The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Discord is laying off 17 percent of its staff, a move that CEO Jason Citron said is meant to sharpen our focus and improve the way we work together to bring more agility to our organization."The cuts were announced today to employees in an all-hands meeting and internal memo I've obtained. They'll impact 170 people across various departments.Based on Citron's message to employees and my understanding of the business, Discord isn't in dire financial straits, though it has yet to become profitable and is still trying to revive user growth after a surge during the pandemic. In his memo to employees, which you can read in full below, Citron said Discord grew its headcount too fast over the last few years - an admission that has become... Continue reading...

Right now, you can save up to $200 on Google's latest flagship phones. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge We're firmly living in 2024, and if there's no other tradition to lean on after setting your New Year's resolutions, you invariably can rely on Samsung's tone-setting phone announcements to make early ripples. Rumor has it we'll see the Galaxy S24 series in short order, and phones like the Pixel 8 family may lose a bit of sheen in its wake. The Pixel 8 and 8 Pro aren't suddenly obsolete, however, and that'll only lead to sharper discounts. In fact, this dream duo (we think they're two of the best Android phones you can buy right now) is already seeing substantial price cuts despite being just a few months old.Right now, the 128GB Pixel 8 is back down to its Black Friday price of $549 ($150 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store.... Continue reading...

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge I hate cables. I hide them in the walls behind my TV, I make them disappear around my desk, and I try to eradicate them everywhere else in my life. So every time I hear about something in the PC building community that involves hiding or removing cables, I get excited. Over the past few years, some of the biggest names in PC building have been making it easier to hide cables away and build a PC that showcases your skills.I've built a lot of PCs over the past 25 years, and the main part of the process I hate the most is cable management. It often takes me longer to tidy up cables and route them properly than it does to put all the parts of a PC together. It's especially bad if you've decided to build a PC with a bunch of RGB fans and an... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft has surpassed Apple's market cap to become the world's most valuable public company again. The software giant's stock has been rallying in recent months thanks to its AI announcements. Meanwhile, there are concerns about Apple's iPhone sales, leading to the two tech giants swapping top places for market value during trading on the Nasdaq today.Apple stock has been trending down over the past month on the back of iPhone sale concerns in China and a potential weakness of iPhone 15 sales. Rating firms have downgraded Apple stock in recent days, wiping around $162 billion off Apple's market capitalization in 2024 alone.Microsoft has been riding the AI hype train for more than six months now. The company's stock saw a noticeable... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge WhatsApp is rolling out a custom sticker maker for users with iOS 17 or later. While you can already make stickers by dragging and dropping images from your gallery into the app, this takes things a step further by letting you draw on top of them, add text, or slap on another sticker.To create a sticker from an existing image, open the app's sticker tray, select create sticker, and then choose an image from your gallery. From there, you can proceed to customize your sticker by choosing a cutout, adding text, and drawing on it. You can also edit any previously made stickers by opening the sticker tray, long-pressing on the sticker you want to change, and then choosing edit sticker. Image: WhatsApp You can add text... Continue reading...

Paramount Plus Halo season 2 is less than a month away, and Paramount Plus has just revealed the season's latest trailer. Master Chief and the Spartans (excellent name for a Halo cover band, by the way) will return to face off against the Covenant on one of the most important locations in the Halo universe: the planet Reach.The trailer lets you know immediately what the stakes are for Halo season 2, with a voiceover addressing the people of Reach. The voice - possibly belonging to Makee (Charlie Murphy), Master Chief's girlfriend - continues, saying she will be the instrument of their extinction. We're treated to gloomy scenes of Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) outnumbered by covenant elites and Kai-125 (Kate Kennedy) watching Covenant orbital strikes... Continue reading...

Cillian Murphy as Jim in 28 Days Later. | Image: Searchlight Pictures Filmmakers Alex Garland and Danny Boyle - the writer / director duo who gave us 2002's 28 Days Later - have been talking about wanting to make a third film in the apocalyptic zombie franchise for years now. But it seems as if the pair is finally going to get a shot at making that dream a reality, all while potentially launching an entirely new series of movies.According to The Hollywood Reporter, Garland and Boyle are reuniting for 28 Years Later, a new film set in a (presumably) ruined world that's been ravaged by a strange virus responsible for turning people into rage-filled, fast-running zombie-like beings. As was the case with 28 Days Later - which starred Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, and Christopher Eccleston -... Continue reading...

Users will be notified if an Assistant feature is being removed when they activate one of the utilities affected. | Illustration: The Verge Several underutilized" Google Assistant features will soon be joining the infamous Google graveyard - such as the ability to use your voice to send an email, video, or audio messages - as the search giant introduces changes it says will make the feature easier to use. The company is also changing how the microphone works in the Google app and Pixel Search bar.Starting January 26th, users who activate any of the 17 Assistant features being removed will be notified that it's being discontinued, with most features departing for good on February 26th, according to 9to5Google. This news comes less than a day after Google announced it was laying off around a thousand employees, some of whom worked on Google Assistant.The Assistant features... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Turns out Google's postpandemic reckoning didn't just hit the Google Hardware team responsible for Pixel, Nest, and Fitbit products - it's taken similarly sized bites out of Google's core engineering and Google Assistant teams too. Google just confirmed to The Verge that it's eliminated a few hundred" roles in each of these divisions, meaning Google has confirmed layoffs of around a thousand employees on Wednesday alone, if we use a reasonable definition of few".And those are only the cuts we know about. We asked Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini to say if this was the complete and total number of job cuts in this round of layoffs, but she stopped replying at that point, only confirming existing layoff reports at 9to5Google and S... Continue reading...

Photo by Isaac Brekken/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images Update January 10th, 9:02PM ET: Shortly after we published this post, SAG-AFTRA shared the full text of its agreement with Replica Studios as well as an FAQ document and a summary. Our original story follows.During CES 2024, SAG-AFTRA announced an agreement with AI voice technology company Replica Studios. The agreement would permit SAG-AFTRA members, specifically voice performers, to work with Replica to create digital replications of their voices. Those voices can then be licensed out for use in video games and other interactive media projects with SAG-AFTRA authored protections.In the announcement, SAG-AFTRA characterized the deal as a way for professional voice over artists to safely explore new employment opportunities for their... Continue reading...

Image: Kia Kia and Uber have signed a memorandum of understanding to use the automaker's newly announced PBV modular electric vehicles for ridehailing.PBV, which stands for Platform Beyond Vehicle, was introduced during CES in Las Vegas as a family of EVs built on a flexible vehicle architecture, with different swappable body types. The vehicle can be transformed from a minivan to a full-size van to a small truck, depending on the specific need. The driver cab remains fixed while the rest of the vehicle is interchangeable, like a real-life Duplo set.One of the possible variations is the PV5, a midsized electric van that Kia says is designed for ridehailing, delivery, and utilities. Uber wants to add the PV5 as an option for its drivers, in the... Continue reading...

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Another year, another CES, another batch of big and strange ideas about displays. CES may not be quite the TV-centric show it once was, but you practically can't turn around in the Las Vegas Convention Center without encountering a new way to use LEDs.For the first of our two Vergecast episodes live from the Kia Connected Home at CES this week, we dug into the most important new screens of the year. That means TVs, monitors, laptops, smartphones, and all the other display-centric things we've seen so far. (On Friday, we'll get to all the cars, smart home sensors, massage chairs, and everything else that's not quite so screen-y.) Then, we get to the biggest CES-adjacent news of the week: Apple's ship date announcement for the Vision Pro... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge OpenAI's GPT Store, where users can share their custom chatbots, finally launched Wednesday after a monthslong delay. The store brings more potential use cases to ChatGPT and expands OpenAI's ecosystem beyond what the company builds for customers.Since announcing the GPT Builder program in November, OpenAI said more than 3 million bots - called GPTs - have been created by users. (Yours truly included; I made a GPT that suggests synonyms for common words). The company said it plans to highlight useful GPTs weekly inside the store.The company originally planned to open the GPT Store in November before delaying it to December and finally to January. The platform lets people who've created their own chatbots publicly share their versions... Continue reading...

Catch Up is supposed to make it faster to get up to speed on all the Slack stuff you care - and don't care -about. | Image: Slack Slack is adding a new feature to its mobile app, meant to help you triage all your unread stuff a little faster. It's called Catch Up, and the only way I can describe it is Tinder for Enterprise Messaging. When you tap on Catch Up at the top of the app's homescreen, it'll show you one channel or DM at a time; swipe left to mark it read, right to leave it unread.Catch Up is a response to two things Akshay Bakshi, a product management director at Slack, says the company sees a lot. First, there's just a lot going on in Slack, and opening every channel one by one just to check in on it and mark it read in the sidebar is a pin. Second, a lot of people use their phone as a Slack-triage device. Before they get to their desk in the morning,... Continue reading...

Skiers descend a slope of artificial snow below Grubigstein mountain during unseasonably warm weather on January 16, 2023 near Ehrwald, Austria. | Photo by Philipp Guelland/Getty Images Snowpack is shrinking across the Northern Hemisphere thanks to climate change, and many communities could soon face a snow-loss cliff," according to the most comprehensive assessment yet.The effects of climate change can vary dramatically from place to place, which is why it's been difficult to suss out the bigger picture with snowpack until recently. Now we can see that many of the hardest hit places also happen to be those that depend on snowpack for their water. Other communities that have seen relatively little impact so far are on track to pass a temperature threshold that would suddenly speed up snow loss, new research published in the journal Nature shows.Where the majority of people live and where the majority of people... Continue reading...

Victrola's Stream Onyx, a turntable that can stream vinyl straight to your Sonos system, is down to just $360. | Image by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge At CES this week, Victrola announced the forthcoming Stream Sapphire, a new Works with Sonos turntable that can also stream records to thousands of devices, including your smartphone, soundbar, or laptop. Yet, at $1,499, it's not exactly affordable. Luckily, Victrola sells two cheaper alternatives: the Stream Carbon and the Stream Onyx, both of which are on sale from Victrola thanks to promo code SPIN10. Right now, you can pick up the former for $630 ($170 off) and the latter for $360 ($240 off), which is an all-time low on the entry-level model.Unlike the Stream Sapphire, you can't use either of the two turntables to stream records to just about any device. However, you can use them to wirelessly transmit audio from your turntable to... Continue reading...

Image: VinFast Vietnam's VinFast must really want a slice of the EV market in the US based on the vehicles it brought to CES in Las Vegas this year: a midsize pickup truck that looks to be about the same size as the Toyota Tacoma, and a small utility EV called the VF3 that was first introduced last year.Theoretically, both of these vehicles could sell really well in the US. Trucks are some of the most popular vehicles in the country, and a midsize electric truck could do quite well given most of the segment is dominated by full-size ones. A small, affordable crossover like the VF3, which aims for mass-market appeal, could help folks who are on a budget go fully electric.Theoretically, both of these vehicles could sell really well in the USBut all... Continue reading...

The retractable panels help generate up to 4.96kWh per day in the Western US, according to Jackery. | Image: Jackery Jackery has converted the humble rooftop tent into a powerful solar generator that lets any car escape the grid for a weekend or longer. Although it's just a concept on show at CES right now, Jackery says it will put the tent into production sometime near the end of 2024.The retractable solar panels are said to produce up to 1000W when the car is parked and the tent is open and facing south. That's enough to generate 4.96kWh per day in the Western US, or 4kWh as you move east, according to Jackery's estimates. There's no mention of its resilience to wind, but that's hardly a concern for a concept parked on ugly carpet inside the Las Vegas Convention Center.Rooftop tents can already be fitted with solar panels made by any number of... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you search YouTube for what to do if someone is suffering a heart attack, the platform will now display credible first-aid explainer videos at the very top of the search results.The brief, step-by-step videos, made in partnership with Mass General Brigham and the Mexican Red Cross, cover a series of basic health emergencies and first-aid procedures, prioritized to provide timely advice right away. Tutorials will cover how to perform the Heimlich maneuver, do CPR, identify the first signs of a heart attack, and other emergency healthcare topics.Before performing any first-aid, the American Red Cross instructs calling 911 and alerting emergency services immediately - many health conditions are time-sensitive. After that, one can... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Valve has issued new rules about how game developers can publish games that use AI technology on Steam. Writing in a blog post, the company says that it is making changes to how we handle games that use AI technology" which mean that developers will need to disclose when their games use it. The changes will enable us to release the vast majority of games that use" AI, Valve's post says.The changes appear designed to increase transparency around the use of AI in Steam games, while offering protections against the risks of using AI generated content and allowing customers to make an informed choice about whether to buy a game that uses AI technology.Under the new rules, developers will need to disclose when games contain pre-generated... Continue reading...

Tesla Model 3 (2024) | Image: Tesla An updated version of Tesla's Model 3 sedan that was released in markets across Europe, the Middle East, and China last fall is now available in North America. Reportedly codenamed Highland" while it was in development, it introduces several noticeable tweaks to Tesla's mainstream electric sedan.From the outside, the front end's distinctive bump has been removed, with a sleeker hood and low-profile headlights compared to the old model that Tesla says is optimized for max aerodynamics," which should mean more range. It's also available in two new colors, Stealth Grey and Ultra Red. Image: Tesla Tesla's new and old Model 3 designs (not shown to scale), 2023 on the left in red, and the Highland" 2024 Model 3 in... Continue reading...

Marvel Studios Disney Plus' Echo limited miniseries feels like the studio's first successful attempt at matching the energy that made Netflix's Marvel shows great. Continue reading...

Where we drivin'? | Image: Sony Sony and Honda's in-development Afeela EV will let you display messages and images on its front bumper, according to a new video about the car, including the ability to... advertise video games.You can see the screen-ified bumper - sorry, the Media Bar" - starting at 3:17 in the video. The video does show some more sensible uses of the Media Bar, like displaying the name of the car, a red warning sign, or even a birthday greeting. But the video also shows how you can display logos for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Fortnite, and Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition, which is just ridiculous.That's not the only weird - and potentially distracting and dangerous - tech thing packed into the screen-filled car. One feature,... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says that it will be forced to sunset its internet subsidy for low-income families, known as the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), in May if it doesn't receive additional funding. The program is currently only funded through April this year, despite a White House push for a $6 billion extension.CNN reports that today, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in both the House and Senate plan to submit a bill requesting its extension. The extension bill, reportedly called the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, will be introduced in Congress tomorrow to provide a $7 billion extension for the program.But the bill will have to overcome objections from Republicans in the House and Senate... Continue reading...

The Humane AI pin retails for $699 and requires a $24 per month subscription. | Image: Humane Humane laid off 4 percent of employees this week in a move that was described as a cost cutting measure to those who were impacted, according to sources familiar with the matter. Employees were recently told by leadership that budgets would be lowered this year, said one of the people, who requested anonymity to speak without the company's permission.The cuts, which numbered 10 people, come ahead of the five-year-old startup shipping its first device: a $699, screenless, AI-powered pin that is pitched as a smartphone replacement. After a lot of hype and secrecy, Humane unveiled the AI Pin to the world in November and began accepting preorders, with shipments planned to begin in March.Humane has raised over $200 million from a who's-who... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This is Hot Pod, The Verge's newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.Welcome back, and happy new year! I am plugging away at Hot Pod Summit preparations and very excited to reveal our lineup next week. In the meantime, the lottery is still open, so please let us know if you are interested in attending.Today, YouTube at very long last debuts RSS integration. Plus, Audacy files for bankruptcy and PRX announces a new distribution deal with Conde Nast. Let's get into it.YouTube finally supports RSSYouTube is making good on its promise to support RSS feeds. In a blog post and video published today, the company provided instructions for podcasters on how to connect their RSS feeds to YouTube Studio. It's... Continue reading...

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Microsoft said 2024 was going to be the year of the AI PC," and it looks like that's ringing true already. Microsoft appears to be readying a new generative AI feature for its Notepad application that's built into Windows. While the software giant hasn't officially announced it, eagle-eyed Windows watchers have discovered code in Microsoft's latest test builds of Windows 11 that indicate a new Cowriter" feature could be on the way soon.It looks like it has the same credits system that Microsoft uses in its Cocreator feature in Paint to let Windows users know how many more times they can use these AI-powered features. Microsoft hasn't announced pricing for these credits yet, but one can assume the company will eventually start charging... Continue reading...

If AI can fix grocery shopping, count me in. | Photo: Walmart Imagine never running out of milk again. You pour the last bit into your cereal - which is, incidentally, also empty now - and then head to work. By the time you get home the empties have been replaced as if by magic.Walmart thinks it can make this happen, with the help of AI. The company announced a new feature of its InHome replenishment service that aims to automatically order the right stuff at the right time, and hand it off to a delivery person who can drop things off in a fridge in your house. Shoppers with the $20 monthly InHome membership already get the seamless drop-off, but they still have to select items themselves. By training its models on both your habits and Walmart's overall knowledge of how people buy and consume... Continue reading...

That's a whole navigable UI... on broadcast TV. | Photo by Alex Cranz / The Verge If you happen to live in Las Vegas and have a TV with an ATSC 3.0 tuner, then, for the next few days, there will be a new channel on your TV. At first, the Roxi channel just appears to play music videos, but when you hit the pause button on your remote, the TV pauses - despite being a broadcast channel. There's no DVR involved or app you need to download. And with the press of your remote, you can skip ahead to the next music video or even choose from other playlists, all within the broadcast channel. It's something that's been central to the promise of ATSC 3.0, and Roxi thinks it's finally delivering.Roxi CEO Rob Lewis knows a bit about music streaming. In the 2000s, he was the CEO of Omnifone, one of the first music streaming... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge The state of Pennsylvania will deploy OpenAI's enterprise ChatGPT service in a pilot program to help state employees do administrative work.The pilot begins this month and will be limited to an unspecified number of Pennsylvania's Office of Administration employees, but it could be expanded to other state workers in the future, a press release from Governor Josh Shapiro said. The state says it will consider feedback from the initial batch of employees before it releases another 100 licenses to access ChatGPT Enterprise.Our goal with the pilot is to work closely with a small number of employees to figure out where we can have the greatest impact using generative AI tools," said Neil Weaver, secretary of Pennsylvania's Office of... Continue reading...

Image: Luminar All vehicles are required to have automatic emergency braking, but the technology is not the best at preventing crashes, especially at highway speeds. But what about automatic emergency steering?Florida-based lidar company Luminar unveiled a new automatic emergency steering (AES) feature powered by its Iris Plus sensor. The idea is to use the laser sensor, in combination with the vehicle's other safety systems, to proactively avoid crashes without driver intervention.The company demonstrated the new feature at CES in Las Vegas this week. The hope is that Luminar's long-range lidar, with up to 300 meters (984 feet) of range in the right conditions, can detect obstacles and initiate driving maneuvers before the driver does.The... Continue reading...

Image: Mercedes-Benz AG Mercedes-Benz is supercharging its in-car voice assistant with generative AI, paving the way for more natural interactions and personalized driver experiences.The automaker's upgraded MBUX Virtual Assistant will run on the next-generation MB.OS operating system to create the most human-like interface with a Mercedes-Benz yet," the company says. Examples include predictive behavior, like playing the morning's news headlines upon entering the vehicle or offering to dial into a meeting if the vehicle owner's calendar indicates they are running late for a meeting.Mercedes vehicles already have voice-command capabilities, allowing drivers to use the phrase, Hey, Mercedes," followed by a short command to do things like adjust the... Continue reading...

Image: Mercedes-Benz AG People love to play their music while driving, but unless you're some sort of wizard with control over time and space, rarely does the beat actually match up with the rhythm of acceleration and steering. Mercedes-AMG aims to change that with a new interactive musical experience" that it's created along with musician and entrepreneur Will.i.am.At CES this year, the automaker announced MBUX Sound Drive, a new feature that uses sensors and software to link music to driving. It's hard to describe, but Mercedes says it's composed musical tracks to pair with regular functions like recuperation, acceleration, steering, and braking, turning the whole car - as Will.i.am puts it - into its own orchestra."A new feature that uses sensors and... Continue reading...

The PlayStation 5 slim" is barely a couple months old, but Sony is already preparing to release new sideplates for the console. And the company is showing off a trio of those new color options - blue, silver, and red - here at CES 2024. The side covers will start at $54.99 when they go on sale in the near future.Unlike the standard white PS5 slim, these don't have the glossy / matte split between the top and bottom plates. I prefer matte all the way, so I'm happy to see that. (There's no avoiding dust on that black center section of the PS5, unfortunately.) Will Sony sell the detachable disc drive in new colors, too? Sony's playing it fairly safe with the colors here, but they all looked pretty eye-catching on... Continue reading...