The Verge

Minecraft is 15 years old, so it’s only natural that Lego should honor the anniversary with a set just for the game’s many adult fans. The company has started taking preorders for The Crafting Table, a 1,195-piece 18-and-up build, as Jay’s Brick Blog writes. The set will cost $89.99 in the US when it’s released on August 1st.

Scarlett Johansson at Cannes in 2023. | Photo: Laurent Koffel / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Researchers at Arizona State University found that Scarlett Johansson’s voice does indeed sound like “Sky,” OpenAI’s currently discontinued GPT-4o voice, according to NPR, which commissioned the comparison. After using AI models developed to analyze vocal similarities to compare Sky to roughly 600 other actresses, the lab reportedly found Johansson’s voice was “more similar to Sky than 98% of the... Читать дальше...

Image: Netflix

Lara Croft’s next adventure — well, one of them, anyway — will start streaming this fall. Netflix announced that its animated Tomb Raider adaption will hit the service on October 10th. The show is called Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, and it picks up right after the most recent video game trilogy, which culminated with Shadow of the Tomb Raider in 2018. Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter in the MCU) will star as Croft.

Image: Toho International

Godzilla Minus One is officially streaming worldwide on Netflix as of today, everywhere except Japan and France, according to film distributor Toho International in a release shared with The Verge. You can also buy ($14.99) or rent ($5.99) digital copies, either in color (Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play) or black and white (Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play).

As you can see here, Sauron’s fortress of evil is sure to look great beside your modern art collection and West Elm furniture. | Image: Lego

You can now own Sauron’s tower from The Lord of the Rings — well, the Lego version at least. Starting today, June 1st, Lego Insiders can purchase the massive Barad-dûr set for $459.99 before it becomes publicly available to everyone else on June 4th. Lego Insiders will also receive Lego’s exclusive Fell Beast set, which comes with J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictionalized steed and a Nazgûl minifig... Читать дальше...

The Beats Studio Buds Plus are on sale in all styles, including their slick translucent option. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Beats may be releasing a new pair of budget earbuds later this month, but their $80 price tag comes at the expense of active noise cancellation. Thankfully, if you’re looking for a cool-looking pair of earbuds that will let you listen to music and tune out the world, the Beats Studio Buds Plus remain a great buy. And right now, they’re joining the Beats Solo... Читать дальше...

Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Boeing, NASA, and the United Launch Alliance are preparing to launch the first crewed Starliner flight test at 12:25PM ET today. You’ve got several options to watch live coverage of the launch, including YouTube (either on NASA’s or Boeing’s channel), on X (NASA, Boeing), and on NASA Plus, which has apps on various streaming devices.

Photo Illustration: Alex Parkin / Photo by Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images

Unsettled host Ilana Levinson spent two months trying to reach one of her contacts in Gaza for an interview. She had stayed in touch with Isam Hammad, a manager for a medical equipment company in Gaza City, since covering his work organizing the March of Return protest in 2018. But after he fled the city in November, the two hadn’t shared much more than the occasional WhatsApp voice note with one another. Читать дальше...

Stompers, where hitting your co-workers will not end in an HR violation. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

Violence is never the answer. That said, it was fun when I opened a walking app and whacked a Verge editor with a baseball bat and made another slip on a banana peel. After, I continued on my peaceful commute home. A bit later, one of my fellow writers walloped me not once but twice with their own baseball bat. I wasn’t actually mad, but it did prompt me to go on a walk around the block so I could hit them back. Читать дальше...

Sharing this solar generator’s batteries with a 3-in-1 solar fridge, freezer, and ice-making combo is a good idea that might get better.