The Verge

Microsoft’s Anti-Google Campaign Gets a Boost, From Google

Peter Kafka in Media on May 15 at 9:37 pm PT

Google tells Microsoft to turn off a home-grown YouTube app. Microsoft couldn’t be happier.

Back Online

So much ink has been spilled deriding the false concept of a “Facebook friend,” but I can tell you that a “Facebook friend” is better than nothing.

– Paul Miller, writing for The Verge, after being offline for a year

News Byte

Microsoft Will Unveil New Xbox May 21

Eric Johnson in Product News on April 24 at 12:08 pm PT

Microsoft will show off its next-generation Xbox videogame console at its Redmond, Wash., campus on May 21, according to invitations sent to reporters today. The Verge previously reported that the new Xbox, code-named Durango, will interact with owners’ cable boxes. Microsoft’s Nancy Tellem and Yusuf Mehdi shared numbers about its current living room fixture, the seven-year-old Xbox 360, at D: Dive Into Media in February.

Valve Pledges to Enter Videogame Console Wars With “Steam Box”

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 9 at 7:00 am PT

Valve’s co-founder Gabe Newell tells The Verge in an interview that the box will run Linux and be able to connect to eight TVs and eight controllers.

Let the Games Begin: Vox Media Launches a New Site Covering Videogames

Tricia Duryee in Media on October 24, 2012 at 8:21 pm PT

Meet Polygon, the newest member of the Vox Media family, which until today consisted of The Verge and SB Nation.

News Byte

Uber for Taxis Doesn’t Fly in New York City

Liz Gannes in Commerce on October 16, 2012 at 11:50 am PT

Car dispatch app Uber’s charisma and bravado have been surprisingly helpful in pushing it past incumbents and regulators into new markets, having won policy reversals in places like Boston and Washington, D.C. But New York City seems to be an exception, as the company said today it is cutting its month-old yellow cab service (after previously denying it to The Verge, which broke the story).