Latest Technology

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Apple’s putting renewed focus on its repairability efforts today. The company has extended its self-service diagnostics tool to Europe , giving customers in 32 countries an easier way to test products for potential issues. But perhaps more interesting is the fact that Apple also published a new whitepaper — “Longevity, by Design” ( PDF link ) — that explains “the company’s principles for designing for longevity.” I’m sure there’ll be a lot of analysis about every page, but within the paper is actually some news: Apple says that later this year, it will extend more software features to third-party iPhone components. True Tone, the feature that adjusts an iPhone display’s white balance to better match your environment, has typically been... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ljwT261

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images On Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Murthy v. Missouri , a case spurred by conservative state attorneys general about whether the Biden administration illegally coerced social media companies to remove speech it didn’t like. In a 6-3 decision , the court reversed the decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had found unconstitutional coercion in the government’s conduct. The Supreme Court held that the plaintiffs did not adequately establish standing — that is, their right to sue in the first place — and has sent the case back to the lower courts, where a new decision will be issued that is consistent with the SCOTUS opinion. At its core, the case is about whether the Biden administration crossed the line... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/dghnCxy

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge After Democratic strategist Keith Edwards urged Threads users to check the Instagram setting limiting political content from people they don’t follow, many people noticed theirs had abruptly changed. Journalist Taylor Lorenz confirmed that her settings had changed as well and noted that they appeared to reset every time she force-closed the Instagram app, which we’ve also confirmed on our phones. Meta says the behavior was unintentional. “This was an error and should not have happened,” Meta communications director Andy Stone posted on Threads. “We’re working on getting it fixed.” Meta introduced the opt-out setting that limits recommendations of “political content” to Instagram and Threads in March. At the time, the company said it... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/w0TuMsX

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images Udio and Suno are not, despite their names, the hottest new restaurants on the Lower East Side. They’re AI startups that let people generate impressively real-sounding songs — complete with instrumentation and vocal performances — from prompts. And on Monday, a group of major record labels sued them , alleging copyright infringement “on an almost unimaginable scale,” claiming that the companies can only do this because they illegally ingested huge amounts of copyrighted music to train their AI models. These two lawsuits contribute to a mounting pile of legal headaches for the AI industry. Some of the most successful firms in the space have trained their models with data acquired via the unsanctioned scraping of massive amounts of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/xZF9bmD

Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. | Image: Nintendo This was supposed to be the year the Nintendo Switch rode off peacefully into the sunset. After a packed 2023 that included hit Legend of Zelda and Super Mario games, the Switch had little on the calendar this year and the prospect of a successor looming. And yet, here we are after a hectic few weeks of gaming news , and Nintendo might just have the most exciting lineup for the rest of the year, besting the likes of Xbox and PlayStation. In the Switch era, it seems the company’s greatest strength has been consistency. This likely harkens back to a seemingly boring restructure at Nintendo in which the company merged its handheld and console development teams in order to focus purely on the hybrid Switch . It certainly seems to have worked:... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/dlQcGsS

Image: The Verge EU regulators have charged Microsoft with illegally bundling its Teams chat app with its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscriptions. It’s the first time Microsoft has been charged with antitrust violations in the EU for 15 years, following two big cases related to Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer bundling. “The European Commission has informed Microsoft of its preliminary view that Microsoft has breached EU antitrust rules by tying its communication and collaboration product Teams to its popular productivity applications included in its suites for businesses Office 365 and Microsoft 365,” says the European Commission in a statement today . Microsoft has now been handed a statement of objections, a list of the EU’s concerns over... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Z7LAP9W

Photo illustration by The Verge / Photo: Netflix The co-CEO who replaced co-founder Reed Hastings details the company’s new culture memo, its ad ambitions, and what’s next for Netflix. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/MTGI0j4

Enso’s eco-friendly tire. | Image: Enso Congratulations, world. We’ve done it. Since passing the Clean Air Act in the 1970s, we’ve reduced cancer-causing particulate emissions from our cars and other sources dramatically, a change that has added years to our lives . That’s the good news. The bad news is that we can now spend more time focusing on the remaining sources, including some unexpected ones. In an EV era, tires are becoming the greatest emitters of particulate matter, and as we’ve seen, whether it’s the microplastics in our shrimp or the preservatives in our salmon , they’re having a disturbing impact on our environment. In an EV era, tires are becoming the greatest emitters of particulate matter Gunnlaugur Erlendsson wants to do something about that. The affable... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/FXukfoO

Apple is once again the focus of the EU’s competition policy. | Cath Virginia / The Verge Apple’s App Store “steering” policies violate the EU’s Digital Markets Act meant to encourage competition, said regulators in their preliminary ruling Monday. The European Commission has also opened a new investigation into Apple’s support for alternative iOS marketplaces in Europe, including the core technology fee it charges developers. “Our preliminary position is that Apple does not fully allow steering,” said Margrethe Vestager who heads up competition policy in Europe. “Steering is key to ensure that app developers are less dependent on gatekeepers’ app stores and for consumers to be aware of better offers.” Under the DMA, Apple and other so-called gatekeepers must allow app developers to steer consumers to offers outside their app... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/36UNukJ

If you weren’t able to catch the season two premiere of House of Dragon last weekend, now is your chance. | Image: Ollie Upton / HBO There’s no denying that streaming services just keep getting more expensive , with Peacock and Max being the latest streamers to raise prices across their ad-free plans. We’re also seeing a number of services — including Max — dropping support for free trials, ensuring no one other than paying subscribers can access their trove of content. Fortunately, if you haven’t previously subscribed to Max, you can sign up for a rare weeklong trial through the end of today, June 23rd. Admittedly, a week isn’t enough time to burn through Max’s extensive back catalog of original programming, which includes newer shows like Hacks , the animated sci-fi epic Scavenger’s Reign , True Detective: Night Country , and last year’s excellent adaptation of The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/9qP5ROz

For the past two weeks, I’ve been editing in the newest version of Final Cut Pro for the iPad. For many professionals, the original release of this app last year missed the mark . Its tools have just been too limited to use on a daily basis. The new version doesn’t necessarily change that — but despite my many frustrations, I’m finally discovering the joy of using it. The new version of the app, confusingly named “Final Cut Pro for iPad 2” (it is for all current iPads, not the iPad 2), came out this week. And perhaps the biggest new feature in this year’s release isn’t entirely a Final Cut Pro feature: it’s a brand-new app that integrates with it. The new Final Cut Camera is a standalone app for your iPhone that offers advanced camera... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ZXVs1uk

Image: The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 43, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I’ve been reading about memexes and telepathy and John Lennon’s wristwatch , watching Presumed Innocent and Ren Faire , testing Genspark for AI search stuff, redoing my homescreen with Dumbify , and experimenting with overnight oats in an attempt to make mornings less chaotic. (Turns out, peanut butter makes pretty much everything 20 percent better.) I also have for you a new tech podcast, a couple of handy new gadgets, a new calendar app, the game that will take over your weekend, and much more. Let’s get... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/AyIdNVZ

Image: Bandai Namco But he thinks players will be able to handle it. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/pvaID5g

Image: The Verge, Netflix How cutting-edge codecs and obsessive tweaks have helped Netflix to stay ahead of the curve — until now. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/HxlnCsB

The superior way to ask Siri to set a timer when you’re not at home or in the car. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge There’s a time and place for everything. In the privacy of my own home, I’ve got no problem saying “hey” to Google, Alexa, Siri, Meta, and on occasion, Bixby. But out in public? Where other people can perceive me? I’d rather crawl under a rock. This has been one of my biggest problems with AI gadgets these past few months. All of them seem convinced that the best way to interact with AI assistants is to actually talk to them, not unlike the movie Her. In reality, I’ve rarely seen my friends and family use their phone’s assistants when we’re hanging out privately and never out in public. So it felt like a tiny “Aha!” moment when, during last week’s WWDC keynote, Apple mentioned that iOS 18 will let you type to Siri instead. Technically,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/8gtfoaE

Image: Alex Parkin and Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images For a crucial decade in print media’s transition to the internet, HBO’s fantasy series Game of Thrones was a boon in traffic… for everyone. But what happened when every publication started chasing the same thing? Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/mtlEicq

Amazon launched its new Alexa-enabled Echo Hub in February . | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Last year, David Limp, Amazon’s former senior vice president of devices and services, hinted at charging for a more capable version of Alexa — and now we have an idea of how much it might cost. A report from Reuters suggests that Amazon’s AI-supercharged version of Alexa could cost anywhere from $5 to $10 per month on top of your Prime membership. Sources tell Reuters that Amazon is aiming to launch the new Alexa in August, marking a “desperate attempt” to overhaul the voice assistant. The paid version of Alexa might not require users to keep saying “Alexa” when talking to the assistant. It will reportedly be capable of completing multiple requests in one prompt, such as writing a short email and ordering takeout from Uber Eats. As... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/bFAmCRv

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit from the California Civil Rights Department. The lawsuit stemmed from a three-year investigation that found that Snap allegedly failed to “ensure that women were paid or promoted equally.” The allegations span Snap’s period of rapid growth from 2015 to 2022, when the California-based company increased its headcount from 250 to more than 5,000. During this time, California’s civil rights agency claims Snap paid women less and offered them fewer promotions when compared to male employees. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that women at the company “were routinely subjected to unwelcome sexual advances and other harassing... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/BJzIj47

The Verge Pornhub plans to block access to its website in Indiana and Kentucky in response to age verification laws designed to prevent children from accessing adult websites. The website has now cut off access in at least half a dozen states in protest of similar age verification laws that have quickly spread across conservative-leaning US states. Indiana will lose access on June 27th, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle , and Kentucky will lose access on July 10th, according to Kentucky Public Radio . Pornhub says it’s blocking access to its website over privacy concerns around the new laws. The laws generally require adults to upload some form of government ID to prove they’re 18 or older. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has criticized... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/RMks3DP

Astro Bot . | Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment An adorable platformer, mythological tower defense, RPG / puzzle hybrid, and open-world Star Wars. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/uJjUoxT

Illustration: The Verge AT&T is pushing prices up for customers who have stayed on old, retired “unlimited” data plans. In August, customers can expect to see their bills rise by up to $20 for plans with multiple lines. “This is the total monthly increase, not per line increase,” the company says on its website . Customers with just a single line of service will see their charges go up $10 each month. AT&T says it’s offering customers more high-speed data and hotspot data in return for the price hike. That’s supposed to allow people to keep their old plans that have been grand-fathered in, but with some added perks. AT&T Unlimited Choice, Choice II, Choice Enhanced, Unlimited &More, and Unlimited Value plans will now include 75GB of high-speed data and 30GB... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/C5RrFBm

Existing Home Key-capable smart locks like this Aqara lock won’t work with the new hands-free unlock feature for Apple Home. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Last week, Apple announced it’s bringing hands-free unlocking for smart locks to Apple Home when iOS 18 arrives this fall. The new capability leverages the U1 ultra wideband (UWB) chip in many iPhones and Apple Watches to allow a smart lock to open automatically as you approach the front door — no tapping required. But hands-free unlocking isn’t coming to your existing Home Key smart lock because no current locks have the hardware to support it. To use this cool new feature, you’re going to have to buy a new lock, and we likely won’t see any UWB-enabled smart locks until the end of 2024 at the earliest. Apple’s hands-free unlocking won’t be coming to your existing Home Key smart lock The new capability is part of Home Key — a feature of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt

The Xreal Beam Pro looks like a smartphone — but it’s not. | Image: Xreal Xreal has made a name for itself with some surprisingly nice-looking augmented reality glasses , which put a display in front of your eyes so you can do things like watch TV or play games on a giant screen projected just for you. But unlike, say, Apple’s Vision Pro or Meta’s Quest 3 , Xreal has no built-in software or content. It’s just a screen in your glasses. This is good in that you can plug in lots of other devices, but it does restrict the sort of things those glasses can do. The new Beam Pro is Xreal’s latest attempt to bridge that gap. It’s a handheld device with the rough dimensions of a smartphone, but Xreal thinks of it as more of a companion to your glasses. It runs a customized version of Android 14 — Xreal calls it NebulaOS —... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/KfNXkUG

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The onslaught of summer gaming news might finally be at an end — but not before Nintendo has its say. Following events from PlayStation and Xbox , along with Summer Game Fest and presentations focused on Ubisoft and EA games , Nintendo has announced its latest Direct presentation . It’s slated to last around 40 minutes and will be “focused on Nintendo Switch games coming in the second half of 2024,” according to the company. (There won’t be any news about the next Switch, however, Nintendo says.) As always with Nintendo, it’s tough to predict what to expect, though it’s possible we’ll see a number of rereleases of classic games and, just maybe, finally get a glimpse of Metroid Prime 4 . You’ll definitely have to tune in to see what the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Yb06gTM

Dr. Vivek Murthy hopes that introducing warning labels to social media platforms will help address mental health concerns among adolescents. | Photo by Bryan Bedder / Getty Images for Project Healthy Minds US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is urging Congress to introduce warning labels for social media platforms that regularly warn parents and adolescent users about the potential mental health harms associated with using them. The proposed warning labels, similar to those already introduced for tobacco and alcohol products, would aim to increase awareness and encourage social media users to change their behavior. “The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor,” Murthy said in a guest essay published by The New York Times . The surgeon general cited studies that found almost half of adolescents say social media gives them body image issues and that those who spend... Continue reading… from The Verge - A

TikTok says the new tools are aimed at helping brands and creators develop global audiences. | The Verge TikTok is introducing some new generative AI tools that aim to help organizations and content creators grow their global audiences using customizable digital avatars and language dubbing features. Building on the Symphony generative AI ad suite unveiled last month, TikTok says these new tools are intended to break down language barriers in marketing and allow brands to “add a human touch to their content” where real models or presenters wouldn’t otherwise be used. The first of the new offerings is Symphony Digital Avatars , which are available in two varieties: stock or custom. Stock avatars are based on paid actors from a diverse range of backgrounds, nationalities, and languages. They are available for commercial use. Custom avatars,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/PCry8uV

Nikon’s new $2,500 Z6 III has the world’s first partially stacked CMOS sensor. | Image: Becca Farsace / The Verge At the beginning of a recent photo walk with a Nikon representative, I was told it was only a matter of time before I became a “birder.” Because eventually, every photographer runs out of things to take photos of and is left with only one subject to master: birds. Which, because of advancements in camera technology, have become a much easier target. The Nikon Z6 III has an articulating back screen that is typical of hybrid photo / video cameras. It was on this same photo walk that I got a few hours with the new $2,500 Nikon Z6 III. And the big news in this camera is its 24.5-megapixel partially stacked CMOS sensor. This is the first camera ever to employ this technology. Instead of the circuit parts and pixel area... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/NvrjCJd

Nikon’s new $2,500 Z6 III has the world’s first partially stacked CMOS sensor. | Becca Farsace / The Verge At the beginning of a recent photo walk with a Nikon representative, I was told it was only a matter of time before I became a “birder”. Because eventually every photographer runs out of things to take photos of and is left with only one subject to master: birds. Which, because of advancements in sensor technology, have become a much easier target. The Nikon Z6 III has an articulating back screen that is typical of hybrid photo / video cameras. It was on this same photo walk that I got a few hours with the new $2,500 Nikon Z6 III. And the big news in this camera is its 24.5-megapixel partially stacked CMOS sensor. This is the first camera, ever, to employ this technology. Instead of the circuit parts and pixel area... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/kn9Em8Y

A McDonald’s in Pittsburgh. | Photo: Paul Weaver / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images If your local McDonald’s has been getting your order confidently wrong with an AI chatbot at the drive-thru, I have good news for you: The company is ending the program for now. The company told franchisees that it’s winding down an AI drive-thru ordering partnership with IBM “no later than July 26th, 2024,” according to trade publication Restaurant Business . The company will reportedly remove the tech from the over 100 restaurants it’s been testing the system in after partnering with IBM in 2021 . It’s not clear why the company is ending the IBM deal, though. It told Restaurant Business it was testing whether the voice ordering chatbot could speed up service and that the test left it confident “that a voice-ordering solution for... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/OWsiaS8

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The thinness of the OLED iPad Pro is only the beginning of a renewed effort by Apple to make increasingly thin computers, according to Bloomberg’ s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter. The company plans a “significantly skinnier” iPhone 17 and is also working on shaving off some of the thickness of the MacBook Pro and the Apple Watch, he writes. It’s not the first time we’ve heard about a new, extremely thin “iPhone 17 Slim,” as The Information and multiple supply chain analysts have reported that this phone is on its way, possibly at a higher price than the existing iPhone 15 Pro Max. I haven’t seen concrete rumors about just how slim it will be, but it could have a 6.6-inch display and a smaller Dynamic Island. P... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/CGPhK2O

Image: Apple Siri may do more than make the edges of your iPhone a glowy rainbow when iOS 18 drops this fall. Apple Intelligence features won’t be out until 2025 for anyone not testing them in beta this year, but reports suggest that Siri itself will still get natural language updates and other key features before the year is out. For instance, users will be able to type to Siri without diving into accessibility settings , and it will be more conversational, understanding you even when you trip over your words, according to Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg. Image: Apple Apple could offer instructions for how to do things in iOS this year. He also writes that Siri will “have greater knowledge of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/y1ZvLdE

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 42, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I’ve been writing about Excel , reading about tin foil hats and the song “Smooth,” obsessing over Francis Ford Coppola’s note-taking system , watching Anyone But You , Hit Man , and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol because I had a bunch of plane rides, and debating buying Jabra headphones even though Jabra is quitting the headphone game . I also have for you a new minimalist phone, a book to read, a documentary to watch, a fun hack for your Rabbit R1, and much more. Let’s get into it. (As always, the best... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/7qIeCHv

There are many 67W chargers out there, but few are as adorable as Sharge’s travel-friendly Retro 67. Earlier this week, we published a guide rounding up an assortment of last-minute Father’s Day gifts for those who celebrate. However, if you need a Hail Mary and your dad is the nostalgic type with a penchant for all things Apple, the Sharge Retro 67 is currently on sale for an all-time low of $39 ($30 off) at Amazon and direct from Sharge . In February, my colleague Sean Hollister penned a personal ode to the Sharge’s three-port USB-C PD and PPS charger (and for good reason). The palm-sized Retro 67 measures 2.2 x 1.5 x 1.5 inches — which is relatively small for what it offers — and can output 67 watts from a single UL-certified port or 45 watts via the primary port while supplying 20 watts across the remaining two. That’s enough juice... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/YTaFAbB

Got a broken arm? Just play Toss-Up ! | Screenshot: YouTube Nintendo is a gaming juggernaut today, but it wasn’t really on anyone’s radar in the United States in 1980. And what was possibly the first US commercial for hardware produced by the company — a handheld called Toss-Up , from its “Game & Watch” series — certainly didn’t help, as a newly-restored copy shows. That’s because there’s no mention of Nintendo at all, or even Game & Watch. Game & Watch games were simplistic standalone handheld LCD games not unlike the cheap licensed Tiger Electronics games seemingly every kid had in the 1990s. And in the US, those games were initially licensed to a company called Mego (pronounced “mee-go”), and sold as a series called “Time-Out” instead, according to The Video Game History Foundation in a blog... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/BrAVUWE

This should fold in half. It just should. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Folding an iPad in half is a very bad idea if you want to keep using your iPad. But hear me out: it should fold in half. Why? Because it would make an absolute banger of a folding phone. First of all, what’s even going on here anyway? The Pro iPhones have more processing power than they know what to do with. The iPad Pro is an incredible computer that nobody can use as a computer . The iPad Mini still exists (TIL airplane pilots love the iPad Mini ), the iPad Air is heavier than the iPad Pro , and Apple can’t figure out what to do with the non-standard-sized iPhone . There are entirely too many SKUs, and I think Apple can condense, like, four of them down into one category-straddling product. I’m thinking of something like an iPad Mini that... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/H0Vjhv3

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Apple will finally adopt RCS in iOS 18, effectively ending a yearslong fight for feature parity between iMessage and Android. But the announcement wasn’t a celebration — you could’ve blinked and missed it. Instead of showing how RCS will make things better, Apple softly announced support for the standard and focused on all the great features coming to iMessage users — not RCS ones. Apple didn’t go over how RCS adoption will finally let iPhone and Android users send each other high-resolution pictures and videos. It didn’t even say how RCS will enable support for cross-platform read receipts and typing indicators. Apple only highlighted the flashy features coming to iMessage, including ways to bold and italicize text, improvements to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/84s0LIQ

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge When Chromebooks first appeared on the scene back in 2011, they were criticized for how limited they were compared to Windows and macOS systems. Since then, some of the original limitations have been tweaked and the simplicity of the OS has been much more widely accepted. And it turns out, sometimes the old adage that less is more is right. One of the key advantages of using a Chromebook is the way (almost) everything is instantly backed up: with a small number of exceptions, all of your apps and files live online. If you lose your laptop or drop it into a lake, all you need to do is sign in to another Chromebook with your Google account, and you’re right back where you started. Wiping a Chromebook is quick and easy, too, if you’re... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/qFRkNIK

Apple’s Siri voice assistant has a new look and a new brain. | Image: Apple Voice assistants hold so much promise, but in the decade-plus since Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa first wormed their ways into our lives, their most compelling use is still setting timers. Competition from Google’s Assistant (and if we’re being charitable, Samsung’s Bixby) failed to light the spark of innovation in this space, and in many ways, voice control has regressed. These assistants regularly misunderstand, mishear, and sometimes just don’t listen at all. They’re a far cry from the proactive, actually smart digital assistants they were originally pitched as. Enter generative AI: the technology voice assistants need to transform them from novel to necessary. This week at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced plans... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/5iUfOPw

Picsart’s AI image generator will be available some time later this year. | Image: Picsart Image and video-editing platform Picsart has teamed up with Getty Images to launch a “responsible, commercially-safe” AI image generator that’s trained exclusively on the stock image platform’s licensed content. Picsart says its AI lab is building a custom model from scratch that will power the tool, allowing the platform’s paid subscribers to generate images with full commercial rights — which aims to address long-standing concerns regarding AI-generated potentially content violating copyright laws. The Picsart / Getty Images generator tool is expected to launch “later this year,” and will be accessible through Picsart’s API services. This collaborative project shares similarities with Adobe’s Firefly AI model, which initially launched... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/BFHSvXj

Image: Lego Two years after Lego revealed a buildable model of the Transformers’ Optimus Prime that actually transformed, the heroic Autobot leader is finally getting backup with his second-in-command, Bumblebee, debuting as a 950-piece set that transforms into a Volkswagen Beetle — or at least a close facsimile thereof. In recent years, thanks to the run of big-budget Transformers movies, Bumblebee is best known for transforming into a bright yellow Chevrolet Camaro. But in the original ’80s toy line and animated series, Bumblebee’s alternate vehicle mode was the iconic Volkswagen Beetle. Image: Lego Lego Bumblebee’s vehicle mode appears to be a mashup of several different vehicles. As with its Optimus Prime set , Lego is... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/1yaV490

Arlo’s new security tag can disarm its security system via its video doorbell. | Image: Arlo Last year, smart security company Arlo launched a home security system with several features that rivaled the excellent Google Nest Secure (RIP) — including multifunction sensors and an all-in-one hub / keypad. It then promised an NFC security tag that would let you disarm the system with a tap. This week, it delivered on that promise with the launch of the Arlo Security Tag . The new key fob lets you arm and disarm the system with a tap on the keypad hub inside your home, similar to what was possible with the Nest Secure. But Arlo has also added a handy option to disarm the system by tapping the tag on an Arlo video doorbell before you even enter your house. The NFC-enabled tag is available now for $19.99 for a two-pack and works with... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/CYNAtOW

The Galaxy Watch FE will retail for $199.99 with Bluetooth and $249.99 with LTE. | Image: Samsung The leaks were right . Samsung just announced it’s launching a third smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch FE. It’s meant to be the company’s new entry-level smartwatch, offering a more affordable option compared to its flagship Galaxy Watch models. It makes sense that Samsung’s doing this now. The Galaxy Watch series used to be relatively affordable compared to the competition, but in the past two years, Samsung’s raised the starting price of its watches by $50 to keep up with inflation. The FE will retail at $199 for the Bluetooth-only version and at $249.99 for the LTE version — which is more in line with what its watches used to cost. This also makes Samsung’s smartwatch lineup look a bit more like Apple’s, with a budget model, flagship model,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/YbcoFej

Allison Johnson / The Verge While the partnership between Apple and OpenAI announced at WWDC this week promises to give ChatGPT a prestigious place in Apple’s ecosystem, it seems neither party is paying the other to make that happen. According to a report from Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman , Apple instead believes that the exposure OpenAI will receive from being on hundreds of millions of Apple devices is “of equal or greater value than monetary payments.” The report also says this deal isn’t exclusive to OpenAI, and that Apple is in talks with Anthropic and Google to offer their respective chatbots as an alternative option, with an agreement for Google’s Gemini expected to be in place later this year. While Apple will utilize OpenAI’s GPT-4o model to power various AI... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ZqKsXQz

It’s happy hour in Las Vegas, and the MGM Grand casino is crawling with people. The National Finals Rodeo is in town, the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament is underway, the Raiders play on Sunday, and the U2 residency is going strong at the giant Sphere, so it seems everyone in every bar and at every slot machine is looking forward to something. (And wearing a cowboy hat.) Even for a town built on nonstop buzz, this qualifies as a uniquely eventful weekend. But I’d wager that if you wanted to see the most exciting drama happening at the MGM on this Friday night, you’d have to walk through the casino and look for the small sign advertising something called The Active Cell. This is the site of the play-in round for the Excel World... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/XtK8J2B

Photo by Ben Hasty / MediaNews Group / Reading Eagle via Getty Images California Senator Scott Wiener is used to pushback when he proposes laws aimed at reining in reckless drivers and improving road safety in his car-dependent state. But even he was caught off guard when, earlier this year, he introduced a new bill requiring a speed “governor” on all new cars sold in the state. The opposition from drivers was so fierce that he had to rewrite the proposal to only require weaker versions of the technology. “There were people who loved it, people who hated it, people who were mad at me, spouses who were arguing with each other about it,” Wiener said in an interview. “It was an interesting situation. There’s a certain cultural embrace of being able to drive your car however you want to drive your car.” S... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/baJ62K1

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The new Apple Intelligence features coming to iOS 18 could be the most impressive integrations of AI software and consumer hardware to date. Apple’s AI tools will be able to take actions based on what they know about you, manage your notifications, and rewrite text. They’re the kinds of things that could make day-to-day use of your iPhone a lot better. But they won’t be available unless you have one of Apple’s latest and most expensive iPhone models. AI has quickly become the latest entry in the tech industry’s never ending desire to drive an upgrade cycle. A few years ago, every smartphone maker raced to 5G ; more than a decade ago, the TV industry pushed for 3D TVs . Right now, every tech company clearly sees an opportunity with AI and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/oF7Jtr9

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Waymo is issuing a voluntary software recall after one of its driverless vehicles collided with a telephone pole in Phoenix, Arizona, last month, the company said. The vehicle was damaged, but no passengers or bystanders were hurt in the incident. The company is filing the recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) after completing a software update to 672 vehicles — the total number of driverless-capable vehicles in Waymo’s fleet. The update corrects an error in the software that “assigned a low damage score” to the telephone pole, and updates its map to account for the hard road edge in the alleyway that was not previously included. This is Waymo’s second recall ever This is Waymo’s second recall ever,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/JF0Alyg

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Spotify is getting ready to launch a premium add-on that offers access to high-fidelity audio, according to a report from Bloomberg . The new tier will reportedly cost $5 extra and will also come with tools to help users create playlists and manage music libraries. A source familiar with Spotify tells Bloomberg that users will be able to add the HiFi audio tier to their existing plans. If added to the Spotify Premium plan, which goes up in price to $11.99 next month , it will cost $16.99. Bloomberg reports that the add-on will also give users the ability to generate custom playlists for specific activities, dates, and times of year. The Verge reached out to Spotify with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back. Spotify... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/eLVRct8

Image: Yahoo Yahoo is updating Yahoo Mail on the desktop with new AI capabilities and other features to help simplify email and task management. One of the highlights is brief AI-generated summaries of emails. These summaries come complete with bulleted lists that highlight proposed tasks and other actions. It’s located under the new Priority inbox tab, which — like Gmail’s — uses AI to highlight what Yahoo thinks are your most important messages. Gmail recently announced a similar summaries feature for its mobile app, but it’s behind a paywall for Workspace and Google One AI Premium subscribers. Image: Yahoo The new AI-generated feature attempts to summarize any potential responses needed. Along with AI-powered... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/aPMtLoE

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge As slick and polished as macOS is, it can slow down over time, as you add file after file and program after program to your Apple system. After a few years of heavy use, the idea of wiping your Mac and starting again from a factory-fresh clean slate starts to make more and more sense. This isn’t just something to do if you want to clear out the clutter and fix persistent problems, though: resetting your Mac is also important when you’re selling it or passing it on. You don’t want anyone else poking around in your files or your web browsing data, and a reset stops that from happening. Resetting a Mac is fairly straightforward, but you do need to make sure everything on it is backed up before you get started (or at least everything you... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/B2hM3Al