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Google’s Stadia controller finally works wirelessly with Android devices

Google’s Stadia controller finally works wirelessly with Android devices

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It has taken more than six months, but it’s finally here

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Google’s Stadia controller.
Google’s Stadia controller.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

It has taken more than six months, but Google’s Stadia controller now finally works wirelessly with Android devices. Google originally launched its Stadia service back in November as a subscription to stream games to TVs, Android phones, and the web. Wireless controller support was strangely missing at launch for Android devices, which meant you had to awkwardly connect the Stadia controller using USB.

Google is issuing a Stadia update to its Android app today that will enable the wireless support. It will also be a good opportunity for Stadia subscribers to test how well the Stadia controller roams between a Chromecast, the web, and Android devices.

Google Stadia.
Google Stadia.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

While the delay to wireless Android controller support hasn’t been ideal, Google has been gradually improving Stadia and bringing the features it originally promised during the cloud streaming service’s initial unveiling. 4K streaming via the web launched in March, and Google’s Stadia free service was made available in April.

Despite the free version and more games gradually being added to the subscription, Stadia still lacks a sold pool of players and multiplayer games to deliver on Google’s bold ambition. Google is promising to deliver more than 120 games to Stadia throughout 2020, so the game selection will certainly grow in the coming months.

Today’s Storystream

Feed refreshed Two hours ago Yes, it happened again.

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Twitter
Richard LawlerTwo hours ago
PC gamers showed up for a PlayStation hit.

NPD’s August update for videogame sales has arrived, noting that PS5 was number one in hardware sales for the month and that new-gen hardware sales are up significantly from last year due to improved supply for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X / S.

But the most astounding leap came from Marvel’s Spider-Man, which jumped from 84th on the chart the month before to number 3, thanks to Sony re-releasing the PlayStation exclusive on PC via Steam (and Steam Deck).


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Dan SeifertTwo hours ago
Apple’s CarPlay is still frustratingly basic.

Stephen Hackett at 512 Pixels has blogged about the frustrations he’s had migrating to a new iPhone and not having his CarPlay preferences carry over, despite every other app on his phone copying over correctly.

I’m with him on that, but I’m more annoyed by the second point he highlights: CarPlay still treats every vehicle you connect to as a different thing. Instead of preserving your preferences when you plug in to a different car, it makes you set it all up again for each new vehicle. This is annoying for families with more than one car; it’s downright maddening for frequent users of rental cars. Seems like a simple thing to fix!


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Richard Lawler12:49 PM UTC
Adnan is out.

Yesterday, a Baltimore City Circuit judge overturned the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, setting him free — for the moment — after serving 23 years in a case documented by the podcast Serial. This morning, host Sarah Koenig released Serial’s first new episode in seven years.

It’s Baltimore, 2022. Adnan Syed has spent the last 23 years incarcerated, serving a life sentence for the murder of Hae Min Lee, a crime he says he didn’t commit. He has exhausted every legal avenue for relief, including a petition to the United States Supreme Court. But then, a prosecutor in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s office stumbled upon two handwritten notes in Adnan’s case file, and that changed everything.


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James Vincent11:48 AM UTC
For every living human there are 2.5 million ants, say scientists, unprompted.

I honestly don’t know what to do with this information, which comes via The Washington Post. This is just one guy’s opinion, but it seems like an awful lot of ants. Like God accidentally maxed out the ant-slider or spilled a bag of “Oops! All ants!” into the biosphere during Creation. What I need is a lie down and to not think about the millions — sorry, 20 quadrillion — of ants out there.


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Thomas Ricker9:01 AM UTC
Pixel Watch to start at $349.99?

9to5Google reports that the Bluetooth/Wi-Fi model of the Pixel Watch will start at $349.99, after having previously reported the cellular model will cost $399.99. That puts them above Samsung’s $279.99 Galaxy Watch 5 and closer to what Apple charges (starting at $399 for the Series 8). We’ll know for sure come October 6th.


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Nilay Patel3:25 AM UTC
“Obviously Peacock sucks.”

Kim Masters has a good piece on Warner Brothers Discovery looking for a new DC studio chief, with rampant speculation that the endgame is Comcast buying the whole thing in 2024 to beef up Peacock.

Many top industry execs are so convinced a deal will happen that some are pre-mourning an event that may never happen. “People feel like it’s Comcast for sure,” says the head of one company. “It’s going to be so depressing to lose another major studio [after Disney bought Fox]. And Warners was the Tiffany studio.”


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The Verge
Nathan Edwards2:30 AM UTC
How’s that eSIM-only iPhone working out for you?

In my article about Apple dropping the physical SIM on the iPhone 14, I said it was “probably fine” for people on major US carriers. I also mentioned that my iPhone 11 had a physical Verizon SIM and an eSIM from a carrier in the Netherlands. This weekend I upgraded to an iPhone 14 Pro. The Verizon SIM transferred without a hitch. The other one? Not so much. Guess it’s time to admit to myself that I’m never moving back to Amsterdam.


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Mitchell Clark1:50 AM UTC
More testimony on how working at Tesla is a nightmare for women.

Rolling Stone interviewed five women involved in the several sexual harassment lawsuits against the automaker.

Hearing them describe how they were treated, and how Tesla failed to defend them (and sometimes actively punished them) is difficult.


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Nilay Patel1:36 AM UTC
Amazon says streaming Thursday Night Football was a huge success.

The official Nielsen numbers aren’t in, but a memo from Amazon’s Jay Marine says the game was “the most watched night of primetime in the U.S. in the history of Prime Video” and he expects the company exceeded the 12.5 million viewers it promised advertisers.

Amazon can’t go five minutes without pushing an unverifiable and unquantifiable statistic, so Marine also claimed the game was “the biggest three hours for U.S. Prime sign ups ever in the history of Amazon — including Prime Day, Cyber Monday and Black Friday.” Truly the emptiest of data points from the people who run Next Gen Stats Powered By AWS.


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Mitchell Clark1:20 AM UTC
It sounds like the DOJ isn’t happy with the Apple v. Epic ruling

According to TechCrunch, the Department of Justice will be allowed to argue its concerns about the original ruling during the appeal trial.

The DOJ is worried the decision as it stands could make future antitrust cases more difficult — which is especially important considering reports that it’s working on its own antitrust action against Apple.