Latest Technology

Keep media companies paid while regularly antagonizing them is definitely a strategy. | Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Full-time Twitter CEO and part-time Tesla enthusiast Elon Musk said on Saturday that users of his social media platform will be able to avoid media subscriptions and pay per article starting “next month.” Musk says that Twitter’s forthcoming “one-click” service “should be a major win-win for both media orgs & the public” by allowing media companies to charge a higher per article price to readers who wouldn’t necessarily pay a full subscription rate. Musk didn’t say what percentage Twitter would pocket for itself or what conditions media publishers would need to abide by. Rolling out next month, this platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per article basis with one click. This enables users who would not sign up for a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/f1C3XnA

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Like many great products, the Elgato Stream Deck wasn’t exactly a new idea. When the very first one debuted six years ago this month , we instantly compared it to Art Lebedev’s legendary Optimus Maximus keyboard, which promised an array of swirling OLED screens under your fingertips an entire decade earlier. Razer, too, pioneered LCD keys before their time, tacking them onto a keyboard and the company’s very first Blade laptop . But today, we’re celebrating the simple genius of Elgato — the company that finally turned them into a viable product by making them relatively cheap, comfy, and most importantly: peripheral . Art Lebedev and Razer both believed we wanted a new keyboard that morphs, where our primary computing input mechanism... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/CXySDK5

Whoops. It’s a long-standing belief here at The Verge that copyright law is the only real law on the internet, because it’s the only speech regulation most people on most platforms will accept. (At least in the United States.) Post something that blatantly infringes someone else’s copyright, and most platforms will spring into action to take it down, because they are protected from liability under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act if they take action in a reasonable amount of time upon request. And the way the DMCA influences user behavior on platforms is really well-known: we have been writing about “no copyright intended” for over a decade now . There are lots of and lots of people out there who know how it works. Anyway, Elon Musk isn’t... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/LNRGoTy

FAST TV makes it very easy to just zone out and not stress, like broadcast TV did once before. | Photo by François LOCHON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images I’ve been watching TV on demand for over 20 years. Well before streaming, I was picking up the whole run of The Sopranos from the college library and making my way through the seasons. When I graduated, I kept the habit, preferring to watch things from DVD box sets rather than just zoning out in front of the television. Even when I visit family now, I’m the obnoxious one who always has a show they want to watch on Netflix or HBO Max instead of 12 episodes in a row of House Hunters on HGTV. But lately, I’ve been using Pluto TV, and I’ve found myself realizing just how relaxing it is to just let go. Pluto TV is part of a subcategory of streaming called Free Ad-Supported Television, or FAST . There’s some on-demand content and features, but... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/HVxTi9S

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images FAST, or free ad-supported streaming television, is the closest thing you can get to having cable without actually paying for it. As the name implies, FAST services let you watch a wide selection of content as you flip through individual “channels,” all without a subscription. While FAST services might not get the latest and greatest content, they’re still a nice option to have whenever you want to jump into some random show or movie without taking ages to decide what to watch on Netflix. Plus, you don’t even need to create an account to watch shows on most FAST services, allowing you to drop in and out as you please. All you have to do is watch some ads. Here, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most popular FAST services that you... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/adpMwXg

This is what it must feel like to preorder for full price and not get at least some small gift or swag for free. | Image: Nintendo If you’re looking to buy yourself a ticket aboard the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom hype train and preorder the game ahead of its May 12th launch, you might as well get some cool extra bonuses. Some retailers are offering free preorder incentives like a wooden plaque or an art print, which are a nice bonus that doesn’t cost anything extra. Or, super-fans willing to plunk down extra money can get the fancy Collector’s Edition with lots of accouterments (if it ever becomes available again, sadly). So which way to preorder nets you the most benefit? There’s already one method that allows you to save $20 on the game , but that’s only on the digital version and exclusive to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Here, we’ll go over the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/KU8qdMX

Photo by Stefan Sauer / picture alliance via Getty Images Bluesky might be the Twitter-like we’ve been waiting for. Yes, I know it’s still invite-only. Yes, I know there are only thousands of people on the platform right now. Yes, I know that it’s still missing table-stakes features like video uploads and DMs. Still, I’m starting to feel that Bluesky is where it’s at. It happened over the last few days. Bluesky — the decentralized Twitter alternative spun up by Twitter itself — has suddenly filled up with tech media and other people I follow on Twitter. Over and over again, I would check Twitter for one thing or another and see somebody begging for a Bluesky invite, then just a little while later, that person would be in my Bluesky skyline (timeline) and skeeting (tweeting). While that means I... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/CaWS0IE

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Reddit is piloting new chat channels where you can hold real-time conversations with other users. The Discord-like channels will live within various subreddits, allowing you to swap between browsing through posts and chatting with other Redditors about a range of topics. While this may sound a bit like Reddit’s Live Chat feature, the platform notes that chats “will be dedicated spaces, rather than a one-off post.” As shown in the below screenshot, it looks like you can tap into different conversations embedded inside of a subreddit, with each dedicated to a specific topic, like “Tickets” or “Songwriting.” You can also access your conversations within the main Chat tab on Reddit’s bottom menu bar. Image: Reddit The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3DcQZYr

A developer build of Microsoft’s Edge browser displays an invitation to use the new Bing if the user is on Google’s Bard page. | Screenshot: Umar Shakir / The Verge Microsoft’s Edge can be a great Chromium browser alternative to Google’s Chrome, but the former is displaying some annoying new rivalry antics: advertising Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot while you’re trying out Google’s Bard AI. As pointed out by developer and Twitter user Vitor de Lucca , a new developer version of Edge will now display a new Bing ad next to the Google Bard URL. When pointing Edge to bard.google.com , a new animated “compare answers with the AI-powered new Bing” slide appears in the upper-right side of Edge’s address bar. Then, the text slides back to the right and leaves behind a Bing icon that seems pretty redundant considering a similar icon is off to the right by default. Screenshot: Tom Warren / The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/LXJNR5s

Image: Will Joel We found a wide range of gifts that’ll help graduates as they embark upon their next adventure, whether that’s college or a career. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/A6HnTy5

OnePlus’ first tablet brings high-end features and specs to a midrange price point. It reminds me of the OnePlus we used to know. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/mKYU53Z

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Hackers have reportedly been breaking into AT&T-provided email addresses, and using this access to steal large quantities of cryptocurrency, TechCrunch reports . While it’s not clear how many people have been impacted, one alleged victim claims to have lost $134,000 from a Coinbase account associated with a compromised email address. Email addresses with att.net, sbcglobal.net, and bellsouth.net domain names have all reportedly been affected. The vulnerability revolves around mail keys, which are meant to allow users to log into AT&T email accounts via clients like Outlook or Thunderbird. Somehow, attackers appear to have found a way to generate these keys without the knowledge of the owner of an email account. Once they have access,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/QhnGFCH

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has revealed the number of active monthly users for various versions of its App Store in Europe in order to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) . The disclosure published on Apple legal resources site reveals that the iOS App Store has 101 million users in Europe, with the iPadOS App Store trailing behind with 23 million users. The macOS App Store has six million users and the tvOS App Store has one million. The tech giant also provided estimated figures for the watchOS App Store, Apple Books, and Podcasts paid subscriptions, which have fewer than one million monthly users in Europe. Platforms with over 45 million users are beholden to stricter regulations under Europe’s DSA rules The recently-enacted DSA legislation... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/dMDyzAL

Image: Speedrookie ( Reddit ) AMD says it has resolved the voltage issues that have apparently been causing the company’s new 7000X3D series processors to randomly burn out, killing both the CPU and motherboard. The company has now distributed a BIOS firmware update to its board partners that place voltage restrictions on the AM5 socket motherboards they ran in, which should prevent the affected CPUs from operating beyond their intended limits. “We have root caused the issue and have already distributed a new [AMD Generic Encapsulated Software Architecture] that puts measures in place on certain power rails on AM5 motherboards to prevent the CPU from operating beyond its specification limits, including a cap on SOC voltage at 1.3V,” AMD spokesperson Matthew Hurwitz... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/M2Ab1t6

The Dyson Zone is not the most practical device, but then again, did you really expect that from air-purifying noise-canceling headphones? Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/SrXqHzW

Bumblebee driving alongside Cheetor. | Paramount Pictures Despite what you might have heard, Beast Wars has always been the crowning jewel of the Transformers franchise , and the latest trailer for Paramount’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts makes it seem like the Steven Caple Jr. film is going to do the Maximals and Predacons (now called the Terrorcons) justice. It’s still 1994 in Rise of the Beast s’ latest trailer that reintroduces Anthony Ramos’ Noah Diaz and Dominique Fishback ’s Elena Wallace — two humans who find themselves unexpectedly pulled into yet another Cybertronian conflict after making contact with Transformers. As new as the concept of transforming humanoid robots like Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and Autobot MVP Arcee (Liza Koshy) are to Noah and Elena, they’re old hat to Rise... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/sDkWfxJ

Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max is down to just $34.99 ($20 off) at multiple retailers right now. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The latest season of The Mandalorian may be over, but there are still plenty of other shows to look forward to, including a third season of The Witcher . The first batch of episodes will drop in late June , but you can prep yourself now with today’s deal on Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max . Right now, the streaming stick is available for its all-time low of $34.99 ($20 off) at Amazon , Best Buy , and Target . As far as streaming devices go, the 4K Max offers quite a bit for the price. It provides access to a terrific selection of streaming services along with support for Wi-Fi 6, Dolby Vision, HDR, HDR10 Plus, and Dolby Atmos, allowing for more immersive sound quality. Plus, it offers impressive voice capabilities via the included Alexa remote,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ErbgF91

Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images Lawyers for automaker Tesla have argued that statements by Elon Musk about the capabilities of the company’s Autopilot software can’t be trusted as they could be deepfakes, according to reports from Reuters and Bloomberg . Tesla presented this argument as part of its justification as to why Musk shouldn’t be interviewed under oath for a lawsuit blaming the company for the death of Apple engineer Walter Huang in a fatal crash in 2018. Huang died while driving a Tesla Model X, with attorneys for his family arguing Tesla’s driver assist software was at fault. The attorneys seek to interview Musk regarding statements he made about the safety of this software. These include an interview in 2016 in which Musk claimed that “a Model S and Model... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/xOpEiLl

Image: Snowman Tears of the Kingdom isn’t the only upcoming game about soaring through the skies. Today, developer Snowman, the studio behind the Alto series, properly unveiled its next release: Laya’s Horizon , which was first teased last month . The debut trailer shows off a beautiful world where players soar through forests, mountains, and towns utilizing something like wingsuit flying. It seems like a natural evolution of the Alto games, switching the 2D snow (and sand) boarding gameplay for three-dimensional flying. Laya’s Horizon is also notable as it’s coming to Netflix, where it will be free to subscribers on both iOS and Android. It’ll be Snowman’s second release on the service following the jump-free platformer Lucky Luna . The streaming service... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/equR78j

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Rural customers subscribed to Verizon’s 5G network could see a jump in their speeds later this year. The telecommunications giant revealed plans during its quarterly earnings call this week to extend its C-band 5G network — which uses a radio spectrum that enables faster speeds on a wide scale — to more rural and suburban areas by December 2023. We don’t know specifically which areas the expansion will cover. During the earnings call, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg mentioned that the company’s C-band 5G coverage has so far been deployed to 70 out of the 406 available markets, mostly in urban and suburban areas. “It’s 330 markets left, we will get the C-band,” said Vestberg. He didn’t clarify how many of these markets would be covered by the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/F6pE5wg

The Hero of Time gazing at his fancy new hand. | Image: Nintendo The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom builds on Breath of the Wild’s brilliance by turning everything into an open-ended puzzle of the imagination. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/aT1fUe6

Illustration: Kyle Ellingson for The Verge Over the last few years, a spy’s gadgets have disappeared, and they’ve been replaced by the hacker. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/lEnZGj6

Goodnight, sweet prince. | Image: Will Joel The Chevy Bolt’s demise underscores a trend toward larger, heavier, more expensive EVs. But the Bolt was always more practical than dramatic. And that’s why it will be missed. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/gOIcBYr

Image: Onyx Onyx today announced a new tablet with an E Ink display capable of showing colors: the 10.3-inch Boox Tab Ultra C. The E Ink tablet is the first in the Tab series to feature a Kaleido 3 E Ink screen, which is the latest version of E Ink’s color electronic paper display technology. It’s still limited to 4,096 colors but allows for a higher color resolution. Don’t expect colors that are as vibrant as an iPad’s, though. The new color screen offers a sharp 300ppi resolution when you’re in black-and-white mode but drops to 150ppi when you view content in color. As a result, colors look more subtle and pastel-like, yet should still look more vivid than last year’s Onyx Boox Nova Air C’ s screen. That color E Ink came equipped with a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/R1YNF6U

The ROG Ally. I had a fun time testing this device, but everything’s going to come down to price. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/tODmhrG

Image: Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge The end is nigh for the Chevy Bolt. General Motors plans to end production of the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV at the end of 2023, GM CEO Mary Barra announced in an earnings call Tuesday. The company plans to use the capacity at its Orion Township, Michigan, assembly plant to build electric trucks starting in 2024. The end of production of the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV is a huge blow to affordable EV ownership . The Bolt is one of the cheapest EVs currently on the market, with a starting price of around $24,000. The price could be even lower when applying the $7,500 EV tax credit . The Bolt was always at a disadvantage But the Bolt EV and EUV were always at a disadvantage, built on GM’s older and soon-to-be-obsolete BEV2 platform . The automaker... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3pCSEBR

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The best thing about Slack’s new Canvas feature is that I barely need to explain it to you. It’s like Google Docs but inside of Slack. Make a canvas, add some stuff, and share it with whoever you want. Every channel in your Slack now has a canvas attached to it, and you can also make and share as many as you want. That’s it! Slack first announced Canvas last year, and they’re starting to roll out to all Slack users today. I’ve been testing an early version over the last few days, and they’re definitely going to be one of my more-used Slack features going forward. They’re maybe the most useful organizational tool Slack has ever created. See, the problem with Slack is that it’s chaos. Since it’s primarily a messaging app, everything that... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/m59QlRr

Image: BMW BMW is finally expanding support for its mobile car key technology, dubbed Digital Key Plus , to select Android phones running Android 13.1 or later. Digital Key Plus can now be set up via the My BMW App on compatible Google Pixel and Samsung devices, which includes the Pixel 7 Pro , Pixel 6 Pro , Galaxy S23 Plus / Ultra , Galaxy S22 Plus / Ultra , Galaxy S21 Plus / Ultra , Z Fold 3 , Z Fold 4 , and the Note 20 Ultra . Samsung phones will need to have the Samsung Wallet app installed to use the feature. Digital Key Plus first debuted on iPhone and Apple Watch in 2021, and relies on ultra wideband (UWB) digital radio technology to allow BMW drivers to replace a traditional car key with their mobile device. The feature can be configured within the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/y1r5EqQ

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge Rad Power Bikes is partnering with Redwood Materials, a battery company founded by a former Tesla executive, to recycle e-bike batteries when they reach the end of their lifespan. Customers will be able to bring in their depleted batteries to Rad Power Bikes’ retail locations, after which the company will send them to Redwood Materials for processing and recycling. (Rad currently operates 10 retail and service locations in North America.) Select Rad stores in California and Washington will also serve as drop-off locations for old smartphones, laptops, and tablets, for Redwood’s growing consumer e-waste collection program. It’s a noteworthy deal considering that Rad Power Bikes is the number one seller of electric bikes in North... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2iXMGDo

Runway’s new iOS app is its first available for mobile. | Image: Runway AI startup Runway has launched its first mobile app on iOS, letting people use the company’s video-to-video generative AI model — Gen-1 — directly from their phones. You can download the app here , with free users offered a limited number of credits. Gen-1 allows you to transform an existing video based on a text, image, or video input. Functionally, it works a lot like a style transfer tool (though, unlike style transfer, it generates entirely new videos as an output rather than applying filters). You can upload a video of someone cycling in the park, for example, and apply an aesthetic or theme. You can give the video the look of a watercolor painting or charcoal sketch, and so on. Of course, because this is a generative AI, the output... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/UTLQnlp

The Jib True 2 come in some funky colors, but today’s deal is only on the light gray and blue combo. | Image: Skullcandy I keep rubbing my eyes, thinking my vision must be off, but these wireless earbuds are really on sale for less than one Jackson. That’s right, the Skullcandy Jib True 2 Bluetooth earbuds are just $16.99 ($23 off) at Amazon in their gray-and-blue color combo. These ultra-affordable buds often sell for around $24, but this is a new low that makes them an easy choice for a child or anyone on a tight budget seeking wireless convenience. The Jib True 2 aren’t going to win any awards in the sound department, but while their predecessors were a little overly bass-y, they were more than serviceable for the low price. Plus, this new model has built-in Tile tracking to help locate a missing bud should you misplace one. So they’re not just for... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/PU5c0ZE

Olivia. | Photo by Helen Havlak / The Verge If you’ve got a pet, it’s likely you have something cool that you use to either feed the pet, amuse the pet, watch the pet, track the pet, or travel with the pet. Well, the folks here at The Verge are no different: many have animal companions whom they feed, pamper, worry about — even obsess about — and totally enjoy. We asked our co-workers to tell us about some of the techie (and not-so-techie) gadgets that they use to keep their pets clean, fed, and amused — along with portraits of the much-loved dogs and cats. We’ve got some great photos to show you. Enjoy. Aslan Mitchell Clark, former news writer Photo by Mitchell Clark Aslan. We got the WOpet automatic feeder after our vet informed us that our cat Aslan... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/MfpFGTQ

The Apple MagSafe Battery Pack attached to an iPhone 12 Mini. | Image: Dieter Bohn / The Verge More details are emerging about the design of Apple’s long-awaited mixed reality headset ahead of its expected unveiling on June 5th. Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman reports that the headset’s external battery pack — which is designed to sit in the user’s pocket during use — will have a similar design to Apple’s MagSafe iPhone battery pack and will use a proprietary connector to attach to the headset. This circular connector is reportedly magnetic and designed to lock into the headset during use with a twist so it can’t be accidentally detached. Meanwhile, the opposite end of the cable is reportedly hardwired into the battery pack. The two “aren’t separable,” Bloomberg reports. So if this power cable develops a fault, it sounds like there’s no... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/zx1A0FW

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After chief twit Elon Musk made good on his promise to remove Twitter accounts’ legacy verification blue ticks last week , numerous high-profile accounts now appear to be re -verified — including a number of dead celebrities. It’s likely that the re-appearance of their blue ticks is part of a wider (but unannounced) scheme by Twitter to restore verification to users with over one million followers . But hover over the blue ticks of the accounts of dead celebs, and Twitter will tell you they’re verified “because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.” Michael Jackson, Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, Barbara Walters, Anthony Bourdain, and Paul Walker are just a few of the many deceased stars to have regained... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Jtzk2p4

See inside a few of our favorite things — retro, modern, you name it. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/fdZnlEm

Photo illustration by Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images Out of all the streaming services I use — Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and Funimation — Discovery Plus is the one that I use the most. And I don’t even get it for free through some kind of promotion — I actually pay for it. At just $4.99 per month (or $6.99 without ads), it’s one of the cheapest streaming options out there, and for me, those five bucks go a long way. Discovery Plus is a melting pot of all the unscripted reality shows from Discovery itself, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigate Discovery, The History Channel, and a handful of other networks that I haven’t even heard of before, like “Quest.” That means it has some of the most bizarre, disturbing, cringe-worthy, and downright disgusting TV shows that I’ve ever... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/w1fjLPb

Apple’s noise-canceling AirPods Max are currently $100 off in multiple colors. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Happy Earth Day , all! We’ve got a bunch of great deals to kick off the weekend, none of which have anything to do with Earth Day. Now that we’ve established that, let’s get to the deals! First up we have Apple’s AirPods Max , which are a little more affordable now that they’ve dropped to $449.99 ($100 off) at Amazon and Best Buy . The noise-canceling headphones are one of our top picks , boasting excellent sound, premium build quality, and spatial audio support that allows for a more immersive experience. While their battery life is only average, they pair well with other Apple devices, making them a particularly good buy for those who already own an iPhone, iPad, or other Apple gadgets. Plus, they come with a natural-surrounding... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ES9Jwix

Final Fantasy VI. | Image: Square Enix As I installed the original Final Fantasy , a game that first came out when I was three years old, on Sony’s most advanced console to date , I came to a realization: almost everything I’ve played this year has been old. Between the remakes, rereleases, and retro collections, it’s been a deluge of nostalgia. And I, for one, have welcomed it. These kinds of releases are nothing new, of course. What’s been different through the early months is the sheer quantity of classic releases. Two of the biggest blockbusters so far this year — Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 — are remakes of titles from well over a decade ago. They’re both slick and gorgeous updates that don’t look out of place amongst modern big-budget releases, but part of what makes... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/utrWZvD

Anker’s first 3D printer is blazing fast — but a year later, it’s still in beta. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/cdGs6bw

The R1S is one of the most comprehensively well-designed and engineered vehicles ever. A trip to Big Bear in Rivian’s electric SUV showcases why it’s one of the most compelling vehicles on sale. As a first effort from a new automaker, it’s even more impressive. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/o5TwONe

For more than a decade, Snapchat has been a fixture in the lives of young people. But the business side of the app has been much less stable. This week I flew down to LA to check in on the company — and while Snap still has plenty of big ideas, I was struck by how much the company’s ambitions seem to be limited at the moment by the recent downturn in the economy. The occasion for my visit was the annual Snap Partner Summit . For the past three years, due to the pandemic, the event had been online-only. But this year the company gathered together its business partners and the press together in person again, in a giant airplane hangar in Santa Monica. It was an inspired location for a tech event. Instead of bringing people together in some... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0eJVp2a

Illustration: The Verge Google is updating its Bard AI chatbot to help developers write and debug code. Rivals like ChatGPT and Bing AI have supported code generation, but Google says it has been “one of the top requests” it has received since opening up access to Bard last month. Bard can now generate code, debug existing code, help explain lines of code, and even write functions for Google Sheets. “We’re launching these capabilities in more than 20 programming languages including C++, Go, Java, Javascript, Python and Typescript,” explains Paige Bailey, group product manager for Google Research, in a blog post . You can ask Bard to explain code snippets or explain code within GitHub repos similar to how Microsoft-owned GitHub is implementing a ChatGPT-like... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/afnFv0A

A resident holds a phone while walking on debris following Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida, on October 2nd, 2022.  | Image: Eva Marie Uzcategui / Bloomberg via Getty Images For years, Twitter has been a go-to for agencies that need to warn people during a rapidly changing crisis. The National Weather Service uses it to share hurricane and tornado alerts. Firefighting agencies tweet updates about where a blaze is headed. It’s supposed to give people a heads-up so that they can take precautions to keep themselves safe. Recently, though, agencies have started facing the real possibility of losing that resource. Twitter announced in February that it would restrict access to its previously open API, and over the past week, it’s cut off public service accounts for agencies such as the National Weather Service, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Bay Area Rapid Transit. The accounts were later... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/VP

Last year’s iPhone 14. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple could offer its own journaling app with the next update to iOS, according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal . The software, codenamed “Jurassic,” will attempt to tap into the apparent mental and physical benefits of logging your thoughts and activities on a regular basis. The WSJ reports that the app could be announced as early as Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June as a feature for iOS 17, the iPhone software update expected to be released this autumn. According to the WSJ , Apple’s ideas for the app include having it pull usage data from the user’s iPhone to make suggestions about what they might like to journal about. It might spot when someone’s daily activity has changed and suggest writing about specific... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/VHX9wGo

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Computing storage manufacturer Seagate has agreed to pay a $300 million penalty imposed by the US Department of Commerce (DOC) for shipping over $1.1 billion worth of hard disk drives to Huawei, violating export control restrictions. An investigation by Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) determined that Seagate shipped 7.4 million hard drives to Huawei between August 2020 and September 2021 without obtaining an export license, despite a rule introduced in August 2020 that restricts sales to the Chinese company. The $300 million penalty is the largest fine ever imposed by the BIS that isn’t tied to a criminal case. The BIS says it’s more than double Seagate’s profits in selling the hard drives. Seagate became Huawei’s sole... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/26jOIDz

Chaudhry wearing Humane’s device in his breast pocket, activating it with the press of a button. | Image: TED Humane, the startup founded by ex-Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, has given a first live demo of its new device; a wearable gadget with a projected display and AI-powered features intended to act as a personal assistant. Chaudhri, who serves as Humane’s chairman and president, demoed the device onstage during a TED talk, a recording of which has been acquired by Inverse and others ahead of its expected public release on April 22nd. “It’s a new kind of wearable device and platform that’s built entirely from the ground up for artificial intelligence,” Chaudri says in comments transcribed by Inverse . “And it’s completely standalone. You don’t need a smartphone or any other device to pair with it.” Thanks to the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/BX1KYy9

Imgur founder Alan Schaaf at Web Summit 2018. | Photo by Diarmuid Greene /Web Summit via Getty Images Popular image hosting platform Imgur is done with hosting pornography. In a blog post published this week , the company says it has a new terms of service coming into effect on May 15th and that, as a result, it’ll be removing “nudity, pornography, & sexually explicit content” from its platform as well as “old, unused, and inactive content that is not tied to a user account.” “You will need to download/save any images that you wish to save if they no longer adhere to these Terms,” Imgur wrote in its blog post. “Most notably, this would include explicit/pornographic content.” The blog post doesn’t offer much detail about how Imgur is defining “old, unused, and inactive content.” Depending on the definition, this could cover a huge portion... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rEMbtYo

Image: Adobe Adobe is launching a new feature for its Illustrator graphic design software that allows users to quickly adjust the color scheme of vector-based images through generative AI. Users can upload their own Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) files to Illustrator’s Vector Recoloring too l to generate different colors and palette variations within seconds, either by typing out a text description or selecting from a list of sample prompts. Illustrator Vector Recoloring — which Adobe claims is the first-ever generative AI-powered vector recoloring tool to hit the market — is being introduced as the next phase of Adobe Firefly , a suite of creative generative AI models that the company recently released into public beta. The Vector Recoloring feature... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/G8qVxXl

Alone in the Dark. | Image: THQ Nordic Even without E3, the summer lineup of gaming livestreams continues to get packed. The latest company to announce an event is THQ Nordic, which will be airing a “digital showcase” on August 11th at 3PM ET. The company says the event will include news and brand-new announcements as well as details on upcoming games in its lineup such as Alone in the Dark, Outcast 2 , and Trine 5 . You’ll be able to check it out on YouTube , Twitch , and Steam . E3 is officially off the table this year, with the annual summer showcase canceled and its future looking murky . But already, a number of events have popped up to fill in the gap. In addition to THQ Nordic’s newly announced event, there’s Summer Game Fest on June 8th, a Microsoft showcase ( including a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/mKOlIUd

Image: SpaceX SpaceX second attempt at the first test flight of its integrated Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster is happening Thursday morning. Known collectively as “Starship,” it’s the tallest rocket ever built, standing at 394 feet tall (120 meters) — about 90 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. It’s also the most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, with the Super Heavy booster fitted with 33 of SpaceX’s powerful Raptor engines — the most engines ever featured in a first-stage rocket booster. Starship is integral to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s vision of eventually sending a crew of people to Mars. It supersedes the company’s Falcon 9 rocket — currently the world’s most frequently launched rocket — capable of carrying more cargo and a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/GxvQwPo

Image: Voicemod Voicemod, a popular voice changer and soundboard, is now available on macOS. Voicemod is widely used by streamers, gamers, and content creators to trigger sound effects through soundboards or for pitch-shifting and fun real-time voice changes. Voicemod on macOS is supported on both Intel- and Apple Silicon-powered Macs, and works by creating its own virtual microphone so you can use it in any application. There are more than 100 voice options or enhancements available, and the popular soundboard feature lets you play custom sounds over your microphone in games and during FaceTime or Zoom calls. “We are excited to be the first company to offer a real-time voice changer and soundboard app to macOS users,” says Jaime Bosch, CEO and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/5grDwIN

Netflix’s DVD business was once so big it was 1.3 percent of all US mail. | Photo by Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images Netflix was never going to be a DVD shipper forever. But to win the streaming wars, it might need to recapture what made DVDs by mail so special. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2g5ZbTC

You can now use the Roomba j7’s camera to check in on your home. Today, an alert popped up on my iRobot app telling me I could now use the j7 Combo robot vacuum to see a live view of my home, should I want to. A new beta feature called Remote Check In turns the company’s flagship robot vacuum into a livestreaming security camera . iRobot is playing catch-up here; lots of robot vacuum manufacturers have had the live view camera function for a while now (including Samsung’s JetBot AI and models from Roborock and Ecovacs ). But I was intrigued to see how the Roomba would handle this new task. Part of the iRobot beta program (which you sign up for in the app), Remote Check In launched in a limited capacity in November 2022. Today, it became broadly available, according to Ryan Schneider of iRobot. Hence the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/7Y0ziKm