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Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge Whether wired, wireless, or low profile, here are our picks for the best readily available boards. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/iAE85m9

Illustration: The Verge If you’re disappointed that the only AI model that will integrate with Apple devices so far will be ChatGPT , it sounds like you won’t have to wait long for that to change. Apple will announce “at least” one other deal — to add Google Gemini, too — this fall, according to Bloomberg’ s Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter today. Gemini has been part of the iOS 18 chatbot rumors for as long as OpenAI has . Apple software boss Craig Federighi even hinted at a Google deal shortly after the keynote was over . Anthropic has been mixed up in these rumors as well , and Gurman also suggests Apple could announce a deal with that company at some point, if not this fall. Meta, though, was quickly rejected because its Llama chatbot just isn’t good... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/TPe5ucS

Photo by Ivan “Porkchop44” for Games Done Quick It’s summer, which means it’s time for sun and speedruns. The 2024 edition of Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ), the annual speedrunning marathon for charity, kicks off on Sunday and runs until July 6th. This year’s lineup is once again packed with runs for some of my favorite games, including Balatro , Alan Wake 2 , Elden Ring, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1, 2, 3, and 4 (all in one run), a glitchless Baldur’s Gate 3 Honour Mode run, and a shipless Outer Wilds run (how???). But my most anticipated run is a live speedrun from Peanut Butter, the shiba inu who performed a remote run of the NES game Gyromite at Awesome Games Done Quick in January . At SGDQ, Peanut Butter will be live at the event playing Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/XWrqlz2

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 44, 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 why I love the Boox Palma , reading about hot dog contests and the history of Markdown and the future of streaming , watching Shoresy and Federer and a lot of soccer (it’s been a very sports-y week), mourning the end of the Longform podcast , developing a strange obsession with salt water taffy , retesting the Apple Vision Pro, and trying every method I can find for making good iced coffee at home. I also have for you a couple of great new Bluetooth speakers, the new season of Hulu’s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/SJpc04V

Image: The Verge Whether you want everything but the kitchen sink or top-tier performance for a midrange price, you’ve got options. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/KlNeZYx

A Redbox machine from 2015. Redbox’s owner, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, filed for bankruptcy protection overnight. This comes at the tail end of a month in which the DVD rental company defaulted on loans, saw an order for its cars to be repossessed, and missed payroll for employees. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment informed employees of the filing late Friday, writing in an email seen by The Verge that it had filed for a debtor-in-possession loan — a way for companies that are reorganizing after filing for bankruptcy to secure additional working capital to meet payroll. It’s a pressing matter for the company, as employees have been waiting for paychecks since June 21st. The company also promised to reinstate health insurance for his employees,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/hQR4IHE

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Most of the time when you delete a file, it’s actually not wiped from existence immediately — as recently discovered by a man whose wife came across illicit texts he’d been sending (and which he thought he had got rid of on his iPhone). The man is now suing Apple. Marital infidelity aside, the safety net that’s put in place for deleted files can help you recover data you’ve erased in error — however, it can also leave your data exposed to other people (if you’re selling a device, for example). It’s important to know where your deleted files are and how to get them back or erase them permanently. Checking sync status Screenshot: Apple Before you try to delete any files, you should check your iCloud syncing status. ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ik873uM

Image: Epic Games Last weekend, Metallica graced the virtual stage in Fortnite , but the event was more than just a heavy metal concert. It was one piece in a weeks-long rollout of modes and content, which really drove home just how large and complex the game has become. The battle royale has steadily morphed into an entire ecosystem of games and experiences , and the Metallica crossover might’ve been the most complex to date. The concert was the showcase moment , and it was like going through an interactive version of heavy metal album art. Players were whisked away in a hot rod to a pyro-heavy concert stage before moving on to a gothic bell tower and a fight with a menacing puppet master. Like past virtual concerts featuring Eminem and Ariana Grande , it... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/obDABun

Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge One of the big selling points you hear for electric vehicles is that they require less maintenance than traditional gas-powered vehicles. No oil changes, less gunk, fewer moving parts — that sort of thing. But EVs are essentially giant computers on wheels. And since when have you known any computer to be problem-free? JD Power’s latest quality study is out, and it’s not looking good for EVs. And in some ways, it’s not a surprise. Like in past versions of the survey , battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles performed worse than their gas equivalents in just about every repair category measured by JD Power. JD Power measures quality based on reported problems per 100 vehicles of a particular brand. According to the survey, people who... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/I7sGdOa

New leaks may have spoiled the colors that will be available for Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 devices. | Image: Evan Blass While Samsung is gearing up to officially introduce the latest Galaxy Z foldable smartphones at its Unpacked event on July 10th , a new batch of leaked images have spoiled more of the surprise. The renders of the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 handsets come courtesy of established leaker Evan Blass and WinFuture , which show what colors may be available alongside sharing many similarities with previous leaks from SmartPrix, OnLeaks , and Ice Universe . The images show a more squared-off design for the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which was also seen in images of a prototype earlier this month. The hinge and bezels surrounding the outer display appear smaller, and black rings can be seen around the rear triple-camera lenses. Leaked specifications... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Nz8i3Wf

My original Framework Laptop 16 review unit, next to its replacement. In January, I spent two weeks with the most modular notebook ever made: the Framework Laptop 16 . It’s a gadget nerd’s dream: you can swap out its keyboard, touchpad, ports — even its entire discrete GPU. You can transform it from a sleek work laptop to a decent gaming machine in two minutes flat, one which charges with the world’s first 180W USB-C power adapter. But at the time, I gave the Framework Laptop 16 a 5 out of 10. The product gave me multiple Blue Screens of Death, glitched, felt flimsy in places, and ran hotter and louder than its performance would suggest. Six months later, with a new unit and new firmware, I’m feeling a bit better! Not good enough to give it my full recommendation, but enough to raise its score to 6 out of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/lvd5ZwI

GE Cync’s new undercabinet smart lights bring task lighting, dimming, and full color to your kitchen countertops. | Image: GE Cync If you’ve been looking for a simple way to add smart, color-changing undercabinet lighting to your kitchen, I have good news. First announced at CES earlier this year, GE Lighting’s new Cync Reveal HD Plus Smart Undercabinet Fixtures are now available at Amazon , Lowe’s , and Best Buy , starting at $59.99. These full-color and tunable white light fixtures fit under your cabinets and can be hardwired or plugged in to illuminate your countertops. The Cync lights are Matter-enabled and work with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home, and Samsung SmartThings for smart home integration. I first saw a sneak peek of them at CES 2023 and was excited that this might finally provide a good solution to the problem of smart kitchen lighting. ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ontNkX7

YouTube is expecting to launch new AI tools later this year that are trained off the back of these deals. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After debuting a generative AI feature last year that produces music in the style of famous artists like Charli XCX, John Legend, and T-Pain , YouTube is now asking major record labels to allow it to clone more musicians. According to the Financial Times , the Google-owned video platform is offering to pay Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Records “lump sums of cash” in exchange for licensing their songs to legally train its AI music tools. YouTube told the Financial Times that it’s not looking to expand Dream Track — which was supported by just ten artists during its test phase — but confirmed it was “in conversations with labels about other experiments.” The platform is aiming to license music from... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/liN02Zf

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Traffic got you down? If the idea of locking your car keys in a drawer and using alternate means of transportation sounds intriguing, Uber has the challenge for you. Today, the ridehailing company announced the One Less Car trial, in which 175 people in the US and Canada will be selected to ditch their cars for five weeks in exchange for cash and credits to be put toward other travel modes. Call it a gimmick or a PR stunt, Uber says the aim is to highlight the high costs of personal car ownership, as well as all the external effects on our health and the cities where we live. Uber has long advocated for fewer cars on the road — even as studies have shown that the app-based ridehailing industry has intensified traffic congestion in... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/O38RMLn

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