The Verge

Elon Musk. | Illustration by Lille Allen / The Verge This is Platformer, a newsletter on the intersection of Silicon Valley and democracy from Casey Newton and Zoe Schiffer. Sign up here.I.Today let's talk - for the last time, I hope - about the derailed martial arts bout between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, and the latter's reckless threats to visit the Meta CEO at his home and broadcast it to the world.Part of me hesitates to spill yet more ink on a battle that no part of me has ever believed would take place. Last week I wrote here about the importance of bringing skepticism to Musk's posts on X, the former Twitter, and encouraged my peers in the press to consider not covering them at all. It's clear that Musk seeks attention for attention's sake, and given that so many of his... Continue reading...

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Today, a new strike-based enforcement program is coming to Xbox. The system is meant to clear up confusion regarding how Xbox enforces its community standards and help players keep track of enforcement actions made on their accounts.In an interview with The Verge, Xbox player services corporate vice president Dave McCarthy explained the new enforcement system and its place in Xbox's overall community management strategy. This is all about player transparency," McCarthy said. We didn't have a way to show our players what their standing was in our community. And this makes it completely clear."In the new system, if a player violates the Xbox community standards, they'll receive a strike. The severity of the violation determines the... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The day after California regulators handed driverless car companies a major victory, allowing them to expand their services without restriction in San Francisco, a herd of robotaxis decided to celebrate by breaking down in the middle of a busy street.According to several local news reports, 10 Cruise vehicles sat paralyzed in a busy intersection near the Outside Lands Music Festival, causing a traffic jam and drawing exasperation from witnesses. The company told KPIX that the music festival caused wireless connectivity issues" with its vehicles. In other words, festivalgoers were overwhelming the cellular networks, making it difficult for Cruise's vehicles to send and receive information.It was a bizarre end to a week that otherwise... Continue reading...

Image: LG Electronics This is one of those products that I truly cannot wait to experience and review firsthand: LG is bringing the quirky, one-of-a-kind StanbyME Go to the United States later this month for $999.99. If you missed its international launch, which flew under the radar for many, let me catch you up: the StanbyME Go is a 27-inch 1080p LCD TV housed in a large suitcase that also contains a built-in battery and 20-watt speakers.The idea is that this thing can be a portable entertainment solution whether you're at a picnic, on a family vacation, or just hanging out on the back patio. Maybe you'll bring it tailgating with all your pals during football season. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination and the StanbyME Go's three-hour... Continue reading...

Kneron KL730. | Image: Kneron In the world of generative AI, it's a battle of computing power and getting the fastest and most powerful chips. Now, AI edge company Kneron announced it will ship its new neural processing units (NPU) chips by the end of the year.Kneron said the NPU chips, called the KL730, would make it cheaper to run large language models (LLMs) as the processor is built specifically for machine learning and AI applications.The KL730 is the next generation of previous processors from Kneron. In 2021, the company shipped out the KL530 chips that supported transformer models that underpinned some generative AI models.Albert Liu, CEO of Kneron, tells The Verge that NPU chips are specifically designed for AI and aren't forcing something originally... Continue reading...

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge It's a computer, a monitor, an internet communicator, and one of the most iconic lines of tech in history. Continue reading...

Photo illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Between the Apple Watch Series 8, the Ultra, and the second-gen SE, there are more options than ever. We'll help you sort through them. Continue reading...

Over 200 interim contracts have been granted by SAG-AFTRA since the strike began last month. | Illustration by William Joel / The Verge In an act of solidarity with the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) will no longer grant permission to independent projects that fall under WGA contracts to continue production during the ongoing strike. On July 14th SAG-AFTRA announced via a statement on its website that going forward, WGA-covered projects will now be excluded from its Interim Agreement policy - which allows approved independent productions with no direct connection to the actors union to continue filming.According to the statement, the decision was made following several meetings with the WGA alongside the recommendation of our NED & chief negotiator" Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. We have been advised by the WGA that this modification... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Meta-owned WhatsApp has started testing a new AI-generated stickers feature. WABetaInfo reports that some testers in the Android WhatsApp beta program have spotted the new AI-powered stickers, allowing WhatsApp users to generate a sticker based on a text description.Android Police points out that it's not clear which generative AI model WhatsApp has picked for this feature, as WABetaInfo's report only notes that the stickers are generated using a secure technology offered by Meta."The feature looks like it will work similarly to how Midjoureny or OpenAI's DALL-E models generate images based on text alone. It seems you'll be able to use this WhatsApp feature to create a basic and personalized image that can be shared as a sticker with... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube will remove content that promotes cancer treatments proven to be harmful or ineffective" or which discourages viewers from seeking professional medical treatment," the video platform announced today. The enforcement comes as YouTube is attempting to streamline its medical moderation guidelines based on what it's learned while attempting to tackle misinformation around topics like covid-19, vaccines, and reproductive health.Going forward, Google's video platform says it will apply its medical misinformation policies when there is a high public health risk, when there is publicly available guidance from health authorities, and when a topic is prone to misinformation. YouTube hopes that this policy framework will be flexible... Continue reading...

Illustration by The Verge Substack now lets you follow writers, offering a way for you to keep tabs on what a writer is doing without having to subscribe to their newsletter. When you follow a writer, you can stay up to date with what they're reading, liking, publishing, and subscribing to - through the Notes feed and on their profiles," Substack says in a blog post.Substack is perhaps best known as a newsletter platform where writers can make money from getting people to sign up for paid subscriptions. But the platform has also been dabbling with more traditional social networking features such as its tweet-like Notes, and a follow button feels like Substack stepping even more toes into the social networking waters.The company stresses that follows, which... Continue reading...

Image: Getty Images The Biden administration has requested the US Supreme Court review Florida and Texas laws restricting how social media companies like Facebook moderate the content users post on their platforms.In briefs filed on Monday, the US solicitor general urged the court to take up a pair of lawsuits led by the tech trade group NetChoice. Both Florida and Texas passed laws making it illegal for large social platforms to suspend or punish users, citing long-standing allegations that major platforms are biased against conservatives. A series of temporary injunctions have left the future of these laws in limbo, and Monday's briefs add new pressure on the Supreme Court to resolve the suits.The platforms' content-moderation activities are protected... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Now that the proposed cage match between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk isn't going to happen, Musk is saying he will show up unannounced at Zuckerberg's home to fight.For the Tesla FSD test drive in Palo Alto tonight, I will ask the car to drive to @finkd's house," Musk posted today on X, or the service formerly called Twitter. If we get lucky and Zuck my actually answers the door, the fight is on!"Musk, who once compared a user broadcasting his jet's location to sharing assassination coordinates," says he'll livestream the adventure" on X.Zuckerberg, it turns out, is having none of it.Mark is traveling right now and isn't in Palo Alto," a spokesperson for Zuckerberg at Meta, Iska Saric, tells The Verge. Also, Mark takes... Continue reading...

OTG's Flo ordering system will be accessible from QR code cards placed at airport food spots. | Image: OTG Some major US airport terminals like JFK now have options for ordering food for delivery to your gate, Bloomberg reports. This is made possible by airport food management company OTG, which is planning to shed the 21,000 iPads it manages for its bars, restaurants, and fast food offerings across various terminals and instead invite hungry travelers to order food on the devices they already carry. Travelers can scan QR codes at venues, select the food they want, pay on their device using options like Apple Pay and credit cards, and get it delivered to the gate they're walking toward.The features are similar to ordering apps like Uber Eats and Grubhub, but OTG isn't going to mandate another app for people to download. Instead, QR codes... Continue reading...

Dave Limp. | Image: Getty Dave Limp, Amazon's SVP of devices and services, plans to retire in the coming months, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. His retirement marks the end of a more than 13-year career at the company.Amazon published emails to staff from CEO Andy Jassy and Limp addressing the departure on its website. Jassy says that Limp will stay in his role for the next few months" and that the company plans to announce a successor in the coming weeks."I remain excited and quite optimistic about the products and services we're building in Devices and Services - we're at the relative beginning of what's possible and what I believe these businesses will add for customers and the company," Jassy wrote.Limp's organization manages popular products... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Embracer Group was forced to halt its breakneck pace of acquisitions after a mysterious partner left a $2 billion deal intended to drive its continued gaming ambitions. Now, we might know who the partner is: Axios reported today that Savvy Games Group is the party that backed out of the deal in May. Savvy is owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund and is the vehicle through which the Middle Eastern country funnels investments in the video games industry.After the deal blew up, Embracer announced it was restructuring" and that it would shut down or sell studios and pause some game development. In a filing, the group said it expects to finish that process on October 1st and has already begun its studio pruning.P... Continue reading...

Shovels during a groundbreaking ceremony at the Occidental Petroleum and 1PointFive Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant in Ector County, Texas, on Friday, April 28th, 2023. | Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar / Bloomberg via Getty Images The Department of Energy chose the first two locations for hubs" it envisions for industrial plants that suck planet-heating carbon dioxide out of the air. Projects in Texas and Louisiana will receive up to $1.2 billion from the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop direct air capture (DAC) facilities, backing a purported climate solution that not all environmental advocates support.The Biden administration is funneling billions into direct air capture, a relatively new technology that some governments and companies are beginning to turn to as a way to address pollution they've already emitted. This is the first round of funding in a bigger plan to dole out $3.5 billion to develop at least four DAC hubs across the US.This is the first... Continue reading...

Lead plaintiff Rikki Held, 22, arrives for the nation's first youth climate change trial at Montana's First Judicial District Court on June 12th, 2023, in Helena, Montana. | Photo by William Campbell / Getty Images A group of young people who sued the state of Montana for violating their right to a clean environment can claim a big victory today.A state court ruled in their favor, finding that the plaintiffs have experienced past and ongoing injuries resulting from the State's failure to consider [greenhouse gases] and climate change, including injuries to their physical and mental health, homes and property, recreational, spiritual, and aesthetic interests, tribal and cultural traditions, economic security, and happiness."The plaintiffs have experienced past and ongoing injuries resulting from the State's failure to consider [greenhouse gases] and climate change"Montana's constitution includes rights to a clean and healthful environment"... Continue reading...

The Ace 2 Pro Rain Water Touch" feature in action. | Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge The OnePlus Ace 2 Pro has a new screen design that can tell where you're touching it even when it's wet. OnePlus posted a video to Weibo of the new impeccably named Rain Water Touch" feature, which uses a special chip to algorithmically determine when and where your finger is touching the screen, according to 9to5Google.That's something current smartphones fail miserably at, including the pricey flagships from Apple and Samsung. To drive the point home, the company shows someone using both the Ace 2 Pro and an iPhone 14 Pro while water is pouring all over them. We're all probably well familiar with the frustration of trying to just unlock an iPhone that's even a little wet, and the video knows it, starting with that very thing. That's... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix is deep into video games. Continue reading...

Image: Ford Ford is changing how it sells its hands-free BlueCruise driver-assist feature to its customers.Previously, customers had to decide at the dealership whether they wanted to purchase a new Ford vehicle with BlueCruise hardware installed - and they couldn't go back and change their minds if they opted not to include it. Now, the hardware will come standard on many new vehicles, and customers can decide at any time whether they want to activate it. Most notably, they can choose to pay for it as a monthly or annual subscription.Most notably, they can choose to pay for it as a monthly or annual subscriptionThe news comes as the broader auto industry is shifting to subscription products as a major new source of revenue. Everything from... Continue reading...

Image: Ubisoft Assassin's Creed Mirage will now be released on October 5th, which is a week ahead of its original October 12th release date, Ubisoft announced on Monday. The game has also gone gold, indicating that it's locked for release.This new title in the Assassin's Creed series takes place in Baghdad and stars Basim Ibn Ishaq, who appeared in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. It's supposed to hew a bit closer to the action-adventure nature of earlier Assassin's Creed games instead of the titles with more RPG mechanics like Valhalla or Odyssey.Mirage's new release date also gives a bit more breathing room to what's already promising to be a packed October. Other games coming out that month include Detective Pikachu Returns, Forza Motorsport, Alan Wake... Continue reading...

Photo by Hector Vivas / Getty Images The love affair between Lionel Messi and Apple continues. Now that the star is playing in MLS for Miami, with games broadcast across Apple's streaming service, the company is doing its best to maximize Messi's appeal. The latest bit of brand synergy comes in the form of a docuseries that will air on Apple TV Plus and be specifically focused on Messi's move from Paris to Miami. Apple describes the six-part series as the first and only behind-the-scenes account of Messi's new chapter."If you're counting, this is actually the second Messi series slated for Apple TV Plus; the first will track his exploits in Qatar leading Argentina to a World Cup victory. Neither series has a title or release date.Since the deal was made official, Apple... Continue reading...

The Galaxy A54 takes some cues from the pricier S23 line, but it makes sacrifices for a much lower cost. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Samsung's midrange sleeper hit of a midrange Android phone is on sale and matching its lowest price to date. The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is just $349.99 ($100 off) at Amazon in either its black or violet colors, matching its Prime Day Lightning Deal price from a month ago.The A54 is a midranger with some highlight specs and design elements trickled down from the flagship Galaxy S23 models. Its biggest strength is no doubt the excellent 6.4-inch 1080p OLED screen, which, in addition to being big and bright, also supports a supersmooth 120Hz refresh rate. Considering the screen is the thing you constantly interact with on your phone at just about all times, it's great to have such a good panel at this kind of price. The A54 also complements... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon is using AI to make it easier to see if a product is any good. The company is now rolling out AI-generated review summaries, which boil down hundreds or thousands of Amazon reviews into a one-paragraph blurb explaining what most people like or dislike about a product.The summaries have been in testing for at least a couple of months, and they're now more widely available to a subset" of users in the US on Amazon's mobile app. Amazon says they're available across a broad selection of products." So far, we've seen them on TVs, headphones, tablets, and fitness trackers. But the feature's availability isn't completely consistent. The Galaxy Tab A7 has a review summary, but the newer Galaxy Tab A8 does not.Amazon's summaries are... Continue reading...

Photo by Michael Short / Getty Images Ford said it is hiring Peter Stern, the former Apple vice president of services who helped build up the company's streaming TV operation, to lead its effort to improve customers' software experience.Stern left Apple at the beginning of the year after a six-year tenure heading up the launch of a portfolio of services, including Apple TV Plus, Apple News Plus, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness Plus, MLS Season Pass, and Apple One.At Ford, he is being tasked with building a world-class team to create and market innovative customer experiences by integrating hardware, software and services across Ford Blue, Model e and Ford Pro," the company said. Stern will report directly to Ford CEO Jim Farley.This is transformational, because the... Continue reading...

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is currently testing a new Office default theme that will roll out to all subscribers of Microsoft 365 next month. Microsoft says it's refreshing the default Office theme with the new Aptos font, a new color palette, styles, and updated default line weights.Aptos, the new default font for apps like Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Excel, will replace Calibri next month after more than 15 years. The font change will also be combined with changes to the default style and color palette used in documents. Image: Microsoft Office theme changes. The biggest change to the color palette is that yellow has been removed and replaced with a dark green, and one of the lighter blues has been replaced with a dark... Continue reading...

Refusing to comply with the restrictions could result in unspecified fines or penalties. | Photo by Kena Betancur/VIEWpress The New York Times has taken preemptive measures to stop its content from being used to train artificial intelligence models. As reported by Adweek, the NYT updated its Terms of Service on August 3rd to prohibit its content - inclusive of text, photographs, images, audio/video clips, look and feel," metadata, or compilations - from being used in the development of any software program, including, but not limited to, training a machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) system."The updated terms now also specify that automated tools like website crawlers designed to use, access, or collect such content cannot be used without written permission from the publication. The NYT says that refusing to comply with these new restrictions... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Threads post today that it's time to move on" from Elon Musk's cage fight antics. We can all agree Elon isn't serious," he wrote, adding that the refusal of the X (formerly Twitter) owner to confirm a date and his offer to do a practice round in my backyard instead" shows how unserious he is.This followed a pair of screenshots of text messages between the billionaires that were posted to X today by user DogeDesigner and, later, Musk himself. The thread showed Musk offering a practice bout" next week at Zuckerberg's house, to which Zuckerberg responded by telling Musk that if he wants a real MMA fight" he should train on his own and let Zuck know when he's ready to compete."

Illustration: The Verge Apple is preparing for its first major redesign in several generations of the mainline Apple Watch, but we won't be seeing it this year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter this morning. Instead, Apple is working on a thinner Apple Watch X" with magnetic watch band attachment points, a blood pressure sensor, and a microLED screen either in late 2024 or even 2025, Gurman says.The old mechanical attachments of all Apple Watches so far have been great for allowing customers to reuse their old bands for years, but Gurman says they eat up space the company could use to shrink the wearable and beef up the battery and internal components. See the Apple Watch Ultra, which Apple gave a bigger battery at the expense... Continue reading...