Новости за 11.04.2022

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

As Activision Blizzard continues to struggle under the weight of multiple PR disasters regarding sexual harassment and union busting, the company has appointed Kristen Hines as its new diversity, equity, and inclusion officer.

Think of it less as a vacation and more as an off-site retreat. | Image: Meta

Meta is delivering a new virtual office environment for all of you out there who work in VR. As part of the v39 software update coming to Meta Quest and Quest 2 VR headsets, you can be transported to the “Mountain Study” environment, which positions you within a house in a valley surrounded by mountains.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Weeks ago, facing pressure internally to speak out against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Disney CEO Bob Chapek took a surprising approach: he did nothing. His silence angered employees and advocacy groups to such an extent that he eventually backpedaled. But when Chapek finally did condemn the legislation, he provoked politicians and set off a weeks-long bad-faith crusade against Disney by right-wing media. The ensuing chaos is just the latest... Читать дальше...

Amazon has discounted the Surface Laptop 4 to its lowest price ever | Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge

Our collection of deals today proves that Mondays don’t have to be all bad. Our headlining deal on the 13.5-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop 4, for instance, brings the laptop down to its lowest price to date on Amazon. Normally, this configuration would cost $1,299.99, but it’s currently on sale for $949.99. This discount currently applies to the black, silver, and beige colorways, but... Читать дальше...

Kingdom Hearts 4 needs to be a reset.

There was a time when news of a new Kingdom Hearts entry would have sent me into paroxysms of joy. But the announcement that Kingdom Hearts 4 is in the works barely inspired a “huh, that’s neat.” I’ve been a faithful devotee of the Church of the Keyblade from the moment I heard Hikaru Utada’s “Simple and Clean.” Kingdom Hearts and KH2 were my games, one of the foundational texts at the core of my identity as a gamer. But the spinoffs began to fragment across consoles I didn’t own... Читать дальше...

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Now that Elon Musk will not be the new member of Twitter’s board of directors, it means more speculation about his true intentions and, yes, more paperwork. Musk has, again, updated the required filing (pdf) for investors buying a significant chunk of a publicly traded company, in which investors must explain their intentions.

It looks like a crossover. | Image: Lincoln

Lincoln, Ford’s luxury brand, has announced that it’ll show off a “fully electric concept vehicle” on April 20th as a way to tease upcoming electric offerings. In a short video, the company shows off a partial outline of the vehicle, which will likely be a smaller SUV or crossover, as the company currently doesn’t make any sedans (sad news for anyone like me who would love a Hyundai-esque ’80s Continental revival).

Image: Block

Square’s newest version of its popular Square Stand payment terminal has a payments reader built right in, the company announced on Monday. The stand lets businesses slot in an iPad so it can be used as a point-of-sale device, but the previous version needed a separate reader to accept payments from a card or phone.

Workers plant saplings outside the Pavagada Solar Park on October 9, 2021 in Thirumani village, Karnataka, India. | Photo by Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images

Starting today, customers in the US can donate $1 to plant one tree by telling Alexa-enabled devices, “Alexa, grow a tree,” Amazon announced today. Customers will be able to keep track of how many trees they’ve planted in their Amazon Pay account.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Netflix is introducing a new button to help the streaming service curate your homepage with even better recommendations: Two Thumbs Up.

The Batman stars Robert Pattinson at Batman and Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle. | Image: Warner Bros.

The Batman, the new Batman movie starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader, will be available to stream on HBO Max starting April 18th, WarnerMedia announced Monday. The film first debuted in theaters on March 4th.

Illustration by Alex Castro

Here’s everything we know

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Key art for Netflix’s upcoming Nimona. | Annapurna Pictures/Netflix

Though it once seemed like the animated adaptation of ND Stevenson’s Nimona might end up being stuck in production hell, Annapurna Pictures and Netflix are stepping in to make sure that’s not the case.

The Vivo X Fold. | Image: Vivo

Vivo has announced the X Fold, its first folding phone. The X Fold takes a similar approach to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series and its competitors, with a large 8.03-inch folding screen on the inside for tablet-style use and a more conventional phone-sized screen — in this case, 6.53 inches — on the outside.

Photo by Avery White for The Verge

A Fitbit feature that passively monitors users’ heart rhythms was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, the company announced today.

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images

On Monday, Google sued a scammer for allegedly running an online “puppy fraud scheme,” defrauding vulnerable people, including the elderly, out of thousands of dollars with false promises of purebred puppies.

Food delivery platform DoorDash is adding a new cheaper subscription plan called DashPass for Students. It costs $4.99 a month, half that of its regular $9.99 DashPass subscription, and offers similar benefits including: free delivery on eligible orders over a minimum threshold (generally $12 for restaurants and $25 for grocery orders); 5 percent credit back on pickup orders from certain restaurants; and access to other members-only promotions.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

What’s next for Twitter and Elon Musk?

Schrödinger’s Cat Burglar is one of the games supported by the fund. | Image: Abandoned Sheep

Astra Fund, a venture fund that supports developers making “thinking games,” revealed the first batch of games it’s funding, including an unannounced title from Good Sudoku developer Zach Gage.

Nintendo

Nintendo Switch Sports, the follow-up to the wildly popular Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort announced in February, is more imaginative than its boring name might imply. While those Wii titles served as tech demos, of sorts, for Nintendo’s at-the-time new motion controls and Mii characters, Switch Sports feels more like a full game, with more involved controls, better visuals, and a post-launch plan for online modes and in-game cosmetics.

Yes, it does look like an air purifier. | Image: TP-Link

TP-Link has a new “cheap” router. The Deco XE75 is a tri-band Wi-Fi 6E mesh router that should lower the cost barrier for the new 6GHz wireless technology standard. The new two-pack mesh whole home router is available now for $299.99. It’s certainly one of the first signs of Wi-Fi 6E technology reaching affordable pricing, and, best of all, the Deco XE75 seems to cut very few features.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

What are blockchain bridges, why do they keep getting hacked, and can we ever stop it from happening?

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube Premium subscribers can no longer sign up to test YouTube’s picture-in-picture feature on iOS. PiP has disappeared from YouTube’s list of available experimental features, where it was previously listed with an April 8th expiry date. 9to5Google reports that some users are seeing a “The feature you’re trying has been turned off” banner notifying them that the test has ended, but both it and iMore add that the feature is still working on their... Читать дальше...

Photo by PATRICK PLEUL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Elon Musk is no longer going to join Twitter’s board, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has announced in a message to the company. Agrawal last week confirmed that Musk would be appointed to the board following his purchase of 9.2 percent of the company’s shares, but now says that Musk has decided against taking up the seat.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Players on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita are having trouble accessing their digital purchases after a strange expiration date suddenly appeared on certain games, as first reported by Kotaku. The problem seems to mostly affect classic titles, preventing users from playing Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy VI, as the games are now “expired.”