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Sean Hollister

Sean Hollister

Senior Editor

Sean is a senior editor at The Verge, a very good website he helped found in 2011. He thrives at the intersection of gaming, technology, and toys, with a side of consumer advocacy because companies just can't help themselves, can they? Sean previously led breaking news teams at The Verge and CNET and the reviews program at Gizmodo. He also has that voice.

Ethics statement, June 2023: Sean's wife is employed by Apple as a video producer. He therefore does not currently report or edit stories about Apple products or Apple as a company.

Threads is getting ads sooner or later — here’s what they might look like.

Meta told TechCrunch it’s not actually testing ads in Threads yet, but it’s getting more underpinnings in place — now including this “Sponsored” badge that might appear next to an advertiser’s (or sponsored creator’s) username. It was spotted by developer Alessandro Paluzzi.

Threads boss Adam Mosseri confirmed in April that ads are coming; last we heard, it might not be till next year.


Spot the “Sponsored” label.
Spot the “Sponsored” label.
Image: Alessandro Paluzzi (Threads)
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The Verge
The OLED-toting Zotac Zone handheld is indeed available for preorder — just not in the US.

We held off on a story ’cuz we couldn’t initially find it on preorder, but here it is at Scan UK and Overclockers UK and Germany’s CaseKing, for example.

What about the US? Zotac told Tom’s Hardware it isn’t offering preorders here. Can’t imagine it beats ROG Ally X for the same $800 with a much smaller battery inside... but twin trackpads and OLED intrigue me!


Genki’s transparent PocketPro might be the best-looking 8BitDo gamepad yet.

The SN30 Pro was already one of the best pocketable Bluetooth gamepads you could buy, complete with Switch motion controls — 8BitDo recently added drift-resistant Hall Effect sticks, too.

Now, Genki is adding this gorgeous transparent white version with cool legends and a handy reference to swapping between its three modes. Note: It’s a crowdfunding campaign right now, but it’ll retail for $50, just $5 more than the opaque version.


1/7

This tiny gamepad isn’t ‘one-of-a-kind,’ but it sure is adorable.

Competition is a good thing, especially when it’s cute! We’re just not sure why CRKD would call the $20 Atom a “one-of-a-kind keychain controller” when the $25 8BitDo Micro and $20 Zero 2 have been around for years. The Micro even comes with a lanyard...

But I guess the CRKD does come in more colors, including transparent ones!


CRKD’s Atom. Its first product was the Nitro Deck.
CRKD’s Atom. Its first product was the Nitro Deck.
Image: CRKD
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Instagram
The best folding portable Bluetooth keyboard I’ve tried yet is a Royal Kludge.

I don’t need a lot in a folding Bluetooth keyboard. It just needs to support multiple wireless devices, plus USB-C direct connect, and not get all floppy on my lap! Would you believe there aren’t a lot of keyboards like that? 


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The Verge
Acer will honor Intel’s warranty extension on crashing chips — meaning everyone’s finally on the same page.

Acer to The Verge, today:

We are offering a two-year extended warranty for affected 13th and 14th Gen Intel Core desktop processors causing instability issues. While we are working closely with Intel to address the situation through microcode updates, customers experiencing such issues should contact their nearest Acer service center.

I think that’s just about everyone. Now we see if everyone makes exchanges difficult... or easy.


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The Verge
Lenovo will now honor Intel’s two-year extension on crashing desktop CPUs.

Lenovo previously had an unsatisfactory answer, but it’s come around:

For affected processors, we will honor Intel’s 2-year processor warranty extension and recommend customers impacted by any CPU instability issues to contact Lenovo service for support.

Fuller statement in our big story: