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by Emma Roth on (#6DR15)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon is slashing the number of in-house brands it offers on its marketplace. The retail giant plans on cutting 27 of its 30 private-label clothing brands as it looks to cut costs and stave off antitrust scrutiny, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.Over the years, Amazon has created dozens of private-label brands across a variety of departments, most of which operate without Amazon branding, such as Solimo, Wag, and Mama Bear. However, this cutback will leave Amazon with just three in-house clothing brands: Amazon Essentials, Amazon Collection, and Amazon Aware.Additionally, the WSJ notes that Amazon is ditching some private-label furniture brands as well, including Rivet and Stone & Beam. Sources close to the... Continue reading...
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The Verge - All Posts
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
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| Updated | 2024-11-26 03:30 |
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6DQYD)
Image: The Writers Guild of America After recently meeting to discuss the possibility of resuming talks about a new labor contract, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) are now set to return to the negotiation table this Friday - more than three months into Hollywood's writers strike.Variety reports that the AMPTP plans to meet with the WGA this Friday to present a formal response to the guild's list of proposals for a new labor contract, which includes changes like improved minimum rates, a larger percentage of streaming residuals, and staffing requirements for writers rooms.In an email sent out to WGA members, the union said that AMPTP president Carol Lombardini personally reached out with the request... Continue reading...
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by Barbara Krasnoff on (#6DQYE)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Many app homepages have gotten incredibly busy, filled with suggestions and ads, many based on your previous searches or stuff you've read / written / watched in the past. YouTube is certainly no exception - in fact, it's one of the worst offenders - but recently, Google's video service announced that users now have a choice. If you turn your watch history off and have no significant prior watch history," all that confusion will disappear, and your homepage will only show the search bar and the Shorts, Subscriptions, and Library buttons.In other words, you'll have a clean, simple, easy-on-the-eyes YouTube page.The change in the home feed is being slowly rolled out over the next few months, but it doesn't hurt to be ready for it. The... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6DQYF)
Photo by Adam Bow / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images NFL RedZone, the NFL's excellent whip-around show that jumps from game to game to showcase highlights and key moments as teams are about to score, is coming to the NFL Plus subscription service. It wasn't a total surprise: RedZone host Scott Hanson had teased the announcement on Wednesday. NFL Network is also being added as a perk for subscribers.NFL Plus launched last year with two tiers: NFL Plus and the more expensive NFL Plus Premium, which added the ability to watch game replays. A key caveat with the service, however, is that you can't watch live local and primetime regular season and postseason games on anything bigger than a tablet (like your TV), which might be a dealbreaker for some people - unless they own that new 14.6-inch S... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6DQV9)
Illustration by The Verge Substack wants to make the platform a better place for readers and will be adding features to its reading apps so that they feel increasingly useful and fun," co-founders Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie, and Jairaj Sethi said in a post on Thursday. Substack is perhaps best known as a place for writers to build newsletter audiences and make a living from their work, but the co-founders spelled out a vision for how Substack itself can be a better place to actually read things as well.The internet revolutionized reading, but instead of a utopia, it has delivered a mess," the co-founders said. The main places where we read online today are cacophonic, stressful, and milking our minds for ad dollars." They acknowledge that there are nice but... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6DQVA)
Image: Larian Studios Baldur's Gate 3 just changed the game. I don't mean the fact that it's become the second most played game on Steam right now, catching up to Steam mainstays CS:GO and DOTA 2. I don't mean how it's enjoying incredible success without elements like a battle pass or microtransactions. And I don't even mean how it's a game crafted to appeal to a wide range of players across race, gender, and sexuality. Any one of these qualities alone makes Baldur's Gate 3 an incredible game.On Thursday, with yet another hotfix, Larian Studios blew the doors off the hinges for what a developer can do with a game with one simple sentence: As of today, we're also reactivating cross-saves as we near our PlayStation 5 launch." (Cross-saves were deactivated... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6DQVB)
A screenshot of a video showing LK-99 partially levitating. A group of researchers who developed the material say it's evidence that LK-99 is the world's first room-temperature superconductor. Experts are skeptical. | Image: A screenshot taken of a video uploaded to ScienceCast byHyun-Tak Kim LK-99 hasn't turned out to be the miraculous superconductor some people initially claimed it was.The newly discovered material made headlines after a research team claimed it was the first room-temperature superconductor, which could revolutionize our energy system. Speculation that it could bring on a perfect power grid or easily make trains levitate sparked a frenzy to test whether LK-99 really was as game-changing as portrayed by the original team.But the results so far indicate that LK-99 is not a superconductor, at room temperature or otherwise. A slew of research groups have released studies that counter claims originally made about LK-99.With a great deal of sadness, we now believe that the game is over. LK99 is NOT a... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6DQVC)
Image: Blizzard There's hope that the game's new story missions and game type will win back fans disappointed by PvE's cancellation. Continue reading...
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by Brandon Widder on (#6DQVD)
It's no The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but Skyward Sword HD is still worth revisiting in 2023. | Image: Nintendo It often feels as though we encounter a buy two, get one sale every other month or so, whether that's on video games, keycap sets, or other tech. GameStop's latest promo lets you get two for the price of one, however, allowing you to pick up an assortment of Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox games at a steep discount for a limited time.The full list of available titles is pretty staggering, with many of the best BOGO deals being on Switch titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, the ever-moody Metroid Dread, and Live A Live, the last of which is really just a playable short story collection masquerading as an old-school RPG. That said, the current promo also applies to next-gen standouts like the fantasy epic Elden... Continue reading...
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by Makena Kelly on (#6DQVE)
Photo by Oscar Del Pozo / AFP via Getty Images After weeks of back and forth, the Federal Election Commission decided that it will, maybe, make rules regulating the use of AI-generated content in political ads.At an open meeting Thursday, the FEC voted to open up the petition for public comment, kicking off a process that could result in new rules governing how campaigns use AI going into effect before the end of the year. The petition, filed by the advocacy group Public Citizen, calls on the commission to leverage its authority to punish fraud by creating rules banning candidates and political parties from using AI to misrepresent their opponents.The need to regulate deepfakes and other deceptive uses of AI in election ads becomes more urgent with each passing day"The need to... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6DQVF)
Image: Bethesda Softworks Two years after the surprise announcement and release of a remastered version of the original Quake, Quake II is getting a similar glow-up to coincide with the start of QuakeCon. Its remaster, which is simply titled Quake II, is available today for $9.99 for PC, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation. It's available as part of a Game Pass subscription if you have one, and if you already owned Quake II via the Microsoft Store, Steam, or Good Old Games (GOG), the new version should be available as a free update.From the screenshots and trailer released today, developer id Software looks like it's stuck pretty close to the 1997 original for its remaster. But the remaster is packed with modern conveniences, including cloud saves, 4K Ultra... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6DQVG)
Screenshot taken from a Kai Cenat YouTube video. On Wednesday night, streamer Kai Cenat went live on Twitch for the first time since his chaotic Union Square giveaway event in New York City on Friday. Thousands of people descended on Union Square after Cenat and another streamer promised to give away prizes like PS5s and gift cards, and Cenat has been charged with at least two counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly for the gathering.After Friday, I've come to realize the amount of not only power but influence that I have on people," says Cenat. And I'm saying that to say this: I am beyond disappointed in anybody who became destructive that day. That shit is not cool." (You can watch a shortened replay of his stream on YouTube.)Cenat added that none of that was my... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6DQQM)
Corey Hawkins as Clemens and Aisling Franciosi as Anna in The Last Voyage of the Demeter. | Image: Universal The Last Voyage of the Demeter turns one of the most riveting chapters from Bram Stoker's Dracula into a soggy feature-length horror that never finds its sea legs. Continue reading...
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by Parker Ortolani on (#6DQQN)
Photo by Parker Ortolani / The Verge Hats! Stickers! Mugs! Questions about org charts! Continue reading...
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by Emilia David on (#6DQQP)
Image: AP Several media organizations called for rules protecting copyright in data used to train generative AI models.The open letter urged lawmakers around the globe to consider regulations that require transparency into training datasets and consent of rights holders before using data for training. They also request allowing media companies to negotiate with AI model operators, identifying AI-generated content, and mandating AI companies eliminate bias and misinformation in their services.Signatories of the letter include Agence France-Presse, the European Pressphoto Agency, the European Publishers' Council, Gannett, Getty Images, the National Press Photographers Association, the National Writers Union, News Media Alliance, The Associated... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6DQQQ)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is taking preventative measures to tackle the increase in scams and spam appearing across its TikTok rival, YouTube Shorts. Starting August 31st, YouTube will gradually make links across Shorts comments, descriptions, and the vertical live feeds unclickable to prevent users from potentially being exposed to malware, phishing scams, and other harmful scam-related content.YouTube says that it's planning to introduce a new, safer way for creators to link their Shorts viewers to other YouTube content by the end of September." Image: YouTube A new, safer way for creators to direct their Shorts viewers to other YouTube content will be introduced by the end of September. The video streaming giant will also... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6DQQR)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is calling for stricter SIM swapping protections and the transition to a passwordless future following last year's Lapsus$ attacks. In a lengthy report released on Thursday, the agency details the teen hacking group's key techniques and provides recommendations to prevent similar attacks going forward.Lapsus$ made headlines last year after it took credit for the cyberattacks affecting major tech companies like Nvidia, Samsung, Ubisoft, T-Mobile, Uber, and Microsoft. The group also managed to steal and leak 90 videos containing gameplay footage from Rockstar's upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI game. Seven teenagers connected to the group were arrested in London last year.
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by Emma Roth on (#6DQQS)
A Skydio drone | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Skydio is done making drones for consumers. Though the self-flying drone startup has been denying for years it would pivot to enterprise, it confirmed on Thursday that it's sunsetting its consumer business in favor of creating drones for use by commercial businesses and the public sector.Skydio began shifting its focus toward government and military use in 2020 with the launch of its self-flying X2 model. In an interview with The Verge at the time, Skydio CEO Adam Bry said that the company had more consumer-facing drones on the way. The only consumer drone it's released since was a minor hardware update to the Skydio 2 that addressed some big shortcomings.Our drones are making the core industries that our civilization runs on -... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6DQKW)
A single USB-C cable for a display tablet? About dang time. | Image: Wacom Wacom is fleshing out its range of affordable drawing tablets with four new additions to the Wacom One product family. Designed as an entry-level platform for students, educators, and those new to creative drawing hardware, the new Wacom One range aims to provide choice and customization" to support different needs.The four tablets come in two varieties: the Wacom One 12 ($399.99) and Wacom One 13 touch ($599.99) pen display" tablets with built-in screens or the Wacom One S ($99.99) and Wacom One M ($149.99) traditional pen tablets," which don't feature a display. Image: Wacom The new Wacom One 12 and 13 touch look visually similar to the existing Wacom One display tablet. The Wacom One 12 and Wacom One 13... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6DQKX)
Image: Chris Welch / The Verge I bought a Sonos Arc soundbar and an LG OLED G2 six months ago to use with my Xbox Series X thinking it would be the most convenient way to expand my existing Sonos setup to handle Dolby Atmos audio from apps like Netflix, Apple TV Plus, and Disney Plus. Now, however, my Sonos Arc soundbar sounds like it's exploding with a startling loud bang and a series of audio pops when I try to use Dolby Atmos content. I'm not alone, either. I was shocked to learn that hundreds of Sonos Arc owners have experienced these extremely loud audio pops for nearly three years without a fix.Sonos markets its Arc soundbar as being able to bring all your entertainment to life and experience breathtakingly realistic spatial audio powered by Dolby Atmos." The... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6DQKY)
Flip and fold a $50 bill back into your wallet. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Launch day for Samsung's new generation of foldable phones is tomorrow, and Samsung really isn't wasting any time getting the deals out early. Not only can you still get a free storage upgrade when you preorder the Galaxy Z Fold 5 or Galaxy Z Flip 5 (a $120 value) but also Samsung is throwing in a raw $50 discount at checkout if you order directly from its site. That drops the starting price of the ultra-flagship Z Fold 5 to $1,749.99 and the quaint Z Flip 5 to $949.99.The reviews of both phones are in, and while some of this year's updates are a little iterative, both foldables look promising. The more affordable Z Flip 5 has a larger exterior cover display for easy access to some handy app widgets, and the Z Fold 5, well, it looks a... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6DQKZ)
A display showcasing the Cadillac's 55-inch screen and driver controls, but there's no room made for CarPlay here. | Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge There will be no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto in Cadillac's new ultra-luxury Escalade IQ. Despite the huge new 55-inch pillar-to-pillar infotainment screen in the new EV revealed yesterday, compatibility for the popular phone projection features is completely gone.GM said earlier this year that it would restrict access to CarPlay and Android Auto in its future electric vehicles. In April, GM's VP of software, Scott Miller, shared some reasons for the decision, including allowing more EV-centric functionality like battery preconditioning when navigating to a charging station.Tesla offers a similar feature and also does not have CarPlay or Android Auto options. But customers nowadays expect these features in new vehicles. Even Apple... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6DQGP)
The K70 Max is styled much like Corsair's other gaming keyboards. | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge I've been testing Corsair's new $229.99 K70 Max mechanical keyboard for the last few days - its first to use magnetic Hall effect sensors to register keypresses, allowing for new features like the ability to customize how far you have to press a key before it registers a keypress. The company is branding the switches as Corsair MGX" to distinguish them from its existing optical mechanical OPX switches and keyboards with standard mechanical Cherry MX switches. Alongside it, the company is also announcing a new headset: the HS80 Max Premium Wireless RGB.Manufacturers like SteelSeries and Wooting have been making keyboards equipped with Hall effect sensors for a few years now. The basic idea is that each switch has a magnet inside its... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6DQGR)
It's been 20 years since the final flight of one of the most beautiful planes ever made - the supersonic Concorde - and you'll soon be able to buy one in Lego form.The $200 Lego Icons Concorde is nearly three and a half feet long, has a 17-inch (43cm) wingspan, and three neat tricks up its sleeve. Not only does it capture many of the real plane's iconic curves, but it's also got an incredible Lego mechanism hidden inside to raise and lower its landing gear with a twist of the tail cone on the end. Photo: The Museum of Flight The real plane: compare to the Lego thumbnail atop this story. Image: Lego So sleek. Click for larger image. The hidden gears run nearly the full length... Continue reading...
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by Allison Johnson on (#6DQGQ)
Samsung's head start in foldables is paying off, but it'll have to do more next time around to stay in front. Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6DQGS)
Image: Television Academy The 75th annual Emmy Awards have officially been postponed. Instead of taking place in September, the Television Academy says the ceremony will now air on January 15th, 2024, marking the first time the Emmys have been delayed in over 20 years.While the Television Academy doesn't mention why the awards have been delayed, it's because the show would look rather empty without all the Hollywood writers and actors who are currently on strike. The rules of the strike prevent unionized writers and actors from accepting awards for struck work and also bars them from attending events that promote it.Last week, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) held its first meeting with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6DQGT)
Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge As explained in a recent article, Meta has rolled out the ability to verify a link to your Threads profile on social media platforms like Mastodon, according to a Threads post from Instagram head Adam Mosseri. In other words, the Mastodon account on your profile will show a verified checkmark for a Threads profile - so you're using your Threads account to signal to people looking at your profile on Mastodon that you own the Threads link you're pointing to.It's a pretty straightforward process. However, while it worked for us, at least one Verge staffer had problems with it, as did some others who tried it, so there's a chance it may not work for you.Here's how we were able to do it: Screenshot by Jay Peters / The... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6DQE4)
Yup, even the building signs are up for grabs. Providing you're the one arranging the grabbing'. | Photo by David Odisho/Getty Images Now that Elon Musk's plan to rebrand Twitter to X is in motion, the company is looking to sell a bunch of stuff tied to its previous image in what feels like a comically unhinged estate sale. Hundreds of items from X's San Francisco headquarters will be available to buy via an online auction next month that's running from September 12th to 14th.Everything currently has an opening bid set at $25 so there's the potential to grab some real bargains here. Most of the listings are for the kind of office equipment you'd expect from a big corporation, like desks, printers, and laptop docking stations. Several of the lots being advertised - such as soundproof office booths and designer chairs - were also listed in an auction back in January.... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6DQE5)
The end call button now sits much closer to the rest of the call controls. | Screenshot by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge Apple looks set to be moving one of the most well-used buttons in iOS; the Phone app's red end call button. Beta versions of iOS 17, which will likely get an official release this fall alongside the forthcoming iPhone 15, feature a redesigned call interface that shifts the red button down and to the right, and eliminates the distance between it and the rest of the call controls.The new interface was technically made available with the very first developer beta of iOS 17, but it hadn't been widely spotted until this week when the likes of CNBC and Gizmodo covered the change. Here's a before and after comparison of the call interface between iOS 16 and beta iOS 17:To me, it looks like Apple has made the change to account for iOS 17's... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6DQBD)
Users will be able to request full signatures or initials, with the ability to auto-generate a date for when it was signed. | Image: Google Google is adding native support for eSignatures to Docs and Drive in an attempt to make it easier for users to request signatures and sign documents from within its cloud-based productivity software, the company has announced. Google is now releasing the ability to request and leave eSignatures in beta, after more than a year of testing the feature in alpha.There are plenty of pieces of software that already offer eSignature support, ranging from cloud-based options like Dropbox through to local programs like Adobe Acrobat. So Google's addition of this feature is more about offering parity with its competitors rather than forging new ground, and means user's shouldn't have to switch between different apps and tabs as much while working... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6DQ8V)
When set up, the Casa Pop-Up desk looks like any other laptop stand. | Image: Logitech Logitech's Casa Pop-Up Desk is the company's new attempt to offer a neat and ergonomic desk setup that can be easily folded away at the end of the day. For 179 (around $227, though Logitech is yet to confirm a US release), you get the laptop stand itself, as well as a wireless keyboard and trackpad that tuck inside of it.Although it's almost certainly cheaper to put together the same setup more cheaply with accessories from different manufacturers, the appeal of the Casa Pop-Up Desk is how neatly everything fits together when not in use. You've got your Casa Keys" wireless keyboard and your Casa Touch" touchpad, and they're designed to fit inside the Casa Book" laptop stand when you pack everything away at the end of the day. The... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6DQ08)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A woman in British Columbia, Canada, has received over 50 Amazon packages that she's never asked for, as reported by CBC. As a result of getting these shipments, which she hasn't had the chance to refuse upon arrival, the United Parcel Service (UPS) has sent her customs bills for more than $300.They keep coming and it just doesn't end," Anca Nitu said to CBC. Nitu told the news outlet that it's somehow tied to her own Amazon account - one that she said has been sitting dormant.Amazon told CBC in a written statement that Nitu's case has been addressed and corrective action" is being taken. The company advises anyone receiving packages unexpectedly to report it using the Report Unwanted Package form online.This isn't the same glitch... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6DPXM)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Disney is once again raising the ad-free prices of both Disney Plus and Hulu this fall. Beginning on October 12th, Disney Plus will cost $13.99 per month, while Hulu's no-ads tier will run $17.99. The ad-sponsored tiers of both services will (for now) each remain $7.99.Perhaps to ease that blow, the company is introducing a new combo subscription that will bundle ad-free experiences for both Disney Plus and Hulu for $19.99 per month. That plan will be available on September 6th.But these subscription hikes to the standalone services are substantial; Disney last raised the cost of Disney Plus to $10.99 / month a year ago. At that time, ad-free Hulu jumped up to $14.99. It now costs more than the ad-free tier of Warner Bros.... Continue reading...
by Mia Sato on (#6DPXN)
Image: Garret Beard / The Verge Technology news outlet CNET has deleted thousands of older articles from its site, telling staff the deletions will improve its Google Search ranking, according to an internal memo. The news was first reported by Gizmodo.Gizmodo reports that, since July, thousands of articles have been removed from CNET. In the memo, CNET says that so-called content pruning sends a signal to Google that says CNET is fresh, relevant and worthy of being placed higher than our competitors in search results." Stories slated to be deprecated" are archived using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, and authors are alerted at least 10 days in advance, according to the memo.Removing content from the site is not a decision we take lightly. Our teams... Continue reading...
by Emma Roth on (#6DPXP)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Move over, Netflix - Disney might be the next company to carry out a password-sharing crackdown. During an earnings call on Wednesday, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company is actively exploring ways to address account sharing."Iger added that Disney will begin to update our subscriber agreements with additional terms and our sharing policies" later this year and will also roll out tactics to drive monetization" in 2024. Netflix started charging users an extra fee to share their accounts with someone outside their household earlier this year.When asked how many people are sharing passwords across Disney's services, Iger declined to provide a number but said it's significant." He also added that the company has the technical... Continue reading...
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by Emilia David on (#6DPXQ)
Quizlet, a tool that helps personalize studying for students, recently released a set of new AI-powered features.Quizlet is one of the many educational platforms embracing generative AI to facilitate learning, despite consternation from teachers when ChatGPT first burst into the scene. I no longer have assignments to read, but to do my job, I have to read tons of news articles, reports, and research papers fairly quickly. I wondered: can I use Quizlet to make my job easier and test how much of my beat I actually understand?Oh man, it didn't turn out well for me.Quizlet released several AI-powered tools on August 8th. Memory Score schedules reviews and tracks scores to help users remember the material. Quick Summary takes key... Continue reading...
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by Jacob Kastrenakes on (#6DPXR)
Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of Bumble. | Photo: Ramona Rosales Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd is coming to the Code Conference, where she'll be interviewed on stage by CNBC senior media and tech correspondent Julia Boorstin.Wolfe Herd's company has moved quickly to adopt AI in targeted ways to help daters. Last year, the company open-sourced an AI tool that Bumble had been using since 2019 to detect - and then blur - nude photos. Bumble's president, Tariq Shaukat, has also said the company is using AI to remove some of the friction" of dating. For Bumble, that means improving early interactions by helping people choose better profile pictures or stopping them from sending rude messages.Bumble also operates Badoo, Fruitz, and Official. The company is also starting to branch out beyond... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6DPXS)
Image: The Verge Meta has rolled out the ability to verify a link to your Threads profile on social media platforms like Mastodon, according to a Threads post from Instagram head Adam Mosseri. To be clear, this isn't a free way to get a blue checkmark next to your Threads name; you'll probably need to pay Meta to get one of those. Instead, this new feature helps you prove on other platforms that a Threads profile that you link to is one that you own. But it also represents something bigger: an actual Threads feature from Meta that connects with decentralized social media.I got this to work in just a few minutes on my Mastodon profile, meaning that a URL to my Threads account now has a green checkmark. I'll explain how I got this set up a bit later in... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6DPTJ)
Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge TikTok appears to be working on a new way for creators to disclose if their posts contain AI-generated content. As shared by social media consultant Matt Navarra, a new AI-generated content" toggle has appeared under the more options" section before uploading a video. As part of the description for that toggle, TikTok says the label will help prevent content removal"; TikTok updated its content policies in March to require that users disclose deepfakes and AI-generated content in the video's caption or use an identifying sticker.Navarra shared a video of the feature with The Verge. In the video, flipping the toggle led to TikTok showing the new pop-up about the feature. The pop-up reminds creators they'll need to label content made... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6DPTK)
Image: Google Google has launched a new tool that lets you create AI-generated poem postcards based on a piece of artwork and a subject of your choice. The addition of poem postcards comes as part of Google's broader redesign of its Arts & Culture app and its rollout of generative AI features across its other services, like text creation in Docs and the ability to generate code with AI in Sheets.Poem postcards live within Google's Arts & Culture app and website, where you can choose from various types of poems to generate, including a sonnet, limerick, ode, elegy, haiku, and others. The AI will base the contents of the poem on the subject you type into the generator, like ocean" or spring," as well as the painting you want on the cover of the... Continue reading...
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by Victoria Song on (#6DPTM)
A $50 fitness band like the Amazfit Band 7 is a rare sight these days. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Smartwatches are the default wearable option these days, but why is it so hard to find simple yet affordable alternatives like the fitness bands of yesteryear? Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6DPTN)
A plane flying over Barcelona airport in March 2023. | Photo by Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images Google has been working with American Airlines and Bill Gates' climate investment fund, Breakthrough Energy, to chart more sustainable flight routes. The aim is to help pilots limit a flight's impact on the climate by avoiding routes that create contrails, those white streaks in the sky that planes sometimes leave behind.Contrails are a big problem for the planet because they trap heat, accounting for about 35 percent of aviation's global warming impact. Using satellite imagery and AI, they developed a way to forecast where contrails are most likely to form. That could give pilots a chance to avoid them and minimize aviation's environmental footprint in the process.Contrary to what conspiracy theorists say, the streaks behind are not... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6DPTP)
Illustration: The Verge Roblox CEO David Baszucki envisions that its generative AI systems might someday work in a way that's somewhat similar to what you might have seen on the sci-fi show Westworld, based on comments during Roblox's Q2 2023 earnings call on Wednesday.The Westworld comparison came up as part of a longer answer about how AI might be able to help Roblox developers.
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6DPQ2)
Image: GM For no reason at all, today seemed like a good day to reflect on where our obsession with supersized SUVs and trucks has taken us and where it's headed with the shift to electric vehicles.I'm kidding, of course. Because today was the day that GM unveiled a brand-new Cadillac Escalade - only this one is electric! The Escalade IQ looks every bit as stately and luxurious as its gas-powered predecessor and is sure to be the EV of choice for wealthy people to be chauffeured around their city of residence.But big SUVs like the Escalade come with major tradeoffs. And when you throw an equally large lithium-ion battery into the mix, those tradeoffs start to erode the environmental benefits of driving an electric vehicle.Big SUVs like the... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6DPQ3)
Jessica Allain as Lou, Hubert Point-Du Jour as Miles, Colin Woodell as Winston, Adam Shapiro as Lemmy. | Peacock While the very first teaser for Peacock's forthcoming The Continental series was rather light on details, the latest trailer definitely makes it seem like the John Wick prequel is going to live up to the films' action-packed reputation - or die trying.Set in 1970s New York City, The Continental revolves around younger versions of Winston Scott (Colin Woodell) and Charon (Ayomide Adegun) as the two become entangled in an intricate war of assassins that's fated to end with them coming into power at the series' titular hotel. Though Winston's seemingly no stranger to what sort of business goes down at the Continental, the new trailer establishes how it isn't until his brother Frankie (Ben Robson) runs afoul of the hotel's then-head Cormac... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6DPQ4)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you haven't changed your Verizon data plan in a few years, take note: starting August 29th, the company is increasing the cost of its Mix and Match" unlimited plans that debuted in 2018. They had truly confounding names like Go Unlimited, Beyond Unlimited, and Above Unlimited. I had some feelings on Verizon's perplexing branding at the time.If you've held onto one of those legacy plans in the years since, you can expect a rate increase of $3. The Mobile Report first reported on the news, which Verizon has since confirmed on its website. During a conference interview this morning, the company's chief financial officer, Tony Skiadas, also mentioned the pending hikes.There were changes both on the single line and multi line for the... Continue reading...
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by Makena Kelly on (#6DPQ5)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Elon Musk's Twitter was fined $350,000 for refusing to comply with a search warrant on Donald Trump's Twitter account earlier this year, according to new court documents unsealed Wednesday. The warrant was issued as part of a Justice Department special investigation.In January, special counsel Jack Smith obtained a search warrant for former President Trump's Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, as part of his investigation into Trump's role in interfering with the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election.X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The unsealed opinion says Twitter, which is now known as X, objected to producing the information demanded in the warrant on February 1st, arguing that its... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6DPQ6)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Newegg's new AI-generated review summaries could make it easier to sift through user feedback while you search for PC parts and other tech. In addition to providing a short summary of what people are saying about a product, the AI also picks out pros and cons based on user reviews.The feature leverages the technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT and lives within the Reviews" tab toward the bottom of a product's page. There, you'll see a list of pros and cons that you can click on, allowing you to filter reviews by specific keywords and see where the AI got its information from. Below that, you'll also see an AI-generated summary that combines all the key pieces of feedback into a short paragraph. Screenshot: Emma Roth /... Continue reading...
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by Makena Kelly on (#6DPQ8)
Image: The Verge The Biden administration is partnering with four top artificial intelligence companies to sponsor a new cybersecurity challenge aimed at protecting the US's critical infrastructure.The AI Cyber Challenge," announced at the Black Hat USA conference in Las Vegas Wednesday, is meant to pair experts with AI models produced by Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI to develop systems to identify and fix software vulnerabilities. The challenge, hosted by DARPA, includes $20 million in prizes for the best systems that could be used in protecting the government infrastructure running everything from transportation to electrical grids.They don't have the tools capable of security at this scale."In an increasingly interconnected world,... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6DPQ7)
The Nerf Pro Stryfe X, the first official Nerf blaster to fire half-length darts. The Nerf Pro Stryfe X blasts short darts - and not a new proprietary one. Continue reading...