Новости за 23.03.2021

Image: Netflix

Netflix has announced that it will be experimenting with the release schedules of two reality TV shows, The Circle and Too Hot to Handle (via The Hollywood Reporter). Instead of releasing all of the episodes at once, it will release them over the course of a month, with each show having a batch of episodes released on Wednesdays, then releasing the finale by itself at the end of the run. This means you won’t be able to binge all of the episodes in a single weekend... and that may be a good thing. Читать дальше...

Image: Verizon Media Group

Yahoo is the legacy Web 1.0 brand that just won’t get dragged and dropped into the trash bin of history, and that’s largely thanks to Verizon’s tireless efforts to keep it going after buying the company a few years ago for nearly $5 billion. This time around, the telecom giant actually wants to expand the Yahoo brand to all of its consumer-facing web properties with a new series of subscription offerings organized around what it’s calling Yahoo Plus, according to a new report from Axios. Читать дальше...

Disney is moving two of its biggest 2021 releases to streaming: Black Widow and Cruella are now set to debut on Disney Plus as $30 Premiere Access titles alongside their theatrical releases. Additionally, Black Widow has been delayed an additional two months: it’ll now debut in theaters and on Disney Plus on July 9th, instead of the previous May 7th release date. (Cruella is still set to release on May 28th.)

Image: Valve

Valve is celebrating the anniversary of its launch of Half-Life: Alyx by offering the best price yet on the VR-exclusive game at Steam. Normally $60 (and worth every penny), you can snag it for $36, totaling a 40 percent discount that lasts until Wednesday, March 31st. If you’re looking for a new VR game to sink your teeth into, this is worth playing for many reasons. If the fact that is serves as the prequel to Half-Life 2 isn’t enough for you, it’s the total package for a VR game... Читать дальше...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

President Joe Biden picked one of tech’s most ardent critics, Lina Khan, to join the Federal Trade Commission on Monday. For Democrats and progressives, Khan’s nomination was a sign that the Biden administration may be the toughest one in history when it comes to tech.

Black Shark

Xiaomi’s Black Shark brand has announced its fourth series of gaming phones, the Black Shark 4 and 4 Pro. They improve on the previous series in most of the ways you’d expect them to. There’s a faster processor, moving up to the Snapdragon 870 in the standard Black Shark 4 and the Snapdragon 888 in the 4 Pro. Both phones also come with fast LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, though each will come in different configurations.

If you’ve watched even just an episode of The Mandalorian, you know this: Grogu is always hungry. The little guy, previously known as Baby Yoda, is constantly snacking, whether it’s on endangered frog eggs or newly spawned spider monsters. Sometimes, he just needs a nice cup of bone broth to tide him over. And soon there will be an animatronic toy to match his appetite.

Amazon is illustrating its commitment to game development with a new studio opening, despite its struggles to make a hit game in recent years. The company on Tuesday announced the new studio’s Montreal-based team, which will create original AAA games with an initial focus on a new online multiplayer title.

View of Venice from the Giudecca Canal. | Photo by: Mauro Flamini/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Two dolphins were caught on video swimming through Venice canals near the iconic St. Mark’s Square yesterday. The pair, an adult and a calf, visited during heightened coronavirus-related restrictions in the city.

It’s taken years, but OnePlus is finally getting in the smartwatch game with the newly announced OnePlus Watch. The new watch (as was revealed last week) has a round design that looks similar to a regular wristwatch, instead of the oblong rectangle popularized by the Apple Watch and its imitators, like the Oppo Watch.

Photo: Nintendo

If you own a Nintendo Switch and enjoy the Super Mario series, time is running out for you to buy Super Mario 3D All-Stars. Beginning March 31st, Nintendo will pull the game from the eShop and physical copies will likely be more expensive / harder to find.

OnePlus has announced the first two phones in its OnePlus 9 series, the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro. As expected, the OnePlus 9 Pro is the flagship, designed to face off against the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra and the iPhone 12 Pro Max, while the OnePlus 9 is its lower-specced and slightly more affordable counterpart.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Valve is launching a dedicated Steam Link app for macOS this week. The app allows Steam users to stream games from a PC to devices with the Steam Link app installed. While the Steam macOS app has offered streaming already, MacRumors points out that this lightweight Steam Link app is just 30MB in size from the Mac App Store compared to the full Steam app, which requires 1GB of storage space.

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge

A conversation with NYT’s Kevin Roose on how robotic automation will impact our future

Photo by Manuel Dorati/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

In a highly unusual statement issued early this morning, United States health officials said that the data released by AstraZeneca on its COVID-19 vaccine may include “outdated information.” The announcement, which came from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), comes less than a day after the pharmaceutical company said its vaccine was highly effective in the US trial.

Spatial Studio | Spatial

A startup called Spatial is unveiling its first suite of products today, focused on creating audio experiences that are immersive, interactive, and automatically generated. The products themselves are a little complicated to explain, but the result is simple: ambient and interactive audio for public spaces that’s easy to create and more dynamic than the usual tracks.

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

You might have heard there’s a global semiconductor shortage going on, and that PC graphics cards in particular are nearly impossible to find. What you probably haven’t heard is that the situation has steadily been growing worse — to the point some GPUs are worth triple their MSRP.

Image: Google

Google is expanding efforts to design its own chips with the hiring of Uri Frank, an Intel veteran with over two decades of experience in custom CPU design, the company has announced. Frank will head up a new Isreal-based team for Google, and will serve as the company’s VP of Engineering for server chip design. “I look forward to growing a team here in Israel while accelerating Google Cloud’s innovations in compute infrastructure,” Frank wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing the move. Читать дальше...

Android phones by OnePlus have a considerable set of fans, and if you count yourself among their number, you will probably want to be in on this year’s launch of the company’s latest line: the OnePlus 9 series.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft is in discussions with Discord to acquire the gaming-focused chat software for more than $10 billion, according to sources talking to Bloomberg. Xbox chief Phil Spencer is said to be talking to Discord about the potential deal.

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge

Some Android apps are crashing for some people right now, but Google is working on a fix. The issue is due to a system component called Android System WebView that lets Android apps display web content, but it has some kind of problem right now that is causing apps to crash.

It’s not at all controversial to say that internet service sucks in the United States. As part of its plan to update coverage maps in the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a break from tradition, is finally asking average Americans to report which internet services are actually available where they live.

An early 8K TV set.

I just realized: I never came back to thank you for buying that $30,000 8K television. I mean, I’m sure the $1,500 coupon helped? But I feel like I still owe you a bit more.

Image: Niantic

Niantic, developer of the smash hit Pokémon Go, has announced a new partnership with Nintendo. The first new game from the collaboration will be a mobile augmented reality game based on Nintendo’s popular Pikmin franchise, and it will launch later this year.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Tinder is partnering with Lyft to offer the ability to gift rides to dates without having to leave the Tinder app. It’s a small convenience if you already have the Lyft app downloaded, but like adding video chat in the app, it’s one less reason to switch your focus away from your match and to another app.