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NASA’s new Mars rover is about to spawn a tiny helicopter

NASA’s Perseverance rover is getting ready to deploy a mini-helicopter named Ingenuity on Mars. The four-pound, four-blade rotorcraft will attempt the first flight of its kind on another planet, and in the process, it will test a new mode of mobility that could transform the way we Earthlings remotely explore other worlds. The craft is… Read more

Burberry designed character skins for China’s biggest video game

Honor of Kings is among the biggest games in the world — and soon, it’ll be among the most fashionable as well. Today, Tencent-owned developer TiMi Studios announced a collaboration with fashion house Burberry on new character skins. The skins were designed by Riccardo Tisci, chief creative officer at Burberry, for the character Yao. “Burberry’s… Read more

Apple and Epic’s top execs plan to testify live and in person this May in the Fortnite app store trial

It’s hard to believe it’s only been seven months since Apple booted Fortnite off the App Store and Epic Games sprung its antitrust trap, but you won’t have to wait much longer before the behind-the-scenes legal machinations give way to courtroom drama — and, it seems, until Apple and Epic’s top executives take the stand…. Read more

Vergecast: The Snyder Cut, Samsung Unpacked 2021, and this week in EVs

Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast The Vergecast, where we discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering our biggest stories. This week, co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn chat with Verge reporter Julia Alexander about the long-awaited release of the Zack Snyder version of Justice League on HBO… Read more

Fortnite’s experimental story is an attempt to create ‘the entertainment experience of the future’

Epic’s chief creative officer, Donald Mustard, explains the game’s bold narrative ambitions Why does Fortnite have a narrative? It’s a game where 100 players drop onto a cartoonish island, dress up as bananas or Star Wars heroes, gather up guns and other gear, and attempt to eliminate each other until only one remains. When that’s… Read more

Tesla’s co-founder is teaming up with Specialized to solve the problem of e-bike batteries

The growing popularity of electric bikes has raised a lot of exciting possibilities about the future of transportation, but it also presents a number of unique challenges. Chief among them is what to do with all those e-bike batteries when they eventually run out of juice. Rather than send them to a landfill, one major… Read more

Wharfedale Diamond 12.3

Our Verdict Wharfedale’s Diamond 12.3 floorstanders are refined, entertaining and well built. What’s not to like? For Superbly balanced presentation Expressive and revealing midrange Pleasing build and finish Against Nothing at this price Mention the words ‘Wharfedale Diamond’, and the image that comes to mind is that of a small talented budget standmounters. That description… Read more

YouTube Shorts arrives in the US to take on TikTok, but the beta is still half-baked

YouTube Shorts, the company’s short-form answer to TikTok, is launching in beta in the United States starting today. The short video format has already been available for several months in India, but today marks its debut stateside (along with the addition of several new features). For the beta launch, YouTube Shorts will feature all the… Read more

Intel’s New CEO to Host Live Chat on March 23, Ahead of Rocket Lake Launch

Home News (Image credit: Shutterstock) Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is scheduled to deliver a live webcast on March 23 from 2 – 3 p.m. PDT (5 – 6 p.m. EDT) to discuss “the new era of innovation and technology leadership at Intel,” the company announced today. The webcast will be available at Intel’s newsroom. Gelsinger… Read more

Samsung says it might skip the Galaxy Note this year

Samsung has warned that it might not be able to ship a Galaxy Note phone in 2021 after all, citing difficulties in launching two flagship phones in one year, in comments at its annual shareholders meeting reported on by Bloomberg. “[The] Note series is positioned as a high-end model in our business portfolio,” said mobile… Read more

BMW’s new curved iDrive display is a ‘major step’ toward autonomous driving

BMW is pulling the curtain back on its next iteration of iDrive, the software and infotainment platform that has served as the centerpiece of the automaker’s in-car experience for the last 20 years. The eighth version of iDrive will mostly live on a new “curved” display that starts behind the steering wheel and extends halfway… Read more

10 of the best books about hi-fi and audio

Home Features (Image credit: Rega) We’re glad people still enjoy reading about hi-fi; it’s what keeps us in a job, after all. There have been plenty of insightful words committed to paper about our industry and the technologies, brands and history that define it, so we’ve listed some of our favourites in a hope that… Read more

The best games you can play right now on Xbox Game Pass

(Pocket-lint) – Xbox Game Pass has been a huge change to the way we pay for games over the last couple of years – it’s the ace in Microsoft’s sleeve, and can be absolutely astounding value if you want to play through loads of great games. What is Xbox Game Pass, what games do you… Read more

Some Bethesda games now on Xbox Game Pass are getting frame rate boosts on Xbox Series X/S

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass platform just got a huge boost with the addition of 20 new Bethesda Softworks titles starting today, and now a quarter of those games will be getting performance boosts on the next-gen Xbox consoles in an upcoming update. The performance gains are in frame rate thanks to an appropriately named new… Read more

Taiwan Drought Threatens Single Board Computer Production

Home News (Image credit: Shutterstock) It is true to say that 2020 wasn’t a great year, period. There have been both CPU and GPU shortages in the electronics world, but a recent drought in Taiwan could affect all sectors, including the many single board computers (SBC) such as the Raspberry Pi. TSMC has been asked… Read more