News

Two U.S. carriers to halt all sales, exchanges of Note 7 [UPDATED]

Published

October 10, 2016

Monch Lopez

Samsung can’t put the second half of the year behind it fast enough. And its troubles are yet to subside; quite the contrary, they are worsening.

Two major U.S. carriers — AT&T and T-Mobile — on Sunday said they would halt all sales and exchanges of the troubled Samsung phone following reports of fires caused by new and “safe” Note 7 units.

“Based on recent reports, we’re no longer exchanging new Note 7s at this time, pending further investigation of these reported incidents,” AT&T said in an email sent to The Verge Sunday. “We still encourage customers with a recalled Note 7 to visit an AT&T location to exchange that device for another Samsung smartphone or other smartphone of their choice.”

[irp posts=”4473″ name=”You should replace your Samsung Galaxy Note 7 before it’s too late”]

T-Mobile head John Legere on Twitter said his company would stop selling and exchanging the Note 7 “out of an abundance of caution for our customers.” The carrier encourages subscribers to exchange their Note 7s with another device on T-Mobile and is giving a $25 credit on their bill.

U.S regulators are currently investigating the replacement Note 7 handset that caught fire on a Southwest Airlines flight on October 5. The plane was evacuated prior to take-off and no injuries were reported. At least four other incidents of replacement Note 7s catching fire have been reported in the U.S. alone.

In Minnesota, a young girl said she experienced a “weird, burning sensation” while holding her device; the phone later showed burn marks that were consistent with previous cases of Note 7s that were literally too hot to handle.

A man from Kentucky told local news outlet WKYT he woke up to find his bedroom filled with black smoke from his burnt Note 7. The man went on to say Samsung knew about it and didn’t say anything.

Even more damning, a Samsung representative allegedly sent him an inadvertent text message (likely intended for another company official) which said: “Just now got this. I can try and slow him down if we think it will matter, or we just let him do what he keeps threatening to do and see if he does it.”

[irp posts=”4936″ name=”How to identify a safe Samsung Galaxy Note 7″]

The fourth incident involves a man in Virginia whose replacement Note 7 “burst into flames” on his nightstand on October 9th. The man provided The Verge with copies of his receipts and photographs of his Note 7 box to corroborate his story.

The latest reported incident came from a Texas family who witnessed their device catch fire on a table. It had been replaced at a retail store in September.

Samsung has since issued a statement in which it said it is investigating the fires and working with U.S. authorities — in particular, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) — throughout the investigation. The company promises to share its findings “as soon as possible.” You can read the full statement below.

Samsung understands the concern our carriers and consumers must be feeling after recent reports have raised questions about our newly released replacement Note 7 devices.

We continue to move quickly to investigate the reported case to determine the cause and will share findings as soon as possible.

We remain in close contact with the CPSC throughout this process.

If we conclude a safety issue exists, we will work with the CPSC to take immediate steps to address the situation.

We want to reassure our customers that we take every report seriously and we appreciate their patience as we work diligently through this process.

At this point, it seems almost certain that we’ll hear about another global recall soon, and that the once-promising flagship will be pulled from shelves for good this time.

If the reports are indeed accurate, Samsung should cut its losses and discontinue the Note 7, and focus its efforts on making amends with affected customers. And it has to knock everyone’s socks off with next year’s S8 to even have a chance at winning back public opinion. That phone ought to be capable of doing more than just scanning irises and taking pictures with two rear cameras.

UPDATE, October 10: Verizon also announced today it would stop issuing replacement Note 7 phones to its customers. The company has the most wireless subscribers in the U.S.

UPDATE 2, October 11: The Galaxy Note 7 is done for. Samsung has asked all carriers and retail partners to “stop sales and exchanges” of the phone. Here’s the latest statement from the company.

We are working with relevant regulatory bodies to investigate the recently reported cases involving the Galaxy Note 7. Because consumers’ safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 while the investigation is taking place.

We remain committed to working diligently with appropriate regulatory authorities to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation. Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note 7 or replacement Galaxy Note 7 device should power down and stop using the device and take advantage of the remedies available.

UPDATE 3, October 12: Samsung said on Tuesday it would permanently cease production and sales of the Galaxy Note 7, The Wall Street Journal reports. To quote the company’s statement:

Taking our customer’s safety as our highest priority, we have decided to halt sales and production of the Galaxy Note 7.

The move effectively ends the phablet’s brief and embattled existence. Analysts said it could cost the company $17 billion in losses and forgone sales.

Source: The Verge, Samsung

Related Topics:Galaxy Note 7 recall Samsung

Automotive

Vespa celebrates 80 years with the Edizione Ottantesimo

A limited-edition release that honors eighty years of iconic Italian design.

Published

June 29, 2026

MJ Jucutan

The Foro Italico looks different when it’s ringed by Vespas, as seen when the iconic landmark hosted the four-day festivities of Vespa Roma 2026 — 80 Years of an Icon.

Mayor Roberto Gualtieri led the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and for four days, the Vespa Village makes the loudest argument anyone has ever made for scooters as cultural objects.

Opening day did not ease into things gently. First, the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato unveiled an official commemorative coin.

Soon after, Poste Italiane marked the occasion with a first-day cancellation ceremony for a special anniversary stamp.

Meanwhile, at the Stadio dei Marmi, curator Giacomo Bretzel opened 80 Years of an Icon – The Exhibition. This photographic account traces the remarkable journey of the vehicle.

Specifically, it shows how a basic scooter graduated from the factory floor to global cultural shorthand. It evolved from simple personal transport into a cinematic protagonist that people now ride across entire continents.

Only 1,946 of them

The number is deliberate. The Vespa Edizione Ottantesimo is limited to exactly 1,946 individually numbered units, one for each year the original rolled out of the Pontedera factory.

Vespa built it on the GTS 310 platform, which puts 25 horsepower through a single-cylinder 310 hpe engine, making it the most powerful Vespa in current production.

That mechanical upgrade sits inside a design that is genuinely doing something. The finish mimics raw, unprocessed steel. It’s textured and rough in a way that references the original load-bearing body before decades of refinement and lacquer softened everything.

A specific shade of green — pulled from the earliest single-color production models — accents the saddle and wheel rims. The rear seat comes with a removable hard cover that matches the bodywork. A direct callback to vintage racing fairings.

The wheels reinterpret the pressed sheet metal of the 1946 Vespa 98 with a diamond-cut channel finish.

On the side panels, a three-dimensional green numeral 80 sits inside a hexagonal bolt contour. The bolt shape itself highlights how artisans originally built these machines by hand.

A numbered plaque rests inside the under-seat compartment, and a matte grey helmet ships with every unit. None of these design choices are purely decorative. Instead, they each trace a straight line directly back to 1946.

Modern enough to use every day

The Edizione Ottantesimo features electronic traction control and ABS to handle unpredictable city roads. These safety systems adjust your grip before you even have time to react.

Meanwhile, full LED lighting keeps the road perfectly sharp after sunset. Up front, a 5-inch color TFT display runs the intuitive VESPA MIA connectivity system. Consequently, your route and incoming calls surface on the dash without you reaching for your pocket.

Beyond the display, a keyless ignition system allows you to simply unlock the scooter and go. Vespa even considered the smaller details to maximize daily utility. For example, courtesy lights illuminate both the rear shield and the under-seat compartment. This layout ensures you stop fumbling in the dark for your helmet and gear.

Crucially, none of these additions change what a Vespa fundamentally is. The chassis remains narrow enough to split lanes and light enough to park anywhere. Ultimately, these premium updates close the gap between a 1946 icon and a machine you want to ride every morning.

Beyond the Handlebars

To complement the vehicle, each Edizione Ottantesimo ships with an exclusive coffee table book from Assouline. The volume draws from the Piaggio archive to document eight decades of design, film, and travel.

Furthermore, owners can extend the package with premium accessories. Available add-ons include a color-matched 36-liter top box, luggage racks, side bars, and an anti-theft system.

Vespa Roma 2026

Currently, allocations are open online at edizioneottantesimo.vespa.com. Vespa strictly capped the total count at 1,946 units, and that number will not go up.

News

Android is finally getting a foldable gaming mode

It’s coming in the next few months.

Published

June 29, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

On today’s episode of “We Can’t Believe It Took Them This Long to Add This,” Android is finally introducing a native foldable gaming mode for smartphone with two screens.

Foldable smartphones have been around for a while now. Despite the popularity of the form factor today, they are, ironically, not the best ways to play games. Though they usually have the performance, their designs are hardly conducive to long play sessions. They don’t feel like handheld consoles; they are more like thick slabs without built-in buttons.

Over the weekend, Mishaal Rahman, now working with Google, has unveiled a new foldable gaming mode, which natively turns one of a foldable’s screens into a gamepad.

It’s a complete gamepad, too. The feature adds a D-pad, two thumbsticks, A-B-X-Y action buttons, L1-L3, R1-R3, and Start. Users can manually adjust the layout, the size of the buttons, haptics, and dark mode. The only drawbacks are that the gamepad is currently locked to 50 percent of the screen (or one of the displays) and that you can’t adjust the transparency.

This is a much needed feature. Most mobile games today offer only single-screen gamepads overlapping the whole screen. Some, of course, can utilize the second screen but not natively. Though developers will still need to adapt to the feature, having a native gamepad is a huge boon for regular mobile gamers.

The foldable gaming mode is expected to roll out starting with Android 17 in the coming months.

News

Lenovo says RAM prices are not coming back down again

Don’t expect things to get better even in the next decade.

Published

June 29, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

At this point, everyone is just waiting for the price of technology to come down to manageable levels once again. Unfortunately, the bubble might take much longer to pop. According to Lenovo, RAM prices are not coming down any time soon, if at all.

During ISC 2026 (via ComputerBase), Lenovo suggested that the current RAM prices are here to stay. By showing a graph of projected prices going well into the 2030s, the company says that they will no longer reach the relatively low levels we enjoyed a few years ago.

This disparaging trend is still a go, despite ongoing efforts to up production. According to Lenovo, manufacturers, including the company itself, is investing more resources to increase production capacity. However, AI companies are still gobbling up the supply for the supposed demand. Despite manufacturers’ best efforts, an increased supply will hardly affect the situation.

For anyone looking to upgrade their devices today, the prices of a new machine are disheartening, and it’s all thanks to AI. Right now, AI companies (and all other big-name companies who transitioned to AI) are buying up the world’s chips for their precious data centers, causing scarcities to be shouldered by us, the consumers.

Today, various brands have already confirmed that their users should expect price hikes throughout this year. Some, like Apple, have already raised the prices to absurd levels