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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6KAAJ)
The Dyson 360 Vis Naz, the British manufacturer's new robot vacuum, has finally landed in the States. I just got my hands on the $1,199 machine ahead of its official launch on March 19th and have some early thoughts to share.As only Dyson's second attempt to enter the US robot vacuum market - the first being way back in 2016 - the Vis Nav has a lot riding on its giant wheels. With a whopping 65 air watts of suction, Dyson says it's the most powerful robot vacuum you can buy. Combined with a largely unique design, and a really big, fluffy brush, there's a lot to like here.A complete redesign of Dyson's 360 Eye, which was only briefly sold in the US, the Vis Nav is slimmer, shorter, and wider than its predecessor. The new design... Continue reading...
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The Verge
Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
Updated | 2025-07-09 16:16 |
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by Jon Porter on (#6KAAK)
Videos can be accessed via a Switch to Video" button on supported tracks. | Image: Spotify Spotify is officially adding support for music videos, the company announced today. The audio streaming service describes the feature as a beta" with only a limited catalog" available as of today in 11 markets. Supported artists include Ed Sheeran, Doja Cat, Ice Spice, Aluna, and Asake, with Spotify's global head of consumer experience Sten Garmark telling TechCrunch that Spotify's full music video catalog will eventually include thousands" of songs.The music video feature is accessible via the Now Playing screen on supported tracks, where a Switch to Video" icon will appear above the song title. Tapping it will restart the song, and start playing its music video in the center of the display. You can rotate an iOS or Android device... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6KA8Q)
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony is rolling out a new PS5 update that improves the speakers and microphone on DualSense controllers, adds pointers and emoji reactions to the Screen Share feature, and includes the ability to adjust the brightness of your PS5 power indicator. The update was first made available to testers last month and is rolling out globally to all PS5 owners today.Sony is updating the firmware on the DualSense and DualSense Edge wireless controllers as part of this update to improve the output volume of in-game sounds and voice chat. The microphones on both controllers have also been improved thanks to a new machine learning model that cancels out background noise like button presses. Image: Sony The new emoji reactions... Continue reading...
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by Emilia David on (#6K9ZE)
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas tells The Verge that many people are using chatbots like regular search engines. It makes sense to offer information on things they look for, like restaurants, directly from the source. So it's integrating Yelp's maps, reviews, and other details in responses when people ask for restaurant recommendations.Our underlying motivation is that we started off as this tool that appealed to people doing fact checks and research. But research can be on anything, like what if you're a coffee addict, you'd want to know where the good coffee shops are," says Srinivas.As The Verge's David Pierce recently pointed out, how Perplexity mixes text and links when answering questions was already a selling point compared to... Continue reading...
by Ariel Shapiro on (#6K9ZF)
Image: The Verge This is Hot Pod, The Verge's newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.Hello! It's been a bit since we checked in on the news. Today, I've got a look at the ongoing financial troubles at NPR member stations, the shutdown of Rooster Teeth, and the new season of Serial.Woes mounting at NPR member stations: Sponsorship dollars won't return to previous levels."Two more public radio stations are discussing how they plan to get out of the red: Colorado Public Radio, which is adopting the broadcast-to-podcast" strategy, and WBUR in Boston, which is appealing to listeners for donations before taking any next steps.Colorado Public Radio laid off 15 members of its staff last week and closed its... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6K9ZG)
Image: Bluesky Bluesky will soon let users customize how content is moderated in their feeds. The social platform announced that it's open-sourcing its moderation tool, called Ozone, to let developers create additional moderation services that can be selected by users.Bluesky already has a team dedicated to content moderation, along with its own set of rules users have to follow. However, the new system will let users expand what's moderated to their liking, allowing them to subscribe to additional moderation services that label, annotate, or hide certain types of posts. Image: Bluesky Here's what it will look like to subscribe to a moderation service. As an example, Bluesky says someone could use Ozone to create a... Continue reading...
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by Amrita Khalid on (#6K9ZH)
Courtesy of Marvel Animation Marvel Studios has fired Beau DeMayo, the creator of the upcoming animated Disney Plus series X-Men '97, according to The Hollywood Reporter. De Mayo previously produced and wrote for another Marvel show, Moon Knight, and has also worked on The Witcher, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The firing reportedly occurred early last week, and neither Marvel nor DeMayo's representatives commented on the decision to the outlet. Marvel has also not responded to The Verge's request for comment.The timing of DeMayo's departure is unusual, given that X-Men '97 is set to premiere on Disney Plus roughly a week from now, on March 20th. DeMayo is credited as the creator and executive producer of the show's entire... Continue reading...
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by Gaby Del Valle on (#6K9ZJ)
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images, Nathan Howard Media manipulation meets technological innovation. Continue reading...
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by Gaby Del Valle on (#6K9ZK)
If the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gets its way, Congress will grant it more than $107 billion to run its enforcement regime during the 2025 fiscal year. Buried in the lengthy budget request is $101 million to upgrade and maintain the network of surveillance towers scattered throughout the borderlands, first noted by The Intercept. According to its own official publications, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) hopes to fully integrate these systems through AI.Politicians from both parties have long hailed CBP's vast system, called the Integrated Surveillance Towers, as a sort of virtual wall that allows agents to better patrol the border. Although the surveillance towers comprise a small fraction of DHS's gargantuan budget,... Continue reading...
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by Mia Sato on (#6K9WZ)
Photo by Paul Ellis / AFP via Getty Images Kate Middleton's botched photo editing job seen around the world is more than just catnip for tabloids and TikTok conspiracy theorists. It's also the most instructive illustration of the AI-flecked new reality we live in, a maelstrom formed when distrust and established processes converge and create chaos.It's hard to know what Middleton, aka the Princess of Wales and future Queen of England, was thinking when she allegedly edited her own photo so sloppily that it's become front-page news in a bunch of countries. Shortly after the image was shared publicly, the world's biggest wire agencies, like The Associated Press, Getty, and Reuters, issued retraction alerts - called kill notices" - instructing media outlets to not use the image... Continue reading...
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by Brandon Widder on (#6K9T7)
The framed edition of the atomic purple Game Boy Color is nearly $30 off for a limited time. | Image: Grid Of all the tech-centric artwork I've seen over the years, few pieces have grabbed me as much as Grid Studio's framed gadgets and gizmos. The company has been slinging the collage-like pieces for several years now, taking oft-forgotten devices once destined for the landfill and putting them on full display in classy shadowbox-style frames with exploded views. And now, thanks to its annual spring sales event, Grid is offering up to 40 percent off select items through the end of March.There are plenty of retro and contemporary items to choose from, from controllers to smartphones to gaming consoles that once dominated the handheld market in the US. The iPhone 4S and original NES controller - both of which are on sale for $99 ($70 off),... Continue reading...
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by Victoria Song on (#64QKV)
Low Power Mode was introduced in watchOS 9 with the Apple Watch Ultra in mind. | Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge The Apple Watch has never been known for having long battery life. Case in point: Apple never budged from the 18-hour battery life estimate until it launched the Apple Watch Ultra. In 2022, the company introduced a new Low Power Mode when it launched the Ultra, and now, it has extended the time between charges for Apple Watches using watchOS 9 and later.Previously, the Apple Watch had a Power Reserve mode, which shut off any functions aside from your ability to tell time and turned your smartwatch into a normal watch until you could get it to a charger. This mode is different - it's more like the iPhone's Low Power Mode. When enabled, you'll still be able to use your Apple Watch, but certain power-hungry features will be turned off or... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6K9K6)
Image: General Motors Driverless cars keep running into roadblocks - and bicyclists - so automakers are doubling down on partially automated systems, betting that customers will appreciate the novelty and convenience of a bunch of features that steer, accelerate, and brake for them.The industry insists these systems are safe; some executives even go so far as to call them safer than human driving. But a top consumer safety organization argues there is little evidence to support these claims.The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a 65-year-old independent group that tests and evaluates new cars, released its first ranking system for partially automated systems. Overall, it tested 14 different systems. Eleven were rated poor, two were marginal,... Continue reading...
by Victoria Song on (#6K9K7)
Circular displays plus the rotating bezel are the Samsung Galaxy Watch's calling card. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 series isn't likely to be the company's most exciting wearable this year. That'll be the Galaxy Ring. Maybe that's why rumor has it that Samsung is looking to shake up its watch design. According to SamMobile, the company wants to go back to a squarish design a la the original Galaxy Gear.This reminds me of the Samsung rumor mill back in early 2022. Then, there were murmurs that the company would be ditching the much-beloved physical rotating bezel. Which was, in my opinion, a stupid, stupid, stupid idea. It was baffling. No other smartwatch maker had the physical rotating bezel, making it Samsung's signature calling card. Brands kill for iconic designs - why would it voluntarily throw that away? And yet,... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6K9K8)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Discord will soon allow developers to build new games and apps that can be used directly in its chat app. A selection of minigames and apps have been available to Discord users for months now, but starting March 18th, all Discord developers will get access to a new Embedded App SDK that lets them build these special embedded apps.Discord has used its Activities feature to enable apps like YouTube, promote minigames like poker, and even encourage users to play with a shared whiteboard experience. These apps all appear as an embedded iframe inside Discord, but they've been limited to select developers so far. Image: Discord We're going to see a lot more minigames and apps inside Discord. Plenty of Discord... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6K9FW)
Roku has disclosed a breach that allowed hackers to gain access to 15,363 accounts and stored credit card information, as first reported by Bleeping Computer. In a notice sent to customers, Roku says hackers obtained login information and tried to purchase streaming subscriptions in a limited number" of instances.Hackers likely obtained account information exposed in previous data breaches of third-party services, Roku says. This kind of attack, called credential stuffing, involves hackers getting the emails and passwords exposed in data breaches and trying the combination on other services. Once they gained access to an account, Roku hackers changed the login information for some accounts, allowing them to gain full control.If the... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6K9FZ)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Fortnite developer Epic Games will charge non-game developers an annual subscription of $1,850 per seat" to use its Unreal Engine as opposed to the royalty-based model it uses for game developers. The company announced the changes to its payment scheme last year, and now, it's providing details on the plan, which will come into effect with the release of Unreal Engine version 5.4 in late April.The changes don't apply to game developers, who will continue to pay for access to Epic's tools via a 5 percent royalty on products that earn over $1 million in lifetime gross revenue. Instead, the new per-seat (effectively per-user) subscription fee will apply to non-game developers such as those who use the Unreal Engine to make linear content... Continue reading...
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by Allison Johnson on (#6K9FY)
Moto G Power: Now with NFC and wireless charging. | Image: Motorola Motorola's recent budget phones have been held back by lackluster designs, pointless extra cameras, and underwhelming feature sets. But there appears to be hope on the horizon: the 2024 Moto G Power 5G and Moto G 5G look pretty good - at least on paper.Both phones finally offer NFC (why that was ever missing in the first place is a mystery), and they come with fetching vegan leather back panels. They even include a microSD card slot and a built-in headphone jack, handy features most phone manufacturers abandoned years ago. The G Power 5G also includes wireless charging for the first time - a rare feature in any budget phone. They'll start at $199 for the Moto G 5G and $299 for the Moto G Power 5G.The pricier Moto G Power comes with a... Continue reading...
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by Thomas Ricker on (#6K9FX)
This belt-driven C380 HMB with high-step frame can handle more than flat Dutch cities. | Image: Gazelle Gazelle, the very popular Dutch bike brand owned by industry giant Pon Holdings, is launching its first Class 3 electric bike in the US.Gazelle says that its new Eclipse is the first and only Class 3 e-bike in the US to feature Bosch's Smart System," which fully integrates the bike's motor and electronics with the Bosch Flow app for a personalized ride that will receive continuous over-the-air bug fixes and feature updates long after purchase. Class 3 in the US is defined as pedal-assist only, no throttle, and a maximum speed of 28 mph.Eclipse is available in both high- and low-step frames and built to easily handle heavy loads and hills on a variety of terrain. It features wide 60mm tires, a front shock, Shimano MT-420 four-piston... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6K9G0)
Keeping up with the streaming wars is hard work. The movies and shows keep moving around, everyone is always bundling and then unbundling, and services like Paramount Plus and Hulu seem to be both growing fast and only barely holding onto existence.That's why, once a year on The Vergecast, we take a moment and take stock of the streaming landscape. By drafting our favorite services! The goal is to figure out what's working, what isn't, and which services are likely to be on top 12 months from now.We recorded this episode live onstage at SXSW - thanks to everyone who came out and saw us! - and started by recapping last year's results. Here they are:
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by Tom Warren on (#6K9G1)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is planning to make further changes in EU countries to allow some developers to distribute their iOS apps directly from a website. The new web distribution feature will be available with a software update later this spring," according to Apple, providing developers with a key new way to distribute iOS apps in EU markets without the need for a separate app store - as long as they're willing to adhere to Apple's strict rules.While Apple is opening up iOS to more third-party apps here, these are still some key security protections around how apps are distributed via websites - namely, you'll still have to work within the strict Apple app development ecosystem. Apps offered through Web Distribution must meet Notarization... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6K8WK)
Stability.AI CEO Emad Mostaque is currently investigating the situation. | Illustration: Beatrice Sala Midjourney says it has banned Stability AI staffers from using its service, accusing employees at the rival generative AI company of causing a systems outage earlier this month during an attempt to scrape Midjourney's data.Midjourney posted an update to its Discord server on March 2nd that acknowledged an extended server outage was preventing generated images from appearing in user galleries. In a summary of a business update call on March 6th, Midjourney claimed that botnet-like activity from paid accounts" - which the company specifically links to Stability AI employees - was behind the outage. Image: Midjourney / Discord These meeting notes were posted to Midjourney's official Discord channel following an... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6K8SY)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla will soon return to court over a crash that led to the death of Wei Walter" Huang nearly six years ago. The trial will take place in California the week of March 18th and will determine whether Tesla and its driver-assist software are at fault for the fatal accident, according to a report from Reuters.In March 2018, Huang died after his Autopilot-enabled Model X crashed into a safety barrier along US Highway 101 in Mountain View, California. An investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board later found that both Autopilot and distracted driving contributed to the crash, as phone data indicated Huang was playing a mobile game.However, Huang's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla in 2019, alleging the... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6K8SZ)
The retro-style smart speaker delivers powerful sound and offers simultaneous support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge There aren't a lot of smart speakers on the market that support Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant simultaneously, which is one of the reasons the JBL Authentics 300 stands out. Unfortunately, it's expensive at its full retail price of $449.99, but Amazon is selling the portable smart speaker right now at a new all-time low of $278 ($172 off).The midrange 300 can listen for wake words for both virtual assistants and deliver powerful sound free of distortion at louder volumes, allowing it to outperform even the new Sonos Move 2. It also lets you play music over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or via an aux jack or USB-C, and it sports handy dials for easily adjusting the EQ. The speaker also looks cool thanks to a 70s-style vibe, which uses faux... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6K8Q5)
Image: Embark Studios The Finals, a first-person arena shooter, is moving into its second season later this week that introduces a new 5v5 game mode, more weapons, new abilities, and even private matches. It's a big update to a popular game that's centered on a destructible environment.Power Shift, the new 5v5 game mode, is perhaps the biggest change, which sees two teams of players fighting it out to control a platform (very King of the Hill) to score points. The platform itself will tear through the environment and can be rocked by objects and abilities. In this mode, players can even switch between light, medium, and heavy builds to better compete against the enemy team. Image: Embark Studios The new 5v5 game mode in The Finals.... Continue reading...
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by Emilia David on (#6K8Q6)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Last year, as an experiment, I baked cakes from recipes generated by ChatGPT and Bard. It went better than I expected - because much of each recipe didn't seem created by AI at all.The recipes I got were eerily familiar to recipes I've seen on food blogs or Instagram. They'd been slightly changed, and only Bard (now called Gemini) bothered offering attribution, linking to a recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. In some ways, this isn't a new problem; I've seen far too many copied non-AI recipes floating around the internet. AI, though, makes the ethics of recipe copying more fraught. Its sheer scale threatens to create a world where human recipe developers are crowded out by semi-randomized AI-generated competition, but while there... Continue reading...
by Ash Parrish on (#6K8KC)
Image: Player First Games Warner Bros. Games has announced a release date for Multiversus, its Smash Bros.-style fighter starring characters from all over the WB universe. Multiversus will launch as a free-to-play game on May 28th.
by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6K8KD)
Image: Porsche Porsche likes its lap records, whether at Nurburgring in Germany or Laguna Seca in California. These records mean a lot to the German automaker, so much so that it occasionally makes up new ones just to break them.The latest record is no fabrication, though. Porsche needed something to boast for its model expansion for the Taycan electric sedan, so it brought the Turbo GT and Turbo GT with Weissach package to the Weathertech Raceway in Laguna Seca to see if they could beat the lap record set by a Tesla Model S Plaid. And of course, they did. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be writing about it right now.It only took Porsche development driver Lars Kern one minute, 27.87 seconds, to traverse a full lap at Laguna Seca, besting the... Continue reading...
by Emma Roth on (#6K8KE)
Nick Barclay / The Verge Airbnb will no longer allow hosts to use indoor security cameras, regardless of where they're placed or what they're used for. In an update on Monday, Airbnb says the change to prioritize the privacy" of renters goes into effect on April 30th.The vacation rental app previously let hosts install security cameras in common areas" of listings, including hallways, living rooms, and front doors. Airbnb required hosts to disclose the presence of security cameras in their listings and make them clearly visible, and it prohibited hosts from using cameras in bedrooms and bathrooms.But now, hosts can't use indoor security cameras at all. The change comes after numerous reports of guests finding hidden cameras within their rental, leading some... Continue reading...
by Cath Virginia on (#6K8KF)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Finding the human stories behind the numbers. Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6K8KG)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber is bringing its all-electric luxury rideshare service to its biggest market yet: New York City. The launch will coincide with the rollout of new product features aimed at steering its customers toward greener choices when using Uber.Uber first launched its Comfort Electric service, in which customers can hail trips in premium priced EVs like Tesla, Polestar, and Ford Mustang Mach-E, in May 2022. And since then, the service has rolled out in 41 cities, the latest now being New York.The reason Uber hadn't launched its upscale EV service in the Big Apple before today was that the city imposed a cap on the number of EV ridehail licenses handed out by the Taxi and Limousine Commission. But that cap has now been lifted, essentially... Continue reading...
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by Nilay Patel on (#6K8GD)
Photo illustration: The Verge Today, I'm talking to Kyle Chayka, a staff writer for The New Yorker, a regular contributor to The Verge, and author of the new book Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture. Kyle has been writing for years now about how the culture of big social media platforms bleeds into real life, first affecting how things look, and now shaping how and what culture is created and the mechanisms by which that culture spreads all around the world.Kyle wrote a fantastic feature for The Verge back in 2016 called Welcome to AirSpace," which was an early exploration of this idea. At the time, he noted that the aesthetics of physical spaces, like coffee shops and co-working offices, were being heavily influenced by Airbnb and Instagram, flattening... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6K8GE)
Image: The Verge The self-styled front page of the internet' has unplugged third-party apps, spurned defiant mods, and struck AI partnerships in a bid to go public. Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6K8DR)
Samsung's Galaxy A55, which reportedly features a metal frame. | Image: Samsung Samsung's new Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 are the latest additions to its midrange A-series lineup, which often contain the company's bestselling phones. Both the new A55 and A35 include Samsung's Knox Vault, a security feature designed to protect sensitive data like your lock screen credentials and encryption keys from software and hardware attacks by physically isolating them from the phones' main processors and memory. The company boasts that this is the first time the security feature has appeared on its A-series devices.The Galaxy A55 specifically also includes a metal frame, Android Police reports, which would be an upgrade over the plastic used in last year's Galaxy A54.Samsung has announced European pricing for the two models,... Continue reading...
by Alex Cranz on (#6K85D)
Screenshot by Alex Cranz/The Verge After months of speculation on the whereabouts of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales and future Queen of England, the Royal Family released an image on Sunday that appeared to have been edited. It's so edited that the Associated Press and Reuters issued rare kill notifications for it.It is incredible in its ineptitude. If the goal was to reassure the public about Middleton's whereabouts, the image has backfired spectacularly.The photo created such a skirmish that by Monday morning, the photo's editor had to issue an apology to the official X account of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6K86Q)
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images Like many of the movies up for Oscars, this year's Academy Awards ran longer than most viewers probably considered reasonable. But lengthy as the ceremony was, it was marked by enough surprises to make it one one hell of a watch.Though host Jimmy Kimmel made sure to get a few good jabs in at most of the filmmakers up for Oscars, few of the stars seemed all that phased as they took to the stage to deliver acceptance speeches that spoke to how stiff this year's competition was. Da'Vine Joy Randolph kicked off the night winning Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in The Holdovers - which was up for five awards total. And while Hayao Miyazaki wasn't there to accept his award, The Boy and the Heron took home an Oscar for... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6K82H)
Oppenheimer. | Image: Universal Pictures Keep up to date with all of the winners and the most exciting moments. Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6K7W1)
Image: Universal Pictures The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a huge hit for Nintendo, raking in over $1 billion at the box office, so producing a follow-up movie was an easy decision to make. In a new video, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination Entertainment's Chris Meledandri shared that the next movie is in development, with a release date set for April 3rd, 2026.Meledandri says Illumination Studios Paris, which worked on the first film, is storyboarding the movie under the direction, once again, of Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic. He added that animation is starting soon. And after the movie's April 3rd release in the US and many other markets globally," it will come to select territories" throughout the rest of the month.Miyamoto says that the... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6K7TP)
Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images Some of Hollywood's biggest stars will gather in the Dolby Theatre tonight for the 96th annual Academy Awards. It's a sign things are starting to get back to normal following last year's monthslong writers and actors strikes.In between the award announcements, we'll also get to see performances from several artists - including Ryan Gosling. If you want to see what this year's ceremony has to offer, and also find out which film takes away the most Oscars, here's what you need to know about tuning in.When do the Oscars start?The Oscars kick off on Sunday, March 10th, 2024, and will air from 7PM ET / 4PM PT to 10PM ET / 7PM PT.Where can I watch the Oscars?If you have cable or satellite, you can watch the Academy Awards on your local... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6K7TQ)
Image: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 29, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, I promise I don't always complain about music streaming, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)This week, I've been plowing through Shgun and watching Ricky Stanicky, catching up on all the Oscar-nominated documentaries, reading about the rivalry between Steve Jobs and Adam Osborne and the scary potential of solar storms, watching the story of the US's nuclear bunkers, staring at the thoroughly fun and weird MacPad that Federico Viticci made, and playing a whole bunch of the new New York Times word game, Strands.I also have for you a cheap new smartphone, a cheap(er)... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6K7G1)
Sony's latest bundle nets you either the standard or disc-less PS5, along with one of its best exclusives to date. | Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment Happy Saturday, dear readers! Just over a week ago, we saw a bundle containing the disc-based PlayStation 5 slim" and a digital copy of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 drop to $449 ($50 off) - a deal that's still readily available at Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop. What's changed over the past week, however, is that Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop are all now selling the disc-less PS5 Digital Edition with the same Spider-Man sequel for $399.99 ($50 off), an all-time low.If you've been thinking about picking up Sony's latest console, there's never been a better time to do so. Sony's new midcycle refresh isn't drastically slimmer than the original model that launched in 2020, though it does feature two front-facing USB-C ports - instead of one... Continue reading...
by Richard Lawler on (#6K73K)
Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2: Myths & Mortals | Image: Epic Games The launch of Fortnite's Greek mythology-themed Chapter 5: Season 2 had been on hold since early Friday morning after the usual downtime for maintenance didn't end on schedule. Epic usually takes the servers down at 3AM ET to prepare for a big update, but only for a few hours. This time, the battle royale game stayed offline until well into Friday evening.After 9PM ET, players started to report they were able to download updates and get into the game. However, many people said they were still waiting in queues to log in or getting error messages when they tried to play. Eventually, the Epic Games status page tracking downtime related to the v29.00 update said everything is operational now that the maintenance window is over.On Saturday... Continue reading...
by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6K7EA)
Image: Altered Innocence Director Bertrand Mandico's feminist spin on Conan the Barbarian is a heady smorgasbord of gorgeous visuals and meditations on violence. Continue reading...
by Victoria Song on (#6K7CM)
These watches hit a nice balance between style and function without bombarding you with information. Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6K751)
The Verge Around 600 workers in Activision Publishing's quality assurance department have formed a union. Assisted by the Communications Workers of America, the employees completed their vote with the results certified on Friday, March 8th. With that, Activision Quality Assurance United - CWA becomes the latest union to arise out of Microsoft's gaming division and the largest video game union in the United States.In 2022, Microsoft affirmed a labor neutrality agreement with the CWA which eases the organization process at the company and its subsidiaries including Activision Blizzard.In an interview with The Verge, Tom Shelley, a technical requirements specialist and one of Activision Quality Assurance United's organizers, said the labor... Continue reading...
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by Alex Heath on (#6K73M)
Sam Altman. An independent investigation commissioned by OpenAI's nonprofit board has found that CEO Sam Altman's conduct did not mandate removal." After surviving an attempted boardroom coup in November, he will now rejoin the board.In a press release, board chair Bret Taylor said the law firm WilmerHale interviewed board members, employees, and reviewed more than 30,000 documents" to reach the conclusion that Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman are the right leaders for OpenAI."In addition to Altman, Taylor also announced three more OpenAI board members: Sue Desmond-Hellmann, the former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Nicole Seligman, a former legal executive at Sony; and Fidji Simo, the CEO of Instacart. They will join Taylor,... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6K73N)
Illustration: The Verge Google has fired an employee who publicly protested the company's work for the Israeli military. During a presentation by an executive with Google's Israel branch on Monday, the now-former Google Cloud engineer stood up and shouted, I refuse to build technology that powers genocide or surveillance."Google confirmed the firing, which was first reported by CNBC, in an email to The Verge. Earlier this week, an employee disrupted a coworker who was giving a presentation - interfering with an official company-sponsored event," Google spokesperson Bailey Tomson says in an emailed statement. This behavior is not okay, regardless of the issue, and the employee was terminated for violating our policies."
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by Amrita Khalid on (#6K71J)
Illustration by Haein Jeong / The Verge Two Florida middle schoolers were arrested in December and charged with third-degree felonies for allegedly creating deepfake nudes of their classmates. A report by Wired cites police reports saying two boys, aged 13 and 14, are accused of using an unnamed artificial intelligence application" to generate the explicit images of other students between the ages of 12 and 13." The incident may be the first US instance of criminal charges related to AI-generated nude images.They were charged with third-degree felonies under a 2022 Florida law that criminalizes the dissemination of deepfake sexually explicit images without the victim's consent. Both the arrests and the charges appear to be the first of their kind in the nation related to... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6K71K)
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Logitech is rolling out a firmware update for its popular G Pro X Superlight 2 mouse this week that will enable 4kHz response rates. The higher polling rate is designed for high DPI / low in-game sensitivity players who play esports PC games, which is who Logitech markets its Superlight series of mice toward.A higher polling rate on a mouse essentially means that when a frame is rendered, you get a more recent and accurate cursor position shown on your screen. The time delay between your cursor and where it's being displayed on your screen is reduced the higher the polling rate.
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by Barbara Krasnoff on (#623VY)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge One of the more frustrating aspects of TikTok used to be the difficulty in finding a video that you really liked and wanted to see again but had accidentally swiped past or watched a day or two ago. Previously, there was a long, complex series of steps you had to follow to find out your watch history on TikTok - making it hardly worth the effort. Now, however, you can easily find your watch history - and, if you want, erase it. All you have to do is:
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