Image: Yahoo! Auctions (Japan) Over on the Japanese Yahoo Auctions site, someone has listed an apparent pre-production version of the Super Famicom — the Japanese counterpart of the Super Nintendo (SNES). It’s similar to the console Nintendo eventually released in 1990 but with some stand-out differences, like a headphone jack and volume wheel on the side. Video game collector and historian Chris Kohler called it “god-tier Nintendo collector bait.” Some other variations include a big red power switch and the fact that the controller ports are on the left side of the console, rather than center ..read more

Not a Chromecast remote with a new button.Image: AFTVnews Google’s rumored “Magic Button” shortcut for Google TV has been spotted in the wild on a real-world remote for an upcoming streaming box... made by Walmart. AFTVnews got hold of Walmart’s still-unreleased Onn 4K Pro — a Google TV-powered streaming box — and the remote features the new star button in the top right corner. The device simply calls it the “customizable button,” and it can be programmed as a shortcut to an app or to allow you to change inputs. It replaces the dedicated TV input button on previous Onn streaming box remotes. I ..read more

Illustration: The Verge As people try to find more uses for generative AI that are less about making a fake photo and are instead actually useful, Google plans to point AI to cybersecurity and make threat reports easier to read. In a blog post, Google writes its new cybersecurity product, Google Threat Intelligence, will bring together the work of its Mandiant cybersecurity unit and VirusTotal threat intelligence with the Gemini AI model. The new product uses the Gemini 1.5 Pro large language model, which Google says reduces the time needed to reverse engineer malware attacks. The company clai ..read more

Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, speaks during a climate initiative event at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington, on Thursday, January 16th, 2020. Photo: Getty Images Microsoft is doubling down on a controversial plan to capture carbon dioxide emissions from wood-burning power plants. It announced a contract with energy company Stockholm Exergi to capture 3.33 million metric tons of carbon emissions from a biomass power plant in the Swedish capital in what is potentially the biggest deal of its kind to date — equivalent to taking more than 790,000 gas-powered cars off the road ..read more

Image: Wizards of the Coast A rare Magic: The Gathering card has sold for $3 million, making it the most expensive Magic card ever sold. And before you ask, Magic nerds, of course it was a Black Lotus. The sale of the card was announced last week by CGC Cards, a certification and grading company for trading cards, video games, comics, and more. View this post on Instagram A post shared by CGC Cards (@cgccards) The Black Lotus is the holy grail of Magic cards. It was first printed as a part of the card game’s Alpha and Beta sets that launched with the game’s debut in 1993. Though highly s ..read more

Image: Schuurman There’s a lot riding on Sonos’ first pair of wireless headphones; CEO Patrick Spence has said he expects the product category to be a huge revenue driver for the company. The headphones are expected to ship sometime next month, but today, we’re getting a first look at the hardware design — and we now know what they’ll be called. You’re looking at the Sonos Ace headphones. These images were prematurely published by authorized Sonos parts dealer Schuurman. The main image reveals quite a few buttons on both ear cups, a toggle switch of some sort, and a premium build that seems fi ..read more

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images NASA will attempt to send a pair of astronauts to space aboard Boeing’s Starliner aircraft for the first time today. Starliner has faced several delays over the years, with its first uncrewed test flight in 2019 ending in failure before it successfully docked at the International Space Station in 2022. While Starliner’s first crewed flight was supposed to take place last May, NASA delayed the launch due to technical issues. The launch will take place at 10:34PM ET from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, and you can watch it live from NASA’s YouT ..read more

Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge Republican lawmakers are attempting to overturn the twin pillars of the Biden administration’s climate platform: tax credits for electric vehicles and the Environmental Protection Agency’s new rules to curb tailpipe emissions. The effort involves new bills introduced by members of Congress, as well as lawsuits filed by state attorneys general, all with the goal of rolling back the minimal progress made by the Biden administration to reduce the share of planet-warming carbon emissions produced by the automotive sector. Last month, 25 Republican attorneys general ..read more

Image: Samsung In its quest to carve out a chunk of the OLED TV market, Samsung has, until now, focused on the premium end with impressive QD-OLED models. But today, Samsung announced the entry-level S85D series of OLED TVs, bringing the fight to LG Electronics at lower price points as well. And here’s the interesting thing: these sets almost certainly include OLED panels manufactured by LG Display. Samsung placed a big order for them last year to help meet its production needs, establishing a business alliance that would’ve been unthinkable in the not-too-distant past. The S85D comes in 55-in ..read more

Image: Arrowhead Game Studios Stand down, Helldivers. Your battle is won. Late last week, Sony announced that Helldivers 2, one of the most popular multiplayer games of the year, would require Steam players to link their account to a PlayStation Network account. After a weekend of strong player backlash, including review bombing the game on Steam, Sony reversed course earlier this morning and will no longer require PC players to link to a PSN account. Helldivers fans -- we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and ..read more