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Your ICQ number is finally shuffling off to the great beyond. Russian company VK, which has been the service’s steward since 2010, published a message Friday that simply reads, “ICQ will stop working from June 26th,” and implores users to switch to its other chat solutions.
ICQ was among the crop of early instant messenger services, like AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger, that allowed for real-time chats. It differed from others by assigning users a number they would use to connect to one another, as opposed to aliases or email addresses. It also had uncommon features like SMS messaging and the ability to message people who were offline.
And of course, those of us of a certain age probably remember the “Uh oh!” alert that would play when you received a message.

Screenshot: The Internet Archive
ICQ, apparently in its final form on iOS.

ICQ was started in 1996 by Israeli company Mirabilis, which AOL bought in 1998. ICQ grew to 100 million registered users at one point, at least according to a 2001 release from Time Warner, which had bought AOL a year earlier in a famously doomed merger. AOL sold the service to Digital Sky Technologies, the firm that owned VK, then known as Mail.ru, in 2010.
The modern version of ICQ appeared to have worked and functioned like other messenger apps, such as WhatsApp or Telegram. Or so I gathered from a March 2023 Internet Archive snapshot of its iOS App Store listing, as the app apparently is gone from both Apple’s digital shop and Google’s Play Store (and seemingly has been for months). It seems that ICQ has already been done for some time — perhaps VK is just making it official.

Your ICQ number is finally shuffling off to the great beyond. Russian company VK, which has been the service’s steward since 2010, published a message Friday that simply reads, “ICQ will stop working from June 26th,” and implores users to switch to its other chat solutions.

ICQ was among the crop of early instant messenger services, like AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger, that allowed for real-time chats. It differed from others by assigning users a number they would use to connect to one another, as opposed to aliases or email addresses. It also had uncommon features like SMS messaging and the ability to message people who were offline.

And of course, those of us of a certain age probably remember the “Uh oh!” alert that would play when you received a message.

Screenshot: The Internet Archive
ICQ, apparently in its final form on iOS.

ICQ was started in 1996 by Israeli company Mirabilis, which AOL bought in 1998. ICQ grew to 100 million registered users at one point, at least according to a 2001 release from Time Warner, which had bought AOL a year earlier in a famously doomed merger. AOL sold the service to Digital Sky Technologies, the firm that owned VK, then known as Mail.ru, in 2010.

The modern version of ICQ appeared to have worked and functioned like other messenger apps, such as WhatsApp or Telegram. Or so I gathered from a March 2023 Internet Archive snapshot of its iOS App Store listing, as the app apparently is gone from both Apple’s digital shop and Google’s Play Store (and seemingly has been for months). It seems that ICQ has already been done for some time — perhaps VK is just making it official.

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Image: Big Mode / Shared Memory

About midway through Animal Well, I felt I had been lied to. I read all the glowing reviews of the game and heard the breathless praise heaped upon it on social media. But my expectations did not match my reality… until I beat the game. Now, I’m well on my way to 100 percent completion for a game I was seriously considering abandoning.
Spoilers for Animal Well are below.
Though I loved Animal Well’s novel take on traditional movement abilities — the tools it provides possess multiple clever uses — platforming itself often felt demoralizing. Initially, Animal Well’s platforming felt like it had difficulty spikes that were both too great and too frequent. I could often see where I had to go and how to get there (and I often looked up video guides to confirm I was doing it right with the right tools) but actually executing was more laborious than fun and engaging.
Though I loved Animal Well’s novel take on traditional movement abilities, platforming itself often felt demoralizing
I’ve always felt that the difficulty of a task in a platformer should be commensurate with its importance: the hardest moments should be reserved for secrets and optional goals, while everything involved in completing the game should be more attainable. That way, I am still in control of my experience and, critically, still having an experience. If reaching a secret is harder than I’d like, then I can opt out to continue on to beat the game one completion percentage point lower. But if simply getting from point A to point B is too dang hard, opting out means opting out of the game entirely. Animal Well’s platforming convinced me I’d run into an obstacle so frustratingly difficult that I’d quit and never come back.

Image: Big Mode / Shared Memory
On a lark, I decided to see what would happen if I pressed a big red skull button in a room full of crows, and yup, they pecked me to death.

Thankfully, that didn’t happen. Somehow, I persisted long enough to collect all four animal flames to complete the game’s first “ending,” figuring I’d stop there. But then, right before the final encounter, I found a room littered with skulls containing an upgrade to the bubble wand item. Remember this, it’ll be important in a moment.
The bubble wand creates little bubble platforms you can jump on, but you can only blow one at a time. The upgraded bubble wand allows you to blow multiple bubbles that, with the right technique, let you bypass a lot of the game’s obstacles.

Remember the skulls? I figured out that all the skulls in that room, piled high enough for me to reach the wand, represented the number of times I died. With that realization came the shock that even though I wasn’t initially vibing with the game, it was always vibing with me. The bubble wand upgrade is unreachable unless you’ve accumulated enough skulls to build a platform up to it. The only way I got what finally made this game click for me was because of all the frustration it put me through in the first place.
When I figured that out, I started laughing maniacally, tears in my eyes, thinking, “Oh, you cheeky bastards!” I immediately went right back to the start of the game to go egg hunting, something I already decided I wasn’t going to do. But I was locked in now. I understood. I’m stuck in the (animal) well now, and I’m never coming out.

Image: Big Mode / Shared Memory

About midway through Animal Well, I felt I had been lied to. I read all the glowing reviews of the game and heard the breathless praise heaped upon it on social media. But my expectations did not match my reality… until I beat the game. Now, I’m well on my way to 100 percent completion for a game I was seriously considering abandoning.

Spoilers for Animal Well are below.

Though I loved Animal Well’s novel take on traditional movement abilities — the tools it provides possess multiple clever uses — platforming itself often felt demoralizing. Initially, Animal Well’s platforming felt like it had difficulty spikes that were both too great and too frequent. I could often see where I had to go and how to get there (and I often looked up video guides to confirm I was doing it right with the right tools) but actually executing was more laborious than fun and engaging.

I’ve always felt that the difficulty of a task in a platformer should be commensurate with its importance: the hardest moments should be reserved for secrets and optional goals, while everything involved in completing the game should be more attainable. That way, I am still in control of my experience and, critically, still having an experience. If reaching a secret is harder than I’d like, then I can opt out to continue on to beat the game one completion percentage point lower. But if simply getting from point A to point B is too dang hard, opting out means opting out of the game entirely. Animal Well’s platforming convinced me I’d run into an obstacle so frustratingly difficult that I’d quit and never come back.

Image: Big Mode / Shared Memory
On a lark, I decided to see what would happen if I pressed a big red skull button in a room full of crows, and yup, they pecked me to death.

Thankfully, that didn’t happen. Somehow, I persisted long enough to collect all four animal flames to complete the game’s first “ending,” figuring I’d stop there. But then, right before the final encounter, I found a room littered with skulls containing an upgrade to the bubble wand item. Remember this, it’ll be important in a moment.

The bubble wand creates little bubble platforms you can jump on, but you can only blow one at a time. The upgraded bubble wand allows you to blow multiple bubbles that, with the right technique, let you bypass a lot of the game’s obstacles.

Remember the skulls? I figured out that all the skulls in that room, piled high enough for me to reach the wand, represented the number of times I died. With that realization came the shock that even though I wasn’t initially vibing with the game, it was always vibing with me. The bubble wand upgrade is unreachable unless you’ve accumulated enough skulls to build a platform up to it. The only way I got what finally made this game click for me was because of all the frustration it put me through in the first place.

When I figured that out, I started laughing maniacally, tears in my eyes, thinking, “Oh, you cheeky bastards!” I immediately went right back to the start of the game to go egg hunting, something I already decided I wasn’t going to do. But I was locked in now. I understood. I’m stuck in the (animal) well now, and I’m never coming out.

Read More 

A mini power plant that turns a standard power outlet into a solar power inlet. Portable solar generators are so useful that you increasingly see them at the beach, campground, job site, or anywhere without access to grid power. But they’re also an expensive luxury if shoved into storage as soon as you return home.
EcoFlow’s $200-ish PowerStream box can help maximize the year-round usefulness of the company’s own solar generators. It’s pitched as a plug-in “balcony solar system” that anyone can install, even if you’re renting an apartment.
These DIY systems from EcoFlow, Anker, and others became very popular around Europe over the last few years as energy costs soared amid steadily decreasing solar and battery prices. They can lower your energy bills and ensure a modicum of home backup in the event of a power outage.
Plug-in systems are built around a microinverter that feeds solar energy back into the home via a standard wall jack. The solar panels can be leaned up against a terrace wall, placed in a garden, or hung off a balcony railing. Any solar excess not used immediately by the home can be diverted into the solar generator’s big-ass battery for use later.

Image: EcoFlow

Balcony-mounted solar panels feed the sun’s energy through the PowerStream microinverter and back into a battery and / or the home over a regular AC outlet. A special flat cable allows the window to close. GIF: EcoFlow

I’ve been testing an EcoFlow PowerStream setup in my own home, where I’ve installed $1,500 worth of EcoFlow’s portable solar panels on my roof, with the cables snaking through a window to the PowerStream box connected to a $2,599 EcoFlow Delta Pro. I also have six EcoFlow smart plugs attached to things like the washing machine, coffee machine, and home theater projector that tell the PowerStream to send more or less power.
It’s surprisingly simple to set up and get running, but not without some initial trepidation about safety, which I delve into below. I also made a mistake that killed the first PowerStream EcoFlow sent me. But importantly, I learned a lot about my family’s energy consumption habits and how much power 800W of haphazardly installed solar panels can produce under a weak northern sun.
So, it’s a shame that EcoFlow’s PowerStream is a Europe-only solution for now.

How does it save me money?
The PowerStream has three proprietary ports: one that connects to your MC4 solar panels; one that connects to your battery; and one AC output that plugs into a standard wall socket. The battery is entirely optional if you just want to feed every watt of solar power produced back into your home.
To understand how the PowerStream works, let’s look at a real example using screen recordings taken from the excellent EcoFlow app. Note how the direction of power delivery changes from GIF to GIF as EcoFlow’s smart plugs steadily increase demand.

The home is demanding less power than my solar panels are producing, so the excess solar energy is diverted to the battery for use later.

In the first GIF above, I’m generating 397W of solar power, but my home is only demanding 290W — 250W for the “base load” and 40W for EcoFlow’s smart plugs (both of which I’ll describe in detail later). Since that load could be covered by solar power alone, the PowerStream didn’t need to request any power from the grid. It immediately sends the excess 107W of solar to charge the connected Delta Pro battery instead.

Turning on the home theater projector increases demand beyond what the solar panels can provide, so the PowerStream taps into the battery to make up the balance.

But after I turn on my home theater projector, the “smart plug” load jumps to 239W, and my solar panels can no longer cover the 489W now demanded by my home. So PowerStream diverts an extra 92W from the battery to cover the new total. Power grid demand is still 0W since the incoming solar power and battery power can cover the total demand of the home.

Turning on the Nespresso coffee machine exceeds the 800W capacity of the PowerStream, so the grid is called upon to provide the rest.

Finally, I turn on my Nespresso coffee machine, which activates the grid. The PowerStream has a maximum output of 800W (805W in this example), so it pulls an extra 845W from my grid provider to cover the 1,650W (1.4K plus 250W) my home is now demanding.
Pretty clever, right?
And while batteries do degrade if you cycle them every day like this, the LFP chemistry used by modern solar generators like the Delta Pro should maintain 80 percent of its charging capacity after 3,500 cycles — that’s almost 10 years. And it should still be good for 50 percent capacity after 6,000 cycles.
By the end of my example day, the PowerStream had produced a total of 3.03kWh, saving me a grand total of… 90 euro cents at my current energy rates. That might not sound like a lot, but at that rate, it will easily pay off the PowerStream after about a year of usage — faster in some climates and slower in others. Notably, it would have paid itself off in just months last year, when I was paying over three times as much per kWh due to global events.

Solar power from the PowerStream on April 29th. Note production peaking between 11AM and 3PM.

Power from my grid provider, also on April 29th, 2024. My paid energy usage is mostly zero from 11AM to 3PM, and overall usage is well below 2023.

Importantly, I have gained a degree of energy independence in this uncertain world — and making regular use of an expensive solar generator that was otherwise just waiting for the next road trip or natural disaster.
Great, but is feeding that much electricity into a standard wall socket actually safe?
A power outlet becomes a power inlet
It might seem odd and even unsafe to feed electricity into something called a power outlet, but AC wall jacks are, in fact, bidirectional under the right conditions.
The PowerStream is a mini power plant that automatically synchronizes with the grid to ensure seamless integration with the devices plugged into your home circuitry. Power flows from high to low voltages, which is why the grid voltage is slightly higher (by millivolts) than the devices plugged into your home. The PowerStream similarly alters its voltage to regulate the flow of power to your devices.

EcoFlow’s smart plug works with the PowerStream to control the flow of power.

EcoFlow’s PowerStream is not a burden on 16A home circuits in Europe because it’s limited to a maximum of 800W (or 600W in Germany, currently) and requires less than 3.5A. Still, if the circuit is overloaded for any reason, the breaker will shut it off as usual, and the PowerStream will stop working.
And when there’s a power outage, the PowerStream will turn off automatically to ensure there’s no electricity in the wires in order to protect line workers from shock. The PowerStream will only turn back on when the grid power returns.
(This also means that the PowerStream, unlike a Tesla Powerwall or EcoFlow’s own Delta Pro Ultra home backup system, can’t power your home on battery alone. There’s no automatic home failover to battery. To power devices in an extended blackout, I’d have to disconnect the giant Delta Pro from the PowerSteam and carry it downstairs to the fridge to keep it running.)
And despite how it looks in the app, the PowerStream isn’t actually sending power directly to the devices attached to those EcoFlow smart plugs. The PowerStream uses the smart plugs as signals to pump more or less juice into the stream of power entering the home, from which every device can drink.
EcoFlow says the PowerStream has obtained grid certification in over 10 countries, covering 70 percent of Europe. You might still have to register it with your local energy provider, however — so do check your local requirements. And the PowerStream isn’t available in the US at all due to restrictions that prohibit plug-in grid solutions.
Installation
The hardest part in setting up the PowerStream is doing the math to ensure your solar panels are wired up properly in series or parallel, especially when maxing out the system like I did. My bad math caused me to smoke the first PowerStream review unit by overvolting it (where, by “smoke,” I mean it just stopped working forever). Eventually, I figured out the right wiring configuration to keep everything under the 55V / 13A limit of the PowerStream’s solar inputs.

800W of portable solar panels takes up a ton of space.

My setup is meant to be temporary because I still want to take the portable EcoFlow solar panels and Delta Pro on the road — but those panels need to be securely mounted. This can be done using EcoFlow’s own mounts (or your own, like I did) because a strong wind could easily send those lightweight panels flying. Of course, there’s nothing preventing you from connecting a PowerStream to rigid panels from any company you choose.
EcoFlow also sells its PowerStream with a new waterproof battery for a super tidy outdoor installation. Everything, including the PowerStream, is IP54 rated, and the 2kWh battery is even heated to ensure proper operation in temperatures down to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit). The kit runs completely silently, as does the PowerStream in my own comparatively crude installation.
With all the hardware installed, you then need to decide whether to prioritize power delivery from the PowerStream to your home circuitry or to battery storage. I currently default to home but would switch that to battery if a storm were in the forecast to ensure I had backup power. While you can schedule these modes to change throughout the day, you can only do it based on time, which is a shame. Ideally, it would automatically prioritize the battery if a big storm were in the forecast, as many home backup systems do.
Still, scheduling a change in priority modes can be very useful if you’re on a variable energy contract. That way, you can charge the battery during off-peak hours and then use that relatively cheap stored energy to power the home when electricity prices are highest.

The real trick to optimizing the PowerStream is to first determine your home’s idle baseline power usage — how many watts your home continuously pulls before turning on things like the dishwasher or coffee maker. Mine’s about 300W, according to the display on the smart energy meter in my utility closet. Ideally, EcoFlow’s PowerStream would get real-time readings from my smart meter, but that’s not currently possible.
So, I set what EcoFlow calls the base load to 250W in its app to ensure a 50W cushion. That way, I can avoid feeding energy back into the grid. Doing so has potential financial repercussions depending on your provider and where you live. As the sun returns here in the Netherlands, power companies are struggling to cope with oversupply under the current solar incentive scheme, resulting in charges levied against panel owners for energy returned to the grid.
EcoFlow smart plugs help direct traffic
Some PowerStream installations will benefit from a handful of Matter-enabled EcoFlow smart plugs installed on high-consumption devices like the TV, washer, dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, and boiler to properly balance the load. They tell the PowerStream that those devices are demanding even more power than the base load, so it needs to ramp things up. Each smart plug costs €36 (about $39).
In the first screen recording below, you can see the PowerStream delivering 482W into the home. It determines this number by starting with the 250W I set as my base load and adding 232W to cover all the devices connected to the smart plugs. And since only 355W was coming in via solar at the time, it pulls an additional 127W from the connected Delta Pro battery for the home. In the second recording, the excess solar power is immediately diverted to the battery now that the projector is turned off.

The PowerStream, with help from EcoFlow’s smart plugs, senses that my home needs more power than solar is producing, so it taps the battery for an additional 126W.

The PowerStream senses a surplus of energy being produced by the solar panels, so it diverts the excess 74W to charge the battery.

And while the app shows the power grid delivering 0W into the home, this is pure fantasy since I don’t have smart plugs on every single device attached to my home. (And remember, my true baseline is closer to 300W.)
More power-heavy homes can just skip the smart plugs entirely. My maxed-out system with 800W of solar input can only generate a maximum of 4kWh per day, usually much less. That’s not enough to cover my daily base load of 6kWh (250W x 24 hours). So I should just feed enough solar power into the home to cover my base load during the day and send any excess to the EcoFlow battery for use when the sun goes down.
I have to say, I’m incredibly impressed by the PowerStream, especially now that it’s priced at just €150, almost half off the €279 it cost at launch last year. Not only does it help existing owners of EcoFlow’s solar generators maximize the value for their money but it also makes the idea of owning a solar generator more tempting knowing you can use it year-round, at home or off the grid.
It also makes the owner acutely aware of their energy habits. I’ve been obsessing over the EcoFlow app’s data like a new runner who just bought their first Garmin watch. For me, it’s been an interesting and relatively frugal first step toward energy independence. I now have real data and experience to help make a very complex decision about installing my own fixed panel system.
Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

A mini power plant that turns a standard power outlet into a solar power inlet.

Portable solar generators are so useful that you increasingly see them at the beach, campground, job site, or anywhere without access to grid power. But they’re also an expensive luxury if shoved into storage as soon as you return home.

EcoFlow’s $200-ish PowerStream box can help maximize the year-round usefulness of the company’s own solar generators. It’s pitched as a plug-in “balcony solar system” that anyone can install, even if you’re renting an apartment.

These DIY systems from EcoFlow, Anker, and others became very popular around Europe over the last few years as energy costs soared amid steadily decreasing solar and battery prices. They can lower your energy bills and ensure a modicum of home backup in the event of a power outage.

Plug-in systems are built around a microinverter that feeds solar energy back into the home via a standard wall jack. The solar panels can be leaned up against a terrace wall, placed in a garden, or hung off a balcony railing. Any solar excess not used immediately by the home can be diverted into the solar generator’s big-ass battery for use later.

Image: EcoFlow

Balcony-mounted solar panels feed the sun’s energy through the PowerStream microinverter and back into a battery and / or the home over a regular AC outlet. A special flat cable allows the window to close. GIF: EcoFlow

I’ve been testing an EcoFlow PowerStream setup in my own home, where I’ve installed $1,500 worth of EcoFlow’s portable solar panels on my roof, with the cables snaking through a window to the PowerStream box connected to a $2,599 EcoFlow Delta Pro. I also have six EcoFlow smart plugs attached to things like the washing machine, coffee machine, and home theater projector that tell the PowerStream to send more or less power.

It’s surprisingly simple to set up and get running, but not without some initial trepidation about safety, which I delve into below. I also made a mistake that killed the first PowerStream EcoFlow sent me. But importantly, I learned a lot about my family’s energy consumption habits and how much power 800W of haphazardly installed solar panels can produce under a weak northern sun.

So, it’s a shame that EcoFlow’s PowerStream is a Europe-only solution for now.

How does it save me money?

The PowerStream has three proprietary ports: one that connects to your MC4 solar panels; one that connects to your battery; and one AC output that plugs into a standard wall socket. The battery is entirely optional if you just want to feed every watt of solar power produced back into your home.

To understand how the PowerStream works, let’s look at a real example using screen recordings taken from the excellent EcoFlow app. Note how the direction of power delivery changes from GIF to GIF as EcoFlow’s smart plugs steadily increase demand.

The home is demanding less power than my solar panels are producing, so the excess solar energy is diverted to the battery for use later.

In the first GIF above, I’m generating 397W of solar power, but my home is only demanding 290W — 250W for the “base load” and 40W for EcoFlow’s smart plugs (both of which I’ll describe in detail later). Since that load could be covered by solar power alone, the PowerStream didn’t need to request any power from the grid. It immediately sends the excess 107W of solar to charge the connected Delta Pro battery instead.

Turning on the home theater projector increases demand beyond what the solar panels can provide, so the PowerStream taps into the battery to make up the balance.

But after I turn on my home theater projector, the “smart plug” load jumps to 239W, and my solar panels can no longer cover the 489W now demanded by my home. So PowerStream diverts an extra 92W from the battery to cover the new total. Power grid demand is still 0W since the incoming solar power and battery power can cover the total demand of the home.

Turning on the Nespresso coffee machine exceeds the 800W capacity of the PowerStream, so the grid is called upon to provide the rest.

Finally, I turn on my Nespresso coffee machine, which activates the grid. The PowerStream has a maximum output of 800W (805W in this example), so it pulls an extra 845W from my grid provider to cover the 1,650W (1.4K plus 250W) my home is now demanding.

Pretty clever, right?

And while batteries do degrade if you cycle them every day like this, the LFP chemistry used by modern solar generators like the Delta Pro should maintain 80 percent of its charging capacity after 3,500 cycles — that’s almost 10 years. And it should still be good for 50 percent capacity after 6,000 cycles.

By the end of my example day, the PowerStream had produced a total of 3.03kWh, saving me a grand total of… 90 euro cents at my current energy rates. That might not sound like a lot, but at that rate, it will easily pay off the PowerStream after about a year of usage — faster in some climates and slower in others. Notably, it would have paid itself off in just months last year, when I was paying over three times as much per kWh due to global events.

Importantly, I have gained a degree of energy independence in this uncertain world — and making regular use of an expensive solar generator that was otherwise just waiting for the next road trip or natural disaster.

Great, but is feeding that much electricity into a standard wall socket actually safe?

A power outlet becomes a power inlet

It might seem odd and even unsafe to feed electricity into something called a power outlet, but AC wall jacks are, in fact, bidirectional under the right conditions.

The PowerStream is a mini power plant that automatically synchronizes with the grid to ensure seamless integration with the devices plugged into your home circuitry. Power flows from high to low voltages, which is why the grid voltage is slightly higher (by millivolts) than the devices plugged into your home. The PowerStream similarly alters its voltage to regulate the flow of power to your devices.

EcoFlow’s smart plug works with the PowerStream to control the flow of power.

EcoFlow’s PowerStream is not a burden on 16A home circuits in Europe because it’s limited to a maximum of 800W (or 600W in Germany, currently) and requires less than 3.5A. Still, if the circuit is overloaded for any reason, the breaker will shut it off as usual, and the PowerStream will stop working.

And when there’s a power outage, the PowerStream will turn off automatically to ensure there’s no electricity in the wires in order to protect line workers from shock. The PowerStream will only turn back on when the grid power returns.

(This also means that the PowerStream, unlike a Tesla Powerwall or EcoFlow’s own Delta Pro Ultra home backup system, can’t power your home on battery alone. There’s no automatic home failover to battery. To power devices in an extended blackout, I’d have to disconnect the giant Delta Pro from the PowerSteam and carry it downstairs to the fridge to keep it running.)

And despite how it looks in the app, the PowerStream isn’t actually sending power directly to the devices attached to those EcoFlow smart plugs. The PowerStream uses the smart plugs as signals to pump more or less juice into the stream of power entering the home, from which every device can drink.

EcoFlow says the PowerStream has obtained grid certification in over 10 countries, covering 70 percent of Europe. You might still have to register it with your local energy provider, however — so do check your local requirements. And the PowerStream isn’t available in the US at all due to restrictions that prohibit plug-in grid solutions.

Installation

The hardest part in setting up the PowerStream is doing the math to ensure your solar panels are wired up properly in series or parallel, especially when maxing out the system like I did. My bad math caused me to smoke the first PowerStream review unit by overvolting it (where, by “smoke,” I mean it just stopped working forever). Eventually, I figured out the right wiring configuration to keep everything under the 55V / 13A limit of the PowerStream’s solar inputs.

800W of portable solar panels takes up a ton of space.

My setup is meant to be temporary because I still want to take the portable EcoFlow solar panels and Delta Pro on the road — but those panels need to be securely mounted. This can be done using EcoFlow’s own mounts (or your own, like I did) because a strong wind could easily send those lightweight panels flying. Of course, there’s nothing preventing you from connecting a PowerStream to rigid panels from any company you choose.

EcoFlow also sells its PowerStream with a new waterproof battery for a super tidy outdoor installation. Everything, including the PowerStream, is IP54 rated, and the 2kWh battery is even heated to ensure proper operation in temperatures down to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit). The kit runs completely silently, as does the PowerStream in my own comparatively crude installation.

With all the hardware installed, you then need to decide whether to prioritize power delivery from the PowerStream to your home circuitry or to battery storage. I currently default to home but would switch that to battery if a storm were in the forecast to ensure I had backup power. While you can schedule these modes to change throughout the day, you can only do it based on time, which is a shame. Ideally, it would automatically prioritize the battery if a big storm were in the forecast, as many home backup systems do.

Still, scheduling a change in priority modes can be very useful if you’re on a variable energy contract. That way, you can charge the battery during off-peak hours and then use that relatively cheap stored energy to power the home when electricity prices are highest.

The real trick to optimizing the PowerStream is to first determine your home’s idle baseline power usage — how many watts your home continuously pulls before turning on things like the dishwasher or coffee maker. Mine’s about 300W, according to the display on the smart energy meter in my utility closet. Ideally, EcoFlow’s PowerStream would get real-time readings from my smart meter, but that’s not currently possible.

So, I set what EcoFlow calls the base load to 250W in its app to ensure a 50W cushion. That way, I can avoid feeding energy back into the grid. Doing so has potential financial repercussions depending on your provider and where you live. As the sun returns here in the Netherlands, power companies are struggling to cope with oversupply under the current solar incentive scheme, resulting in charges levied against panel owners for energy returned to the grid.

EcoFlow smart plugs help direct traffic

Some PowerStream installations will benefit from a handful of Matter-enabled EcoFlow smart plugs installed on high-consumption devices like the TV, washer, dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, and boiler to properly balance the load. They tell the PowerStream that those devices are demanding even more power than the base load, so it needs to ramp things up. Each smart plug costs €36 (about $39).

In the first screen recording below, you can see the PowerStream delivering 482W into the home. It determines this number by starting with the 250W I set as my base load and adding 232W to cover all the devices connected to the smart plugs. And since only 355W was coming in via solar at the time, it pulls an additional 127W from the connected Delta Pro battery for the home. In the second recording, the excess solar power is immediately diverted to the battery now that the projector is turned off.

And while the app shows the power grid delivering 0W into the home, this is pure fantasy since I don’t have smart plugs on every single device attached to my home. (And remember, my true baseline is closer to 300W.)

More power-heavy homes can just skip the smart plugs entirely. My maxed-out system with 800W of solar input can only generate a maximum of 4kWh per day, usually much less. That’s not enough to cover my daily base load of 6kWh (250W x 24 hours). So I should just feed enough solar power into the home to cover my base load during the day and send any excess to the EcoFlow battery for use when the sun goes down.

I have to say, I’m incredibly impressed by the PowerStream, especially now that it’s priced at just €150, almost half off the €279 it cost at launch last year. Not only does it help existing owners of EcoFlow’s solar generators maximize the value for their money but it also makes the idea of owning a solar generator more tempting knowing you can use it year-round, at home or off the grid.

It also makes the owner acutely aware of their energy habits. I’ve been obsessing over the EcoFlow app’s data like a new runner who just bought their first Garmin watch. For me, it’s been an interesting and relatively frugal first step toward energy independence. I now have real data and experience to help make a very complex decision about installing my own fixed panel system.

Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

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Photo illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Philip Pacheco, Bloomberg, Getty Images

Despite Epic Games’ surprise win at trial, I was skeptical that Judge James Donato would seriously consider forcing Google to let the Epic Games Store live inside its own Google Play Store, and give it access to every app inside Google Play. Those were two of the biggest demands that Epic revealed in April.
But Judge Donato is indeed considering them. He’s ordered Google to calculate the costs of complying with those demands by June 24th, one month from today:
Google will file by June 24, 2024, a proffer stating in detail the tech work required and economic costs, if any, to provide “Catalog Access” and “Library Porting” to competing app stores for a period of up to 6 years. See MDL Dkt. No. 952 at 7. The proffer may also address tech work and economic costs for the distribution of third-party app stores through the Google Play Store.
MDL Dkt. No. 952 is Epic’s 16-page list of asks, and 7 is the page that would force Google to give other app stores access to the entire Google Play catalog of apps, should Epic get its way. Take a peek:

Page 8 of epic-google-proposed-permanent-injunction

Contributed to DocumentCloud by The Verge (Vox.com) • View document or read text

Just below “Catalog Access and Library Porting” is the other huge ask Judge Donato seems to be considering: that Google would carry other third-party app stores within its Google Play store for six years.

According to the order, Epic will get a chance to question Google’s experts and engineers about the accuracy of their estimates, and file a rebuttal, before a final hearing on August 14th. In an evidentiary hearing yesterday, Judge Donato seemed extremely skeptical of Google’s arguments against Epic’s proposed remedies, but also suggested that some of Epic’s asks were “open-ended and too vague.”
If you’re curious about Epic’s other asks, I break them all down for you in this story. Following its win, Epic has indeed been working on a version of its game store for Android.

Photo illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Philip Pacheco, Bloomberg, Getty Images

Despite Epic Games’ surprise win at trial, I was skeptical that Judge James Donato would seriously consider forcing Google to let the Epic Games Store live inside its own Google Play Store, and give it access to every app inside Google Play. Those were two of the biggest demands that Epic revealed in April.

But Judge Donato is indeed considering them. He’s ordered Google to calculate the costs of complying with those demands by June 24th, one month from today:

Google will file by June 24, 2024, a proffer stating in detail the tech work required and economic costs, if any, to provide “Catalog Access” and “Library Porting” to competing app stores for a period of up to 6 years. See MDL Dkt. No. 952 at 7. The proffer may also address tech work and economic costs for the distribution of third-party app stores through the Google Play Store.

MDL Dkt. No. 952 is Epic’s 16-page list of asks, and 7 is the page that would force Google to give other app stores access to the entire Google Play catalog of apps, should Epic get its way. Take a peek:

Just below “Catalog Access and Library Porting” is the other huge ask Judge Donato seems to be considering: that Google would carry other third-party app stores within its Google Play store for six years.

According to the order, Epic will get a chance to question Google’s experts and engineers about the accuracy of their estimates, and file a rebuttal, before a final hearing on August 14th. In an evidentiary hearing yesterday, Judge Donato seemed extremely skeptical of Google’s arguments against Epic’s proposed remedies, but also suggested that some of Epic’s asks were “open-ended and too vague.”

If you’re curious about Epic’s other asks, I break them all down for you in this story. Following its win, Epic has indeed been working on a version of its game store for Android.

Read More 

Image: Activision

The families of the victims killed in the Uvalde, Texas school shooting are suing Meta and Call of Duty developer Activision over allegations that they promoted the use of firearms to underage boys. The lawsuit claims both companies “knowingly exposed the Shooter to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as the solution to his problems, and trained him to use it.” It’s the kind of claim we’ve seen unsuccessfully thrown at video game companies numerous times in the past.
The complaint was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday on behalf of around 45 family members. As noted in the lawsuit, the families accuse Activision and Meta of “grooming” young men and putting them on a path toward violent acts. On May 24th, 2022, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 21.
The lawsuit says that the gunman played Call of Duty “obsessively, developed skill as a marksman, and obtained rewards that become available only after a substantial time investment.” It also claims that the game features the AR-15 used in the shooting. At the same time, the lawsuit alleges that “the shooter was being courted through explicit, aggressive marketing” on Instagram that showed “hundreds of images depicting and venerating the thrill of combat.”
“Activision should stop training and habituating kids to kill”
In addition to Activision and Meta, the families of the Uvalde victims are also suing Daniel Defense, the gun company that made the AR-15 used in the shooting. The lawsuit alleges Daniel Defense promotes its weapons to minors on Instagram through posts “glorifying” combat. Meta’s rules theoretically ban companies from selling guns on its platforms, though, and the gunman purchased the AR-15 from Daniel Defense’s website — not through Instagram.
Section 230 immunizes platforms from civil lawsuits such as these if they arise from posts made by their users, though things are a little more complicated in cases where a platform’s targeted advertising is the primary issue. Meta didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
“Companies like Instagram and Activision do more than just allow gun companies to reach consumers — they underwrite and mainstream violence to struggling adolescents,” wrote Josh Koskoff, the attorney for the Uvalde families. “Instagram should stop enabling the marketing of AR-15s to kids by gun companies; and Activision should stop training and habituating kids to kill. It’s that simple.”
Video game companies have long pushed back on the idea that video games can cause real-world violence, something politicians have often claimed following mass shootings. However, research has shown that video games don’t cause violent acts, and lawsuits targeting video game companies for the actions of other school shooters have failed.
In a statement provided to The Verge, Activision’s head of corporate communications Delaney Simmons writes: “Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts.”
Koskoff previously won a $73 million settlement for the families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims from gun manufacturer Remington.

Image: Activision

The families of the victims killed in the Uvalde, Texas school shooting are suing Meta and Call of Duty developer Activision over allegations that they promoted the use of firearms to underage boys. The lawsuit claims both companies “knowingly exposed the Shooter to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as the solution to his problems, and trained him to use it.” It’s the kind of claim we’ve seen unsuccessfully thrown at video game companies numerous times in the past.

The complaint was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday on behalf of around 45 family members. As noted in the lawsuit, the families accuse Activision and Meta of “grooming” young men and putting them on a path toward violent acts. On May 24th, 2022, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 21.

The lawsuit says that the gunman played Call of Duty “obsessively, developed skill as a marksman, and obtained rewards that become available only after a substantial time investment.” It also claims that the game features the AR-15 used in the shooting. At the same time, the lawsuit alleges that “the shooter was being courted through explicit, aggressive marketing” on Instagram that showed “hundreds of images depicting and venerating the thrill of combat.”

In addition to Activision and Meta, the families of the Uvalde victims are also suing Daniel Defense, the gun company that made the AR-15 used in the shooting. The lawsuit alleges Daniel Defense promotes its weapons to minors on Instagram through posts “glorifying” combat. Meta’s rules theoretically ban companies from selling guns on its platforms, though, and the gunman purchased the AR-15 from Daniel Defense’s website — not through Instagram.

Section 230 immunizes platforms from civil lawsuits such as these if they arise from posts made by their users, though things are a little more complicated in cases where a platform’s targeted advertising is the primary issue. Meta didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

“Companies like Instagram and Activision do more than just allow gun companies to reach consumers — they underwrite and mainstream violence to struggling adolescents,” wrote Josh Koskoff, the attorney for the Uvalde families. “Instagram should stop enabling the marketing of AR-15s to kids by gun companies; and Activision should stop training and habituating kids to kill. It’s that simple.”

Video game companies have long pushed back on the idea that video games can cause real-world violence, something politicians have often claimed following mass shootings. However, research has shown that video games don’t cause violent acts, and lawsuits targeting video game companies for the actions of other school shooters have failed.

In a statement provided to The Verge, Activision’s head of corporate communications Delaney Simmons writes: “Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts.”

Koskoff previously won a $73 million settlement for the families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims from gun manufacturer Remington.

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Stacker for iPod is a Tetris clone that never made it to retail models. | Image: Apple Demo

YouTuber Apple Demo has found a prototype third-generation iPod that contains a game called Stacker, which never made it to retail models. In addition to Apple’s own version of Tetris, the engineering sample iPod also came loaded with other unreleased titles, including games called Block0 and Klondike, as noted by Engadget.
On the back of the prototype iPod, a “DVT” (Design Validation Testing) label is etched where the storage capacity normally goes, which, Apple Demo explains indicates it was from the middle stage of development. Two songs still in its storage and a helpfully-named playlist suggest this device was used for battery testing.
After some tinkering and transplanting the internal hard disk into a second-generation iPod Apple Demo got the hard disk to boot as normal, and out of the games available, they only demoed Stacker.

They even contacted the ex-SVP of Apple’s iPod division, Tony Fadell, to learn why the Tetris clone was never released. However, Fadell’s only comment, from 2022, says, “because we added games with later software release,” leaving the internal story of Stacker a mystery for now. Apple did release a licensed Tetris game years later on the “Classic” iPod models, which supported new game titles purchased from the iTunes Store.
Stacker uses the iPod’s click wheel to move falling blocks left and right, and the center button drops them to the bottom of the screen. The objective, like Tetris, is to shoot for a high score by completing and clearing lines of bricks and not overstacking pieces off the top. The game isn’t entirely polished — there’s at least one bug shown in the video where a brick overlapped a stack and got stuck when rotated. But it works!

Stacker for iPod is a Tetris clone that never made it to retail models. | Image: Apple Demo

YouTuber Apple Demo has found a prototype third-generation iPod that contains a game called Stacker, which never made it to retail models. In addition to Apple’s own version of Tetris, the engineering sample iPod also came loaded with other unreleased titles, including games called Block0 and Klondike, as noted by Engadget.

On the back of the prototype iPod, a “DVT” (Design Validation Testing) label is etched where the storage capacity normally goes, which, Apple Demo explains indicates it was from the middle stage of development. Two songs still in its storage and a helpfully-named playlist suggest this device was used for battery testing.

After some tinkering and transplanting the internal hard disk into a second-generation iPod Apple Demo got the hard disk to boot as normal, and out of the games available, they only demoed Stacker.

They even contacted the ex-SVP of Apple’s iPod division, Tony Fadell, to learn why the Tetris clone was never released. However, Fadell’s only comment, from 2022, says, “because we added games with later software release,” leaving the internal story of Stacker a mystery for now. Apple did release a licensed Tetris game years later on the “Classic” iPod models, which supported new game titles purchased from the iTunes Store.

Stacker uses the iPod’s click wheel to move falling blocks left and right, and the center button drops them to the bottom of the screen. The objective, like Tetris, is to shoot for a high score by completing and clearing lines of bricks and not overstacking pieces off the top. The game isn’t entirely polished — there’s at least one bug shown in the video where a brick overlapped a stack and got stuck when rotated. But it works!

Read More 

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Getty Images

The UK could subject big tech companies to hefty fines if they don’t comply with new rules meant to promote competition in digital markets. On Thursday, lawmakers passed the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill (DMCC) through Parliament, which will let regulators enforce rules without the help of the courts.
The DMCC also addresses consumer protection issues by banning fake reviews, forcing companies to be more transparent about their subscription contracts, regulating secondary ticket sales, and getting rid of hidden fees. It will also force certain companies to report mergers to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The European Union enacted a similar law, called the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Only the companies the CMA designates as having Strategic Market Status (SMS) have to comply. These SMS companies are described as having “substantial and entrenched market power” and “a position of strategic significance” in the UK. They must have a global revenue of more than £25 billion or UK revenue of more than £1 billion.
The law will also give the CMA the authority to determine whether a company has broken a law, require compliance, and issue a fine — all without going through the court system. The CMA can fine companies up to 10 percent of the total value of a business’s global revenue for violating the new rules.
If all this sounds familiar, it’s because the European Union enacted a similar law, called the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The legislation issues sweeping requirements for companies deemed digital “gatekeepers,” such as Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon. However, unlike the DMA, the DMCC offers a more tailored approach to the requirements that each SMS firm will have to meet.
Some companies, such as Spotify and Epic Games, have long sought government intervention to help fight against the app store fees imposed by companies like Apple. In a post published in response to the DMCC’s passing, Spotify says the UK should act to regulate Apple’s practices. “Apple has spent millions — in country after country—trying to circumvent and make a mockery of laws like the DMCC,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says in a statement. The DMCC has the potential to unlock real competition and growth and Apple must be held accountable in the U.K. because we cannot miss the opportunity to get it right.”
Apple has faced criticism over its response to the DMA, and the European Union has already opened an investigation to evaluate whether the company’s complying with the region’s new rules.

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Getty Images

The UK could subject big tech companies to hefty fines if they don’t comply with new rules meant to promote competition in digital markets. On Thursday, lawmakers passed the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill (DMCC) through Parliament, which will let regulators enforce rules without the help of the courts.

The DMCC also addresses consumer protection issues by banning fake reviews, forcing companies to be more transparent about their subscription contracts, regulating secondary ticket sales, and getting rid of hidden fees. It will also force certain companies to report mergers to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Only the companies the CMA designates as having Strategic Market Status (SMS) have to comply. These SMS companies are described as having “substantial and entrenched market power” and “a position of strategic significance” in the UK. They must have a global revenue of more than £25 billion or UK revenue of more than £1 billion.

The law will also give the CMA the authority to determine whether a company has broken a law, require compliance, and issue a fine — all without going through the court system. The CMA can fine companies up to 10 percent of the total value of a business’s global revenue for violating the new rules.

If all this sounds familiar, it’s because the European Union enacted a similar law, called the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The legislation issues sweeping requirements for companies deemed digital “gatekeepers,” such as Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon. However, unlike the DMA, the DMCC offers a more tailored approach to the requirements that each SMS firm will have to meet.

Some companies, such as Spotify and Epic Games, have long sought government intervention to help fight against the app store fees imposed by companies like Apple. In a post published in response to the DMCC’s passing, Spotify says the UK should act to regulate Apple’s practices. “Apple has spent millions — in country after country—trying to circumvent and make a mockery of laws like the DMCC,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says in a statement. The DMCC has the potential to unlock real competition and growth and Apple must be held accountable in the U.K. because we cannot miss the opportunity to get it right.”

Apple has faced criticism over its response to the DMA, and the European Union has already opened an investigation to evaluate whether the company’s complying with the region’s new rules.

Read More 

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Tesla’s greenhouse gas emissions grew by nearly 10 million metric tons of CO2 last year, according to the company’s latest impact report, which provides the most revealing look yet of how the company is thinking about climate-related risks and its own carbon footprint.
In 2023, Tesla was responsible for more than 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions compared to just under 42 million metric tons the year prior, a roughly 20 percent increase in pollution. Most of the additional pollution comes from Tesla’s supply chain. Goods and services it purchased account for nearly 80 percent of the company’s overall carbon footprint.
The report says Tesla is working toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions “as soon as possible” and outlines steps the company plans to take to get there. It also names some of the biggest risks the company faces as a result of climate change. However, it shows that the company’s supply chain has gotten dirtier over the past year.
The company’s supply chain has gotten dirtier over the past year
Since dirty supply chains often make up the biggest chunk of a company’s carbon footprint, environmental advocates are pushing regulators to crack down on those emissions. It looks as if Tesla is already taking steps to comply with new rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission that require a lot more transparency around climate change.
The SEC’s initial proposal in 2022 would have required large companies to disclose so-called indirect emissions from their supply chains and the use of their products. But that faced immediate backlash from companies saying those were the most difficult emissions to control. The measure was ultimately dropped from climate rules the SEC finalized in March.
Under those rules, which already face challenges in court, big companies will still have to divulge data on carbon pollution from their direct operations and energy use that are “material,” or essential to investors’ understanding of a company’s financial situation. They’ll also have to assess and share risks and impacts they face as a result of climate change.
Tesla conducted a sustainability assessment in 2023 “to determine areas material to the business and salient to society and the environment,” the report says. That resulted in a list of 20 “focus areas,” including climate risk management, air quality, water use, “responsible” AI, the health and safety of its workers, and more.
Drought poses the biggest risk to Tesla’s business in the short term
There’s even an entire section in the report dedicated to climate risk. Drought poses the biggest risk to Tesla’s manufacturing in the short term, it says, while heat becomes a bigger problem in the long term. After all, Tesla operates several facilities in California, Nevada, and Texas — all parched Western states grappling with rising temperatures and increasingly stressed water systems. The company says it assesses climate risks at each of its manufacturing facilities, including flooding, heavy rainfall, strong winds, extreme heat, wildfire, and drought. Those assessments will inform any plans to expand sites or design new facilities, it says.
Tesla also acknowledges in the report that it might have to change the way it does business to bring its carbon emissions down. “As regulations around GHG emissions management evolve, we may need to make further capital investments that are different from or accelerated relative to existing plans, which may impact profitability. Policy changes may impact certain practices or infrastructure, potentially reducing installed capacity because the technology used-such as with die casting or the paint shop-cannot be fully decarbonized,” the report says.
The company, of course, faces a slew of problems beyond climate change. Its sales, stock price, and staff have all dropped in numbers this year. So it won’t be easy for the company to blame lower profits on efforts to comply with climate policy.

While its carbon footprint has grown over the past year, Tesla says that doesn’t account for the pollution avoided when consumers switch from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. Its customers avoided 20 million metric tons of CO2 pollution in 2023, Tesla estimates. And compared to automakers making gas-guzzling cars, Tesla’s carbon footprint is still much smaller. Ford’s carbon footprint, for comparison, is more than seven times larger at 386 million metric tons of CO2 in 2023.
Tesla claims that typical greenhouse gas accounting methods “weren’t built for a company like Tesla” that makes products including EVs, solar panels, and batteries that displace fossil fuels. Numbers for its greenhouse gas emissions are buried in the report’s appendix without adding up the line items to show a total for its carbon footprint. Up top, the company focuses on comparing the lifetime emissions of its EVs to internal combustion engine vehicles.
When it comes down to it, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. The data Tesla has started to share about its operations will be crucial for holding it accountable to its vision of reaching net-zero emissions. There’s still more vital information the company has to share if it’s taking climate change seriously: a concrete timeline for its efforts to slash pollution.
This seems to be the first time that Tesla has said in a report that it “strives to achieve net-zero GHG emissions across our full product lifecycle, from mining and production through use and end of life recycling.” The report also says the company plans to match 100 percent electricity use for its operations with renewable energy. (It already does this for its Supercharger network.) But the company hasn’t set a deadline for those targets and didn’t immediately respond to questions from The Verge.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Tesla’s greenhouse gas emissions grew by nearly 10 million metric tons of CO2 last year, according to the company’s latest impact report, which provides the most revealing look yet of how the company is thinking about climate-related risks and its own carbon footprint.

In 2023, Tesla was responsible for more than 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions compared to just under 42 million metric tons the year prior, a roughly 20 percent increase in pollution. Most of the additional pollution comes from Tesla’s supply chain. Goods and services it purchased account for nearly 80 percent of the company’s overall carbon footprint.

The report says Tesla is working toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions “as soon as possible” and outlines steps the company plans to take to get there. It also names some of the biggest risks the company faces as a result of climate change. However, it shows that the company’s supply chain has gotten dirtier over the past year.

Since dirty supply chains often make up the biggest chunk of a company’s carbon footprint, environmental advocates are pushing regulators to crack down on those emissions. It looks as if Tesla is already taking steps to comply with new rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission that require a lot more transparency around climate change.

The SEC’s initial proposal in 2022 would have required large companies to disclose so-called indirect emissions from their supply chains and the use of their products. But that faced immediate backlash from companies saying those were the most difficult emissions to control. The measure was ultimately dropped from climate rules the SEC finalized in March.

Under those rules, which already face challenges in court, big companies will still have to divulge data on carbon pollution from their direct operations and energy use that are “material,” or essential to investors’ understanding of a company’s financial situation. They’ll also have to assess and share risks and impacts they face as a result of climate change.

Tesla conducted a sustainability assessment in 2023 “to determine areas material to the business and salient to society and the environment,” the report says. That resulted in a list of 20 “focus areas,” including climate risk management, air quality, water use, “responsible” AI, the health and safety of its workers, and more.

There’s even an entire section in the report dedicated to climate risk. Drought poses the biggest risk to Tesla’s manufacturing in the short term, it says, while heat becomes a bigger problem in the long term. After all, Tesla operates several facilities in California, Nevada, and Texas — all parched Western states grappling with rising temperatures and increasingly stressed water systems. The company says it assesses climate risks at each of its manufacturing facilities, including flooding, heavy rainfall, strong winds, extreme heat, wildfire, and drought. Those assessments will inform any plans to expand sites or design new facilities, it says.

Tesla also acknowledges in the report that it might have to change the way it does business to bring its carbon emissions down. “As regulations around GHG emissions management evolve, we may need to make further capital investments that are different from or accelerated relative to existing plans, which may impact profitability. Policy changes may impact certain practices or infrastructure, potentially reducing installed capacity because the technology used-such as with die casting or the paint shop-cannot be fully decarbonized,” the report says.

The company, of course, faces a slew of problems beyond climate change. Its sales, stock price, and staff have all dropped in numbers this year. So it won’t be easy for the company to blame lower profits on efforts to comply with climate policy.

While its carbon footprint has grown over the past year, Tesla says that doesn’t account for the pollution avoided when consumers switch from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. Its customers avoided 20 million metric tons of CO2 pollution in 2023, Tesla estimates. And compared to automakers making gas-guzzling cars, Tesla’s carbon footprint is still much smaller. Ford’s carbon footprint, for comparison, is more than seven times larger at 386 million metric tons of CO2 in 2023.

Tesla claims that typical greenhouse gas accounting methods “weren’t built for a company like Tesla” that makes products including EVs, solar panels, and batteries that displace fossil fuels. Numbers for its greenhouse gas emissions are buried in the report’s appendix without adding up the line items to show a total for its carbon footprint. Up top, the company focuses on comparing the lifetime emissions of its EVs to internal combustion engine vehicles.

When it comes down to it, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. The data Tesla has started to share about its operations will be crucial for holding it accountable to its vision of reaching net-zero emissions. There’s still more vital information the company has to share if it’s taking climate change seriously: a concrete timeline for its efforts to slash pollution.

This seems to be the first time that Tesla has said in a report that it “strives to achieve net-zero GHG emissions across our full product lifecycle, from mining and production through use and end of life recycling.” The report also says the company plans to match 100 percent electricity use for its operations with renewable energy. (It already does this for its Supercharger network.) But the company hasn’t set a deadline for those targets and didn’t immediately respond to questions from The Verge.

Read More 

Who doesn’t love free? | Illustration: The Verge

Giving people something for free and then slowly pushing them toward a paid subscription is a tech tale as old as time. But a group of people with decade-old G Suite (now Google Workspace) accounts have managed a rare victory: keeping their free accounts for, well, free. And because of a recent change, some are even getting extra storage at no cost — but it’s unclear what will happen next.
When Google rebranded G Suite as Workspace in 2020, it initially said that all users would need to migrate to new subscription plans with pooled rather than individual storage allotments. But folks who had been holding on to legacy free accounts for about a decade objected, so Google backtracked and let people keep their accounts free of charge — but only for personal use.
Now, some of those people with legacy accounts are getting more good news. Up until June 2022, Google kept letting legacy users add more individual storage to their accounts with a separate subscription. But in the past week, account owners who had opted to pay for that extra space started getting emails from Google saying their storage subscriptions had been canceled. They’d gotten a refund on their last payment, but the better news was at the end of the message: “While the subscription was canceled, your storage limit has not changed, and you don’t need to take any action.”
There’s no guarantee Google won’t change its mind in the future
Google spokesperson Jenny Thomson confirmed to The Verge that these users will be able to keep the extra storage space and maintain their legacy accounts: “Customers who received this notification will maintain their storage allotment and can continue using their existing account.” She tells us that the change also applied to people who had already migrated to Workspace accounts but still had user-managed storage through Google Play — according to a support page, individual storage won’t be added to pooled storage totals.
For now, it appears that people who have been holding on to free G Suite accounts for more than a decade at this point will get to keep doing so — with a free storage bonus, too, in some cases. There’s no guarantee Google won’t change its mind in the future, but until then, that’s a pretty good deal.

Who doesn’t love free? | Illustration: The Verge

Giving people something for free and then slowly pushing them toward a paid subscription is a tech tale as old as time. But a group of people with decade-old G Suite (now Google Workspace) accounts have managed a rare victory: keeping their free accounts for, well, free. And because of a recent change, some are even getting extra storage at no cost — but it’s unclear what will happen next.

When Google rebranded G Suite as Workspace in 2020, it initially said that all users would need to migrate to new subscription plans with pooled rather than individual storage allotments. But folks who had been holding on to legacy free accounts for about a decade objected, so Google backtracked and let people keep their accounts free of charge — but only for personal use.

Now, some of those people with legacy accounts are getting more good news. Up until June 2022, Google kept letting legacy users add more individual storage to their accounts with a separate subscription. But in the past week, account owners who had opted to pay for that extra space started getting emails from Google saying their storage subscriptions had been canceled. They’d gotten a refund on their last payment, but the better news was at the end of the message: “While the subscription was canceled, your storage limit has not changed, and you don’t need to take any action.”

Google spokesperson Jenny Thomson confirmed to The Verge that these users will be able to keep the extra storage space and maintain their legacy accounts: “Customers who received this notification will maintain their storage allotment and can continue using their existing account.” She tells us that the change also applied to people who had already migrated to Workspace accounts but still had user-managed storage through Google Play — according to a support page, individual storage won’t be added to pooled storage totals.

For now, it appears that people who have been holding on to free G Suite accounts for more than a decade at this point will get to keep doing so — with a free storage bonus, too, in some cases. There’s no guarantee Google won’t change its mind in the future, but until then, that’s a pretty good deal.

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There’s still a lot of life left in one of gaming’s best handhelds. | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

If you’re looking for some interactive entertainment to keep your brain engaged during summer travels, the Nintendo Switch is a great companion. Even with the Switch 2 confirmed to be in the works, it’s still worth picking up the original if you don’t already have one. Now through May 31st, there’s a great chance to scoop one up at a lower price than you’ll find at retail.
You could go with a refurbished unit of the handheld-only Switch Lite, for example, which is down to $160.99 ($39 off) at Woot for a light blue “Timmy and Tommy Aloha” model or $164.95 (about $35 off) at Woot for one in coral pink.

If you anticipate wanting to play on a TV, you can pick up an original Nintendo Switch model with a dock and detachable Joy-Con controllers in refurbished condition for $239.99 ($60 off) at Woot. You can also buy the updated LCD model that has improved battery life in new condition with aftermarket packaging for $259.99 ($40 off), also at Woot. Each purchase includes Woot’s 90-day limited warranty.
The Nintendo Switch might not get all of the same AAA gaming experiences that the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S do, but there’s a healthy mix of new releases in the pipeline. You’ll also get to explore an expansive back catalog, which features first-party blockbusters like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
There are also tons of third-party titles, a horde of remakes and remasters like the newly released Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, retro collections, and even classic titles from the NES, SNES, Game Boy, and N64 that are included as part of a Switch Online membership (starting at $3.99 a month or $19.99 a year).

More deals for the big holiday weekend

If you’re in the Philips Hue smart lighting ecosystem, the brand’s Play HDMI Sync Box could be a fun addition. Now down to a record-low $174.99 ($75 off) from Philips, the box lets you plug in up to four HDMI sources, allowing your lights to match colors with the content you watch or respond to the beat of what you listen to. It supports 4K HDR10 Plus and Dolby Vision content at refresh rates up to 60Hz, so it may not be the best fit for newer gaming consoles if you need to play up to 144Hz (though it does support the faster refresh rate if you play in 1440p). It does require the Hue Bridge, which adds another $59.99 to your purchase if you don’t already have one.

Sony’s affordable WH-CH520 wireless headphones are down to around $38 (about $22 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, matching their all-time low. The affordable on-ear headphones can’t exactly compare to a more substantial pair like Sony’s WH-1000XM5 or even the WH-CH720N, but that’s to be expected considering the staggering cost difference. You’ll miss out on noise cancellation and some other advanced features, and they might not be quite as comfy as their more expensive siblings. However, the WH-CH520 should offer solid sound quality in a pinch, and the battery is rated to last up to an impressive 50 hours. You’ll also get Bluetooth multipoint for seamless multi-device switching, fast pairing with Google Find My Device support, and voice-activated Google Assistant and Siri.
There’s a rare sale going on for Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photography plan with 1TB of cloud storage. You’ll get 12 months of access for $99.99 ($140 off) at Newegg with promo code MDBDS2A395. While you can stack subscriptions up to three years, you can only use one code per account. It’s easily the best deal we’ve seen for the bundle, which normally costs $19.99 a month (about $240 a year) for unmitigated access to the latest Photoshop and Lightroom features across desktop and mobile. It’s great timing, too, with Adobe bringing out updates for the new Windows Copilot Plus PCs that are launching soon and an ever-improving suite of generative AI tools that make image manipulation easier than ever.

There’s still a lot of life left in one of gaming’s best handhelds. | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

If you’re looking for some interactive entertainment to keep your brain engaged during summer travels, the Nintendo Switch is a great companion. Even with the Switch 2 confirmed to be in the works, it’s still worth picking up the original if you don’t already have one. Now through May 31st, there’s a great chance to scoop one up at a lower price than you’ll find at retail.

You could go with a refurbished unit of the handheld-only Switch Lite, for example, which is down to $160.99 ($39 off) at Woot for a light blue “Timmy and Tommy Aloha” model or $164.95 (about $35 off) at Woot for one in coral pink.

If you anticipate wanting to play on a TV, you can pick up an original Nintendo Switch model with a dock and detachable Joy-Con controllers in refurbished condition for $239.99 ($60 off) at Woot. You can also buy the updated LCD model that has improved battery life in new condition with aftermarket packaging for $259.99 ($40 off), also at Woot. Each purchase includes Woot’s 90-day limited warranty.

The Nintendo Switch might not get all of the same AAA gaming experiences that the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S do, but there’s a healthy mix of new releases in the pipeline. You’ll also get to explore an expansive back catalog, which features first-party blockbusters like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

There are also tons of third-party titles, a horde of remakes and remasters like the newly released Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, retro collections, and even classic titles from the NES, SNES, Game Boy, and N64 that are included as part of a Switch Online membership (starting at $3.99 a month or $19.99 a year).

More deals for the big holiday weekend

If you’re in the Philips Hue smart lighting ecosystem, the brand’s Play HDMI Sync Box could be a fun addition. Now down to a record-low $174.99 ($75 off) from Philips, the box lets you plug in up to four HDMI sources, allowing your lights to match colors with the content you watch or respond to the beat of what you listen to. It supports 4K HDR10 Plus and Dolby Vision content at refresh rates up to 60Hz, so it may not be the best fit for newer gaming consoles if you need to play up to 144Hz (though it does support the faster refresh rate if you play in 1440p). It does require the Hue Bridge, which adds another $59.99 to your purchase if you don’t already have one.

Sony’s affordable WH-CH520 wireless headphones are down to around $38 (about $22 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, matching their all-time low. The affordable on-ear headphones can’t exactly compare to a more substantial pair like Sony’s WH-1000XM5 or even the WH-CH720N, but that’s to be expected considering the staggering cost difference. You’ll miss out on noise cancellation and some other advanced features, and they might not be quite as comfy as their more expensive siblings. However, the WH-CH520 should offer solid sound quality in a pinch, and the battery is rated to last up to an impressive 50 hours. You’ll also get Bluetooth multipoint for seamless multi-device switching, fast pairing with Google Find My Device support, and voice-activated Google Assistant and Siri.
There’s a rare sale going on for Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photography plan with 1TB of cloud storage. You’ll get 12 months of access for $99.99 ($140 off) at Newegg with promo code MDBDS2A395. While you can stack subscriptions up to three years, you can only use one code per account. It’s easily the best deal we’ve seen for the bundle, which normally costs $19.99 a month (about $240 a year) for unmitigated access to the latest Photoshop and Lightroom features across desktop and mobile. It’s great timing, too, with Adobe bringing out updates for the new Windows Copilot Plus PCs that are launching soon and an ever-improving suite of generative AI tools that make image manipulation easier than ever.

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