2004 was the first year of the future

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge In early 2004, the world was shaking it like a Polaroid picture, flocking to theaters to see what was going to happen with all those hobbits, and wondering if that Tom Brady guy was something special. Meanwhile, a few folks around the world were inventing the web as we…

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Instagram adds new guardrails to protect teens against sextortion

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram is launching several new features designed to protect teens from sextortion scams, which occur when scammers threaten to share intimate images of victims unless they receive a payment or more photos. One guardrail that’s rolling out soon will prevent people from screenshotting or screen recording disappearing images…

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Was this the sickest iPod?

I never owned an iPod Mini. Even as a college freshman back at the time of its introduction, I was already more of a full-size iPod kind of nerd. Mine was the third-gen model with the backlit buttons, which I maintain was the best version ever released. I wanted the most storage possible for the…

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Remember Blockbuster?

It was a chilly winter morning in 2004. The scene was Stanley, Idaho — a city with a population of 101 and a current temperature of negative 17. My boyfriend, who had lured me here from London, England, handed me a bright red envelope and asked if I could drop it in the mailbox on…

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How to choose which Apple Watch to buy

Image: Cath Virginia. / The Verge Between the Apple Watch Series 10, the Ultra 2, and the second-gen SE, there are more options than ever. We’ll help you sort through them. Editor’s note: Due to a patent dispute with medical device maker Masimo, new Apple Watch Series 9, 10, and Ultra 2 units sold in…

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