The Verge

Circle a fake plant and find it on sale at Walmart, just like that. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge It's hard to think of a more self-explanatory feature than Circle to Search: it does exactly what it sounds like it does. You circle something on your phone screen, tap a button, and voila! A page full of Google search results telling you about the thing you circled. Easy, right? The new feature is launching on five phones to start - the three members of Samsung's brand-new Galaxy S24 series, as well as Google's Pixel 8 and 8 Pro - before it comes to other select, premium" Android phones.Well, maybe it does need a little explaining. If the feature sounds familiar, you might be thinking of Google Lens, which is similar. But instead of opening up the Google app, you can use Circle to Search anywhere on your device. Just long-press the... Continue reading...

The big phone is back. Ever wish you could have the most phone? For several years running, Samsung's S-series Ultra has been that device, and the company is going just as big with the Ultra for 2024. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is here with a new titanium finish, lots of AI tools, and a higher starting price: $1,299, up from an already high $1,199.One of the most immediately noticeable new features of the Ultra is how it's built. This year's model has a titanium frame - like Apple's iPhone 15 Pro - which Samsung says allows for better durability. Unlike Apple, Samsung hasn't used the material in an attempt to make the phone lighter; titanium is heavier than aluminum, but it's more durable so you can use less of it. In this case, Samsung has just gone for the... Continue reading...

Amazon is taking $290 off of the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro robot vacuum. | Image: Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge From an AI-powered robot vacuum that can suck up milk to a robovac with an actual arm, we saw some pretty cool (and downright weird) gadgets launch during CES last week. But unless you have nearly two grand just lying around to spend, those fancy features don't come cheap. Luckily, there are significantly more affordable options on the market like the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro, which is down to just $159.99 ($290 off) at Amazon when you clip the on-page coupon.If all you need is a decent robot vacuum that'll clean your floors well enough, this top-notch budget robovac nails the essentials. It doesn't come with the kind of advanced obstacle avoidance tech found in the longer-lasting Roomba j7, but it does avoid most obstacles over an inch tall.... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Google is testing changes to some of its most important services including Search, the Chrome browser, and its Android operating system ahead of the European Union's tough new antitrust rules coming into force in March, the company has announced. The changes come as a result of the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a sweeping piece of legislation under which Google has been designated as a gatekeeper" and given new rules for how it can operate important core platform services."On Android, it's introducing a new browser choice screen during initial device setup, similar to what it already offers to let users pick between different search engines. (This search engine choice screen's roots lie in a 4.3 billion fine from the EU over... Continue reading...

This is Hot Pod, The Verge's newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.We've got some podcast news to cover today, but first, I am very excited to finally share what we have in store for Hot Pod Summit. The invite-only event is just over a month away, and I can't wait to see everyone there. Without further ado...Ira Glass is coming to Hot Pod SummitMy favorite part of Hot Pod Summit is bringing podcast leaders together to talk frankly about the challenges and possibilities shaping the industry. It's been a year of dramatic change, so we thought it best to bring in someone who has been there from the very beginning. Who better than the man who kicked off the podcast revolution?I will be talking to Ira... Continue reading...

Notion Calendar is just Cron, reskinned and deeply integrated with Notion. | Image: Notion Notion users have been asking for an integrated calendar system for years. Now, Notion is delivering: it's launching Notion Calendar, a standalone app that integrates with all of your databases and notes in Notion. It's yet another way Notion is attempting to be the only app your company needs to do pretty much everything.If you've ever used Cron, the calendar app Notion acquired in 2022 and has been operating ever since, you basically already know the deal with Notion Calendar. It's just a redesigned, Notion-ified version of the app. Cron was always a fast, simple, nice-looking calendar with some clever features like Calendly-style booking tools and a command bar you can use for quickly setting up recurring meetings and the like. One... Continue reading...

The European Parliament has made its case - now, it's up to the European Commission to decide whether to initiate legislation proceedings. | Image: The Verge The EU has proposed sweeping changes within the music streaming industry to promote smaller artists and make sure underpaid performers are being fairly compensated.A resolution to address concerns regarding inadequate streaming royalties for artists and biased recommendation algorithms was adopted by members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on Wednesday, highlighting that no existing EU rules currently apply to music streaming services, despite being the most popular way to consume audio.The proposition was made to ensure European musical works are accessible and avoid being overshadowed by the overwhelming amount" of content being continually added to streaming platforms like Spotify. MEPs also called for outdated pre-digital"... Continue reading...

Image: Wing If drone delivery is going to go mainstream, it's going to need bigger aircraft that can handle more stuff. Today, Alphabet's Wing unveiled the first in a new lineup of larger drones with more payload capacity.Wing's flagship drone is designed to handle payloads of up to 2.5 pounds. The new drone can handle up to five pounds without sacrificing range. The company says that it has enough battery power to complete 12 miles round trip while cruising at up to 65mph.It's always been our vision to implement a multimodal drone delivery model, in the same way that ground delivery uses different vehicle sizes for different orders," Wing CEO Adam Woodworth said in a blog post.It's always been our vision to implement a multimodal drone... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Apple has updated its App Store policies to spell out how developers can link to outside payment platforms, as reported by 9to5Mac. Developers will still owe Apple a cut if they use an outside payment platform. Apple will take a 27 percent cut (as opposed to the 30 percent in many cases) or 12 percent if a developer is part of the App Store Small Business Program, according to a support page about external purchase links.Section 3.1.1(a) of the App Store Review Guidelines lays down more of the new rules for developers who want to link to alternative payment methods, like how they have to apply for an entitlement" to enable them. Developers also can't exclusively receive payments from outside Apple's walled garden; they'll also have... Continue reading...

The Galaxy S24 is likely launching tomorrow, and you still have time to already secure a decent bonus for pre-ordering one. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S24 series tomorrow, January 17th. If you've caught up on our coverage of all the rumored changes and know you'll be upgrading upon release, you might as well reserve one. There's no payment due today for doing so, and you'll be rewarded with a $50 credit that's usable toward other devices or accessories at the time of purchase.Today is your last chance to take advantage of this deal, and there are no guarantees that we'll see any other Galaxy S24 preorder incentives outside of Samsung's traditional trade-in offers. You'll only need to provide your name and email address to receive a unique link to place your order after the event.Samsung will also offer separate instant credits worth $25,... Continue reading...

The era of AI on our phones is upon us, and it's Samsung's turn to show us a vision for the future. | Image: Samsung Samsung is announcing new phones this week, and they're going to be the most AI phones that ever AI'ed. That's not a guess, although it would be an easy one coming off the heels of Put a ChatGPT on it" CES 2024. No, Samsung is telling us in the loudest ways possible - including putting it on the Sphere, which is the 2024 equivalent of shouting it from the rooftops. But what exactly does AI on a phone look like? So far, it has amounted to a handful of tech demos. This week's Galaxy Unpacked event is an opportunity to show us the potential of AI on a mobile device. And unlike a washing machine with ChatGPT preinstalled, AI could be really useful on our phones.AI showed up in a big way in 2023, but as a tool on our mobile devices, it's... Continue reading...

Photo: JSR_ Though Awesome Games Done Quick will go on for the rest of the week, the charity speedrunning event may have already peaked with a run performed by Peanut Butter... a Shiba Inu.Using a custom-made controller and spurred by commands and treats, Peanut Butter button-pressed his way into our hearts and the speedrunning history books with his run of Gyromite in the first-ever speedrun done by a dog. Gyromite is a game where the player guides a sleepwalking scientist through his lab by pressing buttons to raise or lower colored pillars in the scientist's way. To successfully complete a level, players must not get squished by releasing a pillar too soon and avoid monsters called smicks" that can kill the player in one hit.For the run,... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The broad legislation is already forcing some major shifts in the tech industry. Continue reading...

It's impossible to look cool in a VR headset, even if it's the $3,499 Vision Pro. | Image: Apple I know what I saw, but I'm still trying to figure out where this headset fits in real life. Continue reading...

Can you tell the difference between these two logos? Take-Two has its doubts. | Image: Take-Two / Rockstar Games / Remedy Entertainment Remedy Entertainment, the developer that created the Max Payne and Alan Wake video game franchises, is embroiled in a trademark dispute with Take-Two Interactive over claims that Remedy's new R" logo too closely resembles that of its subsidiary Rockstar Games.As first reported by RespawnFirst, the Rockstar parent company has objected to trademark filings Remedy submitted to the Intellectual Property Offices in the UK and EU last year, over grounds that the logo is likely to cause confusion on the part of the public." Remedy publicly unveiled its updated R" logo in a blog post on April 14th, 2023 - one day after the company filed its trademark application with the EU - saying that the bullet in the letter R in the old logo... Continue reading...

Image: Square Enix In Foamstars, Square Enix's forthcoming Splatoon-esque multiplayer game, some of the art you'll see will be AI-generated.In an interview with VGC, Kosuke Okatani, producer on Foamstars, said that the development team used AI generation tool Midjourney to create in-game art for album covers for the game's soundtracks but explained that the majority of the game was still made by humans.All of the core elements in Foamstars - the core gameplay, and the things that make the game enjoyable - those are all made by hand," Okatani told VGC. However, we did want to experiment with AI as well."Earlier this year, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu said in his New Year's Day letter that Square Enix intends to be aggressive" in its use of AI... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge After laying off about 1,000 employees last week, Google is now cutting jobs on its advertising sales team. In a statement to The Verge, Google spokesperson Chris Pappas confirmed that a few hundred roles globally are being eliminated" as part of the change.The news of Google's latest layoffs was first reported by Business Insider, which obtained a memo from Google senior vice president Philipp Schindler. Schindler reportedly hinted the layoffs will primarily affect its Large Customer Sales (LCS) unit, a team that sells ads to large businesses, while the Google Customer Solutions team (GCS), which sells ads to smaller clients, will become the core" ad sales team instead. Google laid off some employees on its LCS team last October, a... Continue reading...

Turtle Beach's VelocityOne Race features an integrated display and remappable buttons for in-game customization. | Image: Turtle Beach Turtle Beach has unveiled its first wheel and pedal system designed for racing simulators, following the company's debut into gaming simulation hardware with the VelocityOne Flight in 2021. The new VelocityOne Race is a direct drive system (meaning it can provide more torque for better immersion than belt-driven alternatives) designed for Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X / S consoles. It's priced at $649.99, with preorders starting today ahead of its official launch on February 26th.For that, you're getting adjustable aluminum pedals and a modular steering wheel control unit that's equipped with six buttons, five latched toggle switches, three rotary dials, and two analog paddles for the clutch and handbrake. A race management... Continue reading...

Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment Yeah, I know, it seems way too early for a remaster of The Last of Us Part II. The game originally launched on the PS4 in 2020 and has already received an update for those playing on the PS5. It's not like Ellie, Joel, and Abby need much of an update for modern audiences. But while the slightly enhanced graphics - which include native 4K support and improved frame rates - are nice, they're not really the reason to play The Last of Us Part II Remastered. Instead, it's all of the other stuff that turns this into an excellent special edition of the game.Some of the additions are relatively small. There's a guitar mode where you can, well, play guitar as much as you want. Using the PlayStation controller's touchpad to swipe guitar strings... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Maybe the worst part of going through a tunnel when you're relying on directions via GPS is the chaos as you prepare to exit the tunnel. Sometimes GPS will remember you're on a road traveling through a tunnel and maintain the directions it was giving you when you went in, and sometimes it will go utterly stupid and remind you to proceed to the route as it shows your car happily driving through a river, a trainyard, or a series of residential homes.But Google Maps is about to get better at showing directions inside tunnels. A new feature spotted by SmartDroid allows the Android version of the app to use Bluetooth beacons to track your location in areas where GPS signals typically can't reach.These beacons transmit Bluetooth signals that... Continue reading...

Nvidia delivers more performance for the same price point inside a great 1440p GPU. Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Weeks after agreeing to settle a lawsuit that accused Google of illegally tracking browsing activity even after users activated Chrome's incognito mode, the company has quietly updated how the browser describes its private browsing feature. The updated text, spotted by MSPowerUser, can be found in the latest Canary build of Google Chrome, version 122.0.6251.0.Here's the updated text (emphasis added):

These new Premiere Pro beta features aim to speed up audio editing tasks so users can focus on other creative projects. | Image: Adobe Adobe is introducing new AI-powered audio editing features to Premiere Pro that aim to remove some of the tedious legwork required to complete editing tasks - such as manually locating specific tools, or cleaning up poor-quality dialogue. New workflows will be available in the Premiere Pro public beta starting today, including interactive fade handles that enable users to quickly create custom audio transitions by dragging them directly across their main editing timeline. The Enhanced Speech beta feature will also become generally available to all Premiere Pro users in the coming weeks.Other updates to the Premiere Pro beta include AI-powered audio category tagging that automatically identifies and labels clips as dialogue, music, sound... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Yesterday TikTok presented me with what appeared to be a deepfake of Timothee Chalamet sitting in Leonardo Dicaprio's lap and yes, I did immediately think if this stupid video is that good imagine how bad the election misinformation will be." OpenAI has, by necessity, been thinking about the same thing and today updated its policies to begin to address the issue.The Wall Street Journal noted the new change in policy which were first published to OpenAI's blog. ChatGPT, Dall-e, and other OpenAI tool users and makers are now forbidden from using OpenAI's tools to impersonate candidates or local governments and users cannot use OpenAI's tools for campaigns or lobbying either. Users are also not permitted to use OpenAI tools to discourage... Continue reading...

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge CES is the tech world's biggest event of the year. The Verge is on the ground covering the biggest news in tech, gaming, transportation, and more. Continue reading...

Razer's newest gaming laptops are certified for Wi-Fi 7. | Image: Razer The Wi-Fi Alliance announced at the beginning of CES last week that it had begun certifying Wi-Fi 7 devices. Not having the certification doesn't mean a device won't work, but it does mean that it's been confirmed to work within the standard's specification and is therefore compatible with other Wi-Fi devices. Handily, the Wi-Fi Alliance has a searchable database of what's certified, and a few notable ones have already earned the Alliance's stamp of approval for the new standard.You may already have a Wi-Fi 7 smartphone if you own the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Qualcomm's FastConnect 7800 network adapter, which is now certified for the new Wi-Fi standard, is included with Samsung's 2023 flagship phone. The only trouble is, to date,... Continue reading...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Apple will combine a San Diego team of 121 employees with one in Austin, Texas, and any of the employees who elect not to move could be let go on April 26. That's according to Bloomberg, which reported that an Apple spokesperson confirmed that the team, which listens to recordings of Siri interactions to make sure it responded appropriately, will have the opportunity to continue their role with Apple in Austin."The article reports that the staff was surprised by the relocation, which Apple had indicated would involve a move to another campus in San Diego by the end of January, rather than going to Texas. The company reportedly told employees they can apply for other jobs within the company, though some doubt they're qualified for other... Continue reading...

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge For anyone who wants to try the Apple Vision Pro when it's officially released on February 2nd, there's going to be a whole procedure. We knew that, but now a report in Mark Gurman's latest Power On newsletter for Bloomberg sheds light on how the in-store demos for the Vision Pro will work.According to Gurman, the process will start with an Apple Store employee scanning users' faces to pick out the light seal for Apple's headset - a process he likens to configuring Face ID. For those who need vision correction, Apple will reportedly also scan their lenses with a special device to suss out the prescription. Then an employee fits a Vision Pro with one of hundreds" of on-hand lenses and a seal and tells you how to use the device... Continue reading...

Image: Ubisoft Two weeks into 2024, and we've already got a GOTY. Continue reading...

Image: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 21, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, sorry for all the bad jokes, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)I've been in Vegas all week for CES, the annual extravaganza of gadgets and gizmos aplenty, whozits and whatsits galore. Most of what's here isn't yet available for purchase (and a lot of it never will be), but I love getting a peek into what the tech industry is dreaming about, so I figured I should share some of the best new stuff here. I've also been reading about how Cyberpunk 2077 turned into a hit, learning some new tech minimalism ideas, watching Patriot and rewatching Archer, and trying out a new... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Peacock is the only source for tonight's playoff game between Miami and Kansas City, and the most surprising result is that through three quarters, the service is mostly holding up to the task. The game just entered the fourth quarter, which is going to be commercial free," but that may not be enough to make everyone happy about the deal the NFL made to take a playoff game away from regular TV broadcast availability and put it on a streaming service operated by NBCUniversal.Most initial viewer complaints online were more about needing Peacock to tune into the game, instead of connection or login issues that have occasionally marred live sports streaming before. However, some folks have noted audio problems, had streams glitch and hang... Continue reading...

Using WowMouse to control a computer mouse. | Image: Doublepoint A company called Doublepoint announced a new app during CES this week called WowMouse that turns Android smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch into a gesture-based mouse for your computer. That means waving your arm around to move the mouse and pinching your fingers to click (similar to the Double Tap feature on the Apple Watch Series 9). The app is available now on the Google Play store.WowMouse works by broadcasting the watch as a Bluetooth Human Interface Devices (HID) mouse, allowing it to work with a variety of operating systems, by just pairing it like you would any other Bluetooth mouse. According to Doublepoint's site, that includes Windows, Linux, macOS, and iPadOS. It's confirmed that it works on certain Wear OS watches,... Continue reading...

The Quest 2 offers lower specs than Meta's latest headset, true, but it also costs half the price. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge In case you haven't heard, the Meta Quest 2's $249 holiday pricing is sticking around for good. That's a natural progression for the second-gen VR headset, which launched in 2020 and was recently outclassed by the newer Meta Quest 3. What's more, if you pick up a 128GB Quest 2 at Walmart right now, you'll receive a $50 Meta Store credit to help you build up your game library, essentially making it a $200 purchase.At launch, the Quest 2 was an excellent little device thanks to its standalone nature. As far as mainstream VR headsets go, it remains one of the easiest and most affordable devices to pick up and play, especially since you don't have to worry about external depth sensors and wires. You won't be able to engage in unique... Continue reading...

From AI-powered robots to face-scanning smart locks, the gadgets that will power the homes of the future are here and were on display at CES 2024, the annual consumer tech show in Las Vegas. This is where tech companies show off their latest innovations in cars, TVs, laptops, smart home gear, and more. The Verge went to Vegas to take a closer look at all the new tech poised to bring our homes into the future.After seeing hundreds of gadgets over three days, smart home reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy rounded up the tech that caught her eye. In the video above, she goes through them room by room, showing how this smart home technology can make life more convenient, comfortable, and energy-efficient. Here are a few of the products she... Continue reading...

Mochi Mayhem and the Indigo Disk are lightyears away from perfection, but they offered a satisfying conclusion to the parts of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet that worked best. Continue reading...