Empire

With iCloud Plus, Apple’s privacy promise is paired with an upsell

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge Some privacy may be paywalled Apple has spent considerable time championing itself as a protector of user privacy. Its CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly stated that privacy is “a fundamental human right,” the company has based multiple ad campaigns around its privacy promises, and it’s had high profile… Read more

Oscar Isaac will star in Disney Plus’ Moon Knight series

Marvel has confirmed that Oscar Isaac will star in the Disney Plus Moon Knight series, bringing the Star Wars star to another highly lucrative side of the Disney empire. Moon Knight is one of several Marvel characters who seem to be inspired by DC Comics’ Batman, and is certainly more of an obscure character to… Read more

Tim Cook’s Fortnite trial testimony was unexpectedly revealing

The Epic v. Apple trial was bookended by Tims. Epic Games called its CEO Tim Sweeney as the first witness nearly three weeks ago. Yesterday, Apple called Tim Cook as the last to take the stand, before both sides make their final case to a judge on Monday. Cook was supposed to bring home Apple’s… Read more

The Call of Duty League’s champions are being honored at Verdansk Stadium in Warzone

The champions of the first season of the Call of Duty League are being honored in a unique way: with their faces plastered at the stadium in Call of Duty: Warzone. Today, Activision revealed that the front entrance to Verdansk Stadium in Warzone will soon display a giant rendition of the CDL trophy, along with… Read more

New trailers: A Quiet Place 2, Stranger Things 4, Loki, and more

I’m sticking with The Handmaid’s Tale for now; in the latest episode we see a lot of very improbable situations that need to happen in order to move the plot along but at last, finally, the main story moves away from Gilead. Does that mean things are going well for June? I don’t think it’s… Read more

Elon Musk on Saturday Night Live, explained

Who is Elon Musk? Oh, come on. Seriously! Fine. He’s the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, the founder of The Boring Company and Neuralink, a certified member of the PayPal Mafia, and a well-known internet troll. He sounds rich. He is. Depending on where the market closes on Friday, he’s either the first or the… Read more

Substack introduces publication sections for newsletters so writers can ‘grow their media empire’

Newsletter publishing platform Substack has introduced publication sections for its newsletters, which will allow writers “to create and manage multiple newsletters or podcasts within a single main publication,” the company announced Thursday. “As your publication grows, you might start to expand what you offer to readers,” Substack explained in a blog post. “For example, you… Read more

The Bad Batch is a glimpse at the future of Star Wars spinoffs

The Bad Batch has arrived today as the latest Star Wars spinoff series for Disney Plus. It’s a different, smaller show than preceding animated shows like The Clone Wars or Rebels, focusing on a single squad of clone troopers, Clone Force 99 — the titular “Bad Batch” — and its struggle to find a place… Read more

Record Store Day’s free docuseries celebrates UK indie record store owners

Home News (Image credit: Record Store Day) Ever wondered what goes on behind the counter of the UK’s independent record shops? Well, wonder no more because Record Store Day and Classic Albums have teamed up with Bowers & Wilkins to announce series two of Behind the Counter. The 12-part documentary series will once again shine… Read more

Google is poisoning its reputation with AI researchers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The firing of top Google AI ethics researchers has created a significant backlash Google has worked for years to position itself as a responsible steward of AI. Its research lab hires respected academics, publishes groundbreaking papers, and steers the agenda at the field’s biggest conferences. But now its… Read more

Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK

Our Verdict Between the excellent operating system and solid all-round performance, this is an impressively complete package at a reasonable price For Excellent upscaling Bold, colourful picture Superb Roku UI Against Sonically lightweight Colours can be heavy-handed There are reasons why wine is dated by year. The grapes might come from the same fields, the… Read more

Hitman’s best feature, the Elusive Target, has arrived in Hitman 3

Fans of Hitman’s excellent Elusive Target missions will be happy to hear that the first of these made for a Hitman 3 level is now live. The mission tasks you with hunting down “The Collector,” aka Kody Haynes, in the game’s Dartmoor map. The mission is live for 10 days starting today. It’s not the… Read more

Go read this feature on how India’s digital revolution started with missed calls

Leaving a missed call on someone’s phone usually signals that you should call them back — but at one point in India, it was communication in its own right. A new feature by Atul Bhattarai in Rest of World examines the Indian culture that grew up around missed calls — and the startups that took… Read more

Octopath Traveler is coming to Xbox Game Pass, and Undertale has just arrived

Xbox is announcing the next round of games coming to Game Pass, and it’s a pretty stacked deck with games like Undertale and Octopath Traveler, both of which are coming to Xbox for the first time. Coming to all the Game Pass platforms (cloud, console, and PC) are: Undertale (available today) Empire of Sin (Available… Read more

The DIY e-bike scene is obsessed with speed and clout

Jacob Pustilnik built his first electric bike when he was 17 because he was tired of showing up at school drenched in sweat. Texas is notoriously humid, but Pustilnik only lived a few miles from his school in Houston and was reluctant to abandon his trusty Trek mountain bike. At first, he thought putting a… Read more