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Minecraft is 15 years old, so it’s only natural that Lego should honor the anniversary with a set just for the game’s many adult fans. The company has started taking preorders for The Crafting Table, a 1,195-piece 18-and-up build, as Jay’s Brick Blog writes. The set will cost $89.99 in the US when it’s released on August 1st.
Lego says the set will include “familiar biomes, favorite mobs and hidden Easter eggs.” As the name suggests, the kit looks like an in-game crafting table. But inside of it is a Minecraft diorama featuring 12 biomes including Plains (with a village), Taiga (with a dripstone cave), and Cherry Grove (with an abandoned mineshaft).

Image: Lego

It also has eight microfigures; among them are Steve, Alex, a skeleton, a Creeper, and a pig. And it incorporates five mini-builds and stickers that feature phrases from the game. The whole kit, once built, will measure 5.5 inches x 6 inches x 6 inches.

The Crafting Table is part of Lego’s adult-oriented collection. It looks a little intimidating than, say, the five-times-as-many-pieces Lord of the Rings Barad-dûr set that just came available. Other notable kits from the series include the once-rumored, now very much real Legend of Zelda Great Deku Tree, a delightful Retro Radio kit, and the drool-worthy Star Wars TIE Interceptor.
It’s a big week for Minecraft fans, as the game is also getting a new animated series on Netflix. (And let’s not forget that live-action movie with Jack Black and Jason Momoa that’s on its way next year.)
The Crafting Table will also be available in Australia (AU $129.99), the UK (£79.99), the EU (€89.99), Canada (CAD $119.99), and Singapore (SGD $149.99), according to Jay’s Brick Blog. Lego insiders get 585 points for picking up The Crafting Table.

Minecraft is 15 years old, so it’s only natural that Lego should honor the anniversary with a set just for the game’s many adult fans. The company has started taking preorders for The Crafting Table, a 1,195-piece 18-and-up build, as Jay’s Brick Blog writes. The set will cost $89.99 in the US when it’s released on August 1st.

Lego says the set will include “familiar biomes, favorite mobs and hidden Easter eggs.” As the name suggests, the kit looks like an in-game crafting table. But inside of it is a Minecraft diorama featuring 12 biomes including Plains (with a village), Taiga (with a dripstone cave), and Cherry Grove (with an abandoned mineshaft).

Image: Lego

It also has eight microfigures; among them are Steve, Alex, a skeleton, a Creeper, and a pig. And it incorporates five mini-builds and stickers that feature phrases from the game. The whole kit, once built, will measure 5.5 inches x 6 inches x 6 inches.

The Crafting Table is part of Lego’s adult-oriented collection. It looks a little intimidating than, say, the five-times-as-many-pieces Lord of the Rings Barad-dûr set that just came available. Other notable kits from the series include the once-rumored, now very much real Legend of Zelda Great Deku Tree, a delightful Retro Radio kit, and the drool-worthy Star Wars TIE Interceptor.

It’s a big week for Minecraft fans, as the game is also getting a new animated series on Netflix. (And let’s not forget that live-action movie with Jack Black and Jason Momoa that’s on its way next year.)

The Crafting Table will also be available in Australia (AU $129.99), the UK (£79.99), the EU (€89.99), Canada (CAD $119.99), and Singapore (SGD $149.99), according to Jay’s Brick Blog. Lego insiders get 585 points for picking up The Crafting Table.

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Scarlett Johansson at Cannes in 2023. | Photo: Laurent Koffel / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Researchers at Arizona State University found that Scarlett Johansson’s voice does indeed sound like “Sky,” OpenAI’s currently discontinued GPT-4o voice, according to NPR, which commissioned the comparison. After using AI models developed to analyze vocal similarities to compare Sky to roughly 600 other actresses, the lab reportedly found Johansson’s voice was “more similar to Sky than 98% of the other actresses.”
But the models also “often” found that the voices of Anne Hathaway and Keri Russell resembled Sky’s more than did Johansson’s. Visar Berisha, the professor who led the analysis, told NPR that Johansson’s voice is “similar, but likely not identical.” Berisha’s other work includes OriginStory (PDF), an FTC challenge-winning microphone that watermarks voice recordings as human-created.
Nevertheless, the researchers reportedly concluded there were “undeniable commonalities” between the voices. For instance, the analysis reportedly showed that Sky’s and Johansson’s vocal tracts would have “identical” lengths (“vocal tract” refers to the throat, mouth, and nasal passages that would produce a given voice).
Some differences included that Sky’s voice was a little higher-pitched and more expressive than Johansson’s, while hers is “slightly more breathy” than that of the model, according to NPR. We asked Berisha for more information on his analysis and its limitations, and will update if he responds. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Both OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and CTO Mira Murati have denied that Sky is intended to sound like Johansson. After its GPT-4o demo earlier this month — after which Altman published a one-word post that simply read “her” — Johansson said that Altman had asked her to lend her voice to the model, which she declined, and that he tried again as recently as two days prior to the demo.
Johansson has not taken legal action against OpenAI but did say she had hired legal counsel. Legal experts have said if she chooses to sue, there’s a real chance it doesn’t go well for the company, as she may not even need to prove the similarities were created on purpose.

Scarlett Johansson at Cannes in 2023. | Photo: Laurent Koffel / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Researchers at Arizona State University found that Scarlett Johansson’s voice does indeed sound like “Sky,” OpenAI’s currently discontinued GPT-4o voice, according to NPR, which commissioned the comparison. After using AI models developed to analyze vocal similarities to compare Sky to roughly 600 other actresses, the lab reportedly found Johansson’s voice was “more similar to Sky than 98% of the other actresses.”

But the models also “often” found that the voices of Anne Hathaway and Keri Russell resembled Sky’s more than did Johansson’s. Visar Berisha, the professor who led the analysis, told NPR that Johansson’s voice is “similar, but likely not identical.” Berisha’s other work includes OriginStory (PDF), an FTC challenge-winning microphone that watermarks voice recordings as human-created.

Nevertheless, the researchers reportedly concluded there were “undeniable commonalities” between the voices. For instance, the analysis reportedly showed that Sky’s and Johansson’s vocal tracts would have “identical” lengths (“vocal tract” refers to the throat, mouth, and nasal passages that would produce a given voice).

Some differences included that Sky’s voice was a little higher-pitched and more expressive than Johansson’s, while hers is “slightly more breathy” than that of the model, according to NPR. We asked Berisha for more information on his analysis and its limitations, and will update if he responds. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Both OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and CTO Mira Murati have denied that Sky is intended to sound like Johansson. After its GPT-4o demo earlier this month — after which Altman published a one-word post that simply read “her” — Johansson said that Altman had asked her to lend her voice to the model, which she declined, and that he tried again as recently as two days prior to the demo.

Johansson has not taken legal action against OpenAI but did say she had hired legal counsel. Legal experts have said if she chooses to sue, there’s a real chance it doesn’t go well for the company, as she may not even need to prove the similarities were created on purpose.

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Image: Netflix

Lara Croft’s next adventure — well, one of them, anyway — will start streaming this fall. Netflix announced that its animated Tomb Raider adaption will hit the service on October 10th. The show is called Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, and it picks up right after the most recent video game trilogy, which culminated with Shadow of the Tomb Raider in 2018. Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter in the MCU) will star as Croft.
Here’s the setup:
Following the events of the Survivor series, Lara Croft has abandoned her friends to embark on increasingly more perilous solo adventures. But she must return home when a dangerous and powerful Chinese artifact is stolen from Croft Manor by a thief with an uncanny personal connection. Her daring pursuit will take her on an adventure around the world and to the depths of forgotten tombs, where she will be forced to confront her true self, and decide just what kind of hero she wants to become.
The show is part of a huge — and growing — library of video game adaptations on Netflix. Most recently, the streamer announced that it was making an animated Minecraft series. It’s also part of somewhat of a resurgence for Tomb Raider as a franchise, with Amazon both publishing a new game developed by Crystal Dynamics and creating a live-action show helmed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Image: Netflix

Lara Croft’s next adventure — well, one of them, anyway — will start streaming this fall. Netflix announced that its animated Tomb Raider adaption will hit the service on October 10th. The show is called Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, and it picks up right after the most recent video game trilogy, which culminated with Shadow of the Tomb Raider in 2018. Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter in the MCU) will star as Croft.

Here’s the setup:

Following the events of the Survivor series, Lara Croft has abandoned her friends to embark on increasingly more perilous solo adventures. But she must return home when a dangerous and powerful Chinese artifact is stolen from Croft Manor by a thief with an uncanny personal connection. Her daring pursuit will take her on an adventure around the world and to the depths of forgotten tombs, where she will be forced to confront her true self, and decide just what kind of hero she wants to become.

The show is part of a huge — and growing — library of video game adaptations on Netflix. Most recently, the streamer announced that it was making an animated Minecraft series. It’s also part of somewhat of a resurgence for Tomb Raider as a franchise, with Amazon both publishing a new game developed by Crystal Dynamics and creating a live-action show helmed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

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Image: Toho International

Godzilla Minus One is officially streaming worldwide on Netflix as of today, everywhere except Japan and France, according to film distributor Toho International in a release shared with The Verge. You can also buy ($14.99) or rent ($5.99) digital copies, either in color (Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play) or black and white (Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play).
Written and directed by Takashi Yamakazi, Godzilla Minus One goes back to the giant radioactive kaiju’s origins. It’s set just at the end of World War II after the US nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The film follows a kamikaze pilot named Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who after deciding to land on Odo Island rather than sacrifice himself for the war becomes one of the only survivors of a Godzilla attack on the island.

Critics received the movie well when it hit theaters in December. The Verge’s own Charles Pulliam-Moore called it “a spectacular disaster movie” that “feels more than the sum of its parts.” Godzilla Minus One also picked up several awards, including an Academy Award for visual effects back in March.

Image: Toho International

Godzilla Minus One is officially streaming worldwide on Netflix as of today, everywhere except Japan and France, according to film distributor Toho International in a release shared with The Verge. You can also buy ($14.99) or rent ($5.99) digital copies, either in color (Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play) or black and white (Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play).

Written and directed by Takashi Yamakazi, Godzilla Minus One goes back to the giant radioactive kaiju’s origins. It’s set just at the end of World War II after the US nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The film follows a kamikaze pilot named Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who after deciding to land on Odo Island rather than sacrifice himself for the war becomes one of the only survivors of a Godzilla attack on the island.

Critics received the movie well when it hit theaters in December. The Verge’s own Charles Pulliam-Moore called it “a spectacular disaster movie” that “feels more than the sum of its parts.” Godzilla Minus One also picked up several awards, including an Academy Award for visual effects back in March.

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As you can see here, Sauron’s fortress of evil is sure to look great beside your modern art collection and West Elm furniture. | Image: Lego

You can now own Sauron’s tower from The Lord of the Rings — well, the Lego version at least. Starting today, June 1st, Lego Insiders can purchase the massive Barad-dûr set for $459.99 before it becomes publicly available to everyone else on June 4th. Lego Insiders will also receive Lego’s exclusive Fell Beast set, which comes with J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictionalized steed and a Nazgûl minifig, so long as they make their purchase before the set becomes widely available on June 4th.

Not a Lego Insider? Not a problem. The loyalty program is free to join, after all, meaning you can still buy the Lord of the Rings set today if you register for an account on Lego’s website. In addition to the Fell Beast set, Lego is also throwing in a free Water Park set — though that offer will end on June 7th. It’s an odd pairing when you consider the summery 132-piece set is nowhere near as menacing as Sauron’s fiery stronghold in Mordor, but hey, at least it’s something you can use to distract the kids while you focus on building your own dark tower.

Image: Lego
Perched on top of a table, the dark tower is almost as tall as a person.

In case you need a refresher, Lego’s latest Lord of the Rings set comes with 5,471 pieces that, once assembled, depict Sauron’s black tower and fiery eye, which remains one of the more iconic visuals from Peter Jackson’s film trilogy. The playset stands 32.5 inches (83cm) tall, but you can also buy extra copies if you want to build it even higher. It comes with a pair of mechanical front doors and a secret room for the all-seeing palantir stone, too, along with a slew of clever Easter eggs.

Image: Lego
The set comes with minifigures of orcs, Frodo, Sauron, and more.

Lego has added in a bunch of other details Lord of the Rings fans will appreciate, from a throne room and dining hall for orcs to a lava pit with a skeleton cage. There are also references to the story itself, like Frodo’s stolen mithril coat and even a spider (Shelob, anyone?). The set even comes with minifigures of Frodo, Sam, Gollum, and — of course, Sauron — so you can reenact whichever scenes you choose.

As you can see here, Sauron’s fortress of evil is sure to look great beside your modern art collection and West Elm furniture. | Image: Lego

You can now own Sauron’s tower from The Lord of the Rings — well, the Lego version at least. Starting today, June 1st, Lego Insiders can purchase the massive Barad-dûr set for $459.99 before it becomes publicly available to everyone else on June 4th. Lego Insiders will also receive Lego’s exclusive Fell Beast set, which comes with J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictionalized steed and a Nazgûl minifig, so long as they make their purchase before the set becomes widely available on June 4th.

Not a Lego Insider? Not a problem. The loyalty program is free to join, after all, meaning you can still buy the Lord of the Rings set today if you register for an account on Lego’s website. In addition to the Fell Beast set, Lego is also throwing in a free Water Park set — though that offer will end on June 7th. It’s an odd pairing when you consider the summery 132-piece set is nowhere near as menacing as Sauron’s fiery stronghold in Mordor, but hey, at least it’s something you can use to distract the kids while you focus on building your own dark tower.

Image: Lego
Perched on top of a table, the dark tower is almost as tall as a person.

In case you need a refresher, Lego’s latest Lord of the Rings set comes with 5,471 pieces that, once assembled, depict Sauron’s black tower and fiery eye, which remains one of the more iconic visuals from Peter Jackson’s film trilogy. The playset stands 32.5 inches (83cm) tall, but you can also buy extra copies if you want to build it even higher. It comes with a pair of mechanical front doors and a secret room for the all-seeing palantir stone, too, along with a slew of clever Easter eggs.

Image: Lego
The set comes with minifigures of orcs, Frodo, Sauron, and more.

Lego has added in a bunch of other details Lord of the Rings fans will appreciate, from a throne room and dining hall for orcs to a lava pit with a skeleton cage. There are also references to the story itself, like Frodo’s stolen mithril coat and even a spider (Shelob, anyone?). The set even comes with minifigures of Frodo, Sam, Gollum, and — of course, Sauron — so you can reenact whichever scenes you choose.

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The Beats Studio Buds Plus are on sale in all styles, including their slick translucent option. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Beats may be releasing a new pair of budget earbuds later this month, but their $80 price tag comes at the expense of active noise cancellation. Thankfully, if you’re looking for a cool-looking pair of earbuds that will let you listen to music and tune out the world, the Beats Studio Buds Plus remain a great buy. And right now, they’re joining the Beats Solo Pro 4 in dropping to one of their best prices to date at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, where you can pick them up for $129.99 ($40 off). That matches the best price we’ve seen so far this year and is only $10 shy of their all-time low.

Here at The Verge, we’re big fans of the translucent Beats Studio Buds Plus, which are more eye-catching than most wireless earbuds — including Apple’s second-gen AirPods Pro. They offer significant improvements over their predecessor, too, making them a worthy upgrade. Not only do they sound better and offer more effective active noise cancellation, but they also last longer. They don’t tune out noise quite as well as the latest AirPods Pro and their transparency mode doesn’t sound as natural, but they offer native support for both iOS and Android features, making them a good buy for those who want more flexibility in terms of ecosystem.
Read our Beats Studio Buds review.

A few more deals to start your Saturday

Speaking of slick-looking tech, the Elago MagSafe MS W5 Charging Stand — which is shaped like a Game Boy Advance SP — is down to just $20.50 ($5 off) when you clip the on-page coupon at Amazon. None of its “controller” buttons actually work, of course, but the MagSafe-ready stand can deliver up to 10W of power to compatible devices. Plus, it’s compatible with the new Standby mode in iOS 17, which lets you turn your phone into a tiny smart display so you can easily see the time and other info at a glance.

Narwal’s Freo X Ultra, our favorite mopping robot, is available for $1,199.99 ($200 off) at Amazon when you clip the on-page coupon or directly from Narwal with promo code FREOXU200. If you want a quiet robovac that’ll leave your floors spotless, Narwal’s is a good choice, one that’s even capable of going back to mop more when it detects the floor is still dirty. It can also adapt to different levels of pressure based on the floor type and functions as a great vacuum thanks to its 8,200 Pa of suction power and zero-tangle brush.
If you’re looking for a good action camera to capture your summer travels, right now you can buy the GoPro Hero 12 Black for around $299 ($100 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo, which is a new all-time low. The action cam can capture HDR photos and videos at 5.3K (up to 30fps in 16:9 aspect ratio) and, compared to previous models, offers longer battery life and a wider field of view. If you’re a creator, it also offers a handy 9:16 vertical capture mode that lets you easily make vertical videos for platforms like TikTok.
Now through June 7th, the JLab Go Air are half off at Woot, where you can pick them up in multiple colors for $14.99. The wireless earbuds offer a ton of value for the price, including decent sound, five hours of battery life, a modest IP44 rating for water resistance, and the ability to use either earbud independently. The Bluetooth earbuds lack advanced capabilities like active noise cancellation, but that’s expected at $15.

The Beats Studio Buds Plus are on sale in all styles, including their slick translucent option. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Beats may be releasing a new pair of budget earbuds later this month, but their $80 price tag comes at the expense of active noise cancellation. Thankfully, if you’re looking for a cool-looking pair of earbuds that will let you listen to music and tune out the world, the Beats Studio Buds Plus remain a great buy. And right now, they’re joining the Beats Solo Pro 4 in dropping to one of their best prices to date at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, where you can pick them up for $129.99 ($40 off). That matches the best price we’ve seen so far this year and is only $10 shy of their all-time low.

Here at The Verge, we’re big fans of the translucent Beats Studio Buds Plus, which are more eye-catching than most wireless earbuds — including Apple’s second-gen AirPods Pro. They offer significant improvements over their predecessor, too, making them a worthy upgrade. Not only do they sound better and offer more effective active noise cancellation, but they also last longer. They don’t tune out noise quite as well as the latest AirPods Pro and their transparency mode doesn’t sound as natural, but they offer native support for both iOS and Android features, making them a good buy for those who want more flexibility in terms of ecosystem.

Read our Beats Studio Buds review.

A few more deals to start your Saturday

Speaking of slick-looking tech, the Elago MagSafe MS W5 Charging Stand — which is shaped like a Game Boy Advance SP — is down to just $20.50 ($5 off) when you clip the on-page coupon at Amazon. None of its “controller” buttons actually work, of course, but the MagSafe-ready stand can deliver up to 10W of power to compatible devices. Plus, it’s compatible with the new Standby mode in iOS 17, which lets you turn your phone into a tiny smart display so you can easily see the time and other info at a glance.

Narwal’s Freo X Ultra, our favorite mopping robot, is available for $1,199.99 ($200 off) at Amazon when you clip the on-page coupon or directly from Narwal with promo code FREOXU200. If you want a quiet robovac that’ll leave your floors spotless, Narwal’s is a good choice, one that’s even capable of going back to mop more when it detects the floor is still dirty. It can also adapt to different levels of pressure based on the floor type and functions as a great vacuum thanks to its 8,200 Pa of suction power and zero-tangle brush.
If you’re looking for a good action camera to capture your summer travels, right now you can buy the GoPro Hero 12 Black for around $299 ($100 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo, which is a new all-time low. The action cam can capture HDR photos and videos at 5.3K (up to 30fps in 16:9 aspect ratio) and, compared to previous models, offers longer battery life and a wider field of view. If you’re a creator, it also offers a handy 9:16 vertical capture mode that lets you easily make vertical videos for platforms like TikTok.
Now through June 7th, the JLab Go Air are half off at Woot, where you can pick them up in multiple colors for $14.99. The wireless earbuds offer a ton of value for the price, including decent sound, five hours of battery life, a modest IP44 rating for water resistance, and the ability to use either earbud independently. The Bluetooth earbuds lack advanced capabilities like active noise cancellation, but that’s expected at $15.

Read More 

Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Boeing, NASA, and the United Launch Alliance are preparing to launch the first crewed Starliner flight test at 12:25PM ET today. You’ve got several options to watch live coverage of the launch, including YouTube (either on NASA’s or Boeing’s channel), on X (NASA, Boeing), and on NASA Plus, which has apps on various streaming devices.
The flight is meant to take two US astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — up to the International Space Station (ISS), where they plan to dock at 1:50PM ET tomorrow, June 2nd (NASA will live stream this, as well). Wilmore and Williams will stay on the station for a week to carry out testing of Starliner and its subsystems prior to NASA’s final certification of the craft for rotational missions to ISS.

Boeing’s Starliner scrubbed its May 6th launch after the United Launch Alliance discovered an issue with a pressure regulation valve in its Atlas V rocket. Starliner also has a helium leak, which NASA has decided not to repair because it doesn’t believe it endangers the mission, and fixing it would involve another lengthy delay. Prior to that, Boeing’s Starliner faced repeated delays and setbacks, including a failed 2019 mission, but finally successfully docked its capsule, unmanned, with the ISS in 2022.
Starliner is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which sees the agency works with private companies to develop novel spacecraft. SpaceX is also part of this program and has launched NASA astronauts since 2020.

Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Boeing, NASA, and the United Launch Alliance are preparing to launch the first crewed Starliner flight test at 12:25PM ET today. You’ve got several options to watch live coverage of the launch, including YouTube (either on NASA’s or Boeing’s channel), on X (NASA, Boeing), and on NASA Plus, which has apps on various streaming devices.

The flight is meant to take two US astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — up to the International Space Station (ISS), where they plan to dock at 1:50PM ET tomorrow, June 2nd (NASA will live stream this, as well). Wilmore and Williams will stay on the station for a week to carry out testing of Starliner and its subsystems prior to NASA’s final certification of the craft for rotational missions to ISS.

Boeing’s Starliner scrubbed its May 6th launch after the United Launch Alliance discovered an issue with a pressure regulation valve in its Atlas V rocket. Starliner also has a helium leak, which NASA has decided not to repair because it doesn’t believe it endangers the mission, and fixing it would involve another lengthy delay. Prior to that, Boeing’s Starliner faced repeated delays and setbacks, including a failed 2019 mission, but finally successfully docked its capsule, unmanned, with the ISS in 2022.

Starliner is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which sees the agency works with private companies to develop novel spacecraft. SpaceX is also part of this program and has launched NASA astronauts since 2020.

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Photo Illustration: Alex Parkin / Photo by Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images

Unsettled host Ilana Levinson spent two months trying to reach one of her contacts in Gaza for an interview. She had stayed in touch with Isam Hammad, a manager for a medical equipment company in Gaza City, since covering his work organizing the March of Return protest in 2018. But after he fled the city in November, the two hadn’t shared much more than the occasional WhatsApp voice note with one another.
When Levinson finally got ahold of Hammad in January, he was in Rafah, trying to get his family to Ireland on a family reunification visa. “I have no internet,” he said. “I have had to wake up every night since I made my [visa] application and go to the rooftop, turn on Vodafone Egypt, get the internet, check the list, and go back to sleep.”
Levinson and her co-producers spent years building relationships with peace activists from Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. They now find themselves in the position of having access to people on the ground who can give frank accounts of what is happening — access that has been increasingly hard to come by as the war churns on with no end in sight. That is especially true in Gaza, where foreign journalists are barred from entering unescorted by the Israel Defense Forces, connectivity is spotty at best, and more than 1.7 million people have been displaced from their homes.
“There is a real need for it in this moment.”
“I think after October 7th, people were really craving these personal stories and context,” said Levinson. “We felt a real obligation toward those new and existing listeners — there is a real need for it in this moment.”
For the media, maintaining access to Gaza has been a challenge, both due to limited communications within the region and strict limitations on physical entry from the outside.
Daniel Estrin, NPR’s international correspondent in Israel, reported from Gaza many times during his tenure at NPR. But since the start of the war, his access has been whittled down to the occasional IDF-guided tour just across the border. A colleague based in Gaza, reporter and photographer Anas Baba, shares accounts and sound from inside the enclave, but Baba has to navigate the same communications blackouts as everyone else.
As a member of the board of the Foreign Press Association of Israel, Estrin was party to a petition sent to the Israeli Supreme Court demanding access to Gaza. “This war is unprecedented in the amount of time that Israel has prevented journalists from entering independently into a war zone,” Estrin said. The petition was denied.
Even within Israel, it can be difficult to get people to talk. Israel Story, known as the Israeli This American Life, normally operates as a seasonal, narrative show produced in English and Hebrew that sticks to decidedly nonpolitical topics like buses and cows. But after October 7th, the show shifted into high gear, sending its producers out to all corners of the country gathering people’s perspectives. The result has been Wartime Diaries, a collection of more than four dozen episodes featuring Israeli citizens impacted by the war. They have included accounts from an archeologist who picked through the ruins of Kibbutz Nir Oz, a Druze journalist fighting for equal rights for his people within Israel, and a resident of a settlement in Gaza who dreams of returning.
Many Israeli-Arab people are afraid to go on the record amid a state crackdown on speech
The series struck a chord with American-Jewish listeners in particular who want to feel connected to Israel during this crisis. Downloads for Israel Story have tripled since before the war, and host Mishy Harman and senior producer Yochai Maital began hosting live shows in the US earlier this month.
But the show has struggled to get Israeli-Arab people — who make up 20 percent of the population of Israel — to agree to participate in the Wartime Diaries series. Harman says that many are afraid to go on the record amid a state crackdown on speech that has targeted Israeli-Arabs in particular.
“I think we’ve accrued a reputation as being an honest broker. However, I do think that we are not actually living up to that reputation at the moment,” Harman said. “We really are telling a [Jewish] Israeli story here.”
The challenge has put an emphasis on the news outlets that were already well established in the region. Al Jazeera, which had staff based in the Gaza Strip before the war, has become a leading source for audiences in the US and Europe due to its established access — access that has been imperiled by a recent ban inside Israel as a result of the outlet’s reporting. It has also thrust The Take, Al Jazeera’s daily news podcast, into the spotlight.
“In this moment, people are really paying attention.”
“With the dearth of access, Al Jazeera is this eye into Gaza. That puts a lot of responsibility on everyone’s shoulders,” said The Take executive producer Alex Locke. “What are you going to do with that lens? And how are you going to digest that into a podcast?”
The show has shifted most of its coverage to the war, featuring dispatches from Al Jazeera reporters about the increasingly dire humanitarian and security situation in the enclave. And while most of Al Jazeera’s audience is consuming the news through TV or the website, The Take’s team focuses on what audio alone can deliver.
“When you are listening while you’re on your daily commute or washing dishes, and then you stop because you hear tears or you hear what an airstrike sounds like — there’s just something so powerful about that, that no picture can even really can encompass,” said The Take host Malika Bilal.
Other podcasts have worked around the lack of access. NPR’s Throughline, a series that frames current events within historical context, has seen boosts in listenership around episodes that thoughtfully explore topics like the rise of Israel’s right wing and the origins of Hamas. “You often need to look at something from a 360-degree perspective, which requires you to potentially step back and cover the same moment in time from different vantage points,” said co-host Rund Abdelfatah.
Audio war reporting is a century-old practice, but the shows that are able to gain access today can have an even larger impact thanks to podcasting’s global reach. At the time Unsettled aired Hammad’s story in January, he was hitting a wall getting his wife and five kids out of Gaza. Because his son is an Irish citizen, there was a pathway to get some, but not all, of his family members out on a family reunification visa.
Hammad shared on the podcast that his son in Ireland has cerebral palsy. That resonated with a listener in Ireland who has a child with a nonverbal disability as well. After hearing the episode, she got in touch with Hammad, lobbied local politicians, and worked with the Irish government to get him and his family out in March. They are now together in Dublin, waiting until it is safe to return to Gaza.
“For so long, it hasn’t felt like people are even paying attention to what happens in Israel and Palestine,” Levinson said. “In this moment, people are really paying attention, and I’m overwhelmed that it’s possible for journalism to have this kind of impact.”

Photo Illustration: Alex Parkin / Photo by Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images

Unsettled host Ilana Levinson spent two months trying to reach one of her contacts in Gaza for an interview. She had stayed in touch with Isam Hammad, a manager for a medical equipment company in Gaza City, since covering his work organizing the March of Return protest in 2018. But after he fled the city in November, the two hadn’t shared much more than the occasional WhatsApp voice note with one another.

When Levinson finally got ahold of Hammad in January, he was in Rafah, trying to get his family to Ireland on a family reunification visa. “I have no internet,” he said. “I have had to wake up every night since I made my [visa] application and go to the rooftop, turn on Vodafone Egypt, get the internet, check the list, and go back to sleep.”

Levinson and her co-producers spent years building relationships with peace activists from Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. They now find themselves in the position of having access to people on the ground who can give frank accounts of what is happening — access that has been increasingly hard to come by as the war churns on with no end in sight. That is especially true in Gaza, where foreign journalists are barred from entering unescorted by the Israel Defense Forces, connectivity is spotty at best, and more than 1.7 million people have been displaced from their homes.

“I think after October 7th, people were really craving these personal stories and context,” said Levinson. “We felt a real obligation toward those new and existing listeners — there is a real need for it in this moment.”

For the media, maintaining access to Gaza has been a challenge, both due to limited communications within the region and strict limitations on physical entry from the outside.

Daniel Estrin, NPR’s international correspondent in Israel, reported from Gaza many times during his tenure at NPR. But since the start of the war, his access has been whittled down to the occasional IDF-guided tour just across the border. A colleague based in Gaza, reporter and photographer Anas Baba, shares accounts and sound from inside the enclave, but Baba has to navigate the same communications blackouts as everyone else.

As a member of the board of the Foreign Press Association of Israel, Estrin was party to a petition sent to the Israeli Supreme Court demanding access to Gaza. “This war is unprecedented in the amount of time that Israel has prevented journalists from entering independently into a war zone,” Estrin said. The petition was denied.

Even within Israel, it can be difficult to get people to talk. Israel Story, known as the Israeli This American Life, normally operates as a seasonal, narrative show produced in English and Hebrew that sticks to decidedly nonpolitical topics like buses and cows. But after October 7th, the show shifted into high gear, sending its producers out to all corners of the country gathering people’s perspectives. The result has been Wartime Diaries, a collection of more than four dozen episodes featuring Israeli citizens impacted by the war. They have included accounts from an archeologist who picked through the ruins of Kibbutz Nir Oz, a Druze journalist fighting for equal rights for his people within Israel, and a resident of a settlement in Gaza who dreams of returning.

The series struck a chord with American-Jewish listeners in particular who want to feel connected to Israel during this crisis. Downloads for Israel Story have tripled since before the war, and host Mishy Harman and senior producer Yochai Maital began hosting live shows in the US earlier this month.

But the show has struggled to get Israeli-Arab people — who make up 20 percent of the population of Israel — to agree to participate in the Wartime Diaries series. Harman says that many are afraid to go on the record amid a state crackdown on speech that has targeted Israeli-Arabs in particular.

“I think we’ve accrued a reputation as being an honest broker. However, I do think that we are not actually living up to that reputation at the moment,” Harman said. “We really are telling a [Jewish] Israeli story here.”

The challenge has put an emphasis on the news outlets that were already well established in the region. Al Jazeera, which had staff based in the Gaza Strip before the war, has become a leading source for audiences in the US and Europe due to its established access — access that has been imperiled by a recent ban inside Israel as a result of the outlet’s reporting. It has also thrust The Take, Al Jazeera’s daily news podcast, into the spotlight.

“With the dearth of access, Al Jazeera is this eye into Gaza. That puts a lot of responsibility on everyone’s shoulders,” said The Take executive producer Alex Locke. “What are you going to do with that lens? And how are you going to digest that into a podcast?”

The show has shifted most of its coverage to the war, featuring dispatches from Al Jazeera reporters about the increasingly dire humanitarian and security situation in the enclave. And while most of Al Jazeera’s audience is consuming the news through TV or the website, The Take’s team focuses on what audio alone can deliver.

“When you are listening while you’re on your daily commute or washing dishes, and then you stop because you hear tears or you hear what an airstrike sounds like — there’s just something so powerful about that, that no picture can even really can encompass,” said The Take host Malika Bilal.

Other podcasts have worked around the lack of access. NPR’s Throughline, a series that frames current events within historical context, has seen boosts in listenership around episodes that thoughtfully explore topics like the rise of Israel’s right wing and the origins of Hamas. “You often need to look at something from a 360-degree perspective, which requires you to potentially step back and cover the same moment in time from different vantage points,” said co-host Rund Abdelfatah.

Audio war reporting is a century-old practice, but the shows that are able to gain access today can have an even larger impact thanks to podcasting’s global reach. At the time Unsettled aired Hammad’s story in January, he was hitting a wall getting his wife and five kids out of Gaza. Because his son is an Irish citizen, there was a pathway to get some, but not all, of his family members out on a family reunification visa.

Hammad shared on the podcast that his son in Ireland has cerebral palsy. That resonated with a listener in Ireland who has a child with a nonverbal disability as well. After hearing the episode, she got in touch with Hammad, lobbied local politicians, and worked with the Irish government to get him and his family out in March. They are now together in Dublin, waiting until it is safe to return to Gaza.

“For so long, it hasn’t felt like people are even paying attention to what happens in Israel and Palestine,” Levinson said. “In this moment, people are really paying attention, and I’m overwhelmed that it’s possible for journalism to have this kind of impact.”

Read More 

Stompers, where hitting your co-workers will not end in an HR violation. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

Violence is never the answer. That said, it was fun when I opened a walking app and whacked a Verge editor with a baseball bat and made another slip on a banana peel. After, I continued on my peaceful commute home. A bit later, one of my fellow writers walloped me not once but twice with their own baseball bat. I wasn’t actually mad, but it did prompt me to go on a walk around the block so I could hit them back.
That, in a nutshell, is the appeal of Stompers — an iOS app that encourages you to whack, trick, and out-walk your friends (or colleagues) in a Looney Tunes-like race.
The app is the creation of designer Soren Iverson. You may know Iverson from his “unhinged UI” design series, in which he posts conceptual app mock-ups for features that no one asked for but secretly want. For example, this Slack screenshot of co-workers who message you on nationally mandated holidays getting a SWAT team called on them. In all of them, there’s a thread of absurdist whimsy.

Screenshot: Stompers
This was after I got whacked twice, so all’s fair in love and stomping.

That whimsy is in Stompers, too. Some of that is the cartoony, meme-like art style. That, Iverson says, is intentional. The app’s art is by Jim Soper, who’s done character designs for Looney Tunes and The Cuphead Show. Instead of using profile pictures, you create a Stomper avatar. (At The Verge, a disproportionate number of us decided to have fuchsia skin.) There’s also little section where you can see how many Danny DeVitos you’ve walked in a day or how many steps you have left before you reach the Moon. Everything feels like an app circa 2015, but with a healthy dash of irony poisoning.
It also wouldn’t be an Iverson project if Stompers wasn’t twisted in some way.
“The work that I do is often about taking things and flipping them on their heads, or just questioning a core principle,” Iverson tells The Verge. “What if step count could be messed with by someone else? It’s really weird [because] it defeats the purpose in a way.”
The end result is sort of like Looney Tunes meets Mario Kart. As you “race,” you can pick up items to mess with your friends. You can send friends on a fake shortcut, halving their step counts for a 30-minute period. There are rockets that shoot you forward 1,000 steps you didn’t actually take. The baseball bats knock you back 500 steps. The bananas have a 50 percent chance of knocking you back or propelling you forward 500 steps.

Screenshot: Stompers
Just so everyone knows, I won on Tuesday.

As a fitness tech reviewer, futzing around with step counts is a fun thought experiment. I’m guilty as anyone for getting too obsessed with metrics that don’t really matter. Sometimes, I pout that my final step count in Stompers doesn’t reflect what I’ve actually done in real life. But that’s also challenged me to question why getting credit matters so much when I’ve achieved my goal of being more active.
Iverson says the game’s ultimate purpose is to connect with friends. It’s not the same as catching up on a call, but it’s a low-effort, easy way to check in. In the past week, I’ve found that to be one of the game’s charms. While pacing in my office over a troublesome draft, I laughed when a colleague DMed me to say, “Please, stop moving.”
Stompers is still new, having just launched last week. Even so, Iverson and his co-founder Josh Rozin already have big plans for the app going forward. Rozin told The Verge that an Android version is in the works — much to the relief of the Android faithful on staff. He also noted that the team is discussing a potential single-player version of the game. Both demurred as to what the roadmap looks like beyond that, but Rozin says Stompers has “huge potential beyond fitness.”
Whatever lies ahead, I’ve enjoyed Stompers’ slightly bonkers approach to competition. Sometimes, I’ll be rotting on the couch, doomscrolling TikTok, when I get a notification that someone has wronged my Stomper avatar. Occasionally, that will motivate me to go for a walk so I can get my revenge. Other times, I’ll chuckle because joke’s on them: I’ve got a four-mile run planned for the next day. Either way, I’m taking the steps — might as well have some low-stakes fun to go along with it.

Stompers, where hitting your co-workers will not end in an HR violation. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

Violence is never the answer. That said, it was fun when I opened a walking app and whacked a Verge editor with a baseball bat and made another slip on a banana peel. After, I continued on my peaceful commute home. A bit later, one of my fellow writers walloped me not once but twice with their own baseball bat. I wasn’t actually mad, but it did prompt me to go on a walk around the block so I could hit them back.

That, in a nutshell, is the appeal of Stompers — an iOS app that encourages you to whack, trick, and out-walk your friends (or colleagues) in a Looney Tunes-like race.

The app is the creation of designer Soren Iverson. You may know Iverson from his “unhinged UI” design series, in which he posts conceptual app mock-ups for features that no one asked for but secretly want. For example, this Slack screenshot of co-workers who message you on nationally mandated holidays getting a SWAT team called on them. In all of them, there’s a thread of absurdist whimsy.

That whimsy is in Stompers, too. Some of that is the cartoony, meme-like art style. That, Iverson says, is intentional. The app’s art is by Jim Soper, who’s done character designs for Looney Tunes and The Cuphead Show. Instead of using profile pictures, you create a Stomper avatar. (At The Verge, a disproportionate number of us decided to have fuchsia skin.) There’s also little section where you can see how many Danny DeVitos you’ve walked in a day or how many steps you have left before you reach the Moon. Everything feels like an app circa 2015, but with a healthy dash of irony poisoning.

It also wouldn’t be an Iverson project if Stompers wasn’t twisted in some way.

“The work that I do is often about taking things and flipping them on their heads, or just questioning a core principle,” Iverson tells The Verge. “What if step count could be messed with by someone else? It’s really weird [because] it defeats the purpose in a way.”

The end result is sort of like Looney Tunes meets Mario Kart. As you “race,” you can pick up items to mess with your friends. You can send friends on a fake shortcut, halving their step counts for a 30-minute period. There are rockets that shoot you forward 1,000 steps you didn’t actually take. The baseball bats knock you back 500 steps. The bananas have a 50 percent chance of knocking you back or propelling you forward 500 steps.

As a fitness tech reviewer, futzing around with step counts is a fun thought experiment. I’m guilty as anyone for getting too obsessed with metrics that don’t really matter. Sometimes, I pout that my final step count in Stompers doesn’t reflect what I’ve actually done in real life. But that’s also challenged me to question why getting credit matters so much when I’ve achieved my goal of being more active.

Iverson says the game’s ultimate purpose is to connect with friends. It’s not the same as catching up on a call, but it’s a low-effort, easy way to check in. In the past week, I’ve found that to be one of the game’s charms. While pacing in my office over a troublesome draft, I laughed when a colleague DMed me to say, “Please, stop moving.”

Stompers is still new, having just launched last week. Even so, Iverson and his co-founder Josh Rozin already have big plans for the app going forward. Rozin told The Verge that an Android version is in the works — much to the relief of the Android faithful on staff. He also noted that the team is discussing a potential single-player version of the game. Both demurred as to what the roadmap looks like beyond that, but Rozin says Stompers has “huge potential beyond fitness.”

Whatever lies ahead, I’ve enjoyed Stompers’ slightly bonkers approach to competition. Sometimes, I’ll be rotting on the couch, doomscrolling TikTok, when I get a notification that someone has wronged my Stomper avatar. Occasionally, that will motivate me to go for a walk so I can get my revenge. Other times, I’ll chuckle because joke’s on them: I’ve got a four-mile run planned for the next day. Either way, I’m taking the steps — might as well have some low-stakes fun to go along with it.

Read More 

Sharing this solar generator’s batteries with a 3-in-1 solar fridge, freezer, and ice-making combo is a good idea that might get better. Solar generators and battery-powered fridges are highly desirable additions to vans, boats, cabins, and sheds, or anywhere power and refrigeration is needed off the grid. Both are meant to be portable by necessity but suffer from the same issue: weight.
Bluetti just started shipping its SwapSolar kit that pairs an AC180T solar generator with its MultiCooler, a 3-in-1 solar-powered fridge, freezer, and ice maker. What makes this kit interesting is that the MultiCooler and AC180T devices can share the same B70 LFP batteries, which can be charged inside either device when plugged into your car’s 12V socket, a standard power outlet, or solar panels.
This modular approach has some other interesting benefits, too:

Divide these heavy devices into multiple components for easier transport.
Worry less about charging batteries or buying bigger ones by getting as many B70 batteries as you need to cover your average roadtrip, workday, or home blackout.
Repair or replace just the battery or the unit it powers should something go wrong or upgrades become available.

Building a modular ecosystem of products around small interchangeable batteries has already seen success by makers of handheld power tools. Bluetti is expanding the concept to devices needed for extended off-grid living, with more SwapSolar products coming.
Great, but first we need to see if the devices shipping today can independently justify the total price of the $2,000 SwapSolar kit.
Editor’s note: When this review was finished, we went back to take one last photo and discovered that the MultiCooler would not turn on for reasons explained below. We are therefore withholding its score until Bluetti can assure us it’s not a widespread defect.

The SwapSolar B70 battery at the heart of these systems holds 716.8Wh of energy and is built using LFP chemistry. LFP — short for lithium iron phosphate — batteries last longer, are safer, and work in a wider range of operating temperatures than the smaller and lighter NMC-based batteries they’re rapidly replacing. The B70 should hold 80 percent of its original charging capacity, even after 3,000 cycles.
Bluetti will sell you as many B70 batteries as you’d like, but right now, they only work with the AC180T solar generator and MultiCooler. The AC180T can be powered by one or two batteries, while the MultiCooler fits only one.

The AC180T solar generator fitted with two hot-swappable B70 batteries will continue charging my laptop uninterrupted after one battery is removed to power the MultiCooler.

MultiCooler
The 3-in-1 MultiCooler (model F045D) refrigerator, freezer, and ice maker is very similar to the EcoFlow Glacier I reviewed last year. However, the MultiCooler lacks EcoFlow’s dual-zone feature that lets you divide the main compartment into both a freezer and fridge that can run simultaneously. That could be a deal-breaker for some. On the other hand, Bluetti’s MultiCooler runs longer on battery and is usually a little quieter.
Noise is a critical factor for any device that runs all night within earshot of your bed in an RV, cabin, or boat. Bluetti’s MultiCooler is thankfully nearly silent until the compressor kicks in. Then it gets about as loud as a home theater projector, or about 35dB in my testing, as it cools the unit down. Cooling is relatively slow, however. Even with the refrigeration mode set to Max in the Bluetti app, it took 23 minutes to go from room temperature to 6 degrees Celsius / 43 degrees Fahrenheit and then another 17 minutes to reach -10C / 14F. That’s slower, but quieter, than the EcoFlow Glacier.

Bluetti consistently reported a lower temperature than my own trusty thermometer during testing. For example, my thermometer placed inside the unit read -8C / 17.6F when the app and MultiCooler display read -10C / 14F, and when the MultiCooler said it was 3C / 37.4F, the thermometer read 5C / 41F. At least it was consistently inconsistent, which is something I can work around.

Smart plug visualization showing the MultiCooler operating as a refrigerator before 11AM and freezer after. Each power spike corresponds to the compressor coming on to cool the device. It used 308Wh from the wall jack on this particular day.

The unit goes almost completely silent once it hits your defined temperature set in the app or on the physical display, interrupted by a few bubbles and scratches now and again that likely won’t be too annoying for most people. The compressor runs for about 10 minutes at around 33dB, followed by 20- to 40-minute gaps of near silence in my testing. It turns on with what sounds like five distinct clicks of a mechanical button and turns off with a slight rattle that’s noticeable when empty (the lightweight food baskets inside the fridge shake).
Ice making is a much noisier affair, as you’d expect, and occurs in its own dedicated compartment — not in the freezer. The first batch of ice takes about 23 minutes as the MultiCooler produces a loud 48dB from a distance of one meter. The noise is constant and only stops about one minute before the ice drops into the bucket. Each batch thereafter is just as loud but only takes about 12 minutes. You can select between small or large ice, which yields a sheet of two dozen small (or less small) hollow cubes. It can produce ice continuously until the one-liter water reservoir is empty — that’s about 100 cubes. In my testing, the ice was about half melted after being left in the closed bucket for six hours.
One quirk of making ice is that Bluetti stops cooling the main compartment to do it. That should be fine in all but the hottest environments, so long as the lid is left closed. To test the quality of the insulation, I turned off the MultiCooler that had been operating for a day at -10C / 14F while half full of frozen food. According to the app, it measured -8C / 17.6F after one hour, -6C / 21.2 F after two hours, and -5C / 23F after three hours. It was still at 1C / 34F some 14 hours later.

Battery life is very good. In Max refrigeration mode, I was able to bring the temperature down to -10C / 14F, make four batches of ice, and then maintain that temperature for 36 hours before a recharge was needed. In Eco mode, I started the timer when the temperature was already -10C / 14F, made two batches of ice, and maintained the temperature for 40 hours before the battery died. In both cases, the battery quit inelegantly with an E1 error (low battery voltage protection) at about 5 percent charge left. Bluetti tells me “this is normal” which is… come on.
Bluetti provides adapters to power the MultiCooler by three other methods: a 12V / 24V DC connection to a car socket; a standard AC wall jack; or up to 200W of direct connected solar panels, but only if there’s a battery inside. Bluetti didn’t provide any charging data like watts, voltage, and current when I connected a 200W solar panel to the MultiCooler — it just shows it charging on the display and in the app. The unit can make ice no matter how the unit is powered, unlike the EcoFlow Glacier.
The MultiCooler includes a handle and wheels as standard, which make it relatively easy to transport over flat ground when fully loaded. It’s still heavy even without the B70 battery installed, and the wheels are rather small, resulting in limited ground clearance — that means occasionally having to drag the MultiCooler over rougher terrains.
Unfortunately, as I was wrapping up this review, I found that the MultiCooler would not turn on after sitting idle for about a week. It is now back with Bluetti, and a preliminary report suggests that my issue was caused by a heatsink detaching from a MOS tube — a critical voltage control element on the MultiCooler’s circuitry — possibly as a result of rough handling during shipment. Bluetti will now determine if this is a one-off situation or a general defect that requires changes in the manufacturing and assembly process.
We will update this review and add a MultiCooler score when we get the final analysis from Bluetti.
I should also note that while 3-in-1 fridge, freezer, and ice-making combos are impressive in all they can do, they are also expensive compared to simple 12V portable car fridges that cost less than half as much. But those won’t make ice from the power of the Saharan sun, so what’s even the point?
AC180T
The AC180T solar generator is a nicely designed power station with a built-in MPPT charge controller to connect solar panels. Nearly all the outputs and display can be conveniently found on the front, with the AC input on the side. A lid on the top hides the two B70 slots, which are keyed to ensure the batteries are inserted correctly, for a total capacity of 1.43kWh.
For context, 1.43kWh is enough to keep a 6000BTU window air conditioner (400W) running for about six hours, boil about 35 liters of water from a 1000W electric kettle, or keep a Starlink internet from space system running for about a day and a half.
Bluetti’s modular approach really helps to divvy up the weight of the AC180T. Each 5.3 × 6.3 × 13.8in / 134 × 160 × 350mm battery weighs 18.7lbs / 8.5kg, which brings the total weight of the AC180T up to 58.4lbs / 26.5kg when both are inserted — that’s a lot for most people to carry.

When plugged into an AC wall jack and in the fastest “Turbo” mode, charging two batteries from zero to 100 percent took 77 minutes and produced about 44dB of noise (from one meter away) while drawing 1.4kW from the grid. Charging in Standard mode still produced 44dB but pulled only 920W, while Silent mode dropped things down to 37dB and 735W. Charging a single battery in Turbo mode took 66 minutes and pulled a steady 860W. In all cases, charging began to slow down at around 95 percent full, as you’d expect.
I also tested Bluetti’s claim that the AC180T can produce up to 1200W of continuous AC output with one battery inserted or up to 1800W with two hot-swappable batteries.
With one battery installed, I was able to run a microwave at around 1250W for three minutes without issue, but a 2100W hair dryer resulted in an inverter overload, causing it to shut down for safety. I then added the second battery and plugged in the same hair dryer, which ran fine at a steady 1874W, until I plugged in a 1200W toaster for a total load of 3074W, which quickly shut down the inverter with another overload. No smells, no funny noises, no mess, as you’d hope. So, both tests passed.

To test the hot-swappable claim, I started the 1250W microwave with two batteries inserted. It continued to run as I removed and reinserted one of the batteries. I then unplugged the microwave and plugged in the hair dryer, drawing 900W, which continued to blow as I removed and reinserted a battery. I then bumped the heat to max (drawing over 1850W) with two batteries installed, pulled one, and the hair dryer shut off within seconds. Good.
As with all power stations, the AC inverter will drain the battery when left on. With no load attached and the AC output turned on, my two AC180T batteries (1.43kWh) dropped 30 percent in 24 hours. That works out to about 17.92Wh lost per hour, or a steady 18W just to power the inverter, which is fairly efficient. Still, you should enable Bluetti’s AC Eco mode (on by default) to automatically turn off the AC inverter after a user-defined time of low or no load. Otherwise, those fully charged batteries will die in just over three days.
For what it’s worth, I was able to plug the MultiCooler directly into the 12V / 10A DC car jack on the AC180T with the included cable, which obviates the need to swap batteries if you can keep the units close together. You can also power the fridge off the AC180T’s AC port, of course, but DC is more efficient (no wasteful inverter).
The Bluetti app is fine, but it’s cluttered with promotions and only works with the MultiCooler and AC180T over Bluetooth, not Wi-Fi like EcoFlow’s products. That means you’ll have to be nearby to check on your battery status or to adjust temperatures.

Me writing this review from a remote workplace flanked by a Bluetti AC180T solar generator and MultiCooler to keep my Negroni on ice.

Conclusion
On their own, the SwapSolar AC180T solar generator and MultiCooler 3-in-1 fridge are each very competitive products — assuming, of course, that the defect on my MultiCooler review unit was an isolated issue. If so, then Bluetti’s SwapSolar kit is a winning combination.
Regardless, I hope to see Bluetti’s modular ecosystem approach adopted by competitors like EcoFlow, Jackery, and others. A company called Runhood has already been selling less powerful solar generators with modular batteries and accessories for over a year.
What SwapSolar is missing, however, is a small portable charging accessory to independently charge each B70 battery. Bluetti’s Evelyn Zou tells me that a “base” is in development to do exactly that. Then you only need to bring the base and battery into a shop, cafe, or gym to get things charged, instead of conspicuously dragging in the entire fridge or solar generator. The base will also convert the B70 battery into a standalone power source for your USB gadgets. Zou says that Bluetti is looking to expand the SwapSolar ecosystem in the future and is “actively working on new products.” But those are just promises for now, with no dates or prices.
Ideally, owners of the AC180T and MultiCooler and any other SwapSolar device could even upgrade to compatible batteries with improved chemistry over time. Or maybe it opens up a market to cheaper third-party alternatives. We’ll see!
For the MultiCooler, my advice is to wait or look elsewhere until Bluetti explains itself
Bluetti is selling the AC180T directly for $1,099. But the MultiCooler is still in that weird Indiegogo “indemand” phase — which means you’ll have to wait until August, according to Bluetti, if you prefer to buy directly from the company and avoid all the Indiegogo “perk” nonsense. The AC180T is covered by a five-year warranty, which drops to two years for the MultiCooler.
For the MultiCooler, my advice is to wait or look elsewhere until Bluetti explains itself.
The SwapSolar MultiCooler and AC180T combo kit is currently priced at $1,999 on Indiegogo. That sounds about right given that a comparable system from EcoFlow that combines the Glacier 3-in-1 fridge with a less powerful River 2 Pro solar generator currently sells for $1,499 or $2,799 when paired with a more powerful Delta 2 Max. The AC180T lists for $999 while the MultiCooler can be purchased separately for $799 (without a B70 battery).
Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

Sharing this solar generator’s batteries with a 3-in-1 solar fridge, freezer, and ice-making combo is a good idea that might get better.

Solar generators and battery-powered fridges are highly desirable additions to vans, boats, cabins, and sheds, or anywhere power and refrigeration is needed off the grid. Both are meant to be portable by necessity but suffer from the same issue: weight.

Bluetti just started shipping its SwapSolar kit that pairs an AC180T solar generator with its MultiCooler, a 3-in-1 solar-powered fridge, freezer, and ice maker. What makes this kit interesting is that the MultiCooler and AC180T devices can share the same B70 LFP batteries, which can be charged inside either device when plugged into your car’s 12V socket, a standard power outlet, or solar panels.

This modular approach has some other interesting benefits, too:

Divide these heavy devices into multiple components for easier transport.
Worry less about charging batteries or buying bigger ones by getting as many B70 batteries as you need to cover your average roadtrip, workday, or home blackout.
Repair or replace just the battery or the unit it powers should something go wrong or upgrades become available.

Building a modular ecosystem of products around small interchangeable batteries has already seen success by makers of handheld power tools. Bluetti is expanding the concept to devices needed for extended off-grid living, with more SwapSolar products coming.

Great, but first we need to see if the devices shipping today can independently justify the total price of the $2,000 SwapSolar kit.

Editor’s note: When this review was finished, we went back to take one last photo and discovered that the MultiCooler would not turn on for reasons explained below. We are therefore withholding its score until Bluetti can assure us it’s not a widespread defect.

The SwapSolar B70 battery at the heart of these systems holds 716.8Wh of energy and is built using LFP chemistry. LFP — short for lithium iron phosphate — batteries last longer, are safer, and work in a wider range of operating temperatures than the smaller and lighter NMC-based batteries they’re rapidly replacing. The B70 should hold 80 percent of its original charging capacity, even after 3,000 cycles.

Bluetti will sell you as many B70 batteries as you’d like, but right now, they only work with the AC180T solar generator and MultiCooler. The AC180T can be powered by one or two batteries, while the MultiCooler fits only one.

The AC180T solar generator fitted with two hot-swappable B70 batteries will continue charging my laptop uninterrupted after one battery is removed to power the MultiCooler.

MultiCooler

The 3-in-1 MultiCooler (model F045D) refrigerator, freezer, and ice maker is very similar to the EcoFlow Glacier I reviewed last year. However, the MultiCooler lacks EcoFlow’s dual-zone feature that lets you divide the main compartment into both a freezer and fridge that can run simultaneously. That could be a deal-breaker for some. On the other hand, Bluetti’s MultiCooler runs longer on battery and is usually a little quieter.

Noise is a critical factor for any device that runs all night within earshot of your bed in an RV, cabin, or boat. Bluetti’s MultiCooler is thankfully nearly silent until the compressor kicks in. Then it gets about as loud as a home theater projector, or about 35dB in my testing, as it cools the unit down. Cooling is relatively slow, however. Even with the refrigeration mode set to Max in the Bluetti app, it took 23 minutes to go from room temperature to 6 degrees Celsius / 43 degrees Fahrenheit and then another 17 minutes to reach -10C / 14F. That’s slower, but quieter, than the EcoFlow Glacier.

Bluetti consistently reported a lower temperature than my own trusty thermometer during testing. For example, my thermometer placed inside the unit read -8C / 17.6F when the app and MultiCooler display read -10C / 14F, and when the MultiCooler said it was 3C / 37.4F, the thermometer read 5C / 41F. At least it was consistently inconsistent, which is something I can work around.

The unit goes almost completely silent once it hits your defined temperature set in the app or on the physical display, interrupted by a few bubbles and scratches now and again that likely won’t be too annoying for most people. The compressor runs for about 10 minutes at around 33dB, followed by 20- to 40-minute gaps of near silence in my testing. It turns on with what sounds like five distinct clicks of a mechanical button and turns off with a slight rattle that’s noticeable when empty (the lightweight food baskets inside the fridge shake).

Ice making is a much noisier affair, as you’d expect, and occurs in its own dedicated compartment — not in the freezer. The first batch of ice takes about 23 minutes as the MultiCooler produces a loud 48dB from a distance of one meter. The noise is constant and only stops about one minute before the ice drops into the bucket. Each batch thereafter is just as loud but only takes about 12 minutes. You can select between small or large ice, which yields a sheet of two dozen small (or less small) hollow cubes. It can produce ice continuously until the one-liter water reservoir is empty — that’s about 100 cubes. In my testing, the ice was about half melted after being left in the closed bucket for six hours.

One quirk of making ice is that Bluetti stops cooling the main compartment to do it. That should be fine in all but the hottest environments, so long as the lid is left closed. To test the quality of the insulation, I turned off the MultiCooler that had been operating for a day at -10C / 14F while half full of frozen food. According to the app, it measured -8C / 17.6F after one hour, -6C / 21.2 F after two hours, and -5C / 23F after three hours. It was still at 1C / 34F some 14 hours later.

Battery life is very good. In Max refrigeration mode, I was able to bring the temperature down to -10C / 14F, make four batches of ice, and then maintain that temperature for 36 hours before a recharge was needed. In Eco mode, I started the timer when the temperature was already -10C / 14F, made two batches of ice, and maintained the temperature for 40 hours before the battery died. In both cases, the battery quit inelegantly with an E1 error (low battery voltage protection) at about 5 percent charge left. Bluetti tells me “this is normal” which is… come on.

Bluetti provides adapters to power the MultiCooler by three other methods: a 12V / 24V DC connection to a car socket; a standard AC wall jack; or up to 200W of direct connected solar panels, but only if there’s a battery inside. Bluetti didn’t provide any charging data like watts, voltage, and current when I connected a 200W solar panel to the MultiCooler — it just shows it charging on the display and in the app. The unit can make ice no matter how the unit is powered, unlike the EcoFlow Glacier.

The MultiCooler includes a handle and wheels as standard, which make it relatively easy to transport over flat ground when fully loaded. It’s still heavy even without the B70 battery installed, and the wheels are rather small, resulting in limited ground clearance — that means occasionally having to drag the MultiCooler over rougher terrains.

Unfortunately, as I was wrapping up this review, I found that the MultiCooler would not turn on after sitting idle for about a week. It is now back with Bluetti, and a preliminary report suggests that my issue was caused by a heatsink detaching from a MOS tube — a critical voltage control element on the MultiCooler’s circuitry — possibly as a result of rough handling during shipment. Bluetti will now determine if this is a one-off situation or a general defect that requires changes in the manufacturing and assembly process.

We will update this review and add a MultiCooler score when we get the final analysis from Bluetti.

I should also note that while 3-in-1 fridge, freezer, and ice-making combos are impressive in all they can do, they are also expensive compared to simple 12V portable car fridges that cost less than half as much. But those won’t make ice from the power of the Saharan sun, so what’s even the point?

AC180T

The AC180T solar generator is a nicely designed power station with a built-in MPPT charge controller to connect solar panels. Nearly all the outputs and display can be conveniently found on the front, with the AC input on the side. A lid on the top hides the two B70 slots, which are keyed to ensure the batteries are inserted correctly, for a total capacity of 1.43kWh.

For context, 1.43kWh is enough to keep a 6000BTU window air conditioner (400W) running for about six hours, boil about 35 liters of water from a 1000W electric kettle, or keep a Starlink internet from space system running for about a day and a half.

Bluetti’s modular approach really helps to divvy up the weight of the AC180T. Each 5.3 × 6.3 × 13.8in / 134 × 160 × 350mm battery weighs 18.7lbs / 8.5kg, which brings the total weight of the AC180T up to 58.4lbs / 26.5kg when both are inserted — that’s a lot for most people to carry.

When plugged into an AC wall jack and in the fastest “Turbo” mode, charging two batteries from zero to 100 percent took 77 minutes and produced about 44dB of noise (from one meter away) while drawing 1.4kW from the grid. Charging in Standard mode still produced 44dB but pulled only 920W, while Silent mode dropped things down to 37dB and 735W. Charging a single battery in Turbo mode took 66 minutes and pulled a steady 860W. In all cases, charging began to slow down at around 95 percent full, as you’d expect.

I also tested Bluetti’s claim that the AC180T can produce up to 1200W of continuous AC output with one battery inserted or up to 1800W with two hot-swappable batteries.

With one battery installed, I was able to run a microwave at around 1250W for three minutes without issue, but a 2100W hair dryer resulted in an inverter overload, causing it to shut down for safety. I then added the second battery and plugged in the same hair dryer, which ran fine at a steady 1874W, until I plugged in a 1200W toaster for a total load of 3074W, which quickly shut down the inverter with another overload. No smells, no funny noises, no mess, as you’d hope. So, both tests passed.

To test the hot-swappable claim, I started the 1250W microwave with two batteries inserted. It continued to run as I removed and reinserted one of the batteries. I then unplugged the microwave and plugged in the hair dryer, drawing 900W, which continued to blow as I removed and reinserted a battery. I then bumped the heat to max (drawing over 1850W) with two batteries installed, pulled one, and the hair dryer shut off within seconds. Good.

As with all power stations, the AC inverter will drain the battery when left on. With no load attached and the AC output turned on, my two AC180T batteries (1.43kWh) dropped 30 percent in 24 hours. That works out to about 17.92Wh lost per hour, or a steady 18W just to power the inverter, which is fairly efficient. Still, you should enable Bluetti’s AC Eco mode (on by default) to automatically turn off the AC inverter after a user-defined time of low or no load. Otherwise, those fully charged batteries will die in just over three days.

For what it’s worth, I was able to plug the MultiCooler directly into the 12V / 10A DC car jack on the AC180T with the included cable, which obviates the need to swap batteries if you can keep the units close together. You can also power the fridge off the AC180T’s AC port, of course, but DC is more efficient (no wasteful inverter).

The Bluetti app is fine, but it’s cluttered with promotions and only works with the MultiCooler and AC180T over Bluetooth, not Wi-Fi like EcoFlow’s products. That means you’ll have to be nearby to check on your battery status or to adjust temperatures.

Conclusion

On their own, the SwapSolar AC180T solar generator and MultiCooler 3-in-1 fridge are each very competitive products — assuming, of course, that the defect on my MultiCooler review unit was an isolated issue. If so, then Bluetti’s SwapSolar kit is a winning combination.

Regardless, I hope to see Bluetti’s modular ecosystem approach adopted by competitors like EcoFlow, Jackery, and others. A company called Runhood has already been selling less powerful solar generators with modular batteries and accessories for over a year.

What SwapSolar is missing, however, is a small portable charging accessory to independently charge each B70 battery. Bluetti’s Evelyn Zou tells me that a “base” is in development to do exactly that. Then you only need to bring the base and battery into a shop, cafe, or gym to get things charged, instead of conspicuously dragging in the entire fridge or solar generator. The base will also convert the B70 battery into a standalone power source for your USB gadgets. Zou says that Bluetti is looking to expand the SwapSolar ecosystem in the future and is “actively working on new products.” But those are just promises for now, with no dates or prices.

Ideally, owners of the AC180T and MultiCooler and any other SwapSolar device could even upgrade to compatible batteries with improved chemistry over time. Or maybe it opens up a market to cheaper third-party alternatives. We’ll see!

Bluetti is selling the AC180T directly for $1,099. But the MultiCooler is still in that weird Indiegogo “indemand” phase — which means you’ll have to wait until August, according to Bluetti, if you prefer to buy directly from the company and avoid all the Indiegogo “perk” nonsense. The AC180T is covered by a five-year warranty, which drops to two years for the MultiCooler.

For the MultiCooler, my advice is to wait or look elsewhere until Bluetti explains itself.

The SwapSolar MultiCooler and AC180T combo kit is currently priced at $1,999 on Indiegogo. That sounds about right given that a comparable system from EcoFlow that combines the Glacier 3-in-1 fridge with a less powerful River 2 Pro solar generator currently sells for $1,499 or $2,799 when paired with a more powerful Delta 2 Max. The AC180T lists for $999 while the MultiCooler can be purchased separately for $799 (without a B70 battery).

Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

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