The Verge - All Posts

Some kids watching TV, back when that was a thing kids regularly did. | Photo by Michel BARET/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images It finally happened, at least according to a new metric Nielsen began using two years ago: linear TV now accounts for less than 50 percent of all TV usage. This probably isn't a surprise unless you're reading this on the couch while watching the NBC Nightly News. Between YouTube, TikTok, and streaming channels, people have a lot of ways to occupy their video-viewing time.Approximately two years ago, Nielsen started using a new metric for measuring how people spend their TV-watching time. It built in buckets for broadcast TV, cable TV, streaming, and a catchall called Other" that accounted for people using gaming consoles and media players. The latest report shows broadcast and cable TV each dropping about one percent from June 2023 to... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Hey, remember Helium Network, the project that was praised by The New York Times for its cryptocurrency-powered approach to public internet before it was revealed that it had been misleading people about its partner companies and that insiders had disproportionately profited from the token? Well, Helium now says it is offering a $5 / month unlimited wireless plan in Miami.You may be wondering how this is possible. Certainly I am! I have read their explanation several times, and I absolutely have not understood it. I will reproduce it here, in case it makes sense to you:

Illustration: The Verge Iowa's Mason City Community School District is pulling 19 books from school libraries that administrators found to contain a description or depiction of a sex act" in order to comply with Republican-backed state laws. A key arbiter of whether the books should be banned: ChatGPT.The news that the district had used AI software in its decisions was first reported by the Mason City Globe Gazette last week, but it wasn't clear what tool was used - or how exactly officials went about doing it - until Popular Science reported that ChatGPT was used. The banned books include The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.According to Popular Science's reporting,... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge OpenAI is convinced that its technology can help solve one of tech's hardest problems: content moderation at scale. GPT-4 could replace tens of thousands of human moderators while being nearly as accurate and more consistent, claims OpenAI. If that's true, the most toxic and mentally taxing tasks in tech could be outsourced to machines.In a blog post, OpenAI claims that it has already been using GPT-4 for developing and refining its own content policies, labeling content, and making decisions. I want to see more people operating their trust and safety, and moderation [in] this way," OpenAI head of safety systems Lilian Weng told Semafor. This is a really good step forward in how we use AI to solve real world issues in a way that's... Continue reading...

The third-gen AirPods feature shorter stems than the prior model, making them a little more discrete. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The AirPods Pro are an excellent pair of wireless earbuds, but they're not for everybody. In fact, if you don't need noise cancellation or superior sound quality, they might actually be overkill for many Apple users. Thankfully, you can save yourself some money by picking up the third-gen AirPods, which are currently on sale at Amazon with a Lightning charging case for just $139.99 ($30 off).If you're an Apple aficionado looking for a terrific pair of wireless earbuds, you can't go wrong with Apple's newest entry-level earbuds. They feature automatic device switching, allowing you to quickly swap between your iPhone or iPad, as well as perks like IPX4 water resistance so you'll be able to sweat it out at the gym or run in the rain.... Continue reading...

Image: Lamborghini Lamborghini will reveal an electric supercar concept on August 18th for Monterey Car Week. Ahead of the event, the Italian automaker posted a teaser image on social media that, while not revealing much, still retains that classic Lamborghini shape.While it's just a concept, the vehicle will give us our first impressions of what an EV looks like to Lamborghini. It's been two years since the Italian automaker outlined its electrification plans, which will proceed in two distinct phases over the next decade. By the end of 2024, the company said it would roll out gas-electric hybrid versions of its entire lineup. Following that, Lamborghini will debut its first all-electric model sometime before the end of the decade.

AMD CEO Lisa Su | Photo: AMD AMD CEO Lisa Su is coming to the Code Conference next month to talk AI, supply chains, the PC market, and more with The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel.Su has already transformed AMD once. When Su was named CEO of the chipmaker in 2014, AMD was struggling. The company was losing money, and its main moneymaker - desktop and graphics chips - was slipping. Fast-forward a few years, and Su had successfully shepherded in a new era for AMD, turning around its fortune in PC products and building out a robust business in enterprise and semi-custom chips.Now, Su is working to bring AMD into the AI era. The company recently announced its big play in AI, the Instinct MI300 family of AI chips, and plans to ramp up sales by the end of the year.... Continue reading...

The Share button is gone, making room for Memories. | Image: Google Google is adding a new Memories tab to its Photos app to create a dedicated place for auto-generated collections of pictures. The company is adding new generative AI titling features that can help you name your photo collections, too.These Google-generated collections have shown up at the top of the Photos app for years, but they'll now have a dedicated button at the bottom of the app. Default titles for memories are often location-based names using images' GPS metadata. The new AI titles feature helps to summarize the Instagram Stories-like style presentations with a bit more fun and detail. GIF: Google The new generative AI title maker. When looking at a memory collection, you can select a new help me... Continue reading...

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Your iPhone's aging lithium-ion batteries will eventually start to lose their ability to retain a charge - and that can be highly frustrating, especially if you're out and about all day. And that's not to mention reports that some iPhone batteries - specifically those belonging to the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro - may be experiencing more battery degradation than their users expected.If this is happening to you, there are several solutions available. You can switch over to the latest iPhone, start carrying a battery charger around with you, or simply replace the battery. Battery Health & Charging will tell you the current capacity of your iPhone's battery. To first identify whether your battery is ready for a... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Google's AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE) is getting a major new feature: it will be able to summarize articles you're reading on the web, according to a Google blog post. SGE can already summarize search results for you so that you don't have to scroll forever to find what you're looking for, and this new feature is designed to take that further by helping you out after you've actually clicked a link.You probably won't see this feature, which Google is calling SGE while browsing," right away. Image: Google Google says it's a new feature that's starting to roll out Tuesday as an early experiment" in its opt-in Search Labs program. (You'll get access to it if you already opted in to SGE, but if you... Continue reading...

Elon Musk. | Illustration by Lille Allen / The Verge This is Platformer, a newsletter on the intersection of Silicon Valley and democracy from Casey Newton and Zoe Schiffer. Sign up here.I.Today let's talk - for the last time, I hope - about the derailed martial arts bout between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, and the latter's reckless threats to visit the Meta CEO at his home and broadcast it to the world.Part of me hesitates to spill yet more ink on a battle that no part of me has ever believed would take place. Last week I wrote here about the importance of bringing skepticism to Musk's posts on X, the former Twitter, and encouraged my peers in the press to consider not covering them at all. It's clear that Musk seeks attention for attention's sake, and given that so many of his... Continue reading...

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Today, a new strike-based enforcement program is coming to Xbox. The system is meant to clear up confusion regarding how Xbox enforces its community standards and help players keep track of enforcement actions made on their accounts.In an interview with The Verge, Xbox player services corporate vice president Dave McCarthy explained the new enforcement system and its place in Xbox's overall community management strategy. This is all about player transparency," McCarthy said. We didn't have a way to show our players what their standing was in our community. And this makes it completely clear."In the new system, if a player violates the Xbox community standards, they'll receive a strike. The severity of the violation determines the... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The day after California regulators handed driverless car companies a major victory, allowing them to expand their services without restriction in San Francisco, a herd of robotaxis decided to celebrate by breaking down in the middle of a busy street.According to several local news reports, 10 Cruise vehicles sat paralyzed in a busy intersection near the Outside Lands Music Festival, causing a traffic jam and drawing exasperation from witnesses. The company told KPIX that the music festival caused wireless connectivity issues" with its vehicles. In other words, festivalgoers were overwhelming the cellular networks, making it difficult for Cruise's vehicles to send and receive information.It was a bizarre end to a week that otherwise... Continue reading...

Image: LG Electronics This is one of those products that I truly cannot wait to experience and review firsthand: LG is bringing the quirky, one-of-a-kind StanbyME Go to the United States later this month for $999.99. If you missed its international launch, which flew under the radar for many, let me catch you up: the StanbyME Go is a 27-inch 1080p LCD TV housed in a large suitcase that also contains a built-in battery and 20-watt speakers.The idea is that this thing can be a portable entertainment solution whether you're at a picnic, on a family vacation, or just hanging out on the back patio. Maybe you'll bring it tailgating with all your pals during football season. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination and the StanbyME Go's three-hour... Continue reading...

Kneron KL730. | Image: Kneron In the world of generative AI, it's a battle of computing power and getting the fastest and most powerful chips. Now, AI edge company Kneron announced it will ship its new neural processing units (NPU) chips by the end of the year.Kneron said the NPU chips, called the KL730, would make it cheaper to run large language models (LLMs) as the processor is built specifically for machine learning and AI applications.The KL730 is the next generation of previous processors from Kneron. In 2021, the company shipped out the KL530 chips that supported transformer models that underpinned some generative AI models.Albert Liu, CEO of Kneron, tells The Verge that NPU chips are specifically designed for AI and aren't forcing something originally... Continue reading...

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge It's a computer, a monitor, an internet communicator, and one of the most iconic lines of tech in history. Continue reading...

Photo illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Between the Apple Watch Series 8, the Ultra, and the second-gen SE, there are more options than ever. We'll help you sort through them. Continue reading...

Over 200 interim contracts have been granted by SAG-AFTRA since the strike began last month. | Illustration by William Joel / The Verge In an act of solidarity with the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) will no longer grant permission to independent projects that fall under WGA contracts to continue production during the ongoing strike. On July 14th SAG-AFTRA announced via a statement on its website that going forward, WGA-covered projects will now be excluded from its Interim Agreement policy - which allows approved independent productions with no direct connection to the actors union to continue filming.According to the statement, the decision was made following several meetings with the WGA alongside the recommendation of our NED & chief negotiator" Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. We have been advised by the WGA that this modification... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Meta-owned WhatsApp has started testing a new AI-generated stickers feature. WABetaInfo reports that some testers in the Android WhatsApp beta program have spotted the new AI-powered stickers, allowing WhatsApp users to generate a sticker based on a text description.Android Police points out that it's not clear which generative AI model WhatsApp has picked for this feature, as WABetaInfo's report only notes that the stickers are generated using a secure technology offered by Meta."The feature looks like it will work similarly to how Midjoureny or OpenAI's DALL-E models generate images based on text alone. It seems you'll be able to use this WhatsApp feature to create a basic and personalized image that can be shared as a sticker with... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube will remove content that promotes cancer treatments proven to be harmful or ineffective" or which discourages viewers from seeking professional medical treatment," the video platform announced today. The enforcement comes as YouTube is attempting to streamline its medical moderation guidelines based on what it's learned while attempting to tackle misinformation around topics like covid-19, vaccines, and reproductive health.Going forward, Google's video platform says it will apply its medical misinformation policies when there is a high public health risk, when there is publicly available guidance from health authorities, and when a topic is prone to misinformation. YouTube hopes that this policy framework will be flexible... Continue reading...

Illustration by The Verge Substack now lets you follow writers, offering a way for you to keep tabs on what a writer is doing without having to subscribe to their newsletter. When you follow a writer, you can stay up to date with what they're reading, liking, publishing, and subscribing to - through the Notes feed and on their profiles," Substack says in a blog post.Substack is perhaps best known as a newsletter platform where writers can make money from getting people to sign up for paid subscriptions. But the platform has also been dabbling with more traditional social networking features such as its tweet-like Notes, and a follow button feels like Substack stepping even more toes into the social networking waters.The company stresses that follows, which... Continue reading...

Image: Getty Images The Biden administration has requested the US Supreme Court review Florida and Texas laws restricting how social media companies like Facebook moderate the content users post on their platforms.In briefs filed on Monday, the US solicitor general urged the court to take up a pair of lawsuits led by the tech trade group NetChoice. Both Florida and Texas passed laws making it illegal for large social platforms to suspend or punish users, citing long-standing allegations that major platforms are biased against conservatives. A series of temporary injunctions have left the future of these laws in limbo, and Monday's briefs add new pressure on the Supreme Court to resolve the suits.The platforms' content-moderation activities are protected... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Now that the proposed cage match between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk isn't going to happen, Musk is saying he will show up unannounced at Zuckerberg's home to fight.For the Tesla FSD test drive in Palo Alto tonight, I will ask the car to drive to @finkd's house," Musk posted today on X, or the service formerly called Twitter. If we get lucky and Zuck my actually answers the door, the fight is on!"Musk, who once compared a user broadcasting his jet's location to sharing assassination coordinates," says he'll livestream the adventure" on X.Zuckerberg, it turns out, is having none of it.Mark is traveling right now and isn't in Palo Alto," a spokesperson for Zuckerberg at Meta, Iska Saric, tells The Verge. Also, Mark takes... Continue reading...

OTG's Flo ordering system will be accessible from QR code cards placed at airport food spots. | Image: OTG Some major US airport terminals like JFK now have options for ordering food for delivery to your gate, Bloomberg reports. This is made possible by airport food management company OTG, which is planning to shed the 21,000 iPads it manages for its bars, restaurants, and fast food offerings across various terminals and instead invite hungry travelers to order food on the devices they already carry. Travelers can scan QR codes at venues, select the food they want, pay on their device using options like Apple Pay and credit cards, and get it delivered to the gate they're walking toward.The features are similar to ordering apps like Uber Eats and Grubhub, but OTG isn't going to mandate another app for people to download. Instead, QR codes... Continue reading...

Dave Limp. | Image: Getty Dave Limp, Amazon's SVP of devices and services, plans to retire in the coming months, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. His retirement marks the end of a more than 13-year career at the company.Amazon published emails to staff from CEO Andy Jassy and Limp addressing the departure on its website. Jassy says that Limp will stay in his role for the next few months" and that the company plans to announce a successor in the coming weeks."I remain excited and quite optimistic about the products and services we're building in Devices and Services - we're at the relative beginning of what's possible and what I believe these businesses will add for customers and the company," Jassy wrote.Limp's organization manages popular products... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Embracer Group was forced to halt its breakneck pace of acquisitions after a mysterious partner left a $2 billion deal intended to drive its continued gaming ambitions. Now, we might know who the partner is: Axios reported today that Savvy Games Group is the party that backed out of the deal in May. Savvy is owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund and is the vehicle through which the Middle Eastern country funnels investments in the video games industry.After the deal blew up, Embracer announced it was restructuring" and that it would shut down or sell studios and pause some game development. In a filing, the group said it expects to finish that process on October 1st and has already begun its studio pruning.P... Continue reading...

Shovels during a groundbreaking ceremony at the Occidental Petroleum and 1PointFive Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant in Ector County, Texas, on Friday, April 28th, 2023. | Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar / Bloomberg via Getty Images The Department of Energy chose the first two locations for hubs" it envisions for industrial plants that suck planet-heating carbon dioxide out of the air. Projects in Texas and Louisiana will receive up to $1.2 billion from the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop direct air capture (DAC) facilities, backing a purported climate solution that not all environmental advocates support.The Biden administration is funneling billions into direct air capture, a relatively new technology that some governments and companies are beginning to turn to as a way to address pollution they've already emitted. This is the first round of funding in a bigger plan to dole out $3.5 billion to develop at least four DAC hubs across the US.This is the first... Continue reading...

Lead plaintiff Rikki Held, 22, arrives for the nation's first youth climate change trial at Montana's First Judicial District Court on June 12th, 2023, in Helena, Montana. | Photo by William Campbell / Getty Images A group of young people who sued the state of Montana for violating their right to a clean environment can claim a big victory today.A state court ruled in their favor, finding that the plaintiffs have experienced past and ongoing injuries resulting from the State's failure to consider [greenhouse gases] and climate change, including injuries to their physical and mental health, homes and property, recreational, spiritual, and aesthetic interests, tribal and cultural traditions, economic security, and happiness."The plaintiffs have experienced past and ongoing injuries resulting from the State's failure to consider [greenhouse gases] and climate change"Montana's constitution includes rights to a clean and healthful environment"... Continue reading...

The Ace 2 Pro Rain Water Touch" feature in action. | Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge The OnePlus Ace 2 Pro has a new screen design that can tell where you're touching it even when it's wet. OnePlus posted a video to Weibo of the new impeccably named Rain Water Touch" feature, which uses a special chip to algorithmically determine when and where your finger is touching the screen, according to 9to5Google.That's something current smartphones fail miserably at, including the pricey flagships from Apple and Samsung. To drive the point home, the company shows someone using both the Ace 2 Pro and an iPhone 14 Pro while water is pouring all over them. We're all probably well familiar with the frustration of trying to just unlock an iPhone that's even a little wet, and the video knows it, starting with that very thing. That's... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix is deep into video games. Continue reading...

Image: Ford Ford is changing how it sells its hands-free BlueCruise driver-assist feature to its customers.Previously, customers had to decide at the dealership whether they wanted to purchase a new Ford vehicle with BlueCruise hardware installed - and they couldn't go back and change their minds if they opted not to include it. Now, the hardware will come standard on many new vehicles, and customers can decide at any time whether they want to activate it. Most notably, they can choose to pay for it as a monthly or annual subscription.Most notably, they can choose to pay for it as a monthly or annual subscriptionThe news comes as the broader auto industry is shifting to subscription products as a major new source of revenue. Everything from... Continue reading...

Image: Ubisoft Assassin's Creed Mirage will now be released on October 5th, which is a week ahead of its original October 12th release date, Ubisoft announced on Monday. The game has also gone gold, indicating that it's locked for release.This new title in the Assassin's Creed series takes place in Baghdad and stars Basim Ibn Ishaq, who appeared in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. It's supposed to hew a bit closer to the action-adventure nature of earlier Assassin's Creed games instead of the titles with more RPG mechanics like Valhalla or Odyssey.Mirage's new release date also gives a bit more breathing room to what's already promising to be a packed October. Other games coming out that month include Detective Pikachu Returns, Forza Motorsport, Alan Wake... Continue reading...