBay or your local gaming store.

Evolution: Oceans board game
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, reviewer

Finding a board game that will entertain a 13-year-old girl, a 16-year-old boy, my partner, and me is a challenge. We’ve cycled through all the classics as well as newer options — Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Catan, and more. While these are all great, inevitably one of the group develops a passionate dislike for the game (usually after a few too many losses) and it drops off our rotation. However, Evolution: Oceans has been a constant crowd-pleaser for over six months now, and we all love it.
Part of the Evolution series from NorthStar Game Studio, Oceans is a beautiful, complicated, compelling, and challenging strategy game. You create new species to fill your ocean and fight to develop them and keep them alive using adaptations and abilities such as schooling and speed, tentacles, and parasitic abilities.
Cards give you your powers, and these are gorgeously illustrated, making this game a visual feast. It does have a fairly steep learning curve, but once you get going and the strategies unfold, the gameplay is smooth and relatively fast-paced. There is a fair amount of player-to-player interaction, so we’ve had a couple of temper tantrums, but nothing big enough to knock this one off our family’s top spot… at least not yet.

Lego Horizon Forbidden West Tallneck set
Jay Peters, news editor

Legos aren’t exactly a board game, and in fact, I don’t get many Lego sets anymore, but building the Horizon Forbidden West set for my birthday last year was such an absolute delight, that I had to include it here. The Tallnecks are one of my favorite creatures from Sony’s hit video game series, so it was really fun to bring an awesome robot dinosaur to life in Lego form. And best of all, the Tallneck is actually, well, tall, measuring 13 1/2 inches in height and towering over the comparatively tiny Aloy minifigure that comes with the set.
I sadly had to deconstruct my Lego Tallneck — which I named Aioli — when I recently moved my desk setup into a different room. But I’ve just realized I have a perfect spot to rebuild AIoli once again, and fortunately, there’s plenty of headroom for his head to stand tall.
Video games

Anbernic RG28XX handheld emulator
Andrew Liszewski, senior news reporter

I have been mildly obsessed with handheld consoles ever since seeing a print ad for the original Nintendo Game Boy in a TV Guide decades ago. Although my favorite Nintendo handheld is still the tiny and highly pocketable Game Boy Micro, its hardware is really showing its age, and I hate carrying around a handful of cartridges. The Anbernic RG28XX is a new, tiny console that feels just as small as the Micro, but with a larger screen that’s easier on my aging eyes and the ability to play thousands of different retro games through emulation. However, my game of choice is frequently Baseball Advance, an obscure Game Boy Advance sports title from 2002. If I find myself with a couple of extra minutes to spare, I’ll usually be going to bat with the Tigers against the Blue Jays for a couple of innings.
Words with Friends 2 mobile game app
Barbara Krasnoff, reviews editor

Back in the summer of 2018, I was temporarily unemployed and taking occasional freelance gigs, including one where I worked as an extra for the second season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. There was a lot of sitting around between scenes, and one woman and I started using our phones to play Scrabble — or, rather, a Scrabble-like mobile game app called Words with Friends 2. When the job was over, we kept it up, and after a couple of weeks, I started another game with a former work colleague. When each game was over, we started another. And it just never stopped.
I still play with these two friends — friends whom, I might add, I never otherwise see. While the app itself is free, Words with Friends 2 can be pretty obnoxious — there are constant ads and never-ending urgings to pay for various upgrades. But I can’t give up yet. I’m behind several games, and I’ve got to see if I can make a seven-letter score at least once this coming round….
Cities: Skylines II video game
Liam James, supervising producer, audio

Part of my job as supervising producer of audio for The Verge involves building very complicated spreadsheets to track all kinds of important metrics. While that might sound awful to most people, I find it exhilarating. I love organizing problems in ways that make solving them… well, almost like a game.
So what do I do to relax? Well, I love city-building games because when you boil them down, they are just spreadsheet simulators with a fun and pretty UI on top. My latest obsession is Cities: Skylines II, a spiritual SimCity successor. After a bumpy launch earlier this year, the game has ironed out most of the bugs and performance issues.
Most recently, I’ve been experimenting with a city build that has no roads for cars. To get around, my citizens must walk or take mass transit. But without cars and trucks, how do you move commercial goods around your town? Well, the truth is, I don’t know yet, but I am having a heck of a time figuring it out. There are endless ways to get lost inside a city builder, but for me, the most fun comes from solving one problem at a time and seeing how it affects all the other systems — like a column in a spreadsheet.
Duck Game
Sean Hollister, senior editor

Ouya, the indie game console, was one of the biggest technology flops of the past decade. And yet, it spawned a game I still play with friends almost every week. Duck Game, largely a one-man indie hit from 2015, kept my friend group together through the pandemic with online play for up to eight people.
It’s a 2D arena battle with the frantic energy of Smash Bros., but here, you’re playing ducks with guns — blasting one another with pistols, machine guns, net guns, lasers, mind control rays, sleeping bag cannons, grenades, and more, all while dodging stage hazards, friends who can stomp you with their newfound shoes, chainsaw jousters, and the occasional flying sword.
There’s no blood, just clouds of duck feathers, but almost everything kills in one hit, so hilarity ensues as everyone makes mistakes. The game doesn’t teach you how to play, and yet, it has so much depth, my friends are still discovering new techniques nearly nine years after we began. You can fire shots at all sorts of angles if you jump just right! Holding a certain box can let you drop faster! You can sword pogo sticks like Yoshimitsu from Soulcalibur! Grab and throw your foes after they play dead! Change the pitch of the game’s mostly useless musical instruments with the analog trigger!
Did I mention this game has a dedicated quack button to taunt your foes? Quack quack.

Screenshot: Steam

Play is important — in fact, it can be as important to a grown-up as it is to a child. If you’ve spent the day concentrating on work, doing your taxes, cleaning your home, or caring for others, it’s not a bad idea to also take a little time for yourself to escape from your adult responsibilities.

These days, play can take a lot of different forms — whether it’s assembling the latest monster Lego project, getting together for a marathon board game, or staying up later than you should with your favorite virtual city builder. On a screen or on a tabletop, virtual or touchable, played alone or with friends — games are a way we can keep ourselves centered.

We asked the staff of The Verge what games they play in order to give their busy brains a rest — and these are some of the answers we got.

Tabletop games

Splendor board game

Becca Farsace, senior video producer

The best part about the game Splendor is taking a moment to look around and watch your friends thinking really, really hard. This is a board game that has no board, just cards and chips, where the objective is to collect gems and acquire capital and property. It is best played with three to five people on a large table. And it involves a whole lot of strategizing, thinking, and endlessly scanning cards. This makes for great thinking faces!

I ditched the box for a small pouch and now bring this game to most bar hangs. And when I’m at home, I find it best when paired with a long playlist that you won’t have to spend any extra mental strength thinking about.

Loop strategy game

Joanna Nelius, reviewer

Screenshot: Pandasaurus Games
The Loop strategy game is, unfortunately, hard to find.

Over the last year, I’ve made a purposeful effort to engage in more screen-free entertainment, and now my shelf is overflowing with fantastic indie board and card games. It’s hard to choose a favorite, but Loop by Pandasaurus Games is so far the best co-op board game I have ever played. The basic premise is to stop the evil Dr. Faux from creating riffs in the space-time continuum across seven different eras while destroying his clones. If an era gains too many rifts, Dr. Faux creates a time vortex, and if he creates too many he destroys the world.

It sounds simple, but there is a surprising amount of strategy involved, almost like a chess match. You have to think several moves ahead, and not just about what you will do but also how that will affect your teammates when it’s their turn. It encourages players to communicate and plan effectively, yet doesn’t slow down the game’s pace with crunchy mechanics. You don’t have to mess around with dice, stacks of cards, or tons of game pieces, and every playthrough is completely different.

You’ll probably lose a lot (I did), but that frustration kept me coming back to kick Dr. Faux’s butt — and when my team and I finally did, we cheered and high-fived. It was such a cool feeling!

Unfortunately, Loop is no longer available at most stores, but you may be able to pick up a copy at eBay or your local gaming store.

Evolution: Oceans board game

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, reviewer

Finding a board game that will entertain a 13-year-old girl, a 16-year-old boy, my partner, and me is a challenge. We’ve cycled through all the classics as well as newer options — Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Catan, and more. While these are all great, inevitably one of the group develops a passionate dislike for the game (usually after a few too many losses) and it drops off our rotation. However, Evolution: Oceans has been a constant crowd-pleaser for over six months now, and we all love it.

Part of the Evolution series from NorthStar Game Studio, Oceans is a beautiful, complicated, compelling, and challenging strategy game. You create new species to fill your ocean and fight to develop them and keep them alive using adaptations and abilities such as schooling and speed, tentacles, and parasitic abilities.

Cards give you your powers, and these are gorgeously illustrated, making this game a visual feast. It does have a fairly steep learning curve, but once you get going and the strategies unfold, the gameplay is smooth and relatively fast-paced. There is a fair amount of player-to-player interaction, so we’ve had a couple of temper tantrums, but nothing big enough to knock this one off our family’s top spot… at least not yet.

Lego Horizon Forbidden West Tallneck set

Jay Peters, news editor

Legos aren’t exactly a board game, and in fact, I don’t get many Lego sets anymore, but building the Horizon Forbidden West set for my birthday last year was such an absolute delight, that I had to include it here. The Tallnecks are one of my favorite creatures from Sony’s hit video game series, so it was really fun to bring an awesome robot dinosaur to life in Lego form. And best of all, the Tallneck is actually, well, tall, measuring 13 1/2 inches in height and towering over the comparatively tiny Aloy minifigure that comes with the set.

I sadly had to deconstruct my Lego Tallneck — which I named Aioli — when I recently moved my desk setup into a different room. But I’ve just realized I have a perfect spot to rebuild AIoli once again, and fortunately, there’s plenty of headroom for his head to stand tall.

Video games

Anbernic RG28XX handheld emulator

Andrew Liszewski, senior news reporter

I have been mildly obsessed with handheld consoles ever since seeing a print ad for the original Nintendo Game Boy in a TV Guide decades ago. Although my favorite Nintendo handheld is still the tiny and highly pocketable Game Boy Micro, its hardware is really showing its age, and I hate carrying around a handful of cartridges. The Anbernic RG28XX is a new, tiny console that feels just as small as the Micro, but with a larger screen that’s easier on my aging eyes and the ability to play thousands of different retro games through emulation. However, my game of choice is frequently Baseball Advance, an obscure Game Boy Advance sports title from 2002. If I find myself with a couple of extra minutes to spare, I’ll usually be going to bat with the Tigers against the Blue Jays for a couple of innings.

Words with Friends 2 mobile game app

Barbara Krasnoff, reviews editor

Back in the summer of 2018, I was temporarily unemployed and taking occasional freelance gigs, including one where I worked as an extra for the second season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. There was a lot of sitting around between scenes, and one woman and I started using our phones to play Scrabble — or, rather, a Scrabble-like mobile game app called Words with Friends 2. When the job was over, we kept it up, and after a couple of weeks, I started another game with a former work colleague. When each game was over, we started another. And it just never stopped.

I still play with these two friends — friends whom, I might add, I never otherwise see. While the app itself is free, Words with Friends 2 can be pretty obnoxious — there are constant ads and never-ending urgings to pay for various upgrades. But I can’t give up yet. I’m behind several games, and I’ve got to see if I can make a seven-letter score at least once this coming round….

Cities: Skylines II video game

Liam James, supervising producer, audio

Part of my job as supervising producer of audio for The Verge involves building very complicated spreadsheets to track all kinds of important metrics. While that might sound awful to most people, I find it exhilarating. I love organizing problems in ways that make solving them… well, almost like a game.

So what do I do to relax? Well, I love city-building games because when you boil them down, they are just spreadsheet simulators with a fun and pretty UI on top. My latest obsession is Cities: Skylines II, a spiritual SimCity successor. After a bumpy launch earlier this year, the game has ironed out most of the bugs and performance issues.

Most recently, I’ve been experimenting with a city build that has no roads for cars. To get around, my citizens must walk or take mass transit. But without cars and trucks, how do you move commercial goods around your town? Well, the truth is, I don’t know yet, but I am having a heck of a time figuring it out. There are endless ways to get lost inside a city builder, but for me, the most fun comes from solving one problem at a time and seeing how it affects all the other systems — like a column in a spreadsheet.

Duck Game

Sean Hollister, senior editor

Ouya, the indie game console, was one of the biggest technology flops of the past decade. And yet, it spawned a game I still play with friends almost every week. Duck Game, largely a one-man indie hit from 2015, kept my friend group together through the pandemic with online play for up to eight people.

It’s a 2D arena battle with the frantic energy of Smash Bros., but here, you’re playing ducks with guns — blasting one another with pistols, machine guns, net guns, lasers, mind control rays, sleeping bag cannons, grenades, and more, all while dodging stage hazards, friends who can stomp you with their newfound shoes, chainsaw jousters, and the occasional flying sword.

There’s no blood, just clouds of duck feathers, but almost everything kills in one hit, so hilarity ensues as everyone makes mistakes. The game doesn’t teach you how to play, and yet, it has so much depth, my friends are still discovering new techniques nearly nine years after we began. You can fire shots at all sorts of angles if you jump just right! Holding a certain box can let you drop faster! You can sword pogo sticks like Yoshimitsu from Soulcalibur! Grab and throw your foes after they play dead! Change the pitch of the game’s mostly useless musical instruments with the analog trigger!

Did I mention this game has a dedicated quack button to taunt your foes? Quack quack.

Read More 

Photo: A24

The latest installment of Ti West’s X franchise is a glamorously cutthroat send-up of Ronald Reagan-era excess and moral panic. With X and Pearl, it was hard to miss that Ti West was using pornography and horror as lenses through which to tell a story about the evolution of film. Both were explorations of how naked bodies have always been a subject of cinematic fascination, and while the movies were tonally different, they similarly spotlighted how sex has always been one of the driving forces behind the advancement of movie-making technology.
MaXXXine enters the X franchise knowing full well how easily it could fall victim to the threequel curse if it simply dropped its star into a new decade to fight for her life on yet another farm. And while it features plenty of callbacks to its predecessors, it switches the formula up just enough to make it feel like West has pulled off a blood-soaked hat trick.
You don’t really need to be familiar with the Texas Chain Saw Massacre-inspired events of X or that film’s stomach-turning connection to Pearl to appreciate MaXXXine as a slasher in the vein of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Maniac. But MaXXXine’s plot — which incorporates aspects of American ’80s culture like the satanic panic — and its focus on rising film star Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) make a different kind of sense when you know what went down on that run-down Texas farm back in 1979.
Six years after narrowly escaping with her life and setting off to realize her dream of becoming a mainstream movie star, Maxine has wound up in Los Angeles and damn near done the thing thanks to an unflappable work ethic and the unwavering support of her crooked agent Teddy Knight (Giancarlo Esposito). In a town full of newly minted blondes hungry for big breaks, neither Maxine’s thick accent nor her willingness to show skin is quite enough to make her stand out — especially for bigger-budget projects that aren’t just about people having sex. But after meeting with Maxine and watching her audition, director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) is convinced that she’s found the star for her new supernatural horror The Puritan II.

Bender’s fictional film within a film helps establish early on what kinds of real-world movies MaXXXine ultimately excels at echoing — cheesy, practically created thrillers revolving around beautiful young people and psychopaths hot to murder them. But compared to West’s last films, which were both smaller by design, MaXXXine has a far larger scope that’s key to the way it evokes the spirit of the ’80s as a whole.
You can feel West channeling the sexiness of dramas like Flashdance and the grimy glamour of neo-noirs like Body Double as Maxine rushes from her gigs at a strip joint to rehearsals on set. In terms of locations, MaXXXine’s world is both bigger and more intricate than that of either Pearl or X, which — coupled with Goth’s steelier performance — makes Maxine herself feel almost like a different character. West also uses this newly added space to paint a picture of LA (the city) at its sleaziest and emphasize how the US’s Ronald Reagan-era political conservatism had a transformative effect on the era’s larger pop cultural landscape.
MaXXXine’s explicit eroticism juxtaposed with its frequent shots of protesting conservative evangelists often makes the film feel like the X franchise’s most direct commentary on / response to Hollywood’s present-day aversion to sex. But by specifically setting MaXXXine in 1985 and building its story, in part, around the Night Stalker murders, West cleverly sets the feature up to play like a coked-up tribute to the year itself, with all its paranoia and B-horror projects that would eventually go on to become genre classics.
What’s most surprising about MaXXXine is how comedically it unfolds as it imagines what might happen to a serial killer who sets their sights on a woman with very few qualms about maiming and / or murdering people when she feels threatened. As people around Maxine start turning up dead, however, the movie shifts into an increasingly tense mode akin to a psychological thriller that pushes Goth to bring a pointed vulnerability to her performance.

In contrast to the depth it affords its star, many of MaXXXine’s other players — like trigger-happy private investigator John Labat (Kevin Bacon) and LAPD detectives Torres (Bobby Cannavale) and Williams (Michelle Monaghan) — are intentionally rendered as over-the-top caricatures whose flamboyance belies their two-dimensionality. Those characters are easy to appreciate as another layer of West paying homage to his cinematic influences, but much like the film’s many nods to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, their presence at times makes MaXXXine feel a bit too enamored with its own tongue-in-cheek-ness.
More than its setting or new time period, MaXXXine’s self-awareness about being the third installment in a franchise that audiences now have certain expectations about is what makes it feel most distinct from X and Pearl. Especially if you’ve recently sat down to watch the X movies in chronological order and paid attention to their fairly obvious subplot about how the public has responded to porn over the decades, the twist of MaXXXine’s big finale will be blindingly obvious just a few minutes in. But as the third and “final” chapter in a story about the world being forced to reckon with the birth of a star, MaXXXine delivers in spades.
MaXXXine also stars Moses Sumney, Halsey, Lily Collins, and Simon Prast. The film hits theaters on July 5th.

Photo: A24

The latest installment of Ti West’s X franchise is a glamorously cutthroat send-up of Ronald Reagan-era excess and moral panic.

With X and Pearl, it was hard to miss that Ti West was using pornography and horror as lenses through which to tell a story about the evolution of film. Both were explorations of how naked bodies have always been a subject of cinematic fascination, and while the movies were tonally different, they similarly spotlighted how sex has always been one of the driving forces behind the advancement of movie-making technology.

MaXXXine enters the X franchise knowing full well how easily it could fall victim to the threequel curse if it simply dropped its star into a new decade to fight for her life on yet another farm. And while it features plenty of callbacks to its predecessors, it switches the formula up just enough to make it feel like West has pulled off a blood-soaked hat trick.

You don’t really need to be familiar with the Texas Chain Saw Massacre-inspired events of X or that film’s stomach-turning connection to Pearl to appreciate MaXXXine as a slasher in the vein of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Maniac. But MaXXXine’s plot — which incorporates aspects of American ’80s culture like the satanic panic — and its focus on rising film star Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) make a different kind of sense when you know what went down on that run-down Texas farm back in 1979.

Six years after narrowly escaping with her life and setting off to realize her dream of becoming a mainstream movie star, Maxine has wound up in Los Angeles and damn near done the thing thanks to an unflappable work ethic and the unwavering support of her crooked agent Teddy Knight (Giancarlo Esposito). In a town full of newly minted blondes hungry for big breaks, neither Maxine’s thick accent nor her willingness to show skin is quite enough to make her stand out — especially for bigger-budget projects that aren’t just about people having sex. But after meeting with Maxine and watching her audition, director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) is convinced that she’s found the star for her new supernatural horror The Puritan II.

Bender’s fictional film within a film helps establish early on what kinds of real-world movies MaXXXine ultimately excels at echoing — cheesy, practically created thrillers revolving around beautiful young people and psychopaths hot to murder them. But compared to West’s last films, which were both smaller by design, MaXXXine has a far larger scope that’s key to the way it evokes the spirit of the ’80s as a whole.

You can feel West channeling the sexiness of dramas like Flashdance and the grimy glamour of neo-noirs like Body Double as Maxine rushes from her gigs at a strip joint to rehearsals on set. In terms of locations, MaXXXine’s world is both bigger and more intricate than that of either Pearl or X, which — coupled with Goth’s steelier performance — makes Maxine herself feel almost like a different character. West also uses this newly added space to paint a picture of LA (the city) at its sleaziest and emphasize how the US’s Ronald Reagan-era political conservatism had a transformative effect on the era’s larger pop cultural landscape.

MaXXXine’s explicit eroticism juxtaposed with its frequent shots of protesting conservative evangelists often makes the film feel like the X franchise’s most direct commentary on / response to Hollywood’s present-day aversion to sex. But by specifically setting MaXXXine in 1985 and building its story, in part, around the Night Stalker murders, West cleverly sets the feature up to play like a coked-up tribute to the year itself, with all its paranoia and B-horror projects that would eventually go on to become genre classics.

What’s most surprising about MaXXXine is how comedically it unfolds as it imagines what might happen to a serial killer who sets their sights on a woman with very few qualms about maiming and / or murdering people when she feels threatened. As people around Maxine start turning up dead, however, the movie shifts into an increasingly tense mode akin to a psychological thriller that pushes Goth to bring a pointed vulnerability to her performance.

In contrast to the depth it affords its star, many of MaXXXine’s other players — like trigger-happy private investigator John Labat (Kevin Bacon) and LAPD detectives Torres (Bobby Cannavale) and Williams (Michelle Monaghan) — are intentionally rendered as over-the-top caricatures whose flamboyance belies their two-dimensionality. Those characters are easy to appreciate as another layer of West paying homage to his cinematic influences, but much like the film’s many nods to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, their presence at times makes MaXXXine feel a bit too enamored with its own tongue-in-cheek-ness.

More than its setting or new time period, MaXXXine’s self-awareness about being the third installment in a franchise that audiences now have certain expectations about is what makes it feel most distinct from X and Pearl. Especially if you’ve recently sat down to watch the X movies in chronological order and paid attention to their fairly obvious subplot about how the public has responded to porn over the decades, the twist of MaXXXine’s big finale will be blindingly obvious just a few minutes in. But as the third and “final” chapter in a story about the world being forced to reckon with the birth of a star, MaXXXine delivers in spades.

MaXXXine also stars Moses Sumney, Halsey, Lily Collins, and Simon Prast. The film hits theaters on July 5th.

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Image: That Odd Gentlemen

Developing Harmonium: The Musical took a lot of time and a lot of resources, but according to its developers, that effort and expense was worth it. Before I even touched the demo of Harmonium: The Musical at Summer Game Fest earlier this month, I started bawling. It’s about a young deaf girl, Melody, who wishes to participate in the musical traditions of her hearing family. That desire leads her to an adventure in the magical land of Harmonium where music and sign language are the primary means of communication. But what really got me about this game is the dedication from its development team to not only make this game but make it right — with all of the costs and risks that entails.
Harmonium is the latest project from The Odd Gentlemen, an LA-based studio known for its revival of the Sierra Entertainment point-and-click adventure classic King’s Quest. Studio founder Matt Korba told The Verge that Harmonium was inspired by theater troupes like Deaf West that incorporate sign language into their productions. But in developing Harmonium, Korba said he wanted a game that went beyond what he felt most studios do when tackling representation. “Usually on projects like this, the script will be written in English, and [developers will hire] a consultant at the last minute that knows sign language, and they’ll just translate,” Korba said.

image: The Odd Gentelmen

To Korba, Harmonium required a “ground-up approach” that, from day one, integrated the people with the same lived experiences as the characters created for the game. That included engaging the Southern California Association for the Deaf and recruiting deaf developers and artists. This led Korba to Matt Daigle, a deaf artist, performer, and graphic designer notable for creating the international symbol for breastfeeding and his webcomic That Deaf Guy depicting the everyday life of a mixed-hearing family. He also found Søren Bro Sparre, a deaf animator from Denmark whose hiring introduced the challenge of communicating not only in English and American Sign Language but in Danish Sign Language as well.
For Daigle, Harmonium is a way to share more of Deaf culture, including dispelling what he called the cultural myth that music isn’t for deaf people. “I relate to Melody because I grew up in a family of musicians, and I played the clarinet,” Daigle signed in our interview with helpful translation from his interpreter. “It’s good to show that a person who was hearing who became deaf can still enjoy music, and that deaf people enjoy everything in their own way.”
“It’s good to show that a person who was hearing who became deaf can still enjoy music, and that deaf people enjoy everything in their own way.”
Though Daigle’s role was to inform Melody as a deaf character, there were other elements of her character that he could not speak to. Melody is Filipino, Korba explained, and her experiences as a person are influenced by her cultural heritage as well as her deafness.
“As we got deeper into development, we realized there was a cross-cultural difference,” Korba said. “We had to laser focus and try to find people with lived experience and the [right] background, so we ended up finding two actresses who are both deaf and Filipino that we use for reference accuracy.”

That level of specificity took work; the game’s story had to be rewritten three times. But Korba also explained that all those little steps taken in service to authenticity made the game better than what it would have been without it.
“One of our early passes on the script had a lot of deaf struggles in it,” Korba said. Originally, Melody’s father wasn’t going to use sign language, emulating a common problem between deaf children and their hearing parents. But in testing this story with deaf participants, they found that despite the fact this was a common scenario for deaf people, they rejected it anyway, telling the developer that “I don’t want to see that in a video game.”

Image: The Odd Gentlemen
Melody signs with her father, who, in the original script, did not use sign language.

He said their deaf playtesters explained that they didn’t want their children to grow up expecting to always struggle with their hearing loved ones. “We discovered it’s okay to show challenges, but you also have to show the benefits.”
That benefit is something Daigle explained as “Deaf Gain” — a philosophy that shifts the perspective on deaf people to the unique things they can do versus what they can’t. “This is about people speaking with their eyes,” Daigle signed. In the opening moments of Harmonium’s demo, for instance, Melody is stuck inside practicing for a recital when her friend stops by to speak to her through her living room window — something only deaf people can do.

Image: The Odd Gentlemen
Melody’s deaf friend Matt communicates with her through a window.

Hearing about all the things it took to bring Harmonium to life, I couldn’t help but wonder: “Isn’t this all prohibitively expensive?” Game development is time-consuming and expensive as it is, even without Harmonium’s level of specificity. Expensive games that take a long time to make face a significant challenge to recoup that cost and make a profit. And even then, merely being profitable isn’t enough to ensure a studio’s survival.
Daigle and Korba credited their partners at Xbox and Netflix who encouraged their team to continue down their unique, if complicated, path even though it ran contrary to modern game development sensibilities. “We have had time to let those things incubate and develop, bringing them to an audience that includes everybody,” Daigle signed. “Does that sound expensive? It sure is. But it’s worth it.”
The video game industry has been beset with unprecedented layoffs, studio closures, and project cancellations. Publishers are largely choosing to spend money on developing massive, live-service, multiplayer, multi-platform games from recognizable IPs, leaving smaller studios and games to languish for lack of funding. Meanwhile, underneath it all is a vigorous and virulent current of toxicity that seeks to amplify the fringe notion that in order for the video games industry to survive this upheaval, they must appeal to as broad an audience as possible.
“Does that sound expensive? It sure is. But it’s worth it.”
Given all this, it feels like a miracle a game like Harmonium exists — and its developers know it. “We all just did it one step at a time,” Korba said. “And everyone’s like, ‘How did you get here?’ I don’t really know.”
Harmonium is but one example of how diversity and inclusion combined with authentically and empathetically executed scope results in better games — the kind audiences will embrace.
I’m not deaf or Filipino, but I could still connect with Melody and her story. I grinned like an idiot when I solved one of Harmonium’s puzzles, matching Melody’s signed descriptions to their correct instruments so I could open a locked door. I laughed when Daigle explained some of the Deaf humor in the game, like a joke about a deaf tree that wouldn’t fall unless someone signed “timber.” And it all made me cry because even though it would have been easier, cheaper, and safer for the developers at The Odd Gentlemen to not include any of these things, they did it anyway.
“We’re not just building a game for deaf people,” Daigle signed, “but a game that is fun and engaging for everybody.”
Harmonium: The Musical launches in early 2025 on Netflix and Xbox Game Pass.

Image: That Odd Gentlemen

Developing Harmonium: The Musical took a lot of time and a lot of resources, but according to its developers, that effort and expense was worth it.

Before I even touched the demo of Harmonium: The Musical at Summer Game Fest earlier this month, I started bawling. It’s about a young deaf girl, Melody, who wishes to participate in the musical traditions of her hearing family. That desire leads her to an adventure in the magical land of Harmonium where music and sign language are the primary means of communication. But what really got me about this game is the dedication from its development team to not only make this game but make it right — with all of the costs and risks that entails.

Harmonium is the latest project from The Odd Gentlemen, an LA-based studio known for its revival of the Sierra Entertainment point-and-click adventure classic King’s Quest. Studio founder Matt Korba told The Verge that Harmonium was inspired by theater troupes like Deaf West that incorporate sign language into their productions. But in developing Harmonium, Korba said he wanted a game that went beyond what he felt most studios do when tackling representation. “Usually on projects like this, the script will be written in English, and [developers will hire] a consultant at the last minute that knows sign language, and they’ll just translate,” Korba said.

image: The Odd Gentelmen

To Korba, Harmonium required a “ground-up approach” that, from day one, integrated the people with the same lived experiences as the characters created for the game. That included engaging the Southern California Association for the Deaf and recruiting deaf developers and artists. This led Korba to Matt Daigle, a deaf artist, performer, and graphic designer notable for creating the international symbol for breastfeeding and his webcomic That Deaf Guy depicting the everyday life of a mixed-hearing family. He also found Søren Bro Sparre, a deaf animator from Denmark whose hiring introduced the challenge of communicating not only in English and American Sign Language but in Danish Sign Language as well.

For Daigle, Harmonium is a way to share more of Deaf culture, including dispelling what he called the cultural myth that music isn’t for deaf people. “I relate to Melody because I grew up in a family of musicians, and I played the clarinet,” Daigle signed in our interview with helpful translation from his interpreter. “It’s good to show that a person who was hearing who became deaf can still enjoy music, and that deaf people enjoy everything in their own way.”

Though Daigle’s role was to inform Melody as a deaf character, there were other elements of her character that he could not speak to. Melody is Filipino, Korba explained, and her experiences as a person are influenced by her cultural heritage as well as her deafness.

“As we got deeper into development, we realized there was a cross-cultural difference,” Korba said. “We had to laser focus and try to find people with lived experience and the [right] background, so we ended up finding two actresses who are both deaf and Filipino that we use for reference accuracy.”

That level of specificity took work; the game’s story had to be rewritten three times. But Korba also explained that all those little steps taken in service to authenticity made the game better than what it would have been without it.

“One of our early passes on the script had a lot of deaf struggles in it,” Korba said. Originally, Melody’s father wasn’t going to use sign language, emulating a common problem between deaf children and their hearing parents. But in testing this story with deaf participants, they found that despite the fact this was a common scenario for deaf people, they rejected it anyway, telling the developer that “I don’t want to see that in a video game.”

Image: The Odd Gentlemen
Melody signs with her father, who, in the original script, did not use sign language.

He said their deaf playtesters explained that they didn’t want their children to grow up expecting to always struggle with their hearing loved ones. “We discovered it’s okay to show challenges, but you also have to show the benefits.”

That benefit is something Daigle explained as “Deaf Gain” — a philosophy that shifts the perspective on deaf people to the unique things they can do versus what they can’t. “This is about people speaking with their eyes,” Daigle signed. In the opening moments of Harmonium’s demo, for instance, Melody is stuck inside practicing for a recital when her friend stops by to speak to her through her living room window — something only deaf people can do.

Image: The Odd Gentlemen
Melody’s deaf friend Matt communicates with her through a window.

Hearing about all the things it took to bring Harmonium to life, I couldn’t help but wonder: “Isn’t this all prohibitively expensive?” Game development is time-consuming and expensive as it is, even without Harmonium’s level of specificity. Expensive games that take a long time to make face a significant challenge to recoup that cost and make a profit. And even then, merely being profitable isn’t enough to ensure a studio’s survival.

Daigle and Korba credited their partners at Xbox and Netflix who encouraged their team to continue down their unique, if complicated, path even though it ran contrary to modern game development sensibilities. “We have had time to let those things incubate and develop, bringing them to an audience that includes everybody,” Daigle signed. “Does that sound expensive? It sure is. But it’s worth it.”

The video game industry has been beset with unprecedented layoffs, studio closures, and project cancellations. Publishers are largely choosing to spend money on developing massive, live-service, multiplayer, multi-platform games from recognizable IPs, leaving smaller studios and games to languish for lack of funding. Meanwhile, underneath it all is a vigorous and virulent current of toxicity that seeks to amplify the fringe notion that in order for the video games industry to survive this upheaval, they must appeal to as broad an audience as possible.

Given all this, it feels like a miracle a game like Harmonium exists — and its developers know it. “We all just did it one step at a time,” Korba said. “And everyone’s like, ‘How did you get here?’ I don’t really know.”

Harmonium is but one example of how diversity and inclusion combined with authentically and empathetically executed scope results in better games — the kind audiences will embrace.

I’m not deaf or Filipino, but I could still connect with Melody and her story. I grinned like an idiot when I solved one of Harmonium’s puzzles, matching Melody’s signed descriptions to their correct instruments so I could open a locked door. I laughed when Daigle explained some of the Deaf humor in the game, like a joke about a deaf tree that wouldn’t fall unless someone signed “timber.” And it all made me cry because even though it would have been easier, cheaper, and safer for the developers at The Odd Gentlemen to not include any of these things, they did it anyway.

“We’re not just building a game for deaf people,” Daigle signed, “but a game that is fun and engaging for everybody.”

Harmonium: The Musical launches in early 2025 on Netflix and Xbox Game Pass.

Read More 

LG is bringing Athom’s Homey products and the third-party device support they provide under its wing. | Image: LG / Homey

LG has acquired an 80 percent stake in Athom, a Dutch company best known for its Homey smart home platform. The deal, which LG says will see it acquire the remaining 20 percent of Athom within the next three years, has been forged to expand LG’s smart home ecosystem and should position it to better compete against Samsung’s rivaling SmartThings platform.
LG plans to integrate Athom’s existing Homey connectivity — which supports smart devices from Sonos, Ikea, Aqara, Philips Hue, and more — across its appliances through its ThinQ smart home platform. According to Homey, its users will soon be able to control ThinQ-enabled LG appliances via the platform. Homey has developed a significant user base since it was founded in 2014, with its flagship Homey Pro smart home hub capable of connecting to over 50,000 devices across Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Matter, and Thread.

The deal will enable LG to incorporate third-party devices and services into its ThinQ ecosystem for the first time. LG executive vice president Jung Ki-hyun refers to the Athom acquisition as “a cornerstone for our AI home business.” LG announced plans during CES in January to bring so-called “Affectionate Intelligence” to its ThinQ smart home platform — which Homey’s connection to appliances, sensors, and lighting may now play a part in.
LG says that Athom will continue to operate as an independent company following the acquisition, retaining its current branding and operations. It’s a similar move to Samsung acquiring SmartThings for $200 million in 2014, which has since seen Samsung building multi-connectivity SmartThings support into soundbars, TVs, smart fridges, monitors, and more.
“Homey will continue as it is, with Athom remaining committed to developing Homey Cloud and Homey Pro”
“Homey will continue as it is, with Athom remaining committed to developing Homey Cloud and Homey Pro, and keep working on an ever-expanding lineup of new products,” said Homey in its acquisition statement. “Both the founders, Emile Nijssen & Stefan Witkamp, will stay on as executives of Athom, and continue to execute their vision and create a better smart home for everyone.”
The value of the deal has not been officially disclosed, though The Korea Economic Daily reports that it’s estimated to be around 85 billion won ($61 million). LG also hasn’t clarified how Homey’s connectivity and integrations will be embedded into its products but notes that the deal will allow it to “gain deeper insights into customers’ lifestyle and usage patterns” — which may not mesh well with Homey’s “privacy first” ethos.

LG is bringing Athom’s Homey products and the third-party device support they provide under its wing. | Image: LG / Homey

LG has acquired an 80 percent stake in Athom, a Dutch company best known for its Homey smart home platform. The deal, which LG says will see it acquire the remaining 20 percent of Athom within the next three years, has been forged to expand LG’s smart home ecosystem and should position it to better compete against Samsung’s rivaling SmartThings platform.

LG plans to integrate Athom’s existing Homey connectivity — which supports smart devices from Sonos, Ikea, Aqara, Philips Hue, and more — across its appliances through its ThinQ smart home platform. According to Homey, its users will soon be able to control ThinQ-enabled LG appliances via the platform. Homey has developed a significant user base since it was founded in 2014, with its flagship Homey Pro smart home hub capable of connecting to over 50,000 devices across Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Matter, and Thread.

The deal will enable LG to incorporate third-party devices and services into its ThinQ ecosystem for the first time. LG executive vice president Jung Ki-hyun refers to the Athom acquisition as “a cornerstone for our AI home business.” LG announced plans during CES in January to bring so-called “Affectionate Intelligence” to its ThinQ smart home platform — which Homey’s connection to appliances, sensors, and lighting may now play a part in.

LG says that Athom will continue to operate as an independent company following the acquisition, retaining its current branding and operations. It’s a similar move to Samsung acquiring SmartThings for $200 million in 2014, which has since seen Samsung building multi-connectivity SmartThings support into soundbars, TVs, smart fridges, monitors, and more.

“Homey will continue as it is, with Athom remaining committed to developing Homey Cloud and Homey Pro, and keep working on an ever-expanding lineup of new products,” said Homey in its acquisition statement. “Both the founders, Emile Nijssen & Stefan Witkamp, will stay on as executives of Athom, and continue to execute their vision and create a better smart home for everyone.”

The value of the deal has not been officially disclosed, though The Korea Economic Daily reports that it’s estimated to be around 85 billion won ($61 million). LG also hasn’t clarified how Homey’s connectivity and integrations will be embedded into its products but notes that the deal will allow it to “gain deeper insights into customers’ lifestyle and usage patterns” — which may not mesh well with Homey’s “privacy first” ethos.

Read More 

Picking up my new passport at the post office. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Perhaps you’ve heard you can now renew your US passport online. As long as you meet certain requirements, there’s a beta website for that. The State Department tells me it’s not necessarily faster — but anecdotally, my family just had two of the speediest, most painless experiences we’ve ever had with the US government.
I applied from my phone, I shot my own digital photo at home — and one week later, I picked up my new passport at the post office. I submitted it on June 15th, my passport was issued on June 20th, and it was waiting for me on the 21st. That’s just six days in total.
Five business days each
When my wife tried it, her renewal went even quicker: she applied on June 24th, her application was approved on the 26th, her new passport shipped on the 27th, and it was ready for pickup on the 29th. Just five days, including shipping.
Plus, we didn’t pay for an envelope or postage or have to ship our passports. I even used my old passport as a photo ID when I picked up the new one.
What’s the catch?
First, you should know it won’t always be this fast.
During the beta, the US Department of State is intentionally limiting how many people can apply each day, and Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel tells me that’s why my turnaround time was so quick. The beta is currently serving tens of thousands, not millions of people just yet!
The State Department does expect to shave off one to two weeks of processing time because you don’t need to mail in a passport and online payment processing is fast, Patel writes — but one-week turnarounds are likely to disappear as the department ramps up how many people can get in.
Officially, the department’s still quoting six to eight weeks for routine service, the same as it was before the pandemic began. “The time it takes to get a passport will be the same as renewing by mail,” its website warns.
Second, you can only do the easiest kinds of passport renewals online. You must be age 25 or older, currently living in the United States, and renewing a regular 10-year tourist passport issued between 2009 and 2015. You can’t change your name, gender, date, or place of birth, and you need to have your old passport handy. Here’s a fuller list of requirements.
Third, you have to reserve a slot. You need to create a Login.gov account and visit this website each day around 10AM PT / 1PM ET to see if you can get in. You’ll typically see this special message below “Renew Your Passport” if that day’s window has already closed:

Image: State Department website
When I checked at 1:37PM ET today, the window was still open, but it’s closed now.

Once you get in, you don’t need to complete your application immediately; the website automatically saved where I left off. Even if you don’t have a passport photo ready, go ahead and get that slot!
Fourth, you may need a hand to take a valid passport photo; selfies won’t work because your arms need to be at your sides in the frame. I had to hunt around my house for an off-white background with plenty of light, too — but they didn’t reject my photo for having some visible wall texturing in the background.

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Here’s the passport photo I hastily submitted. (I shot it by remote-controlling an Osmo Pocket 3 with my phone since my wife was busy.)

Fifth, you may not be able to plan any international travel until your new passport arrives, even if it takes longer than you hope; the State Department says your current passport will be canceled after you submit the online application, even if it still would have been valid for a while.
The State Department expects 5 million people will be eligible for online passport renewal every year once the program launches in full, according to Patel. That’s as much as two-thirds of all US passport renewals.

Picking up my new passport at the post office. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Perhaps you’ve heard you can now renew your US passport online. As long as you meet certain requirements, there’s a beta website for that. The State Department tells me it’s not necessarily faster — but anecdotally, my family just had two of the speediest, most painless experiences we’ve ever had with the US government.

I applied from my phone, I shot my own digital photo at home — and one week later, I picked up my new passport at the post office. I submitted it on June 15th, my passport was issued on June 20th, and it was waiting for me on the 21st. That’s just six days in total.

When my wife tried it, her renewal went even quicker: she applied on June 24th, her application was approved on the 26th, her new passport shipped on the 27th, and it was ready for pickup on the 29th. Just five days, including shipping.

Plus, we didn’t pay for an envelope or postage or have to ship our passports. I even used my old passport as a photo ID when I picked up the new one.

What’s the catch?

First, you should know it won’t always be this fast.

During the beta, the US Department of State is intentionally limiting how many people can apply each day, and Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel tells me that’s why my turnaround time was so quick. The beta is currently serving tens of thousands, not millions of people just yet!

The State Department does expect to shave off one to two weeks of processing time because you don’t need to mail in a passport and online payment processing is fast, Patel writes — but one-week turnarounds are likely to disappear as the department ramps up how many people can get in.

Officially, the department’s still quoting six to eight weeks for routine service, the same as it was before the pandemic began. “The time it takes to get a passport will be the same as renewing by mail,” its website warns.

Second, you can only do the easiest kinds of passport renewals online. You must be age 25 or older, currently living in the United States, and renewing a regular 10-year tourist passport issued between 2009 and 2015. You can’t change your name, gender, date, or place of birth, and you need to have your old passport handy. Here’s a fuller list of requirements.

Third, you have to reserve a slot. You need to create a Login.gov account and visit this website each day around 10AM PT / 1PM ET to see if you can get in. You’ll typically see this special message below “Renew Your Passport” if that day’s window has already closed:

Image: State Department website
When I checked at 1:37PM ET today, the window was still open, but it’s closed now.

Once you get in, you don’t need to complete your application immediately; the website automatically saved where I left off. Even if you don’t have a passport photo ready, go ahead and get that slot!

Fourth, you may need a hand to take a valid passport photo; selfies won’t work because your arms need to be at your sides in the frame. I had to hunt around my house for an off-white background with plenty of light, too — but they didn’t reject my photo for having some visible wall texturing in the background.

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Here’s the passport photo I hastily submitted. (I shot it by remote-controlling an Osmo Pocket 3 with my phone since my wife was busy.)

Fifth, you may not be able to plan any international travel until your new passport arrives, even if it takes longer than you hope; the State Department says your current passport will be canceled after you submit the online application, even if it still would have been valid for a while.

The State Department expects 5 million people will be eligible for online passport renewal every year once the program launches in full, according to Patel. That’s as much as two-thirds of all US passport renewals.

Read More 

Brazilian regulators say Meta’s “excessive and unjustified obstacles” make it difficult for users to opt out of AI training. | Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge

Brazil’s data protection authority (ANPD) has banned Meta from training its artificial intelligence models on Brazilian personal data, citing the “risks of serious damage and difficulty to users.” The decision follows an update to Meta’s privacy policy in May in which the social media giant granted itself permission to use public Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram data from Brazil — including posts, images, and captions — for AI training.
The decision follows a report published by Human Rights Watch last month which found that LAION-5B — one of the largest image-caption datasets used to train AI models — contains personal, identifiable photos of Brazilian children, placing them at risk of deepfakes and other exploitation.
As reported by The Associated Press, ANPD told the country’s official gazette that the policy carries “imminent risk of serious and irreparable or difficult-to-repair damage to the fundamental rights” of Brazilian users. The region is one of Meta’s largest markets, with 102 million Brazilian user accounts found on Facebook alone according to the ANPD. The notification published by the agency on Tuesday gives Meta five working days to comply with the order, or risk facing daily fines of 50,000 reais (around $8,808).
Meta said in a statement to the AP that its updated policy “complies with privacy laws and regulations in Brazil,” and that the ruling is “a step backwards for innovation, competition in AI development and further delays bringing the benefits of AI to people in Brazil.” While Meta says users can opt out of having their data used to train AI, ANPD says there are “excessive and unjustified obstacles” in place that make it difficult to do so.
Meta received similar pushback from regulators in the EU causing the company to pause plans to train its AI models on European Facebook and Instagram posts. Meta’s updated data collection policies are already in effect in the US, however, which lacks comparable user privacy protections.

Brazilian regulators say Meta’s “excessive and unjustified obstacles” make it difficult for users to opt out of AI training. | Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge

Brazil’s data protection authority (ANPD) has banned Meta from training its artificial intelligence models on Brazilian personal data, citing the “risks of serious damage and difficulty to users.” The decision follows an update to Meta’s privacy policy in May in which the social media giant granted itself permission to use public Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram data from Brazil — including posts, images, and captions — for AI training.

The decision follows a report published by Human Rights Watch last month which found that LAION-5B — one of the largest image-caption datasets used to train AI models — contains personal, identifiable photos of Brazilian children, placing them at risk of deepfakes and other exploitation.

As reported by The Associated Press, ANPD told the country’s official gazette that the policy carries “imminent risk of serious and irreparable or difficult-to-repair damage to the fundamental rights” of Brazilian users. The region is one of Meta’s largest markets, with 102 million Brazilian user accounts found on Facebook alone according to the ANPD. The notification published by the agency on Tuesday gives Meta five working days to comply with the order, or risk facing daily fines of 50,000 reais (around $8,808).

Meta said in a statement to the AP that its updated policy “complies with privacy laws and regulations in Brazil,” and that the ruling is “a step backwards for innovation, competition in AI development and further delays bringing the benefits of AI to people in Brazil.” While Meta says users can opt out of having their data used to train AI, ANPD says there are “excessive and unjustified obstacles” in place that make it difficult to do so.

Meta received similar pushback from regulators in the EU causing the company to pause plans to train its AI models on European Facebook and Instagram posts. Meta’s updated data collection policies are already in effect in the US, however, which lacks comparable user privacy protections.

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Proton Docs does comments, collaboration, and a bunch of other Google Docs-y things. | Image: Proton

Proton Docs looks a lot like Google Docs: white pages, formatting toolbar at the top, live indicators showing who’s in the doc with their name attached to a cursor, the whole deal. That’s not especially surprising, for a couple of reasons. First, Google Docs is hugely popular, and there are only so many ways to style a document editor anyway. Second, Proton Docs exists in large part to be all the things that are great about Google Docs — just without Google in the mix.
Docs is launching today inside of Proton Drive, as the latest app in Proton’s privacy-focused suite of work tools. The company that started as an email client now also includes a calendar, a file storage system, a password manager, and more. Adding Docs to the ecosystem makes sense for Proton as it tries to compete with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace and seemed to be clearly coming soon after Proton acquired Standard Notes in April. Standard Notes isn’t going away, though, Proton PR manager Will Moore tells me — it’s just that Docs is borrowing some features.
The first version of Proton Docs seems to have most of what you’d expect in a document editor: rich text options, real-time collaborative editing, and multimedia support. (If Proton can handle image embeds better than Google, it might have a hit on its hands just for that.) It’s web-only and desktop-optimized for now, though Moore tells me it’ll eventually come to other platforms. “Everything that Google’s got is on our roadmap,” he says.

Image: Proton
Imagine Google Docs… there, that’s it. You know what Proton Docs looks like.

Since this is a Proton product, security is everything: the company says every document, keystroke, and even cursor movement is end-to-end encrypted in real time. Proton has long promised to never sell or otherwise use your user data, which may appeal to more people than ever now that there are so many questions about how your documents and information are used to train AI models. (For what it’s worth, Google says it also doesn’t use your content to train its models.)
Proton is just one of the companies trying to offer privacy-focused alternatives to Google and Microsoft, and so far, none of them have made a dent in those companies’ dominance. But Proton’s products have improved a lot in the last few years, and it’s getting closer to offering all the things some users might need to switch. (One big thing missing? Spreadsheets. Good luck taking Excel down, Proton.)

Proton Docs does comments, collaboration, and a bunch of other Google Docs-y things. | Image: Proton

Proton Docs looks a lot like Google Docs: white pages, formatting toolbar at the top, live indicators showing who’s in the doc with their name attached to a cursor, the whole deal. That’s not especially surprising, for a couple of reasons. First, Google Docs is hugely popular, and there are only so many ways to style a document editor anyway. Second, Proton Docs exists in large part to be all the things that are great about Google Docs — just without Google in the mix.

Docs is launching today inside of Proton Drive, as the latest app in Proton’s privacy-focused suite of work tools. The company that started as an email client now also includes a calendar, a file storage system, a password manager, and more. Adding Docs to the ecosystem makes sense for Proton as it tries to compete with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace and seemed to be clearly coming soon after Proton acquired Standard Notes in April. Standard Notes isn’t going away, though, Proton PR manager Will Moore tells me — it’s just that Docs is borrowing some features.

The first version of Proton Docs seems to have most of what you’d expect in a document editor: rich text options, real-time collaborative editing, and multimedia support. (If Proton can handle image embeds better than Google, it might have a hit on its hands just for that.) It’s web-only and desktop-optimized for now, though Moore tells me it’ll eventually come to other platforms. “Everything that Google’s got is on our roadmap,” he says.

Image: Proton
Imagine Google Docs… there, that’s it. You know what Proton Docs looks like.

Since this is a Proton product, security is everything: the company says every document, keystroke, and even cursor movement is end-to-end encrypted in real time. Proton has long promised to never sell or otherwise use your user data, which may appeal to more people than ever now that there are so many questions about how your documents and information are used to train AI models. (For what it’s worth, Google says it also doesn’t use your content to train its models.)

Proton is just one of the companies trying to offer privacy-focused alternatives to Google and Microsoft, and so far, none of them have made a dent in those companies’ dominance. But Proton’s products have improved a lot in the last few years, and it’s getting closer to offering all the things some users might need to switch. (One big thing missing? Spreadsheets. Good luck taking Excel down, Proton.)

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An exploded view of the Amflow PL e-bike showing the Avinox drive system. | Image: DJI

DJI is expanding into electric bikes in a big way with its new Avinox drive system and Amflow e-bike brand. The company best known for its drones is launching its first e-bike — the carbon fiber Amflow PL electric mountain bike — before the end of the year, complete with the mid-drive Avinox motor and fast-charging battery. It has so many smart and powerful features packed into a relatively lightweight e-bike that it should catch the attention of competitors like Bosch and Specialized.
As a showcase for DJI’s new Avinox drive system, the Amflow PL e-bike features a very impressive 120Nm of max torque and 1000W of on-demand boost power to overcome even the steepest inclines. Otherwise, its “remarkably quiet” mid-drive motor is rated for 250W of nominal output with an 850W peak. Its removable 800Wh battery can fast-charge from zero to 75 percent in a speedy 1.5 hours when using Amflow’s 2A/508W GaN charger.
Despite all that power and battery capacity, the Amflow PL weighs just 19.2kg (just over 42 pounds), thanks in part to a 2.27kg carbon fiber frame and 2.52kg Avinox drive system.

The bike features a two-inch color OLED touchscreen display integrated into the frame and an Avinox app for wireless access to the bike and all the riding data. The bike will sound an alarm in case of trouble and alert you of its location in the app. It has four pedal-assist modes, including an auto mode that adapts power delivery based on riding resistance. Rounding out the highlights is a USB charging port for your phone or bike computer, a full suspension system from Fox, and a frame that can accommodate both 27.5-inch and 29-inch rear wheels.
“Our expertise in battery and motor technology accumulated in drones and camera stabilization systems, have led us to the creation of Avinox,” says Christina Zhang, senior director of corporate strategy at DJI. “It is a natural move for DJI to expand into this field as we have been mastering the technologies essential to an electric bike system, in terms of reliable motor development, battery management, mechanical design and engineering.”

The company has also been developing intelligent driving solutions for automobiles in China over the last few years, some of which can already be found in several car models. More recently, the company expanded into the large consumer battery market with the launch of its first power stations.
The Amflow PL is expected to ship in Q4. DJI tells me to expect a pricing somewhere between €7,000 and €12,000 ($7,500 and $12,850), which puts it into direct competition with premium electric sport bikes like Specialized’s Turbo series. DJI says the Amflow PL will be available from authorized dealers in Germany, the UK, and Australia “amongst others.”

An exploded view of the Amflow PL e-bike showing the Avinox drive system. | Image: DJI

DJI is expanding into electric bikes in a big way with its new Avinox drive system and Amflow e-bike brand. The company best known for its drones is launching its first e-bike — the carbon fiber Amflow PL electric mountain bike — before the end of the year, complete with the mid-drive Avinox motor and fast-charging battery. It has so many smart and powerful features packed into a relatively lightweight e-bike that it should catch the attention of competitors like Bosch and Specialized.

As a showcase for DJI’s new Avinox drive system, the Amflow PL e-bike features a very impressive 120Nm of max torque and 1000W of on-demand boost power to overcome even the steepest inclines. Otherwise, its “remarkably quiet” mid-drive motor is rated for 250W of nominal output with an 850W peak. Its removable 800Wh battery can fast-charge from zero to 75 percent in a speedy 1.5 hours when using Amflow’s 2A/508W GaN charger.

Despite all that power and battery capacity, the Amflow PL weighs just 19.2kg (just over 42 pounds), thanks in part to a 2.27kg carbon fiber frame and 2.52kg Avinox drive system.

The bike features a two-inch color OLED touchscreen display integrated into the frame and an Avinox app for wireless access to the bike and all the riding data. The bike will sound an alarm in case of trouble and alert you of its location in the app. It has four pedal-assist modes, including an auto mode that adapts power delivery based on riding resistance. Rounding out the highlights is a USB charging port for your phone or bike computer, a full suspension system from Fox, and a frame that can accommodate both 27.5-inch and 29-inch rear wheels.

“Our expertise in battery and motor technology accumulated in drones and camera stabilization systems, have led us to the creation of Avinox,” says Christina Zhang, senior director of corporate strategy at DJI. “It is a natural move for DJI to expand into this field as we have been mastering the technologies essential to an electric bike system, in terms of reliable motor development, battery management, mechanical design and engineering.”

The company has also been developing intelligent driving solutions for automobiles in China over the last few years, some of which can already be found in several car models. More recently, the company expanded into the large consumer battery market with the launch of its first power stations.

The Amflow PL is expected to ship in Q4. DJI tells me to expect a pricing somewhere between €7,000 and €12,000 ($7,500 and $12,850), which puts it into direct competition with premium electric sport bikes like Specialized’s Turbo series. DJI says the Amflow PL will be available from authorized dealers in Germany, the UK, and Australia “amongst others.”

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