The Halo TV show has been canceled Image: Adrienn Szabo / Paramount PlusParamount has canceled its live-action Halo series for Paramount Plus, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. But if you’re a fan of the show and want to see it continue, there’s a sliver of hope: both publications report that the show’s producers are shopping the series around, so perhaps there wil…

Microsoft on CrowdStrike outage: Have you tried turning it off and on? (15 times) Image: Channel 4 / Talkback ThamesHave you turned it off and on again? That familiar refrain from IT departments and The IT Crowd is being echoed by Microsoft today as a recommended way of fixing the faulty CrowdStrike update that has taken down thousands of Windows PCs and servers today. In a support note on Microsoft’s Azure outage page, the c…

What is CrowdStrike, and what happened? Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The VergeOn Friday morning, some of the biggest airlines, TV broadcasters, banks, and other essential services came to a standstill as a massive outage rippled across the globe. The outage, which has brought the Blue Screen of Death upon legions of Windows machines across the globe, is linked to just one softwar…

Samsung halts Galaxy Buds 3 Pro shipments over quality issues Photo by Chris Welch / The VergeSamsung has temporarily stopped shipping its new Galaxy Buds 3 Pro to retailers following complaints about quality control. Early customers who received the wireless earbuds ahead of their wider July 24th release reported that the ear tips were fragile and prone to breaking when removed. The pause was confirmed in…

Thousands of flights temporarily grounded after major global IT outage Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty ImagesThousands of flights were temporarily grounded Friday after a major global IT outage caused airline computers to become inoperable. Some flights were resuming Friday morning, but airlines were warning customers of delays and disruptions throughout the day. The outage apparently stemmed from a software update iss…

Gadgets are getting weird — and so are iPhone homescreens Image: Alex Parkin / The VergeIn 2024, it’s always gadget season. But in these hot mid-July weeks, after splashy announcements from Samsung and Motorola and before we see what’s coming from Google and Apple, it’s officially Weird Gadget Season. On this episode of The Vergecast, we dive into the many weird gadgets that surfaced this week: an iPod…

We now have dates for Meta’s forthcoming Quest headsets The report didn’t mention Ventura, which is rumored to be a more affordable headset slated for 2024. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The VergeDespite recent layoffs in its Reality Labs division, Meta is still barreling ahead with plans for a Quest 4 in 2026 and a higher-end headset in 2027, The Information reports. While the report didn’t reveal much…

Here’s how IT admins are fixing the Windows Blue Screen of Death chaos Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty ImagesIT admins around the world are scrambling to fix a major issue with Windows computers today, after a faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike knocked thousands of PCs and servers offline with a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error. While CrowdStrike has fixed the update that originally caused the probl…

Microsoft / CrowdStrike outage: all the latest news Image: MicrosoftA global IT outage grounded flights and resulted in outages at the London Stock Exchange and other systems early Friday morning. Continue reading…

Oops, Trump and X did a copyright infringement The VergeA “Trump2024” banner labeled Promoted by Team Trump sat atop the What’s Happening summary on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, during the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention on Thursday. While the #Trump2024 hashtag temporarily showed the American flag and clicking it caused an animated “hashfetti” effe…

Google’s shortened links will stop working next year Illustration: The VergeIf you ever used Google’s URL shortening service goo.gl before it was shut down in 2019, be warned — those links will stop working on August 25th, 2025. Google announced in a blog post that “the time has come to turn off the serving portion of Google URL Shortener,” and that any links in the https://goo.gl/* format will re…

Google is purging ‘low-quality’ Android apps next month Google is cracking down on functionally useless Android apps. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeGoogle is raising its minimum quality requirements for Android apps, and will soon remove those that don’t meet expectations from the Play Store. According to the company’s latest spam policy update, apps that demonstrate “limited functionality…

Major Windows BSOD issue takes banks, airlines, and broadcasters offline Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeThousands of Windows machines are experiencing a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) issue at boot today, impacting banks, airlines, TV broadcasters, supermarkets, and many more businesses worldwide. A faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike is knocking affected PCs and servers offline, forcing them i…

The FCC wants to force carriers to unlock phones within 60 days Photo by Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty ImagesThe Federal Communications Commission wants to standardize the amount of time consumers have to wait to unlock their cell phones to be able to switch carriers. The agency voted unanimously on Thursday to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to make mobile service providers unlock custom…

Google’s Gemini AI will be all over the Paris Olympics broadcast Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesGoogle has bought itself the title of “official AI sponsor for Team USA,” and when the 2024 Olympics broadcast starts on July 26th, you will be reminded of that frequently. NBCUniversal’s partnership with Google will put many of the company’s AI-powered features front and center during the event. The…

FTC blasts Microsoft’s new ‘degraded’ Xbox Game Pass Standard tier and price increases Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeThe Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has blasted Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass price increases in a filing to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Microsoft revealed last week that it’s increasing PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate prices, and planning to launch a new Game Pass Standard tier soon…

Please stop buying taxidermied bats online A painted woolly bat, or Kerivoula picta, roosts under a leaf in Indonesia. | Image: Abu Hamas / iNaturalist via UC DavisScientists are sounding the alarm about taxidermied bats commonly sold online in frames, jars, coffins, jewelry, and more. It’s a wild animal trade that has flown under the radar and that poses risks to the bats and potentiall…

Google reveals the Pixel 9 Pro Fold before it can leak again Image: GoogleJust hours after revealing the Pixel 9 Pro, Google is showing off the Pixel 9 Pro Fold with a brief, Gemini-linked teaser video. As is standard for Pixel phones, the devices have been leaked all over the internet already, but at least now we can end speculation about the look or name of Google’s next foldable Android phone. Google’s…

Figma explains how its AI tool ripped off Apple’s design Image: Cath Virginia / The VergeFigma recently pulled its “Make Designs” generative AI tool after a user discovered that asking it to design a weather app would spit out something suspiciously similar to Apple’s weather app — a result that could, among other things, land a user in legal trouble. This also suggested that Figma may have trained th…

The Acolyte’s first season made Star Wars’ dark past feel like a bright future Photo: Disney / LucasfilmSeason 1 of The Acolyte was a master class in deepening Star Wars’ lore rather than just playing into its nostalgic past. Continue reading…