Verge Archives

First Click: Booze, misfits, and a look at the week ahead

September 28th, 2015

Sep 28, 2015, 11:30 AM UTC

Thomas Ricker is a deputy editor and Verge co-founder with a passion for human-centric cities, e-bikes, and life as a digital nomad. He’s been a tech journalist for almost 20 years.

Now that you’re done staring at the moon let’s catch up with the weirdness from the weekend and prepare for the week ahead.

It’s going to be busy starting with the Google Nexus event on Tuesday, the release of OS X El Capitan on Wednesday, and then the LG event on Thursday.

And if things go according to tradition, we’re going to see an Apple press release at precisely 830AM ET touting record sales of its new iPhones — 18 years to the day since the company launched its “Think Different” campaign. So have at it, misfits — let’s see if you’re crazy enough to change the world.

Paris imagines a world without cars

Bicyclists, pedestrians, and rollerbladers swarmed the streets of central Paris on Sunday, taking advantage of the city's first ever "day without cars." All private, non-electric cars were banned from Paris' historic city center for seven hours yesterday, as part of a campaign to promote clean transportation.
Hacked Amazon Dash button is the fastest way to get pizza delivered to your mouth

Every day humans spend on this planet, it becomes easier to get pizza. First, you had to call for pizza. Now we can order online for pizza. We can use an app to push for pizza. We can use a 3D printer to make pizza. We can order pizza with emoji. Add another one to that list. Now, using Amazon's Dash buttons — small $5 devices designed to place orders for regular household items — we can slap a big white button for pizza.
Nexus 6P will have a huge battery and metal unibody design, leaked slides confirm

It's not just a massive battery that will keep the Nexus 6P from dying on you — thanks to the new Doze feature and other power-saving improvements in Android M. Doze promises to vastly improve battery life while in standby by smartly reducing background app refreshing. It's said to as much as double battery life on standby.
The Walk review: I hope you're not afraid of heights

The latest release is Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk, the true story of Philippe Petit, a French performer who stunned the world in 1974 by walking on a wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. With Zemeckis at the helm — only his second live-action movie in 15 years — it’s seemed all but guaranteed that the movie will pull off a mix of whimsical filmmaking and visual effects, but other than some obvious high-wire gimmicks what would the ever-present IMAX 3D actually add to the proceedings?
Can booze lure me back to a meal-delivery service?

I had just cancelled my Blue Apron food-delivery subscription when three words popped up in my news feed this week: Blue Apron Wine.
Boeing's secret stealth fighter jet from the ’60s was decades ahead of its time

Without any context, you might look at this photo and think, "that's a mockup of a modern stealth fighter jet" — perhaps a first stab at an F-22 or an F-35. But this is very different: what you're seeing here is Boeing's "Quiet Bird," a classified project from the early 1960s — yes, the early 1960s — to develop a military aircraft with an extremely low radar profile. That kind of stealth technology didn't end up seeing wide use in small military aircraft until the production of Lockheed's F-117 two decades later.
GoPro's new budget Hero+ Wi-Fi action cam offers wireless connectivity for $199.99

GoPro wants to make sure it has the action camera for you no matter how much you're looking to spend. The company's announcing a new entry-level action camera today, the GoPro Hero+ Wi-Fi. It's an action camera that slots in right between the base model Hero+ ($129.99) and the more expensive Hero+ LCD ($299.99), due for release on October 4th.
Aaron Sorkin apologizes to Tim Cook for harsh comments, says both of them 'went a little too far'

This weekend, Steve Jobs screenwriter Aaron Sorkin apologized to Tim Cook for the harsh words he directed at the CEO earlier in the week. Sorkin told E! News, "You know what, I think that Tim Cook and I probably both went a little too far." He added, "And I apologize to Tim Cook. I hope when he sees the movie, he enjoys it as much as I enjoy his products."
Master Chief is a fallen hero in the new Halo 5 trailer

Master Chief is dead. Long live Master Chief. Halo 5: Guardians is due out in less than a month, and developer 343 Industries is working hard to cement the legend of its super soldier. The latest trailer for the game — which aired during tonight's Sunday Night Football game — is a live-action affair set in the year 2560. The short clip acts as an obituary for the Halo series' central character: a newsreader announces the death of Spartan John-117 (better known as Master Chief), while the people of Earth look on, perturbed.
Ask Stoya: How do male porn stars have so much sexual stamina?

Pornographic videos are not documentaries. They are not an acceptable substitute for sex ed. Unfortunately, without widespread access to acceptable sexual education, people seem to be trying to use explicit entertainment as a replacement. Stop doing that.