The Verge

Photo by Kena Betancur/VIEWpress Now that they've got an extra $100 billion worth of premium airwaves and Sprint no longer nipping at their heels, how can the big three cellular carriers continue to consolidate and grow? Well, T-Mobile and Verizon are in discussions to carve up U.S. Cellular," The Wall Street Journal reports.The report suggests this is about harvesting even more wireless spectrum; my colleague Allison pointed out in 2022 that US Cellular tends to offer service where some of the major carriers don't." (It would certainly be nice for T-Mobile and Verizon customers to have better coverage, but I would prefer competition to lower my wireless bill.)T-Mobile would reportedly pay over $2 billion for wireless spectrum licenses and take over some... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Apple plans to start its foray into generative AI by offloading complex queries to M2 Ultra chips running in data centers before moving to its more advanced M4 chips.Bloomberg reports that Apple plans to put its M2 Ultra on cloud servers to run more complex AI queries, while simple tasks are processed on devices. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Apple wanted to make custom chips to bring to data centers to ensure security and privacy in a project the publication says is called Project ACDC, or Apple Chips in Data Center. But the company now believes its existing processors already have sufficient security and privacy components.The chips will be deployed to Apple's data centers and eventually to servers run by third... Continue reading...

Image: Mob Entertainment The horror puzzle game Poppy Playtime is getting a live-action film adaption. Developer Mob Entertainment says it struck a deal with the entertainment company Legendary after fielding several competitive offers." Transformers producer Don Murphy and filmmaker Susan Montford will develop and produce the adaptation.Poppy Playtime is a first-person adventure game, where players take on the role of a former toy factory worker who returns to their now-abandoned workplace. As players explore Playtime Co., they have to solve several puzzles while trying to avoid Huggy Wuggy, the monstrous toy lurking in the factory. The base version of Poppy Playtime is free to play across PC and console, but its developers released chapters players can... Continue reading...

Image: Apple Apple has apologized after a commercial meant to showcase its brand-new iPad Pro drew widespread criticism among the creative community. In a statement provided to Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple's vice president of marketing, said the company missed the mark."Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it's incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world," Myhren told Ad Age. Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry."On Tuesday, Apple introduced the M4-powered iPad Pro, which the company described as its thinnest product ever. To advertise all the creative possibilities... Continue reading...

Image: Albacore (X) Microsoft has quietly started testing an intriguing change to the Windows 11 Start menu that could introduce a floating panel full of companion" widgets. Windows watcher Albacore discovered the new Start menu feature in the latest test versions of Windows 11 that Microsoft has released publicly.While Microsoft has not yet announced this feature, the Start menu Companions" appear to be a way to allow developers to extend the Windows 11 Start menu with widget-like functionality that lives inside a floating island that can be docked next to the Start menu. It looks like developers will be able to build apps that provide widget-like information through adaptive cards - a platform-agnostic way of displaying UI blocks of information.

Image: Asus The Asus ROG Ally was the first true Steam Deck challenger; while I'd argue it fell a little short, it legitimately improved the state of affordable Windows handheld gaming with its plugged-in performance boosts and smooth variable refresh rate screen. Now, Asus is beginning to reveal its successor: the ROG Ally X.Don't call it an Ally 2: when it ships in the second half of the year, the Windows-based Ally X will have the same AMD Z1 Extreme chipset and the same 7-inch 48-120Hz VRR screen. It's not quite like the Steam Deck OLED, where Valve got AMD to revise its chip for better battery life and stability and added a larger, brighter, gorgeous new OLED panel with improved response time and slimmer bezels.We're not looking at 30 to 40... Continue reading...

Photo: Fanatec Corsair is pursuing an acquisition of the racing sim brand Fanatec. In an update shared on Thursday, Corsair says it's negotiating with Fanatec to restructure the troubled company's around 70 million (about $75.4 million) debt and cover short-term costs.Over the years, Fanatec has established itself as one of the most popular brands for racing sim hardware. It offers a premium lineup of racing wheels, pedals, shifters, and more, which virtual racing enthusiasts can hook up to their console or PC when playing games like Gran Turismo 7 and Assetto Corsa.But the company's reputation has taken a hit in recent months. Fanatec customers have flooded forums with complaints about the company's inability to fulfill orders on time and lack of... Continue reading...

Image: Lucid It's earnings season, and anyone invested in the idea that electric vehicles are the future of transportation is all over Tesla. But Elon Musk's company isn't the only one putting all its bets on battery-electric vehicles. Three other so-called pure EV plays" - Rivian, Lucid Motors, and Fisker - also posted their earnings this week. And sifting through the numbers reveals some worrisome trends.For years, it was assumed that Tesla as well as the dozen or so other pure EV companies it helped spawn, would outmaneuver the legacy automakers thanks to a laser focus on electric powertrains and battery production. But today, it's the legacy automakers that are posting healthy profits while the pure EV companies flounder.Price cuts, politics,... Continue reading...

Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max are teaming up for a new bundle this summer, Netflix is focused on the WWE and celebrity boxing, Disney Plus is getting ESPN, and Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Max could get a price hike. A familiar refrain emerged around all this news: streaming is becoming cable TV all over again and getting crummier in the process.And it's true! When streaming first emerged, it was a beautiful alternative to piracy, which was very convenient and very illegal, and cable, which was festooned with ads and weighed down by channels you were paying for and didn't want. Streaming gave you a world of content on demand for a fraction of the cost of cable.But that experience was never sustainable. Content costs money to... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge My Uber driver asked for my PIN recently. In my half-asleep state, I stared at him, alarmed, for a few seconds before it dawned on me: he was asking me to share the PIN Uber sent so I could verify my ride.It turned out I'd activated all of Uber's safety features while writing about Uber's new safety customization section last month and then forgot about their existence entirely - which, to be honest, is pretty easy to do. Hidden away under Settings in the Uber app, Uber's safety tools are less visible than all of its many services and even its Emission Savings feature (yeah, that's a thing).That's a real shame because as a single female caregiver who frequently takes Ubers and has experienced harassment, I'm starting to appreciate the... Continue reading...

Image: Microsoft.com Microsoft is finally adding an easy way to use QR codes inside Windows 11's built-in Snipping Tool. A new update has started rolling out to Windows Insider testers today that will automatically detect QR codes in screenshots so you can open links from your PC. The Snipping Tool update also includes support for emoji.The automatic QR code detection will appear if you enter the text actions part of the canvas in the Snipping Tool and will highlight the QR code and its clickable link. If you're an emoji fan, then you'll be able to add Microsoft's 3D emoji to your screenshots. This new option is part of the shapes toolbar, and any inserted emoji can easily be resized and moved around on top of your screenshot. Image:... Continue reading...

Skylight's 15-inch touchscreen planner is probably the last calendar your family will ever need. | Image: Skylight As cool and useful as the Skylight Calendar is, I can't blame anyone for feeling apprehensive about paying north of $300 for something their smartphone and a cheap paper calendar can do. But the 15-inch version of the excellent family planner is now receiving a rare $70 discount at Amazon and Best Buy, which drops it to an all-time low of $249.99. If you're a Costco member and don't mind waiting until tomorrow, May 10th, you can even pick it up for $219.99 ($80 off).The Skylight Calendar is a fun smart display that lets you create color-coded sticky notes and appointments, which look similar to the Google Calendar web interface. (By the way, Skylight sells an even more impressive 27-inch version that starts at $569.99 and a more... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge One important step of evolving Threads into a fully featured social media platform is being more transparent about reach and distribution. And today, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri says the company is making it easy for anyone to see a post's view count. It's important that people understand how their Threads posts perform, so we're rolling out the ability to tap anywhere on a post to display its total view count," he writes.As usual, it'll take some time before everyone gets this option - I'm not seeing it in my app or on the web just yet - but it'll be a welcome window into performance for influencers, businesses, and regular users. If nothing else, it's always nice to know you're not just shouting into the void. We've got more work... Continue reading...

Image: Sonos Sonos has responded to the avalanche of feedback - some good, plenty bad - about the company's redesigned mobile app that was released on May 7th. In the days since, customers have complained about missing features like sleep timers, broken local music library management, and no longer having the ability to edit playlists or the upcoming song queue. More alarmingly, the Sonos app's accessibility has also taken a hit, something the company says it's aiming to resolve by next month.In a statement provided to The Verge, Sonos confirms that it's keenly aware of the gripes that owners of its speakers have expressed about the new app. It's hearing their response and is working to address the functionality that has (for now) gone missing. But... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge TikTok already automatically applies an AI-generated" tag to content on its platform made using TikTok's AI tools, and that same label will now apply to content created on other platforms. Now, TikTok will detect when images or videos are uploaded to its platform containing metadata tags indicating the presence of AI-generated content and says it's the first social media platform to support the new Content Credentials.Support for the Adobe-developed tagging system (which has been added to tools like Photoshop and Firefly) comes as TikTok partners with Adobe's Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) as well as the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). Image: TikTok TikTok writes that Content... Continue reading...

Image: Bigmode Games Talk to someone who is fully immersed in the indie game Animal Well, and you're bound to hear some strange things. They might get excited about a new way to use a Frisbee or be frustrated about playing music for a caged cat. They'll probably chat your ear off about the dozens of different-colored eggs they've collected, and all of the ones that seem just out of reach. Mostly, though, what they're saying will sound like gibberish. That's because the world of Animal Well is so odd and cryptic it almost requires its own language to discuss - but once you speak it, it's hard to think about anything else.Animal Well is the first release from solo developer Billy Basso, and it's probably best described as a Metroidvania. You play as a little... Continue reading...

An updated version of the iOS app is available that should resolve the issue for impacted Tandem Diabetes Care customers. | Photo Illustration by Matt Harbicht/Getty Images for Tandem Diabetes Care At least 224 people with diabetes have reported injuries linked to a defective iOS app that caused their insulin pumps to shut down prematurely, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).On Wednesday, the agency announced that California-based medical device manufacturer Tandem Diabetes Care has issued a recall for version 2.7 of the iOS t:connect mobile app, which is used in conjunction with the company's t:slim X2 insulin pump. Specifically, the recall relates to a software issue that can cause the app to repeatedly crash and relaunch, resulting in the pump's battery being drained by excessive Bluetooth communication.This battery drain can cause the pump to shut down earlier than typically expected" according to Tandem,... Continue reading...

WiiM has announced two new audiophile streaming devices for the high end of its wireless audio streaming devices. Called the WiiM Ultra and the WiiM Amp Pro, both support AirPlay 2, Chromecast, DLNA, and several other streaming protocols and will be available this summer.Both devices are equipped with a 32-bit / 384kHz ES9038 Q2M Sabre DAC. (Last year's Wiim Amp used an ES9018 Sabre DAC instead). They also use Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless connectivity, and they each sport the same shrunken-down Mac Studio look. WiiM says the two devices also automatically tune audio output to the room they're in. Image: Courtesy of WiiM The WiiM Ultra, front and back. But the WiiM Ultra has a 3.5mm touchscreen on... Continue reading...

Image: Tango Gameworks Today, one day after Microsoft announced that it would shut down four of its games studios, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, held a town hall to discuss the division's future goals. We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards," Booty told employees, according to internal remarks shared with The Verge.For some listeners on the call, it was a surprising goal: Microsoft had just shut down the Japanese developer Tango Gameworks, which was coming off the small, prestigious hit title Hi-Fi Rush.Hi-Fi Rush, which was a surprise release last year, was praised for its innovation and charm. The rhythm action game featured music by The Black Keys and Nine Inch Nails, with an art style that evoked the hyper-stylized games of the... Continue reading...

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Recently, motherboard makers have issued BIOS updates to improve the stability of Intel 13th and 14th Gen i9 chips in crashing games. But Intel, which announced last month that it was investigating these issues, is now asking gamers not to implement those settings.The companies now seem to be at odds on how to adjust your CPU. Motherboard makers like Asus are recommending an Intel Baseline Profile" with basic functionality" and lower power limits," while Intel says you should go with a higher power profile depending on your motherboard and chip.Here's Intel's full statement, from Anandtech:

Image: The Verge Microsoft Strategic Missions and Technology CTO William Chappell announced that it's deployed a GPT-4 large language model in an isolated, air-gapped environment on a government-only network. Bloomberg first reported the setup, citing an unnamed executive who claimed that the Azure Government Top Secret cloud-hosted model represents the first time a major" LLM has operated separated from the internet.Chappell announced the AI supercomputer on Tuesday afternoon at the first-ever AI Expo for National Competitiveness" in Washington D.C. Unlike the models behind ChatGPT or other tools, Microsoft says this server is static," operating without learning from the files it processes or the wider internet.Chappell told Bloomberg, It is now... Continue reading...

Check out the little wheels on the upper left side. | Image: CAST China's Chang'e 6 lunar probe mission is bound for the far side of the Moon, and there seems to be a small rover affixed to the side of the lander, as seen in new images released by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).China's National Space Administration announced today that the probe, which launched last week, has successfully entered the Moon's orbit, a big step toward landing the spacecraft early next month.

Illustration: The Verge AI tools behaving badly - like Microsoft's Bing AI losing track of which year it is - has become a subgenre of reporting on AI. But very often, it's hard to tell the difference between a bug and poor construction of the underlying AI model that analyzes incoming data and predicts what an acceptable response will be, like Google's Gemini image generator drawing diverse Nazis due to a filter setting.Now, OpenAI is releasing the first draft of a proposed framework, called Model Spec, that would shape how AI tools like its own GPT-4 model respond in the future. The OpenAI approach proposes three general principles - that AI models should assist the developer and end-user with helpful responses that follow instructions, benefit humanity... Continue reading...

The LG C3 is still one of the best gaming OLEDs you can buy in 2024. | Image: LG With eBay's spring sale going on right now and running through May 12th, you can save an extra 15 percent on purchases when you use code SPRING15OFF. There's no minimum purchase amount required, but you can only save up to $500 on each of the two maximum purchases you're allowed to make.There are thousands of electronics you can purchase in the sale, but I want to shout out the 48-inch LG C3 today. Its usual $996.99 sale price was already beating traditional retailers by a few dollars, but with the code above, you can save another $149.55 and bring your total down to $847.44. You can use the same code on the 65-inch model, which then drops from $1,596.99 to $1,357.44 (around $240 off). The listings are by Electronic Express, a Verge-... Continue reading...

Say Aloe to my little friend. | Photo: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple and Sonos aren't the only companies dominating the headlines with new devices this week. Google also officially announced the Pixel 8A following weeks of rumors, introducing the forthcoming handset a full week ahead of Google I/O 2024. The phone launches on May 14th, but you can preorder an unlocked model from Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store starting at $499 with a $100 gift card.As expected, the upcoming Pixel 8A is aimed squarely at the midrange market. Google's Pixel 7A ended up being our favorite Android phone for under $500 despite its $50 price bump, with much of its success riding on its 64MP main camera and a number of features typically reserved for more premium phones (ahem, wireless charging). The 8A only builds... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Google DeepMind is introducing an improved version of its AI model that predicts not just the structure of proteins but also the structure of all life's molecules." The work from the new model, AlphaFold 3, will help researchers in medicine, agriculture, materials science, and drug development test potential discoveries.Previous versions of AlphaFold only predicted the structures of proteins. AlphaFold 3 goes beyond that and can model DNA, RNA, and smaller molecules called ligands, expanding the model's capability for scientific use.DeepMind says the new model shows a 50 percent improvement in prediction accuracy compared to its previous models. With AlphaFold 2, it was a big milestone moment in structural biology and has unlocked... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In 2023, Uber achieved an important milestone, earning more money than it spent for a full year for the first time. It was widely seen as a sign that the perennially cash-strapped business was finally on a more sustainable path.Today, there are signs that the journey may be longer than we thought.The ridehailing and delivery company reported a surprise net loss of $654 million for the first quarter of the year, as legal settlements and equity investments proved to be more of a drag on Uber's business than many expected.The ridehailing and delivery company reported a surprise net loss of $654 millionWall Street analysts had been expecting a profit of $474 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. In particular, the company's... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Intel expects new export restrictions to China to impact its revenue for the next quarter, according to a new financial filing.The US Department of Commerce said Tuesday it had revoked certain licenses for chip exports to sanctioned Chinese company Huawei. Intel said in its filing that the Commerce Department informed it Tuesday of the license change, which it said impacted the export of consumer-related items to a customer in China, effective immediately." Intel did not list Huawei by name in the filing.Intel said its revenue for the second quarter of 2024 will still fall within the original range it outlined of $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion but below the midpoint.Huawei has been on a US trade blacklist since 2019, limiting its... Continue reading...

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge One of Android's best new features, Circle to Search, is unfortunately not available to iPhone users. But Google is throwing Apple fans a bone with a solution that essentially replicates the function.Google's design manager for Google Lens, Minsang Choi, shared a new iOS shortcut in a post on X that's designed to leverage the Action button on iPhone 15 Pro devices. When activated, the shortcut takes a screenshot of whatever you're looking at and immediately funnels it into the Google app and runs a Lens scan. It's basically Circle to Search, but faster," Choi exclaims. GIF: Umar Shakir / The Verge The Google app shortcut in action. Over on 9to5Mac, author Abner Li discovered that the shortcut can also be... Continue reading...

Illustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos: Getty Images Stack Overflow's new deal giving OpenAI access to its API as a source of data has users who've posted their questions and answers about coding problems in conversations with other humans rankled. Users say that when they attempt to alter their posts in protest, the site is retaliating by reversing the alterations and suspending the users who carried them out.A programmer named Ben posted a screenshot yesterday of the change history for a post seeking programming advice, which they'd updated to say that they had removed the question to protest the OpenAI deal. The move steals the labour of everyone who contributed to Stack Overflow with no way to opt-out," read the updated post.The text was reverted less than an hour later. A... Continue reading...

Image: Nintendo Nintendo is embracing the world of speedrunning in its own way. The company announced a new collection of NES games for the Switch called Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, but the twist is the bundle is built entirely around playing really fast.The collection features 13 different games - including Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, and a whole lot of Super Mario Bros. - but instead of playing through the entire thing, players are tasked with completing bite-sized bits of classic blockbusters," with the goal of getting the best possible time. Nintendo says there are more than 150 time-based challenges spread across the included games, and the collection will include a single-player mode and local multiplayer with support for up to... Continue reading...

The new Prime Video ad formats will arrive sometime later this year. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge It's barely been four months since Amazon placed ads in its Prime Video streaming service, but the retail giant is already introducing more annoying promotional tactics - such as displaying ads whenever someone hits the pause button.On Tuesday, Amazon announced it will roll out three new ad formats for Prime Video later this year to tempt subscribers to purchase promoted items while watching content. Shoppable carousels will soon appear during ad breaks in shows and movies that present viewers with a sliding lineup" of products they can buy on Amazon. That essentially makes this an ad within another ad, and it even automatically pauses" if interacted with to give viewers time to browse.TV shows, movies, and live sports will also... Continue reading...

Photo by Matt Jewell President Joe Biden is traveling to Racine, Wisconsin, today to announce a $3.3 billion investment by Microsoft, which will build an AI data center on the same site as the failed Foxconn project, according to a White House press release.The Microsoft project, which the White House estimates will create an estimated 2,300 union construction jobs and up to 2,000 permanent jobs, is part of Biden's Investing in America initiative. Microsoft will roll out the investments in a four-part strategy designed to create long-term benefits for the state's economy and job market," the company said in a press release.Microsoft will also develop an AI innovation lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Data Center Academy" at Gateway... Continue reading...