The Verge

Illustration: The Verge Bing's new search experience puts AI-generated answers front and center while pushing traditional search results to the side. The new layout, which is rolling out for a small number of queries, fills your search results page with AI-generated summaries addressing various aspects of your question.Microsoft has shared an early look at what this search experience will look like... and it's a lot. For the query What is a spaghetti western?" Bing displays a summary explaining that it's a subgenre of western films produced by Italian filmmakers," along with a series of bullet points of the genre's key characteristics. Image: Microsoft I know that this feature isn't fully rolled out yet, but as a Bing and Edge user (we... Continue reading...

An image representing AMD's new Ryzen 9000 desktop parts. | Image: AMD AMD was set to launch its new Zen 5 processors on July 31st, including the 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen 9 9950X, a chip it's calling the world's most powerful desktop consumer processor." Instead, it's now announcing a one- to two-week delay out of an abundance of caution." The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X will now launch on August 8th, while the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X will go on sale on August 15th.This is not because AMD's found any issues with the actual chips, spokesperson Stacy MacDiarmid tells The Verge. Rather, AMD discovered some of its chips didn't go through all of the proper testing procedures, and the company wants to make sure they do.Here's the full statement from AMD computing and graphics SVP Jack Huynh:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge More than 500 developers at Blizzard Entertainment who work on World of Warcraft have voted to form a union. The World of Warcraft GameMakers Guild, formed with the assistance of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), is composed of employees across every department, including designers, engineers, artists, producers, and more. Together, they have formed the largest wall-to-wall union - or a union inclusive of multiple departments and disciplines - at Microsoft.This news comes less than a week after the formation of the Bethesda Game Studios union, which, at the time of the announcement, was itself the largest wall-to-wall Microsoft union.In a statement emailed to The Verge, Microsoft spokesperson Delaney Simmons wrote, We... Continue reading...

Little phone, how I miss you. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge We've already heard rumblings about an iPhone Slim model taking the place of the iPhone Plus in 2025, making it the iPhone 17 Slim. Now, a new report from Apple supply chain expert Ming-Chi Kuo corroborates earlier claims, suggesting that the company's incredible shapeshifting non-Pro iPhone is about to evolve yet again.Kuo agrees it will come with a 6.6-inch screen and adds that it'll have just one rear-facing camera along with the company's beleaguered in-house 5G chip. Kuo says that the Slim model won't be a direct replacement for the Plus; instead, it represents new design trends beyond the existing iPhone lineup." That tracks with rumors that it might cost more than the $1,200 Pro Max.Apple has had one heck of a time trying to... Continue reading...

The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottomancan now be ordered with plant-based upholstery made from bamboo. | Image: Herman Miller Can you finally feel guilt-free about buying an iconic piece of furniture that starts at $6,395? For the first time in 68 years, Herman Miller is offering its Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman with a plant-based upholstery option that looks and feels like leather but is primarily made from bamboo.The plant-based fabric, called Banb, was developed by von Holzhausen and first launched back in 2020 as a durable alternative to both leather derived from animals and vegan leathers made using plastic-based materials like polyurethane. Banb is made by chopping up bamboo and extracting fibers that are spun into a yarn that can be woven into fabrics. Those fabrics are then treated with a plant-based topcoat sealant, according to von Holzhausen's... Continue reading...

Photo by Samuel Corum / Getty Images The Senate unanimously passed a bill on Tuesday letting victims of nonconsensual intimate images created by AI - or deepfakes" - sue their creators for damages.The Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act (DEFIANCE) Act lets victims of sexually explicit deepfakes pursue civil remedies against those who produced or processed the image with the intent to distribute it. Victims who are identifiable in these kinds of deepfakes can receive up to $150,000 in damages under the bill and up to $250,000 if the incident was connected to actual or attempted sexual assault, stalking, or harassment" or the direct and proximate cause" of those harms. It's now up to the House to take up the bill before it can be moved to the... Continue reading...

Image: Apple / RapidSOS First responder networks are lining up to support a major new emergency feature in iOS 18: Live Video support. Now, 911 support platforms, including RapidSOS Unite and Prepared, are integrating with Apple's Emergency SOS Live Video, which was announced at WWDC in June.The new feature lets you video chat with 911 dispatchers and emergency responders, aiding them in finding you fast when you need help. Apple's Emergency SOS could already relay a voice call and send texts to responders, as well as share your location.This is all part of Apple's bigger push to add safety features in recent years, including Crash Detection, which was introduced on the iPhone 14 and newer and later added to the Apple Watch Series 8, Ultra, and the second... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Reddit is ramping up its crackdown on web crawlers. Over the past few weeks, Reddit has started blocking search engines from surfacing recent posts and comments unless the search engine pays up, according to a report from 404 Media.Right now, Google is the only mainstream search engine that shows recent results when you search for posts on Reddit using the site:reddit.com" trick, 404 Media reports. This leaves out Bing, DuckDuckGo, and other alternatives - and that's likely because Google has struck a $60 million deal that lets the company train its AI models on content from Reddit.It's a bold move for a massive website like Reddit to block some of the most popular search engines, but it's not all that surprising. Over the past year,... Continue reading...

Canadian soccer coach Bev Priestman will miss the Olympic team's opening match against New Zealand. | Photo by Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images A member of the Canadian Olympic women's soccer team was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand's practice session on Monday. It's said to be the second drone incident" at a New Zealand practice over the past week.As a result, the Canadian Olympic Committee has announced that soccer coach Bev Priestman will not coach the Olympic team's opening match tomorrow. Two other staffers have been removed from the team and are being sent home from the games.The Canadian women's soccer team is the defending Olympic champion after winning gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021. According to TSN, the New Zealand team is currently ranked 28th. Taking Priestman's place as head coach during tomorrow's match will be the team's assistant coach, Andy... Continue reading...

Image: Google Google has updated the suspicious file warnings Chrome displays for why it might have blocked a potentially suspicious or dangerous file download to hopefully give users clearer explanations. For people who turn on the anti-phishing Enhanced protection feature, opting in to upload suspicious files for scanning in the cloud, it's also shifted to automatic scans, saying files sent for deep scans are 50 times more likely to be marked as malware.In response to widespread targeted cookie theft attacks on YouTube channels and other groups, like the Linus Tech Tips hacker takeover last year, Chrome has also added a prompt to scan encrypted archive files such as .zip files that have a password. Users will be prompted to enter the password so... Continue reading...

The Ace have an understated design that's very sleek, especially in white. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge If you're looking to be an early-ish adopter of some fancy headphones and you like the color white, you're in luck. The porcelain-colored Sonos Ace are on sale for $409.99 ($40 off) at Amazon.Sonos' first wireless headphones feature top-notch sound quality, noise cancellation, and a transparency mode. These features may be par for the course among its equally pricey competition, but what makes the Ace unique is its integration with the Sonos home audio ecosystem. If you're invested in Sonos speakers or soundbars, the Ace uses the Sonos app and has a nifty extra where you can instantly swap your TV audio from an Arc soundbar to the privacy of your headphones (if you're on iOS, since the feature has been delayed for Android). This... Continue reading...

Apple executives Greg Joswiak and Craig Federighi have made it well known that the company has little interest in getting the iPad prepared for macOS software. During an event following Apple's 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Federighi said, We want to keep making iPad the best iPad it can be. We are not trying to create a Windows 8 PC or whatever." But that hasn't stopped Apple users from craving something more out of their iPads.Across our articles, videos, and podcasts, we see comments asking about what it would take to get macOS on their devices or asking for predictions of the day Apple will change its mind. So, we decided to try to find the answer.In this latest video from The Verge, video director Owen Grove... Continue reading...

Sunny the robot has a very expressive face. | Image: Apple The murder mystery was a chance for showrunner Katie Robbins to imagine a different kind of sci-fi vision. Continue reading...

Samsung's flagship foldable is as good as ever, but it feels anything but fresh. Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is bringing a handful of new features to its Google Play store on Android today. There are new categorized Collections" that highlight content from apps you've already installed. The company's reward program is adding more prizes, including Pixel hardware. Google's Play Pass subscription service is introducing more versatile gaming capabilities. And in Japan, Google is rolling out a curated space for comics, which will let people dive into first chapter previews without needing to install third-party apps first.Taken together, these changes are intended to make Google Play an end-to-end experience that's more than a store."The company previewed some of the latest updates at a media briefing in New York City on Tuesday. Google... Continue reading...

In addition to iOS and Android mobile devices, the GameSir G8 Plus works with the Nintendo Switch. | Image: GameSir GameSir's latest mobile controller has an added bonus - it also works with the Nintendo Switch. In addition to turning iOS and Android smartphones into handheld consoles not dependent on finicky touchscreen controls, the new GameSir G8 Plus can replace the Switch's Joy-Cons with more ergonomic alternatives that will never succumb to joystick drift.Unlike many clamp-on gaming controllers for mobile devices that physically connect through a USB-C or Lightning port, the GameSir G8 Plus uses Bluetooth. That's what allows it to connect to smartphones, tablets, the Switch, and even PCs without requiring users to pick a version with a specific connector.The tradeoff is that the gamepad relies on a pair of 500mAh rechargeable batteries. That... Continue reading...

Trucks near a warehouse in San Bernardino County, California | Image: Wes Reel / The Verge The data is in, and it shows a significant rise in air pollution where e-retailers build their warehouses, and the neighborhoods hit the hardest have more people of color living in them.Warehouses have mushroomed across the US with the rise of e-commerce - creeping closer to Americans' homes and becoming more common than office buildings. They're there to store, sort, and send off packages that wind up at our doorsteps seemingly out of thin air. In reality, that flurry of activity sends fleets of trucks and delivery vehicles through communities, affecting neighborhoods closest to warehouses the most.I would argue that it's a very meaningful, impactful amount."The first nationwide study of its kind linked truck traffic from warehouses... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Years after Twitter replaced the pistol emoji with a green and orange water gun, X has decided to change it back to a regular handgun. An X employee announced the change in a post last week.The company hasn't explained the change, but it feels on brand for Elon Musk's social network. Twitter originally switched its emoji to display a water gun in 2018, following others like Google and Facebook. (Apple made the switch in 2016; Microsoft was a brief holdout.) We've embedded a screenshot of the X post so you can see the gun image. (On some devices, the actual post still shows a water gun when embedded.) Eventually, the Unicode Consortium, which decides which emoji get made in the first place, followed the platforms'... Continue reading...

Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) will finally get its moment on the Senate floor this week after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced he'd move for a procedural vote on the bill as soon as Thursday. It fulfills a promise Schumer made to parent advocates who have championed the bill, which would impose a duty of care for online platforms to mitigate certain risks to kids. But the timing means that even if KOSA passes the Senate before the week is out, the House itself will only have a week to consider the measure, since the August recess is close at hand.At a press conference Tuesday, advocates and bill sponsors urged other senators to quickly vote to pass the bill, without other amendments that could stall its progress... Continue reading...

Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images Will the Tesla robotaxi have a steering wheel or not? Elon Musk won't say.The Tesla CEO dodged several questions during an earnings call Tuesday about the status of the company's long-promised autonomous vehicle, including whether it would have traditional controls like pedals and steering wheels.It's an increasingly important question left hovering over Tesla's robotaxi plans, which have been already been delayed to allow more work on the prototype. Theoretically, a steering wheel- and pedal-less vehicle could take months, if not years, to be approved for public roads. A more traditional looking vehicle, meanwhile, could be released a lot sooner.Theoretically, a steering wheel- and pedal-less vehicle could take months, if not... Continue reading...

Image: TP-Link TP-Link has debuted the Archer BE3600, a $99 Wi-Fi 7 router that is the cheapest one we've seen released in the US so far since the first routers supporting the new standard started arriving last year.It doesn't have the new 6GHz band like its pricier cousins or even many of the Wi-Fi 6E routers already on the market, though. As a result, for many people, TP-Link's new router probably won't get you your downloads a lot faster - if at all - than would a much older router.The new tricks can mean a little throughput boost or a more stable connection than routers built to older specs in congested areas, though, thanks to the way Wi-Fi 7 handles its data streams. But without the one-two 6GHz punch of wider data channels and much more... Continue reading...

Image: Jay Maidment / Marvel Studios Beneath the dick jokes and solid X-Men cameos, Deadpool & Wolverine feels like Marvel's way of admitting how much of a mess its multiverse era has been. Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Google made nearly $85 billion over the past few months as revenue from its Search and cloud computing businesses soared. That's according to the quarter two earnings report released by Google's parent company, Alphabet, on Tuesday, which says Search alone raked in $48.5 billion.Meanwhile, Google's cloud division hit $10 billion for the first time while also achieving $1 billion in operating profit. During an earnings call on Tuesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company's generative AI solutions for Cloud customers already generated billions in revenues and are being used by more than 2 million developers."We are innovating at every layer of the AI stack," Pichai says in a letter to investors. Our longstanding infrastructure... Continue reading...

Photo by Osmancan Gurdogan / Anadolu via Getty Images Tesla published its second quarter earnings report, in which the company said it earned $1.48 billion in net income on $25.5 billion in revenue. That represents a 2 percent increase year over year compared to $24.9 billion in revenue in Q2 2023 but a 45 percent drop in net income.Tesla's gross margins were in the spotlight again, as bullish investors hoped to see improvements after years of steady decline. Rampant price cutting and cooling demand as well as cheaper financing have pushed the company's once-vaunted margins to their lowest point in six years.EV penetration returned to growth"The company reported 18 percent gross margins based on generally accepted accounting practices, slightly more than the 17.4 percent reported last... Continue reading...

You won't need to stuff an AirTag inside ESR's Geo Wallet to find it. | Image: ESR With its own integrated tracking module compatible with Apple's Find My network and a traditional bifold design, ESR's Geo Wallet can be located using an iPhone if it goes missing and without the bulge of an AirTag stuffed inside.There's no shortage of wallets designed to accommodate an AirTag or credit card-sized trackers such as the Chipolo, but by using its own tracking module with a rechargeable lithium battery that's only 1.6 millimeters thick, the bifold Geo Wallet offers the same functionality with room inside for more than just a handful of cards. Image: ESR You can squeeze cash, coins, nine cards, and even a couple piece of ID in the Geo Wallet. Inside the Geo Wallet are slots for nine cards,... Continue reading...

Every Korean, Korean American, or K-pop fan you know probably has the KakaoTalk app. | Photo: Getty Images Kakao Corp. founder Kim Beom-su was arrested Tuesday in Seoul, South Korea. That might not mean much to Westerners, but the story is a bizarre tale of how a celebrated, self-made tech billionaire fell from grace... partly because he bought a scandal-ridden K-pop agency.Kim, who also goes by Brian, stands accused of manipulating SM Entertainment's stock price during a high-profile acquisition battle. Kim's chief rival in the bidding war? Hybe, the K-pop label that is best known for BTS. Prosecutors indicted Kakao's chief investment officer, Bae Jae-hyun, last year on similar charges. Kim has denied any wrongdoing.To back it up a bit, Kakao Corp. is best known for KakaoTalk, South Korea's most popular messaging app, used by roughly 47... Continue reading...

Image: Kamala HQ On Sunday, President Joe Biden shocked the country with his announcement that he would not seek reelection in November. He threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris. If elected, Harris would be the first Black and Asian American woman to become president, and her historic run is already creating excitement. Most Democrats are quickly falling in line. Some would say Harris is having a Brat" summer.Brat summer" is a phrase that's become the defining pop culture meme of the season - at least for the very online set - and references an album released in June by pop artist Charli XCX titled Brat. Charli XCX is a 31-year-old English woman who's been around for a while, though her influence is greater than her name recognition.... Continue reading...

Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Spotify The saga of Spotify HiFi has many twists and turns. First announced over three years ago, the music service's higher-quality streaming tier has still yet to materialize. Recent reports have said lossless audio will be bundled together with other perks (like advanced library management, AI-powered playlists, and headphone sound quality optimization) as an add-on to Spotify's premium subscription. And today, during Spotify's earnings call, the company's CEO, Daniel Ek, confirmed that a better-than-Premium offering is still in the works - though he offered no firm timetable as to when it'll be available.In what might be my favorite-ever use of a cliche tech industry phrase, Ek said the effort is still in early days." (For those keeping... Continue reading...

Image: Wooting Earlier this month, Razer beat Wooting to a speedy new keyboard feature that lets players counter-strafe more quickly in a variety of competitive PC games. Now, Wooting has implemented the same feature.Normally, to switch strafe directions in a first-person shooter, you have to fully release one key before pressing the other. If both are pressed, they cancel each other, and you stand there like a dummy for a moment until you release one of the keys. Professional players have mastered not overlapping A and D keys to get perfect counter-strafing and movement in games, but with Razer's Tap Snap and Wooting's new Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Directions (SOCD) beta, you don't need to release a key and can rapidly tap the A or D key to... Continue reading...

Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plans to announce in a speech that he will bring the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) to the Senate floor this week for a procedural vote. This tees up the biggest step yet on the federal level to move forward with a law in the area of children's online safety legislation.Over the past few months I've met with families from across the country who have gone through the worst thing a parent could endure - losing a child," Schumer said in a statement. Rather than retreating into the darkness of their loss, these families lit a candle for others with their advocacy. I am proud to work side-by-side with them and put on the floor... Continue reading...

Image: Activision Microsoft is bringing last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III to Xbox Game Pass tomorrow. It's the first time a Call of Duty game will be available on Game Pass, and it's the last in Activision's franchise to have PlayStation-exclusive content now that Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III will be available for Xbox Game Pass for Console, PC Game Pass, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on July 24th. The announcement comes just weeks after Microsoft revealed price hikes for its subscription service.Microsoft announced price hikes for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass earlier this month. The launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III on Game Pass could soften the blow of the price increases, which, in... Continue reading...

You can power up to six devices with Sharge's new charging station. | Image: Sharge Sharge's new 100W charging station falls somewhere between a compact multi-port USB charger and a plastic power strip. Designed with a small footprint so it can live on a desk and stay easily accessible, it delivers enough USB-C power to keep laptops charged while also accommodating hardware dependent on a three-prong plug.The charging station can deliver up to 100W of power across four USB ports. If you have a device plugged into one of the two 100W USB-C ports, it can draw up to 100W. But if both 100W USB-C ports are in use, one will drop to 65W while the other is capped at 35W. With all four USB ports in use, the fastest power delivery from any one USB-C port will be limited to just 45W. The USB-A port maxes out at 18W but is still a... Continue reading...

Photo by Diego Radames/Anadolu via Getty Images On Friday morning, shortly after midnight in New York, disaster started to unfold around the world. In Australia, shoppers were met with Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) messages at self-checkout aisles. In the UK, Sky News had to suspend its broadcast after servers and PCs started crashing. In Hong Kong and India, airport check-in desks began to fail. By the time morning rolled around in New York, millions of Windows computers had crashed, and a global tech disaster was underway.In the early hours of the outage, there was confusion over what was going on. How were so many Windows machines suddenly showing a blue crash screen? Something super weird happening right now," Australian cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt wrote in a post on X. On... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon's plan to launch a paid version of Alexa is part of a strategy change to reverse the over $25 billion in losses that its devices business incurred from 2017 to 2021, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The AI-supercharged Alexa, which is rumored to cost up to $10 / month, could arrive as soon as this month.With a potential launch just weeks away, employees reportedly have doubts about whether the new version of Alexa will catch on. A person who worked on the Alexa team told the WSJ that the division is racing toward the deadline to launch the subscription even though the technology isn't there." Amazon's former head of devices, David Limp, first revealed Amazon's plans to charge for an improved version of Alexa... Continue reading...

The Cruise Origin in 2020. | Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge General Motors told reporters on Tuesday that it has indefinitely suspended production of its self-driving Cruise Origin robotaxi, reports The New York Times. The company will refocus on using the Chevy Bolt EV, which Cruise has already been using. A modified version will go into production next year.The Origin created regulatory uncertainty" owing to its design, GM CEO Mary Barra said in her letter to shareholders today. It was to be purpose-built for self-driving, with no steering wheel or pedals, no clear front or rear, and no driver; but estimates put each vehicle's cost in the hundreds of thousands. The company said in September of last year that it was just days away" from regulators approving the Origin for mass production. ... Continue reading...

Photo: Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg via Getty Images It all started with a configuration file. A seemingly routine update, the kind that happens hundreds of times a year to millions of computers around the world. But last week, that update crashed 8.5 million computers and wreaked havoc on banks, airlines, schools, and more.On this episode of The Vergecast, The Verge's Tom Warren joins the show to talk about the story and legacy of the CrowdStrike crash. We talk about what exactly happened, how CrowdStrike and Microsoft scrambled to fix it, and whether we're due for a reckoning over how much we rely on complex and fragile technology. (Don't forget to subscribe to Notepad!)After that, we chat with The Verge's Victoria Song along with Adrian Hon, a writer and game designer who spent many... Continue reading...