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A leaked image of the new Lenovo Legion Go. | Image via Evan Blass Earlier today, Evan Blass revealed an unannounced Lenovo Legion Go S handheld gaming PC with an extremely intriguing twist: a Steam button that suggests it could be the first third-party SteamOS handheld, and thus the first true competitor to the Steam Deck.But that handheld gaming PC apparently won't be alone: Blass just provided The Verge with these images of a new, larger Lenovo Legion Go as well.As you can see, this Legion Go plans to keep the detachable Joy-Con like gamepads and kickstand that were the single most distinctive features of the original - and they'll keep the FPS mode" where you can plop one of those controllers on a disc-shaped skate and use it like a vertical mouse. Image via Evan Blass But one model may also swap out the Legion Go's 8.8-inch IPS LCD screen for one with an OLED panel at the same size, according to the original filenames of these images. That should mean improved colors and deeper blacks, and potentially improved response times.We don't have any specs or marketing claims yet, though, like the all-important battery life size. Nor have we gotten a glimpse of the ports on this system. There is an AMD Z2 Extreme chip coming that could likely be the core of this handheld, but we don't yet know. Image via Evan Blass In my review of the original Legion Go, I was mixed on the detachable controllers with their sharp-ish edges and loads of extra mouse buttons that made them awkward to hold. These one seem to be far more smoothly sculpted, though, with revised mouse buttons on the right detachable pad, and a cover you can place over the mounting rail so the copper charging pins don't poke your palm.The images we've seen do not feature a Steam button, so it's quite likely Lenovo is still hedging its bets with Windows in addition to SteamOS.But we are much more confident in our prediction that the smaller Lenovo Legion Go S will be a SteamOS handheld. Blass showed me filenames that suggest the S will be powered by" Steam, mirroring Valve's new branding guidelines for Powered by SteamOS" devices.Valve defines Powered by SteamOS" as hardware running the SteamOS operating system, implemented in close collaboration with Valve."We've reached out to Valve and Lenovo to hopefully learn more.

Photo by Jeff Gritchen/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images Donald Trump's transition team is taking aim at a Biden-era rule requiring automakers and tech companies to report crashes that involve fully or partially autonomous vehicles, according to Reuters. Scrapping the crash reporting rule would greatly benefit Tesla, which to date, has reported the most number of crashes.In 2021, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a standing general order (SGO) requiring automakers and tech companies to report crashes involving autonomous vehicles as well as Level 2 driver-assist systems found in millions of vehicles on the road today. Companies are now required to document collisions when an automated driving system was in use within 30 seconds of impact and report those incidents to the government.The idea was to create more transparency around the deployment of a new technology that purports to improve safety but has also been tied to a number of deadly incidents. Regulators argued that more data was needed to determine whether these new systems were making roads safer or simply making driving more convenient.Tesla, in particular, came under scrutiny. The company's Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features, which are considered Level 2 systems that require drivers to pay attention, are both covered under the rule. Since it was implemented, Tesla has reported over 1,500 crashes to the federal government, Reuters says. An analysis of the crash data shows Tesla accounted for 40 out of 45 fatal crashes reported to NHTSA through October of this year.Tesla's numbers were much higher than other companies, most likely due to the fact that it sells more vehicles equipped with Level 2 systems than its rivals and collects more data. But it also resulted in a huge headache for the company. NHTSA has launched several investigations into Tesla's driver-assist technology, most of which centered on crashes reported under the SGO.Several sources close to Tesla told Reuters that the company despises" the standing general order and concluded that it would need a change in administration in order to get rid of it. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was one of Trump's most vocal defenders, spending at least $277 million of his own money to back his campaign. Musk has since been appointed to head the Department of Government Efficiency with the goal of cutting government spending.Trump is also considering getting rid of other policies opposed by Tesla, including generous subsidies for EV companies. Musk believes Tesla is better positioned to weather a subsidy-free environment than other automakers due to its scale and maturity. Musk is also lobbying Trump to ease restrictions on fully autonomous vehicles in advance of Tesla's plans to produce its own robotaxi in 2026.

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images The US Department of Energy announced a $1.25 billion loan to electric vehicle charging company EVgo as the Biden administration races to finalize its spending on EVs before Donald Trump takes office. The money will fund EVgo's plans to install approximately 7,500 chargers at roughly 1,100 charging stations across the US over the next five years, with a particular focus on fast-charging 350kW stalls that can charge two vehicles simultaneously.But more importantly, it shows how President Joe Biden is intent on doling out as much money for EV projects as he can before leaving office. Trump has promised to reverse or cancel much of the spending by Biden on EVs once he assumes office. He has said he will kill the $7,500 tax credit for new EV purchases and wipe out the rest of the spending from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on EV charging infrastructure.President Joe Biden is intent on doling out as much money for EV projects as he can before leaving officeWith a little more than a month left in office, Biden's Energy Department has been furiously approving EV-related loans. Stellantis and Samsung were given preliminary approval for $7.54 billion for a battery factory in Indiana, while Rivian will receive $6.6 billion for an EV plant in Georgia.The loans are also intended to be job creators, the administration says. For example, EVgo said its expansion project will support the creation of 180 external construction jobs and over 550 maintenance and support jobs.EVgo, which is based in Los Angeles, is working with General Motors on the installation of thousands of EV chargers across the country. The companies recently celebrated the activation of their 2,000th charging stall.The fragmented and frustrating nature of our current EV charging landscape has been widely - and correctly - cited as one of the most significant barriers to EV adoption. Owners frequently complain about unreliable charging or broken equipment as one of the most frustrating things about driving an EV.After his election, Biden vowed to build 500,000 chargers by 2030 as a way to spur more EV sales, including $7.5 billion for charging expansion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. While the first few years of funding were rather sluggish, recent updates have shown that things are finally picking up.In its release, the DOE said, there are currently more than 204,000 publicly available charging ports, with nearly 38,000 new public chargers already having been added this year and nearly 1,000 new public chargers being added every week thanks to a combination of direct federal funding, federal tax incentives, state and local funding, and private investment."That includes both Level 2 chargers and DC fast chargers. That's roughly double the number of ports in operation at the outset of 2021 when Biden first took office.

Anker's slim MagSafe power bank now supports Qi2 wireless charging speeds. | Image: Anker Anker has released its thinnest MagSafe-compatible power bank, measuring about a third of an inch thick. It's only got a 5,000mAh battery inside, so you probably won't get two full iPhone charges with it, but Anker has updated it with 15W Qi2 wireless charging speeds so your phone can charge faster.It's currently available exclusively through Apple's online and retail stores for $49.95 in either blue or white, making it $10 more expensive than the older MagGo 621 Magnetic Battery that Anker still sells through its website. For comparison, the older version of the 5K battery is 0.45-inches thick and only supports wireless charging speeds up to 7.5W.The bidirectional USB-C port on the bottom of the power bank can charge it or other devices at 20W. However, when both power outputs are in use, wireless charging speeds drop to 5W, while the USB-C port slows to 12W. The battery is compatible with iPhone models going back to the iPhone 12, but it will also work with Android devices that fully support the Qi2 specifications.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning Americans about game-like online job scams" that get people to perform tasks with the promise of a continuous income stream - only to be duped into giving money to the scammer. The FTC says in the first six months of this year, these task scams" have raked in over $220 million from victims, often in the form of cryptocurrency. It's accounted for about 40 percent of all scam reports in 2024.There were 20,000 reports of task scams in the first half of 2024, a sharp increase from only 5,000 from 2020-2023.These scams often start with a WhatsApp or text message to a victim asking them to do tasks about app optimization" or product boosting." Sometimes, the scammers initially pay small amounts of money to seem trustworthy. Afterward, they convince victims to pay into some tasks with the promise of a larger payout, and then the scammers run away with the money. Image: FTC These are the three tips the FTC listed to avoid getting scammed:

Image: Evan Blass (X) Valve revealed earlier this year that it will support the ROG Ally handheld with its Steam Deck operating system, and now it looks like Lenovo will soon have its own SteamOS handheld, too. Evan Blass has posted images of an unannounced Lenovo Legion Go S on X today, revealing black and white variants of a handheld gaming PC. The interesting part? The black one has a Steam button.While the low resolution images don't immediately scream SteamOS, if you look closely you'll notice a Steam logo is visible on a button to the left of the display. Interestingly, the white model doesn't have the same Steam button - which could indicate Lenovo is preparing Windows- and SteamOS-powered models of its Legion Go S. Image: Evan Blass (X) You can clearly see a Steam logo on the button to the left of the display. PC makers like Lenovo, Asus, and MSI have all opted for Windows-based handhelds so far, but as consumer patience with Windows on tiny screens wears thin and Microsoft's progress in improving the experience is slow, it seems like OEMs are looking for a better alternative.Lenovo's potential entry into a SteamOS handheld comes just days after Valve quietly updated a document with new branding guidelines that include Powered by SteamOS" hardware. It's the surest sign yet that Valve is working with more third-party hardware manufacturers, beyond Asus, to certify devices with SteamOS. With CES 2025 just a few weeks away, we could be about to witness a lot more SteamOS-powered hardware.Valve has been here before, though. At CES in 2013, it tried to tempt PC manufacturers to sign up to its Steam Machines initiative, but it didn't get far enough with developers to convince them to port games to Linux to make these machines successful. There's reason to believe this time things will be very different, thanks to Proton. The Steam Deck uses the Proton software compatibility layer and has already proved that many Windows games can even run better on Linux as a result.As my colleague Sean Hollister wrote earlier this month: it's just as intriguing an idea as it was 12 years ago when Gabe Newell explained the initial vision to us, and this time, there's a far better chance it'll work."

Illustration: The Verge Google's NotebookLM and its podcast-like Audio Overviews have been a surprise hit this year, and today Google company is starting to roll out a big new feature: the ability to actually talk with the AI hosts" of the overviews.When the feature is available to you, you can try it out with new Audio Overviews. (It won't work with old ones.) Here's how, according to a blog post:

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Waymo's driverless vehicles can detect emergency vehicles, know how to respond to hand signals for traffic cops, and can be disabled manually when something goes wrong, according to an independent review of the company's first responder protocols.As such, the Alphabet company's first responder protocols passed an independent review conducted by Tuv Sud, a German tech inspection company. The firm's assessment found that Waymo's First Responder Program meets industry standards" for responding to emergency situations, which is in line with the best practices set out in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).Waymo - and indeed the entire autonomous vehicle industry - has been under intense scrutiny, especially around how its driverless cars behave around police, fire, and other emergency responders. But Waymo is staking out the position that it goes beyond what's required to prove that its vehicles are trustworthy.The firm's assessment found that Waymo's First Responder Program meets industry standards"Case in point: having its first responder protocols scrutinized by an independent group like Tuv Sud. The company has also publicly released its own guide for first responders who are responding to incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The 32-page document includes a toll free number for getting in touch with remote operators, a visual guide for disabling the vehicle's autonomous mode, and instructions for how to disconnect the high-voltage battery.Waymo also hosts training sessions for police and fire officials in the cities in which it operates. The company says it has trained 15,000 first responders from over 75 agencies.Waymo isn't the only company to seek Tuv Sud's stamp of approval. The German firm also audited Aurora's safety guidelines for its self-driving trucks, as well as protocols for autonomous freight company Gatik.Given some of the history, it's understandable why Waymo feels it needs to go to such lengths to assure first responders that it's a good actor. In San Francisco last year, city officials pleaded with regulators to reconsider a measure to allow robotaxis to operate 24/7, citing a spate of incidents in which autonomous vehicles have stopped traffic, blocked buses, or obstructed emergency vehicles. And despite Waymo's efforts to promote itself as a safe operator, these incidents keep happening.Last July, Phoenix police pulled over a driverless Waymo vehicle that was driving in the oncoming lane of traffic. (The company blamed inconsistent" construction signs.) And in October, a Waymo car ignored police in Austin trying to direct traffic outside a football game. Meanwhile, another Waymo partially blocked an intersection nearby and prevented an escorted bus from passing through, according to Axios. (The company said these were minor occurrences and that its vehicles provide thousands of rides each week in Austin without incident.)As Waymo continues to slowly march ahead, launching in new cities and taking on new partners, the company is mindful that one bad incident is all it takes for everything to collapse. It happened to Uber and, more recently, to Cruise. That's why it needs to take all precautions it can to prove that its vehicles are as safe, if not safer, than human drivers.

Image: The Verge / Photos: Getty Media critic Matt Pearce on Lessons on media policy at the slaughter-bench of history' Read the full story at The Verge.

A color image taken by Perseverance's Mastcam-Z instrument of NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter in April 2023. | Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS Ahead of a full technical report that's expected to be released in the next few weeks, engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and AeroVironment have revealed what's believed to be the cause of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's crash on January 18th, 2024. The craft's vision navigation system, which was designed to track textured features on the surface of Mars, was confused by a featureless stretch of rippled sandy terrain, resulting in incorrect velocity estimates that led to a hard landing.Relying on remote data, including photographs taken after the flight, the investigators believe that navigation errors created high horizontal velocities at touchdown," which most likely resulted in Ingenuity experiencing a hard impact on the sand ripple's slope," causing it to pitch and roll. Illustration: NASA/JPL-Caltech A graphic shared by NASA depicts what's thought to be the most likely scenario for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's final flight. NASA's engineers originally assumed that Ingenuity's spinning rotor blades were damaged after making contact with the surface of Mars during the crash. They now believe they snapped off because the rapid attitude change resulted in loads on the fast-rotating rotor blades beyond their design limits." A part of one of the rotor blades was located about 49 feet away from the craft's final resting place.Communications were lost during the crash as a result of excessive vibration in the damaged and unbalanced rotor system that resulted in an excessive power demand. However, despite being permanently grounded, communications were reestablished the next day, and Ingenuity still beams weather and avionics test data to the Perseverance rover about once a week," which NASA says is already proving useful to engineers working on future designs of aircraft and other vehicles for the Red Planet."Initially designed to perform only up to five experimental flights over the course of a month on Mars, Ingenuity operated for almost three years and accumulated over two hours of flight time across 72 flights.

Airbnb would prefer if you have your rowdy New Year's Eve bash elsewhere. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you were thinking of booking an Airbnb to host a rowdy New Year's Eve shindig, the company is already one step ahead of you. Airbnb says it's rolling out anti-party technology worldwide to help prevent unauthorized and disruptive" get togethers over the holiday.Airbnb describes its anti-party technology as machine learning tools to identify and block risky bookings. The tech will be rolled out globally, but Airbnb specifically called out the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Puerto Rico, Spain, and New Zealand. It assesses things like trip length, when the reservation is being made, and how far the booking is from your current location.If a booking is deemed a high risk, guests will either be blocked or redirected to different accommodations. For folks hoping to book an entire home for a short holiday getaway, reservations of one to three nights will also be blocked. Guests booking entire homes will also have to agree to a mandatory anti-party attestation."Airbnb says it blocked 74,000 such bookings last New Year's Eve, with roughly 33,000 of those coming from the US.The company's stance against disruptive parties isn't new. It started banning party houses" in 2019 and added tighter restrictions in 2020 during the covid-19 pandemic as a public health measure. Airbnb then decided to permanently ban rowdy parties worldwide in 2022. The decision came after several shootings occurred at parties hosted at Airbnbs, including an incident where two teenagers were killed and eight people wounded at a Pittsburgh rental.

The USB-C Backbone One (second-gen) offers the same experience as the Lightning version pictured. As good as the Backbone One is (read our review of the original version), it can be hard to justify earmarking $100 for a mobile gaming controller. Even at its common $70 sale price, you're entering pro controller territory. That said, a 50 percent discount for the second-gen Backbone One (USB-C) seems worth jumping over the fence for. Today only, you can get it for $49.99 at Best Buy, which is a record low price and just in time for the Resident Evil 2 remake that's soon launching on the iPhone.The Backbone One's USB-C connector means it works both with Android smartphones and iPhones 15 or newer. It's sleek with a bubbly grip sized just right to comfortably reach any of its face buttons, triggers, bumpers, or analog sticks. Ergonomically, it'll lose to bulkier controllers, but should feel pretty good in most hands and is infinitely better than pecking away at the screen. The controller also has USB-C passthrough charging and 3.5mm for headphones and headsets.The Best Buy-exclusive Warzone Mobile edition on sale here is mostly a spiritual tie-in: it's visually and functionally identical to the standard Backbone One, but comes with free in-game rewards. You can use it with any games or apps with controller support, including cloud streaming services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now. The purchase includes a free one-month trial of Backbone Plus ($40 a year afterward), which unlocks more app features like gameplay recording, live streaming, and Play on Any Screen (the latter enabling wired gaming on PC and tablets). You'll also get three months of Apple Arcade ($7 a month value).More deals and discounts

Illustration: The Verge Tumblr is introducing a new Community feature - in-app groups organized by topic or interest.Communities are similar to subreddits or Facebook groups and had previously been in beta. Topics include things like film photography, marine biology, LGBTQ, and video games, and each topic has its own landing page where posts shared with the community populate. Many of the features mirror Reddit, like a count of how many members are online, moderators, and community guidelines. Posts shared to communities also get a new comments section that's only visible within the group. Communities have the option to be public or private. Image: Tumblr Tumblr's video games community Tumblr pulling a page from Reddit's playbook shouldn't be surprising. As other communities and forums on the web have died off or been eaten by Google, Reddit has been on the up-and-up, growing its user base and turning a profit for the first time. But Subreddits managed by users are both Reddit's crown jewels and a thorn in the side of corporate interests, as demonstrated by the coordinated action taken last year in protest of changes to the platform's API pricing structure. As Google Search degrades in usefulness - or is replaced by AI summaries - platforms like Reddit have become a central part of finding helpful information online.Reddit is also adding search engine-like features, including an AI-powered summary tool called Answers announced earlier this week. Though Tumblr's communities feature - and Tumblr in general - isn't the search destination Reddit is, the new grouping feature does streamline how users can find and engage with topic-based content and peers with similar interests. Communities is available on the web, iOS, and Android.

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge ChatGPT launched roughly two years and two weeks ago. Now, as we near the end of 2024, the AI race is... well, where is it, exactly? It's more competitive than ever, there's more money being poured into new models and products than ever, and it's not at all clear when or even whether we're going to get products that make it all worthwhile.On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk about a lot of different AI news, all along a single trend line: the tech industry trying desperately to build a killer app for AI. (Ideally, for them, also one that makes money.) The Verge's Richard Lawler joins us as we discuss Google Gemini 2.0, Project Astra and Project Mariner, and everything else Google is doing to put AI in the products you already use every day. We also talk through the new Android XR announcement, and Google's renewed commitment to making headsets and smart glasses that work. It's all an AI story, no matter how you look at it.After that... more AI! We talk about the launch and near-immediate disappearance of OpenAI's Sora, what's new in iOS 18.2, Reddit's clever-but-primitive new Answers feature, and more.Finally, in the lightning round, it's a smorgasbord of tech news. YouTube is big on TVs; Instagram is testing a way for you to test your posts; the TikTok ban is coming, but a sale sounds like the answer; Sonos once again made a great soundbar; and what the heck happened to Cruise? The year's almost over, but the news keeps coming.If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, beginning with Google:

Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images Microsoft has quietly ended the sale of new credits and phone number features for Skype this week. Skype Credit and Skype Number are both being discontinued in favor of Microsoft pushing subscriptions instead.Skype Credit was a pay-as-you-go plan for making calls both locally and internationally, and Skype Number allowed you to have a phone number that people could call and get through to your Skype account. Both have existed in Skype for years, making it a popular choice for calling landlines and mobile phones over the internet.New sales of Skype numbers and Skype credit have stopped, but customers can still use existing Skype numbers and credits," says Amit Fulay, vice president of Microsoft Teams and Skype, in a statement to The Verge. Users can also purchase new outbound PSTN calling services through monthly Skype subscriptions or use Skype's free VoIP services for voice or video calls."While existing Skype phone numbers will continue to work for now, it seems inevitable that Microsoft will eventually force existing users into a subscription, too. Existing Skype Credit can also be used, but you can't buy any additional top ups. Even with Microsoft's Skype subscriptions, there's still no direct replacement for having a phone number that people can ring to get to your Skype.Microsoft made the surprise decision to remove ads from Skype earlier this year, alongside new features like AI image creation. The communications app, acquired by Microsoft in 2011, has struggled to remain relevant in recent years up against WhatsApp, Zoom, FaceTime, and other video calling apps. Microsoft has also turned its attention more to Teams in recent years, especially after launching a personal version of Teams in 2020.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After the surprise ousting of former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger last week, the chip maker is facing an uncertain future that could involve splitting the company up. The temporary co-CEOs of Intel both appeared at Barclays investment banking conference on Thursday, hinting at a potential manufacturing spinoff.Intel's manufacturing business finances and operations are already being separated into a standalone subsidiary, according to Reuters. Intel's chief financial officer, David Zinsner, admitted that's going to happen," but stopped short of confirming whether Intel would ever fully spin off its manufacturing business. Does it ever fully separate? That's an open question for another day," said Zinsner.Intel Products CEO, Michelle Johnston Holthaus, also discussed the possibility of a manufacturing spinoff, as the two co-CEOs wait for Intel's board to find a Gelsinger replacement. Pragmatically, do I think it makes sense that they're completely separated and there's no tie? I don't think so. But someone will decide that," said Holthaus.The decision on splitting up Intel will be a key one for the company, and any incoming CEO. Intel had to outsource the manufacturing of its Lunar Lake laptop chips to its rival TSMC earlier this year, in what turned out to be a financial mistake.It won't be easy for Intel to spin off its own foundries, though. Intel receives nearly $8 billion in CHIPS and Science Act funding from the US government, and the US Department of Commerce has oversight over any change of control. If Intel does end up spinning off its manufacturing business, then it will turn into a company that designs chips much like its direct rivals.Now, it's all eyes on Intel's 18A" process which is set to arrive next year and may struggle to beat TSMC and deliver a flagship PC chip to rival AMD. Intel has faced a series of setbacks this year, ranging from the Lunar Lake financial mistake to crashing 13th and 14th Gen chips and underwhelming next-gen desktop CPUs.

Image: Gearbox Software We already knew it was in the works, and now we have an idea of how it will look and play. At the Game Awards, Gearbox Software revealed the first proper trailer for Borderlands 4, which is due out in 2025. The trailer starts with a cinematic depicting a large-scale conflict of some sort, before getting into the actual gameplay - which is as colorful and violent as you'd expect from the franchise. The game is playable solo or co-op with up to three other players, and Gearbox says that there are billions" of weapons to use.Here's the basic set-up:

Illustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Photo: Getty Images The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing numerous counts" against Elon Musk, according to a letter from his lawyer that Musk posted to X. It has also reopened an investigation into Neuralink."The letter is short on specifics - such as what the charges may be, and how many Musk companies are affected. Instead, Musk's lawyer, Alex Spiro, complains that the Commission Staff issued a settlement demand that required Mr. Musk agree within 48 hours to either accept a monetary payment or face charges on numerous accounts." Even this is somewhat unclear; presumably, Spiro means that Musk would pay a penalty rather than accept money from the SEC.

Not a photo of an Nvidia LAN, since I can't find my old photos of them! | Photo by Julian Stratenschulte/picture alliance via Getty Images It's been 13 years since Nvidia hosted its last LAN party, inviting hundreds of people to physically haul their gaming PCs onto a decommissioned aircraft carrier and jack them in for networked gaming bliss. Now, the GeForce LAN is finally coming back - and you're theoretically invited, should you manage to reserve one of the 400 available spaces right here on December 16th at 6AM PT / 9AM ET.The GeForce LAN 50 will run January 4th through January 6th, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada, with satellite events in Berlin, Taipei, and Beijing, and it promises to be a online & in-person 50 hour gaming marathon" with contests, tournaments, raffles, and swag.It'll kick off 4:30PM PT on January 4th, and you'll need to provide a fully refundable $125 deposit to sign up. Nvidia tells me those 400 slots are for everyday gamers, and do not count the influencers who may also show up.If you can't or don't want to make it, Nvidia says it'll offer one small set of rewards online - if you stream Diablo IV, The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, The Finals, or WoW from its GeForce Now cloud gaming service continuously for 50 minutes," there'll be some kind of in-game reward. Nvidia will also be offering prizes in a marketing celebration it's calling GeForce Greats".The LAN party is happening right before Nvidia's CES 2025 keynote in Las Vegas, where we're expecting the company to announce the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and possibly the RTX 5070 as well, and the fact that this is the GeForce LAN 50" is probably a tease for those 50-series cards - the last LAN that Nvidia hosted was the GeForce LAN 6," not GeForce LAN 49" or anything like that.Starting in 2004, the GPU company began to host major LAN parties almost every year until it stopped in 2011. Here's one of my minor claims to nerd fame: I helped set a Guinness World Record for the largest, longest LAN party at one in 2008. Image: Sean Hollister Record scratch, freeze frame, yep that's me (on the left)... That Nvidia LAN wasn't held on an aircraft carrier, but rather the San Jose Convention Center, as part an event that Nvidia called NVISION 08." The company never held another NVISION, but it rebooted its event the very next year, at the very same location, as the GPU Technology Conference (GTC). There was a time Nvidia would sponsor third-party LANs as well.Apparently Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has a soft spot for LANs, making a surprise visit to a small one in Vietnam last year. While gamers have largely moved online for multiplayer games, the LAN party subculture has been getting a bit of nostalgic attention as of late - there's even a coffee table book now documenting the era.

Image: The Game Awards Geoff Keighley's enormous and expensive video game commercial show celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. It's that time of the year. The Game Awards 2024 starts December 12th at 7:30 PM ET / 4:30 PM PT on Twitch and YouTube. This year marks the awards' tenth anniversary so expect some big surprises to celebrate the occasion. We already know Borderlands 4 will make an appearance as well as the next game from Hazelight Studios, the developers behind Game of the Year 2021 It Takes Two.Keighley's BFF Hideo Kojima will probably show up to show off more of Death Stranding 2 or maybe even his new game / movie hybrid project OD. And with 2025 mere weeks away, the GTA VI hype season will officially start, likely with a new, potentially record busting trailer. Here are all the news, trailers, and surprises for this years Game Awards.As for me, the only thing I'm excited about for TGAs 2024 is the possibility of Flute Guy and Metaphor: ReFantanzio Monk Guy sharing the same stage.

Image: Chris Welch / The Verge Apple's rumored combo Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chip might be introduced with some of the company's home products in 2025, including a new HomePod Mini and Apple TV, reports Mark Gurman for Bloomberg.Apple's new chip, codenamed Proxima," is meant to be a major transitional change for the company's devices that reduces reliance on Broadcom, which makes Bluetooth and Wi-Fi components for various devices in Apple's lineup. Sources speaking to Gurman say the chips have been in development for several years and will be produced by TSMC - the same manufacturer that makes Apple Silicon chips.Gurman didn't specify when the new HomePod Mini and Apple TV might debut next year. The Proxima chip could also appear in iPhones later in 2025 and in the iPad and Mac in 2026, Gurman says.Apple is also working on a standalone security camera, Gurman says. Gurman has previously reported that the company is gearing up to introduce a wall-mounted smart display for controlling your smart home next year as part of a bigger push into the home.

Image: The Verge Moderators of multiple Reddit communities say the company has banned posts that include the alleged manifesto of Luigi Mangione, who has been charged for murder in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.In a post on Wednesday, a moderator of r/popculturechat wrote (emphasis theirs):

Image: Google Experts believe that one day, quantum computers could make today's systems of encryption utterly obsolete. But Google tells The Verge its new breakthrough" Willow chip is nowhere near ready for that.The Willow chip is not capable of breaking modern cryptography," Google Quantum AI director and COO Charina Chou tells The Verge.A so-called cryptanalytically relevant quantum computer," or CRQC, could jeopardize civilian and military communications, undermine supervisory and control systems for critical infrastructure, and defeat security protocols for most Internet-based financial transactions," the White House warned in 2022, ordering that US agencies must transition to new systems to mitigate that risk by 2035.But Willow is not a CRQC, according to Google. While the company does claim it can solve a computing challenge in five minutes that would take the world's fastest supercomputer ten septillion years, Google has only produced 105 physical qubits worth of that computing power and suggests it would need millions to literally crack the codes.Estimates are we're at least 10 years out from breaking RSA, and that around 4 million physical qubits would be required to do this," Chou writes. She says Willow doesn't change the timeline at all.And though Chinese researchers have repeatedly claimed to discover new ways to break RSA encryption with much smaller quantum computers, ones with just a few hundreds or thousands of qubits, security experts have repeatedly been skeptical.Google is one of the many companies preparing to defend against the potential threat of broken encryption with post-quantum cryptography, or PQC, ever since the Edward Snowden leaks revealed that spy agencies like the NSA were quietly funding code-breaking quantum computer research.A few years back, we wrote about how the National Institute of Standards and Technology created a competition to develop quantum-safe cryptography standards back in 2016. This August, NIST released three finalized algorithms and its standards for integrating them into products and systems, and plans to select one or two more by the end of the year.The RAND Corporation, a think tank famous for advising on US national security in the past, suggested in a 2023 editorial that the moment an RSA-breaking quantum computer exists, it'll trigger a worldwide rush to defend against it:As soon as the existence of the CRQC becomes public knowledge - or is even considered plausible - and the threat becomes concrete, most vulnerable organizations will immediately move to upgrade all their communications systems to post-quantum cryptography."

Adobe's Reflection Removal tool is now available as a technology preview inside Camera Raw. | Image: Adobe Adobe's Project See Through, a tool that is capable of eliminating distracting reflections in photos taken through windows, is now available as a technology preview and is now called the Reflection Removal tool. Originally revealed as a Sneak" during the Adobe's annual Max conference last year, you can use the tool through Adobe Camera Raw in preview with a Lightroom release coming soon," according to Adobe.The best way to ensure a photo isn't marred with reflections is to avoid shooting through a window, but Adobe's new tool will increase the chances that the beautiful mountain vista you captured during a flight will actually be worth sharing. The tool works by distinguishing the two scenes that make up an image with a reflection, which are often distinguished by different content, white balances (indoor scenes tend to look warmer than outdoor ones), and their sharpness. Image: Adobe An example of the artificial reflections Adobe created for training data by merging thousands of photos together. The AI model the Reflection Removal tool uses was trained on a database of thousands of photographs without reflections that were paired and merged to create millions of images with simulated reflections. Through a reinforcement process, the model learned how to extract the original photos from a single combined image, which are both available in the new tool. The results are often impressive, but Adobe points out that if a reflection is so strong or complex that a person looking at the photograph struggles to figure out what is what, then our model might struggle as well."To access the new tool, which currently only works with RAW images (support for JPEGs and HEICs is planned) you need to open the Camera Raw tool and then the Technology Previews section of its Preferences Panel where you can enable the New AI Settings and Features Panel before restarting Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Bridge. Image: Adobe The original photo (left) next to a version with reflections removed (center) and the reflected image itself isolated (right). With a RAW file imported, you'll find a Reflections option in the Distraction Removal section of the Remove panel. After a few seconds of processing a reflection-free version of the image will be presented (hopefully!) along with a slider set to 100. Dragging the slider down to zero will restore the reflections, while dragging it to -100 will reveal only the reflected image.

Remember your old friend 5G? | Image: The Verge Verizon is making good on one of the many unfulfilled promises of 5G with a new service called Enhanced Video Calling.According to the company's website, it delivers optimized video and sound quality on calling apps," even in times of congestion. That may not sound exciting on its own. But under the hood, Verizon is using network slicing to boost video call performance, which is a new technology only possible on a standalone 5G network.Unlike remote robot banana surgery, network slicing is a real benefit of 5G technology that we can reasonably expect to see in more places in the next few years. Slicing lets network operators provide the right resources for certain kinds of demanding activities where a strong connection is critical. Right now, that means boosting performance for video calls, but in the future it could mean being able to prioritize the data needed to safely guide an autonomous vehicle through an intersection.The catch is that you need a standalone 5G network to pull this off, and much of the US' 5G networks still operate on 4G cores. T-Mobile has been able to move quicker on this thanks to its Sprint acquisition, and it rolled out its first feature based on slicing this fall with a service that gives priority to first responders. Verizon has been testing slicing for the past year or so, but this is its first rollout of a consumer feature based on the technology.In order to try Enhanced Video Calling out for yourself, you have to meet a specific set of requirements. It's available in more than 150 metro areas" right now, with more to be added in 2025. But you also need to be on Verizon's priciest plan, Unlimited Ultimate, which costs $90 per month for one line with autopay. And you'll need an iPhone 14 or newer running iOS 18.2. Samsung Galaxy S23 and newer and Pixel 9 phones will be compatible too, but support for Android video calling apps on Android is arriving in 2025.If you meet the above prerequisites, you should see a setting in iOS that reads Enhance 5G" if you go to Settings > Cellular, according to Apple's documentation.

Toyota's Urban Cruiser is a compact electric SUV coming to Europe. | Image: Toyota Toyota revealed its latest all-electric vehicle today as the Urban Cruiser compact SUV. The EV, which will be fully revealed at the Brussels Motor Show next month, is intended for the European market, first coming to the UK in the third quarter of 2025.Toyota says the wheelbase is only about 5 inches longer than the European-only Yaris Cross, making it another fun-sized electric EV slated for the continent like the recently revealed Ford Puma Gen-E or Hyundai Inster.The Urban Cruiser has clear design inspiration from last year's Urban SUV concept. It also shares its new EV platform built in conjunction with Suzuki, which announced its made-in-India E Vitara SUV last month. Toyota's other EV, the bZ4X, also shares its EV platform with another automaker, Subaru, which has the Solterra EV. Image: Toyota Toyota Urban Cruiser features a side-by-side 10.25-inch cluster screen and a 10.1-inch infotainment system. Toyota's Urban Cruiser has nearly match-for-match specs as the E Vitara, including a relatively small 49 kWh battery with an FWD drivetrain and a 61 kWh battery with an option for AWD.Toyota says power output can get as high as 135kW in the AWD version (with 40kW on the rear axel for stable and secure performance on loose and slippery surfaces") and up to 300 Nm of torque. While the official range is not announced, it'll likely match the E Vitara's expected 248 miles on a single charge.Additionally, the Urban Cruiser has downhill assist and trail modes for added control, and the FWD model includes a snow mode. All models come with a heat pump and include the ability to manually start preconditioning the battery to prepare for a DC fast charging session.Toyota has been slower in building and adopting EVs than other legacy manufacturers. The automaker has been focused on its outstanding hybrid technology as well as hydrogen vehicles.But the automaker isn't done with EVs - it's planning to have 15 EVs, including six models on a next-gen shared platform by 2026, and it just invested nearly another $1 billion in Kentucky for a paint facility to prepare for a three-row electric SUV for the US.

Image: Amazon Amazon is testing a new Prime Video feature that recommends groups of content using AI rather than traditional algorithms. If you're part of the test, you'll see new AI Topics" tailored to your interests, like mind-bending sci-fi," fantasy quests," or thrilling character journeys."Each category will have shows, movies, and linear channels that match these AI-generated labels. You can also continue refining recommendations further by selecting topics related to the category you're looking at, which Amazon says allows you to discover more content without hitting a dead end." Image: Amazon Streaming services like Netflix have long used machine learning algorithms to spit out recommendations based on viewing history. But with this announcement, it seems like Prime Video is putting an extra AI spin on things - which isn't very surprising given the hype surrounding the tech and Amazon's own efforts to portray itself as an AI leader. For now, Amazon says AI Topics are rolling out to select" living room devices in the US, such as the Fire TV.Last month, Prime Video also rolled out AI recaps you can use to summarize TV seasons, entire episodes, and even portions of episodes.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you've been contemplating signing up for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate so you can play Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, you might want to head on over to Woot. Now until 1:59AM ET on December 13th, the retailer is offering a three-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $28.99 (about $31 off) with promo code GAMEPASS. Only customers making their first purchase on Woot are eligible, though; everyone else will have to pay $33.99 to redeem the digital code.Woot's current promo is a terrific deal considering a month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will normally run you $19.99. After you finish playing the new Indiana Jones game, you can play dozens of other downloadable titles for both Xbox and PC, including new releases like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and older titles like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Starfield, Diablo IV, Halo Infinite, and Hi-Fi Rush. Subscribers can even stream select non-Game Pass titles they own via their TV, smartphone, tablet, and PC through a web browser. This includes Baldur's Gate 3, Hogwarts Legacy, Balatro, and more.In addition to granting access to a wide range of games - including EA Play titles - an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription lets you take advantage of exclusive deals, online multiplayer, and other perks, some of which aren't available on the cheaper Game Pass tiers.Other deals and discounts of note

Illustration: The Verge Meta's Threads is getting another feature seemingly inspired by Bluesky: curated groups of accounts that you can follow all at once. They basically sound like Meta's take on Bluesky's handy starter packs.Instagram boss Adam Mosseri announced Thursday that Meta is starting to test the feature, and he said that you'll see the collections when signing up for Threads and within the For You feed." A handful" of Threads community leaders" curated and shared the current collections.People will be able to find collections built around topics like basketball, style and fashion, food, books, pop culture, and more," Meta spokesperson Alec Booker tells The Verge. We'll iterate on this feature based on learnings from the test, and hope to expand the functionality to more people soon." Image: Meta Image: Meta Meta has upped the pace of Threads feature updates after users really started flocking to Bluesky last month - Threads introduced its own take on custom feeds just five days after announcing the feature in testing, for example.While I personally think Bluesky is the heir apparent to Twitter, Threads is still significantly larger. Meta saw 35 million Threads signups in November, but Bluesky user growth has seemingly slowed to a crawl: as I write this, Bluesky is on the cusp of surpassing 25 million users, a five million user jump from nearly a month ago.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Gemini's integration into Google Drive is getting a little more useful. In addition to summarizing documents or answering questions about a project, the AI assistant can now generate summaries of everything inside a folder.With the feature, you can open a folder and select the new Summarize this folder" button at the top of the page. Gemini will then give you a breakdown of the folder's contents. As noted by Google, you can use Gemini to find specific files inside a folder, or ask questions about it, like What is the theme of this folder?"You can also drag and drop a folder into the Gemini sidebar, as well as right-click on a folder and choose Ask Gemini." GIF: Google For now, Google says Gemini can only provide information about text documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, and presentations. However, when 9to5Google tested the tool, it found that Gemini could identify images in a folder, too.Google first brought Gemini to the sidebar in Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides in June. Gemini's folder summary feature is rolling out now to Google One AI Premium subscribers, along with Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, and Education Premium users.

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images Nearly half of US teens are almost constantly" online, though the platforms they spend their time on vary significantly, according to a new Pew survey.Despite some variety in their overall online habits, virtually all teenagers use YouTube. Of the 1,391 teenagers polled by the Pew Research Center, 90 percent said they use the site, a slight decrease from 95 percent in 2022. And 73 percent of them go on YouTube every day, making it by far the most popular platform for teenage users. The second-most popular app is TikTok, which 63 percent of teens say they use. Pew Research Center Almost all teenagers polled by Pew use YouTube, but very few are on Threads. But there's a gender divide, especially among teenagers who say they almost constantly" use either app: 19 percent of girls say they use TikTok that often, while the same share of boys are constantly on YouTube.And even this extremely online demographic isn't using all websites equally. Just 6 percent of teenagers polled said they use Threads, Meta's microblogging app, and only 32 percent use Facebook - down from 71 percent a decade ago. The only Meta product a majority of teenagers use is Instagram, whose popularity has increased since 2014.There seems to be a preference for image- and video-based platforms among the teenagers polled: X and Reddit were also much less popular, with 17 percent and 14 percent of teens saying they use them, respectively. And teens' X usage has declined significantly over the past decade: a decade ago, when it was still called Twitter, 33 percent of US teens used it. But teens' use of some image-based apps - including Snapchat - is on the decline as well. In fact, the only app that has experienced a rise in popularity is WhatsApp, which is now used by 23 percent of teenagers.

Image: Microsoft I honestly thought I'd hate Microsoft's controversial Recall feature and immediately disable it, but after using it for the past couple of weeks, I've been both creeped out and impressed with what it's capable of.Recall, a Windows 11 feature that takes snapshots of mostly everything you see on your screen, quickly became a controversy earlier this year after Microsoft announced it. Privacy advocates immediately started warning about potential issues with Recall without even using it, and security researchers found big holes in a prerelease version of the feature. Microsoft delayed Recall multiple times to give the company more time to address the security issues, and it's now in testing for Windows Insiders ahead of a broader rollout next year.The first thing I noticed about Recall is that the initial setup experience is very clunky and feels unfinished. You launch the app, and it redirects you to Windows Update, where AI models will start downloading and installing. Once you've installed a trio of these, it looks like the install process is complete - but then Windows Update will find another component of Recall to install. After fiddling around for 10 minutes, Recall will... Read the full story at The Verge.

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge iOS 18 introduces more customization and the first rollout of Apple Intelligence. Apple has released iOS 18 - plus iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, watchOS 11, and other new updates - bringing several key updates to how the company's devices operate and setting the stage for generative AI features.The most discussed feature of iOS 18 is the Apple Intelligence suite. With the release of iOS 18.2 on December 11th, features that are available now include generating images in Image Playground, creating custom Genmoji" emoji, and ChatGPT integration. Other features of Apple Intelligence, including writing tools such as the ability to rewrite your text in different styles, trickled out to customers starting in October.There are major non-AI changes to consider too, like the ability to change your default apps or test your hearing with AirPods.Meanwhille, iPadOS 18 now has a calculator app and can solve math equations in notes, watchOS is keeping an eye out for sleep apnea, and now your iPhone can even message Androids with RCS.Read on for all the news about Apple's latest set of operating system updates.

The Supernote A5 X2 Manta is more expensive than the Remarkable 2, but will potentially last longer with upgradeable components. | Image: Supernote Supernote has announced its new A5 X2 Manta E Ink tablet that could be a potential alternative to the reMarkable 2 for those wanting a larger screen and a device that can be easily upgraded and repaired. It's available now for $459, something of a jump from the $379 reMarkable 2. The latter also includes a stylus, while the Supernote A5 X2 requires you to provide your own - or spend at least another $59 to buy one of the company's pens (which, according to Supernote, don't need charging and are fitted with ceramic tips that won't wear down).On the other hand, the new tablet is very fixable. A panel on the back of the Supernote A5 X2 can be removed without tools, giving quick access to some of the tablet's internal components. This includes its 3,600mAh battery, which can be replaced when it loses capacity or stops charging, and the A5 X2's motherboard, potentially allowing for performance improvements or new features down the road without having to replace the entire device. There's also a microSD slot that can use a memory card to expand the A5 X2's storage from 32GB up to 2TB. Image: Supernote You don't even need to reach for a screwdriver to open the A5 X2's back panel. The 10.7-inch 300 ppi E Ink screen on the Supernote A5 X2 is larger and has more resolution than the reMarkable 2's 10.3-inch 266 ppi panel, but like the four-year-old reMarkable, the A5 X2 skips screen lighting for what the company calls an improved writing experience and a true paper look in natural light." That could be a tough sell when alternatives like the Amazon Kindle Scribe and the Kobo Elipsa 2E can be easily used in the dark. Even reMarkable now offers an E Ink tablet with an illuminated screen.Powered by a 1.8GHz RK3566 quad-core processor, the Supernote A5 X2 runs a custom Android 11-based OS called Chauvet that supports features like two-finger gestures and offline handwriting recognition that can convert your notes to editable text. The tablet also has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, allowing documents to be synced through cloud-based services like Dropbox or Google Drive, or to be transferred directly to other devices wirelessly using an accompanying mobile app. For extra security, you can even plug a flash drive into the A5 X2's USB-C charging port and transfer files manually. Image: Supernote A loop for holding a stylus to the side of the tablet can be removed for those wanting a cleaner look. Other features include touch-sensitive strips on the bezels on either side of the screen that can be used to scroll long document and a fabric loop for storing a stylus that can also be removed entirely.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Epic Games' annual holiday sale is now live, and like previous years, the company is also going to be offering a bunch of free games you can claim during the sale. Over the course of this sale, the store will have 16 free games, according to a blog post.Epic isn't spilling the beans about which games will be on offer, teasing only that you'll be able to claim some absolutely amazing titles." But in pervious years, Epic has given away big games like Destiny 2: Legacy Collection and Control, so fingers crossed that Epic has some good holiday surprises up its sleeve.For paid deals, there are some good games to sift through, like 35 percent off Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Star Wars: Outlaws. During the holiday sale, Epic is also giving users 10 percent back on their purchases as part of the Epic Rewards program, which is a boost from the usual 5 percent.The sale ends at 11AM ET on January 9th, 2025.

A worker handles wafers at the GCL Technology production plant in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, on Tuesday, July 2, 2024. GCL Technology is one of the world's largest makers of polysilicon, a key material in solar panels. | Photo: Getty Images Tariffs on solar wafers, polysilicon, and certain tungsten products from China are going to rise dramatically come January 1st, 2025, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. That means higher price tags on key materials needed to make solar panels at a time when solar is the fastest growing source of electricity in the US.Polysilicon is used to make solar wafers, which are the semiconductors in solar panels. Tungsten - the same material in old-school incandescent lightbulbs - has many uses in electronics because of its high melting point. The metal is also part of supply chains for the aerospace, automotive, defense, medical, and oil and gas industries.That means higher price tags on key materials needed to make solar panels at a time when solar is the fastest growing source of electricity in the USIt's the latest instance of the Biden administration hiking up tariffs on goods from China - which dominates solar manufacturing - as part of its plan to build up domestic supply chains for clean energy.Solar products from the Xinjiang region in particular also face accusations of forced labor and human rights abuses. The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) also said that the decision to raise tariffs follows an investigation into cyber theft and economic espionage by China.The tariff increases announced today will further blunt the harmful policies and practices by the People's Republic of China," ambassador Katherine Tai said in a statement. These actions will complement the domestic investments made under the Biden-Harris Administration to promote a clean energy economy, while increasing the resilience of critical supply chains."Starting next year, tariffs on polysilicon and solar wafers will double from 25 to 50 percent. Tariffs on certain tungsten products will go from zero to 25 percent. Chinese companies produce more than 75 percent of the world's polysilicon. Considering all the manufacturing stages for solar panels, which includes polysilicon and wafers, China holds more than 80 percent of global capacity.American manufacturers welcomed the changes. These trade measures will begin to counter the pervasive Chinese government subsidies in solar manufacturing. It is a step in the right direction," Mike Carr, executive director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America (SEMA) Coalition, said in an emailed statement.To be sure, Chinese policies aimed at boosting solar manufacturing have led to economies of scale that have allowed prices for solar panels to plummet around the world. Chinese companies also make much more affordable electric vehicles than US manufacturers. EVs from China have been similarly subject to soaring tariffs during the Biden administration to 100 percent from 25 percent this year. In May, Biden also announced that tariffs on battery parts and lithium-ion batteries would rise to 25 percent from 7.5 percent. In addition, he increased the tarifff rate on solar cells from 25 percent to 50 percent. And by 2025, the rate on semiconductors from China will double to 50 percent.President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to hike tariffs on imported goods from China even more than his predecessor, which is expected to increase prices on everything from cars to electronics.