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Your security cameras will watch for specific events and then trigger whatever actions you need automatically. | Image: Google Google Home is rolling out a new Gemini-powered automation feature that can trigger smart home routines based on what your security cameras can see . This is one of several updates announced yesterday for Gemini for Home, including enhanced voice command support and general stability improvements, following its early access launch in October. "We are introducing a brand-new starter that lets you design automations based on visual insights," Google said in its announcement. "Because your cameras can now actually understand what they see, your smart home can automatically react to almost anything happening around your home." The feature is cu … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/PTRtsM2

On Monday, Pope Leo XIV unveiled an encyclical letter addressing the societal implications of artificial intelligence. The letter, titled Magnifica Humanitas, warned that the "use of AI is never a purely technical matter: when it enters processes that affect people's lives, it touches on rights, opportunities, status and freedom." Alongside him was Anthropic cofounder and interpretability team lead Christopher Olah, representing a partnership between the Catholic Church and one of the biggest players in AI. The letter elicited a wide range of reactions from in and around the tech industry. Nearly everyone believed the document would be infl … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/8ManBDF

Would you listen to magazine articles on Spotify? The streaming platform certainly hopes so, as it's launching a new format for narrated long-form articles , alongside its usual array of music, podcasts, and audiobooks. Starting today, more than 650 articles from publications including Rolling Stone , The Atlantic , Vogue , Variety , Billboard , Vibe , GQ , Wired , Vanity Fair , and Pitchfork will be available in English in regions where Spotify's audiobooks are available. The narrated articles are all under two hours long, and available under the monthly audiobook allowance for Premium users. Spotify says that free users who don't pay for a subscrip … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/3YbtLkM

Uber president Andrew Macdonald (pictured) says its “hard to draw a line” between AI spending and deliverable features. | Photo: Zed Jameson/ Bloomberg via Getty Images After reportedly exhausting its annual AI budget just four months into 2026, Uber is now questioning whether it's actually seeing meaningful returns on its investments. In an interview with Rapid Response , Uber president and chief operating officer Andrew Macdonald said the company isn't seeing a connection between rising token consumption for Claude Code and more useful features being delivered to consumers. "That link is not there yet, right? I think maybe implicitly there is more that is getting shipped, but it's very hard to draw a line between one of those stats and, 'Okay, now we're actually producing 25 percent more useful consumer f … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/NZatX1i

The Ferrari Luce will start at €550,000 in Italy, but US pricing hasn’t been announced. | Image: Ferrari After months of teasers , Ferrari is offering the first full view of its Luce electric vehicle . The Luce is notable not just for being Ferrari's first EV, but for being designed in collaboration with Jony Ive and Mark Newson at their collective LoveFrom. It's also going to be Ferrari's second four-door car and its first five-seat one. We already knew Ive and Newson were working on the Luce's interiors, which were shown off earlier this year. Now Ferrari says LoveFrom was allowed to "define the design direction of the project from the outset," inside and out. Tim Stevens reporting for Engadget offers a few firsthand impression … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/nawiq2l

An exceptionally weird controversy has come back to haunt Cox Media and a pair of marketing firms, which claimed they were secretly listening to users via phones and smart devices - despite little evidence they actually could. On Thursday the Federal Trade Commission announced that Cox, MindSift, and 1010 Digital Works would pay a total of $930,000 to settle allegations that they were in fact lying about spying on people to target ads. As chronicled by Techdirt a couple of years ago, Cox publicly boasted about a system called Voice Data back in 2023, telling potential digital marketing clients they could ensure "every casual conversation be … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/4VuhqSm