FAA clears UPS delivery drones for longer-range flights Image: UPSUPS delivery drones are now allowed to fly longer distance flights beyond the sight of ground operators, the Federal Aviation Administration revealed in a press release on Wednesday. This is the kind of move that opens the door for drone delivery companies like Wing, FedEx, and Zip to deliver packages across a wider area and service mo…

Universal Music Group lands new royalty model that boosts popular artists Image: Universal Music / DeezerUniversal Music Group (UMG) announced a new streaming deal today with French music service Deezer that aims to direct more listener payouts toward professional artists. The changes will essentially count a single listen as two listens on popular tracks, giving them more revenue than smaller ones. Currently, platfor…

The AI Drake ‘Ghostwriter’ is back with a new song and is chasing a Grammy Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty ImagesGhostwriter, the anonymous creator behind the viral AI Drake song, has released another track — and this time, it features the AI-generated voices of Travis Scott and 21 Savage. In a song titled “Whiplash” posted to TikTok, Ghostwriter leaves a note for the two artists at the very end. “The…

WhatsApp now supports HD photos and video Illustration by Nikolas Kokovlis / NurPhoto via Getty ImagesA few weeks ago, Mark Zuckerberg announced that WhatsApp was in the process of rolling out HD photo sharing, with HD video soon to follow. As of today, the process is complete: Meta has confirmed to The Verge that both HD photos and HD videos are available to everyone. “Both HD photos a…

Amazon has ended its periodicals program, and independent publishers are panicking Books, yes. Magazines — maybe. | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The VergeI like short stories. I read them, and I write them. I grew up subscribing to and reading The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Analog, and a bunch of others, some genre, some not. And as I got older, I began to understand the financial tightrope that many of these inde…

Forget AI — I just want the Pixel 8 to get four OS upgrades Give this phone the software update policy it deserves, Google. | Image: GoogleIf this year’s I/O was any indication, we’re going to hear about AI a lot at next month’s Pixel 8 launch. AI for your videos, AI for your text to the babysitter, blah blah blah. Fine. But there’s something else I’m hoping to see in the next generation of Pixel phones,…

China bans iPhone use for government work Illustration: The VergeChina’s government has banned officials at central government agencies from bringing foreign-branded phones, including the iPhone, into offices or using them for government work, reports The Wall Street Journal. Citing unnamed sources, the article says China seeks to “cut the country’s reliance on foreign technology” and b…

Max will reportedly start offering free sports later this year Image: The VergeMax, the streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, could soon offer sports that you can watch for free during a limited period of time, according to a report from Bloomberg. The promotion will reportedly start later this year, with Warner Bros. Discovery hoping to attract more viewers by showing live basketball, baseball…

AMD’s RX 7800 XT is the antidote to GPU inflation Hint: the 7800 XT is the smaller one on top. | Photo by Tom Warren / The VergeThe most important thing about the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT graphics card, available today, is its $500 price. In almost every other way, it’s unremarkable. Reviewers agree: its performance is often indistinguishable from the AMD RX 6800 XT, a card released nearly three …

How to get started with Cinebench 2024 Here’s what you’ll see. | Image: MaxonIn early September, Maxon announced the release of a major update to its Cinebench benchmark, Cinebench 2024. The big change is that that the new Cinebench tests GPU power in addition to CPU power, whereas the previous version was CPU-only. If you’d like to see how your PC performs on the new test, it’s now…

‘Hyundai Pay’ is the latest effort by car companies to make in-car payments a thing Photo by Patrick George for The VergeHyundai introduced a new feature called “Hyundai Pay” that lets owners of the 2024 Hyundai Kona pay for parking at several thousand locations directly from their car’s infotainment screen. It’s the latest example of the auto industry’s multiyear effort to make in-car payments a real thing. Users input their …

Bob Iger and Bob Chapek’s CEO battle made Disney the pettiest place on Earth Disney CEO Bob Iger. | Image: Neilson Barnard / Getty ImagesWhen Bob Iger stepped down as CEO of Disney in early 2020, he butted heads with his handpicked successor, Bob Chapek. But we really didn’t know just how bad — and how petty — some of the things Iger did to express his unhappiness with Chapek’s decisions were until now. This report from …

New YouTube face just dropped Image: MrBeastThe faces on YouTube thumbnails might start to look a bit different. A lot of thumbnails feature a person with an open mouth in shock, awe, excitement, or horror because of a belief that the open-mouth face entices people to click on a video. But MrBeast, the individual with the most subscribers on YouTube, said Wednesday that he’s…

Pixar’s Elemental will hit Disney Plus streaming on September 13th A still from Elemental. | Image: Disney / PixarDisney has announced that Disney Plus subscribers will be able to stream Elemental, its parable about interracial relationships, beginning September 13th. The company is also releasing a making-of documentary for the film, called Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental, and an Up-related short called…

Amazon just added support for bridges, but Matter is still in a bind The Eve Thermo Control is one of the first devices to use a Matter feature called binding. But as of now, none of the smart home platforms support it. | Image: Eve SystemsBridging older smart home gadgets into Matter is finally fully supported, and cameras are on the horizon, but the new smart home standard still has plenty of unfulfilled promis…

YouTube is experimenting with longer but less frequent ad breaks on TV Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeYouTube is considering changing how and when it shows ads during videos on its main app on connected TVs. One of those changes is more infrequent but longer ad breaks that won’t interrupt what you’re watching as often. Instead of showing short ads interspersed throughout a video, YouTube is trying out longe…

The Boy and the Heron’s first trailer is a glimpse at Miyazaki’s next dark fantasy The Boy and the Heron. | Image: Studio GhibliOne of the most secretive films of the year just got a little less mysterious with the first trailer for The Boy and the Heron. The latest film from Studio Ghibli and perhaps the final feature-length project from famed director Hayao Miyazaki, The Boy and the Heron premiered in Japan in July. In the l…

Here’s where you can preorder Sonos’ new Move 2 speaker Sonos’ second-gen Move looks similar to the prior model but is now available in a new green shade. | Image: SonosFour years after releasing its first portable speaker, the Sonos Move, Sonos has finally given it a refresh. After months of leaks and rumors, the company has officially confirmed the Sonos Move 2 will arrive on September 20th for $44…

Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 are $200 off Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 starts at $799.99. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The VergeThe new iPhone 15 may be just around the corner, but if you’re an Android lover looking for a phone that’ll stand out, Samsung’s newest foldables might fit the bill better. Right now, you can buy the unlocked Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 starting at $799.99 for the m…

The Spectrum / Disney blackout led a US Open player to pirate the US Open Photo by Sarah Stier / Getty ImagesWhenever there’s another of these drawn-out carriage disputes between cable providers and content owners — and they happen often — I always say that the customers are the ones who get hurt the most. Last week, nearly 15 million Spectrum subscribers abruptly lost their ability to watch ESPN, ABC, and other Disne…