The Verge

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge The iPhone 16, despite its marketing so far, still doesn't have Apple Intelligence. That's set to change on October 28th with the release of iOS 18.1, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in today's Power On newsletter.The update will bring with it AI-powered notification summaries, Gurman writes. Though he only lists that example, the iOS 18.1 beta has also included some Siri improvements (like understanding you better when you stumble over your words), along with writing tools and a new rainbow-colored glowing edge graphic when you summon Siri on a phone or iPad.Apple Intelligence only runs on the iPhone 15 Pro and up, but it's also been available in beta for Macs and iPads with Apple silicon chips (M1 and and up), so even if you... Continue reading...

The Pixel Watch 2 can still serve you well in 2024 if you don't need a bigger or brighter screen. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Pixel Watch 3 may be the shining refinement Google's wearable lineup needed, but the last-gen Pixel Watch 2 is still a great buy. That's especially true when you can get it for as low as $224 ($26 off) - which is the watch's current starting price at both Amazon and Best Buy.Although the Pixel Watch 3 introduces a host of solid improvements - including a bigger and brighter display, a new 44mm size, AI-generated workout suggestions, and offline Google Maps - the second-gen Pixel Watch is still a looker. It only comes in one size (41mm), and the usable display area is only about 10 percent smaller than the third-gen model. It also uses the same Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear W5 Gen 1 chip, though it lacks the ultra wideband chip that lets... Continue reading...

Image: Bethesda It's been a long time coming for Starfield players. Bethesda's sci-fi take on Skyrim originally launched last summer, and while there have been some updates and improvements since then, it's taken more than a year for the game to get its first major expansion. This lead-up means there's a lot riding on Shattered Space - which is a perfectly fine addition to the game that also feels incredibly underwhelming. After a promising setup, it ends up mostly being more of the same.Things start, as they so often do in expansions, with a distress call. This one leads you to a derelict space station that is brimming with ghostly apparitions and which eventually whisks you away to the home planet of the House Va'ruun, a religious sect that worships... Continue reading...

Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge Just over a year ago, Epic Games laid off around 16 percent of its employees. The problem, Epic said, was its own big ideas for the future and just how expensive they were to build. For a while now, we've been spending way more money than we earn," Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote in an email to staff.On Tuesday, onstage at the Unreal Fest conference in Seattle, Sweeney declared that the company is now financially sound." The announcement kicked off a packed two-hour keynote with updates on Unreal Engine, the Unreal Editor for Fortnite, the Epic Games Store, and more.In an interview with The Verge, Sweeney says that reining in Epic's spending was part of what brought the company to this point. Last year, before Unreal Fest, we were... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge This week, DirecTV announced it intends to buy Dish, Sling TV, and the rest of EchoStar's television business for a dollar (while also taking on all of Dish's debt), combining almost 20 million satellite TV subscribers from two companies that have been circling one another for decades.But it's not just DirecTV and Dish. AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, General Electric, GM, News Corp, Tumblr, and the various incarnations of Time Warner have also gotten mixed up or split up while trying to bridge the gap between communications and media over the years.Here's a partial timeline of the events that might end with these two companies joining together at last.AOL, meet Time Warner At the turn of the 21st century, it was obvious that the internet... Continue reading...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Facebook is announcing a host of updates to its platform today, many of which focus on pushing users outside of their social bubble of friends and family.Among the updates are new tabs being added to Facebook that are meant to surface more content for users, including recommendations based on a person's location. A new Local" tab will collect content from other Facebook surfaces like the resale platform Marketplace, local groups, and events - essentially what sounds like Facebook's version of Nextdoor. The Local tab is being tested in 10 US cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Austin, Texas.Facebook will also begin testing an Explore" tab, which sounds similar to the Instagram feature of the same name: a personalized... Continue reading...

Image: Warner Bros. Todd Phillips' new Joker sequel is a pitchy mess that wants to explore what happens when villains become folk heroes. Continue reading...

$500 is a lot for a point-and-shoot film camera, but it rewards you with a joyous experience. Continue reading...

Image: Epic Games In February, Disney and Epic Games announced that they were collaborating on a persistent universe" that would feature characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and more. Disney franchises have been featured in Fortnite for years, but this new universe promises to be something grander - and will be interoperable with Fortnite.Disney and Epic didn't share many details about how this would all work when it was announced. But after talking to Epic executives during Unreal Fest in Seattle this week, I've learned a bit more about what to expect.A lot of it comes down to connecting into Epic's ecosystem. Disney wants a persistent place where all things Disney can be there, but they want to be part of an ecosystem we've built," Epic... Continue reading...

Photo by Daniel Golson for The Verge Rivian said it would make fewer electric vehicles this year than it did in 2023, resulting from a parts shortage. The news came as the company reported third quarter production and delivery numbers that came in below analyst expectations.Rivian says it expects to produce between 47,000 and 49,000 vehicles this year, down from the 57,000 vehicles it originally forecast. That number was flat from the previous year, when the company produced 57,232 vehicles and delivered 50,122.Rivian said the disruption is due to a shortage of a shared component on the R1 and RCV platforms," referencing the company's R1T and R1S vehicles, as well as its commercial van platform. This supply shortage impact began in Q3 of this year, has become more... Continue reading...

Canvas should make it easier for ChatGPT users to make alterations to code and text without rewriting entirely with additional prompts. | Image: OpenAI OpenAI has launched a new canvas" interface for ChatGPT that allows users to adjust sections of text or code generated by the chatbot in a side-by-side collaboration. Canvas opens a separate editing window next to the existing ChatGPT chat box, which can be used to manually change text or code, or highlight specific sections to better target editing suggestions and feedback from ChatGPT.With canvas, ChatGPT can better understand the context of what you're trying to accomplish," OpenAI said in its announcement. Making AI more useful and accessible requires rethinking how we interact with it. Canvas is a new approach and the first major update to ChatGPT's visual interface since we launched two years ago."

The checkmarks are only being displayed on a limited number of businesses, and are only visible to some users right now. | Image: Google / Jay Peters Google is experimenting with a new verification feature in search that should make it easier for users to avoid clicking on fake or fraudulent website links. Some people are seeing blue verified checkmarks beside business links in Google search results that indicate the company - like Meta or Apple - is genuine, and not some copycat attempting to benefit from a recognizable brand.We regularly experiment with features that help shoppers identify trustworthy businesses online, and we are currently running a small experiment showing checkmarks next to certain businesses on Google," Google public affairs spokesperson Molly Shaheen told The Verge.My colleague Jay Peters spotted checkmarks next to official site links for Microsoft, Meta,... Continue reading...

Image: Ford Ford is launching a redesigned version of the largest SUV in its lineup, now including Ford's brand-new Digital Experience infotainment system. The 2025 Expedition is the second Ford to get the Android Automotive-based system after the new Explorer, but the new SUV's dashboard and UI look like a chopped-down version of the giant panoramic display first introduced in the 2024 Lincoln Nautilus.The new Expedition, which is first being teased with a drone light show today in Texas, looks like it has only the left half of the Lincoln's 48-inch pillar-to-pillar panoramic display, leaving behind just a 24-inch panel for the Expedition.You're getting the same instrument cluster and navigation combo in front of the driver's seat, but without... Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple has just released iOS 18.0.1, the first official update for iOS 18, and it includes a handful of bug fixes that particularly benefit the iPhone 16 lineup. And after yanking iPadOS 18 just a day after it came out in September for bricking some M4 iPad Pros, Apple has released iPadOS 18.0.1, and it's available for those M4 iPads, MacRumors reports.According to the patch notes, the update addresses the issue of iPhone 16 and 16 Pro touchscreens becoming temporarily unresponsive. iOS 18.0.1 also includes a fix for the camera freezing under very specific circumstances when recording a macro mode video on the ultrawide camera on the iPhone 16 Pro.Here are Apple's full iOS 18.0.1 patch notes, which I just grabbed from the update on my... Continue reading...

Image: Firaxis Games The news, trailers, hands-on impressions, and more from the new game from the legendary series. Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta is bringing reminders to its Ray-Ban smart glasses, a feature it previewed during its Connect event last month. With the update, you can ask Meta AI to remember your surroundings, like where you parked, and even time up reminders to make a phone call.The other features coming with the update include the ability to send and record voice messages on WhatsApp or Messenger without taking out your phone. You can now ask Meta AI to scan QR codes or call phone numbers that you come across, too.Meta is also updating how you invoke Meta AI while wearing the smart glasses. Instead of saying Hey Meta" before each question, you now only need to say Hey Meta" for your first question and then ask any additional questions without the prompt.... Continue reading...