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Over the past several years, Microsoft has largely managed to withstand populist calls to break up Big Tech while peers faced sweeping lawsuits. But a probe by the Federal Trade Commission suggests that grace period could be nearing an end. Earlier this year, Bloomberg outlined the contents of civil investigative demands (CIDs) - similar to a subpoena - the FTC sent to at least half a dozen companies that compete with Microsoft. New details obtained by The Verge further reveal the FTC's interests, suggesting the agency is particularly concerned with potentially exclusionary behavior around Microsoft's Azure cloud services, as well as its ro … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/U5hpYCD

A lot of details are still under wraps, but at least we know what the new Nvidia Spark laptops look like. | Image: Nvidia Nvidia has officially entered the world of consumer laptop chips with the RTX Spark, and several device makers already have hardware lined up for it. Microsoft, Asus, HP, MSI, Lenovo, and Dell are expected to launch RTX Spark laptops sometime this fall, and some of those partner companies have shared details about what we can expect. The common feature shared by all of the upcoming launches is that Arm-based Nvidia RTX Spark superchip , though several variations are in the pipeline. The flagship version unveiled by Nvidia at Computex includes 20 CPU cores, 6,144 GPU cores and 128GB of LPDDR5X memory - making it near identical to the GB10 chi … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/5odxpDF

The Xbox Ally X20, and the glasses you’ll have to buy with it. | Image: Asus If you asked me what I'd change about the Xbox Ally X handheld - aside from fixing Windows , I mean - I'd tell you two key things. First, give me a bigger, better screen. Even a little bit bigger, so games feel less claustrophobic and with less ugly bezel. Second, get rid of the "Library" button. I am so tired of an accidental press booting me out of my game and into the Xbox library without a simple way to get back. With the just-announced ROG Xbox Ally X20, Asus did both - and then some. It's now a slick translucent handheld with drift-resistant GuliKit TMR joysticks, a transforming D-pad that goes from 8-way to 4-way by dropping its cor … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/H6BdEqu

Meteor caught by the GOES-19 weather satellite breaking up 40 miles above the ground. | Image: CIRA On Saturday, at around 2:06 pm ET, a meteor streaked over the northeastern US and exploded north of Cape Cod Bay. The fireball was caught on camera by several people , shook houses, and can even be seen clearly in satellite imagery , lighting up the sky. View this post on Instagram Some residents initially thought that the shaking and boom may have been an earthquake, but the United States Geological Survey (USGS) denied that , saying that it was a "widely felt sonic boom from a suspected bolide." In a statement posted on X, NASA described the event as a "bright fireball… accompanied by a loud noise." The meteor was t … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/lbKhR0c

The crypto weed vape found me on 4/20, the high holiday of cannabis enthusiasts everywhere. It arrived over Slack with the thumbnail of a man exhaling a plume of vapor, the words "every hit delivers Bitcoin" emblazoned across it. It claimed to be advertising a device called Gudtrip, and I thought everything about it sounded fake. So I went looking for it. What I eventually found, after weeks of searching, dozens of emails, and a reporting effort that spanned continents, was somehow even dumber than I'd imagined. My first port of call was Gudtrip's website , which only made the vape seem more like a prank. The company's description of the pr … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/LVT1bGn

This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more news about gadgets and smartphones, follow Dominic Preston . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started In 2023, the European Union agreed on two landmark pieces of legislation mandating how portable tech products with batteries must be designed, aiming to improve longevity, repairability, and recyclability. Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1670 came into force last year and applies specifically to smartphones and tablets, while Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 takes effect next year … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/q4HCg1l