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by David Pierce on (#6QQ1K)
Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Sony's new PlayStation 5 Pro appears to be very powerful. But at $700 - plus another $80 if you want to buy the disc drive accessory since the console itself doesn't have one - a lot of gamers have been left wondering exactly how powerful it needs to be in order to justify the cost.On this episode of The Vergecast, we try to figure out why the PS5 Pro has the specs and price tag it does and what this new console might tell us about the overall state of the gaming business. Around the same time as Sony's announcement, Microsoft said it was laying off another 650 Xbox employees - these are two companies with very different ideas about the same business, and it's not always obvious who's right.After we finish with our PS5 Pro chat, we... Continue reading...
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The Verge - All Posts
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
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| Updated | 2024-11-22 19:30 |
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6QQ1N)
Pedestrians exit a Waymo self-driving car in front of Google's San Francisco headquarters. | Photo by Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images Waymo and Uber - bitter enemies turned awkwardly polite work friends - announced they were expanding their two-year robotaxi partnership to two new cities: Austin, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia, starting in early 2025.The companies have been working together in Phoenix, Arizona, since last year - but not in California in San Francisco or Los Angeles. It's a mutually beneficial partnership in which Waymo gets access to Uber's vast customer base, while Uber gets to serve as a platform for a futuristic mode of transportation.When it launches, Waymo's robotaxis will only" be available to hail for rides on Uber's app in Austin and Atlanta. That means Waymo's own ridehail app, Waymo One, will not be operational in either city. The... Continue reading...
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by Adi Robertson on (#6QQ1M)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Debates over AI's artistic value have focused on its generative output. But so far, interactive systems have proved far more interesting. Continue reading...
by Jess Weatherbed on (#6QQ1P)
Fortnite maker Epic has already committed to supporting its iOS app store on iPads. | Image: Epic Games Apple will let iPad users in the European Union download apps from alternative app marketplaces starting next week, coinciding with the release of iPadOS 18 on September 16th. The change comes after the iPad operating system was designated a core platform service" in April under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), the same rules that forced the company to allow third-party app stores on iPhones earlier this year.A handful of third-party app stores have already launched for iPhone users in the EU, such as Setapp Mobile, AltStore PAL, and the new Epic Games Store, which has committed to supporting iPads this year. So hold tight, Fortnite fans. You'll soon have a larger display option for on-the-go gaming.Apple had six months to ensure... Continue reading...
by Tom Warren on (#6QPYS)
Image: The Verge United Airlines' in-flight Wi-Fi is getting a big upgrade on all its jets thanks to SpaceX's Starlink satellites. After teasing something big" for the skies, United says that it will start testing Starlink's fast Wi-Fi service in early 2025, with the first passenger flights expected later next year.United is installing Starlink Wi-Fi into all of its aircraft, more than 1,000 planes, over the next several years, and the service will be free for passengers. Everything you can do on the ground, you'll soon be able to do onboard a United plane at 35,000 feet, just about anywhere in the world," says United CEO Scott Kirby.One Mile at a Time reports that United currently has four different Wi-Fi providers, with regional jets utilizing... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6QPWB)
The latest Netflix app update will require Apple devices to run iOS 17 or later. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Netflix app is dropping support for older iPhones and iPads that are stuck at iOS 16. 9to5Mac reports that Netflix is showing an alert to users on some iOS 16 devices that says We've updated the Netflix app! To use the latest version, install iOS 17 or later."The change only impacts devices that can't be updated to iOS 17, such as the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus handsets, and Apple's first-generation iPad Pro and iPad 5 tablets. These devices will be unable to receive further Netflix updates, such as important patches for bugs and other security concerns. Apple is rolling out iOS 18 on September 16th.Netflix users stuck on iOS 16 can still access their accounts in the current version of their app, for the time being, as... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6QPN1)
A crop of Spider-Man 2 from Sony's PS5 Pro video. | Image: Sony We've got lossless screenshots, but you'll have to download them. Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6QPKE)
Stray, a game where you play a cat. | Image: Annapurna Annapurna Interactive, the game company famous for publishing indie hits like Stray, Outer Wilds, Gorogoa, Neon White, What Remains of Edith Finch, and many more, may not be the same company anymore.Bloomberg reports that the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive, the gaming division of Megan Ellison's Annapurna, has resigned after failing to convince Ellison to let them spin off its games division into a new company. IGN is corroborating the report.All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team collectively resigned,'' former president Nathan Gary and staffers told Bloomberg. This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make and we did not take this action lightly."An Annapurna spokesperson told Bloomberg that... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6QPKF)
Image: Google Google is testing a new feature for Android tablets that will let you resize apps freely and arrange them on your screen at will, making it easier to juggle multiple tasks. The desktop windowing" feature is now available as a developer preview, and for apps that support it, you could even have more than one instance open.Currently, apps on Android tablets open in full-screen by default. When the new mode is enabled, each app will appear in a window with controls that allow you to reposition, maximize, or close the app. You'll also see a taskbar at the bottom of your screen with your running apps.It sounds a lot like the iPad's Stage Manager feature that similarly lets you resize and move windows around your screen or pretty much any... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6QPHY)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta, Snap, and TikTok have founded a new program called Thrive to help stop the spread of graphic content depicting or encouraging self-harm and suicide. Thrive enables participating companies to share signals" to alert each other of violating content on their platforms.Thrive is built in conjunction with the Mental Health Coalition, a charitable organization that says it works to remove the stigma around mental health discussions. Meta says it provides the technical infrastructure behind Thrive that enables signals to be shared securely." It uses the same cross-platform signal sharing tech used in the Lantern program, which is designed to help fight child abuse online. Participating companies can share hashes that match the... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6QPHZ)
You'll want to be extra careful with Huawei's new trifold Mate XT Ultimate Design smartphone. | Image: Huawei Huawei has revealed the cost of replacement parts for the world's first dual-hinged, triple-screen folding phone, and it's another round of sticker shock. The Mate XT Ultimate Design starts at around $2,809, but should you damage its folding screen enough to need repairs, you'll be potentially paying an additional 7,999 yuan, or around $1,123, for a replacement OLED panel.That's assuming you agree to let Huawei recycle the damaged screen for free. Should you turn down that offer, a new screen for the Mate XT will instead cost you 9,799 yuan, or over $1,376. Ouch. Image: Huawei More folds mean more potential points of failure. Huawei does offer some ways to save money on screen repairs for its new trifold phone.... Continue reading...
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by Gaby Del Valle on (#6QPF9)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Image Right-wing media figures and influencers have descended on Springfield, Ohio, hunting for anything that can help them prove the veracity of a viral racist rumor about Haitian migrants in the community - and relying on misleading, occasionally AI-generated content to help them prove their point. Springfield, which has seen its Haitian population grow by an estimated 15,000 people, has become a sort of shorthand for conservatives' fears about immigration and demographic change. One of the most recent examples comes from Tyler Oliveira, a YouTuber and MrBeast associate, who posted a misleading video about Springfield on Wednesday. Oliveira's video intersperses interviews with locals - including some Haitians - with... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6QPFA)
Multiple Stream Deck Studio interfaces can be stacked in a studio rack. | Image: Elgato Elgato's new Stream Deck Studio - the largest version of its Stream Deck controller yet - is designed for broadcast environments where workflows involve juggling more hardware, software, and media feeds than streamers and solo content creators typically have to deal with.Available starting today for $899.99, the Stream Deck Studio is a collaboration between Elgato and Bitfocus, whose Companion software already brought more advanced functionality to the original Stream Deck, letting you connect multiple controllers and configure them remotely through a web browser interface.Bitfocus helped make the Stream Deck a useful tool in traditional broadcast settings" and other applications outside of content creation. Companies like Virgin... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6QPFB)
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Steam Summer Sale, like summer itself, is sadly well behind us, but Valve is beating one of its best deals on its own gaming handheld. That's because in addition to the Steam Deck LCD with 64GB of storage once again selling for $296.65 (around $52 off), the 512GB version, complete with its fancier antiglare etched screen, is selling for a new low of $336.75 (about $112 off). These are some exceptional deals on the two Steam Deck models that are being phased out.Whichever Steam Deck you choose, you're getting an excellent PC gaming handheld with a seven-inch, 1280 x 800 display that's compatible with many games on Steam. It may be a couple of years old and not as nice as the refreshed Steam Deck OLED model, but it's hard to beat... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6QPBZ)
Image: The Verge Microsoft is announcing plans to make changes to Windows that will help CrowdStrike and other security vendors operate outside of the Windows kernel. The announcement stems from a Microsoft-hosted security summit earlier this week at the company's Redmond, Washington, headquarters, where it discussed changes to Windows in the wake of the disastrous CrowdStrike incident in July.Windows kernel access has been a hot topic ever since the CrowdStrike catastrophe took down 8.5 million Windows PCs and servers. CrowdStrike's software runs at the kernel level of Windows - the core part of an operating system that has unrestricted access to system memory and hardware. That's what allowed a faulty update to generate a Blue Screen of Death as soon... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6QPC0)
Meta will hide the AI Info" label in a menu if an image has been edited with AI. | Image: Meta Meta is updating how it labels content on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads that has been edited or manipulated using generative AI. In an updated blog post, Meta announced that its AI Info" tag will appear within a menu in the top-right corner of images and videos edited with AI - instead of directly beneath the user's name.Users can click on the menu to check if AI information is available and read what may have been adjusted. Meta previously applied the AI Info" tag to all AI-related content - whether it was lightly adjusted in a tool like Photoshop that includes AI features or fully AI-generated from a prompt.The company says the changes are being introduced to better reflect the extent of AI used" across images and videos on... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6QPC1)
Pixar After breaking all kinds of box office records and becoming one of this year's biggest theatrical hits, Pixar's Inside Out 2 is coming to Disney Plus at the end of September.Though you can still catch the movie in theaters right now, Disney announced today that Inside Out 2 will make its Disney Plus streaming debut on September 25th. Ahead of the movie's premiere, Disney Plus is also rolling out a new Blockbuster Offer to first time and returning subscribers that will give them access to the platform's basic tier - which comes with ads and supports simultaneous streaming on up to 4 different devices - for $1.99 a month for three months.The Blockbuster Offer deal runs through September 27th, making it seem like a promotion that's really... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6QPC2)
Illustration: The Verge Google is rolling out its Gemini Live voice chat mode to all Android users for free. You can access the conversational AI chatbot on Android through the Gemini app or its overlay.Google first announced Gemini Live during its Pixel 9 launch event last month, but it has only been available to Gemini Advanced subscribers until now. Similar to ChatGPT's voice chat feature, you can ask Gemini Live questions aloud and even interrupt it mid-sentence. There are also several different voices you can choose from.
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by Thomas Ricker on (#6QPC3)
The Gocycle GXi we reviewed a few years ago. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge Gocycle's designer-in-chief Richard Thorpe is rebooting the e-bike company he founded more than two decades ago. Following a January restructuring to reduce overhead, Thorpe is now turning to crowdfunding to help launch a new series of F1-inspired e-bikes while also expanding into nonelectric foldables - a space currently dominated by Gocycle's British compatriots Brompton.To drum up support, Thorpe is going to tell his story and the challenges and opportunities his small business faces in a series of videos that will be released over the next few weeks. The first, rather earnest installment focuses on Bikeaggedon," Thorpe's word for the turmoil created by soaring e-bike demand at the onset of covid, followed by a collapse of the... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6QPC4)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge One year to the day since Unity announced its runtime fee pricing model, the software developer is canceling that program effective immediately. After extensive consultation with our games community and customers, we've decided to cancel the Runtime Fee," said Unity CEO Matt Bromberg in the blog post announcing the news. Instead of the runtime fee, Unity will return to a per-seat subscription model.Last year, Unity caused a stir within the game development community with a controversial update to its pricing model. Instead of charging developers a set monthly rate based on the number of users utilizing the software, it would implement a pay-per-download scheme that charged developers every time their game was downloaded. That meant... Continue reading...
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by Kylie Robison on (#6QPC5)
Image: The Verge OpenAI is releasing a new model called o1, the first in a planned series of reasoning" models that have been trained to answer more complex questions, faster than a human can. It's being released alongside o1-mini, a smaller, cheaper version. And yes, if you're steeped in AI rumors: this is, in fact, the extremely hyped Strawberry model.For OpenAI, o1 represents a step toward its broader goal of human-like artificial intelligence. More practically, it does a better job at writing code and solving multistep problems than previous models. But it's also more expensive and slower to use than GPT-4o. OpenAI is calling this release of o1 a preview" to emphasize how nascent it is.ChatGPT Plus and Team users get access to both o1-preview and... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6QP8N)
Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge Google has unlisted an impressive Gemini demo video it posted last December that seemed remarkably conversational. BBB National Programs' National Advertising Division (NAD), an ad industry watchdog, inquired whether the video accurately depicts the performance of Gemini in responding to user voice and video prompts."Google chose to end the inquiry by ending its promotion of the video that showed Gemini quickly responding to various spoken prompts, such as identifying parts of drawings and creating a geography game on the fly.Buried in the description was a disclaimer indicating the demo might not be as good as it seemed: For the purposes of this demo, latency has been reduced and Gemini outputs have been shortened for brevity."A... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6QP8P)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Just days after Apple announced a new hearing aid feature for the second-generation AirPods Pro, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the software that powers this functionality. In a press release, the FDA describes Apple's solution as the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software device."The feature was evaluated in a clinical study with 118 subjects with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss," according to the FDA, and the results demonstrated that subjects who used the HAF self-fitting strategy achieved similar perceived benefit as subjects who received professional fitting of the same device."Enabling the AirPods Pro to double as clinical-grade hearing aids is one of several new features that... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6QP8Q)
Lego's McLaren P1 isn't quite as fast as the real deal. | Image: Lego After releasing a 24-inch-long scale replica of the McLaren P1 earlier this year, Lego has now debuted a full-size drivable version of the hypercar built from over 342,817 Technic pieces and powered by hundreds of Lego electric motors.That eclipses the 3,893 pieces that go into building Lego's 1:8-scale McLaren P1 model. The company says the full-scale version used 393 types of Technic components, including 11 specifically manufactured for the replica. That would make it hard to build a copy yourself, but you'd also struggle to find the time. Lego says it took 6,134 hours to design and plan its P1 and 2,210 hours to assemble it.Lego opted to build with Technic components instead of its standard bricks as it allowed the company's... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6QP8R)
On mobile, you get a one-tap unsubscribe under annoying website notifications from Chrome. | Image: Google Google is expanding a Chrome safety feature to help you cancel pesky website notifications with a single tap. It's already available on Pixels and is coming to more Android devices; adding a simple unsubscribe button in the notification so that you can get rid of websites you didn't mean to subscribe to, like horoscopes or weird facts about ducks (there's also an undo button in case you actually do still want those weird duck facts).There's also an updated Safety Check running in the background to automatically revoke permissions from websites that you haven't visited in a long time or are otherwise dangerous. You can see the actions taken in the summary panel, which lists other potential security concerns like compromised passwords and... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6QP5C)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta has acknowledged that all text and photos that adult Facebook and Instagram users have publicly published since 2007 have been fed into its artificial intelligence models. Australia's ABC News reports that Meta's global privacy director, Melinda Claybaugh, initially rejected claims about user data from 2007 being leveraged for AI training during a local government inquiry about AI adoption before relenting after additional questioning.The truth of the matter is that unless you have consciously set those posts to private since 2007, Meta has just decided that you will scrape all of the photos and all of the texts from every public post on Instagram or Facebook since 2007 unless there was a conscious decision to set them on... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6QP5D)
Disney's current promo runs through September 27th and extends to both new and returning subscribers. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Like most streaming services, the price of a Disney Plus is about to go up in the not-so-distant future. Fortunately for those dreading the $2 price hike - which is due to take effect on October 17th - both new and returning subscribers can sign up for three months of Disney's ad-supported Basic plan for $1.99 a month through September 27th, saving you $6 a month or $18 over the entire promo period.If you can do without the ability to download content for offline viewing, Disney's ad-supported plan is virtually identical to the ad-free plan. Both provide access to the same Disney Plus shows and films - including the full Star Wars and Marvel slate - along with National Geographic and Pixar content. That means you'll be able to stream... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6QP5E)
Image: The Flappy Bird Foundation A self-described team of passionate fans committed to sharing the game with the world" says it's acquired the rights to Flappy Bird, the iconic mobile game whose creator took it offline less than a year after it was released. Now, The Flappy Bird Foundation Group" will relaunch the game on Android and iOS in 2025.But it's unclear whether the original creator of Flappy Bird, Dong Nguyen, is a part of the game's relaunch. The Verge reached out to Nguyen with a request for comment but didn't immediately hear back. His account on X and the website for his game development company don't show any recent updates. The Flappy Bird Foundation said it acquired the rights to the game from Gametech, LLC, which isn't associated with Nguyen.F... Continue reading...
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by Nilay Patel on (#6QP5F)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images We've been covering the rise of AI image editing very closely here on Decoder and at The Verge overall for several years now - the ability to create photorealistic images with nothing more than a chatbot prompt has the potential to completely reset our cultural relationship with photography and, in particular, how much we instinctively trust photos to reflect the truth.But the debate over image editing and the inherent truth of photos is nothing new, of course. It's existed for as long as photography has existed, and it's raged since digital photo editing tools have become widely available. You know this argument; you've heard it a million times. It's when people say, It's just like Photoshop," with Photoshop" standing in for the... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6QP5G)
An aerial photo of a warehouse next to homes in Bloomington, California. | Photo by Wes Reel for The Verge The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just handed communities a powerful new way to hold nearby warehouses accountable for the pollution they create.Until recently, air quality regulations largely overlooked tailpipe pollution choking neighborhoods near sprawling warehouses. Warehouses may not have smokestacks releasing pollutants that the EPA and local agencies typically regulate. But they do attract a steady stream of trucks. It's a problem the warehouse wouldn't necessarily have been held accountable for since old-school regulations focused on pollutants coming from the facility itself.Warehouses are expanding to meet demand for e-commerceThat changed with a landmark policy in Southern California called the Warehouse Indirect... Continue reading...
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by David Nield on (#6QP5H)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge These days, there are so many digital subscriptions out there - music, movies, fitness, cloud storage, software, podcasts, audiobooks, Patreons, security cameras, AI bots, and more - that it's perfectly understandable if you start losing track of what exactly you're signed up for.To make things even more complicated, you may be paying some subscriptions monthly and others annually. Then, there are those insidious free trials: you sign up to test something out, forget all about it after a few days, and then get billed unexpectedly (this is an occupational hazard for tech journalists). And of course, both Apple and Google make it immensely easy to sign up for various services almost instantly using their account.Luckily, Apple and... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6QP5J)
GM and Hyundai executives announced a new partnership to codevelop vehicles. | Image: Hyundai Auto tie-ups are nothing new, but they have become more frequent and wide-ranging in the age of clean energy and alternate fuel sources, as companies seek to spread out the cost and risk of adopting expensive new technologies.The latest alignment is between General Motors and Hyundai, which are joining forces to codevelop new passenger and commercial vehicles, including EVs and hydrogen fuel cells. They will also explore ways to save money on the acquisition of raw battery materials and steel, among other crucial supplies.The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to look for ways to leverage their complementary scale and strengths to reduce costs and bring a wider range of vehicles and technologies to customers... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6QP5K)
Illustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos: Getty Images Apple revealed its iPhone 16 lineup on Monday, and the big selling point was Apple Intelligence. Apple's on-device AI system offers splashy features like the ability to rewrite emails, generate custom emoji, and a significantly upgraded Siri. But underneath it all, AI is delivering one other big change to the iPhone: more RAM.Although Apple never talks about RAM in its smartphones, MacRumors discovered that every iPhone 16 model now has 8GB of RAM, up from 6GB in the base models from last year. And it's not just Apple making changes like that. Last month, Google made similar changes to its AI-heavy Pixel 9; both the standard and pro models saw an increase in RAM, making 12GB the least you can get this year.The impetus behind these RAM... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6QP1V)
Privatey-trained astronaut Jared Isaacman emerges from the capsule. | Screenshot: SpaceX SpaceX's Polaris Dawn astronauts successfully performed a spacewalk, marking the first done by a private company. After depressurizing SpaceX's Dragon capsule, the billionaire funding the mission, Jared Isaacman, emerged from the spacecraft early Thursday morning.With his torso and head fully sticking outside the capsule, Isaacman performed tests on SpaceX's new spacesuits, which are designed for increased mobility. Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do," Isaacman said during the spacewalk. But from here, it sure looks like a perfect world."
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6QP1W)
Illustration: The Verge Google Wallet will start beta testing a digital ID soon that works at TSA checkpoints in almost half the country, including states like New York, California, Florida, Texas, and Illinois, but Google still advises that users keep their physical ID handy. Google says it's also working with partners to use digital IDs for other purposes, like car rentals, account recovery, and identity verification.To create the digital ID, you'll scan the security chip on the back of your passport into the Google Wallet app. Google will ask you to verify your identity with a selfie video and then generate the ID pass within a few minutes. The ID is encrypted, so you'll need a passcode or fingerprint to access and share it. Image: Google... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6QP1X)
The iFixit portable soldering station. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge My first USB-C soldering iron was a revelation. You mean I can make liquid metal connections anywhere, in seconds, just by plugging this tiny stick into a USB cable?" Now, repair company iFixit is introducing its own take on the idea. It claims the iFixit FixHub Smart Soldering Iron is powerful enough for pros and easier for beginners than any others that have come before.So far, it's not a new revelation, but after my first couple of hours, I'm loving iFixit's improvements on an already great idea.For starters: the $80 iron comes with a heat-resistant magnetic storage cap so you can safely put it away at a moment's notice, an LED warning light that tells you if it's blistering hot, motion sensors to automatically shut it off if you... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6QP1Y)
Level Lock incorporates all the smart tech into a deadbolt that can be retrofitted into an existing lock. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Smart locks may still be a niche product, but lock behemoth Assa Abloy is clearly betting on a digital future for our doors. Despite being sued by the US Department of Justice for trying to buy too many smart lock manufacturers, the Swedish-based company just bought another one: sleek smart lock maker Level Lock.With this latest purchase, Assa Abloy, which owns a staggering 190 brands in the access control" space, may now have a significant piece of the puzzle it needs to push the market into a digital future. Their innovative platform provides an easy transition from mechanical locking to digital access solutions with minimal effort," said Lucas Boselli, executive vice president of Assa Abloy, in a press release.Level's technology... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6QNZ4)
Those aren't gas pumps! | Image: GM / EVgo GM and EVgo are collaborating to build flagship" EV charging stations at urban sites with a total of 400 EV charging stalls.The flagship stations are cobranded by GM Energy, the automaker's battery and charging division, and EVgo. The stations will be located in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New York, and Texas at places with shopping, food, coffee shops, and other amenities.Each station will include 20 fast charging stalls with units supporting up to 350kW speeds, pull-through stations, security cameras, and gas station-style canopies with ample lighting. The first locations featuring EVgo's latest easy-deploying and modular prefabricated charging stations will open in 2025. Image: EVgo E... Continue reading...
by Jess Weatherbed on (#6QNZ5)
The new adaptive charging feature could help to save power and preserve the life of controller batteries. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Sony has released a batch of features in its latest PlayStation 5 system update, including support for adaptive controller charging, party link sharing, and a new widget hub. The adaptive charging feature, which monitors and automatically adjusts the power supplied when controllers are connected to the console's USB ports, is being released globally starting today - but only for the latest PS5 models.In its announcement, Sony says adaptive charging is only available on the PS5 Slim and its upcoming $700 PS5 Pro. The feature will work on PS5-era DualSense and DualSense Edge wireless controllers, alongside PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers, and the Access adaptive controller kit. Charging is adjusted based on the controller's current... Continue reading...
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by Georgina Torbet on (#6QNZ6)
Photo by Paul Hennessy / Anadolu via Getty Images The Starliner debacle fueled speculation that the space agency would dump Boeing. But if it did, it would be left with SpaceX - and Elon Musk. Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6QNZ7)
Image: The Verge Microsoft is laying off around 650 employees in its gaming division today. The latest cuts come months after Microsoft laid off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees, and after the closure of several game studios, including Redfall developer Arkane Austin.Xbox chief Phil Spencer announced the layoffs to employees in an internal memo this morning, seen by The Verge. The cuts are related to the Activision Blizzard deal, and Spencer makes it clear in his email that no games, devices or experiences are being cancelled" and no studios are being closed as part of the layoffs today.As part of aligning our post-acquisition team structure and managing our business, we have made the decision to eliminate approximately 650 roles across... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6QNWF)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Between flashy shots of a sleek new Apple Watch and a colorful array of iPhones, Apple made a major announcement for a two-year-old product: the AirPods Pro 2. The earbuds will soon gain a hearing aid function that anyone can access, a move that will provide a cheaper alternative to traditional hearing aids and an all-in-one solution that could change the way people get help for hearing loss.The Food and Drug Administration signed off on over-the-counter hearing aids in 2022, giving people access to cheaper alternatives that don't require them to see a doctor. Provided Apple receives approval from the FDA, Apple's new clinical-grade" over-the-counter hearing aid capability will roll out as a free software update this fall. Some people... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6QNWG)
The entire iPhone 16 lineup also supports faster 25W MagSafe charging. | Image: The Verge All the new iPhone 16 models unveiled this week can reportedly charge more than 50 percent faster through a wired USB-C connection than the previous series. That's according to a Chinese certification posted on Weibo indicating that Apple's latest iPhones can support up to 45W of wired fast charging.The certification from the China Quality Certification Centre regulatory body, also posted to X by user ShrimpApplePro, shows all of the new iPhone 16 models were tested at 5-15 volts and 3 amps, which equates to a 45W maximum. The iPhone 15 lineup maxed out at 29W. As noted by 9To5Mac, it's not unusual for Apple to neglect announcements around wired charging.The 45W max of the iPhone 16 easily bests the Google Pixel 9's 27W capabilities... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6QNK2)
Image: The Verge Valve's new Steam Families feature is now available for everyone following a beta launch earlier this year. With Steam Families, parents are able to share games with their families, manage parental controls for their kids, and approve requests from their kids to buy Steam games.The big improvement with Steam Families over Valve's previous Family Sharing setup is that multiple people can play games from a shared library at one time. So if I'm playing Balatro, and my partner, who is part of my Steam Family, wants to play Arranger, we can both play those games at the same time. However, if my partner wants to play Balatro while I'm already playing it, she'll need to buy an additional copy. With Steam Families, you can play shared games... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6QNH5)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images Google can now turn your research into an AI-generated podcast, complete with two hosts" that discuss what you've dug up. The experimental feature lives within NotebookLM, the AI note-taking app Google launched last year, and will have AI hosts summarize your material, make connections between topics, and banter back and forth."It's meant to build on NotebookLM's existing features that help you interact with all your notes, transcripts, and other research documents. The app already uses Google's Gemini AI model to help summarize your research, and this is sort of like an audio version of that.Google isn't making things up when it says the AI hosts will banter" with each other, either. When trying out Audio Overview for myself, I... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6QNH6)
The Apple Watch Series 10 is bigger, thinner, and brighter than previous models - including the rugged Apple Watch Ultra 2. | Image: Apple Earlier this week, during Apple's It's Glowtime" event, the tech giant introduced the new Apple Watch Series 10 and a new look for the Apple Watch Ultra 2. The smartwatches start at $399 and $799, respectively, and both are available for preorder ahead of their forthcoming release on Friday, September 20th.The new Series 10 is both bigger and slimmer than its predecessor, and both the Ultra 2 and Series 10 now come in a slick black color. This is the first time Apple is offering the Ultra in a second shade, but it's not the only change Apple announced for the watch. Both watches will offer new capabilities, including notifications for sleep apnea (pending FDA approval), a disorder that makes people stop breathing while sleeping.... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6QNH7)
Klipsch's Flexus Core 300 soundbar will leverage Dirac's room correction calibration tools. | Image: Klipsch Klipsch has announced its new Flexus Core 300 soundbar, which it claims is the industry's first to utilize Dirac's Live Room correction technology to optimize its sound specifically for the room where it's installed and where listeners are sitting. Dirac Live is typically only featured in amplifiers and receivers that are part of a more complex - and more expensive - home theater setup.The $999 Flexus Core 300 will be available this winter," according to What Hi-Fi? and features eight side-firing, front-firing, and up-firing 2.25-inch speakers, plus four 4-inch subwoofers. Connectivity includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ethernet, 8K passthrough HDMI, HDMI eARC, USB-C, and a digital audio port. Switching inputs and adjusting settings like EQ is... Continue reading...
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by Garrison Lovely on (#6QNH8)
Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images Newsom has until September 30th to decide the bill's fate, and both sides are lobbying hard. Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6QNF6)
An AMD Strix Point laptop. | Photo by Joanna Nelius / The Verge Many laptops and gaming handhelds share a single pool of memory between the CPU and GPU - and sometimes, you might want that RAM boosting your graphics instead. Now, AMD won't make you dive into a BIOS to reroute that power. The company's new Variable Graphics Memory lets you turn up to 75 percent of your system memory into dedicated video RAM, just by tapping a button in AMD's desktop Adrenalin app.It's only currently available for AMD AI 300 Strix Point" laptops, and how much RAM you'll be able to divert depends on your system's total - AMD explains that the medium" setting will turn a 32GB laptop that came with 512MB of video memory into a 24GB one with 8GB of dedicated VRAM. Image: AMD You might be wondering:... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6QNF7)
The PS5 Pro looks like a slim that got a growth spurt. | Image: Sony After various rumors and leaks, the PlayStation 5 Pro is finally official - complete with a new GPU, $700 price point, and no built-in disc drive. But is that pretty much it? What makes this new console 40 percent more expensive than the existing PS5 you can buy today for $500? The same one that's bound to go on sale during the holidays, not long after the Pro's November 7th launch date.What are the differences between the PS5 and PS5 Pro that make it (depending who you ask) a worthwhile upgrade or a superfluous expense?Spec and performance differencesThe PS5 Pro has three core performance improvements over the standard PS5, according to Sony's technical presentation announcement, hosted by PS5 lead architect, Mark Cerny. It's got a... Continue reading...
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