by Georgina Torbet on (#6KEZF)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images The old fear has come back.' Continue reading...
The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2025-11-04 03:33 |
by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6KEN7)
The Verified Product Security Mark is a new labeling program from the CSA designed to help users easily identify what cybersecurity protections an IoT device has in place. | Image: CSA As useful as connected devices like video doorbells and smart lights are, it's wise to exercise caution when using connected tech in your home, especially after years of reading about security camera hacks, fridge botnet attacks, and smart stoves turning themselves on. But until now, there hasn't been an easy way to assess a product's security chops. A new program from the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), the group behind the smart home standard Matter, wants to fix that.Announced this week, the CSA's IoT Device Security Specification is a baseline cybersecurity standard and certification program that aims to provide a single, globally recognized security certification for consumer IoT devices.Device makers who adhere to the s... Continue reading...
 |
by Wes Davis on (#6KEN8)
Image: The Verge Today, Steam launched Steam Families, an overhaul of its family sharing system. The new system gets rid of limits on how many people can play games from one library, makes buying games for your kids easier, and adds new parental controls and sharing options.Before, you needed to use two different systems - Family Sharing and Family View - if you wanted to share your library but limit which games your kids could play. Also under the old approach, only one person at a time could play a game from another's library. Now - to use Steam's example - if you're playing your copy of Portal 2 and someone else wants to play Half-Life from your library, that's fine. They'll only be booted if you start up Portal 2 while they're playing it from your... Continue reading...
|
by Sean Hollister on (#6KEKJ)
The Blackwell B200 GPU. | Image: Nvidia Nvidia's must-have H100 AI chip made it a multitrillion-dollar company, one that may be worth more than Alphabet and Amazon, and competitors have been fighting to catch up. But perhaps Nvidia is about to extend its lead - with the new Blackwell B200 GPU and GB200 superchip." Image: Nvidia Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang holds up his new GPU on the left, next to an H100 on the right, from the GTC livestream. Nvidia says the new B200 GPU offers up to 20 petaflops of FP4 horsepower from its 208 billion transistors. Also, it says, a GB200 that combines two of those GPUs with a single Grace CPU can offer 30 times the performance for LLM inference workloads while also potentially being substantially more efficient. It... Continue reading...
 |
by Nilay Patel on (#6KEGQ)
Photo by Rick Kern / Getty Images for Vox Media Cyberpunk design has been all the rage for several years now - this very website was once awash in neon colors and hard edges, you might recall - but Figma CEO Dylan Field says he sees glimmers of optimism taking over.
|
 |
The Supreme Court is skeptical of restricting the White House from talking to social media platforms
by Lauren Feiner on (#6KEGR)
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images During oral arguments on Monday, both liberal and conservative justices on the Supreme Court appeared wary of imposing broad limits on how the government can communicate with social media companies about problematic content it thinks should be removed.The case at issue is called Murthy v. Missouri, and it asks the court to determine whether the Biden administration's communications with platforms coerced the companies to take down content, like misinformation about covid vaccines, thereby violating the First Amendment. It also asks the court to consider whether the government's encouragement to take down such posts actually transformed the platforms themselves into state actors.But several justices seemed skeptical of the arguments... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Emma Roth on (#6KEGS)
Photo by Chris Unger / Zuffa LLC via Getty Images YouTuber MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) has struck a deal with Prime Video to host a new reality competition series called Beast Games. The show will have 1,000 contestants competing for a $5 million reward, which the press release claims is the biggest single prize in the history of television and streaming." There aren't any details yet about what kinds of challenges Beast Games contestants will participate in.It's a remarkable turn of events, even for someone who's hosted many similar competitions on his YouTube channel, like recent ones where people from every country competed for $250,000 or a group of people from ages 1 to 100 went head-to-head for $500,000.In 2021, Donaldson made a Squid Game in real life video for his YouTube... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Ash Parrish on (#6KEE1)
A group of gamers has mobilized a harassment campaign against a story consultant company, marginalized developers, and journalists in protest of what they see as forced' diversity in gaming. Continue reading...
|
by Quentyn Kennemer on (#6KEE2)
There aren't many smartphones that can do what the Pixel 8 does at this price. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If you're in need of a solid smartphone upgrade without the bill creeping into mortgage territory, there aren't many better options than the Google Pixel 8. When you can get one for under $500? Even better. The 128GB unlocked model is down to $499 ($200 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store. That's $50 cheaper than the price we saw during Black Friday last year. The 256GB model is also $200 off at those retailers, bringing it down to $559.99. Both are down to the lowest prices we've seen so far.The Pixel 8 is really solid, especially if you're not interested in the gimmicky extras that can bloat the user experience on other devices. Google has optimized the software specifically for its custom Tensor G3 chipset, which offers... Continue reading...
by Tom Warren on (#6KEE3)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft is holding an AI event in the morning on Monday, May 20th - right before Build 2024 starts. In an invite emailed to media, Microsoft says CEO Satya Nadella will talk about the company's AI vision across hardware and software."The event won't be livestreamed and will only be open to journalists who attend the event in person. Microsoft's special event will focus on upcoming Surface hardware and changes to Windows that are all focused on AI. While the software giant is holding a business-focused Surface event later this week, sources familiar with Microsoft's plans tell The Verge that the May 20th event will include the consumer versions of the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6.These consumer Surface devices will run on... Continue reading...
 |
by Gaby Del Valle on (#6KEAW)
Photo by John Moore/Getty Images The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is rolling out three $5 million AI pilot programs across three of its agencies, The New York Times reports. Through partnership with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, DHS will test out AI models to help its agents with a wide array of tasks, including investigating child sex abuse materials, training immigration officials, and creating disaster relief plans.As part of the AI pilot, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will use generative AI to streamline the hazard mitigation planning process for local governments. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) - the agency within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that investigates child exploitation, human trafficking, and drug smuggling -... Continue reading...
|
by Mia Sato on (#6KEAX)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge TikTok is leaning in even more to its app being used like a search engine.Creators making money on the platform will now be paid based in part on how well their content meets what other users are searching for. TikTok calls this metric search value," and it's one of four core elements in determining creator payouts. TikTok announced the change as part of its new monetization program, called Creator Rewards.This metric is the TikTok version of search engine optimization (SEO). One tactic in SEO is keyword research, where publishers make content that aligns with what searchers (the vast majority of whom are using Google) are looking up. On TikTok, search value is whether a creator is posting content that is about topics users are... Continue reading...
 |
by Mia Sato on (#6KEAY)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Today, YouTube announced a way for creators to self-label when their videos contain AI-generated or synthetic material.The checkbox appears in the uploading and posting process, and creators are required to disclose altered or synthetic" content that seems realistic. That includes things like making a real person say or do something they didn't; altering footage of real events and places; or showing a realistic-looking scene" that didn't actually happen. Some examples YouTube offers are showing a fake tornado moving toward a real town or using deepfake voices to have a real person narrate a video.On the other hand, disclosures won't be required for things like beauty filters, special effects like background blur, and clearly... Continue reading...
|
by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6KEAZ)
Rivian owners will be able to charge their electric trucks and SUVs at Tesla Supercharger stations starting today at 9AM PT / 12 PM ET, the company tells The Verge. The news comes after several Rivian owners noticed a software update allowing Supercharger access over the weekend.Rivian was one of the first automakers to announce plans to adopt Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) for its future EVs. For current owners, Rivian will send out a Tesla-made adapter free of charge, much like Ford started doing last month.The adapter will allow Rivian owners to connect Tesla's charging plug into their vehicles' portThe adapter will allow Rivian owners to connect Tesla's charging plug into their vehicles' port. The company's... Continue reading...
 |
by David Nield on (#6KEB0)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Some days away from the home or office can seem like a constant battle against battery life: your phone is dying, your laptop is dying, and your smartwatch is dying. Despite all of the advances we've seen in tech in recent years, battery life doesn't seem to be getting much beyond the standard 24 hours of use for a lot of devices.Limited by the physical restrictions of their hardware, manufacturers are putting battery-saving tweaks into software instead, like the Low Power Mode you'll find on the Apple Watch and the iPhone. These settings can actually make a difference, and they're available on Wear OS, too.In Victoria Song's Pixel Watch 2 review last year, she mentioned being impressed by the improved battery life compared to the... Continue reading...
|
by Emma Roth on (#6KE7S)
Things started getting tense about halfway into the interview. | Image: Don Lemon Show Don Lemon has published the tense" interview with Elon Musk that got his show canceled on X. During the interview, Lemon touches on various topics related to hate speech on X and Musk's own views on right-wing conspiracy theories, with the billionaire becoming noticeably irritated by the interview's end.Things start to take a turn about halfway into the interview. Lemon asks Musk about his comments on illegal immigration and the far-right great replacement theory" and then turns to the topic of content moderation. Lemon asks whether better content moderation on X would let Musk avoid some of the criticism of his posts about the great replacement theory.I don't have to answer questions from reporters," Musk responds. Don, the only... Continue reading...
 |
by Sean Hollister on (#6KE7T)
The former CEO of Cyanogen has a plan for a platform-agnostic gaming operating system. Continue reading...
|
 |
by Nilay Patel on (#6KE7W)
Photo by Rick Kern / Getty Images for Vox Media The leader of design toolmaker Figma on life after the failed Adobe deal and what comes next in a live interview from SXSW. Continue reading...
|
 |
by Jess Weatherbed on (#6KE7X)
The new Text to Texture" feature is now available in the Adobe Substance 3D Sampler 4.4 beta. | Image: Adobe While many developers are working out how generative AI could be used to produce entire 3D objects from scratch, Adobe is already using its Firefly AI model to streamline existing 3D workflows. At the Game Developers Conference on Monday, Adobe debuted two new integrations for its Substance 3D design software suite that allow 3D artists to quickly produce creative assets for their projects using text descriptions.The first is a Text to Texture" feature for Substance 3D Sampler that Adobe says can generate photorealistic or stylized textures" from prompt descriptions, such as scaled skin or woven fabric. These textures can then be applied directly to 3D models, sparing designers from needing to find appropriate reference materials.T... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Jon Porter on (#6KE2Y)
Sony's PlayStation VR2. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge After producing in excess of two million units of its latest virtual reality headset, Bloomberg is reporting that Sony is hitting pause on production to try and shift its unsold inventory. The PlayStation VR2 launched last February for $549 as an accessory for the PlayStation 5, but IDC data suggests that shipments have declined each quarter since.Bloomberg suggests that the problem is a lack of content for the headset. The PSVR2 is compatible with a handful of AAA games including Horizon Call of the Mountain, Gran Turismo 7, and entries in the Resident Evil series, as well as a range of smaller titles. But, at $549, the headset costs more than the PS5 itself, so expectations are high. Bloomberg notes that Meta and Apple have faced... Continue reading...
|
by Jon Porter on (#6KE1G)
Last year's iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple is reportedly in active negotiations" with Google to bring its Gemini generative AI technology to the iPhone, Bloomberg reports, and has also considered using OpenAI's ChatGPT.CEO Tim Cook has already confirmed that Apple is spending a tremendous amount of time and effort" on artificial intelligence features, and plans to release them to its customers later this year." Bloomberg's report suggests that the AI features built into Apple's products could eventually be powered by a mix of first- and third-party AI models. Apple's models could power on-device generative AI with iOS 18, releasing later this year, while cloud-based AI features like text- and image-generation could come via partnerships with the likes of Google.If a... Continue reading...
by Allison Johnson on (#6KDZY)
Is it upper midrange? Is it lesser high-end? Hard to say. | Image: Qualcomm Qualcomm just launched a new chipset that's designed to sit just below its current flagship in terms of capabilities and price. The Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 aims to bring most of the 8 Gen 3's features - including support for on-device generative AI models - to more affordable phones. It represents a new tier for the top-of-the-line 8-series chips, and it's also a little bit confusing.Before we get into all that, let's start with the straightforward stuff: the 8S Gen 3 includes a GPU similar to the standard 8 Gen 3, though it has one less performance core and runs at a lower frequency - the prime core runs at up to 3.0GHz versus 3.4GHz on the 8 Gen 3. The new 8S Gen 3 also uses a previous-gen modem, the X70 5G, which includes Wi-Fi 7... Continue reading...
 |
by Emilia David on (#6KDW2)
Image: The Verge On March 11th, Elon Musk said xAI would open source its AI chatbot Grok, and now an open release is available on GitHub. This will allow researchers and developers to build on the model and impact how xAI updates Grok in the future as it competes with rival tech from OpenAI, Meta, Google, and others.A company blog post explains that this open release includes the base model weights and network architecture" of the 314 billion parameter Mixture-of-Experts model, Grok-1." It goes on to say the model is from a checkpoint last October and hasn't undergone fine-tuning for any specific application, such as dialogue."As VentureBeat notes, it's being released under the Apache 2.0 license that enables commercial use but doesn't include the... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Victoria Song on (#6KCAN)
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge When Apple stopped selling the M1 MacBook Air last week to make way for the new M3 version, I mourned the loss of the M1 Air's iconic wedge shape. But perhaps that was a bit premature.Walmart announced Friday that for the first time, you can buy the M1 MacBook Air from its online store (and in-store soon) for a discounted $699. On Friday morning, Best Buy was still charging $999.99 but has since dropped its price to beat Walmart's deal and is currently offering the same laptop for $649.99.Looking at Walmart and Best Buy's sites, these are new laptops and not refurbished models, which makes the $699 / $649.99 price compelling. That said, you only get to choose the base model, which comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. I'd... Continue reading...
|
by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6KDNK)
Image: A24 The magic of writer / director Julio Torres' Problemista lies in its imaginative production design and its thoughtful deconstruction of the American immigration dream. Continue reading...
 |
by Jay Castello on (#6KDKW)
Image: Caleb Wood Scavengers Reign is a beautiful exploration of a complicated, fascinating, sometimes brutal ecology. Nidus is also a beautiful exploration of a complicated, fascinating, sometimes brutal ecology. Their approaches and styles are different, but the underlying themes share a connection - and an artist. Caleb Wood is an animator and now game developer who worked as a concept artist on Max's sci-fi show while simultaneously solo-developing his recently released arcade bullet hell game.Having begun his animation career 15 years ago, Wood decided that he wanted to figure out game development in 2020. Nidus was meant to be something simple that he could use to teach himself programming. But because I'm able to produce some pretty good art... Continue reading...
|
 |
by David Pierce on (#6KDJE)
Cath Virginia / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 30, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome. So psyched you found us, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)This week, I've been playing the fun puzzler Close Cities, scrounging up money to buy TikTok, reading the latest in my favorite spy-thriller series, debating becoming a mansion squatter, testing Today for simple tasks, taking notes on this great video about the editing in Oppenheimer, and yelling SPACE!" while watching the most recent SpaceX launch.I also have for you a new AI productivity tool, a great way to find stuff to watch, some new shows about old events, and a deep dive into the collapse of the Apple... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Wes Davis on (#6KDA7)
Starship Home, a cozy mixed-reality game for the Meta Quest 3, is trying to get to the heart of what makes a game meaningful in mixed reality." That's according to developer Doug North Cook, who wrote on Reddit that the game, which turns your environment into a custom spaceship and you into an intergalactic horticulturist, is indie studio Creature's first answer to that question."A Meta Quest blog post says players will customize their starship by strategically placing virtual windows, control panels, and other components" in their room. Outside the windows, the game's trailer shows you'll see things like space creatures, planets, cloud-tops, and travel animations as you leave planets. When players land on a planet, they'll collect... Continue reading...
|
by Wes Davis on (#6KD9A)
Image SpaceX's Starshield unit has had a classified contract with the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) since 2021 to build a network of hundreds" of spy satellites for the agency, Reuters reports today, citing unnamed sources familiar with the program."A Wall Street Journal report in February listed a classified $1.8 billion SpaceX contract with a then-unnamed government agency. Now Reuters has attached a name, and that it's to build a network of hundreds of satellites bearing Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate as a swarm in low orbits."The report didn't say when the network will be operational or what other companies are involved. It does mention that a US database of space objects lists satellites deployed by SpaceX... Continue reading...
by Wes Davis on (#6KD8A)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Federal prosecutors asking questions about Meta are "looking into whether the company's social-media platforms are facilitating and profiting from the illegal sale of drugs," according to unnamed sources in a report today by the Wall Street Journal. Prosecutors reportedly sent Meta subpoenas last year seeking records on violative drug content on Meta's platforms and/or the illicit sale of drugs via Meta's platforms."A Meta spokesperson told the Journal that, The sale of illicit drugs is against our policies and we work to find and remove this content from our services. Meta proactively cooperates with law enforcement authorities to help combat the sale and distribution of illicit drugs."The WSJ said TikTok did not respond when... Continue reading...
by Kevin Nguyen on (#6KD4Z)
Kab Inc. The legendary Japanese composer wanted to record his final concert. So he asked his son, Neo Sora, to direct it. Continue reading...
 |
by Sheena Vasani on (#6KD50)
Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds drown out noise exceptionally well while delivering enjoyable sound. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Working from coffee shops can be great, but noisy neighbors can make it hard to focus. If you're looking for a way to drown out the noise without being rude, the best noise-canceling earbuds have thankfully returned to their best price. Best Buy, Walmart, and Bose are all selling the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds for $249 ($50 off).In addition to top-notch noise cancellation, the wireless earbuds sound great with a new immersive audio component. Bose also improved voice call performance, so you should have no problem making calls from cafes, while the transparency mode remains crystal clear. The buds are now designed to fit even more securely in your ears while retaining perks like IPX4 water resistance, so you don't have to worry... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Lauren Feiner on (#6KCVG)
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images An unusually fast process. A classified briefing. Phone lines clogged with teenagers in near tears." The bill, meant to force the sale of TikTok, passed by a landslide. Continue reading...
|
 |
by Sean Hollister on (#6KCVH)
Image: Playstack I'm sorry, there's simply no escape. The addictive magic roguelike poker game Balatro, which grossed $1M in eight hours, sold 500,000 copies in 10 days, and has now been played for 1,742 years, is now coming to iPhone and Android too.That's the word directly from the game's anonymous solo developer LocalThunk and their publisher Playstack Games, who participated in a verified Reddit AMA earlier this week.The game originally shipped for consoles and Windows PCs - and was briefly banned from some storefronts over a ratings mistake. It's back, and there's also now a MacOS port that you can access by buying the game on Steam.The full Reddit AMA has loads of insight into Balatro's development process, including their biggest... Continue reading...
|
by Ariel Shapiro on (#6KCSX)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge This week, Spotify announced a new feature to let audiobook authors and publishers tease their new releases. Countdown Pages, which debuted for music artists last year and has been used by the likes of Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, let fans pre-save an upcoming title and have it pop into their library when it's released. The page is adorned with a large countdown clock - with a timer going down to the second - to get listeners excited. The feature's not revolutionary, but it is in line with how Spotify differentiates itself as an audiobook provider.Getting ahead of a new audiobook is pretty standard. On traditional platforms like Audible, you can preorder the title, and it will show up in your library on release day. But most people... Continue reading...
 |
by Tom Warren on (#6KCSY)
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony is reportedly working on a PlayStation 5 Pro model that may well include a far more powerful GPU that's up to three times faster than the existing PS5 models. YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead claims to have gotten access to a technical overview document for the PS5 Pro, codenamed Trinity, and now Tom Henderson at Insider Gaming reports that the leaked specifications are accurate and the console is currently set to release during the holiday 2024 period.Screenshots from the technical document include a mention of 67 teraflops of 16-bit floating point calculations, which works out to around 33.5 teraflops of single-precision compute. That reportedly works out to a 45 percent rendering performance improvement over the PS5. The existing... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Emma Roth on (#6KCQP)
Image: Google Google Meet is rolling out filters you can use to lightly" touch up your complexion before you head into a meeting. The company first launched the feature on mobile last year, but now it's coming to Google Meet's web app.You can choose from two different filters: subtle and smoothing. While Google says the subtle filter applies very light" complexion smoothing, under-eye lightening, and eye whitening, the smoothing filter makes all three effects slightly more noticeable. GIF: Google Judging by the GIF provided by Google, it doesn't look like either option dramatically changes your appearance like some of the filters you'll find on Snapchat. Instead, it seems to apply much lighter effects that make it look like... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Lauren Feiner on (#6KCMV)
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images In an opinion signed by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court established a test to determine when a public official can be considered to be engaging in state action in blocking someone from their social media account. The official must have both (1) possessed actual authority to speak on the State's behalf on a particular matter, and (2) purported to exercise that authority when speaking in the relevant social-media posts."The court issued a unanimous decision in Lindke v. Freed, a case about whether Port Huron, Michigan city manager James Freed violated the First Amendment by blocking and deleting comments on his Facebook page from resident Kevin Lindke, who critiqued Freed's pandemic policies. The test creates a new way to... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Quentyn Kennemer on (#6KCMW)
From AAA blockbusters to indie cult classics, there are tons of games up to 95 percent off. | Valve / Steam You'd think most gamers would have indulged enough over the long winter season that they wouldn't want to spend the first moments of spring doing the same, but rainy days are still a thing, yeah? And the grind never truly stops for many of us. That's why I can appreciate the Steam spring sale, happening now through March 21st. It happens around this time every year and offers up to 90 percent off thousands of titles. You can find deals on game-of-the-year-worthy titles like Baldur's Gate 3 for $53.99 ($6 off), for example, while Diablo IV is 50 percent off no matter which version you buy, whether it's the base game going for $34.99 or the Ultimate Edition for $49.99.It's also a great chance to check out older titles you may have passed... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Gaby Del Valle on (#6KCMX)
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Until relatively recently, Rep. Jeff Jackson, a freshman Democratic congressman from North Carolina, had more than 2.5 million followers on TikTok. Jackson's follower count dropped by over 100,000 virtually overnight - as did his esteem among some of TikTok's young users - after he voted to ban the app.The bill passed with 352 votes, but to the legions of TikTokers who called their representatives to urge them not to ban the app, Jackson's vote feels like a unique betrayal.
|
 |
by Tom Warren on (#6KCHH)
Image composite: Reddit (TheDyslexicCow) / Tom Warren / The Verge Microsoft is once again injecting pop-ups into Google's Chrome browser in a bid to get people to switch to Bing. The software giant first introduced malware-like pop-up ads last year with a prompt that appeared over the top of other apps and windows. After pausing that notification to address unintended behavior," the pop-ups have returned again on Windows 10 and 11.Windows users have reported seeing the new pop-up in recent days, advertising Bing AI and Microsoft's Bing search engine inside Google Chrome. If you click yes to this prompt, then Microsoft will set Bing as the default search engine for Chrome. These latest prompts look like malware, and once again have Windows users asking if they are legit or nefarious. Microsoft has... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Emma Roth on (#6KCHJ)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber and Lyft are pulling their services out of Minneapolis after the city council passed an ordinance that will increase drivers' pay. Both companies say they will no longer offer ridesharing services in the city when the ordinance goes into effect on May 1st.The ordinance, which guarantees drivers a minimum rate of $1.40 per mile and 51 cents per minute while carrying a rider, was first passed last week but later vetoed by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. The City Council voted 10-3 to override the veto on Thursday.Lyft spokesperson CJ Macklin calls the ordinance deeply flawed," as the rates were determined before the state released a study detailing how much drivers would have to be paid to earn Minneapolis' $15.57 per hour minimum... Continue reading...
|
by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6KCDV)
Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor, and Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday. | BBC / Disney Plus Doctor Who's most recent Christmas Special gave us a interesting taste of what showrunner Russell T Davies has been dreaming up for Ncuti Gatwa's run as the time traveling alien, and it won't be long until we get to see what's coming next.Disney Plus announced today that Doctor Who season 14 starring Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson as his companion Ruby Sunday will premiere with two new episodes on May 10th in the US and internationally, except for the United Kingdom. UK viewers will be able to stream the new episodes via BBC iPlayer beginning at 12AM on May 11th (GMT) before it is available on BBC One later in the day. In a press release about the new season, Davies teased that the Doctor and Ruby's adventures... Continue reading...
 |
by Victoria Song on (#6KCDW)
Samar Haddad for The Verge | Photo by Apple Now that you've got your $3,500 Apple Vision Pro, gone through the tutorial, and gotten the hang of things, it's time to do the next best thing: make a Persona.Personas are Apple's name for a digital avatar of yourself for video calls. Or, in Apple's words, a natural representation of you that you can use to connect with others." Aside from FaceTime, your Persona is also used with the EyeSight feature - you know, the ghostly eyes that appear on the Vision Pro's front display. It's created using image captures and 3D measurements of your head, face, upper body, and facial expressions.But before you go run off and make a Persona, there's one thing to keep in mind. Right now, Personas are in beta which means... they look kind of cursed.... Continue reading...
|
by Joanna Nelius on (#6KCDX)
Its beautiful 16-inch OLED display morphs into a 12-inch laptop, but do splurge for the optional' keyboard and folio. Continue reading...
 |
by Jess Weatherbed on (#6KCDY)
Mercedes also eventually plans to assess how Apollo handles delivering totes of kitted parts. | Image: Apptronik Mercedes-Benz is the latest automotive company to trial how humanoid robots could be used to automate low skill, physically challenging, manual labor." On Friday, robotics company Apptronik announced it had entered into a commercial agreement with Mercedes to pilot how highly advanced robotics" like Apollo - Apptronik's 160-pound bipedal robot - can be used in manufacturing. The news follows a similar pilot announced by BMW in January.Apptronik says that Mercedes is exploring use cases like having Apollo inspect and deliver components to human production line workers. Neither company has disclosed any figures for the agreement or how many Apollo robots are being trialed.According to Apptronik, humanoid robots would allow vehicle... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Jess Weatherbed on (#6KCDZ)
The ruling aims to make it easier to accurately compare subscription prices against other providers. | Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The Verge Cable and satellite TV providers will need to ensure they show the total price of subscription plans as a prominent single line item" - including costs described as extra fees - under a rule adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday. The FCC says the new rule (pdf) for all-in" pricing will make it easier for customers to compare prices against competing providers and streaming services by eliminating the misleading practice of describing video programming costs as a tax, fee, or surcharge."No one likes surprises on their bill," said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a separate statement (pdf). The advertised price for a service should be the price you pay when your bill arrives. It shouldn't include a... Continue reading...
|
 |
by David Pierce on (#6KCE0)
Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge The TikTok ban might be for real this time. Nearly four years after the first attempt to get the ByteDance-owned company either sold or barred from the US, a new bill is flying through congressional votes, and President Joe Biden has already said he'll sign it if it comes to his desk.On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk about what's inside the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (everybody calls it PAFFACAA, just kidding; nobody calls it that, everybody just calls it The TikTok Ban") and what we know about TikTok's connection to China. The answer: not a lot! But four years in, Congress seems more convinced than ever, and that might mean something. Or it might not. We spend a long time debating... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Lauren Feiner on (#6KCAP)
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could upend how social media platforms deal with posts containing anything from vaccine misinformation to election threats.At the moment, various arms of the US government will communicate directly with platforms for all sorts of reasons. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) might email directly with someone at Facebook during a global pandemic, especially if Facebook wants to set up an information hub for its users. (You can imagine similar scenarios for voter misinformation, election integrity, and all kinds of public emergencies.)The core question at issue in Murthy v. Missouri is whether the government can flag potentially harmful posts to social... Continue reading...
|
by Jon Porter on (#6KC8R)
Anker's new Soundcore Sleep A20 earbuds in a charging case. | Image: Anker Anker is revamping its sleep-focused true wireless earbuds with the new Soundcore Sleep A20 model. It's announcing the earbuds today to coincide with what is apparently World Sleep Day" but you won't be able to buy a pair of the earbuds until its Kickstarter launches on April 16th. Or, if you'd prefer to buy them through more traditional means, they'll be available via Amazon from May 20th. They'll ultimately sell for $149.99, but Kickstarter is pricing them at $89.99 for early birds.Like with the previous A10 earbuds, there's no active noise cancellation here. Instead, the earbuds are equipped with what Anker calls Twin-Seal eartips" which it claims can block out three times the noise of typical silicon eartips. The earbuds are also... Continue reading...