The Verge

Image: The Verge Microsoft's launching Recall for Windows 11, a new tool that keeps track of everything you see and do on your computer and, in return, gives you the ability to search and retrieve anything you've done on the device.The scope of Recall, which Microsoft has internally called AI Explorer, is incredibly vast - it includes logging things you do in apps, tracking communications in live meetings, remembering all websites you've visited for research, and more. All you need to do is perform a Recall" action, which is like an AI-powered search, and it'll present a snapshot of that period of time that gives you context of the memory.As a matter of fact, everything you do on the PC appears on an explorable timeline you can scroll through. You can... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge At Microsoft's big AI and Surface event on May 20th, the company takes another shot at Arm Windows PCs. Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Are you ready for Microsoft's latest Windows on Arm push? That's what we're expecting at today's Surface and Windows AI event.Rumors suggest Microsoft will unveil a new Arm-powered Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 devices and a host of new AI features for Windows. Microsoft has been building up to this moment for quite some time, so expect to hear a lot about its transition to Windows on Arm.Things kick off at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. Microsoft isn't livestreaming this event, so follow our live blog for all the very latest as it happens. Continue reading...

Photo illustration by The Verge The head of Google sat down with Decoder last week to talk about the biggest advancements in AI, the future of Google Search, and the fate of the web. Continue reading...

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge You may not have even thought about replacing your AirTag yet, but Bloomberg reports that Apple is working on a new one that could arrive in mid-2025. The new AirTag will reportedly feature an updated chip with better location tracking - an improvement it might need as competition among tracking devices ramps up.By the time Apple rolls out its refreshed AirTag, the Bluetooth tracking landscape will look a lot different on both Android and iOS. Last month, Google revealed its new Find My Device network, which lets users locate their phones using signals from nearby Android devices. Even Life360, the safety service company that owns Tile, is creating its own location-tracking network that uses satellites to locate its Bluetooth tags.In... Continue reading...

OpenAI says AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice." | Photo: Warner Bros. OpenAI is pulling the ChatGPT voice that sounds remarkably similar to Scarlett Johansson after numerous headlines (and even Saturday Night Live) noted the similarity. The voice, known as Sky, is now being put on pause," the company says.We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice- Sky's voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice," OpenAI wrote this morning.OpenAI CTO Mira Murati denied that the imitation of Johansson was intentional in an interview with The Verge last week. Even if Johansson's voice wasn't directly referenced, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was seemingly already aware of the similarities,... Continue reading...

LG CEO William Cho and home entertainment company president Park Hyoung-sei met with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in February to discuss the collaboration. | Image: LG LG is reportedly pausing its partnership with Meta to develop an extended reality (XR) device that would take on Apple's Vision Pro headset, just three months after announcing the joint venture.While multiple Korean news outlets are reporting that the Meta partnership has broken down entirely due to a lack of synergy" between the companies, LG has denied terminating the deal. LG Electronics continues the XR partnership with Meta forged in February but is controlling its pace," LG said in a statement to Korea JoongAng Daily.Products from the collaboration, set to combine Meta's Horizon Worlds mixed reality platform with content and service capabilities from LG's TV business, were expected to hit the market next year. The potential... Continue reading...

A 2023 Mac Pro. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Mac Studio and Mac Pro aren't due for an upgrade to Apple's M4 chip until the middle of next year. That means both machines will still be on Apple's M2 generation this year, unlike all other Macs except the MacBook Air, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman wrote to Power On subscribers today.Throughout 2024, though, all of Apple's laptops (except the MacBook Air) will move to the M4 chip that the company just gave the iPad Pro, Gurman writes. Amusingly, this herky-jerky chip upgrade cycle means that the iPad Pro is currently the single-core performance champ of Apple's lineup - and it will continue to be for about another year, when compared to the Mac Studio and Mac Pro. Screenshot: Geekbench It's not even close, according... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Sonos is teasing, both in emails and on social media, that its most requested product ever" is coming soon" on May 21st (this Tuesday). This, of course, is almost certainly the Sonos Ace, its first wireless headphones.Sonos has been expected to launch the Ace in June, but given the company's most requested" phrasing here and the fact that the headphones recently appeared for sale by authorized dealer Schuurman, it seems they're coming sooner than that.

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 38, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and you can also read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)This week, I've been writing about iPads and the future of Google, watching American Fiction and Bodkin, rewatching Her because of... reasons, endlessly replaying the songs of Windows95man, learning how to make better sandwiches, testing Claude for AI stuff, and listening to the new-old Childish Gambino album.I also have for you a new AI model, literally thousands of new Lego pieces, a new way to Google, the fanciest mop you've ever seen in your life, more emulators for iOS, and much more.And I have a question: W... Continue reading...

Image: Blue Origin It's been over a year and a half since Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket failed mid-flight, and more than two since its last crewed flight. Now, the company is go to launch six human beings into space. The company's launch window begins at 6:30AM PT / 9:30AM ET, but will start streaming 40 minutes ahead of time on its website.Blue Origin also normally streams its launches live on its YouTube channel, so it's a pretty safe bet it will do so for its NS-25 mission tomorrow. Assuming the launch goes as planned, it will carry six passengers aboard, including the 90-year-old Ed Dwight, who was America's first Black astronaut candidate but has never been to space. The other passengers are Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol... Continue reading...

Surprisingly, Ecobee's smartest thermostat also makes for a decent air quality monitor / smart speaker. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge The temperatures are about to soar now that summer is almost upon us - and so are our cooling bills. If you want to keep comfy while saving money on your energy bills, it's worth investing in Ecobee's Smart Thermostat Premium now that it's down to its best price of the year. Normally $249.99, right now you can buy it at Amazon, Best Buy, and directly from Ecobee for $219.99, which is $10 shy of its all-time low.Ecobee's smart thermostat is our favorite on the market, one that goes beyond your typical heating and cooling needs. It can adjust your HVAC system based on where you are in your home (if you're home at all), and even keep your pets safe as you travel thanks to its support for various temperature alerts and reminders - a... Continue reading...

Image: Apple For most of its first season, Sugar on Apple TV Plus was a fairly typical if slickly produced detective story. It starred Colin Farrell as John Sugar, a private investigator with a number of charming quirks - obsessed with old movies, unable to get drunk, beloved by dogs - who was determined to solve a missing persons case involving the granddaughter of a famous Hollywood director. Then, at the end of episode six, the show introduced a twist that threatened to change it into something very different. But now that Sugar's finale is out, it's clear that the twist didn't alter what the show already was - it just added some new flavor.Spoiler warning for the first season of Sugar, including the final episode.Okay, let's get it out of the... Continue reading...

Workers walk in Glencore's Mutanda Mine, which Tesla sources cobalt from, in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 19th, 2023. | Photo by Emmet Livingstone / AFP via Getty Images Mining for minerals used to make EVs and batteries is plagued with allegations of abuse, the latest report from the nonprofit Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) shows. And automakers continue to source materials from some of the worst offenders, The Verge finds.BHRRC has documented 631 allegations of human rights abuses since 2010 for seven key minerals used in electric vehicles, rechargeable batteries, and renewable energy technologies. Many of the allegations were made against a small group of companies, which The Verge was able to link to three of the world's biggest EV manufacturers: Volkswagen Group, Tesla, and BYD.Things are not improving," said Caroline Avan, head of natural resources and just transition at... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Canada's security agency is trying to dissuade Canadians from using TikTok, telling users that their data is available to the government of China."In an interview with CBC News set to air on Saturday, David Vigneault, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said that there is a very clear strategy on the part of the government of China ... to be able to acquire ... personal information from around the world," the CBC reports.They're using big data analytics, they have amazing computer farms crunching the data, they are developing artificial intelligence ... based on using this data," Vigneault added.The Chinese government's ability to access user data is at the forefront of US efforts to regulate - and potentially... Continue reading...

Delta Emulator is abandoning its current logo for a different, yet-to-be-revealed mark - because Adobe thinks Delta's stylized letter D" is a bit too close to its stylized letter A" for comfort.It's not every day you see an app changelog that includes news of a legal threat, but get a load of this: Image via iOS App Store Adobe threatened legal action unless we changed our app icon - so we did!" it reads. The situation unfolded quickly, according to emails Delta creator Riley Testut shared with The Verge:On May 7th, Adobe's lawyers reached out to Delta with a firm but kindly written request to go find a different icon, an email that didn't contain an explicit threat or even use the word infringement - it... Continue reading...

Image: Tyler McVicker Valve's next game appears to be a multiplayer hero shooter known as Deadlock. This is according to leaks from playtesters posted on social media earlier today, with some of the details verified by known Valve dataminer @GabeFollower and Valve watcher Tyler McVicker.Since testers started sharing Deadlock screenshots all over the place, here's ones I can verify, featuring one of the heroes called Grey Talon," @GabeFollower posted on X.The post included four screenshots allegedly from the game, which features characters (one of which looks like the Sniper from Team Fortress 2) battling in a city map that seems reminiscent of Half-Life 2's City 17. Another image shows a hero named Grey Talon and includes the character's weapon and... Continue reading...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Since the iPhone X's introduction of OLED and Face ID in 2017, Apple's phones haven't changed their look significantly, but now The Information reports a major redesign is underway for a new Slim" iPhone. The outlet says it could arrive in 2025 as part of the iPhone 17 refresh, with a price even higher than Apple's current most expensive model, the iPhone Pro Max.9to5Mac reported on a rumor from Haitong International analyst Jeff Pu saying the new iPhone 17 models could have a refreshed design with a smaller Dynamic Island. Following a rumored size increase and a new side button for the iPhone 16 lineup later this year, the Slim" iPhone 17 would feature a 6.6-inch display that falls in between the 6.1-inch screen of the smallest... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Jan Leike, a key OpenAI researcher who resigned earlier this week following the departure of co-founder Ilya Sutskever, posted on X Friday morning that safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products" at the company.Leike's statements came after Wired reported that OpenAI had disbanded the team dedicated to addressing long-term AI risks (called the Superalignment team") altogether. Leike had been running the Superalignment team, which formed last July to solve the core technical challenges" in implementing safety protocols as OpenAI developed AI that can reason like a human.The original idea for OpenAI was to openly provide their models to the public, hence the organization's name, but they've become... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge A note from OpenAI says that you may no longer have to download files you have on Google Drive or OneDrive if you want to use ChatGPT to analyze your data. You will be able to add those files directly to the chatbot. The feature, rolling out to paying ChatGPT users over the next few weeks, will save people from the annoyance of having to first download a file and then upload it again on the chatbot.Once they've got access to the feature, ChatGPT Plus, Enterprise, and Teams users will only need to give the chatbot access to their Google Drive or OneDrive account. OpenAI says in a blog post that the integration means ChatGPT can read through Excel, Word, PowerPoint files, and their Google equivalents more quickly." So far, the improved... Continue reading...

Photo: Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Sony Music sent letters to hundreds of tech companies and warned them against using its content without permission, according to Bloomberg, which obtained a copy of the letter.The letter was sent to more than 700 AI companies and streaming platforms and said that unauthorized use" of Sony Music content for AI systems denies the label and artists control and compensation" of their work. The letter, according to Bloomberg, calls out the training, development or commercialization of AI systems" that use copyrighted material, including music, art, and lyrics. Sony Music artists include Doja Cat, Billy Joel, Celine Dion, and Lil Nas X, among many others. Sony Music didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.The music industry... Continue reading...

Photo by Valerie Macon / AFP via Getty Images Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies says that bringing a bit more fantasy to the sci-fi show was key to making the new season feel fresh. Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft has reportedly decided to add the next installment of Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass. The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft will announce that Call of Duty is coming to its game subscription service during the company's Xbox showcase on June 9th.I reported earlier this month that Microsoft had been debating whether to put new releases of Call of Duty into Game Pass, with concerns from some at the company that the revenue generated from typical Call of Duty sales would be undermined by Game Pass. Activision traditionally sells copies of Call of Duty for around $70 or more, selling more than 20 million copies on average.The brief Wall Street Journal report doesn't make it clear whether Microsoft plans to charge extra... Continue reading...

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge AI. AI? AI! AI... A. I. This has been a week filled with AI announcements from some of the biggest and most important companies in tech, all of whom seem totally convinced that we're due for a revolution in virtual assistants. If Silicon Valley gets its way, you might never have to write an email, a line of code, or a joke ever again. All you'll do is ask your all-knowing, ultra-helpful, maybe slightly too flirty virtual assistant, and it'll get everything done for you.On this episode of The Vergecast, we discuss all the AI assistant stuff OpenAI announced at its Spring Update event and the very similar stuff Google announced at its I/O developer conference the next day. Since the early days of Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa, the... Continue reading...

Reddit awards are (kinda) back - with a few notable changes. | Illustration: The Verge Reddit is re-introducing a revised version of the awards system it phased out last year after acknowledging the golden upvote system had missed the mark."We tried something new, it wasn't great (you called it)," Reddit said in its announcement post on Wednesday. So we're (re)launching awards, not-so-new but definitely improved. Rollout starts today on reddit.com and Reddit's iOS and Android apps."Most of the previous award system mechanisms will remain the same, according to Reddit, with a few tweaks - such as an award button placed under eligible posts, an updated UI to minimize clutter, and an awards leaderboard that displays the top gold and awards earned for a comment or post. New safety features have been introduced to keep... Continue reading...

The Verge The social network formerly known as Twitter has officially adopted X.com for all its core systems. That means typing twitter.com in your browser will now redirect to Elon Musk's favored domain, or should. At the time of publication, we're seeing a mix of results depending upon browser choice and whether you're logged in or not.A message also now appears at the bottom of the X login page that reads, We are letting you know that we are changing our URL, but your privacy and data protection settings remain the same."The domain transition has been one of the more awkward aspects of Elon Musk's move to rebrand the company. Although many aspects of X migrated to the new branding long ago - including its official account, its mobile apps,... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge On Thursday evening, many iPhone owners (including some here at The Verge) saw the not delivered" flag when trying to send texts via iMessage. People reported the problem across multiple wireless carriers (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile), countries, and even continents.The Apple services status page didn't show any indication of trouble while the problems were going on, but now it has been updated after the fact, reflecting a resolved issue where Users were unable to use this service" for iMessage, Apple Messages for Business, FaceTime, and HomeKit. According to the note, the problems went on from about 5:39PM ET until 6:35PM ET. Screenshot: Apple.com Apple has not responded to inquiries or otherwise commented on... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Google will soon offer schools access to Gemini AI - specifically for educators and students over the age of 18 - and promises not to use their data for AI model training or share it with anyone.Google will include the extra Gemini data privacy protections on Workspace for Education accounts at no additional charge. However, it does mean relying on the older Gemini 1.0 Pro model instead of newer, more updated models like Gemini 1.5 Pro or Flash, which is designed to provide more accurate answers.Gemini for Google Workspace launches on May 23rd and will come in two packages for institutions. The first is the lower-cost Gemini Education, which has a monthly usage limit, and the second tier is Education Premium, which opens full access to... Continue reading...

Photo: Getty Images Gannett, the media company that owns hundreds of newspapers in the US, is launching a new program that adds AI-generated bullet points at the top of journalists' stories, according to an internal memo seen by The Verge.The AI feature, labeled key points" on stories, uses automated technology to create summaries that appear below a headline. The bottom of articles includes a disclaimer, reading, The Key Points at the top of this article were created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and reviewed by a journalist before publication. No other parts of the article were generated using AI." The memo is dated May 14th and notes that participation is optional at this point.The summaries appear to already be live on some USA... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge OpenAI has signed a deal for access to real-time content from Reddit's data API, which means it can surface discussions from the site within ChatGPT and other new products. It's an agreement similar to the one Reddit signed with Google earlier this year that was reportedly worth $60 million.The deal will also enable Reddit to bring new AI-powered features to Redditors and mods" and use OpenAI's large language models to build applications. OpenAI has also signed up to become an advertising partner on Reddit.Redditors have been vocal about how Reddit's executives manage the platform before, and it remains to be seen how they'll react to this announcement. More than 7,000 subreddits went dark in June 2023 after users protested Reddit's... Continue reading...