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Image: Microsoft

Microsoft has a big summer showcase planned. Microsoft’s big Xbox game showcase is back for summer 2024. We’re expecting Microsoft to largely focus on its 2024 and 2025 game releases, alongside two big game announcements — new Doom and Gears of War installments. There could be more than 15 first-party Xbox games shown at this year’s showcase, more than in 2023. We might even see one or two Xbox games for PS5. Either way, expect a lot of news and release dates. You can keep up with everything right here.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft has a big summer showcase planned.

Microsoft’s big Xbox game showcase is back for summer 2024. We’re expecting Microsoft to largely focus on its 2024 and 2025 game releases, alongside two big game announcements — new Doom and Gears of War installments. There could be more than 15 first-party Xbox games shown at this year’s showcase, more than in 2023. We might even see one or two Xbox games for PS5. Either way, expect a lot of news and release dates. You can keep up with everything right here.

Read More 

This could be you. | Image: Ikea

Corporate publicity stunts involving virtual reality are almost always bad, but Ikea’s new Roblox store feels especially silly. The company announced last week that it plans to pay 10 people £13.15 or €14.80 per hour to work in The Co-Worker Game, a virtual Ikea store in Roblox. The company is taking applications until June 16th, only from candidates in the UK or Ireland who are 18 or older.
Being paid to be an NPC. What a world. The virtual employees will carry out tasks like serving meatballs or helping people find fake furniture or other Ikea items. They can also “get promoted to move departments, just like in the real world.”

Image: Ikea

A look at Ikea’s Co-Worker Game virtual store.

I wouldn’t assume this is a real job, even if Ikea is paying real money for it. The website where you can apply says it’s a “limited contract.” The application asks you questions like “How do you feel about being turned into pixels?” or “If you were a pixelated IKEA furniture, which one would you be and why?”
Ikea says it requires an up-to-date CV, though it doesn’t ask for one upfront, and I couldn’t get past the form with my US-based phone number. (If one of our readers across the pond wants to give it a go and send us an update, I’d love to read about your experience.) The gig is open to applicants 18 and older who live in the UK or the Republic of Ireland, and it’s remote, so you can pull up your new Ikea gaming chair after you’re done playing around with Ikea’s virtual design tool and serve some virtual meatballs from the comfort of your own home.
If you apply and don’t get the callback, don’t you worry. The company says people who don’t get the job can also “work, explore, and experience” the Ikea Roblox store. And it says you can win Ikea-exclusive UGCs, Roblox’s term for user-created items or other content that exists within the game.
I’ll be very up-front, here. I have never played with anything made in Roblox. But few things sound less appealing to me than pretending to be a retail employee in a virtual version of a real-life furniture dealer. Other companies have tried their hand at hanging their brand out in VR — there’s the Walmart Discovered virtual store for buying digital items with Roblox’s in-game Robux currency, and Gucci has made Roblox environments, including Gucci town in 2022.
So that aspect of this is nothing new. And people — often kids — do make money in Roblox, something critics say is exploitative. But this is the first time I’m aware of that a company has offered to pay people real money to work in their Roblox world, and it’s weird, but also seems relatively harmless, and less obnoxious than NFTs.
The company says it’ll hold virtual interviews between June 14th and June 18th, and The Co-Worker Game launches on June 24th.

This could be you. | Image: Ikea

Corporate publicity stunts involving virtual reality are almost always bad, but Ikea’s new Roblox store feels especially silly. The company announced last week that it plans to pay 10 people £13.15 or €14.80 per hour to work in The Co-Worker Game, a virtual Ikea store in Roblox. The company is taking applications until June 16th, only from candidates in the UK or Ireland who are 18 or older.

Being paid to be an NPC. What a world. The virtual employees will carry out tasks like serving meatballs or helping people find fake furniture or other Ikea items. They can also “get promoted to move departments, just like in the real world.”

Image: Ikea

A look at Ikea’s Co-Worker Game virtual store.

I wouldn’t assume this is a real job, even if Ikea is paying real money for it. The website where you can apply says it’s a “limited contract.” The application asks you questions like “How do you feel about being turned into pixels?” or “If you were a pixelated IKEA furniture, which one would you be and why?”

Ikea says it requires an up-to-date CV, though it doesn’t ask for one upfront, and I couldn’t get past the form with my US-based phone number. (If one of our readers across the pond wants to give it a go and send us an update, I’d love to read about your experience.) The gig is open to applicants 18 and older who live in the UK or the Republic of Ireland, and it’s remote, so you can pull up your new Ikea gaming chair after you’re done playing around with Ikea’s virtual design tool and serve some virtual meatballs from the comfort of your own home.

If you apply and don’t get the callback, don’t you worry. The company says people who don’t get the job can also “work, explore, and experience” the Ikea Roblox store. And it says you can win Ikea-exclusive UGCs, Roblox’s term for user-created items or other content that exists within the game.

I’ll be very up-front, here. I have never played with anything made in Roblox. But few things sound less appealing to me than pretending to be a retail employee in a virtual version of a real-life furniture dealer. Other companies have tried their hand at hanging their brand out in VR — there’s the Walmart Discovered virtual store for buying digital items with Roblox’s in-game Robux currency, and Gucci has made Roblox environments, including Gucci town in 2022.

So that aspect of this is nothing new. And people — often kids — do make money in Roblox, something critics say is exploitative. But this is the first time I’m aware of that a company has offered to pay people real money to work in their Roblox world, and it’s weird, but also seems relatively harmless, and less obnoxious than NFTs.

The company says it’ll hold virtual interviews between June 14th and June 18th, and The Co-Worker Game launches on June 24th.

Read More 

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is back with another Xbox Games Showcase this year, and this time around, there’s a Call of Duty direct straight after the main show. This is Microsoft’s first Xbox Games Showcase to feature games from across Activision, Blizzard, Bethesda, and Xbox Game Studios, as well as third-party titles.
I think this is going to be a big Xbox showcase, with a runtime that could approach the two-hour mark. Get ready for new game reveals, lots of release dates, and some potential surprises.
What time does the Xbox Games Showcase start?
The Xbox Games Showcase starts on Sunday, June 9th, at 1PM ET / 10AM PT / 6PM UK.
Where can I watch the Xbox Games Showcase?
Microsoft is streaming its big Xbox showcase live on YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook. You can also watch the showcase from the video embedded at the top of this article.
What should I expect?
I would expect to see more than 15 first-party Xbox games at this showcase. Microsoft has a busy fall ahead for Xbox, with Bethesda currently targeting September for its Starfield Shattered Space expansion, and Age of Mythology: Retold is tracking for an early September release, too.
I’m also expecting Activision to announce it’s launching Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on October 25th, and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 should follow in November. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is also expected to debut in December, according to sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans.
Among all of these big game releases, there are new seasons for Overwatch 2, Call of Duty, and Diablo IV. I’d expect we’ll also hear about Diablo IV’s Vessel of Hatred expansion, which is currently tracking for an early October release. World of Warcraft’s The War Within DLC is also due in late August, I understand.
Microsoft has also been considering putting Towerborne into an early access program later this year, and there’s still the question of when Avowed will launch. I heard a few months ago that Avowed was targeting a November release, so I’m hoping we’ll hear more about that during the Xbox showcase. We’re also still waiting to see if a long-rumored Gears of War collection will ever be confirmed.
Beyond what’s planned for 2024, I’m fully expecting Microsoft to announce two new games — the next installments for Doom and Gears of War. These will be the big announcements of the show, but there could be a bunch of third-party games, too.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is back with another Xbox Games Showcase this year, and this time around, there’s a Call of Duty direct straight after the main show. This is Microsoft’s first Xbox Games Showcase to feature games from across Activision, Blizzard, Bethesda, and Xbox Game Studios, as well as third-party titles.

I think this is going to be a big Xbox showcase, with a runtime that could approach the two-hour mark. Get ready for new game reveals, lots of release dates, and some potential surprises.

What time does the Xbox Games Showcase start?

The Xbox Games Showcase starts on Sunday, June 9th, at 1PM ET / 10AM PT / 6PM UK.

Where can I watch the Xbox Games Showcase?

Microsoft is streaming its big Xbox showcase live on YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook. You can also watch the showcase from the video embedded at the top of this article.

What should I expect?

I would expect to see more than 15 first-party Xbox games at this showcase. Microsoft has a busy fall ahead for Xbox, with Bethesda currently targeting September for its Starfield Shattered Space expansion, and Age of Mythology: Retold is tracking for an early September release, too.

I’m also expecting Activision to announce it’s launching Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on October 25th, and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 should follow in November. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is also expected to debut in December, according to sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans.

Among all of these big game releases, there are new seasons for Overwatch 2, Call of Duty, and Diablo IV. I’d expect we’ll also hear about Diablo IV’s Vessel of Hatred expansion, which is currently tracking for an early October release. World of Warcraft’s The War Within DLC is also due in late August, I understand.

Microsoft has also been considering putting Towerborne into an early access program later this year, and there’s still the question of when Avowed will launch. I heard a few months ago that Avowed was targeting a November release, so I’m hoping we’ll hear more about that during the Xbox showcase. We’re also still waiting to see if a long-rumored Gears of War collection will ever be confirmed.

Beyond what’s planned for 2024, I’m fully expecting Microsoft to announce two new games — the next installments for Doom and Gears of War. These will be the big announcements of the show, but there could be a bunch of third-party games, too.

Read More 

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

At last month’s iPad Pro M4 launch, Tim Cook said it was “the biggest day for iPad since its introduction.” That was pretty clearly not the case: it was a day of really nice incremental hardware updates to a tablet that already had more power than most people know what to do with.
But Cook’s proclamation could still be true, at least in retrospect. Apple just needs to stick the landing and use WWDC to show us a powerful operating system that’s worthy of the new iPad Pro’s powerful hardware.
The pain of glass
Let me get it out of the way up front: the base iPad, running today’s iPadOS, is fantastic for the things most people use an iPad for. Nobody should spend more than $500 on a tablet that they’re mostly going to use for reading, checking email, and watching stuff, and the OS is already great at that.
But Apple spent a lot of money creating the iPad Pro with an M4 processor, tandem OLED screen, and a bunch of RAM and storage. And Apple has spent a lot of money trying to convince people that it’s a real computer for doing real work, too — smushing the entirety of human creative expression into it, things of that nature.

The iPad is a computer. The iPad Pro especially is a computer. You can pick the processor, RAM, and storage. It has a keyboard — now with a trackpad and function row — that’s “more like a MacBook than ever.” It has a $130 stylus that you can squeeze and barrel roll. You can spend more on it than a comparable MacBook Pro. But if you try to use it like a computer, the operating system will fight you every step of the way.
That has been the case for the iPad’s entire lifespan, and even more so since the launch of the iPad Pro. But as the gang discussed on The Vergecast and David Pierce mentioned in his reviews of the new iPad Air and iPad Pro, the hardware now seems like it’s gone as far as it can go. Without a meaningful change to iPadOS, the iPad Pro is not going to be the thing Apple wants you to believe it is.
So what’s missing?
If you’ve never tried to do work on an iPad, I am genuinely happy for you. I’m writing this story on a Bluetooth keyboard connected to an 11-inch iPad Air M2. It’s a very nice keyboard, and the Air is a very nice tablet, but this would have been so much faster and easier on a convertible Chromebook. And I could still have watched Andor on the plane.
It’s still way too annoying to do any kind of work on an iPad that doesn’t involve staying in a single full-screen app the entire time. Even something as simple as writing a blog post while pulling in photos and links from other articles takes way longer and involves way more jumping around than it would on any other screen this size. Stage Manager has come a medium way, but it’s still not great, especially without an external monitor. And the iPad still doesn’t have good multiwindow support — no way to snap app windows to specific portions of the screen or save window configurations.
Try to do anything slightly advanced, and you’ll run into all kinds of basic issues. The iPad version of Final Cut Pro will fail to export a video if you switch away from the app, even just to the homescreen, because the operating system doesn’t have proper support for background processes. There’s also no task manager, no good file manager, no clipboard manager, and no way to fill the gaps in iPadOS’s functionality with third-party apps and utilities. These are all things the iPad’s excellent hardware could support.
Federico Viticci at MacStories has the definitive catalog of all the ways iPadOS still falls short, but you don’t have to be Federico to get the drift; you just have to try to use the iPad like a computer for 10 minutes.
The other Pro
Apple has been clear from the beginning that an iPad is an iPad and the MacBook is a MacBook, and if you want a touchscreen computer and a laptop, you’d better buy both. That argument makes sense for the regular iPad (and for Apple’s quarterly earnings reports). But it’s pretty threadbare when the iPad Pro costs as much as a MacBook, runs on the same architecture, and has a keyboard Apple pitches as “just like using a MacBook.”
It might sound like I’m asking for macOS on the iPad. I mean sure, yes, if that’s what it takes, but Apple has the opportunity at WWDC to reveal an iPadOS that’s as powerful and capable as the hardware deserves while still being distinct from macOS.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Surface Pro is right there. Admit it or not but Apple has been chasing the Surface Pro since it first gave the iPad a USB-C port and a keyboard.

Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
Hey, look, it’s a Pro tablet with a real operating system (operating system not shown).

The Surface Pro has a new Arm processor Microsoft claims is a match for Apple Silicon. It has an OLED screen. It runs Windows 11, which, my complaints aside, is a real operating system, with a task manager, file manager, proper window tiling, background processes, you name it. It also has a bunch of AI features of uncertain utility, just like Apple is expected to announce at WWDC.
We’re a few weeks out from knowing whether Microsoft has pulled it off, but there’s very little distance now between the device Apple wants you to believe is the iPad Pro and the one Microsoft wants you to think is the Surface Pro, although they’re coming from opposite directions.
I doubt too many iPad diehards are going to switch to a machine that runs Windows, regardless of how good the Surface Pro is. But the more I bang my head against the limitations of iPadOS, the better that Surface Pro is looking. And the folks who buy into Apple’s hype and get the M4 iPad Pro should have an operating system that’s worthy of the hardware.
Is that too much to ask?

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

At last month’s iPad Pro M4 launch, Tim Cook said it was “the biggest day for iPad since its introduction.” That was pretty clearly not the case: it was a day of really nice incremental hardware updates to a tablet that already had more power than most people know what to do with.

But Cook’s proclamation could still be true, at least in retrospect. Apple just needs to stick the landing and use WWDC to show us a powerful operating system that’s worthy of the new iPad Pro’s powerful hardware.

The pain of glass

Let me get it out of the way up front: the base iPad, running today’s iPadOS, is fantastic for the things most people use an iPad for. Nobody should spend more than $500 on a tablet that they’re mostly going to use for reading, checking email, and watching stuff, and the OS is already great at that.

But Apple spent a lot of money creating the iPad Pro with an M4 processor, tandem OLED screen, and a bunch of RAM and storage. And Apple has spent a lot of money trying to convince people that it’s a real computer for doing real work, too — smushing the entirety of human creative expression into it, things of that nature.

The iPad is a computer. The iPad Pro especially is a computer. You can pick the processor, RAM, and storage. It has a keyboard — now with a trackpad and function row — that’s “more like a MacBook than ever.” It has a $130 stylus that you can squeeze and barrel roll. You can spend more on it than a comparable MacBook Pro. But if you try to use it like a computer, the operating system will fight you every step of the way.

That has been the case for the iPad’s entire lifespan, and even more so since the launch of the iPad Pro. But as the gang discussed on The Vergecast and David Pierce mentioned in his reviews of the new iPad Air and iPad Pro, the hardware now seems like it’s gone as far as it can go. Without a meaningful change to iPadOS, the iPad Pro is not going to be the thing Apple wants you to believe it is.

So what’s missing?

If you’ve never tried to do work on an iPad, I am genuinely happy for you. I’m writing this story on a Bluetooth keyboard connected to an 11-inch iPad Air M2. It’s a very nice keyboard, and the Air is a very nice tablet, but this would have been so much faster and easier on a convertible Chromebook. And I could still have watched Andor on the plane.

It’s still way too annoying to do any kind of work on an iPad that doesn’t involve staying in a single full-screen app the entire time. Even something as simple as writing a blog post while pulling in photos and links from other articles takes way longer and involves way more jumping around than it would on any other screen this size. Stage Manager has come a medium way, but it’s still not great, especially without an external monitor. And the iPad still doesn’t have good multiwindow support — no way to snap app windows to specific portions of the screen or save window configurations.

Try to do anything slightly advanced, and you’ll run into all kinds of basic issues. The iPad version of Final Cut Pro will fail to export a video if you switch away from the app, even just to the homescreen, because the operating system doesn’t have proper support for background processes. There’s also no task manager, no good file manager, no clipboard manager, and no way to fill the gaps in iPadOS’s functionality with third-party apps and utilities. These are all things the iPad’s excellent hardware could support.

Federico Viticci at MacStories has the definitive catalog of all the ways iPadOS still falls short, but you don’t have to be Federico to get the drift; you just have to try to use the iPad like a computer for 10 minutes.

The other Pro

Apple has been clear from the beginning that an iPad is an iPad and the MacBook is a MacBook, and if you want a touchscreen computer and a laptop, you’d better buy both. That argument makes sense for the regular iPad (and for Apple’s quarterly earnings reports). But it’s pretty threadbare when the iPad Pro costs as much as a MacBook, runs on the same architecture, and has a keyboard Apple pitches as “just like using a MacBook.”

It might sound like I’m asking for macOS on the iPad. I mean sure, yes, if that’s what it takes, but Apple has the opportunity at WWDC to reveal an iPadOS that’s as powerful and capable as the hardware deserves while still being distinct from macOS.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Surface Pro is right there. Admit it or not but Apple has been chasing the Surface Pro since it first gave the iPad a USB-C port and a keyboard.

Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
Hey, look, it’s a Pro tablet with a real operating system (operating system not shown).

The Surface Pro has a new Arm processor Microsoft claims is a match for Apple Silicon. It has an OLED screen. It runs Windows 11, which, my complaints aside, is a real operating system, with a task manager, file manager, proper window tiling, background processes, you name it. It also has a bunch of AI features of uncertain utility, just like Apple is expected to announce at WWDC.

We’re a few weeks out from knowing whether Microsoft has pulled it off, but there’s very little distance now between the device Apple wants you to believe is the iPad Pro and the one Microsoft wants you to think is the Surface Pro, although they’re coming from opposite directions.

I doubt too many iPad diehards are going to switch to a machine that runs Windows, regardless of how good the Surface Pro is. But the more I bang my head against the limitations of iPadOS, the better that Surface Pro is looking. And the folks who buy into Apple’s hype and get the M4 iPad Pro should have an operating system that’s worthy of the hardware.

Is that too much to ask?

Read More 

Image: David Pierce / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 41, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope you like gaming gadgets and silly spy movies, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been reading about the tough times at Humane and how Suicide Squad flopped, watching the TikTok dancing cult documentary and Furiosa, swapping my crappy Roku for a slightly less crappy Apple TV, listening to a lot of WikiHole, mixing up new mocktail recipes, and testing the Phanpy app for all things fediverse.
I also have for you a new Raspberry Pi accessory, an incredibly well-liked movie to watch this weekend, a couple of fun tech books, some gaming gear, and lots more. Let’s do it.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What should everyone else be as into as you are? Tell me everything: email installer@theverge.com, share with @imdavidpierce on Threads, or find me on Signal @davidpierce.11. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, tell them to subscribe here.)

The Drop

The Raspberry Pi AI Kit. This is my kind of AI PC: a super simple $70 kit that works with a Raspberry Pi 5 and gives you a surprising amount of power with which to do simple processing tasks. I don’t even know what I’ll use this for! But I’m getting one anyway.

Hit Man. A bunch of very smart people have said this comedy-action-thriller Netflix flick is one of the best movies of the year. And why not? Richard Linklater directs, Glen Powell stars, it’s based on an all-timer of a magazine article. I cannot wait to watch.

Dark Wire. This is as good a premise for a book as I’ve ever seen: the story of the FBI’s secret tech startup, designed to track some of the world’s most sophisticated criminals. A few places have published excerpts, and I already can’t put this book down.

Building SimCity. Two books this week! You love to see it. This is a story all about SimCity, yes, but also about the history of computer simulation, with lots of photos and diagrams to go with it. One for the coffee table for sure.

The new Rivian R1. Same look, same funky headlight design, totally new car underneath. A lot of what Rivian’s doing here is clearly just to keep costs down, but this continues to be the EV I lust after the most.

The Acolyte. This is a very different kind of Star Wars story, set in a very different time and place, told from a very different point of view, all of which I definitely think is a good thing. The reviews seem pretty mixed so far, but I’m excited to give it a whirl.

Sequel 2.3. A very cool update to the Installerverse’s favorite media tracking app for Apple devices. The new feature is called Magic Lookup, and it lets you send a URL to the app and have it automatically parsed and dumped into your lists. Perfect for saving those “20 things coming to Netflix this month” things you see all over the place.

The ModRetro Chromatic. The retro gaming hardware boom we’re in right now is just the best thing. And this, a $199 Game Boy homage from a team led by Palmer Luckey, looks great. It’s not shipping until the end of the year, but it’s up for preorders now.

The Asus ROG Ally X. Speaking of portable consoles! This one’s a lot bigger, a lot more expensive, and a lot more ambitious than the Chromatic — but it also sounds pretty great. Maybe this is the first Windows handheld that can really stand up to the Steam Deck?

Comfort Zone. Fun new podcast from the MacStories crew, with a gimmick I really like: every week, the three hosts have to basically do “Tech Show and Tell” and then issue a tech-related challenge to complete before the next episode. (MacStories also has another new podcast, called NPC, all about portable gaming.

“How ‘Wall-E’ Reveals Our Changing Feelings Toward Tech.” I am outrageously jealous of this whole series of episodes from the Offline podcast, looking at how movies like Her and The Social Network influenced the way we think about and build tech. This is the final episode in the miniseries, and they’re all worth a listen.

Screen share
Well, friends, it took 41 issues, but it happened: I had someone lined up for Screen Share this week, and it just didn’t come together in time. So let’s do something slightly different. I’ve recently become obsessed with the Niagara Launcher for Android, which is, in theory, largely optimized for one-handed phone use but is also just a better, quieter way of organizing your homescreen. In the last 10 days, I’ve probably redone my setup eight times. It’s a lot.
Niagara is just so clever! It turns your apps into a customizable list, pops up widgets and notifications right in place, and lets you do a shocking amount of stuff without ever opening an app. This is totally how phones should work. (If you want to understand how it operates, here’s a good thorough video to watch.)
Niagara just got a big update, too, particularly if you pay the $10 a year or $30 lifetime Pro subscription. Its search is better now, it got some cool new icons, and there are a few other little improvements, too.
As I’ve been tinkering with my own homescreen, I’ve been collecting some Niagara setups I like, and I figured I’d share a few. You can do so many things with this launcher!

(Top row: @sm0ke_screens / @iamankursjain / @justinbelcher / @imaginationmatters6. Bottom row: @kustom_bee / @SandeepAugusti3 / @KushalWagh)
Cool, right? There are rumors and reports that we’re going to get a bunch of new customization possibilities for iOS, too, so here’s hoping this is a year filled with chaotic homescreen reorgs. If you use Niagara, by the way, or any other awesome Android launcher, I’d love to see your sick homescreen setups. Send them my way. And we’ll be back to regular Screen Share next week!

Crowdsourced
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week.
“New version of Vibescape just came out for Apple Vision Pro — new Oregon coast-inspired meditation environment! Completely new experience with this and the Forest Ledge environment — pushing the boundaries of what’s possible outside of Apple’s own environments.” – Gregory
“I’ve been using Beeper a ton on my Pixel 8 Pro and MacBook Pro. I actually installed it in early April when the acquisition announcement came out but have really hit my stride with it a month ago. It’s just so helpful to have all of your messaging in one app, both for work and personal.” – Josh
“Patrick Willems has a new video this week about what’s next after superhero movies so I’ve been diving back into his channel after a while.” – Mike
“A friend introduced me to Guild Wars 2 a few months back. As someone who likes the concept of an MMO but always felt let down by the execution, I can confidently say this is one of the most underrated games ever made. A fun, free-to-play MMORPG with a healthy community and no microtransactions sounded too good to be true, but it’s not. Plus, with the recent announcements around the next expansion, there are more reasons to play than ever.” – Dallin
“I heard about Microsoft’s Recall, which felt exhausting and tedious to me. So, last weekend, I paved over Windows and installed the Bazzite Linux distro on my gaming PC and have been playing all my Steam and Epic games that way. It’s surprisingly so much better than the last time I tried Linux on the desktop. I’m sure mileage varies, but everything worked with about the same amount of tweaking Windows required.” – Les
“The LOTR movies are finally coming back to theaters. The extended editions — the only versions I’ll watch. So excited to go watch these with my pals, like high school all over again.” – Colin
“Watching Who Killed WCW? from Vice. It’s a three-part miniseries interviewing Eric Bischoff and a bunch of wrestlers like Kevin Nash, Konnan, and Booker T about the inevitable downfall of WCW. Everyone has their own thoughts about who to point the finger at, from Turner executives hating wrestling to Bischoff not knowing what he’s doing to the wrestlers only looking out for themselves. Only one episode out so far, but it’s good.” – Brian
“The new shows Thousandaires from Dropout and Trolley Problems from 2nd Try premiered this week and are both hilarious and great examples of modern media companies and the trend of creating their own streaming platforms.” – Zach
“On the anime watch. I highly recommend Delicious in Dungeon. Very fun to watch, the characters’ comedic timing is excellent. This anime is hilarious while keeping the stakes of the story high.” – John

Signing off
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about a blog post Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s CTO, wrote recently. He talks about his system of “Inbox Ten,” which basically means not trying to end every day with nothing on your plate but instead just trying to find a more manageable flow of information in your life. Boz has a whole system for managing his inbox in particular, which I really like — I used to be an Inbox Zero zealot and get stressed out when there’s stuff in there, but I like his slightly less drastic approach. And this sentence has popped into my brain all week, every time I get an email: “Don’t let it linger in your inbox or get yourself talked into work you don’t think is a good use of your time.” Words to live by.
See you next week!

Image: David Pierce / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 41, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope you like gaming gadgets and silly spy movies, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been reading about the tough times at Humane and how Suicide Squad flopped, watching the TikTok dancing cult documentary and Furiosa, swapping my crappy Roku for a slightly less crappy Apple TV, listening to a lot of WikiHole, mixing up new mocktail recipes, and testing the Phanpy app for all things fediverse.

I also have for you a new Raspberry Pi accessory, an incredibly well-liked movie to watch this weekend, a couple of fun tech books, some gaming gear, and lots more. Let’s do it.

(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What should everyone else be as into as you are? Tell me everything: email installer@theverge.com, share with @imdavidpierce on Threads, or find me on Signal @davidpierce.11. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, tell them to subscribe here.)

The Drop

The Raspberry Pi AI Kit. This is my kind of AI PC: a super simple $70 kit that works with a Raspberry Pi 5 and gives you a surprising amount of power with which to do simple processing tasks. I don’t even know what I’ll use this for! But I’m getting one anyway.

Hit Man. A bunch of very smart people have said this comedy-action-thriller Netflix flick is one of the best movies of the year. And why not? Richard Linklater directs, Glen Powell stars, it’s based on an all-timer of a magazine article. I cannot wait to watch.

Dark Wire. This is as good a premise for a book as I’ve ever seen: the story of the FBI’s secret tech startup, designed to track some of the world’s most sophisticated criminals. A few places have published excerpts, and I already can’t put this book down.

Building SimCity. Two books this week! You love to see it. This is a story all about SimCity, yes, but also about the history of computer simulation, with lots of photos and diagrams to go with it. One for the coffee table for sure.

The new Rivian R1. Same look, same funky headlight design, totally new car underneath. A lot of what Rivian’s doing here is clearly just to keep costs down, but this continues to be the EV I lust after the most.

The Acolyte. This is a very different kind of Star Wars story, set in a very different time and place, told from a very different point of view, all of which I definitely think is a good thing. The reviews seem pretty mixed so far, but I’m excited to give it a whirl.

Sequel 2.3. A very cool update to the Installerverse’s favorite media tracking app for Apple devices. The new feature is called Magic Lookup, and it lets you send a URL to the app and have it automatically parsed and dumped into your lists. Perfect for saving those “20 things coming to Netflix this month” things you see all over the place.

The ModRetro Chromatic. The retro gaming hardware boom we’re in right now is just the best thing. And this, a $199 Game Boy homage from a team led by Palmer Luckey, looks great. It’s not shipping until the end of the year, but it’s up for preorders now.

The Asus ROG Ally X. Speaking of portable consoles! This one’s a lot bigger, a lot more expensive, and a lot more ambitious than the Chromatic — but it also sounds pretty great. Maybe this is the first Windows handheld that can really stand up to the Steam Deck?

Comfort Zone. Fun new podcast from the MacStories crew, with a gimmick I really like: every week, the three hosts have to basically do “Tech Show and Tell” and then issue a tech-related challenge to complete before the next episode. (MacStories also has another new podcast, called NPC, all about portable gaming.

“How ‘Wall-E’ Reveals Our Changing Feelings Toward Tech.” I am outrageously jealous of this whole series of episodes from the Offline podcast, looking at how movies like Her and The Social Network influenced the way we think about and build tech. This is the final episode in the miniseries, and they’re all worth a listen.

Screen share

Well, friends, it took 41 issues, but it happened: I had someone lined up for Screen Share this week, and it just didn’t come together in time. So let’s do something slightly different. I’ve recently become obsessed with the Niagara Launcher for Android, which is, in theory, largely optimized for one-handed phone use but is also just a better, quieter way of organizing your homescreen. In the last 10 days, I’ve probably redone my setup eight times. It’s a lot.

Niagara is just so clever! It turns your apps into a customizable list, pops up widgets and notifications right in place, and lets you do a shocking amount of stuff without ever opening an app. This is totally how phones should work. (If you want to understand how it operates, here’s a good thorough video to watch.)

Niagara just got a big update, too, particularly if you pay the $10 a year or $30 lifetime Pro subscription. Its search is better now, it got some cool new icons, and there are a few other little improvements, too.

As I’ve been tinkering with my own homescreen, I’ve been collecting some Niagara setups I like, and I figured I’d share a few. You can do so many things with this launcher!

(Top row: @sm0ke_screens / @iamankursjain / @justinbelcher / @imaginationmatters6. Bottom row: @kustom_bee / @SandeepAugusti3 / @KushalWagh)

Cool, right? There are rumors and reports that we’re going to get a bunch of new customization possibilities for iOS, too, so here’s hoping this is a year filled with chaotic homescreen reorgs. If you use Niagara, by the way, or any other awesome Android launcher, I’d love to see your sick homescreen setups. Send them my way. And we’ll be back to regular Screen Share next week!

Crowdsourced

Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week.

“New version of Vibescape just came out for Apple Vision Pro — new Oregon coast-inspired meditation environment! Completely new experience with this and the Forest Ledge environment — pushing the boundaries of what’s possible outside of Apple’s own environments.” – Gregory

“I’ve been using Beeper a ton on my Pixel 8 Pro and MacBook Pro. I actually installed it in early April when the acquisition announcement came out but have really hit my stride with it a month ago. It’s just so helpful to have all of your messaging in one app, both for work and personal.” – Josh

“Patrick Willems has a new video this week about what’s next after superhero movies so I’ve been diving back into his channel after a while.” – Mike

“A friend introduced me to Guild Wars 2 a few months back. As someone who likes the concept of an MMO but always felt let down by the execution, I can confidently say this is one of the most underrated games ever made. A fun, free-to-play MMORPG with a healthy community and no microtransactions sounded too good to be true, but it’s not. Plus, with the recent announcements around the next expansion, there are more reasons to play than ever.” – Dallin

“I heard about Microsoft’s Recall, which felt exhausting and tedious to me. So, last weekend, I paved over Windows and installed the Bazzite Linux distro on my gaming PC and have been playing all my Steam and Epic games that way. It’s surprisingly so much better than the last time I tried Linux on the desktop. I’m sure mileage varies, but everything worked with about the same amount of tweaking Windows required.” – Les

“The LOTR movies are finally coming back to theaters. The extended editions — the only versions I’ll watch. So excited to go watch these with my pals, like high school all over again.” – Colin

“Watching Who Killed WCW? from Vice. It’s a three-part miniseries interviewing Eric Bischoff and a bunch of wrestlers like Kevin Nash, Konnan, and Booker T about the inevitable downfall of WCW. Everyone has their own thoughts about who to point the finger at, from Turner executives hating wrestling to Bischoff not knowing what he’s doing to the wrestlers only looking out for themselves. Only one episode out so far, but it’s good.” – Brian

“The new shows Thousandaires from Dropout and Trolley Problems from 2nd Try premiered this week and are both hilarious and great examples of modern media companies and the trend of creating their own streaming platforms.” – Zach

“On the anime watch. I highly recommend Delicious in Dungeon. Very fun to watch, the characters’ comedic timing is excellent. This anime is hilarious while keeping the stakes of the story high.” – John

Signing off

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about a blog post Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s CTO, wrote recently. He talks about his system of “Inbox Ten,” which basically means not trying to end every day with nothing on your plate but instead just trying to find a more manageable flow of information in your life. Boz has a whole system for managing his inbox in particular, which I really like — I used to be an Inbox Zero zealot and get stressed out when there’s stuff in there, but I like his slightly less drastic approach. And this sentence has popped into my brain all week, every time I get an email: “Don’t let it linger in your inbox or get yourself talked into work you don’t think is a good use of your time.” Words to live by.

See you next week!

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Screenshot: YouTube

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got its first official trailer yesterday, revealing that the Mutant Mayhem spinoff will debut August 9th, with a 12-episode run on Paramount Plus. And from the looks of things, it’s just as gorgeous as the 3D-animated movie it sprang from.
The new trailer sees the four brothers split up by a mysterious villain named Bishop and forced to fight murderous robots without the help of their siblings. Bishop herself appears in the belly of an especially large robot that very vaguely resembles a mouser with arms and feels a lot like a hint at Krang, the evil brain from Dimension X that terrorized the Turtles in the 1987 cartoon series.

Screenshot: YouTube

That aside, the Nickelodeon series will feature returning Mutant Mayhem voice actors Micah Abbey (Donatello), Shamon Brown Jr. (Michelangelo), Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), and Brady Noon (Raphael), as well as Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil. Look for it on August 9th for Paramount Plus subscribers.

Screenshot: YouTube

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got its first official trailer yesterday, revealing that the Mutant Mayhem spinoff will debut August 9th, with a 12-episode run on Paramount Plus. And from the looks of things, it’s just as gorgeous as the 3D-animated movie it sprang from.

The new trailer sees the four brothers split up by a mysterious villain named Bishop and forced to fight murderous robots without the help of their siblings. Bishop herself appears in the belly of an especially large robot that very vaguely resembles a mouser with arms and feels a lot like a hint at Krang, the evil brain from Dimension X that terrorized the Turtles in the 1987 cartoon series.

Screenshot: YouTube

That aside, the Nickelodeon series will feature returning Mutant Mayhem voice actors Micah Abbey (Donatello), Shamon Brown Jr. (Michelangelo), Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), and Brady Noon (Raphael), as well as Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil. Look for it on August 9th for Paramount Plus subscribers.

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During last night’s Major League Baseball telecast on Apple TV Plus, a grounder bounced off the right hand of Los Angeles Dodger player Enrique “Kiké” Hernández and right into his crotch. That gave New York Yankees batter Gleyber Torres enough time to get to first. Does that happen all the time? Sure. It’s just that Hernández was in the middle of an interview when it happened.
Game announcer Dontrelle Willis had just asked Hernández, who was wearing a two-way mic, about his team’s close-knit relationship when Torres hit the ball toward third base. Hernández ran to catch it and simply misjudged how the ball would bounce. ESPN reports that when asked after the game whether the interview had anything to do with the error, Hernández said, “Maybe a little bit,” he said, “but I think I let the ball eat me up. It had a weird hop.”

Even if he did feel the softball question caused him to catch a hardball to the groin, Hernández has no intention of turning down those in-game interviews — when he was asked after the game, he said, “no, because we’re getting paid.” Indeed they are! The Major League Baseball Players Association’s collective agreement (PDF) stipulates that players get $10,000 per game or $15,000 for the postseason, with the money coming out of a joint fund between the MLB and the association.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who said in 2020 that he didn’t want his players to do the interviews, reportedly had no idea that Hernández was engaged in one during the game. But there may be nothing he can actually do to stop the practice, which some have worried could lead to errors. In this case, it didn’t lose the game for the Dodgers — they won by one point in the 11th inning.
On the plus side, the interviews can be entertaining.

I’d like to give Ravech the benefit of the doubt and assume he ran this by Casas, but this is a brutal question to ask while a guy is trying to play first base. What do you think Mother’s Day means for someone who lost their mother?pic.twitter.com/w4r5VDNA5u— Aram Leighton (@AramLeighton8) May 15, 2023

Well, sometimes, anyway.

During last night’s Major League Baseball telecast on Apple TV Plus, a grounder bounced off the right hand of Los Angeles Dodger player Enrique “Kiké” Hernández and right into his crotch. That gave New York Yankees batter Gleyber Torres enough time to get to first. Does that happen all the time? Sure. It’s just that Hernández was in the middle of an interview when it happened.

Game announcer Dontrelle Willis had just asked Hernández, who was wearing a two-way mic, about his team’s close-knit relationship when Torres hit the ball toward third base. Hernández ran to catch it and simply misjudged how the ball would bounce. ESPN reports that when asked after the game whether the interview had anything to do with the error, Hernández said, “Maybe a little bit,” he said, “but I think I let the ball eat me up. It had a weird hop.”

Even if he did feel the softball question caused him to catch a hardball to the groin, Hernández has no intention of turning down those in-game interviews — when he was asked after the game, he said, “no, because we’re getting paid.” Indeed they are! The Major League Baseball Players Association’s collective agreement (PDF) stipulates that players get $10,000 per game or $15,000 for the postseason, with the money coming out of a joint fund between the MLB and the association.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who said in 2020 that he didn’t want his players to do the interviews, reportedly had no idea that Hernández was engaged in one during the game. But there may be nothing he can actually do to stop the practice, which some have worried could lead to errors. In this case, it didn’t lose the game for the Dodgers — they won by one point in the 11th inning.

On the plus side, the interviews can be entertaining.

Well, sometimes, anyway.

Read More 

Deadpool and Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine. | Screenshot: YouTube

There’s virtually no indication in the trailers for Deadpool & Wolverine so far that Wolverine feels anything but disgust and irritation at Deadpool as they get down to whatever fourth wall-breaking multiverse shenanigans the film holds in store. That’s made all the more apparent by a Hugh Jackman whose increasingly craggy face only seems to be more fit to represent Logan as time goes on.
The new trailer leans way more into bits and one-liners than the previous two. Maybe that’s because Marvel and Disney have already set up the movie’s emotional stakes, first for Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and then for Wolverine. This one is all dick jokes and a cranky Jackman scowling and raging and glaring with everything he has.

This is “not Deadpool 3,” according to director Shawn Levy, who recently told Screen Rant that it’s “a two-handed character adventure.” Even so, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, and Karan Soni will return to reprise characters from the first two movies, along with several others. It hits theaters on July 26th.

Deadpool and Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine. | Screenshot: YouTube

There’s virtually no indication in the trailers for Deadpool & Wolverine so far that Wolverine feels anything but disgust and irritation at Deadpool as they get down to whatever fourth wall-breaking multiverse shenanigans the film holds in store. That’s made all the more apparent by a Hugh Jackman whose increasingly craggy face only seems to be more fit to represent Logan as time goes on.

The new trailer leans way more into bits and one-liners than the previous two. Maybe that’s because Marvel and Disney have already set up the movie’s emotional stakes, first for Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and then for Wolverine. This one is all dick jokes and a cranky Jackman scowling and raging and glaring with everything he has.

This is “not Deadpool 3,” according to director Shawn Levy, who recently told Screen Rant that it’s “a two-handed character adventure.” Even so, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, and Karan Soni will return to reprise characters from the first two movies, along with several others. It hits theaters on July 26th.

Read More 

Lost and Found Co. | Image: Bit Egg

Despite its cozy appearance, Wholesome Direct 2024 is actually shaping up to be the most packed event of Summer Game Fest. The hour-long presentation featured more than 70 different games. Some were brand-new announcements, some were previously known games that got a fresh trailer or release date, and a handful of titles even launched during the event.
Now, 70 is a large number, so to help, I’ve curated the games that stood out to me the most. You can also watch the full presentation right here to soak in every detail. Even better: many of the games have demos on Steam that you can check out. Anyway, here are my picks, in no particular order.

Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge
Launching today on PC and Switch
Kamaeru looks like a more interactive take on Neko Atsume, only with frogs instead of cats and a beautiful painterly art style. The goal is to not only build a sanctuary to raise those frogs in but also restore their wetland habitat. Best of all: it’s out today.

Image: Alblune
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home.

Squeakross: Home Squeak Home
Launching on Steam; no release date announced
This is what would happen if you mashed Animal Crossing with Picross. The game is all about solving nonograms, which then create items (out of cheese, naturally) that you can use to decorate a cozy home. It also looks to be jam-packed with mouse puns.

Discounty
Launching 2025 on PC, Switch, PS5, and Xbox
Calling Stardew Valley fans. Discounty looks like it has a similarly charming vibe, only with less farming and more business. Instead of building up a farmstead, you’re tasked with running a grocery store in a small town, which naturally means getting deeply involved in the community.

Kitsune Tails
Launching August 1st on PC
A side-scrolling platformer that looks a bit like Super Mario Bros. 2, if only it was coated in Japanese folklore and mythology. It also comes from the same developer behind the oddball political platformer Super Bernie World.

Moonstone Island
Launching June 19th on the Nintendo Switch
Moonstone Island is already out on PC, but its mix of life sim and creature collection feels like a perfect fit for the Switch. There’s a lot going on in this game: farming, potion brewing, card-based battles, and spirits to tame. Plus, you can ride around on a broom.

Caravan SandWitch
Launching on PC, Switch, and PS5; no release date announced
The end of the world is usually dark and dire, but Caravan SandWitch takes things in a slightly more wholesome direction. It’s an exploration game about venturing through a wasteland in your trusty van, and it has no combat or death, so you can drive around at your own pace.

Lost and Found Co.
Launching on PC, iOS, Android, and consoles; no release date announced
This is looking like the most charming Where’s Waldo?-style game since Hidden Folks. But whereas that was a black-and-white world, Lost and Found Co. is bursting with color. It even has a cute little dragon.

Afterlove EP
Launching on Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox later this year
From the creators of Coffee Talk, Afterlove EP is described as “a colorful mixtape of genres” that’s part dating sim, part rhythm game, and part story-driven adventure. Whatever it is, it both looks and sounds great, with hand-drawn art from Soyatu and a soundtrack of Indonesian pop-rock from L’alphalpha.

Lost and Found Co. | Image: Bit Egg

Despite its cozy appearance, Wholesome Direct 2024 is actually shaping up to be the most packed event of Summer Game Fest. The hour-long presentation featured more than 70 different games. Some were brand-new announcements, some were previously known games that got a fresh trailer or release date, and a handful of titles even launched during the event.

Now, 70 is a large number, so to help, I’ve curated the games that stood out to me the most. You can also watch the full presentation right here to soak in every detail. Even better: many of the games have demos on Steam that you can check out. Anyway, here are my picks, in no particular order.

Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge

Launching today on PC and Switch

Kamaeru looks like a more interactive take on Neko Atsume, only with frogs instead of cats and a beautiful painterly art style. The goal is to not only build a sanctuary to raise those frogs in but also restore their wetland habitat. Best of all: it’s out today.

Image: Alblune
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home.

Squeakross: Home Squeak Home

Launching on Steam; no release date announced

This is what would happen if you mashed Animal Crossing with Picross. The game is all about solving nonograms, which then create items (out of cheese, naturally) that you can use to decorate a cozy home. It also looks to be jam-packed with mouse puns.

Discounty

Launching 2025 on PC, Switch, PS5, and Xbox

Calling Stardew Valley fans. Discounty looks like it has a similarly charming vibe, only with less farming and more business. Instead of building up a farmstead, you’re tasked with running a grocery store in a small town, which naturally means getting deeply involved in the community.

Kitsune Tails

Launching August 1st on PC

A side-scrolling platformer that looks a bit like Super Mario Bros. 2, if only it was coated in Japanese folklore and mythology. It also comes from the same developer behind the oddball political platformer Super Bernie World.

Moonstone Island

Launching June 19th on the Nintendo Switch

Moonstone Island is already out on PC, but its mix of life sim and creature collection feels like a perfect fit for the Switch. There’s a lot going on in this game: farming, potion brewing, card-based battles, and spirits to tame. Plus, you can ride around on a broom.

Caravan SandWitch

Launching on PC, Switch, and PS5; no release date announced

The end of the world is usually dark and dire, but Caravan SandWitch takes things in a slightly more wholesome direction. It’s an exploration game about venturing through a wasteland in your trusty van, and it has no combat or death, so you can drive around at your own pace.

Lost and Found Co.

Launching on PC, iOS, Android, and consoles; no release date announced

This is looking like the most charming Where’s Waldo?-style game since Hidden Folks. But whereas that was a black-and-white world, Lost and Found Co. is bursting with color. It even has a cute little dragon.

Afterlove EP

Launching on Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox later this year

From the creators of Coffee Talk, Afterlove EP is described as “a colorful mixtape of genres” that’s part dating sim, part rhythm game, and part story-driven adventure. Whatever it is, it both looks and sounds great, with hand-drawn art from Soyatu and a soundtrack of Indonesian pop-rock from L’alphalpha.

Read More 

If you have this power bank, you should stop using it. | Image: Anker

Anker says it’s recalling its 321 Power Bank (PowerCore 5K, model number A1112), citing a fire risk posed by a manufacturing defect. The 321 is a compact power bank with two ports — one for USB-C and one for USB-A. Anker says “only a small number” produced after March 2023 are affected, but it’s recalling all of them anyway.
Look for “Anker 321 Power Bank (PowerCore 5K, Black), Model: A1112” in the white text printed on the bottom to see if you have this model. If you do, Anker urges you to stop using it immediately. Fill out this form, including the serial number, to stake your claim for a replacement 533 Power Bank the company is offering affected owners. Try to track down your proof of purchase before you head over there, as it says that will speed the process along.

Image: Anker
Here’s where you’ll find the relevant details.

As a reminder, don’t throw your batteries away! Not only is e-waste a huge problem but tossing batteries can cause fires. Anker offers several links for responsibly disposing of them in various countries. (US users can go to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website or Call2Recycle to find out how to get rid of theirs.)
This isn’t the only recall Anker has live right now. The company also recalled the 535 Power Bank last year, after it was found to be the likely culprit in a Maryland house fire.

If you have this power bank, you should stop using it. | Image: Anker

Anker says it’s recalling its 321 Power Bank (PowerCore 5K, model number A1112), citing a fire risk posed by a manufacturing defect. The 321 is a compact power bank with two ports — one for USB-C and one for USB-A. Anker says “only a small number” produced after March 2023 are affected, but it’s recalling all of them anyway.

Look for “Anker 321 Power Bank (PowerCore 5K, Black), Model: A1112” in the white text printed on the bottom to see if you have this model. If you do, Anker urges you to stop using it immediately. Fill out this form, including the serial number, to stake your claim for a replacement 533 Power Bank the company is offering affected owners. Try to track down your proof of purchase before you head over there, as it says that will speed the process along.

Image: Anker
Here’s where you’ll find the relevant details.

As a reminder, don’t throw your batteries away! Not only is e-waste a huge problem but tossing batteries can cause fires. Anker offers several links for responsibly disposing of them in various countries. (US users can go to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website or Call2Recycle to find out how to get rid of theirs.)

This isn’t the only recall Anker has live right now. The company also recalled the 535 Power Bank last year, after it was found to be the likely culprit in a Maryland house fire.

Read More