The Verge

Illustration: The Verge Bloomberg's Apple reporter, Mark Gurman, says Apple has some big changes coming for 2024 in the form of a bigger iPad Air joining the existing smaller size and the previously rumored iPad Pro with an OLED screen. In addition to that, the company will release an updated MacBook Air using Apple's new M3 processor that just debuted in the updated 14-inch MacBook Pro and new iMacs.The new iPad Air will reportedly have a 12.9-inch screen to join the 10.9-inch model, bringing the lineup much closer to the iPad Pro's 11- and 12.9-inch options. Gurman didn't provide a specific date, only saying the devices will arrive in early 2024," adding that Apple hopes to turn things around for sales of both product lines.The company will also release a... Continue reading...

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Google is bringing some sophisticated new AI smarts to the Pixel 8 Pro today, but it's not stopping there. The company is also rolling out its December feature drop for Pixel hardware, which includes two big software features for the 8 Pro - but plenty of new tricks for other devices as well.Video Boost, which is exclusive to Google's larger-size flagship, will be available starting today. It uploads your videos to the cloud where our computational photography models adjust color, lighting, stabilization and graininess," according to Google's blog post. After that, you receive a touched-up video that looks true to life." This isn't something anyone's really gotten to test much yet, so we're all about to find out together where Video... Continue reading...

Gemini was designed from the beginning to be about much more than just text. | Image: Google Google has been an AI-first company' for nearly a decade. Now, a year into the AI era brought on by ChatGPT, it's finally making a big move. Continue reading...

Bard has access to Google's appsand now its best large language model, too. | Image: Google While OpenAI's ChatGPT has become a worldwide phenomenon and one of the fastest-growing consumer products ever, Google's Bard has been something of an afterthought. The chatbot has steadily gained new features, including access to your data across other Google products, but its answers and information have rarely seemed to rival what you get from ChatGPT and other bots using GPT-3 and GPT-4.The case for Bard may have just gotten more compelling, though: as of today, for English-speaking users in 170 countries, Bard is now powered by Google's new Gemini model, which it says matches and even exceeds OpenAI's tech in a number of ways. (Google says Gemini is coming to more languages and countries in the near future.")Bard is now running... Continue reading...

The Pixel 8 Pro is the first Gemini-capable phone - but it won't be the last. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Gemini may be the biggest, most powerful large language model, or LLM, Google has ever developed, but it's better suited to running in data centers than on your phone. With Gemini Nano, though, the company is trying to split the difference: it built a reduced version of its flagship LLM that can run locally and offline on your device. Well, a device, anyway. The Pixel 8 Pro is the only Nano-compatible phone so far, but Google sees the new model as a core part of Android going forward.If you have a Pixel 8 Pro, starting today, two things on your phone will be powered by Gemini Nano: the auto-summarization feature in the Recorder app, and the Smart Reply part of the Gboard keyboard. Both are coming as part of the Pixel's December Feature... Continue reading...

Amazon says Microsoft's licensing rules make it financially unviable" for customers to switch from Azure. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon has joined Google in criticizing Microsoft over licensing agreements that restrict competition in the UK's cloud computing market, claiming Microsoft's business practices make it harder for customers to switch to alternative cloud providers or run competing services alongside Azure. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is currently investigating the UK's cloud computing industry which Amazon and Microsoft dominate.Amazon laid out its concerns in a letter dated November 23rd, 2023 but published by the CMA yesterday:

Intel's deleted presentation takes aim at one of AMD's latest CPUs. | Image: Intel Intel has accused AMD of selling half-truths to unsuspecting customers" by using its Zen 2 architecture in some of its latest Ryzen 7000 series mobile processors. In a now-deleted presentation to system integrators, Intel's Core Truths" largely focuses on AMD's Ryzen 5 7520U mobile processor and its confusing and somewhat misleading naming.AMD revealed a new naming scheme for its Ryzen 7000 series last year, with the first digit referring to the model year, the second for the segment, and the third revealing the architecture. At first glance you might look at the Ryzen 5 7520U naming and think it's a mid-range CPU from AMD, with the 7 meaning it's the latest. But the Ryzen 5 7520U is actually based on AMD's older Zen 2 architecture,... Continue reading...

Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty Images The guilds representing actors and writers have both ratified new deals with big media companies addressing concerns around streaming and AI. Continue reading...

Image: Reddit A Reddit bug is allowing slurs to get added to Reddit URLs - and those URLs occasionally appear prominently on Google.Content warning: the following story includes mentions of a slur.Here's what we've observed. While Googling something related to a lighthearted debate in The Verge's Slack, one staffer found that some of the Reddit links that surfaced had a subdomain with unexpected characters and a slur before reddit.com: https://2goback-[f-word].reddit.com/r/[rest of the URL]. Despite the additional characters, the link points to Reddit (though the page had the Old Reddit layout).The slur didn't just appear for that query. A Reddit site search on Google for the subdomain reveals a bunch of links from different subreddits that have... Continue reading...

We've been following Looking Glass for years - it's one of the few startups dedicated to building 3D displays where digital objects appear to live inside or leap off the screen. In 2020, it introduced a cheaper 7.9-inch desktop model at $349, and today, it's introducing its most affordable and portable screen yet: the $300 Looking Glass Go. GIF: Looking Glass The Looking Glass Go. With a six-inch screen that the company claims is 10 times thinner than previous Looking Glass displays, it's the first one small enough to fit in your pocket - though you'll need to plug in USB-C power or an optional external USB-C battery dongle, as it doesn't have a built-in battery of its own. It's also the first with built-in... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft is readying a new Bing feature that should take the hassle out of coming up with your own AI prompt. The GPT-4-powered capability, called Deep Search, takes your Bing query and expands on it, allowing the search engine to find answers about several topics related to your question on the web.As an example, Microsoft shows how Bing turns a vague search for how do points systems work in Japan" into a detailed prompt that asks Bing to:

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge In less than a week, Sony has given us two timely reminders of the tenuousness of digital ownership" - and both reminders involve things on PlayStation.Last week, Sony said that, because of content licensing arrangements," users wouldn't be able to watch Discovery content they've purchased and that the content would be removed from their libraries as of December 31st, 2023. The resulting list of shows that will suddenly disappear because of corporate agreements is very long. Shows disappearing from streaming services is commonplace, but in this case, people are losing access to shows they bought to watch on demand whenever they wanted.Then, on Monday, many users were unexpectedly banned from their PlayStation Network accounts,... Continue reading...

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Microsoft will allow consumers to pay for Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 10 when support ends for the operating system in 2025. The software giant usually only offers paid security updates for organizations that need to keep running older versions but now plans to offer them to individuals for the first time through an annual subscription service instead of extending the end of support date for Windows 10.While we strongly recommend moving to Windows 11, we understand there are circumstances that could prevent you from replacing Windows 10 devices before the end of support date. Therefore, Microsoft will offer Extended Security Updates," explains Microsoft in a blog post. The ESU program for Windows 10 will include... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Many of the earliest Instagram videos have lost their sound. More than a year of videos posted to the platform are now silent, displaying an error that says video has no sound" when you try to play their audio. The issue appears to affect videos posted before late 2014.It's hard to pin down exactly what's going on, but here's what we've noticed: it seems that videos posted from June 2013, when Instagram first added video, to October 2014 are now missing their audio. The audio isn't working regardless of platform, whether the clip is played on desktop, iOS, or Android. And because this seems to affect most - if not all - videos in that timeframe, this appears to be an issue on Instagram's end rather than some sort of takedown issue... Continue reading...

The Razr 2023 folds, and it costs well under $1,000 - neat! But its small screen is too limiting to make it worth your time. Continue reading...

Mechanical keyboard specialist Keychron has launched a Kickstarter for its first keyboard with Hall effect switches, the Keychron Q1 HE. A fully assembled model costs $214 if bought as part of the Kickstarter, and there's also a bare-bones model available without switches or keycaps for $194.Compared to traditional mechanical switches, Hall effect switches are notable for being analog and thus able to tell the difference between a slight and full press of each key. So with the Q1 HE, you can take advantage of this by customizing how far you want to press each key before it actuates, and there's also a rapid trigger" feature that's able to register a keypress the second you re-press a key - rather than having to lift up past the reset... Continue reading...

Philips Hue's Festavia lights can add festive cheer during the holidays or really any time of the year. | Image: Phillips Hue Whether you want to outshine your neighbors with the best light display or simply bring some holiday cheer into your home, Philips Hue's Festavia string lights can help you do both. And right now, Amazon Prime members can buy the 65-foot string lights, which feature 250 color-changing LEDs, on sale for $186.99 ($33 off) when they clip the on-page coupon. The 130-foot string features double the number of smart LEDs and is also on sale when you buy it with the Hue Bridge directly from Philips Hue for $314.99 ($104.99 off) - a discount you'll see at checkout after separately adding both to your cart. You can also buy it without the Hue Bridge from Amazon for $305.99 ($54 off) when you clip the on-page coupon.With their gorgeous colors and... Continue reading...

Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life. | Republic Pictures It's a Wonderful Life culminates the disembodied spirit of Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey realizing the value of his life after seeing how his friends and family would suffer if he wasn't around. It's a Wonderful Life's celebration of the human spirit is a big part of why it's become a holiday classic, but everything about sleep app Calm's latest project inspired by It's a Wonderful Life feels kind of antithetical to the movie's story.Through a Variety report, Calm today announced the launch of It's a Wonderful Sleep Story." It's a heartwarming new holiday tale" based on director Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life and will star the AI-generated voice of Jimmy Stewart, who has been dead for 26 years. Stewart's modern-day voice acting... Continue reading...

Image: Apple The universe of Foundation is set to expand. Apple announced that the sci-fi streaming series, based on the classic stories by Isaac Asimov, will be coming back for a third season. There aren't many details yet on what to expect - or when to expect it - but in a statement, showrunner David S. Goyer had this to say:

Illustration: The Verge Google's Files app is testing a handy new upgrade that could make finding documents on your phone a lot easier. As first spotted by Android Police, the app's listing on the Google Play Store says it's testing a new Smart Search capability you can use to search for images and PDFs based on what's in them.With the Smart Search feature turned on, Google says you can search for the text and images inside PDFs. That means if you're searching for a restaurant menu you know you've saved on your phone, you should be able to find it by typing in the restaurant's name if it's included in the document. Files is also testing the ability to search for photos based on the objects pictured within them as well as the locations where they were taken.... Continue reading...

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is detailing a number of new features coming to its Copilot service soon, including OpenAI's latest models. Copilot will get support for GPT-4 Turbo soon, alongside an updated DALL-E 3 model, a new code interpreter feature, and deep search functionality inside Bing.Copilot will soon be able to respond using OpenAI's latest GPT-4 Turbo model, which essentially means it will see" more data thanks to a 128K context window. This larger context window will allow Copilot to better understand queries and offer better responses. This model is currently being tested with select users and will be widely integrated into Copilot in the coming weeks," explains Yusuf Medhi, EVP and consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft. ... Continue reading...

Illustration by The Verge | Photo by IBM What's a qubit? Are quantum computers useful yet? And how wrong was Ant-Man, anyway? Continue reading...

Screenshots of Beeper Mini's contact list, chat interface, and reactions. | Image: Beeper Earlier this year, a developer slid into Eric Migicovsky's DMs with a spectacular claim: that he had reverse engineered Apple's iMessage, allowing any device - Android, Windows, whatever - to send messages as a blue bubble. Migicovsky didn't believe what he was reading.I said, Bullshit, no one has done that. No one on earth has done that,'" said Migicovsky, CEO of the messaging startup Beeper. He'd tried to do it himself, and he'd messaged everyone he could find who'd ever gotten close. No one had put all the pieces together."But now there was this developer in his DMs - a 16-year-old high school student, of all people - linking him to a prototype. And it worked.That prototype became the basis for a new Android app, called Beeper... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber launched a new Store Pickup" feature for holiday procrastinators who may be in need of a little extra help with their gift distribution.For a fee, customers can request an Uber courier pick up a purchased item from a store to be delivered to a recipient of their choosing. Customers must upload the item's receipt in order to authorize the courier's pickup.The item has to be less than $200 and weigh less than 30 lbsThe item has to be less than $200 and weigh less than 30 lbs - so there are some limitations to what Uber will allow. Prohibited items are, well, prohibited. And customers can track the item live in the Uber app.Store Pickup can be accessed through the Uber Connect feature in the app, which also offers same-day... Continue reading...

Image: Ford Ford may be dialing back some of its larger EV investments, but it's still operating under the assumption that a lot of businesses will be interested in electrifying their fleets eventually. The company is partnering with Xcel Energy to install 30,000 EV charging ports for fleet customers by 2030, at little to no cost to the businesses to the businesses themselves.The project will be run out of Ford Pro, which is the automaker's commercial vehicle and software division. The first EV charger installations will begin in the first quarter of 2024 in two states, Wisconsin and Colorado, and later will grow to include more states, said Amanda Rome, executive vice president and chief customer officer at Xcel Energy.We need an all hands on... Continue reading...

EVgo General Motors, along with its partners EVgo and Pilot Travel Centers, announced that the first new stations of its coast-to-coast" EV charging network will open before the end of the year.The companies announced the opening of 17 stations today. Before the end of the year, at least 25 stations will be open, with around 100 charging stalls in total. Some of the stalls will have DC fast-charging capacities of 350kW, which can deliver more than 200 miles of range in just 10 minutes.That seems like a modest number of chargers, but keep in mind that GM, EVgo, and Pilot Flying J anticipate installing at least 2,000 charging stations over the next few years. The companies said they expect to install 200 more EV charging stations by the... Continue reading...

The OnePlus 12 in its three colors. | Image: OnePlus OnePlus has officially launched the OnePlus 12 in China, and its highest-specced model comes with more RAM than I had in my desktop gaming PC until very recently. Although the flagship smartphone's base model comes with 12GB of RAM alongside 256GB of storage, opting for the highest-end version gets Chinese buyers 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. OnePlus is yet to confirm configurations when it launches internationally in early 2024."The phone's RAM isn't the only eye-catching spec. Charging speeds are also speedy, with support for 100W wired fast charging and 50W wireless charging (a feature that was missing entirely from the OnePlus 11). Based on our experience with the previous OnePlus 11, that 100W fast charging is likely to... Continue reading...

Image: Kino Halide cofounder Ben Sandofsky has a message for everyone who's asked if video capture will be added to the popular iPhone photography app: Never." Lux, the development team behind Halide, is instead working on Kino - a new, dedicated video capture app for iPhones that aims to provide professional recording features now that Apple supports log video encoding. Its release is scheduled for February... if all goes as planned.Just as the Halide photography app was released in 2017 to coincide with Apple adding RAW support for iPhone, Kino's development was prompted by Apple announcing support for log video encoding in September, a format that allows more detail to be preserved for post-production color grading. In Sandofsky's own words,... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge From mid-December, Instagram and Facebook's messaging services will no longer be cross-compatible, according to a pair of Meta support pages quietly updated. Once the feature is discontinued, you won't be able to start new cross-platform chats, and existing conversations between services will go into read-only mode. It's unclear exactly when the pages were updated, but the Instagram version carried the notice as of at least November 21st.A Meta spokesperson confirmed the change in a statement given to The Verge. A few years ago, we introduced a new Messenger experience in Instagram DMs which enabled people to message and call a FB account (Messenger) from an Instagram account and vice versa," spokesperson Alex Dziedzan said. Starting... Continue reading...