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Illustration: The Verge A software engineer who was fired from Google in connection to internal protests at the company's offices says the company retaliated against him for merely watching the demonstration against an Israeli defense contract.The former employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said he went to the lounge on the 10th floor of Google's New York City office around lunchtime to check out the protest.When I got there, there were probably 20-ish people sitting on the floor. I didn't talk to any of them, I talked to folks who were standing up, passing out flyers, doing other roles," he said, adding that the protesters were wearing matching T-shirts.The worker then went back to his desk before returning to the protest around 5PM. I chatted with... Continue reading...

Photo: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Tesla was on the cusp of taking over electric vehicle charging in the US - then, the layoffs came.Today, multiple outlets reported that the company has laid off hundreds of employees, just weeks after cutting 10 percent (approximately 14,000 people) of its global workforce. Tesla's Supercharger division was said to be particularly hard hit, with several soon-to-be-former employees saying that close to the entire team had been cut.According to The Information, Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla's senior director of EV charging, is leaving the company, alongside most of the 500-person team she oversaw. Tinucci oversaw the effort to win near universal support from other automakers for Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS), an enormous... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon is doubling down on enterprise AI with the release of its AI chatbot Q, even as its competitors angle to offer more consumer-facing products.Amazon announced Q in November and made it available only to a small number of users. In a post, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy writes that bringing Q to more people will help solve misalignment issues for developers.The chatbot acts as an assistant for Amazon Web Services (AWS) users, learning from a company's data and workflows so employees can ask questions about their business. Users can also ask Q questions about coding, HR information, or logistics, Amazon says.Amazon's AI focus has been largely turned toward other businesses, with most of its releases falling under the AWS banner. It o... Continue reading...

With a dead battery, this is just a nice-looking paperweight. | Image: David Pierce / The Verge Just a week after its initial launch, the Rabbit R1's first software update is here - and not a moment too soon. Right on top of the list of improvements in the OTA update is up to 5x" improved idle battery performance, addressing a major pain point for early R1 adopters. It's also great news for me, specifically, because my R1 is constantly out of power.Today's update consists of two parts: an OTA update pushed directly to R1 devices and a cloud update to Rabbit OS. Battery life is far from the only issue addressed - other highlights include an improved music playback UI, improved Bluetooth reliability, and a fix for a compatibility issue when the device is plugged into a car that seems to have bricked at least one R1.There's also... Continue reading...

Here's what the inside of your Kobo looks like. | Image: iFixit E-readers might be relatively cheap when compared to your typical smartphone, but it's still a bummer when they break, given how hard it is to find parts for them. Now, iFixit has announced that it's offering OEM replacement parts for certain Kobo e-readers, along with detailed guides on how to install them, starting today. The first e-readers being supported are Kobo's latest: Kobo Clara Colour, the Clara BW, and the Libra Colour.Kobo owners can buy OEM batteries, motherboards, front and back covers, and screen assemblies for those devices on iFixit's new Kobo Repair Hub page. iFixit has a detailed guide for installing each part.

Image: Apple Apple says it's working on a fix for an issue that's causing some iPhone owners' alarms to trigger silently. That's according to the Today show's segment this morning about the issue, which has been spreading on social media as users complain that their alarms aren't waking them up. Vergecast producer Liam James told me he's been having the same problem since Friday, with an alarm that he set 6 or 7 years ago" and hasn't touched since.It's not clear how widespread the problem is. If you're going through it, though, it wouldn't be the worst idea to check a couple of your settings. One is to make sure that the ringtone and alerts volume slider under Settings > Sound & Haptics is turned up. It can be easy to accidentally turn down your... Continue reading...

Image: OnLeaks via Smartprix The Google Pixel 8A might not be getting that rumored price hike after all. Details shared with Smartprix by reliable leaker OnLeaks suggest that the base 128GB model will have the same $499 price as its predecessor.However, Google could bump the price of the Pixel 8A to $559 for a new 256GB storage option, according to Smartprix. The leak also suggests that the Pixel 8A will come with a larger 4,500mAh battery instead of the 4,385mAh option that came with the Pixel 7A.So far, Pixel 8A leaked details point to a G3 Tensor chip just like its more expensive siblings, along with a brighter 120Hz display than its predecessors, IP67 water resistance, and seven years of security upgrades. It's also rumored to come with Google's AI features... Continue reading...

Image: Getty Images Walmart isn't making enough money off its new health centers, so it decided to close up shop. The retail giant announced today that it'll shutter all 51 health centers it opened up across five states since 2019. Walmart is also getting rid of its virtual care program after acquiring telehealth provider MeMD in 2021.We determined there is not a sustainable business model for us to continue," Walmart said in an announcement today.We determined there is not a sustainable business model for us to continue."Retail giants like Walmart, BestBuy, and Amazon have each tried to take their own share of Americans' $3.6 trillion in health spending each year. But while retailer heavyweights thought they could turn a profit by making healthcare... Continue reading...

Image: Bumble Bumble's redesigned dating app has a new Opening Move" feature that's supposed to take the legwork out of starting conversations. Women on the app can now choose from a list of prewritten prompts - or come up with their own - that the app will send to all their matches.Unlike dating apps like Tinder and Hinge, Bumble lets women take the first move when they get a match. The new Opening Move option should at least make it less intimidating (and less time-consuming) to send out those first messages.Some of the prewritten prompts include questions like Who's your dream dinner party guest (real or fictional)?" or What do you like about my profile?" Once the match responds, women can choose whether or not to carry on the conversation,... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Roku has a plan to boost ad revenue. The company will start showing video ads on your homescreen at some point. Roku CEO Anthony Wood told investors during the company's earnings call last week that the company will put the video ads in the premier video app we called the Marquee" where static image ads live now.It sounds like Wood is referring to the box on the homescreen that sits to the right of your Roku apps, which hopefully means the video ads won't be full-screened. He said the company is also testing out other types of video ad units" and looking into other ways to innovate more video advertising" on the homescreen. The company's push comes after it performed its third layoff in less than a year last September amid a slower... Continue reading...

Image: Beats Beats just announced its new Solo 4, its latest in a long line of on-ear wireless headphones. The latest model, priced at $199.99, offers battery life of up to 50 hours. That endurance is no doubt helped by the fact that these lack active noise cancellation, a feature present in many competing products at the same price point. But Beats says plenty of other improvements await buyers of the Solo 4.For one, they support wired audio over both USB-C and the 3.5mm jack. And these headphones have passive tuning, meaning they can keep playing when plugged in even when the battery is dead - without any degradation in sound. Beats is also hyping all the custom acoustic architecture that's gone into the Solo 4. And just like the Beats Studio... Continue reading...

Beats' on-ear headphones get an overdue refresh with a more comfortable design, longer battery life, and wired audio over both USB-C and the 3.5mm jack - but no ANC. Continue reading...

The white Nova Pro in an optional carrying case. SteelSeries is launching a white version of its excellent Arctis Nova Pro Wireless headset today. While it's mostly just a white color option for a headset from 2022 that's packed full of tech, there's an important change to the ANC mics that could make these even more appealing.SteelSeries has made the ANC mics within the ear cups slightly smaller overall, with less of a bump so they're more comfortable to wear. At launch, some Nova Pro owners complained about the ANC bump and SteelSeries quietly redesigned it at some point last year so both the black and new white models benefit from this improvement. The ANC bump is smaller on the white version than the original launch model. The $349.99 white version of the Nova... Continue reading...

Arc for Windows includes a powerful sidebar. | Image: The Browser Company The excellent Arc browser that's been impressing macOS and iOS users over the past couple of years is finally making its way to Windows today. Arc is designed to change the way you use a browser in many fundamental ways, with a collapsible sidebar that combines vertical tabs and bookmarks into an app switcher-like experience, a command bar for navigation, and useful tools to help you browse the web.The company behind Arc, aptly named The Browser Company, is betting on its browser being different enough to entice Windows users away from Chrome and Edge. Arc really is just calming and keeps you organized," says Hursh Agrawal, co-founder of The Browser Company, in an interview with The Verge. It helps you handle your tasks during the day... Continue reading...

Photo by Joseph Weiser / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Automatic emergency braking is now the law of the land.The US Department of Transportation finalized a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard requiring all vehicle manufacturers to include automatic emergency braking in their light-duty vehicles (basically all passenger vehicles, including SUVs and pickup trucks) by 2029. The new rule aims to prevent hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of injuries every year. The Department of Transportation is also in the process of finalizing a similar rule for heavy-duty vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds.Around 90 percent of light-duty vehicles on the road today come standard with automatic emergency braking, or AEB. But the new rule requires automakers to adopt a more robust version of... Continue reading...

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Humane. Rabbit. Meta. All these companies and more are working hard to invent a new category of tech, one that doesn't live as an app on your phone but actually creates room for other AI-powered gadgets. The AI gadget revolution could be huge.So far? It's not going great. And in fact, as Google and Apple in particular find new ways to add powerful new models to their existing products, it seems as though the big winner in the AI race might be the phone already in your pocket.On this episode of The Vergecast, The Verge's Allison Johnson tells us about her experiments with AI gadgets and her attempt to make a flip phone into a chatbot-toting wearable. (It worked! Kind of!) We also discuss which other gadgets might make good AI gadgets,... Continue reading...

The EU is assessing whether Meta violated its obligations under the Digital Services Act. | Image: The Verge The European Commission has targeted Meta with a formal investigation to assess whether it's doing enough to moderate political content, illegal content, and disinformation on Facebook and Instagram. The probe comes amid a spike in online pro-Russian propaganda in the run-up to EU elections in early June.In a press release on Tuesday, the European Commission claims that Meta may have breached its obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a set of EU rules that aim to protect users by fostering safer online environments. The potential violations being investigated cover Meta's approach to tackling disinformation campaigns and coordinated inauthentic behavior" in the EU, alongside the lack of effective third-party tools for... Continue reading...

Image: Supercell Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland is becoming a playable video game character in Clash of Clans this week. It's the first time a real person has been added to the game, and footballer Haaland will become the Barbarian King character during a month-long football-themed seasonal event.Clash players will be able to recruit the Norwegian striker or raid his village and ruin it - perfect if you're an Arsenal fan like me.Haaland has played Clash of Clans for more than 10 years and reached out to Supercell, the Finnish game developers behind the popular mobile game, to make a partnership happen. Supercell jumped at the opportunity. When we heard Erling Haaland was a fan of our game and that he wanted to partner with us, it was really... Continue reading...

Image: Tesla The Tesla Cybertruck is finally getting an off-road mode via an over-the-air software update, allowing early owners of the monstrous electric truck to finally get granular 4x4-style features that were promised from the start.The news comes via a post by Tesla's Cybertruck account on X, which shared an image of the Off-Road Mode screen with different settings, options for locking differentials, the ability to turn off rear steering, and more. Off-Road Mode has two main settings: Overland Mode for consistent handling and better traction on rock, gravel, snow, and sand, plus a Baja Mode that improves balance and handles more freely."

Trucks haul away ore from a pit in one of the largest copper and cobalt mines in the world in southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on June 17th, 2023. | Photo: Getty Images The United Nations launched a new panel to craft mining guidelines for critical minerals in high demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies.The newly established Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals includes representatives from close to 100 countries as well as nonprofit organizations and industry groups. It's tasked with developing a set of global common and voluntary principles to safeguard environmental and social standards and embed justice [in] the energy transition."Powering an economy with renewable energy is a mineral-intensive endeavor. And it'll take a concerted effort to curb human rights violations and environmental harms tied to the extraction of those minerals. This is just a first step... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge OpenAI announced the Memory feature that allows ChatGPT to store queries, prompts, and other customizations more permanently in February. At the time, it was only available to a small portion" of users, but now it's available for ChatGPT Plus paying subscribers outside of Europe or Korea.ChatGPT's Memory works in two ways to make the chatbot's responses more personalized. The first is by letting you tell ChatGPT to remember certain details, and the second is by learning from conversations similar to other algorithms in our apps. Memory brings ChatGPT closer to being a better AI assistant. Once it remembers your preferences, it can include them without needing a reminder.As The Verge's David Pierce pointed out, some users can find it... Continue reading...

Photo by Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images The Federal Communications Commission is fining the largest US mobile carriers a combined nearly $200 million for allegedly illegally sharing customers' location data without their consent.The FCC says it found the carriers sold access to its customers' location information to aggregators,' who then resold access to such information to third-party location-based service providers." The agency says the carriers effectively attempted to offload" their responsibility to get customers' consent to share their location data with downstream recipients." Even after being made aware of the issue, the FCC claims, the carriers still failed to limit access to the information.The fines vary across carriers. T-Mobile faces the largest at $80... Continue reading...

Are any of them smarter than just googling the answer? | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge Welcome to another episode of the fantastic new game show where we quiz virtual assistants! Say it with me, folks: Are you smarter than just googling it?" Let's welcome our contestants.You probably know our first two contestants from such hits as Set a timer for me" and How much time is left on my timer?": Siri and Google Assistant! Big round of applause for these hard-working smartphone assistants. Next up is a newcomer - it's sleek, it's orange, it's the Rabbit R1!We'll quiz them to see just how smart these virtual know-it-alls are. Let's get started with the lightning round. The first question is a classic: What's the weather today?

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Peacock is getting another price hike. Starting this summer, Peacock's ad-supported Premium plan will go from $5.99 to $7.99 per month, and its Premium Plus plan will increase from $11.99 to $13.99 per month.The $2 increase will take effect on July 18th for new customers, while current subscribers will see the price hike on August 17th. Meanwhile, the annual plans will cost $79.99 for Premium and $139.99 for Premium Plus. Peacock raised prices across both of its plans last year - and that was after it took away its free membership for new users.As part of its first quarter earnings results last week, Comcast said Peacock added 3 million paid subscribers over the past few months, bringing its total number of subscribers to 34 million.... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge GitHub wants Copilot, its code completion platform powered by GPT-4, present throughout the lifecycle of development, including the very beginning of a coding project.The company is announcing GitHub Copilot Workspace, a new service that aims to cut down the time engineers and developers spend reading through code and figuring out how to start on a new project. Workspace will only be available in technical preview for a waitlist of developers, but it will be integrated into the larger GitHub Copilot platform after it exits preview.GitHub wrote in a blog post that Copilot Workspace will be integrated into GitHub repositories or libraries. Developers can describe to Copilot Workspace, through prompts, what they want to do for the... Continue reading...

Image: Razer Razer will have to fork over $1.1 million in refunds to customers who purchased its RGB-clad Zephyr face mask, according to a proposed settlement announced by the Federal Trade Commission on Monday. The company claimed the face mask used N95-grade filters, but the FTC alleges Razer never submitted them for testing and only stopped the false advertising following negative press coverage and consumer outrage at the deceptive claims."Razer first released its Zephyr face mask in 2021 as a nifty, cyberpunk-esque alternative to traditional face masks worn during the covid-19 pandemic. Although Razer initially marketed the $100 mask as having N95-grade filters, it scrubbed any mention of the grade after YouTuber Naomi Wu tore down the mask... Continue reading...

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is starting to roll out a new offline mode for OneDrive on the web for work and school users. It's part of an ongoing overhaul to OneDrive that's also seen the cloud storage service updated with an improved UI, folder colors, and much more.The new OneDrive offline mode will let users of the web side of the service open files that have been marked available as offline and navigate to favorite files and the home section of OneDrive without an internet connection. You can also rename, sort, move, and copy files, and these will all be synced up once you have an internet connection again. Image: Microsoft You can select what files you want to be available offline through the web version of OneDrive. The... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge ID@Xbox has put together its own indie showcase to show off a host of indie games coming to console and PC. Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge To me, Prime's promise of two-day shipping is more of an added bonus to Prime Video and stuff like Fallout. But it's become an expectation, leading other retailers like Walmart and Target to roll out faster shipping options of their own.Now, Amazon says its deliveries are getting even faster, announcing that it delivered over 2 billion items the same or next day to Prime members during the first three months of 2024, breaking its record for 2023. The company says it delivered almost 60 percent of Prime orders the same or next day in 60 of the biggest metropolitan areas in the US.If you buy from Amazon, have you noticed any differences lately? Same-day and next-day options seem to be more widely available, but it's hard to tell how... Continue reading...

Photo illustration by The Verge / Photo: Mercedes-Benz The all-EV future might not land in 2030, but it's coming - and a new slate of challenges is coming with it. Continue reading...

A Mustang Mach-E running Ford's hands-free software. | Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an official investigation into Ford's BlueCruise advanced driver-assistance software after it's been linked to multiple fatalities while in use. It includes two 2024 incidents that the National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating - one in San Antonio and another in Philadelphia.The NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation notes that the Ford vehicles involved in the fatal crashes hit stationary objects including vehicles stopped in a driving lane on the highway. Ford's BlueCruise enables hands-free driving on pre-mapped highway roads and uses cameras to both watch drivers and keep its vehicles in the lane. The system was introduced in 2021 in vehicles... Continue reading...

iOS, Safari, and the App Store were already designated as Gatekeeper services under the DMA in September 2023. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Following an almost eight-month investigation into whether Apple's iPadOS holds enough market power to warrant stricter regulation, the European Commission has now designated the iPad operating system as a Gatekeeper service under its flagship Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules.The Commission concluded that iPadOS constitutes an important gateway for business users to reach end users, and that Apple enjoys an entrenched and durable position with respect to iPadOS," reads a statement published by the Commission on Monday. Apple now has six months to ensure full compliance with the DMA obligations as applied to iPadOS."Under the DMA, which came into force on March 7th, iPadOS will now have to comply with a broad range of rules that allow... Continue reading...