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Updated 2024-11-26 22:45
Snapchat’s new parental controls aim to protect minors from sensitive content
Snapchat’s latest safety feature allows parents to filter out sensitive content on their children’s devices. | Image: Snapchat Snapchat has rolled out new parental Content Controls to help prevent minors from being exposed to potentially inappropriate content while using the app. Announced on Tuesday, parents and guardians can now access new content filtering capabilities through Snapchat’s Family Center supervision tool to block “sensitive or suggestive” content from appearing on their child’s Snapchat Stories or Spotlight feed.The feature can be enabled by selecting “Restrict Sensitive Content” within the Family Center settings. Snap notes that enabling the feature won’t restrict the content your child can view elsewhere on the app outside of Snapchat’s Stories and Spotlight sections, such as Chat, Snaps, and Search.Snapchat has publically released its... Continue reading…
Is Nothing behind mysterious new ‘Particles by XO’ earbuds?
Leaked images of the supposed ‘Particles by XO’ earbuds. | Image: 91Mobiles A new Bluetooth SIG listing has 91Mobiles and us speculating whether Nothing could be involved in a second true wireless earbuds brand. By itself the listing isn’t anything interesting. It’s for an unnamed pair of wireless earphones with the model number B154 running the Bluetooth 5.2 standard. But that model number, B154, previously appeared in a December report from 91Mobiles which said they’ll be sold under the name “Particles by XO,” though it’s unclear whether this refers to the earbuds themselves (Particles?), the subbrand (XO?), or some combination of the two.Yes, Nothing is just about to launch a successor to its Nothing Ear 1 earbuds on March 22nd. But those earbuds reportedly use the model number B155, which appears in a s... Continue reading…
Biden administration reportedly demanding that TikTok sell or face a ban
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge TikTok is facing a direct challenge to its continued operations in the US. The Biden administration is reportedly demanding that TikTok be sold off from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a potential ban. The demand was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and later by The New York Times.The White House’s threat is an escalation from the limited bans and pending legislation that have been bubbling up for some time. In late February, the Biden administration said federal agencies would have 30 days to remove TikTok from government devices, and similar restrictions have spread across dozens of US states.A bill introduced earlier this month would give the secretary of Commerce the ability to prohibit foreign companies... Continue reading…
Match Group’s CEO says he spent $50K in three months on Clash of Clans
Illustration: The Verge Have you ever spent money on microtransactions or in-game items and then regretted it? Bernard Kim, CEO of Match Group, has. During a talk at New Street Research’s online dating summit, he dropped this anecdote while talking about mobile games (emphasis mine):
Police take down ChipMixer service tied to stolen crypto from FTX, Axie Infinity hacks
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge ChipMixer, a cryptocurrency mixing service with ties to the hacks targeting FTX and Axie Infinity, has been pulled offline by the FBI, Europol, and other international authorities. In a press release published Wednesday, the Justice Department says authorities seized $46 million worth of cryptocurrency along with the service’s domains and GitHub account.Crypto mixing services like ChipMixer make it more difficult for third parties, such as law enforcement, to trace crypto transactions, as they funnel different payments into a single pool of crypto before splitting up each amount and sending them to designated recipients. According to law enforcement, unlike crypto services registered to operate in the US, it naturally didn’t collect... Continue reading…
The Silicon Valley Bank fallout is just beginning
The girls are fightinggggggg. | Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The Verge Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week, a lot of companies and entrepreneurs have been making the flight to — at least perceived — safety. That means the biggest banks have been getting more deposits: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo.“Everyone is asking, ‘Where should we bank? Where is it safe to bank?’” Ryan Gilbert, founder of Launchpad Capital, told Silicon Valley Business Journal. “When you think you bank with the safest bank in your ecosystem, and they disappeared overnight, you realize it’s impossible to predict an earthquake.” He moved his account to Chase.“Where should we bank? Where is it safe to bank?”Startups such as Brex, Mercury, and Meow have also benefited. Brex specializes in... Continue reading…
Best printer 2023: just buy this Brother laser printer everyone has, it’s fine
The Brother HL-L2305DW is a laser printer that just prints. It is fine. | Image: Brother Here’s the best printer in 2023: the Brother laser printer that everyone has. Stop thinking about it and just buy one. It will be fine!Seriously, ask around or just look in the background of Zoom calls: there’s a black Brother laser printer sitting there. Some people have the bare-bones Brother HL-L2305DW, which costs like $120. We have the $270 Brother MFC-L2750DW, which adds a sheet-fed scanner, because my wife is a lawyer and scans things for judges or whatever she does with it. It doesn’t matter. We only bought that one to replace our previous Brother laser printer that we lost in a move, and even then, I didn’t even look at the model numbers. It has been connected to our Wi-Fi for like six years straight, and I have never replaced... Continue reading…
Google Glass Enterprise Edition is no more
Image: Google Google Glass largely went off sale to consumers in 2015, and Google has since been focusing on how the headset could be useful for businesses and developers. But even those efforts have come to an end. The company is no longer selling Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2, Google spokesperson Patrick Seybold told The Verge. A help document spotted by 9to5Google says the company will end support for the AR headset on September 15th.According to the company, the devices should still work after that date, but it’s not planning on releasing any software updates. The support cutoff also extends to the built-in Meet app and repair service. “The app may stop working at any time after September 15, 2023,” warns Google’s support page, before saying... Continue reading…
SpaceX Starlink rolls out $200 per month ‘global’ satellite internet package
Image: Thomas Ricker / The Verge Last summer, we reviewed Starlink RV, a version of the satellite internet service that promised users access from pretty much anywhere on their continent. Now, it has been rebranded as Starlink Roam, available in either a regional access flavor for $150 per month or for global use anywhere the service is available for $200 per month.As with the RV package, users can choose either a portable antenna for $599 or one intended for in-motion use for $2,500. Previously, you could only travel with Starlink’s satellite dish (nicknamed Dishy) within the same continent.
You can play with Microsoft’s Bing GPT-4 chatbot right now, no waitlist necessary
Illustration: The Verge Microsoft appears to have removed the waitlist for its new Bing Chat feature, so now anyone can sign up and use the GPT-4-powered chatbot. Windows Central spotted that if you try and sign up for the new Bing, it will simply unlock immediately. The Verge has tested this on multiple Microsoft accounts, and access was granted immediately with an email confirmation.If you want to try and get access to the new Bing, then head over to bing.com/new and hit the “join waitlist” button and sign in with your Microsoft Account. You should get access immediately.We asked Microsoft whether it has fully removed the waitlist or if it’s a bug, and communications director Caitlin Roulston said, “During this preview period, we are running various tests... Continue reading…
Belkin’s smart home brand Wemo is backing away from Matter
Wemo’s smart home light switches work well... but now only with HomeKit. | Image: Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Wemo, Belkin’s smart home company, has paused development of Matter smart home devices. In an email exchange, Jen Wei, Vice President of Global Communications and Corporate Development at Belkin, confirmed that, while the company remains convinced that “Matter will have a significantly positive impact on the smart home industry,” it has decided to “take a big step back, regroup, and rethink’’ its approach to the smart home. Wei went on to write that Wemo will bring new Matter products to market when it can find a way to differentiate them. It seems like Wemo might be concerned its smart home gear is becoming commoditized.During CES 2022, Wemo announced it would bring Thread-compatible, Matter-compliant products to market when that new... Continue reading…
It’s on sight between Ali Wong and Steven Yeun in Beef’s first trailer
Ali Wong as Amy Lau and Steven Yeun as Danny Cho in Beef. | Netflix For many people, the waves of rage that take hold whenever someone cuts them off in traffic come as quickly as they go, but that could not be further from the truth for the aggrieved strangers in the first trailer for Netflix and A24’s upcoming series Beef from Lee Sung Jin starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun.Before the pair first meets one fateful day, neither Danny Cho (Yeun) nor Amy Lau (Wong) have any way of knowing just how hopeless, burned out, and adrift the other is feeling about their personal lives. Though Amy seemingly has it all — a loving husband named George (Joseph Lee), kids, and a beautiful home — she can’t help but feel there’s something deeply important missing in her life that her family can’t fix. Danny, a contractor... Continue reading…
Here’s the new spacesuit that astronauts will wear when they return to the Moon
Photo by Mark Felix / AFP via Getty Images NASA has revealed the new spacesuit that astronauts will wear to explore the Moon under the Artemis program. Created by Axiom Space, the new suit is designed to improve mobility for astronauts working on the lunar surface.Developed for the Artemis III mission, which will see the first woman and person of color walking on the Moon, the prototype suit was revealed at an event on Wednesday, March 15th. The prototype includes a dark gray cover, which was designed by costume designer Esther Marquis, who worked on the TV series For All Mankind, but the actual suit will be white for thermal reasons.The prototype includes a dark gray cover, which was designed by costume designer Esther Marquis, who worked on the TV series For All Mankind“... Continue reading…
OpenAI co-founder on company’s past approach to openly sharing research: ‘We were wrong’
Image: OpenAI Yesterday, OpenAI announced GPT-4, its long-awaited next-generation AI language model. The system’s capabilities are still being assessed, but as researchers and experts pore over its accompanying materials, many have expressed disappointment at one particular feature: that despite the name of its parent company, GPT-4 is not an open AI model.OpenAI has shared plenty of benchmark and test results for GPT-4, as well as some intriguing demos, but has offered essentially no information on the data used to train the system, its energy costs, or the specific hardware or methods used to create it.Should AI research be open or closed? Experts disagreeMany in the AI community have criticized this decision, noting that it undermines the... Continue reading…
How to choose between the AirPods Pro and Beats Fit Pro
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Apple’s second-gen AirPods Pro outperform the Beats in sound quality and noise cancellation, but the Beats Fit Pro have some strengths of their own — especially if you’ve got an Android phone. Continue reading…
How data centers at public pools can keep swimmers warm
Deep Green CEO Mark Bjornsgaard. | Image: Deep Green Installing a mini data center could become a more sustainable way to heat public swimming pools in the UK. One data center, which is roughly the size of a laundry machine, has already been installed underneath a swimming pool in Devon County. Seven more similar setups are in the works across the UK, BBC News reports.It’s a practical partnership that helps the pools and data centers solve expensive technical problems. Since most of the electricity computers consume is eventually released as heat, data centers need to cool down their hardware. Public pools need to heat themselves up but face skyrocketing energy costs that have pushed many pools in the UK to close.“We see that supply and demand as two sides of the same coin.”“We see that... Continue reading…
Oura is adding chronotypes to its smart ring, but without the cute animals
The smart ring is adding a number of features that center around circadian rhythms. | Image: Victoria Song / The Verge Over the past year, wearable makers have started adding sleep profiles, or chronotypes, associated with cute cartoon animals to help users better understand their circadian rhythms. For instance, Fitbit Premium users can discover whether their wonky sleep patterns mean they’re a giraffe or a tortoise, while Samsung Galaxy Watch owners can find out whether they’re a sun-averse mole or a nervous penguin. So it’s hardly a surprise that the feature is now coming to the Oura Ring sleep tracker — though, regrettably, it doesn’t come with any adorable animals. Image: Oura The new body clock feature will tell you how well your sleep habits align with your chronotype’s “optimal” schedule. Starting this week, Oura users... Continue reading…
Apple’s second-gen Magic Trackpad hits its best price in months
Apple’s second-gen Magic Trackpad is $25 off. | Image: Sean O’Kane / The Verge Happy hump day, readers! We’ve got a few good deals today to help you power through the midweek slump. First up, Apple’s white Magic Trackpad is on sale for $103.99 ($25 off) at Amazon and Target, which is the best discount we’ve seen this year. The trackpad offers a wide glass surface so you can more comfortably scroll through websites on your Mac, iPad, or even Windows device. At the same time, the trackpad is so much more than just a very spacious extra mouse but is an accessory that also allows you to perform additional time-saving actions. That’s thanks to support for customizable gesture controls and Apple’s Force Touch technology, so you can, say, use your fingers to quickly zoom into an article or simply hard-click on an address... Continue reading…
Zipline’s new drones release tethered mini-drones for precision package deliveries
Zipline’s P2 Zip drone can dock at a partnered facility to charge and let down a “droid” for workers to drop a package into. | Image: Zipline Zipline is revealing its new drone delivery platform today that the company says is capable of making a 10-mile delivery in 10 minutes, precisely placing packages on small targets like a patio table or the front steps of a home.The new drone, which Zipline calls the Platform 2 (P2) Zip, uses a system of wires that lets down the package inside a cute little mini-bus-looking container the company describes as a “delivery droid.” The P2 Zip hovers more than 300 feet above the ground at the delivery point, keeping its blades and noise away from people (and trees and wires and buildings) to let down its tethered droid instead.The droid has the ability to steer with propellers as it’s coming down, then lands and softly drops its payload.... Continue reading…
Enter the Gungeon heads to actual arcades with this slick cabinet
Image: Devolver Digital You might finally be able to play Devolver Digital’s Enter the Gungeon arcade cabinet at your local arcade sometime soon. House of the Gundead, a light gun arcade game set in the Enter the Gungeon that was first announced in 2019, is set to hit a handful of arcades in “the coming weeks,” Devolver announced on Wednesday.Based on Devolver’s description, it seems like House of the Gundead will mix Enter the Gungeon’s roguelike action with arcade light gun shooting. “Explore and explode your way through an ever-evolving series of procedurally generated floors protected by the dangerously endearing Cult of the Gundead,” Devolver wrote in a press release. “Discover uniquely fantastic weapons, wild power-ups, and hidden secrets as you gun down... Continue reading…
Microsoft is bringing Minecraft to Chromebooks
Image: Mojang Microsoft is launching an early access version of Minecraft: Bedrock Edition on ChromeOS today. The game will run on Chromebooks thanks to the Android support of ChromeOS, and Minecraft will include cross-device play with friends, the marketplace, and support for playing on Realms.Mojang, the Microsoft-owned developer of Minecraft, originally launched Minecraft: Education Edition on Chromebooks in 2020, but this special edition required a school license or an Office 365 Education account. The early access version of Minecraft that’s launching today is limited to Chromebooks that meet these minimum specifications.“Early access means that in this first stage, only selected Chromebook devices that meet the minimum requirements will get... Continue reading…
LinkedIn is adding AI tools for generating profile copy and job descriptions
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge LinkedIn is expanding its suite of artificial intelligence features, this time adding tools that will generate content for user profiles and job descriptions.One tool announced today will scan user profiles for skills and experiences and spit out suggested copy or summaries to add to other profile sections. The company says it still recommends users review and edit what the tool has generated “to ensure it is accurate and aligns with your tone and experience.” LinkedIn will begin testing the tool starting today and expand access to all LinkedIn Premium subscribers over the course of the next few months.Another employment tool promises to make writing job descriptions “faster and easier” and “streamline” the hiring process. Employers... Continue reading…
The BlackBerry trailer shows the rise and fall of the keyboard phone
Image: IFC Films This one’s for the BBMers and email enthusiasts — BlackBerry, an upcoming movie about the eponymous phone, has gotten a trailer. It stars Jay Baruchel (possibly best known for his role as Hiccup in the How To Train Your Dragon series), Glenn Howerton (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and Matt Johnson, who’s also directing the project.It looks like the movie will cover how the keyboard phone became the de facto business communicator and how it ended up losing to the smartphone. Perhaps one of the saddest shots in the trailer is Johnson’s Doug and Baruchel’s Mike Lazaridis watching Steve Jobs announce the iPhone, but there’s also a surprising amount of screaming and smashing phones as the characters work to get their company off the... Continue reading…
Ghostwire: Tokyo is coming to Xbox in April
Image: Bethesda Softworks Bethesda’s Ghostwire: Tokyo, which is equal parts action-packed and creepy, is finally coming to Xbox consoles soon. The developer announced that the game will be available on the Xbox Series X / S, as well as Xbox Game Pass, starting on April 12th. Ghostwire originally debuted last year on both the PS5 and PC.In addition to the new platform, Ghostwire is also getting a major free update called “Spider’s Thread,” which will similarly be available starting on April 12th on all platforms.It includes a few additions. First, there’s a new game mode focused on action, where players can fight through a gauntlet of enemies that includes more than 120 different levels, collecting upgrades along the way. For the main campaign, there will be... Continue reading…
What’s new with GPT-4 — from processing pictures to acing tests
Illustration: The Verge OpenAI’s latest language model, GPT-4, has officially been announced, but what can it do that its predecessors couldn’t? Here are some of the biggest features and use cases to emerge so far. Continue reading…
Carrot Weather update introduces snarky chatbot based on ChatGPT
Image: Carrot Weather / Brian Mueller Carrot Weather, the forecasting app best known for its amusing (and often sassy) weather updates, has introduced a ChatGPT-based chatbot that allows users to chat directly with the app’s irreverent personality using as much profanity as they can stand. Releasing globally today on iOS, version 5.10 of Carrot also expands its high-quality radar maps, notifications, and weather alerts to more countries.You can ask the new Carrot chatbot for weather updates — which it’ll provide with the app’s usual scalding insults — alongside more recreational interactions we’ve come to expect from ChatGPT’s generational AI, such as asking the bot to play a text-based adventure game or write a script for a crime drama. Users who find the chatbot’s... Continue reading…
T-Mobile is buying Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile for up to $1.35 billion
T-Mobile is buying Mint Mobile, the budget-friendly mobile carrier that’s partially owned by Ryan Reynolds. In a post published on Wednesday, T-Mobile announced that the deal’s valued at up to $1.35 billion and comes as T-Mobile looks to build out its prepaid phone offering.The acquisition should close later this year and involves a 39 percent cash and 61 percent stock purchase of Mint’s parent company, Ka’ena Corporation. The price could change, however, as it depends on Mint’s performance.
Microsoft signs fourth Call of Duty deal in fresh bid to win over regulators
Image: Activision Microsoft has signed a fourth deal for Call of Duty access with Ubitus, a white-label cloud gaming service that has helped many publishers stream their games to Nintendo Switch. This latest deal comes just a day after Microsoft signed a similar 10-year deal with Boosteroid to bring Xbox PC games and Activision Blizzard titles like Call of Duty to the cloud gaming service.Ubitus, a Taiwan-based cloud gaming provider, has been quietly using its technology to bring big games to the Nintendo Switch and elsewhere over the past decade. The supernatural thriller Control arrived on the Nintendo Switch in 2020 thanks to Ubitus, and both Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Resident Evil 7 run on Ubitus’ cloud gaming streaming technology.
Garmin Forerunner 265S review: the Goldilocks of running watches
For once, there’s practically no tradeoff between an always-on OLED display and long battery life. Continue reading…
Samsung responds to fake Moon controversy
A Samsung smartphone identified a blurry photo of the Moon and added detail to create the above image. | Image: u/ibreakphotos Samsung has published an English-language blog post explaining the techniques used by its phones to photograph the Moon. The post’s content isn’t exactly new — it appears to be a lightly edited translation of an article posted in Korean last year — and doesn’t offer much new detail on the process. But, because it’s an official translation, we can more closely scrutinize its explanation of what Samsung’s image processing technology is doing.The explanation is a response to a viral Reddit post that showed in stark terms just how much extra detail Samsung’s camera software is adding to images when taking a photo of what appears to be the Moon. These criticisms aren’t new (Input published a lengthy piece about Samsung’s moon photography in... Continue reading…
Music and gaming continue to merge as producer BloodPop announces studio
BloodPop with Lady Gaga at the 2023 Oscars. | Image: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images The confluence of gaming and music continues as BloodPop — a producer known for working with the likes of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé — has announced a new game studio. Called Genpop Interactive, the studio’s ambitious goal is to “drive forward the next-gen of music, fashion, and gaming culture.”To start, the studio — which currently has a headcount of more than 25 developers — will be making a “third person shooter with novel movement and combat mechanics.” The studio’s first round of investors includes Ed Fries, co-creator of the original Xbox, and Japanese entertainment firm Good Smile Company. There aren’t really any other details, but in a statement, BloodPop said that the goal is to move beyond gaming and tap into broader pop culture:
Samsung’s midrange A-series phones get a Galaxy S23 facelift
The Samsung Galaxy A34 (left) and A54 (right). | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge Samsung’s Galaxy A34 and A54 are the latest additions to its popular midrange A-series. Although both phones offer a number of upgrades over last year’s models, the most striking thing for me is how much they both look like this year’s Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus.The camera bumps of the A33 and A53 are gone, leaving three simple camera lenses per phone in their wake. It makes both look more premium to me, and Samsung is promising flagship-level support periods of up to four generations of major Android updates and five years of security patches.The Galaxy A54 will go on sale on April 6th in the US starting at $449.99 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. In the UK the A54 is releasing this month starting at £449 for 8GB of RAM and... Continue reading…
Three months later, Epic is still silent about free ‘Unreal Tournament 3 X’
Image: Epic Games Remember when I told you how Epic Games accidentally revealed a new version of 2007’s Unreal Tournament 3 that would be completely free on Steam, EGS and GOG with “no microtransactions and no strings attached?” That was three months ago. Unreal Tournament 3 X still hasn’t been announced, and the company still declines to confirm or deny whether it’s happening at all.“Thank you for checking in. We have no new information to share on this,” Epic Games comms director Dana Cowley tells The Verge.As of this writing, an extensive description of the unreleased Unreal Tournament 3 X still appears on Steam. I check almost daily, and I don’t think the page has changed at all in the past three months. The game’s apparently been in the works... Continue reading…
Google-backed Anthropic launches Claude, an AI chatbot that’s easier to talk to
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company founded by ex-OpenAI employees, has launched its AI chatbot, Claude. While the tool does much of what OpenAI’s ChatGPT can, Anthropic says its early clients report the tool’s “less likely to produce harmful outputs” and is “easier to converse with.”Like OpenAI, Anthropic also has big tech backing: Google invested $300 million into Anthropic in February. The company’s chatbot — similar to ChatGPT — can provide summaries, answer questions, provide assistance with writing, and generate code. You can also tweak the chatbot’s tone, personality, and behavior, which sounds a bit more comprehensive than the “creative, balanced, and precise” settings Bing’s chatbot offers.
Will you be the bearer of Magic: The Gathering’s One Ring?
Image: Wizards of the Coast I’m usually immune to the charms of Magic: The Gathering’s special crossover sets (although the Bob Ross lands collection almost got me). But this Lord of the Rings-themed collection has pretty much obliterated all of my willpower because these cards are. so. frigging. cool!I love seeing Frodo and Sam and Aragorn and Arwen rendered in cards that pay homage to their personalities and their big hero moments in the story. I think it’s really clever that Sam’s card, Samwise the Stouthearted, can be flashed in at any time and will return a dead creature to the battlefield, just like when he showed up to rescue Frodo from Shelob’s clutches. Image: Wizards of the Coast The card for Tom Bombadil — who is either whimsical... Continue reading…
Waze is adding electric vehicle charging stations to its route planning tool
Image: Waze Electric vehicle owners who prefer Waze to other navigation tools, rejoice: the Google-owned company is adding EV charging stations to its route planning tools in an effort to improve the experience for plug seekers.Starting today, Waze users can input their vehicle information into the app, as well as their preferred plug type, and Waze will find the nearest stations along their route. The feature will roll out to users globally in the “coming weeks,” the company says. (How it will work at launch is up for debate: some users were reporting being routed to gas stations instead of EV chargers.) Waze briefly trialed adding EV chargers to its route planning tool back in 2021 in partnership with Volkswagen. But that trial... Continue reading…
Microsoft Build 2023 kicks off on May 23rd
Illustration: The Verge Microsoft Build is back, and this time, it’s taking place both digitally and in person from Seattle, Washington. The company has officially announced that its annual developer conference will start on May 23rd and last through May 25th, with pre-day workshops starting on the 22nd.Last year, Microsoft held a virtual and more limited in-person event due to the covid pandemic. While Build presents an opportunity for developers, students, engineers, engineers, and technology professionals to learn more about Microsoft products, it’s also where Microsoft shares major updates for Windows and its suite of productivity apps.
Samsung’s Moon photos are fake — but so is a lot of mobile photography
The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera system is at the center of the recent Moon-gate controversy. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Samsung’s faked Moon photos are a small step for smartphone photography — not a giant leap. Continue reading…
Fitbitusers are mad, and Google’s solution won’t help
Increasing accessibility is always good, but so is fixing the issues your customers have been complaining about. | Image: The Verge Fitbit users haven’t been too pleased as of late, but while there’s a lot that Google could do to make things better, its latest announcement ain’t it.At its The Check Up event earlier today, Google announced it’s opening up more of Fitbit’s Health Metrics Dashboard to nonsubscribers. The company says that any user with a compatible device — aka a Pixel Watch or Fitbit device — will be able to view their daily, weekly, monthly, and 90-day trends for breathing rate, heart rate variability, skin temperature, oxygen saturation, and resting heart rate. Nonsubscribers will also get personalized insights whenever their data deviates from their long-term baselines.It’s always nice to see companies add extra value to free tiers. That said,... Continue reading…
Lexus’ first electric vehicle, the RZ 450e, starts at under $60,000
Image: Lexus Toyota has been criticized for being slow to release its first dedicated electric vehicle, but one could argue that the delay has given the world’s largest automaker ample time to survey the competition as it sets its own plans into motion. Today, the company’s luxury brand Lexus announced pricing details for its first EV, the RZ 450e, and as you can see, it’s a lot less than most other luxury EVs currently out there.The RZ 450e comes in two trim levels: Premium and Luxury. The Premium version with all-wheel drive and 18-inch wheels starts at $59,650, including delivery charges, while the 20-inch variant starts at $60,890. The Luxury trim with AWD starts at $65,150.That’s significantly less than a lot of the competition, like the BMW... Continue reading…
Reddit has been down for more than an hour
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Reddit is currently experiencing a big outage affecting its websites and apps, according to the company’s status page. I’m consistently seeing an error message when trying to load Reddit on my Chrome browser.“We’ve identified an internal systems issue and are working to determine a fix,” the company wrote at 12:56PM ET on its status page. The preceding message, from nearly 40 minutes before, notes that Reddit is “is currently offline.”
Hyper Light Breaker’s first gameplay trailer teases a beautiful, action-packed roguelike
Hyper Light Breaker, Heart Machine’s 3D action-adventure follow-up to indie hit Hyper Light Drifter, got a thrilling new gameplay trailer on Tuesday and a fall 2023 release window for early access availability on Steam.Hyper Light Drifter is renowned for its challenging 2D action that smartly juggles melee and ranged combat, and Breaker looks like it will carry over that finely tuned action into a much more expansive experience. Unlike Drifter, which was a 2D game in a set game world, Breaker is a roguelike that takes place in both handcrafted and procedurally generated environments. However, like Drifter, you’ll be able to play Breaker with a friend.Based on the trailer, the art design in Hyper Light Breaker looks awesome, with lots... Continue reading…
Floating solar panels could completely power thousands of cities
Floating solar panels in Hapcheon, Gyeongsangnam-do province, South Korea, on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. More than 92,000 solar panels floating on the surface of a reservoir are able to generate 41 megawatts, enough to power 20,000 homes. | Image: SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg via Getty Images Thousands of cities around the world could power themselves entirely with solar panels floating atop water reservoirs, according to new research. It’s a relatively easy way to generate renewable energy locally while also conserving water.Solar arrays suspended over water, or floatovoltaics, work similarly to those spread out over land. The panels sit on a raft instead of on parking lots, rooftops, or other grounded mounts. But they haven’t been deployed in many places around the world yet and only produced as much electricity as less than 1 percent of the world’s land-based solar farms in 2020. Now, a new study published in the journal Nature Sustainability shows just how much potential cities could tap into with this emerging... Continue reading…
The Bing AI bot has been secretly running GPT-4
Illustration: The Verge OpenAI just announced its next-generation GPT-4 AI language model, but it turns out that there’s already been a major application using it: Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing.“We are happy to confirm that the new Bing is running on GPT-4, customized for search,” according to a blog post from Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s head of consumer marketing. “If you’ve used the new Bing in preview at any time in the last six weeks, you’ve already had an early look at the power of OpenAI’s latest model.”The AI-powered Bing chatbot provides summarized answers to your search queries in a way that’s intended to feel more conversational than a list of blue links. Microsoft has previously said that the new Bing is powered by what it called the “Prometheus” model,... Continue reading…
The System Shock remake is (hopefully) finally coming on May 30th
Citadel Station looks as colorful as ever. | Image: Nightdive Studios The long, long-awaited System Shock remake has gotten a firm release date: May 30th. Developer Nightdive Studios announced the news this morning, confirming the game will arrive on PC through Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store. Following its launch there, it will come to PlayStation 4 and 5 as well as Xbox One and Series X and S “in due course.”The System Shock remake was announced back in 2015, soon after developer Nightdive tracked down the elusive rights to the classic cyberpunk horror series. The game hit a hard speedbump in 2018 and was put on hiatus, but it was resurrected, and we’ve gotten incremental updates over the past few years, most recently a surprise demo in February. The game was given a March release window with no... Continue reading…
How to turn your phone screen to grayscale
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge With the exception of old movies, most of us are used to seeing our screens in full color. However, grayscale — in which you see nothing but black, white, or shades of gray — can be useful, even when it comes to your smartphone.To begin with, people who are intensely colorblind will find a screen that has been switched to grayscale much easier to work with (since otherwise, certain colors can be difficult to distinguish). It may be good for the rest of us as well because grayscale is said to be much easier on the eyes — so using it at night could give your optics a rest. (In addition, forcing all your videos to go grayscale might finally convince you to put down the phone and get some sleep). If used during the day, you might be less... Continue reading…
Pixel 8 Pro renders reveal redesigned camera and a flat display
Image: OnLeaks and Smartprix Google’s upcoming Pixel 8 Pro may have a redesigned camera bar and a flat display, according to new renders of the unannounced device from OnLeaks and Smartprix.The most noticeable change to the camera bar is that all three cameras will be visible in one big oval cutout instead of being partially separated like they are on the Pixel 7 Pro. Per the renders, the 8 Pro’s camera bar will also have a mysterious new sensor under the flash. Smartprix speculates that the sensor could be a macro or depth sensor but says that its “specific function remains unknown.” Image: OnLeaks and Smartprix If you look closely, you can see a second oval for what’s presumably the wide and ultrawide. As for the Pixel 8 Pro’s screen,... Continue reading…
The Pixel Fold is reportedly coming in June
Image: OnLeaks and HowToiSolve The Google Pixel Fold could be available as soon as the second week in June, according to WinFuture’s Roland Quandt. The reliable leaker tweeted on Tuesday that the phone will come with 256GB base storage and that you’ll be able to get it in either a black / dark gray color or white.The foldable has been rumored for a long time, and there have been whispers that it would be announced sometime in the next few months. However, a January report from The Elec threw some cold water on that idea, saying that the screen wasn’t even set to go into production until July or August.
OpenAI announces GPT-4 — the next generation of itsAIlanguage model
Illustration: The Verge After months of rumors and speculation, OpenAI has announced GPT-4: the latest in its line of AI language models that power applications like ChatGPT and the new Bing.The company claims the model is “more creative and collaborative than ever before” and “can solve difficult problems with greater accuracy.” It can parse both text and image input, though it can only respond via text. OpenAI also cautions that the systems retain many of the same problems as earlier language models, including a tendency to make up information (or “hallucinate”) and the capacity to generate violent and harmful text.OpenAI says it’s already partnered with a number of companies to integrate GPT-4 into their products, including Duolingo, Stripe, and Khan... Continue reading…
Apple added refurbished iPhone 13 models to its online store
The refurbished base iPhone 13 Pro‌ model starts at $759 rather than $999, its original price when sold new. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge One of the best things about new Apple phones is how quickly prices on older models start to fall shortly after. If you’ve been waiting for a good deal to drop on the iPhone 13 lineup, you might want to head on over to Apple’s online store because Apple’s just added a bunch of discounted refurbished iPhone 13 devices.In case you’re unfamiliar with what buying refurbished entails — basically, Apple thoroughly cleans, tests, and repackages each preowned product. It also throws in a one-year warranty for extra peace of mind, making these good options for bargain hunters.The best deals are available on the 6.1-inch iPhone 13 Pro and ‌ 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro‌ Max, which Apple no longer sells in new condition. The refurbished base iPhone 13... Continue reading…
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