The Verge

Image: Chipolo Google’s freshly expanded Find My Device platform has two new trackers coming from Chipolo: the One Point key finder and the Card Point wallet finder. While these trackers are dedicated to Google’s location tracking service, Chipolo also offers similar One Spot and Card Spot trackers for Apple’s Find My service.The names here are fairly self-explanatory. The new One Point wallet finder resembles a thick credit card that slips into your purse or wallet, while the key finder is a puck-shaped keyring. The latter is small enough to use in other circumstances though, such as keeping tabs on your luggage, bike, or even on a pet collar. Image: Chipolo The Card Point tracker doesn’t look too bulky compared to a standard... Continue reading…

A coal power plant in Texas in 2017 that became the first in the US to add carbon capture technology. | Photo by Luke Sharrett / Bloomberg via Getty Images The Environmental Protection Agency proposed new rules for power plants today that are supposed to clean up pollution. But instead of encouraging more renewable energy growth, the proposal would actually help keep polluting coal and gas plants online.The proposed mandate requires existing power plants to start limiting their carbon dioxide emissions in 2030, introducing restrictions that would become more stringent over time. Any new gas power plants would have to comply with pollution caps as soon as they’re built. A fact sheet from the agency says it decided not to update rules for new coal plants since it doesn’t anticipate new coal facilities to come online, which are more expensive and polluting than gas plants.The proposed rules... Continue reading…

It’s actually kinda cute for a simple black-and-silver design. | Image: Canon Canon is finally stepping into the vlogging camera arena, and it’s doing so with a quirky new point-and-shoot geared toward a mindless “set-it-and-forget-it” crowd I’m not sure exists. The $429.99 Canon PowerShot V10 is an adorable little camera about the size of an extra-thick deck of cards that packs a fixed 19mm equivalent f/2.8 lens and marries it to a 20.9-megapixel one-inch-type sensor.It records 4K at up to 30 fps and is geared toward filming yourself with an articulating screen, front and rear record buttons, stereo mics with a 3.5mm mic jack, a Micro HDMI port, digital image stabilization, and a kickstand for propping it up. It’s expected to launch in June.More YouTube than TikTokWhat makes the V10 interesting is its... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In a new support document, Twitter has detailed what you can expect from the first version of the platform’s encrypted direct messages. Perhaps most notably, to be able to send and receive encrypted messages, you’ll have to pay Twitter for the ability to do so. Platforms like WhatsApp, Messenger, Signal, and iMessage already offer encrypted messaging for free, so having to pay for the feature on Twitter might be a hard pill to swallow.According to the document, encrypted DMs are only available if you are a verified user (somebody who pays for Twitter Blue), a verified organization (an organization that pays $1,000 per month), or an affiliate of a verified organization (which costs $50 per month per person). Both the sender and... Continue reading…

Unlike the Pixel 6A, the Pixel 7A offers 7.5W wireless charging. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge The new Pixel Fold wasn’t the only smartphone Google introduced during this year’s Google I/O keynote. The budget-friendly Pixel 7A, a phone that essentially functions as a stripped-down version of last year’s Pixel 7, is already available at multiple retailers for $499.At 6.1 inches, Google’s latest Pixel phone is just as small as its predecessor, the Pixel 6A, but this year, it comes with a few extra perks not present on the last-gen model. That includes support for wireless charging, a new chipset, and a higher-refresh display for smoother scrolling — factors that surely play into the phone’s $50 price increase.Of course, despite the extra features, there are some tradeoffs you’ll still have to make if you plan on buying the Pixel... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Disney is combining Hulu and Disney Plus into a single streaming app. During Disney’s Q2 earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Bob Iger announced that the company is going to create a “one-app experience” within the US and said that it’s raising the price of its ad-free plan, which currently costs $10.99 per month.“While we continue to offer Disney plus Hulu and ESPN plus as standalone options, this is a logical progression of our DTC [direct-to-consumer] offerings that will provide greater opportunities for advertisers while giving bundle subscribers access to more robust and streamlined content, resulting in greater audience engagement and ultimately leading to a more unified streaming experience,” Iger said.He continued, “Meanwhile, the... Continue reading…

Another big ultrawide curved gaming monitor has entered. | Image: LG LG has put its latest massive curved gaming monitor up for sale in the US, and it’s here to undercut Samsung’s standard Odyssey G9 by $200. The company’s new UltraGear 49-inch costs $1,299.99 on LG’s online store and includes the important gaming features like 240Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time on deck, along with the crucial RGB lighting on the rear to kick-start your picturesque gamer nightclub vibe.Now, this new LG UltraGear isn’t supposed to be cutting-edge in display technology like the company’s 45-inch OLED offering or Samsung’s QD-OLED and “8K” Mini-LED Odyssey gaming monitors. And it doesn't have the bending gimmicks of the LG Flex. Instead, this new LG is here to compare to Samsung’s immersive and already-proven regular... Continue reading…

Image: Warner Bros. Animation Babylon 5 is coming back as an animated movie, series creator J. Michael Straczynski revealed last week, and today The Hollywood Reporter has the exclusive on what it’s about: Sheridan traveling through the multiverse in search of a way home.The basic synopsis, via THR:

Image: Google Google announced a slew of new features that will be available to cars with native Android software, including YouTube, Waze, and video conferencing apps like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Webex by Cisco. Video games are coming to Android-equipped cars. The company also announced plans to create an “Android for Car Apps Library” for third-party developers to build their own apps for Android-equipped cars.But the announcement that streaming video and virtual meeting tools are coming to infotainment screens is sure to pique the most interest among Android users.Google teased the ability to watch YouTube videos while sitting in your parked vehicle last year. Now, the company is saying the feature will be available “in the coming weeks”... Continue reading…

Image: Google In a world increasingly filled with photorealistic images that have either been altered with AI editing tools or created using a generative AI bot like Midjourney or Stable Diffusion, how do you know if a picture is real? One thing that could help is a new tool Google is rolling out this summer for English-language searches in the US called “About this image.”It’s similar to the “about this” drop-down that appears on links in regular search results but is now available in Google image searches. When you perform a “reverse image search” by uploading an image of unknown provenance, you’ll now see a menu option that lets you find out when that picture and others similar to it were first indexed by Google — as well as where on the web it... Continue reading…

Screenshot: Emma Roth / The Verge Google is launching a new AI-powered coding bot for Android developers. During its I/O event on Wednesday, Google announced that the tool, called Studio Bot, will help developers build apps by generating code, fixing errors, and answering questions about Android.According to Google, the bot is built on Codey, the company’s new foundational coding model that stems from its updated PaLM 2 large language model (LLM). Studio Bot supports both the Kotlin and Java programming languages and will live directly in the toolbar on Android Studio. There, developers can get quick answers to their questions or even have the bot debug a portion of their code. Screenshot: Emma Roth / The Verge While Google notes that developers... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is making generative AI tools available to Play Store developers in an attempt to make it easier for them to build out their app listings. It’s one of a pair of AI-powered features Google is announcing for its Android app store at its I/O developer conference today, alongside a new review summary feature that will use AI to summarize app reviews. Other features include a machine translation feature for listings and new options for promoting apps.The search giant is characterizing the generative AI tool as an experimental feature that’s designed to make drafting a listing easier. “Just open our AI helper, enter a couple of prompts like audience and key theme, and it will generate a draft you can edit, discard, or use,” its blog... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Google plans to tease the future of Search, Pixel devices, and more at what’s expected to be an AI-heavy event. Continue reading…

Screenshot: Emma Roth / The Verge Google just finished up its I/O keynote, where it announced some pretty major updates to its Pixel lineup and showed off its latest advances in AI. If you didn’t get a chance to watch the event live, we’ve rounded up all of the biggest news that came out of the Google I/O keynote.Three new additions to the Pixel lineup Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Google’s Pixel hardware took center stage during the keynote, as the company launched three new products: the Pixel Fold, the Pixel Tablet, and the budget-friendly Pixel 7A.The $1,799 Pixel Fold marks Google’s first entry into the foldable scene, featuring a 5.8-inch OLED outer screen that unfurls to reveal a larger 7.6-inch display that also is an OLED panel with a... Continue reading…

Image: ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images Fans of Frank Ocean lost thousands of dollars after a scammer sold them fake AI-generated songs, according to a report from Motherboard. It was only a matter of time.The scammer made off with around $13,000 CAD by selling a collection of bogus “leaked” tracks by the artist to a Discord server of his fans. To build trust, the scammer reportedly shared one real unreleased Frank Ocean song on Discord and then jumped at the opportunity when they saw that fans couldn’t tell the difference between the real track and a fake one.“We now live in a world where nobody knows if a song is made by the artist or by a robot,” a member of the Discord told Motherboard.This is one of the most urgent problems with AI-generated songs for artists and... Continue reading…

The Pixel Fold is a smartphone that opens up into a small tablet. Google is finally giving Samsung some competition in the folding phone space with the Pixel Fold, a device that transforms between a standard smartphone and a small tablet by folding in half. Continue reading…

It’s $50 more than the Pixel 6A, but some key upgrades keep Google’s A-series at the top of the midrange class. Continue reading…

Is this woman real? Google’s blog post doesn’t say. | Image: Google Generative AI is all the rage — and Google has found two new ways to put the tech in the palm of your hand.First, it’s announcing Magic Compose, a new feature in Android’s default Messages app that’ll let you respond to texts with auto-suggested responses “based on the content of your messages” so they sound like you, or pull a Grammarly and make them sound more “concise” and “professional,” or even imitate a famous style. Image: Google Me? I can’t wait to put it to work on those pig butchering scammers who keep pretending they’ve got the “wrong number.” The beta’s coming this summer.Second, as part of a Pixel-exclusive next month, Google’s adding generative AI wallpaper where “you can answer suggested prompts... Continue reading…

Stay ahead of potential threats by checking if your Gmail address has been published to the dark web. | Image: Google A new security feature coming to Google accounts could inform you if your email address has been published on the dark web. At Google I/O today, the search giant announced plans to roll out a handful of new security features designed to better protect those using Google products and services, including spam protections for Google Drive and improved search history deletion in Maps.The company is expanding its “dark web report” feature to all Gmail accounts in the US over the coming weeks, which scans to check if your Gmail address is appearing on the dark web and advises on steps that users can take to bolster their online security. The password manager built into the Chrome browser already does a fairly good job of nagging you to keep... Continue reading…

Image: Getty This year, Google has a lot to prove — and at least one product to unfold. Continue reading…

Google is adding a ton of new Bard features at its I/O conference today. | Image: Google Google is adding a smorgasbord of new features to its AI chatbot Bard, including support for new languages (Japanese and Korean), easier ways to export text to Google Docs and Gmail, visual search, and a dark mode. Most significantly, the company is removing the waitlist for Bard and making the system available in English in 180 countries and territories. It’s also promising future features like AI image generation powered by Adobe and integration with third-party web services like Instacart and OpenTable.Collectively, the news is a shot in the arm for Bard, which was released two months ago for select users in the US and UK. The chatbot — which Google still stresses is an experiment and not a replacement to its search engine — has c... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google’s latest Photos trick is a feature it’s calling Magic Editor, which uses generative AI to let you make major edits to a photo without professional tools. The company revealed the feature at Google I/O 2023.Google shared a couple examples of Magic Editor in action that are both pretty cool. In one, a photo of a person in front of a waterfall, Google entirely moves the person further to the side of the photo, erases people in the background, and makes the sky a prettier blue. Watch this GIF to see it all happen: GIF: Google In another photo, Magic Editor scoots a child on a bench closer to the middle of the photo, which generates “new” parts of the bench and balloons to the left to fill in the space. In this... Continue reading…

Image: SnoopyTech via Twitter Yet another leaked teaser for the Pixel Fold has surfaced just hours before its expected launch at Google I/O. In a promo video by leaker SnoopyTech, Google highlights just how thin its flagship foldable really is and also shows off how you can prop the device up on a table when watching videos.The ad offers a look at what multitasking on the device might be like as well. As shown in the clip, a user has a video call open in one panel when the device is unfolded, while Google Drive is open in another. They’re also able to drag and drop files across both screens.

Image: Nintendo The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is going to have big dungeons with distinct designs, Nintendo confirmed in a developer Q&A published Wednesday. One of the biggest questions for Tears was whether it would offer something different from Breath of the Wild’s Divine Beast dungeons, which all had a largely similar aesthetic. Now, we know that there will be more variety to look forward to.Here’s the relevant passage from the Q&A, and it’s worth reading in full:

Image: Etsy Couples looking for more bespoke or personalized wedding gifts will have the ability to create a registry on Etsy.The platform known for handmade and vintage items has added a wedding registry option, available to users starting today. Couples can create and add items to their list, and guests will be able to search for and purchase gifts off of registries on Etsy.In addition to handmade and vintage items for sale on the platform, couples will also be able to add custom gifts to their registries and specify customizations — names, colors, designs, or other personalization that sellers offer.On the seller end, the process of fulfilling registry orders will be the same as others, but sellers will see a badge signaling it was... Continue reading…

An end view of one of Helion’s prototypes. | Image: Helion Microsoft just signed a jaw-dropping agreement to purchase electricity from a nuclear fusion generator. Nuclear fusion, often called the Holy Grail of energy, is a potentially limitless source of clean energy that scientists have been chasing for the better part of a century.A company called Helion Energy thinks it can deliver that Holy Grail to Microsoft by 2028. It announced a power purchase agreement with Microsoft this morning that would see it plug in the world’s first commercial fusion generator to a power grid in Washington. The goal is to generate at least 50 megawatts of power — a small but significant amount and more than the 42MW that the US’s first two offshore wind farms have the capacity to generate today.“It’s the most... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Google has had a rough six months. Since ChatGPT launched last November — followed by the new Bing in February and GPT-4 in March — the company has failed to establish its AI credentials. Its own offering, the “experimental” chatbot Bard, compares poorly to rivals, and insider reports have portrayed a company in panic and disarray. Today, at its annual I/O conference, the company needs to convince the public (and shareholders) that it has a meaningful response. But to do that, it needs a new playbook.Google is undoubtedly a leader in AI research. As its executives like to point out, it was Googlers who created the transformer architecture that powers chatbots like ChatGPT. Just as significantly, it was Googlers who drew attention to... Continue reading…

Nighthawk M6 Pro router, now unlocked. | Image: Netgear If you’re in the market for a portable hotspot, whether to have safer internet connectivity in airports and hotels or to get connected in a rural vacation home, you might have considered Netgear’s incredible M6 Pro router available through AT&T. However, if you didn’t want to be locked to a carrier, Netgear’s unlocked options for 5G mobile routers only included the mmWave-lacking M6 and the shorter-ranged non-6E Wi-Fi having M5.That’s changing, as the company’s newly-released unlocked M6 Pro (MR6550-100PAS) finally brings a more comprehensive solution that combines all of those models’ features. But it also comes in at a high price of $999.99 — a $200 premium over the regular M6, and more than double the price of the $459.99 AT&T-locked... Continue reading…

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Uber is launching a new flight booking tool for its UK customers as part of the company’s wider efforts to expand into other travel markets. Hopper, a Canadian-based travel agency, and Uber announced the partnership to sell national and international flights through the ride-sharing app on Wednesday.Uber has already introduced app bookings for flights for some UK users and is planning to make the tool more widely available across the entire region “in the coming weeks,” as reported by The Financial Times. Andrew Brem, General Manager for Uber in the UK, told the publication that this is “the latest and most ambitious step” that the company has taken in its pursuit to create a one-stop shop for all travel booking needs — a so-called... Continue reading…

Dell’s U3224KB, the 6K 32-inch monitor it announced back at CES, is going on sale today for $3,199.99. That’s over $1,000 cheaper than Apple’s 32-inch $4,999 Pro Display XDR, which also targets professionals with a similar high resolution 6K panel. But Dell’s monitor packs in a host of other features like a built-in webcam, speakers, and KVM switch to allow it to work with two computers simultaneously. Dell’s pricing reveal joins the launch of a new 38-inch curved ultrawide display from the company.Obviously, the specs of Dell’s and Apple’s monitors aren’t identical. Most notably, Dell’s monitor is DisplayHDR 600 certified, suggesting a peak brightness in the region of 600 nits versus 1,600 nits on Apple’s monitor. There’s also no... Continue reading…