The Verge

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge CES is a TV show. And a car show. And a wearables show. And this year, oddly, kind of a pool-vacuum show? It is the biggest, most elaborate, most bizarre tech show of the year, during which practically the whole industry flies to Las Vegas to show off new stuff and make big deals.On this episode of The Vergecast, a special live edition of the show from the Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, we talk through as much of it as we can. (Thanks to everyone who came out, by the way! So much fun to get to see and hang out with all of you.) We actually begin the show with a story that didn't start at CES but took over the week anyway: Meta's about-face on fact-checking and content moderation. After that, we get into Samsung's new Frame Pro TV, the end of Dell's XPS brand, Sony's bizarrely expensive Afeela car, and more.After that, The Verge's Allison Johnson, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, and Victoria Song join us onstage to talk about what they saw at the show. We talk about phone toasters, robot vacuums, smart locks, smart glasses, Max Ink Mode, and lots more. Will anything we saw this week ever ship, and will any of it be any good? Who knows! But that's the fun of CES. It's a fever dream, a... Read the full story at The Verge.

A Super Scooper drops ocean water on the Palisades fire. | Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images An aircraft helping to fight wildfires that are raging across Los Angeles was struck by a civilian drone on Thursday. The collision damaged the wing of the aircraft - a CL-415 Super Scooper" capable of scooping up 1,600 gallons of ocean water to drop onto nearby blazes - according to a statement by the LA County Fire Department posted on X, putting it out of service until it can be repaired.Cal Fire spokesman Chris Thomas told The New York Times that grounding the aircraft will likely set back local firefighting efforts. Super Scoopers can typically refill in about five minutes. But even if it takes ten, that's six water drops that are lost each hour according to Thomas. So whose house is not going to get that water to protect it?" The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says the Super Scooper landed safely after the drone impact, and that the incident is now under investigation.Temporary flight restrictions have been implemented in the Los Angeles area that prohibit drones and other aircraft from flying without FAA authorization in an effort to protect firefighting efforts.According to LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone, the drone was not assigned to help tackle the Palisades fires, and was destroyed in the collision. Marrone told the LA Times that the FBI is now planning to implement so-called aerial armor" in the area to prevent further interference from drones.Several people online have violated the FAA-enforced flight restrictions, posting viral drone photos and video footage across social media showing the devastation from what appears to be prohibited airspace. Fire response agencies are often forced to ground their own aircraft to avoid collisions when dummies fly drones near wildfires for online clout.It's a federal crime, punishable by up to 12 months in prison, to interfere with firefighting efforts on public lands," the FAA said in a statement. Additionally, the FAA can impose a civil penalty of up to $75,000 against any drone pilot who interferes with wildfire suppression, law enforcement or emergency response operations. The FAA treats these violations seriously and immediately considers swift enforcement action for these offenses."

Illustration: The Verge Meta's popular messaging app WhatsApp is testing a new design that gives prominent space to a suite of AI chatbots. The design, currently only accessible through the app's Android beta, adds a dedicated tab for AIs on the app's homescreen.WABetaInfo spotted the change, which devotes one of WhatsApp's four tabs solely to its AI features. It includes a selection of Popular AI characters" to talk to, along with others organized by subject matter. Other AI-powered features within WhatsApp include AI-generated images and stickers and a search tool using Meta AI.These AI tools and chatbots aren't new to WhatsApp, though they're only available in the US and certain other countries, and a limited selection of languages. They're currently accessed through the app's primary Chats tab, but this update looks to give them more prominence. Image: WABetaInfo The exciting AIs that WhatsApp wants you to chat with. The app is also experimenting with expanding the range of AI bots by adding the option to create personalized AI characters, which WABetaInfo found in a separate beta update today. Meta already offers the ability to create custom AI bots, but only through an AI Studio on the Instagram website. Adding the option directly into an app is a significant simplification of the process.The new AI tab replaces the existing Communities tab, though that functionality isn't going anywhere. A previous beta version earlier this week introduced a streamlined" version of Community creation within the Chats tab.The WhatsApp beta is available through Google Play, though tester numbers are limited and the option to join is currently unavailable. We don't know if or when the AI tab will be added to the app's live build, but the change is likely to be limited only to those countries where the AI features are already available.

The company hasn't been back in the US TV market for long, but the Z95B OLED proves that Panasonic can hang with Sony, LG, and Samsung at the very high end. Panasonic returned to the US TV market last year, and only a matter of months later, I've convinced myself that its latest flagship OLED is the best TV of CES 2025. It's an impressive resurgence for a brand that many home theater enthusiasts remember for producing superb plasma sets back when those represented the creme de la creme of display technology for the living room. After a long hiatus, Panasonic is back in the game and squaring off with Sony, LG, and Samsung in the very premium (and very pricey) TV category.The company's new OLED, the Z95B, will come in three sizes: 55 inches, 65 inches, and 77 inches. It uses the latest and greatest OLED panel from LG Display, which is a new four-layer tandem structure that beats out the brightness of last year's LG G4 even without the micro-lens array technology that squeezed as much brightness as possible out of that TV. Last year's Z95A from Panasonic also used MLA, but the new approach gets better results and is cheaper to produce.So the panel is top tier and should be a formidable alternative to the QD-OLED display used in Samsung's respective 2025 flagship, the S95F. OLED TVs just keep getting brighter, more vivid, and dazzling - and consumers really can't go wrong with any of them. The Panasonic stopped me in my tracks on the show floor and looked phenomenal. I couldn't help but stare at it for several minutes. The Z95B also offers support for gaming at up to 144Hz, so it's a strong contender there as well, though both LG and Samsung stepped it up to 165Hz this year. Technics (another Panasonic brand) handled the audio tuning of the Z95B. Another thing that sets the Panasonic apart is its built-in Dolby Atmos speaker array. The drivers and sound performance have been tuned by Technics, with a badge that advertises as much. I really dig the fabric sides of this TV; it's a classy way of concealing the side-firing and upward-firing speakers.Yes, that audio hardware results in this being a thick set by 2025 standards - especially for an OLED. Panasonic didn't hold back in making the Z95B a hulking beast of a TV. But the good news is that many people won't need to bother with a separate soundbar since this system will (likely) sound so good. As noted by the excellent Caleb Denison at Digital Trends, the company has also reworked the TV's cooling system with a new heat dissipation technique that should help keep that four-layer OLED panel in tip-top shape over the long term. The TV has a built-in woofer and revamped heat dissipation system. This is not a thin TV. But in exchange, you might be able to skip a soundbar. But there is one glaring dilemma with Panasonic TVs: they run Amazon's Fire TV OS. That's rather unfortunate. It's my least favorite TV platform among the pack, and I'd argue Amazon has crossed the line when it comes to pushing ads on customers - even if the most egregious examples can be disabled in settings. Fire TV has some good ideas here and there; the ambient mode widgets are something Google has taken note of. But I really hope that Panos Panay and the Fire TV team take a sledgehammer to this software and come back with something much sleeker, more intuitive, and worthy of a TV that's certain to be very expensive if the Z95A is anything to go by.Even so, I know plenty of people who mostly ignore their TV's default software and use an Apple TV, Nvidia Shield, or some other streaming player as their preferred entertainment interface. With Samsung and LG both being very aggressive with the AI gimmicks this year, I anticipate seeing even more of that. The LG G5 will feature an LLM-powered chatbot, has an AI button on its remote, and even ships with Microsoft Copilot built in. It's getting to be a little much, no? Panasonic's using the very latest, very brightest LG Display with a four-layer tandem structure. To me, the best TV" of CES comes down to what kind of home theater experience it will provide. And Panasonic is already doing an impressive job keeping pace with Sony when it comes to delivering a living room centerpiece that nails both picture and sound. I wish the Z95B (and the company's 2025 Mini LED TVs) ran, well, any other TV operating system. But I don't think Fire TV OS is bad enough to sink this high-end set. If you disagree, at least it's relatively easy to just use something else most of the time. It's great to see Panasonic giving Sony, LG, and Samsung some premium TV competition. I can't wait to spend more time with the Z95B when it starts shipping later this year. More competition benefits everyone who's on the lookout for a new TV. Companies like TCL and Hisense have done a great job setting new expectations of what you can get for under $1,500. And now Panasonic's return is showing us what's possible for those with the means to splurge on their next big upgrade.Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge

Image: Tesla Tesla has officially revealed the latest version of its Model Y crossover following images leaking online that teased the EV's redesign. Codenamed Juniper," the Model Y 2025 refresh is now live on Tesla's website in China and other Asia-Pacific markets with deliveries expected to begin in March.It's the most significant update to the Model Y design since it first launched in 2020, which became the first EV to top global car sales last year. Notably, the new variant launching in Australia clearly shows a physical turn signal stalk, which had otherwise been replaced by capacitive buttons on recent Teslas.The refresh comes after Tesla experienced its first year-over-year drop in sales since the company started mass-producing cars in 2012 - with CEO Elon Musk's antagonistic behavior suspected to have contributed to the decline. Image: Tesla Blessed be, is that a turn stalk I see inside the updated cabin? Good news for capacitive-button haters. There are two specifications of the Model Y available at launch according to the Chinese website listing. The 263,500 Chinese yuan (about $35,935) rear-wheel drive edition features an estimated range of up to 593 kilometers (about 368 miles), while the 303,500 Chinese yuan (about $41,390) long-range version can supposedly reach 719 kilometers (about 446 miles). These are estimated" ranges based on China's CLTC driving cycle standard, however, which Electrek notes isn't as strict as the US EPA system.

This is the alert that inadvertently went out to everyone in LA County. | Image: The Verge After two days of dealing with wildfires that have burned thousands of acres, residents across Los Angeles County received a wildfire evacuation alert on Thursday afternoon that was a mistake. Shortly after, officials sent a follow-up alert saying that the notice was intended only for people near the Kenneth Fire in Woodland Hills.Los Angeles County shared a message on X explaining what happened: An evacuation order for residents near the Kenneth Fire currently burning in West Hills was mistakenly issued Countywide. This alert was only intended for residents of Calabasas and Agoura Hills."CBS News quotes a local official who said that the alert, which included a broken URL, was sent due to a technical error." Image: The Verge This is the alert to disregard the other evacuation warning. Many wildfires are burning in the LA area, and officials have confirmed at least six deaths, CNN reports. LA County has a population of nearly 10 million people, which is the largest population of any county in the nation," according to the county's website.

Image: Satechi Apple acknowledged issues with the reliability of the iPhone's built-in alarm feature last April after a report by NBC's Today morning show and said it was working on a fix, but some people are still having trouble. Android Authority points out this Reddit post by bryanlolwut in the r/iPhone subreddit from Wednesday with a picture of an iPhone with an Alarm set for 10:30, but the alarm goes off at 12:42 instead - the time displayed on an Apple Watch.Late into Thursday, many Reddit users are still commenting on the thread, saying they're having similar issues.My morning alarm was displaying as going off while making no sound and no haptics for 40 minutes," said Slawek_Zupa. Another post says their alarm went off at 5PM when it was supposed to go off at 7AM.The reports in the thread today include people still using iOS 17 and others who have updated to iOS 18 with Apple Intelligence.Some say they've tried turning off Apple's Attention Awareness Features, which can reduce the alarm volume when it goes off if the iPhone detects your face. However, it hasn't solved the problem for many, and you lose out on features like seeing full notifications on your lock screen.We've asked Apple if they're still looking into this problem, but we have not received a response yet. Personally, I've also noticed my iPhone sometimes doesn't make sounds or vibrate in the morning, but it does drop down a lifeless notification as if it did. Luckily, I've got a Google Pixel 8 Pro as a backup that usually gets me going, and I'm trying the Nintendo Alarmo, too, but my wife has had enough of Zelda yelling at Link to wake up.

Illustration: The Verge Google is partnering with The Linux Foundation to launch an initiative meant to fund open development and enhance projects" in the Chromium ecosystem, according to an announcement on Thursday. The fund, called Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers, is billed as a neutral" space to support Chromium projects.Google launched Chromium alongside its Chrome web browser in 2008. It's the open-source infrastructure that powers Chrome and many other browsers built on it, including Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Brave.In addition to Google, there are already several notable companies on board with the initiative, including Meta, Microsoft, and Opera. Microsoft said joining will help provide clear and open governance that directs funds towards community-driven needs." Image: Google Google's contributions to Chromium. Google also highlighted the more than 100,000 commits it made to Chromium last year, as well as its efforts to invest heavily" into the open-source project:

Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge I'm not saying I want to buy one. I'm just very curious to see where this is going. Honda released one of the more interesting concepts at last year's CES with two Honda Zero prototypes: the Saloon and the Space-Hub. It promised to come back in a year with something a little closer to production. But rather than temper those space-age design elements, Honda leaned into them. Way in.The Honda 0 Saloon and Honda 0 SUV retain a lot of what made the concepts so weird and different - and not necessarily in an off-putting way. But it's definitely not the electric CR-V that customers have been begging the company to make for years. In fact, Honda seems to be saying to all those people who want normie-looking EVs, We see you. We hear you. We don't care." Much has already been said about the similarities between these Honda Zero prototypes and certain iconic vehicles from the '70s and '80s, like the Lamborghini Countach, AMC Gremlin, Aston Martin Lagonda Shooting Brake, and (h/t Jason Torchinsky) the Brubaker Box.My theory is that Honda is reaching for these design inspirations as a way to offset the future shock of an ultra-minimalist interior and all the marketing speak about software-defined vehicles." After all, Honda's real announcement this year was the operating system it developed in-house, named after its iconic Asimo robot.The Zero EVs mostly feel like a lot of window dressing for the actual product, which is software. What better way to draw people into listening to a TED talk about high-performance system-on-a-chip" than to stand in front of a car that looks like it should be floating in low orbit?Honda 0 SaloonOne of the things I noticed about the Saloon was the lack of a rear window - that rounded rectangle in the back isn't transparent. The depth effect is very impressive, but it's not obscuring an incognito window. It's just the taillight.Something else that caught my attention was the lack of sideview mirrors. Honda is using cameras instead. Drivers who want to check their blind spots will need to use two screens embedded at either end of the long piece of glass that spans the length of the dashboard. Of course, US safety regulations require regular old sideview mirrors, so this seems mostly aspirational.Honda 0 SUVThe SUV is less out there" than the Saloon, and that probably means we're likely to see some version of it on US roads before the sedan. There's definitely a rear window, and the airiness of the greenhouse seems to allude to Honda Zero's design principles of thin, light, and wise."We don't have any specs for either vehicle, though Honda has said that its Zero EVs will draw from the automaker's Formula 1 racing experience. The automaker is also aiming for optimum battery efficiency through its e-Axle system consisting of a motor, inverter, and gearbox that convert electric power into energy for driving. Each EV is expected to have around 300 miles of range, which translates to an 80-90kWh battery.Other important details include an effort to consolidate electronic control units, similar to Rivian's recently relaunched R1 vehicles. By reducing the number of components and wiring, Honda is clearly trying to limit its costs in an environment where the price of production seems to be on the rise.InteriorThe absence of anything remotely resembling a physical knob or dial inside either vehicle is a pretty good sign that automakers continue to ignore the pleas of customers to stop porting every last bit of functionality through its digital interfaces. Yes, I'm an old man yelling at clouds, but for the love of god, give me something to twist or push. Trying to adjust the heat by tapping blindly at a smooth pane of glass while careening down a highway at 75mph isn't exactly my idea of a good time.The yoke is... a yoke. Automakers love their steering yokes! But when it comes time to actually put something into production, they mostly retreat back to wheel shapes. The moonroof is another one of those features that suggest thin" principles. And obviously, Honda's promise that its Zero vehicles will come with Level 3 autonomy, also known as hands-off, eyes-off" driving, needs a lot more explanation. What's the handoff between autonomous system and driver look like? And how will it account for our very human tendency to zone out when we're not actively engaged in driving?There are a lot of questions swirling around these vehicles! Will they ever go into production? There's a nonzero chance.

Image: The Verge xAI has released an iOS app in the US for its Grok chatbot, as spotted earlier by TechCrunch. The standalone app version of the chatbot, which xAI calls a beta, can perform the same functions as the one built into X, as it can field real-time information, answer questions, and generate images.xAI started testing Grok's standalone iOS app in December in a handful of countries. There's no word on when it may come to Android.Though Grok was initially only available to X Premium subscribers, the platform started letting all users access the chatbot last month, bringing it in line with other free-to-use chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot.As pointed out by TechCrunch, it seems xAI is also working on a dedicated Grok.com website that currently has a coming soon" message on it. After raising $6 billion in June, xAI reported another $6 billion funding round, including from strategic investors" like Nvidia and AMD.

LaCie's new Rugged SSD Pro5 will be available in 2TB and 4TB capacities. | Image: Seagate Following the arrival of the first Thunderbolt 5 cables last July and the first Thunderbolt 5 dock last September, it might finally be time to start upgrading your external storage to take advantage of the increased performance. It's been a slow rollout for Thunderbolt 5 hardware following its official reveal in September 2023, but companies like Seagate, OWC, and Sabrent finally have SSDs en route supporting the new standard.Seagate announced its new Thunderbolt 5 LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 external drive at CES this week. The company says it will be available sometime this month in a 2TB version for $399.99 and a 4TB version for $599.99. They'll offer read and write speeds of 6,700MB/s and 5,300MB/s, respectively. Image: Seagate Like previous LaCie rugged drives, the new SSD comes in a rubber enclosure in blue, black, and orange color options, helping it survive drops from heights of up to three meters. It's also waterproof with an IP68 rating, so it can survive a complete dunking to depths of one meter. Image: Sabrent There are a few other choices that have been announced, too, though with varying levels of availability. Sabrent, for example, was actually one of the first companies to announce a Thunderbolt 5 SSD last August, but the SSD isn't out yet. The Rocket XTRM 5 comes in a silicone sleeve for extra protection from falls, and the company says it can reach read and write speeds of 6,000MB/s and 5,000MB/s, respectively. It's expected to be available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities but is still listed as only being available for preorder through Sabrent's website. Image: OWC OWC announced its Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 SSD last September. The company says the external drive is water-resistant, dust-resistant, and crushproof, and offers read speeds of over 6,000MB/s. When it was announced, OWC said the Envoy Ultra would be available in a 2TB version for $399.99 and a 4TB version for $599.99, with shipping starting in late October. The first shipments of the drives sold out, but it's still available for preorder through OWC's website with an expected ship date of mid-January 2025.If you'd rather take a DIY approach, several Thunderbolt 5-compatible SSD enclosures have also been announced over the past few months.However, despite the promised performance improvements, and the yearlong wait for hardware to finally materialize, upgrading your setup to Thunderbolt 5 might still have a few speed bumps. That's what Mark Hachman, the senior editor of PCWorld, discovered when trying to get a Maingear ML-17 laptop, Kensington's Thunderbolt 5 dock, OWC's Envoy Ultra SSD, and Acer's Nitro XV5 displays to play nice. The setup was plagued by laggy performance and slow transfer speeds.It all still felt not quite ready for primetime, Hachman found. When you buy (or test) bleeding-edge hardware, sometimes you're the one that ends up with the cuts," Hachman said.

Fubo Following FuboTV's recent move to settle its antitrust lawsuit with Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery over the impending launch of their Venu Sports streaming service, DirectTV and EchoStar are urging the courts to consider how other TV distributors could still be shut out of the sports streaming space.On Monday, Fubo announced that, as part of its plan to merge with Hulu + Live TV, it would also drop its lawsuit against Disney, Fox, and WBD alleging that their collaboration on Venu Sports violated US antitrust laws. The settlement outlines how Hulu + Live TV and Fubo can create a new multichannel video programming distributor that Disney would own 70 percent of. But the lawsuit's dismissal also lifted the injunction to halt Venu's launch which US District Judge Margaret M. Garnett passed down last August.Because Venu Sports now has a much more realistic chance of coming to market, DirectTV and EchoStar are voicing concerns about how Fubo's proposed Hulu deal may exacerbate, rather than properly address, the core issue of sports streaming anticompetitiveness. In a letter to Garnett, DirectTV argued that while Venu's venture partners have paid Fubo to ensure cooperation from an aggrieved competitor," they have also restored an anticompetitive runway for the JV Defendants to control the future of the live pay TV market."DirectTV is just one of several non-parties that expressed grave concerns" about the impact Venu would have on competition for sports programming, given that Venu would offer content in a manner that [the Defendants] do not allow DirectTV or other distributors to offer to consumers," DirectTV's lawyers said.In its own letter to Garnett, EchoStar's legal team insisted that the original injunction blocked Disney, Fox, and WBD's scheme to monopolize the pay-TV market and, once accomplished, charge inflated prices to millions of Americans."The parties' settlement appears designed to eliminate court jurisdiction over this multifarious harm by effectuating the preliminary injunction's expiration, rather than addressing the underlying competition issues," EchoStar said. Now, with the injunction undone by voluntary dismissal, DISH, Sling, and other distributors will suffer antitrust injury."

Photo by Apu Gomes / Getty Images As fires rage across Los Angeles and tens of thousands flee their homes, the usual suspects have decided to blame the blazes on their political enemies. In a series of posts on Truth Social, President-elect Donald Trump claimed firefighters' inability to get the fires under control was due to California Governor Gavin Newsom's water policies, including an effort to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn't work!)." Meanwhile, on X, Elon Musk suggested that the fires were spreading due to the city fire chief's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. DEI means people DIE," Musk wrote in a Wednesday night post.Five people have indeed died in the Eaton fire thus far, and upward of 130,000 Los Angeles County residents are under evacuation orders, according to the Los Angeles Times. But the rampant spread of the fires isn't due to the delta smelt, DEI, or even - as Trump, Musk, and scores of mainstream publications have falsely claimed - cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department's budget. These claims aren't without consequence. Last year, FEMA workers received threats on TikTok and other social media platforms as rampant disinformation spread in the wake of the devastation caused by hurricanes Milton and Helene.The first wave of disinformation focused on fire hydrants in the Pacific Palisades, which abruptly ran out of water on Tuesday night as firefighters attempted to put out the initial blaze. The hydrants, Trump said, were running dry because of Newsom's water policies. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA!" Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday. He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!" In a separate post, Trump claimed Newsom had refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way."Newsom's office responded on Wednesday, clarifying that the declaration Trump referred to in his post didn't exist. There is no such document as the water restoration declaration - that is pure fiction," Newsom communications director Izzy Gardon told CalMatters. The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need."Mark Gold, a board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, told the outlet that statewide water management policies, including efforts to protect the delta smelt, had nothing to do with the lack of water in the hydrants. Tying Bay-Delta management into devastating wildfires that have cost people's lives and homes is nothing short of irresponsible, and it's happening at a time when the Metropolitan Water District has the most water stored in its system in the history of the agency," Gold said. It's not a matter of having enough water coming from Northern California to put out a fire. It's about the continued devastating impacts of a changing climate."The lack of water in the Pacific Palisades hydrants was instead due to a reduction in water pressure caused by increased demand, the LA Times reported. Janisse Quinones, the chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told the paper that so much water was being used that the utility wasn't able to fill the tanks quickly enough. The demand for water at lower elevations was also preventing the utility from refilling tanks at higher elevations, according to the LA Times.Wednesday night, as powerful Santa Ana winds spread the fires to Altadena, Pasadena, and the Hollywood Hills, right-wing influencers accused city officials of slashing the fire department's budget and prioritizing diversity programs over sound fire prevention policy - which Musk reposted on X.

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge You may be wondering how to delete your Facebook account now that fact-checking is no longer considered important, and Meta's changing its definition of what constitutes Hateful Conduct. It's easy to do, and we'll show you how. But you should download all your stuff first.The following instructions are for the web version of Facebook, but you can follow pretty much the same sequence on the mobile app.Download your archivesYour Facebook archives contain just about all of the pertinent information related to your account, including your photos, active sessions, chat history, IP addresses, facial recognition data, and which ads you clicked. That's personal information you should save.

Image: Naughty Dog The Last of Us Part 2 remaster is joining the PlayStation Network club. That means you'll need to link a PSN account if you want to play the game after buying it on Steam, Epic Games, and other PC platforms when it launches in April, as spotted earlier by Video Games Chronicle.The requirement has proven very unpopular with other Sony titles released on PC, including Ghost of Tsushima, God of War Ragnarok, and the Horizon Zero Dawn remaster. Last year, Helldiver players review-bombed the game after it suddenly introduced PSN account linking, leading Sony to walk back on the requirement completely. Screenshot: Steam It's still not clear why Sony requires a PSN account to play The Last of Us Part 2, as it doesn't have any multiplayer features, and the requirement may also prevent people across dozens of countries where PSN isn't supported from playing the game.The Last of Us Part 2 remaster launches on PC on April 3rd for $49.99.

Oh hey, another full-frontal light bar design. | Image: Cochespias1 Pictures posted on social media give us a look at a facelifted Tesla Model Y Juniper" refresh that lets go of the original Model 3 headlight style in favor of a new front lightbar setup that reminds me of the Chevy Equinox EV. As reported by InsideEVs, Instagram car spy account Cochespias1 and X user DominicBRNKMN posted spy shots of the updated Model Y as it drove around on snowy grounds.Although the images are a bit blurry, they also show a new rear end with a Cybertruck-ish lightbar similar to the one seen in a July leak.

Image: OnLeaks on X New day, new Nintendo Switch 2 leaks. Nintendo is getting ever-closer to its April 2025 deadline to reveal its Switch successor, but thanks new renders from OnLeaks and 91Mobiles, we may now have an even better idea of what the new console might look like.If you've been following our coverage of other Switch 2 leaks, these renders shouldn't look too surprising. According to the new renders, the console will resemble the original Switch, but it will be bigger, with an 8.4-inch screen. Interestingly, OnLeaks and 91Mobiles report that the screen will most likely" be an OLED panel" - previous reports have said the console would have an LCD screen.The renders show that the top of the Switch 2 will feature a power button, a volume rocker, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a game card slot, and, new for the Switch 2, a USB-C port. OnLeaks and 91Mobiles also say that there also seems to be a sensor of sorts" and they speculate that this might be an ambient light sensor or something else." These renders also have a U-shaped kickstand that has appeared in other leaks.As for the Joy-Cons, OnLeaks and 91Mobiles' renders show the mysterious second new button on the right Joy-Con. However, they say the new button is above the Home button; other leaks have included the new button below it. The Joy-Cons in the renders have the large buttons in the back that are apparently used to detach the controllers from the console, which are apparently attached magnetically.The renders also show an interesting color scheme for the Joy-Cons: they are mostly black but have color accents - light blue on the left one and orange on the right - under the joystick pads and on the bumped-out part of the controllers with the SL and SR buttons. A similar design popped up earlier this month for an alleged Switch 2 left Joy-Con with light blue accents. I love it, personally.Hopefully, given the tidal wave of recent leaks, we don't have to wait too much longer for Nintendo to officially announce the new console. But whenever the console actually launches, it's going to have some stiff competition.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon's massive advertising business, which is only surpassed in the US by Google and Meta, is about to get bigger. In addition to selling ads on its sprawling marketplace, it will now let other retailers use the technology powering its $50 billion business on their own websites, as reported earlier by Adweek.The company's new Retail Ad Service beta will let other online stores Deliver contextually relevant ads by leveraging Amazon's two decades of ad tech expertise, driven by machine learning models trained on trillions of shopping signals" across their product, search, and browsing pages.It also plugs the retailers into Amazon's existing advertising customers, as brands already using Amazon's ad system can choose to place their ads on third-party sites. The setup also allows Amazon to pull more profit from retail media" (ads you see in stores or while shopping online) even when the shopping isn't happening on its site, and could give it access to more data - which is something the FTC may have questions about.The path of this business is similar to the launch of Amazon Web Services, which the company built to keep its online marketplace running and loading quickly 24/7 before selling access to the servers as a backbone for other companies' operations, as noted by CNBC.

Image: Ugreen If there were some common themes among the chargers and portable power solutions announced at CES this year, it would be more power and more convenience through built-in cables. It's not a new idea, but with most devices now being USB-C-compatible, it's easier for companies to integrate charging cables without having to accommodate competing charging standards.Here are some of the standout charging solutions making their debut at CES this year.Ugreen Nexode Desktop Charger 500W Image: Ugreen If you've got a desk overflowing with laptops and a power strip overpacked with adapters, Ugreen has upgraded its Nexode desk charger with 500W of power output. That's shared across five USB-C ports and a single USB-A port. The topmost USB-C port delivers up to 240W of power, while the other five share 260W. That's enough power to charge five laptops simultaneously, assuming four of them don't need more than 60W. It's expected to be available as soon as March 2025.Anker Charger (140W) with display Image: Anker As the size and power output of Anker's wall chargers increased, they had a tendency to succumb to gravity and not stay plugged in. Anker's latest solution to that problem is a redesigned wall charger that positions three USB-C plus a single USB-A port on the underside, improving its center of gravity. Two of the USB-C ports can output up to 140W, but only one at a time, as that's the charger's maximum power output. It's available now for $89.99 and includes a small screen showing how much power each port is drawing.Sharge Shargeek 300 Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Sharge debuted another eye-catching power bank with a transparent design and an aluminum case at CES. The Shargeek 300 can deliver up to 300W of power to four devices simultaneously from its 24,000mAh battery and up to 140W to two devices simultaneously, so you can fast-charge a pair of laptops. It's got a color screen showing the power draw on each port and how much battery life it's got left. When it's dead, it can recharge at up to 140W speeds, replenishing its battery from zero to 50 percent in just 20 minutes. Sharge will be launching it through Kickstarter in April for under $300.Baseus PrimeTrip VR2 Max Image: Baseus Your car might feature a couple of USB ports on the dashboard for charging devices, but did you remember to grab a charging cable on your way out the door? With the Baseus PrimeTrip VR2 Max car charger, you don't have to. It features a pair of retractable USB-C cables over 31 inches in length plus an additional USB-A and USB-C port. It provides a total of up to 240W of power across all four ports and up to 105W through a single port, letting you charge a power-hungry laptop on the road. It's expected sometime in April 2025 for $44.99.Anker Power Bank (165W) Image: Anker Anker's new soda can-sized 25,000mAh power bank includes a few welcome conveniences. It can deliver up to 165W of power shared across a USB-C port, a USB-A port, a short 8.6-inch USB-C cable that can be used as a carrying strap, and a 27.2-inch USB-C cable that fully retracts. Maximum output to a single USB-C port is 100W, so you can fast-charge a laptop, and you can monitor how much power each port is drawing on a small screen. It's available now for $99.99.Baseus Enercore CJ11 Image: Baseus Charging cables excel at mysteriously going missing, which is the most compelling reason to consider the Enercore CJ11 wall charger. Available as early as April 2025 for $69.99, it features two retractable USB-C cables, each over 32 inches long, that can't be swiped. The charger has an additional USB-C port for connecting cables with other connectors and can deliver up to 67W of power with a single device connected or share a maximum of 65W with two or three ports in use.Baseus EnerGeek MiFi Power Bank Image: Baseus In need of a power bank that delivers more than just power? Baseus' EnerGeek MiFi incorporates a 20,000mAh battery that can deliver up to 67W of power to two USB-C ports, a single USB-A port, and through an integrated USB-C cable that serves as a carrying strap. The power bank also doubles as a mobile hotspot, allowing up to 10 devices to wirelessly connect to the internet over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi at 4G speeds. Baseus hasn't announced how much mobile data plans will cost, but the power bank is expected to release in April 2025 for $89.99.

Illustration: The Verge Lenovo's mysterious future of gaming handhelds" event at CES delivered confirmation this week that Microsoft is combining the best of Xbox and Windows together" for handhelds. Microsoft's VP of Next Generation, Jason Ronald, spoke to my colleague Sean Hollister after the event to reveal that not only are big changes coming to the Windows handheld experience but also you're going to see a lot of stuff as early as this year."I've been writing for more than a year about how Microsoft needs to overhaul Windows on handhelds and use an Xbox OS UI on top, keeping the complexity of the Windows desktop hidden away. That sounds exactly like what Microsoft is about to do. I would say it's bringing the best of Xbox and Windows together, because we have spent the last 20 years building a world-class operating system, but it's really locked to the console," says Ronald. What we're doing is we're really focused on how do we bring those experiences for both players and developers to the broader Windows ecosystem."Ronald says Microsoft's goal is to deliver an Xbox experience that puts your content front and center, and not the Windows desktop that you have today." For this to happen in... Read the full story at The Verge.

The Super Retro Champ plays classic 16-bit titles from the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. | Image: My Arcade First announced at CES four years ago, My Arcade's Super Retro Champ was a chunky handheld that could play classic 16-bit titles using original Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo cartridges. The console didn't end up launching, but at CES 2025, My Arcade is reviving it with an expected release later this year.The design and functionality of the Super Retro Champ appears nearly identical to what My Arcade revealed in 2020, but as with many things now, it's expected to be slightly more expensive. Instead of $110, the handheld is now priced at $149.99. Image: My Arcade Super Nintendo cartridges end up slightly sticking out of the top of the handheld, while Sega Genesis carts sit flush in its bottom slot. Unlike the Analogue Pocket, which can play retro titles using cartridges or ROM files, the Super Retro Champ is similar to the ModRetro Chromatic and sticks to carts. It's got a slot on the top for SNES games (that end up slightly sticking out) and a second on the bottom for Genesis carts. It's also compatible with cartridges released for the international versions of those classic consoles, including Super Famicom and Mega Drive games. Image: My Arcade It's unlikely you're ever going to find a pocket large enough to carry the Super Retro Champ. With a six-inch screen surrounded by generous bezels plus a directional pad and action buttons on either side, the Super Retro Champ doesn't prioritize portability. You can use it as a handheld with hours of uninterrupted gameplay" from its rechargeable battery, My Arcade says, but it's better suited for playing while propped up on a table using its folding stand, a pair of connected controllers, and a power adapter.If six inches feels too cramped for you and another player, there's also an HDMI port on the back of the Super Retro Champ for connecting it to a TV. Just don't expect to enjoy your favorite 16-bit titles in HD or expect them to look as good as they did on the old CRT TV you grew up with.

The Astrohaus Wordrunner keyboard will be available through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in February. | Image: Astrohaus Astrohaus has announced a new addition to its distraction-reducing Freewrite line of writing tools at CES. Unlike its previous all-in-one devices that pair a keyboard with basic monochromatic screens, its new Freewrite Wordrunner is a standalone mechanical keyboard customized with keys and tools designed to help writers stay focused and work more efficiently.The company hasn't announced pricing for the new Freewrite Wordrunner yet, but it's expected to be available for preorder sometime in February 2025 through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. The company's all-in-one writing devices range in price from $349 to $999, but without a screen, storage, and other electronics, its keyboard will potentially be much cheaper. Discounts will be available to early backers, but Astrohaus is also currently selling $1 refundable reservations that promise priority access" and exclusive early-bird pricing." Image: Astrohaus The Wordrunner's Wordometer is an eight-digit electromechanical counter to keep tabs on your writing progress. The Freewrite Wordrunner features a compact tenkeyless design, a body made from durable die-cast aluminum, backlit high-quality tactile switches," and several layers of sound deadening so it can be used in shared spaces without becoming a distraction to others.What sets the Wordrunner apart from other mechanical keyboards is the addition of two electromechanical counters with rotating numbers on its top edge. One, called the Wordometer, will continually track word count until you press a reset button, while the other, upgraded with subtle LED indicators," serves as a timer for quick writing sprints or tracking your productivity. Image: Astrohaus A rotating red joystick in the upper-left corner of the keyboard controls media playback and volume. The keyboard's other big differentiator is a redesigned function row with keys customized for quickly navigating and editing a document. These include dedicated keys for undo and redo, jumping between paragraphs, and quickly skipping to the top or bottom of a page. There are also three dedicated macro keys - labeled zap, pow, and bam - that writers can customize to their specific needs.This means the Wordrunner loses keys dedicated to controlling media playback, but that's all handled through a rotating red joystick in the upper-left corner of the keyboard that can be pressed or moved in four directions for skipping tracks or making volume adjustments.Other features include an extended wrist rest and the ability to connect to and switch between up to four devices through dedicated hotkeys. The Freewrite Wordrunner can connect to three devices over Bluetooth, including computers and mobile devices, and a fourth with a USB-C cable.

Image: VideoLAN The popular open-source VLC video player was demonstrated on the floor of CES 2025 with automatic AI subtitling and translation, generated locally and offline in real time. Parent organization VideoLAN shared a video on Tuesday in which president Jean-Baptiste Kempf shows off the new feature, which uses open-source AI models to generate subtitles for videos in several languages.At the same time we have automatic translation working to translate the subtitles to your own language," Kempf says, with more than 100 languages planned for support. What's important is that this is running on your machine locally, offline, without any cloud services. It runs directly inside the executable."

Image: The Verge The AI search engine Perplexity is launching an integration with Tripadvisor that will add more information about hotels. Now, when you search for places to stay, Perplexity will present you with a neatly organized list of hotels, alongside summaries of why it chose them using information sourced from Tripadvisor.In an example shared by Perplexity, a search for hotels in Madrid for a business trip" yields a result for Hotel Regina, which the search engine says you should choose if you want a centrally located hotel in Madrid with exceptional service and a rich breakfast offering." It also displays its ratings and images from Tripadvisor as well as a list of perks, like location," service," and cleanliness."Previously, Perplexity only displayed a numbered list of hotels with their address, user rating, and features, while showing images gathered from each hotel's website in its sidebar.From the Tripadvisor side, they provide an up-to-date trustworthy source of information that we sync regularly," Perplexity cofounder Johnny Ho said during an interview with The Verge. On the fly, we'll index and retrieve the right results depending on the user intent of the query."Perplexity, which bills itself as an answer engine" rather than a search engine, plans to expand the Tripadvisor integration to include information about restaurants and experiences in the future. The AI search engine also added data from Yelp last year as part of its goal to include accurate information you can use.The change comes just weeks after ChatGPT widely rolled out its AI search engine, which now displays results from the web for certain queries. Perplexity's Tripadvisor integration is rolling out now to Perplexity on the web, but it will be available on its mobile app soon."

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Watch Duty, a nonprofit-run app that tracks wildfires with live maps and alerts, has shot to the top of Apple's App Store charts this week as Californian residents look to navigate catastrophic blazes devastating the area.The app launched in 2021 and is now available in 22 states, providing evacuation warnings, real-time text, photo and video updates, and a map interface with flame icons to show regions where fires are blazing. Users can access information on evacuation routes, shelter locations, and firefighting efforts, alongside zooming in on the map view to see the latest updates for precise locations. It's a one-stop shop for everything needed during a fire emergency.Watch Duty is powered by a team of around 200 volunteers, many of which are retired or active firefighters, dispatchers, or first responders. The app pulls its wildfire information from official government reports, volunteer reporters, and 911 dispatch calls which are then vetted and monitored using radio scanners, wildlife cameras, satellites, and local announcements from law enforcement and fire services.Watch Duty says that the community-bolstered network allows it to provide more real-time information than fire-tracking services like CalFire and InciWeb which rely on government alerts. The app is used by active firefighters and has become a lifeline for people across the western United States who live in areas deemed to be high-risk fire zones - Watch Duty says its active users increased to 7.2 million by December 2024 compared to 1.9 million in 2023.Californians on social media are encouraging each other to download the app in light of the ongoing LA fires raging across thousands of acres of land fueled by high winds and extremely dry conditions. As of Thursday morning, the LA Times reports that the fires have killed five people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, including the homes of celebrities like Paris Hilton, Billy Crystal, Adam Brody, and James Woods.Over 367,000 California households are currently without power according to PowerOutage, and at least 130,000 LA residents are now under evacuation orders.Seconding the Watch Duty app so hard," said one Californian on a Threads post encouraging users to download the app. I live in Butte County, CA, (near where the Camp Fire was in 2018) and Watch Duty has been immeasurably helpful during fires like the Park Fire last summer."Watch Duty's vice president of operations Nick Russell says that users are drawn to the app because it's more accessible than manually checking several sources and social media updates, and because of its network for vetting and verifying factual information. Conspiracy theories surrounding natural disasters and climate change have become a common occurrence online, with misinformation regarding weather-related events being shared by users across social media platforms.One of the big things for us, our big theme, is quality over quantity. We're not in a big hurry to get information that we're going to have to go and retract later," Russell told NBC News on Wednesday. And so if it takes a few extra minutes to get it out there, that's fine, but we want it to be that official info; and because we built a one-way communication platform, we don't offer that venue for people to circulate nonsense ... And so it really puts the ball in our court for good information."Russell also noted that Watch Duty doesn't collect or sell user data, instead relying on premium app subscriptions and funding from private donations to stay up and running. The core features of the app that are essential for fire monitoring, safety, and evacuation, are entirely available for free.I think it's really important in today's world, where so many people are trying to profit off disaster, to really understand that that's not what Watch Duty is," Russell said. Watch Duty will remain free forever."

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge We might be skeptical of some Nvidia's claims, like whether a $549 RTX 5070 will truly deliver the performance of a $1599 RTX 4090. But it's almost impossible not to be impressed by the RTX 5090 Founder's Edition, where Nvidia fit 575 watts of graphics power, including 21,760 CUDA cores and 32GB of GDDR7 memory, into a video card just two slots wide.It almost has to be seen to be believed, and we sent my colleague Antonio around the CES show floor in Las Vegas in what was initially a fruitless search. No PC manufacturer seemed to have an interactive game demo running on a 5090, much less the two-slot card.But on Wednesday, we finally spotted the real deal at Nvidia's offsite event - and then some. It's heavy, and the uniquely desirable $2,000 card may wind up being rare, but it's here, and it works.Below, find our pictures of the relatively compact 5090; its incredibly compact PCB with the Blackwell chip on top; a game demo running on the 5090; a picture of the 5090, 5080, and 5070 Founder's Editions side by side; and some examples of just how bulky every other partner's cards can be compared to Nvidia's own. Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The... Read the full story at The Verge.

Illustration: The Verge Google is testing an experimental AI feature that creates a personalized podcast using your Search and Discover feed history. The Daily Listen feature in Google's Search Labs is rolling out to Android and iOS users in the US according to 9to5Google, and works similarly to the Audio Overviews feature for Google's NotebookLM project.Daily Listen references search data and Discover feed interactions to assess which news articles would be of most interest to the user, and then summarizes those stories and topics into a roughly five-minute audio overview. It provides a text transcript, alongside audio scrubber controls that allow users to play, pause, mute, rewind, or skip to the next story. Image: Google (Via 9to5Google) Here's a few screengrabs of the Daily Listen UI, showing where the feature is located and how it presents related topics. Search Labs users who opt-in to try this experiment will find Daily Listen in the personalized widget carousel underneath the Search bar at the top of the Google app. A Related stories" tab will appear at the bottom of the audio player that corresponds to content within the overview that allows users to like or disapprove of each story with a thumbs up/down, and explore new topics.There's currently no word on when/if this feature will be rolled out to the wider public. Google's AI Search Overviews were tested in a similar way via Search Labs before launching to a general audience last year, so it's possible that Daily Listen may one day become a persistent feature - hopefully one that's easier to opt out of than AI Overviews.

Illustration: The Verge Apple is refuting rumors that it ever let advertisers target users based on Siri recordings in a statement published Wednesday evening describing how Siri works and what it does with data.The section specifically responding to the rumors reads:

This robot vacuum from Dreame has a robotic arm that can pick up items and use tools from its toolbox (pictured in the background) to clean more areas of your home. | Image: The Verge I'll see your arm and raise you an arm and two legs. It was the battle of the bots on the CES show floor as robot vacuum manufacturers Dreame and Roborock each added limbs to their rival robovacs.Dreame launched its X50 Ultra at the show earlier this week, debuting the first robovac that can use its legs to navigate steps and room transitions up to 6cm high. But elsewhere at the show, competitor Roborock was showing off its latest flagship, the Saros Z70, which has an arm that can pick up items like socks.Not to be outdone, Dreame then showed off a soon-to-be-released model at its CES booth, combining those two step-climbing legs with a robotic arm of its own.

Illustration by Haein Jeong / The Verge Microsoft is rolling back a model upgrade to its AI-powered Bing Image Creator, reports TechCrunch. The rollback came after weeks of complaints by users that the tool just didn't work as well after Microsoft upgraded" to a new version of the DALL-E 3 model on December 18th.Microsoft declined to comment on its decision to roll things back or offer specifics on what may be causing the gap between user's expectations and its output.Today, Microsoft's head of search, Jordi Ribas, tweeted that they could reproduce some of the issues reported" and are reverting to an older version of the DALL-E model for now, although it could take a few weeks until it's complete.

The Surface Laptop 7 with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Microsoft is preparing for a major" Surface announcement later this month. The software giant has started teasing a major announcement from Surface for Business" this week in a LinkedIn post spotted by Windows Central. The announcement will be made during Microsoft's AI tour in New York City on January 30th.Microsoft is rumored to be launching Intel-powered variants of its Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11 devices soon, and a prototype of a Surface Laptop 7 with Intel's Lunar Lake chips appeared on a Chinese second-hand marketplace in October. It's likely that Microsoft will announce Lunar Lake versions of the Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11 that are designed for businesses.The Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 both shipped with Intel's Meteor Lake processors earlier in 2024, before Microsoft went on to launch refreshed Surface Copilot Plus devices with new designs and Qualcomm chips.The Surface Laptop Studio is also due for an upgrade from the current model's 13th Gen Intel chips, but that's less of a business-focused device so it's unlikely to be part of this event. There are also rumors of an 11-inch Surface Go / Surface Laptop Go hybrid device powered by a Snapdragon X Plus processor, but again that's unlikely to be targeted to businesses.We'll be following Microsoft's AI tour live later this month, so stay tuned for details on the Surface major announcement."