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by Justine Calma on (#6NTQR)
An exterior view of the Supreme Court on June 20th, 2024, in Washington, DC. | Photo by Andrew Harnik / Getty Images The Supreme Court decided to press pause on the Environmental Protection Agency's plan to prevent smog-forming pollutants from drifting across state borders.Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and various trade organizations including fossil fuel industry groups asked the Supreme Court to issue a stay on the plan while they contest the EPA's actions in lower courts. SCOTUS agreed to put the plan on hold today in its opinion on Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency. Five justices voted in favor of halting implementation for now, while the remaining justices dissented.If anything, we see one reason for caution after another," Justice Neil Gorsuch writes in his opinion.If anything, we see one reason for caution after another."While the... Continue reading...
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The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2025-11-12 09:48 |
by Nilay Patel on (#6NTM4)
Illustration: Kristen Radtke / The Verge On today's episode of Decoder, we're talking about money and politics - always a good time - and how they come together in the form of lobbying in America. It's hard to imagine a time when the influence of big corporations and mouthy billionaires didn't touch every part of American politics, but the kind of lobbying we have now didn't really exist before the 1970s.That's when big corporations started reacting to a cratering economy and did what they do best: throw money around. Now, of course, our political debates about everything from energy and finance to healthcare are deeply intertwined with corporations and their money - and new big players in tech have started spending tons of political money of their own.To understand the... Continue reading...
by Tom Warren on (#6NTM3)
Image: Microsoft Microsoft is launching its Xbox TV app on Amazon's Fire TV Sticks in July. The Xbox app will provide access to Xbox Cloud Gaming so subscribers to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate can stream a variety of games directly to Fire TV devices.Microsoft will support the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Fire TV Stick 4K models for its Xbox app, which will be available in more than 25 countries. All you'll need is a compatible Fire TV Stick, a Bluetooth-enabled wireless controller, and an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to stream Xbox games. Image: Microsoft The Xbox TV app running on a Fire TV Stick. This marks the first time the Xbox TV app has launched on a device other than Samsung's recent TVs and monitors. Microsoft first p... Continue reading...
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by Becca Farsace on (#6NTM2)
I met Vitus V" Spehar - the face behind Under the Desk News - a year ago in Washington, DC. I was on location with The Verge filming the TikTok senate hearing along with interviews with senators and content creators for a Verge video about the looming ban. And when we interviewed V outside of the Capitol, V said that TikTok was useful for channels like their own - a news channel that was started because they didn't believe traditional news sources were accessible enough to younger audiences. V's TikTok channel now has 3.1 million subscribers.Every weekday, V sifts through news websites in search of six to eight stories they deem important enough to share with their audience. V then condenses each story into a bite-size snippet, crawls... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6NTM5)
Trump and Biden debating in 2020. | Image: Getty The first debate of the 2024 presidential race will see sitting President Joe Biden and his challenger, former President Donald Trump, face off in CNN's Atlanta studio. They come into the debate with Trump tracking slightly ahead in most polling averages, with the gap narrowing in recent weeks after Trump's felony convictions.It will be an unusual debate. There won't be an audience, and the network says it will mute candidates' mics when it's not their turn to speak. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) instituted a similar policy for the final 2020 Trump and Biden debate, which ended up being far calmer than the chaotic, interruption-filled first one that year. This time, the call was made by CNN, which organized this debate,... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6NTM6)
GE Cync's new undercabinet smart lights bring task lighting, dimming, and full color to your kitchen countertops. | Image: GE Cync If you've been looking for a simple way to add smart, color-changing undercabinet lighting to your kitchen, I have good news. First announced at CES earlier this year, GE Lighting's new Cync Reveal HD Plus Smart Undercabinet Fixtures are now available at Amazon, Lowe's, and Best Buy, starting at $59.99.These full-color and tunable white light fixtures fit under your cabinets and can be hardwired or plugged in to illuminate your countertops. The Cync lights are Matter-enabled and work with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home, and Samsung SmartThings for smart home integration. I first saw a sneak peek of them at CES 2023 and was excited that this might finally provide a good solution to the problem of smart kitchen lighting. ... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6NTHS)
YouTube is expecting to launch new AI tools later this year that are trained off the back of these deals. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After debuting a generative AI feature last year that produces music in the style of famous artists like Charli XCX, John Legend, and T-Pain, YouTube is now asking major record labels to allow it to clone more musicians. According to the Financial Times, the Google-owned video platform is offering to pay Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Records lump sums of cash" in exchange for licensing their songs to legally train its AI music tools.YouTube told the Financial Times that it's not looking to expand Dream Track - which was supported by just ten artists during its test phase - but confirmed it was in conversations with labels about other experiments." The platform is aiming to license music from... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6NTFC)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Traffic got you down? If the idea of locking your car keys in a drawer and using alternate means of transportation sounds intriguing, Uber has the challenge for you. Today, the ridehailing company announced the One Less Car trial, in which 175 people in the US and Canada will be selected to ditch their cars for five weeks in exchange for cash and credits to be put toward other travel modes.Call it a gimmick or a PR stunt, Uber says the aim is to highlight the high costs of personal car ownership, as well as all the external effects on our health and the cities where we live. Uber has long advocated for fewer cars on the road - even as studies have shown that the app-based ridehailing industry has intensified traffic congestion in... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NTC4)
Illustration: The Verge Google is adding support for 110 new languages to Google Translate, the company announced on Thursday. Before now, Google Translate supported 133 languages, so this expansion - which the company says is its biggest ever - marks a significant jump.Google's PaLM 2 AI language model helped Translate learn these new languages. It was especially good at learning ones that were related to one another, such as languages close to Hindi, like Awadhi and Marwadi, and French creoles like Seychellois Creole and Mauritian Creole," Google's Isaac Caswell says in a blog post.The list of newly-supported languages in Translate includes Cantonese, which has long been one of the most requested languages for Google Translate," Caswell says. Because... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6NT55)
BMW's 2025 BMW M5, which is coming as a plug-in electric hybrid (PHEV) for the first time, will be a husky vehicle. With an electric motor to go along with its 4.4-liter V8 engine, the sedan will weigh in at a hefty 5,390 pounds when it launches during the fourth quarter of 2024.That makes the new M5 about 1,000 pounds heavier than the 2023 model that preceded it. It also weighs more than trucks like the 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe (5,356 pounds), the 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire (5,336 pounds), and the 2024 Range Rover Sport (5,090 pounds), Motor1 noted today. Unlike Lucid's EV, though, the M5 can't blame as much of its heft on the battery, which is only big enough to go 25 miles without using gas.The M5 isn't the heaviest electrified BMW - the a... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NT56)
Mr. Bugs Wordy Nugz." | Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge Wordle is a pretty clever name for the very good word game created by Josh Wardle. But when he was first working on it in 2013, Wardle had another name in mind that isn't quite as catchy.This is true: I was going to call Wordle, Mr. Bugs' Wordy Nugz," Wardle revealed as part of a presentation about Wordle at Figma's Config conference on Wednesday. He also showed a slide that spelled out the name in big yellow letters. Had I called the game Mr. Bugs, I like to think it would not have been successful."During the presentation, which was about the development decisions that he said are the opposite of what you're meant to do" but ultimately contributed to making the game a hit, Wardle also discussed the history of the game and showed... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6NT57)
Image: The Verge At the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, Le Monde reports that athletes on Japan's volleyball, track and field, and other teams will be competing in outfits made from a new fabric that can better absorb infrared light. Similar to stealth aircraft that avoid detection by deflecting radar signals away from detectors, the fabric absorbs and prevents infrared light from reaching cameras and infrared sensors.Some devices have unintentionally demonstrated how the infrared sensing used in night vision goggles and thermal cameras can reveal the unseen, like the OnePlus 8 Pro's Photochrom" color filter that worked like X-ray vision on the thin shell of an Apple TV. When used on people, infrared photography can reveal the lines of a person's body or... Continue reading...
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by Mia Sato on (#6NT58)
Image: Baggu It all started with a nylon purse shaped like a horse.Baggu, the wildly popular brand of reusable shopping bags, announced earlier this month that it would be releasing a collaborative collection with New York-based brand Collina Strada. In the past, special-edition designer drops have been successful for Baggu: a previous collab sold out within minutes of items hitting the web. This new collection - with its colorful, dreamlike prints and bags shaped like a pony, little legs and all - seemed designed to elicit that same viral hype. The brands teased designs. Influencers posted unboxing videos. Fans were ready to shop.But on the day the bags and accessories were set to go on sale, fans got more details about the designs: some of the... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6NT59)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung's next Unpacked event is right around the corner, taking place on July 10th in Paris, France. Judging by various leaks and the recent invite video, we'll be seeing new versions of the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip phones (and perhaps a closer look at the Galaxy Ring). Now, in the lead-up to the event, Samsung is offering one of its reservation promotions, allowing early adopters to "reserve" one of the phones and get a $50 credit to use on an eligible device once a preorder is complete.The reservation period runs through Wednesday, July 10th, and even if you reserve a preorder, you are not obligated to buy the new phones if you change your mind. Those who do, however, will get a $50 credit to use on Samsung's site or in the Shop... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6NT2Q)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has added new Chrome Actions to mobile that will let you call, read reviews for, or get directions to a restaurant or other business - all right from the address bar. The company announced the new feature in a blog on Wednesday.Android users will see this new feature right away, but iOS users will have to wait until the fall. Image: Google A screenshot of the new Chrome Action shortcuts. First introduced in 2020, Google Actions lets you quickly perform tasks from the address bar by typing in select queries, like edit passwords," delete history," or translate this page." It's one of a few address bar shortcuts Google offers, like the @" shortcut that lets you quickly find bookmarks, tabs, and links... Continue reading...
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by Lauren Feiner on (#6NT2R)
Image: The Verge Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin made sweeping claims against e-commerce app Temu in a lawsuit on Tuesday, accusing the company of violating state law against deceptive trade practices.Temu purports to be an online shopping platform, but it is dangerous malware, surreptitiously granting itself access to virtually all data on a user's cell phone," Griffin alleges. Screenshot: App Store / Google Play Temu on the App Store. Temu is the number one free shopping app on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store and is owned by PDD Holdings, which also runs a popular app called Pinduoduo. PDD was based in China until last year, when it moved its headquarters to Ireland. The lawsuit tees up its allegations... Continue reading...
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by Allison Johnson on (#6NT2S)
Researchers say Rabbit left secure data vulnerable to bad actors. | Photo: David Pierce / The Verge Rabbit and its R1 AI gadget are under fire again, and it's much more serious than the time we found out its launcher really could just be installed as an Android app. A group of developers and researchers called Rabbitude says it discovered API keys hardcoded in the company's codebase, putting sensitive information at risk of falling into the wrong hands.These keys essentially provided access to Rabbit's accounts with third-party services like its text-to-speech provider ElevenLabs and - as confirmed by 404 Media - the company's SendGrid account, which is how it sends emails from its rabbit.tech domain. According to Rabbitude, its access to these API keys - particularly the ElevenLabs API - meant it could access every response ever... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NT2T)
Image: The Verge Valve is adding a native gameplay recording tool to Steam so that you can more easily capture and share clips. The game recording feature is available now in beta - including on Steam Deck.You'll be able to both continuously record clips with background recording or manually turn on recording with a hotkey, according to Valve's website about the updates. When you're recording, you'll see the Steam Timeline," and you can add markers to note interesting moments you might want to come back to later. Developers can also have their games mark notable moments on the timeline, which Valve has already implemented with Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2.
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6NT0K)
Hori's design is a little funky, but those yellow and violet versions look fantastic. | Image: Hori Nearly five years after Valve discontinued its experimental Steam Controller, a new officially licensed gamepad for Steam is on the way. The new controller is made by Hori, and it's only coming to Japan (at least for now).Dubbed the Wireless Horipad for Steam, the PC-centric controller matches the Steam Deck's menu buttons and has similar touch sensors atop its sticks to activate gyro controls. It also supports Bluetooth wireless and USB-C wired connections as well as a whole bunch of custom programmability using Hori's software. But while it shares a lot with the Steam Deck, it's not a Steam Controller 2 - it lacks rumble, a matching set of four back buttons, and the handheld's signature trackpads.The new controller is set to launch... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6NT0M)
A 3D-printed version of Super Monkey Ball's AiAi completes this custom creation. | Photo: Tom Tilley / X Gamers could get an edge in Sega's Super Monkey Ball with the help of a unique DIY controller: a literal monkey in a ball that can be physically rolled around instead of mashing a joystick on a gamepad.Super Monkey Ball requires players to tilt and roll a series of complex floating platforms to control the monkey's movements, so Sega designed the original arcade versions of the game with an oversize trackball controller.That wasn't carried over to the console versions of the game, and since arcade machines typically cost thousands of dollars, developer Tom Tilley decided to design and build a much cheaper solution made from recycled and 3D-printed materials. I am a software developer, but I worked for about eight years as a fax and... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6NT0N)
Snapchat will now warn users when a message comes from certain regions or an account that's been blocked by others. | Image: Snap Snap is rolling out intense new protections for teenagers' Snapchat accounts in an effort to address a growing trend of sophisticated sextortion scams." Among them are new warnings and automatic friend request blocks targeting accounts that may be bad actors.The features are aimed at stemming the tide of sextortion scams, the company writes in a blog post about the changes. The scams, in which bad actors threaten teens and children that they will reveal sexually explicit photos of them unless they pay a ransom or send more such material, is a growing problem that has resulted in an alarming number of deaths by suicide," according to the FBI. The bureau writes on its site that even when the scammers are paid, they will often release... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6NT0P)
Image: FromSoftware Shadow of the Erdtree is gonna get easier. Bandai Namco has seemingly heard the great hue and cry from reviewers and players alike that Erdtree is far too difficult. In response, the publisher is implementing a calibration update" that will reduce the level of difficulty by making players stronger. According to the patch notes for this update:
by Tom Warren on (#6NT0Q)
Image: The Verge, Microsoft A few years ago, Microsoft was planning to launch a dedicated Xbox cloud console, codenamed Keystone. The device looked like a miniature Xbox Series S, a small white box that was dedicated to accessing Xbox games over the company's Xbox Cloud Gaming service. Microsoft eventually canceled its plans to launch Keystone, but a new patent gives us the best look at what the Xbox cloud console would have looked like.Spotted by Windows Central, the patent reveals that Keystone would have shipped with an HDMI port, ethernet, and a power connector. At the front, there was an Xbox button, a controller pairing button, and a USB-A port. Underneath, Microsoft had a circular Hello from Seattle" plate that the console sat on, similar to what it uses... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NSXQ)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Here's our coverage from the Summer Games. Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NSXP)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images The Paris 2024 Olympics are nearly here. The opening ceremony starts on July 26th, and this year's events run through August 11th. On the main NBC channel, you can see hours of live morning and afternoon coverage of events like swimming and gymnastics ahead of a three-hour primetime recap, to go along with livestreams of every sport and event and full event replays on Peacock.One key aspect of NBC's Peacock coverage will be an Olympics hub, which spotlights major events happening live, lets you browse by sport and by star athlete," offers an interactive schedule, and includes an up-to-date count of medal standings. Image: NBC Peacock's Olympics hub. NBC is also offering a way to catch up on the events of the... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NSXN)
Photo by Cooper Neill / Getty Images Legendary sportscaster Al Michaels is going to give daily, personalized recaps of the Paris Olympics on Peacock - well, an AI-generated Al Michaels voice will. In practice, the effect is a lot like hearing a sports announcer's voice in a video game like Madden, except it's spitting out lines about real-life sports, which, in this case, means custom Olympics coverage.Here's how it works. To set up what NBC is calling Your Daily Olympic Recap" in the Peacock app, you'll provide your name (the AI voice can welcome the majority" of people by their first name, NBC says in a press release) and pick up to three types of sports that are interesting to you and up to two types of highlights (for example, Top Competition" or Viral & Trending... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NSXR)
Image: Figma Figma is announcing a bunch of new features at its Config conference today, including a major UI redesign, new generative AI tools to help people more easily make projects, and built-in slideshow functionality.Let's start with the redesign, which is intended to lay the foundation for the next decade," according to a blog post. You'll see things like a new toolbar, rounded corners, and 200 new icons. As part of the design refresh, the company wants to focus the canvas less on our UI and more on your work" and make something that's approachable to new users while still being useful to Figma experts. Image: Figma Figma's UI3." Figma says this is the company's third significant redesign" since Figma's closed... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6NSXS)
Photo by Daniel Golson for The Verge I'll admit, I was too distracted by Rivian's surprise announcement of a $5 billion deal with Volkswagen to develop software and electric vehicles to notice that the buzzy California company was also planning an investor day event on June 27th.So when I woke up on Wednesday to see this shareholder letter - thanks to InsideEVs with an assist from BloombergNEF's Corey Cantor on Threads - I was pretty surprised to see Rivian was essentially taking a page from Tesla by teasing us with some shroud-covered mystery vehicles. Screenshot: Rivian It's already been a pretty jam-packed 2024 for Rivian: the introduction of the more affordable R2, starting at $45,000; the surprise reveal of the R3 and R3X, which briefly broke... Continue reading...
by Sheena Vasani on (#6NST2)
The excellent M2-powered Mac Mini is up to $110 off. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple may have released a bunch of new and improved laptops over the last few months, but the Mac Mini remains a solid desktop machine if you just need a basic computer for your home. And right now, Amazon is selling the latest M2-powered Mac Mini with the upgraded 512GB of storage for $689.99 ($110 off), which is just $10 shy of its all-time low price. You can also still buy the base model for $499 ($100 off) with a 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM from Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo.If you're looking for a desktop that's more than capable of powering through everyday tasks, the Mac Mini is a good option. It's a fast performer that's even capable of some light video work, but it also offers a good port selection - including Thunderbolt 4 /... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6NST3)
Image: Verizon Verizon has ditched its checkmark logo for a red and yellow V" and, with the change, introduced a new commercial that revisits its Can you hear me now?" tagline. It also announced updated home internet plans, now called myHome," that include a slew of service bundles like Disney Plus and Netflix as well as cloud storage options or a Walmart Plus subscription.In the ad spot, that now" turns into a lot more than just talking, with streaming video, filming TikToks, gaming, and FaceTiming shown to hammer home the point that this connection does a lot more than it did in 2002 when the campaign started. (That Paul Marcarelli, the original Verizon guy, defected to Sprint in 2016 goes unmentioned.)Here's the old logo and the new one in... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6NST4)
Google is addressing issues with its Find My Device network to help it actually find devices. | Image: Google Google launched its upgraded Find My Device network in April, giving Android users the equivalent of Apple's Find My network for locating trackers and offline devices. But some recent reviews have raised concerns over its ability to quickly and reliably find devices and trackers. Google says that it's aware of the issue and plans to address it in the coming weeks."In a statement provided to Mishaal Rahman, a senior contributor to sites like Android Authority and Android Police, which they shared on X, Google acknowledged the concerns over its Find My Device network. We are actively working to roll out enhancements to how the Find My Device network operates that will improve the speed and ability of locating lost items over the coming... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6NST5)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Microsoft and Qualcomm have convinced software developers to lean into their latest Arm push. Continue reading...
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by Barbara Krasnoff on (#6NST6)
Screenshot: Google Stack, one of Google's experimental Android apps, is due to disappear on September 24th.A product of Google's Area 120 incubator, Stack was one of those overlooked gems that was just, well, useful: it allowed you to create or import PDFs and store them in different categories that it called Stacks: tax, insurance, medical, etc. The app would pick up data from the PDF to suggest a title, add searchable details like the date of the document, the amount (if it was a receipt), or the organization that issued it, and there was also a field to add notes.According to Google's support page, Stack's functionality has been incorporated into the Google Drive app." As someone who used Stack to save and then easily locate a number of PDFs that I... Continue reading...
by Chris Welch on (#6NST7)
Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Apple's putting renewed focus on its repairability efforts today. The company has extended its self-service diagnostics tool to Europe, giving customers in 32 countries an easier way to test products for potential issues.But perhaps more interesting is the fact that Apple also published a new whitepaper - Longevity, by Design" (PDF link) - that explains the company's principles for designing for longevity." I'm sure there'll be a lot of analysis about every page, but within the paper is actually some news: Apple says that later this year, it will extend more software features to third-party iPhone components.True Tone, the feature that adjusts an iPhone display's white balance to better match your environment, has typically been... Continue reading...
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by Lauren Feiner on (#6NST8)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images On Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Murthy v. Missouri, a case spurred by conservative state attorneys general about whether the Biden administration illegally coerced social media companies to remove speech it didn't like. In a 6-3 decision, the court reversed the decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had found unconstitutional coercion in the government's conduct. The Supreme Court held that the plaintiffs did not adequately establish standing - that is, their right to sue in the first place - and has sent the case back to the lower courts, where a new decision will be issued that is consistent with the SCOTUS opinion.At its core, the case is about whether the Biden administration crossed the line... Continue reading...
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by Gaby Del Valle on (#6NSPX)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge After Democratic strategist Keith Edwards urged Threads users to check the Instagram setting limiting political content from people they don't follow, many people noticed theirs had abruptly changed. Journalist Taylor Lorenz confirmed that her settings had changed as well and noted that they appeared to reset every time she force-closed the Instagram app, which we've also confirmed on our phones.Meta says the behavior was unintentional. This was an error and should not have happened," Meta communications director Andy Stone posted on Threads. We're working on getting it fixed."Meta introduced the opt-out setting that limits recommendations of political content" to Instagram and Threads in March. At the time, the company said it... Continue reading...
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by Jordan Pearson on (#6NSMB)
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images Udio and Suno are not, despite their names, the hottest new restaurants on the Lower East Side. They're AI startups that let people generate impressively real-sounding songs - complete with instrumentation and vocal performances - from prompts. And on Monday, a group of major record labels sued them, alleging copyright infringement on an almost unimaginable scale," claiming that the companies can only do this because they illegally ingested huge amounts of copyrighted music to train their AI models.These two lawsuits contribute to a mounting pile of legal headaches for the AI industry. Some of the most successful firms in the space have trained their models with data acquired via the unsanctioned scraping of massive amounts of... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6NSJG)
Verne's robotaxi. | Image: Verne A new robotaxi service is coming to Croatia, courtesy of the country's leading supercar company, Rimac. The service will be called Verne, named for French novelist and poet Jules Verne, and will launch in Zagreb in 2026, the company said.It's an interesting pivot for a company that has been on a rocket-ship trajectory over the last few years. Founded by Mate Rimac in a garage as a one-man operation, Rimac has since become a highly desirable brand, with many legacy automakers calling upon the startup to help them build their own electric supercars. In addition to making the record-breaking Nevera hypercar, Rimac also took control of Bugatti from Volkswagen in 2021 in a surprise move that created a new company called Bugatti Rimac. ... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6NSEZ)
Image: Ultimate Ears How many Boom-branded speakers is too many? Can there even be such a thing? Ultimate Ears seems to be on a mission to find out. The company just announced the $249.99 Everboom - now the sixth speaker in its lineup. In both size and price, this one slots in between the Megaboom speaker and the $299.99 Epicboom released late last year.The Everboom has UE's typical traits: it's IP67 (dustproof and waterproof), it'll float should you drop it into a pool or lake, and it comes with a removable carabiner. There's an outdoor boost mode that adjusts the sound profile for wide open environments while also leveling up the bass response. The battery lasts for up to 20 hours and there's easy NFC pairing, but that's about it for the feature list.A... Continue reading...
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by Quentyn Kennemer on (#6NSBK)
Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Meta is testing a feature for its Quest headsets that allows you to place windows freely, similar to the Apple Vision Pro. Multitasking with multiple windows has been part of Meta Horizon OS (formerly Meta Quest OS) for a few years now, but currently, it only supports three virtual windows docked in a side-by-side layout.RoadtoVR points out this demonstration video from a data miner named Luna, who spotted the experimental feature in version 67 of the Meta Quest Public Test Channel.
by Sean Hollister on (#6NSA8)
Image: Toys R Us Do you have fond memories of Toys R" Us, back before private equity helped lay it to waste? If so, I'm really curious what you think of this partially AI-generated video that the zombie brand is calling the first-ever brand film using OpenAI's new text-to-video tool, Sora."OpenAI's Sora wowed the world in February with photorealistic videos created by generative AI - and again when the company's CTO refused to say where Sora was getting its training data from. (YouTube is the going theory.)But though OpenAI has reportedly been pitching Hollywood on the tech, one of the first entities to publicly bite is brand management firm WHP Global, which currently licenses the Toys R" Us brand to stores like Macy's and is also exploring larger... Continue reading...
by Allison Johnson on (#6NSA9)
In case you were wondering, yes, there will be lots of AI. | Image: Samsung Samsung's next Unpacked summer launch event will take place on July 10th in Paris, France, the company announced on Tuesday. The animation accompanying the invitation hints at foldables, and the invite itself removes all doubt: Prepare to discover the power of Galaxy AI, now infused into the latest Galaxy Z series and the entire Galaxy ecosystem." But we're also on the lookout for something of a different shape: the Galaxy Ring.Rumors indicate that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 will be fairly minor upgrades, with the Z Flip 6 getting a slightly bigger battery and the Z Fold 6 looking a little boxier. Not the most exciting stuff, but that's been the story with the past few generations of Samsung's folding phones.Instead, the more... Continue reading...
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by Richard Lawler on (#6NSAA)
Image: The Verge The advanced voice mode for ChatGPT that sparked a tussle with Scarlett Johansson was an important element of OpenAI's Spring Update event, where it also revealed a desktop app for ChatGPT.Now, OpenAI says it will need one more month to reach our bar to launch" an alpha version of the new voice mode to a small group of ChatGPT Plus subscribers, with plans to allow access for all Plus customers in the fall. One specific area that OpenAI says it's improving is the ability to detect and refuse certain content."As for the new video and screen sharing capabilities that we saw during the event, OpenAI writes that it will keep you posted" on a timeline. OpenAI had said it would deliver the new capabilities in the coming weeks." Now, the... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6NS7X)
Image: Xbox Game Studios / Turn 10 The delisting" ax is swinging once again, and this time, Forza Horizon 4 is the latest major video game to be cleaved from digital storefronts. Developer Playground Games announced on its site that sales of the 2018 open-world racer are ending due to licensing and partner agreements, and the game will be removed from Microsoft stores and Steam on December 15th, 2024.While the days are numbered for people to still be able to buy the game, the final in-game event will run from July 25th to August 22nd - after which, some achievements linked to the seasonal Festival Playlists will no longer be unlockable.To add a little further confusion, Forza Horizon 4's DLC is being delisted beginning today. And if you played the game via Xbox Game... Continue reading...
by Andrew Liszewski on (#6NS7Y)
The new 8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wireless Controller includes Bluetooth, USB-C, and 2.4GHz connectivity. | Image: 8BitDo 8BitDo announced its latest budget-minded wireless controller today, the Ultimate 2C. For $29.99, it includes features like an extra pair of shoulder buttons to satisfy most PC and Android gamers, Hall effect sticks and triggers to keep problems like the Switch's notorious Joy-Con drift" at bay, and three different ways to connect it to a gaming machine with USB-C, a 2.4GHz dongle boasting 1,000Hz polling rates, and Bluetooth.Amazon lists a July 15th release date, and while we haven't had a chance to go hands-on with it yet, it could be a better bargain than the Ultimate C controllers the company released last year with the same $29.99 price.There is a catch. Unfortunately, the Ultimate 2C's Bluetooth compatibility only lists support... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6NS5K)
Volkswagen is investing $1 billion in Rivian as part of a new joint venture that will give the German auto giant access to the buzzy California EV company's software and EV platform. Rivian will receive an additional $4 billion over time, for a total sum of $5 billion.The joint venture will be co-owned by Rivian and VW Group, which oversees brands like Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, and its flagship Volkswagen. The two companies will introduce vehicles developed from the joint venture in the second half of the decade," they announced.The new venture was announced in a post from Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, who noted the investment will help the company bring its next generation R2 electric vehicle to market starting in 2026. The R2 is... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6NS5M)
The Lifx ceiling light features full-color, tunable white light and an array of effects to light up your home. | Image: Lifx Smart light fixtures are quickly becoming a thing, making it a little easier to add colorful, fun, and useful lighting effects to more areas of your home than you traditionally can with smart light bulbs. While these types of fixtures have been quite pricey, smart lighting company Lifx just announced its new Super Color Ceiling Light starting at just $89.97.The full-color smart LED light fixture offers 2,500 lumens of dimmable light. It works with dynamic lighting effects through Lifx's app, including a daytime sky with clouds floating by, a night sky with meteors, an invigorating sunrise, and a relaxing sunset.It also has tunable white light ranging from 1,500K to 9,000K, allowing it to work as everything from a soft nightlight to a... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6NS5N)
Photo by Michael Tullberg / Getty Images Years after Twitch's ban, the streamer confirms it was due to messages he sent to a minor on the platform. Continue reading...
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by Adi Robertson on (#6NS5P)
An Android phone minus the phone plus two giant cameras. | Image: Adi Robertson / The Verge Xreal is one of the few companies trying to sell mass-market augmented reality headsets without an existing big tech empire. But its latest product isn't a pair of glasses; it's a phone-sized Android tablet designed to keep you using them. At last week's Augmented World Expo (AWE) the company announced the Beam Pro, a combination battery, app repository, and 3D video recorder. It's a pragmatic solution to a very obvious problem - even if, at first glance, I wish it were weirder.Xreal's glasses - the Air 2 and Air 2 Ultra - have generally required some kind of third-party device like a phone, laptop, or Steam Deck. (There was a bare-bones control box called the Beam, but it wasn't a big focus for the company.) The Beam Pro is meant to... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6NS2Y)
Photo by Matt Thomas / San Diego Padres / Getty Images Guy Beahm, better known by his streamer persona Dr Disrespect, said he was banned from Twitch four years ago due to private messages he sent to a minor that sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate."Beahm shared details of the ban in a lengthy post to X, marking the first time he's directly addressed the reason for his removal.Everyone has been wanting to know why I was banned from Twitch, but for reasons outside of my control, I was not allowed to say anything for the last several years," Beahm posted on X. Now that two former twitch employees have publicly disclosed the accusations, I can now tell you my side of the story regarding the ban."I should have never entertained these conversations to begin... Continue reading...
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