The Verge

Your ICQ number is finally shuffling off to the great beyond. Russian company VK, which has been the service's steward since 2010, published a message Friday that simply reads, ICQ will stop working from June 26th," and implores users to switch to its other chat solutions.ICQ was among the crop of early instant messenger services, like AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger, that allowed for real-time chats. It differed from others by assigning users a number they would use to connect to one another, as opposed to aliases or email addresses. It also had uncommon features like SMS messaging and the ability to message people who were offline.And of course, those of us of a certain age probably remember the Uh oh!" alert that would... Continue reading...

A mini power plant that turns a standard power outlet into a solar power inlet. Continue reading...

Image: Alvaro Bernis / The Verge Social media is abuzz with examples of Google's new AI Overview product saying weird stuff, from telling users to put glue on their pizza to suggesting they eat rocks. The messy rollout means Google is racing to manually disable AI Overviews for specific searches as various memes get posted, which is why users are seeing so many of them disappear shortly after being posted to social networks.It's an odd situation, since Google has been testing AI Overviews for a year now - the feature launched in beta in May 2023 as the Search Generative Experience - and CEO Sundar Pichai has said the company served over a billion queries in that time.But Pichai has also said that Google's brought the cost of delivering AI answers down by 80 percent... Continue reading...

Image: Activision The families of the victims killed in the Uvalde, Texas school shooting are suing Meta and Call of Duty developer Activision over allegations that they promoted the use of firearms to underage boys. The lawsuit claims both companies knowingly exposed the Shooter to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as the solution to his problems, and trained him to use it." It's the kind of claim we've seen unsuccessfully thrown at video game companies numerous times in the past.The complaint was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday on behalf of around 45 family members. As noted in the lawsuit, the families accuse Activision and Meta of grooming" young men and putting them on a path toward violent acts. On May 24th, 2022,... Continue reading...

Not everyone is a fan of AI Overviews. | Screenshot: Emma Roth / The Verge If you've searched for something on Google lately, you might've noticed a wall of text that appears before the actual search results. This feature, called AI Overviews, offers an AI-generated answer to certain queries. But it also pushes your list of links further down the page, which makes it a bit annoying to scroll past when you want to do your own research - and it will get even more annoying once Google starts stuffing ads into it.But even though Google doesn't let you disable the feature, there are a few ways around it.One of the best ways to turn off" the feature is to reconfigure your browser's default search engine options. The website tenbluelinks offers instructions on how to do this in Chrome on Android, iOS, Windows, and... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla's greenhouse gas emissions grew by nearly 10 million metric tons of CO2 last year, according to the company's latest impact report, which provides the most revealing look yet of how the company is thinking about climate-related risks and its own carbon footprint.In 2023, Tesla was responsible for more than 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions compared to just under 42 million metric tons the year prior, a roughly 20 percent increase in pollution. Most of the additional pollution comes from Tesla's supply chain. Goods and services it purchased account for nearly 80 percent of the company's overall carbon footprint.The report says Tesla is working toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible" and... Continue reading...

Who doesn't love free? | Illustration: The Verge Giving people something for free and then slowly pushing them toward a paid subscription is a tech tale as old as time. But a group of people with decade-old G Suite (now Google Workspace) accounts have managed a rare victory: keeping their free accounts for, well, free. And because of a recent change, some are even getting extra storage at no cost - but it's unclear what will happen next.When Google rebranded G Suite as Workspace in 2020, it initially said that all users would need to migrate to new subscription plans with pooled rather than individual storage allotments. But folks who had been holding on to legacy free accounts for about a decade objected, so Google backtracked and let people keep their accounts free of charge - but... Continue reading...

There's still a lot of life left in one of gaming's best handhelds. | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge If you're looking for some interactive entertainment to keep your brain engaged during summer travels, the Nintendo Switch is a great companion. Even with the Switch 2 confirmed to be in the works, it's still worth picking up the original if you don't already have one. Now through May 31st, there's a great chance to scoop one up at a lower price than you'll find at retail.You could go with a refurbished unit of the handheld-only Switch Lite, for example, which is down to $160.99 ($39 off) at Woot for a light blue Timmy and Tommy Aloha" model or $164.95 (about $35 off) at Woot for one in coral pink.If you anticipate wanting to play on a TV, you can pick up an original Nintendo Switch model with a dock and detachable Joy-Con... Continue reading...

Fans outside the Nintendo store in NYC in 2017. | Photo by Megan Farokhmanesh / The Verge Nearly 20 years after opening its first store in the US, Nintendo is adding another location. The store will be located in San Francisco's Union Square, with its doors opening to fans in 2025.Nintendo's first - and only - American retail location opened in New York City in 2005. The two-story spot offers Nintendo games, merchandise, hardware, and accessories for sale on the first level, while the second floor features display cases dedicated to all of Nintendo's consoles.Nintendo also has stores at its theme parks, including Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood in California, but this marks its second standalone location in the US. Over the past couple of years, Nintendo's empire has expanded outside the realm of video... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Some writers have declared that the debut of ChatGPT on November 30th, 2022, marked the beginning of a new chapter in history akin to the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Others have been more skeptical, wondering if this is just another overhyped tech, like blockchain or the metaverse.What history will call ChatGPT remains to be seen, but here's one thing I do know for sure: nobody has shut up about it since.From injecting itself into presidential debates and Saturday Night Live sketches to creepily flirtingwith talking to you Her-style (well, briefly at least), ChatGPT has captured the public imagination in a way few technologies have. It's not hard to see why. The bot can code, compose music, craft essays... you name... Continue reading...

You can set your coffee to the exact temperature you like via the Ember Mug 2's accompanying smartphone app. | Image: Ember Without coffee, many of us would probably cease to exist. It's arguably one of our most important productivity tools, which is why I personally think it's important to invest some money into it. And right now, one of our favorite coffee gadgets, the 14-ounce Ember Mug 2, is down to a new low of $89.99 ($60 off) at Best Buy. You'll have to act quickly, though, as the deal ends at 9PM PT today, May 24th.With the Ember Mug 2, you don't have to constantly get up to microwave your lukewarm coffee. The self-heating smart mug can regulate its own temperature with the help of an accompanying app for Android and iOS, which lets you easily set your desired temp. In fact, you can even warm it all the way up to 145 degrees Fahrenheit, if you like,... Continue reading...

You want a fit that's snug but not too snug. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Getting a smart ring is a little more complicated than getting a smartwatch. To buy one, you need to acquire a sizing kit, try on a bunch of sample rings, find your size, wear it for 24 hours, make sure it fits properly, let the company know your size, and then, you get your smart ring. At least, that's how it usually works. Apparently, you may be able to skip that process entirely with Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Ring - I just wouldn't necessarily recommend it.Leaker Evan Blass posted a screenshot of the Samsung Galaxy Ring's delivery process in his latest Substack post. Like other smart rings, you have the option of getting sent a sizing kit. It does note, however, that the Galaxy Ring follows US standard sizing and that if you know... Continue reading...

A notification on my Samsung Family Hub smart fridge told me my favorite feature was going away. Apparently, it was wrong. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Yesterday morning, I woke up to a notice on my fridge alerting me that one of my favorite features was going away. No, it wasn't about to stop making ice. Instead, my Samsung Family Hub smart fridge told me I would no longer be able to watch Samsung TV Plus on its built-in screen. And while that turned out not to be the case - the confusion highlights how precarious smart appliance features can be.Here's the message I was greeted with over my morning coffee:

Leaked Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Ultra models with new squircle design and rubberized adjustable straps. | Image: OnLeaks and Smartprix Samsung's next-generation Galaxy Watch 7 Ultra" has leaked in new renders acquired by OnLeaks and Smartprix. It's a follow-up to the Classic series of watches, which are made of metal. This new model looks a bit like the Apple Watch Ultra now, with a new square-shaped case and an extra button.Rumors of square Samsung watches surfaced in March, although these pictures still feature one that has a round screen. Around that screen is a raised bezel, but from the pictures, it's hard to tell if it adds any touch-sensitive or rotation controls. The Watch 7 Ultra also looks pretty hefty, which lines up with last month's rumor of Samsung making a larger Pro" watch model. Image: OnLeaks and Smartprix The Galaxy Watch 7... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge An unusual document appeared last week in the docket for the Department of Justice's second antimonopoly lawsuit against Google. It included a photocopy of a check that Google claimed was good for the maximum amount of damages" claimed in the case for its alleged anticompetitive actions in its ad tech business. Google said it had written the check to the Department of Justice.Legal experts say the photocopy of a cashier's check was definitely strange. But the DOJ took things to a weird place first. According to experts, although it might not strike a layperson as such, the DOJ's decision to demand a jury trial is just as bizarre as, say, waving around a cashier's check for maximum damages in an attempt to escape a jury trial.It is... Continue reading...

Photo: Cameron Allan McKean / The Verge The face of one of the defining memes of the 2010s, the doge meme, died on Friday. Kabosu, the shiba inu with the knowing face that launched a million internet jokes, was 18 when she died, her owner posted on Instagram.Kabosu's life story feels like an unlikely fairy tale for the internet age. In 2008, she was a rescue dog adopted by Atsuko Sato, a kindergarten teacher. Sato kept up a blog where she shared pictures of her pets, and in February 2010, she posted what at the time was an ordinary update. Little did Sato know, one of the pictures of her dog would eventually be seen by the entire internet.

Photo by JASON REDMOND / AFP via Getty Images, Image by Alex Parkin / The Verge Did you think Sky, the new and newly personable voice of ChatGPT, sounded like Samantha from Her? Not everyone did, but enough people noticed a distinct Scarlett Johansson...ness in the chatbot that it became a story. And then Johansson herself decided that Sky sounded a little too close to home, especially given that she'd turned down offers from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to play Sky herself. We still don't know all the details of the timeline here, who knew what, what Altman did when Johansson said no, and lots more. But it's all just weird.On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk a lot about what happened here, what it means that everyone immediately assumed the worst from OpenAI, and whether a case like this might actually go anywhere.... Continue reading...

Turns out the deleted" files may have been on devices this entire time. | Photo: Wes Davis / The Verge We finally have a better understanding of why devices running iOS 17.5 started resurfacing long-deleted photos, courtesy of Apple and some third-party researchers. While Apple released the iOS 17.5.1 iPhone update to fix the issue earlier this week, attributing it to a database corruption," the company remained tight-lipped about what was specifically causing old files - including deleted nudes, in some reports - to start appearing on devices that never hosted them.Elaborating on the issue to 9to5Mac, Apple says it was caused by a corrupt database entry on the device's file system, impacting files on the devices themselves and not those that had been synced to iCloud. Those files may have been carried over from older devices when... Continue reading...

Image: Epic Games Out with the gods, in with... a post-apocalypse. After some teasing, Fortnite just launched its latest battle royale season - we're up to Chapter 5: Season 3 - and it's heavily inspired by Mad Max and Fallout (in fact, Fallout is part of it). It's called Wrecked," and it introduces a new wasteland region, a larger focus on vehicular combat, and, for some reason, Magneto.First up, let's talk about the island itself. In the game's fiction, a massive sandstorm rolled in, completely changing the southern section of the map. There are three new locations: a refinery called Redline Rig, a vehicle arena called Nitrodrome, and a beach area called Brutal Beachhead. To go along with them are Wasteland Warriors," which are basically this... Continue reading...

Image: Netflix You would think that a sci-fi movie where Jennifer Lopez partners with a smart-ass, sentient mech suit to fight against her evil AI brother would be a little more fun. Alas, Atlas - Netflix's latest attempt at a hit streaming action movie - takes itself far too seriously. It also fails to really dig into the complexities of the AI debate, despite essentially being a conflict between a friendly AI assistant and machine intent on a doomsday scenario. There are some funny moments, particularly the banter between Lopez and her mechanical companion, but every other part of the movie seems to be fighting against Atlas' true form. This is a buddy comedy trying too hard to be a serious action flick.Atlas takes place almost three decades after... Continue reading...

Anker's latest wireless chargers work great whether you're on the move or getting ready for bed. | Image: Anker I'm in the process of overhauling my entire arsenal of chargers now that the world is finding common ground when it comes to charging tech - whether voluntarily or not. The iPhone 15 finally features a USB-C port, and I anticipate upgrading from my iPhone 12 Pro Max this year to exile Lightning cables from my life for good. Thankfully, though, my last-gen phone is keeping up with the evolving wireless charging landscape just fine thanks to its newly gained support for Qi2.I'm glad I've been forced to wait on adopting the new magnetic charging standard, as that means I can now take advantage of discounts like the one we're currently seeing on Anker's Qi2-ready MagGo power banks. The Anker MagGo Power Bank (10K), the 10,000mAh version... Continue reading...

Illustration: Hugo Herrera / The Verge The IRS Free File program will be around for another five years. The agency has announced that it's extending the program through October 2029, allowing people to file their taxes with one of the IRS's partners for free.The Free File program got more attention recently after the IRS changed its rules in 2020 to prevent tax preppers from hiding their free services. Both TurboTax and H&R Block left the Free File program after that, and TurboTax owner Intuit paid out $141 million in restitution because it had cheated millions of low-income Americans out of free tax filing services," according to New York Attorney General Letitia James.IRS Free File has been around for more than 20 years now. For 2023, taxpayers with an adjusted gross... Continue reading...

VideoCardz obtained this first - very modified -image of the Ally X. | Image: VideoCardz I exclusively revealed what the Asus ROG Ally X handheld gaming PC will be all about and even touched an early prototype, but Asus wouldn't talk specs ahead of its June 2nd release. But now, VideoCardz has obtained the key missing details - battery, weight, ports, thickness, storage, and RAM.While we already knew the Ally X was shooting for double the battery life by including a larger pack, VideoCardz has leaked marketing materials that confirm it's literally doubling the capacity to 80 watt-hours, up from the original 40Wh pack. If true, that would be the largest battery we've seen in a handheld, surpassing the boutique Ayaneo Kun's 75 watt-hour pack.And yet, the Ally X only weighs an additional 70g (2.5oz) and is just 5mm thicker,... Continue reading...

Kia's Soul-ful EV designs continue. | Image: Kia Kia introduced the finalized version of its EV3 small electric SUV today, and with it comes a big new feature: AI.The vehicle was first introduced as a futuristic concept vehicle last year, and now it will launch in South Korea this July, followed by Europe in the second half of the year. Kia representative Karla Gonzalez tells The Verge that EV3 is also confirmed for the US - but there's no timing announced.The EV3 will be the first production EV to get Kia's voice-activated AI assistant that first popped up in the Kia K4. TechCrunch reports the assistant is built off ChatGPT" but is heavily modified to let users plan trips, find entertainment, and more, according to Kia's head of customer experience design, Pablo Martinez Masip.... Continue reading...

Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge Buy now, pay later services - or BNPL for short - are now beholden to some of the same rules as credit card providers. On Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an interpretive rule that classifies BNPL services as credit card providers and requires them to investigate disputed purchases, among other things.BNPL services let customers purchase a product and then pay for it in a series of interest-free installments. Under the new guidance, BNPL services like Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm must provide refunds for returned products or canceled services and send periodic billing statements to customers. The CFPB's decision comes after launching an inquiry into BNPL services, which found that BNPL is often used as... Continue reading...

Image: ESA Stunning new images from the Euclid space telescope show a dazzling array of starry sights, released to celebrate the first science published from the telescope's early release observations.The mission from the European Space Agency, launched last year, aims to elucidate the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy - forces that comprise most of the known universe but that are largely unknown since they are so difficult to study. Scientists know that dark matter must exist because they can observe its gravitational effects, for example, but they can't observe it directly because it doesn't interact with light.The solution is an extremely sensitive instrument like Euclid, which can observe distant galaxies to see dark matter's effects... Continue reading...

Canva is introducing a plethora of updates that aim to make its design ecosystem more attractive to professional teams and workspaces. The company has redesigned the platform to make new and existing editing tools easier to find and announced a specialized tier for Enterprises that provides more control over collaboration, brand management, and security for larger organizations.We are excited to introduce a revamped Canva experience and a suite of new products to empower every organization to design," said Canva co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins in the press release. We democratized the design ecosystem in our first decade and now look forward to unifying the fragmented ecosystems of design, AI, and workflow tools for every... Continue reading...

There's something charmingly retro-futuristic about Daylight's whole vision. | Image: Daylight Computer There's a new company in the race to make a less distracting, more minimalist, and generally sanity-saving kind of computer. It's called Daylight Computer, and it's launching its first device today: the DC1, a 10.5-inch tablet with some interesting ideas about gadget design.The DC1's main hook is its display. Daylight calls it a LivePaper" screen and says it looks like E Ink but is smooth and responsive like a traditional LCD. This is... not otherwise a thing that exists, at least not yet, and in general, anyone that promises an E Ink-like" LCD screen is seriously overselling their product. But Daylight believes it has invented something genuinely new and better. If so, it would be a pretty exciting combination of iPad and Kindle.... Continue reading...

Photo by Oliver Morin / AFP via Getty Images On today's episode of Decoder, I sat down with Joseph Cox, one of the best cybersecurity reporters around. Joseph spent a long time working at Vice's tech vertical Motherboard, but last year, after Vice imploded, he and three other journalists co-founded a new site, called 404 Media, where they're doing some really great work.Somehow, on top of all that, Joseph also found time to write a new book coming out in June called Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever, and I can't recommend it enough. It's basically a caper, but with the FBI running a phone network. For real.Criminals like drug traffickers represent a market for encrypted, secure communications away from the eyes of law enforcement. In the... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge TikTok says it disrupted more than a dozen covert influence campaigns on the platform since January, including one originating from China.In a blog post, the company announced it would begin publicly reporting on influence campaigns, where networks of accounts engage in coordinated efforts to sway political discourse. TikTok will share details of campaigns it detects and removes, saying it hopes it will increase transparency about our work to aggressively counter influence attempts."The first report of its kind outlines 15 influence operations that spanned 3,000 accounts that had a combined millions of followers. In February, for example, TikTok claims it took down a network of 16 accounts operated from China that were targeting US... Continue reading...

It's a sad panda day. | Image: Microsoft Search capabilities for ChatGPT, Copilot, DuckDuckGo, and other platforms stopped working on Thursday morning due to a Microsoft outage.The issues - which began around 3AM ET - appeared to be linked to Bing's API and any service that relies upon it. While Microsoft's own web search engine, Bing, was also seemingly affected, according to TechCrunch, it came back online eventually.By 11AM ET, OpenAI posted a note indicating the issue had been resolved, saying, Between around 10:10 PM PT yesterday and 6:50 AM PT today, we experienced a partial outage affecting ChatGPT's web-browsing capabilities due to Bing being unavailable."DuckDuckGo posted that we're coming back up" at around 10:30AM ET, and so did Ecosia, which is the search... Continue reading...

In this NOAA image taken by the GOES satellite, Hurricane Lee crosses the Atlantic Ocean as it moves west on September 8th, 2023. | Image: Getty Images The Atlantic Hurricane season starts on June 1st, and it's forecast to be rough. A record number of strong storms could form with a shift from El Nino to La Nina this summer and unusually warm waters churning in the Atlantic Ocean.There's an 85 percent chance of an above normal" season, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It forecasts between 17 to 25 storms strong enough to earn a name (reaching wind speeds of at least 39 miles per hour). It also predicts eight to 13 hurricanes and four to seven major hurricanes.Those are big numbers - the most named storms, hurricanes, and major hurricanes NOAA has ever predicted in its May outlook. For comparison, there was an average of 14.4 named storms, 7.2... Continue reading...