Latest Technology

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Peloton’s got a new head honcho. The company announced that Ford executive Peter Stern will take over as CEO and President starting January 1st. Stern previously worked at Apple and Time Warner Cable. “As a cofounder and driving force behind Apple Fitness Plus, Peter led his growth to millions of members, and is responsible for successfully scaling over a dozen other subscription services ranging from Ford BlueCruise to Apple iCloud to Time Warner Cable Home Security,” said Karen Boone, Peloton’s interim CEO, on today’s Q1 2025 earnings call. “Importantly, Peter has also been a passionate member of the Peloton community since 2016.” In a Q&A with investors, Boone also emphasized that Stern was “known for execution” and that the ability... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ngIEG0H

Image: Puzzmo The Weather Network can be a very useful website, but that’s mostly true when the weather is bad. So when the company began collaborating with the Hearst-owned puzzle platform Puzzmo , it had a specific goal: to get people coming to the site even when it’s nice out. “Why would you check the weather on a sunny day?” veteran game designer Zach Gage remembers asking himself. Eventually, the Puzzmo team came up with an answer in the form of Weather Memoku , an extremely chill game that combines elements of memory, sudoku, and, well, the weather. “A very important idea was: can we change checking the weather from being a thing you check off your to-do list, to being a chance to take a moment for yourself?” explains Gage. The game takes place on... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/jkAU50H

Avride, the robotics company that spun out of Russian search giant Yandex , has a new sidewalk delivery robot to show off. The company currently has plans to operate a fleet of six-wheeled delivery robots in Austin, Texas, delivering Uber Eats orders to customers, as well as South Korea. Now Avride’s next generation model is shedding a couple of wheels — and showing big gains in efficiency. The new robot only has four wheels, which Avride says is more energy efficient than its six-wheeled model. The six-wheeled versions were simple to build, and could turn confidently on a variety of surfaces. But they also created a lot of friction, which ate up a lot of energy from the robot’s internal battery. The new four-wheeled designs are much... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/p2thYdH

Image: Mojo Wang for The Verge When Amazon launched its Alexa voice assistant, it envisioned a computer platform that could do anything for you. A decade later, the company is still trying to build it. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/LsAlzQY

Only 1,000 units of the Phone (2a) and Phone (2a) Plus Community Edition will be produced. | Image: Nothing Nothing has announced a new version of its Phone 2A Plus featuring a customized glow-in-the-dark design and packaging created in part by some of the company’s “most talented followers.” The Phone 2A Plus Community Edition is the result of a contest held by the company encouraging its community to “build a smartphone of their own imagination.” The Phone 2A Plus Community Edition is Nothing’s first “major pilot to co-create hardware,” the company says, and resulted in over 900 entries from its community customizing everything from its look to how it will be marketed. The phone will be available to purchase starting on November 12th through Nothing’s website for $399 but is being limited to just 1,000 units. Image: Nothing ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rO0Whj3

Photo by John Keeble/Getty Images Lucid Motors revealed pricing and reservation details for its upcoming Gravity SUV , which is expected to go into production later this year. To start out, Lucid will sell two trims of the Gravity: the Touring and Grand Touring. The Grand Touring will start at $94,900 and will be the first to go into production in late 2024. The Gravity Touring model, which starts at $79,900, won’t go into production in late 2025. Lucid is opening orders for the Gravity on November 7th. Existing Lucid customers will be given priority for taking delivery. And all customers will be able to design, configure, and order their vehicle on Lucid’s website. Lucid didn’t provide any details about delivery charges or incentives. The company has applied a $7,500... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/TgFoOCz

Image: Mr.Nelson design for The Verge / Getty Images Here’s why the embattled SEC chair is a hot-button presidential issue. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Viwutpq

Image: Mr.Nelson design for The Verge / Getty Images Conservative courts are strangling the functions of government. Another round of Trump judges will finish us. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/o7auNCX

Image: Mr.Nelson design for The Verge / Getty Images An endorsement of democracy, solving problems, and Kamala Harris. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Y5ENe1B

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Netflix is launching a new feature called “Moments” that lets you save and share bookmarks to a specific spot in a show or movie. The feature seems like it could be a very useful way to share parts of something you’re watching with friends or on social media. To capture a moment, tap on the screen while you’re watching something on Netflix to see the various menu options, then tap on the new “Moments” button to pop up a new menu, and then tap the save button. From the Moments menu, you can also see other Moments you’ve saved for that show or movie and share Moments to various apps. You can also copy a link to the Moment to your clipboard. Netflix gave me early access to the feature, so I used it to make a moment of the best scene in... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/nzklZyA

Image: Mr.Nelson design for The Verge / Getty Images The Verge’s guide to Project 2025. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/YTjfOci

Image: Mr.Nelson design for The Verge / Getty Images Your vote matters. Here’s how it will change the future. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/fqOrY84

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Apple’s unusual approach to an October event is skipping the event and just announcing some forthcoming announcements. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/vJHwWBI

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge When the Mac Mini was first introduced in early 2005, it was pitched as a compact, “stripped down” desktop — and the most affordable Mac in Apple’s lineup. Steve Jobs referred to it as a “BYODKM” system : you’d bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse, and the Mini would provide a dependable computing experience with all the benefits of macOS. The Mac Mini has carried on ever since. There have been periods where the Mini has been sidelined and ignored by Apple for long stretches of time. But the debut of Apple Silicon gave it a new lease on life . Even if the overall design didn’t change much in the transition from Intel to Apple’s in-house chips, the Mini’s potential soared . But now that design is about to change. And if the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wCIxRoi

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 58, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, Batman forever, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I’ve been reading about Simone Giertz and billionaire assistants and Checo Pérez and Call Her Daddy , learning about “ Earthrise ,” listening to Quinta Brunson and Conan O’Brien talk comedy, trying to decide whether to get super into Bluesky or just quit social altogether, and throwing myself into baseball so I can pretend I know what I’m talking about during the World Series. I also have for you an excellent new VR game, a delightful new reading gadget, a nice RSS reader update, a new browser worth trying, and much... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/v2BkwPE

Image: Finji I used to hate jigsaw puzzles. I thought they were frustrating, messy, and took way too long to solve. But my wife showed me how those parts of jigsaw puzzles can actually be fun: there’s something satisfying and meditative about working through those frustrations, sorting through the mess, and putting a picture together, one piece at a time, over the course of a few hours. (Or days.) The makers of Wilmot Works It Out , a new puzzle game, understand this, and everything about the game is designed to make solving puzzles fun instead of annoying. In the game, you play as Wilmot, an adorable white square with a face who has a puzzle-by-mail subscription. (He’s the same smiley square from Wilmot’s Warehouse , a 2019 puzzle game also made by... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/fdYP08e

Google may be working on persistent notifications similar to its phone call status pictured here. | Photo: Wes Davis / The Verge Android 16 may come with a new “Rich Ongoing Notifications” feature that lets developers keep persistent notifications in the Android status bar, according to Android 15 beta code discovered by Android Authority ’s Mishaal Rahman , who frequently dives into code to surface coming features. Right now, the code enables adding a pill-shaped icon with custom text and background color to the Android status bar. Some mock notifications Rahman created show how it could be used for things like telling you when to expect your Uber to arrive. Android has already had a feature like this since Android 12 that lets you know how long you’ve been on a phone call, Rahman notes. Screenshot: Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority A... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/VNz2p5k

Fear the Spotlight. | Image: Blumhouse Games More than most genres, survival horror feels rooted in time. It started with the methodical Resident Evil on the original PlayStation and is defined in part by limitation — a slow pace, grimy visuals, and scant resources to help amplify the scares. Many of those elements stemmed from the early, awkward days of 3D gaming, whether it was Resident Evil ’s clunky controls, which made zombie chases more terrifying, or Silent Hill ’s fog, which lent an iconic atmosphere while also letting the developers get around technical limitations of the time . And a few decades later, developers are still finding ways to bring the most important elements of those games — namely, the mood and scares — to modern horror without feeling dated. The most obvious... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/racFA0i

Image: Loops The fediverse answer to TikTok is on its way. Signups opened this week for Loops , a short-form looping video app from the creator of Instagram alternative Pixelfed, reports TechCrunch . Users who’ve signed up can post up to 60 seconds of video, according to details shared by developer Daniel Supernault on Mastodon. He added that using sounds and remixing others’ videos is coming, as are pinned profile videos, and that users will be able to “curate” their comment sections. Videos can be categorized, but hashtags and mentions aren’t yet supported. The Loops Pixelfed account has posted videos like the one below of Loops in action. Supernault has posted screenshots and screen recordings , as well. Creating an account isn’t instantaneous... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6q4pGy9

Image: Remedy Entertainment Remedy’s latest release is connective tissue for its growing video game universe. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/yixXwe9

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images Waymo just completed an oversubscribed funding round of $5.6 billion , its largest investment round to date. The company said it will use the funds to support its robotaxi business in its current markets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, as well as bring it to new cities, like Austin and Atlanta , where its vehicles will be available exclusively on the Uber app. Waymo also hinted at future “business applications” for its “Waymo Driver,” which is the company’s branding for the hardware and software used to enable its vehicles to drive autonomously. This could be a reference to food and package deliveries , trucking , or even personally owned autonomous vehicles — all possibilities that Waymo has explored in the past. Waymo also... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/1u30ict

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge The first bits of Apple Intelligence are starting to show up on people’s phones. The features in iOS 18.1 are fairly basic: summarizing messages, writing emails, that kind of thing. Apple is already letting developers play with iOS 18.2, though, which looks like a much more substantial update . Meanwhile, the company is about to launch a bunch of new M4-powered and AI-focused Macs, and launched the iPad Mini this week. It’s a lot happening all at once, and it’s a lot to make sense of. On this episode of The Vergecast , we try and make sense of it. The Verge ’s Richard Lawler joins us as we talk through the small changes in 18.1 and the much bigger changes in 18.2, debate whether Tim Cook can really use every Apple product every day , and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/uRbzw84

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images Adobe is going all in on generative AI models and tools, even if that means turning away creators who dislike the technology. Artists who refuse to embrace AI in their work are “not going to be successful in this new world without using it,” says Alexandru Costin, vice president of generative AI at Adobe. In an interview with The Verge , Costin said that he “isn’t aware” of any plans for Adobe to launch products that don’t include generative AI for creators who prefer to manually complete tasks or oppose how AI is changing the creative industry. “We have older versions of our products that don’t use gen AI, but I wouldn’t recommend using them,” Costin said. “Our goal is to make our customers successful, and we think that in order for them... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Oy2db3x

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge From basic and affordable to premium and ultra-customizable, these are the best controllers we’ve tested for Xbox. And they work with PCs, too. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/dQZn5FU

Image: Activision Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is launching on Nvidia’s GeForce Now game streaming service on Friday, October 25th — the same day it launches on all other platforms. It’s the first time a Call of Duty game is launching day one on GeForce Now, which follows Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023 and a deal to launch its games on Nvidia’s service . New Call of Duty releases had exclusive content deals with PlayStation for many years, but Microsoft struck a deal with Sony as part of a promise it would bring parity for the franchise’s future launches when it acquired Activision Blizzard. Microsoft had to compromise in its buyout of Activision Blizzard to get past regulators, which included bringing games from the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/I3kLKjS

Image: Minecraft Minecraft will officially stop supporting all virtual reality headsets after March 2025, according to an update posted to the Bedrock changelog . The update means Minecraft will no longer support devices like the Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality headsets, or the Meta Quest (through Quest Link), as reported earlier by UploadVR . Last month, Minecraft developer Mojang also announced that the game would end support for PlayStation VR headsets next March. When Minecraft ’s spring update rolls around, Mojang says you’ll still be able to “keep building in your worlds, and your Marketplace purchases (including Minecoins) will continue to be available on a non-VR/MR graphics device such as a computer monitor.” As pointed out by UploadVR , you’ll... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/iFGqpdV

Image: Snapchat Starting this week, Snapchat is introducing a faster way for iPhone users to take snaps when they’re in a rush. iPhones running iOS 18 or later can replace the flashlight or native camera shortcuts at the bottom of the lock screen with shortcuts to Snapchat’s camera. With the new shortcuts, you can launch the Snapchat camera directly from the lock screen with a single tap, making it easier to capture moments before they pass. Using these controls enables iPhones to launch and take photos in “Camera Only” mode while locked, but sending or editing the snaps will still require users to unlock the device. To set this up, users need to tap and hold the Lock Screen, hit Customize, and then select Lock Screen to replace one of the default... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/5cw6Ve3

Image: Apple Like a lot of tech companies, Lumon Industries is instituting a return-to-office policy for employees, but of course, this version looks a little scarier than real life. At least, that’s how it seems based on the first proper trailer for season 2 of Severance . Following last season’s incredibly tense finale , the show picks up with Mark S (Adam Scott) heading back to Lumon to find things a little different than he remembers them, including a number of his coworkers. But some things haven’t changed — namely, the disorienting office hallways and the unyielding intensity of Milchick (Tramell Tillman), who looks intimidating even while holding party balloons. For the uninitiated, Severance is a sci-fi story about a medical procedure — the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/zGExbvc

Image: Adobe Adobe is attempting to lure illustrators to join its creative software platform by making its dedicated drawing and painting app entirely free for everyone. Fresco is essentially Adobe’s answer to apps like Procreate and Clip Studio Paint , which all provide a variety of tools for both digital art and simulating real-world materials like sketching pencils and watercolor paints. Adobe Fresco is designed for touch and stylus-supported devices, and is available on iPad , iPhone, and Windows PCs . The app already had a free-to-use tier, but premium features like access to the full Adobe Fonts library, a much wider brush selection, and the ability to import custom brushes previously required a $9.99 annual subscription. That’s pretty affordable... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/HuLUO1D

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Anyone who has followed a social network knows that sometimes the most innocuous post can attract unpleasant responses, especially on apps like Instagram, where your content — whether video, image, or text — can be out there for anyone to see. There are any number of reasons you might want to set your account to private, even if only temporarily. It would make it so that only people you approve can follow you and see the stuff you post on your grid or in your Stories. This isn’t a perfect solution. For example, although only your followers can see your posts while your account is private, some aspects of your account, such as your profile, will remain public. Anyway, let’s begin. Screenshot: Meta It’s not hard to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/FKStN0Y

Illustration by Haein Jeong / The Verge The upcoming release of Apple Intelligence has spurred the iPhone maker’s own “what is a photo?” moment. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal , Apple software chief Craig Federighi said the company is aiming to provide AI-powered image editing tools that preserve photo authenticity. “Our products, our phones, are used a lot ,” said Federighi. “It’s important to us that we help purvey accurate information, not fantasy.” iOS 18.1 brings a new “Clean Up” feature to the Photos app that can quickly remove objects and people from images — a capability that Federighi and WSJ reporter Joanna Stern noted is far tamer than editing tools offered by rivals like Google and Samsung , which can add entire AI-generated assets to images. Despite... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/bpcCauI

The Insta360 Ace Pro 2 can now capture 8K footage at 30fps. | Image: Insta360 Insta360 has announced its new Ace Pro 2 action camera , an upgraded version of its GoPro Hero-series competitor. The compact camera now has a larger screen on the back that flips up 180 degrees for framing selfie videos, and it debuts at $399.99 — $50 cheaper than Insta360’s original Ace Pro . The design of the Ace Pro 2 still closely resembles the GoPro Hero series and DJI’s Osmo Action line, with an offset lens making room for an additional screen on the front. But while the front screen on the cameras of Insta360’s competitors can display full-color video, the Ace Pro 2’s monochromatic front screen only displays information. Image: Insta360 The front screen on the Ace Pro 2 is still limited to showing information,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/iI9KXvC

Epic Games’ Fab marketplace, which is designed to serve as a unified place to get digital assets like environments and animations, is now live, the company announced today . The launch of the marketplace is an important step in Epic’s plans to make it easier for developers to acquire assets for developing games — and, maybe someday, to let them make content for an interoperable metaverse . The company first revealed its plans for Fab — which will combine offerings from the Unreal Engine Marketplace , Sketchfab Store , Quixel , and ArtStation Marketplace into one place — in March 2023 . While Epic initially planned to launch Fab in 2023, the company later delayed the launch to 2024. Epic is offering an 88 percent revenue share for goods sold on... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/dKZVBuF

Image: The Verge Disney will announce a replacement for CEO Bob Iger in “early 2026,” according to an update from the company on Monday. The entertainment giant has been on the hunt for a new leader since Iger’s return to Disney in 2022 . Last year Iger extended his contract with Disney until December 31st, 2026, and, as The New York Times notes , delayed retirement four times during his previous run as the company’s CEO before eventually handing control over to Bob Chapek in 2020. Even though we’re still years away from hearing who will replace Iger, CNBC reports that Disney has interviewed several potential candidates in “recent weeks,” including ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro, Disney experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro, and Disney entertainment co-chairmen... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/61aLvSU

The Halo Select smart lock is Kwikset’s first to support Matter. It works over Thread and can also be used as a Wi-Fi lock. | Image: Kwikset The Halo Select is Kwikset’s first new smart lock in five years, and its new features, updated design, and creative approach to connectivity could make the long wait worthwhile. The Halo Select is a ground-up redesign of the company’s Halo line and its first lock to support Matter . It works with the new standard over the low-power, mesh networking protocol Thread and, interestingly, has the option of skipping Matter and using Wi-Fi. “You have Wi-Fi, which is what most customers want today, but it’s also future-proofed with Matter and Thread.” It’s a clever move by Kwikset. Smart locks have limited features in Matter today , but the standard offers greater interoperability and Thread promises better battery life (a key feature in a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Y5ZvydC

The AirPods Pro 2 will soon offer more robust hearing protection and a new hearing aid feature. But it’s the hearing test that really hooked me. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/l67ynxm

Simply telling playtesters not to share any details hasn’t exactly worked out. | Image: The Verge Nintendo has updated the official website for its mysterious “ Switch Online: Playtest Program ” today, privately revealing more information to participants about what it entails. The playtest is running from October 23rd, 9PM ET until November 5th, 8PM ET, and is only available to the roughly 10,000 people who have already registered for the program. The test software is now available to download ahead of the start of gameplay, and requires 2.2GB of free space. Participants didn’t sign an NDA, but Nintendo requested in the playtest terms and conditions that users refrain from sharing any details about it — which has gone about as well as can be expected. While Nintendo has already started issuing copyright strikes to take leaked media... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/IA3me5h

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Early this morning, I received an email from “The Internet Archive Team,” replying to a message I’d sent on October 9th. Except its author doesn’t seem to have been the digital archivists’ support team — it was apparently written by the hackers who breached the site earlier this month and who evidently maintain some level of access to its systems. I’m not alone. Users on the Internet Archive subreddit are reporting getting the replies, as well. Here is the message I received: It’s dispiriting to see that even after being made aware of the breach 2 weeks ago, IA has still not done the due diligence of rotating many of the API keys that were exposed in their gitlab secrets. As demonstrated by this message, this includes a Zendesk token... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/HUeyLb3

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 57, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, happy Kindle Season to all who celebrate, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I’ve been reading about sports betting and designer proteins and the Ford Bronco , listening to Bon Iver’s new Sable and Brian Eno’s old Music for Airports on repeat, watching Archer and Unstable , desperately trying to find a better controller for the Nintendo Switch, and finally seriously making plans to build a whole seltzer system into my kitchen counter. It’s just time. I also have for you an unusually gadget-heavy week: new Kindles, new iPads, new retro game consoles, and much more.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/HivKFIL

What if I told you the Meta Quest 3S is in some ways just a more powerful Quest 2 with color passthrough? “Yes, of course it is,” someone who’s read our coverage might say, but iFixit shows just how true that is in the teardown video it published today. The first hint of that is the headset’s Fresnel lenses, which iFixit’s Shahram Mokhtari writes in a blog post are “100% compatible” with those used by the Quest 2. The headset has the older headset’s IPD adjustment mechanism, as well; and it shares the same single LCD panel, rather than using one panel per eye , like the Meta Quest 3 . Screenshot: YouTube This is what sits behind the faceplate of the Quest 3S. Legacy parts aside, iFixit found that the 3S uses two... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wpNyk7l

I’ve never been so happy to use a computer that meets my state’s legal drinking age. | Photo: Wes Davis / The Verge It’s been 20 years since Apple discontinued the iMac G4, a unique computer with a funky half-globe base and a flatscreen LCD on a fancy hinge and adjustable arm. In its unaltered state, it’s a nice-to-look-at, nostalgic relic that’s unusable in modern contexts. I coveted it and never got to own one at the time, but thanks to Juicy Crumb’s DockLite G4 , I’m using this classic iMac every day as an external monitor. The DockLite G4 is a drop-in replacement motherboard for the iMac G4’s board that features an HDMI port, along with three USB-A and a single USB-C port, and 3.5mm ports for audio. Most importantly, it uses the iMac’s existing mounting holes and internal connectors for power and video, so all you need is a couple of screwdrivers... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/E6MVIwd

Image: Neon The director of Anora talks about representing sex work onscreen and how sticking the landing of a film means thinking about it first. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/k3q69pR

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge I have always had an adversarial relationship with alarm clocks. They are gadgets designed to ruin my most precious time, and in order to work effectively, they must be as annoying as possible. Which is why I was intrigued by Nintendo’s surprise reveal of Alarmo . (Once I got over my surprise of it not being the long-awaited Switch 2 announcement .) What if getting up in the morning could be a little more playful? Maybe what I really needed all along was Princess Zelda’s soothing voice or the chirps of tiny pikmin to ease me into consciousness in the morning. After a week with Alarmo, I have to admit that it hasn’t changed much about my sleep patterns. It has some clever ideas, and it looks great on a shelf, but ultimately, it’s still an... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/qlLEzJu

Image: Owen Grove / The Verge NHTSA is opening a preliminary evaluation into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving mode (FSD) over the possibility of crashes in reduced roadway visibility conditions. The agency is opening the investigation after noting four reports of incidents like that, including one last November in Rimrock, AZ, where a Model Y struck and killed a pedestrian, as reported by TechCrunch . The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has identified four Standing General Order (SGO) reports in which a Tesla vehicle experienced a crash after entering an area of reduced roadway visibility conditions with FSD -Beta or FSD -Supervised (collectively, FSD) engaged. In these crashes, the reduced roadway visibility arose from conditions such as sun glare, fog, or airborne... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/XzKRr5M

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Amazon launched four new Kindles this week, maybe the biggest single launch day in the 17-year history of the company’s wildly successful e-reader. One of them even comes in color ! It is very much not a coincidence that the launch happened roughly a year after Panos Panay joined the company . Panay, a longtime Microsoft executive who was for years in charge of all things Windows and Surface, is now leading the devices and services team at Amazon. His big task is Alexa, and turning Amazon’s assistant into the AI platform of the future. That’s apparently coming soon. Maybe . But first: e-readers. On this episode of The Vergecast , Panay joins the show to talk about how he decided to join Amazon, why people love their Kindles so much, the S... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wbXlGjq

Illustration: The Verge Google is planning to ban advertisers from running ads related to the US presidential election after polls close on November 5th. Axios reports that this is the second time Google has decided to ban election ads once polls close, after first implementing the policy during the 2020 election. Google says it’s reenacting the policy again this year “out of an abundance of caution and to limit the potential for confusion, given the likelihood that votes will continue to be counted after Election Day.” During the last presidential election in 2020, it took days for President Biden’s win to be confirmed after an influx of postal voting during the pandemic. Google’s policy applies to any US election ads or ads that refer to the US elections that... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/v65yDlG

It was a chilly winter morning in 2004. The scene was Stanley, Idaho — a city with a population of 101 and a current temperature of negative 17. My boyfriend, who had lured me here from London, England, handed me a bright red envelope and asked if I could drop it in the mailbox on my way into town. “What’s Netflix?” I asked, peering at the white letters printed on the side. “It’s DVD by mail,” he said. “They send you movies in the mail. You send them back when you’re done. Then, they send you another one.” It was a revelation. While Netflix had been growing in the US since its launch in 1998, it wouldn’t cross the pond for another eight years. For the rest of the world, movie night in 2004 still meant a pilgrimage to the video store. As... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/m5EDcGn

World of Warcraft , or WoW , is like the Red Hot Chili Peppers of the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre: not only is it still going strong but it’s also somehow even bigger than you thought. World of Warcraft ’s current numbers aren’t public, but one recent educated guess came in at 7 million paying subscribers, which, at $15 / month, would make the game a billion-dollar earner by itself. Its developer, Blizzard, merged with Activision in 2008, and Microsoft gobbled up both companies in 2022, but World of Warcraft remains a load-bearing spine of the newly formed corporate turducken. The game that redefined gold mining for the 21st century is still a 19th-century gold mine for its landlords. It’s also thriving in a subscription... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/S2CxkPY

Hey buddy, maybe take a look around? | Image: Bluetti Bluetti has taken portable power to absurd levels with its new Handsfree Backpack Power Stations . They’re available in big or bigger versions depending on how long — and how much gear — you want to keep powered in the great outdoors. They’re primarily aimed at outdoor photographers, but Bluetti also thinks they’ll appeal to hikers, rock climbers, campers, adventurers, bikepackers, and motorcyclists... any nerd that wants to move beyond the cubicle with their gadgets. A side panel in the backpacks provides access to all the inputs and outputs without having to first remove the solar generator. Those ports can also be managed and monitored over Bluetooth from the Bluetti app. GIF: Bluetti You can carry a ton of gear... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/jISVf2O

Project Know How builds on Adobe’s work with Content Credentials. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge One of Adobe’s most notable experiments this year could help combat misinformation and ensure artists are credited for their work, no matter where it appears online or offline. Announced during the Sneaks segment at Adobe Max, Project “Know How’ is an in-development tool that can link ownership of an image or video across any online platform, and a multitude of real-world surfaces like posters, tumblers, and textiles. Project Know How builds on Adobe’s Content Credentials tech , which applies a digital tag to track where a piece of content has been posted, who owns it, and if/how it’s been manipulated. Providing an image or video has Content Credentials applied, the tool can help creators establish ownership over their content even if... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/92BZjEJ