Mario and Spider-Man are both back in a big way Image: William Joel / The VergeHi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 11, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome to the Installerverse, which is officially a thing now — we did it, everybody — and you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) I’m traveling this week, so I’ve got a s…

Apple may be planning a surprise October iMac announcement Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The VergeOctober starting to slip away, and so far, all we’ve gotten was a very confusing Apple Pencil, despite rumors of iMacs and iPads. Well, it sounds like that new 24-inch iMac is on its way this month after all. Mark Gurman thinks so, having written in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today that it’s …

Microsoft fixes the Excel feature that was wrecking scientific data Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeIn 2020, scientists decided just to rework the alphanumeric symbols they used to represent genes rather than try to deal with an Excel feature that was interpreting their names as dates and (un)helpfully reformatting them automatically. Yesterday, a member of the Excel team posted that the company is rollin…

Google owes executive $1 million after losing gender bias lawsuit Illustration: The VergeA jury found Google guilty of sexual discrimination and awarded female Google Cloud executive Ulku Rowe, who filed the complaint, $1.1 million. Rowe’s lawsuit alleged that the company gave higher pay to less-experienced male cohorts and that it later denied her promotions in retaliation for her complaints, both internal an…

Mandoob shines a thrilling light on the perils of surviving in Saudi Arabia’s gig economy Courtesy of the Toronto International Film FestivalDirector Ali Kalthami’s debut feature film, Mandoob, takes a fascinating look into the world of Saudi Arabia’s rideshare and delivery drivers. Continue reading…

You can make YouTube Music your default service on the Apple HomePod Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeGreat news for the dedicated few Apple Home folks who use YouTube Music (I know you’re out there!) — you can now integrate the service with your HomePods and either ask Siri to play songs using YouTube Music or set the service as your default source. 9to5Google spotted a Reddit post from YouTube Music produ…

Microsoft and Nintendo are slashing prices on plenty of spooky titles for Halloween Diablo IV, the spookiest of dungeon crawlers, will be steeply discounted through Halloween. | BlizzardIt’s hard to believe, but Halloween is now just a little over a week away. Luckily, if you haven’t had a chance to celebrate spooky season, a bunch of horror games are on sale this weekend. Now through October 31st, for example, Nintendo is taki…

So long, small phones The 2013 Moto X, Nexus 4, and iPhone 13 Mini. I pine for the days this size was normal. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The VergeEver Googled for “Best Small Phones”? I’ll save you the click: the guides you’ll find feature phones that are old, underpowered, or simply not small to begin with. I’ve long been a small phone guy. I loved my 2013 Moto X,…

Xbox and PlayStation battle it out at The Sphere Image: MicrosoftMicrosoft and Sony have both spent thousands of dollars this week in marketing campaigns at The Sphere in Las Vegas. The $2.3 billion attraction has been lighting up social media for weeks now, after U2 played the first-ever show at The Sphere last month. On Thursday night Microsoft lit up The Sphere with its new Xbox marketing c…

Twitch will now let streamers simultaneously stream on any service they want Illustration by Nick Barclay / The VergeTwitch will now let its creators simultaneously stream across any live streaming service, the company announced on Friday as part of a big batch of news from TwitchCon. Previously, streamers could simulcast on mobile platforms like TikTok and Instagram, but as of Friday, Twitch is significantly broadening …

The Cybertruck’s VINs reveal clues about the long-delayed truck How many motors have you got? | Photo by Sean O’Kane / The VergeTesla’s Cybertruck is finally nearing its first delivery event on November 30th, and yet we still don’t have key details on configurations, prices, and other specifications of the unconventionally designed pickup truck. But today, we got some insight for the launch, including initi…

Pixel 8 Pro teardown exposes its temperature sensor and a sticky battery setup Image: iFixit via YouTubeWe’ve already seen a teardown of the standard Pixel 8 model, but now iFixit has taken apart the $999 Pixel 8 Pro, offering a close look at the new temperature sensing tech that lives beneath the phone’s display. iFixit’s Shahram Mokhtari starts by removing the Pixel 8 Pro’s screen using a heating mat, a clamp, and a pick…

Friday news dumps: all the news companies hoped you wouldn’t notice Illustration: Beatrice SalaHere’s where we’ll keep track of late-in-the-week news companies really wish you wouldn’t read. Continue reading…

My six-month dive into podcasting’s very chaotic year Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty ImagesThis is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more. Well, this is a weird email to write — today is technically my last day at Hot Pod. But you’ll still see my byline around from time to time because I’m joining The Verge’s news team in No…

‘Nothing is changing’: Reddit flatly denies report that it might wall off its content Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeThe Washington Post reported Friday that Reddit might cut off Google and force users to log in to Reddit itself to read anything if it can’t reach deals with generative AI companies to pay for its data. But the company tells The Verge that’s not true. “Nothing is changing,” says Reddit spokesperson Courtney…

Frying pan company sued for claiming temperatures that rival the Sun Image: SharkNinjaCan you heat up a pan to 30,000 degrees Fahrenheit? That’s the burning question at the center of this proposed class action lawsuit, which claims the advertising for SharkNinja’s nonstick cookware violates the laws of physics and thermodynamics. While SharkNinja is the company best known for its Shark robovacs and Ninja kitchen …

Dbrand’s Steam Deck case is fixed — and there’s a ROG Ally version now The Asus ROG Ally handheld PC in a Dbrand Killswitch case. | Images: DbrandYour Asus ROG Ally gaming handheld is brilliantly white, and that will not stand: you’ve decided your gadgets must be black. Or… maybe you just want a rugged case that’ll survive a drop or three? Either way, Dbrand thinks it’s got what you need — a $60 Killswitch case l…

Brave browser installs a VPN service on Windows whether you want it or not Your private web browser might have come with a side of unwanted VPN service downloads. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeBrave’s privacy-centric browser has been downloading VPN services to some customers’ computers without their consent. Noted by Ghacks, starting in 2022, downloading Brave to a Windows PC meant you were also downloading…

Even Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s approach to difficulty is playful One of the unlockable badges basically gives you a grappling hook. | Image: NintendoWhen it comes to difficulty, most games like to put you in a bucket. At the start of the experience, you have to choose whether you want to play on a hard or easy mode, and usually, over the course of the game, you can move between these as you see fit, which is …

That bad King Kong game was only in development for a year Image: GameMill EntertainmentAccording to developers who worked on the project, Skull Island: Rise of Kong only had a year’s worth of development time. Continue reading…