Latest Technology

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge Instagram is making significant changes to how its system recommends content, with a focus on original content and increased distribution for smaller accounts. The slew of changes were announced by the company in a blog post today. The biggest change deals with aggregators — accounts that download or screenshot other users’ videos and photos and repost them. Sometimes aggregators will credit the original poster by tagging them in the post or caption, but often, content is wholesale ripped off with no acknowledgment, and engagement is siphoned off from the person who created the content in the first place. Instagram clearly has a problem with this and will begin removing reposted content from recommendations across the platform. The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ECgcPAU

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… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/RyJ4jpH

Yelp’s new AI releases. | Image: Yelp As Yelp tries to remind users it’s more than just a place to find a new restaurant to try, it’s launching the Yelp Assistant , an AI chatbot that “contextually” understands what users are looking for and can match them with service professionals in their area. If you want to replace your bathtub, the chatbot will ask questions like what type of bathtub you want and which features you’re interested in, then suggest a couple of nearby bathtub installers. People have the option of writing their own messages to selected businesses or having Yelp Assistant make one for them. After you review the final project request (generated based on what you asked for in your chat session), the bot can send it to service providers on your behalf, which... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/07CKzeg

Musk said he wants Tesla to be “absolutely hard core” about the headcount reduction. | Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Barely two weeks after initiating layoffs for at least 14,000 staffers, Tesla is now reportedly laying off hundreds more — including senior executives and the majority of its Supercharging team. According to an email first reported by The Information and then Electrek , the automaker’s senior director of EV charging Rebecca Tinucci is leaving the company on Tuesday, alongside most of the 500-person team she oversaw. Tesla’s head of the new vehicles program, Daniel Ho, is also out along with his team. These cuts come in addition to the recent 10 percent workforce reduction — and Musk’s email leaves room for more. In the email sent to executives last night, Musk said he wants Tesla to be “absolutely hard core” about the cuts, and that... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/TFiUoIf

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… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6NI28ub

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images Having lost its fight in Congress, TikTok faces a tough battle in US courts and with China’s own export controls. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/abJxFCK

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… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/bvfWCGi

‘The world’s lightest city e-bike’ claim is worth a test, if not your $1,799. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/bD5mLrE

Delta is about to get better on the iPad. | Image: Riley Testut The Delta emulator made a huge splash when it hit the Apple App Store earlier this month, quickly rocketing to the top spot in Apple’s free apps, where it remains today. Now, developer Riley Testut says an iPad-specific version is “near completion,” and will be released with Delta version 1.6. Testut says the app is already available for his Patreon supporters through “the regular AltStore,” which I take to mean the non-EU-specific one, rather than the Apple-approved AltStore PAL . Of course, the iOS version already works on the iPad (and the Vision Pro, where I’ve been playing Metroid Prime Hunters ). But a native version would let it take advantage of the full iPad screen real estate for better skins, including one that turns your tablet... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/9e1sKXO

Image: Bethesda Game Studios A sampling of the four modern games in the series for those jumping in after the Amazon show. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/NC2yDGL

We put the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra head-to-head against the DreameBot X30 Ultra to find out which of these Roomba competitors’ flagship robot vacuums is the best. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/TOFRA3o

The QuietComfort Ultra offer the best noise cancellation you can get in a pair of wireless earbuds, full stop. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge If the bar for noise-canceling earbuds seems high right now, that’s because Bose and Sony seem to raise it with every addition to their respective lineups. The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are a great example of just how impressive ANC has become in the last few years, particularly in the earbuds space. And now, thanks to a $50 discount, you can pick them up at Amazon , Best Buy , and Walmart for $249. If noise cancellation is your top priority when selecting a pair of wireless earbuds, there’s no better choice than the Ultra. Bose’s latest earbuds do a terrific job masking the sounds of traffic, talking, and other noisy facets of everyday life, allowing you to soak in your playlists and podcasts without unwanted distractions. When you do w... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/eNfipZn

Illustration: The Verge Overnight, many people reported on social media that they were inexplicably logged out of their Apple IDs and then required to reset their passwords when they tried to sign in again, and nobody seems to know why. Some reported needing to enter their iPhone passcode to connect to iCloud again, while others with Stolen Device Protection enabled said they had to wait an hour before being able to log in. Apple’s System Status webpage shows no current issues with any of its services, so it’s not clear if this was a widespread issue. That said, 9to5Mac reports that even a few of its staff members were also affected by the issue. At least one Forbes contributor apparently experienced the issue as well. The outlet saw no indication that this... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/XS5mynh

Brick by brick. | Illustration by Myriam Wares for The Verge Apple’s reckoning isn’t just the end of an era for the company — it’s a reflection of the smartphone’s fall from beloved gadget to commodity. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/H7COTY1

Collage by Israel Vargas They brought forests back to life in Costa Rica. Their next challenge? Restoring ecosystems in a warming world. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/k8CshUG

Image: The Verge Last year, on a perfect spring day that also happened to be my birthday, I took a car trip to a beautiful area of New York state. It was a lovely day. The new foliage was just coming out and flocks of migrating birds were flying overhead — just the right day for a bunch of photos and good memories. Unfortunately, my reason for traveling upstate wasn’t for the flora and fauna, but to attend the funeral of my best friend. I took lots of photos on that day: of other friends who attended the service, of the river paths and local parks that my best friend and I used to walk together, and of the home she used to share with her parents, now empty. I took all of those photos because I knew it was probably the last time that I would visit that... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Xq2zQFi

Illustration: The Verge Google is making it a lot easier to move between devices during a meeting. The new “Switch here” feature allows you to move an active Meet call from your computer to your smartphone or vice versa. This means you can swap devices as you sit down at your desk or get up to go somewhere during a full group session without your tile bouncing in and out of the window. There’s also a new function that allows you to join a call in two places. So, you can have your call active on the kitchen tablet and office computer while you run back and forth, flipping an egg and pulling an espresso shot (note for boss: I do not do this). GIF: Google While another call is active, the same meeting window on another device now has a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/IhKzV0M

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images The world’s largest tech company has a security problem. A series of high-profile security incidents have rocked Microsoft over the past few years, and a scathing report from the Cyber Safety Review Board recently concluded that “Microsoft’s security culture was inadequate and requires an overhaul.” Inside Microsoft, there is concern that the attacks could seriously undermine trust in the company. Sources tell me that Microsoft’s engineering and security teams have been scrambling to respond to new attacks from the same Russian state-sponsored hackers that were behind the SolarWinds incident . Known as Nobelium or Midnight Blizzard, the hacking group was able to spy on the email accounts of some members of Microsoft’s senior leadership... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2zt9yal

Image: Supercell Supercell doesn’t release a lot of games, but the studio’s mobile releases tend to be big hits. Think Clash of Clans , Brawl Stars , and Clash Royale . Now, the developer is gearing up for its next major release: Squad Busters , which will be out globally on both Android and iOS on May 29th. It’s a competitive multiplayer game, but one on a larger scale than a typical mobile release. In each match, 10 players compete to collect the most gems while building up a squad of computer-controlled characters. It’s sort of like a simplified MOBA: you move your team around fighting minions, earning cash that lets you improve and grow your squad before you eventually start fighting other players and going for the big gem pile in the middle of the map.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/JwlHfb2

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge iPhone users can finally enjoy retro gaming emulators without jailbreaking their phones. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/QdJ8g0O

Lamborghini’s mission to produce gas-electric hybrid versions of all of its models continues with today’s release of the plug-in hybrid Urus SE. The SUV is the top selling vehicle in Lamborghini’s lineup, and a hybrid version is sure to draw a lot of interest from the Italian automaker’s customer base of one-percenters. The electrified luxury SUV’s hybrid powertrain can put out a total of 800 CV (a metric unit of horsepower that translates to 789 hp), or 588 kW, thanks to its 25 kWh battery. It can also travel as far as 60 km (37 miles) on battery power alone, which is certainly a healthy step up over the hybrid Revuelto’s 10 km of electric-only driving. And, as befitting its Lambo-ness, the Urus SE will... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/cq5Iw2o

Kenneth Lobo Méndez, director of planning and sustainability in electricity management, and Marco Jiménez Chavez, an engineer, at the state-run electricity utility Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). | Collage by Israel Vargas | Photos by Justine Calma Costa Rica gets more than 99 percent of its electricity from renewables — it’s still not enough. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2IjDtq1

Adobe claims its new VideoGigaGAN generative AI model can upscale video clips more consistently and in higher quality than other VSR methods. | Image: Adobe Adobe researchers have developed a new generative AI model called VideoGigaGAN that can upscale blurry videos at up to eight times their original resolution. Introduced in a paper published on April 18th , Adobe claims VideoGigaGAN is superior to other Video Super Resolution (VSR) methods as it can provide more fine-grained details without introducing any “AI weirdness” to the footage. In a nutshell, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are effective for upscaling still images to a higher resolution, but struggle to do the same for video without introducing flickering and other unwanted artifacts. Other upscaling methods can avoid this, but the results aren’t as sharp or detailed. VideoGigaGAN aims to provide the best of both worlds —... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/8iVWduq

Image: Sonos Today, Sonos is officially introducing the redesigned mobile app that I showed you earlier this month . It’ll roll out for both Android and iOS on May 7th, but the company’s desktop apps aren’t coming along for the ride: Sonos will discontinue its controller apps for Windows and macOS in the near future. Taking their place is a new web app that will allow you to control and access your Sonos speakers from anywhere — not just when you’re home on Wi-Fi. But for now, let’s get back to the smartphone app. It’s been rebuilt from the ground up to be more reliable. Sonos’ fundamental goal was making everything feel faster and getting you where you want to be without relying on a tabbed navigation bar. Now, everything is on the homescreen, and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/cAO0HlJ

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Image: Getty Images Elon Musk is currently embroiled in a battle with Australian authorities over demands for X to remove violent content of a stabbing that took place during a livestreamed service at a church in Sydney last week. Musk is arguing that such decisions could give countries the power to control “the entire internet,” while the Australian government is arguing that geoblocking content isn’t enough in its plea for decency and social responsibility. “Our concern is that if ANY country is allowed to censor content for ALL countries, which is what the Australian ‘eSafety Commissar’ is demanding, then what is to stop any country from controlling the entire Internet?” said Musk , noting that the objectionable content is already geoblocked in Australia... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/IuVRzcd

SimpliSafe’s new live guard outdoor protection service allows its agents to monitor your outdoor security cameras for potential intruders. | Image: SimpliSafe SimpliSafe is bringing live monitoring to its outdoor cameras, adding to the indoor live monitoring service it launched last year. The new live guard outdoor protection service lets SimpliSafe’s human agents view a live feed from its outdoor camera when the system is armed, the camera detects a person, and its AI and facial recognition algorithms determine that person is likely to be a stranger. The idea is that SimpliSafe could more proactively prevent someone from breaking in than traditional alarm systems, which typically only trigger after a home's perimeter has been breached. The DIY smart home security company’s new service uses a combination of on-device AI, cloud-based computer vision, and facial recognition to determine when... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/twLro2m

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Grzegorz Wajda, Getty Images When Tesla releases its first quarter earnings this afternoon, the company’s CEO Elon Musk will field the usual questions about new products, new factories, and progress toward its futuristic vision of self-driving cars and robot workers. But Musk will also face increasingly urgent questions about its current state of affairs — and why everything seems to be going to shit. Earlier this month, the company reported its first year-over-year sales drop in four years, a sign of rougher waters ahead. Tesla’s stock has fallen more than 40 percent since the start of the year, including a 13 percent drop in the last week. The company laid off over 14,000 employees last week , 10 percent of its global workforce — which could end up being closer to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/hxiKPn3

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images Political strategists aren’t throwing away TikTok, even after their election candidates try to force its sale on national security grounds. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ALJH7ve

Doris Ríos is a Cabécar leader who has fought to reclaim Indigenous territory in Costa Rica. | Collage by Israel Vargas | Photos by Justine Calma These women took back their land in Costa Rica, and now they plan to reforest it. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/GWn52kj

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Microsoft is starting to improve the experience of downloading Windows store apps from the web. The software giant has built what it calls an “undocked version of the [Microsoft] Store” that works like a typical executable to install apps from the Microsoft Store. It should cut down on the complexity involved in finding Windows store apps on the web and installing them. Instead of launching the Microsoft Store and a mini window, now when you download apps from the web version of the Microsoft Store it will download a standalone installer instead. This means you don’t have to click install on the web, then allow Chrome or Edge to open the Microsoft Store, and finally hit install to actually install the app. A lightweight installer will be... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/aqntpMJ

Embracer Group will house major properties like the Lord of The Rings under its new Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends company. | Image: Warner Bros. Swedish gaming conglomerate Embracer Group announced plans on Monday to split itself into three distinct games and entertainment companies: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. These will be separate, publicly listed companies, according to Embracer’, which says the move will allow “each entity to better focus on their respective core strategies and offer more differentiated and distinct equity stories for existing and new shareholders.” “This move towards three independent companies reinforces Embracer’s vision of backing entrepreneurs and creators with a long-term mindset,” says Lars Wingefors, co-founder and Embracer Group CEO, “allowing them to continue to deliver unforgettable experiences... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/5frIzCG

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A couple of weeks ago, I ran out of screen on the one external monitor my work-issued MacBook Air can run. So I switched to my five-year-old Windows desktop and plugged in another monitor. Love it. Productivity through the roof. But it means that I’m finally spending significant time in Windows 11, and gosh, is it janky. There are some things that Windows does very well compared to macOS and Linux. All the games are there, for one thing, and Windows runs on all sorts of hardware without a lot of fiddling. You do not have to spend a thousand dollars minimum on a non-upgradable machine to use it. You also generally do not have to download a bunch of drivers or spend six hours in the command line hand-assembling the goddamn operating... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/KrevdID

It’s phones, y’all. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge At any given time, there are between five and eight phones on my desk. And by “my desk,” I mean any combination of tables and countertops throughout my house. So when I watched the Humane AI Pin reviews start pouring in last week, I did what any logical person would do: grab the closest phone and try to turn it into my own AI wearable. Humane would like you to believe that its AI Pin represents consumer tech at its most cutting edge. The reviews and the guts of the pin say otherwise: it uses a Snapdragon processor from four years ago and seems to run a custom version of Android 12 . “It’s a midrange Android phone!” I declared at our next team meeting, waving around a midrange Android phone for effect. “You could just download Gemini and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/tIf28gk

Streaks aren’t the only way to be consistent. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge Six weeks ago, I was having a tough time sticking to my running routines and goals. Physically, I was mostly fine. Mentally, the thought of running — a sport I usually love — made me roll into a blanket burrito and never leave my bed. I started hating myself, but none of my usual fitness apps and trackers were helping. After building a weeklong streak, I couldn’t muster the energy to get out of bed one Saturday. I broke it and spent the next day wallowing in guilt and self-pity. Fed up, I went digging around the internet and ended up downloading the Gentler Streak app. Gentler Streak is what it sounds like. It’s an iOS and Apple Watch app with a more compassionate approach toward building a fitness habit. You can set an activity status:... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/o4CgXNd

Image: The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 35, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, get ready to open some tabs, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I’ve been rewatching Killing Eve now that it’s on Netflix, reading about Maggie Rogers and flying cars and the Today in Tabs newsletter , nodding along as MKBHD talks about gadget reviews , testing the Godspeed to-do list app, talking to everyone I know about the Papyrus 2 sketch , listening on repeat to The Tortured Poets Department , and playing with the Plaud AI voice recorder. I also have for you a surprisingly gadget-y week! We have a new set of earbuds to try, a new handheld camera, an AI memory... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/KFxnIzM

Courtesy of IFC Films and Shudder Horror films live and die by their conceits. And sometimes, the best way to make a movie scary is to place it in an environment that’s not scary at all. Is there anything further from spooky than a brightly lit TV studio? The surprise box office darling Late Night with the Devil , which hit horror streamer Shudder this weekend (and might be more suited to home viewing), tries to make one of the most innocuous American broadcast traditions into a terror. David Dastmalchian, a character actor who you’ll recognize from the margins of half a dozen Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve movies, gets a rare star turn as Jack Delroy, the host of late-night talk show Night Owls . But in an era where Johnny Carson rules after-hours broadcast,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/fIHnaot

It may not offer obstacle avoidance and the same specs as the Pro model, but the Mini 3 still easily folds down when it’s time to hit the road. | Image: DJI Happy Saturday, dear readers! The big news on the drone beat this month was the official launch of DJI’s Avata 2 , a new FPV drone that’s slicker, more stable, and longer-lasting than the original model released in 2022 . That said, I wouldn’t consider it a beginner drone at $999, even if it is noticeably cheaper than its last-gen counterpart. If you are after a true beginner drone, however, the DJI Mini 3 is currently on sale at Amazon and Best Buy with DJI’s screen-equipped RC controller for around $549 ($60 off) — an all-time low. While not as capable as the DJI Mini 4 Pro or even the DJI Mini 3 Pro , the consumer-focused Mini 3 remains an excellent entry-level drone for budding aerial photographers or anyone who is simply... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0xNwE9c

Photo by Sheena Vasani / The Verge Skip Crossrope unless you really love skipping rope. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/bmTYdpW

The Verge There are more digital subscriptions around than ever, and among them, you may well have a music streaming service (or two or three). What with “free” trials and trying to find a service you really like, it’s easy to suddenly realize you’re oversubscribed. Luckily, canceling a music subscription — or switching to a free tier — isn’t too difficult. And remember that you can always sign up again. It doesn’t have to be goodbye forever. Here’s how it’s done on the four best-known platforms. The options will be similar on other services. Spotify Spotify has a variety of plans for individuals, families, and even two people. Spotify has a free tier with ads, without downloads, and with limits on playlists, while the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ozwC29n

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… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/fEIhyZX

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Delta, an app for emulating and playing retro games on your iPhone, has been at the top of the App Store rankings for days. Apple spent years keeping apps like this off its platforms before reversing course earlier this month in the face of European regulation and the threat of a whole bunch of new third-party app stores. Obviously, there was huge pent-up demand for Delta. But is this a singular phenomenon or the start of a new more open future for the iPhone? What else might Apple allow in the App Store if it means keeping you in the App Store? On this episode of The Vergecast , we discuss how Delta got into the App Store and what it might mean for the future of the iPhone. We don’t really talk about all the thorny legal issues around... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/d0HCW4S

Tesla isn’t aware of any collisions, injuries, or fatalities attributed to the defective pedals. | Image: Parker Ortolani / The Verge Tesla has issued a recall for effectively every Cybertruck it’s delivered to customers due to a fault that’s causing the vehicle’s accelerator pedal to get stuck. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Wednesday, the defect can result in the pedal pad dislodging and becoming trapped in the vehicle’s interior trim when “high force is applied.” The fault was caused by an “unapproved change” that introduced “lubricant (soap)” during the assembly of the accelerator pedals, which reduced the retention of the pad, the recall notice states. The truck’s brakes will still function if the accelerator pedal becomes trapped, though this obviously isn’t an ideal workaround. The recall impacts “all Model Year... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/QfYS60C

DJI’s Power 1000 (left) and Power 500 (right) ready to be worshipped. | Image: DJI DJI just launched its first power stations that feature a new proprietary SDC — aka Smart DC — port that can fast charge (some) DJI drone batteries and supports lots of input and output accessories. The $699 Power 1000 and smaller $379 Power 500 both offer a bevy of AC and DC inputs and outputs with more available if you’re willing to fully commit to living DJI’s SDC dongle life. The Power 500 has one SDC Lite port, while the larger Power 1000 has both regular SDC and SDC Lite. Both power stations are fitted with batteries that use LFP chemistry, which is safer and lasts longer (80 percent capacity after 3000 cycles) than traditional NMC, and both offer a 0.02-second cutover making them suitable for use as a UPS on unstable grids. They... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/kPwCpQB

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Nothing has announced that it plans to more deeply integrate ChatGPT with its smartphones and earbuds. The move will give the company’s customers quicker access to the service. “Through the new integration, users with the latest Nothing OS and ChatGPT installed on their Nothing phones will be able to pinch-to-speak to the most popular consumer AI tool in the world directly from Nothing earbuds,” the company wrote in a blog post. And yes, the new Nothing Ear and Ear (a) are both supported. Spokesperson Jane Nho told me by email that “gradual rollout of the integration will commence on April 18th with Phone 2 followed by Phone 1 and Phone 2A in the coming weeks.” Once the update lands, you’ll be able to query ChatGPT using the company’s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/pa1ANZ4

Nothing is churning out new earbuds at a faster clip than smartphones. The company just introduced the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a), priced at $149 and $99, respectively. Together, they mark Nothing’s fourth and fifth products in the headphone category. First came the original Ear 1 , which stood out for its partly transparent design but suffered from bugs and inconsistent audio performance. Then, Nothing went after a different audience with the open-style (and oddly named) Ear Stick . And a year ago, the company shored up reliability and sound quality concerns with the Ear 2 . Now it’s back for another go-round. And guess what? Yep, they still look pretty much exactly the same. The Nothing Ear and Ear (a) both preserve the design that... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/5dRbGxE

Photo by Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge Google Maps is rolling out some new updates designed to make locating an electric vehicle charging station less stressful. And to accomplish this, it will (of course) lean heavily on artificial intelligence. Google says it will use AI to summarize customer reviews of EV chargers to display more specific directions to certain chargers, such as those located in parking garages or more hard-to-find places. And there will be more prompts in the app to encourage users to submit their feedback after using an EV charger — which will then be fed into the algorithm for future AI-powered summaries. Google Google Maps users will be asked to submit details like whether the charging session was successful or the type of plug... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/n5o0Gp2

The company expects to complete its downsizing efforts by the end of this year. | Image: Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive, the gaming company behind franchises like Grand Theft Auto , NBA 2K , and Bioshock , has announced cost-cutting measures that will lay off “approximately five percent” of its global workforce and scrap several projects already in development. The company said in an SEC filing published on Tuesday that it is “streamlining its organizational structure, which will eliminate headcount and reduce future hiring needs.” Take-Two says it will incur charges of up to $200 million to enact its “cost reduction program,” which aims to save the company over $165 million per year. The downsizing efforts are expected to be “largely complete” by December 31st, 2024. A five percent workforce reduction works out to around 579 of the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/MPa3TE6

The Insta360 X4 is the latest action camera from Insta360. Insta360 has launched its latest 360-degree action camera, the X4. The most obvious upgrade that the $500 camera offers over its predecessor, the X3, is the ability to shoot video in 8K at 30 frames per second. That extra boost in resolution and detail may come in handy for watching action videos on anything larger than your phone, panning around 360-degree footage on platforms like YouTube or cropping out a perspective you like from a 360-degree recording. It also includes a new 2,290mAh battery rated for 75 minutes of 8K footage and 135 minutes of 5.7K footage. The X4 supports recording 5.7K at 60 frames per second as well as 4K at 100 frames per second. (The X3 was limited to 5.7K at 30fps and 4K at 60fps.) Similar to older models,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/X4LGC1V

Weird phones are back, baby. | Image: Motorola Motorola is introducing three new Edge series phones, reviving a classic design feature it first introduced a decade ago : a wooden back panel. The Motorola Edge 50 Ultra is the highest spec’d device of the trio, and it’s the only one with the “real wood” back panel option (though the peach fuzz vegan leather looks awfully nice, too). Motorola will launch the phones first outside of the US “in the coming weeks,” but says it’s committed to “expanding the Edge family in North America this year.” The Motorola Edge 50 Ultra uses the new Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 chipset , which is a slight step down from the 8 Gen 3. There’s a 6.7-inch OLED with up to 144Hz refresh rate, which has been “Pantone-validated.” Say what? Motorola says this designation... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/XBAPKY7

The Soundcore Sleep A20 are decent passive earbuds that are great for side sleepers, even if Anker overpromises. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/EZ96qaI

The four-inch tall metal object tore through a roof in Naples, Florida last month. | Image: Alejandro Otero NASA has confirmed suspicions that the strange object that crashed into a Florida home last month did indeed come from the International Space Station (ISS). The agency analyzed the cylindrical object after it tore through the roof and two floors of a house in Naples on March 8th, and established that it came from a cargo pallet of aging batteries that was released from the ISS back in 2021. More specifically, NASA revealed in a blog post on Monday that the offending object was a support component used to mount the batteries on the 5,800-pound (2,630-kilogram) pallet released from the space station. Made from Inconel (a metal alloy that can withstand extreme environments like high temperature, pressure, or mechanical loads), the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/IgNjzq9

Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The Verge Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has written a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, saying that TurboTax “continues to relentlessly upsell” customers while also directing them away from services that would otherwise be free. As noted in the letter, Warren’s staff analyzed TurboTax’s services using a sample taxpayer and found that the company attempted to upsell the customer eight times during the tax filing process. Warren writes that in “several cases,” these solicitations “appear to be efforts to mislead customers into thinking that they must pay the extra fees in order to file their taxes when that is not the case.” Some show up as full-screen prompts, forcing users to scroll to the bottom to deny the upgrade. In one instance,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/jrS65IY

The layoffs follow the company’s first drop in year-over-year vehicle deliveries since 2020. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A few weeks after reporting its first year-over-year decline in vehicle deliveries since 2020, Tesla is now planning to lay off over ten percent of its global workforce, according to an internal company-wide email seen by Electrek . That works out to at least 14,000 of the 140,473 employees that Tesla reported in its latest annual earnings . It’s not clear which teams at Tesla will be impacted. “There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done,” said Elon Musk, in the email published by Electrek . “This will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle.” Today’s development is the latest in a string of bad news for the EV maker. The company reported a miss in delivery estimates ahead of its quarterly earnings... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/NaTQ7Y3