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by Sheena Vasani on (#6QCSJ)
Roborock's Q5 Pro is a powerful cleaning machine that does exceptionally well with pet hair. | Image: Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge We highlighted some great deals on Dreame robot vacuums in our roundup of the best Labor Day deals, but if you don't want to spend a grand on a vacuum, you might want to check out Roborock's ongoing anniversary sale. Now through September 4th, Roborock is taking more than 40 percent off many of our favorite models, including the Q Revo (now $599.99) and the S8 MaxV Ultra (now $1,099.99). If you're on a tighter budget, though, the best deal available is on the Roborock Q5 Pro, which is down to an all-time low of $179.99 ($250 off).In many ways, Roborock's big-wheeled robot vacuum / mop hybrid is made to tackle pet hair. The midrange vacuum features dual rubber brushes and 5,500Pa of suction power, which allows it to suck up pet hair... Continue reading...
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The Verge - All Posts
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2024-11-23 02:15 |
by Tauriq Moosa on (#6QCSK)
Image: Ubisoft There was a moment in Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws when I was scouring the depths of a creepy cave, just after finishing a dogfight in space and winning a card game in a boozy cantina, that the game clicked for me. The usual Ubisoft drudgery, where icons on maps become weights on the brain, was gone. Instead, there was an organic, self-determined flow as to why I chose to leave the frozen wastes of one planet to dig beneath the surface of another.Here was a game reacting to my actions: it was an open-world experience I'd never encountered before.I felt elated at this realization, with things happening as a result of the consequences of my own gameplay decisions. The game was organically adjusting to my... Continue reading...
by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6QCR1)
Samsung Food Plus can create tailored meal plans based on your nutritional needs and the food in your fridge and pantry. | Image: Samsung New features on Samsung's AI-powered food and recipe app could make your meal planning and food management chores much easier. With Samsung Food, you can now add items to a Food List just by taking a picture. The app can then suggest recipes based on the food you have, automatically remove them when you cook a recipe using anything on the list, then add food items back to the list when you tick them off your shopping list.The Food List was previously only accessible via the SmartThings app and the built-in tablet on Samsung's Family Hub smart fridges, limiting its usefulness. Now, as part of the cross-platform Samsung Food app, it could turn the service into a really useful all-in-one shopping, food management, meal planning, and... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6QCR2)
Thank Goodness You're Here! | Image: Panic Outside of some notable exceptions, there haven't been many blockbuster games this summer - but that doesn't mean there hasn't been much to play. In fact, at times, it has felt like a never-ending flood of fascinating indie releases, thanks to games like Arranger, Animal Well, Crow Country, and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.It's been nearly impossible to keep up, but we've been playing through most of these games and settled on a handful of recommendations that offer a range of experiences. There's everything from shadow-hopping puzzles to comedic platformers to a game that might help fill the Silksong-shaped hole in your heart.Here are some of our favorites.The Crush HousePCThe Crush House is one of the rare games that capitalize on... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6QCPG)
Goliath's Power Saber, in red and green. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge It would have been a Star Wars product - but Hasbro whiffed. Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6QCDH)
Image: Bluesky X is currently banned in Brazil following an order from a Supreme Court justice, and Brazilian users seem to be turning to Bluesky, an alternate social network, in droves.Brazil, you're setting new all-time-highs for activity on Bluesky!" the official Bluesky account says in a post.There will almost certainly be some outages and performance issues," Bluesky developer Paul Frazee says. We've never seen traffic like this. Hang with us!"
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by Emma Roth on (#6QCBB)
Image: The Verge A judge in Brazil has ordered the suspension of X after owner Elon Musk failed to designate a new legal representative for the country, according to reports from Bloomberg and local news outlet Poder360.Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes told the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) to limit access to X within 24 hours and has given Apple and Google five days to remove X from their mobile app stores. The country will also impose daily fines of $50,000 Brazilian real (~$8,900 USD) to people who try to access X through a virtual private network (VPN), as reported by Poder360.Earlier this month, Musk closed X's offices in Brazil, saying de Moraes threatened to arrest the company's legal representative for not... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6QC90)
Image: Lionsgate And now you can watch it at home. Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6QC91)
Image: NASA SpaceX's Crew-9 mission will launch to the International Space Station with only NASA's Nick Hague and Roscosmos' Aleksandr Gorbunov onboard, according to an update on Friday. Crew-9 will launch no earlier" than September 24th, with plans to bring delayed Starliner astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams back to Earth next February.Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS in June and were only supposed to stay for about a week while conducting tests. However, helium leaks and valve issues on Boeing's Starliner delayed their return, and NASA gave up on sending them back on the spacecraft altogether. The agency decided to bring Wilmore and Williams home on SpaceX's Dragon capsule with the Crew-9 mission instead.NASA says the other... Continue reading...
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by Adi Robertson on (#6QC92)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Grzegorz Wajda, Getty Images A lawsuit aimed at punishing critics of Elon Musk's X will go forward, thanks to a ruling from a judge with a financial interest in Musk's success.On Thursday, Judge Reed O'Connor denied a motion to dismiss X's lawsuit against Media Matters For America (MMFA). The suit was filed in Texas last year and alleges that MMFA should be held legally liable for negative reporting that caused companies to pull ads from X. O'Connor dismissed objections that it was filed in a state where neither X nor MMFA is headquartered, saying the fact that MMFA targeted" two X Texas-based advertisers - Oracle and AT&T - by mentioning them in articles and interviews is sufficient. (X is based in California, though its current San Francisco office will soon... Continue reading...
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by Lauren Feiner on (#6QC66)
Image: The Verge A senior CrowdStrike executive will testify before the House Homeland Security Committee next month about the IT outage that grounded planes and workplaces to a halt globally on July 19th.Adam Meyers, CrowdStrike's senior vice president of counter adversary operations, has agreed to appear before the panel on September 24th at 2PM ET, the committee announced. Committee leaders had previously called on CEO George Kurtz to testify, but he's not currently listed as a witness.In a statement, Committee Chair Mark Green (R-TN) said that while he'd hoped Kurtz could attend, I look forward to hearing testimony from Mr. Meyers, who CrowdStrike assured was the appropriate witness to discuss the details of the outage. Americans deserve to know... Continue reading...
by Sean Hollister on (#6QC67)
Image: Intel It's been a burning question for months - are Intel's laptop chips susceptible to the same permanent damage that can potentially lay 24 different flagship desktop chips low?Today, Intel has finally confirmed: its 13th and 14th Gen laptop chips do not seem to have an instability issue. And the company claims they are definitely not affected by the too-high voltage issue, which it's now calling Vmin Shift Instability."While Intel maintains that Vmin Shift Instability is not necessarily the root cause or only cause of the crashes - it's still investigating - Intel spokesperson Thomas Hannaford now tells The Verge that laptop chips basically aren't affected at all. Confirming 13/14 gen mobile isn't impacted by the instability issue... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6QC68)
Image: The Verge Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France last weekend, and a few days later was charged with a number of offenses connected to criminal activity on Telegram. There's a lot about this story we don't yet know, but this week's events seem to signal a shift in how countries and governments plan to hold executives accountable for what happens on their platforms.On this episode of The Vergecast, we try and make sense of what happened here - and what might happen next. We talk about what makes Telegram different from WhatsApp or Facebook, the ways Durov set up and operated the company that may have made this confrontation inevitable, and whether this will have a ripple effect on the rest of the social internet. Or even the rest of the... Continue reading...
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by Victoria Song on (#6QC2S)
It's the end of an era. | Image: AnandTech, Future Hardware enthusiast site AnandTech is shutting down after nearly three decades of covering computers. AnandTech's final editor-in-chief, Ryan Smith, announced the news in a farewell post this morning, writing, ...Few things last forever, and the market for written tech journalism is not what it once was - nor will it ever be again. So, the time has come for AnandTech to wrap up its work, and let the next generation of tech journalists take their place within the zeitgeist."AnandTech was founded in 1997 by Anand Lal Shimpi, who led the site until retiring from journalism in 2014 to work for Apple as part of the team that delivered the M series Apple Silicon chips. Before leaving, Shimpi spoke with The Verge in 2011 about his... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6QC2T)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google Play Store can now download, install, and update multiple Android apps simultaneously. Previously, if you attempted to run all your updates manually, Play Store would only process a single app at a time. Now, as we've tested, it can do up to three.As reported by Android Police, Google has tested concurrent app updates for Play Store before, starting as far back as 2019 and as recently as last March. Now it looks like the speedier updates are rolling out to more users, which could be a huge time saver for people setting up new phones or restoring from a backup. Apple has also supported up to three iOS app installs from the App Store for many years. Screenshot: Richard Lawler / The Verge Three simultaneous... Continue reading...
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by Mia Sato on (#6QC2V)
Image: The Verge TikTok is giving users a way to more precisely shape what kind of content they see on their feeds - or at least signal to the algorithm what they're interested in.Under Content preferences > Manage topics (which can be found in Settings and Privacy"), users can adjust sliders to signal they want more or less of certain topics in their For You Page. Topics include creative arts," current affairs," humor" and more. Sliders are set to a default middle ground at first, and users can tweak it from there.TikTok's hyper-targeted For You Page is famously a bit of a black box, built on a trove of user data that sometimes makes it feel like the algorithm is reading your mind. This new slider feature gives us a peak behind the curtain,... Continue reading...
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by Barbara Krasnoff on (#5KS4V)
Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge I'm something of a hoarder when it comes to interesting facts - I'll see something online or in a photo, and a small voice in my brain says, You'll be able to use that reference somewhere, somehow. Save it so you can find it later!" Which is fine if it's just a line or two of text, but what if that info is within an image - a photo, say, or even a drawing?Luckily, back in 2021, Apple introduced a feature in iOS 15 called Live Text, which makes it possible for iPhone users to grab text, email addresses, phone numbers, and more from images. Live Text works with both handwritten and typed text and supports a variety of languages.Once you've captured text from an image, you can paste it into a document, an email, a text message, etc.,... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6QC2W)
The new version of the voice assistant, dubbed Remarkable Alexa," is expected to launch in October and require a subscription fee. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge The improved version of Alexa that Amazon's expected to release this year will primarily be powered by Anthropic's Claude artificial intelligence model, according to Reuters. The publication reports that initial versions of Amazon's smarter, subscription-based voice assistant that used the company's own AI proved insufficient, often struggling with words and responding to user prompts.Amazon's minority stake in Anthropic is currently under investigation by the UK's competition regulators. The company invested $4 billion into the startup last year with the promise that Amazon customers will get early access to the company's AI tech.The development of the new Alexa technology, dubbed Remarkable Alexa," has been rife with issues since it... Continue reading...
by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6QBZK)
Nintendo Our first couple of looks at Echoes of Wisdom made it seem like Zelda would be fighting to save Hyrule with just her wits and new magic powers, but the game's latest trailer is all about the princess' skills with a blade.Though Princess Zelda will wield a mystical staff that basically summons monsters and conjures useful items, she also has a straight up sword in Echoes of Wisdom's newest trailer that highlights a new game mechanic. After finding the blade, Zelda will gain the ability to shift into a very Link-like swordfighter form that's timed to a magical energy gauge. In her swordfighter form, Zelda seems to be a bit more nimble and able to block enemy attacks with a shield, but she can only maintain the form for a limited amount of... Continue reading...
by Wes Davis on (#6QBZM)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images French authorities arrested Durov as part of an investigation into criminal activity on Telegram. Continue reading...
by Elizabeth Lopatto on (#6QBZN)
You mean it's all copyright? | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Why is OpenAI paying publishers if it already took their work? Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6QBV6)
Lacey still faces about 30 other charges related to prostitution facilitation and money laundering. | Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images Michael Lacey, a founder of the defunct classified site Backpage.com, received a five-year prison sentence on Wednesday and was fined $3 million. Lacey was found guilty of money laundering last year in a sweeping case that alleged Backpage executives promoted and profited from prostitution.Lacey was convicted on a single count of international concealment money laundering in November 2023 but was acquitted of 50 other charges related to prostitution facilitation and money laundering due to insufficient evidence. He still faces about 30 related charges, according to the Associated Press. Two other Backpage executives - former chief financial officer John Brunst and executive vice president Scott Spear - received 10-year prison sentences... Continue reading...
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by Richard Lawler on (#6QBNM)
Hyundai N Vision 74 Concept shown along with the Pony Coupe Concept from 1974 | Image: Hyundai The N Vision 74 coupe was a slick embodiment of Hyundai's high-performance vision of electrification" two years ago that we have hoped to see as a real vehicle. That seems way more likely now that it got namechecked in Hyundai's plan to launch 21 fully electric models by 2030. This slide (below) is from the company's 2024 CEO Investor Day presentation, explaining the range of vehicles the company will launch and listing the Vision 74 and the Genesis Magma concept.The plan also includes affordable EVs like its Inster / Casper subcompact, the three-row Ioniq 9 that's next up to launch in the US, luxury EVs from Genesis, and, finally, high-performance models. Image: Hyundai Hyundai EV Full Lineup slide E... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6QBM6)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google recently started letting you use its Gemini AI chatbot to ask questions about your Gmail inbox on the web, and now, that feature is coming to mobile. The company says its Gmail Q&A feature is starting to roll out on Android and that the feature will be coming soon" to iOS.Using Gmail Q&A, you can ask Gemini questions about your inbox or to do things like find specific details in your emails, show you unread messages, view messages from a specific sender, or summarize emails about a topic in your inbox," according to Google's blog post. Google previewed Gmail Q&A earlier this year at its I/O conference. Gmail Q&A could be a potentially useful way to sift through your email or find something that might be buried... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6QBJH)
Image: Sonos Sonos is still trying to clean up from the mess from the messy rollout of its new app, and to help give users a better idea of what fixes are in the pipeline, the company has shared a public Trello board detailing fixes that it's working on.All the cards here are sourced from various posts and release notes communications (Future Feature Update, for example), including communications from [CEO Patrick Spence] directly," says Reddit user KeithFromSonos, who is a Sonos employee. What we are hearing and working on is sourced from you - the Community at large and our acknowledgment of that area of opportunity."Sonos launched its new app in May, and shortly after, bad feedback rolled in over things like missing features and the app taking... Continue reading...
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by Brandon Widder on (#6PW39)
Just look at those eyes. | Image: Sony After initially selling out, Sony's limited-edition Astro Bot DualSense controller for the PS5 is available for preorder once again for $79.99. The forthcoming gamepad, which initially sold out but is now available from Walmart and Antonline, will launch alongside the next Astro Bot game on September 6th, giving those who've secretly been wishing their peripherals had more, huh, eyes, another option to consider.This isn't the first time Sony Interactive Entertainment has released a special-edition controller to commemorate an upcoming exclusive - it launched a symbiote-themed controller alongside Marvel's Spider-Man 2 last year - but its latest collaboration with developer Team Asobi is far cuter. The new PS5 controller features shiny... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6QBJJ)
Illustration: The Verge OpenAI says that more than 200 million people use ChatGPT each week, as first reported by Axios. OpenAI spokesperson Taya Christianson confirmed the number to The Verge, which is now double the 100 million weekly active users OpenAI reported last November.Additionally, Christianson says that 92 percent of Fortune 500 companies are using OpenAI's products, while API usage has doubled following the release of the company's cheaper and smarter model GPT-4o Mini.Since ChatGPT's launch in late 2022, Google, Microsoft, and Meta have also launched AI chat interfaces of their own, but OpenAI's user base continues to grow. Today, The Information reported that Meta's AI assistant has at least 400 million monthly active users and 40 million daily... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6QBG5)
Looks like a Dreamcast. Needs more arrows. | Image: EmuDeck Valve once dreamt of building Linux-based game consoles called Steam Machines. They flopped - but the dream eventually became reality as the handheld Steam Deck instead. Now, a particularly noteworthy Steam Deck enthusiast is reviving the idea of a console-sized Steam Box, one with his own retro gaming twist.Rodrigo Sedano is the founder of EmuDeck, a program beloved by the Steam Deck community. It automatically installs, configures, and enhances emulators for Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and other retro consoles so they work beautifully on Valve's handheld.Now, he wants to make it even easier. He's preparing to sell you a console-shaped custom gaming PC preloaded with that entire Steam + EmuDeck experience, plus a wireless controller, all... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6QBG6)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Spotify users on iPhone will no longer be able to control the volume on connected devices using their physical volume buttons. In an update to its support page, Spotify said Apple discontinued" this technology, forcing iPhone owners to use an annoying workaround.This change only affects Spotify Connect, a feature that lets users use their phones to control Spotify on nearby speakers, game consoles, smart TVs, computers, and other devices. Now Spotify will require iPhone users to use an in-app slider to turn the volume up or down instead. Spotify says the change will go into effect on September 3rd, but some users are already seeing it.When an iPhone user presses their physical volume rocker, Spotify will display a notification that... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6QBG7)
Image: The Verge OpenAI is reportedly gearing up for a huge round of funding, and Apple and Nvidia might be among the investors.On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple, which is planning to integrate ChatGPT into iOS, is in talks to invest. Soon after, Bloomberg also reported that Apple is in talks but added that Nvidia has discussed" joining the funding round as well. The round is reportedly being led by Thrive Capital and would value OpenAI at more than $100 billion.It's perhaps not too surprising that Apple and Nvidia might end up investing in OpenAI. Apple is set to integrate ChatGPT with Siri later this year, and it reportedly planned to have Phil Schiller join OpenAI's board before apparently abandoning that plan. And Nvidia is... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6QBG8)
Image: Toei Animation For years, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) has worked with Hollywood's Motion Picture Association (MPA) to crack down on digital piracy, and this week, it seems like the organizations took a huge step toward reaching their goal.Today, ACE - a coalition of over 50 major entertainment companies and production studios, including Amazon, Disney, and Warner Bros. - took partial credit for the shuttering of Fmovies, a popular network of streaming sites hosting pirated films and television shows. In a statement, ACE called Fmovies and its affiliated sites the largest pirate streaming operation in the world," and according to The Hollywood Reporter, two suspects have been arrested by Hanoi police because of their connection... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6QBDR)
The Nintendo Switch is still a good handheld, even if the Steam Deck and more powerful options exist. | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Nintendo recently confirmed it'll announce a next-gen Nintendo Switch next year, but beyond that, the company hasn't revealed much about the forthcoming console (including how much it will go for). If you'd rather not wait and see, the standard Nintendo Switch is currently receiving a rare discount at Amazon, where you can buy it with blue and red Joy-Con controllers for $267 ($33 off).If you like to game on the go, the base Switch remains an excellent handheld, one that can last up to six hours on a single charge. It's still limited to 32GB of built-in storage - unlike the larger, seven-inch Switch OLED - but its built-in microSD card slot means you can always invest in more external storage. That'll come in handy because the... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6QBAP)
Image: Universal Pictures Universal Pictures has announced that Jurassic World Rebirth will come to theaters in 2025. The studio didn't release any trailers to accompany the news, leaving us with production stills starring Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali.
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6QBAQ)
If a post is being shared as part of a dogpiling effort, Bluesky users can now limit people from linking to them directly. | Image: Bluesky Bluesky has introduced a bunch of new anti-toxicity" features that aim to help users protect themselves against harassment and dogpiling. Announced via a recent blog post, version 1.90 of the decentralized social media platform adds tools that can limit exposure to unwelcome interactions with other users, such as an option to detach your post from somebody else's quote of it.The update allows users to view all the posts that quote a post they've made, then detach their original post so it can no longer be seen beneath the other user's commentary - preventing readers from seeing it and clicking through to engage. You can already cut off engagement by blocking a quote poster, but detachment offers a less drastic option.The downside, as... Continue reading...
by Andrew Webster on (#6QBAR)
Control. | Image: Remedy Entertainment Remedy Entertainment is teaming up with Annapurna Pictures to expand the world of Control. The most concrete part of the news is that Annapurna - which also has an indie game publishing arm - will be funding half of the development budget for the previously announced Control 2.Beyond that, there's the potential for Annapurna to create film and TV adaptations of both Control and Alan Wake, which just got a long-awaited sequel last year. No specific projects were announced. Annapurna will take the lead in expanding Control and Alan Wake into new entertainment mediums," the companies explain in a press release, enabling Remedy to focus on the development of Control 2 and other upcoming games."Notably, the release also says that Remedy... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6QB7Q)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Verizon is the next big phone company to launch a satellite messaging service - and it's coming soon. Starting this fall, the service will let certain smartphones" access emergency messaging and location sharing via satellite in a partnership with Skylo - which is also powering Google's recently announced Satellite SOS feature.Sometime next year, Verizon says customers will also be able to send text messages via satellite.Verizon says the service, which it is launching in partnership with Skylo, won't cost extra. There are no additional costs planned for this service," according to Verizon spokesperson Karen Schulz. Capable devices can take advantage of this irrespective of price plan." Schulz confirmed support for the Pixel 9 Pro,... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6QB7R)
Image: Apple The Apple Sports app is gearing up for football season with an update that brings live scores and play-by-play information for NFL and college football games to your iPhone's lockscreen. With Live Activities support for all teams and leagues available in the app for the first time ever" in iOS 18 and watchOS 11, now you can keep tabs on your team's scores from the lockscreen on your iPhone or Apple Watch.In addition to North American football, Apple Sports is adding UEFA Champions League and Europa League next month.For pro and college football fans in the US, the app is also adding a new dynamic drive tracker" visual to show the ball's current position on the field. Image: Apple Live Activities will let you... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6QB7S)
A rendering of Sage Geosystems' geothermal energy project. | Image: Sage Geosystems Meta announced a new partnership this week in the hopes that geothermal energy can help it reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.Meta and startup Sage Geosystems struck up a deal to develop new geothermal power plants. If they make it to the finish line, the plants would provide carbon pollution-free energy that Meta needs for new data centers in the US.The company has struggled to keep its carbon pollution down since it pledged in 2020 to reach net zero emissions by the end of the decade, its latest sustainability report published yesterday shows. The race to develop more powerful AI tools has raised the stakes, triggering the development of new energy-hungry data centers. So, Meta is putting its faith in next-generation geothermal... Continue reading...
by Sarah Jeong on (#6QB7T)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Jools Lebron At this point, you either already know about the very demure, very mindful" meme that originated on TikTok, or you have neither the interest nor the capacity to understand. It is simply A Thing, a viral catchphrase that may become as ubiquitous in the 2020s as eyebrows on fleek" was in the 2010s. And that is why every tabloid in America is running a story about a dispute over an application to register Very Demure... Very Mindful..." as a trademark.The headlines go like this:
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by Lauren Feiner on (#6QB7V)
Image: The Verge OpenAI and Anthropic have agreed to let the US government access major new AI models before release to help improve their safety.The companies signed memorandums of understanding with the US AI Safety Institute to provide access to the models both before and after their public release, the agency announced on Thursday. The government says this step will help them work together to evaluate safety risks and mitigate potential issues. The US agency said it would provide feedback on safety improvements, in collaboration with its counterpart agency in the UK.Sharing access to AI models is a significant step at a time when federal and state legislatures are considering what kinds of guardrails to place on the technology without stifling... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6QB7W)
The Wyze Cam 4. | Image: Wyze Wyze is making it easier to find out which of your cats knocked over your planter while you were gone. It's testing a new AI search feature for Cam Unlimited subscribers that lets you search through footage using keywords, rather than scrolling through all recorded events, as spotted by GeekWire.With the feature, you can search for things that might've been caught on camera, like truck" or delivery person." You can even add more detail to your search by typing something like show me my cat in the backyard" or woman under an umbrella." Wyze will then pull up relevant scenes using AI.However, Wyze notes that the feature isn't perfect and you may get some wonky results at times." Still, it sounds like it could save you from having... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6QB4Q)
Sure, it's skinny, but it's also blocking the second wall outlet in this image. | Image: Genki If you're in need of a compact and portable USB-C charger, then Genki's TurboCharger might fit the bill. The gaming accessory maker says its new gallium nitride (GaN) accessory is the flattest" 100W wall charger on the market, capable of folding to a thickness of 18 millimeters (0.7 inches) to make it easier to pack.The TurboCharger is compatible with Power Delivery (PD 3.0) and has a pair of USB-C ports on the bottom, which can each supply up to 100W or a 65W / 30W split if charging two devices simultaneously. Its skinny design also means it can fit snugly in tight spaces like behind couches or cupboards, and it keeps its weight closer to the wall to provide a more secure connection that's less likely to fall out. And while the... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6QB1X)
SpaceX has yet to set a new date for its delayed Polaris Dawn Falcon 9 rocket launch. | Photo by Joe Raedle / Getty Images The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9 rocket following a failed landing attempt during a recent Starlink mission. After successfully carrying the satellites into orbit on Wednesday, the first-stage booster returned to Earth and toppled into the Atlantic Ocean in a fireball shortly after touchdown, ending a streak of 267 successful landings.The FAA has ordered an investigation into the failed touchdown. The incident involved the failure of the Falcon 9 booster rocket while landing on a droneship at sea. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported," an FAA spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters. A return to flight of the Falcon 9 booster rocket is based on the FAA... Continue reading...
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by Tim Stevens on (#6QB1Y)
These high-speed electric models follow in the footsteps of 120 years of Ford racing. Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6QAQR)
The ThinQ On is LGs new smart home hub. A smart speaker, it uses generative AI for conversational commands and control of connected devices. | Image: LG LG has announced the ThinQ ON, the company's first dedicated smart home hub. The device, which was teased at CES earlier this year, will debut at the IFA 2024 tech show in Berlin, Germany, next week.The ThinQ ON is an AI-powered hub that can connect and control LG appliances and other smart home devices via Thread, Matter, and Wi-Fi. It works on LG's ThinQ smart home platform and uses LG's Affectionate Intelligence to learn from your usage patterns, monitor your appliances, and allow for voice control of connected devices.A small, circular white hub, the LG ThinQ ON is also a smart speaker with LG's AI voice assistant onboard. The company says the assistant can understand natural language, interpret context, and learn user... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6QAPN)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images The California State Assembly has passed the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act (SB 1047), Reuters reports. The bill is one of the first significant regulations of artificial intelligence in the US.The bill, which has been a flashpoint for debate in Silicon Valley and beyond, would obligate AI companies operating in California to implement a number of precautions before they train a sophisticated foundation model. Those include making it possible to quickly and fully shut the model down, ensuring the model is protected against unsafe post-training modifications," and maintaining a testing procedure to evaluate whether a model or its derivatives is especially at risk of causing or enabling a... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6QAMR)
Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge Untangling companies' environmental claims these days can be a head-spinning endeavor, and reading Meta's latest sustainability report is no exception. Depending on how you look at it, the company's greenhouse gas emissions either grew or fell last year.Depending on how you look at it, the company's greenhouse gas emissions either grew or fell last yearConfused? The discrepancy has to do with whether you're assessing total or net emissions and, crucially, whether you're considering the local impact Meta has in places where it operates.It helps to take a look at the graph below from the sustainability report. The light gray bars show Meta's total location-based" greenhouse gas emissions. Those bars have risen steadily since 2019,... Continue reading...
by Lauren Feiner on (#6QAMS)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Yelp, one of Google's most persistent and outspoken rivals, has finally filed its own antitrust lawsuit against the search giant, less than a month after a federal judge ruled Google an illegal monopolist.Yelp alleges that Google has created or preserved its monopoly in local search services by preferencing its own inferior vertical over competitors', which Yelp says harmed competition and reduced the quality of local search services. Yelp claims that the way Google directs users toward its own local search vertical from its general search engine results page should be considered illegal tying of separate products to keep rivals from reaching scale.Yelp wants the court to order Google to stop the allegedly anticompetitive conduct and... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6QAJF)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Sonos has released an update to its app as it attempts to reverse the fallout from a disastrous redesign. But while the update adds enhanced accessibility settings and improved stability during the product setup process, the update addresses just a fraction of user complaints.Sonos is reintroducing the ability to clear your music queue on the Android app - a feature that's been sorely missed since the app's relaunch. It also added a Night Mode toggle for sound bars, which enhances dialogue without you having to turn up the volume on your TV.There's still plenty of room for improvement, and Sonos has a long list of features to add in its queue. Since the app's controversial redesign in May, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence apologized for... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6QAJG)
Illustration: The Verge Apple Music subscribers can now transfer their playlists over to YouTube Music, according to a recent support document spotted by MacRumors. Up until now, Apple did not offer native tools for transferring playlists to rival music services, making YouTube Music the first.There are some caveats, however. Only songs available on YouTube Music can be transferred over, which means you won't be able to migrate audio files like podcasts or audiobooks. You also can't transfer curated or non-collaborative shared playlists, music files, or the folders you've created to organize playlists in Apple Music.To move your playlists over to YouTube Music, you must have an active Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription, as well as an active YouTube... Continue reading...
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