Elaborate wooman style Fiends

13/08/2022

Bringing Ticketmaster to TikTok makes sense, based solely on how big a role music plays on the app, but it could also indicate broader plans to delve into the industry. Last month, a report from Insider revealed that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, filed a trademark for “TikTok Music.” The filing describes it as a platform that would allow users to purchase, play, share, and download music.

You can now buy event tickets through TikTok

11/08/2022

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered swings onto PC next week, and developer Insomniac Games just announced that the game has been verified for Steam Deck. Games that are verified should play great on the handheld gaming PC without having to make any major tweaks, meaning that you’ll likely be able to jump right into the action when Spider-Man Remastered is released.

The game launches August 12th on PC.

09/08/2022

That’s why we’ve curated this comprehensive list of the best Chromebook deals. Each varies in price and comes with its own strengths and weaknesses, but all of them come recommended for one reason or another. And if you’d like to do even more research before buying a Chromebook, we’ve also compiled a guide to the best options on the market, which you can use to help you determine which ChromeOS machine is right for you.

RELATED

How to decide which laptop to buy

The best budget laptop of 2022
Best Cheap Laptop 2022: Lenovo Chromebook Duet
Lenovo’s Chromebook Duet includes a kickstand and keyboard, so you don’t have to pay extra for these. Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge
LENOVO CHROMEBOOK DUET
If you’re on a budget, our top pick for you is the Lenovo Chromebook Duet. The portable 2-in-1 device is a great Chromebook you can take on the go, with a detachable keyboard and kickstand cover. This is especially true given the device’s lengthy battery life, which allowed us to use it for nearly 11 and a half hours while making Zoom calls and running through a variety of tabs and apps, including Gmail, Slack, and Facebook. It also uses a version of Chrome optimized for tablet use and supports a gesture-navigation system, so you can easily switch between apps with a few finger swipes.

Given it starts at just $299, however, there are some tradeoffs. This includes the Duet’s small keyboard, its single USB-C port, and lack of a headphone jack. With its MediaTek Helio P60T processor, 4GB of RAM, and up to 128GB of storage, it’s also not necessarily great for more advanced tasks, either. However, it’s fine for browsing and everyday work and right now you can buy it for $249 at Best Buy instead of $299. Read our review.

Best Laptop 2022: Lenovo Chromebook Duet
Lenovo Chromebook Duet
$249 $299 17% off
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet is the best affordable Chromebook of 2022. The portable 2-in-1 device offers a detachable keyboard and kickstand cover as well as long battery life.

$249 at BEST BUY
RELATED

The Verge guide to Chrome OS and Chromebooks

Google’s new Chromebook features make it easier to connect to Android phones
Best Chromebook 2022: Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2
Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook 2 is a convertible that boasts a gorgeous QLED display. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
SAMSUNG GALAXY CHROMEBOOK 2
If you’re considering a Chromebook, Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook 2 is one of the best Chromebooks on the market right now. It’s the first Chromebook to feature a QLED panel —allowing for vivid colors and high contrast — and it offers better battery life than the convertible’s predecessor, which couldn’t even make it five hours on a charge. Admittedly, we weren’t fans of the Chromebook 2’s plasticky feel or its expensive price tag, but we were happy with the Chromebook overall and liked the red model’s bright, vibrant design.

At the moment, the $799.99 model we tested is on sale at Amazon with an Intel Core i3 1011OU processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of eMMC storage for just shy of $700. Read our review.

The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 seen from above and to the right. A mug sits to its left on the desk, a notebook to its right.
Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2
$696 $800 13% off
The Galaxy Chromebook 2 is Samsung’s flagship Chromebook, one that is less expensive and improves on its predecessor with better battery life, a good QLED display, and a vibrant design.

$696 at AMAZON
Verge Deals on Twitter
Join our over 47,000 followers, and keep up with our best daily tech deals with
FOLLOW US!
The Asus Chromebook CX5 open, angled to the right, on a table with a gray and white background. The screen displays a black, white, and gray desktop pattern.
The Asus Chromebook Flip CX5 is our favorite 15-inch Chromebook. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales
ASUS CHROMEBOOK FLIP CX5
Yes, the Asus Chromebook Flip CX5 is the most expensive model on our list. However, given it’s such a superb device, that steep asking price shouldn’t be as much of a deterrent. It’s a solid machine that can hold its own against midrange Windows laptops, with a sturdy build, wide port selection, vivid display, and comfortable keyboard. All of this makes for impressive performance and battery life, the latter of which can last all day on a single charge. In our testing, the CX5 even managed to deliver some of the loudest audio we’ve heard from a Chromebook. The only real drawbacks were the Chromebook’s 16:9 aspect ratio and the trackpad, which can be a bit stiff.

If you’re okay with a smaller display and midrange performance, you can pick up the Flip CX5 on Amazon with a stylus in the 14-inch configuration with 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and an Intel Core i3-1110G4 processor for $723.18 instead of $769. Read our review.

Best Chromebook 2022: Asus Chromebook CX5.
Asus Chromebook Flip CX5
$723 $769 6% off
Asus’s Chromebook CX5 is expensive for a Chromebook, but the well-built machine offers a build and specs to match.

$723 at AMAZON
A user navigates on the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 in a conference room.
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 comes with a comfortable keyboard. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
LENOVO CHROMEBOOK DUET 5
We’ll be frank: the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 is on the lower end as far as performance goes. However, it could be an option to consider if you’re trying to save as it still comes with a comfortable keyboard attachment and a terrific, 13.3-inch OLED touchscreen. It also excels when it comes to battery life, offering between 10 and 12 hours of use when tackling everyday tasks such as browsing, chatting, and Zoom. The handsome Chromebook doesn’t come with a stylus and lacks biometric authentication, however, and functions far better as a laptop than a tablet given its larger size, at least in our testing.

Flaws aside, the Duet 5 is a decent convertible that’s currently on sale with a Snapdragon SC7180 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of eMMC storage for $379 instead of $499 at Best Buy. Walmart is also selling the model with the same processor but with 4GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for $399 instead of $469.99. Read our review.


Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5
$379 $499 25% off
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 comes with a lovely 13.3-inch Full HD OLED touchscreen and long battery life, but lacks biometric authentication.

$379 at BEST BUY (8GB RAM / 128GB STORAGE)
$399 at WALMART (4GB RAM / 256GB STORAGE)
RELATED

Google is making it easier to edit PDFs on Chromebooks

Chromebook 101: what’s different about the Chromebook keyboard?

It’s easy to use HP’s Chromebook X2 11 as a tablet. Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge
HP CHROMEBOOK X2 11
We liked HP’s Chromebook X2 11 less than we did the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 mentioned above. We found its performance to be choppy, at least in our testing, and the detachable keyboard felt cramped and awkward when used in our lap. However, we do think it’s a decent buy if you can get it on sale. Unlike the Duet 5, the X2 11 comes with a USI stylus in the box and is smaller, with a 3:2 aspect ratio. The dimensions and aspect ratio make the Chromebook X2 11 better than the Lenovo when it comes to hand-held use, with a shape that closely resembles Apple’s iPad. The tablet’s 1440p resolution and built-in fingerprint scanner are also nice bonuses, the latter of which makes it easy to log in.

Again, this isn’t our favorite Chromebook, and it doesn’t offer great value for your money at the detachable’s typical price of $600. However, HP is currently running a promotion that makes it worth a look. Right now, you can buy the X2 11 with 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a Snapdragon 7c Gen 1 processor for $419.99 instead of $679.99. Read our review.


HP Chromebook X2 11
$420 $680 39% off
HP’s Chromebook X2 11 comes with a USI stylus in the box, a 3:2 aspect ratio, and a fingerprint scanner, although its performance isn't particularly impressive.

$420 at HP
Sign up for the newsletter

Subscribe to get the best Verge-approved tech deals of the week.

Email (required)

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. You can opt out at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
SUBSCRIBE

Chromebooks for all kinds of budgets.

07/08/2022

hikers knew they were being watched. They had tried to blend in: all 11 were wearing camouflage with the intention of vanishing into the desert scrub. They were on a remote mountain trail on the outskirts of Ajo, Arizona, a former mining town of about 3,000 people just a few dozen miles north of the Mexican border. It was a warm November morning, still early enough in the day that the sun must have felt good on their skin — the air is cold up in the mountains, colder still in the dry desert winter, though the heat always finds you eventually. The sky was bright and endless, punctuated by just a few clouds. But even if the migrants looked closely, there’s no way they could have noticed the MQ-9 Predator B drone stalking them from 20,000 feet above.

Nearly 150 miles away at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, the migrants were on display. Two Customs and Border Protection agents tracked the group from a cramped shipping container on base that was being used as a temporary ground control station. Each agent sat before five monitors: the pilot flew the drone while the camera operator focused on tracking the group’s movements. The 11 migrants appeared as small figures on a pair of screens, bright white smudges moving across a gray background. Their clothing may have helped them blend in with the cholla cacti and spiky ocotillo plants of the Sonoran Desert, but it couldn’t fool the Predator’s infrared camera. They had been betrayed by their own body heat.

“The idea is that if enough people get hurt, they’ll stop coming.”

06/08/2022

For example: Last week, I might have been skeptical if you told me a podcaster got their hands on a casting script for the next Tomb Raider game — one which reveals that a older, lonely Lara Croft may dodge lasers in a “gravity tomb” and engage in a romance with another female character.

Ever heard of the Streisand Effect?

04/08/2022

Prey is set in 1719 in the Northern Great Plains, and centers on a budding Comanche hunter named Naru (Amber Midthunder). Though she’s a skilled healer, Naru desperately wants to be a hunter and leader like her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers), and is constantly pushing against the expectations placed on her. She trains with weapons on her own, pushes her way into hunting excursions, and, when asked why she wants this so badly, says simply, “because you all think I can’t.” The presence of a certain alien forces her into that warrior / hunter role a little sooner than expected.

23/07/2022

Spot, the most famous four-legged robot in the world, sometimes seems more like an animatronic entertainer than an industrial machine. But creators Boston Dynamic want to remind the world at large in a new video that this thing can do work, too.

The new Spot spot, titled “No Time To Dance,” shows the quadrupedal bot carrying out a range of tasks in an industrial setting. Spot takes readings from gauges, uses an infrared camera to scan some equipment, and generates work orders for human employees. And, yes, then it does a little dance as well.

A tool not a toy.

22/07/2022

The group of 10 palm-sized drones communicate with one another to stay in formation, sharing data collected by on-board depth-sensing cameras to map their surroundings. This method means that if the path in front of one drone is blocked, it can use information collected by its neighbors to plot a new route. The researchers note that this technique can also be used by the swarm to track a human walking through the same environment. If one drone loses sight of the target, others are able to pick up the trail.

The work has potential military applications, say experts

21/07/2022

Google is partnering with a Harvard professor to promote a new scale for measuring skin tones with the hope of fixing problems of bias and diversity in the company’s products.

The tech giant is working with Ellis Monk, an assistant professor of sociology at Harvard and the creator of the Monk Skin Tone Scale, or MST. The MST Scale is designed to replace outdated skin tone scales that are biased towards lighter skin. When these older scales are used by tech companies to categorize skin color, it can lead to products that perform worse for people with darker coloring, says Monk.

“Unless we have an adequate measure of differences in skin tone, we can’t really integrate that into products to make sure they’re more inclusive,” Monk tells The Verge. “The Monk Skin Tone Scale is a 10-point skin tone scale that was deliberately designed to be much more representative and inclusive of a wider range of different skin tones, especially for people [with] darker skin tones.”

A better skin tone scale means better diversity in search results.

20/07/2022

The company, best known for its range of vacuum cleaners, says that it aims to develop “an autonomous device capable of household chores and other tasks,” with The Guardian noting that such a device could be released by 2030. It comes over half a decade after the company released its first robotic device, the Dyson 360 Eye robot vacuum cleaner, in 2014. Dyson has long emphasized its interest in AI and robotics to underpin its future products.

Comes as part of £2.75 billion investment plan.

19/07/2022

Sometimes, even as a tech reporter, you can be caught out by how quickly technology improves. Case in point: it was only today that I learned that my iPhone has been offering a feature I’ve long desired — the ability to identify plants and flowers from just a photo.

It’s true that various third-party apps have offered this function for years, but last time I tried them I was disappointed by their speed and accuracy. And, yes, there’s Google Lens and Snapchat Scan, but it’s always less convenient to open up an app I wouldn’t otherwise use.

But, since the introduction of iOS 15 last September, Apple has offered its own version of this visual search feature. It’s called Visual Look Up, and it’s pretty damn good.

It works very simply. Just open up a photo or screenshot in the Photos app and look for the blue “i” icon underneath. If it has a little sparkly ring around it, then iOS has found something in the photo it can identify using machine learning. Tap the icon, then click “Look Up” and it’ll try and dredge up some useful information.

Like Google Lens built straight into your iPhone

18/07/2022

Microsoft is phasing out public access to a number of AI-powered facial analysis tools — including one that claims to identify a subject’s emotion from videos and pictures.

Such “emotion recognition” tools have been criticized by experts. They say not only do facial expressions that are thought to be universal differ across different populations but that it is unscientific to equate external displays of emotion with internal feelings.

“Companies can say whatever they want, but the data are clear,” Lisa Feldman Barrett, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University who conducted a review into the subject of AI-powered emotion recognition, told The Verge in 2019. “They can detect a scowl, but that’s not the same thing as detecting anger.”

Experts say AI emotion recognition is unscientific.