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Photo illustration: The Verge | Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Adobe's top lawyer discusses the future of copyright, why the Figma acquisition fell through, and why he's optimistic AI won't put creatives out of work. Continue reading...

Nanoleaf's new Smart Multicolor Permanent Outdoor Lights will be available in the spring. | Image: Nanoleaf Nanoleaf introduced its first dedicated outdoor lights during CES 2024 in a move that should help the company catch up with rivals like Hue, Govee, and Twinkly. The Smart Multicolor Outdoor String Lights and Smart Multicolor Permanent Outdoor Lights are the latest additions to the company's Matter Essentials line and will be available this spring.The new color-changing, addressable outdoor lights make Nanoleaf a more competitive player in the smart lighting world. Last year, Nanoleaf's Essentials Matter Smart Holiday String Lights made it to our list of the best holiday smart string lights, but the Philips Hue Festavia string lights were ultimately our top choice. That's in part because of how limited Nanoleaf's ecosystem was when it... Continue reading...

The Evie Ring's charging case comes with 10 full charges. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge There's always a certain degree of vaporware at CES. It comes with the territory - especially when we're talking about ambitious health tech that requires regulatory clearance. So it was really neat that after two years, I got to actually hold Movano's Evie smart ring in my hands ahead of the first wave of units shipping out to customers later this month.The Evie Ring's approach to health tracking has a twist. With wearables, women often feel like an afterthought in design. Just look at smartwatches. Usually, companies prioritize bigger sizes to extend battery life at the expense of those with smaller wrists. The Evie Ring, however, is one of the few woman-first wearables, and that clearly shows up in the design.Holding the ring in... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Grok, the AI bot built into the platform formerly known as Twitter, wasn't supposed to be like other chatbots. Grok was pitched as fun. It was pitched as funny. And it had all of Twitter - errr, X - to tap into for relevant answers. So it was supposed to be useful and responsive, too. But after trying Grok out, I'm left with one basic question: why does it exist?Technically, of course, Grok exists because Elon Musk wanted an answer to ChatGPT. The service is a paid add-on to X; it rolled out in beta last month to Premium Plus subscribers, who spend $16 a month for it and other perks. For X, it's supposed to ease a transition away from advertising. For users, it's supposed to offer the kind of up-to-the-minute information with which... Continue reading...

The Mega 95 is a new gaming handheld from Hyperkin that's designed to play original Sega Genesis and Mega Drive cartridges. It's equipped with a five-inch display that has a toggle to switch between 4:3 and 16:9 modes, and a battery that Hyperkin says should last 10 hours per charge. Think of it like a modern take on the Genesis Nomad with roughly three times the battery life and other modern conveniences.The handheld looks to be a portable version of Hyperkin's MegaRetroN HD Gaming Console, the existing Genesis-compatible retro console released in 2018 and which now sells for $59.99. Hyperkin's press release doesn't go into detail about how the Mega 95 runs its classic Genesis titles, but the MegaRetroN HD reportedly uses a hardware... Continue reading...

An in-development DuchesS, whose design might change before it's eventually released. | Image: Hyperkin Accessory maker Hyperkin is bringing back Microsoft's original Xbox Controller S as a modern gamepad, complete with Hall effect joysticks and triggers. The original Controller S came with the Japanese version of the console, while other markets got the massive Duke" controller. Eventually, the more compact controller became the default and superseded the Duke. Hyperkin is calling its take on the more compact gamepad the DuchesS."This will be the third retro Xbox controller design that Hyperkin has resurrected. It released its take on the Duke in 2018 and followed it up with a new version of the Xbox 360's controller called the Xenon last year. Image: Hyperkin The controller in white. Like its previous retro... Continue reading...

The $1,999 Huion Kamvas Pro 27 positions itself as a more affordable alternative to the $3,500 Wacom Cintiq Pro 27. | Image: Huion Huion has showcased the two latest additions to its Kamvas Pro range of display drawing tablets at CES, targeting budget-conscious creatives with professional features like high color accuracy and touchscreen support.The Huion Kamvas Pro 27 and Kamvas Pro 19 are now available to buy in the US for $1,999 and $1,099, respectively, following their initial launch in China on December 15th, and share some similarities with Wacom's much pricier Cintiq Pro lineup. The product range from both companies features a 4K resolution and paper-like anti-glare glass display, which has been specially bonded to reduce parallax (that gap between the stylus nib and the cursor), for example. Image: Huion Both versions of the new... Continue reading...

Three of Anker's new Qi2 chargers: A folding power bank, 8-in-1 charging orb, and 3-in-1 folding charger. Anker was one of the first companies to announce Qi2 chargers, in August 2023, and while everyone in the world seems to be launching them now, Anker's are the first I've gotten my hands on.For iPhone users, Qi2 is an easy sell already: with a compatible iPhone, it's less expensive than certified MagSafe chargers and just as fast. It's less compelling so far for Android users or mixed-platform households, though - it's slower than regular Qi charging on non-certified devices.I have spent a couple weeks with three Anker Qi2 devices, all of which are available today: the $109.99 MagGo Wireless Charging Station (Foldable 3-in-1), the $69.99 MagGo Power Bank (6,600mAh capacity), and the $99.99 MagGo Magnetic Charging Station (8-in-1),... Continue reading...

Screenshot by Emma Roth / The Verge Sony is previewing a new spatial content creation" system designed to let users edit and shape 3D models while wearing a virtual reality headset. The company showed off the headset along with a unique pair of controllers today during a presentation at CES 2024.The headset, which is powered by the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 platform and outfitted with 4K OLED displays, isn't primarily for gamers like PlayStation VR. Instead, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said that this new headset is made for professionals who work with 3D, allowing wearers to expand the creation space by overlaying virtual objects into physical spaces,"The demo showed users manipulating virtual objects while using two controllers: a ring and a pointer that fits into your... Continue reading...

Image: Apple Apple just released the first ad for its Vision Pro headset, and if you're a longtime follower of Apple, you might notice that it has some similarities to the original commercial for the iPhone.The Vision Pro ad, titled Get Ready," features a bunch of clips from movies and TV shows of characters putting on things like goggles, helmets, and masks. I spotted clips from Up!, an Ant-Man movie, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, and an Iron Man movie, to name a few. These clips all make it seem cool to put something on over your eyes, which is something Apple is going to have to do to make the Vision Pro a hit.The general structure harkens back to the first iPhone ad, titled Hello," which features a bunch of clips from movies and TV... Continue reading...

Asus' already announced PG32UCDM OLED monitor. | Image: Asus OLED monitors are getting exciting at CES this year. Asus has just announced three new OLED monitors, and two of them are capable of hitting 480Hz refresh rates. Much like LG, Asus has a dual-mode 32-inch OLED monitor that can offer 240Hz refresh rates at 4K resolution, or 480Hz at 1080p. Asus is also announcing a 27-inch 1440p OLED monitor that's capable of 480Hz natively.The ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDP dual-mode gaming monitor can switch between 4K 240Hz and 1080p 480Hz at any time," according to Asus. That means if you want to play something like Overwatch 2 or Valorant at high refresh rates you can switch to the 1080p mode, and keep the 4K 240Hz mode for ray-traced single player titles. Image: Asus Asus' latest... Continue reading...

MSI just announced the Claw, a handheld Windows gaming PC following the Steam Deck's lead. It's destined to challenge the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go at the same starting price of $699 - only this one has an Intel Core Ultra inside, which MSI claims is the clear winner over AMD in performance and battery life.I just got hands-on at CES 2024, and I can confidently tell you that as of right now, it's impossible to say whether it's any good - that depends on performance and battery life, which are not final. MSI is showing off engineering samples here at CES, ones that feel like they need the months of tuning they'll hopefully get before a first-half 2024 launch.Here's the good news: if you like the Asus ROG Ally and wish it were... Continue reading...

Illustration by The Verge Just a couple of weeks after Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie defended the company's decision to continue allowing Nazi content, Platformer reports that Substack will now remove some" publications that express support for Nazis.McKenzie's December post was responding to a letter from over 200 Substack authors who cited, among other things, a recent report in The Atlantic that pointed out over a dozen newsletters with overt Nazi imagery, as well as many more with evidence of extremist views. Some newsletters have left Substack over the last couple of weeks for other platforms like Ghost or Beehiiv, and Platformer notes that it has seen many paying customers quit, saying they do not want to contribute to a platform that they see... Continue reading...

The ROG Phone 8 Pro and Pro Edition have small displays on their backs. | Image: Asus Asus' ROG phones have always been targeted squarely at gamers, but with the ROG Phone 8, the company could broaden the lineup's appeal. The ROG Phone 8, ROG Phone 8 Pro, and ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition are thinner (8.9mm versus 10.49mm for the ROG Phone 7), lighter (225g compared to 239g), have better dust and water resistance (IP68 versus IP54), and also now include wireless charging at up to 15W - desirable features regardless of whether you're a smartphone gamer.The ROG Phone 8 lineup consists of the standard ROG Phone 8, the ROG Phone 8 Pro, and the ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition, which each differ slightly in design and specs. The $1,099.99 (1,099.99 / 949.99) ROG Phone 8 has an RGB logo on its back and comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of... Continue reading...

Once you plug this Android 13 tablet in, it goes full Windows 11 laptop. We've come close to figuring out the ideal 2-in-1 laptop, but no company has nailed it yet. Lenovo's latest attempt, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid, recognizes that Android has a better touch interface than Windows and that Windows has a better laptop interface than Android - and it combines the two to try to get the best of both worlds.When you're in laptop mode, the ThinkBook Plus Hybrid functions like a normal Windows laptop. But when you pull the display off the laptop, it turns into an Android tablet. The bottom half of the device - the Windows half - has an Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 75WHr battery. The top half has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor, 12GB of RAM, 256GB of flash storage,... Continue reading...

The button layout of the Claw doesn't deviate too much from other gaming handhelds. | Image: MSI MSI is the latest PC manufacturer to attempt to take on Valve's Steam Deck with the Claw, a new Windows-based gaming handheld it's announcing at CES. The Claw is powered by Intel's new Meteor Lake Core Ultra processor announced last month and can be specced with up to" an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, according to MSI's press release. At CES 2024, MSI tells us it plans to ship three models ranging from $699 to $799 when it arrives in the first half of the year - with the base tier shipping with an Core Ultra 5 and 512GB of storage.We'll have a full hands-on from CES soon: we literally just got hands-on the handheld and are writing up impressions now.Although Valve didn't invent the handheld gaming PC form factor, its release of the Steam... Continue reading...

Razer's press materials included this image, ostensibly of a LAN party, where everyone has brought enormous plug-in RGB desk mats along with their laptops. I love it and want to go to there. | Image: Razer You truly have to hand it to Razer for stretching a series of modest spec bumps across two separate announcements and two separate weeks. Razer was so excited about the new display options on the Blade 16 and Blade 18 that it announced them on the 4th, and today, we have a few more details about what's coming to both laptops this year, mostly of the spec sheet number go up" variety. There's also a USB-C dock. Here we go.The Blade 16 goes OLED and gets a minor CPU bumpThe biggest news for the Blade 16 is the previously revealed 2560 x 1600 240Hz OLED panel. Razer spokesperson Will Powers told The Verge via email that the Blade 16 will also be available with the dual-mode mini-LED display we tested in 2023, which can run at either... Continue reading...

Photo by Ashish Vaishnav / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images Hyundai is going all in on the most abundant element in the universe in the quest to reduce planet-heating emissions. The South Korean automaker announced that hydrogen will play a prominent role" in the company's efforts to go carbon neutral by 2050.Clean hydrogen should be for everyone, powering everything, and available everywhere," Jay Chang, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, said in a statement.As the auto industry shifts to electric vehicles, a small but growing cohort of companies is also embracing hydrogen fuel cell technology as part of their plans to eliminate tailpipe emissions. Honda, Toyota, GM, and Hyundai have all detailed plans to manufacture fuel cell vehicles, both for individual and commercial uses.H... Continue reading...

Image: OpenAI OpenAI has publicly responded to a copyright lawsuit by The New York Times, calling the case without merit" and saying it still hoped for a partnership with the media outlet.In a blog post, OpenAI said the Times is not telling the full story." It took particular issue with claims that its ChatGPT AI tool reproduced Times stories verbatim, arguing that the Times had manipulated prompts to include regurgitated excerpts of articles. Even when using such prompts, our models don't typically behave the way The New York Times insinuates, which suggests they either instructed the model to regurgitate or cherry-picked their examples from many attempts," OpenAI said.OpenAI claims it's attempted to reduce regurgitation from its large language... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is updating its cyberbullying and harassment policies and will no longer allow content that realistically simulates" minors and other victims of crimes narrating their deaths or the violence they experienced.The update appears to take aim at a genre of content in true crime circles that creates disturbing AI-powered depictions of victims - including children - that then describe the violence against them. Some of the videos use AI-generated, childlike voices to describe gruesome violence that occurred in high-profile cases. Families of victims depicted in the videos have called the content disgusting."YouTube's policy update will result in a strike that removes the content from a channel and also temporarily limits what a... Continue reading...

Apple's Vision Pro will officially launch in the US on February 2nd, and starting that same day, you'll be able sign up to try the headset out for yourself at the company's retail stores, Apple said in an email today.Starting at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, February 2, we invite you to sign up for a demo of Apple Vision Pro at your local Apple Store," Apple said in the email. Demo times will be available Friday through the weekend on a first-come, first-served basis. We can't wait to see you there."That language kind of makes it sound like Apple will only be offering demos through that first weekend of launch. Personally, I doubt that will be the case - I'm guessing Apple will want to give lots of people opportunities to try the Vision Pro... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is appealing a European Union decision that would see its App Store hit with tough new obligations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Reuters reports that its plea argues against the European Commission's designations of its App Store and the iMessage service.According to Reuters, Apple argues that the Commission's treatment of the App Stores on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch as a single store is based on material factual errors," as they all distribute apps for a specific platform and type of device.As well as the App Store, the European Commission is also investigating whether iMessage should also be designated as a core platform service under the DMA, which could result in Apple being forced to make its... Continue reading...

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 in Seattle on January 6, 2024. | Photo by Stephen Brashear / Getty Images The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Saturday ordered the temporary grounding" of 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes after a section of fuselage separated from the side of an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday, leaving a gaping hole in the plane. The agency issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive to airlines requiring that they inspect the planes, which it said in the grounding announcement will take around four to eight hours per aircraft."The New York Times reported Friday that flight 1282 from Portland International Airport had made an emergency landing back at the same airport just 20 minutes later because of a pressurization issue" that resulted in a wall of the plane blowing out. According to the Times, no one was in the... Continue reading...

Aqara's new Hub M3 will let you add third-party devices to the Aqara app for the first time thanks to its role as a Matter controller and Thread border router. | Image: Aqara Smart home company Aqara is finally launching its long-promised Hub M3, and it looks like it will be worth the wait. First teased in 2022, the Hub M3 is a Zigbee 3.0 hub for Aqara's wide range of Zibgee devices, but it will also act as a Thread border router and a Matter controller for Aqara's ecosystem. This means you should be able to connect any Matter-compatible device to the M3, from Philips Hue lights and Eve smart shades to Google's Nest Thermostat, and control and automate them all from Aqara's powerful app.Aqara is poised to become a complete smart home platform like Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, or Google HomeThis move turns Aqara's app into a serious option for managing your entire smart home; previously, it was limited to just... Continue reading...

Image: Philips Philips created a new smart lock that doesn't require a key or a code - all you need is your hand. The company showed off its new $359.99 Wi-Fi Palm Recognition Smart Deadbolt during CES 2024, which comes with a built-in palm scanner that unlocks your door when it detects your unique palm print.Philips says its lock can register up to 50 palm vein patterns and identify hands belonging to people of all ages - even if they're dirty. The palm-scanning tech seems a bit more convenient than having to type in a PIN or fumble for a house key, although these two methods are still available to use with this smart lock if you need them. You can also unlock the device using the Philips Home Access mobile app.While we've already seen tech giants... Continue reading...

Image: Bosch Automated parking isn't anything new. Every year, we get a new concept that purports to put valets out of jobs by using driverless technology to transport and store your car without human intervention.But Cariad, the software company owned by Volkswagen, and supplier Bosch are hoping to reinvigorate the idea by adding automated electric vehicle charging to the mix.The two German companies envision a system that guides electric vehicles driverlessly to an unoccupied parking space furnished with a charge spot, where a charging robot recharges them automatically." Once charging is complete, the car would autonomously move itself to another unoccupied space, freeing up the charging robot to accept another EV.Bosch and Cariad are now... Continue reading...

The Lockly Visage can unlock your door with a look. | Image: Lockly CES is where we get to see all those cool tech gadgets you see in movies become a reality, and with Lockly's latest smart lock, facial recognition is finally coming to our front doors. Yes, now you can unlock your front door like Tom Cruise.The smart lock company is showing off its newest product at CES 2024 this week. The $349 Lockly Visage smart lock with facial recognition can replace your standard deadbolt and turn your doorway into a high-tech haven. Just approach, and the door will unlock. The smart lock also works with Apple's Home Key and a fingerprint reader for other high-tech home entry options. Image: Lockly The Lockly Visage has a fingerprint reader, digital keypad, keyed lock, and facial... Continue reading...

Image: Ecovacs Ecovacs is launching a new all-in-one Deebot X2 Combo cleaning station that combines its signature square-shaped robovac with a handheld vacuum to touch up spots it can't reach. Both vacuums attach to a single auto-empty station, so you won't have to empty out either device yourself.First announced last year, the included Deebot X2 Omni robovac offers a powerful 8,000Pa of suction and 15mm mop lifting. It also comes with dual-laser lidar technology and AI obstacle avoidance that allows it to create a new path when it encounters an object in its way. Meanwhile, the X2's station automatically empties the dust and dirt collected by the bot. It's also capable of draining and drying the robovac's built-in mop and refilling its water tank.B... Continue reading...

This year's Golden Globes didn't feature all that many surprising upsets, and host Jo Koy lost the audience on more than one occasion, but the awards ceremony was marked by a number of heartfelt acceptance speeches and memorable moments that made it feel like Hollywood's ready to get back to work.Setting aside the messiness of Koy throwing the Golden Globes writers under the bus as his terrible jokes bombed, the evening was sprinkled with a handful of genuinely funny moments as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out its latest batch of golden statues. Though director Greta Gerwig's Barbie appeared to be the odds-on favorite in multiple categories with its 10 nominations, the film ultimately only came away with two wins: Best... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge The Supreme Court has declined a long-running legal challenge from X Corp., formerly Twitter, over whether it can publicly reveal US government demands for user data. X Corp. v. Garland was on a list of denied petitions released this morning. That leaves X with a March 2023 ruling that the First Amendment doesn't protect Twitter from limits on reporting national security demands - a ruling civil liberties organizations say sets a disappointingly low bar for censorship.Twitter filed its original suit in 2014, the year after whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed details of extensive secret US telecoms surveillance. In the wake of those disclosures, social networks won the option to report how many demands agencies like the Federal Bureau... Continue reading...