The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge General Motors is getting rid of the Ultra Cruise" brand and merging the team that was working on it with the team responsible for Super Cruise, as the automaker reconsiders its goals for advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS).Last week, CNBC reported that GM was ending the Ultra Cruise program," focusing instead on the current Super Cruise system that is available across the company's vehicle lineup. GM spokesperson Aimee Ridella clarified that the ultimate intention is to improve Super Cruise but that no one is being laid off as a result of this decision.GM is not scaling back its advanced driver assistance programs," Ridella said in an email. We have reallocated our ADAS-focused resources to bring even more capability to Super... Continue reading...

Motorola's classic clamshell modernized with a flexible OLED display finally feels worth the money after a $450 discount. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Between foldable smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Flip 5, the Pixel Fold, and the OnePlus Open, it's easy to forget the Motorola Razr Plus exists. The flip phone is a throwback to Motorola's roots, only the sharp-edged number pad departs to make room for the 6.9-inch OLED display that greets you when opening it. (You can still ride the nostalgic wave with a software-based dialer resembling the classic design.) Thanks to a steep 45 percent discount at Woot that's only around for the next couple of days (or while supplies last), you can buy the newest Razr Plus in black for just $549.99 ($450 off). That price is even cheaper than the $699.99 base model and about $150 cheaper than we've seen at other retailers during last... Continue reading...

Image: Nvidia Nvidia's RTX Remix tool is now available for modders to try. The game remastering tool, currently out in open beta, allows modders to give older games a makeover with AI-powered texture tools, ray tracing, and Nvidia DLSS 3.This is the same tool that was used to give Portal a visual boost with upgraded textures, models, and improved lighting. It's also what a community of modders are using to remaster Half-Life 2 with some realistic-looking headcrabs and way better textures. But now that it's available for all modders to try, it should make for an even wider range of upgraded games.Not every classic game is compatible with RTX Remix, though. Nvidia says that the tool works best with DirectX 8 and 9 games with fixed function... Continue reading...

Whether it's from reading Patricia Highsmith's original 1955 novel, or seeing any of the films inspired by it, we're all familiar with at least some of the beats from The Talented Mr. Ripley. But even if you've been a fan of all the past Ripley adaptations, Netflix's new series from writer / director Steven Zaillian looks like it's going to be something inspired.Set in 1960s New York City, and cities across Italy, Ripley tells the tale of Tom (Andrew Scott), a talented and cunning man whose relatively ordinary life starts to take a turn when he meets the father of Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn), a wealthy playboy who has run off to Europe with his good friend Marge (Dakota Fanning). Though The Talented Mr. Ripley focuses on how Tom... Continue reading...

The Verge When you want to check out your favorite news sites or other online information sources, you can take the time to go directly to each site, clog your email with newsletters and announcements, check the updates on your favorite social media app(s) - or you can use an RSS feed reader.RSS readers allow you to collect the articles of specific sources in one app, making it a lot easier to find the content you're interested in without crawling through a lot of noise. RSS (which may stand for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary, or one of several other possibilities - nobody seems sure) has been around a while, having been first developed in 1999, although it wasn't more widely adopted until a few years later.Since then, the idea... Continue reading...

Controlling your smart home on your TV - something Samsung's new SmartThing's Map View lets you do more intuitively - could make it simpler for everyone in the home to use smart devices. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge From map views and smart TVs to smart buttons and generative AI, controlling your smart home is getting simpler and smarter - and less dependent on your smartphone. Continue reading...

Image: Apple Apple is kicking off the week with the first trailer for its sci-fi series Constellation.The show stars Noomi Rapace as an astronaut who returns to Earth after a disaster in space - only to discover that key pieces of her life seem to be missing." In the trailer, this appears to manifest itself as a series of mysteries - a strange piano, an unknown voice on a tape recorder - along with plenty of unsettling hallucinations. The rest of the cast includes Jonathan Banks, James D'Arcy, Julian Looman, William Catlett, and Barbara Sukowa, and the series is being helmed by creator and writer Peter Harness (Doctor Who).Constellation premieres with three episodes on February 21st, and new episodes stream on Wednesdays after that. (Between this... Continue reading...

The Magic Mouse's new shoe. | Image: Wes Davis / The Verge This past Christmas, there was a box in my stocking that held something I had half-jokingly added to my wishlist: an ergonomic" grip that raises, widens, and adds wireless charging to Apple's Magic Mouse 2. It's like a little boot with a Lightning adapter tongue that plugs right into your Magic Mouse's underbelly. Best of all, it's magnetic, making it perfect for use with a MagSafe puck.Does this thing totally ruin the sleek Apple aesthetic? Absolutely! And I'm not even remotely convinced by its cheap-feeling plastic that it will last longer than a few months before it just stops working. Yet, somehow, it's exactly what the Magic Mouse needs.What it's called doesn't really matter, because this isn't a product any company you've ever... Continue reading...

Illustration: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 22, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)This week, I've been reading about the unbearable sameness of coffee shops and what happened to Twitch, testing out the Funnel iOS app for quick-capturing everything, marveling over Federico Viticci's truly wild iPad setup, setting up my Flipboard all over again now that Artifact is dead, filling my cabinets thanks to this list of great new snacks, adding all the Emmy winners to my Sofa queue, and watching every behind-the-scenes Jon Bellion video that exists on the internet.I also have for you a huge new Samsung... Continue reading...

Safari can make the Vision Pro sing... if Apple lets it. | Image: Apple In the days ahead of the Vision Pro's launch, Apple has heavily promoted some of the apps destined for its spatial computing headset. Download Disney Plus and watch movies from Tatooine! Slack and Fantastical and Microsoft Office on your face! FaceTime with your friends as a floating hologram! But it's increasingly clear that the early success of the Vision Pro, and much of the answer to the question of what this headset is actually for, will come from a single app: Safari.That's right, friends. Web browsers are back. And Apple needs them more than ever if it wants this $3,500 face computer to be a hit. Embracing the web will mean threatening the very things that have made Apple so powerful and so rich in the mobile era, but at least... Continue reading...

Image: Netflix Co-directors Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares' new action drama is a masterclass in using near-futuristic, sci-fi storytelling to illustrate harsh realities about our present. Continue reading...

A view of the US Supreme Court on Thursday, January 4th, 2024, in Washington, DC. | Photo by Drew Angerer / Getty Images The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week on a couple of cases that could completely upend the way federal agencies regulate just about anything in the US. At question is a legal doctrine called Chevron deference that allows federal agencies to interpret laws meant to protect consumers, public health, and the environment. Now, a conservative supermajority in the Supreme Court appears on the precipice of either overturning or limiting the scope of Chevron deference.The Verge spoke with legal experts about what's going on and what the Supreme Court's decisions on Chevron deference could ultimately mean for Americans. The real question is how far they will go?" says Jody Freeman, director of the Environmental and Energy Law... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft is revealing today that it has discovered a nation-state attack on its corporate systems from the same Russian state-sponsored group of hackers that were responsible for the sophisticated SolarWinds attack. Microsoft says the hackers, known as Nobelium, were able to access email accounts of some members of its senior leadership team late last year.Beginning in late November 2023, the threat actor used a password spray attack to compromise a legacy non-production test tenant account and gain a foothold, and then used the account's permissions to access a very small percentage of Microsoft corporate email accounts, including members of our senior leadership team and employees in our cybersecurity, legal, and other functions,... Continue reading...

It's a big thing for a tech heavyweight like Samsung to invest in a more niche wearable device. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Smartwatches have long reigned supreme in the wearable world. Smart rings have hovered around the periphery, but earlier this week, Samsung ended its Unpacked event with a tease of the Galaxy Ring. To me, that reads like the company is itching to shake up the wearable world order.That might sound hyperbolic given that all Samsung did was play a flashy reel of a sparkly ring with a few visible sensors on the inside of the band. Few details were given onstage. But in an email, Samsung spokesperson Amber Reaver told me that the ring is meant to empower more people to manage their health with a comprehensive yet simplified approach to everyday wellness at home." Part of that is having consistent and accurate tracking data over a lengthy... Continue reading...

Galaxy AI: free, for now. Galaxy AI has arrived, as Samsung has declared in the loudest way possible, but the company left one small detail out of its presentation earlier this week: it might come at a cost. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, S24 Plus, and S24 all include a smorgasbord of new AI features - everything from translating phone conversations to removing objects from photos. They'll even be coming to many older phones, too. But as spotted by Android Central, the fine print on Samsung's website reveals that they might not be free forever. And that might be a tough sell.The footnote at the bottom of the Galaxy S24 Ultra product page is vague, but clearly leaves a door open for Samsung to charge later: Galaxy AI features will be provided for free until the... Continue reading...

Image: Square Enix Making sure an event as large as Games Done Quick (GDQ) runs smoothly is a monumental task. There are lots of technical moving parts, from video equipment, to lighting, sound, and stream overlays, to donation trackers that have to be kept running 24 hours a day for a week straight. The tech team also has to consider the individual needs of over 100 runners playing on consoles that range in age and complexity from the NES to the PlayStation 5.With all of that going on, I wondered which game out of the thousands that have been run at GDQ throughout its 10-plus-year history the tech team hates the most, and the answer surprised me.It's the PSX SquareSoft (remember them??) RPG Chrono Cross.After speaking with GDQ's director of technology,... Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge If you get a message from someone at The Verge asking to schedule an interview about cryptocurrency, don't do it. There's a phishing scam going around that attempts to trick users into clicking on a fake Calendly link to schedule" phony interviews in order to steal Discord credentials for a wallet-draining scam.We recently discovered that a bad actor has been impersonating Verge science reporter Justine Calma to carry out this scam. Justine recently changed her handle on X (formerly Twitter) from @justcalma to @justinecalmajourno. The scammer hijacked her old handle @justcalma - which was still present on her Verge profile at the time - and leveraged her identity when messaging users about a fake interview. Screenshot... Continue reading...

Photo: Wes Fish" Chan / Games Done Quick Awesome Games Done Quick 2024 has already raised over $1 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Continue reading...

Image: Google Google might be about to expand the color options for its Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. Today the Pixel team's social media channels began posting teases for a new mint green color that will be available next Thursday, January 25th. The messaging isn't exactly subtle. This hue will apparently be exclusive to the Google Store and Google Fi, so carriers and retailers like Amazon and Best Buy are unlikely to offer it.

That travel case is $199. | Image: Apple Now that Apple Vision Pro preorders are open, there's a lot more we know about how much accessories will cost, configurations, and other details. And as you might expect, fully kitting out a Vision Pro will make quite the dent in your wallet.For starters, the base model of the Vision Pro with 256GB of storage starts at $3,499. Getting 512GB bumps up the cost to $3,699, and 1TB will cost $3,899. All that moola will get you the Apple Vision Pro headset with a light seal, a light seal cushion, and a solo knit band. Also in the box are a dual loop band, a cover, a battery, an extra light seal cushion, Apple's polishing cloth, and a 30W USB-C power adaptor and charging cable.However, if you want to add Apple Care Plus, that'll be an extra... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Apple will let third-party mobile wallet and payment providers access the iPhone's NFC capabilities in concessions meant to address a European Commission antitrust investigation, the regulator announced today. The Commission is now seeking feedback on the commitments, which would end Apple Pay and Apple Wallet's exclusive access to the iPhone's NFC payment features. It's the latest development in the nearly four year-old investigation.The proposed commitments come a little over one and a half years after the Commission formally accused Apple of using its iOS policies to restrict competition in the mobile payments market in violation of EU law. The Commission takes issue with the decision by Apple to prevent mobile wallets app... Continue reading...

Users can disable the feature within their account settings, and restrict who can contact them when it's enabled. | Illustration: The Verge X (formerly Twitter) is now rolling out its audio and video calling capabilities to Android users following their iOS launch last October. Users may need to update the app to see the feature, according to X developer Enrique Barragan, who also says that any user can receive calls, but only X Premium subscribers can place them.It's unclear how long the rollout will take to reach all Android users, though we've confirmed that at least one of The Verge's Android devices is showing the feature after the X app was updated. X Premium subscriptions start at $3 per month for the Basic" tier, but it isn't clear from X's Help Centre which tier the outbound video and audio calling perk is locked behind. Image: X There are... Continue reading...

Leia co-founder and CEO David Fattal, with his Red Hydrogen smartphone. A 200-person startup named after Star Wars' Princess Leia may have quietly cornered the market on glasses-free 2D to 3D screens - after clawing its way back from one of the biggest gadget flops of the past decade.Remember the Red Hydrogen, the 3D phone that crashed and burned so hard its founder decided it was time to retire? Leia is the company that designed its holographic" screen, and the company has been relatively quiet since that experience. Walking into its private hotel room suite at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, my expectations were not particularly high!So you can imagine my surprise to find five tables full of Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo and MSI products and prototypes, plus a brand-new 3D OLED phone - each featuring a eye-popping... Continue reading...

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple's Vision Pro headset won't have a dedicated Netflix app at launch, according to a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The streaming giant reportedly doesn't plan to launch an app specifically for Apple's headset, nor does it want to make its iPad app compatible with the platform.The move means users won't be able to watch Netflix in a dedicated app - like the other streaming services that have announced support for the headset, including Disney Plus, Max, Amazon Prime Video, and Paramount Plus. Instead, users will have to watch content from Netflix in a web browser, which will make the movies or TV shows wearers are watching far less immersive. It also will prevent users from watching content offline and could put limitations on... Continue reading...

Image: Plex Plex, known for its media server software and as a place to watch ad-supported content, is going to launch a store for to buy and rent movies and TV shows in early February, executives told Lowpass' Janko Roettgers.Most studios" are lined up for the store's launch, and there are plans to complete the catalog soon after," Roettgers says. The store will also integrate with Plex features like its watchlists for movies. Roettgers points out that that Plex has announced plans in both 2020 and 2023 to launch a movie / TV store - hopefully Plex is truly ready to do so this time.The new store will mark a major addition for Plex, especially following the company's layoff of 20 percent of its staff in June 2023. At the time, the company's CEO... Continue reading...

Nilay Patel Just like Netflix, YouTube also isn't building a native app for the Vision Pro. Its iPad app won't support the $3,499 headset, either, as YouTube spokesperson Jessica Gibby tells The Verge, YouTube users will be able to use YouTube in Safari on the Vision Pro."Those aren't the only major services that won't have dedicated apps on the Vision Pro. A source familiar with the situation tells Bloomberg that Spotify isn't planning to create a new app for the Vision Pro and doesn't expect to enable its iPad app to run on the device," potentially forcing users to access Spotify in a web browser.Spotify spokesperson Grey Munford tells The Verge that the company can't confirm this report and that Spotify has made no announcement concerning... Continue reading...

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge When it comes to filing and paying your federal and state taxes for 2023, there's good and bad news. The good news is that if you live in Maine or Massachusetts, you have until Wednesday, April 17th, because of the Patriots' Day and Emancipation Day holidays.The bad news is: whether you have to file by April 15th or April 17th, you still have to file.If you won't be able to file your taxes by then - because of a family emergency, a large work project, or simple procrastination - what do you do? Well, one thing you don't do is panic. You can file for an extension, and it won't take long.If you're an individual (and let's assume you are), you can file for an extension easily online by filling out Form 4868 using the IRS's Free File... Continue reading...