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by Janko Roettgers on (#6NW9Z)
A Redbox machine from 2015. Redbox's owner, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, filed for bankruptcy protection overnight. This comes at the tail end of a month in which the DVD rental company defaulted on loans, saw an order for its cars to be repossessed, and missed payroll for employees.Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment informed employees of the filing late Friday, writing in an email seen by The Verge that it had filed for a debtor-in-possession loan - a way for companies that are reorganizing after filing for bankruptcy to secure additional working capital to meet payroll.It's a pressing matter for the company, as employees have been waiting for paychecks since June 21st. The company also promised to reinstate health insurance for his employees,... Continue reading...
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The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2025-07-09 18:15 |
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by David Nield on (#6NW82)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Most of the time when you delete a file, it's actually not wiped from existence immediately - as recently discovered by a man whose wife came across illicit texts he'd been sending (and which he thought he had got rid of on his iPhone). The man is now suing Apple.Marital infidelity aside, the safety net that's put in place for deleted files can help you recover data you've erased in error - however, it can also leave your data exposed to other people (if you're selling a device, for example). It's important to know where your deleted files are and how to get them back or erase them permanently.Checking sync status Screenshot: Apple Before you try to delete any files, you should check your iCloud syncing status.... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6NW83)
Image: Epic Games Last weekend, Metallica graced the virtual stage in Fortnite, but the event was more than just a heavy metal concert. It was one piece in a weeks-long rollout of modes and content, which really drove home just how large and complex the game has become. The battle royale has steadily morphed into an entire ecosystem of games and experiences, and the Metallica crossover might've been the most complex to date.The concert was the showcase moment, and it was like going through an interactive version of heavy metal album art. Players were whisked away in a hot rod to a pyro-heavy concert stage before moving on to a gothic bell tower and a fight with a menacing puppet master. Like past virtual concerts featuring Eminem and Ariana Grande, it... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6NVWN)
The Solos AirGo Vision glasses, with camera module. | Image: Solos If you want a pair of glasses with hands-free video recording and an AI voice assistant, there aren't a lot of options, and the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses are the clear leader. But Solos, whose smart glasses currently only feature audio, says it'll sell a camera-equipped version later this year - with OpenAI's new GPT-4o AI model to let the camera recognize objects and answer questions about what you're seeing.The Solos AirGo Vision also include the same swappable frame system as Solos' other glasses so you can swap out the camera - if you're going somewhere a camera wouldn't be socially acceptable, or if you'd just rather have a different look or some sun shades instead. Additional frames cost between $89 and $129. The... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6NVWP)
Photo by Riccardo Savi/Getty Images for Concordia Summit Microsoft AI boss Mustafa Suleyman incorrectly believes that the moment you publish anything on the open web, it becomes freeware" that anyone can freely copy and use.When CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin asked him whether AI companies have effectively stolen the world's IP," he said:
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by Verge Staff on (#6NVWQ)
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images Since the New Deal era, the bulk of the functioning US government is the administrative state - think the acronym soup of agencies like the EPA, FCC, FTC, FDA, and so on. Even when Capitol Hill is not mired in deep dysfunction, the speed at which Congress and the courts operate no longer seems suitable for modern life. Both industry and ordinary people look to the administrative state, rather than legislators, for an immediate answer to their problems. And since 1984, the administrative state largely ran on one Supreme Court precedent: Chevron USA, Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).That decision has now been overturned. Admin law is not always interesting, but the simple fact is when it comes to the day-to-day, agencies... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NVQH)
Illustration: The Verge The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), the nonprofit that produces Mother Jones and Reveal, announced on Thursday that it's suing Microsoft and OpenAI over alleged copyright infringement, following similar actions by The New York Times and several other media outlets.OpenAI and Microsoft started vacuuming up our stories to make their product more powerful, but they never asked for permission or offered compensation, unlike other organizations that license our material," Monika Bauerlein, CEO of the Center for Investigative Reporting, said in a statement. This free rider behavior is not only unfair, it is a violation of copyright. The work of journalists, at CIR and everywhere, is valuable, and OpenAI and Microsoft know it."C... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6NVQJ)
Deadpool & Wolverine may be the cinematic debut for Charles Xavier's psychopathic twin sister, but the film's latest trailer is a reminder that it's also going to be a trip down memory lane filled with X-Men villains from films of franchises past.While most of Deadpool & Wolverine's ad spots so far have put more focus on the titular mutant heroes than the villains they'll be fighting, the movie's latest teaser is really just a big reveal that Tyler Mane - who first portrayed Sabretooth in Fox's X-Men back in 2000 - will reprise his role. Previous trailers featured very brief shots of Kelly Hu's Lady Deathstrike, Jason Flemyng's Azazel, Ray Park's Toad, and Aaron Stanford's Pyro. With Sabretooth now in the mix, it all makes Deadpool &... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6NVQK)
Image: Nomad Nomad is running an overstock sale of various accessories on its site, and an especially notable one is its original Base One Max 3-in-1 MagSafe Charger - offered in black or silver for $95 ($55 off) or in an extra-fancy gold limited edition" for $120 ($30 off).This is the original, first-gen model from last year that simultaneously charges a MagSafe iPhone, Apple Watch, and compatible AirPods (or other wireless charging-capable earbuds). It's got a weighty heft to it, being made of a mix of aluminum and glass, and it's nearly identical to the revised model that Nomad released soon after, which added Apple Watch fast charging. Faster charging for Apple Watch Series 7 and newer models is a nice feature, but that updated Base One Max... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6NVQM)
Photo by David Becker / Getty Images Dr Disrespect's YouTube channel has been demonetized. In a statement to The Verge, YouTube spokesperson Nicole Bell wrote, We have suspended monetization on DrDisrespect's channel for violating our Creator Responsibility policy." Bell also wrote that Dr Disrespect has been suspended from YouTube's partner program following serious allegations against the creator."The allegations refer to multiple reports that the streamer, whose real name is Guy Beahm, was banned from Twitch in 2020 due to inappropriate messages sent to a minor through Whispers, a Twitch communication app. When Beahm was banned, neither he nor Twitch explained the reason, leaving it a mystery for four years. Late last week, however, Cody Conners, a former Twitch... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6NVMG)
Illustration: The Verge AT&T announced Next Up Anytime, a new early upgrade program for customers on an AT&T installment plan, which will be available starting July 16th. At $10 per month, it's more expensive than AT&T's existing $6 per month Next Up add-on but gives subscribers the option of upgrading their smartphone as soon as just one installment payment has been made, up to three times per year.After the new program launches, the cheaper Next Up will no longer be offered to new customers, but people who already have it will be able to keep that until they upgrade their devices. With Next Up, customers were eligible to trade in and upgrade their devices as soon as they paid off half of it, either through monthly installment payments or sooner with a lump... Continue reading...
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by Mia Sato on (#6NVMH)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Just having fun while we make this website. Continue reading...
by Sheena Vasani on (#6NVMJ)
Baldur's Game 3 admittedly doesn't look this sharp on the Steam Deck, but it plays really well. | Image: Larian For many of us, summer can get just too hot to go outside and have fun. Thankfully, though, this season brings more than just heatwaves - there are also sales like Steam's, so you can enjoy gaming while keeping cool inside. Along with discounting the Steam Deck as we highlighted earlier this week, Valve is also now discounting a ton of games through July 11th as a part of the Steam Summer Sale.There are hundreds of discounted games with some, like Celeste, going for just $1.99 ($18 off) - and there are other well-known titles on sale. One of my favorites, for instance, is Steam's 2023 Game of the Year, Baldur's Gate 3, which I found particularly enjoyable to play on the Steam Deck, even if the graphics weren't the best. It's now down... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6NVMK)
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images On Friday, the Supreme Court overturned a long-standing legal doctrine in the US, making a transformative ruling that could hamper federal agencies' ability to regulate all kinds of industry. Six Republican-appointed justices voted to overturn the doctrine, called Chevron deference, a decision that could affect everything from pollution limits to consumer protections in the US.Chevron deference allows courts to defer to federal agencies when there are disputes over how to interpret ambiguous language in legislation passed by Congress. That's supposed to lead to more informed decisions by leaning on expertise within those agencies. By overturning the Chevron doctrine, the conservative-dominated SCOTUS decided that judges ought to make... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6NVHP)
Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Surely, you've heard Mariah Carey's holiday smash hit, All I Want for Christmas Is You." But have you heard about this other song? It's also called All I Want for Christmas Is You," and uh, it sounds a lot like Mariah Carey. We're about to spend a long time litigating how that happened.On this episode of The Vergecast, with the help of Switched on Pop's Charlie Harding, we dig deep into the new lawsuit filed by the RIAA against two AI companies, Udio and Suno. Those two companies are alleged to have violated music industry copyrights by ingesting vast quantities of recorded songs in order to train their AI models. Copyright law is complicated, these fights against AI companies are everywhere, and there's really no telling how this is... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6NVHQ)
Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge One of the big selling points you hear for electric vehicles is that they require less maintenance than traditional gas-powered vehicles. No oil changes, less gunk, fewer moving parts - that sort of thing.But EVs are essentially giant computers on wheels. And since when have you known any computer to be problem-free?JD Power's latest quality study is out, and it's not looking good for EVs. And in some ways, it's not a surprise. Like in past versions of the survey, battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles performed worse than their gas equivalents in just about every repair category measured by JD Power.JD Power measures quality based on reported problems per 100 vehicles of a particular brand. According to the survey, people who... Continue reading...
by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6NVF3)
Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge One of the big selling points you hear for electric vehicles is that they require less maintenance than traditional gas-powered vehicles. No oil changes, less gunk, fewer moving parts - that sort of thing.But EVs are essentially giant computers on wheels. And since when have you known any computer to be problem-free?JD Power's latest quality study is out, and it's not looking good for EVs. And in some ways, it's not a surprise. Like in past versions of the survey, battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles performed worse than their gas equivalents in just about every repair category measured by JD Power.JD Power measures quality based on reported problems per 100 vehicles of a particular brand. According to the survey, people who... Continue reading...
by Jess Weatherbed on (#6NVD3)
New leaks may have spoiled the colors that will be available for Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 devices. | Image: Evan Blass While Samsung is gearing up to officially introduce the latest Galaxy Z foldable smartphones at its Unpacked event on July 10th, a new batch of leaked images have spoiled more of the surprise. The renders of the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 handsets come courtesy of established leaker Evan Blass and WinFuture, which show what colors may be available alongside sharing many similarities with previous leaks from SmartPrix, OnLeaks, and Ice Universe.The images show a more squared-off design for the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which was also seen in images of a prototype earlier this month. The hinge and bezels surrounding the outer display appear smaller, and black rings can be seen around the rear triple-camera lenses. Leaked specifications... Continue reading...
by Sean Hollister on (#6NVD4)
My original Framework Laptop 16 review unit, next to its replacement. In January, I spent two weeks with the most modular notebook ever made: the Framework Laptop 16. It's a gadget nerd's dream: you can swap out its keyboard, touchpad, ports - even its entire discrete GPU. You can transform it from a sleek work laptop to a decent gaming machine in two minutes flat, one which charges with the world's first 180W USB-C power adapter.But at the time, I gave the Framework Laptop 16 a 5 out of 10. The product gave me multiple Blue Screens of Death, glitched, felt flimsy in places, and ran hotter and louder than its performance would suggest.Six months later, with a new unit and new firmware, I'm feeling a bit better! Not good enough to give it my full recommendation, but enough to raise its score to 6 out of... Continue reading...
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by Elizabeth Lopatto on (#6NV3Z)
The Verge The startup's web scraping has raised more than a few eyebrows. Continue reading...
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by Richard Lawler on (#6NV1Y)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The NFL has been hit with a $4.7 billion verdict in a class action antitrust lawsuit filed on behalf of residential and commercial customers who paid for its Sunday Ticket package on DirecTV from 2011 through 2022.Originally filed in 2015 by the Mucky Duck sports bar, the lawsuit claimed that the league and its teams had conspired to give DirecTV an illegal monopoly on out-of-market games until YouTube took it over, starting with the 2023 season. The plaintiffs noted that other leagues distributed live, out-of-market games through multiple providers instead of just one exclusive partner like the NFL and argued during the case that the setup not only inflated the price of Sunday Ticket but also forced viewers to pay for games during... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NV1Z)
Image: The New York Times Strands, The New York Times' very good word search game, has been officially added to the NYT's Games app on iOS and Android.For me personally, this is huge. Strands has become my favorite of the NYT's games since it launched in beta in March, but I was annoyed that I had to bounce between the app and a browser to complete my daily Wordle, Connections, and Strands. Now, I can do all of the puzzles right in the app over my morning coffee. It's the little things!Each Strands puzzle has a theme. That theme hints at the words you'll need to find - including the spangram" word that spans across opposite sides of the puzzle. Every letter in the puzzle is used for a themed word or the spangram. If you need some help, you can get hints by... Continue reading...
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by Lauren Feiner on (#6NTZV)
House Energy Subcommittee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers. | Photo: Getty Images The House Energy and Commerce Committee suddenly canceled a markup to discuss and vote on 11 bills, including the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).The committee did not provide a reason for the cancellation in its online notice, and committee members appeared surprised by the change, according to reporters in the room. But disagreements on the bill with Republican House leadership seemed to play a role, according to recent reporting and the top Democrats on the committee. Some Republican House members have recently expressed concerns with the bill, Politico reported last week, adding that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise's (R-LA) top aide said an earlier version of APRA wouldn't get a floor... Continue reading...
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by Gaby Del Valle on (#6NTZW)
Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge The chair of the Federal Communications Commission proposed a new rule that could make it easier for consumers to unlock their cellphones. The proposed regulation, which the agency announced on Thursday, would require mobile providers to unlock consumers' phones within 60 days of activation.Under current regulations, consumers who want to unlock their phone - as in, freeing up a phone so it can move from one network to another - are at the mercy of their service provider. Per the FCC, consumers who want to unlock their device should contact their service provider to find out when and how their phone can be unlocked. To then unlock a device, a consumer must be in good standing" with their provider, meaning their phone must be paid off... Continue reading...
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by Elizabeth Lopatto on (#6NTZX)
What, exactly, is Perplexity's innovation? | Image: The Verge In every hype cycle, certain patterns of deceit emerge. In the last crypto boom, it was ponzinomics" and rug pulls." In self-driving cars, it was just five years away!" In AI, it's seeing just how much unethical shit you can get away with.Perplexity is basically a rent-seeking middleman on high-quality sourcesPerplexity, which is in ongoing talks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, is trying to create a Google Search competitor. Perplexity isn't trying to create a search engine," though - it wants to create an answer engine." The idea is that instead of combing through a bunch of results to answer your own question with a primary source, you'll simply get an answer Perplexity has found for you. Factfulness and accuracy is... Continue reading...
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by Gaby Del Valle on (#6NTZY)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has joined the defense team for a neo-Nazi accused of plotting to sabotage Baltimore's electrical grid, The Baltimore Banner reports.Attorneys from the ACLU's National Security Project will be working with Brandon Clint Russell's defense for the limited purpose of challenging the government's secretive warrantless surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," Ashley Gorski, a senior staff attorney with the National Security Project, said in a statement to The Verge.Based on the government's own disclosures, we have good reason to believe that Mr. Russell was subjected to Section 702 surveillance and his case is a rare and important opportunity to challenge the... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6NV00)
Image: Hyundai Meet the Hyundai Inster, the latest cute, small electric vehicle that is being cruelly denied a North American debut. This subcompact EV has over 200 miles of range, an almost retro-inspired interior aesthetic (think lots of plastic and chunky buttons), and an adorable face that won't be making an appearance on US roads any time soon.Oh, and did I mention that it will be very affordable? Automotive News is reporting that the Inster will be priced below $26,000. So not only is Hyundai entering the fray for affordable EVs, but it's doing it as at an extreme distance from the US - which is very much in need of affordable EVs. Tesla is being wishy-washy on making a more affordable $25,000 Model 2." Ford is still trying to... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NV01)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is working on new plans for its YouTube Premium subscriptions, the company said in a community post on Thursday. We're committed to bringing members more plan options by expanding our existing offers to more regions, while also introducing new plans and exploring ways for you to share your benefits with friends in the future," according to a post from a YouTube team member identified as Hazel.Currently, there are only a handful of YouTube Premium plans: Individual for $13.99 per month (or 12 months for $139.99); Family for $22.99 per month; and Student for $7.99 per month. By subscribing, you get perks like ad-free videos, the ability to download videos to watch offline, and ad-free access to the YouTube Music library.... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6NTX5)
The new Vertex AI capabilities aim to improve the accuracy of Google's corporate chatbots. | Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images Vertex AI, the Google Cloud development platform that allows companies to build services using Google's machine learning and large language models, is getting new capabilities to help prevent apps and services from pushing inaccurate information. After rolling out general availability for Vertex AI's Grounding with Google Search feature in May - which enables models to retrieve live information from the internet - Google has now announced that customers will also have the option to improve their services' AI results with specialized third-party datasets.Google says the service will utilize data from providers like Moody's, MSCI, Thomson Reuters, and ZoomInfo and that grounding with third-party datasets will be available in Q3 this... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NTX6)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram's new AI Studio" will let creators make AI chatbot versions of themselves, and Meta is starting to roll it out as an early test" in the US, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on his broadcast channel on Thursday.As part of the test, you might start seeing AIs from your favorite creators and interest-based AIs in the coming weeks on Instagram," according to Zuckerberg. These will primarily show up in messaging for now, and will be clearly labeled as AI."Zuckerberg shared a few videos of conversations with creator-made AI chatbots as examples. From a creator's Instagram, you can tap a Message" button to kick off a conversation. A notice at the top says that the messages are generated by AI and some may be inaccurate or... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6NTX7)
Originally announced in late 2022, TP-Link's Wi-Fi 7 Archer GE800 gaming router is now available. | Image: TP-Link The TP-Link Archer GE800 Wi-Fi 7 tri-band gaming router was first announced in late 2022 before making appearances at CES 2023 and CES 2024, alongside a bunch of Wi-Fi 7 laptops. It's finally available starting today for $599.99, although those excited to upgrade immediately can save $100 as part of a limited-time launch promotion."Designed to take full advantage of the broader 6GHz wireless spectrum that Wi-Fi 6E first had access to, Wi-Fi 7 further increases speeds by doubling the maximum channel bandwidth from 160MHz to 320MHz, allowing more data to be transmitted.The Wi-Fi 7 spec also allows connections to span multiple bands with a feature called Multi-Link Operation (MLO). For example, a file can be downloaded on the 6Ghz band... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6NTTB)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Microsoft's first round of Copilot Plus PCs launched last week with the promise of better battery life, performance that matches a MacBook Air, and chips ready for AI. I've spent the past week testing both of Microsoft's new Surface devices, and I think they largely live up to Microsoft's promises.There are some expected app emulation drawbacks here and there. But for the most part, if you don't have complex app needs, these new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and Plus chips deliver the Windows on Arm experience that Microsoft has been promising for more than a decade. They also put a lot of pressure on Intel to respond.I've been most impressed with the battery life on the $999.99 base model of the Surface Laptop during my testing. There... Continue reading...
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by Richard Lawler on (#6NTQN)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images Over the last day or so, customers of the big three US mobile carriers - Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile - who are using data roaming internationally have complained about an inability to connect and make calls. Complaints about connection problems have spread across social media for hours, with little response from the carriers.According to T-Mobile vp of corporate communications Tara Darrow, ...we're one of several providers impacted by a third-party vendor's issue that is intermittently affecting some international roaming service. We're working with them to resolve it."In an email sent to The Verge, AT&T spokesperson Keoni Holoman also explained that the issue is apparently linked to an unnamed third party:
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6NTQP)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Amazon Prime Day is fast approaching (on July 16th and 17th), but you don't have to wait to get an impressive deal on one of Amazon's flagship devices. That's because Woot (which is owned by Amazon) is selling a refurbished third-gen Fire TV Cube for $79.99 with a 90-day warranty, saving you $60 off the cost of a new one until July 5th or until it's sold out. This is the latest version of the Cube, which streams up to 4K resolution with HDR, supports Wi-Fi 6E for maintaining faster speeds, and also doubles as an Amazon Echo smart speaker for hands-free voice control options.The Cube is Amazon's most expensive streaming device, and even if you don't fully utilize all of its features, you're still getting some of the snappiest... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6NTQQ)
When connected to a smartphone, the Unistellar Envision binoculars can identify over a million landmarks on Earth and in space. | Image: Unistellar Unistellar's new Envision binoculars bring smart functionality similar to Swarovski's Optik AX Visio binoculars announced earlier this year. But instead of recognizing birds and animals, the Envision will use AR to identify and label over a million unique landmarks including mountains and trails and more than 200,000 objects in the night sky.The French company launched a decade ago with smart telescopes that automate the process of finding and photographing objects like stars and planets. It's now squeezing that technology into a pair of binoculars featuring 50mm lenses from Nikon upgraded with an augmented reality projection system that overlays contextual information about what's being viewed in real time.It's innovative, but... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6NTQR)
An exterior view of the Supreme Court on June 20th, 2024, in Washington, DC. | Photo by Andrew Harnik / Getty Images The Supreme Court decided to press pause on the Environmental Protection Agency's plan to prevent smog-forming pollutants from drifting across state borders.Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and various trade organizations including fossil fuel industry groups asked the Supreme Court to issue a stay on the plan while they contest the EPA's actions in lower courts. SCOTUS agreed to put the plan on hold today in its opinion on Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency. Five justices voted in favor of halting implementation for now, while the remaining justices dissented.If anything, we see one reason for caution after another," Justice Neil Gorsuch writes in his opinion.If anything, we see one reason for caution after another."While the... Continue reading...
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by Nilay Patel on (#6NTM4)
Illustration: Kristen Radtke / The Verge On today's episode of Decoder, we're talking about money and politics - always a good time - and how they come together in the form of lobbying in America. It's hard to imagine a time when the influence of big corporations and mouthy billionaires didn't touch every part of American politics, but the kind of lobbying we have now didn't really exist before the 1970s.That's when big corporations started reacting to a cratering economy and did what they do best: throw money around. Now, of course, our political debates about everything from energy and finance to healthcare are deeply intertwined with corporations and their money - and new big players in tech have started spending tons of political money of their own.To understand the... Continue reading...
by Tom Warren on (#6NTM3)
Image: Microsoft Microsoft is launching its Xbox TV app on Amazon's Fire TV Sticks in July. The Xbox app will provide access to Xbox Cloud Gaming so subscribers to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate can stream a variety of games directly to Fire TV devices.Microsoft will support the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Fire TV Stick 4K models for its Xbox app, which will be available in more than 25 countries. All you'll need is a compatible Fire TV Stick, a Bluetooth-enabled wireless controller, and an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to stream Xbox games. Image: Microsoft The Xbox TV app running on a Fire TV Stick. This marks the first time the Xbox TV app has launched on a device other than Samsung's recent TVs and monitors. Microsoft first p... Continue reading...
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by Becca Farsace on (#6NTM2)
I met Vitus V" Spehar - the face behind Under the Desk News - a year ago in Washington, DC. I was on location with The Verge filming the TikTok senate hearing along with interviews with senators and content creators for a Verge video about the looming ban. And when we interviewed V outside of the Capitol, V said that TikTok was useful for channels like their own - a news channel that was started because they didn't believe traditional news sources were accessible enough to younger audiences. V's TikTok channel now has 3.1 million subscribers.Every weekday, V sifts through news websites in search of six to eight stories they deem important enough to share with their audience. V then condenses each story into a bite-size snippet, crawls... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6NTM5)
Trump and Biden debating in 2020. | Image: Getty The first debate of the 2024 presidential race will see sitting President Joe Biden and his challenger, former President Donald Trump, face off in CNN's Atlanta studio. They come into the debate with Trump tracking slightly ahead in most polling averages, with the gap narrowing in recent weeks after Trump's felony convictions.It will be an unusual debate. There won't be an audience, and the network says it will mute candidates' mics when it's not their turn to speak. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) instituted a similar policy for the final 2020 Trump and Biden debate, which ended up being far calmer than the chaotic, interruption-filled first one that year. This time, the call was made by CNN, which organized this debate,... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6NTM6)
GE Cync's new undercabinet smart lights bring task lighting, dimming, and full color to your kitchen countertops. | Image: GE Cync If you've been looking for a simple way to add smart, color-changing undercabinet lighting to your kitchen, I have good news. First announced at CES earlier this year, GE Lighting's new Cync Reveal HD Plus Smart Undercabinet Fixtures are now available at Amazon, Lowe's, and Best Buy, starting at $59.99.These full-color and tunable white light fixtures fit under your cabinets and can be hardwired or plugged in to illuminate your countertops. The Cync lights are Matter-enabled and work with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home, and Samsung SmartThings for smart home integration. I first saw a sneak peek of them at CES 2023 and was excited that this might finally provide a good solution to the problem of smart kitchen lighting. ... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6NTHS)
YouTube is expecting to launch new AI tools later this year that are trained off the back of these deals. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After debuting a generative AI feature last year that produces music in the style of famous artists like Charli XCX, John Legend, and T-Pain, YouTube is now asking major record labels to allow it to clone more musicians. According to the Financial Times, the Google-owned video platform is offering to pay Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Records lump sums of cash" in exchange for licensing their songs to legally train its AI music tools.YouTube told the Financial Times that it's not looking to expand Dream Track - which was supported by just ten artists during its test phase - but confirmed it was in conversations with labels about other experiments." The platform is aiming to license music from... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6NTFC)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Traffic got you down? If the idea of locking your car keys in a drawer and using alternate means of transportation sounds intriguing, Uber has the challenge for you. Today, the ridehailing company announced the One Less Car trial, in which 175 people in the US and Canada will be selected to ditch their cars for five weeks in exchange for cash and credits to be put toward other travel modes.Call it a gimmick or a PR stunt, Uber says the aim is to highlight the high costs of personal car ownership, as well as all the external effects on our health and the cities where we live. Uber has long advocated for fewer cars on the road - even as studies have shown that the app-based ridehailing industry has intensified traffic congestion in... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NTC4)
Illustration: The Verge Google is adding support for 110 new languages to Google Translate, the company announced on Thursday. Before now, Google Translate supported 133 languages, so this expansion - which the company says is its biggest ever - marks a significant jump.Google's PaLM 2 AI language model helped Translate learn these new languages. It was especially good at learning ones that were related to one another, such as languages close to Hindi, like Awadhi and Marwadi, and French creoles like Seychellois Creole and Mauritian Creole," Google's Isaac Caswell says in a blog post.The list of newly-supported languages in Translate includes Cantonese, which has long been one of the most requested languages for Google Translate," Caswell says. Because... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6NT55)
BMW's 2025 BMW M5, which is coming as a plug-in electric hybrid (PHEV) for the first time, will be a husky vehicle. With an electric motor to go along with its 4.4-liter V8 engine, the sedan will weigh in at a hefty 5,390 pounds when it launches during the fourth quarter of 2024.That makes the new M5 about 1,000 pounds heavier than the 2023 model that preceded it. It also weighs more than trucks like the 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe (5,356 pounds), the 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire (5,336 pounds), and the 2024 Range Rover Sport (5,090 pounds), Motor1 noted today. Unlike Lucid's EV, though, the M5 can't blame as much of its heft on the battery, which is only big enough to go 25 miles without using gas.The M5 isn't the heaviest electrified BMW - the a... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NT56)
Mr. Bugs Wordy Nugz." | Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge Wordle is a pretty clever name for the very good word game created by Josh Wardle. But when he was first working on it in 2013, Wardle had another name in mind that isn't quite as catchy.This is true: I was going to call Wordle, Mr. Bugs' Wordy Nugz," Wardle revealed as part of a presentation about Wordle at Figma's Config conference on Wednesday. He also showed a slide that spelled out the name in big yellow letters. Had I called the game Mr. Bugs, I like to think it would not have been successful."During the presentation, which was about the development decisions that he said are the opposite of what you're meant to do" but ultimately contributed to making the game a hit, Wardle also discussed the history of the game and showed... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6NT57)
Image: The Verge At the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, Le Monde reports that athletes on Japan's volleyball, track and field, and other teams will be competing in outfits made from a new fabric that can better absorb infrared light. Similar to stealth aircraft that avoid detection by deflecting radar signals away from detectors, the fabric absorbs and prevents infrared light from reaching cameras and infrared sensors.Some devices have unintentionally demonstrated how the infrared sensing used in night vision goggles and thermal cameras can reveal the unseen, like the OnePlus 8 Pro's Photochrom" color filter that worked like X-ray vision on the thin shell of an Apple TV. When used on people, infrared photography can reveal the lines of a person's body or... Continue reading...
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by Mia Sato on (#6NT58)
Image: Baggu It all started with a nylon purse shaped like a horse.Baggu, the wildly popular brand of reusable shopping bags, announced earlier this month that it would be releasing a collaborative collection with New York-based brand Collina Strada. In the past, special-edition designer drops have been successful for Baggu: a previous collab sold out within minutes of items hitting the web. This new collection - with its colorful, dreamlike prints and bags shaped like a pony, little legs and all - seemed designed to elicit that same viral hype. The brands teased designs. Influencers posted unboxing videos. Fans were ready to shop.But on the day the bags and accessories were set to go on sale, fans got more details about the designs: some of the... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6NT59)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung's next Unpacked event is right around the corner, taking place on July 10th in Paris, France. Judging by various leaks and the recent invite video, we'll be seeing new versions of the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip phones (and perhaps a closer look at the Galaxy Ring). Now, in the lead-up to the event, Samsung is offering one of its reservation promotions, allowing early adopters to "reserve" one of the phones and get a $50 credit to use on an eligible device once a preorder is complete.The reservation period runs through Wednesday, July 10th, and even if you reserve a preorder, you are not obligated to buy the new phones if you change your mind. Those who do, however, will get a $50 credit to use on Samsung's site or in the Shop... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6NT2Q)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has added new Chrome Actions to mobile that will let you call, read reviews for, or get directions to a restaurant or other business - all right from the address bar. The company announced the new feature in a blog on Wednesday.Android users will see this new feature right away, but iOS users will have to wait until the fall. Image: Google A screenshot of the new Chrome Action shortcuts. First introduced in 2020, Google Actions lets you quickly perform tasks from the address bar by typing in select queries, like edit passwords," delete history," or translate this page." It's one of a few address bar shortcuts Google offers, like the @" shortcut that lets you quickly find bookmarks, tabs, and links... Continue reading...