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Emma Roth / The Verge After replacing Twitter's little blue bird with an X logo, Elon Musk changed it again. On Tuesday afternoon, Musk replaced Twitter's X logo with one that has slightly thicker lines - but then said he would reverse the change.I don't like the thicker bars, so reverting," Musk writes on Twitter. The logo will evolve over time." You can see how the two logos compare in the image embedded above.The updated logo had already made its way to Twitter's homepage, and Musk even changed his profile picture to match. Neither logo has made an appearance in Twitter's mobile app, however.

Image: OpenAI OpenAI shuttered a tool that was supposed to tell human writing from AI due to a low accuracy rate. In an (updated) blog, OpenAI said it decided to end its AI classifier as of July 20th. We are working to incorporate feedback and are currently researching more effective provenance techniques for text," the company said.As it shuts down the tool to catch AI-generated writing, OpenAI said it plans to develop and deploy mechanisms that enable users to understand if audio or visual content is AI-generated." There's no word yet on what those mechanisms might be, though.OpenAI fully admitted the classifier was never very good at catching AI-generated text and warned that it could spit out false positives, aka human-written text tagged as... Continue reading...

Image: ABC / Christine Bartolucci General Hospital, the longest-running American soap opera, is turning to scab writers to keep the show going amidst the Writers Guild of America's ongoing strike. One of the show's writers, Shannon Peace, shared the news on her Instagram account, saying, Starting next week, the show will be penned exclusively by scab writers which is heartbreaking."According to Peace, the show has run through all the scripts that were written before the strike began and has now employed non-union writers in order to keep the show on the air. Typically, people who cross picket lines to perform struck work are met with derision, but Peace acknowledged that the current situation is unique for soap operas. (Disclosure: The Verge's editorial staff is also... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is promoting chief financial officer Ruth Porat into a new role, according to a press release about Alphabet's Q2 earnings. As part of the newly created role of president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, Porat will oversee Alphabet's Other Bets" investments and work more closely with policymakers and regulators.The new role will be effective on September 1st, 2023, and the company will search for a successor as the CFO of Google and Alphabet. Porat will still report to CEO Sundar Pichai.Porat's promotion comes at an important time for Alphabet / Google. Policymakers around the world are working on potential regulations over artificial intelligence, and it seems likely that... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Starting today, Twitter Blue members can download videos shared on X by other subscribers. That's according to an update to an X Help Center article titled How to share and watch videos on Twitter."The update says all new videos will be eligible for downloads unless the poster specifically opts out. There's also an age limit - if your account is under the age of 18," then downloads won't be turned on. (Presumably, that means any person whose account says they're under 18.)And of course, if your Twitter Blue-subscribing account is set to private, no one other than subscribers you've allowed to follow you can see the video, let alone download it. To opt out of having your videos be downloadable, you can do that on a per-tweet basis -... Continue reading...

Image: Eero Eero could bring its easily managed mesh routers to landlord-managed Wi-Fi networks in your next rental. The company has a new program called Eero for Communities, and for renters, it means that they'd only need to log in to the existing Wi-Fi setup to get online after moving in. Eero is well known for its user-friendly setup and management, and it tends to work much better than ISP-provided Wi-Fi / modem combo units, even if some of its routers can be flaky.According to the press release, residents will still be able to control the Eeros via the Eero app on their smartphone and can even sign up for Eero Secure, its subscription service that gives users access to features like Eero's extra security, ad blocking, a VPN service, and Eero... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft just posted the fourth and final quarter of its 2023 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $56.2 billion in revenue and a net income of $20.1 billion during Q4. Revenue is up 8 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent. As expected, Windows and devices revenue has been hit hard again this quarter, but Xbox has rebounded somewhat - at least on the content side. Microsoft's cloud, office, and server businesses continue to make up for a weaker PC market.Microsoft's entire fiscal 2023 hasn't been great for its Windows and devices revenue compared to fiscal 2022. Windows OEM revenue, the price that PC manufacturers pay Microsoft to put Windows on laptops and PCs, has dropped significantly for the entire fiscal... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge The brand-new Following feed in Meta's Threads won't always stick around if it's your preferred way to use the app.The much-needed Following feed is unfortunately a bit hidden: you can make it appear by tapping the home icon at the bottom of the screen or the Threads logo at the top. Once you see it, you can switch between Following," which shows posts in reverse-chronological order, and For You," which is the algorithmically sorted feed the app has offered since launch.But a few of us at The Verge noticed that Threads will occasionally rehide the Following feed and bring you back to the For You feed after you open the app. (You can test it for yourself by force closing and reopening the app.) Unfortunately, it sounds like that's by... Continue reading...

Tab Groups live here. | Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge If you're using Safari but you're not using Tab Groups, well, it's time to change that.Tab Groups, as the name implies, allows you to group a selection of tabs together and essentially set them aside for future use. For example, if you have a bunch of tabs you use for work and a bunch of tabs you use after work, you can cordon these tabs off into batches so that they don't get in each other's way. You can use your work tabs at work and, when you're finished, swap them for your after work" tabs with just one click.You might also have different Tab Groups for different assignments at work or different school projects. Folks who share a computer might have different Tab Groups for each user. The possibilities are endless.Here's how... Continue reading...

Lidya Jewett as Angela Fielding and Olivia Marcum as Katherine. Though Warner Bros.' 1973 adaptation of The Exorcist is an iconic piece of horror cinema, none of the studio's subsequent sequels ever really managed to make all that much of a splash. Only time will tell whether that also ends up being the case with Universal and Blumhouse's new trilogy of Exorcist features from director David Gordon Green, but the first trailer for The Exorcist: Believer definitely makes it seem like the revival's cooking with gas.Set in the same continuity as the original film, The Exorcist: Believer tells the story of how widower Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.) struggles to save the life of his young daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) after she and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum) vanish suddenly one day only to... Continue reading...

Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe is fed up with companies exaggerating their environmental credentials.There's far too much greenwashing in the system," he said in a recent interview. For Scaringe, it's all too easy for a company to obfuscate the source of its power consumption, especially when it doesn't actually create any new capacity for renewable energy. And consumers aren't discerning enough to tell the difference.This is just so conceptually complex," he said, making a clear distinction between companies that buy renewable energy to cover their own emissions while also creating new capacity and those who want to pay a teeny little incremental amount more to get the ability to pat ourselves on the back and say we're using renewable... Continue reading...

No launch date has been provided for GM's new Chevy Bolt as the company tackles production issues impacting its Ultium battery packs. | Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images General Motors announced today that it's developing a next-generation Chevrolet Bolt based on the automaker's Ultium battery and drive technology to deliver great affordability, range and technology." It's following three electric vehicles Chevrolet is already scheduled to launch this year: the Equinox and Blazer SUVs and the Silverado pickup truck.GM CEO Mary Barra said during the company's Q2 earnings call that the new Bolt will be brought to market on an accelerated timeline" but didn't provide specific details regarding a launch date for the affordable EV after GM announced in April that it would stop manufacturing the original model that was plagued by fires and an expensive battery recall.Our customers love today's Bolt. It... Continue reading...

Image: FromSoftware As the Fires of Rubicon heat up, FromSoftware has released an in-depth look at Armored Core VI's gameplay. The roughly 13-minute presentation covered everything from armored core movement capabilities and customization options to the kinds of enemies you'll face as the mercenary 621.Check it out.From the story trailer that was released last week, we know that, in AC6, you'll take up the mantle of 621, a bioengineered human whose only purpose is to pilot mechs under the guidance of your handler, Walter. We also know that you'll be fighting for control of the mysterious but volatile resource coral, native to only one planet in the galaxy: Rubicon.In Armored Core VI, your mechs are heavy, but they can move. It's really fascinating to... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge One of Instagram Threads' most requested features is finally here: the Following tab that lets you see only the people you, er, follow. Ask and you shall receive," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on Threads quoting a user asking for the feature.For those of us who have the Following feed, we can make it appear and disappear by tapping the home icon or the Threads logo at the top of the page. Annoyingly, if you reopen the app after it fully shuts down, it reverts to the For You" feed, meaning you'll have to know where to look to bring the Following feed up again - whether that's a bug or not remains to be seen.A Monday update promised new features in Threads, and the Following feed appears to be one of those additions; some,... Continue reading...

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge An issue that has slowly reared its head over the lifespan of Sony's otherwise excellent WF-1000XM4 earbuds is one centered around battery drain. As I mentioned in my review of the brand-new WF-1000XM5, a significant number of people who bought the company's last flagship earbuds have encountered this problem - to the point that the Sony Headphones subreddit has done a painstaking job of documenting it.Although there's never been a recall or official replacement program, Sony seems well aware of the issue by now. And at least in the United States, customers often have a relatively easy time getting a replacement pair of 1000XM4 earbuds under warranty (or sometimes even out of warranty). Obtaining a new set in other countries can be... Continue reading...

The Elgato Stream Deck XL is $50 off. | Image: Elgato If you're looking for a way to streamline your workflow, the Elgato Stream Deck XL is a handy little tool that'll help you do just that. It's normally $249.99, but right now, you can buy it on sale for $199.99 ($50 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. That's the best price we've seen on the device all year and only $10 shy of its all-time low.We here at The Verge are big fans of Stream Decks, which are essentially gadgets with LCD keys you can program to quickly perform a range of tasks with just a click of a button. That includes everything from updating Slack statuses and launching Spotify playlists to even controlling other smart home devices. Unlike other Stream Decks, however, this one comes with 32 customizable macro buttons so you can... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung's new phone announcements are expected tomorrow, July 26th, at 7AM ET during its next Unpacked event, so that means today's the last chance to net $50 of preorder credit by making a free reservation.While Samsung may be keeping the full details of its Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 folding phones under wraps, the reservation promo it typically runs is like a nudge, nudge, wink, wink, yeah, you know what's coming" discount for its most loyal early adopters as a treat. The way it works is simple: you submit a no-obligation reservation on Samsung's site by entering your name, email address, and phone number, and you'll receive a $50 credit to use on a preorder of the Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5, or other new qualifying devices Samsung... Continue reading...

At the 2023 edition of BitSummit in Kyoto, there were more games and more developers than ever - but a path to global success remains a challenge. Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter users (and ex-users) are still watching to see what the next chapter will be in the soap opera called What Elon Musk Will Do With Twitter Next." Oops - sorry. It's no longer Twitter now, is it? It's some weird new entity called X."If you're becoming bored with the whole thing and you want to continue following social networking without having to deal with Twitter (let's still call it that for now), where do you go?While, at least so far, nothing has become the byword that Twitter became, there are a number of services that are currently vying for the title of Twitter Alternative of the 2020s." So far, most don't have the size and scale of Twitter, and it's hard to say if any of them will attract enough followers to give it... Continue reading...

A typical scene at ultra-fast charging stations in Europe: everything working and lots of availability. This one had a long protected walking path for the dog along the right-hand side bordering a creek. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge The Council of the EU has adopted new rules intended to make it much easier for EV owners to travel across Europe, while simultaneously helping to reduce the output of harmful greenhouse gases.The new regulation is set to benefit owners of electric cars and vans in three ways: It reduces range anxiety by expanding the EV charging infrastructure along Europe's main highways, it makes payments at the pump" easier without requiring an app or subscription, and ensures pricing and availability is clearly communicated to avoid surprises.From 2025 onward, the new regulation requires fast charging stations offering at least 150kW of power to be installed every 60km (37mi) along the EU's Trans-European Transport Network, or (TEN-T) system of... Continue reading...

A heat advisory sign is shown along US Highway 190 during a heat wave in Death Valley National Park in Death Valley, California, on July 16th, 2023. | Photo by Ronda Churchill / AFP via Getty Images It's been a viciously hot July for much of the planet thanks to heatwaves made worse by climate change. A new study breaks down how much of a role the climate crisis played in bringing on record-shattering temperatures this month.Huge swathes of the Northern Hemisphere have been sweltering for weeks, with heat domes forming over North America, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and Asia this summer. The first week of July was likely the planet's hottest week on record, according to preliminary data from the World Meteorological Organization. Temperatures breached 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in North America's Death Valley and parts of northwest China this month. All-time heat records were also broken in parts of Spain,... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Mastodon, the decentralized network viewed as a viable alternative to Twitter, is rife with child sexual abuse material (CSAM), according to a new study from Stanford's Internet Observatory (via The Washington Post). In just two days, researchers found 112 instances of known CSAM across 325,000 posts on the platform - with the first instance showing up after just five minutes of searching.To conduct its research, the Internet Observatory scanned the 25 most popular Mastodon instances for CSAM. Researchers also employed Google's SafeSearch API to identify explicit images, along with PhotoDNA, a tool that helps find flagged CSAM. During its search, the team found 554 pieces of content that matched hashtags or keywords often used by child... Continue reading...

The Twitter sign is coming down in San Francisco. | Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Twitter, in case you somehow haven't heard, is rebranding as X," ditching one of the world's most iconic and theoretically valuable brands in exchange for Elon Musk's personal idea of cool. Today, the theoretically-not-Musk-led company owned by Musk also attempted to remove the Twitter sign at its headquarters at 1355 Market Street in San Francisco.Before they could finish, the police showed up.San Francisco police halted the sign removal shortly after it began," wrote Justin Sullivan for Getty Images as part of a caption alongside his many excellent photos of the site.We haven't confirmed why police pressed pause. Originally, another observer, Wayne Sutton, tweeted that Musk didn't get a permit for the crane.

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Ten years ago today - July 24th, 2013 - Google announced a $35 streaming stick called the Chromecast.I was one of the first journalists to lay hands on the dongle, and it wasn't yet clear how big a deal it'd be. The demo was choppy! It could arguably be classified as a me-too product given Apple's AirPlay was already three years old and Miracast was a buzzword across the industry. (Do you even remember Miracast? It was on, like, every smart TV.)And of course, the Chromecast was compared to the Nexus Q, arguably Google's worst hardware flop in history.But $35 to sling the Netflix and YouTube you're already watching to your television screen turned out to be a magical notion - The Verge's Nilay Patel called it a no-brainer for... Continue reading...

Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee may vote to hold Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in contempt later this week, according to a new report from Punchbowl News Monday.The potential contempt vote hinges on a February subpoena from the committee demanding Meta produce documents and communications related to content moderation discussions it has had with executive branch officials. Members of the committee have accused Meta of failing to cooperate with the investigation by withholding documents.Sources told Punchbowl the committee plans to hold the vote on Thursday.Responding to the possible vote, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone directed The Verge to a statement the company gave to Fox Business saying that Meta had shared over 50,000... Continue reading...

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple announced that developers can now apply to get a Vision Pro headset on the company's website.In addition to the Vision Pro headset, the dev kit also includes help setting up the device, code-level support requests, and check-ins" with Apple experts about designing and developing an app for visionOS.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google Docs now lets you add line numbers to documents. With this feature, Google can automatically assign numbers to each line, which you can then configure to span an entire document, a page, or a certain section.Line numbers are often used by legal professionals to make it easier to point to specific pieces of a document. To enable line numbers in Docs, make sure your document is set to paged mode by heading to File > Page setup and choosing Pages. You can then head to Tools > Line numbers > Show line numbers to add numbered lines. Google says the numbers will show up on printed documents, too. Image: Google This update should save people from the hassle of installing third-party extensions or creating tables... Continue reading...

Image: Ubisoft Ubisoft now says it will not delete your games just because you didn't sign in often enough. Accounts that include purchased PC games are not eligible for deletion," Ubisoft senior corporate communications manager Jessica Roache tells The Verge.Last week, a tweeted screenshot of a Ubisoft email put gamers in something of a panic because it seemed like Ubisoft planned to delete inactive accounts - including all the games they'd purchased - just because they hadn't signed in frequently enough.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix is introducing a new tab in its mobile apps that could make it easier to actually find something you want to watch, according to a blog post from the company. The new tab, called My Netflix," will be available on iOS beginning Monday and starts rolling out on Android in early August.Basically, it sounds like My Netflix will surface titles you've shown some sort of interest in as a way to help you make a decision about what to watch. The My Netflix tab will show you things like titles you've downloaded, have recently watched, are halfway through, have saved to My List, and have given a thumbs-up to, as well as trailers you've watched.Keep in mind that the more you interact with and tell Netflix what you like, such as saving... Continue reading...

Sony's latest flagship earbuds are excellent on multiple fronts, but the lack of an ecosystem will hold them back in the not-too-distant future. Continue reading...

Image: Techland Tencent, the billion-dollar Chinese holding company that owns either wholly or in part game studios like Riot Games, Epic Games, and many others, is in the process of adding another studio to its long list of subsidiaries - Techland.CEO Pawel Marchewka announced the news, saying, Teaming up with Tencent will allow us to move full speed ahead with the execution of the vision for our games."Techland is a Polish studio known for its zombie survival games, including the Dying Light and Dead Island series. Last year, after a lengthy delay, the studio released the highly anticipated sequel to Dying Light, Dying Light 2: Stay Human, to decent reviews.Also last year, The Gamer reported on internal struggles at Techland, reporting that 20... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Watch out Bard - Bing's AI chatbot is now available in Google Chrome and Safari. As first spotted by Windows Latest (via 9to5Google), you can now access the chatbot from Bing.com in both browsers.There are some limitations to using Bing Chat on Chrome and Safari, though. For one, you can only type 2,000-word prompts, as opposed to the 4,000-word limit that you get when using Bing Chat on Edge. Your conversation with the chatbot will also reset after five turns instead of 30, and you'll see some annoying pop-ups that prompt you to download Edge. Screenshot by Emma Roth / The Verge You'll still get prompted to download Edge. In addition to a wider rollout across different browsers, Microsoft has introduced dark... Continue reading...

Image: Microsoft I'm fairly sure most Xbox controllers give off a bit of a sweaty pong after hours of gaming, but Microsoft has now created one that's supposed to smell like pizza from the get-go. The world's first ever pizza-scented controller" is part of a marketing effort for the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem movie.Microsoft has designed custom TMNT Xbox controllers that have a scent diffuser strapped to the back in the shape of a slice of pizza. There are four variations in total, and thankfully, they're just part of a sweepstakes giveaway, so we won't be seeing or sniffing these controllers everywhere. If you want to try and win a pizza-scented controller, you'll need to enter by retweeting a post on the Xbox Game Pass... Continue reading...

Image: Alex Castro and Jess Weatherbed / The Verge Early Monday morning, Twitter began replacing its blue bird logo with a fan-made " logo. The same X also appears on Twitter's homepage, as a profile picture for its official @twitter account, and on a splash screen displayed while the website loads. The blue bird logo hasn't been expunged from the service entirely - it still serves as the website's favicon and remains prominent throughout the mobile apps - but we're now knee-deep in a haphazard rebranding that was announced by Elon Musk yesterday.Soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds," Musk wrote.The modern Twitter bird was actually the company's second logo and replaced the company's earlier Larry the Bird" logo it used between 2010 and 2012.... Continue reading...

It's your time to shine, little guys. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge What's old is hot again, and flip phones are so very hot right now.These phones are a far cry from the phone that you mastered T9 texting on in college. Today's flip phones are garden-variety 2023 smartphones that happen to fold in half - plus a screen on the front cover.They've been making a kind of comeback over the past few years, but until now, they've existed in the shadows of their bigger, pricier fold-style counterparts. That's understandable, considering that their small cover screens haven't been good for much more than checking the weather and pressing pause on a podcast. But that's all changing this year: in a round of updates from Motorola, Oppo, and very likely Samsung next, cover screens are getting much larger and way... Continue reading...

This press image sums up the Flipper's appeal pretty well. | Image: Flipper The Flipper Zero - a dolphin-themed digital multitool - now has a mobile app store, which makes it much easier to browse and install third-party tools and plug-ins right from your phone. The marketplace is built into the latest version of Flipper's official app, which is out today.Quick recap: the Flipper Zero is cool as hell. It has sub-GHz wireless, RFID, NFC, and Bluetooth radios. It can receive and transmit infrared signals. It has a USB-C port and a row of GPIO ports on the top that let it interface with other hardware, including an add-on Wi-Fi board. Chris Person, writing for The Verge, called it a Swiss Army knife of antennas. You can use it to emulate Amiibos. You can use it as a universal remote or a USB Rubber Ducky. You can... Continue reading...