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by Emma Roth on (#6M648)
Illustration: The Verge Meta is rolling out real-time AI image generation in beta for WhatsApp users in the US. As soon as you start typing a text-to-image prompt in a chat with Meta AI, you'll see how the image changes as you add more detail about what you want to create.In the example shared by Meta, a user types in the prompt, Imagine a soccer game on mars." The generated image quickly changes from a typical soccer player to showing an entire soccer field on a Martian landscape. If you have access to the beta, you can try out the feature for yourself by opening a chat with Meta AI and then start a prompt with the word Imagine." GIF: Meta Additionally, Meta says its Meta Llama 3 model can now produce sharper and higher quality" images... Continue reading...
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The Verge - All Posts
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2024-05-06 00:49 |
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by Tom Warren on (#6M649)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge When I reviewed the Xbox Series X nearly four years ago, I called the console a next-gen PC." Not only did the Xbox look like a PC with its boxy, rectangular, tower-like case but it also felt like one thanks to hardware upgrades that allowed it to run games with a variety of PC-like graphical modes. Now, as we approach the next generation of Xbox, it looks like Microsoft is about to close the gap between Xbox and PC even further.Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has teased some potentially massive Xbox platform changes in recent weeks. At the same time, leaked internal memos have revealed an increased focus inside Microsoft on Xbox game preservation and forward compatibility. When you put all the breadcrumbs together, it feels like... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6M64A)
Henry Cavill as Geralt. | Image: Netflix We still don't know what Liam Hemsworth will look (or sound) like when he takes up the role of Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher. But we do know how long he'll be wearing the white wig: Netflix has confirmed that the show's fifth season will be its last.The news comes as Netflix has confirmed that it has started production on season 4 of The Witcher - the first that won't feature Henry Cavill in the lead role - and that it and season 5 will be filmed back to back. The two upcoming seasons will complete the adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski's books," according to Netflix. That means they will cover a trio of Witcher books: Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake.Netflix first announced that Hemsworth would be taking... Continue reading...
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by Nilay Patel on (#6M64B)
Image: The Verge Disney has big decisions to make about streaming, sports, Marvel, and more. Continue reading...
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by Lauren Feiner on (#6M60C)
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Brendan Hoffman, Getty Images A bill that could oust TikTok from the US looked like it could linger for months in the Senate, even after the House overwhelmingly voted to approve it. But a move by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) could change that.An updated version of the bill, which would enforce a ban of TikTok unless it divests from its China-based parent company, ByteDance, appears in a bill about sanctions on Russia and Iran. A separate bill that would prohibit data brokers from transferring US users' information to foreign adversaries is also included. It's part of a package on foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza. By combining the legislation, it could make the TikTok bill harder for the Senate to ignore.The foreign aid bill still needs to be approved... Continue reading...
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by Emilia David on (#6M60D)
Its robotic arm heats vegan burgers and crispy potatoes while relegating humans to assembly line jobs. Continue reading...
by Alex Heath on (#6M60E)
Mark Zuckerberg announcing Meta's AI assistant at Connect 2023. | Image: Meta Meta's AI assistant is being put everywhere across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. Meanwhile, the company's next major AI model, Llama 3, has arrived. Continue reading...
by Allison Johnson on (#6M60F)
Quiet, please. | Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Notifications are the soundtrack to modern digital life. When they're out of control, they make it hard to hear anything else going on. But if you manage them well, you can turn them into a subtle background noise. App developers want you to opt in to every notification possible, but thankfully, Android provides a lot of tools to help you tune in to the helpful stuff and tune out the distractions. It takes a little work upfront, but the payoff is worth it.I used a Google Pixel 8 Pro running Android 14 and a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 running One UI 6.1 to write the following guide - steps may be slightly different on other Android phones.Notifications in the settings menuOn either a Pixel or Galaxy phone, a good place to start is by... Continue reading...
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by Emilia David on (#6M60G)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images Stability AI laid off 20 employees just a day after announcing the expansion of access to its new flagship model. This comes after weeks of upheaval that saw its founding CEO leave the company.CNBC reports that the layoffs at the UK-based AI company, which runs the Stable Diffusion text-to-image model, represent roughly 10 percent of its workforce. In a memo to staff, interim CEOs Shan Shan Wong and Christian LaForte say the decision to let go of employees is part of a strategic plan to reduce our cost-base, strengthen support with our investors and partners, and enable teams to continue developing and releasing innovative products."The company did not say which departments were affected by layoffs, according to reports.Stability... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6M60H)
Illustration: The Verge AI is taking over at Google, and the company is changing in big ways to try to make it happen even faster. Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced substantial internal reorganizations on Thursday, including the creation of a new team called Platforms and Devices" that will oversee all of Google's Pixel products, all of Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Photos, and more. The team will be run by Rick Osterloh, who was previously the SVP of devices and services, overseeing all of Google's hardware efforts. Hiroshi Lockheimer, the longtime head of Android, Chrome, and ChromeOS, will be taking on other projects inside of Google and Alphabet.This is a huge change for Google, and it likely won't be the last one. There's only one reason for all of it,... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6M60J)
It's not an official Nintendo accessory, but everything about 8BitDo's Retro Mechanical Keyboard screams NES regardless. | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge If you're craving all things Nintendo after yesterday's Indie World showcase event, right now, 8BitDo's Retro Mechanical Keyboard has plunged to a new all-time low price. Normally $99.99, right now, you can buy the keyboard for $83.69 from Amazon. The Famicom-inspired Fami Edition, meanwhile, is available for about $2 more.From Super Buttons" labeled A" and B" right down to the color scheme, everything about the keyboard is designed to mimic the original NES controller's style. Yet, while it looks like it's straight from the '80s, it's got modern conveniences like programmable Super Buttons and clicky, hot-swappable switches you can easily replace. It also sports multiple connectivity modes, including Bluetooth, 2.4GHz wireless via... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6M60K)
Photo by Christian Charisius / picture alliance via Getty Images Apple's latest sustainability report shows that its greenhouse gas emissions are falling as it pushes suppliers to clean up their operations.Dig into the data in the report, and you'll find that Apple's gross carbon dioxide emissions dropped from 20.6 million metric tons in 2022 to 16.1 million metric tons in 2023. That's a 22 percent reduction over the year.The progress is mostly thanks to its suppliers using cleaner sources of electricity, the company says in a press release today. Looking back further, Apple says it has reduced its gross emissions by more than 55 percent since 2015. If it keeps up, Apple could be well on its way toward meeting its commitment to slash emissions by 75 percent by 2030.A dirty supply chain is probably... Continue reading...
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by Eve Peyser on (#6M5XA)
A less creepy iteration. | Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos courtesy of Boston Dynamics and Getty Images On Wednesday, Boston Dynamics announced the new version of its Atlas robot with a characteristically unsettling video. In it, a humanoid android lifts itself up from the floor by bending its legs backward and then swivels its fathomless void of a head a full 180 degrees like it's Linda Blair in The Exorcist. The footage is obviously creepy.In a press release, the company said that it decided to make the new, fully electric Atlas robot move like an undead Cirque du Soleil performer (paraphrasing) because it can more efficiently complete tasks when it is not constrained by a human range of motion." I am OKAY with this! Boston Dynamics is doing exciting things with technology!I do, however, have a novel suggestion for Boston Dynamics:... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6M5XB)
Image: IHG After some delay, Apple is finally bringing AirPlay to hotel room TVs - but you can only use it if you're staying in one of the more than" 60 IHG hotels it's available in starting today.Apple first announced the ability to use AirPlay in hotels with LG TVs during its Worldwide Developer Conference in 2023. The feature lets you stream shows, movies, and music from your phone to your hotel TV, as well as view photos or play games from a bigger screen.Although Apple previously said AirPlay in hotels would arrive by the end of 2023, it ended up pushing back its launch until this year. The feature finally popped up with the release of iOS 17.3 earlier this year.For now, AirPlay is currently only supported in select IHG hotels - such as... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6M5XC)
Rashida Jones as Suzie. | Image: Apple Apple TV Plus has been killing it on the sci-fi front lately, but this summer, the streamer's taking another stab at the murder mystery genre with Sunny, a new A24-produced series from showrunner Katie Robbins, director Lucy Tcherniak, and executive producer Rashida Jones.Based on Colin O'Sullivan's novel The Dark Manual, Sunny revolves around Suzie Sakamoto (Jones), an American woman living in Kyoto whose life is thrown into turmoil following the disappearances of her roboticist husband Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and their son in a catastrophic plane crash.Though all Suzie wants is her family back, what she receives (as a gift from the company Masa works for) is Sunny (Joanna Sotomura), an experimental robot designed to assist... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6M5XD)
Image: DARPA The US Air Force is putting AI in the pilot's seat. In an update on Thursday, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) revealed that an AI-controlled jet successfully faced a human pilot during an in-air dogfight test carried out last year.DARPA began experimenting with AI applications in December 2022 as part of its Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program. It worked to develop an AI system capable of autonomously flying a fighter jet, while also adhering to the Air Force's safety protocols.After carrying out dogfighting simulations using the AI pilot, DARPA put its work to the test by installing the AI system inside its experimental X-62A aircraft. That allowed it to get the AI-controlled craft into the air at the Edwards... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6M5XE)
A woman standing behind a man close enough to lean her head over his shouler as he stretches his arm outward. | Image: Netflix The idea of pretending to be a contract killer while working undercover for the police sounds stressful as hell, but the first trailer for Richard Linklater's Hit Man makes the gig seem like a fun way to work out those improv muscles.Loosely based on journalist Skip Hollandsworth's 2001 Texas Monthly article by the same name, Hit Man tells the tale of Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), an unassuming college professor who spends his free time pretending to be a mercenary to help police flush out folks who intend to put hits on people. Though Gary's disguises make him look like a cheesy character out of a film or show about shady criminals, that seems to be what convinces people that he's legit before the officers he works for (Retta, Sanjay... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6M5XG)
Image: GM General Motors' initial new home energy products are now available to purchase, including the equipment necessary to turn your GM-made electric vehicle into a mobile power generator for your home.GM has been teasing its new home energy products for months, including a home EV charger and vehicle-to-home (V2H) kit that enables a home to pull energy from an EV battery in the event of a blackout. That equipment is now available to customers but only those who live in California, Florida, Texas, Michigan, and New York. The company says it plans to expand to more states in the months to come.GM has been teasing its new home energy products for monthsThe new bundle, which includes the GM Energy Powershift Charger ($1,699) and GM Energy... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6M5XF)
The Neo family of devices. | Image: Elgato If you watch a Twitch streamer, it's almost guaranteed that they will be using at least one Elgato product. After dominating this part of the market for years, Elgato is now shifting its primary focus away from gaming with its new Neo line while also preparing a bevy of AI features to improve new and existing gear.Neo is a collection of Elgato's most popular products made simpler, more affordable, and more compact so they can be used easily with a laptop or iPad. They look more accessible, they look more friendly," says Julian Fest, general manager of Elgato, in an interview with The Verge. The entire industrial design is focused on being more appealing to a less technical audience."The $99.99 Stream Deck Neo is the star of the show,... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6M5TA)
The Korean tech giant is now expanding the previously voluntary policy to executives across its entire workforce. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung is introducing a companywide six-day workweek policy for executives as the Korean tech giant takes emergency measures to tackle ongoing business uncertainty. This new policy comes off the back of Samsung's disappointing financial results last year, alongside wider economic concerns like rising borrowing costs and oil prices and a rapid depreciation of Korean currency.As reported by The Korea Economic Daily, a Samsung Group executive said, Considering that performance of our major units, including Samsung Electronics Co, fell short of expectations in 2023, we are introducing the six-day work week for executives to inject a sense of crisis and make all-out efforts to overcome this crisis."Samsung is also facing increased... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6M5TB)
Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Last March, Panic launched a curated game shop called Catalog for its Playdate handheld. And one year later, the company says it has sold more than 150,000 games through the store. We want to let everyone who enjoys games know that there is a vibrant game dev community making hundreds of inventive and thoughtful games for Playdate," Arisa Sudangnoi, head of Playdate developer relations, said in a statement. The news comes exactly two years after the handheld first launched.At the beginning of 2024, Panic revealed that it had sold 70,000 Playdate units, and it now says that more than half of those users - 38,000 - have purchased a game through Catalog. For context, the Playdate launched with a season" of 24 games from notable... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6M5QP)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge I've always hated the fact Gmail only gives us five predefined categories - Inbox," Social," Promotions," Updates," and Forum" - that we can't customize. When the feature first launched in 2013, it felt like such an obvious omission I assumed Google would address it with a future update. But it's been over 10 years, and the tabs are still as limiting as they were back then.That's why I felt like I hit the jackpot last week when I stumbled upon CloudHQ's Gmail Tabs, a free extension that adds flexibility Gmail should have had from the beginning.Basically, the desktop app extension lets you turn labels you've created or search queries into tabs you can pin at the top of your inbox right above Gmail's useless Social,"... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6M5QQ)
MrBeast's 252 million YouTube subscribers are nipping at the heels of T-Series. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Despite his immense popularity and online presence, Jimmy Donaldson (aka MrBeast) has never been the most subscribed channel on YouTube - though that may not be the case for long. T-Series, India's largest music label and movie studio, currently holds the top spot with 263 million YouTube subscribers, but MrBeast is rapidly closing in on that figure with 252 million subs.With its leading position now threatened, T-Series published a new video on Monday encouraging viewers to subscribe to the channel. It opens with the quote I want to put India and my people at the top of the international platform," attributed to T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar (who passed away in 1997), before calling for prospective subscribers to make history... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6M5QS)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Nothing has announced that it plans to more deeply integrate ChatGPT with its smartphones and earbuds. The move will give the company's customers quicker access to the service. Through the new integration, users with the latest Nothing OS and ChatGPT installed on their Nothing phones will be able to pinch-to-speak to the most popular consumer AI tool in the world directly from Nothing earbuds," the company wrote in a blog post. And yes, the new Nothing Ear and Ear (a) are both supported.Spokesperson Jane Nho told me by email that gradual rollout of the integration will commence on April 18th with Phone 2 followed by Phone 1 and Phone 2A in the coming weeks." Once the update lands, you'll be able to query ChatGPT using the company's... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6M5QR)
Nothing is churning out new earbuds at a faster clip than smartphones. The company just introduced the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a), priced at $149 and $99, respectively. Together, they mark Nothing's fourth and fifth products in the headphone category. First came the original Ear 1, which stood out for its partly transparent design but suffered from bugs and inconsistent audio performance. Then, Nothing went after a different audience with the open-style (and oddly named) Ear Stick. And a year ago, the company shored up reliability and sound quality concerns with the Ear 2. Now it's back for another go-round.And guess what? Yep, they still look pretty much exactly the same.The Nothing Ear and Ear (a) both preserve the design that... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6M5NG)
Image: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Two prominent Senate Democrats are calling for increased scrutiny of autonomous vehicles and advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) like Tesla's Autopilot, arguing that the unimpeded flow of highly automated vehicles on public roads in recent years risks exacerbating the traffic safety crisis in the US.Automakers and tech companies say the technology can lead to safer streets. But there have been a number of high-profile incidents in recent years involving fully autonomous vehicles, as well as hundreds of crashes and dozens of fatalities in vehicles equipped with advanced driver-assist systems. The two senators, Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ed Markey (D-MA), argue that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's regulatory... Continue reading...
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by Alex Heath on (#6M5HE)
Illustration: The Verge Google fired 28 employees in connection with sit-in protests at two of its offices this week, according to an internal memo obtained by The Verge. The firings come after 9 employees were suspended and then arrested in New York and California on Tuesday.The fired employees were involved in protesting Google's involvement in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion Israeli government cloud contract that also includes Amazon. Some of them occupied the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian until they were forcibly removed by law enforcement. Last month, Google fired another employee for protesting the contract during a company presentation in Israel.In a memo sent to all employees on Wednesday, Chris Rackow, Google's head of global security,... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6M5F3)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In 2020, we wrote how coding bootcamp Lambda School seemed like a bit of a bait-and-switch. Four years later and one rebranding to BloomTech" later, the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is finally slapping it on the wrist - it's permanently banning it from issuing any more student loans, fining the company and its CEO $164,000, and releasing some students from some of their debt.Why? Among other deceptive practices, the Bloom Institute of Technology" didn't call them loans. It advertised a way for students to get high-paying tech jobs risk free" with no loans" by paying 17 percent of their future income for five years - rather than the $20,000 sticker price of tuition.But those Income Sharing Agreements (ISAs)... Continue reading...
by Emma Roth on (#6M5D4)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge After nearly a year of testing, Twitch's new TikTok-style discovery feed will finally roll out to all users later this month. During a Patch Notes livestream on Wednesday, Twitch announced the new feed that will let you scroll through separate feeds dedicated to clips and current livestreams.The new discovery feed will launch as a tab within the mobile app, and next month, some users might see this feed as the homepage of their mobile app. Twitch says all livestreams and clips are eligible to appear in its discovery feed as long as they meet its content guidelines.When scrolling through the live feed, you'll find live content from creators you follow, as well as streams recommended by Twitch. If you find something you like, you can... Continue reading...
by Wes Davis on (#6M5D5)
Bleeeeeaaaagggghhhhh. | Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge Comedy Central has ordered 10 episodes of Golden Axe, an animated show based on the fantasy beat 'em up sidescroller games. Deadline writes that it will be both hilarious and loving" in its adaptation of the game. If I remember my Sega Genesis days well, I think that means there'll be fighting over who gets to ride the purple bird dinosaur and that, at some point, a gigantic hairy skull will float down and hotbox everyone.Who's big idea was this, you ask? You can blame producers Mike McMahan (Star Trek: Lower Decks) and Joe Chandler (American Dad!), who will also write the first episode together, with Chandler serving as the showrunner afterward. A timeline for the show's release hasn't been announced yet.According to Deadline, Gilius... Continue reading...
by Amrita Khalid on (#6M5D6)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge TikTok will make entire accounts temporarily ineligible for its For You feed if users have a pattern of posting about extreme fitness, conspiracy theories, sexually suggestive material, and a wide range of other topics that the platform won't promote on the feed. The change was included in an update to TikTok's Community Guidelines issued on Wednesday. While videos about such topics are still technically allowed on TikTok, the content itself and the accounts of those who post them could be temporarily restricted.We're introducing a policy to make an entire account temporarily ineligible for recommendation in the For You feed if a creator repeatedly posts content that goes against our For You feed standards. Their account and content... Continue reading...
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by Lauren Feiner on (#6M5D7)
Image: Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images We might really do it this time.That was the takeaway that House lawmakers were eager to impart at a hearing in the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on innovation, data, and commerce (IDC). Comprehensive data privacy legislation is on the table yet again - but this time, it's different.Lawmakers also touched on children's online safety proposals like the Kids Online Safety Act, which recently got a House companion to the popular Senate bill, and COPPA 2.0, which would update and raise the age for protections for a long-standing online privacy bill for children.But privacy reform was the focus of much of the hearing, as a discussion draft for the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) revived the issue after years of inaction. This... Continue reading...
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by Victoria Song on (#6M558)
OnePlus could be a strong alternative to Google or Samsung for Wear OS smartwatches. Continue reading...
by Sheena Vasani on (#6M5AX)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge TikTok has started rolling out its Instagram rival, TikTok Notes, to select Android and iOS users for download and limited testing in Australia and Canada." A tweet announcing the launch, as well as the App Store and Google Play listings, showed off some official images of the app that offer insights about how it works for those of us who don't have access yet.In them, we see that you can write up headlines for images above your captions, which is a feature Instagram doesn't natively offer. Image: TikTok The homepage also seems to be divided into two sections, with a separate page where you can view posts from people you follow and another For You" page. It's organized a bit like Pinterest's homepage but with a... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6M5AY)
Image: Bay 12 Games Though you could always go on adventures in Dwarf Fortress, with the game's Adventure Mode expansion entering public beta today, you can now sally forth with a full complement of updated graphics.In Adventure Mode, there are all sorts of shenanigans to get up to in the ridiculously large and detailed procedurally generated world. It's an RPG campaign complete with character creation, quests to complete, and bandits to fight.With the public beta, your adventures on the surface world will look a lot more detailed than smiley faces and ASCII art. There's still the same level of granular detail in combat, allowing you to stab, punch, kick, throw, and bite just about anything on your enemies right down to their eyeballs. Check out a demo... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6M4EV)
Image: Boston Dynamics Now, there's a new all-electric version of the Atlas humanoid robot. Continue reading...
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by Gaby Del Valle on (#6M588)
Photo by Brian Sevald / NBAE via Getty Images The NBA has permanently banned Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter from the league for violating its gambling rules, the league said in a statement on Wednesday. According to an internal investigation conducted by the NBA, Porter bet on NBA games, disclosed confidential information to other gamblers, and adjusted his participation in certain games to influence the outcome of certain bets.The league started looking into Porter after a March 20th game against the Sacramento Kings in which Porter played for just three minutes. Porter left the game after saying he felt ill. Ahead of that game, Porter told an individual he knew to be an NBA bettor" about his health status, according to the NBA's statement. Another person then put an... Continue reading...
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by Quentyn Kennemer on (#6M589)
The Pixel 7A is a standout midrange smartphone that nearly performs like a flagship, now for an entry-level price. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Google is expected to introduce the new Pixel 8A at its I/O developer conference next month. That's probably a contributing factor for the new all-time low price we're seeing on the midrange Pixel 7A we were introduced to during last year's event. Amazon, Best Buy, and Google all have it down to $349, which is $150 off the original price.Buying it directly from Google is the better deal, as you'll also get three months of YouTube Premium and Google One, the latter supplementing the device's 128GB of storage with 100GB of extra cloud storage.The Pixel 8A's impending arrival could cause a deeper price drop, or perhaps Google will cement today's discount as a permanent change. But if you need a new phone right now, you shouldn't... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6M58A)
Image: Boston Dynamics. It's alive! A day after announcing it was retiring Atlas, its hydraulic robot, Boston Dynamics has introduced a new, all-electric version of its humanoid machine. The next-generation Atlas robot is designed to offer a far greater range of movement than its predecessor.Boston Dynamics wanted the new version to show that Atlas can keep a humanoid form without limiting how a bipedal robot can move." The new version has been redesigned with swiveling joints that the company claims make it uniquely capable of tackling dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks."We designed the electric version of Atlas to be stronger, more dexterous, and more agile," the company said in its press release. Atlas may resemble a human form factor, but we are... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6M557)
Tyner Rushing as Samantha Massey in For All Mankind. | Image: Apple Folks hoping to see more of Apple TV Plus' For All Mankind series are in for a treat, but the streamer is working on more than just a new season.Today, Apple announced that For All Mankind has been renewed for a fifth season that will continue to chronicle the alternate history of a world in which the Soviet Union is the first nation to put a man on the Moon and the United States set out to catch up with its rival. Following the show's season 4 finale, news of the renewal doesn't exactly come as a surprise, but Apple also revealed that executive producers Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi are working on a new series titled Star City, which will dig deeper into the live of the Soviets who changed the arc of human history.In a statement about... Continue reading...
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by Brandon Widder on (#6M559)
Like most people, I'd prefer to stare at a bunch of cacti in my living room rather than an uninspired black rectangle. | Image: Samsung Everyone may like watching movies on a big screen, but a hulking panel is nothing but an eyesore when turned off. That's why Samsung's Frame TV has become so popular over the last several years and why several TV manufacturers, including Amazon, have begun to crib ideas from the company's artsy panels. And while the Frame certainly isn't cheap, you can currently pick up the 2022 model at Amazon in the 55- and 65-inch sizing for $997.99 ($500 off) and 1,597.99 ($400), respectively. It's also on sale in the behemoth 75-inch configuration for $1,895 ($1,103 off), an all-time low, with Best Buy and Walmart matching Amazon's pricing in most instances.Despite its lofty price tag, the Frame isn't for people who want pristine image quality or... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6M55A)
Image: Riley Testut The Delta emulator is officially available on the Apple App Store - for free. You should be able to find in Apple's official store in many countries outside of the European Union. If you live in the EU, it should be available in the new third-party AltStore PAL app marketplace that just went live.The app marks the first significant and officially sanctioned game emulator for the iPhone since Apple began allowing them, with wide-ranging console emulation from the original Nintendo Entertainment System to the Nintendo 64 (and even the Sega Genesis, for when you want to play those games that Nintendon't).Delta developer Riley Testut told The Verge via email that the app is identical to the version debuting with AltStore PAL. The app... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6M55B)
Image: Amazon Amazon is pushing back on claims that its cashierless Just Walk Out technology is run by humans in India - not AI. In a blog post on Wednesday, the e-commerce giant calls these reports untrue" and says that a machine learning model powers its system.Last week, reports started going around that claimed Amazon employs around 1,000 workers in India to watch people shop and review purchases at stores using its Just Walk Out tech. The report claimed that Amazon's workers had to review around 700 of every 1,000 transactions in 2022, something that isn't uncommon in the world of AI.While Amazon insists these reports are erroneous," it doesn't deny that humans aren't involved with the process at all. Instead, Amazon says its workers are... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6M55C)
That 1.50 per year subscription does not include tax but does offset Apple's Core Technology Fee. | Image: AltStore PAL After we recently tested it in beta, the third-party iOS app store AltStore PAL is now live in the European Union thanks to Apple's compliance with the region's Digital Markets Act (DMA). The store requires a 1.50 (plus tax) annual subscription to cover Apple's Core Technology Fee (CTF) for installing the app marketplace itself.Installing AltStore PAL requires clicking through a lot of Apple's clumsily implemented scare sheets that double and triple check your desire to install apps from outside Apple's App Store. But with persistence and enough clicks it eventually installs.The new app marketplace is arriving with two apps developed by Riley Testut: Delta, an emulator capable of playing NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Game Boy... Continue reading...
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by Gaby Del Valle on (#6M55D)
Protest outside Google offices in Chelsea, Manhattan, NY, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. | Photo by Cristina Matuozzi/Sipa via AP Images Nine Google employees who occupied the company's offices in New York and California were arrested Tuesday night after an eight-hour sit-in.The workers were protesting Google's involvement in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion Israeli government contract for Google and Amazon's cloud computing services. Employees at the Sunnyvale, California, campus occupied Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian's office on Tuesday afternoon, while workers in New York held a sit-in in the common area of the Chelsea office's 10th floor.Workers in the New York office captured the arrests on video. Around 9:45PM on Tuesday, nearly eight hours into the protest, a group of police officers and a man who appears to work at Google approached the four workers remaining in... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6M55E)
Image: Visible Visible has just launched its first annual plans, letting customers lock in a year of mobile service all at once for either of the company's two tiers. The Verizon-owned prepaid carrier is charging $395 per year for its Visible Plus plan, which it says leads to annual savings of $145. The standard Visible plan runs $275 per year, and in that case, you're only saving $25 compared to the monthly rate.For now, annual plans are only available to new Visible customers and not existing users. Even once they do roll out more widely, it's worth thinking twice if you've got a discount code applied to your Visible Plus plan. Many people are only paying $35 / month for the normally $45 service. And if you do the math, you're only saving $25 for... Continue reading...
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by Emilia David on (#6M51Z)
Illustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos: Getty Images The next generation of the text-to-image AI model Stable Diffusion is still in preview, but Stability AI is making it available to some developers via API and a new content creation platform. Stability AI says developers can now access Stable Diffusion 3 from its Developer Platform.Stability AI says it's working with API platform Fireworks AI for companies that want to use both models. It also plans on hosting its model weights on its own servers through a Stability AI membership in the near future."The company released Stable Diffusion 3 in February to a small number of developers on preview. Stability AI says Stable Diffusion 3 is equal to or outperforms" other text-to-image generators, like OpenAI's DALL-E 3 and Midjourney v6, in... Continue reading...
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by Quentyn Kennemer on (#5H4ZT)
Some of the latest M3 MacBooks are on sale, and you can find great discounts on older models, too. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple currently sells MacBooks equipped with its own M-series chips in a wide range of sizes and price points. It recently discontinued the M1 MacBook Air to make room for the M3 Air, but some retailers are still selling new models cheaper than ever. Your options go all the way up to the latest 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 starting at $2,499. Purchasing a new MacBook can be a pricey endeavor, but finding a deal on a current Mac with the new M3 chip - as well as the higher-end M3 Pro and M3 Max - is actually not that difficult.While Macs may not experience perpetual discounts, it's not uncommon to see various models discounted by as much as $400. Alternatively, purchasing refurbished options directly from Apple is another way to save... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6M4YG)
This artist mockup of Dragonfly soaring over Titan's dunes has... well, Dune vibes. | Image: NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Steve Gribben NASA has been given the go-ahead to send a flying drone-like lander to explore Titan, the largest of Saturn's 146 moons.Targeting a July 2028 launch, the agency announced on Tuesday that it can now complete the final design for Dragonfly - a Mars rover-sized rotorcraft that will be used to detect prebiotic chemical processes common on both Titan and the early Earth before life developed."If all goes according to plan, the eight-rotor drone is scheduled to arrive at Titan in 2034, where it will fly to dozens of promising locations" to characterize the habitability of Titan's environment and hunt for any signs that life once existed on the organic-rich moon. Titan's denser atmosphere (around four times that of Earth's) will aid the... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6M4YH)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge New year, new Nintendo indie showcase. Continue reading...
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