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Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images As Wednesday’s night’s Democratic debate came to a close, Joe Biden somehow confused and combined his campaign website and a text message short code in his closing statement. “Go to JOE 30330 and help me in this fight,” Biden said in his debate night send-off, apparently asking voters to text the number to receive updates from his campaign. But according to a later tweet from Biden’s staff , you weren’t even supposed to text the word “JOE,” but rather “JOIN” to that now viral number. Joe Biden either thinks he's going to be alive in 30330 or he has no idea what his own website is... pic.twitter.com/WqrZhquYmY — Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) August 1, 2019 “With so much happening on the campaign, we want to make sure you’re up-to-date on the latest news. Text JOIN right now to 30330 to make sure you don’t miss a thing!” Biden’s Twitter account posted shortly after the flub, clearing up how exactly people could help support the campaign . Asking

Monument Valley 2. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge One of the most beloved mobile game series is getting even bigger. Today, Ustwo Games revealed that Monument Valley 3 is in the works. Though, aside from the name, we know absolutely nothing about the experience. The news comes via a job posting , as the studio is looking for a creative director for the project, suggesting it’s still pretty early in development. The original Monument Valley launched in 2014 , and its combination of beautiful aesthetics and mind-bending MC Escher-inspired puzzles turned it into a breakout hit. It even made a cameo on House of Cards , and it was a game with a particularly long tail; it actually reached more users in its second year of existence . A sequel followed in 2017 with a greater emphasis on story and characters, and Ustwo also tried a new tactic: announcing and launching the game at the same time. The surprise launch proved successful , as Monument Valley 2 managed to g

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Congress is calling on stakeholders in the self-driving car industry to help reignite their efforts to draft a bill aimed at speeding up the adoption of autonomous vehicles and deploying a regulatory framework, according to a new letter obtained by The Verge . The House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee are pairing up to draft a bipartisan, bicameral “self-driving car bill,” according to the letter. The letter prompts stakeholders to file feedback on a variety of issues involving autonomous vehicles, including cybersecurity, privacy, disability access, and testing expansion to the committees. “The objective of this request is to be as inclusive as possible,” the letter says. It’s not clear how many groups received the request for feedback, but lawmakers said that they were engaging with both the automotive industry and safety groups. “Right now various countries are exploring regulations that will shape the

Image: WarnerMedia Coming in 2020 WarnerMedia is about to jump into the streaming video world with HBO Max, its answer to streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV Plus. It’s expected that WarnerMedia will unveil the platform at some point this fall, with the full service set to launch next spring. It’ll bundle HBO, Cinemax, and the company’s larger catalog of existing original content, and it’s expected to cost between $16 and $17 a month. Follow along for all of the latest developments on the service, including details on its upcoming TV shows, films, and trailers.

Photo by Nick Statt / The Verge Fortnite is the most popular game in the world, but it’s also slowly becoming a major spectator sport. Developer Epic Games has invested a lot into making sure that’s the case. In 2018, the company pledged $100 million toward competitive Fortnite , which resulted in a series of major tournaments and a 10-week qualifying period for the spectacular Fortnite World Cup, which took place at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City. Along the way, Epic has steadily made changes to improve the e-sports landscape, and the competitions have forged a new generation of stars on Twitch and YouTube. It looks like things will only grow from there.

Image: Vizio Vizio is the latest TV maker to launch support for Apple’s AirPlay 2 , which makes it easy to play content from an iOS device or Mac on the larger screen, and HomeKit. HomeKit integration allows people to control the TV using Apple’s Home app or with Siri voice commands. Vizio has started rolling out an update to its SmartCast 3.0 software that includes support for both, but it notes it’s a process that’ll continue through “the coming months” before all compatible sets are updated. Speaking of which, Vizio is far exceeding other TV manufacturers in terms of how many past and present models are eligible for AirPlay 2 and HomeKit. SmartCast TVs dating back to 2016 will receive the two features. Meanwhile, other companies are limiting the convenient add-ons to 2019 sets or, in some cases, their TVs from last year. LG also recently rolled out AirPlay 2 and HomeKit to its latest models. Samsung led the pack with AirPlay 2, but it opted not to include HomeKit. Instead, it wa

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Verizon has hooked four more cities up to its 5G network . Starting today, customers in Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Washington, DC will be able to connect to the company’s next-gen wireless network. The additions mean that Verizon’s 5G network is now available in nine US cities, after previously rolling out in Denver, Providence , St. Paul , Minneapolis, and Chicago . Verizon says its 5G network will be live in more than 30 cities by the end of the year . When we tried the network for ourselves in Chicago we found that it was capable of speeds of up to a gigabit per second . However, its reliance on using mmWave techonology meant that these speeds were concentrated in very specific areas , and coverage inside of buildings was basically non-existent. Verizon’s guidance about its 5G coverage in Washington, DC illustrates the issue, as it lists very specific locations where you can connect to the next-gen network: I

Photo credit should read DENIS CHARLET/AFP/Getty Images The inventor of the jet-powered “Flyboard Air” hoverboard will try to fly across the English Channel once again this weekend, after his previous attempt ended in failure . The Associated Press reports, via France24 , that Franky Zapata will make the crossing attempt on Sunday, when he will try to make the 20 minute flight from Sangatte in France to St Margaret’s Bay on the south coast of England. Although the route will be the same, Zapata’s team said the refueling station will be different this time around to try and avoid a similar crash to the one that occurred last week. The Flyboard Air only has enough fuel to fly for around 10 minutes at a time, forcing Zapata to stop to refuel halfway across the 20 minute crossing. Last time it was this refueling stage that was the French inventor’s undoing, as he missed the platform by “a few centimeters,” and tumbled into the Channel. This time, his team said they will use a bigger bo

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge A few days ago, Facebook disentangled itself from a nettlesome investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into how the company violated users’ privacy. And then, with that matter now squarely behind it, Facebook on Tuesday stepped forward to share some information about its effort to read our minds. Two years after the company announced its mind-reading initiative , Facebook has an update to share. The company sponsored an experiment conducted by researchers at the University of California San Francisco in which they built an interface for decoding spoken dialogue from brain signals. The results were published today in Nature Communication . The work itself is fascinating, as you might expect from the subject matter. Brain-computer interfaces aren’t new, but the existing ones aren’t particularly efficient — particularly the ones that don’t involve drilling into your skill. Facebook’s approach relies on high-density electrocorticography,

Even the launch of LG’s first 5G handset wasn’t enough to reverse its fortunes. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Both Sony and LG sold far fewer smartphones last quarter than they did the previous year, according to earnings releases from the two companies. LG reported that sales from its smartphone division declined by 21 percent compared to the same quarter the previous year, while Sony’s dropped by almost 30 percent. LG blames “slow sales of 4G premium models and intense market competition in mass-tier products” which dragged down its results in spite of the launch of its first 5G phone, the LG V50 . Meanwhile, Sony reduced its annual forecast for smartphone sales from 5 million to 4 million units for this year, according to Bloomberg . These declining numbers are especially concerning given the high profile launches we’ve seen from both companies during the reporting period. Sony released the Xperia 1 , a super tall phone with a 21:9 aspect ratio screen, and LG had its fl

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Samsung Electronics has released second-quarter earnings results in line with its prior guidance , which is to say that they are not great. Operating profit fell 56 percent year-on-year to 6.6 trillion won — the lowest since the company had to deal with the fallout from the 2016 Galaxy Note 7 fire risk — while revenue slid 4 percent to 56.13 trillion won. Samsung puts its troubles largely down to weak market conditions for its all-important semiconductor business, despite a slight bump in demand for memory. The situation is expected to improve somewhat in the second half of the year, though Samsung is warning of “external uncertainties,” likely a reference to the implications of various international trade disputes. While revenue was up 8 percent at Samsung’s mobile division, profit was down 42 percent year on year. Samsung says that overall phone shipments increased, with strong sales for mid-range models like the Galaxy A50 and A70 ,

LG has announced an updated version of its 27-inch UltraFine 5K Display , the monitor that Apple endorsed as the best option for the current generation of MacBook Pros but which has been unavailable for some months. The new model boosts power delivery to 94 watts and now offers USB-C connectivity as well as Thunderbolt 3. That means it’ll work with the 2018 iPad Pro over USB-C, though it’s not clear what resolution will be supported. Otherwise, the product appears to be basically identical to its predecessor, so our buying advice will likely remain the same. LG’s UltraFine Displays have extremely good panels and excellent native support for macOS features, even including True Tone when hooked up to a compatible laptop. But their industrial design is pretty boring, and they’re not a good option for Windows computers because they don’t have any physical controls. LG also recently introduced a new 24-inch version of the UltraFine 4K, which is bigger than the previous 21.5-inch monito

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Just over a year after its official launch , the Data Transfer Project is announcing a new set of partners and features . Today, Apple announced that it will be joining the project, developing interoperable systems to bring data in and out of iCloud. A number of alternative social networks have also joined the project, with Tim Berners-Lee’s Solid project enabling the import and export of contacts, and Mastodon allowing for the import and export of posts. An open-source project aimed at making it easier to transfer data from one service to another, the Data Transfer Project has mostly consisted of back-end coding to make data export tools like Google Takeout and Facebook’s Access Your Information tool compatible with each other. Right now, those tools let you download data directly to your hard drive, but the hope is that the project’s code could allow the data to be ported directly to another service. That would allow you to send all of your

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images New York Attorney General Letitia James announced today that her office plans to investigate the Capital One data breach that impacted more than 100 million people in the US and Canada. “[We] will work to ensure that New Yorkers who were victims of this breach are provided relief,” James said in a statement. “We cannot allow hacks of this nature to become every day occurrences.” The breach, allegedly carried out by a former Amazon Web Services engineer, compromised names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, dates of birth, and self-reported incomes. Capital One’s press release also claims that 140,000 US Social Security numbers, 80,000 bank account numbers, and 1 million Canadian social insurance numbers were also compromised. This data breach follows the settlement of another monumental breach: Equifax. In that 2017 incident, the company exposed as many as 147 million people’s personal information, incl

The next Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fighter is coming sooner than you think: Nintendo has revealed that Dragon Quest XI’ s hero, the second of five DLC characters, will be available later today. The DQ hero follows the addition of Persona 5 ’s Joker to the growing roster of characters. The new combatant will naturally feature a number of attacks and spells familiar to longtime Dragon Quest fans, as well as multiple forms spanning heroes from the series’ long history. In addition to the fighter, a new DQ -themed stage, based on the mythical Yggdrasil’s Altar, will be available. You can either buy the character on its own or as part of a multi-fighter pack. For more on how the fighter works, be sure to check out this in-depth rundown from Smash Bros . director Masahiro Sakurai: Nintendo says that when the hero goes live later today, Smash Ultimate will also be getting an update that adds some useful features, including an online tournament mode and a “very easy” mode for thos

Photo: Epic Games Fresh off a $3 million first-place finish at the inaugural Fortnite World Cup Finals , 16-year-old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf stopped by The Tonight Show to talk about his win with Jimmy Fallon. Despite his newfound fame, the teenager comes off as charming and humble, taking Fallon through his daily routine of Fortnite practice. Bugha also reveals the origins of his handle — it was a childhood nickname from his grandfather — and Fallon gets a chance to confirm that the Battle Bus trophy is, indeed, quite heavy. Of course, it’s fairly normal for athletes to celebrate major wins on the talk show circuit — last year, Alexander Ovechkin and Braden Holtby stopped by The Tonight Show with the Stanley Cup, for instance — but it’s still relatively new ground for e-sports. Despite giant prize pools and large viewership numbers online, competitive gaming still struggles to gain mainstream acceptance. With the global popularity of Fortnite and the scale of the World Cup

Photo by Leigh Vogel for The Verge Snapstreaks, YouTube autoplay, and endless scrolling are all coming under fire from a new bill, which is sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), targeting the tech industry’s “addictive” design. Hawley’s Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology Act , or the SMART Act, would ban these features that work to keep users on platforms longer, along with others, like Snapstreaks, that incentivize the continued use of these products. If approved, the Federal Trade Commission and Health and Human Services could create similar rules that would expire after three years unless Congress codified them into law. “Big tech has embraced a business model of addiction,” Hawley said. “Too much of the ‘innovation’ in this space is designed not to create better products, but to capture more attention by using psychological tricks that make it difficult to look away.” Deceptive design played an enormous part in last week’s FTC settlement with Facebook, and Hawley’s b

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge It was, in retrospect, perhaps not the best two weeks to go on vacation. Each time I checked in with the news, there was some startling new collision between Facebook and democracy. There was that $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission . There was that $100 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission . There was an announcement that the FTC would open an antitrust investigation against the company . (Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes volunteered his help to build the case .) There was an announcement that the Department of Justice would open up an antitrust probe against Facebook, Google, and other large tech platforms . And that was only what happened last Wednesday! (OK, the DOJ thing broke late the day before.) In some ways, last week’s news represented a culmination of the threads that have unspooled over this newsletter’s not-quite-two years: A dawning awareness of internet platforms’ size and pow

Photo by Eric CATARINA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images Alongside the announcement of its first new album in over a decade , the rock band Tool has said that its catalog will finally be available to stream and to purchase digitally on August 2nd. In an Instagram post first spotted by Pitchfork , the band said its albums would available on “all digital and streaming formats,” which is expected to include the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and Amazon Prime Music. Until now, Tool has been one of the biggest artists to refuse to sell its music digitally. However, over the years the band’s position has become more and more isolated, as the likes of The Beatles , Metallica , AC/DC , and Led Zeppelin have all caved one by one and allowed their music to be steamed as part of a monthly subscription. Billboard reports that just a couple of major artists are still not available to stream, including De La Soul and Aaliyah, the R&B artist who passed away in 2001. As well as being a

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Nintendo has now sold 36.87 million Switch consoles after moving 2.13 million units in the April-June quarter, a 13 percent increase year on year. Operating profit for the three-month period was down 10.2 percent year on year to 27.4 billion yen ($252 million), while revenue was up 2.4 percent to 172 billion yen ($1.58 billion). Nintendo has reason to be optimistic about Switch hardware sales over the next few months. August sees the release of a tweaked model with longer battery life, while in September the company is launching the Switch Lite , a significantly cheaper handheld-only version. The $199 Switch Lite will be an important device for Nintendo, because its other entry-level option is essentially dead. The company shipped just 200,000 units of the 3DS in the previous quarter, with the total life-to-date figure set at 75.28 million. Nintendo’s big games for the holiday season include Pokémon Sword and Shield, Luigi’s Mansion 3

Sony’s PlayStation 4 console has been a huge hit for the company, and it has now hit the 100 million sales milestone. Sony revealed in its latest earnings that the company sold 3.2 million PS4 devices in the quarter ended June 30th, meaning exactly 100 million have now been sold in total. Sony was previously sitting at 96.8 million PlayStation 4 consoles after the previous quarter. While sales of the PS4 might be slowing down , it’s still the fastest home game consoles to reach 100 million unit sales, according to Daniel Ahmad, Senior Analyst at Niko Partners. That’s faster than both the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo’s popular Wii console. The PlayStation 4 reached this milestone after just 5 years and 7 months, and less than 3 years after passing 50 million sales . This makes PlayStation 4 the fastest home console to reach 100 million unit sell in. Faster than both the PS2 and Wii which were just behind. It took PS2 a total of five years and 9 months. PS4 was just 5 years and 7