Technology

Hertz and BP are joining forces to build a network of electric vehicle (EV) chargers throughout the US (via Engadget). The initiative should help support Hertz’s growing fleet of EV vehicles, as the rental car company recently announced plans to purchase a total of over 300,000 EVs from Tesla, Polestar, and GM. Details about the project are still pretty slim, and the two companies haven’t indicated how many charging stations they plan on building, how long it could take, or how much money either side is committing to the project. But we do know that Hertz is working with BP Pulse, the oil giant’s EV branch, to build out “a network of fast-charging hubs” with the goal of serving both Hertz customers and everyday EV drivers. According to a report from CNBC, the deal builds on an initiative t...

Whether the price hike from $299 to $349 is worth it for the rounder Horizon ring is up to you, based on your style preference. You still get very good sleep tracking with the Horizon, and for some, wearing a ring to bed is less of an annoyance than an Apple Watch — both in comfort and dealing with constant charging (the Oura can last up to a week on a charge). And it’s certainly more affordable than the $950 Gucci version of the Oura Ring that came out this year, which has quite a rounded design as well.

A prototype all-electric passenger plane took off for the first time yesterday in a test flight that marks a significant milestone for carbon pollution-free aviation. The nine-passenger commuter aircraft called Alice took off at 7:10AM yesterday from Washington state’s Grant County International Airport. Alice is ahead of much of the pack when it comes to all-electric aircraft under development. It could become the “first all-new, all-electric commercial airplane” if the Federal Aviation Administration certifies it to carry passengers, The Seattle Times reports. Alice is ahead of much of the pack The US is trying to erase the planet-heating pollution it produces in the coming decades, including emissions from aviation. All-electric planes like Alice could potentially clean up pollution fro...

In the span of one hour, Amazon absolutely flooded the zone with a litany of product announcements. Thankfully, we were ready; we flooded our respective zone with stories covering the new Kindle Scribe, the smarter, more capable Fire TV Cube, and a lot more. If you’re wondering when you can get your hands on Amazon’s latest tech, most of it will launch later this year (and as soon as October, in some cases). Better yet, many of these devices are available to preorder now. So, here are all of the preorder links, release dates, and pricing details available for Amazon’s latest slate of products. a:hover]:text-black [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black text-gray-63″>Image: Amazon a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin [&>a]:shadow-underli...

Microsoft confirmed that it’s removing SwiftKey from the Apple App Store and ending support for the iOS version of the keyboard app on October 5th. It will still be available if you’ve already downloaded SwiftKey on your iPhone, so long as you don’t uninstall it yourself. “Microsoft will continue support for SwiftKey Android as well as the underlying technology that powers the Windows touch keyboard,” Chris Wolfe, the director of product management at SwiftKey, said in a statement to The Verge. “For those customers who have SwiftKey installed on iOS, it will continue to work until it is manually uninstalled or a user gets a new device.” The move to discontinue SwiftKey on iOS comes after months of user complaints that seemingly went unresolved. On top of that, users noticed that Microsoft ...

Verizon and the NFL go way back, and on Wednesday, the two groups announced their next new partnership: NFL Plus, the NFL’s new mobile streaming service, will be one of the streaming services offered on Plus Play, Verizon’s upcoming subscription management platform. Verizon first announced Plus Play in March, and to me, it sounds a lot like Apple’s Channels product. With Channels, you can subscribe to streaming services using your information and payment details linked to your Apple ID and manage those services from your Apple ID account instead of trying to remember a bunch of disparate logins. Plus Play seems to be Verizon’s take on a similar idea, but instead, you manage things via your Verizon account. Verizon has already said that partners like Netflix, Peloton, Disney Plus, and HBO M...

After nearly a decade of development, Intel revealed its 13th Gen Raptor Lake processor family at Tuesday’s Intel Innovation 2022 event. The announcement was led by the Intel Core i9-13900K, which the company lauds as the “world’s fastest desktop processor.” The new generation of flagship processors come packed with performance-minded hybrid architecture. Across the six new desktop processors, Intel has cultivated a balance of the Performance-cores (P-core) the company has ever built, alongside doubling the number of Efficient-cores (E-core) in each unit. Intel described the improved systems as boasting up to “15% better single-threaded performance and up to 41% better multi-threaded performance.” For those using their desktops to game, the new Core i9-13900K reaches speeds of up to 5...

Earlier this month, EA announced that it was partnering with Dynasty Warriors studio Omega Force on a Monster Hunter-style action game. Today, the companies finally showed off the first trailer for the title, which has been dubbed Wild Hearts (not to be confused with the excellent indie game Sayonara Wild Hearts). It’s described as “an epic adventure set in a fantasy world inspired by feudal Japan,” and the first footage shows gameplay that looks faster than Monster Hunter, with inventive traps, sweeping locales, and some truly vicious beasts. The game will be playable solo or via “seamless co-op.” Here’s the basic premise, per EA: Wild Hearts takes place in Azuma, a fantasy landscape inspired by feudal Japan, that is now rampaged by the once peaceful Kemono — altering their environme...

Though Marvel’s upcoming Blade reboot starring Mahershala Ali was meant to start production this year ahead of its debut next fall, the movie’s just hit something of a significant hiccup with the unexpected departure of director Bassam Tariq. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter last night, Marvel attributed Tariq’s Blade exit to “continued shifts in our production schedule” and thanked him for his contributions to the project thus far. In his own statements, Tariq echoed the studio’s sentiments about their working relationship having been a good one and expressed his eagerness “to see where the next director takes the film.” Details about the new Blade have been surprisingly sparse since the project was first announced to much fanfare back at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, and it wasn’t...

Progressive web apps on Windows look more like native Windows apps than ever before. Thanks to a new feature that Microsoft just announced, the Window Controls Overlay, developers can now customize the title bar of their PWAs. Previously, web apps did not have access to this feature, which could lead to empty space, clashing colors, and other oddities that made some PWAs look decidedly un-app-like. The new feature should help developers fix these problems. Web apps now have access to the “full surface area” of their app window, excluding only the buttons in the top-right corner — minimize, etc. remain untouchable. “Recently, with many new web capabilities in the Chromium browser engine and UX changes in Microsoft Edge and on Windows, installed desktop web apps are really starting to look a...

Amazon has used its past September events to announce a flying camera drone, a home robot, and an Alexa-enabled microwave. Needless to say, it’s hard to predict what the company has in store at its annual event, but we can be certain there’ll be a lot of products on tap. Chances are high we’ll see updated devices in the Echo lineup, plenty of new things that work with Alexa, and likely some announcements involving other big Amazon brands too, from Fire TV to Ring and Eero. The event is being held virtually via livestream, but it’s available to watch on an invite-only basis. If you want to keep up on the event as it happens, we’ve got you covered: The Verge staff will be tuned in and reporting from the event live, so you can stick around to be filled in as details are announced. Amazon’s li...