theverge--2020-01-28--Everything you need to know about the coronavirus from China

Public health experts around the globe are scrambling to understand , track , and contain a new virus that appeared in Wuhan , China at the start of December .
You can see where and how many cases have been reported in this map created by US researchers .
So far , there have been more than 4,600 confirmed cases and more than 100 deaths .
The majority of the illnesses are in China , but cases have been reported in 17 other countries , including the US .
No deaths related to the illness have been reported outside of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to unfold , The Verge will update this page with all the latest news and analysis .
Our hope is to answer all your questions as people work to understand this virus and contain its spread .
Where did the virus come from ?
At the end of December , public health officials from China informed the World Health Organization that they had a problem : an unknown , new virus was causing pneumonia-like illness in the city of Wuhan .
They quickly determined that it was a coronavirus , and that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wuhan .
Coronaviruses are common in animals of all kinds , and sometimes can evolve into forms that can infect humans .
Since the start of the century , two other coronaviruses have jumped to humans , causing the SARS outbreak in 2002 and the MERS outbreak in 2012 .
Scientists think this new virus first became capable of jumping to humans at the beginning of December .
It originally seemed like the virus first infected people at a seafood market in Wuhan and spread from there .
But one analysis of early @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 24th , found that the first patient to get sick did not have any contact with the market .
Experts are still trying to trace the outbreak back to its source .
The type of animal the virus originated from is not clear .
One team of researchers in China published a report arguing that it came from snakes , based on the genetic code of the virus .
However , scientists are very skeptical of that conclusion .
Another analysis found that the genetic sequence of the new virus is 96 percent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Both SARS and MERS originated in bats .
So is this the same as SARS ?
The new virus isn ’ t SARS , although that also began in China .
Because it comes from the same viral family as SARS , it has some similarities , but it ’ s an entirely new virus .
However , the commonalities mean scientists and public health officials can use what they ’ ve learned from the past outbreak to try to stop this one .
China lied to the WHO about SARS .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
During the SARS outbreak , Chinese officials attempted to conceal cases from WHO inspectors and limit information , both internally and externally .
This time , officials quickly reported the outbreak of the new virus to the WHO , which praised their quick response and transparency in a press conference .
China is also allowing a team of WHO experts to assist Chinese public health officials with the ongoing work , the organization announced January 28th .
The US Department of Health and Human Services also said China has been more transparent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Chinese government ’ s level of cooperation is completely different from what we experienced in 2003 , ” said department Secretary Alex Azar during a press conference .
But critics and Chinese citizens are skeptical : there are concerns that Chinese officials are undercounting the number of illnesses and are classifying deaths that might have been from the virus as being from pneumonia .
Wuhan police also investigated citizens for spreading what it called rumors online a few weeks ago .
How dangerous is this new virus ?
Right now , no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both how severe an illness is and how easily it can spread to determine how “ bad ” it can be .
Epidemiologists often use this tool to assess new flus , for example , and guide decision-making : If an illness isn ’ t very severe ( and kills only a small percentage of people ) , but it ’ s highly transmissible , it can still cause devastating effects — if something affects millions , the small percentage it kills will still be a high number of fatalities .
Researchers are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the coronavirus , which have ranged from mild , like those in a cold , to severe .
Around 20 percent of confirmed cases have been severe , according to the WHO .
That ’ s 20 percent of the cases that we know about — it ’ s still possible that there are many more mild cases of the illness that haven ’ t been flagged , which would shrink the percentage of cases that are severe .
So far , the fatality rate for the new coronavirus is around 3 percent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outbreak progresses .
The fatality rate for SARS was about 14 to 15 percent .
Most deaths in this outbreak have been in older people who have underlying health issues , like heart disease , hypertension , and diabetes .
( That ’ s the same demographic who is most at risk of dying from illnesses like the flu . )
How fast is the virus spreading ?
We don ’ t yet know how rapidly or easily the virus can spread .
In China , sick people have been infecting others through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the WHO has reported that there have been sustained chains of people passing the virus along for at least four generations : one person got sick ( probably from an animal ) , passed the virus to another person , who passed it to another person .
One person outside of China — in Germany — was infected with the coronavirus by other people , and not from direct travel to China .
Early evidence suggested that , like other coronaviruses , the virus jumps between people who are in very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ probably spreads when an infected person sneezes or coughs .
But Chinese officials have said that they have seen cases were people with the virus infected others before they start showing symptoms .
If that ’ s happening regularly , containing the spread of the virus will be more complicated .
There ’ s still only limited evidence that asymptomatic people can spread the virus , though .
And even if it was happening , it probably wouldn ’ t significantly affect the outbreak , said Anthony Fauci , director of the National @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a press conference .
“ Even if there is some asymptomatic transmission , in all the history of respiratory borne illness , asymptomatic transmission has never been the driver of outbreaks , ” he said .
“ An epidemic is not driven by asymptomatic carriers.
” The WHO says that researchers think each sick person will go on to infect , on average , between 1.4 and 2.5 additional people , though that ’ s only a preliminary estimate .
Other teams of researchers have published their own estimates , with most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ average of around two or three people .
Those numbers are called the virus ’ s R0 ( pronounced “ R-naught ” ) .
The R0 is the mathematical representation of how well an infection might be able to spread .
The higher the number , the more potentially spreadable it can be .
For comparison , the R0 for SARS was between two and five .
But that doesn ’ t mean each sick person will actually infect that many people ; quarantines and other actions taken to control outbreaks of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people a sick person infects .
I ’ ve been coughing .
Do I have this virus ?
If you haven ’ t recently been to Wuhan , China or been in close contact with someone who is sick and has recently been to Wuhan , China , it ’ s very unlikely you have this virus .
It ’ s totally normal to feel anxious , though — and there are ways to reduce that anxiety , like by distracting yourself with other activities , or keeping the risks in perspective .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s far more likely that you have the flu or the common cold .
It ’ s still flu season , and high levels of flu activity aren ’ t expected to die down anytime soon .
( It ’ s not too late to get a flu shot ! )
If you ’ re feeling sick and have been to Wuhan , China , or been in close contact with someone who has , tell your doctor about your symptoms .
How can I protect myself ?
Based on what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protect yourself with the same measures you ’ d take ( and should be taking ) to protect yourself against the flu : wash your hands , cover your mouth when you cough , and stay away from people who are sick .
Should I cancel my trip to China ?
The US State Department raised the travel advisory for China to a level 3 , saying people should reconsider traveling there .
The department says people should not travel to Hubei province , the province Wuhan is in .
The CDC has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ saying people should avoid nonessential travel to China .
How is China trying to stop the virus ?
On January 22nd , officials in Wuhan shut down all transportation in the city , which is home to over 11 million people .
They closed buses and subways , and canceled all flights and trains in and out of the city .
The director general of the WHO applauded the decision , saying that it would help control the outbreak and slow the spread into other countries .
Fifteen other cities , home to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are locked down as well , The New York Times reported .
However , other officials weren ’ t sure if these quarantines would be effective : “ To my knowledge , trying to contain a city of 11 million people is new to science , ” Gauden Galea , the World Health Organization ’ s representative in China , told the Associated Press .
“ It has not been tried before as a public health measure .
We can not at this stage say it will or it will not work.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wuhan , Zhejiang , and Macau — canceled celebrations for the Lunar New Year , a huge holiday in China .
How at risk is the United States ?
Until we know how easily the virus spreads , it ’ s hard to say how significant of an effect it could have in the United States .
The CDC says the risk to people in the US is currently low .
There have been five confirmed cases in the US : one in Washington state , one in Chicago , two in California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the CDC .
All of the patients had recently traveled from Wuhan and are currently hospitalized .
So far , there have been 110 people under investigation for the new coronavirus in the United States .
As of January 27th , 32 of those cases had tested negative .
Testing is still underway for the remaining cases .
The agency said it expects to have more people under investigation and to see more cases in the US as the outbreak progresses .
The CDC is conducting enhanced health screenings for all travelers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country to identify any people arriving in the US with symptoms .
Travelers are also given information about the virus and instructed to call a doctor if they start feeling sick .

Part of / A guide to the COVID-19 pandemic
Public health experts around the globe are scrambling to understand, track, and contain a virus that appeared in Wuhan, China, at the beginning of December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) named the disease caused by the virus COVID-19, which references the type of virus and the year it emerged. The WHO declared that the virus is a pandemic.
The Verge will update this page as new information emerges. You can also find our breakdown of what research shows about how to live in a pandemic world here.
A newsletter highlighting the COVID-19 research, developments, and stories that matter. Subscribe here!
You can see where and how many cases of the illness have been reported on this map. As this important story continues to unfold, our hope is to keep you up to date as people work to understand this virus and contain its spread.
Table of contents
Where did the virus come from?
At the end of December, public health officials from China informed the World Health Organization that they had a problem: an unknown, new virus was causing pneumonia-like illness in the city of Wuhan. They quickly determined that it was a coronavirus and that it was rapidly spreading through and outside of Wuhan.
Photo by Kevin Frayer / Getty Images
Coronaviruses are common in animals of all kinds, and they sometimes can evolve into forms that can infect humans. Since the start of the century, two other coronaviruses have jumped to humans, causing the SARS outbreak in 2002 and the MERS outbreak in 2012.
Scientists think this new virus first became capable of jumping to humans at the beginning of December. It originally seemed like the virus first infected people at a seafood market in Wuhan and spread from there. But one analysis of early cases of the illness, published on January 24th, found that the first patient to get sick did not have any contact with the market. Experts are still trying to trace the outbreak back to its source.
The type of animal the virus originated from is not clear, although one analysis found that the genetic sequence of the new virus is 96 percent identical to one coronavirus found in bats. Both SARS and MERS originated in bats.
Where is it spreading?
The virus is now spreading all over the world.
Although it originated in China, the country took aggressive action at the start of the outbreak, shutting down transportation in some cities and suspending public gatherings. Officials isolated sick people and aggressively tracked their contacts, and had a dedicated network of hospitals to test for the virus.
Countries like New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea have successfully slowed the pandemic. The US has not, and it is an epicenter of the crisis.
How dangerous is this new virus?
It takes information about both how severe an illness is and how easily it can spread to determine how “bad” it can be. Epidemiologists often use this tool to assess new strains of the flu, for example:
Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
If an illness isn’t very severe (and kills only a small percentage of people), but it’s highly transmissible, it can still be devastating. An easily transmitted illness that kills a small percentage of the people it infects can still cause a lot of deaths, precisely because so many people get sick.
The WHO named the illness caused by the coronavirus COVID-19 — “co” and “vi” for coronavirus, “d” for disease, and “19” for the year when the disease emerged.
COVID-19 is a serious illness, and it’s much more dangerous than the flu. One Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projection suggests that between 160 to 214 million people will eventually be infected in the US and that between 200,000 and 1.7 million could die.
The symptoms of COVID-19 have ranged from mild, like those in a cold, to severe. Around 80 percent of confirmed cases are mild and don’t require hospitalization — at least, 80 percent of the cases that we know about. It’s still possible that there are more mild cases of the illness that haven’t been flagged, which would shrink the percentage of cases that are severe. In about 15 percent of people, the illness is severe enough that they need to be hospitalized, and about 5 percent of cases are critical. It appears around half of the people with critical cases of the illness die from it.
“Mild” cases, though, can still be debilitating. Some people with the disease say they couldn’t get out of bed for weeks. For many people, the effects of the illness linger: some people report running fevers for months or experiencing waves of fatigue that make it hard to run errands or walk up the stairs. Researchers don’t know why symptoms last so long, even after people no longer test positive for the virus.
So far, experts say that around 1 percent of people who get sick with COVID-19 will die, though it’s still too early to say for sure how often it is fatal. In the US, around 5 percent of people with confirmed cases of the virus have died from it, but that doesn’t account for the people who didn’t know they were infected or who weren't able to get tested.
Different groups of people are more at risk of having a severe case of the illness or of dying from it. Most deaths in this outbreak have been in older people and those who have underlying health issues, like heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. In that group, people are more at risk of dying. Around 14 percent of people over the age of 80 who get sick will die, for example.
How easily can the virus spread?
The virus moves rapidly. The new coronavirus spreads quickly in contained environments, like on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Early evidence suggested that, like other coronaviruses, the virus jumps between people who are in very close contact with each other. It also probably spreads when an infected person sneezes or coughs. Coughs and sneezes produce little droplets of mucus and saliva. If these droplets make it into another person’s eyes, mouth, or nose, they can get sick. The viruses in those little droplets can also fall onto surfaces, like tables or doorknobs — if someone touches that surface and touches their eyes, mouth, or nose, they can also get sick.
The smallest of those droplets can also linger in the air after a sick person coughs or sneezes or when they breathe and talk. People can probably get infected by those clouds of lingering droplets, even though scientists still don’t know how often that actually happens. That’s why being inside, particularly in poorly ventilated rooms, is dangerous: tiny virus-carrying droplets wouldn’t circulate out in the same way they would outdoors.
We also don’t know when people with COVID-19 become contagious or how long being contagious lasts. One study of nine people in Germany with mild cases of the illness found that they had high levels of the virus in their throats early on in the course of the disease before they felt very sick. Research out of China showed that people without symptoms still have high levels of the virus in their throats and noses.
It’s probably possible for people to spread the virus to others before they feel sick. It’s also possible that people who never feel sick and are truly asymptomatic can infect other people. Researchers still don’t know how often those people actually end up spreading the disease. Some studies suggest that people who do have symptoms are much more likely to spread the virus to others.
Each sick person will go on to infect, on average, between 1.4 and 2.5 additional people, the WHO says, though that’s an early estimate. Other teams of researchers have published their own estimates, with most saying a sick person will infect an average of around two or three people.
Those numbers are called the virus’s R0 (pronounced “R-naught”). The R0 is the mathematical representation of how well an infection might be able to spread. The higher the number, the easier the disease is to spread. For comparison, the R0 for SARS was between two and five. But that doesn’t mean each sick person will actually infect that many people; quarantines and other actions taken to control outbreaks of a virus can bring down the number of people a sick person infects.
The R0 is also just an average. Researchers think this particular illness happens in clusters and tends to cause “superspreading” events. Some estimate that as few as 10 percent of COVID-19 cases are responsible for 80 percent of the disease’s spread — that is, most people don’t infect anyone else, and a few people set off chain reactions that infect dozens.
Can we treat this virus?
Since the start of the pandemic, doctors have gotten better at treating patients with COVID-19 in the hospital. There still isn’t much doctors can do for people with mild cases of the illness who aren’t sick enough to be hospitalized. But trials of synthetic antibodies are underway, and they might be able to help prevent people who catch the virus from becoming seriously ill.
In October, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved remdesivir, an antiviral medication originally developed for Ebola, to treat the disease — even though clinical trials found that it only has a limited benefit.
There was a lot of early hype around the anti-malaria medication chloroquine, but clinical trials showed that it doesn’t actually help COVID-19 patients. Clinical trials did show, though, that a cheap steroid called dexamethasone could help people who are hospitalized with very severe cases of the disease.
Research teams and pharmaceutical companies are also working to develop a vaccine that can protect people from infection. However, vaccine development takes a long time. Even if everything goes smoothly, it will be around a year to 18 months from the start of the development process before one is available, said Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
What can I do to protect myself and others?
Stay home if you’re feeling sick, even if you’re just a little bit under the weather. Stay home as much as possible even if you’re not feeling sick. If you do go out, wear a cloth mask or face covering when you’re out in public, especially in places where it’s hard to stay far away from others. While they’re not perfect, a cloth face covering could help stop you from spreading virus-laden particles to other people, even if you don’t know you’re sick. They could also partially block the virus from reaching your nose or mouth. If everyone wears them, some studies show they could help slow the spread of the virus.
Many states are slowly starting to let restaurants, barbershops, and retail stores open, even though the disease is still spreading rapidly in some places. The CDC released guidelines on June 12th, outlining the relative risk of everyday activities and the ways people should protect themselves when they venture out to the bank or the gym.
Spending time with a few people is less risky than hanging out with a large group, and everyone should wear masks and keep at a distance, the CDC says. The risk of contracting COVID-19 (or spreading it) goes up if you spend time with other people indoors rather than outside.
Before deciding if you should do a particular activity, the agency recommends thinking about how many new cases are being reported each day in your area. If the case numbers are low, the risk is lower than if hundreds of new people are being diagnosed with COVID-19 each day. You should also think about how closely you’d be interacting with other people (and if they’d be wearing a mask).
If you’re a young, healthy person, you might not feel very sick if you catch COVID-19. But you could pass it on to someone older or with a chronic health condition who is more likely to have a severe case of the disease.
Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
If I already had COVID-19, am I immune?
Many researchers think that after someone is infected with the coronavirus, there’s a good chance that person won’t get sick from the virus again for some still-undetermined amount of time. That’s based on what scientists know about how most viruses work. Usually, when you’re sick from a viral infection, your body develops antibodies against that virus. The next time you’re exposed to the virus, those antibodies could stop it from turning into a raging illness — though that isn’t always the case.
There isn’t concrete evidence that people who got sick once with COVID-19 can’t get sick again because no studies have specifically tested that idea. But virologists don’t think that this virus behaves differently than most other viruses — so people who did get sick are probably protected. The question, though, is for how long: for some viruses, the protection fades after a year or a few years. There aren’t answers to that question yet.
What’s happening in the US?
US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar declared a public health emergency in response to the coronavirus at the end of January, and President Trump declared a federal emergency in March.
As the overall case counts rose through March and April, governors and local officials closed nonessential businesses and told people to work from home and stay away from others. The interventions are helped to slow the spread of the disease in some areas, but many states — including Texas, Arizona, and Florida — lifted restrictions before public health experts thought it was safe.
Through the summer of 2020, cases in those places rapidly increased. After a long plateau, spikes in some Southern and Western US states pushed up new daily case numbers in the US. A fall surge hit the whole country, sending case numbers above the summer highs. The Midwest has the highest burden of disease, but hospitalizations are climbing all over the country.
Early in 2020, the virus spread undetected for weeks in the US. Initially, CDC guidelines did not allow testing unless a sick person had been in a country with an ongoing spread of the virus or who had been in contact with someone with a confirmed case of the disease could be tested. That delayed the diagnosis of patients who did not have those risk factors.
The US is doing around one million COVID-19 tests per day, according to data collected by volunteers at the COVID Tracking Project. Testing was slow to get off the ground in the US. It took too long for the FDA and the CDC to develop and distribute a functioning test and longer still for testing capacity to increase.
Many public health agencies across the country also still aren’t getting in touch with everyone who tests positive for the virus to find the people they may have exposed — a critical public health tool called contact tracing. The US needs to scale up its contact tracing workforce in order to control the outbreak.


theverge--2020-01-28--The long road to Kentucky Route Zero

The long road to Kentucky Route Zero

It took a few years , but the end of Kentucky Route Zero is finally here .
Today sees the launch of Act V of the haunting , surreal adventure game , closing out a protracted saga for both players of the game and the characters in its world .
KRZ originally debuted in 2011 as a Kickstarter project , and its first act launched in 2013 .
The plan was to release subsequent acts — for a total of five — every few months .
But the scope of the game proved a bit larger than that schedule .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ complete the experience .
“ I think the main reason it takes the amount of time that it does is that there ’ s just three of us , ” Jake Elliott , one-third of developer Cardboard Computer , tells The Verge .
“ When we started on the game , we committed ourselves to releasing a new episode every three months or so .
And that was a really bad decision , and we totally killed ourselves to get Act II done in four months .
After that , we decided not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not to get these out at that industrial pace that we ’ d set for ourselves.
” Kentucky Route Zero is a narrative-driven adventure game where players travel through a strange version of America alongside an eclectic cast of characters , each of whom is struggling in some way .
It blends elements of magical realism with a powerful criticism of modern capitalism to create something profound , odd , and soulful .
( For more on the game , be sure to check out our review . )
Elliott says that hiring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ given the team ’ s financial situation .
So the creation of Kentucky Route Zero was left to just three people : Elliott , who handled the writing ; Tamas Kemenczy , who was in charge of art and animation ; and musician Ben Babbitt .
There was no full-time programmer on the team .
Instead , Elliott and Kemenczy split coding duties between them .
Besides the financial commitment , Kemenczy says , bringing an outside programmer would have its own challenges because of the nature of the project .
Each member @ @ @ @ @ @ @ art background , and they say that , because of their unique approach , the game ’ s code is difficult to understand .
“ There are some weird decisions that are more conceptual than practical.
” “ By this point , our codebase is so old and idiosyncratic ; some of it is totally inscrutable , ” Kemenczy explains .
“ I had a lot of anxiety about , even if we could afford hiring a programmer or a technical artist , the whole pipeline , and our code , is just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worried how weird it would look to another person.
” Elliott adds , “ We were always approaching this game as a kind of software art project , so there are some weird decisions that are more conceptual than practical.
” ( That said , the team did bring on a single programmer to help port the game to consoles ; today KRZ makes its debut on the Xbox One , PS4 , and Switch after years of PC exclusivity . )
It wasn ’ t just technical issues that led to KRZ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the team doesn ’ t really view them as delays at all .
Instead , the creators took a somewhat experimental approach to development , which made it nearly impossible to predict when a new episode would be ready .
“ We ’ re just sort of following where the work goes , ” Elliott says .
“ In some cases , we end up throwing away a lot of stuff , abandoning directions that didn ’ t work .
It ’ s always been important for us to think of it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until the experiment has reached its logical conclusion .
There ’ s not really a sense of it being delayed or anything on our part .
Sometimes you take a weird route to get to the end.
” That said , the team had a strong outline for how events would unfold that remained largely in tact .
The main storyline of Kentucky Route Zero — which involves an antique delivery man searching for a magical highway to make one last delivery — was outlined before development began .
And Elliott says the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while giving themselves freedom to try new ideas .
For instance , in between each episode the team released a short , experimental interlude that further fleshed out the game ’ s strange world .
Those weren ’ t part of the initial plan .
“ We tried to leave a lot of the specifics not filled in until we got there , so we weren ’ t giving ourselves homework early in the process , ” Elliott says .
“ We wanted to follow our interests as the game developed.
” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a really long time.
” One thing that hasn ’ t changed is the game ’ s focus on tackling social and economic issues , as Kentucky Route Zero was initially inspired in part by the 2008 financial crisis .
Certain elements of the game have been impacted by more recent developments — Elliott says that the interlude between Act IV and V was specifically designed to address the impact of President Trump — but otherwise , the themes have remained consistent despite the constantly shifting outside world .
“ A lot of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump that ‘ this is not normal.
’ But a lot of this for us is about how this is normal , ” Elliott explains .
“ This crazy income inequality , anti-immigrant rhetoric , this has been part of America for a really long time .
Especially in Act V , you can see how we ’ re looking at how these things recur and how people work to resist these things and keep trying to make a better world , whether it works or not.
” One of the most striking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strangeness .
Its characters and world feel grounded in the everyday , but they ’ re surrounded by surreal elements .
There are skeletons who run an underground whiskey distillery , forced to work in order to pay off an unclear debt , and a museum that displays what appear to be repossessed homes that have to sleep in a forest at night .
At one point , you find a supercomputer powered in part by mold .
According to Elliott , these elements add an important dimension to the story .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are dealing with every day , like debt and dealing with health care , ” he says .
“ But if we just stick to the facts of everyday experience , we ’ re missing the spiritual quality of those experiences , which is real .
It ’ s totally immiserating to be trapped in debt in a way that you can ’ t really capture by showing statistics.
” Right now , Cardboard Computer faces a somewhat unique situation .
Not only is it ending a long-running saga , one that some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a decade .
It ’ s also introducing a brand-new audience to Kentucky Route Zero as the game makes its console debut .
However , despite all of this built-in baggage , Elliott says , he isn ’ t particularly nervous about how the final act of the game will be received .
“ There are no compromises in Act V , ” he says .
“ It ’ s exactly what we wanted to do .
”

It took a few years, but the end of Kentucky Route Zero is finally here. Today sees the launch of Act V of the haunting, surreal adventure game, closing out a protracted saga for both players of the game and the characters in its world. KRZ originally debuted in 2011 as a Kickstarter project, and its first act launched in 2013. The plan was to release subsequent acts — for a total of five — every few months. But the scope of the game proved a bit larger than that schedule. Ultimately, it took seven years to complete the experience.
“I think the main reason it takes the amount of time that it does is that there’s just three of us,” Jake Elliott, one-third of developer Cardboard Computer, tells The Verge. “When we started on the game, we committed ourselves to releasing a new episode every three months or so. And that was a really bad decision, and we totally killed ourselves to get Act II done in four months. After that, we decided not to pursue that commitment any more, not to get these out at that industrial pace that we’d set for ourselves.”
Kentucky Route Zero is a narrative-driven adventure game where players travel through a strange version of America alongside an eclectic cast of characters, each of whom is struggling in some way. It blends elements of magical realism with a powerful criticism of modern capitalism to create something profound, odd, and soulful. (For more on the game, be sure to check out our review.)
Elliott says that hiring outside help was never really an option given the team’s financial situation. So the creation of Kentucky Route Zero was left to just three people: Elliott, who handled the writing; Tamas Kemenczy, who was in charge of art and animation; and musician Ben Babbitt. There was no full-time programmer on the team. Instead, Elliott and Kemenczy split coding duties between them. Besides the financial commitment, Kemenczy says, bringing an outside programmer would have its own challenges because of the nature of the project. Each member of the small studio comes from an art background, and they say that, because of their unique approach, the game’s code is difficult to understand.
“There are some weird decisions that are more conceptual than practical.”
“By this point, our codebase is so old and idiosyncratic; some of it is totally inscrutable,” Kemenczy explains. “I had a lot of anxiety about, even if we could afford hiring a programmer or a technical artist, the whole pipeline, and our code, is just so weird and custom-built that I was worried how weird it would look to another person.” Elliott adds, “We were always approaching this game as a kind of software art project, so there are some weird decisions that are more conceptual than practical.” (That said, the team did bring on a single programmer to help port the game to consoles; today KRZ makes its debut on the Xbox One, PS4, and Switch after years of PC exclusivity.)
It wasn’t just technical issues that led to KRZ’s many delays. In fact, the team doesn’t really view them as delays at all. Instead, the creators took a somewhat experimental approach to development, which made it nearly impossible to predict when a new episode would be ready. “We’re just sort of following where the work goes,” Elliott says. “In some cases, we end up throwing away a lot of stuff, abandoning directions that didn’t work. It’s always been important for us to think of it like the game isn’t done until the experiment has reached its logical conclusion. There’s not really a sense of it being delayed or anything on our part. Sometimes you take a weird route to get to the end.”
That said, the team had a strong outline for how events would unfold that remained largely in tact. The main storyline of Kentucky Route Zero — which involves an antique delivery man searching for a magical highway to make one last delivery — was outlined before development began. And Elliott says the team mostly stuck to that plan, while giving themselves freedom to try new ideas. For instance, in between each episode the team released a short, experimental interlude that further fleshed out the game’s strange world. Those weren’t part of the initial plan. “We tried to leave a lot of the specifics not filled in until we got there, so we weren’t giving ourselves homework early in the process,” Elliott says. “We wanted to follow our interests as the game developed.”
“This has been part of America for a really long time.”
One thing that hasn’t changed is the game’s focus on tackling social and economic issues, as Kentucky Route Zero was initially inspired in part by the 2008 financial crisis. Certain elements of the game have been impacted by more recent developments — Elliott says that the interlude between Act IV and V was specifically designed to address the impact of President Trump — but otherwise, the themes have remained consistent despite the constantly shifting outside world. “A lot of people keep saying in the age of Trump that ‘this is not normal.’ But a lot of this for us is about how this is normal,” Elliott explains. “This crazy income inequality, anti-immigrant rhetoric, this has been part of America for a really long time. Especially in Act V, you can see how we’re looking at how these things recur and how people work to resist these things and keep trying to make a better world, whether it works or not.”
One of the most striking things about Kentucky Route Zero is its strangeness. Its characters and world feel grounded in the everyday, but they’re surrounded by surreal elements. There are skeletons who run an underground whiskey distillery, forced to work in order to pay off an unclear debt, and a museum that displays what appear to be repossessed homes that have to sleep in a forest at night. At one point, you find a supercomputer powered in part by mold. According to Elliott, these elements add an important dimension to the story. “We can talk about things that people are dealing with every day, like debt and dealing with health care,” he says. “But if we just stick to the facts of everyday experience, we’re missing the spiritual quality of those experiences, which is real. It’s totally immiserating to be trapped in debt in a way that you can’t really capture by showing statistics.”
Right now, Cardboard Computer faces a somewhat unique situation. Not only is it ending a long-running saga, one that some fans have been following for close to a decade. It’s also introducing a brand-new audience to Kentucky Route Zero as the game makes its console debut. However, despite all of this built-in baggage, Elliott says, he isn’t particularly nervous about how the final act of the game will be received.


theverge--2020-01-28--Nintendo’s mobile games have made over $1 billion, mostly thanks to Fire Emblem Heroes

Nintendo has crossed over $ 1 billion in revenue from its mobile games for Android and iOS according to a new report from SensorTower — largely carried by the popular free-to-play Fire Emblem Heroes , which was released in 2017 .
It has since gone on to earn $ 656 million , more than every other Nintendo mobile game combined .
Fire Emblem Heroes is a “ gacha ” game , where players spend in-game items to randomly pull new characters with different abilities , items , and stats .
Unlike games like Fortnite , where players can buy new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time through a Battle Pass , everything in Fire Emblem Heroes is distributed randomly : you might get the rare character you ’ re hoping for on your first pull , or spend hundreds of dollars on thousands of pulls to never get what you want .
Developer Intelligent Systems constantly adds new and increasingly powerful characters ( including some that are seasonally themed and only available for a limited time ) , which helps keep a constant stream of revenue .
That ’ s in contrast to Nintendo ’ s first mobile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promised a reimagined Mario experience specifically designed for mobile .
The game was okay , but didn ’ t play very similarly to classic Mario games .
It also only offered a single upfront $ 9.99 purchase instead of the constant revenue of games like Fire Emblem Heroes or Animal Crossing : Pocket Camp ( the second top earner ) , leading Nintendo to brand it a “ disappointment ” despite hitting over 200 million downloads .
It also helps that Fire Emblem Heroes is a good game , translating the tactical combat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smaller , quicker format to play on the go .
It ’ s that enjoyable gameplay that makes up the other half of Fire Emblem Heroes ’ success , and is something that games like the Candy Crush-copying Dr. Mario World ( Nintendo ’ s least profitable mobile game , by no coincidence ) lack .
Nintendo is already building on that Fire Emblem success , too , with its latest mobile game : Mario Kart Tour .
Like Fire Emblem Heroes , Mario Kart Tour takes a recognizable property ( in this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arguably even more popular than Fire Emblem ) , translates the gameplay to a mobile-friendly format , and adds in gacha elements on top for a nearly endless revenue stream .
It ’ s a bet that ’ s already paying off : Mario Kart Tour was the most downloaded game on iOS last year , and it ’ s already surpassed Super Mario Run in revenue , despite only having been out for a few months .

Nintendo has crossed over $1 billion in revenue from its mobile games for Android and iOS according to a new report from SensorTower — largely carried by the popular free-to-play Fire Emblem Heroes, which was released in 2017. It has since gone on to earn $656 million, more than every other Nintendo mobile game combined.
Fire Emblem Heroes is a “gacha” game, where players spend in-game items to randomly pull new characters with different abilities, items, and stats. Unlike games like Fortnite, where players can buy new character skins outright or earn them over time through a Battle Pass, everything in Fire Emblem Heroes is distributed randomly: you might get the rare character you’re hoping for on your first pull, or spend hundreds of dollars on thousands of pulls to never get what you want.
Developer Intelligent Systems constantly adds new and increasingly powerful characters (including some that are seasonally themed and only available for a limited time), which helps keep a constant stream of revenue.
That’s in contrast to Nintendo’s first mobile experiment, Super Mario Run, which promised a reimagined Mario experience specifically designed for mobile. The game was okay, but didn’t play very similarly to classic Mario games. It also only offered a single upfront $9.99 purchase instead of the constant revenue of games like Fire Emblem Heroes or Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (the second top earner), leading Nintendo to brand it a “disappointment” despite hitting over 200 million downloads.
It also helps that Fire Emblem Heroes is a good game, translating the tactical combat of the mainline console games to a smaller, quicker format to play on the go. It’s that enjoyable gameplay that makes up the other half of Fire Emblem Heroes’ success, and is something that games like the Candy Crush-copying Dr. Mario World (Nintendo’s least profitable mobile game, by no coincidence) lack.
Nintendo is already building on that Fire Emblem success, too, with its latest mobile game: Mario Kart Tour. Like Fire Emblem Heroes, Mario Kart Tour takes a recognizable property (in this case, Mario Kart, which is arguably even more popular than Fire Emblem), translates the gameplay to a mobile-friendly format, and adds in gacha elements on top for a nearly endless revenue stream.


theverge--2020-01-29--Watch SpaceX launch its fourth batch of internet-beaming Starlink satellites

A week after performing a crucial test flight for NASA , SpaceX is poised to launch yet another Falcon 9 rocket from Florida .
This mission is tasked with sending up the latest batch of internet-beaming satellites for SpaceX , adding on to the roughly 180 satellites the company already has in orbit .
Today ’ s flight is the fourth launch for SpaceX ’ s Starlink project , a massive constellation of satellites that aims to provide internet coverage to every point on the globe .
SpaceX has permission to launch nearly 12,000 satellites and has expressed interest in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ licensing obligations , SpaceX has to launch nearly 6,000 within the next five to six years .
The company plans to launch up to 24 Starlink missions this year .
Liftoff of today ’ s mission is slated for 9:06AM ET Each Starlink launch consists of 60 satellites , so today ’ s mission will bring SpaceX ’ s constellation to about 240 satellites in orbit .
SpaceX already launched another 60 satellites on January 6th of this year .
That batch included one satellite with an experimental coating , aimed at decreasing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sky .
The experiment is meant to appease astronomers who have expressed concern about how the super-bright Starlink satellites might mess up their observations of the Universe .
SpaceX will continue to launch its regular bright satellites in the meantime while it determines whether the coating is working .
Liftoff of today ’ s mission is slated for 9:06AM ET from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida .
SpaceX is using one of its used Falcon 9 rockets for the job , a vehicle that ’ s flown to space and back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the satellites to an altitude of about 290 kilometers — an initial parking orbit — about an hour after launch .
Following some systems checks , the satellites will then raise their altitude to the final 550-kilometer orbit .
SpaceX is going to try to recover as many Falcon 9 parts as possible today .
The vehicle will attempt one of the company ’ s signature rocket landings about 10 minutes after launch , touching down on a floating drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean .
SpaceX will also try to catch the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or fairing — the bulbous structure on top of the rocket that shields the satellites during launch .
Once in space , the nose cone breaks in half and falls back to Earth .
Using a navigation system and parachutes , the fairing halves will attempt to land on two boats , each sporting a giant net to gently catch the hardware .
SpaceX has been able to catch one fairing half at a time , but it has yet to catch both of them on a single flight .
SpaceX has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ground for the last week , but bad weather has caused repeated delays .
A launch attempt on Monday had to be postponed due to intense winds high above the launch site .
If SpaceX can somehow manage to launch today , the company will start live coverage about 15 minutes before takeoff .

Update January 29th, 10:10AM ET: SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket on time this morning, deploying all 60 satellites into orbit. The rocket also performed another landing on the company’s drone ship in the Atlantic after launch. While SpaceX did catch one half of the rocket’s fairing, the other half just missed its boat.
Original story: A week after performing a crucial test flight for NASA, SpaceX is poised to launch yet another Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. This mission is tasked with sending up the latest batch of internet-beaming satellites for SpaceX, adding on to the roughly 180 satellites the company already has in orbit.
Today’s flight is the fourth launch for SpaceX’s Starlink project, a massive constellation of satellites that aims to provide internet coverage to every point on the globe. SpaceX has permission to launch nearly 12,000 satellites and has expressed interest in launching 30,000 more. To fulfill its licensing obligations, SpaceX has to launch nearly 6,000 within the next five to six years. The company plans to launch up to 24 Starlink missions this year.
Liftoff of today’s mission is slated for 9:06AM ET
Each Starlink launch consists of 60 satellites, so today’s mission will bring SpaceX’s constellation to about 240 satellites in orbit. SpaceX already launched another 60 satellites on January 6th of this year. That batch included one satellite with an experimental coating, aimed at decreasing the vehicle’s brightness in the sky. The experiment is meant to appease astronomers who have expressed concern about how the super-bright Starlink satellites might mess up their observations of the Universe. SpaceX will continue to launch its regular bright satellites in the meantime while it determines whether the coating is working.
Liftoff of today’s mission is slated for 9:06AM ET from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. SpaceX is using one of its used Falcon 9 rockets for the job, a vehicle that’s flown to space and back twice before. The rocket will deploy the satellites to an altitude of about 290 kilometers — an initial parking orbit — about an hour after launch. Following some systems checks, the satellites will then raise their altitude to the final 550-kilometer orbit.
SpaceX is going to try to recover as many Falcon 9 parts as possible today. The vehicle will attempt one of the company’s signature rocket landings about 10 minutes after launch, touching down on a floating drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX will also try to catch the Falcon 9’s nose cone — or fairing — the bulbous structure on top of the rocket that shields the satellites during launch. Once in space, the nose cone breaks in half and falls back to Earth. Using a navigation system and parachutes, the fairing halves will attempt to land on two boats, each sporting a giant net to gently catch the hardware. SpaceX has been able to catch one fairing half at a time, but it has yet to catch both of them on a single flight.


theverge--2020-01-29--The Scroll subscription service is an ingenious web technology hack

Welcome back to Processor , a newsletter about computers and also sometimes other things .
You are probably expecting me to spend several paragraphs making fun of Google for creating yet another messaging product , as The Information reported yesterday .
Not gon na do it : it ’ s enterprise-focused and from what I can tell about Google ’ s cloud business right now , a haphazard message app strategy is the least of their worries .
Instead , the thing that blew my mind yesterday was Scroll , a new $ 5 per month subscription service that gives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I kept on experiencing successive waves of small revelations when I thought about it .
I ’ ll disclose now that Vox Media ( and therefore The Verge ) are partners , but I had no idea this service existed until it was announced yesterday .
First : although I don ’ t have any specific reason to distrust Scroll , this still feels like a data privacy time bomb .
Scroll won ’ t sell my data , but what if the company that snaps up Scroll does someday ?
There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your data , at least .
Scroll ’ s privacy policy is refreshingly readable and candid about what it gathers and what it does and doesn ’ t share — including being honest about sharing information with governments when required to by law .
It also notes that your data could go along with a sale of the company itself .
Basically I suggest you find the “ delete your information ” button and remember where it is .
Second : Scroll ’ s entire method of stopping ads is an absolutely ingenious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into Scroll , it sets a cookie , and then the websites you visit see that special cookie and don ’ t serve you ads .
It ’ s not even ad-blocking , they just don ’ t get served .
It is actually quite elegant , but if you take a second to think through the chain of communications and deals that are required to make it that elegant , it seems like a hellacious hack .
Then again , as Nilay Patel said to me today , isn ’ t most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are a few more details — Safari in particular is stricter than other browsers and so it requires an extension .
Brave will also need some extra effort to work with Scroll .
( Scroll has a snarky footnote about them . )
Third : it ’ s a much easier solution for websites to get paid than asking each of them to roll their own subscription .
It tracks where you visit and automatically divvies payment up between those partner sites .
I could ( and eventually will ) quibble about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of $ 5 , or thirty percent .
As an independent startup , I ’ m not going to begrudge Scroll its revenue , and it likely needs a bigger cut to stay in business than Apple or Google do on their App Stores .
If the company hits scale , though , I ’ d like to hope that it will find a way to reduce that cut .
Fourth : hang on let ’ s think about that hellacious hack again !
Although you have to constantly have Scroll email @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then ensure you open it in the right browser , it means that you are getting your paid-for ad-free experience in the app of your choosing .
Unlike Apple News ( disclosure : another Vox Media partner ) , you aren ’ t forced into a not-especially-great app .
You don ’ t get a link that seems like it goes to a web page but actually just goes to Apple ’ s app .
You can also use it on any device you own , not just Apple ’ s products .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ isn ’ t really a subscription .
For publications that put articles behind paywalls , Scroll won ’ t get you in .
On the whole , though , I much prefer Scroll ’ s system to Apple News .
It works better with the existing web and the existing apps we all use to navigate it .
A subscription system that turns off ads , pays publishers , and doesn ’ t lock me into any particular app while also doing a pretty good job of keeping my login active ?
Seems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m not quite going to go quite so far as to endorse Scroll ( and not just because Vox Media is a partner ) .
Deciding to sign up is between you , your level of trust in Scroll ’ s privacy policies , your ad-blocking conscience , whether you care about the current list of partner publications , and the cost .
Fifth : Scroll puts a white bar at the bottom of every webpage it ’ s active on , ostensibly so you have the benefit of getting share links @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thank you times a thousand , Scroll .
However , one benefit of using web browsers instead of Apple News is that web browsers are relatively open platforms and so you can use them to alter the web pages you visit ( at least on the desktop — on mobile things are still often locked down ) .
So , for example , I have a little script that I cobbled together after a day of Googling that makes it easier for me to format the links in this newsletter by automatically changing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Pinboard.in .
My favorite method is an extension called Tampermonkey .
I wrote a little script for it that hides Scroll ’ s annoying bar .
Other than some preliminary settings , it ’ s literally one line .
It should work in Chromium-based browsers .
Here it is , offered with zero support and absolutely no guarantees that it ’ s any good at all .
Bonus sixth revelation : Tampermonkey offers a Google Drive-based sync , and since Microsoft ’ s new Edge browser runs on Chromium , my script @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Edge on Windows and Just Worked .
The Internet !
Sometimes it ’ ll surprise you .
└ Apple is limiting China travel and has closed one retail store due to coronavirus outbreak └ Facebook , Razer , and LG are restricting employee travel to China amid coronavirus outbreak └ To contain disease outbreaks , health officials rely on people ’ s trust You ’ ve probably formed an opinion on how anti-vaxxers have affected public health ( the right opinion is that it has been for the worse ) .
But similarly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ void of faster-moving health crises .
Nicole Wetsman looks at the intersection of health , internet censorship , and trust : └ How Amazon escapes liability for the riskiest products on its site The outcome of some of these cases could determine the fate of Amazon ’ s marketplace .
Is it like an eBay or a Craigslist , with Amazon as a middleman , or is Amazon the retailer ?
People tend to think of Amazon as the latter but Amazon thinks of itself as the former .
Great report here from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ excellent , focused history of Netflix as seen through the lens of its original programming decisions .
More news from The Verge └ Everything we think we know about Samsung ’ s next foldable phone └ Everything we think we know about the Samsung Galaxy S20 The minimalist screen on the outside is an interesting choice .
I will be very , very curious to see if this “ ultra-thin glass ” is actually more durable than plastic .
We ’ ve all sort of been assuming it will be , but it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Moto G8 and G8 Power leak with hole-punch displays and midrange specs If battery life and a big screen are your top needs in a smartphone , it ’ s worth keeping an eye on these .
└ Filmic DoubleTake lets you record from two iPhone cameras at the same time Apple hyped the heck out of this app , now it ’ s finally here and Becca Farsace has run it through some paces : └ UK defies US and refuses to ban Huawei from 5G networks └ Google Translate will transcribe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ step closer to the Babel fish .
└ Neil Young says the MacBook Pro has ‘ Fisher-Price ’ audio quality You might think this headline is overstating how fiery this Vergecast interview is .
But I promise you it is understating it .
└ Pokémon Home cloud storage service will launch in February for $ 3 a month So if Nintendo creates a pokémon and then you catch that pokémon and then you put that pokémon back in a Nintendo server farm is that like throwing the pokémon back ?
Have you really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pokémon ?
Vox Media has affiliate partnerships .
These do not influence editorial content , though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links .
For more information , see

Welcome back to Processor, a newsletter about computers and also sometimes other things. You are probably expecting me to spend several paragraphs making fun of Google for creating yet another messaging product, as The Information reported yesterday. Not gonna do it: it’s enterprise-focused and from what I can tell about Google’s cloud business right now, a haphazard message app strategy is the least of their worries.
Instead, the thing that blew my mind yesterday was Scroll, a new $5 per month subscription service that gives you a bunch of websites without ads. I kept on experiencing successive waves of small revelations when I thought about it. I’ll disclose now that Vox Media (and therefore The Verge) are partners, but I had no idea this service existed until it was announced yesterday.
You are reading Processor, a newsletter about computers, software, and tech by Dieter Bohn. Dieter writes about consumer tech, software, and the most important tech news of the day from The Verge. You can read an archive of Processor newsletters here and subscribe to all of The Verge’s great videos here! Subscribe
By subscribing, you are agreeing to receive a daily newsletter from The Verge that highlights top stories of the day, as well as occasional messages from sponsors and / or partners of The Verge.
First: although I don’t have any specific reason to distrust Scroll, this still feels like a data privacy time bomb. Scroll won’t sell my data, but what if the company that snaps up Scroll does someday? There’s a prominent button for deleting your data, at least.
Scroll’s privacy policy is refreshingly readable and candid about what it gathers and what it does and doesn’t share — including being honest about sharing information with governments when required to by law. It also notes that your data could go along with a sale of the company itself. Basically I suggest you find the “delete your information” button and remember where it is.
Second: Scroll’s entire method of stopping ads is an absolutely ingenious repurposing of third-party cookies. You log into Scroll, it sets a cookie, and then the websites you visit see that special cookie and don’t serve you ads. It’s not even ad-blocking, they just don’t get served. It is actually quite elegant, but if you take a second to think through the chain of communications and deals that are required to make it that elegant, it seems like a hellacious hack.
Then again, as Nilay Patel said to me today, isn’t most web technology a hellacious hack?
There are a few more details — Safari in particular is stricter than other browsers and so it requires an extension. Brave will also need some extra effort to work with Scroll. (Scroll has a snarky footnote about them.)
Third: it’s a much easier solution for websites to get paid than asking each of them to roll their own subscription. It tracks where you visit and automatically divvies payment up between those partner sites. I could (and eventually will) quibble about the percentage Scroll is taking: $1.50 out of $5, or thirty percent.
As an independent startup, I’m not going to begrudge Scroll its revenue, and it likely needs a bigger cut to stay in business than Apple or Google do on their App Stores. If the company hits scale, though, I’d like to hope that it will find a way to reduce that cut.
Fourth: hang on let’s think about that hellacious hack again! Although you have to constantly have Scroll email you a “magic link” and then ensure you open it in the right browser, it means that you are getting your paid-for ad-free experience in the app of your choosing.
Unlike Apple News (disclosure: another Vox Media partner), you aren’t forced into a not-especially-great app. You don’t get a link that seems like it goes to a web page but actually just goes to Apple’s app. You can also use it on any device you own, not just Apple’s products. Also unlike Apple News, this subscription isn’t really a subscription. For publications that put articles behind paywalls, Scroll won’t get you in.
On the whole, though, I much prefer Scroll’s system to Apple News. It works better with the existing web and the existing apps we all use to navigate it. A subscription system that turns off ads, pays publishers, and doesn’t lock me into any particular app while also doing a pretty good job of keeping my login active? Seems good to me.
Still, I’m not quite going to go quite so far as to endorse Scroll (and not just because Vox Media is a partner). Deciding to sign up is between you, your level of trust in Scroll’s privacy policies, your ad-blocking conscience, whether you care about the current list of partner publications, and the cost.
Fifth: Scroll puts a white bar at the bottom of every webpage it’s active on, ostensibly so you have the benefit of getting share links and an audio reader mode. No thank you times a thousand, Scroll.
However, one benefit of using web browsers instead of Apple News is that web browsers are relatively open platforms and so you can use them to alter the web pages you visit (at least on the desktop — on mobile things are still often locked down). So, for example, I have a little script that I cobbled together after a day of Googling that makes it easier for me to format the links in this newsletter by automatically changing the web page I store them on, Pinboard.in.
My favorite method is an extension called Tampermonkey. I wrote a little script for it that hides Scroll’s annoying bar. Other than some preliminary settings, it’s literally one line. It should work in Chromium-based browsers. Here it is, offered with zero support and absolutely no guarantees that it’s any good at all.
Bonus sixth revelation: Tampermonkey offers a Google Drive-based sync, and since Microsoft’s new Edge browser runs on Chromium, my script auto-synced from Chrome on a Mac to Edge on Windows and Just Worked. The Internet! Sometimes it’ll surprise you.
Tech contends with the coronavirus
Big reads from The Verge
Verge Deal of the day Apple’s AirPods Pro are $30 off at Amazon Normally $250, the Apple AirPods Pro wireless earbuds are down to $220 at Amazon. Compared to the standard AirPods, these feature better sound quality and noise cancellation. We’ve seen these drop a bit lower in price before, but that’s a pretty rare occurrence. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy . Prices displayed are based on the MSRP at time of posting.
You’ve probably formed an opinion on how anti-vaxxers have affected public health (the right opinion is that it has been for the worse). But similarly online misinformation can rush to fill the void of faster-moving health crises. Nicole Wetsman looks at the intersection of health, internet censorship, and trust:
If one crisis is handled poorly, there will likely be less trust during the next one. Not only that, but the spread of misinformation can have real-time impacts on what people believe. That erosion can weaken public health response.
The outcome of some of these cases could determine the fate of Amazon’s marketplace. Is it like an eBay or a Craigslist, with Amazon as a middleman, or is Amazon the retailer? People tend to think of Amazon as the latter but Amazon thinks of itself as the former. Great report here from Colin Lecher.
According to court records viewed by The Verge, Amazon has faced more than 60 federal lawsuits over product liability in the past decade. The suits are a grim catalog of disaster: some allege that hoverboards purchased through the company burned down properties. A vape pen purchased through the company exploded in a pocket, according to another suit, leaving a 17-year-old with severe burns.
Julia Alexander has an excellent, focused history of Netflix as seen through the lens of its original programming decisions.
More news from The Verge
The minimalist screen on the outside is an interesting choice. I will be very, very curious to see if this “ultra-thin glass” is actually more durable than plastic. We’ve all sort of been assuming it will be, but it’s no sure thing.
If battery life and a big screen are your top needs in a smartphone, it’s worth keeping an eye on these.
Apple hyped the heck out of this app, now it’s finally here and Becca Farsace has run it through some paces:
With the Discreet mode, I was able to film from the Wide and Ultra-Wide, both at 1080p, at the same time. The H.264 .mov exports are really clean and take very little time to transfer to the camera roll. Pair a clean export with the iPhone 11 Pro’s excellent lens calibration, and you have a perfect punch in from a single phone.
One step closer to the Babel fish.
You might think this headline is overstating how fiery this Vergecast interview is. But I promise you it is understating it.
So if Nintendo creates a pokémon and then you catch that pokémon and then you put that pokémon back in a Nintendo server farm is that like throwing the pokémon back? Have you really caught anything? Are you just renting pokémon?


theverge--2020-01-29--Google’s upcoming call recording feature could also support transcription

Code discovered in the latest version of the Google Phone app has revealed more details about its unannounced call recording feature , 9to5Google reports .
Most intriguing is a snippet of code that suggests the upcoming feature addition could also support call transcription , which would be similar to the Recorder app that the company debuted on the Pixel 4 .
XDA Developers has since managed to get the call recording feature partially working on a Pixel 4 , but not transcriptions .
The newly uncovered code also gives us an idea of how Google is attempting to overcome the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prevented call recording from being included in Android 10 .
Code snippets suggest that the app will warn you to comply with local laws while using the feature , and it also plays a short audio clip to warn participants when a call is being recorded .
XDA managed to get the feature working on a Pixel 4 Recorded calls can reportedly be played back from the call log according to XDA Developers , and can also be exported as .wav files if you want to listen to them elsewhere .
What ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ functionality could launch .
However , a big new feature like this feels like a prime candidate for one of the new “ feature drops ” that Google is promising to provide for its Pixel handsets .
The Google Phone app is currently the default dialer app on Google Pixel , Android One , and Xiaomi ’ s European smartphones .
Update January 29th , 7:40AM ET : Updated with firsthand impressions from XDA Developers .

Code discovered in the latest version of the Google Phone app has revealed more details about its unannounced call recording feature, 9to5Google reports. Most intriguing is a snippet of code that suggests the upcoming feature addition could also support call transcription, which would be similar to the Recorder app that the company debuted on the Pixel 4. XDA Developers has since managed to get the call recording feature partially working on a Pixel 4, but not transcriptions.
The newly uncovered code also gives us an idea of how Google is attempting to overcome the “security and privacy implications” that prevented call recording from being included in Android 10. Code snippets suggest that the app will warn you to comply with local laws while using the feature, and it also plays a short audio clip to warn participants when a call is being recorded.
The record button is accessed from the main calling interface. Image: XDA Developers Afterwards, the recordings and transcriptions could be accessible from the call log. Image: XDA Developers
Recorded calls can reportedly be played back from the call log according to XDA Developers, and can also be exported as .wav files if you want to listen to them elsewhere.
What’s still unclear is when the new functionality could launch. However, a big new feature like this feels like a prime candidate for one of the new “feature drops” that Google is promising to provide for its Pixel handsets. The Google Phone app is currently the default dialer app on Google Pixel, Android One, and Xiaomi’s European smartphones.


theverge--2020-01-29--Misinformation about the coronavirus is threatening to overwhelm tech platforms

The Interface is a daily column and newsletter about the intersection of social media and democracy .
Subscribe here .
One result of a world in which everyone has more or less equal access to publishing tools has been what ’ s sometimes called an epistemic crisis : a scenario in which large groups of people muddle along with very different understandings of reality , undermining the ability of elected officials to govern .
This might be particularly scary during a catastrophe , when citizens are relying upon their government for accurate and potentially life-saving information .
If you can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or you are misled into thinking that an official-sounding hoax is real — catastrophes might begin compounding upon one another .
The global outbreak of a coronavirus that originated in China has given us fresh reason to consider the downsides of an internet where social media posts are amplified by engagement-hungry algorithms , and vetted by fact-checkers only days later — if at all .
Misinformation is spreading rapidly , and with few obvious checks .
Here ’ s Tony Romm in the Washington Post : BuzzFeed is maintaining a list of debunked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , potential treatments , and faked government communications about it .
Some of the claims are highly susceptible to being shared by credulous parents .
Canada keeps being falsely implicated .
And Axios reported that “ nearly 13,000 posts across Twitter , public Facebook pages , and Reddit between January 24 and January 27 have propagated conspiracy theories about the virus , including that it may be a bioweapon or a depopulation method.
” To date , none of these claims seem to have gone truly viral .
As Romm notes , much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now taking place in closed groups , where it is harder for platforms to moderate the discussion .
But for the most part , false claims seem to have stalled out in the low thousands of shares .
More interesting than the false claims ’ spread on a free internet , perhaps , is the spread of anger on the Chinese one .
Citizens critical of the government ’ s response have been vocal on Chinese social media , challenging the authoritarian regime with unusual directness — and providing a counterpoint to propaganda @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Here ’ s Raymond Zhong in the New York Times : It ’ s unclear whether Chinese citizens have actually been able to evade censorship , or whether the government is simply allowing more people to vent their anger about their leaders than usual .
But to the extent that it ’ s the former , it could illustrate how even an authoritarian version of the internet can struggle to maintain control of the message in a fast-moving crisis .
Meanwhile , there are signs that the American internet will evolve to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Members of Congress , as well as several Democratic presidential candidates , have called for dramatic reforms ( or even the end ) of Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act , which shields platforms from liability for what their users publish .
And this week Congress took the unusual step of calling on one tech platform directly — Google — to remove a whole category of misinformation .
Here ’ s Jennifer Elias at CNBC : The letter is based on a report earlier this month from the watchdog group Avaaz , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ global warming ” and “ climate change ” frequently triggered recommendations promoting videos that contain misinformation .
On one hand , this letter is simply a request , and Google is free to ignore it .
But whether the issue is an epidemic or man-made catastrophe , governments around the world are taking an increasingly skeptical view of internet freedom .
The question , as ever , is what they can do about it in practice .
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms .
Trending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grants to local news organizations across the country .
The investment is going to projects including The Advocate in Dallas , Texas , which focuses on the stories and interests of Black and Latinx communities , and Esperanza , an outlet that serves the North Philadelphia Hispanic community .
⭐ The department of justice is arranging interviews with Facebook rivals to learn more about the competitive landscape of the social media industry .
The interviews are part of the antitrust probe that was announced last September .
Alex Heath and Ashley Gold from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agency is arranging interviews with social media company executives to learn their views about the competitive landscape of the industry , along with their perspectives on and relationship to Facebook , according to an email from the Justice Department seen by The Information .
The email gives a view into how the DOJ is framing its antitrust probe into Facebook , the existence of which was first revealed in September of last year .
It couldn ’ t be learned how many companies have already been contacted by or met with the agency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ ... ] The Justice Department ’ s outreach to Facebook competitors follows the Federal Trade Commission ’ s reported contacts with social media companies as part of its own Facebook investigation .
Facebook disclosed last July that it was under antitrust investigation by the FTC , and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he expects the agency to focus on the company ’ s acquisition of Instagram .
Big tech companies have started loudly advocating for more regulation .
The strategy could give them a chance to help shape new regulations — and an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a harder time complying with new laws .
( Azeem Azhar / Exponential View ) Bernie Sanders ’ loyal internet army has helped establish him as one of the 2020 front-runners .
But his Democratic rivals have also faced online harassment at the hands of his supporters .
Some say he hasn ’ t done enough to stop the vitriol .
( Matt Flegenheimer , Rebecca R. Ruiz and Nellie Bowles / The New York Times ) A reporter for The New York Times was the target of a phone hack that appears @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government .
He had been reporting on the royal family prior to the attack .
( Ben Hubbard / The New York Times ) The Washington Post suspended a reporter , Felicia Sonmez , after she tweeted a link to an article that detailed an allegation of sexual assault made against Kobe Bryant in 2003 .
The tweet , posted in the hours after his death , sparked instant backlash online .
But journalists say Sonmez ’ s suspension was “ misguided.
” Because it was !
( Rachel Abrams / The New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ faulty products sold on Amazon have brought into question what exactly the tech company is : a retailer or a platform ?
The question has important implications for who can be held accountable when a product proves to be damaged or dangerous .
( Colin Lecher / The Verge ) Workers at Amazon ’ s Mechanical Turk platform , an on-demand “ micro-task ” marketplace , say they have encountered mutilated bodies , graphic videos of botched surgeries , and what appeared to be child pornography .
( Dhruv Mehrotra / Gizmodo ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at how content spreads across platforms , according to a new study published in the Misinformation Review .
Researchers say social media platforms should increase collaboration to monitor disinformation campaigns .
( Tom Wilson and Kate Starbird / Misinformation Review ) Instacart is running a campaign to try and dissuade workers in Chicago from voting in favor of unionizing .
The union vote is set to take place on February 1st .
It could be the first successful unionization effort at a big venture-backed tech company .
( Lauren Kaori Gurley / Vice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they will begin using live facial recognition cameras for the first time .
The cameras will be on for five to six hours at a time , with lists of suspects wanted for serious and violent crimes drawn up during each interval .
( BBC ) ⭐ Facebook hired respected human rights expert Miranda Sissons to help stem the spread of online violence .
The hiring is part of a broader effort to atone for failing to stop online abuse from spilling over into the real world , reports Bloomberg ’ s Joshua @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appears to be hurting Facebook stock more than that of other big tech companies facing antitrust investigations .
That could be because the cost of breaking up Facebook is more obvious than it is for other big companies .
( Martin Peers / The Information ) Facebook says it has 2.5 billion monthly active users .
But almost 400 million of the accounts appear to be bogus .
The company ’ s continued user growth looks less impressive when you adjust for duplicate and fake accounts — up 7 per cent in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ per cent calculated by Facebook .
( Elaine Moore and Hannah Murphy / Financial Times ) Facebook made its “ Off-Facebook Activity ” tool , which allows users to manage and delete the data that third-party apps share with Facebook , available to all users worldwide .
The feature was first announced in 2018 at the company ’ s annual developer conference .
( Sarah Perez / TechCrunch ) Grindr ’ s Android app was exploited by ad fraudsters in a scheme that stole money from advertisers , and drained the phone batteries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s users .
The scheme also targeted Roku apps and devices .
( Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed ) Xi Jinping Vows To Combat Coronavirus By Making It Illegal To Mention Within A Week Here ’ s The Onion ’ s take on the epidemic : Meanwhile , in real life , the Chinese government itself is spreading actual misinformation about the crisis .
Send us tips , comments , questions , and coronavirus hoaxes : casey @ theverge.com and zoe @ theverge.com .

One result of a world in which everyone has more or less equal access to publishing tools has been what’s sometimes called an epistemic crisis: a scenario in which large groups of people muddle along with very different understandings of reality, undermining the ability of elected officials to govern. This might be particularly scary during a catastrophe, when citizens are relying upon their government for accurate and potentially life-saving information. If you can’t trust official government announcements — or you are misled into thinking that an official-sounding hoax is real — catastrophes might begin compounding upon one another.
The global outbreak of a coronavirus that originated in China has given us fresh reason to consider the downsides of an internet where social media posts are amplified by engagement-hungry algorithms, and vetted by fact-checkers only days later — if at all. Misinformation is spreading rapidly, and with few obvious checks. Here’s Tony Romm in the Washington Post:
Seven organizations that partner with Facebook issued nine fact checks in recent days, finding a wide array of coronavirus claims as false, including those peddling fake treatments, the company said Monday. Facebook said it has labeled the inaccuracies and lowered their rank in users’ daily feeds. Twitter, meanwhile, on Monday started steering U.S. users searching for coronavirus-related hashtags to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And Google-owned YouTube said its algorithm also prioritizes more credible sources. Still, a number of videos there — including one with more than 430,000 views — pushed dubious information about the origin of coronavirus and its means of transmission.
BuzzFeed is maintaining a list of debunked coronavirus claims, relating to its origin, potential treatments, and faked government communications about it. Some of the claims are highly susceptible to being shared by credulous parents. Canada keeps being falsely implicated. And Axios reported that “nearly 13,000 posts across Twitter, public Facebook pages, and Reddit between January 24 and January 27 have propagated conspiracy theories about the virus, including that it may be a bioweapon or a depopulation method.”
To date, none of these claims seem to have gone truly viral. As Romm notes, much of the conversation about the virus is now taking place in closed groups, where it is harder for platforms to moderate the discussion. But for the most part, false claims seem to have stalled out in the low thousands of shares.
More interesting than the false claims’ spread on a free internet, perhaps, is the spread of anger on the Chinese one. Citizens critical of the government’s response have been vocal on Chinese social media, challenging the authoritarian regime with unusual directness — and providing a counterpoint to propaganda about heroic first responders addressing the crisis. Here’s Raymond Zhong in the New York Times:
But someone following the crisis through social media would see something else entirely: vitriolic comments and mocking memes about government officials, harrowing descriptions of untreated family members and images of hospital corridors loaded with patients, some of whom appear to be dead. The contrast is almost never so stark in China. The government usually keeps a tight grip on what is said, seen and heard about it. But the sheer amount of criticism — and the often clever ways in which critics dodge censors, such as by referring to Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, as “Trump” or by comparing the outbreak to the Chernobyl catastrophe — have made it difficult for Beijing to control the message.
It’s unclear whether Chinese citizens have actually been able to evade censorship, or whether the government is simply allowing more people to vent their anger about their leaders than usual. But to the extent that it’s the former, it could illustrate how even an authoritarian version of the internet can struggle to maintain control of the message in a fast-moving crisis.
Meanwhile, there are signs that the American internet will evolve to become more like the Chinese version. Members of Congress, as well as several Democratic presidential candidates, have called for dramatic reforms (or even the end) of Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, which shields platforms from liability for what their users publish.
And this week Congress took the unusual step of calling on one tech platform directly — Google — to remove a whole category of misinformation. Here’s Jennifer Elias at CNBC:
The U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis wrote a letter addressed to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, requesting the company take action against climate disinformation — specifically on its video platform, YouTube. “YouTube has been driving millions of viewers to climate misinformation videos every day, a shocking revelation that runs contrary to Google’s important missions of fighting misinformation and promoting climate action,” wrote Kathy Castor, chair of the committee.′ “Last September, you proudly declared that ‘sustainability has become one of Google’s core values from our earliest days,’ and announced ‘the biggest corporate purchase of renewable energy in history.’”
The letter is based on a report earlier this month from the watchdog group Avaaz, which found that searches for terms like “global warming” and “climate change” frequently triggered recommendations promoting videos that contain misinformation.
On one hand, this letter is simply a request, and Google is free to ignore it. But whether the issue is an epidemic or man-made catastrophe, governments around the world are taking an increasingly skeptical view of internet freedom. The question, as ever, is what they can do about it in practice.
The Ratio
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms.
🔼 Trending up: Facebook announced $700,000 in grants to local news organizations across the country. The investment is going to projects including The Advocate in Dallas, Texas, which focuses on the stories and interests of Black and Latinx communities, and Esperanza, an outlet that serves the North Philadelphia Hispanic community.
Governing
⭐ The department of justice is arranging interviews with Facebook rivals to learn more about the competitive landscape of the social media industry. The interviews are part of the antitrust probe that was announced last September. Alex Heath and Ashley Gold from The Information have the story:
The agency is arranging interviews with social media company executives to learn their views about the competitive landscape of the industry, along with their perspectives on and relationship to Facebook, according to an email from the Justice Department seen by The Information. The email gives a view into how the DOJ is framing its antitrust probe into Facebook, the existence of which was first revealed in September of last year. It couldn’t be learned how many companies have already been contacted by or met with the agency as part of its civil investigation. [...] The Justice Department’s outreach to Facebook competitors follows the Federal Trade Commission’s reported contacts with social media companies as part of its own Facebook investigation. Facebook disclosed last July that it was under antitrust investigation by the FTC, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he expects the agency to focus on the company’s acquisition of Instagram.
Big tech companies have started loudly advocating for more regulation. The strategy could give them a chance to help shape new regulations — and an advantage over smaller companies that could have a harder time complying with new laws. (Azeem Azhar / Exponential View)
Bernie Sanders’ loyal internet army has helped establish him as one of the 2020 front-runners. But his Democratic rivals have also faced online harassment at the hands of his supporters. Some say he hasn’t done enough to stop the vitriol. (Matt Flegenheimer, Rebecca R. Ruiz and Nellie Bowles / The New York Times)
A reporter for The New York Times was the target of a phone hack that appears to have originated with the Saudi Arabian government. He had been reporting on the royal family prior to the attack. (Ben Hubbard / The New York Times)
The Washington Post suspended a reporter, Felicia Sonmez, after she tweeted a link to an article that detailed an allegation of sexual assault made against Kobe Bryant in 2003. The tweet, posted in the hours after his death, sparked instant backlash online. But journalists say Sonmez’s suspension was “misguided.” Because it was! (Rachel Abrams / The New York Times)
New legal battles surrounding faulty products sold on Amazon have brought into question what exactly the tech company is: a retailer or a platform? The question has important implications for who can be held accountable when a product proves to be damaged or dangerous. (Colin Lecher / The Verge)
A comprehensive understanding of disinformation requires looking at how content spreads across platforms, according to a new study published in the Misinformation Review. Researchers say social media platforms should increase collaboration to monitor disinformation campaigns. (Tom Wilson and Kate Starbird / Misinformation Review)
Instacart is running a campaign to try and dissuade workers in Chicago from voting in favor of unionizing. The union vote is set to take place on February 1st. It could be the first successful unionization effort at a big venture-backed tech company. (Lauren Kaori Gurley / Vice)
The Metropolitan Police in London announced they will begin using live facial recognition cameras for the first time. The cameras will be on for five to six hours at a time, with lists of suspects wanted for serious and violent crimes drawn up during each interval. (BBC)
Industry
⭐ Facebook hired respected human rights expert Miranda Sissons to help stem the spread of online violence. The hiring is part of a broader effort to atone for failing to stop online abuse from spilling over into the real world, reports Bloomberg’s Joshua Brustein:
Sissons work is part of a broader reckoning within the technology industry, which has been forced to reexamine its role in world conflicts. Several months before Facebook hired Sissons, Twitter brought on Cynthia Wong, a former researcher at Human Rights Watch, to be its human rights director. As with Facebook, Twitter never announced the hiring. In discussions with more than a dozen people familiar with Facebook’s work on human rights, a picture emerges of a company that has been moving rapidly but, according to its skeptics, not always effectively. One Facebook employee, who asked not to be identified discussing private information, said its shortcomings have not always been the result of having too few people dedicated to human rights, but at times having so many people involved that they’re working at cross-purposes.
The threat of regulatory action appears to be hurting Facebook stock more than that of other big tech companies facing antitrust investigations. That could be because the cost of breaking up Facebook is more obvious than it is for other big companies. (Martin Peers / The Information)
Facebook says it has 2.5 billion monthly active users. But almost 400 million of the accounts appear to be bogus. The company’s continued user growth looks less impressive when you adjust for duplicate and fake accounts — up 7 per cent in the past two years, rather than 18 per cent calculated by Facebook. (Elaine Moore and Hannah Murphy / Financial Times)
Facebook made its “Off-Facebook Activity” tool, which allows users to manage and delete the data that third-party apps share with Facebook, available to all users worldwide. The feature was first announced in 2018 at the company’s annual developer conference. (Sarah Perez / TechCrunch)
Grindr’s Android app was exploited by ad fraudsters in a scheme that stole money from advertisers, and drained the phone batteries and depleted the data plans of Grindr’s users. The scheme also targeted Roku apps and devices. (Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed)
And finally...
Here’s The Onion’s take on the epidemic:
Chinese president Xi Jinping held a press conference Monday to announce plans to combat the coronavirus by making it illegal to mention within the next week. “We are directing massive resources towards eradicating the slightest hint of any person speaking about the virus, and I promise you that any conversation or literature pertaining to the virus will be completely eliminated during the next seven days,” said Xi, warning that if immediate action was not taken, it could be too late to stop the spread of information. “We have already seen far too many senseless deaths as a result of this outbreak, so I vow here and now that those official death toll numbers will remain unchanged.”
Meanwhile, in real life, the Chinese government itself is spreading actual misinformation about the crisis.
Talk to us


theverge--2020-01-29--Apple’s Powerbeats 4 appear in latest iOS 13 update

Apple could soon launch a new version of its Powerbeats earbuds if imagery discovered in the latest version of iOS by MacRumors is to be believed .
The Powerbeats are Apple ’ s semi-wireless earbuds .
The two earbuds are connected together by a single cable but connect wirelessly to a phone over Bluetooth .
The last version of these earbuds were the Powerbeats 3 , released in 2016 .
From the icon , the biggest change with the Powerbeats 4 appears to be their cable location .
While the Powerbeats 3 ’ s cables descend from the front of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them , the Powerbeats 4 ’ s seem to descend from the back , down from the arms that hook over your ears .
MacRumors also notes that they ’ re likely to include Apple ’ s latest H1 chip , and should offer support for the “ Hey Siri ” and “ Announce Messages with Siri ” features .
This wouldn ’ t be the first time a pair of Apple headphones has leaked thanks to an iOS update .
In late March 2019 , iOS 12.2 gave us our first look @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only for them to be officially announced at the beginning of April .
Then , in early October , the AirPods Pro appeared in a beta version of iOS 13.2 ahead of their announcement later that month .
Given past experience , it ’ s possible we ’ ll see an official Powerbeats 4 announcement before the end of February .
Apple is also rumored to be preparing to sell a new mid-range iPhone as early as March .

Apple could soon launch a new version of its Powerbeats earbuds if imagery discovered in the latest version of iOS by MacRumors is to be believed. The Powerbeats are Apple’s semi-wireless earbuds. The two earbuds are connected together by a single cable but connect wirelessly to a phone over Bluetooth. The last version of these earbuds were the Powerbeats 3 , released in 2016.
From the icon, the biggest change with the Powerbeats 4 appears to be their cable location. While the Powerbeats 3’s cables descend from the front of the earbuds while you’re wearing them, the Powerbeats 4’s seem to descend from the back, down from the arms that hook over your ears. MacRumors also notes that they’re likely to include Apple’s latest H1 chip, and should offer support for the “Hey Siri” and “Announce Messages with Siri” features.