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The latest iPad ad is much more human-centric. | Image: Apple / YouTube Apple is back with a new iPad ad, seemingly crafted as a chaser after the last spot left a bitter taste in some people's mouths.Titled Worlds Made on iPad," the minute-and-change video features actor Sofia Wylie on a green screen set. Then, the screen splits into three views, each with a different animated backdrop that evolves as she crawls, leaps, and floats through the stylized spaces. It's a distinctly different vibe from the last one, which, uh, didn't go down well.That ad - titled Crush!" - featured an array of instruments, paints, sound mixing equipment, and other artistic tools being crushed in a hydraulic press, all smashed together to create a shiny new iPad Pro. Unsurprisingly, many creators didn't take kindly to seeing... Continue reading...

Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta says it cracked down on propaganda campaigns on its platforms, including one that used AI to influence political discourse and create the illusion of wider support for certain viewpoints, according to its quarterly threat report published today. Some campaigns pushed political narratives about current events, including campaigns coming from Israel and Iran that posted in support of the Israeli government.The networks used Facebook and Instagram accounts to try to influence political agendas around the world. The campaigns - some of which also originated in Bangladesh, China, and Croatia - used fake accounts to post in support of political movements, promote fake news outlets, or comment on the posts of legitimate news... Continue reading...

Kino app's custom recording settings. | Image: Lux Lux's Halide app is popular among photographers for its approachable pro-level features, and now it's launching Kino, a dedicated video capture app for iPhones with a similar focus on supporting the features professionals look for.Where Halide was designed to take advantage of Apple's RAW photography support on newer iPhones, Kino is targeting the iPhone 15 Pro's support for ProRes videos encoded in the Log format. If you don't know what that is or have never heard of color grading, here's the description from our review of the 15 Pro: That's the super flat color profile that videographers like because it lets them control the look of the final product more." Our video producer Vjeran Pavic can go into even more detail.Kino will be... Continue reading...

Image: Cadillac If you're looking for an electric car and Cadillac sounds like your kind of brand, but the $64,000 Lyriq is too rich for your blood (to say nothing about the $340,000 bespoke Celestiq), you may find what you're looking for in the 2025 Optiq.Since first revealing the Optiq last November, Cadillac has been pitching this two-row SUV as its entry-level model - and now we know exactly what that means. The 2025 Optiq starts at $54,000, which is affordable for a luxury brand like Cadillac. And it will come with all sorts of standard goodies to help boost its sales pitch, including dual-motor all-wheel drive, Super Cruise hands-free driver assistance, and a ton of native Google apps.What it won't have is the ability to mirror your smartphone... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Wednesday, IP core designer Arm announced its next-generation CPU and GPU designs for flagship smartphones: the Cortex-X925 CPU and Immortalis G925 GPU. Both are direct successors to the Cortex-X4 and Immortalis G720 that currently power MediaTek's Dimensity 9300 chip inside flagship smartphones like the Vivo X100 and X100 Pro and Oppo Find X7.Arm changed the naming convention for its Cortex-X CPU design to highlight what it says is a much faster CPU design. It claims the X925's single-core performance is 36 percent faster than the X4 (when measured in Geekbench). Arm says it increased the AI workload performance by 41 percent, time to token, with up to 3MB of private L2 cache.The Cortex-X925 brings a new generation of Cortex-A... Continue reading...

This is the Spicy Pebble with the Moovin' Band, with a bumper attached for extra durability. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge When Fitbit invited me to a demo of the Ace LTE, its new tracker for kids, I didn't expect much. The previous Ace trackers were pared-down Fitbit bands that didn't do much and lacked GPS. Other smartwatches for kids tend to be boxy, glorified GPS trackers, designed to appeal more to parents than kids. But the Ace LTE? This is a kids smartwatch that feels like it might actually be fun to wear. I kind of wish there were something like it for adults.The $229.95 Ace LTE has a squarish case that's reminiscent of the Fitbit Versa. The main difference is that the materials are more appropriate for kids. (Think plastic and Corning Gorilla Glass instead of sapphire crystal and titanium.) There's also an optional bumper for extra durability.... Continue reading...

Image: Hello Games Things are about to get a little quieter in the No Man's Sky universe. Developer Hello Games just released the sci-fi adventure's latest update - it's called Adrift," and it introduces an alternative universe that's completely devoid of other characters. That means no NPCs to chat or trade with. The studio calls it the first time players can be truly alone in No Man's Sky."In addition to making the game lonelier and heightening the sense of isolation that was very present in the early days of the game, Adrift" will also make the experience more challenging. Here's how the studio explains it:

Using Apple's RoomPlan Controller for HomeKit has added a map view for Apple Home to its app. | Image: Controller for HomeKit Controller for HomeKit, a third-party app for controlling your Apple Home smart home, has a new Floor Plan feature that adds a map interface for interacting with connected devices like lights, locks, shades, sensors and more. I got some time with the new feature ahead of its launch this week and it's a compelling way to control your smart home. A 3D scan of your house becomes an interactive map filled with all your connected devices providing an intuitive way to control them: Just tap the lamp next to the sofa on the map and that light will turn on.For those unfamiliar, Controller for HomeKit is a well-regarded app that can manage and control any Apple Home and HomeKit compatible devices, scenes, automations, and so on. It uses the... Continue reading...

Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, pictured on its current owner's website. | Image: PleasrDAO Very few people have heard the only copy of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the Wu-Tang Clan album that disgraced pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli bought at auction in 2015. Starting next month, though, you'll be able to hear a curated, 30-minute excerpt of the album, provided you can get to the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart, Tasmania, between June 15th and June 24th, reports The Washington Post.The MONA's playback of Shaolin excerpts will be part of a months-long exhibit called Namedropping" centered on rare and significant pop culture objects. Tasmanian residents can get into the museum for free, but tickets go for as much as AUS$38 for anyone else.

The NPU inside Copilot Plus PCs takes the stage at a Microsoft Surface and AI event. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge When you launch a game on a Snapdragon on a Windows laptop, you might get an AI frame rate boost from Microsoft's mysterious Auto Super Resolution (Auto SR) feature. But while Microsoft hasn't fully explained how the feature works, The Verge can now confirm it's not Qualcomm technology, not exclusive to Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X chips, and not exclusive to specific games, either.You'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise! Microsoft's new Automatic Super Resolution help page bluntly states that a Snapdragon X chip is required - see screenshot - and that all of its processing occurs on-device using the integrated GPU and Neural Processing Unit." Image: Microsoft But Qualcomm now tells us that Super Resolution is... Continue reading...

Image: Lego If your little Lego town has grown big enough, it may be time to add an officially sanctioned Lego Apple Store, something that's vaguely possible if a recently submitted fan build gets the requisite 10,000 votes for Lego to consider it. The immaculately detailed creation has what most people would expect from a modern Apple Store: floor-to-ceiling glass front, tables full of Macs and iPhones, and shelves resplendent with neatly arranged white boxes.One of the project's designers is Truman, aka Legotruman, a Hong Kong-based fan who was behind the Lego Starry Night build and whose Gundam, Lego Anatomy, and Spirited Away ideas Lego is currently considering. Their collaborator, 2A2A, won a Disney-themed Lego design challenge with a design... Continue reading...

Image: YouTube Everybody's getting into gaming these days. YouTube joins the slowly growing list of companies with gaming initiatives, rolling out its Playables program across mobile and desktop. To play, simply visit YouTube's website or Android / iOS app and look for Playables in the sidebar. YouTube will let players save their progress and keep track of high scores. There are over 75 games to choose from, including chess and crossword games to more popular casual mobile titles like Angry Birds Showdown!, Trivia Crack, and Cut the Rope.YouTube began its foray into gaming last year, offering Playables to YouTube Premium subscribers. That initial phase had far fewer games and was only around for a relatively limited amount of time, with the phase... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge In 2020, Epic Games sued Apple for antitrust violations. It's been years since the trial wrapped and judgment was rendered, but for the past few weeks, Apple and Epic Games have been back in front of Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers once more. Gonzalez Rogers mostly ruled in favor of Apple last time. Things might not go so well for the company this time.As a reminder, this whole case got started when Epic challenged Apple's up to 30 percent fees to developers for in-app purchases through a splashy campaign where it basically ignored Apple's App Store guidelines and put in its own mobile payment processing system in its popular game Fortnite. That got the Fortnite app kicked off of the App Store, setting up the perfect scenario for Epic to... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Opera browser users can get more up-to-date information and more conversational responses as it integrates Google's Gemini AI models into its existing Aria AI extension.Aria, released last year, acts like an AI assistant to answer user queries, write code, and perform other tasks. According to Opera, Aria does not rely on one AI model to respond to users but chooses the AI model it feels will work best for the specific task. With this new integration, Aria can tap into Gemini, which the company says provides Opera users with the most current information at high performance."Aria is available on all Opera browsers, including its gaming browser, Opera GX.The Gemini family of large language models consists of several models of... Continue reading...

At just $299.99, Apple's entry-level iPad offers even better value if you're looking for a powerful tablet for basic entertainment purposes and light productivity. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge I got a nice sunrise surprise this morning. Sure, trees and power lines in my little corner of Texas were being hewn to the ground by the storms ripping across the central South, and I'm still without power as of this writing - but I have just enough juice in my power bank to inform you that we've found the best deal yet on the 10th-generation iPad. The 64GB / Wi-Fi configuration is down to $299.99 (about $34 off) at Amazon in select colors when you clip the on-page coupon. That's a new price record for Apple's entry-level iPad.The latest baseline iPad now looks more like the pricier ones in Apple's lineup, although it's lost the home button and headphone jack and switched out the Lightning port for USB-C. And while it's still on the... Continue reading...