by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6PD49)
Image: Pamela Guest for The Verge Equipping a student for school, especially campus life, takes more than some composition books and a few No. 2 pencils. Continue reading...
The Verge
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| Updated | 2026-07-15 01:48 |
by Ash Parrish on (#6PRKA)
Trump and Ross stream from the interior of a Tesla Cybertruck, a gift from Ross to Trump. | Image: Kick / Adin Ross Donald Trump's presidential campaign took an interesting detour today as the former president appeared in a livestream hosted by streamer Adin Ross. The livestream was hosted on Kick and, at its peak, had over 580,000 viewers.Ross is a streamer known for courting controversy. At the height of his popularity on Twitch, he accumulated over 7 million followers. He's hosted influencer Andrew Tate, who is currently facing charges in Romania for rape and human trafficking. He was repeatedly banned from Twitch for using racial slurs, before being permanently banned last year after featuring a chat stream where users spammed racial and antisemitic slurs. Ross migrated to the alternative streaming site Kick, where continued his antics which... Continue reading...
by Sheena Vasani on (#6PRHD)
The Ultra 2 is like a souped-up Apple Watch Series 9 with better battery life and durability. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge It's possible Apple may release a slew of new wearables in the fall, but until then, the 49mm Apple Watch Ultra 2 remains the most capable smartwatch in Apple's arsenal. It's also the most expensive at $799, but right now, you can pick it up at Amazon with an Ocean Band, an Alpine Loop, or a Trail Loop for $699.99 ($99 off). That's not its lowest price to date - we've seen it fall to $642 in select configurations before - but the Ocean Band model rarely dips below $719, unlike the others.Powered by Apple's S9 SiP processor and second-gen ultra wideband chip, the Apple Ultra 2 allows for onboard Siri processing and Apple's new double tap feature, which lets you control the watch by tapping your index fingers and thumb together twice.... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6PRHE)
Polymetallic nodules rich in nickel, manganese, and cobalt that could be used for batteries. | Photo by Pallava Bagla / Corbis via Getty Images Scientists discovered dark oxygen' in the ocean's abyss, where companies want to mine battery metals. Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6PRHF)
Illustration: The Verge Apple's latest developer betas launched last week with a handful of the generative AI features that were announced at WWDC and are headed to your iPhones, iPads, and Macs over the next several months. On Apple's computers, however, you can actually read the instructions programmed into the model supporting some of those Apple Intelligence features.They show up as prompts that precede anything you say to a chatbot by default, and we've seen them uncovered for AI tools like Microsoft Bing and DALL-E before. Now a member of the macOS 15.1 beta subreddit posted that they'd discovered the files containing those backend prompts. You can't alter any of the files, but they do give an early hint at how the sausage is made. In the... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6PRD6)
Illustration: The Verge Apple is adding a new feature to Safari called Distraction Control" that lets you remove distracting things like cookie preference pop-ups while you're browsing, MacRumors reports. The new feature is available with the fifth iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia developer betas that launched on Monday.You can get an idea of how Distraction Control works thanks to a video from MacRumors. From a menu, you can choose an option to Hide Distracting Items" and then select items you want to hide from the page you're looking at. When items are hidden, they dissipate away with a very slick animation.In a pop-up shown in the video, Apple notes that hiding distracting items will not permanently remove ads and other content that updates... Continue reading...
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by Lauren Feiner on (#6PRD7)
Image: Laura Normand / The Verge A federal judge ruled that Google violated US antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in the search and advertising markets.After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly," according to the court's ruling, which you can read in full at the bottom of this story. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act."Judge Amit Mehta's decision represents a major victory for the Department of Justice, which accused Google of illegally monopolizing the online search market. Still, Mehta did not agree with all of the government's arguments. For example, he rejected the claim that Google has... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6PRAJ)
Photo by Valerie Macon / AFP via Getty Images Actors have once again picked up their picket signs. But this time, members of the Screen Actors Guild are striking against the video game industry after negotiations for a new contract governing interactive media and video games fell through. The guild began striking on Friday, July 26th, preventing over 160,000 SAG-AFTRA members from taking new video game projects and impeding games already in development from the biggest publishers to the smallest indie studios.Negotiations broke down due to disagreements over worker protections around AI. The actors union, SAG-AFTRA, negotiates the terms of the interactive media agreement, or IMA, with a bargaining committee of video game publishers, including Activision, Take-Two, Insomniac Games,... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6PRAK)
Illustration: The Verge Microsoft made it clear earlier this year that it was planning to make security its top priority, following years of security issues and mounting criticisms. Starting today, the software giant is now tying its security efforts to employee performance reviews.Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft's chief people officer, has outlined what the company expects of employees in an internal memo obtained by The Verge. Everyone at Microsoft will have security as a Core Priority," says Hogan. When faced with a tradeoff, the answer is clear and simple: security above all else."A lack of security focus for Microsoft employees could impact promotions, merit-based salary increases, and bonuses. Delivering impact for the Security Core Priority will be a key... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6PR6S)
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Folks are beginning to receive checks from Apple to compensate them for having to spend money when their MacBook butterfly keyboards malfunctioned. As the payments go out, Apple is closing the book on an issue with stuck or otherwise unusable keys that plagued owners of Mac laptops made between 2015 and 2019.The checks are the result of Apple's $50 million settlement of a class action lawsuit over the keyboards in 2022. People who filed during the claims window starting late last year were eligible for payments of $50, $125, or $395, depending on how extensive or frequent the repairs were. A court in June ordered Apple to begin paying out. Verge reporter and smart home expert Jennifer Pattison Tuohy received one for the maximum amount,... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6PR6T)
Photo: Sean Hollister / The Verge Lenovo seems to have unintentionally bolstered rumors of a new Legion Go PC gaming handheld with details published on its own product page in a since-removed FAQ spotted by VideoCardz. The page hinted at a console with a 7-inch or 8-inch display," an HDMI port, and dual fans - things the original Legion Go lacks - before it was apparently removed.You can still find the FAQ on The Internet Archive, where I found snapshots as far back as May 4th, 2024, and as recently as yesterday. In addition to those details, Windows Central suggests that the console will be named the Lenovo Legion Go S," not Lite," as has been rumored until now.The current version of the Legion Go features an 8.8-inch screen and a single fan and outputs video... Continue reading...
by Nilay Patel on (#6PR6V)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images Here at The Verge, we've been doing our best not to uncritically publish every random statement and half-cocked idea that comes out of former President Donald Trump's mouth for several years now. He just says stuff, especially about tech, and most of it doesn't come to anything.But last week, Trump casually mentioned to Fox's Maria Bartiromo that Google has to be careful" because they've been very irresponsible" and that he had a feeling Google is going to be close to shut down, because I don't think Congress is going to take it."In classic Trump fashion, he said this after noting that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had called him after the assassination attempt, and nobody called from Google." So it's tempting to put this down as... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6PR4E)
Image: Nintendo When The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is released on September 26th, it will be the first Zelda game in decades with the titular princess as the hero. Nintendo has released a new trailer highlighting some of the new powers she'll have and all the places she'll get to use them.Princess Zelda will have the whole of Hyrule to explore in Echoes of Wisdom. She'll traverse the harsh landscape of the Gerudo Desert, the calming waters of Jabul, the jungles of the Faron Wetlands, and the scorching lava floes of Eldin Volcano. And to get around the wide world of Hyrule, Zelda will be able to summon a trusty steed to her side, just like Link.Zelda's got a couple of new powers that will aid her in her quest to save Hyrule from dangerous... Continue reading...
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by Nilay Patel on (#6PR4F)
Photo illustration by The Verge / Photo by Booking Holdings The head of online hotel and flight giant Booking on how competition, regulation, and AI are changing travel. Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6PR4G)
All colors of the M3 Air are on sale, including starlight. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Wow, it wasn't long ago that the M2 MacBook Air dropped to its lowest price (and that deal is still kicking, by the way), but now there's a chance to get the newer M3 model for its best-ever rate, too. The 13-inch M3 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage is $849.98 (around $250 off) in all available colors at Amazon. And for those who want more storage or RAM, Amazon is also selling the 8GB RAM / 512GB configuration for $1,049.98 and the 16GB RAM / 512GB version for $1,249.98 - each around $250 off.If you can spend the extra dough, that highest-specced model is ideal since it has the performance headroom to last quite a long time. However, even the base MacBook Air is a great all-around machine, especially since its 256GB... Continue reading...
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by Victoria Song on (#6PR4J)
It's not an ambitious smartwatch, but honestly, it doesn't have to be. Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6PR4H)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge If you've been on Max lately, you might've noticed more personalized rows of content across your entire homepage. That's because the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max rolled out a new whole page optimization" system in the US last month to get viewers to keep coming back - and Warner Bros. Discovery says it's working.Liesel Kipp, Warner Bros. Discovery's senior vice president of global streaming product, tells The Verge that the company has seen a meaningful lift" in how long viewers watch content on Max, how many times they come back, and the types of shows people end up watching. The system can really help consumers find those hidden gems on Max," Kipp says.Similar to other content algorithms, like the one used by... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6PR27)
Image: The Verge Elon Musk has revived his complaint against OpenAI after dropping a previous lawsuit, again alleging that the ChatGPT maker and two of its founders - Sam Altman and Greg Brockman - breached the company's founding mission to develop artificial intelligence technology to benefit humanity.The new lawsuit filed in federal court in Northern California on Monday says that Altman and Brockman assiduously manipulated Musk into co-founding their spurious non-profit venture" by promising that OpenAI would be safer and more transparent than profit-driven alternatives. The suit claims that assurances about OpenAI's nonprofit structure were the hook for Altman's long con."Musk made similar accusations in a hilariously bad" lawsuit that he... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6PR28)
Image: Yahoo Yahoo is a giant in the world of fantasy sports, but its app hasn't gotten a meaningful update in years. Ahead of the 2024 NFL season, though, the company is rolling out a completely overhauled version of the Yahoo Fantasy Sports app that brings both a cleaner design and a huge amount of new content for fantasy players.The new app is divided into three sections. The first thing that appears when you open the app is a list of all your fantasy teams across sports - football is by far the most popular, but Yahoo also offers fantasy baseball, basketball, and more, and part of the team's goal with the new app is to get you playing new fantasy games. There's also a News tab with dedicated content for fantasy players and a Scores tab that... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6PR0G)
Image: The Verge CrowdStrike refutes Delta Air Lines' allegations that the cybersecurity firm is to blame for a dayslong flight disruption following last month's catastrophic system outage, saying that the airline rejected repeated offers to help restore impacted systems.In an interview with CNBC last week, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the outage cost the company $500 million after more than 6,000 flights were grounded, and that the airline has no choice" but to seek legal compensation from CrowdStrike and Microsoft.While the CrowdStrike issues impacted millions of Windows machines across multiple industries globally, Delta struggled to bring systems back online for several days longer than other affected airlines, and is currently being investigated... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6PQST)
Image: The Verge OpenAI has had a system for watermarking ChatGPT-created text and a tool to detect the watermark ready for about a year, reports The Wall Street Journal. But the company is divided internally over whether to release it. On one hand, it seems like the responsible thing to do; on the other, it could hurt its bottom line.OpenAI's watermarking is described as adjusting how the model predicts the most likely words and phrases that will follow previous ones, creating a detectable pattern. (That's a simplification, but you can check out Google's more in-depth explanation for Gemini's text watermarking for more).Offering any way to detect AI-written material is a potential boon for teachers trying to deter students from turning over writing... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6PQP7)
The OnePlus Pad's keyboard case and stylus run an additional $149.99 and $99.99, respectively. | Image: Dan Seifert / The Verge The $549.99 OnePlus Pad 2 may have just recently launched, but the original version remains a worthwhile option that's now undercutting the new model's price by $170. Now through August 6th, you can pick the first-gen OnePlus Pad at Woot for $379.99 ($100 off), its lowest price ever. Sure, the older Pad may not have a 12.1-inch display or a nifty vibrating stylus that makes it feel like you're writing on paper, but its 11.6-inch LCD has some great specs of its own - including a speedy 144Hz refresh rate and sharp, 2800 x 2000 resolution.OnePlus's first tablet was a pleasant surprise when it launched last year, as the brand's freshman effort offered great performance at an affordable price. That's thanks in part to a snappy MediaTek... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6PQMT)
The Apple Watch SE in its current form looks just like an Apple Watch. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge It's impressive watching Apple sell people virtually the same Apple Watch design year in and year out, adding a feature here and there but changing precious little about the way it looks. It's also fine - nobody actually needs to buy a new watch annually, but it does make the yearly refresh sort of ho-hum.But there's something rumored on the horizon that might invigorate things: the plastic Apple Watch SE. I found the rumor intriguing last month when Bloomberg's Mark Gurman set it loose, but haven't thought much of it since. However, today he wrote to his Power On newsletter subscribers that Apple is using plastic to make the watch more kid-friendly," adding that this could allow for a better array of colors." Then it clicked. There's... Continue reading...
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by David Nield on (#6PQK0)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge We've been living with social media for a long time now - Facebook opened up to the public in 2006 - and that means a lengthy trail of posts stretching back through the years. While this does let you take a nostalgic trip into the past with just a few clicks, it can also bring up some embarrassing and awkward memories.Maybe your Twitter takes from 10 years ago haven't aged well, or there's an ex-partner you'd rather not remember, or you're heading for a job interview and don't want your would-be employers to judge who you are now from your decades-old social media posts.Whatever the reason, you can find and delete ancient social media posts without too much difficulty using the web or mobile apps. (They say that anything on the... Continue reading...
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by Allison Johnson on (#6PQH8)
I didn't ask how much RAM it has. There's no girl math in the world that can make the Breville Oracle Jet make sense for me, but boy is it nice to use.Like most of the gadgets I test, the $1,999.95 espresso machine has a touchscreen. It connects to a wireless network and receives software updates that way. But unlike most gadgets I test, the Jet is designed to shoot hot water at high pressure and turn it into coffee.The Jet is an update to Breville's high-end Oracle superautomatic machine. It's kind of a sibling to my Breville Barista Express, but only in the sense of an older sibling who left their modest hometown and got a high-powered job in the big city. I've been testing it for the past couple of weeks, but more importantly, so has my husband. T... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6PQAF)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge ROMhacking.net, a longtime stalwart of the online classic gaming world mostly turned the lights off on Saturday. Nightcrawler, who created and runs ROMhacking, announced that the site, which has hosted community-made alterations for classic games, has stopped taking submissions and will only post news going forward.ROM hacks like those the site hosted can be as minor as replacing the original Mario sprite with his Super Mario Bros. 3 incarnation, or as thorough as Mario Builder 64, essentially a game in its own right that lets you create your own levels for Super Mario 64, a la Super Mario Maker - a Nintendo series that arguably owes a lot to the ROM hacker community.Hobbyist contributors to ROMhacking regularly submitted tweaks for... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6PQ79)
It's absolutely brimming with solar power. | Image: EcoFlow EcoFlow's new Power Hat must be the dorkiest piece of headgear I've ever heard of - and I think I love it? It's a wide-brimmed floppy-ish sun hat full of solar cells that you can charge your phone with. EcoFlow says it can charge a 4,000mAh smartphone to capacity in as fast as 3-4 hours." Sounds ideal for casually scrolling feeds at a campsite or surviving in a sun-blasted, Mad Maxian desert wasteland.According to EcoFlow's specs, the $129 Power Hat's solar cells are made from a thin, flexible material called passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) monocrystalline silicon. It offers roughly 12-watt charging via the USB-A and USB-C connectors on the underside of the brim. The whole thing weighs 370 grams. Image:... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6PQ5Y)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Judi Dench, Keegan-Michael Key, and Awkwafina are among multiple actors and influencers" whose voices could become part of Meta's AI offering, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The company is apparently working to wrap up deals quickly so it can develop and show off the new voices at its Meta Connect conference in September.Specifically, at least one tool will be a digital assistant product called MetaAI," according to multiple unnamed sources in a New York Times report. Meta is negotiating with all of the top talent agencies in Hollywood to secure the voices, the Times writes. And it may pay the actors who sign on millions of dollars." Meta doled out similarly fat stacks to the celebrities represented by the recently-discontinued Meta... Continue reading...
by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6PQ2V)
Image: Warner Bros. M. Night Shyamalan's latest is a pitchy mess about who gets a pass. Continue reading...
by Wes Davis on (#6PQ2W)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Nvidia has reportedly told Microsoft and at least one other cloud provider that its Blackwell" B200 AI chips will take at least three months longer to produce than was planned, according to The Information. The delay is the result of a design flaw discovered unusually late in the production process," according to two unnamed sources, including a Microsoft employee, cited by the outlet.B200 chips are the follow-up to the supremely popular and hard-to-get H100 chips that power vast swaths of the artificial intelligence cloud landscape (and helped make Nvidia one of the most valuable companies in the world). Nvidia expects production of the chip to ramp in 2H," according to a statement that Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo shared with T... Continue reading...
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by Allison Johnson on (#6PQ1P)
It's not the most fun, but reliability goes a long way. Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6PQ02)
Promotional art for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which was the final cover game for Game Informer. | Image: BioWare Following GameStop's sudden announcement that it would be shutting down Game Informer after 33 years - which includes GameStop making all of the work on Game Informer's website disappear and reportedly laying off the entire staff - people across the video game industry are sharing their tributes to the gaming magazine.As someone who grew up poring over each issue, it was such a thrill and an honor to see our games grace Game Informer," said Neil Druckmann, head of creative at The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog and an executive producer on the hit HBO show. Sad that such a staple of our industry is now gone. Good luck to everyone involved. Your work will be missed."Thank you for what you have brought to the video game industry,"... Continue reading...
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by Thomas Ricker on (#6PPYJ)
A selfie drone that makes the case for ditching GPS, obstacle avoidance, and controllers. Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6PPQV)
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images The CrowdStrike global IT outage that downed some 8.5 million Windows PCs, halting flights and affecting hospitals, banks and more, is now apparently also a scapegoat for the terrible conditions at the set of a reality game show competition put on by mega-popular YouTuber MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, with $5 million on the line.The New York Times is reporting that after 2,000 contestants arrived at Allegiant Stadium this July, they were barely fed and didn't receive their prescription medication or clean underwear on time - despite providing it to the organizers themselves. (The 1,000 contestants who make it through can return for the Beast Games Amazon show, but this segment is for Donaldson's YouTube channel.)The Times' story is... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6PPPK)
The Ford Explorer's new Digital Experience software. | Image: Ford Ford's new Android-powered infotainment system is finally coming to a Ford-branded vehicle. The automaker's so-called Digital Experience, which debuted with the 2024 Lincoln Nautilus earlier this year, will power the new 2025 Ford Explorer SUV, the company announced today.The 2025 Ford Explorer includes many of the Digital Experience's main features, including built-in Google Maps, Google Play Store, Google Assistant, wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, and digital HVAC controls. It doesn't have the extravagant 48-inch panoramic screen setup that the Lincoln Nautilus has, but from the looks of it, the main 13.2-inch touchscreen has the same interface. And the Explorer's 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster can project maps for the first... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6PPMB)
The Escape Connector sits between the car's port and the EV charger's plug. | Image: EVject Tesla suing a company that makes a MagSafe-style connector designed to let EV owners make a quick escape from a charging stall if they feel their safety is threatened.The automaker alleges that the Escape Connector by company EVject is highly unsafe and poses a high risk of injury to person and/or property," according to the lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California last week.Tesla is calling on the court to block EVject from calling the product safe, ban the import of the adapter in the US, and make the company pay no less than $75,000 in damages. GIF: EVject You can't exactly just drive away; you first need to use your touchscreen to stop the charging session. In the... Continue reading...
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by Lauren Feiner on (#6PPMC)
Image: The Verge The Department of Justice is suing TikTok for allegedly letting kids under 13 make accounts without their parents' permission and collecting extensive data" on them, in violation of US child privacy law.The DOJ claims that TikTok knowingly let kids onto its platform through its Kids Mode," collected their information, and failed to delete their accounts at their parents' requests, in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). When a kid under 13 entered their age on the app, they'd be prompted to enter a username, which doesn't contain personal information, and it would create a Kids Mode account for the user. But the app wouldn't notify parents or get their consent. Kids can't upload videos in that mode, but... Continue reading...
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by Gaby Del Valle on (#6PPMD)
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Scott Olson, Getty Images Former President Donald Trump has expressed a newfound fondness for Mark Zuckerberg, after years of railing against him.In an interview with Fox that aired on Friday, Trump said Mark Zuckerberg recently called him to apologize" after Meta's AI assistant falsely said the assassination attempt on Trump didn't happen. (A company blog post written by Joel Kaplan, Meta's global head of policy, attributed the erroneous responses to hallucinations" in the system.) In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump claimed that both Meta and Google were RIGGING THE ELECTION!!!" by suppressing information about the shooting.Zuckerberg's apology could help thaw his contentious relationship with Trump, who has long held a public... Continue reading...
by Victoria Song on (#6PPME)
The Dear Sydney" ad did not go over well with Olympics viewers. | Screenshot: Google Google is not winning any gold medals for its Olympics ads this year. After days of backlash, the company has decided to pull its controversial Dear Sydney" ad from Olympic coverage.In the 60-second ad, a father seeks to write a fan letter on behalf of his daughter to her Olympic idol, US track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The premise is the sort of treacly ad you'd expect to see at the Olympics, but things take a twist when instead of helping his daughter write a letter, he just has Gemini do it for them. This has to be just right," he says, before prompting Gemini to tell Sydney how inspiring she is, that his daughter plans to break her record one day, and to add a sorry, not sorry" joke at the end.From the get-go, the ad has... Continue reading...
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by Brandon Widder on (#6PPJ2)
Google's high-end flagship is colorful, capable, and loaded with plenty of AI tricks. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Google's next Pixel hardware event is less than two weeks away, which, in turn, means the Pixel 9 lineup is nearly upon us. That being said, you don't need to wait for the debut of Google's next handset on August 13th if you want a future-proofed Android phone chockful of premium specs and newfangled AI capabilities. That's because the Pixel 8 Pro - Google's current high-end flagship - is on sale at Amazon and Best Buy with 128GB of storage starting at $699 ($300 off), an all-time low.If the recent rumor mill is to be believed, Google's next pro-grade smartphone will feature several distinct design changes and a modest performance boost thanks to its G4 Tensor chip. But the third-gen chipset in the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro is still plenty... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6PPJ3)
It looks like the SQ8 E-tron, but it's not. | Image: Audi Audi is giving its all-electric Q8 E-tron some premium add-on packages across the lineup as the automaker's overall EV sales are falling quarter over quarter this year.The 2025 Audi Q8 E-tron SUV and Sportback now have a sportier" S line competition appearance package that feels a bit like a parts bin consolidation. It adds body components from the $90,000 SQ8 E-tron, making the vehicle wider, and includes a body-color Singleframe and special 21-inch five-spoke black wheels. It also gets black-painted brake calipers with S branding and door projection lights for the edition.While the package is only launching in Europe right now, the company is evaluating" bringing it to the US as well, according to Audi's product communications... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6PPJ4)
Image: Apple Following backlash criticizing an Apple ad's outdated and stereotyped portrayal of Thailand, Apple has removed it and issued an apology. The negative attention follows Apple's apology for the Crush" iPad Pro ad and its removal from broadcasts in May after it attracted widespread criticism among the creative community.Thai people are deeply unhappy with the advertisement," Thai lawmaker Sattra Sripan said in a statement reported by Bloomberg. I encourage Thai people to stop using Apple products and change to other brands."The 10-minute ad, titled OOO (Out of Office)," was the latest in Apple's The Underdogs comedy series depicting a recurring cast of coworkers as they use Apple products to resolve issues within their workplace.The... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6PPEZ)
Image: Game Informer Game Informer, one of the last remaining gaming magazines, is shutting down after 33 years, the GameStop-owned publication announced on Friday. The magazine's entire staff is being laid off, Kotaku reports.In its statement posted to X, the publication didn't give a reason for the shutdown. GameStop didn't immediately reply to a request for comment. Last year, GameStop CEO and chairman Ryan Cohen told staff that every expense at the company must be scrutinized under a microscope and all waste eliminated," according to an email obtained by Kotaku.In March, Game Informer introduced out a way to subscribe to the magazine directly - previously, you could only get the magazine by buying issues on their own or through a GameStop Pro... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6PPF0)
Image: Riot Games Riot Games is surprise launching Valorant on Xbox Series S / X and PS5 consoles today. After a brief beta period in June, the console version of Valorant will be available in the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Brazil and features all the same gameplay, heroes, and abilities as the PC version.Valorant on console won't have crossplay support because Riot Games wants to maintain competitive integrity." That means PC players won't be getting controller support, either. The game will support cross-progression, so any skins and progression will carry over between PC and console. Both PC and console players will also receive simultaneous platform releases, including balance patches, new agents, map updates, premium content, and more. ... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6PPC2)
Image: Puzzmo / Angie Wang Everyone seems to want in on newspaper-style casual gaming. While The New York Times is leading the way with Wordle and its iconic crossword, major companies ranging from Netflix to LinkedIn are trying to carve out a place as well. So, when game designer Zach Gage, cofounder of the Hearst-owned site Puzzmo, started exploring the space, he knew the project needed more than great games. He says the goal was to design a website that isn't just links to games but is in fact a deeper community experience." That's why Puzzmo launched last year with a handful of titles and multiplayer features like leaderboards.Now both of those aspects are expanding with a new game that's also introducing new ways to play - inspired by some of the biggest... Continue reading...
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by Nathan Edwards on (#6PP9A)
Microsoft's latest 2-in-1 is all in on Arm, and it's the closest the company's come to merging the power of a laptop with the battery life and flexibility of a tablet. Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6PP9B)
Image: The Verge / Shutterstock Several weeks after being targeted with copyright infringement lawsuits, AI music startups Suno and Udio have now accused the record labels that filed them of attempting to stifle competition within the music industry. Both companies admitted to training their music-generating AI models on copyrighted materials in separate legal filings, arguing that doing so is lawful under fair-use doctrine.The lawsuits against Suno and Udio were raised in June by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a group representing major record labels like Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Records. Both cases accuse Suno and Udio of committing copyright infringement involving unlicensed copying of sound... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6PP7P)
Image: Squid Shock Studios Humble Games restructured" and reportedly laid off its 36-person team last week. The publisher, which is part of the IGN-owned Humble Bundle, started helping developers release games in 2017 and published notable games like Slay the Spire and Signalis. The resulting fallout from the layoffs has left developers working with the publisher uncertain about many plans for future games, leaving their console ports in jeopardy.Amir Fassihi, studio director of Dead Mage, the team behind the in-development Wizard of Legend 2, is worried that the restructuring could impact their project. We do not want to make any changes," Fassihi tells The Verge. However, we're unsure what changes will be forced on us because everyone in the publisher we... Continue reading...
by Gaby Del Valle on (#6PP7Q)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images Inside the MAGA-fueled fever dream of the 2024 Bitcoin Conference. Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6PP5Q)
Cath Virginia / The Verge The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has reportedly launched two separate probes into Nvidia regarding antitrust concerns about the computing giant's AI-focused business dealings. The first investigation, reported by Politico, will see the DOJ examine Nvidia's buyout of Run:ai, while the second, as reported by The Information, will assess if Nvidia abused its dominance in AI chips to discourage customers from using competing products.In April, Nvidia reportedly spent $700 million to acquire Run:ai, the Israeli startup specializing in GPU management software. While specific concerns surrounding the Run:ai purchase haven't been disclosed, both US and international regulators have closely scrutinized big tech acquisitions of late over issues... Continue reading...
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