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Image: The Verge

Members of Reddit’s r/ThatMysteriousSong community have finally identified what they call “The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet,” a new wave tune that a teenager recorded to cassette sometime around 1984, as reported yesterday by 404 Media.
The mysterious song’s digital trail goes back to 2004, when Darius S., the teenager who recorded it from a radio broadcast in Germany, posted it on a website along with other unknown songs, hoping others could help identify them. The search for its origins went viral back in 2019 when a Brazilian teen uploaded the song to YouTube.
Now we know that the song is called “Subways Of the Mind” by a band named FEX. Here’s a recording provided by Michael Hädrich, a 68-year-old former band member.

Hädrich said in an interview with Munich publication TZ that the band had no idea the song had such a mythic status online. He still makes music under the name Silk Vision from a music studio in Munich and told the outlet that the band now plans to record a new version of the song and produce a video to go with it.
The big breakthrough came yesterday after members started sifting through bands listed in the archives of a Hamburg local music festival. One member called Marijn1412 posted that they’d identified the band after finding a clue in an old newspaper article mentioning FEX, a group described as having “Rock with Wave and Pop influences.” They contacted one of the members, who confirmed he’d played in FEX and sent over recordings — one of which was a version of “Subways of the Mind.” And in the ultimate payoff for the community, there were two others, titled “Heart in Danger” and “Talking Hands.”

Image: The Verge

Members of Reddit’s r/ThatMysteriousSong community have finally identified what they call “The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet,” a new wave tune that a teenager recorded to cassette sometime around 1984, as reported yesterday by 404 Media.

The mysterious song’s digital trail goes back to 2004, when Darius S., the teenager who recorded it from a radio broadcast in Germany, posted it on a website along with other unknown songs, hoping others could help identify them. The search for its origins went viral back in 2019 when a Brazilian teen uploaded the song to YouTube.

Now we know that the song is called “Subways Of the Mind” by a band named FEX. Here’s a recording provided by Michael Hädrich, a 68-year-old former band member.

Hädrich said in an interview with Munich publication TZ that the band had no idea the song had such a mythic status online. He still makes music under the name Silk Vision from a music studio in Munich and told the outlet that the band now plans to record a new version of the song and produce a video to go with it.

The big breakthrough came yesterday after members started sifting through bands listed in the archives of a Hamburg local music festival. One member called Marijn1412 posted that they’d identified the band after finding a clue in an old newspaper article mentioning FEX, a group described as having “Rock with Wave and Pop influences.” They contacted one of the members, who confirmed he’d played in FEX and sent over recordings — one of which was a version of “Subways of the Mind.” And in the ultimate payoff for the community, there were two others, titled “Heart in Danger” and “Talking Hands.”

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The budget-friendly TV delivers good color and contrast for the price, with support for full-array local dimming and Dolby Vision HDR. | Image: Hisense

To say the news is a lot right now might be the understatement of the year. Luckily, if you’re looking for ways to distract yourself from the 2024 election in the days — or, god forbid, weeks — ahead, Hisene’s 55-inch U6N Series TV is on sale at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy starting at $347.99 ($200 off), which is a new all-time low.

The 4K-ready TV’s got everything you need to unplug and comfortably stream your stress away, all without spending a fortune. Notably, it comes with Google’s TV software built-in, so you can quickly find the perfect show and peruse content recommendations across a multitude of streaming services. The 55U6N also offers a slew of Gemini-powered AI features thanks to a recent software update — allowing you to read summaries, reviews, and recaps of your favorite shows — and a new smart home control panel, which lets you adjust the lights, thermostat, and other Google Home devices directly on your TV.
Hisense’s budget-friendly set has other things going for it, too. The TV offers solid picture quality for the price, with support for Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos for more immersive sound. The Mini LED panel also supports full-array local dimming for great color and contrast, though it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks support for HDMI 2.1. Those are fair trade-offs to make, however, especially if you don’t need a ton of gamer-friendly features.

The budget-friendly TV delivers good color and contrast for the price, with support for full-array local dimming and Dolby Vision HDR. | Image: Hisense

To say the news is a lot right now might be the understatement of the year. Luckily, if you’re looking for ways to distract yourself from the 2024 election in the days — or, god forbid, weeks — ahead, Hisene’s 55-inch U6N Series TV is on sale at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy starting at $347.99 ($200 off), which is a new all-time low.

The 4K-ready TV’s got everything you need to unplug and comfortably stream your stress away, all without spending a fortune. Notably, it comes with Google’s TV software built-in, so you can quickly find the perfect show and peruse content recommendations across a multitude of streaming services. The 55U6N also offers a slew of Gemini-powered AI features thanks to a recent software update — allowing you to read summaries, reviews, and recaps of your favorite shows — and a new smart home control panel, which lets you adjust the lights, thermostat, and other Google Home devices directly on your TV.

Hisense’s budget-friendly set has other things going for it, too. The TV offers solid picture quality for the price, with support for Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos for more immersive sound. The Mini LED panel also supports full-array local dimming for great color and contrast, though it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks support for HDMI 2.1. Those are fair trade-offs to make, however, especially if you don’t need a ton of gamer-friendly features.

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Image: Kia

The Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA, held its annual conference in Las Vegas this week. Billed as one of the biggest car shows in the world, the event typically brings together more than 135,000 attendees in the automotive aftermarket industry to see the newest trends in vehicle repairs and modifications.
And while there weren’t as many electric vehicle concepts and one-offs as years past — after all, we’re in the midst of a historic transition in the auto industry that is equal parts momentous and slower going than we expected — there were still a handful of interesting plug-in models worth highlighting.
Mopar

The Stellantis-owned parts and accessories division brought a number of compelling concepts to this year’s SEMA show. But none of them were as effortlessly cool as this 1967 Plymouth GTX “electromod.” This one-of-a-kind restomod is based on the — you guessed it — 1967 Plymouth GTX muscle car. And this new conversion is a taste of what’s to come from the world of electric conversions of classic cars.
Mopar wanted to show what was possible — a “potential future,” the company put it in its press release — using Mopar’s e-Crate propulsion systems. Classic car enthusiasts could pick up one of these conversion kits to transform a vintage muscle car or truck into a battery-electric vehicle.
Mopar tweaked the Plymouth’s exterior to include a carbon-fiber front splitter and custom low-profile rear spoiler. The company also paid homage to the flip-top fuel caps of the 1960s and ’70s by updating its function as a charge-port door.
Kia

Kia’s spacious three-row EV9 got a rugged facelift for SEMA, transforming into a new adventure-themed concept aptly named ADVNTR. Appearing alongside it is the WKNDR concept, based on Kia’s Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) modular concept that was first revealed at CES earlier this year.
Together, both concepts are designed for off-the-beaten-path excursions, with custom exterior designs aimed at rock climbing or river fording. The EV9-based ADVNTR is raised three inches more than the standard EV9, along with rugged wheel and tire combinations. Meanwhile, the WKNDR is also perched on off-road-capable tires and features a customizable interior for an endless variety of outdoor adventures.
Kia highlights several modular features: an onboard compressor to handle inflation, from adjusting tire pressure to inflating air mattresses for camping; a mobile pantry for outdoor cooking; and built-in solar panels and hydro-turbine wheels that can recharge the batteries.
Other automakers
That’s about it for EV enthusiasts at this year’s show. Other automakers brought their fair share of fossil fuel-powered concepts — everything from an open-air Land Cruiser with serious Jeep aspirations to some gnarly-looking Nissan trucks — but we here at The Verge draw a hard line at internal combustion engines. Let the past stay in the past.

Image: Kia

The Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA, held its annual conference in Las Vegas this week. Billed as one of the biggest car shows in the world, the event typically brings together more than 135,000 attendees in the automotive aftermarket industry to see the newest trends in vehicle repairs and modifications.

And while there weren’t as many electric vehicle concepts and one-offs as years past — after all, we’re in the midst of a historic transition in the auto industry that is equal parts momentous and slower going than we expected — there were still a handful of interesting plug-in models worth highlighting.

Mopar

The Stellantis-owned parts and accessories division brought a number of compelling concepts to this year’s SEMA show. But none of them were as effortlessly cool as this 1967 Plymouth GTX “electromod.” This one-of-a-kind restomod is based on the — you guessed it — 1967 Plymouth GTX muscle car. And this new conversion is a taste of what’s to come from the world of electric conversions of classic cars.

Mopar wanted to show what was possible — a “potential future,” the company put it in its press release — using Mopar’s e-Crate propulsion systems. Classic car enthusiasts could pick up one of these conversion kits to transform a vintage muscle car or truck into a battery-electric vehicle.

Mopar tweaked the Plymouth’s exterior to include a carbon-fiber front splitter and custom low-profile rear spoiler. The company also paid homage to the flip-top fuel caps of the 1960s and ’70s by updating its function as a charge-port door.

Kia

Kia’s spacious three-row EV9 got a rugged facelift for SEMA, transforming into a new adventure-themed concept aptly named ADVNTR. Appearing alongside it is the WKNDR concept, based on Kia’s Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) modular concept that was first revealed at CES earlier this year.

Together, both concepts are designed for off-the-beaten-path excursions, with custom exterior designs aimed at rock climbing or river fording. The EV9-based ADVNTR is raised three inches more than the standard EV9, along with rugged wheel and tire combinations. Meanwhile, the WKNDR is also perched on off-road-capable tires and features a customizable interior for an endless variety of outdoor adventures.

Kia highlights several modular features: an onboard compressor to handle inflation, from adjusting tire pressure to inflating air mattresses for camping; a mobile pantry for outdoor cooking; and built-in solar panels and hydro-turbine wheels that can recharge the batteries.

Other automakers

That’s about it for EV enthusiasts at this year’s show. Other automakers brought their fair share of fossil fuel-powered concepts — everything from an open-air Land Cruiser with serious Jeep aspirations to some gnarly-looking Nissan trucks — but we here at The Verge draw a hard line at internal combustion engines. Let the past stay in the past.

Read More 

Anova has upgraded its multi-function countertop oven with an interior camera that can recognize food and making cooking suggestions. | Image: Anova

Knowing what you’re trying to cook, thanks to an interior high-def camera, allows the Anova Precision Oven 2.0 to suggest which modes and temperatures will produce the best results. The original Anova Precision Oven debuted at $599, but the 2.0 version launching today for $1,199 adds a welcome upgrade to the countertop convection and steam combi oven that can prep food using a unique combination of both wet and dry heat. Anova says it will be available directly, but it currently lists only a placeholder registration page.
Combi ovens like the Anova Precision Oven 2.0 are more commonly used in restaurants by professional chefs, so giving home cooks suggestions on how to use it most effectively will potentially help reduce its learning curve. But the oven’s added smarts come with a much steeper price tag.

Image: Anova
The Precision Oven 2.0’s interior camera can identify food and make cooking suggestions, and eventually it could even let you know when it’s time for a cleaning.

Anova also offers an optional app that can leverage a mobile device’s camera to identify packaged foods and recommend the best cooking method while providing access to additional recipes and a live video feed from inside the oven.
Access to recipes through the app is locked behind a $1.99 per month or $9.99 per year subscription. Anova says additional features taking advantage of the oven’s added camera are “soon-to-be-released,” including reminders for when its interior needs a deep cleaning and spotting cooking mistakes before a dish is ruined. There’s no indication those will cost extra. However, when Anova recently introduced the subscription for its popular sous vide cookers, it paywalled features like remote control for new customers while maintaining free access for legacy owners.

Image: Anova
Cooking suggestions can also be provided through Anova’s app when scanning packaged food.

The Anova Precision Oven 2.0’s multi-faceted approach to cooking adds versatility overthan similar countertop-hogging appliances like air fryers or toaster ovens. It can be used for baking bread, roasting a whole chicken, air frying frozen french fries, dehydrating fruits, or sous vide cooking without bags or a water bath.
Carried over from the original version are three interior temperature sensors that can maintain a desired cooking temp to within half a degree. But the new 2.0 model also introduces “enhanced steam injection” from a water tank on the side, and improved heating elements on the bottom of the oven.

Anova has upgraded its multi-function countertop oven with an interior camera that can recognize food and making cooking suggestions. | Image: Anova

Knowing what you’re trying to cook, thanks to an interior high-def camera, allows the Anova Precision Oven 2.0 to suggest which modes and temperatures will produce the best results. The original Anova Precision Oven debuted at $599, but the 2.0 version launching today for $1,199 adds a welcome upgrade to the countertop convection and steam combi oven that can prep food using a unique combination of both wet and dry heat. Anova says it will be available directly, but it currently lists only a placeholder registration page.

Combi ovens like the Anova Precision Oven 2.0 are more commonly used in restaurants by professional chefs, so giving home cooks suggestions on how to use it most effectively will potentially help reduce its learning curve. But the oven’s added smarts come with a much steeper price tag.

Image: Anova
The Precision Oven 2.0’s interior camera can identify food and make cooking suggestions, and eventually it could even let you know when it’s time for a cleaning.

Anova also offers an optional app that can leverage a mobile device’s camera to identify packaged foods and recommend the best cooking method while providing access to additional recipes and a live video feed from inside the oven.

Access to recipes through the app is locked behind a $1.99 per month or $9.99 per year subscription. Anova says additional features taking advantage of the oven’s added camera are “soon-to-be-released,” including reminders for when its interior needs a deep cleaning and spotting cooking mistakes before a dish is ruined. There’s no indication those will cost extra. However, when Anova recently introduced the subscription for its popular sous vide cookers, it paywalled features like remote control for new customers while maintaining free access for legacy owners.

Image: Anova
Cooking suggestions can also be provided through Anova’s app when scanning packaged food.

The Anova Precision Oven 2.0’s multi-faceted approach to cooking adds versatility overthan similar countertop-hogging appliances like air fryers or toaster ovens. It can be used for baking bread, roasting a whole chicken, air frying frozen french fries, dehydrating fruits, or sous vide cooking without bags or a water bath.

Carried over from the original version are three interior temperature sensors that can maintain a desired cooking temp to within half a degree. But the new 2.0 model also introduces “enhanced steam injection” from a water tank on the side, and improved heating elements on the bottom of the oven.

Read More 

Image: Hori

Hori is bringing its officially licensed Steam controller to the US. The company quietly listed the $60 gamepad for preorder on Amazon, with availability starting December 16th.
Hori originally released its Wireless Horipad for Steam in October — but only in Japan. The controller features dedicated buttons you can use to pull up menus in Steam, whether you’re playing in Big Picture Mode, or on the company’s handheld. Just like on the Steam Deck, the gamepad comes with touch sensors on its joysticks for motion controls and mappable back buttons.

The controller can connect to your computer or Steam Deck with Bluetooth or the included USB-A Bluetooth receiver. Hori says the wireless gamepad will last up to 12 hours on a full charge, but you can plug in its USB cable in case it runs out of juice in the middle of your game. Additionally, you can remap buttons and adjust the gamepad’s stick sensitivity, gyro controls, and turbo settings from the controller menu in Steam.

Image: Hori

Hori’s controller lacks a few features you might expect to see on a Steam-specific controller, though, including rumble packs, a headset jack, and a trackpad. Still, it seems like a decent choice if you want a controller that’s sort of like an extension of your Steam Deck. It’s just too bad Valve hasn’t revived the ultra-customizable Steam controller it discontinued in 2019.

Image: Hori

Hori is bringing its officially licensed Steam controller to the US. The company quietly listed the $60 gamepad for preorder on Amazon, with availability starting December 16th.

Hori originally released its Wireless Horipad for Steam in October — but only in Japan. The controller features dedicated buttons you can use to pull up menus in Steam, whether you’re playing in Big Picture Mode, or on the company’s handheld. Just like on the Steam Deck, the gamepad comes with touch sensors on its joysticks for motion controls and mappable back buttons.

The controller can connect to your computer or Steam Deck with Bluetooth or the included USB-A Bluetooth receiver. Hori says the wireless gamepad will last up to 12 hours on a full charge, but you can plug in its USB cable in case it runs out of juice in the middle of your game. Additionally, you can remap buttons and adjust the gamepad’s stick sensitivity, gyro controls, and turbo settings from the controller menu in Steam.

Image: Hori

Hori’s controller lacks a few features you might expect to see on a Steam-specific controller, though, including rumble packs, a headset jack, and a trackpad. Still, it seems like a decent choice if you want a controller that’s sort of like an extension of your Steam Deck. It’s just too bad Valve hasn’t revived the ultra-customizable Steam controller it discontinued in 2019.

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Amazon’s MK30 drone. | Image: Amazon

Amazon is starting up drone delivery operations at its Tolleson, AZ, same-day delivery site. Customers who live in the West Valley Phoenix Metro Area are eligible to receive packages via Prime Air and will have “access to the over 50,000 everyday essentials” that include household, beauty, and office/tech supplies — which Amazon claims is its largest selection yet for fast drone deliveries.
The news came after Amazon announced it was shutting down its testing zone location in Lockeford, California. The new Tolleson location integrates drone deliveries into Amazon’s delivery network for the first time, and the drones will deploy right next to the fulfillment center.
Amazon is using its latest MK30 drones that can carry up to 5 pounds while also flying “twice as far” and running “50 percent quieter” than its previous models that sometimes crashed and burned in testing.
Amazon will launch the drones from its hybrid facility. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved Amazon’s drones for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), meaning they can be flown out of visual range from the operator. The company claims it’s the first to launch both a new facility and BVLOS drone service that meets FAA requirements.
Despite many delays in getting its program off the ground, Amazon says it has delivered “thousands” of items to customers in less than an hour since it started drone deliveries in 2022. The company also operates in College Station, Texas, and plans to open new locations in 2025.

Amazon’s MK30 drone. | Image: Amazon

Amazon is starting up drone delivery operations at its Tolleson, AZ, same-day delivery site. Customers who live in the West Valley Phoenix Metro Area are eligible to receive packages via Prime Air and will have “access to the over 50,000 everyday essentials” that include household, beauty, and office/tech supplies — which Amazon claims is its largest selection yet for fast drone deliveries.

The news came after Amazon announced it was shutting down its testing zone location in Lockeford, California. The new Tolleson location integrates drone deliveries into Amazon’s delivery network for the first time, and the drones will deploy right next to the fulfillment center.

Amazon is using its latest MK30 drones that can carry up to 5 pounds while also flying “twice as far” and running “50 percent quieter” than its previous models that sometimes crashed and burned in testing.

Amazon will launch the drones from its hybrid facility. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved Amazon’s drones for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), meaning they can be flown out of visual range from the operator. The company claims it’s the first to launch both a new facility and BVLOS drone service that meets FAA requirements.

Despite many delays in getting its program off the ground, Amazon says it has delivered “thousands” of items to customers in less than an hour since it started drone deliveries in 2022. The company also operates in College Station, Texas, and plans to open new locations in 2025.

Read More 

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

For anyone obsessively watching election results in the US, Apple News will bring live updates to iPhone and iPad users’ lockscreens. And if you’ve got a recent iPhone, you can keep tabs on the electoral count right in the Dynamic Island while doing other things on your phone.
The widget will be available on iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches starting tonight as votes in the US presidential and congressional elections are counted, AppleInsider reports. It’ll show the electoral count for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as well as Senate and House election results.
To get the updates on your lockscreen, you’ll have to register first. Open up Apple News and tap on the “Follow the 2024 election live” banner. If you don’t see the option right away, look for “Election 2024” under the “Special Coverage” section of the menu. You should get a notification that the Live Activity has been enabled.
Apple News similarly shared caucus results through Live Activities earlier this year. Apple didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from The Verge requesting more information about today’s live election updates.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

For anyone obsessively watching election results in the US, Apple News will bring live updates to iPhone and iPad users’ lockscreens. And if you’ve got a recent iPhone, you can keep tabs on the electoral count right in the Dynamic Island while doing other things on your phone.

The widget will be available on iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches starting tonight as votes in the US presidential and congressional elections are counted, AppleInsider reports. It’ll show the electoral count for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as well as Senate and House election results.

To get the updates on your lockscreen, you’ll have to register first. Open up Apple News and tap on the “Follow the 2024 election live” banner. If you don’t see the option right away, look for “Election 2024” under the “Special Coverage” section of the menu. You should get a notification that the Live Activity has been enabled.

Apple News similarly shared caucus results through Live Activities earlier this year. Apple didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from The Verge requesting more information about today’s live election updates.

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Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

A shorter-than-usual US presidential election season comes to a head. Americans are going to the polls, deciding whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump should become the 47th president of the United States of America. It’s the end of an election cycle that’s already seen legal challenges and even violence, and that’s split Silicon Valley between all-in Trump fans, Harris backers, and people hedging their bets. The outcome will determine the future of everything from climate change to the measles.
While the votes are cast and counted, online platforms will be making calls about the line between valuable speech and disinformation or calls to violence. (Their owners may also be actively campaigning.) Elections watchdogs will be on the lookout for voter suppression and false information about how to vote. And we’ll be posting news about it here.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

A shorter-than-usual US presidential election season comes to a head.

Americans are going to the polls, deciding whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump should become the 47th president of the United States of America. It’s the end of an election cycle that’s already seen legal challenges and even violence, and that’s split Silicon Valley between all-in Trump fans, Harris backers, and people hedging their bets. The outcome will determine the future of everything from climate change to the measles.

While the votes are cast and counted, online platforms will be making calls about the line between valuable speech and disinformation or calls to violence. (Their owners may also be actively campaigning.) Elections watchdogs will be on the lookout for voter suppression and false information about how to vote. And we’ll be posting news about it here.

Read More 

Image: Nintendo

Listening to Nintendo music isn’t easy. It’s not available on streaming platforms, so I usually end up scouring YouTube for songs from Animal Crossing and Metroid. Because of this, I was hoping that Nintendo Music, a new app that surprise-launched last week, would be my one-stop shop for listening to Nintendo soundtracks. But while it features some clever ideas, there are lots of frustrations and weird choices from Nintendo that mean it isn’t quite what I was hoping for.
Navigating the app, which is available on iOS and Android but only accessible to Switch Online subscribers, feels a lot like other music services like Apple Music or Spotify. You can browse tracks from individual games or hand-curated playlists themed around things like characters, Pokémon battle songs, or tracks you might want to listen to on an extended loop. It’s organized in a thoughtful way on a per-game basis. The fictional bands in Splatoon 3 all get artist pages with bios. The page for Animal Crossing: New Horizons features playlists for K.K. Slider performances and instrumentals, and if you want to listen to a full playlist of Kapp’n’s sea shanties, that’s available, too.
The extended loop feature is my favorite part. For some songs, you can choose to extend them out to 15, 30, or 60 minutes. I’ve already used it quite a bit to work to music from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; the calming piano sounds of “The Great Plateau” are still exquisite seven years later. I also like that you can add games to a “spoiler prevention” list to hide information about a game you might not have played yet, which could be a good way to keep yourself in the dark about a final boss for a game you might want to play.
There just aren’t many games on the app
But Nintendo Music doesn’t have many game soundtracks to listen to. Nintendo has more than 40 years’ worth of titles it could have included, and right now, there are only 25 games to pick from. There are just two Zelda games: Breath of the Wild and Ocarina of Time. Fire Emblem is the only Game Boy Advance game. There are three NES games, and two of them are Metroid. Technically, one of the “games” is Wii Channels music (which, to be fair, is full of bangers).

I could go on, but the point is that Nintendo Music isn’t a comprehensive collection of the company’s enormous musical history. Given that most of the soundtracks are for Nintendo Switch games, it’s more of a collection of Nintendo’s recent musical history, but it seems like a huge miss that I can’t listen to anything from Super Mario World in the app.
That will start to change, and probably slowly, if the drip-feed of Switch Online retro games is any indication. A day after the service launched, Nintendo added the soundtrack to Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and on Monday, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest became available, too. In the Nintendo Music reveal trailer, the company showed that Wii Sports, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Splatoon 2, and F-Zero X are all set to arrive on the service, but only on a vague “over time” schedule.
Nintendo Music also doesn’t credit the real humans involved in making a song. That means, curiously enough, that the fictional bands in Splatoon 3 have more prominence in Nintendo Music than the legendary Koji Kondo. (Nintendo has kind of a weird thing about credits at the moment.)

Image: Nintendo

The app has some other issues, too. You can’t extend some songs, and there’s no indication why, which is really annoying. One of the first songs I wanted to try the feature with was Metroid Prime’s soothing “Phendrana Drifts” music, but it’s not possible — which, given that it’s one of the main songs you hear on loop while exploring that area of the game, doesn’t make sense to me. Sure, you can just set the song to repeat, but that’s not quite the same as an hour-long extension. And when you select the duration of how long you want to extend a song, the whole song starts over; it’s a little thing, but I wish the app could just make the extension happen without the brief but jarring halt.
And disappointingly, Nintendo Music is currently only available on iOS and Android — there’s no desktop or web app. I’d really like to listen to Nintendo Music from a Mac app or in my desktop browser; it isn’t compatible with CarPlay or Android Auto, either.
For the songs that are currently available, Nintendo Music is great. But so much is missing that part of me wonders if Nintendo pushed this service out the door ahead of the launch of the successor to the Switch so that it could add to the service later. It’s a similar feeling to the frustrations with other recent not-Switch things from Nintendo, like the Alarmo clock and skin-deep Nintendo Museum; they all have good ideas but also some weird limitations.
Nintendo Music just isn’t as deep as I would like it to be. It means I’m going to have to keep tracking a lot of music down on YouTube.

Image: Nintendo

Listening to Nintendo music isn’t easy. It’s not available on streaming platforms, so I usually end up scouring YouTube for songs from Animal Crossing and Metroid. Because of this, I was hoping that Nintendo Music, a new app that surprise-launched last week, would be my one-stop shop for listening to Nintendo soundtracks. But while it features some clever ideas, there are lots of frustrations and weird choices from Nintendo that mean it isn’t quite what I was hoping for.

Navigating the app, which is available on iOS and Android but only accessible to Switch Online subscribers, feels a lot like other music services like Apple Music or Spotify. You can browse tracks from individual games or hand-curated playlists themed around things like characters, Pokémon battle songs, or tracks you might want to listen to on an extended loop. It’s organized in a thoughtful way on a per-game basis. The fictional bands in Splatoon 3 all get artist pages with bios. The page for Animal Crossing: New Horizons features playlists for K.K. Slider performances and instrumentals, and if you want to listen to a full playlist of Kapp’n’s sea shanties, that’s available, too.

The extended loop feature is my favorite part. For some songs, you can choose to extend them out to 15, 30, or 60 minutes. I’ve already used it quite a bit to work to music from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; the calming piano sounds of “The Great Plateau” are still exquisite seven years later. I also like that you can add games to a “spoiler prevention” list to hide information about a game you might not have played yet, which could be a good way to keep yourself in the dark about a final boss for a game you might want to play.

But Nintendo Music doesn’t have many game soundtracks to listen to. Nintendo has more than 40 years’ worth of titles it could have included, and right now, there are only 25 games to pick from. There are just two Zelda games: Breath of the Wild and Ocarina of Time. Fire Emblem is the only Game Boy Advance game. There are three NES games, and two of them are Metroid. Technically, one of the “games” is Wii Channels music (which, to be fair, is full of bangers).

I could go on, but the point is that Nintendo Music isn’t a comprehensive collection of the company’s enormous musical history. Given that most of the soundtracks are for Nintendo Switch games, it’s more of a collection of Nintendo’s recent musical history, but it seems like a huge miss that I can’t listen to anything from Super Mario World in the app.

That will start to change, and probably slowly, if the drip-feed of Switch Online retro games is any indication. A day after the service launched, Nintendo added the soundtrack to Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and on Monday, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest became available, too. In the Nintendo Music reveal trailer, the company showed that Wii Sports, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Splatoon 2, and F-Zero X are all set to arrive on the service, but only on a vague “over time” schedule.

Nintendo Music also doesn’t credit the real humans involved in making a song. That means, curiously enough, that the fictional bands in Splatoon 3 have more prominence in Nintendo Music than the legendary Koji Kondo. (Nintendo has kind of a weird thing about credits at the moment.)

The app has some other issues, too. You can’t extend some songs, and there’s no indication why, which is really annoying. One of the first songs I wanted to try the feature with was Metroid Prime’s soothing “Phendrana Drifts” music, but it’s not possible — which, given that it’s one of the main songs you hear on loop while exploring that area of the game, doesn’t make sense to me. Sure, you can just set the song to repeat, but that’s not quite the same as an hour-long extension. And when you select the duration of how long you want to extend a song, the whole song starts over; it’s a little thing, but I wish the app could just make the extension happen without the brief but jarring halt.

And disappointingly, Nintendo Music is currently only available on iOS and Android — there’s no desktop or web app. I’d really like to listen to Nintendo Music from a Mac app or in my desktop browser; it isn’t compatible with CarPlay or Android Auto, either.

For the songs that are currently available, Nintendo Music is great. But so much is missing that part of me wonders if Nintendo pushed this service out the door ahead of the launch of the successor to the Switch so that it could add to the service later. It’s a similar feeling to the frustrations with other recent not-Switch things from Nintendo, like the Alarmo clock and skin-deep Nintendo Museum; they all have good ideas but also some weird limitations.

Nintendo Music just isn’t as deep as I would like it to be. It means I’m going to have to keep tracking a lot of music down on YouTube.

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Artistic representation of Lignosat wooden satellite. | Art: KyotoU/Gakuji Tobiyama

In a first for the world, scientists launched a satellite made from wood into space. As it orbits the planet from some 250 miles away, researchers will study whether wood is sturdy enough for space.
Called LignoSat, after the Latin word for wood, the satellite launched Monday night aboard a SpaceX mission bound for the International Space Station. It’ll eventually be released into orbit, where instruments will measure how the wood fares under the harsh conditions of space over six months.
“With timber, a material we can produce by ourselves, we will be able to build houses, live and work in space forever,” Takao Doi, an astronaut and professor at Kyoto University, told Reuters.

Scientists in Japan are set to test the world’s first wooden satellite, LignoSat, developed by a team from Kyoto University and homebuilder Sumitomo Forestry, and will be launched on Nov. 5′ pic.twitter.com/Go6sSnPXP0— Reuters Science News (@ReutersScience) November 1, 2024

Kyoto University researchers and timber company Sumitomo Forestry started working together on the space wood project in 2020. They conducted space exposure tests from the International Space Station over more than 240 days in 2022. They settled on using Hoonoki, a type of Magnolia wood, for its “high workability, dimensional stability, and overall strength.” The wood is often used to make traditional sword sheaths in Japan because it’s resistant to shattering, Reuters reports.
The lack of water or oxygen in space protects the wood satellite from fire or decay, according to the team from Kyoto University. They’ll also test how effective the wood is at protecting semiconductors from space radiation, according to Reuters.
“If we can prove our first wooden satellite works, we want to pitch it to Elon Musk’s SpaceX,” Doi said.
They also think that wooden satellites could be a less polluting option than metal satellites that release aluminum oxide particles when they burn up during re-entry. In 50 years, Doi’s team reportedly envisions growing wood for timber homes on the Moon and Mars.

Artistic representation of Lignosat wooden satellite. | Art: KyotoU/Gakuji Tobiyama

In a first for the world, scientists launched a satellite made from wood into space. As it orbits the planet from some 250 miles away, researchers will study whether wood is sturdy enough for space.

Called LignoSat, after the Latin word for wood, the satellite launched Monday night aboard a SpaceX mission bound for the International Space Station. It’ll eventually be released into orbit, where instruments will measure how the wood fares under the harsh conditions of space over six months.

“With timber, a material we can produce by ourselves, we will be able to build houses, live and work in space forever,” Takao Doi, an astronaut and professor at Kyoto University, told Reuters.

Kyoto University researchers and timber company Sumitomo Forestry started working together on the space wood project in 2020. They conducted space exposure tests from the International Space Station over more than 240 days in 2022. They settled on using Hoonoki, a type of Magnolia wood, for its “high workability, dimensional stability, and overall strength.” The wood is often used to make traditional sword sheaths in Japan because it’s resistant to shattering, Reuters reports.

The lack of water or oxygen in space protects the wood satellite from fire or decay, according to the team from Kyoto University. They’ll also test how effective the wood is at protecting semiconductors from space radiation, according to Reuters.

“If we can prove our first wooden satellite works, we want to pitch it to Elon Musk’s SpaceX,” Doi said.

They also think that wooden satellites could be a less polluting option than metal satellites that release aluminum oxide particles when they burn up during re-entry. In 50 years, Doi’s team reportedly envisions growing wood for timber homes on the Moon and Mars.

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