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by Emma Roth on (#6NHE7)
Image: Ice Universe We already have a sense of potential specs for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, but now we might have a closer look at the foldable's design, too. Images shared by reliable leaker Ice Universe show a prototype of the Z Fold 6 with sharper edges and a slight change to its camera design, as reported earlier by 9to5Google.The look of the dummy model tracks with the leaked marketing materials and renders we've seen so far, which show off a similarly boxy design and black rings around each rear camera sensor instead of silver. You can see how the Galaxy Z Fold 6 may compare to the Galaxy Z Fold 5 in the below image from Ice Universe. Image: Ice Universe The Galaxy Z Fold 5 (left) next to a potential prototype of the... Continue reading...
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The Verge - All Posts
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2024-11-23 19:45 |
by Jay Peters on (#6NHE8)
Image: Apple Password managers are essential. They keep track of your passwords, encourage better security practices, and generally help to manage your life across your devices. They're the kind of feature that really should be built into every device - and Apple is massively expanding their reach with the launch of its new Passwords app, announced this week at WWDC.We have companies like 1Password and LastPass to thank for the popularity of today's password managers. But an announcement like Apple's puts them in a tough position: now that Apple has a free, built-in Passwords app, is there a future for the third-party apps that defined the space?So far, the leaders behind those apps think there is. You've got to have the ability to not only go... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6NHE9)
Air conditioners in windows during a heat wave in New York, US, on Thursday, July 27, 2023. | Photo: Getty Images Household electricity bills could climb with rising temperatures this summer in the US, according to an analysis by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).Americans' monthly electricity bills will likely average $173 between June through August, compared to $168 last summer, the EIA predicts. The slight bump in costs comes from consumers cranking up their air conditioning more to cope with a warmer season than last year. Bills would have jumped higher, if not for lower residential electricity prices helping to balance out some of the increased energy use from air conditioning.Some regions are likely to be harder hit by the weather than others. Because of heat and humidity along the Gulf Coast, residents in Southern states... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6NHBC)
Illustration: The Verge It's been a rocky couple of months for Sonos - so much so that CEO Patrick Spence now has a canned autoreply for customers emailing him to vent about the redesigned app. But as the company works to right the ship, restore trust, and get the new Sonos Ace headphones off to a strong start, it finds itself in the middle of yet another controversy.As highlighted by repair technician and consumer privacy advocate Louis Rossmann, Sonos has made a significant change to its privacy policy, at least in the United States, with the removal of one key line. The updated policy no longer contains a sentence that previously said, Sonos does not and will not sell personal information about our customers." That pledge is still present in other... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6NHBD)
Tesla's current and future vehicle lineup. | Image: Tesla Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased three new vehicles during his presentation at the company's annual shareholder meeting on Thursday - one more than what he showed off during the Master Plan Part 3 event last year.In a slide showing the company's current lineup - Models S, X, 3, Y, the Tesla Semi, and Cybertruck - three shrouded vehicles were also included.Obviously we've got some new products that we're working on under the covers," Musk said. I think these are going to be pretty special."Obviously we've got some new products that we're working on under the covers."And that was basically it. No other details were divulged. Sure, Musk was in a giddy mood considering his shareholders just handed him a victory by reapproving his enormous... Continue reading...
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by Mia Sato on (#6NHBE)
Photo by David Madison / Getty Images The Stanford Internet Observatory, a small but prominent research group studying abuse on social media platforms, looks to be in crisis, according to a report by Platformer.Some key staff have departed recently, including founding director Alex Stamos and research director Renee DiResta, Platformer reports. A handful of staff have left recently after not having their contracts renewed, and other members have been told to look for other jobs. Platformer describes the turmoil as a dismantling" of the research group.Stanford Internet Observatory research centers on some of the most pressing types of abuse online, including threats to democracy and elections, artificial intelligence, and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The group's... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6NHBF)
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge OLED monitors are on a nice (albeit, still slow) trajectory toward lower prices. If you're in the market for a gaming-centric OLED for your PC, check out the excellent LG UltraGear 27-inch 27GR95QE-B currently selling for $656.99 ($340 off) at Amazon and B&H Photo or $659.99 at Best Buy.This LG model may not be gargantuan or capable of native 4K, but its modestly sized 27-inch OLED panel has crisp QHD (2560 x 1440) resolution. It's got the deep blacks and strong color contrast you expect in an OLED, and since it's designed for gaming, it can reach up to 240Hz over its DisplayPort 1.4 or twin HDMI 2.1 ports - making it a great choice for pulling double-duty if you use both PC and current consoles at your desk. In fact, it has a built-in... Continue reading...
by Umar Shakir on (#6NHBG)
Image: The Browser Company The Arc browser is getting a nifty new Live Calendar feature that presents your next Google Calendar meeting on the sidebar just before it starts so you won't miss any important calls. It includes a countdown timer and a Google Meet join button that you can see and access without opening your Calendar tab.To set up Live Calendar, first make sure you're updated to the latest version of Arc (version 1.47.1). Then, just open Google Calendar in Arc, log in, and drag the tab into the favorites section directly under the URL. With Google Calendar pinned, you'll get a new Live Calendar Available" message confirming the feature is active. You can right-click on the Google Calendar favorite tab to change Live Calendar settings, like how soon... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6NH8Q)
Disney's new Beat the Clock" ad format will let you play golf with your remote. | Image: Disney Disney is sprinkling a new kind of playable ad across Hulu and ESPN. The new ad format, called advergames," will let you interact with the ads using your remote, as reported earlier by Adweek.You might see two different advergames to start: Quiz Show and Beat the Clock. While Quiz Show presents a series of trivia questions, Beat the Clock challenges viewers to land golf balls into specific targets using their remote. Of course, they're branded experiences, as the Beat the Clock ad features branding for Topgolf, and the Quiz Show game will prominently display an ad for a company while you play. Image: BrightLine Quiz Show replaces your traditional ad break with a sponsored trivia game. The pitch for this... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6NH8R)
Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge So, Apple reportedly isn't paying OpenAI to handle its users' ChatGPT queries, and OpenAI isn't paying Apple for its massive distribution. (A billion pockets, y'all!) If that's the case, what do these two companies get out of their blockbuster partnership for all things iOS and AI? And can OpenAI and Apple actually afford to do this, economically and reputationally? It's a strange pairing, but it's coming to a device near you this fall.On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk about Bloomberg's reporting on the business deal behind Apple Intelligence before rolling through some of Apple's new features that didn't get much (or any) stage time at WWDC. It's pretty clear Apple is hoping AI will convince you to buy a new iPhone, but it's... Continue reading...
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by David Nield on (#6NH8S)
Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge When Chromebooks first appeared on the scene back in 2011, they were criticized for how limited they were compared to Windows and macOS systems. Since then, some of the original limitations have been tweaked and the simplicity of the OS has been much more widely accepted. And it turns out, sometimes the old adage that less is more is right.One of the key advantages of using a Chromebook is the way (almost) everything is instantly backed up: with a small number of exceptions, all of your apps and files live online. If you lose your laptop or drop it into a lake, all you need to do is sign in to another Chromebook with your Google account, and you're right back where you started.Wiping a Chromebook is quick and easy, too, if you're... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6NH6S)
Apple's Siri voice assistant has a new look and a new brain. | Image: Apple Voice assistants hold so much promise, but in the decade-plus since Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa first wormed their ways into our lives, their most compelling use is still setting timers. Competition from Google's Assistant (and if we're being charitable, Samsung's Bixby) failed to light the spark of innovation in this space, and in many ways, voice control has regressed. These assistants regularly misunderstand, mishear, and sometimes just don't listen at all. They're a far cry from the proactive, actually smart digital assistants they were originally pitched as.Enter generative AI: the technology voice assistants need to transform them from novel to necessary. This week at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced plans... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6NH4Z)
Picsart's AI image generator will be available some time later this year. | Image: Picsart Image and video-editing platform Picsart has teamed up with Getty Images to launch a responsible, commercially-safe" AI image generator that's trained exclusively on the stock image platform's licensed content.Picsart says its AI lab is building a custom model from scratch that will power the tool, allowing the platform's paid subscribers to generate images with full commercial rights - which aims to address long-standing concerns regarding AI-generated potentially content violating copyright laws. The Picsart / Getty Images generator tool is expected to launch later this year," and will be accessible through Picsart's API services.This collaborative project shares similarities with Adobe's Firefly AI model, which initially launched... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6NGWG)
Why read the article when you can just AI-generate takeaways? | Image: Yahoo Artifact is dead, long live Yahoo's version of Artifact. The architecture behind Artifact, the news aggregation app built by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, will live on inside the body of a brand-new Yahoo News app.Available to download today on iOS and Android, the new Yahoo News app brings an AI-powered personalized news feed for users based on their interests, while a feature called Key Takeaways can give a bullet summary of a news article when a reader is feeling TL;DR.Other features of the Yahoo News app include Top Stories, which picks up on trending stories for users to read and will soon include key takeaway summaries. You can block stories with undesired keywords as well as filter out certain publishers... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6NGWH)
Image: Microsoft Microsoft is planning to launch its new Copilot Plus PCs next week without its controversial Recall feature that screenshots everything you do on these new laptops. The software maker is holding back Recall so it can test it with the Windows Insider program, after originally promising to ship Recall as an opt-in feature with additional security improvements.We are adjusting the release model for Recall to leverage the expertise of the Windows Insider community to ensure the experience meets our high standards for quality and security," says Microsoft in an updated blog post. When Recall (preview) becomes available in the Windows Insider Program, we will publish a blog post with details on how to get the preview."This means that... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NGWJ)
Photo: NSA OpenAI has appointed Paul M. Nakasone, a retired general of the US Army and a former head of the National Security Agency (NSA), to its board of directors, the company announced on Thursday.Nakasone, who was nominated to lead the NSA by former President Donald Trump, directed the agency from 2018 until February of this year. Before Nakasone left the NSA, he wrote an op-ed supporting the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the surveillance program that was ultimately reauthorized by Congress in April.OpenAI says Nakasone will join its Safety and Security Committee, which was announced in May and is led by CEO Sam Altman, as a first priority." Nakasone will also contribute to OpenAI's efforts to better... Continue reading...
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by Gaby Del Valle on (#6NGTX)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Ruthia He, the founder and CEO of the subscription-based digital health company" Done, and the company's clinical president, David Brody, exploited emergency flexibilities during the [covid-19] public health emergency to provide easy access to Adderall and other stimulants that were not for a legitimate medical purpose," the Department of Justice claims.The two executives were arrested and indicted for distributing controlled substances, conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, and other charges. This is the first time the DOJ has charged someone with criminal drug distribution related to their involvement in a telehealth company. The DOJ and DEA began investigating Cerebral, another telehealth company, in 2022. Four months after news... Continue reading...
by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6NGTY)
Amazon's new Alexa has apparently suffered some setbacks. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In the voice assistant arms race, the frontrunner may be about to finish last. On the heels of Apple revealing a new Apple Intelligence"-powered Siri at its WWDC 2024 conference, a new report from Fortune indicates that Amazon's Alexa - arguably the most capable of the current voice assistants - is struggling with its own generative AI makeover:
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6NGTZ)
Apple Early photos from Apple TV Plus' upcoming series Sunny left little question about it being a comedy, but the show's new trailer makes it seem like it's also going to be a solid (if goofy) whodunit that leaves you guessing.Set in a semifuturistic modern-day Japan, Sunny follows as Suzie Sakamoto (Rashida Jones) sets out to uncover the truth behind her husband Masa's (Hidetoshi Nishijima) presumed death. Between Masa's plane crashing under mysterious circumstances and the disappearance of his body, life already feels weird for Sunny as she settles into her new identity as a widow. But when a colleague of Masa's shows up at Suzie's door with a bobble-headed domestic robot named Sunny (Joanna Sotomura) as a bereavement gift, things start to... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NGV0)
Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images LinkedIn is rolling out new AI-powered features to help users find jobs, tailor their resumes, and even get advice from AI chatbots. But these new features come at a cost, as they'll be available to Premium subscribers beginning in English worldwide.One tool lets you search for jobs on LinkedIn by typing a prompt in natural language. In a blog post, LinkedIn chief product officer Tomer Cohen gives the example of find me a remote marketing job in Detroit that pays at least $110,000." If the results are good, I could see this being a useful way to seek out potential jobs. GIF: LinkedIn LinkedIn can also review your resume and provide personalized suggestions for improving it for a specific job post. You'll be able to... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6NGV1)
Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Google has announced on its Pixel Help Community portal that it's extending the Pixel 8's repair program for phones displaying vertical lines and exhibiting flickering. This policy update allows Pixel 8 owners to get this problem fixed under warranty, for up to three years after purchase, if their phone Exhibits a vertical line running from the bottom of the display to the the top or a display flicker."Google isn't promising that every phone with the issue will qualify, though - Google or an authorized repair partner will need to determine that it qualifies for the extension based on the serial number of your phone.The Pixel 8 Pro is not included in this repair extension, though there are user claims out there that it can exhibit... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6NGV2)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Tesla shareholders voted today to reapprove Elon Musk's gigantic pay package, after a Delaware court judge voided it earlier this year. Investors also approved a proposal to move the company's legal home from Delaware to Texas and to reappoint two board members: James Murdoch and Kimbal Musk, Elon's brother.The vote was widely seen as a referendum on Musk's leadership during a time of great upheaval for Tesla, which has seen its stock price slide on news of shrinking sales, softening demand, and declining revenue. The company has laid off at least 10 percent of its workforce, its vehicle lineup is aging and in need of a shake-up, and the success of Musk's bet on AI and robotics is far from certain.In spite of all this, Tesla... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6NGS6)
Illustration: Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Image: Getty Images Several Tesla shareholders are accusing Elon Musk and the company's board of knowingly diverting talent and resources away from the company and directing it toward Musk's rival artificial intelligence company, xAI.In a lawsuit, the shareholders allege that Musk and the board breached their fiduciary duty to Tesla by launching xAI, which was founded in 2023 on the premise of understanding the true nature of the universe."The plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in Delaware, where the company is still incorporated, only hours before Tesla shareholders are set to vote on a proposal to reincorporate the company in Texas after a Delaware court judge voided Musk's enormous pay package. The lawsuit was first reported by Business Insider and T... Continue reading...
by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6NGS7)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The vote is seen as a referendum on Musk's leadership at Tesla during a tumultuous time for the electric automaker. Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6NGS8)
Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The Verge New technologies and changes in consumer habits could limit the use of controversial carbon capture to fight climate change, new research shows.Efforts to capture carbon from polluting sources or to filter CO2 out of the air have picked up steam as a way for companies to meet their climate goals. But those strategies are still unproven at a large scale and could come with other unintended consequences. Some environmental advocates also worry that focusing on cleaning up pollution after the fact could lure companies away from transitioning to renewable energy to prevent emissions in the first place.To stop climate change and meet the goals of the Paris agreement, planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions need to reach net zero around... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6NGS9)
I suspect GuliKit's gamepad sticks will require soldering, though... this DualSense, for example, has sticks soldered to the board. | Image: iFixit The Nintendo Switch's infamous Joy-Con drift" showed us that we deserve more from joysticks and that one company is only too happy to help. Now, GuliKit is officially bringing its drift-resistant magnetic Hall effect joysticks to a PS5, PS4, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch Pro gamepad near you in the form of upcoming upgrade kits.They'll be available for the Sony DualSense, DualShock 4, Xbox Series gamepad, and Nintendo's own official Switch Pro controller. But surprisingly, GuliKit is no longer bringing it to Sony's modular DualSense Edge like it originally promised and won't offer it for Xbox Elite controllers, either. GuliKit business director Jack He tells me that's because neither Sony nor Microsoft offer working calibration tools for... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NGSA)
Image: Apple Apple is introducing a way to use Apple Pay on non-Safari desktop web browsers, as reported by MacRumors, meaning that you'll soon be able to use Apple's payment service to buy things on desktop Chrome, Firefox, and even on Windows PCs.Apple showed how it works in a WWDC 2024 video for developers. If you're using a desktop browser that isn't Safari and you see an Apple Pay button, you'll be able to click that button to bring up a special code you can scan with an iPhone running iOS 18. If you scan the code, you'll then be prompted to complete the transaction on your iPhone. Image: Apple On desktop, Apple Pay has so far been limited to Safari on Macs. Thanks to these updates, depending on the browser and hardware you... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6NGPD)
You won't have to force a smile with the Qudi Mask 2 strapped to your face. | Screenshot: YouTube The Qudi Mask 2 could let privacy seekers who still want to be social have their cake and eat it, too. It's a wearable digital avatar that hides a user's real face behind an LED display and can automatically trigger a handful of emotive - but somehow also emotionally empty - expressions using head tracking and a mic.LED face masks aren't a new idea - you've probably seen teenagers running around with them on Halloween - but the Qudi Mask 2 does more than just cycle through a preloaded collection of pixelated faces and colorful animations. Its faces can automatically change their expressions by reacting to what the wearer is doing. The sound of their voice will cause the animated mouth to move in real time so it appears like it's... Continue reading...
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by Victoria Song on (#6NGPE)
Breaking streaks no longer has to be something you worry about. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge When I had covid, I was miserable, hacking up my lungs and confined to bed for several days with horrible brain fog. I don't remember much from that time. I do, however, remember waking up bleary-eyed and feverish to an Apple Watch notification. It said I hadn't made much progress on my rings. I should take a brisk 27-minute walk. You can still do it," it said. No, I could not.It wasn't my fault I'd gotten sick, but my 85-day streak was broken anyway. Since then, I've had nasty shin splints, migraines, and multiple cross-country flights that make it hard to hit exercise goals - all excellent reasons to prioritize rest or build some extra flexibility into my schedule. Despite knowing better, I still felt disappointed whenever I listened... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6NGPF)
Now any dealership can sell Ford EVs. | Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge Ford's Model E dealership certification program is getting stripped down to allow all locations access to EV inventory. As reported by CNBC, Ford is revising its strategy of requiring dealerships to invest up to $1.2 million for certification that includes mandatory on-site EV chargers, upgrades, and advanced staff training.In an email to The Verge, Ford Model E COO Marin Gjaja wrote that starting July 1st, the company is expanding EV sales and service to all 2,800 of its US dealers," which replaces the Model E dealership program first introduced in 2022. Gjaja wrote that approximately 1,400 dealerships had enrolled in the old program.The move to dismantle EV certification requirements was rumored to be underway last month in... Continue reading...
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by Gaby Del Valle on (#6NGPG)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images The Supreme Court maintained access to the abortion pill mifepristone, unanimously refusing to hear a case brought by a number of anti-abortion organizations and doctors over the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of the pill.The plaintiffs have sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to elective abortion and to FDA's relaxed regulation of mifepristone," Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion issued Thursday. But under Article III of the Constitution, those kinds of objections alone do not establish a justiciable case or controversy in federal court."In 2022 - after the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade - a newly... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NGKQ)
Illustration: The Verge Meta is making some improvements to WhatsApp video calls that should make them more useful for conversations with large groups of people.One feature is a speaker spotlight, which automatically highlights the speaker and makes them appear first on-screen, according to a Meta blog post. The company is also improving screen sharing to make it easier to watch videos as a group: if you're screen sharing and showing a video with audio, the audio is now shared as well. Image: WhatsApp Meta's promotional image about its updates to WhatsApp calls. In addition, video calls will also let you have 32 people, no matter what device you're on. That cap had already been in place for video calls on mobile devices, but not when... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6NGKR)
Image: HBO Ahead of the premiere of House of the Dragon's second season, HBO has confirmed that the Game of Thrones spinoff will be getting a third season. Naturally, there are no real details on what the new season will entail or when it will start airing on HBO or Max. We'll need to get through season 2 for that kind of info.House of the Dragon premiered in 2022 and is set 200 years before the original Game of Thrones series. It's focused primarily on House Targaryen and stars the likes of Matt Smith and Emma D'Arcy. The second season kicks off on June 16th on both HBO and Max. It's also not the only extension of Game of Thrones in the works: HBO has another spinoff called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: the Hedge Knight in development, though... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6NGKS)
NETFLIX Between Blumhouse's Imaginary, Paramount's IF, and Cartoon Network's recently announced Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends revival, the concept of dreaming up buddies to pal around with is having something of a moment. But everything about Netflix's new trailer for The Imaginary makes it seem like the riff that could capture everyone's hearts.Produced by Ghibli successor Studio Ponoc, directed by Yoshiyuki Momose (NiNoKuni, Modest Heroes), and based on A.F. Harrold's 2014 novel of the same name, The Imaginary tells the tale of Rudger (Louie Rudge-Buchanan) - just one of countless imaginary friends who can only be perceived by their creators. Whereas most Imaginaries understand that they will cease to exist once their makers forget... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NGKT)
Dave Burke presenting at Google I/O 2024. | Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge Android's leadership team at Google is losing another key leader. Dave Burke, the VP of engineering for Android, is stepping away" from heading up Android engineering and is shifting into an advisory position while exploring AI / bio projects," he said in an email he posted to LinkedIn.AI has the potential to play a pivotal role in accelerating drug discovery, with wide applicability, including in hard-to-treat pediatric cancers, a topic close to my heart," Burke said. I'm working with Sundar to explore relevant roles at Alphabet." Burke has been on the Android team for 14 years.Burke's departure follows Google's recent move to combine its Android and hardware teams into a new Platforms and Devices" team run by Rick Osterloh. As... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6NGKV)
The OnePlus Watch 2 is an excellent upgrade over its predecessor and is one of our favorite Android smartwatches. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge If you're looking for an Android smartwatch but aren't keen on Google's and Samsung's selections, the OnePlus Watch 2 is our favorite alternative. And right now, not only is it on sale for $269.99 ($30 off) directly from the site, but OnePlus is throwing in a free pair of OnePlus Buds 3. While we've seen the OnePlus Watch 2 at this price before, this is the first time you can get it bundled with the $99.99 OnePlus Buds 3, saving you a total of $130.Its 47mm case might be a bit large for smaller wrists, but the OnePlus Watch 2 still stands out amongst its rivals because it's the only third-party Wear OS watch running Wear OS 4. What's impressive, too, is that it natively supports Google Assistant, lets you access all the third-party apps... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6NGKW)
Image: The Verge Microsoft delivered the best Xbox showcase I've seen in years over the weekend. Layoffs, studio closures, and Xbox exclusives coming to PS5 had fans worried about the future of the platform, but Sunday's showcase put many of those fears to rest.Xbox chief Phil Spencer kicked off the show with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 - cementing that Xbox is now the home of Call of Duty - before moving on to new reveals and gameplay. Three titles stood out for me personally: Perfect Dark; Fable; and Gears of War: E-Day.Last week, I revealed most of the first-party games that would be part of this showcase, but one I didn't name was Perfect Dark. Reports had suggested it was in rough shape." I hadn't heard about a potential release window, so I wasn't... Continue reading...
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by Quentyn Kennemer on (#6NGKX)
We're hoping for a big overhaul on this iconic pair, but they're still the best Beats headphones you can buy. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge If you're not an audiophile and can't otherwise afford to splurge on a substantial pair of headphones like the AirPods Max or the new Sonos Ace headphones, a pair of Beats can do the job just fine. The brand's headphones consistently sound pretty good and have kept up well with the times under Apple's stewardship. You can consider the Beats Studio Pro the pinnacle of the line right now, and the flagship over-ear pair are nearly matching their all-time low price at around $179.95 ($170 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. That's only $10 more than the all-time low price we saw during Black Friday.At launch, we felt the Beats Studio Pro couldn't quite measure up to the competition in the price arena they played in. In terms of audio... Continue reading...
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by Mia Sato on (#6NGGM)
Image: The Verge TikTok is introducing a new way for musicians on the platform to promote their music - this time through a video series.The series, called Off the Record," is produced by TikTok and features musical artists like Shakira, Charli XCX, and Meghan Trainor. The short clips are similar to series like Song Exploder or The New York Times' Diary of a Song," where artists talk about their inspiration behind songs, the writing and recording process, and more. The videos - some of which have already gone live - are shared by artists over the course of June.TikTok also announced a hub on the app where Off the Record videos live. Users can find the page by searching for #OfftheRecord.Off the Record is part of TikTok's continued efforts to... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6NGGN)
Image: Tesla Tesla is holding its annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, today, where investors will decide the fate of CEO Elon Musk's enormous $50 billion compensation package.The event is not just about Musk's payday. Tesla's board is portraying it as a pivotal moment in the company's effort to secure Musk's attention span, which is divided between X Corp., SpaceX, Neuralink, and his other companies. It also hinges on the question of whether Musk can steer Tesla back on track.From the looks of things, Musk may get exactly what he wants: both the money and the reincorporation of Tesla in Texas in retaliation of a Delaware judge voiding Musk's package are on track to pass by wide margins, Musk claimed in a post on X.Meanwhile, Musk is... Continue reading...
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by Barbara Krasnoff on (#6NGGP)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge You may see Microsoft's upcoming Recall feature, which screenshots everything you do (and has now become an opt-in feature) as a convenient way to keep an eye on your history or a problematic privacy violation. However, it's not the first time your activity on a Windows computer will have been recorded.As XDA Developers has pointed out, Windows 10 and 11 computers already contain an activity tracker, which was introduced in Windows 10 as part of its Timeline feature. And although Timeline was removed in Windows 11, the tracker apparently was not. Screenshot: Microsoft Activity history may still be enabled in Windows 11, even though Timeline has disappeared. It's a simple matter to see if the tracker is still... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6NGDZ)
Image: The Verge, Getty Images At WWDC on Monday, Apple revealed Apple Intelligence, a suite of features bringing generative AI tools like rewriting an email draft, summarizing notifications, and creating custom emoji to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Apple spent a significant portion of its keynote explaining how useful the tools will be - and an almost equal portion of time assuring customers how private the new AI system keeps your data.That privacy is possible thanks to a twofold approach to generative AI that Apple started to explain in its keynote and offered more detail on in papers and presentations afterward. They show that Apple Intelligence is built with an on-device philosophy that can do the common AI tasks users want fast, like transcribing calls and... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6NGE0)
Apple and Google have already been named designated providers" and will be impacted by the law. | Photo by Beata Zawrzel / NurPhoto via Getty Images Following in the footsteps of the European Union, Japan has now passed a law that will restrict Apple and Google from blocking third-party app stores for Japanese users on their platforms. The legislation is expected to come into force by the end of 2025 and aims to reduce app prices and create a more equitable market by forcing the tech giants to compete with smaller challengers.Dubbed the Act on Promotion of Competition for Specified Smartphone Software, Japan's law shares some similarities with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), enforcing strict rules against designated providers." That includes requiring their platforms to allow third-party app stores, allowing app developers to offer third-party billing services, and making it... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6NGE1)
Image: Lego Two years after Lego revealed a buildable model of the Transformers' Optimus Prime that actually transformed, the heroic Autobot leader is finally getting backup with his second-in-command, Bumblebee, debuting as a 950-piece set that transforms into a Volkswagen Beetle - or at least a close facsimile thereof.In recent years, thanks to the run of big-budget Transformers movies, Bumblebee is best known for transforming into a bright yellow Chevrolet Camaro. But in the original '80s toy line and animated series, Bumblebee's alternate vehicle mode was the iconic Volkswagen Beetle. Image: Lego Lego Bumblebee's vehicle mode appears to be a mashup of several different vehicles. As with its Optimus Prime set, Lego is... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6NGE2)
Arlo's new security tag can disarm its security system via its video doorbell. | Image: Arlo Last year, smart security company Arlo launched a home security system with several features that rivaled the excellent Google Nest Secure (RIP) - including multifunction sensors and an all-in-one hub / keypad. It then promised an NFC security tag that would let you disarm the system with a tap. This week, it delivered on that promise with the launch of the Arlo Security Tag.The new key fob lets you arm and disarm the system with a tap on the keypad hub inside your home, similar to what was possible with the Nest Secure. But Arlo has also added a handy option to disarm the system by tapping the tag on an Arlo video doorbell before you even enter your house.The NFC-enabled tag is available now for $19.99 for a two-pack and works with... Continue reading...
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by Victoria Song on (#6NGBE)
The Galaxy Watch FE will retail for $199.99 with Bluetooth and $249.99 with LTE. | Image: Samsung The leaks were right. Samsung just announced it's launching a third smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch FE. It's meant to be the company's new entry-level smartwatch, offering a more affordable option compared to its flagship Galaxy Watch models.It makes sense that Samsung's doing this now. The Galaxy Watch series used to be relatively affordable compared to the competition, but in the past two years, Samsung's raised the starting price of its watches by $50 to keep up with inflation. The FE will retail at $199 for the Bluetooth-only version and at $249.99 for the LTE version - which is more in line with what its watches used to cost. This also makes Samsung's smartwatch lineup look a bit more like Apple's, with a budget model, flagship model,... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6NGBF)
Allison Johnson / The Verge While the partnership between Apple and OpenAI announced at WWDC this week promises to give ChatGPT a prestigious place in Apple's ecosystem, it seems neither party is paying the other to make that happen. According to a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple instead believes that the exposure OpenAI will receive from being on hundreds of millions of Apple devices is of equal or greater value than monetary payments."The report also says this deal isn't exclusive to OpenAI, and that Apple is in talks with Anthropic and Google to offer their respective chatbots as an alternative option, with an agreement for Google's Gemini expected to be in place later this year. While Apple will utilize OpenAI's GPT-4o model to power various AI... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6NG98)
The new Discord integration on PS5. | Image: Sony Sony is improving its Discord integration on the PS5 so that you can join voice calls directly from the console. First launched last year, Discord support on PS5 currently requires you to manually transfer a call to a console by using the Discord app on mobile or PC. Sony is now rolling out an update that integrates Discord directly into the PS5 dashboard so you can select the server or DM group you want to join.The update is rolling out gradually over the coming weeks, starting with PS5 owners in Japan and Asia followed by Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and then finally the US and Canada. You'll need to update your PS5 to the latest system software to get this new Discord integration, and a PlayStation Network account... Continue reading...
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by Kylie Robison on (#6NG3F)
Linda Yaccarino. | Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media During an internal all-hands meeting led by X CEO Linda Yaccarino on Wednesday, concerned employees tuned in to hear if she would address the pressing issue on their minds: performance reviews.Sources inside the company confirm that a promotions process was recently delayed without explanation and that X's sales team doesn't expect to meet its revenue targets for the quarter. Given how the company formerly called Twitter has continued to struggle under Elon Musk's ownership, employees have been bracing for more layoffs.One of Musk's key lieutenants, The Boring Company CEO Steve Davis, has been reviewing finances at X's headquarters in San Francisco over the past several weeks, according to multiple employees who requested anonymity to... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6NG1A)
Illustration: The Verge ChromeOS will soon be developed on large portions of the Android stack" so that it can roll out AI features at a faster pace, Google announced on Wednesday. The company says it will be embracing things like the Android Linux kernel and Android frameworks as part of the foundation of ChromeOS."The changes won't just mean more AI features, according to Google. The company also noted that they will help simplify engineering efforts" and help different devices like phones and accessories work better together with Chromebooks," as detailed in a blog post.Google surely wants to have Chromebook users trying as many AI-powered features as possible, so these changes will probably accelerate that. But the company cautions that while the... Continue reading...
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