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Showing posts from May, 2024

OpenAI launches programs making ChatGPT cheaper for schools and nonprofits

Image: The Verge OpenAI is making ChatGPT more accessible to schools and nonprofit organizations. In a pair of blog posts, the company shared that it’s launching a version of ChatGPT for universities , along with a program that lets nonprofits access ChatGPT at a discounted rate. OpenAI says ChatGPT Edu will allow universities to “responsibly deploy AI to students, faculty, researchers, and campus operations.” It’s built on its faster GPT-4o model , which offers improved multimodal capabilities across text, vision, and audio. For example, OpenAI says universities can use the tool to review student resumes, write grant applications, and assist professors with grading. ChatGPT for Edu offers “enterprise-level” security and doesn’t use data to train OpenAI’s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/V9LmIQo

Inside the Google algorithm

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge The algorithm that powers Google Search is one of the most important, most complicated, and least understood systems that rule the internet. As of this week, though, we understand it a little better. Thanks to a huge leak of API documentation , we got an unprecedented look at what Google cares about, how it ranks content, and how it thinks the internet should work. The leaked documentation is dense, and it doesn’t tell us everything about how Google ranks, but it does offer a set of signals we’ve never seen before. On this episode of The Vergecast , we discuss everything in the leaked documents, the SEO community’s reaction , the potential regulatory implications of it all, and what it means to build a website in 2024. After that, we talk... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/xFuWjOT

Acer now has a 3D camera for its glasses-free 3D laptops

The Acer SpatialLabs Eyes Stereo Camera fully integrates with the rest of Acer’s SpatialLabs device lineup. | Image: Acer Acer isn’t a brand that you’d typically associate with photography, but its new camera offering comes with an interesting twist — the ability to snap pictures and video in stereoscopic 3D. Announced ahead of next week’s Computex event, the SpatialLabs Eyes Stereo Camera also allows users to livestream 3D content to YouTube, and make 3D video calls on Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet. Acer says the SpatialLabs Eyes Stereo Camera will be available in Q3 this year starting at $549. It fully integrates with Acer’s lineup of SpatialLabs 3D devices — such as the Aspire 3D 15 SpatialLabs Edition laptop — which have wowed us with their impressive ability to display glasses-free 3D content. Images and video recorded on the SpatialLabs camera can also... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/L80S2tb

Logitech’s best gaming mouse is on sale for its best price to date

The G Pro X Superlight 2 certainly isn’t cheap, but few mice are as well suited for tournament play. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge When we updated our guide to the best gaming mice last year, we had no idea Logitech would be rolling out the G Pro X Superlight 2 shortly thereafter. Less than a year later, the excellent gaming mouse remains the fastest the company has ever made — one that’s currently on sale at Amazon and Best Buy starting at $136.75 ($23 off), an all-time low. Like the original model , the Superlight 2 is all about shedding weight while simultaneously ratcheting up the polling rate. The wireless mouse offers a 4kHz response rate thanks to a recent firmware update , along with a newer Hero 2 sensor that tracks at 500 inches per second (and up to 32,000 DPI). That combo, combined with the fact that the gaming mouse weighs a mere 60 grams (2.1 ounces),... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/jpODxAB

Sony leak allows Destiny 2 players to access The Final Shape expansion early

Image: Bungie Bungie’s highly anticipated Destiny 2: The Final Shape expansion isn’t due to launch until June 4th, but a number of players have been able to get access to the game this morning. Posters on Reddit and in Discord servers have been sharing images and video of gameplay of The Final Shape , which was apparently accessible through Sony’s PS5 cloud streaming service. As the entire DLC was playable for at least five hours, Destiny 2 players have been able to share spoilers about upcoming raid gear, seasonal content, The Final Shape campaign and missions, and even cut scenes. Videos have also appeared on YouTube showing an early look at new weapons and gear that will be available next week. The Final Shape could be Destiny 2’s most important... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/hUPSMeI

Instagram’s ‘limits’ adds a mute button for everyone other than close friends

Image: Instagram Instagram is expanding “limits,” a safety control you can use to hide DMs and comments from accounts who may be harassing you. Now, instead of just hiding content from recent followers or people who don’t follow you, Instagram will mute incoming messages from everyone except the users on your close friends list . Even though Instagram first rolled out limits to help creators deal with harassment campaigns , anyone can use the feature if they’re facing unwanted messages and comments from bullies and other bad actors. It could give a way to shut down incoming noise without disconnecting people from a supportive community. Image: Instagram When limiting interactions from everyone but close friends, you’ll only see DMs,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/M32zprx

Right to repair is now the law in Colorado

Device manufacturers have until January 1st, 2026, to comply with Colorado’s new rules. | Screenshot: iFixit via YouTube Colorado now has some of the broadest right-to-repair laws in the US thanks to a new bill signed by Governor Jared Polis on Tuesday. The HB24-1121 “Consumer Right to Repair Digital Electronic Equipment” rules require all manufacturers to make it easier for consumers and independent electronics businesses to purchase the necessary equipment needed to repair devices themselves. “Under this bill, when an item is broken, it could be a cellphone like this, a dishwasher, a washing machine, or a laptop, Coloradans will have the information they need to repair their own equipment or use the repair provider of their own choice,” Polis said at the bill signing, as reported by the Colorado Times Recorder . This builds on Colorado’s right-to-repair... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3cLK9ZO

Sony made a PSVR 2 adapter for PC support

The PSVR 2 headset should have PC support by the end of this year, curtosy of a new adapter. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge PlayStation VR2 headset owners are one step closer to being able to use the virtual reality device with PCs. According to a certification discovered by VR enthusiast Brad Lynch , Sony has developed a PSVR 2 “adapter” that provides PC support for the otherwise PS5-exclusive device. Sony said that it was working on PC support for PSVR 2 in February , targeting a non-specific 2024 release date, but the company hadn’t previously mentioned what form this support would take. With the adapter certification being filed back on March 27th with South Korea’s regulator, it seems Sony is on track to easily meet its self-imposed PC support deadline. No other information about this mysterious adapter — including its price, appearance, or specified... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/qQzldXV

Microsoft confirms Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is coming to Xbox Game Pass

Image: Activision Microsoft is confirming today that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 , the next installment in the popular franchise, will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass. After a premature notification earlier today, an official Xbox Wire blog post has now revealed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available on Microsoft’s game subscription service later this year. “We’re excited to confirm that Game Pass members will be able to jump into Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on day one with Game Pass,” says Megan Spurr, senior community lead of Xbox Game Pass. The confirmation of a Game Pass release for the next Call of Duty installment comes after questions about Call of Duty ’s availability on Xbox Game Pass. I reported earlier this month that Microsoft had... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/v6CiWBr

Why Microsoft bet on Surface

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Almost 12 years ago, Microsoft showed us the Surface for the first time. Back then, the company’s big bet was that the laptop market was ready for a shake-up, that it could radically change both the hardware and software of a Windows PC and make everything better. Windows 8 didn’t go so well, and neither did the early attempts at building Windows on top of Arm processors. The Surface, though, has turned into a pretty great device. Now, Microsoft is making a very different wager, this time on AI being the future of computing in practically every way you can think of. And once again, it’s making that bet with the Surface. On this episode of The Vergecast , Microsoft’s Windows and devices head Pavan Davuluri joins the show to discuss the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/lKObwGa

T-Mobile signs a $4.4 billion deal to buy most of US Cellular

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge T-Mobile has agreed to purchase parts of regional wireless carrier US Cellular in a $4.4 billion deal that includes US Cellular’s wireless customers, stores, and approximately 30 percent of spectrum assets. US Cellular will retain ownership of its towers and “approximately 70 percent of its spectrum portfolio across several spectrum bands,” with T-Mobile entering a long-term arrangement to lease space on more than 2,000 towers. According to T-Mobile, the deal will improve nationwide coverage for US Cellular wireless customers while providing better 5G connectivity in “underserved rural areas” where T-Mobile sometimes struggles compared to AT&T and Verizon. It would also reduce the number of carriers competing in markets where US... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/jsISH6U

Windows will soon let you grab text from your Android photos

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge An upcoming version of Microsoft Phone Link lets you select and copy text from within images synced from your Android phone. The feature is live now in Release Preview Insider builds, so it should roll out to everyone soon. Phone Link (called Link to Windows on the phone side) lets you sync calls, messages, notifications, and images — and cast your entire phone — from your Android phone to your Windows computer. It also works in a more limited fashion with iOS devices, which only sync notifications, messages, and calls over Bluetooth. Screenshot: Nathan Edwards / The Verge Phone Link will now let you select and copy text from images synced from your Android phone. The Windows Snipping Tool got text... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/uiF5R2e

Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6 billion to fund its race against ChatGPT and all the rest

The Verge Elon Musk founded xAI last summer , and today it announced raising $6 billion in funding , saying it will help bring the startup’s “first products to market, build advanced infrastructure, and accelerate the research and development of future technologies.” So far, xAI has launched Grok, a supposedly edgier version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT available via X, formerly known as Twitter, where the chatbot is currently only available to X Premium subscribers. Funding in this round came from several sources, according to xAI, including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Saudi Arabian Prince Al Waleed bin Talal. Last year, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed that xAI was looking to raise up to $1 billion in equity... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/HQhMIXZ

HBO’s MoviePass doc is a snapshot of how C-suites kill companies

HBO Director Muta’Ali’s MoviePass, MovieCrash is a thorough but circuitous breakdown of how executives’ obsession with exponential growth all but destroyed the company. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6JAucWl

Apple’s WWDC may include AI-generated emoji and an OpenAI partnership

Illustration: The Verge Apple will finally tell its own AI story at WWDC 2024 , but it may not mean the sorts of showy features demoed by the likes of Google , Microsoft , or OpenAI . Instead, the event may see Apple rolling out basic AI features like transcribing voice memos or auto-generated emoji — and announcing a rumored partnership with OpenAI, according to Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today. Recent rumors have held that Apple will be allowing chatbots to integrate more deeply into its operating systems, and it seems that OpenAI is getting the first crack at that with ChatGPT. But Apple is still working on an agreement with Google to do the same with Gemini , according to Gurman. It’s also been rumored to be talking to Anthropic . (Talks... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0f1y8tq

Seeing the real world inside a virtual one

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge From the earliest pixelated games to the outrageously realistic experiences of today, flight simulators have always been pushing the boundaries of what can be visually recreated in a video game. It’s one thing to make space look good; it’s another thing entirely to faithfully recreate the cockpit of a 747 and the whole world around which it might fly. On this episode of The Vergecast , the fourth and final installment of our series on the five senses of video games, we asked Polygon’s Charlie Hall to help us make sense of the current state of the art in flight simulation. Hall, who once spent more than four months in VR mapping the edge of the Milky Way galaxy in Elite: Dangerous , has more experience in a virtual cockpit than most. We... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/coaBRNi

A big list of the best tiny games on the internet

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 39, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, get ready for gadgets this week, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I’ve been writing about Surfaces and other tablets , chatting with some internet friends about the fall of Red Lobster , reading about Magic: The Gathering and the history of emoji , watching MoviePass, MovieCrash , weeding my patio with a literal flamethrower, and for some reason, eating a lot of popcorn. Like, a lot of popcorn. I also have for you a bunch of cool new gadgets, a new YouTube channel you’re going to love, a new-old Mario game, a clever new AI tool for Windows, lots and lots of fun... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6KjAOqr

A jury hands Bungie a victory in a landmark anti-cheating decision

Image: Bungie A jury found on Friday that Phoenix Digital, which owns the cheat mod site AimJunkies, is guilty of violating Bungie copyrights when it created cheats for Destiny 2 , reported Stephen Totilo , who has written about Bungie’s cheating lawsuits for Axios . The landmark decision may be the first time a jury has agreed that a cheat creator violated a gaming company’s copyrights. Yesterday’s jury decision awarded Bungie ( PDF ) a tidy sum of $63,210. Bungie counsel James Barker said in a statement emailed to The Verge that the company is “committed to our players and will continue to protect them against cheats, including taking this and future cases all the way to trial.” In 2021, Bungie sued AimJunkies and four defendants (here’s a PDF of the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/fhmdz0V

ICQ is shutting down after almost 28 years

Your ICQ number is finally shuffling off to the great beyond. Russian company VK, which has been the service’s steward since 2010, published a message Friday that simply reads, “ICQ will stop working from June 26th,” and implores users to switch to its other chat solutions. ICQ was among the crop of early instant messenger services, like AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger, that allowed for real-time chats. It differed from others by assigning users a number they would use to connect to one another, as opposed to aliases or email addresses. It also had uncommon features like SMS messaging and the ability to message people who were offline. And of course, those of us of a certain age probably remember the “Uh oh!” alert that would... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/lh530eG

I hated Animal Well until I beat the game

Image: Big Mode / Shared Memory About midway through Animal Well , I felt I had been lied to. I read all the glowing reviews of the game and heard the breathless praise heaped upon it on social media. But my expectations did not match my reality... until I beat the game. Now, I’m well on my way to 100 percent completion for a game I was seriously considering abandoning. Spoilers for Animal Well are below. Though I loved Animal Well ’s novel take on traditional movement abilities — the tools it provides possess multiple clever uses — platforming itself often felt demoralizing. Initially, Animal Well ’s platforming felt like it had difficulty spikes that were both too great and too frequent. I could often see where I had to go and how to get there (and I often looked up... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/LBp0sdE

Ring’s Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam hands-on: a fuller view of your home

The Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam comes in pink and rocking some moves. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge It’s pretty in pink, and its 360-degree view is handy. But while Ring’s new pan-tilt cam has the moves, it lacks innovation. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/NuJAyBr

The dog from the doge meme has died

Photo: Cameron Allan McKean / The Verge The face of one of the defining memes of the 2010s, the doge meme, died on Friday. Kabosu, the shiba inu with the knowing face that launched a million internet jokes, was 18 when she died, her owner posted on Instagram . Kabosu’s life story feels like an unlikely fairy tale for the internet age. In 2008, she was a rescue dog adopted by Atsuko Sato , a kindergarten teacher. Sato kept up a blog where she shared pictures of her pets, and in February 2010, she posted what at the time was an ordinary update . Little did Sato know, one of the pictures of her dog would eventually be seen by the entire internet. View this post on Instagram A post shared by かぼすママ (@kabosumama) The doge meme has been used by... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/oXY9Z6m

ChatGPT has a Scarlett Johansson problem

Photo by JASON REDMOND / AFP via Getty Images, Image by Alex Parkin / The Verge Did you think Sky, the new and newly personable voice of ChatGPT, sounded like Samantha from Her? Not everyone did, but enough people noticed a distinct Scarlett Johansson...ness in the chatbot that it became a story. And then Johansson herself decided that Sky sounded a little too close to home , especially given that she’d turned down offers from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to play Sky herself. We still don’t know all the details of the timeline here, who knew what, what Altman did when Johansson said no, and lots more. But it’s all just weird. On this episode of The Vergecast , we talk a lot about what happened here, what it means that everyone immediately assumed the worst from OpenAI, and whether a case like this might actually go anywhere .... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/iHuA4h8

Here’s why deleted iPhone photos returned to some iOS devices

Turns out the “deleted” files may have been on devices this entire time. | Photo: Wes Davis / The Verge We finally have a better understanding of why devices running iOS 17.5 started resurfacing long-deleted photos , courtesy of Apple and some third-party researchers. While Apple released the iOS 17.5.1 iPhone update to fix the issue earlier this week, attributing it to a “database corruption,” the company remained tight-lipped about what was specifically causing old files — including deleted nudes, in some reports — to start appearing on devices that never hosted them. Elaborating on the issue to 9to5Mac , Apple says it was caused by a corrupt database entry on the device’s file system, impacting files on the devices themselves and not those that had been synced to iCloud. Those files may have been carried over from older devices when... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/roBgi0q

Microsoft’s new Windows chief on the future of the OS, Surface, and those annoying ads

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Pavan Davuluri hasn’t even been the head of Windows for two months , but he’s already been tasked with announcing Microsoft’s transition to Arm-powered chips and its big AI-powered PC ambitions . There’s a lot riding on this moment, and Davuluri now has to lead both the Surface and Windows teams through an AI era that has the potential to upend how we use computers. I sat down with the new Windows chief at the company’s Build developer conference this week to better understand what his vision is for Windows and Surface, whether Microsoft will still experiment with hardware, and if we should expect to see an end to the ads that are ruining the Windows experience . Microsoft unveiled a lot of new AI features for its new Copilot Plus PCs,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/YxGIuBr

GM will recycle its EV battery scrap with Tesla co-founder’s company

Steve Fecht for Genreal Motors General Motors is working with EV battery and recycling firm Redwood Materials to recycle the scrap from two of its manufacturing facilities, the companies announced. Redwood, which was founded by Tesla co-founder and ex-chief technology officer JB Straubel, will handle “100 percent” of the scrap from GM’s Warren, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tennessee, facilities. Specifically, the deal is between Redwood and Ultium Cells LLC, which is a joint battery-making venture between GM and South Korea’s LG Energy Solution , a subsidiary of LG Chem and a major supplier of lithium-ion batteries to Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and of course, GM. With this deal, Redwood says it now has secured recycling partnerships with “most” of the major EV battery-making... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/7NwTHQ8

Microsoft Bing issue takes down Copilot, DuckDuckGo, and ChatGPT search features

It’s a sad panda day. | Image: Microsoft Search capabilities for ChatGPT, Copilot, DuckDuckGo, and other platforms aren't working properly right now due to a Microsoft outage that appears to be related to the Bing application programming interface (API). Sites and services are either completely unavailable or only intermittently responding at the time of publication. The issues — which began around 3AM ET — appear to be linked to Bing’s API and any service that relies upon it. While Microsoft’s own web search engine Bing was also seemingly affected earlier, according to Techcrunch , the service now appears to be correctly loading search results. Image: DuckDuckGo Search engines like DuckDuckGo relying on Bing’s API are displaying error messages. Other... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/GZcMP14

Panasonic wants to play Fujifilm’s filter game with the new Lumix S9

The Panasonic Lumix S9 is a new $1,500 full-frame camera that comes in four colors. LUTs. The people want LUTs! Or at least that is what Panasonic thinks with its new $1,500 Lumix S9. The S9 is a full-frame, interchangeable lens, mirrorless camera that has most of the guts of the Lumix S5 II , but with a new slimmed-down body and a dedicated “LUT” button on the back. The “LUT” button on the S9 is located above the articulating screen. A LUT, which stands for “Look Up Table,” is a way to alter the color or look of an image via a mathematical formula. In the most basic terms, you can think of it as a fancy way to say “filter.” And the New Lumix S9 can internally store up to 40 different LUTs, though one is reserved for a permanent V-log to 709 LUT. Using the new Lumix Labs app, you can make custom... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/qB8OKPy

Google TV is getting a ‘find my remote’ feature

Walmart’s Onn Google TV 4K Pro streaming box (pictured) already supports the feature. | Image: Walmart A useful perk has been included in the latest Android update for Google TV that should make it easier to find missing remotes. Android Authority reports that the beta release for Android 14 for TV — announced during last week’s Google I/O conference — contains references to a new “find my remote” feature. One text string found within the update reads as follows: There is a button on your Google TV that you can push to play a sound on your remote for 30 seconds. This only works with supported Google TV remote controls. To stop the sound, press any button on your remote. AFTVNews found the same message is displayed on the Onn Google TV 4K Pro streaming box that Walmart released earlier this month with support for the new find my remote... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6PIMNVJ

The Sonos Ace headphones are here, and they’re damn impressive

The company’s app redesign fumble threatens to steal the thunder from what otherwise looks (and feels) like a strong debut in a new category. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/4NsjWg2

Meta and LG’s headset partnership is on the rocks

LG CEO William Cho and home entertainment company president Park Hyoung-sei met with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in February to discuss the collaboration. | Image: LG LG is reportedly pausing its partnership with Meta to develop an extended reality (XR) device that would take on Apple’s Vision Pro headset, just three months after announcing the joint venture . While multiple Korean news outlets are reporting that the Meta partnership has broken down entirely due to a lack of “synergy” between the companies, LG has denied terminating the deal. “LG Electronics continues the XR partnership with Meta forged in February but is controlling its pace,” LG said in a statement to Korea JoongAng Daily . Products from the collaboration, set to combine Meta’s Horizon Worlds mixed reality platform with content and service capabilities from LG’s TV business, were expected to hit the market next year. The potential... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Gn1xNuj

Election officials are role-playing AI threats to keep them from undermining democracy

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes led a tabletop exercise for journalists to role-play as election officials to understand the speed and scale of AI threats they face. | Photo by Ash Ponders for The Verge The job has never been harder, and the threats have never been stranger. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/1tDK4eH

All the news about Blue Origin’s first crewed flight since 2022

Screenshot: YouTube Jeff Bezos’ space tourism company is flying humans to space for the first time since 2022. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/XSOnGT1

The five-year journey to make an adventure game out of ink and paper

Image: John William Evelyn “I couldn’t walk away from the pen and ink thing,” says John Evelyn, creator of The Collage Atlas , a dreamlike storybook adventure recently released on Steam . The entire game is hand drawn, from tiny flowers and insects to huge buildings and the clouds that float over them. Exploring this world unwraps its dreamlike story, with environments folding out in response to your approach. “I had been drawing for many years before that […] and I’d always draw with ink straight away, without any kind of prior pencil work or sketching,” he says. “I liked all the incidental details and the accidents that come out along the way.” He compares it to improv music — “actually, sometimes it goes horribly wrong!” — but says that the feeling of getting... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Ga6Rshf

The AI assistants are getting better fast

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 38, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and you can also read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I’ve been writing about iPads and the future of Google , watching American Fiction and Bodkin , rewatching Her because of… reasons, endlessly replaying the songs of Windows95man , learning how to make better sandwiches , testing Claude for AI stuff, and listening to the new-old Childish Gambino album . I also have for you a new AI model, literally thousands of new Lego pieces, a new way to Google, the fanciest mop you’ve ever seen in your life, more emulators for iOS, and much more. And I have a question: W... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/M0kuSbw

This smart smoker makes barbecuing indoors a breeze

The GE Profile is a smart indoor smoker — designed to keep smoke inside the oven, not in your kitchen. Wi-Fi connectivity means it works the Smart HQ app for remote control, but there’s no magic sauce here to make you BBQ whizz. The GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker delivers on its promise of bringing smoking indoors, but sadly its smarts didn’t make me a better pitmaster. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/F7sAkHW

Sugar’s big twist was more than a gimmick

Image: Apple For most of its first season, Sugar on Apple TV Plus was a fairly typical if slickly produced detective story. It starred Colin Farrell as John Sugar, a private investigator with a number of charming quirks — obsessed with old movies, unable to get drunk, beloved by dogs — who was determined to solve a missing persons case involving the granddaughter of a famous Hollywood director. Then, at the end of episode six, the show introduced a twist that threatened to change it into something very different. But now that Sugar ’s finale is out, it’s clear that the twist didn’t alter what the show already was — it just added some new flavor. Spoiler warning for the first season of Sugar , including the final episode. Okay, let’s get it out of the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/EynxARB

The EV industry can’t shake its human rights abuse problem

Workers walk in Glencore’s Mutanda Mine, which Tesla sources cobalt from, in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 19th, 2023.  | Photo by Emmet Livingstone / AFP via Getty Images Mining for minerals used to make EVs and batteries is plagued with allegations of abuse, the latest report from the nonprofit Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) shows. And automakers continue to source materials from some of the worst offenders, The Verge finds. BHRRC has documented 631 allegations of human rights abuses since 2010 for seven key minerals used in electric vehicles, rechargeable batteries, and renewable energy technologies. Many of the allegations were made against a small group of companies, which The Verge was able to link to three of the world’s biggest EV manufacturers: Volkswagen Group, Tesla, and BYD. “Things are not improving,” said Caroline Avan, head of natural resources and just transition at... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts ht

Microsoft to add next Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass, WSJ reports

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft has reportedly decided to add the next installment of Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass. The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft will announce that Call of Duty is coming to its game subscription service during the company’s Xbox showcase on June 9th. I reported earlier this month that Microsoft had been debating whether to put new releases of Call of Duty into Game Pass, with concerns from some at the company that the revenue generated from typical Call of Duty sales would be undermined by Game Pass. Activision traditionally sells copies of Call of Duty for around $70 or more, selling more than 20 million copies on average. The brief Wall Street Journal report doesn’t make it clear whether Microsoft plans to charge extra... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/J5onKpN

AI assistants are so back

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge AI. AI? AI! AI... A. I. This has been a week filled with AI announcements from some of the biggest and most important companies in tech, all of whom seem totally convinced that we’re due for a revolution in virtual assistants. If Silicon Valley gets its way, you might never have to write an email, a line of code, or a joke ever again. All you’ll do is ask your all-knowing, ultra-helpful, maybe slightly too flirty virtual assistant, and it’ll get everything done for you. On this episode of The Vergecast , we discuss all the AI assistant stuff OpenAI announced at its Spring Update event and the very similar stuff Google announced at its I/O developer conference the next day. Since the early days of Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa, the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/4BsXKHV

Reddit brings back its old award system — ‘we messed up’

Reddit awards are (kinda) back — with a few notable changes. | Illustration: The Verge Reddit is re-introducing a revised version of the awards system it phased out last year after acknowledging the golden upvote system had “missed the mark.” “We tried something new, it wasn’t great (you called it),” Reddit said in its announcement post on Wednesday . “So we’re (re)launching awards, not-so-new but definitely improved. Rollout starts today on reddit.com and Reddit’s iOS and Android apps.” Most of the previous award system mechanisms will remain the same, according to Reddit, with a few tweaks — such as an award button placed under eligible posts, an updated UI to minimize clutter, and an awards leaderboard that displays the top gold and awards earned for a comment or post. New safety features have been introduced to keep... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/tUy9FJR

Hugging Face is sharing $10 million worth of compute to help beat the big AI companies

Image: The Verge / Getty Images Hugging Face, one of the biggest names in machine learning, is committing $10 million in free shared GPUs to help developers create new AI technologies. The goal is to help small developers, academics, and startups counter the centralization of AI advancements. “We are lucky to be in a position where we can invest in the community,” Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue told The Verge . Delangue said the investment is possible because Hugging Face is “profitable, or close to profitable” and recently raised $235 million in funding , valuing the company at $4.5 billion. Delangue is concerned about AI startups’ ability to compete with the tech giants. Most significant advancements in artificial intelligence — like GPT-4, the algorithms behind Google... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/sB3GDIf

Instagram and Facebook under EU investigation for causing child addiction and harm

The EU is concerned that Meta’s algorithms may cause “behavioral addictions in children.” | Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge The European Union has opened a formal investigation into Meta over concerns that it isn’t doing enough to safeguard the mental and physical health of children who use its Facebook and Instagram social media platforms. The probe announced by the European Commission on Thursday will assess whether Meta has breached rules under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), noting that Facebook and Instagram’s UI and algorithms may cause “behavioral addictions in children” and create “rabbit-hole effects.” The EU is also concerned that Meta isn’t doing enough to prevent minors from accessing inappropriate content, and that its age-verification tools may not be “reasonable, proportionate, and effective.” Today we open formal #DSA investigation... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/UzkWyRA

I touched a prototype Asus ROG Ally X, and it felt better

I think this tease is it, but I can’t quite tell. | Image: Asus On June 2nd, Asus will formally announce the ROG Ally X , a semi-sequel to its handheld gaming PC with a way bigger battery . We exclusively revealed the broad strokes last Thursday, but I’ve now touched an early engineering sample, too — and I’m pleased to say it’s far more comfortable to hold. Asus has made a whole bunch of ergonomic changes that make it practically melt into my hands, in the exact way the original did not. While I still prefer the Steam Deck’s beefier grips and symmetrical thumbsticks, the Ally X could easily be my runner-up. First, a disclaimer: this is not what I’d consider a proper hands-on . Asus wouldn’t let me power it on, play any games, or show you any photos. I couldn’t bring the old ROG Ally into the room or... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/bEcvP3z

We have to stop ignoring AI’s hallucination problem

Image: The Verge Google I/O introduced an AI assistant that can see and hear the world, while OpenAI put its version of a Her -like chatbot into an iPhone. Next week, Microsoft will be hosting Build, where it’s sure to have some version of Copilot or Cortana that understands pivot tables. Then, a few weeks after that, Apple will host its own developer conference, and if the buzz is anything to go by, it’ll be talking about artificial intelligence, too. (Unclear if Siri will be mentioned.) AI is here! It’s no longer conceptual. It’s taking jobs, making a few new ones, and helping millions of students avoid doing their homework. According to most of the major tech companies investing in AI, we appear to be at the start of experiencing one of those rare... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/4BESZQo

Dell leak details next-gen Windows on Arm chips, 29-hour laptops, and more

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images We already know Dell is getting ready to launch a new Arm-powered variant of its popular XPS 13 laptop, but now a confidential document has leaked a lot more details on Dell’s future XPS plans. VideoCardz has obtained and published a 311-page document from Dell that goes into detail on the XPS 13 — that’s due soon — and when we can expect to see Qualcomm’s next-generation chips for Windows on Arm. Qualcomm-powered Snapdragon X Elite laptops look set to debut next week, with Asus announcing it has a new “AI PC” ready to launch on Monday — the same day Microsoft is holding a Surface and Windows event all about Windows on Arm. Dell’s own XPS 13 variant running the Snapdragon X Elite leaked just a few days ago , and this new document from V... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/dalVfor

Everything happening at Google’s I/O developer conference 2024

Image: Google Google’s most AI-focused developer conference yet is kicking off on May 14th. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/fYBcCAR

The mission to retrieve a Mars sample is running into turbulence

Image: The Verge NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission is already running over budget and behind schedule. But it may also be our best chance of finding extraterrestrial life. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/V307F8q

TCL’s new Mini LED TVs offer blazing brightness on a budget

Image: TCL 5,000 nits. That’s the incredible peak brightness of TCL’s latest flagship QM8 Mini LED TV, and there’s no better example of how the company is hoping to stand out from competitors like Samsung, LG, Hisense, Sony, and others. That’s just on a different level than what OLED can offer . Are we getting to a point where TVs are getting too bright? No such thing, right? Starting at $1,999.99 for a 65-inch size (and ranging up to an enormous 115-inch model), the QM8 contains thousands of dimming zones — “up to over 5,000,” to be specific. Combined with TCL’s image processing, the company is confident that people will get an enthralling home theater experience from this Mini LED set for significantly less than, say, a top-tier OLED would cost. ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/1MsOADW

The Pixel 8A and the camera you have with you

You know, normal backyard nighttime stuff. Sometimes you travel thousands of miles from home to see something amazing. And every once in a while, that something appears right in your backyard. That’s what happened on Friday. “What’s the aurora forecast for tonight?” I asked a friend who keeps up with those things. “Amazing,” he said. He wasn’t lying. At 9:30PM, my husband and I went to the backyard to check the sky — nothing but hazy light pollution on the northern horizon. But just an hour later, the sky erupted. I didn’t think twice about what camera to use to photograph the event since I already had my SIM card in the Pixel 8A — it had arrived a couple of days ago fresh off its announcement . I handed my husband the Pixel 8 Pro; he left his night mode-less iPhone XR in the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/KXYGIM2