 |
by Emma Roth on (#6GK8Z)
Illustration: The Verge The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) claims Apple denied a set of new benefits to unionized employees at its Towson, Maryland store, according to a complaint filed on Tuesday.In the complaint, the NLRB alleges Apple didn't extend enhanced benefits to Towson workers with the goal of discouraging" other employees from unionizing. Some of those new benefits include new healthcare options, a free Coursera subscription, and prepaid tuition at some colleges.The Apple store in Towson became the first Apple retail location in the US to unionize last year with a historic vote to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). Apple first introduced its new benefits in October 2022. Once the workers in Towson... Continue reading...
|
The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2025-11-05 11:03 |
 |
by Wes Davis on (#6GK6B)
The Legion Go (top) and the Steam Deck OLED (bottom), disassembled. | Images: iFixit iFixit published a dual teardown of Valve's Steam Deck OLED and the Lenovo Legion Go today, giving a nice, detailed look inside both handhelds with all of the site's usual meticulous detail. This being iFixit, the focus is on the consoles' repairability, and it gave both high marks - a 9 / 10 for the Steam Deck OLED and 8 / 10 for the Lenovo Legion.The article has a nice summary of the process, but we recommend watching the video for the full effect and some nice close-up shots of the components. It's also a great way to see how things come apart if you're interested in doing this yourself.Valve has said it made it easier to carry out DIY fixes for the Steam Deck OLED, and iFixit agrees - as did we in our review. Lenovo has made... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Allison Johnson on (#6GK3D)
Bard continues to tap into Google's constellation of services and platforms in increasingly useful ways. | Image: Google Bard, Google's AI chatbot, has steadily been getting more useful after a lackluster introduction. Now, as noted by Android Authority, the bot's YouTube integration is getting a handy upgrade so it can analyze individual videos to surface specific information for you - like key points or recipe ingredients - without ever pressing play. That's potentially a hugely useful tool, but could spell more worry about generative AI for creators.To try it out, I turned Bard on a YouTube video I regularly reference for spiritual guidance: America's Test Kitchen's recipe for an Espresso Martini. Seriously, it's really good. I often find myself in my kitchen with half the ingredients in a cocktail shaker trying to remember how much Benedictine I'm... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Umar Shakir on (#6GK3E)
Closeup of an all-electric F-150 Lightning. | Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge Ford announced it is cutting production capacity on its upcoming electric vehicle battery plant, amid cooling customer demand for purchasing EVs and rising labor costs. The automaker says it will reduce its original $3.5 billion planned investments to build the Michigan plant to somewhere around $2 billion and is now only expecting to hire 1,700 workers instead of 2,500.Ford had originally announced the ambitious Michigan battery plant in February in partnership with China's Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), a company that makes LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries. The plant will now only produce about 20 gigawatt-hours of batteries per year, which is about a 43 percent cut.In order for EVs to qualify for up to $7,500 in... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Wes Davis on (#6GK3G)
The $299 WiiM Amp has outputs for passive stereo speakers and plenty of streaming support. | Image: Linkplay Technology Linkplay Technology announced a new addition to its lineup today: the WiiM Amp. The $299 device serves as a receiver with a decidedly vintage focus, even more so than the WiiM Pro Plus that the company launched earlier this year, thanks to physical outputs that let you output directly to a set of old-school passive stereo speakers.The WiiM Amp is now the priciest streaming box from the company, but it's possible it earns it for the right person. It's more versatile than most compact AirPlay 2 receivers thanks to plentiful streaming standard support and the unique set of outputs for the bring-your-own speakers crowd. That's probably a very small chunk of the population, but there just aren't that many wireless receivers like this that... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Tom Warren on (#6GK3H)
Photo by Berke Bayur/Anadolu via Getty Images In the early hours of Wednesday morning, OpenAI announced that Sam Altman is returning as CEO, following a shock firing on Friday. Over the weekend, it looked like Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman might end up at Microsoft, leading a new AI research lab. But after days of negotiation, that's no longer the case and OpenAI has appointed a new board of directors and brought back Altman as CEO of the company.After a weekend of chaotic scenes, including hundreds of OpenAI employees threatening to quit and join Microsoft, things seem to be settling down. Microsoft CTO and EVP of AI Kevin Scott has now addressed Microsoft employees about the OpenAI turmoil. It's the first company-wide communication to Microsoft employees about the... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Andrew Webster on (#6GJZX)
The Boy and the Heron. | Image: GKIDS Longtime Evangelion animator Takeshi Honda had already signed up to work on another film when The Boy and the Heron director came calling. When Miyazaki says that to you, really there's no way to say no," Honda says. Continue reading...
|
 |
by Jon Porter on (#6GJZY)
Kodak's new Super 8 camera. | Image: Kodak Kodak is gearing up to actually sell the Super 8 film camera it announced way back at CES 2016. It's updated the camera's product page with a new sign up to buy" button to allow potential customers to register their interest. Kodak's global managing director for motion picture, Vanessa Bendetti, tells The Verge that the company expects the camera to go on sale in limited quantities in the US on December 4th, before releasing in Canada, the UK, and other European markets.When it goes on sale, the camera will cost a whopping $5,495. That's not just expensive when you consider that, as 404 Media notes, vintage Super 8 cameras can generally be had for a few hundred bucks - it's also expensive compared to Kodak's previously announced... Continue reading...
|
by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6GJZZ)
Participants in Netflix's Squid Game: The Challenge. | Image: Netflix The most dystopian thing about Netflix's new Squid Game reality show is how much fun its contestants seem to be having. Continue reading...
 |
by Emma Roth on (#6GJVY)
Image: Epic Games The leaks were true: Eminem is coming to Fortnite as part of the game's Chapter 4 finale. Epic Games has confirmed Eminem will appear during the live finale, while players will get to purchase a few different skins modeled after the rapper.Fortnite's finale event, called The Big Bang, kicks off on December 2nd at 2PM ET. In an updated page on Fortnite's website, developers say you can watch Eminem... as Eminem" during the event, which marks the end of the Fortnite OG chapter that brought the game back to its roots. Fortnite is calling this event a new beginning" for the game, potentially hinting at a new island. Image: Epic Games The Rap Boy, Slim Shady, and Marshall Never More skins. Meanwhile, Fortnite is... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Jess Weatherbed on (#6GJVZ)
Niantic attempted to avoid the sexual bias lawsuit going to trial. | Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge A California judge ruled that a class-action sexual bias lawsuit against Niantic could proceed, blocking the Pokemon Go creator's attempt to move the suit into arbitration.Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle found that allegations raised by two female former employees regarding exposure to a hostile gender-based work environment were protected under the 2021 Ending Forced Arbitration Act.Attorney Genie Harrison described the outcome as a watershed moment for sexual harassment and gender bias cases."The ruling is a watershed moment for sexual harassment and gender bias cases, because it clarifies that the protections of the 2021 Ending Forced Arbitration Act do indeed encompass cases in which sexual overtures are not... Continue reading...
|
 |
by David Pierce on (#6GJW1)
The EP-133 KO II is a synth in the image of an old-school calculator. | Image: Teenage Engineering The Swedish tech and design company Teenage Engineering is known for lots of things - helping create the look and feel of devices like the Playdate and the Nothing Phone, creating outrageously expensive voice recorders coveted by every reporter you know, building knobs and buttons better than anyone else - but above all it's a music company. And it's now launching its latest music device: the EP-133 KO II synthesizer. (The name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, so we're going to call it the KO II.)The KO II is something like a higher-end version of the Pocket Operator, the extremely cool and customizable $59 synthesizers Teenage Engineering launched in 2015. The Pocket Operator line has been a huge hit for Teenage Engineering, and... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Monica Chin on (#54ZWB)
Illustration by William Joel / The Verge Chromebooks are getting better, and good ones are getting cheaper. Continue reading...
|
 |
by Parker Ortolani on (#6GJRY)
The Verge / Fourthwall It's nearly Thanksgiving, which means it's time for some wild Black Friday weekend deals. And the official Verge store is no exception: today through Monday, you can save big on merch from The Verge.Here's a quick breakdown of our major offers:
|
 |
by Tom Warren on (#6GJRZ)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Microsoft is allowing Windows 10 users to try out the Copilot feature that was previously only available in Windows 11. The software giant announced last week that Copilot would be making its way to Windows 10, and now there's a Release Preview version of the OS available for testers with Copilot baked in.Copilot in Windows 10 works very similar to how it appears in Windows 11, with a button on the right-hand side of the taskbar that lets you bring up the AI-powered chatbot to answer queries and generate text. There are some slight differences in features simply because some of the skills or actions available in Windows 11 don't exist in Windows 10.Windows 10 Home or Pro users that are in the Release Preview channel can test Copilot... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Jon Porter on (#6GJS0)
A row of Tesla charging stations. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Tesla is using a new fee to encourage people not to charge their cars to 100 percent at busy Supercharger locations. In the US, the Supercharger Congestion Fee kicks in after a car hits 90 percent charge, at which point drivers will be hit with a $1 fee for each minute they continue to charge their vehicles. The company's support page says the fee will apply at certain Supercharging locations" when they're busy.The launch of the fee arrives ahead of Thanksgiving in the US, which is traditionally a time when lots of people travel to see family. But it also comes as Tesla is opening up its Supercharging locations for use with non-Tesla EVs, which has the potential to increase demand for its charging network (though in the longer term... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Tom Warren on (#6GJPF)
Image: Microsoft Microsoft's Windows Hello fingerprint authentication has been bypassed on laptops from Dell, Lenovo, and even Microsoft. Security researchers at Blackwing Intelligence have discovered multiple vulnerabilities in the top three fingerprint sensors that are embedded into laptops and used widely by businesses to secure laptops with Windows Hello fingerprint authentication.Microsoft's Offensive Research and Security Engineering (MORSE) asked Blackwing Intelligence to evaluate the security of fingerprint sensors, and the researchers provided their findings in a presentation at Microsoft's BlueHat conference in October. The team identified popular fingerprint sensors from Goodix, Synaptics, and ELAN as targets for their research, with a... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Nilay Patel on (#6GJHQ)
Sam Altman speaks during the OpenAI DevDay event on November 6th, 2023. | Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Sam Altman will return as CEO of OpenAI, overcoming an attempted boardroom coup that sent the company into chaos over the past several days. Former president Greg Brockman, who quit in protest of Altman's firing, will return as well.The company said in a statement late Tuesday that it has an agreement in principle" for Altman to return alongside a new board composed of Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo. D'Angelo is a holdover from the previous board that initially fired Altman on Friday. He remains on this new board to give the previous board some representation, we're told.People familiar with the negotiations say that the main job of this small initial board is to vet and appoint an expanded board of up to nine people... Continue reading...
|
by Ariel Shapiro on (#6GJBT)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge This is Hot Pod, The Verge's newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.Happy Thanksgiving week! I will be out tomorrow making twice baked potatoes, putting together holiday baby outfits (many tiny overalls will be worn!!), and attempting a night drive to Long Island without hitting Southern State traffic or eliciting baby rage. This is to say, there will be no Hot Pod Insider this week and I will return next Tuesday. But if you want to be able to say Yeah, I heard about that" at your own bipartisan Thanksgiving gathering, I had a piece last week for Insiders diving into the Ben Shapiro / Candace Owens feud roiling the conservative podcast space. Enjoy (?)!Got a bunch of Spotify news today, including... Continue reading...
 |
by Wes Davis on (#6GJBV)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Users on Reddit and Hacker News are complaining that YouTube seems to have inserted an intentional five-second delay before video pages will load in Mozilla's Firefox and occasionally some other browsers. YouTube tells The Verge that these users are right about the delay, but the browser has nothing to do with it - it's part of the company's efforts to quash ad blockers across all platforms.In the past week, users using ad blockers may have experienced suboptimal viewing, which included delays in loading, regardless of the browser they are using," YouTube communications manager Christopher Lawton wrote in an email. Lawton wrote that disabling the ad blocker should resolve the issue, though users may still experience a temporary delay... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Emma Roth on (#6GJBW)
Illustration: The Verge ChatGPT's voice feature is now available to all users for free. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), OpenAI announced users can now tap the headphones icon to use their voice to talk with ChatGPT in the mobile app, as well as get an audible response.OpenAI first rolled out the ability to prompt ChatGPT with your voice and images in September, but it only made the feature available to paying users.The release comes as OpenAI's staff struggle with the sudden ousting of their CEO and messy negotiations for him to return. The demo included in OpenAI's post on X even jokes about the ongoing drama, which has unfolded late into the night over the past few days.In the example, someone asks ChatGPT, It's been a long night for the team, and... Continue reading...
|
by Amrita Khalid on (#6GJBX)
Flipboard Flipboard is the latest company to end its presence on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. In a Medium post published Tuesday, the company said it would no longer be actively monitoring or posting updates on X," save for the occasional retweet. Instead, Flipboard will be refocusing its efforts on Mastodon and other open social platforms.The reasons for Flipboard's departure from X appear to be two-fold: X's more lax moderation policies under Elon Musk's leadership, which has led to a sharp spike in hate speech and misinformation; and Flipboard's goal of working with federated social media services. Over the past several months, Flipboard has joined a growing list of companies, including Mozilla, Tumblr, and Medium, that are... Continue reading...
 |
by Ash Parrish on (#6GJBY)
Image: Devolver Digital Christmas has come early for indie / solo game developers. GameMaker, the game engine software program used to make Undertale, Chicory: A Colorful Tale, Hotline Miami 2, and more, has announced that it's making significant changes to its pricing structure - but don't worry, they're the good kind of changes.Starting today, GameMaker will be free to use for noncommercial, non-console projects, and the company is eliminating its indie / creator tier monthly subscription fee in favor of a one-time paid licensing fee of $99. Additionally, if you're currently enrolled at the indie / creator tier and wish to pay the licensing fee, the subscription fees you've paid will be discounted from the price. Check out the FAQ page for details.Russell... Continue reading...
|
by Emma Roth on (#6GJ6S)
Nick Barclay / The Verge Changpeng CZ" Zhao, the owner and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has agreed to step down and plead guilty to breaking anti-money laundering laws, according to papers filed in a Seattle court on Tuesday. This comes as part of the major settlement the Department of Justice announced this afternoon, which will require Binance to fork over $4.3 billion in fines.Zhao also agreed to pay $50 million, while sentencing will come at a later date. Under the terms of the settlement, Binance will need to appoint an independent compliance monitor. Zhao won't be allowed to have any involvement with Binance until three years after the monitor is appointed.Even though Zhao can no longer assume an executive role at Binance, The Wall Street... Continue reading...
 |
by Wes Davis on (#6GJ6T)
Anthropic gives Claude more abilities. | Image: Anthropic While OpenAI is in the middle of an existential crisis, there's a new chatbot update from Anthropic, the Google-backed AI startup founded by former OpenAI engineers who left over disagreements about the company's increasingly commercial direction as its Microsoft partnership went on.Anthropic has announced that the latest update of its chatbot, Claude 2.1, can digest up to 200,000 tokens at once for Pro tier users, which it says equals over 500 pages of material.
|
 |
by Chris Welch on (#6GJ6V)
As the company has strongly hinted in recent weeks, Sonos will indeed release its first-ever pair of headphones next year. That's according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who pegs a release as early as April. The over-ear headphones are rumored to cost between $400 and $500 - very premium territory for a company that's brand new to the category.At least one marquee feature will be their ability to synchronize music with other Sonos products in your home. The headphones will also include Sonos Voice Control, which is already heavily focused on music-related commands, unlike other broader voice assistants from Amazon, Apple, and Google. Bloomberg says Sonos has been working on the headphones since 2019 but has canceled earlier versions of... Continue reading...
|
by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6GJ6W)
Video conference service Google Meet is adding gesture recognition to make it easier to ask a question during a video call. | Image: Google Google Meet can now recognize when your physical hand is raised on camera during group video calls and alert the host. This means you don't have to fiddle with clicking the hand raise" button on the screen and accidentally send a clapping emoji to everyone in the call (I speak from experience).In a blog post published today, Google announced the feature is now rolling out to Google Workspace business and education users. It uses gesture detection to recognize when your hand is raised and alerts the meeting host that you want to speak. A hand-raised icon in your video window will also show to other participants. Essentially, it does the same thing as clicking the hand raise button, but in a more natural way.For it to work, you'll... Continue reading...
by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6GJ0B)
Nicolas Cage as Paul Matthews. | Image: A24 Writer / director Kristoffer Borgli's Dream Scenario capitalizes on Nicolas Cage's status as a living legend to tell a brilliant story about the perils of fame. Continue reading...
by Stacey Higginbotham on (#6GJ0C)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Business arrangements and opaque contracts have broken the pitch of the smart home. Better regulation can fix this problem. Continue reading...
by Sheena Vasani on (#6GJ0D)
8BitDo's Retro Mechanical Keyboard is a unique gift under $100 that's perfect for Nintendo fans. | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge Let's be honest: most keyboards are boring necessities that you're not likely to find at the top of anybody's Christmas wishlist. But every now and then, a keyboard comes along that's so cool, anyone could get excited about it. 8BitDo's Retro Mechanical Keyboard is one of those unicorns, and right now, it's down to an all-time low of $89.99 ($10 off) at Amazon.Inspired by Nintendo, the Bluetooth mechanical keyboard sports a pair of massive red programmable buttons similar to the ones found on the old-school NES controllers. It's comfortable, too, thanks to clicky, hot-swappable switches you can replace when you want to change up the feel. The keyboard offers a standard tenkeyless layout, so it lacks a numpad, but if you don't need... Continue reading...
by Barbara Krasnoff on (#6GHX1)
Photo by Nathan Edwards / The Verge Two desks, three computers, and countless keyboards. Continue reading...
by Andrew Webster on (#6GHX3)
Image: Epic Games Fortnite is currently saturated in nostalgia, thanks to the backwards-looking Fortnite OG. But that's about to change very soon: the battle royale's next major live event promises a new beginning" for the game. There aren't many other details, but the event is called The Big Bang, and it kicks off on December 2nd at 2PM ET; as with past events, developer Epic recommends players show up at least 30 minutes early so they don't miss out.The vibe of The Big Bang feels reminiscent of the black hole event in 2019, which wiped out the original battle royale island, paving the way for Fortnite to constantly reinvent itself with new chapters. The island has been changed multiple times since; one time it flipped over, another time it simply... Continue reading...
 |
by Emma Roth on (#6GHX4)
Sunbird powered Nothing Chats, which gave iMessage to Nothing Phone 2, but at a severe privacy cost. | Image: Nothing Sunbird, the app that brings iMessage to Android, has temporarily shut down the service over security concerns," as first reported by 9to5Google. In a notice to users, Sunbird says it has decided to pause Sunbird usage for now" while it investigates reports that its messages aren't actually end-to-end encrypted.Sunbird launched in 2022 as a messaging app that attempts to put the blue versus green bubble battle to rest. It has only been available to those who sign up for its waitlist, touting numerous privacy features, like end-to-end encryption, no message data collection, and no ads.Last week, Sunbird partnered with Nothing, the phone brand owned by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, on the launch of Nothing Chats. The Sunbird-powered... Continue reading...
|
by Jess Weatherbed on (#6GHT7)
Here, The Doors Don't Know Me" by Mohamed Mahdy (pictured) was the winning Open Format entry in 2023. | Image: Mohamed Mahdy / Magnum Foundation / World Press Photo Foundation The World Press Photo Contest has updated its entry rules to exclude submissions for AI-generated imagery, just days after announcing that such images could be entered into its Open Format competition category. The World Press Photo Foundation initially said it would welcome AI-generated submissions - a decision met with immediate backlash from photojournalists who said allowing artificially created images into a contest for photojournalists responsible for documenting real-world events was anathema to everything our industry does."The foundation has since rolled back its new AI submission guidance and updated contest rules to bar AI-generated images from its Open Format category. Thanks to the honest and thoughtful feedback over the... Continue reading...
by Umar Shakir on (#6GHT8)
The new Insta360 Ace (right) and Ace Pro (left). | Image: Insta360 Insta360's new action cameras borrow the blocky design of GoPro's popular Hero series but add the ability to flip up that large 2.4-inch rear touchscreen for easy vlogging. The company's new Ace" camera starts at $379.99 for the regular model, and there's a flagship Pro" version for $449.99. The higher-end one is equipped with a Leica Summarit lens and a large 1/1.3-inch image sensor for excellent low-light performance and up to 8K at 24 frames per second recording. Both versions are available now.The standard Ace camera model comes with a smaller 1/2-inch image sensor, but it supports recording up to 6K at 30 frames per second, and both models can shoot 4K at a high-speed 120 frames per second and take 48MP pictures. They also have... Continue reading...
by Jon Porter on (#6GHR2)
The FiiO KB3 has a built-in DAC and headphone amp. | Image: FiiO The KB3 is a new mechanical keyboard from audio brand FiiO with a built-in headphone jack that stands a good chance of sounding better than the existing 3.5mm output on your desktop computer or laptop. That's because the headphone jack isn't just passing through analog audio from your computer, it's plugged into a combination DAC and headphone amp that's integrated into the keyboard itself.So rather than having a headphone cable snaking across your desk to reach your machine, or cluttering up your workspace with a separate DAC and headphone amplifier, all these devices can theoretically be built right into the keyboard that's sitting underneath your hands. And it comes from a company which knows a thing or two about audio (even if its... Continue reading...
by Thomas Ricker on (#6GHPE)
The cover is adorned with the legendary clockface found on AB1 alarm clock (1987) designed by Dietrich Lubs. A century of design - with and without Dieter Rams - giving credit where credit is due. Continue reading...
by Adi Robertson on (#6GHF6)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images X, formerly Twitter, has followed through with owner Elon Musk's threat to sue the left-leaning nonprofit Media Matters. Media Matters reported last week that X has been placing ads for major brands" like Apple and IBM next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party." Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino have dubbed the report unrepresentative of X's general user experience. Several companies nonetheless pulled ads after that report and Musk's direct endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory - and Musk's lawsuit claims Media Matters is legally liable for X's loss.Nearly simultaneously, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into Media Matters for potential fraudulent activity." Musk posted the news on... Continue reading...
 |
by Tom Warren on (#6GHD9)
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on stage at OpenAI's first developer conference. | Image: Getty Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced late last night that former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman were both joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team, an announcement that sent Microsoft's stock price soaring. Now, less than 24 hours later, following The Verge reporting that Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO, Nadella doesn't seem so sure.[We're] committed to OpenAI and Sam, irrespective of what configuration," said Nadella in an interview with CNBC's Jon Fortt, adding that Microsoft chose to explicitly partner with OpenAI [and] obviously that depends on the people at OpenAI staying there or coming to Microsoft, so I'm open to both options." Nadella added that obviously we... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Wes Davis on (#6GHDA)
Joe Biden arriving to pardon the National Thanksgiving turkeys on November 20, 2023. | Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images US President Joe Biden signed up for a Threads account today, as did the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the second gentleman, Douglas Emhoff.Biden's first post on Meta's X (formerly Twitter) competitor harkens back to his 2020 presidential victory speech with references to the country's divisions and its current inflection point." Harris gestured to her travels throughout the US and her having met over 100" world leaders, and Emhoff wrote about gender equity and countering hate of all kinds."Meanwhile, the White House wrote, The wait is Joe-ver." Yes, I suppose it is. Former President Obama also posted a birthday message to Biden on Threads today.Biden and company signing up is a good sign for the platform.... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Kevin Nguyen on (#6GHDB)
Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media Last week, Elon Musk appeared to endorse antisemitic conspiracy theories and posted about supporting white pride on his social platform X, formerly Twitter. Musk's tweets were then highlighted by a Media Matters article that found advertising from major companies had shown up next to pro-Nazi content. Major advertisers then halted their ad spends on the platform. To address the controversy, CEO Linda Yaccarino sent a memo titled Our Work Is Meaningful," reiterating her commitment to X.As pressure mounts for the company to distance itself from supporting antisemitism, Forbes reported that advertisers are urging Yaccarino to resign as well. A former NBCUniversal chairperson with close ties to the ad industry, Yaccarino had been brought... Continue reading...
|
by Adi Robertson on (#6GHB6)
Image: The Verge Music streaming service Spotify struck a seemingly unique and highly generous deal with Google for Android-based payments, according to new testimony in the Epic v. Google trial. On the stand, Google head of global partnerships Don Harrison confirmed Spotify paid a 0 percent commission when users chose to buy subscriptions through Spotify's own system. If the users picked Google as their payment processor, Spotify handed over 4 percent - dramatically less than Google's more common 15 percent fee.Google fought to keep the Spotify numbers private during its antitrust fight with Epic, saying they could damage negotiations with other app developers who might want more generous rates. Google's User Choice Billing program, launched in 2022,... Continue reading...
 |
by Andrew Webster on (#6GH8S)
NewJeans performs at the 2023 League of Legends World Championship in Seoul. | Image: Christina Oh / Riot Games The opening ceremony for the annual League of Legends championship was another impressive blend of music and tech. Continue reading...
|
 |
by Alex Heath on (#6GH5K)
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Sam Altman's surprise move to Microsoft after his shock firing at OpenAI isn't a done deal. He and co-founder Greg Brockman are still willing to return to OpenAI if the remaining board members who fired him step aside, multiple sources tell The Verge.Update 6:18PM ET: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella appeared on CNBC and Bloomberg TV tonight. Asked directly by CNBC's Jon Fortt if Sam Altman would be a Microsoft employee and the 700 OpenAI staffers would join him at the company, Nadella said only that is for the OpenAI board and management and employees to choose." He followed by saying Microsoft chose to explicitly partner with OpenAI [and] obviously that depends on the people at OpenAI staying there or coming to Microsoft, so I'm open to... Continue reading...
|
by Justine Calma on (#6GH5M)
Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge The latest numbers are in for how much our planet is projected to heat up this century, and it's got me sweating.Look, I am not a numbers person. And if I didn't write about climate change for a living, this latest report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) wouldn't hit the same. It says that this century, global temperatures are on track to reach between 2.5 and 2.9 degrees Celsius above where they were prior to the Industrial Revolution. That statement's a snooze, right? Well, here's why I'm stress-eating Corn Pops while writing this.It felt like 139.5 degrees Fahrenheit (59.7 degrees Celsius) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday. That was the heat index, a measure of both heat and humidity that's crucial because... Continue reading...
 |
by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6GH5N)
The Buds FE come in a simple black or white. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Early Black Friday deals keep coming in hot, and even new devices that were released mere weeks ago are getting price slashes. Case in point: Samsung's new Galaxy Buds FE earbuds in white or black are selling for a nice $69.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung - a whole $30 / 30 percent off. These noise-canceling earbuds offer a good value at their full price of $99.99, but it definitely doesn't hurt to save even more.The Galaxy Buds FE are kind of a reincarnation of the older Galaxy Buds Plus, especially in the design and fit department. The new Buds FE sport wing tips that may offer a more secure fit in your ears (depending on your ear shapes, of course). But the real appeal here is that you get some solid audio performance and good... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Umar Shakir on (#6GH1W)
Amazon's Skill Builder site. | Image: Amazon Amazon is starting to offer free educational courses on generative AI with an aim to extend critical skills" to adults and young learners everywhere. The company's initiative, called AI Ready," is an extension of current AWS-based AI skills training programs offered by Amazon but now includes eight free courses that cover AI project management and development. Amazon says 21 million people have already trained on AWS cloud computing skills through its programs, and it hopes 2 million will use its AI courses by 2025.Amazon says that demand for talent for AI jobs is increasing, and companies are willing to pay higher salaries for those with the skills, but the courses are also geared toward promoting Amazon's own AI products. Amazon... Continue reading...
|
 |
by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6GH1X)
Then Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt introducing the company's driverless Origin shuttle. | Photo By Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images Two years ago, General Motors presented a vision for the future that involved zero crashes, zero traffic, and zero emissions." Today, that future seems further away than ever.The automaker's driverless car subsidiary, Cruise, announced last night the resignation of Kyle Vogt as CEO. The decision came over a month after an incident in which a hit-and-run victim became pinned under a Cruise vehicle and then was dragged 20 feet to the side of the road. As a result, California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise's permit to operate driverless cars in the state.The company subsequently paused driverless operations nationwide, appointed a new chief safety officer, recalled all 950 of its vehicles, and retained an outside group... Continue reading...
|
by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6GH1Y)
Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Apple's iPads just don't get any cheaper than this. The ninth-generation iPad, which has unceremoniously remained the entry-level option of Apple tablets even a year after the 10th-gen model came out, is selling for a new low.You can get the 2021 iPad with 64GB of storage for $229.99 ($100 off its MSRP) at Amazon and Target. This early Black Friday deal is an additional $20 cheaper than the previous low of $249.99 we were consistently seeing for some time. Also, if 64GB is a little slimmer on storage than you'd prefer, the 256GB model is also $100 off at Amazon and Target - dropping it to $379.99.While the ninth-gen model may be a couple of years old, it's still a very formidable budget-friendly tablet. Its 10.2-inch display may be... Continue reading...
by Andrew Webster on (#6GH1Z)
Image: Netflix When the news came that Netflix was making an animated version of Scott Pilgrim, one that brought back all of the original film actors (along with the director and series creator), it raised some interesting questions. Mostly, I was curious just how much would change as the story shifted mediums. While the original comics and the live-action film adaptation had their differences, they both still largely told the same story about a 20-something slacker from Toronto fighting his way through his girlfriend's dating history. But for the new series, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the story isn't just a departure - it completely blows up the timeline.Note: This article includes some spoilers for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.At first, it doesn't really... Continue reading...