The Verge

One remote to rule them all (but in the darkness, you probably still can't find them). | Photo: Cantata Universal remotes might be on a comeback tour if devices like Cantata's Haptique RS90 and RS90X actually materialize and are as good as advertised. The connected remote purports to double as a comprehensive smart home controller, but it's merely a Kickstarter hopeful for now. Serial remoters (remotees?) have pledged more than $300,00, with less than $10,000 needed to fully fund the project as of writing, and there's currently an estimated ship date of August 2024.What separates this from the sparse competition is that it's hub-free. You won't need a separate box plugged in to the TV or IR repeaters to make this work. It comes with a charging dock and has a relatively roomy 3.2-inch color touchscreen for the Android-based OS. The... Continue reading...

Cath Virginia / The Verge Less than two weeks after Nvidia jumped Apple in terms of its overall valuation, the GPU maker has now passed Microsoft to stand as the world's most valuable company based on the chips it makes that are key to powering a boom in generative AI technology.At the close of trading on Tuesday, its share price stood at $135.58, up $4.60 from the previous day and pushing its market cap to $3.335 trillion. That's more than Microsoft ($3.32 trillion), Apple ($3.29 trillion), and Google ($2.17 trillion). Nvidia's shares split 10-for-1 after June 7th, lowering the overall share price, but the spike in the company's value has been jarring. Its share price has gone up 160 percent in 2024, and the company only passed the $2 trillion mark in February.... Continue reading...

Chomsky often was critical of the media. | Photo by Heuler Andrey / AFP via Getty Images Everyone dies eventually, and famed linguist Noam Chomsky will be no different - but at the time of this writing, he is alive. And, sadly, his wife is explaining to people that reports of his death are false," according to The Associated Press.Chomsky, 95, has been hospitalized in Brazil as he recovers from a stroke he had last year, the AP reported earlier this month. He's having difficulty speaking, and the right side of his body is affected." He is being tended to by various specialists. This is not in dispute.Two publications, Jacobin and The New Statesman, published what appeared to be obituaries. (The New Statesman took its post down; Jacobin changed its headline from We Remember Noam Chomsky" to Let's Celebrate Noam Chomsky,... Continue reading...

Union organizer Chris Smalls speaks following the April 1st, 2022, vote for the unionization of the Amazon Staten Island warehouse in New York. | Photo by ANDREA RENAULT / AFP via Getty Images Amazon Labor Union (ALU) members voted to affiliate with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in a move they hope will bring new life to a yearslong struggle to secure union contracts for Amazon warehouse workers.Amazon has tried to block various efforts to unionize across different branches of the company since at least 2000, but the movement to unionize warehouse workers only gained steam in the past few years. The Teamsters, founded in 1903, is one of the biggest labor unions in the US.Employees at the Staten Island warehouse, known as JFK8, became the first Amazon workers to vote to unionize in 2022. They still don't have a contract, as the union struggles to get Amazon to the bargaining table. Union members at JFK8 approved... Continue reading...

Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker. | Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images Earlier today, Fisker finally did what has seemed inevitable these past few turbulent months: declared bankruptcy.Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently," the company said in a statement. After evaluating all options for our business, we determined that proceeding with a sale of our assets under Chapter 11 is the most viable path forward for the company."For anyone paying close attention, this isn't that surprising. Fisker has been sounding the warning about its dwindling cash stockpile for months. It did all the things you're supposed to do to rein in costs. It laid off over 15 percent of its workforce, s... Continue reading...

One step closer to a final release in the fall. | Image: The Verge / Android It's beta software season, baby. Google is releasing Android 15's third beta today, taking it one step closer to its final release. With this update, it reaches platform stability, meaning that APIs are finalized and developers can start testing their apps with this near-final version. Not much appears to have changed since the last beta dropped, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few interesting tidbits to still uncover.In a blog post announcing the new beta, Google highlights one significant change to the passkey UI. Now, using a passkey with biometric authentication happens in one step rather than two - the Google Password Manager prompt to use a passkey has been combined with the biometric input screen. There are also new fallback... Continue reading...

The Sphero Bolt Plus' new full-color screen can help kids troubleshoot their code. | Image: Sphero Sphero has updated its RC Bolt robotic ball with a higher-resolution LCD screen, providing improved visual feedback that promises to make the new Bolt Plus a better STEM tool for teaching kids the fundamentals of programming.Originally making a name for itself with a simple remote control ball that could be steered using a smartphone, Sphero eventually found massive success by leveraging its technology to create a miniature version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens' BB-8 droid, which was the must-have toy during the 2015 holiday season.Three years and several products later, Sphero ended its partnership with Disney in order to focus its efforts on the educational market and products like the original Bolt robot, which shipped with... Continue reading...

Image: TikTok TikTok recently launched a new Instagram-like photo-sharing app called Whee, as spotted by Android Police and APKMirror founder Artem Russakovskii.TikTok is explicitly positioning Whee as an app for sharing photos with only your closest friends. Capture and share real-life photos that only your friends can see, allowing you to be your most authentic self," according to Whee's Google Play description. Whee is the best place for close friends to share life moments."Screenshots of the app listing feature things like a photo viewfinder, a list of friends to message, and a feed - and many of the photo captions highlight how the features are for connecting with friends.It seems that TikTok is still testing the waters with this new app.... Continue reading...

Butterflies AI. So far, generative AI has been mostly confined to chatbots like ChatGPT. Startups like Character.AI and Replika are seeing early traction by making chatbots more like companions. But what happens when you dump a bunch of AI characters into something that looks like Instagram and let them talk to each other?That's the idea behind Butterflies, one of the most provocative - and, at times, unsettling - takes on social media that I've seen in quite a while. After a private beta period with tens of thousands of users, the app is now available for free in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. There's no short-term pressure on Butterflies to make money; the six-month-old startup just raised $4.8 million from tech investors Coatue, SV... Continue reading...

New Zealand's Marcus Daniell (TOP) and Michael Venus compete against USA's Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren during their Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games men's doubles tennis match for the bronze medal at the Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo on July 30th, 2021. | Photo by Vincenzo Pinto / AFP via Getty Images Athletes are raising concerns about how extreme heat might affect the Summer Olympic Games in Paris, according to a new report. They're worried that soaring temperatures pose serious health risks to competitors and spectators, not to mention their performance suffering.Average temperatures during the months when the Summer Olympics are typically held have risen by more than 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) since the last time the Games were held in Paris in 1924, according to the report. Every fraction of a degree of difference can have an impact, considering even a 0.5 degree Celsius rise in core body temperature can increase a person's heartbeat up to 10 beats per minute. In a worst-case scenario, that can lead to heat... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge For the past couple of weeks, Adobe has faced intense backlash over changes to its terms of service agreement - and now, it's trying to patch things up. On Tuesday, Adobe announced a tweaked version of its terms of service agreement that makes it clear the company will not train AI on user content stored locally or in the cloud.The section defining Adobe's access to user content now includes several distinct categories, including one dedicated to generative AI. Adobe's updated terms explicitly state that its software will not use your Local or Cloud Content to train generative AI." But there's one exception: if your work is submitted to the Adobe Stock marketplace, the company can use it to train Adobe Firefly.These additions to the... Continue reading...

An artist's concept of what the Netflix House retail destinations could look like. | Image: Netflix Today, Netflix revealed more details about its upcoming permanent retail destinations that were first announced eight months ago, including where the first two Netflix House venues will open in 2025: Dallas, Texas, and King of Prussia, Pennsylvania - a city located 15 miles outside of Philadelphia.The initial Netflix House locations will open in two of the most popular shopping centers in America," according to Netflix, the Galleria Dallas and the King of Prussia Mall, and will take over the sites of former department stores, providing each venue with over 100,000 square feet of space.The decision to open the first locations in shopping centers should resonate with Stranger Things fans, given season 3 of the series prominently... Continue reading...

The current promo means you won't have to pay extra for local storage. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge 'Tis the season of travel, and if you want to beef up your home security ahead of your vacation, today might be a good time to do so. Right now, you can pick up a Blink Video Doorbell with a Sync Module 2 at Best Buy, The Home Depot, and Kohl's for just $41.99 ($28 off), which is one of the lowest prices we've seen on the entry-level smart home bundle.If you're looking for a budget-friendly video doorbell, the battery-powered Blink Video Doorbell is one of our favorite models. The 1080p doorbell delivers all the basics, including support for motion detection, two-way video, and night vision. What's most notable about this deal, though, is that the bundle includes Blink's Sync Module 2, which is an optional $49.99 add-on that allows for... Continue reading...

Image: Nintendo After years of playing second fiddle to Link in her own franchise, Princess Zelda is finally getting a video game of her own this fall.During today's Direct presentation, Nintendo revealed The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, the franchise's first game to follow as Princess Zelda herself embarks on an adventure to save the world from destruction. After Ganon bests Link in battle, Zelda is left to her own devices to battle hordes of monsters that descend upon the game's take on Hyrule (which seems heavily inspired by 2019's Link's Awakening remake).According to series producer Eiji Aonuma, Zelda will navigate and fight through the world somewhat differently in Echoes of Wisdom as she wields a magical staff known as the Tri Rod with... Continue reading...

Image: Nintendo Nintendo finally shared gameplay footage of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond during Tuesday's Nintendo Direct. The brief video was classic Metroid Prime, featuring intense first-person gunfighting and scanning stuff in the environment. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a little while until we can play it for ourselves, as the company gave a vague 2025 release window for the title.We've been waiting a very long time for any scraps of information about the next entry in the beloved Metroid Prime series. The game was first revealed on June 13th, 2017, with just a logo, and when Nintendo announced that it was rebooting the title in January 2019, its video didn't contain any footage of the game itself. When it said it was restarting development,... Continue reading...

There are clear tradeoffs - like a charging case with no extra battery juice - but the price and Beats' cultural cachet are likely enough to guarantee success for the Solo Buds. Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge No Switch 2, no problem. Continue reading...

Illustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos: Getty Images Google DeepMind has taken the wraps off of a new AI tool for generating video soundtracks. In addition to using a text prompt to generate audio, DeepMind's tool also takes into account the contents of the video.By combining the two, DeepMind says users can use the tool to create scenes with a drama score, realistic sound effects or dialogue that matches the characters and tone of a video." You can see some of the examples posted on DeepMind's website - and they sound pretty good.For a video of a car driving through a cyberpunk-esque cityscape, Google used the prompt cars skidding, car engine throttling, angelic electronic music" to generate audio. You can see how the sounds of skidding match up with the car's movement. Another e... Continue reading...

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Elon Musk got paid. A lot. Now comes the interesting part: Musk has to make Tesla so big, so successful, and so valuable that the tens of billions he's getting seem cheap by comparison. You might think selling cars is the way to get there, but you might be wrong about that. Musk and, by extension, Tesla seem far more interested in some much bigger, more ambitious, and decidedly more complicated ideas.On this episode of The Vergecast, The Verge's Andrew Hawkins joins to discuss all the things Tesla is working on - and why it increasingly feels like cars are at the bottom of that list. We talk about the Optimus robots, the Tesla Network, the whole AWS for AI" thing, and what the next three mystery vehicles might be. Finally, we look at... Continue reading...

Blink's new Moments feature should make it easier to see relevant clips at a glance. | Image: Blink Budget smart security camera company Blink is adding a neat trick to its app: Blink Moments automatically stitches together relevant clips from multiple cameras into a single video. The idea is to make it easier to see what's been going on around your home and also to share it with friends and family - or the police - depending on what you captured.Moments, which has been in beta testing, started rolling out on June 4th and will be available to all Blink users with multiple cameras in the next few weeks, according to the company. Besides multiple cameras, it requires a Blink Subscription Plus Plan ($10 a month or $100 a year) but doesn't require Blink's Sync Module hub.According to Blink, Moments are generated when two or more cameras... Continue reading...

The Xreal Beam Pro looks like a smartphone - but it's not. | Image: Xreal Xreal has made a name for itself with some surprisingly nice-looking augmented reality glasses, which put a display in front of your eyes so you can do things like watch TV or play games on a giant screen projected just for you. But unlike, say, Apple's Vision Pro or Meta's Quest 3, Xreal has no built-in software or content. It's just a screen in your glasses. This is good in that you can plug in lots of other devices, but it does restrict the sort of things those glasses can do.The new Beam Pro is Xreal's latest attempt to bridge that gap. It's a handheld device with the rough dimensions of a smartphone, but Xreal thinks of it as more of a companion to your glasses. It runs a customized version of Android 14 - Xreal calls it NebulaOS -... Continue reading...

Image: WhatsApp Four members of ABC's Modern Family cast have returned to their roles to star in a new commercial for WhatsApp. The ad is designed to promote WhatsApp to families that use a mix of iPhones and Android devices, so they can avoid green bubbles and the limitations of Apple's group chat MMS solution.If you're an iPhone user in the US you probably already avoid inviting Android friends into group chats, as it switches from iMessage to MMS and the regular Messages functionality like read receipts, encryption, and full resolution images are all disabled. WhatsApp hits on this directly in its commercial, with Julie Bowen (Claire Dunphy) explaining to Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell Pritchett) that blurry photos" and weird likes" are why he... Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The onslaught of summer gaming news might finally be at an end - but not before Nintendo has its say. Following events from PlayStation and Xbox, along with Summer Game Fest and presentations focused on Ubisoft and EA games, Nintendo has announced its latest Direct presentation. It's slated to last around 40 minutes and will be focused on Nintendo Switch games coming in the second half of 2024," according to the company. (There won't be any news about the next Switch, however, Nintendo says.)As always with Nintendo, it's tough to predict what to expect, though it's possible we'll see a number of rereleases of classic games and, just maybe, finally get a glimpse of Metroid Prime 4. You'll definitely have to tune in to see what the... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge The Threads API is now available, meeting a promised launch by the end of June. The free API will allow developers to build unique integrations" into Threads, and potentially even result in third-party apps for Meta's competitor to what was previously known as Twitter.People can now publish posts via the API, fetch their own content, and leverage our reply management capabilities to set reply and quote controls, retrieve replies to their posts, hide, unhide or respond to specific replies," explains Jesse Chen, director of engineering at Threads.Chen says that insights into Threads posts are one of our top requested features for the API," so Meta is allowing developers to see the number of views, likes, replies, reposts, and... Continue reading...

Image: Parker Ortolani / The Verge The Tesla Cybertruck's gigantic windshield wiper isn't working for some people - and for others, it may be the reason they can't pick up their car. Users on the Cybertruck Owners Club forum have reported that Tesla has been delaying Cybertruck deliveries on short notice, and wiper issues are apparently to blame.Over the weekend, one forum user said Tesla told them the delivery pause was due to the wiper motor, while another said their delivery was pushed back because of the blade. A Reddit user said they were told their delay was due to a windshield wiper arm issue." And deliveries are still being held up, with forum users reporting Monday that Tesla informed them of delays. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge... Continue reading...

This Lego-built printer can save you the hassle of painstakingly creating your own Lego pixel art. | Screenshot: YouTube A devoted YouTuber has designed and built a Lego printer that can automate the process of assembling elaborate brick-built mosaics, similar to Lego's art sets like da Vinci's Mona Lisa or Hokusai's The Great Wave. But while the creation draws inspiration from another Lego printer called the Bricasso, it streamlines the process using AI.Although technically impressive when it debuted eight years ago, Jason Allemann's Bricasso required a complicated process where mosaic designs had to be manually created, printed on paper, and then scanned by the machine's camera. The YouTube channel Creative Mindstorms used some custom code and AI, so generating a Lego mosaic requires one simple input.With the Pixelbot 3000, users simply have to type in... Continue reading...

Image: Sleep Number Sleep Number has released an adjustable smart bed with sleep tracking that costs less than $1,000, the company announced in a press release on Monday. While still a lot of money for what essentially is a fancy air bed, it's still significantly cheaper than some comparable rivals.Take, for example, Sleep Number competitor Eight Sleep, which makes smart mattress covers. (We've previously listed the Pod 2 cover as one of our favorite sleep gadgets.) Eight Sleep's newer Pod 3 cover starts at $2,195 - and that's only for the smaller full-size version. The newest Pod 4 cover starts at $2,449. Meanwhile, the Sleep Number c1 smart bed starts at just $599 for a twin-size model, and you can buy a queen for $999.We've yet to review the Sleep... Continue reading...

That is one quirky-looking camera. | Image: Ricoh Imaging I used to lambaste the very idea of half-frame cameras when I was a college student obsessed with medium- and large-format film (who wants even less resolution than 35mm?), but electing to shoot film today is already a conscious decision to compromise quality for the sake of experience and style.Who needs resolution when you've got vibes? That's what Pentax seems to be saying with its new Pentax 17, a film camera that takes half-size pictures and looks about as timeless as an old beater you scored at some dude's estate sale. But the $499.95 Pentax 17 (launching later this month) is a totally new camera, one that, in 2024, takes the so-hot-right-now 35mm format and shoots smaller pictures for the sake of fun and making film photography... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge T-Mobile has been asked to stop advertising its Price Lock" policy for its 5G internet service just months after raising prices. On Monday, the National Advertising Division (NAD) recommended that T-Mobile discontinue or modify the claim to explain how it differs from a price lock.'"The NAD is part of the nonprofit BBB National Programs that evaluates claims presented in the ads industry. AT&T brought the challenge against the Price Lock claim, which appeared in numerous advertisements in print, online, and TV. In each instance, the description below the Price Lock claim says, Get your last month of service on us if we ever raise your internet rate." The NAD argues that this disclosure contradicts the main message of the Price... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Apple is shutting down Apple Pay Later, its buy now, pay later service, the company confirmed to 9to5Mac. The service, which lets you take out pay later" loans that can be paid in four payments over six weeks, only launched fully in the US in October 2023. In its place, Apple says that users will be able to apply for installment loans" from credit cards, debit cards, and lenders when checking out with Apple Pay later this year.Here is Apple's full unsigned statement, which was given to 9to5Mac:

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge After a change to its privacy policy drew a lot of attention last week, Sonos has responded and insists it's still carefully protecting the personal data of its customers. The company removed a line - Sonos does not and will not sell personal information about our customers" - from its US privacy statement earlier this month.But Sonos claims the reason wasn't scandalous; the company says it cut the sentence because it was overly broad and already could've been viewed as untrue depending on individual state privacy laws surrounding consumer data.Sonos uses several modern and industry-standard marketing tools, including third party service providers and social media platforms, to help us identify and display relevant ads and marketing... Continue reading...

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Larry Hryb, aka Major Nelson," has his next job. Following his departure from Microsoft last year, where he was a public face for the Xbox brand, Hryb will be joining Unity's Community team, he announced on Monday.At Microsoft, he, among other things, hosted the Official Xbox Podcast and posted about Xbox to his large following on X. On LinkedIn, he lists his new job title as Director of Community," and based on a LinkedIn post, it seems like he'll still be a brand ambassador in some form.Unity's mission of empowering creative and business success of creators around the world across games, apps, and experiences aligns with my lifelong passion for innovation and community building," Hryb wrote in the post. I am eager to collaborate... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Microsoft is losing another key Xbox executive at the end of the month. Xbox chief marketing officer Jerret West is leaving Microsoft to join Roblox as its new CMO and head of market expansion. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed the move in an internal memo to Xbox employees today, which was obtained by The Verge.West previously spent eight years at Microsoft on the Xbox marketing side, before departing in 2011 and then eventually spending seven years at Netflix as the head of marketing. West returned to Microsoft in late 2019, leading the marketing for the launch of the Xbox Series S / X consoles.West's team is responsible for developing marketing plans for games, hardware, and Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft is now shuffling... Continue reading...

The $130 Logitech MX Ink is compatible with both the Meta Quest 2 and 3, as well as future" headsets. | Image: Logitech Today, Logitech officially announced its MX Ink stylus, the company's first mixed reality accessory for the Meta Quest 2 and Quest 3 headsets. The MX Ink will provide artists with a more natural alternative to the Quest's controllers for content creation that feels like using a pencil or a paintbrush.The tracking accuracy and low-latency performance of the Meta Quest's native controllers have helped position the headset as more than just a gaming or media consumption device, but the controllers, which can feel like holding and working with a can of spray paint, don't always offer the best interface for content creation. For many artists, a stylus is a preferable tool over a mouse or peripherals primarily designed for gaming, which is... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US government is suing Adobe for allegedly hiding expensive fees and making it difficult to cancel a subscription. In the complaint filed on Monday, the Department of Justice claims Adobe has harmed consumers by enrolling them in its default, most lucrative subscription plan without clearly disclosing important plan terms."The lawsuit alleges Adobe hides" the terms of its annual, paid monthly plan in the fine print and behind optional textboxes and hyperlinks." In doing so, the company fails to properly disclose the early termination fee incurred upon cancellation that can amount to hundreds of dollars," the complaint says.When customers do attempt to cancel, the DOJ alleges that Adobe requires them to go through an onerous... Continue reading...

The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are compact and come in Samsung's excellent purple color (as well as the typical white and black). | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Samsung's excellent Galaxy Buds 2 Pro wireless earbuds have fallen to a new low price, selling for just $119.99 ($110 off) at Woot. That's a screamer of a deal if I've ever seen one, as these flagship noise-canceling earbuds from Samsung are exceptionally light and comfy and sound great.Samsung includes some extra features for Galaxy phone owners to take advantage of, like 24-bit audio, spatial audio head tracking, and auto-switching among Samsung devices, but anyone can enjoy how good these compact buds sound. And at this price, you'd normally be shopping for a midrange earbud like the third-gen AirPods, not something in the Pro" tier with ANC. We've regularly seen the Buds 2 Pro fall as low as $160 (which is still a good value), but... Continue reading...