Singer

Apple Music’s spatial audio is sometimes amazing but mostly inconsistent

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Late on Monday night, Apple flipped the switch on two new features for its Apple Music subscription service: immersive Dolby Atmos spatial audio and lossless-quality streaming. It feels like the company is really only excited about one… Read more

Meet the real Alexa: voice actor reportedly responsible for Amazon’s AI assistant revealed

Amazon’s Alexa has a voice familiar to millions: calm, warm, and measured. But like most synthetic speech, its tones have a human origin. There was someone whose voice had to be recorded, analyzed, and algorithmically reproduced to create Alexa as we know it now. Amazon has never revealed who this “original Alexa” is, but journalist… Read more

Saturday Night Live with Elon Musk will be live-streamed internationally for the first time

Saturday Night Live will be live from New York— and streaming to 100 countries around the world for the first time ever, NBC announced. Elon Musk is hosting the show for the first time (in case you have not read anything else on The Verge today), and Miley Cyrus will be the musical guest. “‘SNL’… Read more

Basecamp CEO apologizes to staff in new post: ‘We have a lot to learn’

In a new blog post, Basecamp CEO Jason Fried apologized after the “policy changes” he announced last week ultimately led to a third of the company’s workforce opting to leave. “Last week was terrible. We started with policy changes that felt simple, reasonable, and principled, and it blew things up culturally in ways we never… Read more

23 of the best vocal tracks to test your system

The vocal: often the official moment that gets a gig under way, the determiner of the direction your eyebrows go when first listening to a new artist. The vocal has enabled ‘one-man bands’ to play to rooms of thousands of people with only a guitar in their hand or a piano at their fingertips. The… Read more

New Trailers: Ted Lasso, Fathom, Annette, The Conjuring, and more

The Oscars are tonight and despite my best efforts I still haven’t seen all the Best Picture contenders, so will hold off on making predictions (but honestly not sure how anyone beats Chadwick Boseman as Best Actor). Lots of good trailers this week including the return of the most wholesome show on all of streaming… Read more

Sennheiser IE 300

Our Verdict Sennheiser’s latest premium wired earbuds certainly have their strengths, but class-leading insight isn’t one of them For Excellent build and comfort Impressive bass depth Lush, full midrange Against Lacks class-leading subtlety Rhythmically and dynamically outclassed No in-line remote In a headphones market that revels in innovative features such as true wirelessness, active noise-cancelling… Read more

The visual jazz of Genesis Noir

Genesis Noir is set at the start of existence, reimagining the Big Bang and the natural expansion of the universe as the violent end result of a love triangle gone wrong. It’s a marriage of jazz and film noir in a point-and-click adventure game that sometimes works better as an audiovisual plaything than it does… Read more

Fortnite is getting a Bruno Mars emote

Bruno Mars is the latest celebrity to jump into the virtual world of Fortnite. Today, developer Epic Games announced that the battle royale game would be getting a new Mars emote — essentially an in-game dance — set to the singer’s song “Leave the Door Open.” Players will be able to buy it starting at… Read more

9 brilliant albums recorded in self-isolation

Home Features (Image credit: The Streets) Novelty of working from home wearing a little thin? Children climbing the walls? Missing those carefree double-kisses and bear hugs from relatives and acquaintances? Or are you feeling something else? Whisper it lest she disappear, but might that something actually be the muse descending? “An artist is always alone… Read more

Disney Plus warns of offensive content featured in some episodes of The Muppet Show

All five seasons of The Muppet Show arrived on Disney Plus this past Friday. And depending on which episode you are streaming, you may receive a content disclaimer warning of potentially offensive material featured in the episode. Disney included a content warning for 18 episodes of the comedy show. The disclaimer, as pictured below, has… Read more

11 of the best Spotify playlists to listen to right now

Home Features (Image credit: Spotify) Live concerts, gigs and festivals are still out as we march further into 2021, so the need to feel transported to somewhere more beautiful via melodies, lyrics and rhythms has rarely been felt more keenly. In short, music has never been in greater demand. Whether you’re after a selection of… Read more