The Verge

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft isn't launching a new version of Windows next week, but what it's about to unveil could be just as significant. After nearly four years of falling behind Apple's MacBooks, sources inside Microsoft tell me that the company is confident it can finally beat Apple's own chips that power the MacBook Air.On Monday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will detail the company's AI vision across hardware and software" at an event hosted at Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington. It's a pivotal moment for Microsoft and Windows because it won't involve the typical chip partnership with Intel that we've seen for decades. Instead, Microsoft will set the stage for a summer of Arm-powered laptops thanks to a close collaboration with Qualcomm.I... Continue reading...

As usual, Bose's audio processing makes this speaker sound excellent. But for $400, it's fair to expect more features and more smarts. Continue reading...

Image: The Verge / Getty Images Hugging Face, one of the biggest names in machine learning, is committing $10 million in free shared GPUs to help developers create new AI technologies. The goal is to help small developers, academics, and startups counter the centralization of AI advancements.We are lucky to be in a position where we can invest in the community," Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue told The Verge. Delangue said the investment is possible because Hugging Face is profitable, or close to profitable" and recently raised $235 million in funding, valuing the company at $4.5 billion.Delangue is concerned about AI startups' ability to compete with the tech giants. Most significant advancements in artificial intelligence - like GPT-4, the algorithms behind Google... Continue reading...

The Chevy Silverado EV, as mobile generator. | Image: Abigail Bassett Last week, General Motors summoned a small group of journalists to a Beverly Hills mansion to witness the future of home energy. And it started with a preemptive blackout.As sunset fell across the Hollywood Hills, the chief engineer from General Motors flipped a breaker and disconnected the five-bedroom home from the grid. The lights went out, and less than 20 seconds later, GM's home system powered it back up, pulling just 5kW or less from the fully charged Chevy Silverado EV parked in the garage.When the lights came back on, the small crowd of journalists and GM Energy employees clapped, as if they were experiencing electricity for the first time.When the lights came back on, the small crowd clapped, as if experiencing... Continue reading...

I think this tease is it, but I can't quite tell. | Image: Asus On June 2nd, Asus will formally announce the ROG Ally X, a semi-sequel to its handheld gaming PC with a way bigger battery. We exclusively revealed the broad strokes last Thursday, but I've now touched an early engineering sample, too - and I'm pleased to say it's far more comfortable to hold.Asus has made a whole bunch of ergonomic changes that make it practically melt into my hands, in the exact way the original did not. While I still prefer the Steam Deck's beefier grips and symmetrical thumbsticks, the Ally X could easily be my runner-up.First, a disclaimer: this is not what I'd consider a proper hands-on. Asus wouldn't let me power it on, play any games, or show you any photos. I couldn't bring the old ROG Ally into the room or... Continue reading...

The X-T50 kit comes with Fujifilm's also-new 16-50mm lens. | Image: Fujifilm Fujifilm has just announced a pair of new cameras at the company's X Summit Sydney event. There's the medium format GFX100S II, which frankly falls outside my scope of interest (and budget). The more mainstream of the two is the X-T50, which is a followup to - but not a replacement for - the X-T30 II, which will remain in Fujifilm's lineup moving forward.The X-T50 is a hodgepodge of the camera maker's new and old tech. Let's start with the new. The body has a fresh, more rounded shape that's unlike anything else in the X-Series lineup, and there's a film simulation dial right on the top, a first for any Fujifilm camera. You get several preset film sims to circle between and can choose your own for the three customizable slots - though... Continue reading...

Alvaro Bernis / The Verge How we use the internet is changing fast thanks to the advancement of AI-powered chatbots that can find information and redeliver it as a simple conversation. Continue reading...

Image: Samsung Samsung heard that Apple managed to upset a lot of people with the Crush" ad revealed last week that smushed instruments, arcade games, and sculptures into a shiny new OLED-screened iPad Pro, and apparently just had to get into the conversation. Apple eventually apologized, with an exec saying it missed the mark."On one side, responses included creatives like Hugh Grant and anyone who spotted a slightly-too-on-the-nose representation of Big Tech's steamroller approach to art, copyright, and the past, powered by the might of generative AI tools. On the other there were the people ticked off by the knowledge that there was any backlash at all.In response, the Samsung Mobile account on X posted this video with the hashtag UnCrush,"... Continue reading...

Like its Frame TVs, Samsung's art-inspired speaker is designed to complement your home decor more naturally. | Image: Samsung Samsung's art-inspired Frame TV has been a runaway hit over the last several years - so much so that everyone from Amazon to Hisense has begun cribbing some of its more popular features for their latest sets. It came as no surprise, then, that Samsung announced a speaker version during CES 2024. Enter the Samsung Music Frame, which is on sale at Amazon for $374.99 ($25 off) when you clip the on-page coupon.Samsung's sizable, 12.9 x 12.9 picture frame is more akin to the Ikea Symfonisk frame speaker than anything else, only it's considerably smaller and allows for a lot more customization than the popular Sonos / Ikea collab. You can insert your own photographs or artwork using the included mounting panel, for one, and Samsung will... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has now added a way to create easily formatted tables in Sheets with one click, something Excel has had for years. Now, if you have a block of data that you'd like to quickly turn into its own little island of filters and sorting rules, that's fully possible (or will be soon, depending on where you are in Google's rollout queue). Hooray!As a person who's maintained a shared budget spreadsheet in Google Sheets for about a decade and who would have loved not to have to create all of my filters and sort piece by piece, I'm excited. And judging by a little cursory searching, I'm not alone - people have been asking for self-contained tables like this for years. GIF: Google Look at that sick table. What... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed two new lawsuits against Amazon on Wednesday, bringing similar complaints to those the company is already facing from the Federal Trade Commission.Both of the lawsuits are brought under Arizona's own state statutes in the Superior Court of Arizona. One of the lawsuits accuses Amazon of engaging in deceptive business practices that violate the state's Consumer Fraud Act by allegedly using design tricks known as dark patterns to keep users from canceling their Amazon Prime subscriptions. This is similar to a lawsuit the FTC filed against the company in June.The other lawsuit accuses Amazon of breaking Arizona's Uniform State Antitrust Act by unfairly maintaining monopoly status by enforcing... Continue reading...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella delivers a speech during an event called Microsoft Build: AI Day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 2nd, 2024. | Photo by MOHD RASFAN / AFP via Getty Images Microsoft's producing a lot more planet-heating pollution now than it did when it made a bold climate pledge back in 2020. Its greenhouse gas emissions were actually around 30 percent higher in fiscal year 2023, showing how hard it could be for the company to meet climate goals as it simultaneously races to be a leader in AI.Training and running AI models is an increasingly energy-hungry endeavor, and the impact that's having on the climate is just starting to come into view. Microsoft's latest sustainability report is a good case study in the conundrum facing big tech companies that made a slew of climate pledges in recent years but could wind up polluting more as they turn their focus to AI.In many ways the moon is five times as... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge AST SpaceMobile has ramped up demonstrations of voice calls, texts, and video calls via satellite over the last year, using 4G LTE and 5G connections with download bandwidth reaching 14Mbps. Now the company says that a previous memorandum of understanding with AT&T to work on a space-based broadband network for phones has become a definitive commercial agreement," just in time for AST's first five commercial satellites to launch this summer.The FCC has gotten things rolling on a framework (PDF) for companies interested in building these types of services, with the idea of what Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called a single network future. We won't need to think about what network, where, and what services are available. Connections... Continue reading...

Image: ByoWave On Wednesday, Microsoft announced the Proteus Controller, a $299 modular video game controller kit that lets Xbox gamers with disabilities customize their controllers.Created by peripheral company ByoWave as part of the Designed for Xbox program, the wireless controller consists of small cubes with interchangeable faceplates that include controller buttons, a directional pad, and analog sticks.The snap and play" parts connect together so gamers can build more than 100 configurations and LED lighting variations. As a result, one-handed gamers and other players with disabilities can use the controller in a way that's most comfortable for them. The buttons are also remappable for a more individualized experience, albeit only via the... Continue reading...

Screenshot: PPSSPP It's the PlayStation Portable's turn to get an emulator on the iOS App Store thanks to PPSSPP, which just went live today. This emulator, from developer Henrik Rydgard, has been in development for more than a decade, and it's free to download for the iPhone and iPad.Rydgard says in a blog post that the version approved this morning has some limitations versus previous builds of the app that were available through various exploits and workarounds. The biggest is that Apple doesn't allow Just-in-Time recompilers that retranslate code for the OS and can lead to smoother performance. (It's why we might never see a GameCube / Wii emulator.) Fortunately," he writes, iOS devices are generally fast enough" for almost all PSP games. ... Continue reading...

Is this the best use of RetroArch? | Screenshot: RetroArch Another emulator with tons of history and development, RetroArch, is now freely available on the iOS App Store today. This is great news for retro gaming fans with iPhones because it can emulate a truly eye-crossing number of retro consoles once installed.In fact, there are too many to list here. But some notable emulation cores - the actual separately developed emulation software - included in this version of RetroArch are the NEC PC Engine, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, Virtual Boy, Neo Geo Pocket, and even the PSP (using the same core that drives the PPSSPP app that went up today). You can see the list in full by clicking more" on RetroArch's description in its App Store listing. Screen recording: RetroArch J... Continue reading...

Photo by Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images The Senate Rules Committee passed three bills that aim to safeguard elections from deception by artificial intelligence, with just months to go before Election Day. The bills would still need to advance in the House and pass the full Senate to become law, creating a time crunch for rules around election-related deepfakes to take effect before polls open across the country in November.The vote happened on the same day that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and three bipartisan colleagues released a roadmap for how Congress should consider regulating AI. The document lays out priorities and principles for lawmakers to consider but leaves the crafting of specific bills to the committees.The three election bills passed by the... Continue reading...

Image: Ford Google is adding several new apps to its in-car infotainment platforms, while also making it easier for developers to get their apps approved faster and with fewer complications.Google said that two new streaming services, Max and Peacock, are coming to cars with Google built-in. These include models from companies like Nissan, Ford, Acura, Renault, Honda, Polestar, and Volvo.In addition, cars with Google built-in are getting the Angry Birds game, so you can enjoy all the brick smashing and pig disrupting fun while parked in your vehicle. (Video streaming and gaming apps are only available while the vehicle is parked, in order to reduce distractions.)Google said that two new streaming services, Max and Peacock, are coming to cars... Continue reading...

Image: Daniel Golson Google is lowering the barriers for new apps to be added to Android Auto and cars with Google software built-in, making it easier for developers of gaming and streaming apps to get them added to those platforms. It is also releasing new guidelines for developing apps for various screen sizes and shapes.Google is launching a new program for car-ready apps, essentially expediting the process for developers to get their apps approved for in-car platforms. As part of this program, Google says it will proactively" review mobile apps that are already compatible with the increasingly large-sized screens found in more modern vehicles.Google is launching a new program for car-ready appsIf the app qualifies, we will automatically opt it in... Continue reading...

More security features on more Android phones. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is announcing an array of new security features as it releases its second Android 15 beta, including a feature that can detect the moment your phone is swiped from your hands. Some of these updates will be included with Android 15 when it arrives this fall, but theft detection and a number of other features will be available to phones with much older OS versions, too - bringing them to many more people.Theft Detection Lock works by recognizing the unusual motions that would indicate someone has yanked your phone out of your hand or a table in front of you. To prevent a thief from being able to access information on your device, the screen automatically locks. The system looks for other signals that indicate foul play, too, and... Continue reading...

Quilt uses ductless heat pump-powered mini-split units combined with touchscreen remote controls to heat and cool your home. | Image: Quilt (Cayce Clifford) A new company founded by three former Googlers is looking to disrupt the somewhat staid mini-split industry. Quilt is a new home climate system" - a ductless HVAC system that uses heat pump-powered mini-split units to heat and cool your home.Two things make Quilt stand out from the start: it's smart and pretty. The system has built-in millimeter-wave radar sensors for precision occupancy detection, so you can choose to heat and cool only occupied rooms. They work with a smartphone app and a stylish touchscreen remote called the Dial, and the system uses predictive algorithms to heat and cool your home as efficiently as possible.Each Quilt unit is a ductless mini-split, but rather than large white boxes on your wall, Quilt has... Continue reading...

Photo by Andrew Harnik / Getty Images Four top Senators unveiled a proposed roadmap for artificial intelligence regulation on Wednesday, calling for at least $32 billion to be spent each year for non-defense AI innovation.The members of the AI Working Group - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Todd Young (R-IN) - released the long-awaited proposal after months of hosting AI Insight Forums to inform their colleagues about the technology. The events brought in AI experts, including executives like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, as well as academics, labor, and civil rights leaders.Here's what the roadmap is not: specific legislation that could pass expeditiously. In the 20-page report, the working... Continue reading...

ADT's new smart security system includes the option to use facial recognition to allow a trusted neighbor" temporary access to your home when you're away. | Screenshot: Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge ADT has confirmed to The Verge that it's rolling out a big upgrade to its ADT Plus home security system. The all-new hardware and software platform for ADT Plus features new ADT hardware, deeper integration with Google Nest hardware, and the ability to automatically disarm using facial recognition to let trusted neighbors into your home when you're away.I first reported on the new system last October, but until now, ADT had declined to comment despite publishing multiple support pages about it on its site. This week, ADT spokesperson Ben Tamblyn confirmed to The Verge the new ADT Plus system has started rolling out to some states and will be available nationwide in the coming months. The system can be self-installed or professionally... Continue reading...

Image: Apple Apple just announced a slew of new accessibility features coming to its software platforms in the months ahead, including eye tracking, which the company says uses artificial intelligence to let people with physical disabilities more easily navigate through iOS and iPadOS.A new music haptics" option will use the iPhone's Taptic Engine vibration system to play taps, textures, and refined vibrations to the audio of the music" for supported Apple Music tracks. Apple is also adding features to reduce motion sickness for those susceptible to it when using an iPhone in a moving vehicle.All of these new accessibility options are likely to debut in iOS and iPadOS 18, though Apple is only saying later this year" ahead of its WWDC event... Continue reading...

Chromecast with Google TV will soon become a Google Home hub to control local and cloud-based smart home devices. | Photo: Chris Welch / The Verge Google has announced that it's opening up API access to its Google Home smart home platform. This means that any app maker - smart home-related or not - can access the over 600 million devices connected to Google Home and tap into the Google Home automation engine to create smart solutions for their users inside their own app.The Home APIs can access any Matter device or Works with Google Home device, and allows developers to build their own experiences using Google Home devices and automations into their apps on both iOS and Android. This is a significant move for Google in opening up its smart home platform, following shutting down its Works with Nest program back in 2019.In a blog post published during its Google I/O developer... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber announced several new mobility products as part of its annual Go-Get conference, including shuttle service for airports and concert events and scheduled carpool trips.Uber Shuttle, which is coming soon to select cities, allows customers to use the Uber app to book a seat in a shuttle bus when traveling to an airport or concert destination. The company says the fare will be a fraction" of the price of a normal Uber ride.The ridehailing and delivery company has been selected as the official partner of Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster. The partnership will give Uber access to amphitheaters across the country" as it aims to position Uber Shuttle as a crucial link between venues and mass transit hubs and parking... Continue reading...

Image: Intel Why can't you just plug a USB cable between two PCs, drag your mouse cursor between their screens, and drop files between them, as if they were a single machine? Well, you can and have for years - but Intel may be about to turbocharge that idea with Thunderbolt Share.It's a proprietary app that Intel will be licensing to laptop, desktop, and accessory manufacturers to bundle with new hardware. Install it on two Thunderbolt 4 or 5 computers, connect them with a Thunderbolt cable, and you should be able to share your mouse, keyboard, screens, storage, and other USB peripherals; drag and drop files at Thunderbolt speeds; and sync data between them. It won't let you share an internet connection, though. Image: Intel I... Continue reading...

Mike Krieger has a long history in tech and AI. | Photo by Jerod Harris / Getty Images for Vox Media As Anthropic tries to take on the AI giants, it has a new big-name executive on board: the company announced this morning that Mike Krieger is its new chief product officer. Krieger, of course, was one of the co-founders of Instagram and spent the last few years working on Artifact, an AI news-reading app that was recently acquired by Yahoo.Krieger will oversee all of Anthropic's product efforts going forward. It's an important moment for the company to push hard on product, too: it recently released the Claude app for iOS, long after a bunch of its competitors were available on mobile, and just announced support for use in Spanish, French, Italian, and German. Anthropic, which was founded by ex-OpenAI employees, has been seemingly... Continue reading...

Image: Netflix Netflix has finally named and dated its new anime series Terminator Zero, releasing worldwide on August 29th. If you recall your convoluted time-traveling, skin-wearing cyborg apocalypse history, you'll realize that's the 27th anniversary of the series' Judgment Day, when the machines begin their conquest of humanity. Well, one of them, anyway.The show is mainly set in 1997 Tokyo, and according to its writer, it won't be ignoring the movies - any of them. The basic plot involves a soldier going back in time to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee who's trying to create a benevolent AI system to fend off the bad one that's going to destroy humanity, including his three kids. There are some slight differences from most of the movies... Continue reading...

Every Thursday, The Verge's veteran Microsoft reporter will uncover the secrets and strategy behind the world's biggest software company for paid subscribers Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Google I/O introduced an AI assistant that can see and hear the world, while OpenAI put its version of a Her-like chatbot into an iPhone. Next week, Microsoft will be hosting Build, where it's sure to have some version of Copilot or Cortana that understands pivot tables. Then, a few weeks after that, Apple will host its own developer conference, and if the buzz is anything to go by, it'll be talking about artificial intelligence, too. (Unclear if Siri will be mentioned.)AI is here! It's no longer conceptual. It's taking jobs, making a few new ones, and helping millions of students avoid doing their homework. According to most of the major tech companies investing in AI, we appear to be at the start of experiencing one of those rare... Continue reading...

Every month, streaming looks more and more like cable. | Image: The Verge Yet another streaming service bundle is on the horizon, this time courtesy of Comcast. Variety reports that the telecommunications giant is planning to launch a three-way bundle for Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV Plus later this month, which will be available to Comcast broadband and TV customers at a discounted rate compared to subscribing to each service separately.Speaking at an industry conference on Tuesday, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the new StreamSaver" package will come at a vastly reduced price to anything in the market today." The price of the bundle hasn't been revealed yet, nor has the type of subscription tier - ad-free or ad-supported - users can expect. The deal will likely be competitive regardless, as Roberts says... Continue reading...

Where the Blade comes ahead in performance, the Zephyrus wins on value. Continue reading...

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images We already know Dell is getting ready to launch a new Arm-powered variant of its popular XPS 13 laptop, but now a confidential document has leaked a lot more details on Dell's future XPS plans. VideoCardz has obtained and published a 311-page document from Dell that goes into detail on the XPS 13 - that's due soon - and when we can expect to see Qualcomm's next-generation chips for Windows on Arm.Qualcomm-powered Snapdragon X Elite laptops look set to debut next week, with Asus announcing it has a new AI PC" ready to launch on Monday - the same day Microsoft is holding a Surface and Windows event all about Windows on Arm. Dell's own XPS 13 variant running the Snapdragon X Elite leaked just a few days ago, and this new document from V... Continue reading...

From left to right: Wireless Temperature Sensor X, Heat Pump Optimizer X, Thermostat X, and two Smart Radiator Thermostat X | Image: Tado Tado just launched a new range of heating products - called Tado X - that supports the Matter smart home protocol. It joins Nest as being one of the few (only?) European smart heating control systems to support the new standard designed to improve interoperability between devices from any smart home ecosystem, and the first to run natively on a Thread mesh network.The Tado X system is designed to replace traditional thermostats to control a boiler, underfloor heating, and radiator valves. It includes the Thermostat X, Smart Radiator Thermostat X, Wireless Temperature Sensor X, and Heat Pump Optimizer X which all promise to make your home's heating system smart and easy to use. The optional new Bridge X acts as a Thread border router... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge This is not a joke: Google will now let you perform a web" search. It's rolling out web" searches now, and in my early tests on desktop, it's looking like it could be an incredibly popular change to Google's search engine.The optional setting filters out almost all the other blocks of content that Google crams into a search results page, leaving you with links and text - and Google confirms to The Verge that it will block the company's new AI Overviews as well. Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge This is the new Web button. You know, for all your Web searches. Isn't every search a web search? What is Google Search if not the web?" you might rightfully ask.But independent websites like HouseFresh and... Continue reading...