Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has reinstated the apps made by the Russian technology group VK on the App Store after the company provided proof that it’s not “majority owned or controlled by a sanctioned entity” (via The Guardian). The company removed the VK-owned social network VKontakte, email app Mail.ru, and others last month in response to sanctions the UK put on the financial institutions that own the Russian firm.
“The apps from this developer were removed from the App Store, as required by law, after multiple requests were made to the developer to provide documentation to verify that they were not in violation of UK sanctions,” Apple spokesperson Peter Ajemian said in an emailed statement to The Verge. “Subsequent to the removal, the developer has…
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The device appears to extend and retract with the push of a button. | Image: Motorola At parent company Lenovo’s Tech World 2022 event, Motorola is showing off a rollable mobile phone in a quick video demo. With the press of a button, the screen extends and retracts, with a moving wallpaper to match.
The demo video only gives us a glimpse of the front of the device, and the screen appears to wrap around the phone, rolling up from the bottom edge. At least as far as prototypes go, this concept appears to be on the “operational” side of the spectrum — there are at least battery and cellular indicator icons on screen. The rolling display is a flexible OLED panel, measuring 6.5 inches when extended and retracting down to “just over” 4 inches.
Image: Motorola The device wallpaper expands and contracts… Continue reading…

Image: G4 TV Comcast is shutting down G4 after attempting to relaunch the gaming channel last year, according to a report from Deadline. The channel first appeared on linear cable back in 2002 until it met its demise as the final studio shows were axed in 2012, and it was eventually replaced by the Esquire Network.
Dave Scott, the CEO of Comcast’s Spectacor division, announced the shutdown in an internal memo obtained by Deadline before it was even sent, saying that the channel has had low viewership and has not “achieved sustainable financial results.”
I don't have a job anymore! Looking for new opportunities if anyone is interested in a social/digital content producer https://t.co/cgeaOCj7x2
— Kendelle Lyn (@KendelleLyn) October 16, 2022 A…
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Laura Normand / The Verge SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reversed his decision to stop funding the Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine, saying on Twitter that the company will continue to provide “free” satellite internet service to the government even if it means the company loses money.
“The hell with it,” Musk writes on Twitter. “Even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
The hell with it … even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2022 On Friday, a report from CNN revealed that SpaceX asked the government if it can pay for any…
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Kristen Radtke / The Verge Workers at Apple’s Penn Square store in Oklahoma City have voted to unionize with the Communications Workers of America, with 56 yeses, and 32 nos. According to the National Labor Relations Board, which oversaw the election, all regular full-time and part-time employees at the store were eligible to vote, 95 in total.
The election was only the second one carried out for a US Apple store. In June, workers in Maryland voted to unionize in association with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Another election was scheduled to happen in Atlanta, but the CWA called it off, claiming that the company had made a fair election “impossible” by intimidating workers.
Apple has faced several complaints about anti-union…
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Image: Meta During Meta’s Connect conference on Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg made a huge announcement: the avatars in the company’s Horizon VR app will be getting legs soon. To demonstrate this groundbreaking technical achievement, Zuckerberg’s digital avatar lifted each leg in the air, then did a jump, while Aigerim Shorman’s avatar kicked into the air.
It may have all been for show. According to UploadVR editor Ian Hamilton, an unnamed Meta spokesperson said that the “the segment featured animations created from motion capture,” meant to “enable this preview of what’s to come.” To me that reads like what we saw wasn’t actually a demo of what Horizon’s legs will look like, but rather an artist’s interpretation of what Horizon’s legs may end up looking…
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Nicholas Barclay / The Verge Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale, its second Prime Day event of 2022, is drawing to a close. That means it’s the last chance to take advantage of many of these deals. Our entire team is continuing to scour Amazon’s catalog high and low to find the best tech deals for you, including the great ones, and even some of the “hey, that ain’t bad” variety.
While it’s possible some of these deals may linger a little longer than the official end date, most of them are set to expire in less than a few hours, and may not return until Black Friday and Cyber Monday come around next month. So, get a head start on your holiday shopping, pick up that big-ticket item you’ve been patiently waiting for, or jump on a fun impulse purchase (we won’t tell…
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Nicholas Barclay / The Verge Amazon is back with another Prime Day for 2022, and we’re here to highlight the deals that are worth your money. The Prime Early Access Sale is happening now through tomorrow, October 12th, and it’s an event that should serve as a good primer for the kinds of deals we might see during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In other words, you might be able to get some — or all — of your holiday shopping done, whether it’s all at Amazon or from one of the many other retailers that are serving up a rush of deals to compete.
What you’ll find below are the best deals from Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale. And just to reiterate, most of the Amazon deals below are exclusive to Prime members, though you may beeligible for a free 30-day trial.
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Monday afternoon, as pointed out by Parker Molloy, CNN ended its big Web3 project by announcing, “we have decided that it’s time to say goodbye to the Vault by CNN.”
You may have already forgotten about it, but Vault by CNN launched in the summer of 2021 as a marketplace for its own NFTs (non-fungible tokens) that would “offer collectors the opportunity to own a piece of history.” Sort of like NBA Top Shot except for media nerds instead of basketball nerds, it minted CNN reports of key events or artistic interpretations inspired by them, creating digital collectibles that owners could show off somehow or trade with others, like baseball cards. This idea apparently seemed more reasonable while cryptocurrency prices were sky-high, and…
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Image: Google Google’s shutting down Driving Mode, its standalone Assistant-powered dashboard that offers quick access to audio controls, contacts, navigation, and other shortcuts while you’re on the road, according to a report from 9to5Google. The feature, which Google first announced at I / O in 2019, wasn’t officially launched until last year, but now Google’s sunsetting it on November 21st.
The standalone version of Driving Mode isn’t to be confused with the Driving Mode feature built into Google Maps, which automatically boots up once you start navigation. As Esper’s Mishaal Rahman points out, Google added Assistant Driving Mode to Maps before it even released the standalone Driving Mode.
The only difference between the two is that you can access…
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