How to create PDFs on Android devices using Google Drive Illustration: The VergeIt hasn’t always been that simple to create a PDF using your phone. Several years ago, when I started handling my mother’s bills, I realized I needed a quick way to scan her documents while I was at her home. Rather than drag a scanner around, I found a handy Android app called Tiny Scanner that let me turn paper documents…

The Pixel 9’s ‘Google AI’ is like Microsoft Recall but a little less creepy The Pixel 9 could come with a new camera bump. | Image: OnLeaks via 91MobilesThe next generation of Pixel phones could come with new “Google AI” features, including one that sounds a little like Microsoft’s controversial Recall tool. As reported by Android Authority, Google is working on a “Pixel Screenshots” feature that can “save and process h…

Apple’s Vision Pro: five months later Image: Alex Parkin / The VergeThe Apple Vision Pro is many things. But for us, and for many other users, it’s one thing in particular: a really, really, really big screen. Since Apple started shipping its spatial computing headset five months ago today, we’ve tested the device as a TV, a computer monitor, a game console, a mega-chill way to rela…

Netflix is starting to phase out its cheapest ad-free plan Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeNetflix is following through on its plan to phase out its cheapest ad-free tier for existing subscribers. As spotted in numerous posts on Reddit, Netflix is now asking some basic plan subscribers to choose a new plan to stay subscribed to Netflix. One Reddit user received a notification on their Netflix app…

Tesla delivered fewer vehicles to customers for the second quarter in a row Photo by John Thys / AFP via Getty ImagesOn the heels of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s massive payday, the company released its latest quarterly production and delivery report, showing drops from last year in both production and deliveries. Tesla reported producing 410,831 vehicles over the three-month period that ended in June, a 14 percent drop compa…

‘Maxxxine is very different from both of them’: Ti West on closing out his X horror trilogy Maxxxine. | Image: A24For the last few years, Ti West hasn’t stopped thinking about the horror villains Pearl and Maxine. Since 2020, the writer and director has been fully immersed in the genre-spanning franchise that started with the ’70s slasher flick X and continued with the technicolor prequel Pearl, which were filmed back-to-back in New Ze…

Biden administration proposes new heat protections for workers A traffic warden during an eight-hour shift under the hot sun in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 12th, 2023, where temperatures reached 106 degrees Fahrenheit amid a heatwave. | Photo: Getty ImagesThe Biden administration says it will propose new rules today to protect workers from the deadliest weather-related risk Americans face: extreme heat. The …

A new Resident Evil is in the works Leon Kennedy in the Resident Evil 4 remake. | Image: CapcomCapcom is developing a new Resident Evil game, Resident Evil 7 director Koshi Nakanishi confirmed during a summer “Capcom Next” livestream on Monday. “We’re making a new Resident Evil,” Nakanishi said during the show. “It was really difficult to figure out what to do after 7. But I foun…

Tap-to-pay could get more capable and more complicated Photo: Smith Collection / Gado / Getty ImagesAt some point in the future, a new “Multi-Purpose Tap” concept will let payment cards or devices like smartwatches and phones accomplish multiple things at once when using NFC. With this in play, a customer in a store might tap their phone with Apple Wallet or Google Pay on a terminal that simultaneou…

How to find the best deals during Amazon Prime Day Illustration by Hugo Herrera for The VergeAmazon Prime Day is one of the biggest shopping events of the year outside of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with this year’s summer installment running from July 16th through the 17th. The two-day shopping affair will likely grant Prime members access to some of the best prices of the year on Amazon dev…

The massive car dealership outage could be cleared up by July 4th Photo by Getty ImagesCar dealerships hamstrung by outages following two cyberattacks against CDK Global in June might finally be able to use their systems again this week, as the company says it aims to get dealers back online by July 4th. “We are continuing our phased approach to the restoration process and are rapidly bringing dealers live on …

The Atari 400 Mini plays dozens of classic games, and it’s 15 percent off It looks even more ancient than a Fallout terminal, and that’s awesome. | Image: AtariIt’s always worth revisiting the classics, and there’s no shortage of retro consoles and emulators to enable that. The Atari 400 Mini is more niche than we’re used to, however, and that’s what makes it so intriguing. The 8-bit retro replica console has dropped …

Samsung SmartThings takes a step toward a smarter grid Image: Samsung SmartThingsSamsung has launched a new demand response program for its SmartThings smart home platform. Flex Connect allows your SmartThings connected appliances to communicate with the grid and automatically reduce energy use when there’s a spike in demand, which could help avoid blackouts. While demand response programs have made…

The first Thunderbolt 5 cables are here, but there’s barely anything to plug in Thunderbolt 5 cables, like their TB4 and TB3 predecessors, have USB-C tips. | Image: Cable MattersIntel’s Thunderbolt 5 might be the best USB-C cable ever, with 120Gbps of single-direction bandwidth, 240 watts of power, and enough oomph to drive external SSDs, eGPUs, and high-resolution, high-refresh-rate monitors from a single cable at unheard-…

This is Big Tech’s playbook for swallowing the AI industry Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. | Photo by Michael M. Santiago / Getty ImagesA couple of months ago, I was sitting in the audience at a tech conference in San Fransisco watching Bloomberg’s Emily Chang interview Reid Hoffman. She asked about Microsoft’s hiring of the team behind Inflection, a would-be OpenAI competitor that Hoffman co-founded. It was an…

Silvergate Bank didn’t adequately monitor $1 trillion in crypto transactions, SEC says Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeSilvergate Bank, once a cornerstone of the crypto financial world until its collapse in early 2023, defrauded its investors by lying about its anti-money laundering controls and misleading investors about how the fallout from the FTX collapse would affect it, the Securities and Exchange Commission says in a…

Instagram’s ‘Made with AI’ label swapped out for ‘AI info’ after photographers’ complaints Image: MetaOn Monday, Meta announced that it is “updating the ‘Made with AI’ label to ‘AI info’ across our apps, which people can click for more information,” after people complained that their pictures had the tag applied incorrectly. Former White House photographer Pete Souza pointed out the tag popping up on an upload of a photo originally ta…

Apple already considers the first HomePod ‘vintage’ Photo by James Bareham / The VergeApple says the iPhone X, first-generation AirPods, and first-generation HomePod are now considered “vintage,” as reported by MacRumors. So, if you own a first-generation HomePod — or multiple, like the person I sold my HomePod to in 2022 — it might sting to hear that Apple already considers the six-year-old spea…

Some Pixel 6 owners say factory resets have bricked their phones Photo by Becca Farsace / The VergeSome folks are reporting being left with bricked Pixel 6, 6 Pro, and 6A phones after they factory reset them. Google is aware of the issue and is investigating, according to a comment from a member of the Pixel support forums’ product expert program. Users in the forum thread, which was spotted by Indian tech o…

Clean energy has become an even more divided topic in the US Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty ImagesWhile the majority of Americans would like to see more clean energy from solar and wind farms — support for new renewable energy projects has started to wane, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. It also found a drop in interest in electric vehicles following Biden administration policies to sl…