The new PS5 (right) is a bit shorter than the original (left). | Image: @phantompainss

The launch of the slimmer PlayStation 5 is just weeks away, and one user seems to have already gotten their hands on the updated console. In a series of images posted to X (formerly Twitter), user @phantompainss shows how the updated console stacks against its chunkier counterpart.

The new PS5 looks like it’ll have a slightly smaller footprint when compared to the original console. Not only does it have a slimmer profile than the standard PS5, but it’s also a couple of inches shorter as well. Despite the thinner design, the back of the device appears to retain the same ports as its predecessor, including an HDMI port, two USB ports, a power connector, and an ethernet port.

Image: @phantompainss

The images also appear…

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Marathon and Destiny 2’s The Final Shape have been delayed. | Image: Bungie

Bungie is laying off around 100 staffers as well as delaying two of its forthcoming titles: Marathon and Destiny 2’s forthcoming expansion, The Final Shape. The latter is now expected to launch in June 2024, while the former won’t be expected until 2025.

The layoffs, first reported by Bloomberg, are part of ongoing cuts within Sony’s PlayStation division. Ex-Bungie employees have begun posting on social media about the layoffs, which impact around eight percent of the studio’s workforce. Sony purchased Bungie last year in a $3.6 billion deal that was supposed to see the Destiny developer operate as an independent unit within the company.

“Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact…

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Yuvraj Malik / Reuters:
Match Group reports Q3 revenue up 9% YoY to $882M, vs. $880.6M est., paying users down 5% YoY to 15.7M, and forecasts Q4 revenue below estimates; MTCH drops 6%+  —  Match Group (MTCH.O) on Tuesday forecast revenue for the fourth quarter below Wall Street estimates, anticipating continued weakness …

Emma Roth / The Verge:
YouTube says it “launched a global effort” to encourage users with ad blockers to allow ads or try YouTube Premium, after a “small experiment” earlier this year  —  YouTube is broadening its efforts to crack down on ad blockers.  The platform has “launched a global effort” …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google and Match Group say they’ve reached a settlement in an app store antitrust case, letting Match implement third-party billing options by March 31, 2024  —  Google and Match announced today they’ve reached a settlement in the antitrust battle Match waged against the tech giant …

Image: Apple

In addition to a new iMac, Apple announced new M3-powered versions of the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro during its “Scary Fast” event on Monday. The new laptops can be configured with either the M3, M3 Pro, or M3 Max chip, all of which should offer larger performance gains than the last-gen M2 chip. Each MacBook Pro is currently available to preorder online ahead of its release date in November, with the M3 and M3 Pro models due to arrive on November 7th, while the M3 Max will ship later.

If you’re wondering how the new laptops compare with the M2 models on paper, we’ve rounded up everything we know so far based on specs and statements from Apple. Stay tuned as well for our full reviews, in which we’ll let you know how well the laptops…

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Wall Street Journal:
Sources: WeWork plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as early as next week; WE drops 40%+ after hours  —  Once a venture capital-backed star with an astronomical valuation, the flexible-office-space provider is now preparing for chapter 11 protection  —  WeWork is planning to file …

Illustration: The Verge

Match Group and Google announced a settlement on Tuesday in Match’s lawsuit against the company. The last-minute decision leaves Google scheduled to go up against Fortnite publisher Epic Games alone in an antitrust trial that starts next week, with Epic alleging that Google Play’s payment policies are anticompetitive.

Match sued Google in May 2022, alleging the company “illegally monopolized the market” for app distribution with Google Play and imposed an “extortionate tax” with the fees it takes from transactions on the marketplace. Its claims dovetailed with an existing complaint from Epic as well as a coalition of state attorneys general. Google and the states announced their own settlement in September.

Under the terms of this latest…

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Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google and Match Group say they’ve reached a settlement in an app store antitrust case, letting Match implement third-party billing options by March 31, 2024  —  Google and Match announced today they’ve reached a settlement in the antitrust battle Match waged against the tech giant …

Yuvraj Malik / Reuters:
Match Group reports Q3 revenue up 9% YoY to $882M, vs. $880.6M est., paying users down 5% YoY to 15.7M, and forecasts Q4 revenue below estimates; MTCH drops 6%+  —  Match Group (MTCH.O) on Tuesday forecast revenue for the fourth quarter below Wall Street estimates, anticipating continued weakness …

If you have a Nothing Phone 2, you’ve likely been pretty happy with the steady stream of software updates you’ve received. Well, we have good news, which is that there’s yet another update on the way, this time in the form of Nothing OS 2.0.4.

According to Nothing, this update is rolling out now to the Phone 2 globally. However, depending on your location, it might be a day or two before you see it. Be sure to head to Settings > System > System Update to see if the update is waiting for you.

Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
Doc: a Dutch regulator ruled in July that Apple’s fees on some app subscriptions violate EU antitrust laws, after Apple offered to drop its cut from 30% to 27%  —  – Watchdog issued confidential July decision on App Store abuses  — Regulator previously warned Apple over in-app payment rules

Since Google started offering the Messages for Web service, you’ve authenticated the connection between your phone and computer (or tablet) by scanning a QR code. Scanning the code affirmed that you were the device’s owner and allowed your secondary device to access, respond to, and otherwise manipulate your texts. The major exception here is Google Fi users, who just log in to the web portal using their Fi account.

Thankfully, it looks like authentication will get easier, more intuitive, and maybe even a little more fun for everyone. According to an APK teardown conducted by 9to5Google, Google is likely working on an account-based system for Messages authentication. This means that everyone —not just Fi subscribers — can connect their account to the web by logging into the same Google account they use on their phones. Easy!

Chavi Mehta / Reuters:
AMD Q3: revenue up 4% YoY to $5.8B, vs. $5.7B est., net income up 353% YoY to $299M, Data Center revenue flat at $1.6B, and Q4 revenue forecast below estimates  —  Chip designer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O) forecast fourth-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates on Tuesday …

The shortening days may mean you need a bit of extra motivation to progress your fitness goals. The Fitbit Sense 2 can be that gym or jogging buddy, and at over $100 off in this latest deal, there hasn’t been a better time to buy it in 2023.

Fitbit Sense 2 for $198.04 ($102 off)

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

Twitch is pulling the plug on its Nintendo Switch app; the streaming company is “ending support” for the app, according to a support page. It will be removing the app from the Nintendo eShop on November 6th and people who already have it downloaded will “lose access” on January 31st, 2024.

Twitch launched its Switch app in late 2021, but users have voiced some complaints with the app. You can’t see a stream’s chat, for example, meaning you have to use another device if you want to see what other people are talking about or type a message of your own. You can’t subscribe to creators if you want to support them. And you also can’t use the app to broadcast your own gameplay.

I’ve asked Twitch if it can share more information about why it’s…

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Image: Toby Fox

Deltarune fans, consider your bones trousled. On Tuesday, the fifth anniversary of Deltarune’s release, Undertale and Deltarune developer Toby Fox shared some wonderful news worthy of a spooky celebration. In a development update, Fox shared that Deltarune’s third chapter is “nearing completion” and outlined his plans for the game’s full release.

“Chapter 3 is pretty much content complete! There will be essentially no more changes to dialogue or gameplay from here,” Fox wrote on his website, interspersed with cute Halloween-themed sprites of everyone’s favorite monster crew.

Though Fox explained that there is still more work to be done on Chapter 3 before it can be released in full, he said that his team has mostly transitioned to…

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Text-to-speech extensions for Google Chrome are certainly a niche, but if you need one, you need one — say if you have reading difficulties, or you’re simply so busy multitasking that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to catch up on every book or article that interests you. Thankfully there are plenty of text-to-speech extensions out there, and these are some of the best.

The best text-to-speech Chrome extensions

These extensions are all similar in their core functions, but some go above and beyond, for instance letting you export a recording as a podcast or MP3 file, or scan images, not just raw text. The holy grail is an extension with a natural-sounding voice, but you may have to pay for the privilege.

Washington Post:
Ahead of the UK’s AI Summit, set to host Elon Musk, VP Harris, and others, the UK has highlighted doomsday scenarios while the US has focused on tangible issues  —  Vice President Harris, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other top executives are heading to the United Kingdom’s Bletchley Park …

Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal:
Chinese lidar maker Hesai, which had a $192M US IPO in February 2023 and has seen its stock drop 50%+, pushes back against US national security concerns  —  Chinese lidar maker Hesai is fighting concerns about the technology that is crucial for next-generation vehicles and weapons

MFW my supervisees tell me to stop asking questions because it is distracting. | Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Bloomberg, Getty Images

His employees told him he ‘should stop asking questions because it was distracting.’

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Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft debuts a Windows 11 2023 Update that replaces Chat with Microsoft Teams (Free); big features like Copilot and AI-powered Paint rolled out last month  —  Microsoft is releasing its Windows 11 2023 Update today, which was originally supposed to be one of the biggest updates to Windows 11.

What do you do when your dot matrix printer’s ribbon is torn to shreds after decades of use, and no new cartridges are available? You might like to attempt a ribbon transplant from another printer’s cartridge, and that’s just what [Chris Jones] did.

[Chris] was hoping to find a new ribbon for his Canon PW-1080A after the 33-year-old ribbon had been hammered to bits. With replacements unavailable, he instead turned to the more popular Epson FX80, for which new ribbons can still be found. Thankfully, the FX80’s ribbon is the same width as the one used in the Canon printer, even if the cartridge is of a completely different design.

The first step was to crack open the Canon cartridge to dump out the old ribbon. With that done, the Epson ribbon could be looped into the Canon cartridge and wound in using the built-in winder. With this done, [Chris] attempted a test print, but found results to be poor. The ribbon wasn’t advancing properly and there was a rather horrible noise.

The problem was that the Epson ribbon was significantly longer than the Canon part, and thus was getting jammed inside the cartridge housing. [Chris] was able to fix this by cutting out a slice of the Epson ribbon and sticking the two ends back together with superglue. With that done, the printer was happily up and running once more.

If you’ve got a dot matrix printer ribbon that’s dried up but not yet falling apart, you can always try reinking it. Video after the break.

Try another test print and it’s working perfectly. The printer is back in action so my children can print their masterpieces from AMX Art again. /end pic.twitter.com/tQUmPUzzLA

— Chris Jones (@mjtech01) October 31, 2023

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

DoorDash has added a pop-up in its app this week warning customers that orders with no tip might take longer to get delivered. Upon seeing the prompt in a since-deleted tweet on X, formerly Twitter, The Verge confirmed that if you enter $0 in the tip amount in the DoorDash app while placing an order, an alert appears with the below warning, prompting you to add a tip or continue without a tip:

Orders with no tip might take longer to get delivered — are you sure you want to continue? Dashers can pick and choose which orders they want to do. Orders that take longer to be accepted by Dashers tend to result in slower delivery.

The move appears to be an effort by DoorDash to show customers that drivers are likely going to prioritize more…

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Hamas posted gruesome images and videos that were designed to go viral. Sources argue that Telegram’s lax moderation ensured they were seen around the world.