The Verge

The budget-friendly TV delivers good color and contrast for the price, with support for full-array local dimming and Dolby Vision HDR. | Image: Hisense To say the news is a lot right now might be the understatement of the year. Luckily, if you're looking for ways to distract yourself from the 2024 election in the days - or, god forbid, weeks - ahead, Hisene's 55-inch U6N Series TV is on sale at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy starting at $347.99 ($200 off), which is a new all-time low.The 4K-ready TV's got everything you need to unplug and comfortably stream your stress away, all without spending a fortune. Notably, it comes with Google's TV software built-in, so you can quickly find the perfect show and peruse content recommendations across a multitude of streaming services. The 55U6N also offers a slew of Gemini-powered AI features thanks to a recent software update - allowing you to... Continue reading...

Amazon's MK30 drone. | Image: Amazon Amazon is starting up drone delivery operations at its Tolleson, AZ, same-day delivery site. Customers who live in the West Valley Phoenix Metro Area are eligible to receive packages via Prime Air and will have access to the over 50,000 everyday essentials" that include household, beauty, and office/tech supplies - which Amazon claims is its largest selection yet for fast drone deliveries.The news came after Amazon announced it was shutting down its testing zone location in Lockeford, California. The new Tolleson location integrates drone deliveries into Amazon's delivery network for the first time, and the drones will deploy right next to the fulfillment center.Amazon is using its latest MK30 drones that can carry up to 5 pounds... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images A shorter-than-usual US presidential election season comes to a head. Continue reading...

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon Musk's America PAC can move forward with its $1 million giveaways to voters after a Philadelphia judge declined an emergency petition from District Attorney Larry Krasner to block them.During a hearing earlier on Monday, a representative for the political action committee said prize winners are not randomly selected and are actually chosen to be paid spokespeople for the PAC, which supports former President Donald Trump, The Associated Press reported. Musk previously advertised the selection as random, but the fine print of the petition that applicants need to sign to enter the giveaway doesn't mention it.Krasner accused the PAC of running an illegal lottery and deceptively marketing the prize selections as random, even though... Continue reading...

Image: GM GM is claiming the number two spot in EV sales in the US for the third quarter of this year, selling 32,000 electric vehicles. The automaker produces EVs across multiple brands running on the same platform, like Chevy's Silverado, Blazer, and Equinox EVs, as well as the GMC Hummer EV and the Cadillac Lyriq.GM says it has sold a total of 370,000 EVs in North America since 2016, including 300,000 in the US specifically. Tesla is still the undisputed leader, with more than 5 million vehicles sold since 2008.In an email with The Verge, GM's executive director of finance and sales communications James Cain wrote that sales have accelerated since the company built a dedicated EV platform (formerly known as Ultium) and began producing battery... Continue reading...

Cath Virginia / The Verge Microsoft has been testing a new AI-powered Xbox chatbot, and now Xbox Insiders can try it out for the first time. I exclusively revealed the existence of this new Xbox Support Virtual Agent" earlier this year, and Microsoft now says it's designed to help Xbox players more efficiently solve their support-related gaming issues."Xbox Insiders in the US can start trying out this new Xbox AI chatbot at support.xbox.com, and it will answer questions around Xbox console and game support issues. We value the feedback from Xbox Insiders for this preview experience and any feedback received will be used to improve the Support Virtual Agent," says Megha Dudani, senior product manager lead at Xbox. Image: Microsoft This is... Continue reading...

Image: Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta will now allow US government agencies and contractors to use its open-source Llama AI model for national security applications." In an announcement on Monday, the company said it's working with Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Oracle, and others to make Llama available to the government.Under Meta's acceptable use policy," people can't use the latest Llama 3 model for military, warfare, nuclear industries or applications, espionage." However, as explained by Meta, this update opens the door for the US military to use Llama to do things like streamline complicated logistics and planning, track terrorist financing or strengthen our cyber defenses."Meta says Oracle has already started building on Llama to synthesize"... Continue reading...

Image: Amazon Amazon's Prime Video is getting a new generative AI-powered feature to help catch you up on a show. The new tool, called X-Ray Recaps, can create text summaries of of full seasons of TV shows, single episodes, and even pieces of episodes," the company says in a blog post.X-Ray Recaps will be accessible from the detail page of a show or in X-Ray while you're watching something. The tool analyzes various video segments, combined with subtitles or dialogue, to generate detailed descriptions of key events, places, times, and conversations," Amazon says. Amazon has also applied guardrails" to help the feature avoid sharing spoilers and to keep summaries concise. Image: Amazon X-Ray Recaps, which is are beta, are coming... Continue reading...

The Echo Spot is a smart alarm clock / speaker hybrid that's $5 shy of its all-time low price. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge The clocks have fallen back an hour for many of us, and if it all feels a bit disorienting, you're not alone. Thankfully, Amazon's versatile Echo Spot is on sale to help you adjust. Normally $79.99, right now you can buy the smart alarm clock at Amazon in black, blue, or white with a free Globe Electric smart bulb for $49.99, which equates to $41.99 in savings. That's just $5 shy of the all-time low we saw during Amazon's recent Prime Day event.Amazon's speedy smart speaker can be set up so that it gently wakes you up with music instead of typical alarm clock sounds, which can be jarring. The Spot is also a lot more useful than your run-of-the-mill clock, as it offers a customizable 2.83-inch screen that displays helpful info... Continue reading...

The machines that process mail-in ballots help count thousands of votes in a day - and Philadelphia officials know that every second matters. Continue reading...

The French-language app shows new movies like Terrifier 3 and Venom: The Last Dance. | Image: Thomas Ricker / The Verge Another illegal streaming app has made its way to the App Store - but it only surfaces pirated films for people in certain regions outside the US, including France, Canada, and the Netherlands.As shown in a post on Threads, the App Store listing for Univer Note" presents itself as a productivity platform that can easily help you record every day's events and plan your time." However, if you're a user in certain countries, like France or Canada, opening the app shows a collection of pirated movies, such as Venom: The Last Dance, Joker: Folie a Deux, and Terrifier 3. Options within the app are labeled in French, while films stream in their original language with French subtitles or dubbing.Anyone else who downloads the app in an... Continue reading...

Image: Nintendo For a character that's been around so long, Mario is in something of a golden period. Since last year his mustache has been spotted in theaters, theme parks, and the best (and weirdest) side-scrolling Super Mario game in a long time. But he's had a particularly strong run in role-playing games on the Switch, with recent remakes of both Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and the original Super Mario RPG. Now we have Mario & Luigi: Brothership which keeps the streak alive with a blend of charm, humor, and clever gameplay.Brothership, once again, starts with the brothers getting whisked away to a fantasy realm in need of help. This time it's the oceanic world of Concordia, which has been broken apart into a series of islands. The bros end... Continue reading...

Activists gather in New York City in August 2024. | Photo: Luis Yanez Joe Biden raised hopes that the US would finally plan for climate-displaced migrants. Today, it's still a glaring hole in climate and immigration policy. Continue reading...

Screenshot: YouTube With all the noise from the lead-up to the 2024 US Presidential election next week, you'd be forgiven for having missed some of the trailers that came out over the last few days. Not to worry; I've got you covered for some of the best ones.This week's trailers included a teaser for Netflix's second season of Squid Game, a new haunted house horror film from Steven Soderbergh, and a look at Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Daniel Craig showed up in a trailer for a new A24 movie called Queer.Squid Game season 2Squid Game is finally returning for its second season soon, and in a new teaser, Lee Jung-jae's Gi-hun looks like he's preparing to stage an uprising. Whatever happens, it looks like the season will be a bloody, violent return for the... Continue reading...

Image: Motion Twin Some of the most beloved roguelikes are single-player - the likes of Hades, Balatro, and Dead Cells are all solo titles. But Windblown, the new roguelike from Motion Twin, the studio that created Dead Cells, showed me just how cool it can be to play a roguelike with other people.In Windblown, your character, one of a few adorable animal adventurers like an axolotl or a bat, is shot out of a cannon into a mysterious giant tornado to fight your way through various zones. Like Dead Cells, you can equip up to two main weapons. I typically have one for close-range bouts and another for long-distance attacks. But with every weapon, you're also able to pull off a combo that uses a special move from the other weapon called an Alterattack."H... Continue reading...

Image: Zoox This week, Zoox cofounder and CTO Jesse Levinson announced at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 that it would start rolling out its purpose-built autonomous vehicles in San Francisco and Las Vegas in the coming weeks.But little was said about the ongoing investigation into the Amazon-owned company's claims that its vehicles - which are shaped like giant toasters and lack traditional controls like steering wheels and pedals - comply with federal safety rules.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has an open investigation into Zoox's claim that its vehicles are self-certified, a spokesperson confirmed this week. And NHTSA has not granted the company an exemption from these rules. The spokesperson declined to comment on the... Continue reading...

Cat not included. Using the Eight Sleep Pod 4 Ultra has given me the best sleep of my life. I just can't get over the price and subscription. Continue reading...

Image: Epic Games Fortnite is rewinding the clock once again. After a bit of teasing, Epic is about to kick off a new period in the battle royale game dubbed The Remix: Chapter 2 - and it's not only looking back in time, it's integrating music in an ambitious new way.The launch of the remixed season was preceded by a musical event, similar to the Eminem concert that teased a new era for Fortnite. This time around, Snoop Dogg and Ice Spice took the stage - both in the game and IRL at Times Square in New York - and once the season kicks off, the musical aspects will go a step farther. Image: Epic Games As the name implies, the new mini season brings back many of the characters, gameplay elements, and locations of the game's second... Continue reading...