The Verge

Image: The Verge Microsoft is creating a new engineering group that's focused on artificial intelligence. Led by former Meta engineering chief Jay Parikh, the new CoreAI - Platform and Tools division will combine Microsoft's Dev Div and AI platform teams together, alongside some employees on the Office of the CTO team, to focus on building an AI platform and tools for both Microsoft and its customers.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella outlined his vision for this new team in an internal memo today, using a cricket reference (his favorite sport) to note that we're entering the next innings of this AI platform shift" in 2025 that will reshape all application categories." Nadella believes that every part of the application stack will be impacted by AI, and that thirty years of change is being compressed into three years!"To get ready for all this change, Nadella sees the need for an AI-first app stack" inside Microsoft that will impact how its own developers use and build AI apps and tools in the future. In this world, Azure must become the infrastructure for AI, while we build our AI platform and developer tools - spanning Azure AI Foundry, GitHub, and VS Code - on top of it," says Nadella. In other words, our AI platform and tools will come together to create agents, and these agents will come together to change every SaaS application category, and building custom applications will be driven by software (i.e. service as software")."Parikh will lead this new group as the executive vice president of CoreAI - Platform and Tools, after previously being instrumental to Meta's engineering efforts for more than a decade. Microsoft announced Parikh's hire in October, and this is the first major engineering shakeup since he joined the software giant. Parikh also reports directly to Nadella and is a member of Microsoft's senior leadership team. He now has a number of other Microsoft executives reporting up to him in his new role, including AI platform chief Eric Boyd, deputy CTO of AI infrastructure Jason Taylor, head of Microsoft's developer division Julia Liuson, and head of developer infrastructure Tim Bozarth.Microsoft is essentially taking its entire developer division and ensuring it's focused on AI. While there's a mention of Azure AI Foundry, GitHub, and VS Code, Nadella doesn't call out Visual Studio or .NET in his memo. That's probably because the mission, as Nadella describes it, is for this new CoreAI team to now build the end-to-end Copilot & AI stack for both our first-party and third-party customers to build and run AI apps and agents."

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Last week, major location data broker Gravy Analytics disclosed a data breach that may have resulted in the theft of precise location data for millions of people, reports TechCrunch. That appears to include data from popular mobile games like Candy Crush, as well as dating apps, pregnancy tracking apps, and more, as 404 Media wrote on Thursday, following up its report of the breach two days earlier.Baptiste Robert, CEO of digital security company Predicta Lab, said in a series of posts Wednesday that the small sample data set published in a Russian forum contained data for tens of millions of data points worldwide" and included sensitive locations like the White House, Kremlin, Vatican, military bases, and more." As TechCrunch notes, the sample alone contained more than 30 million locations.

Photo illustration by The Verge / Photo: Amazon AWS chief Matt Garman says Amazon is already seeing the benefits of its massive AI investments. Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: Adobe Adobe is launching new generative AI tools that can automate labor-intensive production tasks like editing large batches of images and translating video presentations. The most notable is Firefly Bulk Create," an app that allows users to quickly resize up to 10,000 images or replace all of their backgrounds in a single click instead of tediously editing each picture individually.The tool was created by combining several of Adobe's Firefly-powered APIs for developers, with the aim of making them more accessible to creatives who lack technical coding experience. Bulk Create is launching in beta today, and split into two separate tools on Adobe's Firefly web app: Remove Background" and Resize." The first is pretty self-explanatory - users can upload image files into the tool from their computer, Dropbox, or Adobe Experience Manager, and quickly remove the backgrounds.It should work on any image, but looks especially useful for product marketers. Alongside just removing the background, users can also set the tool to replace backgrounds with a specific image or color (defined by HEX codes) to get variations of each image that are ready for further editing. The file batches can be saved as either PNG or JPEG for now, with Adobe saying that support for Photoshop PSD files will be added in the future. Image: Adobe The background expansion for Resize" might work fine for abstract images like this, but the tool seems to struggle with photographs. The Resize" tool presents a selection of preset options for popular ad banner sizes and platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. It uses generative AI to stretch the backgrounds of images to fit these required dimensions, but the demo I saw wasn't particularly inspiring - there was a lot of obvious warping, with one example strangely copying and blurring wine glasses together that were in the foreground. For simple backgrounds, though, it could spare graphic designers from having to manually resize their marketing assets for each platform. While services like Canva and Adobe Express also have tools that make this easier, Bulk Create can do so in a single click.Adobe is making some new developer APIs for Firefly Services generally available in the coming weeks that developers can use to speed up video and print production workflows. Dubbing and Lip Sync" can translate and edit lip movement for video audio into 14 different languages, and a new InDesign tool can automatically format text and images for print and digital media using predefined templates. Digital avatars" created using text descriptions and voice recordings will also be available in beta this month, which can be used to present videos and product explainers.The power required to edit batches of 10,000 images is presumably expensive. Adobe says there will be a fee to use these new tools based on consumption" - which likely means users will need to pay for a premium Adobe Firefly plan that provides generative credits that can then be spent" on the features.

Image: The Verge Decentralized social network Mastodon has announced plans to transfer its ownership to a new nonprofit entity. Ownership of Mastodon will move away from the control of CEO Eugen Rochko, in contrast to the power exerted by other social media CEOs like Meta cofounder Mark Zuckerberg and X owner Elon Musk.Simply, we are going to transfer ownership of key Mastodon ecosystem and platform components to a new nonprofit organization," Mastodon says in a blog post, affirming the intent that Mastodon should not be owned or controlled by a single individual."Rochko, who founded Mastodon in 2016, will take on a new role with a focus on product strategy while ownership moves to a new not-for-profit entity based somewhere in Europe, with the exact location still to be finalized. The organization is currently headquartered in Germany, where it was a nonprofit until its charitable status was stripped last year. This move is a way of restoring Rochko's original intent for Mastodon.When founder Eugen Rochko started working on Mastodon, his focus was on creating the code and conditions for the kind of social media he envisioned," Mastodon says. The legal setup was a means to an end, a quick fix to allow him to continue operations. From the start, he declared that Mastodon would not be for sale and would be free of the control of a single wealthy individual, and he could ensure that because he was the person in control, the only ultimate decision-maker."In the short term, nothing should change for users. Mastodon will continue to host the mastodon.social and mastodon.online servers and support its federated network. Routine code development and bug fixes are ongoing, though the announcement adds that changes are definitely in the pipeline."Our core mission remains the same: to create the tools and digital spaces where people can build authentic, constructive online communities free from ads, data exploitation, manipulative algorithms or corporate monopolies," Mastodon says.Mastodon's announcement comes at a time when the WordPress open-source project and its cofounder have been embroiled in a months-long legal feud, and Meta's Zuckerberg has made headlines for stripping back Facebook and Instagram's fact-checking and content moderation before lying about it to Joe Rogan.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Tom Conrad, a longtime veteran of the tech industry who joined Sonos' board of directors in 2017, has been appointed interim CEO following today's ouster of Patrick Spence. And in his first letter as the (temporary) new boss, Conrad hits on a number of things that will likely be music to the ears of rank-and-file Sonos employees.I've heard from many of you about your own frustrations about how far we've drifted from our shared ideals," he says in the letter. There's a tremendous amount of work in front of us, including what I'm sure will be some very challenging moments, decisions, and trade-offs, but I'm energized by the passion I see all around me for doing right by our customers and getting back to the innovation that is at the heart of Sonos' incredible history."Conrad says he has already relocated to Santa Barbara - where Sonos is headquartered - and will be in the office daily as he works to reenergize employees after an ordeal that has cratered morale. I think we'll all agree that this year we've let far too many people down. As we've seen, getting some important things right (Arc Ultra and Ace are remarkable products!) is just not enough when our customers' alarms don't go off, their kids can't hear their playlist during breakfast, their surrounds don't fire, or they can't pause the music in time to answer the buzzing doorbell."In a separate letter to employees, Sonos board chair Julius Genachowski said, Tom's mandate is to improve the Sonos core experience for our customers, while optimizing our business to drive innovation and financial performance," and he noted that Conrad has left his job as CEO of Zero Longevity Science to give his full attention to Sonos. Perhaps the interim pick already has an eye on making this appointment more permanent.Below is Conrad's full letter to employees:

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge As chief executive, Spence oversaw many successful products. But there was no coming back from last year's app debacle: it has finally led to his ouster. Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is resigning from the company today, effective immediately, with board member Tom Conrad filling the role of interim CEO. It's the most dramatic development yet in an eight-month saga that has proven to be the most challenging time in Sonos' history.The company's decision to prematurely release a buggy, completely overhauled new app back in May - with crucial features missing at launch - outraged customers and kicked off a monthslong domino effect that included layoffs, a sharp decline in employee morale, and a public apology tour. The Sonos Ace headphones, rumored to be the whole reason behind the hurried app, were immediately overshadowed by the controversy, and my sources tell me that sales numbers remain dismal. Sonos' community forums and subreddit have been dominated by complaints and an overwhelmingly negative sentiment since the spring.In October, Sonos tried to get a handle on the situation, which, by then, had spiraled into a full-on PR disaster, by outlining a turnaround plan. The company vowed to strengthen product development principles, increase transparency internally, and take other steps that it said would prevent any mistake of this magnitude from ever happening again. I can also report for the first time that Sonos hired a crisis management public relations firm to help navigate the ordeal. Image: Sonos But three months later, Sonos' board of directors and Spence have concluded that those steps weren't enough: the app debacle has officially cost Spence his job. No other changes are being made today, however. So for now, chief product officer Maxime Bouvat-Merlin, who some employees have privately told me deserves a fair share of the blame for recent missteps, will remain in his role.We're going to initiate a search for the next CEO, and we'll work on finding a leader who's going to continue to build on our legacy and work with the team to move the company forward," Sonos spokesperson Erin Pategas told me by phone on Sunday afternoon. She described the leadership change as turning a page on the chapter that we're in and forging a path ahead that gets us in the direction that we want to be going for ourselves and our customers."In case you were wondering, that direction will not include a return to the old Sonos app; Pategas said the company remains fully committed to the new software, which has received a slew of bug fixes and gradually added back previous features over the last several months. It's gotten better, but even this far along, complaints remain about speakers randomly vanishing from the app and other problems. Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Spence during happier times, back when the original Sonos Move was released. Spence joined Sonos in 2012 as chief commercial officer. As CEO, he oversaw a wide range of successful hardware products: Sonos released several impressive soundbars (including the still-new Arc Ultra), pushed into portable audio with the Move and Roam, and debuted the forward-looking Era 300 spatial audio speaker. But the app stumbles - and Spence's failure to apologize in the immediate aftermath - ultimately soured his reputation with the company's most loyal customers. There was no overcoming that.Spence will technically remain with Sonos until June 30th of this year, during which time he'll receive a base salary of $7,500 per month for providing the company with strategic advisory services." And when that end date rolls around, he'll be granted a severance of $1,875,000. Those numbers come from an 8K filing that Sonos made with the SEC regarding today's news.It now falls on Conrad, who joined the Sonos board in 2017, to rally disenchanted employees and make good on winning back consumer trust. Conrad's career includes a 10-year tenure as chief technology officer at Pandora and two years as VP of product at Snapchat. He worked on Apple's Finder software during the '90s. Most recently, Conrad served as chief product officer for the ill-fated Quibi streaming service. Pategas believes he's a great fit for the interim CEO position because he's keenly aware of the company's current predicament; Conrad and chief innovation officer Nick Millington have already been spearheading Sonos' fix-the-app effort for months.Despite this seismic shift at the top, Sonos' future product pipeline remains full steam ahead," Pategas told me. The company's next major new product is rumored to be a streaming video player, which would pit it against the likes of Apple, Roku, Amazon, and Google in the living room.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg at the Department of Transportation offices in Washington, DC. | Photo by Cheriss May for The Verge The outgoing transportation secretary on EVs, robotaxis, Trump, Musk, and the work still left to do. The outlook for electric vehicles looks shaky. Sales are up for most companies not named Tesla," but with Donald Trump promising to eliminate all of the generous subsidies and tax credits put in place by the Biden administration, that momentum could falter. Trump is also getting ready to unleash a flood of tariffs on foreign imports, including auto supplies. And he's expected to relax tailpipe emission rules that could slow down EV sales even more - and allow car companies to sell more polluting vehicles.Amid all this, Pete Buttigieg, who oversaw much of Biden's EV policies, is trying to put on a brave face. While the incoming Trump team sharpens its knives, the transportation secretary is finishing out his days by approving as much spending as he can from the administration's two landmark laws, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the climate-focused Inflation Reduction Act, before Trump can claw the rest back.He's also holding on to hope that Republican lawmakers, especially those who have directly benefited from the administration's spending on EVs and clean energy, will resist Trump's efforts to undo his predecessor's accomplishments.I think the bulk of our work will endure"For every conservative legislator publicly threatening to reverse our work, there's two or three who look like they're trying to take credit for it," he said in an exit interview with The Verge. And as long as that ratio keeps up, I think the bulk of our work will endure."Still, you can tell the election results and the coming turnover was weighing on Buttigieg, who seemed a lot more downbeat than in his previous interviews with The Verge. We also asked him what he wasn't able to accomplish while in office and to describe his hopes for himself - and us - for the future.This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.Donald Trump has said he's going to end the EV mandate" on day one. Which of your policies do you see as the most endangered, and which are more likely to survive for the next four years?I'm not that worried about having an EV mandate since there isn't one, but I am concerned that he might take steps to make EVs more expensive for American consumers. And that would be unfortunate. The work we've done to make EVs more affordable is part of why there are more and more jobs being created in the industrial Midwest, in places like where I grew up that are seeing a level of auto industry growth that we haven't had since the '60s. And I think that needs to be kept up, especially because there is clearly a ferocious innovation competition with China. They're using all the tools in their tool kit to try to edge us out, and we can't let that happen.I think the thing that has been the most effective in the short term has been the tax credits and making them more affordable. I think in the medium term, the thing that will matter the most is the charging network. Even though 80 percent of EV charging happens at home, we know that the other 20 percent really matters. And most of the projects that we set into motion will be physically online by 2027.I am concerned that [Trump] might take steps to make EVs more expensive for American consumers."Given that it's likely EVs are going to become more expensive over the next few years, how do you think the auto industry should respond to the elimination of these incentives? And how do you think customers are going to respond?What we've seen lately is, despite some of the coverage and the stories that are out there every single year, more Americans choose EVs. I think that trend will continue even if there's policy fluctuation because of the benefits in terms of the total cost of ownership. Having a vehicle with fewer moving parts and fewer fluids involved and that's just cheaper to fuel will, in the long run, be why the market sends us in that direction.Regardless, I think the important thing is to continue supporting a Made in America" EV industry. And I'm concerned about that. The OEMs are going to do what makes the most sense to them in the given policy environment. They've made a lot of choices that there's really no turning back for them. But of course, they're going to need to modulate that up or down from year to year based on the market. That's what businesses do, and that's totally appropriate.What sort of dangers do you feel exist for the climate from a transportation perspective, considering we've got an incoming administration that is rejecting the idea that climate change is an accepted science and seems ready to enact policies that will help worsen the effects of climate change?The climate doesn't care whether people care about it or not. It's going to keep changing. And we need to keep adapting and doing what we can to prevent it from being worse than it already is. Obviously, it matters when you have an administration that cares about it versus one that doesn't.My experience as a mayor was that if cities, representing the bulk of global GDP, got together and said, We're not going to wait on our national capitals. We're going to take action ourselves." That's how the C40, which became the climate mayors, was born. So I have a lot of confidence that state and local work will continue and that there are new stakeholders, including red states, working-class auto manufacturing families, who will be perhaps a surprisingly strong backstop on the continued importance of the growth of the industry in our country.Have you heard specifically from any of these red state lawmakers in the so-called Battery Belt where these factories are going up, places like Tennessee and Kentucky? Have they told you anything that gives you confidence that maybe there's going to be more pushback on the elimination of these policies?Often, it's more in what they don't say than what they do say. The conspicuous decision of leaders in places like Georgia and Indiana not to try to pile on the anti-EV ideology because, of course, governors like cutting ribbons on good-paying building trades and manufacturing jobs. And that's exactly what's happening because of our work. If anything, I think there will be an attempt for others to try to take credit for it. But the most important thing is that happens at all.The climate doesn't care whether people care about it or not."Was the politicization of EVs over the course of the presidential campaign inevitable? Or do you think there was more the administration could have done to push back against that?I think we did everything we could to stress that this shouldn't be a Republican or Democratic thing. That when you're in a high-stakes innovation competition with a country like China, you have nothing to gain by kind of over-indexing on old technology or telling people that what we did in the last century is going to work in this one without modernizing. I've just never seen a country win out by looking only to its past.As we've seen in our time, everything from public health to transportation policy can get politicized. But again, I think the market will actually point in a pretty powerful direction here. And part of how I know that is you've got a country like China, which is conspicuously not enthusiastic about environmental protection, and they're all in there doing that for a reason. The reason is economic strategy. And we better not be caught sleeping when it comes to our economic strategy. That's a bipartisan concern.The Trump team is also reportedly looking into canceling the standing general order on autonomous vehicle and advanced driver-assist crash reporting. That was another notable thing that happened under your watch. What do we stand to lose there if this sort of transparency is eliminated and we don't have insight into some of these crashes?To put it simply, I think kneecapping a safety initiative is not a good idea. I've seen lots of second-hand reporting on that. I don't know what will actually happen. But what I know is that we need to make sure we have good information about the safety of this technology coming onto our roadways. And I say that not because I'm against that technology. On the contrary, I think it's precisely because of the theoretically lifesaving potential that we need to get the rollout right as a country.I've just never seen a country win out by looking only to its past."Trump also seems to be considering policies that favor his new best friend, Elon Musk. What concerns do you have seeing someone like Musk, with all of his conflicts and government entanglements, so close to power?When you consider the power of any federal agency - certainly one like the USDOT, which has a lot of life-and-death responsibility - it's incredibly important that that power be used in ways that are fair and objective. And we've sought to do that by calling balls and strikes without fear or favor. Sometimes that has meant that in the same month we are congratulating a company for some partnership with us in one realm, we're also launching enforcement actions against them for some concern or violation in another realm. You have to be ready to call balls and strikes. And I hope there is enough public and congressional scrutiny to make sure that happens no matter who's in charge here.Do you think the Biden administration could have courted Musk a little more gently or strategically, given how he has emerged as this force in terms of his support for Trump and how much Tesla has been influential in the EV market?Maybe, it's hard to say in hindsight. One thing I've observed is that a lot of the players in this space - even though you would think it is hyper-rational given how technical and how economic it is - the truth is, there's a pretty big emotion factor there, too. And I think it's important to take that into account.I also wanted to ask you about the ARPA project with infrastructure. That was a big announcement over the last four years. How do you see that sort of progressing into the next administration? Do you feel like there's still going to be support for a Skunk Works-style project around infrastructure?I think so. I hope so. I think there's enormous potential here. I mean, some of the technologies that we use for transportation haven't changed that much since the days of the Romans. And yet we know there's evidence that everything from 500-year concrete to self-healing bridge components is potentially within our grasp. I mean, it could come to fruition in my lifetime. So given that some of those things are trillion-dollar ideas, we should continue investing the modest, comparatively modest millions that make it possible. And this is something, too, I hope is bipartisan. Innovation should be bipartisan. So far, I haven't seen a strong Democrat / Republican valence about unlocking some of those technologies. We just need to be smart about which things the market can take care of and which things just don't happen unless there's government support.A common criticism I heard about the Inflation Reduction Act was that a lot of money was being spent to incentivize cars, but not enough to get people out of their cars and walking and biking. There was an announcement today about $45 million for some active transportation. But compare that to the tens of billions of dollars spent on EVs, it seems kind of like a drop in the bucket. Do you feel like this was the right balance to strike, or do you think more could have been done?That would be true if you looked at the IRA in a vacuum. But the truth is, even though we think we call the IRA the climate bill, in many ways the infrastructure bill was our climate bill as a department. What I mean by that is a lot of the things that went into supporting transit or supporting a new, better way to design our highways and bridges will mean just as much or more for carbon pollution reduction as what's in the IRA. EVs help, but that's only part of the story.How are you personally feeling seeing all of these policies that you spent so much time on - so much effort, so much political capital to get enacted - now that they're all on the chopping block or endangered?I just can't speculate or predict what will happen next. But what I do know is what we did was good policy and good work. One of the most flattering and convincing pieces of evidence I see for that is for every conservative legislator publicly threatening to reverse our work, there's two or three who look like they're trying to take credit for it. And as long as that ratio keeps up, I think the bulk of our work will endure.And for those folks who are waiting with dread about what's going to come down the pike in terms of transportation policy and climate policy - are we screwed, or do you think there's some hope for the future?As a federal official, I have sometimes been impatient with the limitations of the federal level compared to the power that our system places in state and local hands. I think going forward, maybe I'll go back to my mayoral mentality and remember how much of our salvation comes from the local in this country. Again, some things are good policy in a way that endures no matter who's in charge, even if they have a different vocabulary or a different emphasis. I actually think the realm of transportation work is one of the ones that will be the most durably bipartisan, even if, obviously, the next administration will show less interest in issues like climate change, labor union support, or racial and economic justice compared to this one.As a last question, if you had another four years on this job, what are some things you would like to have done?I just launched our Project Delivery Acceleration Council. And it sounds strange to launch something on your way out the door, but what I reminded that team of is that their work is going to be wildly important under the next administration, to make sure that we pay more attention to delivery. It's critically important to fund these things, but you also have to bring out a lot more efficiency in the project delivery process. And it isn't sexy, but it's wildly important to get more value for our taxpayer dollar.So as I think about the second half of this decade, when the bulk of these projects actually enter construction, that's something I would have wanted to work on. I think I'll continue to find some way to work on it on the outside, and I hope it gets continued bipartisan interest in [Washington, DC] because I think delivery is vitally, vitally important, not just on the legislative side.The infrastructure law was a five-year bill and year five is coming up. Congress and the administration will have to negotiate what comes next. And it'll be important to learn from everything good, bad, and indifferent that we've learned from the first infrastructure bill. And then from a safety perspective, I think the biggest piece of unfinished business remains the rail safety legislation - bipartisan, cosponsored by JD Vance, completely deserving of a vote and of being passed into law. And if the next administration is the one to do it, I'll be the first to cheer for that because it's just the right thing to do.

Image: Blue Origin Blue Origin is preparing for its biggest launch yet, but on Monday morning the attempt was scrubbed for technical reasons after several delays were made throughout the three-hour launch window. The window originally opened at 1AM ET.It's unclear when the Jeff Bezos-owned commercial space company will next attempt to send its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket into space for the first time.

Roborock's Saros Z70 looks set to be the first robot vacuum with an articulating arm to come to market. It's designed to pick up light items like socks and tissues. (Not actual size) | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge CES saw wild innovations from Roborock and Dreame and helpful upgrades from the rest of the pack, all of which are set to make 2025 a banner year for those who'd rather leave the cleaning to the robots. Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Apple may have settled on iPhone 17 Air as the name for the rumored skinny iPhone that's expected this fall, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in today's Power On newsletter. He writes that the phone will be a testing ground for future technologies," including the tech that leads to the company's first foldables.The name wouldn't be surprising - both the MacBook Air and iPad Air were the thinnest versions of their lines when they were released. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to carry that forward by being about 2 millimeters thinner" than current iPhones, Gurman has written. Other recent rumors have put it between 5.5mm and 6.25mm thick, which is close to the M4 iPad Pro's depth and less than the thinnest iPhone so far, the iPhone 6.The thinness isn't just a flex - realizing it will help Apple along toward future foldable iPads and iPhones, Gurman writes. And he says the phone could be one of Apple's first proving grounds for its in-house cell modem, codenamed Sinope, after it debuts in the iPhone SE this spring. This year's iPhone lineup is also expected to debut Apple-designed Wi-Fi / Bluetooth chips, though Gurman doesn't go as far as saying that includes the 17 Air.Past rumors have said the new 17 Air will get a 6.6-inch ProMotion OLED display - Apple's 120Hz variable refresh rate screen used only on iPhone Pro models so far - and that it will have just a single 48-megapixel camera lens on the back, with a 24-megapixel selfie camera. It may have Apple's A19 chip and, like the iPhone SE 4, is expected to pack 8GB of RAM to run Apple Intelligence AI features.

The Cell BioPrint is designed to be used in retail spaces and dermatology offices. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge Las Vegas is punishingly dry. The arid winter air means I woke up on Day 3 of CES 2025 with a nosebleed, chapped lips, and ashy legs. This in spite of the fact I slathered myself with two pumps of a fermented bean essence, eye cream, moisturizer, and a lip mask. Staring at my face in the hotel mirror, I wonder if any of those products were doing what they're supposed to - and if maybe, I should try something different.This is why I was so eager to try L'Oreal's Cell BioPrint.For anyone who's struggled with their complexion, the Cell BioPrint feels like a holy grail gadget. The device is a mini-lab setup that analyzes a skin sample to generate a report about your skin's current condition. It'll also grade" your skin with regard to oiliness, wrinkles, skin barrier function, pore size, and uneven skin tone. Based on the proteins in your skin, you'll also see whether you're more likely to be susceptible to those issues down the line - even if they aren't issues now. The test also determines whether you're responsive to retinol, a popular and well-studied skincare ingredient that nevertheless causes a ton of confusion online. Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge ... Read the full story at The Verge.

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 66, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, happy 2025, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)This week, I've been reading about loneliness and Web3 scams and the future of procedural TV, watching Deadpool & Wolverine on an airplane like the director intended, rewatching Severance and Squid Game to get ready for the second seasons, eagerly awaiting the return of Kids Baking Championship, wondering if that's real Sara Dietschy or AI Sara Dietschy, and giving an Apple News Plus subscription a whirl as my go-to news source.I also have for you a big report from CES in Las Vegas. This edition of Installer is a little different than most, just because we saw so many new things, and so many new things launched, and in many cases, it's hard to know whether any of it will ever hit shelves. So think of this as part Installer, part CES recap, part David hopes desperately these things actually ship" list. But I tried hard to pick out the stuff I'm confident will actually end up on sale at some point soon and might be worth your money. I'm sure I'll be wrong about a few... Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge We view what we are doing as a public service,' says the cofounder of the nonprofit that millions of people are relying on to stay safe. If you live in Los Angeles, you are probably already intimately familiar with Watch Duty, the free app that shows active fires, mandatory evacuation zones, air quality indexes, wind direction, and a wealth of other information that everyone, from firefighters to regular people, have come to rely on during this week's historic and devastating wildfires.Watch Duty is unique in the tech world in that it doesn't care about user engagement, time spent, or ad sales. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit behind it only cares about the accuracy of the information it provides and the speed with which the service can deliver that information. The app itself has taken off, rocketing to the top of Apple's and Google's app stores. Over 1 million people have downloaded it over the last few days alone.The elegance of the app lies in its simplicity. It doesn't scrape user data, show ads, require any kind of login, or track your information. Its simple tech stack and UI - most of which is maintained by volunteer engineers and reporters - has likely helped save countless lives. While Watch Duty is free to use, the app accepts tax-deductible donations and offers two tiers of membership that unlock additional features, like a firefighting flight tracker and the ability to set alerts for more than four counties.With plans to expand the service across the United States, as well as overseas and into other emergency services, Watch Duty may eventually replace some of the slower and less reliable local government alert systems for millions of people. Photo by Lokman Vural Elibol / Anadolu via Getty Images An app born from fireThe idea for Watch Duty came to cofounder John Mills while he was trying to protect his off-grid Sonoma County home from the Walbridge fire in 2020. He realized there wasn't a single source for all the information people needed to protect themselves from the blaze, which ultimately killed 33 people and destroyed 156 homes. John and his friend David Merritt, who is Watch Duty's cofounder and CTO, decided to build an app to help.This came out of an idea that John had, and he talked to me about it four years ago," Merritt tells The Verge. We built the app in 60 days, and it was run completely by volunteers, no full-time staff. It was a side project for a lot of engineers, so the aim was to keep it as simple as possible."Fire reporting is piecemeal at best in fire-prone areas and frequently scattered across platforms like Facebook and X, where fire departments and counties have verified pages sharing relevant updates. But increasingly, social media platforms are putting automated access for alert services behind paywalls. Governments also use a wide variety of alert systems, causing delays that can cost lives, especially in fast-moving fires like the Palisades and Eaton fires that have forced evacuations for more than 180,000 people. And sometimes, these government-run alerts are sent out mistakenly, causing mass confusion.Watch Duty simplifies all that for millions of people.We view what we are doing as a public service," says Merritt. It is a utility that everyone should have, which is timely, relevant information for their safety during emergencies. Right now, it's very scattered. Even the agencies themselves, which have the best intentions, their hands are tied by bureaucracy or contracts. We partner with government sources with a focus on firefighting."We view what we are doing as a public service."One of the biggest issues around fires, in particular, is that they can move quickly and consume large swaths of land and structures in minutes. For example, the winds that drove the Palisades fire to spread to more than 10,000 acres reached 90 miles per hour on Tuesday. When minutes matter, the piecemeal alert system that Watch Duty replaces can cause delays that cost lives.Some of the delivery systems for push notifications and text messages that government agencies use had a 15-minute delay, which is not good for fire," says Merritt. We shoot to have push notifications out in under a minute. Right now, 1.5 million people in LA are getting push notifications through the app. That's a lot of messages to send out in 60 seconds. In general, people are getting it pretty much all at the same time." Image: Watch Duty Image: Watch Duty A simple tech stackFor Watch Duty, this kind of mass communication requires reliable technology as well as a group of dedicated staff and skilled volunteers. Merritt says that Watch Duty relies on a number of corporate partners with whom it has relationships and contracts to provide its service.We shoot to have push notifications out in under a minute."The app is built on a mix of technology, including Google's cloud platform, Amazon Web Services, Firebase, Fastly, and Heroku. Merritt says the app uses some AI, but only for internal routing of alerts and emails. Reporters at Watch Duty - those who listen to scanners and update the app with push notifications about everything from air drops to evacuation updates - are mostly volunteers who coordinate coverage via Slack.All information is vetted for quality over quantity," he says. We have a code of conduct for reporters. For example, we never report on injuries or give specific addresses. It's all tailored with a specific set of criteria. We don't editorialize. We report on what we have heard on the scanners."According to Merritt, the app has 100 percent uptime. Even though it started with volunteer engineers, the nonprofit has slowly added more full-time people. We still have volunteers helping us, but it's becoming more on the internal paid staff as we grow, as things get more complex, and as we have more rigorous processes," he says.All information is vetted for quality over quantity."He says there are no plans to ever charge for the app or scrape user data. The approach is kind of the Field of Dreams method to building a free app that saves people's lives: if you build it well, the funding will come.It's the antithesis of what a lot of tech does," Merritt says. We don't want you to spend time in the app. You get information and get out. We have the option of adding more photos, but we limit those to the ones that provide different views of a fire we have been tracking. We don't want people doom scrolling." Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images Collecting information in the era of TrumpWatch Duty relies heavily on publicly available information from places like the National Weather Service and the Environmental Protection Agency. Should the incoming Trump administration decide to execute on threats to dismantle and disband the EPA (which monitors air quality) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the parent agency to the National Weather Service, such moves would impact Watch Duty's ability to operate.Even still, Merritt is optimistic. We will be pretty well insulated from any change to policy," he says. We are either buying that information ourselves already or we are happy to buy it, and we will take that cost on. The fact that we're soon going to be covering the entire US will defray the cost of anything that shifts from a policy perspective. Our operation costs are mostly salaries. We are trying to hire really good engineers and have a really solid platform. If we need to raise a grant to buy data from the National Weather Service, then we will."Regardless of what the next administration does, it's clear that Watch Duty has become a critical and necessary app for those in Southern California right now. The app currently covers 22 states and plans to roll out nationwide soon.We got 1.4 million app downloads in the last few days," according to Merritt. I think we have only received 60 support tickets, so that shows that something is working there. We are really just focused on the delivery of this information."

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon will be winding down its Prime Try Before You Buy program, which let Prime members try on clothes before paying for them, reports The Information. It will shutter on January 31st, according to a banner at the top of the service's landing page.Amazon spokesperson Maxine Tagay said in a statement emailed to The Verge that the company is discontinuing the service because it only worked for a limited number of items" and customers have been increasingly using our new AI-powered features" to decide what to buy.Tagay gave examples like Virtual Try-On AR feature that puts 3D renders of shoes from certain brands on your feet using your smartphone's camera. She also mentioned the company's LLM-powered personalized size recommendations" that tweak size recommendations based on customer reviews.Prime Try Before You Buy launched in 2018 for all Prime subscribers as Amazon Wardrobe before the company later changed its name. Through it, Prime members can order up to six items, try them for seven days, then pay for what works and send back the rest - like a very basic version of Stitch Fix's curated clothing service. But a big part of that is returns, which is something the company has been trying to cut back on.The discontinuation of Prime Try Before You Buy comes after years of cost-cutting at the company, as CNBC points out. That's included massive layoffs and shuttering physical stores, as well as scaling back some of its efforts in the grocery industry.Here is the full statement Tagay provided to The Verge:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge New renders of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series have appeared in a leak from Android Headlines ahead of Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event later this month. The most obvious change here is that Samsung has tweaked the design of the S25 Ultra, rounding off the phone's corners a bit.From the renders, it looks like you'll be able to get the non-Ultra S25s in light blue, dark blue, light green, and silver. The Ultra will come in black, gray, and two silvery colors with either a white or blue tint.Here are a couple of the images - you can see the rest at Android Headlines: Image: Android Headlines Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Image: Android Headlines A minty-colored Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus. Apart from the new colors, the non-Ultra phones are almost indistinguishable from the S24 line. But one finer detail that's changed is the way the camera bumps seem to nod at the look of a traditional camera lens barrel that flares out at the end. Internally, look for a CPU bump from Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips to new Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile processors, but not much else. You can read more about the internals in a separate specs leak that Android Headlines also published yesterday.Stay tuned for our coverage of the next Galaxy Unpacked event on January 22nd, at which we expect the company will reveal plenty of details about these phones. Naturally, you can bet it will talk about new AI features, too. Maybe by then, I'll have stopped thinking about connecting to compatible ships" through Matter with SmartThings.Update January 11th: Removed the image gallery and replaced with two images.

Photo by PHILIP FONG / AFP via Getty Images Honda's potential merger with Nissan would represent one of the largest shake-ups to the industry since the creation of Stellantis in 2021. But there are huge risks involved, too.On Tuesday in Las Vegas, during a roundtable discussion with select media, Honda executives offered some more insight into the merger, including how combining resources and factories could help the companies stay competitive in the increasingly costly fight with China.Honda is concerned about China's meteoric rise as a dominant and highly competitive player in the EV and autonomous driving space. In late December, when Honda and Nissan announced that they had signed a memorandum of understanding to create an automotive company worth around $50 billion, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said that the rise of Chinese automakers and new players has changed the car industry quite a lot... We have to build up capabilities to fight with them by 2030, otherwise we'll be beaten."Honda executives offered some more insight into the mergerThe stakes are high, too. According to a recent report by S&P Global Mobility, the global EV market will grow nearly 30 percent year over year, with 89.6 million new EVs expected to be sold this year. According to Allied Market Research, the global autonomous vehicle market is expected to reach around $60.3 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $448.6 billion by 2035. If the Japanese automakers want to continue to dominate the market as they have since the 1960s, they have to iterate quickly and get products into consumers' hands.Since the beginning of last year, we've been in conversation with Nissan," Noriya Kaihara, director and executive vice president at Honda, said through a translator following the company's debut of two production prototypes," the Honda 0 Saloon and the Honda 0 SUV at CES. Nothing has been decided but we've been discussing how to proceed." Photo: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Honda 0 Saloon at CES. Honda wants Nissan's large SUVs and underutilized factoriesDuring the roundtable, Kaihara said that Honda is looking at Nissan as a way to reduce costs around future software-defined vehicles (SDV).We have significant labor and development costs, and if there are operations we could share, that would be good for us," he said. Developing brand-new software, he continued, including advanced driving systems that move closer to autonomous vehicles and battery-electric vehicles, is both increasingly important for the longevity of established automakers and increasingly expensive.Honda also said that Nissan's large SUVs like the Armada and Pathfinder make it an attractive partner. Toshihiro Akiwa, VP and head of Honda's BEV development center, said through a translator that Honda's hybrid technology is solid but only currently exists in its midsize vehicles like the CR-V and the Accord. The company is interested in Nissan's larger vehicles because Honda's motor and battery capacity can be adapted to the larger vehicle." Image: Honda The Honda Prologue. Image: Nissan The Nissan Armada. While Honda does have the Prologue, that vehicle was part of a $5 billion joint venture with GM that only lasted through the development of two vehicles. The Prologue has been a surprise EV hit, selling over 33,000 in 2024 and outselling the larger gas-powered Honda Passport.Since the partnership with GM went south, it's not likely that the Prologue will be in production long, though Honda has made no announcements about its plans for the vehicle. Honda does not currently offer an all-electric crossover outside of the Prologue, though fans of the brand have been asking for an all-electric CR-V for years.Nissan, on the other hand, saw its earnings decline by as much as 90 percent last year, forcing it to lay off thousands of employees. The company has been struggling since the arrest of former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in 2018 for financial misconduct. Unsurprisingly, Ghosn isn't pleased about the news, telling Bloomberg that Nissan was in panic mode," calling the deal a desperate move" and noting that the synergies between the two companies are difficult to find."But as Honda executives at the roundtable noted, Nissan's struggle could pose an opportunity for Honda, too. That's because Honda plants that serve the US are currently running at maximum capacity, and they could use the excess capacity at Nissan's factories to meet customer demand. I'm not in a position to make comment [on Nissan], but they have capacity," Kaihara said. Photo by PETER POWER / AFP via Getty Images Honda's factory in Ontario, Canada. Trump's tariff threats and loss of EV incentivesPresident-elect Donald Trump's threats to impose tariffs on foreign imports and eliminate federal subsidies that have helped save Americans billions in EV costs also came up in the conversation. If Trump impacts future government strategy we have to be very flexible when the subsidies are cut or stopped," Kaihara said.That includes where Honda builds and produces its most popular vehicles like the CR-V and Civic. Each factory in Canada and Mexico is almost to full production level," Kaihara said. It's not so easy to change that direction, but depending on the tariff situation, we might have to change the production location to Japan or somewhere else."A significant move like that would be costly and could translate to increased prices for consumers when they go to buy their next Honda.In spite of all this, Honda is not wavering on its commitment to electrification. For the time being, we will have new EVs in the next year for the Zero series," Kaihara said. For the long term, I think, considering the environmental issues, EVs will be the solution for the future, and that will not be changed."

Cool screens are still undefeated at CES. Twelve years ago, I could have told you exactly what happened at my first CES and what happened at my third. Each was a chapter with a beginning, middle, and end; the lines between them drawn clearly. But now, 15 years since I attended my first CES, it's a lot fuzzier. I know I missed my flight home at that first show. I know I saw a lot of cameras at first, and then progressively fewer cameras over the years. I know there were team dinners and early meetings, but I couldn't tell you what happened when.What I do know about my first CESes is that I had - and I cannot stress this enough - no clue what I was doing. The same went for CES two, three, and four, to varying degrees. I think I had a Pentax DSLR loaned to me by a colleague. I had a work-issued BlackBerry and, I'm pretty sure, insisted on wearing nice dresses and impractical shoes to evening events. There was no Uber at the beginning, and you could spend an hour waiting in a cab line at the airport. We stayed at the MGM Grand, which housed live lions at the time.I broke an 11-year streak of not going to CES this year, which gave me a rare opportunity. It's not often in life that we get to step back and see something... Read the full story at The Verge.

Photo by Sean Hollister/ The Verge At CES 2025, Intel let journalists into its private Innovation Showcase," where we saw things like prototype next-gen laptops and giant stereo 3D handheld gaming PCs.While I was there, I also spotted a heavy metal handheld on a table that didn't seem... fully attached... to its screen. When I lifted the screen, it came away easily. It felt suspiciously light to be a real tablet, so I flipped it over and saw three connectors underneath: Above it, on a shelf, was a laptop with a suspiciously sized chunk of plastic on the bottom that looked like a perfect match. A minute later, Intel gaming evangelist Colin Helms confirmed: I was looking at a concept modular PC. That module contains a complete Intel Lunar Lake computer, the entire guts you'd need to make one work outside of peripherals and screen. It's basically a reboot of Intel's abandoned Compute Card idea, except it's not all Intel's doing and you probably shouldn't ever expect it to ship.It's a concept from Quanta, a company whose name you don't typically see on the laptops and tablets they create, because Quanta is an ODM (like Compal, Pegatron, Wistron, and Apple's better known iPhone supplier Foxconn) that designs and manufactures hardware on behalf of brand names. Quanta's calling the whole modular system the AI8A," and the aforementioned module at its heart is the Detachable AI Core." Helms told me it plugs into other concept computers as well, including an all-in-one desktop that Intel didn't have to show off. And presumably, like the Compute Card idea, you could upgrade your computer just by putting a new new module into it.The modular laptop has lots of concept-y bells and whistles too, so many that Intel's CES staff hadn't even worked them all out yet.For starts, the laptop has a motorized hinge, so you can tell it to open and close its own lid; it also claims to offer eye-tracking that lets you sling around multitasking windows just by looking at where you'd like them to be. It apparently comes with a mouse integrated into a ring that you could wear. The most mundane: a built-in Qi wireless charging pad in the palmrest, with indicator lights to show your battery's remaining capacity. I couldn't try any of it working, unfortunately, nor did I manage to ask what AI8A" means, because I mistakenly thought it said Aiba until I checked my photos closely just now. Nor could we hotswap the module between the handheld and laptop, since the module apparently doesn't have a battery inside.Again, this is a cool computing concept car: it's not likely that this computer will ever ship, even in a more practical / less gadgety form. Thankfully, we have begun to see some real, practical modularity in the laptop space since the death of Intel's Compute Card. Framework just celebrated its fifth anniversary this week, and Dell took a smaller step forward at CES with its first modular repairable USB-C port.Photos by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Like Meta, Amazon is ending some of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. In a memo sent last month, Candi Castleberry, Amazon's VP of inclusive experiences and technology, said the company has been winding down outdated programs and materials" related to its efforts around representation and inclusion, as reported earlier by CNBC and Bloomberg.In the memo, a copy of which Amazon provided to The Verge, Castleberry wrote that over the past few years, Amazon has been evaluating its programs across the company, each of which addresses a specific disparity, and is designed to end when that disparity is eliminated." At the same time, Castleberry noted that the company worked to build programs that are open to all" instead of having individual groups build programs." Castleberry said Amazon aimed to complete the discontinuation of some of these outdated" programs by the end of 2024.Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser declined to identify which programs had been ended.This approach - where we move away from programs that were separate from our existing processes, and instead integrating our work into existing processes so they become durable - is the evolution to... Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Automattic, the company that runs WordPress.com, is scaling back its contributions to the WordPress open-source project, according to an announcement on Thursday. The company says it's decreasing contributions to match" the amount of time companies like WP Engine spend on the ecosystem, further escalating the tension between Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg and the community.Now, instead of spending 3,988 hours per week developing the WordPress project, Automattic says it will now contribute around 45 hours as part of Five for the Future - a program that encourages companies to give back five percent of their resources to WordPress.org. These hours will likely go towards security and critical updates," Automattic says.Mullenweg, who also co-founded WordPress, criticized the third-party host WP Engine for contributing 40 hours a week to the ecosystem and called it a cancer" to the community. On the Five for the Future page that tracks contributions, the number of hours contributed by Automattic is already dwindling.Automattic blames the cutback on the significant time and money" related to the ongoing legal battle with WP Engine. It also points to the intense criticism" it has faced from members of the community' who want Matt and others to step away" from the WordPress project:

Image: Epic Games Fortnite Festival, the game's Rock Band-like music mode where you play along with real songs, is getting local multiplayer for up to four people on PlayStation and Xbox on January 14th.Currently, you can only play Fortnite Festival multiplayer online, but with this change, you'll be able to get your former Rock Band back together and jam out on the same TV screen - well, with a major asterisk. Fortnite Festival currently only supports certain Rock Band guitar controllers, so if you're on vocals or drums, you'll be relegated to playing on a controller.Epic Games didn't immediately reply to a request for comment about when drum kit or microphone support might be added to Fortnite Festival.The new local multiplayer mode is being added as part of season 7 of Fortnite Festival. The featured artist for the season is rumored to be virtual pop star Hatsune Miku - and Epic Games is has already dropped a hint that she might be joining Fortnite soon.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Tesla issued a recall for over 200,000 electric vehicles due to an issue with its latest computer hardware that can short circuit and disable some safety features including the rearview camera.Tesla submitted the recall on January 6th, which acknowledges faulty computers are in some of the most recent builds of Model 3, Model Y, Model S, and Model X vehicles. It includes ones with manufacturing dates ranging as early as January 25th, 2023 for some Model Xs, and as late as December 16th, 2024 for some Model Ys (with other models overlapping in between).The latest recall is due to non-compliance with the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has stringent rules on rearview camera reliability. Tesla issued a separate recall for problematic rearview cameras in January 2024 and one for Cybertrucks with laggy rearview cameras in October. Both were fixed with over-the-air (OTA) software updates.Tesla is again leveraging its OTA abilities to remedy this new recall, which started rolling out on December 18th and was added to newly manufactured vehicles on December 16th, according to the safety recall report.But as Electrek reports, the update can't fix the broader computer issue, which has been identified in 887 warranty claims and 68 field reports as of December 30th. The issues are reportedly affecting Tesla's latest HW4 (also known as AI4) computers, which are supposed to support the company's transition to full autonomy.Tesla says it will replace computers in cars that don't get fixed with the OTA update. But the company will undoubtedly need to replace them soon, especially if CEO Elon Musk wants to build out the robotaxi service he has promised for years.

The Godox MA5R will be available for just $49.99. | Image: Godox Godox, a company known for its professional photography gear like flashes and reflective umbrellas, has announced a new lighting product for smartphones. Its MA5R is a magnetic power bank with an array of diffused color-changing LEDs on the back that can improve phone photography while keeping battery anxiety in check. It's priced at $49, and while you can preorder it through online specialty stores, official availability isn't known.The MA5R attaches to MagSafe-compatible iPhones, smartphones supporting the Qi2 wireless standard, or mobile devices upgraded with a magnetic ring on the back. It can also be used handheld, but Godox didn't include a standard tripod mount for attaching it to stands - an odd omission given the company's lineup of pro gear. Image: Godox The MA5R uses color-changing LEDs to reproduce a wide range of colors and color temperatures. The accessory can be controlled through the Godox mobile app over Bluetooth, which allows its color temperature to be adjusted across a wide range - from 1800K (warmer) to 10000K (cooler) - so you can match the lighting in almost any environment. You can also opt for a wide range of colors if you're looking for a more dramatic lighting effect or choose one of 14 pre-programmed special effects," which could be useful when shooting video. Image: Godox The MA5R includes an additional smaller LED on the other side that can be used to improve the lighting of selfies. On the other side of the MA5R, next to its magnetic mount, is a small display showing battery life and lighting brightness. There's also a smaller front-facing LED light that can be used to improve selfies by rotating the accessory while it's attached to a phone. It offers a smaller range of color temperature adjustments between 2800K and 6500K.The added lights mean the MA5R is 13 millimeters thick, so it's not exactly going to disappear when attached to your phone. And it's only got a 5,000mAh battery inside. That's enough to keep its LEDs running for up to three hours, 40 minutes at full brightness or up to seven hours, 20 minutes at half brightness, but not quite enough to fully recharge many smartphones more than once.Wireless charging also stops while the LEDs are turned on, so maybe think of the MA5R's charging capabilities as a bonus feature for what looks like a solid portable lighting solution.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images As wildfires continue to devastate parts of Los Angeles County, hundreds of thousands of residents are without power as utility crews work to restore connectivity. Mobile carriers are also taking action to keep their services online and provide relief to affected residents.Here's how major carriers are responding.VerizonIn an update on Thursday, Verizon said it will waive call, text, and data usage incurred by prepaid and postpaid customers in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura counties from January 9th to the 18th. Verizon will automatically credit customers if they were billed for overages during this time.

You'll only need to empty the Yeedi Cube's base every once in a while. It handles the rest. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge The Yeedi Cube doesn't have the modularity and extremities of some of the cool new robot vacuums we've seen at CES 2025, but the self-emptying, self-cleaning mopping robovac is also much more reasonably priced. It's even cheaper today at Amazon, where you can buy it for $299.99 ($260 off) when you clip an on-page coupon. That's the lowest price we've seen yet on the budget robovac.The Yeedi Cube can capably map and remember several rooms, including designated no-clean zones that you can set within the mobile app. While it doesn't have AI-powered obstacle avoidance like some of the pricier robots we test, we found its laser-based navigation system works well enough to traverse floors that don't have laundry, clothes, or pet waste strewn about. And if it does get stuck, you can easily pick it up and reposition it thanks to an integrated carrying handle and a dedicated spot clean button.While we wish it had better brushes (it can get easily tangled with pet hairs), its 5,100Pa suction is good enough to lift loose dirt, cereal, and the like. It also has a one-liter fluid tank and vibrating microfiber pads that can mop hard flooring with great effectiveness. The do-it-all robovac can also empty its own dust bin and water tank, and clean and dry itself at the charging base.More Friday deals to shop

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Schools across the US and Canada are warning parents that a data breach may have leaked information for students and employees. The K-12 operations platform PowerSchool, which supports over 60 million students and has over 18,000 customers worldwide, suffered a breach that could've exposed names and addresses of students and educators and, in some cases, more sensitive information like Social Security numbers, medical information, and grades.As initially reported by Bleeping Computer, threat actors got into PowerSchool's support platform using compromised credentials. PowerSchool told Bleeping Computer that only a subset" of schools are affected but has not provided a count of affected school districts or people. Additionally, the outlet says that in a note provided to its customers, PowerSchool claimed it paid a ransom request and ...has received reasonable assurances from the threat actor that the data has been deleted and that no additional copies exist."PowerSchool's website and social media channels have no mention of the data breach or directions for people who may have been affected.In an email to The Verge, PowerSchool spokesperson Beth Keebler wrote that the company became aware of a potential cybersecurity incident" on December 28th and has taken all appropriate steps to prevent the data involved from further unauthorized access or misuse." Keebler also wrote:

Valerion's VisionMaster Max projector at the company's CES 2025 booth. | Image: Valerion Valerion announced a new feature for its VisionMaster Max projector at CES 2025 that will improve setup flexibility. The company will offer alternate lenses for the projector - a feature typically only offered on professional-grade home theater hardware - that can be swapped by users to change the size of the image it produces or how far it can project. That will accommodate a wider range of installations, from smaller living rooms to spacious dedicated home theaters, without sacrificing image resolution.The VisionMaster Max was originally announced at IFA 2024 by Valerion, which is a sister brand to AWOL Vision that focuses on ultrashort throw (UST) projectors. The brand's VisionMaster line debuted through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign last October, including the Max model, which offered an optical zoom feature that allows it to project images from 40 to 300 inches in size. Image: Valerion The VisionMaster Max may not look compact, but it's relatively small given it incorporates a pair of 12-watt speakers. The swappable lenses are a new feature for the projector, which is now available for purchase for $3,999. Valerion hasn't announced which additional lens options will be available for the VisionMaster Max or how much they'll add to the price. The stock lens has a throw ratio of 0.9-1.5:1, while Valerion was showing off an alternative with a 1.3-2.1:1 throw ratio - better for use in larger rooms - at CES, according to New Atlas.The upgraded version of the VisionMaster Max offers the same features and functionality as the one announced at IFA. It's a 4K triple laser projector capable of producing 3,000 ISO lumens of brightness, according to Valerion, and has the ability to upscale lower-res content using AI. It supports the IMAX Enhanced, Dolby Vision, and HDR10 Plus standards and includes a low input lag mode for gamers with refresh rates up to 240Hz when stepping down to a 1080p resolution.The VisionMaster Max is an all-in-one projector, so it includes a pair of 12-watt speakers with support for DTS:X and Dolby Audio. It's got three HDMI ports, including one with eARC support. In addition to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, it can be connected to the internet using an ethernet cable if the wireless internet signal in your home theater is problematic. And the projector runs Google TV, so you can install apps for various streaming services, including Netflix, Disney Plus, and Amazon Prime Video.

Image: Snowman For me, skateboarding has always been about getting into a flow state. Much like playing Tetris, I'm at my best when I'm skating almost subconsciously, not thinking and acting in the moment. It's not an easy zone to get into, and music has always been my shortcut. So the greatest compliment I can give to Skate City: New York is that I've spent the past week fine-tuning the perfect playlist, all so that I can also perfect my runs in the game.New York is a sequel to the original Skate City; both are available through Apple Arcade, though the first game was eventually ported to consoles as well. It comes from Snowman, the studio behind the Alto series, and the shift to New York is a lot like the move from Alto's Adventure to Alto's Odyssey. It's not an entirely new experience but, rather, one that changes the setting and adds some seemingly small - but very impactful - tweaks.What makes the series so well suited to mobile is the way it balances approachability and depth. Skate City is extremely easy to pick up. It's a side-scrolling game, so you're always moving left to right, and all of the various tricks and moves are performed either by a swipe, tap, or hold. It all feels... Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge CES is a TV show. And a car show. And a wearables show. And this year, oddly, kind of a pool-vacuum show? It is the biggest, most elaborate, most bizarre tech show of the year, during which practically the whole industry flies to Las Vegas to show off new stuff and make big deals.On this episode of The Vergecast, a special live edition of the show from the Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, we talk through as much of it as we can. (Thanks to everyone who came out, by the way! So much fun to get to see and hang out with all of you.) We actually begin the show with a story that didn't start at CES but took over the week anyway: Meta's about-face on fact-checking and content moderation. After that, we get into Samsung's new Frame Pro TV, the end of Dell's XPS brand, Sony's bizarrely expensive Afeela car, and more.After that, The Verge's Allison Johnson, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, and Victoria Song join us onstage to talk about what they saw at the show. We talk about phone toasters, robot vacuums, smart locks, smart glasses, Max Ink Mode, and lots more. Will anything we saw this week ever ship, and will any of it be any good? Who knows! But that's the fun of CES. It's a fever dream, a... Read the full story at The Verge.

A Super Scooper drops ocean water on the Palisades fire. | Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images An aircraft helping to fight wildfires that are raging across Los Angeles was struck by a civilian drone on Thursday. The collision damaged the wing of the aircraft - a CL-415 Super Scooper" capable of scooping up 1,600 gallons of ocean water to drop onto nearby blazes - according to a statement by the LA County Fire Department posted on X, putting it out of service until it can be repaired.Cal Fire spokesman Chris Thomas told The New York Times that grounding the aircraft will likely set back local firefighting efforts. Super Scoopers can typically refill in about five minutes. But even if it takes ten, that's six water drops that are lost each hour according to Thomas. So whose house is not going to get that water to protect it?" The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says the Super Scooper landed safely after the drone impact, and that the incident is now under investigation.Temporary flight restrictions have been implemented in the Los Angeles area that prohibit drones and other aircraft from flying without FAA authorization in an effort to protect firefighting efforts.According to LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone, the drone was not assigned to help tackle the Palisades fires, and was destroyed in the collision. Marrone told the LA Times that the FBI is now planning to implement so-called aerial armor" in the area to prevent further interference from drones.Several people online have violated the FAA-enforced flight restrictions, posting viral drone photos and video footage across social media showing the devastation from what appears to be prohibited airspace. Fire response agencies are often forced to ground their own aircraft to avoid collisions when dummies fly drones near wildfires for online clout.It's a federal crime, punishable by up to 12 months in prison, to interfere with firefighting efforts on public lands," the FAA said in a statement. Additionally, the FAA can impose a civil penalty of up to $75,000 against any drone pilot who interferes with wildfire suppression, law enforcement or emergency response operations. The FAA treats these violations seriously and immediately considers swift enforcement action for these offenses."

Illustration: The Verge Meta's popular messaging app WhatsApp is testing a new design that gives prominent space to a suite of AI chatbots. The design, currently only accessible through the app's Android beta, adds a dedicated tab for AIs on the app's homescreen.WABetaInfo spotted the change, which devotes one of WhatsApp's four tabs solely to its AI features. It includes a selection of Popular AI characters" to talk to, along with others organized by subject matter. Other AI-powered features within WhatsApp include AI-generated images and stickers and a search tool using Meta AI.These AI tools and chatbots aren't new to WhatsApp, though they're only available in the US and certain other countries, and a limited selection of languages. They're currently accessed through the app's primary Chats tab, but this update looks to give them more prominence. Image: WABetaInfo The exciting AIs that WhatsApp wants you to chat with. The app is also experimenting with expanding the range of AI bots by adding the option to create personalized AI characters, which WABetaInfo found in a separate beta update today. Meta already offers the ability to create custom AI bots, but only through an AI Studio on the Instagram website. Adding the option directly into an app is a significant simplification of the process.The new AI tab replaces the existing Communities tab, though that functionality isn't going anywhere. A previous beta version earlier this week introduced a streamlined" version of Community creation within the Chats tab.The WhatsApp beta is available through Google Play, though tester numbers are limited and the option to join is currently unavailable. We don't know if or when the AI tab will be added to the app's live build, but the change is likely to be limited only to those countries where the AI features are already available.