The Verge

Image: Inworld AI, Streamlabs, and Nvidia Inworld AI, Streamlabs, and Nvidia are partnering on a new AI assistant for streamers that can provide technical support for streams in real time and even act as a quippy cohost.As a cohost, the Intelligent Streaming Assistant" can understand what's happening in games like Fortnite and offer contextually relevant commentary," according to a press release. This awareness enables the assistant to do things like highlight a well-timed build, provide commentary during a dramatic Victory Royale, or shoutout audience members for sending tips." Image: Inworld AI, Streamlabs, and Nvidia As a producer, the assistant will be able to trigger audio and visual effects to enhance high-impact gameplay" as well as capture clips. The assistant can also help set up Streamlabs Desktop and offer troubleshooting advice. And streamers will be able to pick from assistant personalities" that can complement the tone of their stream, whether they're looking for subtle behind-the-scenes support or a lively co-host."The tool seems like it could be a useful and potentially entertaining way to improve your streams. But based solely on how it's demonstrated in a video, the assistant might also look and sound like an awkward AI avatar, so I'm not sure how widely it might be used in practice.The Intelligent Streaming Assistant is set to launch in Streamlabs' app store later this year.

Not sure what's less realistic: this usage scenario or the shadows in this image. | Image: Anker You've seen EcoFlow's hat with integrated solar panels - now meet Anker's more practical Solix Solar Beach Umbrella, fitted with a new generation of perovskite solar cells. It can produce up to 100W of total output from XT-60 and USB-C connections, which could keep Anker's new battery-powered Solix EverFrost 2 Electric Cooler running indefinitely in sunny environments.Perovskite is a new type of solar cell that can outperform the silicon-based cells found in most of today's solar panels in almost every way. Anker claims its perovskite cells offer 30 percent better performance than crystalline silicon solar cells in bright light, and double the efficiency in low light."The silicon-based solar cells shipping today in consumer panels currently max out at around 24 percent efficiency, with a theoretical efficiency near 30 percent. Solar panels that layer a perovskite film on top of a silicon base can absorb even more light - perovskite cells can be optimized at the blue end of the light spectrum while silicon cells harvest energy on the red end - to reach solar conversion efficiencies of up to 43 percent. That's a step change in how we harvest energy from the sun. Notably, perovskite can be made from low-cost materials that are widely available. Image: Anker The solar umbrella keeping a phone charged over USB-C. A UK-based company called Oxford PV announced in September that it had already started the world's first" commercial sales of solar panels using perovskite-on-silicon cells, boasting a 24.5 percent efficiency, with improvements on the horizon.Unfortunately, Anker isn't offering any details on the origins of its perovskite solar cells," despite us reaching out with questions. That leaves a lot of unknowns around things like conversion efficiencies and life expectancy - the latter being a historical problem for perovskite. We also don't know the weight of the umbrella. We do know that the folding Solix Solar Beach Umbrella stands just over seven feet (215cm) tall with a six-foot, two-inch (190cm) diameter. It also has an IP67 rating, so it should hold up to blowing sand and rain.There's still time for Anker to answer our questions, since the solar umbrella won't ship before summer 2025 for an undetermined price. Image: Anker Image: Anker Image: Anker Image: Anker Two removable batteries with ports that can also charge your USB-A and USB-C gadgets.We know a lot more about Anker's new Solix EverFrost 2 Electric Cooler, available in 23L, 40L, and 58L models. The rugged (IPX3) unit features six-inch wheels - large enough to roll over semi-rough terrain (small stones and rough gravel) - and a fold-down tray that can also be used as a handle. However, only the 58L model includes two independent compartments to create a dual-zone fridge and freezer.Anker claims it's the first from this class of portable fridges to use air-cooled refrigeration instead of direct cooling. That will likely make it noisier and less power-efficient than competing models from EcoFlow and Bluetti, while having the advantage of improved temperature uniformity, faster cooldown, and no need to manually defrost the thing.The Solix EverFrost 2 can provide up to 104 hours of cooling from a pair of detachable 288Wh LFP batteries - and half that with a single battery. The batteries can also be removed to function as power banks, with 60W USB-C and 12W USB-A jacks to charge your gadgets. The batteries can be charged off 100W of solar input, a 12V car socket, an AC wall jack, or USB-C connection.Prices are set at $699 (23L), $749 (40L), and $999 (58L), with preorders for the 40L and 58L models starting on February 21st before shipping a few weeks later. The tiny 23L model is slated to launch in Q2.

Anker's new wall charger relocates the charging ports and introduces a display showing the power output for each one. | Image: Anker Anker has announced a new 140W wall charger at CES 2025 with a design that positions four USB ports on the underside to improve its center of gravity and help it stay plugged in with cables attached. It's also Anker's first wall charger with a built-in screen displaying each port's power output.The Anker Charger (140W) with display will be available starting on January 7th, 2025, for $89.99. The wall charger debuts alongside the new Anker 25K Power Bank, a 25,000mAh power bank with a retractable 27.2-inch USB-C cable and a screen offering similar charging info, priced at $99.99.Anker's previous solution to its heavier GaN chargers (that did have a tendency to fall out of outlets) was to introduce a smaller design with thicker, textured prongs offering more grip. With four USB ports - three USB-C and one USB-A - the new design could work even better while also charging four devices simultaneously. The only downside is that the repositioned ports could make it more difficult to plug in devices in the dark of night.Two of the charger's USB-C ports can deliver up to 140W of power, while the third maxes out at 40W and the USB-A is limited to 33W. Those speeds will be reduced with all four USB ports in use. The integrated display, located where the USB ports have traditionally been found on Anker's chargers, will show how much power each USB port is drawing as well as the remaining power available if all four aren't in use. Image: Anker Anker's new 25,000mAh power bank has two integrated USB-C cables, including one that's over two feet long and fully retracts. Anker says its new 25,000mAh power bank is about the size of a soda can and can deliver a total of up to 165W of power across three USB-C ports and a single USB-A port, or up to 100W to a single USB-C port for fast-charging laptops. The power bank's display shows how much power is being drawn by the devices connected to each port.Two of the power bank's USB-C ports have integrated charging cables: an external 8.6-inch cord that transforms into a carrying strap and a 27.2-inch cord that fully retracts, so you'll never find yourself without one.

The J15 Max Ultra uses infrared technology to identify wet messes and clean them without damaging the robot. | Image: Eureka Most robot vacuum mops can tackle mopping your floors and maybe scrub up a dried-on stain, but let them trundle through a puddle of spilled milk or juice, and they're likely to smear the liquid around. If they do suck any up, it could seriously damage the robot's internals - robot vacuums are not wet / dry vacs.Robot vacuum manufacturer Eureka claims to have solved this problem with its new J15 Max Ultra ($1,299). According to the company, this robot vacuum and mop, debuting at CES 2025, can accurately spot liquids and automatically rotate its body to tackle wet spills with its mopping pads.The J15 Max Ultra adds an infrared vision system to the robot vac, so it can detect the 3D structure of anything in front of it no matter what the lighting is," Yuan Ruan, PR manager of Midea Group, which owns Eureka, told The Verge in an interview. This allows it to spot and react to liquid spills, both clear and colored. In addition to mopping first, it also raises its roller brush to avoid sucking any liquid into the bin.A video from Eureka demonstrating how the robot vacuum tackles wet spills.While most people aren't likely to leave wet puddles on their floors - grabbing some paper towel to soak it up only takes a few seconds - it's feasible that a pet might leave a wet mess while you're not home. This type of advancement in the capabilities of a robot vacuum to react to what it's cleaning and adjust appropriately is encouraging.Over the past few years, high-end robot vacuums have gotten smarter about identifying and reacting to specific objects - such as cables, solid pet waste, and socks - using cameras and computer vision.Models from companies like iRobot and Roborock can determine what to do based on the type of object they spot. So, rather than simply avoid an object, they will adapt how they clean if they spot certain items. For example, if it's a pet bowl or kitty litter tray, get close and increase the suction; if it's a Christmas tree or potted plant, approach with care. Image: Eureka The Eureka J15 Max Ultra is the company's newest flagship robot vacuum and mop. Eureka's new liquid spotting ability builds on this type of intelligence. Eventually, we'll get to the point where robot vacuums can accurately identify most items in our homes and clean them similar to how we would.Eureka's smarts are powered by its new IntelliView AI 2.0 technology, which adds IR vision to the robot's lidar navigation system and uses computer vision to help it decide how to clean what it sees or if it should avoid it. Image: Eureka The J15 can lift its chassis up to 1.57 inches (40mm) to get over transitions and high-pile rugs. The Eureka J15 Max Ultra is an upgrade to the J15 Pro Ultra ($999.99), which can identify colored liquids but not clear or white ones. The Max also features a new extendable side brush that can reach out into corners (a feature first seen in the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra). It also adds increased suction power - up to 22,000Pa from 16,500Pa - increased battery capacity, and a threshold crossing height of up to 40mm.Both models feature Eureka's FlexiRazor tech that uses razors inside the robot's brush system to cut out tangles and dual spinning mop pads that can extend into corners and edges and light up when they detect carpet. The J15 line also has auto-empty base stations that can refill the mopping tank and wash and dry the robot's mop pads with hot water and air.The company also introduced the more affordable J15 Ultra to its lineup at CES. The $799 model has most of the same features as the $1,000 J15 Pro Ultra, including the ability to detect colored liquids, but with an increased 19,000Pa of suction power. It will be available in March 2025. The J15 Max Ultra will be available in June 2025.

The Eufy E20 might be the first robovac that cleans more than just floors. | Image: Eufy Eufy is making it easier to splurge on a robot vacuum with a new model that can clean more than just your floors. The Eufy 3-in-1 E20 has a unique design that transforms from an autonomous robovac to a manual stick or handheld vacuum by removing a unit containing the motor, dust bin, and battery and then attaching other cleaning accessories.The E20 is available for preorder starting today for $499.99 through Eufy's website with a $50 discount. It will officially be available starting on February 10th through additional retailers, including Amazon and Best Buy, for its full price of $549.99. Image: Eufy The vacuum's motor, dust bin, and battery are contained in a single unit that can be inserted into a robot vacuum, which adds lasers and a brush head. In robovac mode, the E20 has 8,000Pa of suction power and a runtime of up to 180 minutes from a battery that takes 2.5 hours to fully charge. It lacks floor-mopping capabilities but features a spinning brush with anti-tangle comb teeth" to help reduce hair getting tangled around it, similar to the Eufy X10 Pro Omni. Image: Eufy The E20's compact dock charges and empties the robovac's dust bin and has enough capacity for up to 75 days of cleanings. Instead of cameras, the E20 uses a set of three lasers (located on the top, front, and side of the robot) that Eufy says can detect and avoid obstacles as small as 15mm," even in the dark. When it needs a charge, the E20 will return to its included base station, where its 350mL dustbin is automatically emptied into a filtered bag that has enough capacity for an estimated 75 days of cleanings. Image: Eufy In stick vacuum mode, the E20 has almost four times the suction power as it does in robot mode. In handheld mode, the E20's suction power jumps to 30,000Pa for getting off-the-floor areas a robovac can't access like furniture. It can also be used as a manual floor vacuum for tackling messes that may need a few back-and-forth passes to get clean or for tidying other floors in a home where the robot doesn't roam.The robot includes built-in storage for a small crevice tool, but the rest of the E20's accessories, including a powered brush head, can be stored on an optional wall-mounted hanger that doesn't necessarily need to be installed near the base station - you can hide it away in a closet. That approach helps keep the E20's charging dock compact and discreet.

Image: Chris Welch / The Verge During its CES 2025 keynote, PlayStation Productions head Asad Qizilbash and Screen Gems president Ashley Brucks explained how Sony plans to keep expanding its IP after adaptations of The Last of Us, Gran Turismo, Twisted Metal, and Uncharted.They announced that Sony Pictures is working on a film adaptation of last year's hit Helldivers 2, while Columbia Pictures and PlayStation Productions are in early stages" of developing a Horizon Zero Dawn movie. After an attempt at turning it into a Netflix series fell apart, the HZD movie will, like the game, tell the main character Aloy's origin story in a fallen futuristic world, but that is all of the information we have about them for now.Earlier in the presentation, execs also announced that Crunchyroll and Aniplex are teaming up to create an anime series based on Ghost of Tsushima.Finally, Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann took the stage and presented a clip from The Last of Us season 2, which will arrive on Max in April.

The Last of Us will return to HBO and Max this April. Series creative director, Neil Druckmann, announced the premiere of the show's second season onstage at CES this evening alongside a short teaser for the new season. A specific premiere date wasn't given.The show's first season wrapped up in March 2023, so it'll be more than two years between seasons by the time the new one debuts. The Last of Us' first season was very well-received - particularly for a video game adaptation - so expectations are high for the show's return.This season is supposed to cover a portion of the second game, with the full story being split across two or more seasons, according to an interview last year with the show's creators. We don't think that we're going to be able to tell the story even within two seasons [2 and 3] because we're taking our time and go down interesting pathways which we did a little bit in Season 1 too," showrunner Craig Mazin told Deadline.Alongside the return of The Last of Us, Sony also announced plans to bring several other PlayStation titles to the screen. Ghost of Tsushima is being adapted into an anime series, and both Horizon Zero Dawn and Helldivers 2 are being made into films.

Image: Sony Sony is launching the Xyn (pronounced zin), an extended reality" headset for creating 3D objects for films, animation, and games. The device, which Sony first teased at CES last year, will come with 4K OLED displays, video passthrough, and support for third-party design, modeling, and production software.Based on the video shared by Sony, it looks like wearers will be able to flip up the headset when they're not using it. It doesn't appear to come with the ring and pointer that Sony showed off last year, though.Alongside the headset, Sony revealed Xyn Motion Studio, an accompanying Windows app that supports up to 12 Mocopi sensors, its wireless motion-tracking system that V-Tubers and other creators often use to control virtual avatars. The software comes with motion-editing features, allowing creators to trim and merge motions, as well as adjust time and position.There's also a prototype of a spatial capture solution," which is supposed to transform images of real objects and spaces into photorealistic" 3D computer-generated assets using Sony's algorithm. One year out from Sony's initial teaser, and details are still pretty slim on what exactly this headset will be capable of, aside from viewing and interacting with 3D objects.Sony is planning to release its Xyn Motion Studio software in late March 2025, but there still isn't any word on the availability or pricing of its headset.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The BBC reports Apple will change how iPhones and other devices display Apple Intelligence-summarized notifications to make it clearer to users when its AI tech has adjusted the words. Not long after the still-in-beta feature launched in the UK in December, the news organization complained about how it rewrote a headline about the UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect, incorrectly suggesting that the BBC reported Luigi Mangione shot himself.Since then, according to the BBC, Apple's summaries had incorrectly rewritten notifications from its app to name a PDC World Darts Championship winner before the event even started and falsely claiming that Rafael Nadal revealed himself as gay. These AI summarisations by Apple do not reflect - and in some cases completely contradict - the original BBC content," writes the outlet.The BBC reports that Apple said in a statement, A software update in the coming weeks will further clarify when the text being displayed is summarization provided by Apple Intelligence."Apple Intelligence has had its funny moments, but there have also been some shocking failures, like summarizing a text message saying that hike almost killed me" as attempted suicide."Apple told the BBC that receiving summaries is optional. If you want to exercise that option, you can disable the feature or alter what apps use it by going to Settings > Notifications > Summarize Notifications.

Dana White and Mark Zuckerberg attend the UFC 300 event at T-Mobile Arena on April 13, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Meta is adding three new people to its board of directors, and one of them is UFC president and CEO Dana White, the company announced on Monday. Zuckerberg is a fan of MMA who has medaled in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments and tore his ACL in a sparring session a little over a year ago.As shown above, the Meta CEO has attended several UFC fights over the last few years and shared a picture with White on Instagram in February, as noted by Bloomberg, and White was mediating the proposed Zuckerberg vs. Musk cage match at one point. White also has a personal relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, who Zuckerberg met with at his Mar-a-Lago resort after Trump threatened if [Zuckerberg] does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison-as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election" in a book released last September.In a Facebook post, Mark Zuckerberg said of White, I've admired him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a beloved brand."White maintained control of that brand after a New Year's Eve incident two years ago where he was captured on camera slapping his wife in a nightclub, as reported by The Athletic. Afterward, White said, There's no defense for this and people should not be defending me over this thing no matter what... I have to walk around for however long I live - 10.4 years or another 25 years - and this is how I'm labeled now."John Elkann, CEO of European investment company Exor (which has stakes in companies like Ferrari and Stellantis), and Charlie Songhurst, a technology investor and former Microsoft executive, will be joining Meta's board as well.Meta now has 13 people on its board. We have massive opportunities ahead in AI, wearables, and the future of social media, and our board will help us achieve our vision," Zuckerberg says.

NBC Between Nosferatu and Wolf Man, it feels like Hollywood has come back around on good, old fashioned monster movies. And it seems like Peacock wants in on the action with a feature-length reboot of the long-dead Grimm series.Variety reports that Peacock is moving forward with a new film based on Grimm, Stephen Carpenter, Jim Kouf, and David Greenwalt's 2011 series about a Portland cop who discovers that he's one of the chosen few meant to defend humanity from monsters. Josh Berman (Drop Dead Diva) is attached to write the movie as well as co-executive produce with Kouf and Greenwalt.In its original run, Grimm ran for six seasons that saw Detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) become a formidable Grimm (the show's lingo for monster hunters) alongside his human partner Hank Griffin (Russell Hornsby) and werewolf ally Munroe (Silas Weir Mitchell). Peacock has yet to announce details about the movie's plot or whether any members of Grimm's original cast members might return. But given that this isn't the first time NBC has flirted with the idea of resurrecting the IP, it feels pretty safe to say this time around, Grimm's definitely coming back to the small screen.

Workers outside the hydrogen production facility at the Constellation Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in Scriba, New York, on Tuesday, May 9th, 2023. | Photo: Getty Images The Biden administration finalized rules meant to boost domestic production of hydrogen fuel through a new tax credit, a move that might also keep struggling nuclear power plants on line for longer.The highly anticipated guidelines stipulate what kinds of hydrogen projects can qualify for the tax credit. Hydrogen combustion releases water vapor instead of greenhouse gas emissions, which is why the Biden administration sees it as a more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. But it takes energy to produce hydrogen, and where that energy ought to come from has been contentious.After a lot of political wrangling, the Biden administration ultimately loosened the rules to include hydrogen made with the help of some existing nuclear power plants. Specifically, nuclear reactors at risk of shuttering because of financial reasons might be able to benefit from the tax credit.Where that energy ought to come from has been contentiousThe final rule is an important step in the right direction," Joe Dominguez, president and CEO of the largest nuclear power plant operator in the US, Constellation, said in a press statement. The final rule allows a significant portion of the existing merchant nuclear fleet to earn credits for hydrogen production."The tax credit, called 45V, was established through the Inflation Reduction Act and is worth up to $3 per kilogram of hydrogen production. To qualify, companies have to meet strict requirements to limit pollution.That's because whether hydrogen can be considered a clean fuel depends on how it's made. Today, 95 percent of hydrogen produced in the US is made using gas in a process called steam-methane reforming. Methane is an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. And steam-methane reforming also produces carbon emissions.The more climate-friendly alternative is to create hydrogen through electrolysis, splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen using electricity. The electricity would have to come from carbon pollution-free sources like solar and wind farms - or nuclear reactors, of course.But all the recent hype over hydrogen has sparked concerns that the burgeoning industry might use up too much of America's still-limited carbon-free electricity supply. The worry is that power grids might try to meet rising electricity demand using gas and coal-fired plants, leading to higher greenhouse gas emissions.To ease those concerns, the Biden administration proposed rules for the hydrogen tax credit more than a year ago that require companies to get electricity from new sources of clean energy. The hope was that, by doing so, the hydrogen industry might help add more renewable energy to the power grid rather than siphoning off limited resources.It's a lot harder to build new nuclear power plants than new solar and wind farms, however. The proposal subsequently faced backlash from the nuclear energy companies saying they wouldn't be able to benefit from the hydrogen tax credit as a result.After receiving more than 30,000 comments on the proposal, the Biden administration loosened its guidelines. The Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service released the final rules on Friday. They carve out scenarios in which an existing nuclear power plant at risk of retirement can benefit from the tax credit if it's used to produce hydrogen and meets certain financial tests.Constellation opposed any requirements that hydrogen production use electricity from newly built sources in order to qualify for the tax credit. The company is involved in plans to build a major hub for hydrogen production in Illinois, a project awarded funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.The final rules also ease requirements for renewable energy and make it easier for developers to qualify for the tax credit in states that already have tough clean electricity standards. There are also new carveouts for hydrogen produced with methane that wafts out of landfills, farms, wastewater facilities, or coal mines that might otherwise escape into the atmosphere. In addition, companies can take advantage of the tax credit if hydrogen is made with electricity from a fossil fuel power plant that installs technology to capture its carbon dioxide emissions.The extensive revisions we've made in this final rule provide the certainty that hydrogen producers need to keep their projects moving forward and make the United States a global leader in truly green hydrogen," John Podesta, senior adviser to the president for international climate policy, said in a press release.Most of America's nuclear power plants were built in the 1970s or '80s, and the average age of a nuclear reactor in the US is 42 years old. Construction of the first all-new nuclear reactor in the US in decades finished in 2023 - seven years past its original deadline and $17 billion over budget. Next-generation nuclear reactors are smaller and modular, which is supposed to make them easier and more affordable to build. But those designs aren't expected to become commercially viable until the 2030s.The nuclear energy industry has also seen a boom of interest over the past year from tech companies in need of more carbon-free energy for AI data centers. Microsoft inked a deal with Constellation to help restart a retired reactor at Three Mile Island, while Google and Amazon announced plans to support the development of advanced small modular reactors.

Image: Toyota Toyota's futuristic Woven City, which is being built on the site of a former car factory in Japan, is almost ready for its first residents.At CES this week, the Japanese auto giant updated the public on the progress of the $10 billion project, which is said to be a living laboratory" where people can live while also testing out futuristic projects. Toyota said it completed phase 1" of the construction, with the official launch planned for 2025.Woven City is more than just a place to live, work, and play," Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said during today's press conference at CES. Woven City is a place where people can invent and develop all kinds of new products and ideas. It's a living laboratory where the residents are willing participants, giving inventors the opportunity to freely test their ideas in a secure, real-life setting."Toyota first announced Woven City at CES in 2021. At the time, the company said it would be a prototype city of the future" where it can test autonomous vehicles, innovative street design, smart home technology, robotics, and new mobility products on a population of real people who would live there full time.Now move-in day is quickly approaching. In fall 2025, Toyota said it will welcome the first 100 residents to Woven City, all of whom will be employees of Toyota or its subsidiary, Woven by Toyota. The community will gradually expand to include external inventors and their families" who will be invited to relocate to the new city. In total, the first phase of the city will eventually house 360 residents, Toyota says.Toyota dubs these first residents Weavers," adding that they are people who share a passion for the expansion of mobility' and a commitment to building a more flourishing society. Through their participation in co-creation activities, Weavers will contribute to realizing the full potential of Woven City."That said, the first inventors" confirmed for Woven City are mostly in the food services business, including a vending machine company and a startup that wants to explore the potential value of coffee through futuristic cafe experiences."Toyoda mentioned several other ideas during his press conference, including high-powered motorized wheelchairs for people with disabilities who want to experience the thrill of racing. He also pitched the idea of a personal drone that follows joggers for added security, and pet robots" for elderly people.The Woven City site, which is located at the base of Mount Fuji, includes buildings that are designed by famed Danish architect Bjarke Ingels. The goal, through phase 2 and subsequent phases, is to build enough housing and facilities for up to 2,000 people to live year-around, with utilities powered by the company's hydrogen fuel cell technology. The site is private for now, though Toyota says it plans on inviting the general public to see it in 2026.The potential value of coffee through futuristic cafe experiences"The name Woven City" is a reference to weaving together three different types of streets or pathways, each for a specific type of user. One street would be for faster vehicles only. The second would be a mix of lower-speed personal mobility vehicles, like bikes and scooters, as well as pedestrians. And the third would be a park-like promenade for pedestrians only.It's still unclear how Woven City fits into Toyota's plans for the future of mobility. The company, which is one of the largest producers of automobiles in the world, has been a bit of a laggard in the field of electric vehicles. The company has plenty of hybrids but only one fully electric car in the US, the BZ4X - though it did say it has a three-row SUV coming soon.There's nothing new about automakers using big plots of land to build proving grounds with fake city backdrops to test out new vehicles. And company towns have existed for decades; Elon Musk, for example, is building his own town in Texas to house Tesla and SpaceX employees.But what Toyota is proposing is a dramatic escalation of that concept: a real city with real people who would live within the automaker's amped-up vision of the future. And that's where it could run into some problems. Google confronted something similar with its Sidewalk Labs project in Toronto, after objections from residents about surveillance and data collection led to the project's demise.Toyota hopes to avoid these same headaches by touting an enhanced quality of life for Woven City's residents. The project has already earned Japan's first LEED for Communities Platinum certification," the system's highest rank.

Image: Getty The US Department of Defense has added tech giant Tencent and lithium-ion battery maker CATL to its list of Chinese military companies, as reported earlier by Bloomberg. The designation doesn't impose sanctions or a ban, but it could make it more difficult for the companies to do business in the US.Along with owning the popular messaging app WeChat, Tencent is a major name in the gaming industry, as it owns League of Legends developer Riot Games and has invested in many others, including Epic Games, Larian Studios, Ubisoft, and FromSoftware. Meanwhile, CATL is the world's biggest electric vehicle battery maker, with its products appearing across EVs from Tesla, Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, and more.The designations originate from President-elect Donald Trump's executive order in 2020, which prevented US companies from investing in entities with ties to the Chinese military. DJI, which was put on the list in 2022, says US Customs is blocking its drone imports and eventually filed a lawsuit claiming the designation has resulted in lost business deals" and a stigma as a national security threat."These companies don't always stay on the Department of Defense's list, as the US removed Chinese phone maker Xiaomi just months after adding it in 2021. Both Tencent and CATL plan to push back on the designations. We are not a military company or supplier," Tencent spokesperson Danny Marti said in a statement to The Verge. Unlike sanctions or export controls, this listing has no impact on our business. We will nonetheless work with the Department of Defense to address any misunderstanding." CATL similarly told Bloomberg that its inclusion was clearly a mistake."The Verge reached out to CATL with a request for comment but didn't immediately hear back.

Is Samsung's round robot finally ready to roll out of CES demos and into actual homes? Ballie, the rolling robot that reemerged at CES last year, will be shipping to consumers as an actual product sometime in 2025. That's what Samsung is saying at the moment, anyway. We were first introduced to Ballie at CES five years ago. Since then, the robot has undergone a more practical redesign, so maybe it's really going to happen - but I'm still more skeptical than not.Am I the only one who thinks those wheels look a bit flimsy? Maybe Samsung is intentionally building in a weak spot and planning ahead for whenever Ballie secretly amasses an army and turns against us.Either way, Ballie is putting in yet another CES appearance here in Las Vegas. During Samsung's First Look event last night, I watched the latest canned demo of the round bot. Its operator asked for information about a nearby attraction, The Sphere, which Ballie first projected onto the ground. But when more details and driving directions were requested, Ballie automatically turned around and beamed its image onto a nearby wall instead so that it would have more room to work with. You can interact with Ballie using your voice and also by stepping on buttons projected onto the floor. Ballie is smart enough to use the wall when you need a larger view. From there, Ballie was asked to show a movie. It brought up Sony's Uncharted, and when commanded to make the picture bigger, Ballie was smart enough to look for a wall that could accommodate the enlarged projection. The image wasn't particularly bright; Ballie does better in that regard when beaming onto the floor immediately in front of itself. Don't expect any ANSI lumen miracles from this rather small gadget. The built-in speakers were plenty loud, at least, and didn't sound tinny. Ballie looks to be an adequate, if average portable projector. But this one's got wheels! In another interaction, the person demoing Ballie held up a pair of wine bottles and asked the robot which would make a better pairing for his dinner, showing that Ballie has some visual AI powers at its disposal. Responses to most queries came within a couple of seconds without any hiccups. But again, I only saw a very controlled demo, and for all I know, it's possible that this Ballie already had these answers programmed in. I trust absolutely nothing at this show. Ballie did not advise its human of the Surgeon General's recent warning about alcohol's link to cancer. Pretty suspicious, if you ask me. You communicate with Ballie through voice, and at times, the robot also projects virtual buttons onto the floor that can be stepped on to make a selection. (I'm curious as to what its accessibility features might entail.) Samsung has also given Ballie plenty of power over the smart home; you can tell it to control your lights and various routines. It's not quite Samsung's original vision, but Ballie still has some charm. And yes, it can control your smart home gadgets. Samsung told outlets including CNET and TechCrunch, that Ballie is indeed rolling out this year. TechRadar got an even more specific first half of 2025" timeframe. It's possible Samsung could share more details during its CES keynote later today. As for price, your guess is as good as mine. What's a fair amount to pay for a robot you'll insist on showing everyone you know for a few weeks? That is, until you grow to resent Ballie for paling in comparison to the expectations set by BB-8 and WALL-E. I can't wait to find out how much Ballie will cost. Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge

Satechi's Mac Mini M4 hub adds three front-facing USB-A ports. | Image: Satechi First announced in late November, Satechi has confirmed that its Mac Mini M4 Stand & Hub will be available in limited quantities starting February 17th, 2025 through its online store for $99.99. A wider release will begin sometime in March, according to an announcement by the company at CES 2025 today.The hub, made from aluminum with a soft-touch silicone coating, is designed to expand the functionality of the Apple Mac Mini M4 with two front-facing USB-A 3.2 ports, a USB-A 2.0 port, and an SD card reader. Image: Satechi A cut-out on the back corner of the Satechi hub provides easier access to the Mac Mini M4's power button. The hub connects to the Mac Mini M4 using an integrated USB-C cable that can be stored on the underside when not in use. A recessed area on the top of the hub maintains airflow without obstructing the Mac Mini's fan," while a notch in the back corner makes it easier to reach the computer's underside power button. Image: Satechi The hub can expand the Mac Mini M4's storage using an NVMe SSD up to 4TB in size. A removable panel on the bottom of the hub also allows the Mac Mini M4's storage to be expanded by installing an NVMe SSD; the hub supports multiple widths and lengths of SSDs with capacities up to 4TB. For comparison, a 4TB NVMe SSD from Western Digital is $299.99. Upgrading the base version of the Mac Mini M4 from 256GB to 2TB of storage through Apple adds $800 to the price tag, while upgrading the 12-core version of the Mac Mini from 512GB to 4TB of storage is an extra $1,200.

Dreame's newest robot vacuum can climb up a step. It's a start! | Image: Dreame First, they sprouted arms; now, robot vacuums are getting legs. The latest bot from Dreame has two small legs that can push it up and over a step as high as 6cm (about 2.5 inches).The Dreame X50 Ultra robot vacuum uses a system called ProLeap, which the company first demoed at the IFA tech show in Berlin, Germany, last year. Dreame calls the device's appendage a motorized swing arm" that enables step navigation up to 6 cm in height." But they're clearly legs. Image: Dreame Don't try and tell me those aren't legs. While this isn't quite the stair climbing we've all been hoping for, it could be very useful for helping a robot vacuum reach more areas of your home without manual intervention.Several current robot vacuums have a lifting capability that can help them get over high room transitions or bulky rugs; Roborock's Qrevo Curv can handle 3cm, and Shark's latest can go up to 2cm. Six centimeters is a big leap.The Dreame X50 Ultra is the next generation of the company's flagship X40 Ultra (which is our current pick for the best robot vacuum / mop hybrid). A robot vacuum with oscillating mopping pads, the X50 has advanced obstacle recognition and lidar navigation. It comes with a multifunction charging dock that can empty its bin and wash its mops with hot water and heated air. It can also automatically remove and reattach its mops. It will be available for $1,699.99 starting on February 14th. A presale featuring discounts starts on January 7th on Dreame's website.

Image: AMD AMD is previewing its next generation of GPUs at CES today, based on its latest RDNA 4 architecture that includes AI-powered FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4) upscaling. The Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 will both be available in Q1 from a variety of video card manufacturers, but AMD isn't detailing specifications, pricing, or exact release dates just yet.The announcement is light on concrete information. AMD says it has built this architecture from the ground up and that the GPUs built on RDNA 4 will include a significant boost in AI." AMD has optimized the compute units in RNDA 4, improved its ray-tracing engine and performance, and upgraded its media encoding quality. Built on a 4nm process, the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 cards will include AMD's second-generation AI accelerators, third-generation ray-tracing accelerators, and second-generation radiance display engine. Image: AMD AMD is only providing small details about its RDNA 4 architecture. This RDNA 4 architecture will also enable AMD to launch FSR 4 with these 9000-series GPUs. FSR 4 is a machine learning-powered update to AMD's upscaling and frame-generation technology that's been developed specifically for RDNA 4 and its dedicated AI accelerator hardware. That means you'll only be able to get FSR 4 with a Radeon RX 9070-series graphics card right now, and it will be supported in games with FSR 3.1 already integrated.Matt Booty, president of game content and studios at Microsoft, appeared on stage at AMD's CES keynote earlier today to confirm FSR 4 will be available in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 later this year.AMD hasn't hinted at how FSR 4 will compare to Nvidia's DLSS technology or what type of performance uplift or image quality improvement we should expect to see with this next generation of FSR.It's also not clear exactly what performance the RX 9070 series of GPUs will deliver against the competition, but in a branding slide for RDNA 4, AMD appears to suggest the 9070 series will offer similar performance to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4070 Super. Nvidia is expected to announce its RTX 50-series GPUs later today. Image: AMD FSR 4 will use dedicated AI accelerators on next-gen GPUs to upscale games. AMD is also adding new AI-powered features to its Adrenalin software. These include the ability to generate images with AI models, summarize local documents, and ask an AMD chatbot questions about graphics settings and more.If you're wondering why AMD has jumped from the Radeon 7000 series straight to 9000-series GPUs, the company says it will use the 8000-series branding for RDNA 3.5 mobile GPUs. AMD is only previewing FSR 4 at CES and promises to provide more details on the upscaling technology and its latest RDNA 4 GPUs ahead of the Q1 launch.

Image: AMD AMD is unveiling its latest flagship desktop CPU, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, today at CES. After the 9800X3D wowed us with its gaming performance, we've been waiting to see what AMD's second generation of 3D V-Cache technology could do with more cores and higher boost frequencies. AMD is now claiming the 9950X3D will be the world's best processor for gamers and creators."The 9950X3D includes 16 Zen 5 CPU cores (32 threads), a max boost frequency of 5.7GHz, and 144MB of total cache. It has a higher TDP over the 9800X3D at 170 watts instead of 120 watts, but this extra power appears to translate to big improvements in creator benchmarks and gaming. Image: AMD AMD's benchmarks against Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K. AMD says the 9950X3D should be around 8 percent faster on average than the previous 7950X3D, based on benchmarks run on 40 games at 1080p. The gaming performance should be similar to the 9800X3D, with AMD claiming it's within 1 percent. AMD even claims the 9950X3D is 20 percent faster than Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K in those same games, but Intel is about to deliver a performance update for the 285K that could close that gap.In content creation tasks, the 9950X3D should be around 6 percent faster than the 7950X3D in Premiere Pro tasks and around 13 percent faster in Photoshop. On average, AMD says the 9950X3D will be 13 percent faster for creator tasks than the 7950X3D, based on 20 apps tested. The big claim from AMD is that the 9950X3D will be 10 percent faster than Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K, something that could make the 9950X3D an easy pick for anyone wanting great desktop and gaming performance in a single CPU.AMD is also launching a Ryzen 9 9900X3D processor with 12 cores (24 threads), a 5.5GHz max boost, 140MB of cache, and a 120-watt TDP. Much like the 9800X3D, both of these new X3D chips use the second generation of AMD's 3D V-Cache technology that sees the cache now sit below the processor cores. This change allows the processor cores to have better access to cooling, and the cache is now less sensitive to high temperatures, allowing the CPU to boost to higher frequencies and deliver better performance in both gaming and creator tasks.AMD says both the 9950X3D and 9900X3D will be available at some point in March, but it's not detailing pricing just yet.AMD is also announcing new Fire Range" mobile CPUs today, which are the latest X3D-series laptop parts. You can read more about the flagship 9955HX3D laptop chip and other mobile-focused AMD announcements right here.

The Acer Swift Go 16 AI. | Image: Acer Acer is putting AMD chips in its ultra-thin Swift Go 16 AI and Swift Go 14 AI Copilot Plus laptops, both of which come with up to an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 processor. Until now, Acer only offered its Swift Go 14 Copilot Plus laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor.The AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 processor has eight cores, 16 threads, and an up to 5.0GHz boost clock. The Swift Go AI laptops feature a neural processing unit (NPU) running AMD's XDNA 2 architecture with up to 50 TOPS, as well as AMD Radeon 800M graphics.Both the 16- and 14-inch Swift Go AI come with the option for either an OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate or an IPS touch panel. There's also up to 32GB of low-power DDR5X SDRAM, a 1440p HDR webcam, and up to 24.9 hours of video playback on the Swift Go 14 AI (or up to 18 hours of video playback on the Swift Go 16 AI).The Swift Go 14 AI will launch in May with a starting price of $899.99, while the Swift Go 16 AI will arrive in April starting at $949.99. Over the past few months, Microsoft has been gradually expanding AI features, such as Recall and live translation, to Copilot Plus PCs running AMD and Intel chips, as these features were previously only available on Qualcomm-equipped devices.Along with these laptops, Acer also revealed a pair of non-AI Swift Go laptops powered by Intel's Core Ultra 9 285H processor and Intel Arc graphics, with the 14- and 16-inch options starting at the same prices as their Copilot Plus counterparts. Image: Acer Acer Aspire Vero 16. There's a new Aspire Vero 16 laptop as well, which Acer says has an easy-to-repair" design with a chassis made of more than 70 percent post-consumer recycled plastic and bio-based oyster shell material." The Aspire Vero features up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 255H processor and Intel Arc graphics. It will start at $799.99 when it launches in April.

Image: Hisense CES is always a showcase of giant-sized TVs, and true to form, Hisense has brought two enormous new models to Las Vegas this year: the 136-inch MicroLED 136MX, and the 116-inch TriChroma LED TV.It seems like, for five or six years now, we've been hearing how MicroLED will usher in the next era of home theater and leapfrog OLED in terms of picture quality - without any of the potential risks such as burn-in or panel degradation over time. But the technology remains prohibitively expensive for the vast majority of consumers. Hisense probably won't be changing that with the 136MX, which is described as the company's first consumer-ready MicroLED display."Hisense has surged in TV market share by balancing price and performance better than just about any other TV manufacturer besides TCL. Today's press release describes the 136MX as a pivotal milestone in making cutting-edge display technology more accessible to households." But a milestone doesn't mean that this specific - and very large - TV will be anything close to affordable unless you lead a life of luxury. Image: Hisense Behold this home. Only someone who lives here could manage to afford a MicroLED display. It sure does sound nice, though:

Image: Microsoft Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to some LG TVs later this year," Microsoft and LG announced at CES 2025. When the feature is available, if you have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, you'll be able to stream games from the Xbox Game Pass library and select titles that you already own from the LG Gaming Portal.LG says you'll be able to use Xbox Cloud Gaming on its latest Smart TVs," but doesn't specify exactly which models. In a footnote, LG says that service and country availability will be announced at a later date." Microsoft promises that it will share more details on the feature in the coming months."Microsoft and LG's promotional art for the news features Microsoft's This is an Xbox" tagline that shows how you can play Xbox games across a lot of different devices. Xbox Cloud Gaming is already available on some Samsung TVs.

Pawport's indoor smart door with a wood finish. | Image: Pawport The Pawport might be the most elaborate way to let your dog enter and exit your home. The smart dog door connects to a Bluetooth tag that straps to your dog's collar. When your dog approaches, its double doors swing open to let your pet in or out of the house. Naturally, there's also a glowing LED strip underneath the doors, for no purpose other than to add some more RGB lighting to your home. You can customize it to whatever color you want.Pawport has been working on its titular smart pet door for a few years now, with the product launching on Kickstarter back in 2021. But the device is back at CES this year, and the company says it's finally going to start shipping. The door will be available starting at $499. The company is also announcing a new weatherproof model that goes outside your house and pairs with the indoor version. That model starts at $399 but must be paired with an indoor unit. Image: Pawport The outdoor version of the Pawport dog door. There are already other smart or automatic dog doors out in the world, so Pawport isn't necessarily breaking new ground on the basics. But its product may be the sharpest, or at least the most high-tech-looking option out there. You can get the indoor Pawport with either plastic or aluminum doors, with the aluminum option being offered in different colors and fake wood finishes, too. The plastic model only comes in white or black, but both have steel frames underneath. It'll be available in three sizes and is designed to slide on top of the frame of an existing pet door.A companion app allows you to set a schedule for when your dog can come and go, and it can automatically make adjustments when the weather is bad. Smartec says the Pawport will begin shipping in early 2025."

The striking Styla works with a standard deadbolt and uses a ball and catch mechanism rather than a handle. | Image: Lockly We're swimming in smart lock options, but we haven't seen anything quite as cool as the $700 Lockly Styla, an all-in-one smart deadblot lock and video doorbell being shown off at CES 2025.It's a tall, cylindrical handle that's visually comparable to something you'd find on the door of a brick-and-mortar business but with enough gadgetry to make Bruce Wayne blush.Coming to the US starting in Q3 2025 in matte black, gray, and gold finishes, the so-called Designer Handlebar" appears stylishly sleek but would certainly stand out from the traditional levers and knobs in your neighborhood. But even under a strict HOA, I might risk it all for a no-compromise front door security suite that integrates a 2K camera with color night vision, an AI-powered motion sensor, and two-way audio, for starters. Image: Lockly It's also rife with unlock options, including a rearward 3D fingerprint sensor, a vertical PIN Genie keypad that randomizes digit placement for discreetly inputting numerical keycodes, an RFID reader with three programmable fobs in the box that you can pass around, and a traditional 12-pin slot for the two physical keys included.You can create dozens of unique keys for each of these methods (including one-time or recurring offline codes), or hundreds in the case of the RFID keys. Lockly includes a new version of its Wi-Fi hub in the box, too, which enables private storage of video recordings and emits an audible chime as an alternative to smartphone alerts.The inside portion doesn't have nearly as many interfaces - just grip the handle to unlock the door. As there's no standard latch handle, it uses a ball catch mechanism to keep the door in place, which should only require a bit of force when pushing or pulling. And because it's battery-powered, you don't need a special door or an electrician's help for installation (it just needs to fall within a specific thickness range). It recharges via USB-C and can last up to 1.5 years in offline mode or 10 months with regular use, Lockly says.As with other Lockly products, the companion app will let you create and share keys, manage the video feed and talk to visitors, remotely control and check on your lock's status, and receive real-time notifications for any activity it detects. You can even copy profiles from other Lockly devices you may already own to make setup easier and control it hands-free using Google Home and Alexa voice commands.When considering all of its separate capabilities, the Lockly Styla doesn't necessarily offer anything unique compared to existing smart locks or video doorbells, except consolidating it all in such a funky form factor. Still, that's enough to pique our interest.

Image: Ecovacs Ecovacs' new robovac has a mop that extends to clean hard-to-reach spots, like corners and the edges of walls. But unlike other robovacs equipped with extendable mops, the Deebot X8 Pro Omni trades circular mop pads for a roller mop that cleans itself while it roves about your house.The robovac, which Ecovacs first revealed at IFA last year, has a mop that applies up to 4,000Pa of pressure and revolves 200 times per minute. At the same time, Ecovacs says the X8 Pro Omni cleans its roller using 16 water nozzles. It whisks dirty water into the robovac's waste water tank, helping to prevent it from dragging stains across the floor and causing streaks.Meanwhile, the X8 Pro Omni's vacuum comes with an impressive 18,000Pa suction power and an anti-tangle brush to keep hairs from getting wrapped around the brush. To navigate your home, the robovac uses the new TrueEdge" 3D sensor that's supposed to help the robovac identify and adapt to different types of edges and baseboards, along with an AI system that recognizes objects like shoes and cables.Like some of Ecovacs' other vacuums, the X8 Pro Omni can be controlled with your voice. However, hackers broke into Ecovacs' systems last year, letting them take over Deebot X2 vacuums to shout slurs and chase pets. Recent reports from ABC Australia also found serious security vulnerabilities with some of Ecovacs' products and said the company collects photos, videos, and voice recordings if users consent to an AI training program.Ecovacs also showed off its Deebot T50 line, with the higher-end T50 Max Pro offering up to 15,000Pa of suction. There's the T50 Pro Omni, too, which comes with Ecovacs' slimmest design so far at just 81mm (around 3.2 inches), allowing it to more easily slip beneath beds and couches.The Deebot X8 Pro Omni is priced at $1,399.99 and will be available in mid-February, while Ecovacs will reveal details on pricing and availability for the Deebot T50 lineup at a later date.

Image: HDMI Forum The HDMI Forum is using CES - the annual showcase of all things home theater - to announce the new HDMI 2.2 specification. In a press release this morning, the trade association confirmed that the new spec will up total bandwidth significantly to a new high of 96Gbps. And yes, that means the introduction of an Ultra96" HDMI cable that enables all the HDMI 2.2 specification features."Higher resolutions and refresh rates will be supported and more high-quality options will be provided," the HDMI Forum said in its release. An example of an HDMI 2.2 cable (below) calls out some of those, including 4K at up to 480Hz, 8K at up to 240Hz, and 10K at 120Hz. Current HDMI cables can already pass 4K at 120Hz, so I doubt most people will feel any temptation to upgrade for years to come. And you'll need content for any of these higher resolutions to be worthwhile, and there's still a dearth of native 8K entertainment out there.But with many TVs now offering 4K at up to 144Hz, and as consumers gravitate towards larger screens, the HDMI Forum sees ample reason to keep pushing forward. Image: HDMI Forum HDMI 2.2 cables will be badged as Ultra96." There is at least a more helpful aspect of this spec for everyone: HDMI 2.2 includes a Latency Indication Protocol (LIP) for improving audio and video synchronization, especially for multiple-hop system configurations such as those with an audio video receiver or soundbar." In my experience, HDMI 2.1 and eARC have mostly resolved frustrating audio / video sync issues, but they can still pop up as a frustration depending on your setup. Apparently HDMI 2.2 will go further in keeping everything lined up and keeping this headache in the past.Interestingly, the HDMI Forum is already anticipating tariff issues and has implemented an extensive certification program that includes anti-counterfeit labeling on packaging. You certainly can't miss the Ultra96 badging.HDMI 2.2 will be released in the first half of this year and be widely available to all HDMI 2.x adopters." Your TV and external devices will need to support the specification in order to unlock that new level of bandwidth, so we're just starting down what's inevitably going to be a long road.

Image: Qualcomm Qualcomm is introducing another Arm laptop chip to its Snapdragon X series today, lowering the cost of Copilot Plus PCs to around $600. The new Snapdragon X joins the existing Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite and will be available in a variety of devices from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo in the coming months.The Snapdragon X is designed for mainstream and budget laptops, so it won't offer as good of performance as the X Plus or X Elite variants. Qualcomm is still promising better performance per watt compared to Intel's Core 5 120U processor and better battery life across a variety of tests.Much like the rest of the Snapdragon X series, the base Snapdragon X chip will include a 45 TOPS NPU that supports Microsoft's Copilot Plus features. The Qualcomm Oryon CPU has eight cores that boost at up to 3GHz and is built on the same 4nm process node as the rest of the Snapdragon X series. Image: Qualcomm The Snapdragon X platform. It looks like the Snapdragon X will also lay the groundwork for some of the first Qualcomm-powered mini desktop PCs. Qualcomm is promising the world's first mini desktop PC powered by Snapdragon X series" tomorrow, so it certainly sounds like more Copilot Plus mini PCs are on the way.The Snapdragon X will really have an impact on the $600 laptop market. It's poised to put even more pressure on Intel's efforts here, and Qualcomm says more than 60 laptop designs from OEMs are currently in production or development based on the Snapdragon X series of chips. More than 100 are on the way by 2026. Windows on Arm momentum isn't slowing down.

Hulu and sports-forward streamer Fubo are settling aside some legal differences and teaming up in order to launch yet another new platform for you to subscribe to.Last year, Fubo filed a lawsuit against Disney (which co-owns Hulu), Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery last year on grounds that the studios' plan for Venu Sports, a new sports streaming service, was anticompetitive. But today, Fubo announced that it has reached an agreement with Disney to merge Hulu + Live TV and the entire Fubo platform to create a new multichannel video programming distributor. Going forward, Disney will own about 70 percent of the new venture, which will be headed up by Fubo's co-founder and CEO David Gandler. Hulu's core video subscription service will also continue to operate independently.In a statement about the partnership, Gandler insisted that the deal will enable Fubo to deliver on our promise to provide consumers with greater choice and flexibility."Additionally, this agreement allows us to scale effectively, strengthens Fubo's balance sheet, and positions us for positive cash flow. It's a win for consumers, our shareholders, and the entire streaming industry," Gandler said.Though a hearing for Fubo's previously-filed lawsuit against Disney, Fox, and WBD was scheduled for today, the case has now been dropped because of the new deal. Additionally, Fubo will receive a $220 million payout from Disney, Fox, and WBD. Fubo also noted that Disney plans to provide it with a $145 million this year, and should the entire deal fall apart, Fubo will be due a $130 termination fee.It wasn't clear how Disney planned to proceed last summer after a federal judge sided with Fubo and blocked Venu Sports from its planned fall 2024 launch. But now it's looking like the way forward is going to be a collaborative one.

A motor bounces baby according to your settings, but you have to convert it into a bassinet using your own motor skills. | Image: Elvie The Elvie Rise is an app-controlled baby bouncer that can be converted into a bassinet without moving the baby. Unfortunately, it costs $799 and isn't suitable for tots over six months of age.Of course, much less expensive bouncers without motors and apps also go flat for nap time, which is why Elvie's pitch leans heavily into baby's safety. As we've learned, baby tech is often peddled to anxious parents based on fear, not practicality.According to Elvie's own study, at least 67 percent of babies aged 0-3 months routinely sleep in a product that is not deemed safe for sleep during the day and the night." Rise follows the AAP's sleep safe guidelines, which require a firm, flat mattress, breathable fabrics, and retractable straps.Elvie's SootheLoop" tech records whatever bounce intensity and duration you desire, which can then be automatically repeated. In manual mode, bouncing can also be controlled by baby-power alone. It's up to the caregiver to lift the bouncer into bassinet mode and hoist the blinders when baby grows tired.Bouncer mode is suitable from newborn to six months of age, according to the company, or until your sub-20lb spawn starts to sit upright on their own. The bassinet is only suitable until junior hits five months, or starts to push up on hands and knees.Decent portable bassinets that follow AAP guidelines start around $140, while highly regarded bouncers can cost $200. $799 could be justified if that 2-in-1 convenience and motorized bouncing really speaks to you - just don't lose the charger. Too bad the company doesn't make a dumb version without motor or app because it does look nice.On the bright side, the Elvie Rise is way cheaper than a Snoo or that poop-detecting crib, and it doesn't require a monthly subscription.

Birdfy has announced the Birdfy Bath Pro, a camera-equipped smart bird bath that lets you watch your local birds as they plop into the water to wash up. The device features two lenses - a wide-angle one and an auto-tracking one - and an optional AI analysis feature that keeps track of and summarizes the bath's visitors. It's in preorder now.The onboard camera consists of a 2MP wide-angle lens that shoots at 1080p and a 3MP Portrait Lens" with 2K resolution. It carries an IP66 waterproof rating, so it should be able to withstand bird splashes, rain, and a direct blast from a water hose. But if you live somewhere cold, you should know the camera may be slow or not start at all if the outdoor temperature drops below 14 degrees Fahrenheit (or minus 10 degrees Celsius). Image: Birdfy The Bath Pro notifies you when birds arrive. The fountain portion comes with five interchangeable nozzles that Birdfy says make captivating water patterns." The Bath Pro will run you $249.99, or $299.99 with the stand included. For another $50, you can also get a lifetime subscription to its AI analysis service that Birdfy says will recognize birds and offer daily visitor counts and bird picture highlights. It also offers monthly recaps that rank your bath with that of other Birdfy owners.Rounding out its features are an integrated solar panel to keep its 9,000mAh battery topped up, cloud storage for videos and images, and Wi-Fi connectivity so you can watch birds from your phone, catching every flutter and dip in real-time."The Bath Pro feels like a logical next step after the Bird Buddy smart bird feeder got its moment in the sun in 2023. Bird Buddy seemed to agree when it announced its own prototype for one that year, but it hasn't started shipping that yet according to an update on its Kickstarter page. Birdfy has its own bird feeders, including the also newly announced Birdfy Feeder Metal, a metal-housed smart bird feeder with similar features to the Bath Pro.

Image: Aptera Aptera is aiming to get a little more time in the sun.The once-dead and now-resurrected startup unveiled a new production-intent" solar-powered electric vehicle that it made with a little help from legendary Italian automotive designers Pininfarina. And much like the last go-around, the new prototype is an ultra-efficient three-wheeled electric vehicle powered, in part, by embedded solar panels. Aptera insists the partnership with Pininfarina is providing necessary resources, like access the company's wind tunnel located in Turin, Italy, to refine its design to achieve one of the lowest drag coefficients of any production passenger vehicle, setting a new standard for energy efficiency in the automotive industry." But the biggest hurdles will likely finding enough funding to go into production.Aptera didn't include the exact drag coefficient for the new vehicle, but has claimed that past prototypes were able to achieve one of 0.13, as compared to 0.23 for Tesla's Model 3.The vehicle is equipped with 700W of integrated solar cells, allowing most drivers to drive every day without ever needing to plug in to charge. The cells can provide up to 40 miles of solar-powered range each day, and the ability to travel up to 400 miles on a single charge. Aptera's previous attempts to be one of the first companies in the world to mass produce a solar-powered car were derailed when it failed to qualify for the US Department of Energy's advanced technology loan program. The company shut down in 2011, but reopened in 2020 after successfully raising enough money through crowdfunding and other means.It's unclear if the work is enough to get its weird, three-wheeled solar powered vehicle off the ground. Aptera isn't the only company squinting at the sun for inspiration. German startup Sono Motors was working on a solar-powered electric car, but now its betting on solar buses. Mercedes-Benz's Vision EQXX concept includes a solar roof array of 117 cells. And Toyota has promised an optional solar roof for its recently released BZ4X electric SUV.

Image: The Verge Microsoft is pulling yet another trick to get people to use its Bing search engine. If you use Bing right now without signing into a Microsoft account and search for Google, you'll get a page that looks an awful lot like... Google.It's a clear attempt from Microsoft to make Bing look like Google for this specific search query, and other searches just list the usual Bing search results without this special interface. The Google result includes a search bar, an image that looks a lot like a Google Doodle, and even some small text under the search bar just like Google does. Microsoft even automatically scrolls down the page slightly to mask its own Bing search bar that appears at the top of search results. Image: Tom Warren / The Verge The Bing search result for Google right now has a special interface. While Bing still surfaces search results for Google underneath this spoofed Google UI, a lot of people will see this interface when they configure a new PC and search for Google in the address bar of Microsoft Edge. As 9to5Google points out, it's a sneaky move from Microsoft to try and keep people using Bing instead of switching to Google.Microsoft has a habit of this kind of behavior, too. We've been cataloging every trick Microsoft has used to convince people to switch to Bing or Edge instead of Google and Chrome over the past few years. Microsoft has modified Chrome download sites, added pop-up ads into Google Chrome on Windows, injected polls into Chrome download pages, and even used malware-like popups to get people to ditch Google.Google also has its own notifications on its websites to encourage people to download Chrome instead of Microsoft Edge, but they're nowhere near as aggressive as Microsoft's use of operating system-level popups and website modifications.

The Sense Pro is Schlage's first lock to support Matter; it will also work with a new UWB-powered auto-unlocking feature. | Image: Schlage It's a bit of a moment for the humble door lock. Schlage, one of the oldest lock makers in the US, just launched its first-ever smart door lock without a keyway. But that's not the most exciting part: the Schlage Sense Pro Smart Deadbolt is the company's first lock to support the new smart home standard Matter and one of the first ever to use ultra wideband technology (UWB) for hands-free unlocking.Along with the Sense Pro, Schlage also announced a new entry-level smart lock. The $199 Schlage Arrive Smart WiFi Deadbolt does have a keyway, along with a push button keypad for the touchscreen-adverse. The new locks join the company's existing Encode smart lock line. Image: Schlage The Schlage Sense Pro is a new design for Schlage locks and comes in two finishes: satin nickel (pictured) and matte black (above). While it's nice to see a more affordable smart lock option from Schlage (its Encode deadbolts start at $274), the Sense Pro is the headliner. A radical redesign for the company, the new touchscreen lock has a completely smooth face and no keyway. While there are plenty of smart locks without keyways, this is a first for the 100-year-old Schlage. There's also no fingerprint reader - a technology Schlage seems to have skipped over entirely.Instead, it appears to be betting on UWB as the best option for seamlessly unlocking your door. Along with a numeric code and NFC-powered tap-to-unlock (similar to Apple's Home Key), the Sense Pro can open automatically as you approach your door. Here's how Schlage says it works: