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Image: Warner Bros. Pictures The second chapter of Denis Villeneuve's Dune saga is streaming very soon: Max announced that Dune: Part Two will be hitting the service on May 21st.The film originally premiered in March and - as the title implies - follows the first movie in telling the complete story of Frank Herbert's original Dune novel. Villeneuve directed both films, and the sequel introduced a number of notable new characters including Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken), and Lady Margot Fenring (Lea Seydoux), along with the somewhat surprise appearance of Alia Atreides (Anya Taylor-Joy).If you didn't manage to catch Dune: Part Two in theaters, now is a great time to catch up. A third film is... Continue reading...

After gestating in the mind of writer / director Francis Ford Coppola for the better part of the last century, Megalopolis is finally making its way to the big screen at this year's Cannes Film Festival. And from the looks of the sci-fi epic's first teaser trailer, it might be just about everything Coppola always dreamt it would be.Set in a sprawling metropolis that's been devastated by a cataclysmic natural disaster, Megalopolis tells the story of how architect Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) tries to rebuild the city using his unusual ability to control time. There seems to be no stopping or reversing the shower of flaming meteors that descend upon the city in the new trailer as Cesar and other citizens watch in horror. But as imperiled... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge NASA's Mars Sample Return mission is already running over budget and behind schedule. But it may also be our best chance of finding extraterrestrial life. Continue reading...

The Dyson WashG1 can wipe up wet messes. | Image: Dyson Dyson's newest device for dealing with dirt in your home is a mechanical mop. Unlike the British engineering company's flagship fans, hair dryers, and vacuums, the new Dyson WashG1 floor washing machine doesn't use precision-engineered fans or a fine-tuned Hyperdymium motor. Instead, the mop relies on mechanical agitation to clean up wet spills, picks up dirt and debris, and gives your hard floors a really good wash.The WashG1 wet floor cleaner - aka mop - costs $699.99 and is the company's first dedicated mopping device. The cordless, battery-powered mop is slated for release this fall, and you can sign up to be notified when the world's fanciest mop arrives on Dyson's site.While it's definitely fancy, this isn't a smart mop -... Continue reading...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge TikTok is testing a more robust search results page, including using generative AI. The feature appears to be a new and is called search highlights."A snippet of AI results appear at the top of some search results pages, and clicking into the section opens a new page with the full response. In quick tests, I was able to find AI results for queries about recipes or topics like best laptops 2024." Screenshot: TikTok Clicking the result takes you to a full screen page. A page explaining the results says that the material is generated using ChatGPT, and that TikTok displays the content when [the algorithm] finds them relevant to your search." The feature appears to be limited so far: not all queries have AI... Continue reading...

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images When New York City Mayor Eric Adams was first introduced to a representative from Evolv, the AI gun detection company, he was given a list of places the scanners could be used, including hospitals, schools, Times Square, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal. What seems to have persuaded Adams, according to emails obtained by Wired, was Evolv's disclosure of another major client: Disney.As I mentioned, Linda Reid, VP Security for Walt Disney World (Florida) has known us since 2014 and deployed many of our systems at the Parks and Disney Springs," Evolv co-founder Anil Chitkara wrote in an email to Adams' office on February 7th, 2022. They've had success screening for weapons with Evolv Express ... There may be some interesting parallels... Continue reading...

Apple's latest high-end tablet is a marvel of hardware design still in need of the software and accessories to really make it sing. But wow is it fun to use. Continue reading...

Apple and Google collaborated on the new Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers industry standard. | Image: Apple A new industry specification devised by Apple and Google to address the safety risks of Bluetooth tracking devices is now live. Apple announced this week it has implemented alerts for unknown third-party Bluetooth trackers in iOS 17.5, following Google starting to roll it out across Android devices running 6.0 and higher last December.The Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers (DULT) standard is a cross-platform initiative designed to prevent Bluetooth trackers like Apple AirTags from being misused to track people without their knowledge. The specification allows iOS and Android devices to detect and alert you when a tracker that conforms to the standard is traveling with you and its owner is not.Apple said in a press release that... Continue reading...

The Vision Pro could be available in some international regions shortly after Apple's WWDC event next month. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple is reportedly preparing to launch its $3,499 Vision Pro outside of the US for the first time, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, with the mixed reality headset's international rollout expected to start shortly after the company's Worldwide Developers Conference early next month.On Monday, Gurman reported that Apple has flown hundreds of employees from its international stores" over to its offices in Cupertino, California, to show them how to demonstrate the device. Training sessions reportedly started last week, with courses taking up to four days to complete according to Gurman's sources.Apple staffers from Germany, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and China are included in the training, but apparently, the... Continue reading...

Screenshot: YouTube OpenAI is making a number of its previously subscription-only features available to free users of ChatGPT, with the biggest being the ability to create custom chatbots and browse its GPT Store, said CTO Mira Murati during the company's Spring update livestream today. The company also published today's updates in a blog on its website.The company opened its GPT Store to paid subscribers just four months ago on January 10th. The store lets users create their own chatbots, called GPTs, and share them. Some of the trending bots right now include an image-generating bot, a chatbot called Consensus that's geared toward helping with scientific research, and a logo-making bot.OpenAI said it would offer an engagement-based revenue sharing... Continue reading...

Screenshot: OpenAI OpenAI announced the launch of GPT-4o, an iteration of its GPT-4 model that powers its hallmark product, ChatGPT. The latest update is much faster" and improves capabilities across text, vision, and audio," OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said in a livestream announcement on Monday. It'll be free for all users, and paid users will continue to have up to five times the capacity limits" of free users, Murati added.In a blog post from the company, OpenAI says GPT-4o's capabilities will be rolled out iteratively (with extended red team access starting today)," but its text and image capabilities will start to roll out today in ChatGPT.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted that the model is natively multimodal," which means the model could generate... Continue reading...

The North American ID Buzz. | Photo: Volkswagen Volkswagen is one step closer to delivering the ID Buzz in the US, today revealing initial battery, powertrain, and trim options available when the all-electric microbus goes on sale later this year.To start, the automaker will offer a First Edition model that comes with exclusive wheels, badging, and extra unknown gifts." Alongside that, VW has a Pro S model that is rear-wheel drive only (282 horsepower) and a Pro S Plus that can option in all-wheel drive (335 horsepower) and comes with standard premium features like a heads-up display.While European customers have had fun going on road trips and camping for a year, Volkswagen has been slow to bring the retro-inspired microbus stateside. Last summer, the automaker confirmed the... Continue reading...

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge Not all video games need video. Over the years, games that exist only in audio have taken players into entirely new worlds in which there's nothing to see and still everything to do. These games have huge accessibility implications, allowing people who can't see to play an equally fun, equally immersive game with their other senses. And when all you have is sound, there's actually even more you can do to make your game great.On this episode of The Vergecast, we explore the history of audio-only games with Paul Bennun, who has been in this space longer than most. Years ago, Bennun and his team at Somethin' Else made a series of games called Papa Sangre that were among the most innovative and most popular games of their kind. He explains... Continue reading...

Screenshot: Ghost of Tsushima Steam, Epic, and Green Man Gaming are reportedly canceling and refunding preorders of the PC port of Ghost of Tsushima for buyers who live in over 170 countries without PlayStation Network access, reports Eurogamer. That's despite the fact that arguably the most important part of the game would still be playable without PlayStation Network account linking. The news comes after Valve abruptly delisted the game in those countries yesterday.Ghost of Tsushima only requires PSN account linking for its Legends multiplayer mode, a requirement the single-player campaign is exempt from, the game's developer went out of its way to say in a recent post. Steam, Green Man Gaming, and Epic Games Store each had disclaimers noting the same thing. In... Continue reading...

Illustration by Manon Louart for The Verge We found a collection of unique gift ideas that go beyond the flowers and chocolates that typically rule the day. Continue reading...

iFixit's step-up toolkit has all sorts of bits and bobs, all of which slot nicely in the case and included fabric roll. | Image: iFixit The right-to-repair movement has logged some serious wins over the past several years, with states like California, New York, and Minnesota having recently passed laws that make it easier for consumers to repair their own devices. But being able to obtain parts and manuals is only part of the process - you also need the tools. Luckily, iFixit's Pro Tech Toolkit is on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and iFixit for $59.96 ($15 off), matching the lowest price we've seen on the versatile tool set.Chances are you know iFixit for its in-depth teardowns of various gadgets and gizmos, including iPhone 15 Pro Max, headsets like the Apple Vision Pro, and the confounding mess that is the Humane AI Pin (sorry not sorry). That said, the company also... Continue reading...