The best Google alternative I’ve tried yet

Image: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 8, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, first of all, hi, hello, welcome, and second of all, you can read all the old editions at the Installer ... more - theverge

Five ways the Meta Quest 3 will (let developers) change the game

On Wednesday, Meta didn’t announce an obvious killer app alongside the $499 Meta Quest 3 headset — unless you count the bundled Asgard’s Wrath 2 or Xbox Cloud Gaming in VR. But if you watched the company’s Meta Connect keynote and developer session closely, ... more - theverge

Mark Zuckerberg can’t quit the metaverse

Meta Almost two years ago, Mark Zuckerberg rebranded his company Facebook to Meta — and since then, he has been focused on building the “metaverse,” a three-dimensional virtual reality. But the metaverse has lost some of its luster since 2021. Companies ... more - theverge

Here are the Qualcomm chips that power Meta’s Quest 3 and new Ray-Bans

The Meta Quest 3. (It has two controllers, not just the one you see here.) | Image: Qualcomm Meta has just fully revealed its Quest 3 virtual reality headset and announced its Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, and they’ve both got Qualcomm silicon inside. ... more - theverge

Meta’s Quest 3 wireless charging dock juices up your headset and controllers

Image: Meta Meta is releasing a charging dock for its new Quest 3 headset. For $129.99, the all-in-one charging station allows you to neatly mount and charge the Quest 3 headset and controllers when you’re not immersed in virtual reality. This charging ... more - theverge

Here’s where you can preorder Meta’s upcoming Quest 3 headset

The new Quest 3 is smaller and more powerful than its predecessor. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Meta announced that the Meta Quest 3 will arrive on October 10th during its Meta Connect event, providing a little clarity around the headset’s initial ... more - theverge

How to watch Meta Connect — and Quest 3 — at 10AM PT / 1PM ET

Meta Connect’s shifting logo. | Image: Meta Meta Connect, the annual product summit from the company behind Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and the headsets formerly known as Oculus, will reveal its latest announcements in less than an hour. Meta Connect ... more - theverge

The Quest 3 is Meta’s last chance to win the headset war before it truly begins

The Quest 2 versus the Quest 3. | Image: Meta Meta doesn’t just need another hardware building block — it needs games. Continue reading… ... more - theverge

Valve suddenly says SteamVR 2.0 is now in beta — as headset rumors swirl

Half-Life: Alyx. | Image: Valve Valve built up to virtual reality for a very long time — and never stopped, but it also seemed to slow its roll while nurturing the Steam Deck gaming handheld. But for weeks now, Valve sleuth Brad Lynch has been tracking ... more - theverge

All the big tech events coming this fall

Image: Code September and October are some of the most exciting months of the year if you’ve been waiting all year to see the latest and greatest tech, even if that just means meeting the annual new iPhone. Of course, events are also planned for entertainment, ... more - theverge

Meta’s Horizon Worlds is surprisingly decent on the web and mobile

Image: Meta Meta’s Horizon Worlds 3D social platform is starting to roll out on the web and mobile, and it generally works a lot better outside of VR than I expected — though I wish there were more to do. Until recently, Horizon Worlds has only been ... more - theverge

Apple’s new software is widgets all the way down

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 7, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, first of all, hi, hello, welcome, and second of all, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve ... more - theverge

Meta is shutting down three Oculus games without explanation

Dead and Buried is a Wild West arena shootout multiplayer VR game. | Image: Gunfire Games Hope you didn’t enjoy playing Dead and Buried , Dead and Buried II , or Bogo on your Rift or Quest headsets — because Meta’s shutting them all down with no explanation, ... more - theverge

Apple’s new AirPods Pro with USB-C charging case is already $50 off on a preorder

While this is technically a photo of second-gen AirPods Pro with a Lightning case, the new USB-C model will look identical. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Apple’s biggest announcement last week at its “Wonderlust” event was, without a doubt, the ... more - theverge

Horizon Worlds’ avatars now walk among the virtual universe with their own legs

Meta used an AI model to help bring legs to avatars. | Image: Meta Virtual avatars in Meta’s Horizon Worlds universe have gained legs, according to UploadVR . You should now see them when looking at other users or checking out your own avatar in a mirror, ... more - theverge

Resident Evil 4 remake is getting its Separate Ways DLC on September 21st

Image: Capcom Capcom’s remake of Resident Evil 4 is getting its Separate Ways DLC starring Ada Wong very soon: it’s due out on September 21st. The expansion allows you to play through sections of RE4’s story as fan-favorite character Ada Wong, seeing ... more - theverge

PlayStation State of Play September 2023: all the news and trailers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Sony’s September show may not be quite as big as Nintendo’s, but there will probably be some fun announcements in store. Continue reading… ... more - theverge

Meta’s Horizon Worlds social platform is finally coming to mobile and the web

Super Rumble on mobile. | Image: Meta Meta is finally bringing Horizon Worlds out of virtual reality. The 3D social platform has previously been exclusive to its VR headsets, but Meta announced on Thursday that Horizon Worlds is starting to roll out ... more - theverge

US Army orders more Microsoft AR headsets now that they no longer make soldiers want to barf

A previous IVAS prototype sent to the Army by Microsoft. | Image: US Army The US Army is awarding Microsoft with another order of advanced mixed reality goggles designed for combat situations, Bloomberg reports. Microsoft had sent the Army a batch of ... more - theverge

Meta is adding new customization options to its avatar creator

Image: Meta Meta is adding some better customization features to its avatar creator as part of the latest update for its Quest headsets. With the v57 update, you’ll be able to “fine tune things like your hair and eyebrow color, more accurately adjust ... more - theverge

A new-old camera, Clubhouse pivots, and smart home apps galore

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 5, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, first of all, hi, hello, welcome, and second of all, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve ... more - theverge

Valve’s next mystery gadget may be imminent

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge We know for a fact that Valve’s hardware ambitions didn’t end with the Steam Deck. Over the past two years, Valve has suggested it would like to see a standalone VR headset, a new Steam Controller, and a Steam Deck revision ... more - theverge

GoPro is back at making 360-degree cameras

GoPro founder and CEO Nick Woodman confirmed a new 360-degree GoPro Max camera “is in the works and will be worth the wait” at the GoPro 12 launch event. This update was a long time coming – the original GoPro Max was released all the way back in October ... more - theverge

Niantic’s new AR experiment is a ho-hum Pikmin mobile browser game

Oh, hey, a strawberry. | Photo by Wes Davis / The Verge Niantic has a new Pikmin AR experiment for your mobile browser, called Pikmin Finder , that lets you pluck pikmin from any old place and send them off to collect treasure for you (via Nintendo Life ... more - theverge

Sony is making a $2,950 screenless, battery-less full-frame camera for drones

The camera isn’t much bigger than the E-mount itself. | Image: Sony Sony’s got a teeny-tiny new box camera that’s small and light enough to be sent into the sky on a drone, and it’s packing the high-resolution 61-megapixel full-frame sensor of its A7R ... more - theverge

Meta’s next Quest Pro might be a team-up with LG

Photo by Adi Robertson / The Verge A Korean news report suggests Meta is partnering with LG to release a successor to its high-end Quest Pro virtual reality headset in 2025. As spotted by UploadVR , Maeil Business Newspaper writes that Meta has struck ... more - theverge

Meta’s avatar legs roll out to beta testers, but only in Quest Home

Legs may soon come to the unwashed virtual masses. | Image: Meta Meta is adding legs to Quest Avatars in Quest Home — but not Horizon Worlds — in a new beta announced last week in the Meta Community forums (via UploadVR ). Community manager Ryanality ... more - theverge

The Space Invaders AR game now lets you play without using AR

Imagine this but not outside. | Image: Google Google and Taito have added a new “indoor mode” to their Space Invaders AR game, according to a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday. In this new mode for Space Invaders: World Defense , the game autopilots ... more - theverge

Google’s AR projects are reportedly facing even more setbacks

Illustration: The Verge Following reports that Google gave up on its Project Iris AR glasses in June, a new report from Insider suggests that the company’s plan to launch a mixed reality headset with Samsung is also facing setbacks. The rumored device, ... more - theverge

Somebody already unboxed the Quest 3

Image: @ZGFTECH via X Somebody has already unboxed a VR headset that is almost certainly Meta’s Quest 3, even though the device isn’t supposed to launch until sometime in the fall. You can see a video of the unboxing in this video on X, the platform ... more - theverge