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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6TA8E)
Image: The Verge / Shutterstock Anthropic has made a deal to settle parts of a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against the maker of the Claude AI model for allegedly distributing protected song lyrics. The agreement was signed off by US District Judge Eumi Lee on Thursday, requiring Anthropic to apply existing guardrails in the training of future AI models and to establish a procedure for music publishers to intervene when copyright infringement is suspected.In October 2023, several music publishers including Universal Music Group, ABKCO, Concord Music Group, and Greg Nelson Music filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Anthropic for allegedly training its AI system on lyrics from at least 500 protected songs. According to the complaint, when Claude was prompted for the lyrics to songs like Beyonce's Halo," Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk," and Moves like Jagger" by Maroon 5, the chatbot provided responses that contain all or significant portions of those lyrics."While the music publishers acknowledged that platforms like Genius already distribute lyrics online, they noted that those sites pay a licensing fee to use the protected works. Anthropic intentionally removed or altered copyright management information" from the impacted songs when ingesting data found on those sites to train its AI models, according to the lawsuit filing.Under the agreement signed by Anthropic on Thursday, the AI company says it will maintain the guardrails it has already implemented that aim to prevent its AI models from infringing on copyrighted content. Anthropic will also apply its existing guardrails to any future AI systems it develops. Music publishers and Anthropic will work together in good faith" to resolve any instances where the guardrails are deemed ineffective, with the court ready to settle any disputes.Claude isn't designed to be used for copyright infringement, and we have numerous processes in place designed to prevent such infringement," Anthropic said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. Our decision to enter into this stipulation is consistent with those priorities. We continue to look forward to showing that, consistent with existing copyright law, using potentially copyrighted material in the training of generative AI models is a quintessential fair use."The music publishers behind the original complaint have requested a preliminary injunction to bar Anthropic from training future models on their protected song lyrics, with the court expected to issue a ruling in the coming months.
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The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
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| Updated | 2025-04-07 07:17 |
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by Thomas Ricker on (#6TA6T)
LG's lifestyle projectors look great when off, probably not so great when on. | Image: LG LG is coming to CES with two all-in-one lifestyle projectors" which means they're gong to look great when off, but not necessarily provide the best picture for the money when on. Both run on webOS with plenty of support for your favorite streaming apps.The PF600U is three devices in one, combing a simple full HD projector with a Bluetooth speaker and standing floor lamp. It weighs 16 pounds 8 ounces (7.5kg) and features two speakers of unknown spectitude, as well as an LED lamp capable of nine colors and five brightness levels. Image: LG That image is simulated so temper your expectations for the PF600U. The projector swivels on a 110-degree tilting head with an automatic screen adjustment function that should make it quick and easy to fine tune the projected image as you move the lamp around the room. Just note that it's only capable of producing 300 ANSI lumens of brightness which means that 1920 x 1080 image won't look very good unless viewed in blackout conditions. Image: LG I love how small the CineBeam S is because I hate giant TVs that make pretty living rooms look ugly. But this likely isn't bright enough to replace a TV for most people. The CineBeam S (model PU615U) is a remarkably small (4.3 x 6.3 x 6.3 inches / 110 x 160 x 160mm) ultra-short throw projector that can sit just inches from the wall - or better yet, an Ambient Light Rejection (ALR) screen - and still produce a giant 4K image from its laser (RGB) light source. It has integrated stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support. And while it can produce a slightly brighter 500 ANSI lumen image, it's still going to look washed out if it has to fight with any ambient lighting in the room.LG isn't announcing anything useful like pricing or release dates or countries of availability. Presumably the company wants to keep everyone on their toes when these are demonstrated publicly for the first time in Las Vegas, starting next week.
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by Jay Peters on (#6TA1N)
Image: Nvidia It seems like Nvidia might be about to reveal its RTX 50 series GPUs, and now Nvidia itself is teasing that the new graphics cards are nearly here. As spotted by VideoCardz, a video for Nvidia's upcoming LAN party includes brief look at a shadowy PC that will be given as a prize, and if you brighten up the image, the GPU in the computer appears to be one that's a new design.See for yourself - I've included an image of the shadowed version at the top of this post, but here's our take at tweaking the image to reveal what's hidden: Image: Tom Warren / The Verge I'll admit I am not an expert in GPU designs, but VideoCardz says the design is unfamiliar" and that an RTX 5080 or 5070 Ti could be among possible candidates" of what's being shown.Leaks last month from Zotac and Acer indicated that Nvidia may reveal as many as five RTX 50 series GPUs very soon, including an RTX 5090, an RTX 5080, and an 5070 Ti. VideoCardz also reported today on a leak of an RTX 5080 from MSI featuring 16GB of GDDR7 memory.And Nvidia isn't being particularly secretive about the potentially imminent launch of the RTX 50-series GPUs. The LAN party, which runs from January 4th through 6th, is called the GeForce LAN 50", and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is set to deliver a CES keynote on January 6th at 9:30PM ET.
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by Umar Shakir on (#6TA0A)
Photo by Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge Five electric vehicles from Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis now qualify for the US's $7,500 EV tax credit, Electrek reports. The new models include popular vehicles like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 crossover SUV and Kia EV9 three-row family hauler. Now, 25 EVs and plug-in hybrids across 10 brands qualify for the credit.The Biden Administration's EV tax credit rules mandate building vehicles in North America for eligibility and include additional requirements for sourcing battery components. In 2022, Hyundai and Kia threatened to take legal action against Biden's Inflation Reduction Act after it expanded the available credits but left the EVs they were building in Korea ineligible for them.Now that Hyundai has opened up a $7.6 billion EV manufacturing plant in Georgia to produce the NACS-equipped 2025 Ioniq 5 and the upcoming Ioniq 9 three-row SUV, its vehicles are eligible. Screenshot: The Verge Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis models have been added to the Federal Tax Credits list as of January 1st, 2025. However, Hyundai and Kia might lose the benefit if the upcoming Trump administration makes drastic changes. The President-elect vowed during his campaign to eliminate the EV incentives on day one," though American automakers have pleaded to let it live.But unless Congress votes to eliminate the program, Hyundai and Kia buyers could still get the incentive for the 2025 tax year or take advantage of it through a lease. The New York Times recently reported that Trump could try to take other actions without Congress by eliminating the credit for leases or taking down websites with information about the program.
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6TA0B)
Samsung's screen and camera-enabled smart fridges can now add items you're running low on to your Instacart cart. | Image: Samsung Samsung's smart fridges will soon be able to identify when you're running low on something and add items to your Instacart app so you can order what you need from the grocery delivery service right from your fridge.Today, Samsung announced a multiyear partnership with Instacart that will let you shop for groceries from the screen on your Samsung Bespoke fridge - the 32-inch one or the one with the new 9-inch screen the company is debuting at CES this month.According to the press release, the tech uses Samsung Vision AI food recognition technology to identify what you have in your fridge and determine what you're running low on. Then, using Instacart's product matching API, it suggests items from the service you might need and lets you order them from the fridge. Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge A new camera above the door in Samsung's smart fridges uses on-board AI to identify up to 37 food items as you put them in or take them out of the fridge. The service uses AI Vision Inside" on Samsung's fridges, which leverages a camera above the fridge door to see when you put items into your fridge as well as when you take them out. It also has cameras inside to keep an eye on what you have in there, although it can't see items in the refrigerator door bins or freezer.Samsung says the locally-based AI can recognize up to" 37 food items including fresh fruits and vegetables. You can also manually input details of other items to your food list on the Samsung Food app on the fridge or on your phone.While you can currently use Samsung Food to create a shopping list you can send to Instacart, this new feature should make that experience simpler and more automated. It should also automatically update your food list when you purchase items from the shopping list. And, when you make a recipe you've saved to the Samsung Food app, it can automatically remove items you've used from the food list and add then to the shopping list, working hand-in-hand with the AI-powered cameras to keep your fridge stocked.However, how well this will all actually work in practice remains to be seen.Funnily enough, the Instacart app used to be on Samsung's smart fridges; although it wasn't integrated with the device's cameras in this way, it was just a standalone app. It also mysteriously vanished earlier this year, along with a number of other apps - at least from my 2019 model.Samsung says the Instacart integration will come later this year via a firmware update to models with the AI Vision Inside, which arrived last year.
by Emma Roth on (#6T9YD)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images Meta is shaking up its policy team ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, with global policy head Nick Clegg stepping down after seven years at the company. He'll be replaced by Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican and Meta's current vice president of policy.In a post on Facebook, Clegg says it's the right time" for him to leave Meta, adding that he'll spend the next few months handing over the reins" to Kaplan. Joel is quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time - ideally placed to shape the company's strategy as societal and political expectations around technology continue to evolve," Clegg says.Kaplan served as the White House deputy chief of staff during George W. Bush's administration and joined Meta in 2011. He drew some controversy in 2018 when he supported Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during a Senate hearing about sexual assault allegations, which reportedly angered some employees. Kaplan also recently joined Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance at the New York Stock Exchange.Despite butting heads with Trump in the past, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has attempted to flatter the President-elect in recent months, with M... Read the full story at The Verge.
by Lauren Feiner on (#6T9YE)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images Federal net neutrality rules, which briefly came back from the dead under the Biden administration, have been struck down by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.The three-judge panel ruled that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not have the authority to impose net neutrality rules on internet service providers (ISPs). The FCC sought to reclassify ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act in order to impose policies meant to prevent them from discriminating against different internet traffic, like by slowing speeds or blocking content.But the judges disagreed with the agency's interpretation of how ISPs could be classified and were emboldened by the recent downfall of Chevron deference, a legal doctrine that instructed courts to defer to regulatory agencies in many cases. After the Supreme Court did away with that principle in 2024, courts became more free to favor their own interpretations over the judgment of expert agencies. Net neutrality was immediately seen as a prime target to be struck down without Chevron. While the DC Circuit Court of Appeals upheld previous iterations of net neutrality, the Sixth Circuit judges note that it relied on Chevron to do so. Unlike past challenges that the D.C. Circuit considered under Chevron, we no longer afford deference to the FCC's reading of the statute," they write.We acknowledge that the workings of the Internet are complicated and dynamic, and that the FCC has significant expertise in overseeing this technical and complex area,'" the ruling says, citing an earlier decision. After the fall of Chevron, it continues, that capability,' if you will, cannot be used to overwrite the plain meaning of the statute."This left the judges free to wax philosophical about phrases like offering of a capability" and information services," finely parsing the distinction between those and more heavily regulated telecommunications services. The existence of a fact or a thought in one's mind is not information' like 0s and 1s used by computers," one part of the ruling reads. It asserts that speaking reduces a thought to sound, and writing reduces a thought to text ... during a phone call, one creates audio information by speaking, which the telephone service transmits to an interlocutor, who responds in turn," but crucially, the telephone service merely transmits that which a speaker creates; it does not access information."Net neutrality was already in danger, even before this ruling came out - in a suit filed against the FCC by broadband industry associations. The appeals court had already blocked the net neutrality rules from taking effect. During oral arguments in October, the three Republican-appointed judges prodded attorneys about the correct interpretation of the Communications Act and about deference to agency expertise. With President-elect Donald Trump - under whom net neutrality was previously repealed - due to take office in mere weeks, this could be the last we hear about the attempt to reclassify broadband providers as common carriers for a while.FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel called on lawmakers to take up the mantle of creating rules to safeguard the open internet. Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open, and fair," she says in a statement. With this decision it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call, take up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law."Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr, Trump's pick to lead the agency once he assumes office, issued a lengthy statement calling the ruling a good win for the country." He calls net neutrality rules an attempt by the Biden administration to expand the government's control over every feature of the Internet ecosystem" and says the push for the rules was a waste of time. While he's pleased with the ruling, he adds, The work to unwind the Biden Administration's regulatory overreach will continue."Former FCC Chair Ajit Pai, who led the movement to repeal the rule during the first Trump administration, took a victory lap on X. For a decade, I've argued that so-called net neutrality' regulations are unlawful (not to mention pointless)," he wrote. Today, the Sixth Circuit held exactly that."
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by Justine Calma on (#6T9VW)
Two cooling towers being rehabilitated for nuclear power generation under Microsoft at Crane Clean Energy Center, previously known as Three Mile Island, stand tall over the residential and farm lands to the east across the Susquehanna River, on Wednesday, October 30th, 2024, in Middletown, Pennsylvania. | Photos by Wesley Lapointe for The Washington Post via Getty Images The General Services Administration (GSA), which manages government buildings, just announced a major nuclear energy contract. The announcement comes on the heels of several big tech companies making a flurry of nuclear energy deals last year.The 10-year, $840 million contract is for 10 million megawatt-hours of electricity, which the GSA says is the equivalent of what's needed for more than 1 million homes annually. The agency awarded the contract to Constellation, which operates the nation's largest nuclear fleet, and recently announced an agreement with Microsoft to restart a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island. Nuclear energy makes up a significant portion of the GSA deal, about 4 million megawatt-hours, according to Constellation spokesperson Paul Adams.Silicon Valley is increasingly turning to nuclear energy to satiate rising electricity demand from AI data centers. The federal government is the nation's single largest energy consumer, making this contract a big boon to the nuclear industry.This agreement is another powerful example of how things have changed."Frustratingly ... nuclear energy was excluded from many corporate and government sustainable energy procurements. Not anymore. This agreement is another powerful example of how things have changed," Joe Dominguez, Constellation president and CEO, said in a press release. The United States government joins Microsoft and other entities to support continued investment in reliable nuclear energy that will allow Constellation to relicense and extend the lives of these critical assets."Constellation says it generates 10 percent of the nation's carbon pollution-free energy. A majority of its output is nuclear energy, but it also produces hydro, wind, and solar power. It also generates electricity from gas-fired power plants, although the company has set a goal of reaching 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040 compared to close to 90 percent today.Constellation and the GSA declined to answer questions about how much of the electricity included in the contract will come from each source aside from nuclear power plants. Altogether, it's the biggest energy procurement contract the GSA has signed in its history.This historic procurement locks in a cost-competitive, reliable supply of nuclear energy," GSA administrator Robin Carnahan said in a press release. We're demonstrating how the federal government can join major corporate clean energy buyers in spurring new nuclear energy capacity and ensuring a reliable, affordable supply of clean energy for everyone."The contract will allow Constellation to extend licenses for existing nuclear power plants as well as invest in new equipment and technology" that should result in 135 megawatts of additional capacity. The GSA agreed to purchase 2.4 million megawatt-hours of electricity from that added capacity over 10 years. Outside of GSA buildings, the deal also extends to 13 other agencies, including the departments of Veterans Affairs and Transportation as well as the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the National Park Service, the Social Security Administration, and the US Mint.The GSA is framing the contract as a way to lock in more affordable prices as data centers drive up electricity demand and increase competition for limited clean energy sources:
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by Emma Roth on (#6T9VX)
Image: Incase Incase, the brand that took over Microsoft's accessories line, has revealed a compact ergonomic keyboard designed by the company. With a price of $119.99, the wireless keyboard features a split, contoured design, a cushioned palm rest, and a dedicated Copilot button.The keyboard also comes with ultra-responsive" scissor keys with 1.3mm travel, meaning you won't have to press down very far when typing. You can connect up to three devices to the keyboard via Bluetooth, and it's powered by two AAA batteries that Incase says will last up to 36 months. Image: Incase After Microsoft discontinued its non-Surface line of mice, keyboards, and other PC accessories in 2023, Incase partnered with the tech giant to bring back its designs while using the same components and supply chain as Microsoft.Though this Incase ergonomic keyboard is nearly as expensive as the $129.99 Logitech Ergo K860, it's still much cheaper than higher-end ergonomic options, like the Nuio Flow and ZSA Voyager, both of which cost $365.Incase says it will release the keyboard in early 2025." The company has several other Microsoft-designed accessories planned as well, but it currently only has two mice and a Bluetooth keyboard available for purchase on its website.
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by Adi Robertson on (#6T9SH)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple has agreed to a $95 million settlement with users whose conversations were inadvertently captured by its Siri voice assistant and potentially overheard by human employees. The proposed settlement, reported by Bloomberg, could pay many US-based Apple product owners up to $20 per device for up to five Siri-enabled devices. It still requires approval by a judge.If approved, the settlement would apply to a subset of US-based people who owned or bought a Siri-enabled iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, iMac, HomePod, iPod touch, or Apple TV between September 17th, 2014 and December 31st, 2024. A user would also need to meet one other major criteria: they must swear under oath that they accidentally activated Siri during a conversation intended to be confidential or private. Individual payouts will depend on how many people claim the money, so if you apply, you could end up receiving less than the $20 maximum cap.The initial class action suit against Apple followed a 2019 report by The Guardian, which alleged Apple third-party contractors regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex" while working on Siri quality control. While Siri is supposed to be triggered by a deliberate wake word, a whistleblower said that accidental triggers were common, claiming something as simple as the sound of a zipper could wake Siri up. Apple told The Guardian that only a small portion of Siri recordings were passed to contractors, and it later offered a formal apology and said it would no longer retain audio recordings.The plaintiffs in the Apple lawsuit - one of whom was a minor - claimed their iPhones had recorded them on multiple occasions using Siri, sometimes after they hadn't uttered a wake word.Apple wasn't the only company accused of letting people hear confidential recordings. Google and Amazon also use contractors that listen in on recorded conversations, including accidentally captured ones, and there's a similar suit against Google pending.
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by Tom Warren on (#6T9SJ)
Image: Sergey Kisselev (Behance) Microsoft has been working on dynamic animated wallpapers for Windows 11 for a few years, and now a former designer has revealed exactly what they look like. Sergey Kisselev, a former motion designer and 3D artist at Microsoft, has detailed his work on the dynamic animations for Windows 11 that were originally supposed to ship in 2023 but have likely been canceled now.Kisselev worked on Windows design elements and Microsoft's Fluent design system for more than eight years before departing to Amazon in 2022. In his post on Behance, Kisselev describes the dynamic wallpapers as part of the Windows Creative Direction Team's efforts to celebrate a new centered signature composition for Windows 11, highlighting its centered Start Menu and taskbar." The dynamic wallpapers were part of an effort that was explored for Microsoft's low-cost devices, primarily targeting educational users," according to Kisselev.Windows Central reports that these dynamic wallpapers were originally supposed to ship as part of the 23H2 update for Windows 11, but that never happened. Windows watcher Albacore says the dynamic wallpapers feature has been scrapped, and that unfinished parts of it shipped in both Windows 11 version 22H2 and 23H2, but were removed in the latest 24H2 update.These dynamic wallpapers look very similar to what Microsoft does with its Xbox dashboard, and the only way to currently get animated wallpapers in Windows is to install a third-party app like Wallpaper Engine. Microsoft used to support videos as wallpapers with its Windows DreamScene feature in Windows Vista, so it's surprising to see Microsoft do all of this design work to bring a similar dynamic wallpaper feature back and then never ship it.
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by Jay Peters on (#6T9SK)
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple has added warning labels to AirTags and their boxes to comply with a law requiring the labels on products with button cell or coin batteries that could be ingested by children, according to a US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) press release.AirTags imported to the US after March 19th, 2024, which was when the law, known as Reese's Law," went into effect, did not have the required on-product and on-box warnings concerning the severe risk of injury from battery ingestion if these small batteries are not kept out of reach of children," the CPSC says.Now, the AirTag battery compartment has a warning symbol," and Apple has updated AirTags boxes to include required warning statements and symbols," per the CPSC. In the Find My app, Apple has also updated the instructions you see when you're prompted to change an AirTag battery so that they include a warning about the hazards of button and coin cell batteries."Apple launched AirTags in 2021 and is rumored to launch a new version this year.
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by Tom Warren on (#6T9SM)
Asus' upcoming mini PC has a Copilot button. | Image: Asus Ever since Microsoft first introduced its Arm-based Copilot Plus laptops in June, I've been wondering when we might see Copilot Plus features appear on desktop PCs. Six months on, it's clear we're about to see mini PCs that deliver the AI performance required for features like Recall, Click To Do, and AI-powered image generation and editing in Windows 11. These mini PCs might even help Microsoft compete with Apple's latest Mac Mini.Asus became the first PC manufacturer to announce a mini PC that's Copilot Plus capable in September. It then revealed the full specs of its upcoming NUC 14 Pro AI last month, ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that kicks off next week. Asus' mini PC even has a Copilot button on the front and is almost identical to the size of Apple's latest Mac Mini.The timing of Asus' spec drop came on the same day that Taiwanese company Geekom revealed three new mini PCs that it will showcase at CES. Geekom is releasing a mini PC with AMD's Strix Point CPUs inside and one with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor, meaning both will be Copilot Plus compatible. The third model is powered by Intel's unannounced Arrow Lake-H laptop processors, which are... Read the full story at The Verge.
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by Quentyn Kennemer on (#6T9Q7)
The Echo Show 8 can be a smart home controller by day and a digital clock and photo frame by night. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge If you have a New Year's resolution to enhance your smart home, buying a smart display isn't a bad way to kick things off. The Echo Show 5 is one of the most cost-effective ways to add a visual interface to control your devices, especially since it's receiving a 50 percent discount that brings it down to $44.99 ($45 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. That's only $5 more than its all-time low. You can also get the larger Echo Show 8 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target for $84.99 ($65 off), which is also $5 more than its lowest price to date.The Show 5 makes for a meaningful upgrade if you already own a dedicated Echo speaker. Although it only has a 5.5-inch screen, the Alexa-enabled smart display can still function as your primary smart home hub. You can use it to monitor and manage smart home devices, play and control music, make video calls with its 2-megapixel camera (with integrated privacy shutter), and even stream shows and movies. The small size makes it ideal as a bedside alarm clock or smart photo frame if you later upgrade to a bigger device.Speaking of which, the Show 8 is what you want if you plan to make the display the centerpiece of your smart home. Not only does the bigger screen allow you to use up to four widgets concurrently, but it also supports Matter and Thread, and doubles as a Zigbee hub. These widely standardized protocols allow compatible smart home devices to work well with the smart display as if they were natively built to do so. Plus, the Show 8 has a more powerful speaker with a satisfying sound for impromptu jam sessions.Read our Amazon Echo Show 8 review.A few more deals to start the new year
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by Emma Roth on (#6T9Q8)
Image: Samsung Samsung is bringing the Galaxy Fit 3 to the US. The budget-friendly fitness tracker will cost $59.99 when it launches on January 9th, 2025.Samsung first released the Galaxy Fit 3 in several countries outside the US last February. The device comes equipped with a 1.6-inch display surrounded by an aluminum body and lasts up to 13 days on a single charge.The Galaxy Fit 3 has some of the same fitness-tracking features as the pricier Galaxy Watch 7, including the ability to monitor your sleep patterns, detect snoring, check blood oxygen levels, and measure your heart rate. It can also track over 100 types of workouts, with a case coming in gray, silver, or pink gold. Image: Samsung The Galaxy A16 5G has a 6.7-inch OLED display with an up to 90Hz refresh rate. Alongside the Galaxy Fit 3, Samsung is releasing the more affordable Galaxy A16 5G phone in the US on January 9th for $199.99. The device comes with a 6.7-inch FHD Plus OLED display with an up to 90Hz refresh rate. It also has an Exynos 1330 processor with a 50MP main camera sensor, 5MP ultra-wide lens, and a 2MP macro lens. The Galaxy A16 5G is available in gray, silver, and pink gold colors.
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6T9Q9)
Dutch startup Legato is leading an effort to bring support for streaming speakers to Matter. | Image: Legato An effort to add Wi-Fi-powered speakers to the smart home standard is being led by a former Sonos executive looking to disrupt the smart speaker market. Read the full story at The Verge.
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by Emma Roth on (#6T9QA)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Telegram is trying to crack down on scams with a new feature that lets official third-party services assign verification icons to users and chats, the messaging service announced on Wednesday.This is separate from the verification process Telegram has for public figures and organizations. Instead of displaying a blue checkmark, accounts and chats verified by third-party services will have a unique icon appear to the left of their name. If you click on the profile of a third-party verified chat or account, you can see which service verified it and why. GIF: Telegram The profile of a verified account or chat might say something like, Verified by the Learning Standards Authority for quality language education." Telegram says only services with an official bot verified by Telegram can apply to become a third-party verifier, helping to prevent scams and reduce misinformation." X has a similar feature that lets verified organizations assign affiliation badges to related accounts.The update comes just months after French authorities arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov over claims he enabled illegal activity on the platform. Since then, Telegram has updated its privacy policy, disabled misused" features, and changed its tone surrounding moderation. Durov said Telegram reached profitability last year, with total revenue surpassing $1 billion.Along with this update, Telegram is also rolling out new search filters that should make it easier to find certain chats, the ability to scan QR codes using Telegram's in-app camera on iOS and Android, as well as a way to turn digital gifts into NFTs.
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6T9M8)
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Tesla's production and delivery numbers for 2024 are out, and the numbers are pretty sobering.The premiere EV company in the US produced 1.77 million cars this year, a drop of about 4 percent compared to the previous year, and delivered 1.79 million vehicles this year, or about 1 percent less than 2023. Tesla also deployed 31.4 GWh in energy storage.That said, the company said it had a record" fourth quarter for deliveries, with 495,570 vehicles making their way to customers. Tesla also said it deployed 11 GWh of energy storage products, which it also said was a record. And it produced 459,445 vehicles, most of which were Model 3s and Ys.
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by Chris Welch on (#6T9J4)
Image: Samsung Just a few days after LG announced its CES 2025 lineup of monitors, Samsung is doing the same. The company just introduced several new models, and perhaps the most impressive among them is the Odyssey OLED G81SF. It's a 27-inch 4K monitor with a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz, 0.03ms response time, a glare-free display, and rear-core lighting with 52 color options. Samsung is also including a number of burn-in protection measures to ensure that the Odyssey G81SF's screen looks pristine for years to come. The G8 is likely to be using the latest and greatest OLED panel from Samsung Display.Next up is the Odyssey OLED G60SF - also a 27-inch OLED monitor - with a QHD resolution and an impressive 500Hz refresh rate that Samsung says effectively eliminates lag and motion blur for ultra-smooth gameplay during critical moments."In 2025, Samsung is also finally shipping the Odyssey 3D monitor it first teased at least year's CES. It lets you experience 3D visuals without any special glasses by using a lenticular lens on the front panel. Eye tracking monitors the movement of both eyes using a built-in stereo camera, while view mapping continuously adjusts the image to enhance depth perception," Samsung said in its press release. The Odyssey 3D only comes in a 27-inch 4K size; the larger 37-inch display mentioned last year has apparently been scrapped. The company says it offers a rapid 1ms gray-to-gray response time, and a 165Hz refresh rate." Image: Samsung Samsung's Smart Monitor series is making the switch to OLED. That does it for the gaming-focused monitors, but Samsung is also announcing two others that are more focused on everyday productivity. The SmartMonitor series is finally going OLED with the new Smart Monitor M9. And this year, Samsung is throwing in a ton of AI capabilities including AI Picture Optimizer. Like on its TVs, this feature analyzes input signals to determine the type of content being viewed - such as gaming, video, or productivity applications - and automatically adjust the display settings for the best visual experience." This also works for gaming and can detect the genre of what you're playing.AI Upscaling Pro can make lower-res content look crisper at the M9's 4K resolution, and the monitor has a maximum refresh rate of 165Hz. That's a significant upgrade from the M8, which topped out at 60Hz. Samsung says moving to OLED also allows for a new ultra-slim" design for the Smart Monitor M9 that should take up considerably less desk space.The last monitor being announced (at least for today) is the new 37-inch ViewFinity S8. It's got a 16:9 aspect ratio, built-in KVM switch, 90W USB-C passthrough charging, and covers 99 percent of the sRGB color gamut. Peak brightness for this 4K LCD display tops out at 350 nits, which should be perfectly suitable for anything you'll be doing at a desk.Pricing and release dates are still to come, but The Verge will be in Las Vegas for CES 2025 in a matter of days. So you won't have to wait much longer for some first-hand impressions of Samsung's new monitors.
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by Tom Warren on (#6T9J5)
MSI's new 27-inch 4K OLED monitor. | Image: MSI 27-inch 4K OLED 240Hz monitors seem to be like buses: you wait ages for one and then three turn up at once. Asus, Samsung, and MSI are all announcing the industry's next-generation QD-OLED gaming monitors that offer the benefits of 4K OLED 240Hz panels at the smaller 27-inch size instead of 32 inches.All three appear to be using the same fourth generation QD-OLED panel from Samsung Display, which Asus says offers a longer lifespan over previous-gen OLEDs." Both the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM and the MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED (who names these things?) include DisplayPort 2.1a (UHBR20), which offers 80Gbps of bandwidth to support 4K at 240Hz without the need for Display Stream Compression (DSC). Samsung's press release about its Odyssey OLED G8 (G81SF) doesn't mention DisplayPort 2.1a compatibility, but it's reasonable to assume it's part of the spec list. Image: Asus Asus' latest OLED monitor has a 26.5-inch viewable display. Image: Samsung Samsung's Odyssey G8 now comes in a 27-inch OLED 4K 240Hz variant. MSI and Asus' models both support DisplayHDR True Black 400, and Asus also supports Dolby Vision HDR. Both MSI and Asus are offering a three-year warranty that includes burn-in protection, but Samsung hasn't confirmed its warranty situation for its latest G8 model. Samsung also hasn't fully detailed the specs of its latest G8 OLED model, but it's reasonable to assume it will support DisplayHDR True Black 400 at the minimum.Interestingly, Asus' model only has a 26.5-inch viewable display, but both MSI and Samsung are marketing their monitors as 27-inch ones. With all three offering the 0.03ms response times of OLED, 240Hz refresh rates, and above 160PPI for improved text clarity, the choice will really come down to design, features, and pricing. Unfortunately, Samsung, Asus, and MSI haven't announced release dates or pricing yet.
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by Jacob Kastrenakes on (#6T95V)
Illustration: Beatrice Sala The United States has arrested a US Army soldier and charged him with being part of a hacking scheme to sell and distribute stolen phone records. An indictment alleges that 20-year-old Cameron John Wagenius knowingly sold confidential phone records" over online forums and other communications platforms last November.The indictment doesn't detail the hacked material, but KrebsOnSecurity reports that Wagenius appears to be connected to a series of high-profile data breaches linked to the online alias Kiberphant0m." Kiberphant0m claimed to have hacked 15 telecom firms and was working with the person allegedly behind the Snowflake data breaches to sell the stolen information.In November, Kiberphant0m posted what they claimed were AT&T call logs for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. It's not clear if the data was genuine, but AT&T did suffer a major theft of customer data as part of the Snowflake account breaches last year. In 2023, the hacker is also alleged to have sold remote access credentials for a major U.S. defense contractor," according to Krebs.Krebs reports that Wagenius worked on communications at an Army base in South Korea. After the alleged leak of Trump and Harris data, Krebs did a deep dive into Kiberphant0m's online communications and identified that they were likely a US soldier. In this latest report, Krebs spoke with Wagenius' mother, who confirmed his connection to the alleged Snowflake hacker.Cybersecurity experts reportedly received harassment for trying to track down Kiberphant0m's identity, leading to this incredible quote from Allison Nixon, the lead researcher at cybersecurity firm Unit 221B, who was part of the work. Anonymously extorting the President and VP as a member of the military is a bad idea," Nixon told Krebs, but it's an even worse idea to harass people who specialize in de-anonymizing cybercriminals."
by Emma Roth on (#6T945)
The Cybertruck on fire.Alcides Antunestells us he just happened to arrive at Trump's hotel at the time of the explosion. | Image:Alcides Antunes A Tesla Cybertruck exploded just outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, on New Year's Day, law enforcement authorities have confirmed. One person is dead inside the Cybertruck, and seven minor injuries have been reported, according to Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill.As shown in a briefing Thursday evening by the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, there were gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters, and large firework mortars" found in the truck's bed, which CNN reports that authorities believe were connected to a detonation system controlled by the driver. Image: Las Vegas Metro Police Department (YouTube) McMahill said that the truck was rented in Colorado and that they were able to trace its movement via Tesla charging stations as well as a license plate scanner that picked up its arrival in Las Vegas at about 7:30AM PT. He said it was in front of the hotel for about 15 seconds before the blast.
by Emma Roth on (#6T92S)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images The US has issued sanctions on organizations in Russia and Iran for attempting to interfere with the 2024 presidential election. The Treasury Department said on Tuesday that the groups tried to stoke socio-political tensions" and influence voters.One group, the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise, has ties to Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), and built a server to host its own AI tools to avoid foreign web-hosting services that would block their activity." The organization then used these tools to quickly create disinformation" that it spread across dozens of fake online news outlets, while also providing US-based companies with money to maintain its AI server and operate a network of at least 100 websites" used in its campaign.Additionally, the Russian organization manipulated a video to produce baseless accusations concerning a 2024 vice presidential candidate". In October, the US accused Russia of creating a video that attempted to smear Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate, Tim Walz.The Treasury Department also sanctioned the Cognitive Design Production Center, a subsidiary of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), for planning to interfere with the election since at least 2023." In the weeks leading up to the election, the US Department of Justice indicted Iranian nationals accused of waging a cyberattack against President-elect Donald Trump's campaign, while OpenAI reported banning ChatGPT accounts linked to an Iranian influence operation.The Governments of Iran and Russia have targeted our election processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns," Bradley Smith, the Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in the press release.
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by Emma Roth on (#6T91A)
Popeye's first appearance in E.C. Segar's Thimble Theatre comic strip. | Image: King Features It's a new year, and that means more works are headed to the public domain. This year, thousands of copyrighted works created in 1929, including the earliest versions of Popeye and the Belgian comic book character Tintin, are now free to reuse and repurpose in the US.Duke Law School's Center for the Study of Public Domain has once again rounded up all the most iconic works that have been freed from the bounds of copyright, which also includes sound recordings from 1924. As pointed out by Duke Law School, 1929 was a particularly pivotal year for film, as it was the first with sound.These are just some of the works entering the public domain this year (you can view the full catalog here):
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by Elizabeth Lopatto on (#6T8ZY)
A sojourn though the heaviest music I could find | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Tee Pee Records An attempt to crush myself to death. Read the full story at The Verge.
by Brandon Widder on (#6T8HQ)
Apple's 42mm flagship is down to just $329 with various bands. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Whether or not you subscribe to them, New Year's resolutions are a capital-T Thing for many people in the US. Thankfully, if your goals for 2025 revolve around health and fitness, the 42mm Apple Watch Series 10 is on sale at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy starting at $329 ($70 off), matching its Black Friday low. You can also pick it up in the 46mm sizing at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy starting at $359 ($70 off), which remains the best price we've seen on the larger model.While there are certainly better fitness trackers for hardcore athletes, none of them offer the kind of robust third-party support you'll get with a flagship Apple Watch, nor do they integrate as well with Apple's larger device ecosystem. The Series 10 is a pretty minor update over the previous model, but it's still a solid bet for casual athletes, with a terrific wide-angle OLED display, sleep apnea detection, a thinner design, and a larger charging coil that lets you juice it from zero to 80 percent in just 30 minutes.The more substantial fitness updates come in the form of watchOS 11, Apple's latest software update for the Apple Watch, which brings a selection of new training features to the midrange wearable. These include the new Training Load feature, an app called Vitals that can contextualize a set of recovery metrics, and the long-overdue ability to pause your Activity Rings (praise be). I wouldn't say any of them are revolutionary, but if you're upgrading from an older model or you've never owned an Apple Watch before, they're certainly welcome.Read our Apple Watch Series 10 review.More deals, discounts, and ways to save
by Verge Staff on (#6T8FC)
Image: Verge staff We take a look back at 20 of our favorite projects from 2024. Read the full story at The Verge.
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6T8B6)
The 17-inch LG Gram Pro weighs 3.3 pounds while the 16-inch model weighs 2.73 pounds. | Image: LG LG has announced additions to its ultra-light Gram and Gram Pro laptop lineup, adding cloud-based and on-device AI-powered features that go beyond its current Gram laptops.The 16-inch Gram Pro will also be the first Copilot Plus PC in the LG Gram lineup and is further distinguished as the only model using the Intel Lunar Lake Core Ultra V-Series processors. The 17-inch Gram Pro and 16-inch 2-in-1 use Intel's Arrow Lake Core Ultra H-Series processors. Image: LG The three LG Gram Pro laptops, including the 2-in-1. The LG Gram Pro will be available in 17-inch and 16-inch models featuring 2,560 x 1,600 displays, up to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory, and up to 2TB Gen4 NVMe SSDs. The 16-inch Gram Pro and the 16-inch LG Gram Pro 2-in-1 will have Intel Arc GPUs, while the 17-inch Gram Pro will instead feature an Nvidia GeForce RTX4050 graphics card.Gram Chat On-Device, which uses a small language model derived from LG AI Research's EXAONE large language model," powers offline features, including Time Travel, which lets users quickly revisit web pages, documents, videos and audio files" they've recently accessed. LG's software is adding tools similar to Microsoft's Copilot Plus suite and Apple Intelligence, but given the trouble Microsoft has had with Recall, we'll have to wait and see how it all measures up.It also might make those features available on more PCs, but LG hasn't specified which AI features will be available on which laptops in the new Gram lineup.Gram Chat Cloud is powered by OpenAI's GPT-4o and responds to inquiries using vast web-based datasets for detailed and comprehensive responses" while integrating with calendar and email services. It requires an active internet connection and will only be free for the first year.All of the new Gram laptops also support LG's Gram Link 2.0, which streamlines document and file sharing with other PCs and iOS or Android-based smartphones. It also allows incoming phone calls to be answered through the Gram laptops, so you don't have to swap headsets or Bluetooth headphones to another device temporarily.LG will also introduce its entry-level Gram Book to the US market next year. Powered by an Intel Core i5 processor, it features a 15.6-inch 60Hz full HD display, a 720p webcam, and configurations of up to 1TB of SSD storage and 16GB of DDR4 memory.
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by Emma Roth on (#6T84Q)
Hugo Herrera / The Verge The US Treasury Department suffered a major" security incident after a China state-sponsored hacker broke into the third-party remote management software it uses, as reported earlier by The New York Times.In a letter to lawmakers seen by The Verge, the Treasury Department said BeyondTrust, the company behind its remote management software, notified the agency of a breach on December 8th.The threat actor stole a key used by BeyondTrust to secure a cloud-based service used to remotely provide technical support for Treasury Departmental Offices (DO) end users." With the key, they overrode the security to remotely access those users' workstations and some unclassified documents" they maintained.The Treasury Department said it worked with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI following the attack, which has been attributed to a China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) hacker. The compromised BeyondTrust service has been taken offline and there is no evidence indicating the threat actor has continued access to Treasury systems or information," US Treasury Department spokesperson Michael Gwin said in a statement to The Verge.The attack seems to be linked to a security incident BeyondTrust disclosed earlier this month, impacting customers using its remote support software. At the time, BeyondTrust attributed the attack to a compromised API key for its remote support software, adding that it immediately revoked the API key, notified known impacted customers, and suspended those instances the same day." The Verge reached out to BeyondTrust with a request for comment but didn't immediately hear back.Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems, and the data it holds," Gwin said. Over the last four years, Treasury has significantly bolstered its cyber defense, and we will continue to work with both private and public sector partners to protect our financial system from threat actors."
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by Justine Calma on (#6T84R)
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - 2023/06/29: Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during a press briefing at office on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan. | Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images New York governor Kathy Hochul signed landmark climate legislation into law last week, showing how states can keep holding polluters accountable even when President-elect Donald Trump rolls back environmental protections.New York's Climate Change Superfund Act will require the biggest multinational oil and gas companies to contribute to a fund that'll be used for infrastructure projects meant to protect New York residents from increasingly dangerous climate disasters like storms and sea level rise.New York has fired a shot that will be heard round the world"Trump will soon step back into office and is expected to dismantle existing climate policies and gut the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), having openly disparaged clean energy and federal environmental regulations on the campaign trail. So for the next four years at least, Americans will have to rely on local and state efforts like this to deal with the pollution from fossil fuels that's causing climate change.New York has fired a shot that will be heard round the world: the companies most responsible for the climate crisis will be held accountable," State Senator Liz Krueger said in a statement after Hochul... Read the full story at The Verge.
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by Emma Roth on (#6T80Y)
Image: Tim Stevens / The Verge For months, the location information of around 800,000 electric Volkswagen vehicles was available online due to a data leak, according to a report from the German news magazine Der Spiegel. The leak reportedly stemmed from the software running inside Volkswagen vehicles and could've allowed a bad actor to trace a driver's exact movements, as noted by Electrek.A whistleblower first notified Der Spiegel and the European hacking association Chaos Computer Club of the vulnerability, which also affects EVs from Volkswagen-owned car brands on a global scale, including Audi, Seat, and Skoda.Der Spiegel found that Cariad, the Volkswagen subsidiary behind the automaker's software, made it possible for an attacker to find and access driver data housed in Amazon's cloud storage service. The data, which could be linked to the names and contact details of the drivers," reportedly included details about when EVs were switched on and off, along with the emails, phone numbers, and addresses of drivers in some cases.It included the precise" locations of about 460,000 vehicles, as Der Spiegel says the data was accurate to within ten centimeters" for Volkswagen and Seats vehicles, and within 10km (~6 miles) for Audi and Skoda models.Cariad has since addressed the issue, telling Der Spiegel customers have "no need to take any action, as no sensitive information such as passwords or payment details are affected." The Verge reached out to Cariad and Volkswagen with requests for comment but didn't immediately hear back.If anything, this leak serves as yet another reminder of the immense amount of data collected by modern-day vehicles, which Mozilla has called a privacy nightmare."
by Wes Davis on (#6T80Z)
Apple's new CarPlay is still just a concept. | Screenshot: Apple We still haven't seen the next generation of CarPlay" that Apple first announced in 2022 and continues to say on its CarPlay webpage is arriving in 2024, as MacRumors points out. And barring some spectacular surprise, it's not coming today or tomorrow. What gives?So far, we've only seen changes like CarPlay mapping directions appearing in the instrument cluster in cars from manufacturers like Polestar, Porsche, and Lincoln. That's even the case for vehicles like the 2024 Lincoln Nautilus, which has the screen real estate to support Apple's vision for its dashboard-spanning infotainment software. Porsche and Aston Martin had announced their cars would be the first to get the new CarPlay, but both recently declined to give Wired a timeline for its rollout. Screenshot: Apple Apple's website still says First models arrive in 2024," which seems... unlikely. Other companies that Apple said would support its new CarPlay have been noncommittal about the software since it was announced. Some have closed the door on full support more forcefully since then, like when Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kallenius told The Verge's Nilay Patel in April that Apple won't be taking over all the screens in its cars.Outside of Apple's initial pronouncement that so many cars would use its big CarPlay update, automakers like General Motors and Rivian have taken a stand against both it and Google's Android Auto. That's not a popular position, particularly for GM, but both have indicated it's about having more control over their vehicles.Despite the lukewarm reception of Apple's ideas, the company has continued to talk about its plans for the software. It's just not clear what cars, if any, it will ever show up in.
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by Quentyn Kennemer on (#6T7Y8)
You can use the battery-powered Blink Outdoor 4 indoors, too. | Image: Amazon As we head into 2025, there aren't many things preventing homeowners from building out a basic home security system. You can start small and cheap with the battery-powered Blink Outdoor 4. If you don't mind that they're refurbished (with the same one-year warranty as the new models), you can get two of them with a Sync Module 2 for $74.99 ($90 off) at Amazon, which is only $10 more than the all-time low. A single Blink Outdoor 4 retails for $99.99 new, and its lowest price is $39.99, so you're still getting a slightly better value than usual.The weatherproof Blink Outdoor 4 offers a 1080p wide-angle feed with motion detection, infrared night vision, and two-way audio. If you opt for a Blink Subscription Plan ($10 a month or $100 a year for Blink Plus, which is required to run multiple cameras), you'll get person detection, up to 90 minutes of continuous live view, and unlimited cloud storage for up to 60 days. But if you have subscription fatigue, you can also save clips locally to a USB drive thanks to the included Sync Module 2. Blink says the cameras can last up to two years on just two AA batteries, too, which should make them easy to maintain over the long haul.More Monday deals to mull over
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by Umar Shakir on (#6T7Y9)
Image: Apple Apple TV Plus will be free to stream this weekend from January 4th through the 5th, similar to HBO's old free weekends on cable. The company posted the news on social media alongside a short trailer featuring some of its top shows, with the tagline see for yourself."A press release from Apple indicates the free weekend covers the TV Plus library of award-winning original series and films" and says it starts on January 3rd, not the 4th as listed in its video and tweet - we've contacted Apple for more details of exactly when the promotion starts.
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by Wes Davis on (#6T7VF)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge One of the big benefits of buying a Pro" iPhone is currently that you get a fancy high-refresh rate OLED display, but that may become standard across the iPhone 17 lineup, according to a Weibo leak from Digital Chat Station spotted by MacRumors. The outlet notes that Digital Chat Station leaked accurate details about the iPhone 15 line's camera sensors and the display panel of the iPhone 12.The rumor is a bit vague, saying only that the base iPhone 17 will have a high refresh rate. But it follows some more specific supply chain whispers we've heard in recent months. MacRumors pointed to one in February that suggested Apple will use the same LTPO panel tech, which drives Apple's variable refresh rate ProMotion" iPhone 16 Pro displays, for all of next year's phones. That was later echoed by others, including display supply chain analyst Ross Young in September.The next set of iPhones is also expected to replace the base model Plus" iPhone with an iPhone 17 Slim" in 2025, which Young suggested will have ProMotion, too. Instead of differentiating by display tech, Apple could stratify the lineup in different ways, like by giving the iPhone 17 Pro Max a smaller Face ID sensor and Dynamic Island cutout, as well as 12GB of RAM for both sizes of iPhone 17 Pro and 8GB for the standard and Slim models.The whole line is rumored to have 24MP front-facing cameras instead of the 12MP found in current iPhones, and they may all use an Apple-designed Wi-Fi / Bluetooth chip for the first time.
by Ash Parrish on (#6T7S2)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge PlayStation had a rocky 2024 but still put out some great games. Read the full story at The Verge.
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by Sean Hollister on (#6T7S3)
An Asus ROG Ally X, running Bazzite. It looks just like SteamOS, because they share an interface. The first time I installed Bazzite on a Windows gaming handheld, I laughed. It looked like such a blatant clone of Valve's Steam Deck interface. Its many bugs kept me at bay.Now, an Asus ROG Ally X running Bazzite has all but replaced the Steam Deck in my life. For the moment, it may be the best handheld your time and money can buy - because it brings 90 percent of the Deck's ease of use to the Ally's more powerful hardware, larger 80 watt-hour battery, and variable refresh rate screen. Depending on the game, it can even offer better performance and battery life than the very same handheld with Windows. I've been testing it for five months, and I've rarely looked back.This combination won't be for everyone, because the $800 Ally X costs far more than a Steam Deck, and Bazzite still has annoying quirks. But because Bazzite can so convincingly transform a Windows handheld into a true Steam Deck rival, I believe it singlehandedly proves that handheld manufacturers are making the wrong choice if they doggedly stick with Windows, and that others should join Lenovo in hedging that bet as soon as possible. Bazzite is one way - another may come as soon as next month, when we're... Read the full story at The Verge.
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by Thomas Ricker on (#6T7NG)
DJI's new fast car charger connected to a DJI power station. | Image: DJI DJI has quietly introduced a powerful new car charger for its giant portable batteries. The $299 / 269 Power 1kW Super Fast Car Charger can charge the company's expanding lineup of power stations at up to 1000W from your car's alternator when the engine is running.This new class of (nearly) do-it-yourself alternator chargers are having a moment now that the most popular makers of solar generators and power stations have embraced DC-to-DC chargers. I wouldn't have survived without one when remote working from my van last summer.Once the Power 1kW is mounted inside your vehicle and connected to the car's battery via the included 5m (16 feet 5 inches) fused cable, it then connects to the proprietary SDC port of the dongle-happy DJI Power 1000 power station I recently reviewed. It'll also charge DJI's 2048Wh Power 2000 Expansion Batteries when daisy-chained together with SDC cables for up to 11kWh of stackable storage capacity. The Power 1kW can also be configured to reverse-charge your car's battery to prevent battery drain.At full power the DJI Power 1kW Super Fast Car Charger can charge the Power 1000's 1024Wh battery in just over an hour's drive. However, out of the box the Power 1kW is pegged to 500W of charging output. To reach 1000W you have to purchase yet another dongle - the $25 DJI Power Dongle - and then adjust the setting to 1000W in the app. Fortunately, DJI is bundling that dongle as a free gift" with new purchases of the DJI Power 1kW Super Fast Car Charger, at least in the US.DJI's announcement follows the arrival of the 800W EcoFlow Alternator Charger I reviewed last summer and the new 560W Bluetti AC500 announced in the fall (review is coming). EcoFlow's charger, like DJI's, uses a proprietary connector making it best suited to charge its own giant batteries, whereas the Bluetti AC500 can charge solar generators and power stations from nearly every manufacturer, but at half the rate of the DJI. Of course, all this assumes that your vehicle is fitted with a high-capacity alternator that can spare the amps.
by Thomas Ricker on (#6T7M3)
LG's new microwave mounted above its range, thereby eliminating the need to bend down and check the oven manually.' | Image: LG LG has responded to Samsung in the battle to slap displays on every home appliance you own, culminating in the LG Signature microwave which puts a superfluous 27-inch LCD touchscreen and speakers into an appliance you probably don't even need.LG says the microwave's display provides an immersive entertainment experience" that'll surely prevent the onset of buyer's remorse at having overpaid for a potential advertising machine centrally located in your kitchen. And when paired with LG's oven, it conveniently shows the cooking progress of dishes in the range, eliminating the need to bend down and check the oven manually."In 2023, LG announced plans to transform its hardware-based business into a platform-based service model that continuously generates profits. In September, the company started displaying full-screen ads on its idle televisions. Image: LG LG's latest Signature devices. The company's second-generation Signature lineup of Wi-Fi appliances continues the tradition of putting a giant transparent OLED Instaview" touchscreen on its fridge, alongside smaller LCDs on its washer and dryer. LG's Signature displays can be used to operate the local appliance, access entertainment, and control devices in the LG smart home.The announcement follows Samsung recently announcing a wider variety of display choices on its home appliances, ranging from 4.3 inches all the way up to 32 inches. It's all part of the company's strategy to put screens everywhere," instead of easy-to-use buttons and dials that rarely fail and are cheap to replace.LG hasn't announced any prices, countries of availability, or shipping dates for its new Signature lineup of appliances. But we'll surely learn more when everything is demonstrated at the giant CES show which kicks off on January 7th in Las Vegas.
by Chris Welch on (#6T7GX)
Image: LG LG isn't waiting until CES begins to reveal its new collection of gaming monitors. The 2025 lineup is led by the UltraGear OLED Bendable Gaming Monitor, which LG claims is the world's first 5K2K-resolution bendable OLED display." That strikes me as extremely specific, but hey, it's always worth bragging when you're first, I suppose. The 45-inch monitor has an expansive resolution of 5120x2160, so you're getting the same vertical pixel count as a typical 4K screen but a much wider canvas to game on.And with a 21:9 aspect ratio, LG believes it provides a more immersive gaming experience than standard 16:9 displays, while maintaining better content compatibility than 32:9 monitors." This format also makes the display a great fit for productivity work when you're not immersed in gameplay.The UltraGear OLED Bendable Gaming Monitor (model 45GX990A) can transition from completely flat to a 900R curvature, and the latest version of LG's Dual-Mode feature allows users to switch effortlessly between resolution and refresh rate presets, and customize the aspect ratio and picture size." It's certified for Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, but the press materials don't specify a maximum refresh rate. I've asked for more details there. Image: LG Both 45-inch monitors have a 5K2K resolution of 5120x2160. LG is also releasing a non-bendable model with a permanent 800R curve. Otherwise, it's the same 45-inch size, same aspect ratio, and same 5K2K resolution. LG's press release says you can expect sharp, lifelike images with the stunning colors and exceptional contrast LG OLED products are known for." Shared specs between both monitors include a 0.03ms (GtG) response time and support for DisplayPort 2.1, HDMI 2.1, and USB-C with 90W power delivery. The 45GX950A uses a RGWB subpixel layout to improve readability of text on the screen and make the aforementioned productivity work easier on your eyes.Along with these two monitors, LG is also introducing the curved UltraGear 39GX90SA, a webOS-powered home entertainment hub" with easy access to streaming services - just like LG's TVs. It seems like the company has taken some cues from Samsung's smart monitors here. At 39 inches, this one's a bit smaller than the other GX9 displays, but it retains the 21:9 aspect ratio and 800R curve. Equipped with USB Type-C ports, it offers convenient connectivity, and incorporates LG's ergonomic and space-saving L-shaped stand for a clutter-free desk setup," LG said in tonight's press release.As per usual with CES news, pricing and a specific release date are still to come later in 2025. But we'll be getting our first in-person look at the UltraGear GX9 series in Las Vegas, so stay tuned for impressions early next month - along with an avalanche of stunning screens from many other companies, too.
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by Wes Davis on (#6T7FP)
The DJI Flip is expected to fly nearly twice as long as the DJI Neo, pictured here. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge New images of the rumored DJI Flip folding drone hit late last week, showing the compact, light-colored drone both folded and unfolded, and even in a carrying case. The images appeared in posts by Igor Bogdanov, who has shared other credible DJI leaks in the past.Bogdanov added in a post yesterday that DJI is preparing a new Cellular Dongle 2 module for the compact drone. The new leaks join earlier images of ND filters for the Flip, its propeller set, and charging hub, which Bogdanov wrote can charge two batteries in a minimum of 45 minutes, and can use a 65W parallel charger."
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by Wes Davis on (#6T7E9)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is testing a new floating Play something" button that will pick a video for you, 9to5Google spotted in the YouTube app for Android. The button floats just above the bottom bar of the app, and when tapped, it picks a YouTube video to play for you.Just as in earlier versions of this feature YouTube's been testing, the new button reportedly uses the portrait-oriented YouTube Shorts player to show videos, regardless of whether they're vertically formatted Shorts or standard YouTube videos. Hopefully that changes by the time the feature gets a wide release.Other incarnations the company has been testing for over a year include a Play Something" banner and a simple button that looks like a black-and-white YouTube logo. If the feature's name sounds familiar, perhaps it's because Netflix retired a similar random video picker last year called Surprise Me," which originally launched in 2021 as Play Something."
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by Wes Davis on (#6T7CQ)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge A Reddit user posted a screenshot overnight of a Spotify search that brought a surprise: a pornographic video tucked into suggested results for the rapper M.I.A. Here's a NSFW link to the thread. The video shown in their screenshot didn't appear for us, but we found others after scrolling through dozens of results in the Video" tab.One of the accounts that posted videos we saw has published erotic audio for years but has sprinkled in sexually graphic videos more recently. Another account, which was named with a long string of alphanumeric characters, has been publishing equally nonsensically-titled explicit videos as a podcast account since mid-November.Spotify representative Laura Batey told The Verge in an email that the examples we provided have been removed due to violation of our policies." Those policies include forbidding sexually explicit material. We asked Spotify for more information on how the videos made it past its moderation and will update here if it responds.The videos we found appear to be unmoderated podcast uploads, and reporting them isn't very convenient. The Spotify app lacks a button for doing so - instead, users have to copy the content's URL and head to a webpage for reporting possible violations.Porn on Spotify isn't a new thing. Other recent Reddit posts contain examples of unexpected explicit video in search results and even erotic audio tracks being suggested in one user's Discovery Weekly algorithmic playlist. A 2022 Vice story also detailed sexually explicit audio on the platform, as well as other content like graphic nudity in user-made playlist cover art.
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by Wes Davis on (#6T7B5)
iOS 18 introduced an Enhanced Visual Search" toggle for the Photos app. | Screenshot: iOS 18 Settings app Apple occasionally makes choices that tarnish its strong privacy-forward reputation, like when it was secretly collecting users' Siri interactions. Yesterday, a blog post from developer Jeff Johnson highlighted what feels like such a choice: an Enhanced Visual Search" toggle for the Apple Photos app that is seemingly on by default, giving your device permission to share data from your photos with Apple.Sure enough, when I checked my iPhone 15 Pro this morning, the toggle was switched to on. You can find it for yourself by going into the Photos settings on your phone (through the iOS Settings app) or a Mac (in the Photos app's settings menu). Enhanced Visual Search lets you look up landmarks you've taken pictures of or search for those images using the names of those landmarks.To see what it enables in the Photos app, swipe up on a picture you've taken of a building and select Look Up Landmark," and a card will appear that ideally identifies it. Here are a couple of examples from my phone: Screenshots: Apple Photos That's definitely Austin's Cathedral of Saint Mary, but the image on the right is not a Trappist monastery, but the Dubuque, Iowa city hall building. On its face, it's a convenient expansion of Photos' Visual Look Up feature that Apple introduced in iOS 15 that lets you identify plants or, say, find out what those symbols on a laundry tag mean. But Visual Look Up doesn't need special permission to share data with Apple, and this does.A description under the toggle says you're giving Apple permission to privately match places in your photos with a global index maintained by Apple." As for how, there are details in an Apple machine-learning research blog about Enhanced Visual Search that Johnson links to:
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by Robyn Kanner on (#6T781)
Adrien Brody in The Brutalist | A24 Brady Corbet's 3.5-hour saga is a tale of one man's journey through architecture and assimilation - and one of the year's best films. The director tells The Verge how he got away with it. Read the full story at The Verge.
by Tom Warren on (#6T782)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images With rumors of Nvidia entering the CPU market, 2025 might be an even bigger year for Microsoft's Arm efforts. Read the full story at The Verge.
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by Wes Davis on (#6T70E)
A Meta Quest 3 on a charging dock. | Photo by David Pierce / The Verge Meta updated a note on the top of its Quest support site to say that a software update issue" has been bricking Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest 3S headsets. The company writes that while most" people can now use their headsets normally, it's actively working on resolving the issue for all users."That Meta is now saying it's working on a fix for all users" may be good news for Quest 2 and 3 owners who've reported that Meta wouldn't fix or replace their headsets because they were out of warranty. Some Reddit users say the company has emailed a confirmation that they were getting out-of-warranty service for the issue, and a Meta support forum community manager wrote in an update yesterday that Meta's customer support should have new directions on how to support users now."
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by Wes Davis on (#6T6Y9)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The US Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is proposing new cybersecurity requirements for healthcare organizations aimed at protecting patients' private data in the event of cyberattacks, reports Reuters. The rules come after major cyberattacks like one that leaked the private information of more than 100 million UnitedHealth patients earlier this year.The OCR's proposal includes requiring that healthcare organizations make multifactor authentication mandatory in most situations, that they segment their networks to reduce risks of intrusions spreading from one system to another, and that they encrypt patient data so that even if it's stolen, it can't be accessed. It would also direct regulated groups to undertake certain risk analysis practices, keep compliance documentation, and more.The rule is part of the cybersecurity strategy that the Biden administration announced last year. Once finalized, it would update the Security Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), which regulates doctors, nursing homes, health insurance companies, and more, and was last updated in 2013.US deputy national security advisor Anne Neuberger put the cost of implementing the requirements at an estimated $9 billion in the first year, and $6 billion in years two through five," writes Reuters. The proposal is due to be published in the Federal Register on January 6th, which will kick off the 60-day public comment period before the final rule is set.
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6T6VK)
The SwitchBot S10 offers a nearly hands-free cleaning experience for $699.99. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge If you're somebody who likes to clean and declutter in preparation for a new year, one way to speed it up is by investing in a good robot vacuum. The SwitchBot S10 is one of our favorite vacuums that also happens to be a terrific mop, too, and is currently down to its all-time low price of $699.99 ($500 off) when you clip the on-page coupon at Amazon. It's also available for the same price directly from SwitchBot when you apply the promo code BFCM500A.Of all the robot vacuums we've ever tested, the SwitchBot S10 offers the most hands-free experience, so you really can set it and forget it. The self-cleaning roller mop does an excellent job of polishing up your floors, and is even capable of lifting itself up to keep carpets dry. What's more, the Switch S10 comes with an auto-empty dock as well as a separate battery-powered dock water station, which means the bot can empty and refill its own water tank. Just bear in mind you'll have to hook it into your water supply.Aside from offering a fantastic mopping and hands-free experience, the SwitchBot S10 is also a good vacuum with 6,500Pa suction power and decent AI-powered obstacle avoidance, although it admittedly can't rival specs from competitors like Roborock, Dreame, and Ecovacs. That said, the SwitchBot S10 costs about $1,000 less, and for the price it does a great job of leaving the floor mostly spotless.Read our SwitchBot S10 review.Some more deals to kickstart your weekend
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by Wes Davis on (#6T6VM)
Illustration by Carlo Cadenas / The Verge A cyberattack campaign inserted malicious code into multiple Chrome browser extensions as far back as mid-December, Reuters reported yesterday. The code appeared designed to steal browser cookies and authentication sessions, targeting specific social media advertising and AI platforms," according to a blog post from Cyberhaven, one of the companies that was targeted.Cyberhaven blames a phishing email for the attack, writing in a separate technical analysis post that the code appeared to specifically target Facebook Ads accounts. According to Reuters, security researcher Jaime Blasco believes the attack was just random" and not targeting Cyberhaven specifically. He posted on X that he'd found VPN and AI extensions that contained the same malicious code that was inserted into Cyberhaven.Other extensions possibly affected include Internxt VPN, VPNCity, Uvoice, and ParrotTalks, as Bleeping Computer writes.