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Nintendo may be releasing a cheaper version of the Switch this June, according to a report from Bloomberg, which corroborates earlier rumors that Nintendo is working on a budget model of its popular portable console. It's still not clear what changes Nintendo would make to yield a cheaper Switch, although some have speculated that the new console could feature a smaller display or remove the dock capability for a cheaper and more mobile-focused device. While Nintendo has yet to release its official numbers for the last fiscal year, according to Bloomberg, analysts estimate that Nintendo shipped 17.5 million Switch consoles. That number would beat out Nintendo’s revised estimate of 17 million units, but it would still fall short of the original (and highly ambitious) 20 million console goal. A cheaper model of the Switch could help Nintendo boost sales, a strategy that we’ve already seen the company use in the past with products like the Nintendo 2DS, a less powerful and b

Spoiler alert: This article does not address or reveal any plot points from Avengers: Endgame. It's just a recommendation for a specific refresher course. Trust us on this one. Ahead of the release of Avengers: Endgame, anti-spoiler mania has reached a point of frenzy, driven in part by the directors' anti-spoiler statement, a seemingly actively malicious pro-spoiler movement, and an extremely popular social media hashtag urging people not to be dicks about it. The Verge is so on board that our spoiler-free review doesn’t reveal a single plot point from the movie, and neither will this post. We're just here to say that the film, as a whole, ties back into a whole lot of Marvel Cinematic Universe history. It's a phenomenally referential film, and you can expect months to come of "Endgame Easter eggs you missed" posts and videos and listicles, mostly created by people who really underestimate your intelligence and your attention to detail, and hope you'

Apple has cut the price on the  HomePod  by $50, in what appears to be a permanent price drop from $349 to $299 for the smart speaker,  via  9to5Mac . This new discount isn’t the lowest HomePods price we’ve seen — last year saw holiday sales at retailers  as low as $249  — but unlike those sales, the new price isn’t a temporary deal, which could help juice up sales of the pricey speaker. Still, at $299, it remains one of the more expensive smart speakers on the market, especially compared to products like the Google Home, Amazon’s Alexa, or the Sonos One. The updated price still underlines the fact that Apple doesn’t have any budget options for integrating Siri into a smart home like Amazon and Google do with the Echo Dot and Home Mini products, respectively. The price cut seems to be universal across the various regions where the HomePod is sold. (The UK price has dropped from £319 to £279, for example.) The price change is effective immediately on Apple’s website. The post Apple

WhatsApp Business, a version of the messaging app that lets small businesses connect with their customers, is now rolling out worldwide on iOS. The free app  launched on iOS last month  but only in a limited number of countries. WhatsApp Business has been  available on Android since last year . Unlike the standard WhatsApp messaging app, WhatsApp Business lets business owners set up a profile to share company details like their email or store address, and also have access to greetings and away messages to manage interactions with customers (who contact them using the standard WhatsApp client). WhatsApp’s web interface is also supported by the app. The WhatsApp Business app should not be confused with the WhatsApp Business API, a paid service designed for much larger companies. The API allows businesses to send out notifications like boarding passes and receipts, as well as respond to customer queries. It’s currently one of the few ways  WhatsApp monetizes itself directly . The Whats

Google is shutting down the  Google Play Artist Hub  at the end of the month, reports  9to5Google . First  launched in 2012 , the hub allowed smaller indie artists to upload and sell their music through the Google Play store and Google Play Music service. The hub is no longer accepting new signups, and will not let existing members upload or edit their music as of April 30th. The demise of the Artist Hub comes as Google shuffles its main music offering. In its email to artists announcing the shutdown, Google said “With the launch of YouTube Music last year, we eventually plan to replace Google Play Music with YouTube Music.” It added, “we encourage you to become a YouTube Artist if you aren’t already,” and recommended a list of YouTube partners to sell music through the service. Last year the company said that YouTube Music  will eventually get all of Google Play Music’s key features . After artists cease being able to upload or edit their music on April 30th, it will be one more mon

The hype has risen and fallen for cloud gaming a few times in the past, but it’s never been hotter than right now.  Google’s announcement of its Stadia platform  is the strongest statement of intent yet from a company with the resources to be a major player, while  Microsoft’s xCloud service  is set to be revealed soon. The usual questions over bandwidth requirements and business models remain, of course. Google isn’t telling anyone what or how you’ll pay for games on Stadia. Many people still prefer to buy physical games over digital downloads, too, even if they’re lucky enough for internet speeds or caps not to be an issue. And particularly in the United States, with its huge landmass and distributed population, poor internet connectivity can definitely still be an issue. But it’s not like this technology is out of reach everywhere. I live in Japan, wherefast internet access is ubiquitous, and I’ve played various big-name AAA games that run entirely on the cloud. This has been goin

Verizon today announced that it has officially deployed its 5G mobile service in certain parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, which are  the first two of 30 cities  where it plans to bring its 5G wireless network this year. The surprise launch is one week earlier than the date the company initially announced, with the company noting that customers can expect average download speeds of 450 Mbps, and peak speeds could reach “nearly 1 Gbps.” To use Verizon’s 5G network, customers will need a 5G-ready phone. At the moment, that comes down to just the  Moto Z3  that it launched last summer paired with the  5G Moto Mod , which is available today. It will also cost customers  an additional $10 a month  to use the 5G network. Verizon will support 5G on the new  Samsung Galaxy S10 5G , which is expected to launch in the “first half of 2019.” (Put differently, it should arrive sometime in the next two months.) Today’s launch is different than Verizon’s previous  5G home network deployment  in fou

Tesla’s sales have fallen for the first time in nearly two years. The Silicon Valley automaker announced that it delivered 63,000 cars globally in the first quarter of 2019, about 50,900 of which were Model 3s. That represents a 31 percent decline in deliveries compared to the final quarter of 2018 .  The last time Tesla saw a quarter-to-quarter sales decline was in the first half of 2017 — just before the Model 3 went into production. Tesla’s sales have fallen for the first time in nearly two years. The Silicon Valley automaker announced that it delivered 63,000 cars globally in the first quarter of 2019, about 50,900 of which were Model 3s. That represents a 31 percent decline in deliveries compared to the final quarter of 2018 .  The last time Tesla saw a quarter-to-quarter sales decline was in the first half of 2017 — just before the Model 3 went into production. As a result, “we expect Q1 net income to be negatively impacted,”  according to a company statement . The statement al

Facebook app developers left hundreds of millions of user records exposed on publicly visible cloud servers, researchers from security firm UpGuard  said today . The researchers said the larger of the two data sets came from a Mexican media company called Cultura Colectiva. A 146GB data set with information like Facebook user activity, account names, and IDs was found that included more than 540 million records, the researchers said. A similar data set was also found for an app called “At the Pool.” While smaller, the latter included especially personal information, including 22,000 passwords apparently used for the app, rather than directly for Facebook. It’s not clear how long the data was publicly available, or who may have obtained it from the servers, if anyone. Both data sets were found on Amazon cloud servers, and the data was removed after Facebook was contacted, the researchers said. “Facebook’s policies prohibit storing Facebook information in a public database,” a spokesp

Marvel’s latest superhero flick, Captain Marvel, just crossed a big milestone: it’s earned more than $1 billion at the global box office,  according to  Variety . The film is the seventh in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to hit that mark, joining the likes of  Black Panther  and  Avengers: Infinity War . After being teased in last year’s  Infinity War , fans were eagerly anticipating the film and its titular character to arrive in a standalone spot, given Captain Marvel’s expected role in the forthcoming  Avengers: Endgame.  The milestone comes as the buildup to  Endgame  has begun. Marvel released a  new teaser yesterday  in conjunction with advance tickets going on sale, which  broke the record set by  Star Wars: The Force Awakens  in 2015 . The question isn’t will  Endgame  hit the billion-dollar mark, but how fast? That box office haul comes at the end of a decade-long buildup of Marvel’s film franchise, and it should bode well for the next phase, which begins this summer with  Sp

Tesla has  reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency  over hazardous waste violations that were discovered at the company’s factory in Fremont, California. Tesla has agreed to pay a $31,000 penalty, and, as part of the settlement, it will also buy $55,000 worth of emergency response equipment for the Fremont Fire Department. In 2017, Tesla allowed hazardous waste to accumulate on site without a permit beyond the allowed 90 days, according  to the settlement  (seen below), a copy of which was provided to  The Verge  by the EPA. The EPA found Tesla failed to “promptly clean up flammable paint and or solvent mixtures,” left two 55-gallon containers of hazardous waste open with “no gasket or locking mechanism,” and violated air emission standards for three leaky transmission lines that the waste moved through. The EPA found these violations during two “unannounced inspections” performed with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and the Bay Area