The Verge

Photo by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge According to Meta, its Trusted Partner program is a key part of our efforts to improve our policies, enforcement processes, and products, to help keep users safe on our platforms." According to some trusted partners, though, Meta neglects its flagship initiative - leaving it significantly underresourced, understaffed, and allegedly prone to operational failures" as a result.That's one of the core accusations of a report that the media nonprofit Internews published on Wednesday. The Trusted Partner program consists of 465 global civil society and human rights groups. It aims to provide them with a designated channel to alert Facebook and Instagram of dangerous and harmful content such as death threats, hacked accounts, and incitement... Continue reading...

Zachary Kirkhorn, left, served four years as chief financial officer at Tesla. | Image: Tesla / Screenshot Zachary Kirkhorn is stepping down as chief financial officer and Master of Coin" at Tesla, he announced today on LinkedIn. Kirkhorn, who has served for 13 years at Tesla, four of which as CFO, will be replaced by chief accounting officer Vaibhav Taneja.Being a part of this company is a special experience and I'm extremely proud of the work we've done together since I joined over 13 years ago," Kirkhorn said. As I shift my responsibilities to support this transition, I want to thank the talented, passionate, and hard-working employees at Tesla, who have accomplished things many thought not possible."I also want to thank Elon for his leadership and optimism"He added, I also want to thank Elon for his leadership and optimism, which... Continue reading...

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge The Thread protocol offers a robust mesh network designed to solve many of the smart home's biggest problems. But only if everyone can agree on how to use it. Continue reading...

Zuckerberg recently shared photos of him training with UFC champions Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski. | Mark Zuckerberg / Meta Mark Zuckerberg says he's ready today" to fight Elon Musk, and that although he suggested August 26th as the date for their cage match, Musk hasn't confirmed.Not holding my breath," said Zuckerberg in a Sunday post on Threads that included a screenshot of Musk's post on X / Twitter about lifting weights to prepare.A post by Musk late on Sunday night said he might need surgery," and will have a neck and upper back MRI to check before possibly scuttling the fight date.In response to another post by Musk that the fight will be live-streamed on X" with proceeds going to charity for veterans, Zuckerberg shot back by saying they should use a more reliable platform that can actually raise money for charity." (Facebook and Instagram... Continue reading...

Image: Warner Bros. Greta Gerwig's Barbie has officially made $1 billion globally at the box office. It is the fastest Warner Bros. Pictures release to hit the milestone after only 17 days in theaters, according to Variety. It's also the second film to get there so far in 2023 behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie.Barbie is the first movie from a solo female director to hit the mark, joining just a few other female-directed films that have grossed over a billion dollars internationally: Frozen and Frozen II (both co-directed by Jennifer Lee alongside Chris Buck) and Captain Marvel (co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck). Barbie grossed $53 million in its third weekend in the US, topping the weekend box office and putting its domestic total at $459.4... Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple could have a Mac Mini powered by its new M3 chip in the works for 2024, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter today. Gurman says Apple is now testing a computer at its campus under model identifier Mac 15,12, but whether it's a Mac Mini is his speculation.Gurman says the company is testing an eight-core CPU and a 10-core GPU Mac with 24GB RAM that's running macOS Sonoma 14.1. Those specs are similar to the base model M2 Mac Mini, except for the memory installed - so far, entry-level Apple silicon Macs have started at 8GB RAM. (I wouldn't read anything into that though; it would be very surprising if Apple jumped to 24GB for the base model.)Gurman points out that in Apple's earnings call, the company said... Continue reading...

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's cage match will be livestreamed on Musk's Twitter, which is currently rebranding to X, according to a post from Musk early this morning. Musk says the proceeds will go to charity for veterans.X / Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino reposted Musk's tweet with a comment that she is clearing her calendar. According to Zuckerberg, though, Musk has yet to confirm his availability to fight later this month. I'm ready today," the Meta CEO posted on Sunday.This cage match proposal goes back to June, when the two billionaires agreed to the fight via a series of social media posts on their respective platforms (Musk on X / Twitter, Zuckerberg on Instagram). Talk of the fight has been relatively quiet since the... Continue reading...

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Yes, I know he doesn't care about hypocrisy - he's just in it for the attention, and I guess I'm giving it to him! But I think it's worth pointing out that this tweet is a brand-new level of BS.

Amazon's ad-supported e-reader is down to $64.99 for the rest of today. | Image: Amazon Happy Saturday, readers! It feels like just yesterday that Amazon was unleashing what felt like a never-ending deluge of discounts and deals as part of its annual Prime Day event. And although the two-day affair is certainly over, some retailers are already bringing back Prime Day pricing on a host of items. Take Best Buy and Target as an example, both of which are selling Amazon's ad-supported Kindle for just $64.99 ($35 off), its lowest price to date.Amazon's newest entry-level Kindle is, in many ways, a budget version of the most recent Kindle Paperwhite from 2021. The e-reader packs a 6-inch display with crisp 300ppi resolution, as well as easier access to ePub files and a USB-C port for relatively fast charging (finally). The... Continue reading...

Illustration: Beatrice Sala The FBI is investigating a ransomware attack that shut down emergency rooms in several states (via The Guardian). Ambulances were diverted while California-based Prospect Medical Holdings, which has hospitals in several states, took our systems offline to protect them" and launched an investigation in partnership with third party cybersecurity specialists," it said in a statement to multiple outlets.The Crozer-Chester Medical System (CCMS) in Springfield, Pennsylvania reverted to paper records after most of its computers went offline, and doesn't expect them back online until next week, according to CBS News. Representatives of CCMS confirmed it was a ransomware attack, reported CNN Friday evening, as did the Eastern Connecticut... Continue reading...

POV: You're being attacked by someone much better than you at Super Rumble. | Image: Meta What are the ethics of repeatedly targeting an eight-year-old in a video game? What if that eight-year-old is demonstrably better than you at the game but is currently being forced to talk to his mom and isn't really paying attention, and this is your best and probably only chance to mount a comeback? How much trash can you talk after you kill the eight-year-old a few times? What if that eight-year-old has been talking trash to you for the better part of the last hour while gleefully shouting Expecto Patronum" every time they fire their shotgun?These are the kinds of questions you're forced to answer in Super Rumble, the new game for the Meta Quest. (They're the same kinds of questions you'll find anywhere in the metaverse and on most... Continue reading...

Google's sample of the code scanner API auto-zoom. | Image: Google You might soon not have as much trouble reading far away QR codes on your Android phone. Google is working on a new code scanner that automatically detects a QR code in the camera frame, zooms in, and reads it. The feature isn't quite making its way to devices just yet - but it's in the latest APIs Google is making available to developers.Specifically, it's Google's code scanner API that's been updated with the new ability. It works in Google's QR Code Scanner system app, but can also be implemented into other apps.If developers implement the code scanner API, users won't have to grant camera permissions - saving developers time by not having to build a custom experience. The API leverages Google's on-device machine learning to... Continue reading...

You've never seen anyone Excel the way the pros Excel. | Image: The Financial Modeling World Cup/David Pierce It's the Sheeter Bowl! The VLookup Cup! Merge Madness! Whatever you want to call it, the Excel World Championship is coming back to ESPN this week. On Friday morning at 7AM ET, as part of ESPN's annual The Ocho" event, a few of the world's foremost Excel experts will battle to solve puzzles on the biggest stage in sports.The Ocho is an ESPN event designed to show off otherwise un-televised sports - Excel is on the docket alongside 2023 Slippery Stairs," the Pillow Fight Championship," and competitions in everything from belt-sanding to sign spinning - but it's still a big deal. When competitive Excel showed up on the network last year, the sport found a whole new audience. More than 800,000 people have since watched the full 2.5-hour... Continue reading...

Image: Meta Meta's Quest 3 VR headset might be available to purchase sometime soon. A new Meta-made VR headset has just shown up in the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) database, meaning the device can be sold in the US.As noted by UploadVR, an image of the FCC label on this device doesn't actually include the words Quest 3." But given that Meta has already announced the Quest 3, promised to share more about the device at its September Connect event, and that this new headset has its FCC label in basically the same spot as the Quest 2, it seems like a pretty safe bet that this listing is for the Quest 3. And one improvement we can already tell from the filings? The new headset will support Wi-Fi 6E.Meta is promising that the Quest 3... Continue reading...

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge It seems to be a day of Google deals. In addition to sales on the Pixel Watch and Pixel Buds Pro, the recently launched Google Pixel Tablet is seeing its first discount. You can get Google's 11-inch tablet, complete with its included magnetic charging / speaker dock, for $439 ($60 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Google.The Pixel Tablet has the same processor as the flagship Pixel 7 phones, Google's Tensor G2 chip, which is powering an 11-inch slab-style tablet here. There are no foldable displays or folio cases and keyboards to speak of, just a fine LCD screen with 2560 x 1600 resolution. The tablet's big trick is that its magnetic charging dock has speakers to turn it into a smart display (sort of). It doesn't turn into a full Nest Hub... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This is Platformer, a newsletter on the intersection of Silicon Valley and democracy from Casey Newton and Zoe Schiffer. Sign up here.Today let's talk about a right we currently take for granted that may soon disappear: the ability to browse and post to most websites anonymously.In May, Utah became the second state to enact a law requiring adult websites to verify the identities of their users. The law requires websites that host porn to use one of several methods to ensure visitors are 18 years or older, including state-issued digital IDs and third-party age verification services. Those services use a range of verification tools, including age estimation based on the user's face and uploading a government ID.The law originated from... Continue reading...

The Google Pixel Watch is a terrific smartwatch for Android users, with Fitbit integration and a beautiful display. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Yes, there's a new and improved Android smartwatch in town: the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6. It's a good wearable, but because certain features like EKGs are limited to Samsung phone owners, it's not the best option for everybody. Thankfully, if you're looking for a terrific Android watch that doesn't require you to chain yourself to Samsung's ecosystem, the Google Pixel Watch is on sale in the base configuration at Wellbots for $289.99 ($60 off) when you use offer code VERGEPIX60.Google's first-gen wearable can't measure body composition, skin temperature, or irregular heart rhythms like Samsung's can; however, unlike Samsung's newest watch, the Pixel Watch offers health and fitness-tracking features powered by Fitbit. As a result, you can... Continue reading...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge TikTok users in Europe will be able to switch off the personalized algorithm behind its For You and Live feeds as the company makes changes to comply with the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA). According to TikTok, disabling this function will show users popular videos from both the places where they live and around the world" instead of content based on their personal interests.These changes relate to DSA rules that require very large online platforms to allow their users to opt out of receiving personalized content - which typically relies on tracking and profiling user activity - when viewing content recommendations. To comply, TikTok's search feature will also show content that's popular in the user's region, and videos under the... Continue reading...