Technology

The Pixel Watch 2 can still serve you well in 2024 if you don’t need a bigger or brighter screen. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Pixel Watch 3 may be the shining refinement Google’s wearable lineup needed, but the last-gen Pixel Watch 2 is still a great buy. That’s especially true when you can get it for as low as $224 ($26 off) — which is the watch’s current starting price at both Amazon and Best Buy. Although the Pixel Watch 3 introduces a host of solid improvements — including a bigger and brighter display, a new 44mm size, AI-generated workout suggestions, and offline Google Maps — the second-gen Pixel Watch is still a looker. It only comes in one size (41mm), and the usable display area is only about 10 percent smaller than the third-gen model. It also uses the same Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear W5 Gen 1 chip, though it lacks the ultra wideband chip that lets… Continue reading…

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Google is rolling out a new set of features aimed at making it less easy for thieves to access your data. That’s according to Mishaal Rahman, who posted on Reddit that the features are showing up in a new update after seeing that his Xiaomi 14T Pro phone now has Theft Detection Lock and Offline Device Lock, two of three features Google announced in May. Others say they only see the third one, called Remote Lock. The flashiest of the new features is Theft Detection Lock, which uses AI to lock your screen when it detects “common motion associated with theft,” like someone snatching your phone out of your hand. Meanwhile, Offline Device Lock locks a device’s screen when it’s offline for a while, and Remote Lock lets users lock their phone… Continue reading…

New Shepard in 2022. | Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images Blue Origin is preparing to launch its NS-27 mission with the RSS Kármán Line, its new crew capsule, on Monday at 9AM ET. It will be the first launch for the capsule, which the company says in its announcement will have improved performance and reusability, along with “an updated livery, and accommodations for payloads on the booster.” The flight will carry two LIDAR sensors into space that will be used for Blue Origin’s Lunar Permanence program to develop Moon landers. Those are among 12 payloads that also include ultra-wideband proximity operations sensors, a reproduction of the black monoliths from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and student postcards submitted to its Club for the Future nonprofit. Blue Origin will stream the launch on its… Continue reading…

Steam rises out of the nuclear plant on Three Mile Island on March 26, 2019 before it closed later that year. | Photo: Getty Images Major tech firms, in search of carbon pollution-free electricity for data centers, are helping to revive nuclear energy in the US. Continue reading…

Image: Bethesda It’s been a long time coming for Starfield players. Bethesda’s sci-fi take on Skyrim originally launched last summer, and while there have been some updates and improvements since then, it’s taken more than a year for the game to get its first major expansion. This lead-up means there’s a lot riding on Shattered Space — which is a perfectly fine addition to the game that also feels incredibly underwhelming. After a promising setup, it ends up mostly being more of the same. Things start, as they so often do in expansions, with a distress call. This one leads you to a derelict space station that is brimming with ghostly apparitions and which eventually whisks you away to the home planet of the House Va’ruun, a religious sect that worships… Continue reading…