Новости за 08.06.2022

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple is getting into the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) business with its new Pay Later service built into Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. While Apple bills the service as “designed with users’ financial health in mind,” BNPL is a practice that has come under scrutiny by government regulators as something that could potentially harm customers.

A rendering of a high-tech facility representing eBay’s new 31,000-square-foot vault facility that stores collectables. | Image: eBay

Consider dusting off your attic shoeboxes filled with baseball cards; eBay might have a new home for some of them soon. The pioneering online marketplace site built a new 31,000-square-foot facility, called the eBay Vault, which is open now to house graded trading cards that are valued at over $750 and, in the future, physical collectibles of all kinds.

Last year’s iPhone 13. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

This week, European Union lawmakers agreed on new proposals to force manufacturers of everything from smartphones and headphones to digital cameras and tablets to use the same universal charging port: USB Type-C. The plan is for the new rules to come into effect by fall 2024, after which these devices that charge using a wired cable will need to do so via a built-in USB-C port.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is just one of the games the contractors have worked on.

A team of quality assurance (QA) contractors who work closely with BioWare, a studio owned by EA, has voted unanimously (16 to 0) to form a union. The workers are employed by the Edmonton, Canada-based branch of Keywords Studios, making them the country’s first union in the game industry.

Image: Apple

Apple isn’t inventing anything new with its medication tracking feature for iPhone and Apple Watch, which the company announced as part of watchOS 9 at WWDC 2022 this week. There are plenty of apps already on the market that give people alerts when they’re supposed to take their medications.

Image: Unit 2 Games

Crayta, a platform that lets players create, share, and play games with friends, is coming to Facebook Gaming’s cloud-streaming service. The collaborative game-building platform is built on Unreal Engine 4 and features a library of thousands of player-made games users can browse or add to with their own creations.

Insteon hubs are back online. | Image: Insteon

Last April, Smartlabs switched off its cloud servers, leaving users of its Insteon smart home system without app or voice control of their connected switches, plugs, thermostats, and other devices paired to its smart home hub. It happened overnight with no warning, and now, the same thing has happened in reverse: someone suddenly turned the switch back on.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

At WWDC 2022, Apple announced it was adding a number of big fitness updates to watchOS 9. Most notably, that included a ton of new running metrics, as well as a new multisport mode for triathletes. As a runner and wearables reviewer, the presentation immediately made me think, “Holy guacamole, Apple is gunning for Garmin.”

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter is testing a new shopping feature for previewing upcoming product releases. The feature, called Product Drops, allows brands to tease items before they go on sale, and customers can sign up to be reminded prior to the release through in-app notifications.

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge

The best ways to carry around a Switch in style

General Motors released some more images of the Cadillac Celestiq show car, and as you can see, we’re still only getting the bare minimum here.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

More than six years after Apple’s Eddy Cue proclaimed that “the future of TV is apps,” Apple’s 2022 WWDC keynote came and went with barely any mention of tvOS — the software that runs on its Apple TV hardware. That quote from Cue came alongside the introduction of the Apple TV’s App Store back in 2015. But the dearth of WWDC news on tvOS suggests the platform isn’t exactly one of Apple’s top priorities at the moment.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

PayPal has been granted a full BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services, the company announced in a press release. This makes PayPal the first company to trade in a conditional BitLicense for the real thing.

An update to Samsung’s Family Hub smart fridge brings an art mode and live TV through the Samsung TV Plus streaming service. | Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge

Samsung is releasing a new update for its Family Hub refrigerators that brings Samsung TV Plus — the tech giant’s free, ad-supported live TV service — to its fridges with a tablet built-in.

Image: Razer

Razer has announced the $99.99 Kishi V2, its new mobile controller that can cradle your Android phone to deliver a more handheld console-like experience. In terms of what’s new over the previous iteration, the Kishi V2 features some hardware traits in common with Razer’s Wolverine V2 controller. Namely, that its buttons utilize microswitches instead of membranes, so they’ll have a clicky feel. Also, there are two macro buttons near the triggers, one on each side, that can be custom programmed with a mobile app. Читать дальше...

Amazon is selling the 41mm, GPS-equipped Apple Watch Series 7 for just $300 instead of $399. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Update June 8th, 10:47AM ET: Our lead deal on the Vizio 5.1.2 soundbar sold out, unfortunately. So, we swapped it out for one on the Apple Watch Series 7 that we feel is just as appealing.

An early image of the phone’s home screen released in March. | Image: Nothing

Nothing, the consumer tech startup led by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, will announce its first smartphone at an event on July 12th, the company has announced. The Nothing Phone 1 will be the company’s second device, following the release of its Ear 1 true wireless earbuds last year. The in-person event will be held in London alongside a simultaneous livestream at 11AM ET. Nothing is branding the launch as Nothing (event): Return to Instinct. Читать дальше...

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Insider is reporting that Microsoft’s Alex Kipman, who led the teams that developed the company’s HoloLens augmented reality headset and the Kinect motion controller for Xbox and serves as one of Microsoft’s top technical fellows, has resigned after allegations of verbal abuse and sexual harassment.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

In January, Protocol revealed that Google was working on a cheaper Chromecast video streaming dongle that would top out at 1080p resolution, which could possibly be sold as the “Chromecast HD with Google TV.”

Taco Bell Defy in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota | Image: Taco Bell / Border Foods

Today, Taco Bell opened the doors to its new digital-driven, two-story restaurant concept, Taco Bell Defy, in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Taco Bell first told us about Taco Bell Defy back in August 2021. The location uses technology to speed up service, with a “bold goal of creating a 2 minute or less drive-thru experience for customers of this concept,” according to Taco Bell President Mike Grams.