8BitDo’s Hefty $100 Gamepad: A Metal Marvel Nearly Everything on 8BitDo’s Hefty $100 Gamepad is Made of Metal Despite a $100 price tag, these 8BitDo gamepads don’t include any wireless functionality. | Image: 8BitDo 8BitDo’s shiny silver- and gold-finished 11th anniversary SN30 Pro gamepads feature housings and controls made of so much metal that they weigh in at 381 grams — almost an entire pound. As spotted by Polygon, the company went nearly all in on the metal facelift for its SN30 Pro gamepad, with the D-pad, action buttons, shoulder triggers, and even joysticks all made of a metal “zinc-alloy material.” Image: 8BitDo The D-pad, ABXY buttons, joysticks, and triggers are all metal on 8BitDo’s shiny new controllers. This controller won’t just feel satisfyingly hefty in hand for its size…

Zenless Zone Zero: A Bewildering Experience Zenless Zone Zero: A Bewildering Experience I’ve given up on trying to understand Zenless Zone Zero. In every other cutscene, I’m bombarded with in-game jargon about inter-knots, proxies, hollows, and w-engines that I just cannot keep straight. Meanwhile, my patience withers to dust as my eyes flit about the screen trying to make sense of the literal deluge of resources — dennies, polychromes, investigator logs, master tapes, and so, so much more — the game requires you to accumulate in order to progress. It is so overwhelming that the only time I feel a sense of peace is during the breakneck combat sequences filled with their own complicated waltz of combos, parries, and special attacks. It’s just too bad that those moments are few…

Southwest Airlines and Archer Strike a Deal for an Electric Air Taxi Network Southwest Airlines and Archer Strike a Deal for an Electric Air Taxi Network Today, Southwest Airlines became the latest major carrier to join forces with a so-called urban air mobility startup. The Dallas-based airline signed a memorandum of understanding with Archer Aviation to draw up plans for an air taxi service. The service will operate using Archer’s battery-powered, four-passenger, tilt-rotor Midnight aircraft, which are designed to take off and land vertically from a landing strip like a helicopter. As part of the deal, the aircraft will get access to 14 California airports where Southwest operates. This is the latest deal between a major airline and an eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) startup, signaling a growing confidence…

The Analogue Pocket's New Aluminum Edition The Analogue Pocket Now Comes in Aluminum The Analogue Pocket is getting yet another iteration — but this time, it’s a little more than a refreshed color scheme. An aluminum edition is coming out this month, and the company says that the new handhelds “are precision CNC’d entirely in aluminum.” They come in four colors — natural, noir, black, and indigo — and will be available to preorder on July 15th at 8AM PT / 11AM ET, with units expected to ship on July 17th. That metal body doesn’t come cheap, though. The aluminum Pocket will cost $499, a big boost over the $219 of the standard version. Analogue says that the new version will be “available in highly limited quantities and will never…

Sky: Zusatzgebühren fallen nur bei tatsächlicher Multiscreen-Nutzung an Der Pay-TV-Anbieter Sky hat uns auf unsere Berichte zu den zusätzlichen Multiscreen-Gebühren hin kontaktiert und mit einer Stellungnahme versorgt. Dem Sender ist es wichtig zu betonen, dass hier keinesfalls pauschal alle Kunden betroffen sind, sondern man die Schreiben gezielt an jene Abonnenten gerichtet habe, die einer Überprüfung zufolge ihren Sky-Zugang außerhalb des Haushalts und damit nicht vertragskonform nutzen. Sky widerspricht dabei auch den von betroffenen Nutzern zitierten Support-Aussagen, dass hier aufgrund eines technischen Problems auch solche Abonnenten angeschrieben wurden, die nicht gegen die Vertragsbedingungen verstoßen hätten. Dies steht den uns vorliegenden Berichten ebenso wie den Aussagen verschiedener Benutzer in den Supportforen von Sky entgegen. Darauf angesprochen hat ein Sky-Sprecher betont, dass dem Unternehmen stets daran gelegen sei, eine für beide Seiten zufriedenstellende…

The Compliance Countdown for AI Companies Operating in the EU The Compliance Countdown has Started for AI Companies Operating in the EU Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images The AI Act is a sweeping set of rules for technology companies operating in the EU, which bans certain uses of AI tools and puts transparency requirements on developers. The law officially passed in March after two years of back and forth and includes several phases for compliance that will happen in waves. Now that the full text has been published, it officially starts the clock for compliance deadlines that companies must meet. The AI Act will come into law in 20 days, on August 1st, and future deadlines will be tied to that date. The…

The Rabbit R1 Has Been Logging Users’ Chats — With No Way to Wipe Them There wasn’t a Factory Reset option, previously. | Photo: David Pierce / The Verge Since the launch of the Rabbit R1, the AI assistant device has been storing users’ chat logs on-device with no way to erase them, according to a company security bulletin. Rabbit is now addressing the issue with a software update that includes a new Factory Reset option in settings to wipe the device. Previously, you could only unlink your account from an R1, which did not erase all user data. Along with the new ability to fully delete local user data, the software update also addresses another eyebrow-raising behavior of the R1. Prior to the update, stored pairing data that lets…

Tesla Model 3 Long Range with Rear-Wheel Drive Reemerges at $42,490 Image: Tesla Tesla is bringing back its longest-range Model 3, which will also be the second cheapest version of the popular electric sedan available. The new trim will be available for $42,490, according to the website. The rear-wheel-drive (RWD) version of the Long Range Model 3 will get an EPA-estimated range of 363 miles. That could be a significant addition to Tesla’s lineup at a time when production and sales are both drooping. Tesla originally introduced the Long Range RWD Model 3 in 2017 but discontinued it two years later. Now, it’s back with a new sticker price and a new look, thanks to a refreshed design that launched in the US at the beginning of the year. Screenshot:…

Captain America: Brave New World Sends an Avenger to Washington in New Trailer Captain America: Brave New World Sends an Avenger to Washington in New Trailer Courtesy of Marvel Studios Marvel’s movies don’t always tie directly into the series that came before them, but the new trailer for Captain America: Brave New World definitely makes it seem like something you’ll need to revisit The Falcon and The Winter Soldier for. After years of providing air support to his predecessor, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is the Captain in Brave New World’s first trailer, which opens up at a time when Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) has become president of the United States. It gives Sam pause to hear that Ross is keen on making Captain America part of the American government once…

AT&T Breach Leaked Call and Text Records from ‘Nearly All’ Wireless Customers Illustration: The Verge AT&T revealed Friday morning that a cybersecurity attack had exposed call records and texts from “nearly all” of the carrier’s cellular customers (including people on MVNOs that use AT&T’s network, like Cricket, Boost Mobile, and Consumer Cellular) during the period between May 1st, 2022, and October 31st, 2022, as well as a “very small number” of customers on January 2nd, 2023. AT&T spokesperson Alex Byers confirmed to The Verge the threat actor accessed the information through the company’s account on a third-party cloud platform, Snowflake, similar to data breaches that have affected Ticketmaster and Santander Bank. AT&T first learned of the breach in April, but as reported by TechCrunch, an FBI spokesperson confirmed “AT&T, the…