verge-rss

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

New York has become the next state to introduce a mobile ID program, giving residents the option to digitize their driver’s license or non-driver ID.
Beginning today, the New York Mobile ID app is available from Apple’s App Store and Google Play. The app can be used for identity verification at airports. A physical license, permit, or non-driver ID is required to activate a mobile ID; you’ll need to take a photo of the front and back with your phone during the enrollment process.
The news was announced during a media briefing at LaGuardia Airport on Tuesday that included New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Mark J.F. Schroeder and Transportation Security Administration federal security director Robert Duffy, among other speakers. Their pitch is that mobile IDs “will revolutionize the way New Yorkers protect their identities and will significantly enhance the way they get through security at airports across the nation.” State officials are also emphasizing that it’s a voluntary option meant for convenience.
“When you offer your mobile ID to TSA or anyone else who accepts it, you are in full control of sharing that information. They can only see the information they request to see,” Schroeder said. “If you only need to prove your age, you can withhold other information that a verifier doesn’t need to see.”
Before today, fewer than a dozen states in the United States had rolled out mobile driver’s licenses. New York joins a list that includes Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, and Utah. Android and iOS both offer native support for mobile driver’s licenses in their respective digital wallet apps.
Indeed, the days of repeating the “keys, wallet, phone” mantra when leaving the house may be coming to an end — at least for some of us. In addition to government-issued IDs, smartphones have the capability to store credit cards and even digital car keys.
But there are inherent privacy concerns that surround digital IDs: they can potentially be tracked and leave a more detailed trail of where you’ve been (and for what purpose) than traditional physical IDs. Storing all of that data with a contracted third-party vendor comes with its own set of risks, and privacy advocates have called for safeguards like strong encryption and giving residents tight control over what data is shared where.
In January, the New York Civil Liberties Union wrote a letter asking the DMV to pause any potential pilot of a mobile ID program and calling for more transparency, saying that the department’s efforts have largely been out of public view and warrant greater scrutiny.
“The perceived need for any program should be debated in public forums and include plans for technical and legal safeguards, including comprehensive privacy protections,” the group said. “Digitizing any identification system requires particular scrutiny and immense care, based on the harms we have seen across the country and beyond.”

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

New York has become the next state to introduce a mobile ID program, giving residents the option to digitize their driver’s license or non-driver ID.

Beginning today, the New York Mobile ID app is available from Apple’s App Store and Google Play. The app can be used for identity verification at airports. A physical license, permit, or non-driver ID is required to activate a mobile ID; you’ll need to take a photo of the front and back with your phone during the enrollment process.

The news was announced during a media briefing at LaGuardia Airport on Tuesday that included New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Mark J.F. Schroeder and Transportation Security Administration federal security director Robert Duffy, among other speakers. Their pitch is that mobile IDs “will revolutionize the way New Yorkers protect their identities and will significantly enhance the way they get through security at airports across the nation.” State officials are also emphasizing that it’s a voluntary option meant for convenience.

“When you offer your mobile ID to TSA or anyone else who accepts it, you are in full control of sharing that information. They can only see the information they request to see,” Schroeder said. “If you only need to prove your age, you can withhold other information that a verifier doesn’t need to see.”

Before today, fewer than a dozen states in the United States had rolled out mobile driver’s licenses. New York joins a list that includes Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, and Utah. Android and iOS both offer native support for mobile driver’s licenses in their respective digital wallet apps.

Indeed, the days of repeating the “keys, wallet, phone” mantra when leaving the house may be coming to an end — at least for some of us. In addition to government-issued IDs, smartphones have the capability to store credit cards and even digital car keys.

But there are inherent privacy concerns that surround digital IDs: they can potentially be tracked and leave a more detailed trail of where you’ve been (and for what purpose) than traditional physical IDs. Storing all of that data with a contracted third-party vendor comes with its own set of risks, and privacy advocates have called for safeguards like strong encryption and giving residents tight control over what data is shared where.

In January, the New York Civil Liberties Union wrote a letter asking the DMV to pause any potential pilot of a mobile ID program and calling for more transparency, saying that the department’s efforts have largely been out of public view and warrant greater scrutiny.

“The perceived need for any program should be debated in public forums and include plans for technical and legal safeguards, including comprehensive privacy protections,” the group said. “Digitizing any identification system requires particular scrutiny and immense care, based on the harms we have seen across the country and beyond.”

Read More 

Image: BioWare

Game director Corinne Busche talks about the next entry in the RPG franchise. One would think after spending a summer screaming about kissing bears in Baldur’s Gate or gods in Hades 2 that my primary concern for Dragon Age: The Veilguard — a game from a studio known for its robust character writing and romanceable companions — would be who I’m picking to smooch. But after three games spanning almost two decades, all I really wanted out of the next Dragon Age was a skin tone that matched mine and didn’t look like I’d never seen a bottle of moisturizer.
So I know there is a Maker who loves me when one of the very first features that game director Corinne Busche showed me was all the different skin tones in Veilguard’s character creator.
“We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about skin tone,” she said. In the character creator, once you choose a race and customize your features — including the series-first ability to change your body size — you can check your work under different kinds of lighting. The character we made, a Black elf, seemed to glow in the bluish light of a nighttime scene, and under bright sunlight, I could see the richness of his color.
“We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about skin tone.”
“We want to make sure that skin tone is reflected authentically,” Busche said.
The second feature I saw — one that I insisted Busche show me, risking the precious little time I had with this hands-off demo at Summer Game Fest — was the hair options.
“We have dozens and dozens of hair types,” she said. “And they’re fully affected by physics.” The quality and variety of choices I saw delighted me. The rows of bouncy, luxurious-looking hair of all curl types and textures (and yes, the annoyingly ubiquitous “Killmonger cut” was among the options, what can you do?) brought the biggest smile to my face in the hour I spent with Busche and The Veilguard.
“A very important part of our philosophy is that no matter who you are, you’re able to realize yourself inside of this game,” Busche said, and I think they nailed it.

Image: BioWare

There was only so much I could see in the hour I had with the hands-off demo, but all of it was really heartening as a longtime Dragon Age fan. Minrathous, the city we explored in the demo, was dark and moody, with its blood mage cultists, yet awash with the color of magical signs like the neon lights of a major city.

To some, that colorfulness, combined with a reveal trailer that had a more stylized art direction, led to grumblings on social media that The Veilguard didn’t feel like a “real” Dragon Age game. Detractors complain that the new stylization looks too cartoonish and is too much a departure from the series that once featured Marilyn Manson’s “This Is the New Shit” in one of its blood-splattered trailers.
Busche understood the criticisms and offered a two-pronged explanation. The first part was simply that Dragon Age, as a series, has always changed. “What we’ve seen over the years is an evolution of the visuals in the franchise,” Busche said. “Dragon Age has never really had an ownable visual identity.”
Busche explained that the team wanted to give players a game where locations were imbued with just as much personality as the characters. “That meant making contrast from the areas that are dark and decaying to the areas that are illuminated with magic,” Busche said.
Another reason The Veilguard looks so different from other Dragon Age games is because the locations themselves are unlike anything the franchise has seen before. The first three Dragon Age games took place in the southern parts of the world, where magic and its users were brutally repressed.
Meanwhile, for the locations in Veilguard, “This is a part of the world where magic has been embraced,” Busche said. “It is a society of mages and magic in this world is inherently colorful. So whether we’re seeing them use magic for everyday purposes like signage or using them as spells, that color really comes through.”

Image: BioWare

It’s been a long and possibly agonizing time coming for fans of the series who first got a glimpse of the new game back when it was announced at the 2018 Game Awards. In the intervening years, there were a few “proof of life” updates, including the news that the game had undergone a massive change of scope with BioWare scrapping plans to add live-service multiplayer elements to instead focus on a single-player-only experience.
But while that information was generally met with enthusiasm, optimism concerning the game’s future was imperiled by constant news of layoffs and high-profile departures. After decades with the studio, BioWare general manager Casey Hudson and Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah left the company in 2020. Creative director Matt Goldman left in 2021, 19-year BioWare veteran Mac Walters left in 2023, and in that same year, the studio announced the layoffs of over 50 people, including several long-serving BioWare employees.
Needless to say, Veilguard’s development has been beset by issues. And an hour of hands-off gameplay isn’t enough to completely dispel the lingering concerns that the game’s tortured development cycle has affected its quality. But I know the Dragon Age series, and based on the conversations I’ve had and the little I’ve seen, it feels like despite the turmoil, BioWare still got it right.
Final judgment will have to be reserved for when I can finally play the finished product when Veilguard launches in the fall of this year. But seeing all the character creator options, knowing that we’ll finally get a romanceable dwarf companion, and knowing that we’ll finally visit places like Weisshaupt and the necropolis of Nevarra — requests and locations that have dominated Dragon Age fandom discussions for decades — Veilguard feels like it’s on the right track.

Image: BioWare

Game director Corinne Busche talks about the next entry in the RPG franchise.

One would think after spending a summer screaming about kissing bears in Baldur’s Gate or gods in Hades 2 that my primary concern for Dragon Age: The Veilguard — a game from a studio known for its robust character writing and romanceable companions — would be who I’m picking to smooch. But after three games spanning almost two decades, all I really wanted out of the next Dragon Age was a skin tone that matched mine and didn’t look like I’d never seen a bottle of moisturizer.

So I know there is a Maker who loves me when one of the very first features that game director Corinne Busche showed me was all the different skin tones in Veilguard’s character creator.

“We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about skin tone,” she said. In the character creator, once you choose a race and customize your features — including the series-first ability to change your body size — you can check your work under different kinds of lighting. The character we made, a Black elf, seemed to glow in the bluish light of a nighttime scene, and under bright sunlight, I could see the richness of his color.

“We want to make sure that skin tone is reflected authentically,” Busche said.

The second feature I saw — one that I insisted Busche show me, risking the precious little time I had with this hands-off demo at Summer Game Fest — was the hair options.

“We have dozens and dozens of hair types,” she said. “And they’re fully affected by physics.” The quality and variety of choices I saw delighted me. The rows of bouncy, luxurious-looking hair of all curl types and textures (and yes, the annoyingly ubiquitous “Killmonger cut” was among the options, what can you do?) brought the biggest smile to my face in the hour I spent with Busche and The Veilguard.

“A very important part of our philosophy is that no matter who you are, you’re able to realize yourself inside of this game,” Busche said, and I think they nailed it.

Image: BioWare

There was only so much I could see in the hour I had with the hands-off demo, but all of it was really heartening as a longtime Dragon Age fan. Minrathous, the city we explored in the demo, was dark and moody, with its blood mage cultists, yet awash with the color of magical signs like the neon lights of a major city.

To some, that colorfulness, combined with a reveal trailer that had a more stylized art direction, led to grumblings on social media that The Veilguard didn’t feel like a “real” Dragon Age game. Detractors complain that the new stylization looks too cartoonish and is too much a departure from the series that once featured Marilyn Manson’s “This Is the New Shit” in one of its blood-splattered trailers.

Busche understood the criticisms and offered a two-pronged explanation. The first part was simply that Dragon Age, as a series, has always changed. “What we’ve seen over the years is an evolution of the visuals in the franchise,” Busche said. “Dragon Age has never really had an ownable visual identity.”

Busche explained that the team wanted to give players a game where locations were imbued with just as much personality as the characters. “That meant making contrast from the areas that are dark and decaying to the areas that are illuminated with magic,” Busche said.

Another reason The Veilguard looks so different from other Dragon Age games is because the locations themselves are unlike anything the franchise has seen before. The first three Dragon Age games took place in the southern parts of the world, where magic and its users were brutally repressed.

Meanwhile, for the locations in Veilguard, “This is a part of the world where magic has been embraced,” Busche said. “It is a society of mages and magic in this world is inherently colorful. So whether we’re seeing them use magic for everyday purposes like signage or using them as spells, that color really comes through.”

Image: BioWare

It’s been a long and possibly agonizing time coming for fans of the series who first got a glimpse of the new game back when it was announced at the 2018 Game Awards. In the intervening years, there were a few “proof of life” updates, including the news that the game had undergone a massive change of scope with BioWare scrapping plans to add live-service multiplayer elements to instead focus on a single-player-only experience.

But while that information was generally met with enthusiasm, optimism concerning the game’s future was imperiled by constant news of layoffs and high-profile departures. After decades with the studio, BioWare general manager Casey Hudson and Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah left the company in 2020. Creative director Matt Goldman left in 2021, 19-year BioWare veteran Mac Walters left in 2023, and in that same year, the studio announced the layoffs of over 50 people, including several long-serving BioWare employees.

Needless to say, Veilguard’s development has been beset by issues. And an hour of hands-off gameplay isn’t enough to completely dispel the lingering concerns that the game’s tortured development cycle has affected its quality. But I know the Dragon Age series, and based on the conversations I’ve had and the little I’ve seen, it feels like despite the turmoil, BioWare still got it right.

Final judgment will have to be reserved for when I can finally play the finished product when Veilguard launches in the fall of this year. But seeing all the character creator options, knowing that we’ll finally get a romanceable dwarf companion, and knowing that we’ll finally visit places like Weisshaupt and the necropolis of Nevarra — requests and locations that have dominated Dragon Age fandom discussions for decades — Veilguard feels like it’s on the right track.

Read More 

The Light Phone 3 is a little bigger and more phone-looking than the last model. | Photo: Light

Five years after the Light Phone 2 launched, co-founder Kaiwei Tang says it’s selling better than ever. This is both extremely unusual for a phone and kind of the point of the thing: Tang, co-founder Joe Hollier, and their team built a phone that was designed to do very little and last practically forever. Their E Ink device became a hit among people looking for a way to get away from their smartphones for a bit, to “go light,” in the company’s parlance. The Light Phone 2 made calls, sent texts, and not much else. That worked really well for a lot of people, for a long time.
Now, Light is trying to do something a bit different. The company is launching the Light Phone 3, which comes with a new display, a camera, and a few other features that Tang says the company has found most users just can’t live without. The goal is once again to build a simpler, less alluring smartphone for when you want to check out but also, this time, to maybe replace your smartphone for good.
The Light Phone 3’s biggest change is a new display. The E Ink screen is gone, replaced by a 3.92-inch black-and-white OLED panel. “E Ink, the refresh rate — almost 50 percent of our users couldn’t get used to it,” Tang says. “That’s the main reason they give up.” This isn’t the most impressive screen you’ll ever see, at 1080 x 1240 pixels, but it refreshes faster and should feel familiar to more users. You also control the brightness with a new scroll wheel on the left side because Tang says he hates when a phone automatically just blares light at your face. (The wheel also clicks to turn on the flashlight.)

Photo: Light
Switching to an OLED screen is a little less minimalist but probably much easier to use.

The Light Phone 2’s lack of a camera was the other reason, which is why the new model has a rear-facing camera. It’s not a normal smartphone setup, though: it’s just a 50-megapixel camera on the back and an 8-megapixel one on the front, each one with a fixed focal length and a center focus. It’s as much for scanning QR codes and video chat as anything else, Tang says, and because it has a dedicated shutter button, shooting with it should feel more like an old film camera than an iPhone. “There’s no editing or sharing, just documenting the moment if you need to.”
Beyond that, the device has a bunch of what you might call futureproofing upgrades. There’s an NFC chip because Light wants to integrate payments at some point. There’s a USB-C port because that’s what everyone uses now. You can replace the battery yourself, which should help the device last longer. There’s a fingerprint reader, a Qualcomm SM 4450 processor, 128GB of storage, and 6GB of RAM. It all comes in a slightly larger box than before — Tang calls it “BlackBerry size,” compared to the credit card-sized Light Phone 2 — and even the aluminum buttons on the side have been built to last.
The new phone is up for preorder now, and Tang says it’ll ship next January. For now, it costs $399, though Tang says he’s not sure what the final price will be. It depends on how many Light sells. The company’s promotional materials say the retail price of the Light Phone 3 will be $799, which is dangerously close to full-fledged smartphone territory, but the company is hoping to sell enough devices to make them a bit cheaper to produce, which would mean it could lower that final price.

Photo: Light
The aluminum body and buttons are meant to last just about forever.

For years, the problem with minimalist smartphones (or dumbphones, or feature phones, or whatever you want to call them) has been the near-impossible balance they try to strike. How do you make a phone that does everything people need and nothing else? Everyone has their mission-critical apps, and they’re always different.
Tang and the Light team have now spent years trying to figure out how to manage that. They’ve built simple tools for music, podcasts, calendar, navigation, and notes. They’re thinking about how to integrate the Spotify API, build a way to get Uber or Lyft running on the Light Phone, make payments, send voice notes, and more. He’s interested in integrating with Beeper, too, to add more messaging services. Light isn’t steadfastly against apps, Tang reminds me, other than the endless feed ones. It’s just against the chaos of modern smartphones, and it’s trying to find better ways to get the features people want without the chaos that so often comes with them. It’s a tricky balance to strike.
Light has also been playing with ChatGPT and other AI tools to see if they might be a way to bring users more information without subjecting them to endless news feeds and engagement bait. “We’ve been experimenting” with AI, Tang says, “but we don’t have the confidence that we can set a clear boundary for our users.” Light’s users rely on the company to set those boundaries, he says, and he doesn’t want to overdo the feature set and lead people astray.
In a sense, the Light Phone 3 is the least light device the company has made yet. It has more capabilities, more features, and more things to do and fiddle with. But Tang hopes that’s all in service of the greater goal, which is to get people away from their smartphones and the endless notifications and feeds that they contain. “I’m not trying to design vintage phones,” he says. “I want to design all this modern technology, from the ground up, and eliminate all the bullshit.” You can’t beat smartphones with worse phones. Maybe you can do it with different ones.

The Light Phone 3 is a little bigger and more phone-looking than the last model. | Photo: Light

Five years after the Light Phone 2 launched, co-founder Kaiwei Tang says it’s selling better than ever. This is both extremely unusual for a phone and kind of the point of the thing: Tang, co-founder Joe Hollier, and their team built a phone that was designed to do very little and last practically forever. Their E Ink device became a hit among people looking for a way to get away from their smartphones for a bit, to “go light,” in the company’s parlance. The Light Phone 2 made calls, sent texts, and not much else. That worked really well for a lot of people, for a long time.

Now, Light is trying to do something a bit different. The company is launching the Light Phone 3, which comes with a new display, a camera, and a few other features that Tang says the company has found most users just can’t live without. The goal is once again to build a simpler, less alluring smartphone for when you want to check out but also, this time, to maybe replace your smartphone for good.

The Light Phone 3’s biggest change is a new display. The E Ink screen is gone, replaced by a 3.92-inch black-and-white OLED panel. “E Ink, the refresh rate — almost 50 percent of our users couldn’t get used to it,” Tang says. “That’s the main reason they give up.” This isn’t the most impressive screen you’ll ever see, at 1080 x 1240 pixels, but it refreshes faster and should feel familiar to more users. You also control the brightness with a new scroll wheel on the left side because Tang says he hates when a phone automatically just blares light at your face. (The wheel also clicks to turn on the flashlight.)

Photo: Light
Switching to an OLED screen is a little less minimalist but probably much easier to use.

The Light Phone 2’s lack of a camera was the other reason, which is why the new model has a rear-facing camera. It’s not a normal smartphone setup, though: it’s just a 50-megapixel camera on the back and an 8-megapixel one on the front, each one with a fixed focal length and a center focus. It’s as much for scanning QR codes and video chat as anything else, Tang says, and because it has a dedicated shutter button, shooting with it should feel more like an old film camera than an iPhone. “There’s no editing or sharing, just documenting the moment if you need to.”

Beyond that, the device has a bunch of what you might call futureproofing upgrades. There’s an NFC chip because Light wants to integrate payments at some point. There’s a USB-C port because that’s what everyone uses now. You can replace the battery yourself, which should help the device last longer. There’s a fingerprint reader, a Qualcomm SM 4450 processor, 128GB of storage, and 6GB of RAM. It all comes in a slightly larger box than before — Tang calls it “BlackBerry size,” compared to the credit card-sized Light Phone 2 — and even the aluminum buttons on the side have been built to last.

The new phone is up for preorder now, and Tang says it’ll ship next January. For now, it costs $399, though Tang says he’s not sure what the final price will be. It depends on how many Light sells. The company’s promotional materials say the retail price of the Light Phone 3 will be $799, which is dangerously close to full-fledged smartphone territory, but the company is hoping to sell enough devices to make them a bit cheaper to produce, which would mean it could lower that final price.

Photo: Light
The aluminum body and buttons are meant to last just about forever.

For years, the problem with minimalist smartphones (or dumbphones, or feature phones, or whatever you want to call them) has been the near-impossible balance they try to strike. How do you make a phone that does everything people need and nothing else? Everyone has their mission-critical apps, and they’re always different.

Tang and the Light team have now spent years trying to figure out how to manage that. They’ve built simple tools for music, podcasts, calendar, navigation, and notes. They’re thinking about how to integrate the Spotify API, build a way to get Uber or Lyft running on the Light Phone, make payments, send voice notes, and more. He’s interested in integrating with Beeper, too, to add more messaging services. Light isn’t steadfastly against apps, Tang reminds me, other than the endless feed ones. It’s just against the chaos of modern smartphones, and it’s trying to find better ways to get the features people want without the chaos that so often comes with them. It’s a tricky balance to strike.

Light has also been playing with ChatGPT and other AI tools to see if they might be a way to bring users more information without subjecting them to endless news feeds and engagement bait. “We’ve been experimenting” with AI, Tang says, “but we don’t have the confidence that we can set a clear boundary for our users.” Light’s users rely on the company to set those boundaries, he says, and he doesn’t want to overdo the feature set and lead people astray.

In a sense, the Light Phone 3 is the least light device the company has made yet. It has more capabilities, more features, and more things to do and fiddle with. But Tang hopes that’s all in service of the greater goal, which is to get people away from their smartphones and the endless notifications and feeds that they contain. “I’m not trying to design vintage phones,” he says. “I want to design all this modern technology, from the ground up, and eliminate all the bullshit.” You can’t beat smartphones with worse phones. Maybe you can do it with different ones.

Read More 

Illustration: The Verge

Microsoft is announcing some changes to Outlook for consumers that will further safeguard accounts. The software maker plans to end support for Basic Authentication for Outlook personal accounts starting on September 16th, it’s removing the light version of the Outlook web application on August 19th, and it will no longer support Gmail accounts in Outlook.com on June 30th. All of these changes are part of Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative overhaul of its security practices.
Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Live.com users will need to access their email accounts through apps using Modern Authentication starting on September 16th. Support for third-party email apps that don’t use Microsoft’s own login prompt will end later this year. “Microsoft will no longer support Basic Auth, the method in which a person provides only their username and password to sign into their account,” says David Los, partner group product manager for Outlook, in a blog post.
You might need to remove and re-add your Outlook account in some email apps
The latest versions of Outlook, Apple Mail, and Thunderbird will all support these changes, so this will largely affect any app that hasn’t been updated to support “Modern Auth,” as Microsoft calls it. “With Modern Authentication methods we apply additional backend process/tokens that users may not notice that add an extra layer of security,” explains Los.
Microsoft is planning to contact affected Outlook users by the end of June to warn them that they’re using an email app that won’t be supported soon. It may be as simple as changing an app’s settings to authenticate using OAuth2 instead of a regular password option or just having to remove the current account and adding it again.
If you’ve noticed password prompts for your Outlook account on an iPhone recently, this could be because you originally configured your account with Basic Authentication. Apple’s latest versions of iOS now support Modern Authentication by default, so if you see password prompts, you’ll need to remove and add the account again. Microsoft has a full support article with more information right here.
Microsoft is also removing the ability for consumers to access Gmail accounts in Outlook.com at the end of the month. This feature was originally introduced in 2019 as a way for Microsoft to integrate Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar into its Outlook.com web mail client. The new Outlook for Windows app and Outlook for Mac will still support Gmail accounts, though.
Microsoft is also continuing to migrate Windows Mail and Calendar users over to its new Outlook for Windows app, ahead of the end of support for the built-in Windows Mail and Calendar apps later this year.
Finally, Microsoft is also planning to remove the light version of the Outlook web app on August 19th, which was originally designed as a lightweight option for older browsers. “As we accelerate our security efforts to help better protect our customers, we are retiring the light version of the Outlook web app,” says Los. “This means that after 2024 customers will need to run the latest versions of a supported browser to run Outlook.com.”
The minimum browser requirements for Outlook.com are Microsoft Edge or Chrome version 79 or later, Firefox version 78 or later, Safari version 16 or later, and Opera version 76 or later. Microsoft will also only support Windows 10 or later and Windows Server 2016 or later for access to Outlook.com. Linux versions of Firefox and Chrome can still access the mail service, alongside macOS Sonoma, Ventura, and Monterey users.

Illustration: The Verge

Microsoft is announcing some changes to Outlook for consumers that will further safeguard accounts. The software maker plans to end support for Basic Authentication for Outlook personal accounts starting on September 16th, it’s removing the light version of the Outlook web application on August 19th, and it will no longer support Gmail accounts in Outlook.com on June 30th. All of these changes are part of Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative overhaul of its security practices.

Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Live.com users will need to access their email accounts through apps using Modern Authentication starting on September 16th. Support for third-party email apps that don’t use Microsoft’s own login prompt will end later this year. “Microsoft will no longer support Basic Auth, the method in which a person provides only their username and password to sign into their account,” says David Los, partner group product manager for Outlook, in a blog post.

The latest versions of Outlook, Apple Mail, and Thunderbird will all support these changes, so this will largely affect any app that hasn’t been updated to support “Modern Auth,” as Microsoft calls it. “With Modern Authentication methods we apply additional backend process/tokens that users may not notice that add an extra layer of security,” explains Los.

Microsoft is planning to contact affected Outlook users by the end of June to warn them that they’re using an email app that won’t be supported soon. It may be as simple as changing an app’s settings to authenticate using OAuth2 instead of a regular password option or just having to remove the current account and adding it again.

If you’ve noticed password prompts for your Outlook account on an iPhone recently, this could be because you originally configured your account with Basic Authentication. Apple’s latest versions of iOS now support Modern Authentication by default, so if you see password prompts, you’ll need to remove and add the account again. Microsoft has a full support article with more information right here.

Microsoft is also removing the ability for consumers to access Gmail accounts in Outlook.com at the end of the month. This feature was originally introduced in 2019 as a way for Microsoft to integrate Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar into its Outlook.com web mail client. The new Outlook for Windows app and Outlook for Mac will still support Gmail accounts, though.

Microsoft is also continuing to migrate Windows Mail and Calendar users over to its new Outlook for Windows app, ahead of the end of support for the built-in Windows Mail and Calendar apps later this year.

Finally, Microsoft is also planning to remove the light version of the Outlook web app on August 19th, which was originally designed as a lightweight option for older browsers. “As we accelerate our security efforts to help better protect our customers, we are retiring the light version of the Outlook web app,” says Los. “This means that after 2024 customers will need to run the latest versions of a supported browser to run Outlook.com.”

The minimum browser requirements for Outlook.com are Microsoft Edge or Chrome version 79 or later, Firefox version 78 or later, Safari version 16 or later, and Opera version 76 or later. Microsoft will also only support Windows 10 or later and Windows Server 2016 or later for access to Outlook.com. Linux versions of Firefox and Chrome can still access the mail service, alongside macOS Sonoma, Ventura, and Monterey users.

Read More 

Illustration: Beatrice Sala

Security researchers are reporting that a “significant volume of data” has been stolen from hundreds of Snowflake cloud storage customers via compromised login credentials, with the incident being linked to massive data breaches at Ticketmaster and Santander Bank.
Mandiant, a security firm investigating the data theft alongside Snowflake, announced on Monday that it had tracked the activity to a “financially motivated threat actor” it identified as UNC5537. The two companies have notified at least 165 Snowflake customer organizations that may have been compromised since the ongoing threat activity was discovered in April, with Mandiant saying its investigation hasn’t found “any evidence to suggest” that Snowflake’s enterprise environment was breached.
Recent data breaches at Ticketmaster, Santander Bank, and LendingTree subsidiary QuoteWizard have been linked to Snowflake cloud storage accounts used by the companies. Official details regarding how the accounts were compromised have been slim until this point, with an earlier third-party report being taken offline after Snowflake issued a statement claiming the platform itself isn’t at fault.
Following its investigation, Mandiant says the yet unidentified UNC5537 group is “systematically compromising” Snowflake customers using login credentials stolen via historical infostealer malware infections on non-Snowflake-owned systems. Some of these credentials date back as far as 2020 and enabled UNC5537 to steal data from Snowflake customer instances in an attempt to sell it on cybercriminal forums and extort the victims.
Mandiant says the UNC5537 campaign has resulted in “numerous successful compromises” because of poor security practices on impacted accounts, which did not update stolen login credentials or utilize multi-factor authentication (MFA) or network allow lists. The list of victims, while largely unidentified, is also expected to grow, according to Mandiant, having assessed that UNC5337 will likely target additional platforms “in the near future.”

Illustration: Beatrice Sala

Security researchers are reporting that a “significant volume of data” has been stolen from hundreds of Snowflake cloud storage customers via compromised login credentials, with the incident being linked to massive data breaches at Ticketmaster and Santander Bank.

Mandiant, a security firm investigating the data theft alongside Snowflake, announced on Monday that it had tracked the activity to a “financially motivated threat actor” it identified as UNC5537. The two companies have notified at least 165 Snowflake customer organizations that may have been compromised since the ongoing threat activity was discovered in April, with Mandiant saying its investigation hasn’t found “any evidence to suggest” that Snowflake’s enterprise environment was breached.

Recent data breaches at Ticketmaster, Santander Bank, and LendingTree subsidiary QuoteWizard have been linked to Snowflake cloud storage accounts used by the companies. Official details regarding how the accounts were compromised have been slim until this point, with an earlier third-party report being taken offline after Snowflake issued a statement claiming the platform itself isn’t at fault.

Following its investigation, Mandiant says the yet unidentified UNC5537 group is “systematically compromising” Snowflake customers using login credentials stolen via historical infostealer malware infections on non-Snowflake-owned systems. Some of these credentials date back as far as 2020 and enabled UNC5537 to steal data from Snowflake customer instances in an attempt to sell it on cybercriminal forums and extort the victims.

Mandiant says the UNC5537 campaign has resulted in “numerous successful compromises” because of poor security practices on impacted accounts, which did not update stolen login credentials or utilize multi-factor authentication (MFA) or network allow lists. The list of victims, while largely unidentified, is also expected to grow, according to Mandiant, having assessed that UNC5337 will likely target additional platforms “in the near future.”

Read More 

Image: Rythm

Three years ago, YouTube turned its attention to Discord music bots that were using the video service to stream music into Discord voice channels. Groovy was one of the first to be forced offline, followed by the most popular Discord music bot, Rythm. YouTube soon launched its own official Discord integration, but the closure of Rythm and Groovy left a giant hole for a shared music listening experience. Now, Rythm is back to try and fill that gap again.
The relaunch of Rythm sees it return to Discord as an activity app, allowing friends to listen to music together once again. “Unlike the previous bot iteration, this one actually has a full UI,” explains Rythm creator Yoav Zimet in an interview with The Verge. “You have the same experience as you had before, so you can create a collaborative queue and listen along with your friends, but now there’s an actual full UI where you can add songs, control the music, and view the album art.” There’s even a music visualizer, which reminds me of the golden era of Winamp and MP3 sharing services.
Rythm was originally created by Zimet when he was just 14 years old as a way to easily share music during Discord calls. It originally worked by taking YouTube videos and just streaming the audio parts straight into Discord calls, avoiding YouTube’s ads and eventually angering Google. It soon grew in popularity: by the time Google forced it offline in 2021, it had been installed on more than 20 million Discord servers and used by more than 560 million Discord users.

Image: Rythm
The Rythm sessions let users add songs that everyone can hear in a Discord call.

Zimet is hoping to reignite the community around Rythm and turn it into the social network of shared music experiences. Together with co-founder Oliy Barrett, the pair have raised capital from firms like Corazon Capital, Mucker Capital, and Crush Ventures, alongside music management firms Laffitte Management Group and Black Squirrel Partners as well as co-founder of Q Prime Peter Mensch.
Rythm will launch today with both paid and free options. A $4.99 premium tier will allow subscribers to create a playlist of songs that up to 20 people can join and listen to. Revenue from premium subscriptions is then shared with labels and publishers. Free users will be able to join these listening sessions or even listen to curated radio stations if there’s not a premium user in the Discord voice call.
Rythm includes access to more than 50 million songs, but there will still be some missing, as the team is still working to ensure all of the top artists are available. “We have a very vast selection of music that we’ve secured so far, and some deals that we’re still negotiating,” admits Zimet. “Right now there’s some of the top artists and around 50 million songs.”
Discord users will be pleased to hear that free users of Rythm won’t hear any ads for now. “It’s something we might introduce, but we obviously want to do it in a very conscious way,” says Zimet. “I think there’s a very unique way Rythm is used in groups and hanging out chatting, and if you’re having a conversation imagine if there was now an ad, we wouldn’t be able to talk.”

Image: Rythm
Rythm’s mobile app launches later this year.

While you can use Rythm in the Discord mobile app, work has already begun on dedicated iOS and Android apps and even ones for desktop PCs. This seems to be a key part of the idea of turning Rythm into more than just a Discord bot for shared listening experiences. “Rythm really proved there was this new way that people are listening to music,” says Zimet. “I wanted to see if I could create an experience that brings that to everyone and not just people on Discord.”
SoundCloud, Turntable.fm, and many others have tried to position themselves as unique music services, and now Rythm is trying to find its own niche and see if there’s a broader appetite for shared listening experiences. The vision is that when a new Drake album drops, there will be groups of Rythm users all listening to the new album together.
“The idea isn’t really to compete with Spotify or Apple Music. I think those services do a great job for people who just want to listen to songs on their own,” says Zimet. “I think Rythm creates a new segment of listening, for people that want to listen in a more social way.”
Rythm launches today as a Discord app, and the mobile app will be available later this year. You can sign up for the mobile waitlist here.

Image: Rythm

Three years ago, YouTube turned its attention to Discord music bots that were using the video service to stream music into Discord voice channels. Groovy was one of the first to be forced offline, followed by the most popular Discord music bot, Rythm. YouTube soon launched its own official Discord integration, but the closure of Rythm and Groovy left a giant hole for a shared music listening experience. Now, Rythm is back to try and fill that gap again.

The relaunch of Rythm sees it return to Discord as an activity app, allowing friends to listen to music together once again. “Unlike the previous bot iteration, this one actually has a full UI,” explains Rythm creator Yoav Zimet in an interview with The Verge. “You have the same experience as you had before, so you can create a collaborative queue and listen along with your friends, but now there’s an actual full UI where you can add songs, control the music, and view the album art.” There’s even a music visualizer, which reminds me of the golden era of Winamp and MP3 sharing services.

Rythm was originally created by Zimet when he was just 14 years old as a way to easily share music during Discord calls. It originally worked by taking YouTube videos and just streaming the audio parts straight into Discord calls, avoiding YouTube’s ads and eventually angering Google. It soon grew in popularity: by the time Google forced it offline in 2021, it had been installed on more than 20 million Discord servers and used by more than 560 million Discord users.

Image: Rythm
The Rythm sessions let users add songs that everyone can hear in a Discord call.

Zimet is hoping to reignite the community around Rythm and turn it into the social network of shared music experiences. Together with co-founder Oliy Barrett, the pair have raised capital from firms like Corazon Capital, Mucker Capital, and Crush Ventures, alongside music management firms Laffitte Management Group and Black Squirrel Partners as well as co-founder of Q Prime Peter Mensch.

Rythm will launch today with both paid and free options. A $4.99 premium tier will allow subscribers to create a playlist of songs that up to 20 people can join and listen to. Revenue from premium subscriptions is then shared with labels and publishers. Free users will be able to join these listening sessions or even listen to curated radio stations if there’s not a premium user in the Discord voice call.

Rythm includes access to more than 50 million songs, but there will still be some missing, as the team is still working to ensure all of the top artists are available. “We have a very vast selection of music that we’ve secured so far, and some deals that we’re still negotiating,” admits Zimet. “Right now there’s some of the top artists and around 50 million songs.”

Discord users will be pleased to hear that free users of Rythm won’t hear any ads for now. “It’s something we might introduce, but we obviously want to do it in a very conscious way,” says Zimet. “I think there’s a very unique way Rythm is used in groups and hanging out chatting, and if you’re having a conversation imagine if there was now an ad, we wouldn’t be able to talk.”

Image: Rythm
Rythm’s mobile app launches later this year.

While you can use Rythm in the Discord mobile app, work has already begun on dedicated iOS and Android apps and even ones for desktop PCs. This seems to be a key part of the idea of turning Rythm into more than just a Discord bot for shared listening experiences. “Rythm really proved there was this new way that people are listening to music,” says Zimet. “I wanted to see if I could create an experience that brings that to everyone and not just people on Discord.”

SoundCloud, Turntable.fm, and many others have tried to position themselves as unique music services, and now Rythm is trying to find its own niche and see if there’s a broader appetite for shared listening experiences. The vision is that when a new Drake album drops, there will be groups of Rythm users all listening to the new album together.

“The idea isn’t really to compete with Spotify or Apple Music. I think those services do a great job for people who just want to listen to songs on their own,” says Zimet. “I think Rythm creates a new segment of listening, for people that want to listen in a more social way.”

Rythm launches today as a Discord app, and the mobile app will be available later this year. You can sign up for the mobile waitlist here.

Read More 

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

Even Apple CEO Tim Cook isn’t sure the company can fully stop AI hallucinations. In an interview with The Washington Post, Cook said he would “never claim” that its new Apple Intelligence system won’t generate false or misleading information with 100 percent confidence.
“I think we have done everything that we know to do, including thinking very deeply about the readiness of the technology in the areas that we’re using it in,” Cook says. “So I am confident it will be very high quality. But I’d say in all honesty that’s short of 100 percent. I would never claim that it’s 100 percent.”
Apple revealed its new Apple Intelligence system during its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, which will bring AI features to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. These features will let you generate email responses, create custom emoji, summarize text, and more.

As is the case with all other AI systems, this also introduces the possibility of hallucinations. Recent examples of how AI can get things wrong include last month’s incident with Google’s Gemini-powered AI overviews telling us to use glue to put cheese on pizza or a recent ChatGPT bug that caused it to spit out nonsensical answers.
Apple also announced that it’s partnering with OpenAI to build ChatGPT into Siri. The voice assistant will turn to ChatGPT when it receives a question better suited for the chatbot, but it will ask for your permission before doing so. In the demo of the feature shown during WWDC, you can see a disclaimer at the bottom of the answer that reads, “Check important info for mistakes.”
When asked about the integration, Cook said Apple chose OpenAI because the company is a “pioneer” in privacy, and it currently has “the best model.” Apple might not just partner with OpenAI down the road, either. Cook responded, “We’re integrating with other people as well.” During a post-keynote live session on Monday, Apple senior vice president Craig Federighi said Apple could eventually bring Google Gemini to iOS, too.

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

Even Apple CEO Tim Cook isn’t sure the company can fully stop AI hallucinations. In an interview with The Washington Post, Cook said he would “never claim” that its new Apple Intelligence system won’t generate false or misleading information with 100 percent confidence.

“I think we have done everything that we know to do, including thinking very deeply about the readiness of the technology in the areas that we’re using it in,” Cook says. “So I am confident it will be very high quality. But I’d say in all honesty that’s short of 100 percent. I would never claim that it’s 100 percent.”

Apple revealed its new Apple Intelligence system during its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, which will bring AI features to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. These features will let you generate email responses, create custom emoji, summarize text, and more.

As is the case with all other AI systems, this also introduces the possibility of hallucinations. Recent examples of how AI can get things wrong include last month’s incident with Google’s Gemini-powered AI overviews telling us to use glue to put cheese on pizza or a recent ChatGPT bug that caused it to spit out nonsensical answers.

Apple also announced that it’s partnering with OpenAI to build ChatGPT into Siri. The voice assistant will turn to ChatGPT when it receives a question better suited for the chatbot, but it will ask for your permission before doing so. In the demo of the feature shown during WWDC, you can see a disclaimer at the bottom of the answer that reads, “Check important info for mistakes.”

When asked about the integration, Cook said Apple chose OpenAI because the company is a “pioneer” in privacy, and it currently has “the best model.” Apple might not just partner with OpenAI down the road, either. Cook responded, “We’re integrating with other people as well.” During a post-keynote live session on Monday, Apple senior vice president Craig Federighi said Apple could eventually bring Google Gemini to iOS, too.

Read More 

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

After a long and exciting event, Apple has introduced the developer beta of iOS 18 — and, as with its predecessor, it is accessible to everyone, non-developers included, for free. If you want to try out an early version of the new OS, we’ve got directions on how to install it on your iPhone or iPad.
Before we get started, a word of warning: beta software — especially early developer beta — is inherently unfinished and may contain bugs. Think carefully before installing either on any device you depend on. They also may not include all of the features that will be in the final release. Your experience may differ from others depending on the apps you use. And finally, if you do decide to install it, we suggest backing up your device’s data in case things go badly.
What new features come with iOS 18?
The new iOS not only offers the usual plethora of cool new features but eventually will include Apple Intelligence, Apple’s new AI system that, according to the company, will be available this fall. Meanwhile, other new features include a more customizable homescreen and Control Center, the ability to require authorization for specific apps, a more expressive Messages app, and a heavily revamped Photos app.
Which devices support iOS 18?
According to Apple, iOS 18 / iPadOS 18 will work on the following devices. (However, the beta of Apple Intelligence, when it’s available this fall, will only work in US English on the iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the iPad and Mac with M1 and later).
iPhone

iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone 14 Pro Max
iPhone 13
iPhone 13 Mini
iPhone 13 Pro
iPhone 13 Pro Max
iPhone 12
iPhone 12 Mini
iPhone 12 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro Max
iPhone 11
iPhone 11 Pro
iPhone 11 Pro Max
iPhone XS
iPhone XS Max
iPhone XR
iPhone SE (second-gen or later)

iPad

iPad Pro (M4)
iPad Pro 12.9-inch (third-gen and later)
iPad Pro 11-inch (first-gen and later)
iPad Air (M2)
iPad Air (third-gen and later)
iPad (seventh-gen and later)
iPad Mini (fifth-gen and later)

How to install the iOS 18 developer beta
Apple has made it easier than ever to install beta releases of iOS and iPadOS. Here’s what you do. (These instructions are for iOS, but iPadOS is pretty much the same):

First, make sure that your iPhone is running iOS 16.4 or later (by running Settings > General > About).
If you’re not signed up yet for the developer beta, you can sign up here by scrolling down to Start Your Enrollment. Otherwise, just go to the developer site, sign in, and select Download. (And don’t forget to enable Developer Mode in Settings > Privacy & Security.)

Screenshot: Apple
Make sure the correct download is checked.

Screenshot: Apple
The beta of iOS 18 should now be available for you to install.

Now go back to Settings > General > Software Update. You should see a Beta Updates option right under Automatic Updates. Select Beta Updates and check to make sure the correct Apple ID is at the bottom of the screen. If not, tap on the ID and select Use a different Apple ID.
Select iOS 18 Developer Beta (or iPadOS 18 Developer Beta) under Beta Updates.
Once that is done, go back one screen to Settings > General > Software Update. You should see your beta update there; select Download and Install and follow the instructions from there.

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

After a long and exciting event, Apple has introduced the developer beta of iOS 18 — and, as with its predecessor, it is accessible to everyone, non-developers included, for free. If you want to try out an early version of the new OS, we’ve got directions on how to install it on your iPhone or iPad.

Before we get started, a word of warning: beta software — especially early developer beta — is inherently unfinished and may contain bugs. Think carefully before installing either on any device you depend on. They also may not include all of the features that will be in the final release. Your experience may differ from others depending on the apps you use. And finally, if you do decide to install it, we suggest backing up your device’s data in case things go badly.

What new features come with iOS 18?

The new iOS not only offers the usual plethora of cool new features but eventually will include Apple Intelligence, Apple’s new AI system that, according to the company, will be available this fall. Meanwhile, other new features include a more customizable homescreen and Control Center, the ability to require authorization for specific apps, a more expressive Messages app, and a heavily revamped Photos app.

Which devices support iOS 18?

According to Apple, iOS 18 / iPadOS 18 will work on the following devices. (However, the beta of Apple Intelligence, when it’s available this fall, will only work in US English on the iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the iPad and Mac with M1 and later).

iPhone

iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone 14 Pro Max
iPhone 13
iPhone 13 Mini
iPhone 13 Pro
iPhone 13 Pro Max
iPhone 12
iPhone 12 Mini
iPhone 12 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro Max
iPhone 11
iPhone 11 Pro
iPhone 11 Pro Max
iPhone XS
iPhone XS Max
iPhone XR
iPhone SE (second-gen or later)

iPad

iPad Pro (M4)
iPad Pro 12.9-inch (third-gen and later)
iPad Pro 11-inch (first-gen and later)
iPad Air (M2)
iPad Air (third-gen and later)
iPad (seventh-gen and later)
iPad Mini (fifth-gen and later)

How to install the iOS 18 developer beta

Apple has made it easier than ever to install beta releases of iOS and iPadOS. Here’s what you do. (These instructions are for iOS, but iPadOS is pretty much the same):

First, make sure that your iPhone is running iOS 16.4 or later (by running Settings > General > About).
If you’re not signed up yet for the developer beta, you can sign up here by scrolling down to Start Your Enrollment. Otherwise, just go to the developer site, sign in, and select Download. (And don’t forget to enable Developer Mode in Settings > Privacy & Security.)

Now go back to Settings > General > Software Update. You should see a Beta Updates option right under Automatic Updates. Select Beta Updates and check to make sure the correct Apple ID is at the bottom of the screen. If not, tap on the ID and select Use a different Apple ID.
Select iOS 18 Developer Beta (or iPadOS 18 Developer Beta) under Beta Updates.
Once that is done, go back one screen to Settings > General > Software Update. You should see your beta update there; select Download and Install and follow the instructions from there.

Read More 

Image: Netflix

The Rebel Moon saga on Netflix was an attempt from Zack Snyder to craft a sci-fi epic on the level of Star Wars — and now the director is taking another stab at making it work. Netflix just announced that the director’s cuts of both Rebel Moon films will be streaming on August 2nd.
It’s not clear exactly how the new versions will be different, with Netflix saying they will “delve further into the mythology and madness of Zack Snyder’s epic sci-fi saga in the viciously sexier, bloodier world of Rebel Moon.” They will presumably be quite a bit longer than the original films — both of which clock in at over two hours — but at least they don’t appear to have been filmed in 4:3. Snyder previously said that the director’s cuts would include “close to an hour of extra content.”
As part of the release, the new versions of Rebel Moon have been given new names as well. The first film, originally known as A Child of Fire, has been redubbed Chapter One: Chalice of Blood for the director’s cut. Meanwhile the second film, The Scargiver, has been given the title Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness.
In lieu of a trailer, Netflix released these first-look images for the movies:

Image: Netflix

Image: Netflix

Image: Netflix

The Rebel Moon saga on Netflix was an attempt from Zack Snyder to craft a sci-fi epic on the level of Star Wars — and now the director is taking another stab at making it work. Netflix just announced that the director’s cuts of both Rebel Moon films will be streaming on August 2nd.

It’s not clear exactly how the new versions will be different, with Netflix saying they will “delve further into the mythology and madness of Zack Snyder’s epic sci-fi saga in the viciously sexier, bloodier world of Rebel Moon.” They will presumably be quite a bit longer than the original films — both of which clock in at over two hours — but at least they don’t appear to have been filmed in 4:3. Snyder previously said that the director’s cuts would include “close to an hour of extra content.”

As part of the release, the new versions of Rebel Moon have been given new names as well. The first film, originally known as A Child of Fire, has been redubbed Chapter One: Chalice of Blood for the director’s cut. Meanwhile the second film, The Scargiver, has been given the title Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness.

In lieu of a trailer, Netflix released these first-look images for the movies:

Image: Netflix

Image: Netflix

Read More 

The Orbi 770 Wi-Fi 7 mesh system. | Image: Netgear

Netgear announced two new Wi-Fi 7 routers today: the Nighthawk RS300 and the Orbi 770. Both routers will come with 2.5Gbps ports and the benefits of Wi-Fi 7, such as 320Mhz channels that can potentially double wireless bandwidth for compatible hardware, but with lower prices this time around.
The Orbi 770 router has four 2.5Gbps ports: one to connect to your modem for internet access and three to distribute that to any devices you want to wire up. The satellite mesh nodes each have two 2.5Gbps ports, too, letting you connect more devices to those or wire them straight to the main one. That compares to its more expensive predecessor, the Orbi 970, which has two 10Gbps ports and three 2.5Gbps ports. Netgear also says the Orbi 970 offers up to 27Gbps total bandwidth versus the Orbi 770’s 11Gbps thanks to an extra wireless band, but that won’t speed up your experience on any one device.
To get the benefit of the 320MHz channels, you’ll need a phone, laptop, or other device with Wi-Fi 7 capability connected to the 6GHz band. The 5GHz band also gets a broader 240MHz spectrum — which, again, you’ll need a Wi-Fi 7 device to take advantage of.
The Orbi 770 goes for $999.99 for a three-pack, which may seem pricey (because it is) but is easier to swallow than the whopping $1,699.99 per three-pack that Netgear asks for the Orbi 970.

Image: Netgear
MLO means more stable backhaul connections between mesh points.

The big benefit for these routers, as with most mesh Wi-Fi 7 routers, lies in Multi-Link Operation (MLO), a new feature in the Wi-Fi 7 standard that allows for simultaneous connections on two bands and, therefore, a faster, more stable connection. While none of your pre-Wi-Fi 7 devices can take direct advantage of MLO, the Orbi and its satellites can connect to each other this way. That means your mesh network should be less prone to congestion on a single band, and if one band goes down, you still have the other one to work with.

Image: Netgear

The Nighthawk RS300 is likewise a tri-band router, with similar specs to the primary Orbi router but with a couple of key differences. The 6GHz band will still support 320MHz channel bandwidth, but the 5GHz is limited to 160MHz. (That’s still the fastest you can expect on any non-Wi-Fi 7 device, though.)
On the back, you’ll find one 2.5Gbps ethernet port for connecting to your modem, plus three more ethernet ports (two 2.5Gbps, one gigabit) for sending wired internet to your devices. It also has a USB 3.0 port if you want to connect something like a storage drive to it. Netgear says it’s good for about 2,500 square feet of coverage (though that will always depend on where you put it and what’s in your home) and supports up to 100 devices.
The Orbi 770 will be $999.99 for a three-pack and $699.99 for a two-pack, while the Nighthawk RS300 is $329.99. They’re available for preorder now on Netgear’s site but will come to other retailers later on, according to the company.

The Orbi 770 Wi-Fi 7 mesh system. | Image: Netgear

Netgear announced two new Wi-Fi 7 routers today: the Nighthawk RS300 and the Orbi 770. Both routers will come with 2.5Gbps ports and the benefits of Wi-Fi 7, such as 320Mhz channels that can potentially double wireless bandwidth for compatible hardware, but with lower prices this time around.

The Orbi 770 router has four 2.5Gbps ports: one to connect to your modem for internet access and three to distribute that to any devices you want to wire up. The satellite mesh nodes each have two 2.5Gbps ports, too, letting you connect more devices to those or wire them straight to the main one. That compares to its more expensive predecessor, the Orbi 970, which has two 10Gbps ports and three 2.5Gbps ports. Netgear also says the Orbi 970 offers up to 27Gbps total bandwidth versus the Orbi 770’s 11Gbps thanks to an extra wireless band, but that won’t speed up your experience on any one device.

To get the benefit of the 320MHz channels, you’ll need a phone, laptop, or other device with Wi-Fi 7 capability connected to the 6GHz band. The 5GHz band also gets a broader 240MHz spectrum — which, again, you’ll need a Wi-Fi 7 device to take advantage of.

The Orbi 770 goes for $999.99 for a three-pack, which may seem pricey (because it is) but is easier to swallow than the whopping $1,699.99 per three-pack that Netgear asks for the Orbi 970.

Image: Netgear
MLO means more stable backhaul connections between mesh points.

The big benefit for these routers, as with most mesh Wi-Fi 7 routers, lies in Multi-Link Operation (MLO), a new feature in the Wi-Fi 7 standard that allows for simultaneous connections on two bands and, therefore, a faster, more stable connection. While none of your pre-Wi-Fi 7 devices can take direct advantage of MLO, the Orbi and its satellites can connect to each other this way. That means your mesh network should be less prone to congestion on a single band, and if one band goes down, you still have the other one to work with.

Image: Netgear

The Nighthawk RS300 is likewise a tri-band router, with similar specs to the primary Orbi router but with a couple of key differences. The 6GHz band will still support 320MHz channel bandwidth, but the 5GHz is limited to 160MHz. (That’s still the fastest you can expect on any non-Wi-Fi 7 device, though.)

On the back, you’ll find one 2.5Gbps ethernet port for connecting to your modem, plus three more ethernet ports (two 2.5Gbps, one gigabit) for sending wired internet to your devices. It also has a USB 3.0 port if you want to connect something like a storage drive to it. Netgear says it’s good for about 2,500 square feet of coverage (though that will always depend on where you put it and what’s in your home) and supports up to 100 devices.

The Orbi 770 will be $999.99 for a three-pack and $699.99 for a two-pack, while the Nighthawk RS300 is $329.99. They’re available for preorder now on Netgear’s site but will come to other retailers later on, according to the company.

Read More