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by Tom Warren on (#6HK18)
Image: Microsoft Microsoft wants 2024 to be the year of the AI PC," and it's kicking things off with a significant change to the keyboard on new laptops and PCs. A new Copilot key will ship on a variety of new PCs and laptops from Microsoft's partners, providing quick access to Microsoft's AI-powered Windows Copilot experience straight from a keyboard button press.The Copilot key is the first big change to the Windows PC keyboard layout in nearly three decades. Nearly 30 years ago, we introduced the Windows key to the PC keyboard that enabled people all over the world to interact with Windows," says Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft. We see this as another transformative moment in our journey with... Continue reading...
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The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2025-07-08 00:17 |
by Emma Roth on (#6HJVY)
Image: LG LG Display, a manufacturer that makes and sells displays to other companies, is showing off a new OLED display that could soon appear in high-end gaming monitors. At 27 inches, this 1440p panel pairs a speedy 0.03ms response time with a 480Hz refresh rate - making it the fastest in OLED displays so far.LG's new screen is even better than the one in the 32-inch OLED Dual-Hz" gaming monitor (32GS95UE) it announced in December. While this monitor similarly offers a refresh rate of up to 480Hz, you have to toggle the display down to 1080p to take advantage of that speed.It also puts LG Display on track to compete with the panel recently announced by Samsung's display arm, which offers a slightly lower 360Hz refresh rate and a 1440p... Continue reading...
by Elizabeth Lopatto on (#6HJR4)
It's a scam! | Screenshot: Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge The video is almost convincing: it features Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko announcing a historic day" for Solana. He thanks the S-O-L" community and offers a giveaway through a QR code and a website. Sure, he sounds a little robotic - his voice is a monotone, unusual for him - and he hardly makes eye contact with the camera, but it's a video, and seeing is believing, right?It's a fake, of course. And it's been up on YouTube for a day. Not only that, at least one internet user says they saw it as an ad. It's not just YouTube, either. The fake video is appearing in ads on the platform formerly known as Twitter and which Elon Musk would prefer you call X.There has been a substantial increase in deepfakes and other AI-generated... Continue reading...
by Emilia David on (#6HJR5)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge A second California state senator has introduced bills meant to regulate AI systems, particularly those used by state agencies.Senator Steve Padilla, a Democrat, introduced Senate Bills 892 and 893, establishing a public AI resource and creating a safe and ethical framework" around AI for the state. Senate Bill 892 will require California's Department of Technology to develop safety, privacy, and non-discrimination standards around services using AI. It also prohibits the state of California from contracting any AI services unless the provider of the services meets the established standards."The other bill, SB 893, would establish a California AI research hub that would provide access to compute resources and data for academics.P... Continue reading...
by Emma Roth on (#6HJNN)
Image: Laura Normand / The Verge SpaceX is facing a complaint from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that alleges the company illegally fired employees for writing an open letter that criticized CEO Elon Musk.Last year, a group of SpaceX employees drafted an open letter to express concerns about how Musk's behavior is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment." At the time, Musk was in the process of trying to acquire Twitter, which he later renamed X after taking control of the company. SpaceX subsequently fired the employees who helped write the letter.In the complaint filed on Wednesday, the NLRB accuses SpaceX of interrogating workers about their involvement with the letter and told employees not to discuss these interviews. NLRB spokesperson... Continue reading...
by Allison Johnson on (#6HJNP)
Keep your passwords safe from this guy. | Illustration: Beatrice Sala Following a high-profile security breakdown in 2022, LastPass is finally imposing a 12-character minimum for customers' master passwords.BleepingComputer spotted a release from LastPass confirming the change that acknowledges 12 characters was already the default setting, but preexisting users previously had the option to set a shorter password. LastPass removed this option last April, requiring new customers and anyone resetting their master password to hit the 12-character requirement. But if your account had a shorter, less secure password, you'll be forced to change it soon.LastPass' security woes are well documented - breaches in 2022 allowed hackers to steal customer vault data. If you were affected, this meant the only thing... Continue reading...
by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6HJNQ)
The GE Profile Smart Smoker is an indoor countertop cooker that claims to create the same flavors as an outdoor smoker. | Image: GE Appliances The newest smart kitchen gadget from GE Appliances solves another cooking pain point you never knew you had... having to go outdoors. The GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker is a countertop smoker that lets you cook with wood pellets inside your home without setting off all your smoke alarms.The world's first indoor smoker, the $999 appliance will be on show at CES 2024 next week. But if you can't wait to add that smokey flavor to your ribs, salmon, or sprouts without having to step foot in your backyard (or even having a backyard, for that matter), you can buy it now at Williams Sonoma and Best Buy.The appliance uses a tech called Active Smoke Filtration, which GE Profile says uses heat and a highly engineered catalyst system to turn... Continue reading...
by Justine Calma on (#6HJJG)
Starbucks will let customers drive-through with reusable cups at all US and Canada stores. | Image: Starbucks Starbucks announced today that customers will now be able to bring in their reusable cups whether they're walking into a store or driving up in the US and Canada. The company claims it's the first national coffee retailer to give customers this option for drive-thru and mobile orders.For years, customers have been able to walk into select Starbucks locations to fill reusable cups (although the practice was put on hold between 2020 and 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic). What's changing is that now clean, refillable cups are acceptable in the drive-thru window at all company-operated and participating licensed stores in the US and Canada, expanding a policy that had been in place already at certain locations. Customers earn a $0.10... Continue reading...
by David Pierce on (#6HJJH)
The new Moonwalkers X have six wheels, not 10, and they're heavy but not as heavy. | Image: Shift Robotics The Moonwalkers went somewhat viral in 2022 when the company behind them, Shift Robotics, promised it had created the world's fastest shoes." They're not exactly shoes, though: they strap on top of your existing shoes like you're putting on a pair of Tevas, and they put 10 wheels underneath each foot to turn every step into a glide, like you're perpetually walking on a moving sidewalk. They're adult Heelys, basically, only bigger, higher-tech, and more expensive.Now, Shift Robotics is back with a new pair, the Moonwalkers X, which the company says it plans to show off at the CES gadget extravaganza in Las Vegas next week. The new shoes are lighter - 3.2 pounds on each foot, which is still a lot but a full pound lighter than the... Continue reading...
by Jay Peters on (#6HJJJ)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Twitch is changing its sexual content policies again, this time to prohibit implied nudity on the platform. The platform already prohibits nudity, but Twitch's new attire policy, which goes into effect today, also doesn't allow streamers to imply or suggest that they are fully or partially nude," chief customer trust officer Angela Hession says in a blog post.This policy change comes after Twitch's recently loosened policies on sexual content. Twitch updated its sexual content policies in December to allow some previously prohibited content as long as it was labeled correctly. However, just two days later, it rescinded part of the newly updated policy that allowed for artistic nudity" following community concern."Creators continued... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6HJF6)
Roku announced its first self-branded TVs at CES last year, and as expected, the main emphasis was on budget pricing and providing a solid, dependable product. Above all else, the Roku Select and Plus Series TVs were a vehicle for getting Roku's software into even more homes. But the first-party Roku TVs fell a bit flat in terms of picture quality compared to sets from TCL, Hisense, and other TV makers that play in the same pricing territory. They were fine but unexceptional.For 2024, Roku hopes to step up its video chops with a new Pro lineup of TVs due to ship later this year. The Roku Pro TVs will come in 55-inch, 65-inch, and 75-inch sizes for retail prices under $1,500." They'll feature Mini LED local dimming for improved contrast... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6HJF7)
Image: Ubisoft Xbox has revealed its first Game Pass lineup of 2024, which includes headliners like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Resident Evil 2. But there's still no sign of the Call of Duty games Xbox boss Phil Spencer hinted at for 2024.Game Pass is the subscription service offered by Microsoft that lets you play a changing collection of games on Xbox and PC without paying for each individual game. Last year, Spencer said the long regulatory process associated with Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard meant Xbox wasn't able to release any of the publisher's games on Game Pass right away. Instead, he indicated that they would hit the service in 2024 - unlike how Xbox added several Bethesda games to Game Pass just days after its... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6HJF8)
A new study usesdeep learning and satellite imagery to create the first global map of vessel traffic and offshore infrastructure. | Image: Global Fishing Watch Using satellite imagery and AI, researchers have mapped human activity at sea with more precision than ever before. The effort exposed a huge amount of industrial activity that previously flew under the radar, from suspicious fishing operations to an explosion of offshore energy development.The maps were published today in the journal Nature. The research led by Google-backed nonprofit Global Fishing Watch revealed that a whopping three-quarters of the world's industrial fishing vessels are not publicly tracked. Up to 30 percent of transport and energy vessels also escape public tracking.Those blind spots could hamper global conservation efforts, the researchers say. To better protect the world's oceans and fisheries, policymakers... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6HJCA)
The Phoenix true wireless earbuds and Los Angeles headphones. | Image: Urbanista Urbanista is overhauling its solar charging headphone lineup with the announcement of second-generation versions of both its Los Angeles over-ear headphones and Phoenix true wireless earbuds. Both products are still built around the same Powerfoyle solar charging material from Exeger but have been updated to include more power-efficient internal components, adaptive (rather than simply active) noise cancellation, and more streamlined designs.Both are still in development and aren't going on sale until roughly midway through the year, but when they're released, they'll be priced slightly cheaper than their first-generation counterparts. The second-gen Los Angeles are due to cost $179 (versus $199 for the originals), while the second-gen... Continue reading...
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by Jacob Kastrenakes on (#6HJCB)
Mickey Mouse (pictured) as seen in 1928's Steamboat Willie. | Photo by LMPC via Getty Images Specific versions of Mickey Mouse have been released from Disney's copyright - here's what the public is doing with them. Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6HJCC)
Image: LG A year ago, LG released its brightest OLED TVs yet, and in doing so, the company overcame one of the long-held downsides of the panel technology: they were finally suitable for bright, sunny rooms. Rtings called 2023's G3 OLED an outstanding TV with no real weaknesses," and many other reviews praised it as one of the best TVs ever released. LG also used CES 2023 to introduce its first wireless" TV, the Signature OLED M, which receives content from a Zero Connect box that can be positioned discreetly in the same room.So while last year brought pretty major technical upgrades, for 2024, LG is shifting its focus to AI and smaller, iterative changes. But the improvements are still meaningful. Across the OLED TV lineup, LG now supports... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6HJCD)
Sony's WH-1000XM5 may not fold like the last-gen model, but they're still our favorite pair of noise-canceling headphones. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The holiday shopping season is officially behind us, but that hasn't stopped retailers from finding something else to celebrate with a sale. Right now, it's all about New Year's, and in honor of that fact, eBay is taking an extra 20 percent off select items through January 7th when you use offer code NEWYEARDEAL at checkout.All kinds of gadgets are eligible for the discount, from the Xbox Series X (now $399) to iRobot's Roomba j7 Plus, the latter of which is on sale in refurbished condition with a two-year warranty for $269.98 ($630 off). Our favorite deals, however, are on Sony's WH-1000XM5 headphones and WF-1000XM5 earbuds, both of which are down to their second-best price to date. The XM5 headphones are going for just $278.40 ($122... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6HJ6V)
The curved Odyssey OLED G9 above the flat OLED G6 and G8. | Image: Samsung Samsung has announced a trio of new gaming monitors ahead of CES 2024. There's the 49-inch curved ultra-wide Odyssey OLED G9 (G95SD), the 32-inch flat Odyssey OLED G8 (G80SD), and the 27-inch flat Odyssey OLED G6 (G60SD). The latter two are the first flat monitors Samsung has brought to its Odyssey lineup.Because I'm a simple man with simple wants, the Odyssey OLED G6 is the most interesting of these models to me on paper. That's because of its frankly excessive 360Hz refresh rate, which it pairs with a 1440p resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio. Samsung Display announced the start of mass manufacturing of these super-fast OLED panels last month, and the likes of Dell and MSI also appear to be making use of them in their upcoming monitors.... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6HJ4J)
The new Ultraloq Bolt Fingerprint Matter smart lock brings Matter-over-Thread support to the company's line-up. | Image: U-Tec Smart lock manufacturer U-tec has announced the first deadbolt smart lock with a fingerprint reader to support Matter-over-Thread. A fingerprint reader is the fastest and easiest way to unlock a smart lock, and Matter-over-Thread connectivity should solve two of the biggest issues of smart locks: poor battery life and poor connectivity.With most connected locks on the market today, you get either a year of battery life but are stuck with the limited range and smart home compatibility of Bluetooth or just a few months of battery life but all the smart home connections you can eat over Wi-Fi. Thread, with its low-power mesh network, is specifically designed to help battery-operated devices last longer, and the new smart home standard... Continue reading...
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by Elizabeth Lopatto on (#6HJ0R)
Horrible. 0/10. The thing about CAPTCHAs is that they're old enough to drink. The bots are better at them than I am. So why am I still being asked to fill them out?I am not talking about the inoffensive ones with the puzzle pieces. I am not talking, even, about matching or rotating shapes. I am talking, specifically, about the grid of insane photos - the kind of thing you may be familiar with from Google's reCAPTCHA system. If you are looking for a measured take on why they exist or the efforts to build replacements, go read this. I am not feeling measured, although I will resentfully note that CAPTCHA exists in order to stop bots and does an okay job at it.You know how I am feeling? Furious.I was trying to buy tickets to a double-feature of Blade... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6HJ0S)
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge A new patent granted to Apple details how the company is thinking of using the Vision Pro's external display to show what the wearer is looking at inside the device.The patent, which includes Jony Ive as an inventor, details ways an outside screen on a generic head-mounted display could be used to indicate what the wearer is seeing to people around them. While the patent isn't specifically about the Vision Pro and its EyeSight" display feature, it's clear that some of the ideas here informed the features in the final headset.For example, Apple has talked publicly about how the outer screen on the Vision Pro can let outsiders see the eyes of the person wearing the headset or display a colorful pattern that indicates the wearer is fully... Continue reading...
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by Allison Johnson on (#6HHYN)
That's so metal. | Image: Samsung Samsung has formally announced its winter Unpacked - coming right on the heels of CES and just down the street from some of its biggest competitors' HQs. As previously leaked announced, the event is scheduled for Wednesday, January 17th. It'll be hosted at the SAP Center, because nothing says go big or go home" like an NHL arena.The company says we'll see the newest additions to the Galaxy mobile device portfolio," which is all but guaranteed to be the S24 series. AI will be a major focus - no surprise there. Rumors have also pointed to the S24 Ultra getting a new titanium build - that should ring a bell if you've seen literally any advertisement for the iPhone 15 Pro - and the 3D metallic graphic in the event invitation certainly... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6HHYP)
Photo by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images Pornhub has restricted access in two more states in protest of continued nationwide state-level efforts to regulate online access to porn. 404Media reported that residents in both North Carolina and Montana visiting Pornhub and other Aylo-owned sites like Redtube or Brazzers are now greeted by a video of performer Cherie DeVille, and a handful of paragraphs, telling them their states are now blocked. Aylo began blocking access in the states last week, according to reporting from multiple outlets including The Fayetteville Observer and KRTV in Great Falls, Montana.The move is meant to protest laws that went into effect in both states on January 1st. Montana passed a standalone ID verification law in May, and North Carolina's new law was... Continue reading...
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by Barbara Krasnoff on (#6HHWV)
The Verge I'm afraid that I'm one of those people who have accumulated a number of Google accounts. I have one for subscriptions, newsletters, and other general purposes; one for work; one for my fiction writing; one to use when I want to test an online app; and one - well, quite honestly, I don't remember what that one's for.Normally, it's not a problem - except for those occasions where I found I've put a file or folder in the wrong Drive account. I've tried to fix things by simply sharing the folder / file with the account I want to use it with, but that isn't a satisfactory fix - for one thing, it means the file is taking up space in two accounts. And if, say, I am planning a party and decide to hand the responsibility off to a friend, it... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6HHWW)
Photo by Presley Ann / Getty Images for The Skatepark Project Jack Black might be set to play another iconic video game character in a movie: Steve from Minecraft. Black is apparently joining the cast of the upcoming adaptation of the mega-popular game, and Deadline reports that he's going to play Steve, the original default character skin for Minecraft. Variety also reported that Black is part of the cast but didn't say who he might be playing.Black was amazing as Bowser in 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie (are you also humming Peaches" right now?) and will portray the snarky robot Claptrap in the Borderlands movie, but Steve doesn't really have a defined personality. He mostly exists as a silent vessel for the player. I'm curious if Black will bring a muted performance to Steve - but if I had... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6HHT3)
The Bespoke Jet Bot Combo is the first combined robot vacuum and mop from Samsung. It features steam cleaning and automatic mop removal to keep your carpets dry. | Image: Samsung Samsung is finally bringing out a new version of its Jet Bot robot vacuum, which was last updated in 2021. The Bespoke Jet Bot Combo will be on show at CES 2024 and is the first combination of robot vacuum and mop from the Korean electronics giant. (The company has a standalone robot mop, the Jetbot Mop.)Samsung hasn't announced a price (the previous model, the Jet Bot AI Plus, costs $1,300) or a release date. And it sounds like the robot's features aren't finalized yet (Samsung's press release says the robot is currently in development," and its features are subject to change). But here's a look at what the new robot vacuum might be capable of, according to Samsung.The Bespoke Jet Bot Combo is a robot vacuum and mop with a round form... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6HHT4)
Illustration: The Verge After removing headlines from URL cards on X (formerly Twitter), the platform is adding them back - but they don't work quite the same as before. Some of us at The Verge are seeing on the web that headlines and website title pages are now appearing over the images that link to those pages, which makes it a lot easier to know what you're clicking on.This is a nice change, but there are still some quirks. For example, if a headline or title is too long, it gets cut off with an ellipses, and the text is pretty small. But it's an improvement from how things used to work, where the images would just include the domain of the website it linked out to. Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge A headline on an X post. X... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6HHQ8)
Photo by Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge The list of electric vehicles that qualify for the full $7,500 federal tax credit in the US has shrunk - considerably.Thanks to new requirements about battery minerals and sourcing that kicked in on January 1st, only five battery electric vehicles are eligible for the full credit as well as one plug-in hybrid vehicle. A few more qualify for the $3,750 half credit. And that's about it.As you can see in the table below, the pure EVs that still qualify are as follows: the Chevy Bolt EV and Bolt EUV (soon to be discontinued and replaced with updated versions); two versions of the Ford F-150 Lightning; one version each of the Tesla Model 3 and Model X; and three versions of the Tesla Model Y. And don't forget the Chrysler Pacifica PHEV,... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6HHQ9)
Even the base-model Apple Watch can help you track a wide variety of metrics across different workouts. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Apple Watch SE is selling for its second-best price of $199 at Amazon and Best Buy, saving you $50 on Apple's entry-level smartwatch. The SE may not have some of the fancier features of the newer Series 9 model (features that recently put the Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in some patent infringement hot water), but the SE is a very competent wearable that nails the essentials most people look for to complement their iPhone - expansive fitness tracking and easily glanceable notifications on your wrist. If you want to push yourself into healthier habits for the new year, a smartwatch and some basic workout metrics you can easily track is a nice little motivator.Read our review of the Apple Watch SE (2022).Right now, you can get... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6HHQA)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge EchoStar Corporation announced today that it finalized its purchase of Dish Network on the last day of December. Following the merger, which the companies announced in August, Dish is now a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar," and why? 5G, dear reader.Dish Network was known as EchoStar until 2008 when it renamed itself to Dish and spun its satellite internet business off under the EchoStar name. In recent years, Dish has been pivoting to 5G after buying Boost Mobile and starting Project Genesis, which, in concept, would offer a fourth large network to compete in the US with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. As of late 2022, when we last tested it out, it wasn't quite impressive yet.EchoStar's COO, John Swieringa, said in the release... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6HHHD)
Image: Getty Images Microsoft president Brad Smith wasn't happy with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last year after the regulator blocked Microsoft's giant Activision Blizzard deal. Now that Microsoft has restructured its deal and won approval in the UK, Smith has kinder words for the CMA, describing the regulator as tough and fair" in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today program.Smith originally criticized the CMA and said confidence in the UK had been severely shaken" after the regulator moved to block Microsoft's $68.7 billion deal in April last year. He called it the darkest day" for Microsoft in its four decades of working in Britain and went a step further, saying the European Union is a more attractive place to start a... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6HH70)
A sign reportedly placed at Alamo Drafthouse's Minnesota location informing patrons that no films will be shown that day. | Photo: 3NU (Reddit) Sorry everyone! Sony is having issues with their projectors that is preventing us from being able to project movies at some of our theaters today."That's what theater chain Alamo Drafthouse posted to social media sites on New Year's Eve, adding that it was closing five theaters entirely for the rest of the day as a result. As of New Year's Day, however, most theaters and most showtimes now appear to be available, with a few exceptions. Screenshot of @alamodrafthouse (X) It's not clear what happened. As New Year's Day is a holiday, we somewhat understandably haven't yet been able to reach Alamo or Sony spokespeople, and not every theater or every screening was affected.That didn't stop Alamo from blaming its Sony... Continue reading...
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by Adi Robertson on (#6HGXN)
Just be careful not to let major elements from later designs slip in. | Disney It's finally happened: after nearly a century, Mickey Mouse has slipped off Disney's copyright leash. The first versions of the iconic cartoon character, seen in Steamboat Willie and a silent version of Plane Crazy, enter the public domain in the US on January 1st, 2024. (An early version of Minnie Mouse is also fortunately included.) There's still a complicated mess of protections around Mickey, but today is a moment public domain advocates have awaited for decades - and there are plenty of other exciting new entries as well.Duke Law School's Center for the Study of the Public Domain, as usual, has a roundup of prominent works whose copyright protections lapse in the US today. The list includes sound recordings from 1923 and works in... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6HGPY)
The LG MyView Smart Monitor. | Image: LG LG will show off a new series of 32-inch 4K computer monitor / TV hybrids called the MyView' at CES this year. The company announced they'll come in a variety of colors, including essence white, mild beige, cotton pink and cotton green." They'll be offered in three variants at two price levels - $599.99 and $499.99, and LG says it will announce availability in the US at a later date."The specs and design language of LG's new smart LED displays are very similar to the Samsung M8. They both come in multiple colors and have a whiff of modern iMac design, though with more adjustable stands (both support tweaks to height, tilt, and rotation). Each can be used as a smart TV with the included remote and all of the new MyView monitors will... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6HGE4)
The Verge / Image courtesy of Sunblink Apple Arcade remains one of the best deals in gaming - even after getting a price bump. Since launch, the service has steadily grown with a mix of original mobile releases and App Store classics, none of which are burdened with the ads or in-app purchases that so often plague smartphone games. 2023 was a particularly strong year for new additions, with everything from daily word games for the Wordle-obsessed to cozy adventures to relax with. If you just picked up a new Apple device, or are using the subscription service for the very first time, here are some great places to start.KnotwordsZach Gage and Jack Schlesinger have partnered on a number of great mobile puzzle games - including Good Sudoku and SpellTower, both of which are... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6HGE5)
Illustration: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 19, 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.)It's the last Installer of the year, so we're going to do something a little different! We're going to talk about all our favorite things of 2023. Some ground rules / disclaimers: this list is not exhaustive, not everything in here is new this year it's just new to us, this is not an Official List of Every Single Good Thing That Exists, and most importantly, if there's something missing that you find outrageous and unacceptable you know where to find me: installer@theverge.com and (203) 570-8663 on all the... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6HG6Y)
The LG Qube is so tiny, so boxy, so handle-y. | Image: LG LG announced the CineBeam Qube (model HU710PB) laser projector yesterday: It's got a minimalist look and stature, weighing 3.28 pounds and measuring 135mm square on one side and just 80mm wide at the front. (For comparison, the iPhone 15 Pro is just shy of 147mm tall.) It also has an unspecified number of HDMI eARC and USB-C ports, and a 3W built-in mono speaker. Impressively, LG says it can project an up-to-120-inch image at full 4K resolution with a pretty standard 1.2 throw ratio. Oh, and it has a handle!There are some apparent drawbacks to this itty bitty projector. For starters, it pushes out a relatively dim 500 ANSI lumens (compared to 2200 ANSI lumens of the larger Xgimi Horizon Pro we reviewed two years ago). That means that,... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6HG1S)
A lawsuit alleged that Vizio's claims about refresh rates can be misleading. | Image: Vizio If you bought a Vizio TV in California after April 30th, 2014, Vizio may owe you some money. The company has agreed to pay out $3 million after a 2018 class action lawsuit alleged that its marketing of 120Hz and 240Hz effective" refresh rates was false and deceptive." Vizio denies that it did anything wrong, according to the agreement. The deadline for filing claims is March 30th next year, and requires some sort of evidence of ownership, including proof of purchase or the serial number, to qualify.In addition to paying out for verified claims, Vizio would stop the advertising practices" and provide enhanced services and a limited one-year warranty to all Settlement Class Members," according to details from the website set up for... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6HFX7)
The Verge / Photos via Getty Images Layoffs are an unfortunate reality of any industry, but the scope and scale of video game layoffs in 2023 are far beyond a typical year. More than any specific video game or piece of news, layoffs defined the past 12 months. Companies large and small have felt their impact. Unofficial figures estimate 9,000 workers have been affected, and at the heart of it all are corporations that valued growth at all costs - including people.In September, Epic Games laid off 830 employees. In a statement, CEO Tim Sweeney wrote, We've been spending way more money than we earn. [...] I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic." Some of that spending was on... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6HFN2)
Image: Microsoft Just days after introducing a Copilot app on Android, Microsoft has rolled out an app for its AI chatbot on iOS and iPadOS. Both versions of the app are now available to download from the Apple App Store.The app gives you access to Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) and works similarly to OpenAI's ChatGPT mobile app. In addition to letting you ask questions, draft emails, and summarize text, you can also create images through an integration with the text-to-image generator DALL-E3. Image: Microsoft And, unlike the free version of ChatGPT which runs GPT-3.5, Copilot lets you access GPT-4, the latest large language model (LLM) from OpenAI, without having to pay for a subscription.With Microsoft's rebrand of Bing... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6HFKJ)
Image: Getty Michael Cohen, the former lawyer for Donald Trump, admitted to citing fake, AI-generated court cases in a legal document that wound up in front of a federal judge, as reported earlier by The New York Times. A filing unsealed on Friday says Cohen used Google's Bard to perform research after mistaking it for a super-charged search engine" rather than an AI chatbot.The document in question was a motion that asked a federal judge to shorten the length of Cohen's three-year probation, which he's now facing following prison time and a guilty plea to tax evasion and other charges. But after reviewing the letter brief, US District Judge Jesse Furman wrote in a filing that none of these cases exist" and asked Cohen's lawyer, David Schwartz, to... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6HFFY)
Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Nvidia is launching a graphics card specifically for China to comply with US export controls. In a product page on the Chinese version of Nvidia's website, the chipmaker introduces the RTX 4090D: a GPU that's less powerful than the flagship RTX 4090 it sells elsewhere.The RTX 4090D has fewer CUDA cores than its RTX 4090 counterpart, topping out at 14,592 as opposed to 16,384. It also has a slightly lower power draw at 425W instead of 450W. Although most of the other specs remain the same between the two versions of the chips, the RTX 4090D is still around 5% slower in gaming and creating," Nvidia spokesperson Benjamin Berraondo said in an emailed statement to The Verge. Image: Nvidia China Nvidia launched the GPU... Continue reading...
by Sheena Vasani on (#6HFDX)
Amazon's new Echo Show 8 brings a faster chip, better speakers, and the most important update of all: widgets. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Happy Friday, folks! Well, now that Christmas is officially behind us, the deals are quickly drying up. Nonetheless, there are still a few deals worth busting out those newly minted gift cards for. Amazon's latest Echo Show 8 has dropped to a new low, for example, while the Tile Mate has returned to its best price to date. There's also a bunch of other stuff on sale right now, including a terrific pair of noise-canceling earbuds and OnePlus' first mechanical keyboard, so let's begin.First off, Amazon has apparently decided to save some of its best deals for after the holiday season, or at least until after Christmas. Right now, the third-gen Echo Show 8 is on sale at Amazon for Prime members for $89.99 ($60 off). That's a new all-time... Continue reading...
by Justine Calma on (#6HFB3)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images A federal judge has denied X's (formerly Twitter) attempt to temporarily halt a California law that pushes social media platforms to disclose their strategies for moderating harmful content.Passed last year, AB 587 requires large social media companies to share descriptions of how they moderate content that contains hate speech or racism, extremism or radicalization, disinformation, harassment, and foreign political interference. In a complaint filed in September, X argued that the law violates the First Amendment right to free speech.The company formerly known as Twitter failed to make its case. US District Judge William Shubb denied X's request for a preliminary injunction of the law. While the reporting requirement does appear to... Continue reading...
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by Alex Cranz on (#6HFB4)
The Verge / Image courtesy of Apple TV We're four years into the existence of Apple TV Plus, and the network still feels like it's punching above its weight class. It doesn't have nearly the expansive library of its competitors, but the shows (and occasional film) it does have are really, really good -usually.I've heard friends compare it to HBO in the 2000s, and that feels like an apt comparison. There are plenty of great movies, but there's also an astonishingly well-programmed group of TV shows that seem to speak to a very wide audience, from its core group of science fiction shows like For All Mankind and Foundation to its more outlandish fair like Schmigadoon! and The Morning Show.Apple TV Plus has found a way to reach a wide audience with a small array of... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6HFB5)
The Verge / Photo courtesy of HBO The streaming service formerly known as HBO Max completed its magical girl transformation this year, dropping arguably the most recognizable part of its name to just become Max. The questionable rename came at the conclusion of the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery and, according to WarnerDiscovery executives, was meant to signal to subscribers that the new Max has content for the whole family to enjoy.Immediately post-merger, Max lost 1.8 million subscribers (that WarnerMedia attributes to simple attrition). But the great mushing together of libraries means that highly polished dramas like The Sopranos and Oz appear alongside the highly popular (what's a polite way to say schlock'?) like 90 Day Fiance and Property Brothers t... Continue reading...
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by Richard Lawler on (#6HF1B)
Composite image of a Toyota Corolla and Tesla Cybertruck after the accident. | Image: u/boddhya (Reddit) After Reddit user boddhya posted two pictures of a Cybertruck accident, the California Highway Patrol confirmed to The Verge that units responded to a two-vehicle accident on SR 35 (Skyline Boulevard). It occurred in this area south of Page Mill Road, which Google Maps lists as Palo Alto, around 2:05PM local time and involved a 2023 Tesla Cybertruck carrying three people that appears to have been hit by a 2009 Toyota Corolla driven by a 17-year-old.Tesla's Cybertruck delivery event raised questions about the design and what would occur in an impact with other cars or pedestrians. Fortunately, it doesn't appear that anyone involved in this incident suffered major injury as a result.CHP:
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by Amrita Khalid on (#6HEZJ)
2024 LG Gram Pro | LG Ahead of CES 2024, LG is debuting new laptops in its ultra-light LG Gram and LG Gram Pro series. If you're in the market for OLED displays and better graphics, take a look at the 2024 LG Gram Pro lineup. As our review last year noted, the biggest difference between the Pro and standard laptops last year was the graphics - much less the look and feel. For a more visible difference, we'll keep an eye out for their more fashion-forward cousin, the LG Gram Style.For 2024, there's the Gram Pro 16 and 17, and the LG Gram Pro 2-in-1 (more on what those two things are later). The Gram Pro 16 is available in either the standard Wide Quad or with an OLED display, as well as the 2-in-1. The 2-in-1 doubles as a laptop and a tablet, featuring a... Continue reading...
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by Amrita Khalid on (#6HEZK)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The FDA is warning Amazon to do something about bootleg Viagra" found on its platform, misleadingly disguised as men's energy or health supplements. In a letter to Amazon dated December 20th, the agency threatened legal action and listed seven different products available on the e-commerce platform with ingredients found in Viagra and Cialis. With outlandish names and brightly colored, cartoonish labels, it would be hard to confuse them with real-deal prescription drugs.But a recent investigation by the FDA found several supplements or powders sold on the e-commerce platform contained either sildenafil or tadalafil (the active ingredients in Cialis and Viagra) and failed to disclose it: MANNERS Energy Boost, Round 2, WeFun, Genergy,... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6HEZM)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft is getting ready to upgrade its Surface lineup with new AI-enabled features, according to a report from Windows Central. Unnamed sources told the outlet the upcoming Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 will come with a next-gen neural processing unit (NPU), along with Intel and Arm-based options.Microsoft's Arm-based devices will be powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X chips, Windows Central reports. These PCs, codenamed CADMUS, will reportedly be designed to run the AI features Microsoft is packaging into a future release of Windows. They'll also come with improvements to performance, battery life, and security on par with Apple silicon, according to Windows Central. Meanwhile, the Intel version of the devices will... Continue reading...